Week 10 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which... Read More

Stefan Crichton (RP, ARI) - Week 10 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues ROSTERED IN: 18% of leagues ANALYSIS: With a week of the season left, if you are in need of saves you will be willing to take them from wherever you can get them. So the fact that a team's closer is available in 82% of leagues is pretty staggering.... Read More

MLB Closers and Saves: Fantasy Baseball Depth Charts

Saves are an important component for many fantasy baseball leagues. Closers are one of the most volatile positions in fantasy baseball, and one of the highest turnover positions in MLB. Each year, closers drop like flies and many MLB teams make in-season changes due to injuries or poor performance. In addition to closers and saves, relief... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 9 Waiver Wire

It feels like the season just started. Remember drafting your team? Remember how excited you were about your roster? Well, I hope you're still excited, because it's time for playoffs (in most leagues). This has been a weird season and 40-something games was not nearly enough to determine what fantasy managers deserved an appearance in... Read More

Week 9 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 8 Waiver Wire

It seems like the season just started, but we're already talking fantasy playoffs in most leagues. That's something we expected with such a short season, but it still seems way too soon for playoffs. One bad week of injuries could have knocked a really good team right out of the playoff picture in some leagues... Read More

Week 8 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which... Read More

Archie and the Gang: Navigating the New-Look Cincinnati Bullpen

As of August 31st, the day of the 2020 MLB Trade Deadline, the Cincinnati Reds sat at a record of 15-19, placing them at fourth-place in the NL Central and well outside of the NL postseason picture in this year of the expanded playoff format. While the Cincinnati offense has been far from elite through... Read More

Richard Rodriguez (RP, PIT) - Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues ROSTERED IN: 12% of leagues ANALYSIS: With just three weeks remaining this season, fantasy managers are scrambling to boost stats wherever they can and no more so than searching for saves. So the fact Richard Rodriguez is rostered in just 12% of leagues is surprising. Granted, the Pirates have... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 7 Waiver Wire

In the wild 2020 season, it made sense that we had a somewhat wild 2020 trade deadline. The trade deadline is a legitimate baseball holiday, and without an All-Star Game this year, it became the most exciting day in the regular season. The Padres went wild and made all the headlines, acquiring basically a whole... Read More

Week 7 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which... Read More

Unexpected Dynasty Risers - Pitchers

Every year in dynasty league drafts fantasy managers will target young future stars, prospects which rank highly among all prospect rankings. There's a tendency to overdraft/overpay for these high-end prospects as fantasy folks are drawn to the new and shiny things much like kids get gooey-eyed for the newest toys each Christmas. While this is... Read More

Kevin Gausman (SP/RP, SF) - Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 29% of leagues ANALYSIS: Kevin Gausman continues to be under rostered and continues to run into bad luck. He's pitched in seven games (six starts) totalling 35.2 IP and has a 1-2 record, a 4.54 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Why is he considered unlucky? Well, Gausman has... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 6 Waiver Wire

We've only had about 30 games per team (or way less for some), but it's already almost the trade deadline! This season's trade deadline is on Monday, August 31st, and while there have already been a few trades made, there will certainly be a flurry before Monday afternoon. One thing we as baseball fans can... Read More

Week 6 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which... Read More

Statcast Starting Pitcher Leaderboard - CSW%

More starting pitchers bite the dust each week and fantasy baseball managers are forced to turn to the waiver wire for streamers more than ever. The other approach is to stock up on relievers and rely on a couple of high-end starters, assuming you have any left. Either way, it's crucial to find pitchers who... Read More

Greg Maddux Plate Discipline Standouts for 2020

In my previous article, I wrote about my new weighted index statistic for hitters – mPDI, which stems from a famous quote by Hall of Fame pitcher, Greg Maddux: “The key to pitching is to have the ability to throw a strike when they’re taking and throw a ball when the hitter is swinging.” The... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 5 Waiver Wire

The best closer in baseball last year is done for the year, but he's been replaced by a guy who looks like he could be the best closer in baseball this year. Must be nice. One of the best closers of this generation finally looked a little more like himself this week, but is it... Read More

Week 5 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 4 Waiver Wire

For a season chock full of bullpen changes and injuries already, this week was a slight cool down period. In other words, this would still probably have been a bigger bullpen news week during a normal season, but for this particular season, it seemed like a much-welcomed downswing. There were still depth chart changes, there were still... Read More

Week 4 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which... Read More

Rafael Montero (RP, TEX) - Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 3% of leagues ANALYSIS: Rafael Montero was activated off the injured list on Friday and promptly added his name to the seemingly never-ending list of pitchers who have recorded a save in 2020, striking out two in a clean ninth inning. The Texas Rangers are more likely... Read More

Trevor Gott (RP, SF) - Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 35% of leagues ANALYSIS: The San Francisco Giants went into the season without a confirmed closer but heading into week 4 of the season, it has become clear that Trevor Gott is their 9th inning guy of choice as no one else has recorded a save for the Giants yet.... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 3 Waiver Wire

Before this 60-game season started, we all knew every little thing would matter more. We knew that every game was, essentially, 2.7 times as important as a regular game in a 162-game season. We knew managers would have much shorter leashes on their underperforming players, and perhaps much quicker promotions for the quick starters. But... Read More

Week 3 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

As this weird, altered season progresses, the imbalance in the schedule becomes a bigger and bigger issue. Some teams have already played double-figure games, while others have played just a single series. This imbalance is obviously troublesome for the standings with the playoffs not all that far off in the grand scheme. It is also... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 2 Waiver Wire

Hey. Hey...Umm, there's baseball! It's pretty much already a mess and who knows how long this season will actually last, but for now? Baseball. We have it. And that's great. Summer's favorite sport is back on our TVs and in stadiums near us that we aren't allowed to go to. But: still baseball. Fantasy leagues... Read More

Week 2 Bullpen Usage Report for Fantasy Baseball

Less than a week into the 2020 Major League Baseball season, the future is uncertain. Bullpens are normally the most unreliable and volatile aspect of the sport. This year, the outside world has told baseball to hold its beer and showed it what unreliable and volatile really meant. As we see the Miami Marlins sit... Read More

Statcast Sleepers - Relief Pitchers to Target

This is the first edition of our weekly series on Statcast Pitcher Analysis. Normally, I will select a different sabermetric evaluation method to identify undervalued and/or overvalued pitchers. Since we have less than a week's worth of data under our belt for 2020, let's take one more look back at last year's Statcast data to find... Read More

Week 1 Bullpen Usage Report for Fantasy Baseball

One of the biggest questions in baseball this season will be how managers approach bullpen usage. That was already arguably the manager's heaviest workload in a normal season, apart from immeasurable impacts on team mood and cohesion. However, this year the bullpen will be in even clearer focus. Every blown save counts 2.7 times more... Read More