RADIO
ADP Myth Busters - Debunking Myths in the NL East
The Rockies Pitching Rotation - A Wise Investment?
For years Coors Field has been seen as a hitter's dream and a pitcher's nightmare — a place where hitters' slugging percentages grow and pitchers' ERAs die. When it comes to fantasy baseball, the general rule of thumb has been to sit your starters when they're in Colorado. But what about the Rockies' rotation? They... Read More
Champ or Chump - Adrian Beltre and Yu Darvish
One great way to identify sleepers and busts is to take advantage of any biases that may impact the community's perception of a player. For example, older players are frequently bargains on draft day because owners assume that they're going to collapse. Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers seems to fit into this category so... Read More
Champ or Chump - Ian Desmond and Jonathan Villar
Early draft data from RTSports drafts has been added to FantasyPros, making the latter's composite ADP data a little more reliable. Your host site's ADP data is worth looking into, especially if any absentee owners are auto-selecting based on the site's default rankings. However, FantasyPros' composite ADP is the best way to feel an unbiased... Read More
Should We Be Wary Of All Mets Starters?
On July 26th, 2012, the New York Mets called up a hard-throwing right-handed starting pitcher by the name of Matt Harvey. Harvey dazzled the Diamondbacks in Arizona that night, striking out 11 over 5 1/3 innings pitched without allowing any runs. This was supposed to mark a turning point in the Mets’ rebuild, the first... Read More
Champ or Chump - Willie Calhoun and Ronald Acuna
Our friends at FantasyPros have started offering composite Average Draft Position (ADP) data from the earliest 2018 drafts. Currently, data is only available from FanTrax and NFBC, but other popular platforms such as Yahoo!, RTSports, and CBS will be added as it becomes available. ADP is influenced by the host site's default rankings, so composite... Read More
![By Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://cdn.rotoballer.com/2015/01/MLB-Fantasy-Baseball-Advice-Analysis-Brandon-Moss.png)
Champ or Chump - Brandon Moss and Todd Frazier
The theme of this article is cheap power. As more players than ever before start cracking 20 homers, fantasy owners can rely on legitimate power bats remaining available in the latter stages of their draft. Some owners believe that this allows them to wait on power, but the league-wide increase in home runs has also... Read More
Champ or Chump - Jesse Hahn and Lewis Brinson
The Kansas City Royals and Oakland A's recently completed a trade that boils down to intriguing arm (Jesse Hahn) for slugging first baseman (Brandon Moss) for our purposes. Hahn is discussed below, while Moss will receive a closer look in a future column. Speaking of trades, much has been made of Miami's inability to get... Read More
Champ or Chump - Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich
Milwaukee's outfield has improved significantly with the additions of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, but it muddies the waters a little from a fantasy perspective. Domingo Santana should beat out Ryan Braun for the last OF slot, but Eric Thames also offers owners more upside at first base. One report suggests that Braun might play... Read More
Champ or Chump - Felipe Rivero and Colin Moran
The Milwaukee Brewers bought all of the available outfielders, so let's continue to discuss the Gerrit Cole deal. This column previously concluded that Cole may disappoint owners in Houston, while Joe Musgrove has considerable upside. Both of the articles linked above noted that Pittsburgh's infield defense is superior to Houston's, thanks in part to the... Read More
Champ or Chump - Joe Musgrove and Randal Grichuk
Baseball's offseason continues to trickle in moves as opposed to flooding us with them, but the latest batch seem interesting from a fantasy perspective. Joe Musgrove's 4.77 ERA last year may be a big reason prognosticators don't love Pittsburgh's side of the Gerrit Cole trade, but he may have the talent to replace Cole himself.... Read More
Champ or Chump - Curtis Granderson and Andrew McCutchen
Five-tool players are among the most sought after commodities in all of fantasy baseball. This is a great thing if they are performing the way you expected them to, but most owners give ex-five tool guys a much longer leash than anyone else on their roster. They end up dropping points in the standings as... Read More
Champ or Chump - Brad Hand and Gerrit Cole
Pitching is the name of the game in both real life and fantasy baseball. Rostering the wrong arms can put any team into a hole it's difficult to dig out from under, but overpaying for the right ones can leave your team exposed on the offensive side. What's a fantasy owner to do? The best... Read More
Champ or Chump - Freddy Galvis and Jay Bruce
Baseball's hot stove is finally starting to heat up a bit, with names like Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole headed to new addresses in 2018. It's late in coming, but now is the time some fantasy owners begin overlooking the smaller moves to concentrate on the biggest names. Don't make that mistake. This doesn't mean that... Read More
Champ or Chump - Yangervis Solarte and Mitch Moreland
Much is made of a team's projected batting order early on in the offseason, but the discussions quickly become moot as the realities of the regular season alter every team's plans. Slumping players move down the batting order, replaced by their more productive teammates. A utility guy could escape the bench and become a fixture... Read More
Fantasy Implications - Gerrit Cole to the Astros
The Gerrit Cole sweepstakes have finally come to an end and the Houston Astros are the new home of the 27-year-old former first round pick. Houston traded third baseman Colin Moran, outfielder Jason Martin and pitchers Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz to Pittsburgh in order to add Cole to an already formidable Astros rotation. With... Read More
Champ or Chump: Chase Headley & Starlin Castro
The following analysis is presented with some misgivings. Both Chase Headley and Starlin Castro were moved this offseason, making them candidates for a change of scenery examination. However, these veteran players do not present an obvious fit with their presumably rebuilding clubs and have been included in trade speculation, with Castro reportedly asking to be... Read More
Champ or Chump - Christian Arroyo & Denard Span
We have previously seen that both West Coast teams and bad teams are great places to mine for fantasy gold because nobody is keeping up with their games. There is a third category that also goes underappreciated: the Tampa Bay Rays. The team isn't projected to be bad (80-82 projection by Steamer) and they're not... Read More
Champ or Chump - Magneuris Sierra and Matt Moore
Last week, we looked at how West Coast players frequently become fantasy values because not everyone can stay up late enough to watch them play. The same principle applies to teams that fantasy owners expect to be utterly terrible. The 2018 iteration of the Miami Marlins is therefore a great place to look for potential... Read More
Champ or Chump - Jhoulys Chacin and Yonder Alonso
If you want to know the secret to finding unheralded fantasy assets, the answer could be as simple as looking at poor teams out west. Most media coverage centers on east coast players that the entire country is awake to see. Exceptions might be made for studs like Mike Trout or Clayton Kershaw, but no... Read More
Fantasy Implications - Marcell Ozuna to Cardinals
The 2017 season was a breakout year for slugging outfielder Marcell Ozuna, who turned in career bests in batting average (.312), on-base percentage (.376), and slugging percentage (.548) while also clubbing 37 home runs and driving in 124 RBI, both of which were also career highs. It was the type of season many fantasy owners... Read More
Champ or Chump - Dee Gordon and Giancarlo Stanton
In what has become something of a South Florida tradition, the Miami Marlins are again selling everything on their roster in an effort to reduce costs. The team is unlikely to have any established names when the 2018 season starts, setting it up as a land of opportunity for fantasy owners searching for gems on... Read More
