As a RotoGraph positional correspondent, I’ll be updating the National League outfielder rankings and discussing all things NL OF here going forward. Since it’s a little early to be changing up the rankings, let’s just talk about a couple of outfielders that might deserve to be owned in more leagues.

Lance Berkman (33% owned in Yahoo, 97.4% in ESPN)
This is a strange one. I would actually argue that he deserves to be owned in fewer than 97.4% of leagues because I don’t think the outfield will do his body good. With knee and back problems already in his past, roaming the expansive outfield in St. Louis will probably mean more missed games over the course of the season, and his muted power upside and average-ish averages mean he shouldn’t be owned in almost every league – that sort of ownership level suggests dependability and consistent ability.

Read the rest of this entry »

Matt Holliday needed an appendectomy on April 1st. Originally it was reported that he was to be out about 4-6 weeks. Since then the time table has been moved up, even to the point that Matt has not even been place on the DL yet. I decided to go back and look historically at players that had their appendix removed, see how long they were off and did their performance change after the operation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Catchers and closers, catchers and closers…

Read the rest of this entry »

Jack Cust | 2% Owned (Y!) | 0.4% Owned (ESPN)
Be forewarned ESPN owners: Jack Cust is not outfield eligible. But if you’re like me and play more on the Yahoo! side of things, Cust could be a nice addition if things go right for him. We all know by now that Cust is much more valuable in OBP leagues, but if your team can stomach a relatively low batting average, you don’t have much to worry about. Cust has seemingly always had playing time questions surrounding him, but since the Mariners don’t have much in the way of a suitable platoon player, Cust should be an everyday player. Add him if you’re looking for some extra pop and decent RBIs.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, I discussed a strategy that is rarely talked about, as on the surface, it sounds foolish. I suggested considering actually trying to buy high and sell low. I argued that buying low and selling high has become much more difficult to accomplish in recent years in this age of so much great statistical analysis that is freely available. As a result, the buy high, sell low, trade is much easier to pull off, and if executed carefully, could still pay off. However, the traditional buy low, sell high trade could still be made. Here are several scenarios in which I think this type of trade has the best chance of being pulled off.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I told you to keep an eye on Washington backup Wilson Ramos.  He may have been listed as the backup on the team’s depth chart, but it has been widely speculated that he will receive the lion’s share of the work behind the dish for the Nationals this season as they slowly phase out a declining Pudge Rodriguez.  Platoons can be a tenuous situation for fantasy leaguers, so avoiding them is usually one’s priority come draft day.  But if you’re playing in a deep league or a league that calls for two catchers, you are sometimes forced to take a chance and hope you grab the better half of a split situation.  Here’s a couple of notable interest… Read the rest of this entry »

Now that the fantasy baseball season has finally arrived, it’s time to start looking at some players that may have been overlooked in drafts. While the season is less than a week old, and there aren’t any performances we can fully trust, it’s risky to fully commit to these types of players. That said, Julio Borbon and Chris Tillman are two players that aren’t owned in many leagues that could provide significant value going forward.
Read the rest of this entry »

No, the title was not a typo. Now that the season is officially underway, we will soon be greeted to message board posts from panicked fantasy owners nervous about their slow starting stars. Numerous buy low articles will be published suggesting that the listed players will be quite easy to acquire, but in practice, these players are increasingly difficult to actually pry away. When every fantasy site is recommending the same guys to go out and trade for cheaply, don’t you think the owners of these players are reading these same articles and are smart enough not to give them up so quickly? So I propose a different strategy: the buy high and sell low.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve actually never been a big fan of Jayson Werth, and when he left Philadelphia for a $126M, 7 year deal with Washington, I liked him even less.  Not only was he leaving hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park and the safety of that power lineup, but he was also slated to bat cleanup for the Nationals which had the potential of creating major problems for him and crushing the fantasy expectations of his owners.  However, now that Jim Riggleman has Werth batting second, the prospect of him retaining a quality fantasy value, in my opinion, has greatly increased. Read the rest of this entry »

Opening day always seems like it’s full of surprises.

We had just hours to absorb the news that Edwin Encarnacion went from waiver candidate/fantasy obscurity to starting third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays and while I was fully expecting Chipper Jones to break his (insert body part here) on his first on-deck circle practice swing, it’s clear that the geezer doesn’t want to go on the cart just yet. Sure, Jones is perhaps not a hot commodity in dynasty leagues and Encarnacion won’t get the hearts of folks who tabulate errors or count OBP all-a-flutter. But Encarnacion and Jones, from a standard league standpoint, aren’t quite dead yet, and your fantasy squad might want to take notice.

Read the rest of this entry »