Alas, it’s tier time. Your first chance to either praise my crystal ball or politely ask precisely what it is that I’m smoking. Full disclosure — I’m not a fan of tiers. To be honest, I’m not sure what the point of them is. In my mind, you’re only doing half the work. Calculate dollar values that indicate exactly who you project to perform better, rather than throw up your hands and lump a group of pitchers together arbitrarily.

Reminders:

• This is American League only rankings! No, I did not forget about Clayton Kershaw or your favorite sleeper who isn’t, Raisel Iglesias.
• My rankings are almost a straight sorting of my projected dollar values earned.
• Tiers are determined in the aforementioned arbitrary way. The gaps are easier to separate toward the top, completely random as we get further down the list.
• For the first time, I have made adjustments to the rankings, somewhat reducing the impact of my innings pitched projection. This is the R.A. Dickey Adjustment. You want better ratios and can worry about innings limits later in the season. For now, you just desire the best performance.

Because I’m too lazy to come up with new tiers, once again, they will be named after characters from the brilliant FXX show, Man Seeking Woman.

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Baseball kicked off yesterday, but today is the day that the Roto Riteup celebrates as the true Opening Day.

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Episode 127 – The Beginner’s Guide to DFS

The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!

In the first episode of the year, Dylan Higgins, Matthew Dewoskin, and Brad Johnson discuss the second year of the podcast at RotoGraphs, beginner’s strategies for DFS, the joys of home owning, the weird first day of baseball, how to strategize on Opening Day, the return of The Contest, bold and timid predictions, the #fieldofstreams hashtag, and podcast plans for the upcoming year.

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Major League Baseball has made a huge mistake, launching Opening Day on the same date as Wrestlemania, forcing this Roto Riteup author to make choices.

The demise of A.J. Pollock’s elbow is clearly the big story of the day, and while it’s not in our typical remit, we’ll cover it in detail today.

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• The Phillies have not named a closer yet, and it’s not as if they have an answer and are not telling anybody. For now, our chart lists David Hernandez as the closer despite giving up a home run to the Phillies future squad. One time closer favorite Andrew Bailey has been demoted to the minors, along with Ernesto Frieri. Hernandez has appeared in 5 games this spring, and has surrendered a run in two of them. Dalier Hinojosa is not out of the picture to close games, but has struggled this spring giving up three home runs 8.2 innings. I’d avoid this situation unless you are in the deepest of leagues. Hernandez very strong numbers in Arizona in 2011 and 2012, so that would take some serious optimism to think he could get back to those numbers.

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Today is the last day without real baseball for about seven months, so enjoy your last day of free time or rejoice over the game’s return. Or both. Today’s Roto Riteup doesn’t judge…verbally.

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4/1/16

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

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• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette

Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles

• Anthony DeSclafani injury/Dan Straily acquisition
• Andrew Miller wrist
• Ross Stripling vs. Carlos Frias for LAD 5th SP

Strategy Section

• 2016 Staff Picks

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If you’ve for some reason been following my path as a fantasy baseball player closely, first thank you and secondly you might know I’m in the Fangraphs Ottoneu Staff League II. The league features some of your favorite writers from the Fangraphs family, including Scott Spratt, Brad Johnson, Jeff Zimmerman and more. David Wiers is in the league too.

For point of reference, here’s the league homepage.

As I’ve mentioned every now and then here and on Twitter, my fantasy baseball strategy is kind of bizarre. I guess I just get really weird about players I do and do not want, and don’t get into the politics in an auction of bidding a player up that I do not want just to price enforce. For me, with a finite number of roster spots and the odds you could wind up with a player you don’t want with just one false move, the risk just isn’t worth it.

For instance, if I’m totally out on Sonny Gray — basically just a name, so don’t read too much into it here — and he’s about to go for $15, I won’t bid $16 just to get him to $20, which I think is a more fair price. Instead, I think the strategy I employ is quite a bit less risky. Maybe it’s dumb, but I just throw guys out for the first number of rounds that I have no interest in, but I’m certain they’ll go for more than a buck. If I can get my league mates involved in spending dollars and using roster spots on guys I have no interest in, I might get a deal later. But even if I don’t get a deal, I at least get a bit more clarity as I clean up the draft board.

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Below, you’ll find the RotoGraphs staffs’ picks for the 2016 season. We, here at RotoGraphs — we like to pick things. Make lists. All that.

If you have some heavy-duty drafting to wrap up this weekend, maybe these picks will come in handy. If not, perhaps they can come in handy as guidance for some thrifty, shifty mid-season moves. And if not that, then simply appreciate these for what they are: literally the best preseason picks you’ll see anywhere. Period!

OK, maybe that won’t end up being true. Who knows! None of us are clairvoyant, and that’s a damn shame. But we do our best to pretend like we are. Anyway, enough of this rambling. Here’s what you came here for, split into two tables — 2016 staff picks for hitters, and more for pitchers.

Also, for further clarity, please refer to the category definitions that follow each table.

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You often hear fantasy analysts discuss the shares they have of a particular player, reducing them to the fantasy baseball equivalent of a financial instrument. The benefit of being in as many leagues as I am is that I can try to diversify my portfolio- owning at least one share of as many players that I like as possible, while limiting my risk of overexposure to any one hitter or pitcher. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the players I own the most shares in across the ten ottoneu leagues that have already completed their auction drafts. These names represent the intersection of players I believe are primed for big seasons along with an auction price that I felt offered a good discount.

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