• Well it didn’t take long for us to have our first closer controversy in 2016 as John Gibbons announced that Roberto Osuna will be their closer on Opening Day. After trading Ben Revere for Drew Storen this offseason, it was assumed that Storen would be in the driver’s seat for the closing gig in Toronto but 2015 rookie sensation Roberto Osuna should take the job and run with it again. Adding insult to injury, after learning about his demotion from the closer’s chair, Storen allowed two runs in one inning of work yesterday. For those of you who had their drafts already, I’m sorry for your loss and you should try to convince the commissioner to hold the draft closer to Opening Day. For those of you who have not had their draft, please bump up Osuna’s value. While there is very stiff competition at the top of the relief rankings (these are a bit outdated and we hope to have an update soon), Osuna was darn impressive as a 20-year old and I could see him touching the top ten by the end of 2016.

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“Microphone Check 1,2, what is this?”

Well, it’s not a five foot assassin, but instead it’s my first run at a tiered ranking of the first baseman. Also a week late in my tribute; sorry about that. I appreciate any and all feedback, but do keep in mind these are subjective and based on a predicative nature. Just because I have somebody tiered lower than you do doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go with what you think is best. Naturally. Also, players with a star next to their name played less than 20 games at first base last season, so they may or may not be eligible depending on your format, and they may or may not receive eligibility during the season.

For the astute and avid Rotograph readers, you will notice these rankings differ from the staff rankings we did earlier in March. I hadn’t done as much research for those at the time, so these are more in line with what I think at this moment. Which may change in ten minutes. Alas, the fun of rankings.

In the spirit of subjectivity and my love for music, I have created tiers based on my personal favorite jazz styles. In no way am I saying my top tier is the best style of jazz; just my personal favorite. In a perfect world, we could all somehow discuss jazz and baseball together. Here is my first attempt at doing so. Keep it real!

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Managing injured players is a real nuisance. There are two scenarios I’d like to discuss today – fantasy injury stacks and nagging injuries. Each offers distinct challenges based on league type, depth, and settings.

Fantasy Injury Stacks

It happens to all of us eventually. Our roster includes two DL slots, so what do we do? Say hello Yu Darvish and Alex Cobb. Or maybe you didn’t even stash anybody. You may still have the misfortune of losing four key, uncuttable players in a week.

At some point in the season, you’ll probably have more injured players than DL spots. Here are five factors you’ll need to consider before making your next move:

• Type of injury
• Expected length of DL trip
• Roster composition/redundancy (i.e. do you have an empty active roster spot)
• The player’s expected production when he returns relative to waiver wire replacements
• Keeper status

The first two bullets may seem related, but they’re distinct points of analysis. Andrew Miller missed a month last season with a forearm strain. In a pitcher, this injury often leads to Tommy John surgery. Carter Capps is the latest victim. I actually cut Miller in a few leagues (luckily I got him back before he returned) specifically because of the risks involved with this particular injury. Had he been set to miss a month after an appendectomy, I would have held onto him.

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Author’s Note: The article you see below was completed before Andrew Miller was injured by a comebacker on Wednesday. I believe the thought process and information below is still relevant and useful, even in light of this injury.

I love this time of year. Sure it’s fun to be doing my own draft prep. But a much underrated part of draft season is all the talk by others in the industry about their own processes. If you’re trying to learn about other strategies and improve at this game, the expert draft season is a treasure trove of goodies. A lot of the strategy and thought provoking discussions will dry up as we get further away from March.

I gobble up the draft recap articles and podcasts that come out of the LABR and Tout drafts because I’m such a junkie for the strategies and decision making processes others use.

And there were some interesting ones this year. Ron Shandler took his new BABS approach to Tout Wars. Steve Moyer attempted the Labadini plan. And there’s now a Tout Wars head-to-head draft with some interesting rules that will lead to interesting strategies (as Jeff Zimmerman wrote about on Rotographs (free!), Rotographs again (free!), and Rotowire ($$)).

But the one outcome I want to discuss wasn’t so much an overall strategy as it was a specific plan or series of decisions. Chris Liss, of Rotowire, drafted Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, and Dellin Betances for a combined $38 in the AL Tout Wars draft (click here to see the entire results of all the Tout leagues).

Was this a good move? Or not? Read the rest of this entry »

It brings tears to my eyes seeing the Bold Predictions series I first started here at RotoGraphs back in 2011 so enthusiastically embraced. In that first post, I actually doled out 20 boldies, giving myself double the chances to look like a fool! This year, few of my bold predictions will be a surprise, as the majority of these names have appeared in at least one of my preseason articles, signaling a clear bullish or bearish stance.

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Devastating news pierced through the fantasy baseball world on Thursday afternoon when we learned that Tuffy Gosewisch would be sent to Triple-A to start the season.

#Dbacks option catcher Tuffy Gosewisch to the Triple-A Reno @Aces.

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) March 31, 2016

Losing an early round pick like this can be crushing to a team before we even throw a single pitch in the regular season, but you’re not doomed to last place because of it. That said, you have to hold Gosewisch in all formats at this point. He’s too valuable a commodity to just cut willy-nilly. If fools in your league played themselves and cut him, you need to be ready to pounce. Here are the catchers I’d cut to get Gosewisch:

Kyle Schwarber, Brian McCann, Travis d’Arnaud, Salvador Perez, Russell Martin, Yasmani Grandal, Derek Norris, Stephen Vogt, Matt Wieters, Yan Gomes, Devin Mesoraco, Francisco Cervelli, Welington Castillo, J.T. Realmuto, Blake Swihart, Nick Hundley, Miguel Montero, and Wilson Ramos

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We are so close. SO close. Like, two days away. Giddy up.

On the agenda:
1. Billy Hamilton to hit at bottom of the order
2. Pablo Sandoval headed to the bench
3. Masahiro Tanaka ready for opening day
4. Cory Luebke makes the Pirates
5. Hyun Soo Kim refuses minor-league assignment
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