Parsing data too small can create unreasonable expectations. As an astute reader, I don’t need to remind you to take any small samples with a grain of salt. However, if you wait for a player’s stats to normalize, the ship has likely sailed for acquiring him for free. With that in mind, I’m intrigued by Kyle Gibson’s numbers of late. Even his full-season totals offer some optimism for him being a useful pitcher in deep leagues. He’s widely available (CBS: 14%, ESPN: 3.0%, Yahoo!: 10%) and probably worth a look if you’re pitching starved. Read the rest of this entry »

It didn’t take long for a team to acquire Oswaldo Arcia after the Twins opted to designate him for assignment. He’ll get a fresh start for the injury-depleted Rays. With the non-waiver trade deadline on August 1st, Joey Gallo could finally get another crack at the majors soon. I’ve also got my eyes on a lefty throwing premium cheddar. James Paxton is lighting up the radar gun and received some love from Paul a few weeks ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Fantasy gamers who drafted Matt Harvey and Sonny Gray haven’t gotten the return on their investment they’ve hoped for. Harvey’s strung together three straight strong starts, but Gray turned in a rough start Wednesday night after a pair of solid starts following his disabled list stint. I loved Harvey coming into the year, but I was down on Gray. For the rest of the year, though, I’m buying into both pitching well. Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s MLB Amateur Draft started last night. With draft hype in the air, now’s a great time to highlight how great last year’s number-two pick has been. Also, saves are always of need in fantasy leagues, and a temporary committee closer is widely available and worth some attention from saves-starved gamers. Read the rest of this entry »

This isn’t necessarily a free agent/waiver piece, though, these three players are under owned and available in many leagues. If this trio of players isn’t available in your league, don’t fret. I’ve chosen to highlight them because I believe their rest-of-season value outpaces their current production or how they’re being valued — at least how I perceive them to be valued based on their ownership rates. If they’re owned, consider trading for them. Read the rest of this entry »

Originally, I intended on identifying pitchers who are worth buying based on their SwStr% for this article. And then I got hung up on Kenta Maeda’s work this year and couldn’t pull myself away. Alas, as the title of this article suggests, you won’t be getting a piece about trade/free agent targets based on SwStr%, but you will get a full-blown endorsement of acquiring the services of Maeda. Read the rest of this entry »

Power at catcher is always in demand, and the position should be getting an influx soon as a the result of a former catcher once again donning the tools of ignorance after leaving the position last year. The former top prospect in all of baseball was Wally Pipped over the last couple of seasons, but he’ll get an opportunity to strut his stuff in the majors over the next couple of weeks. Also, a pitcher whose play and velocity has been up and down this year is coming off of a strong start in which he regained the velo bump he showcased in his first few starts. Read the rest of this entry »

I love young players. This week’s piece will allow me to indulge my love of young players. The first highlighted player is highly owned, but his ownership rate at one of the major fantasy baseball providers is insanely low. He’s joined by a pair of players in the Triple-A International League who should all reach the majors in the coming months. If recent performance is an indicator, they’ll be getting a look sooner rather than later. Read the rest of this entry »

I was beaten to the punch on Jesse Hahn by colleague Rylan Edwards earlier this week. I’ll second Edwards’ endorsement of Hahn, and he also highlights Henderson Alvarez as a viable deep league add. Like Hahn, Alvarez is a low punch-out pitcher, and I’ve opted to highlight a high-strikeout reliever who will help pick up the slack for the starting pitcher duo. Joining the reliever is a minor league first baseman whose path is looking clearer every day and a Swiss Army Knife whose ownership is criminally low. Read the rest of this entry »

Hector Santiago has historically been the type of pitcher I won’t roster in fantasy. The lefty has a track record of smashing his ERA estimators (3.51 ERA for his career compared to a 4.51 FIP, 4.67 xFIP and 4.26 SIERA) with underwhelming strikeout rates, mediocre stuff and below average control. No, I don’t blindly regress a pitcher like Santiago to his ERA estimators. It appears some skill or skills he possesses allows him to post an ERA that’s better than them. That said, I’m usually leery of the gap between the ERA and the ERA estimators closing, and with the bulk of the lefty’s fantasy relevance tied to posting a helpful ERA, any slippage would cripple his value. This isn’t the same Santiago anymore, though, and I now roster him in all three fantasy leagues I’m in this year. Read the rest of this entry »