Author Archive

Chad Young’s Ottoneu Tiered OF Rankings Follow Up

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Washington Nationals during the ninth inning at Nationals Park.
Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

The rankings beat marches on. Yesterday, you saw my 4×4 rankings for outfield and today I’ll share my FanGraphs Points rankings, as well as thoughts on the other formats.

Read the rest of this entry »


Chad Young’s OF Tiered Rankings for 4×4 Ottoneu

Athletics designated hitter Brent Rooker (25) hits a single against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park.
Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

After getting started with middle infield last week, this week we move on to outfield. Why start with those two spots? Because they are huge lists and I want to get them done. Rock solid logic, there. Outfield is also an interesting position over the years, as it has varied between feeling deep and feeling shallow. This year, between the emergence of guys like Kyle Stowers, Tyler Soderstrom, Roman Anthony, and James Wood and the re-emergence of guys like George Springer and Cody Bellinger, it feels like it is trending back towards “deep” and that makes it a fun position to think about for auctions.

Read the rest of this entry »


Chad Young’s Ottoneu Tiered MI Rankings Follow Up

Rangers shortstop Corey Seager (5) hits a two-run home run during the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field.
Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

My 4×4 tiered rankings for middle infield came out yesterday, and as promised in my intro article back in December, I am going to follow up each positional ranking with two things: my rankings for FanGraphs Points leagues and notes on how rankings would differ for other formats.

Read the rest of this entry »


Chad Young’s MI Tiered Rankings for 4×4 Ottoneu

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) throws to first base for an out against the Athletics during the first inning at Sutter Health Park.
Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

As we move into the final weeks before the keeper deadline, it’s time to get our Ottoneu rankings out. Over the next three plus weeks, you’ll get regular rankings articles from me and from Jake Mailhot, as discussed in my rankings preview in December. I will post my 4×4 tiered rankings position-by-position, and follow up that day or the next with rankings for FanGraphs Points league. On the 4×4 articles, I’ll give some overall thoughts on the position, while in the FanGraphs Points articles, I’ll offer thoughts on how the position looks different for 5×5 and Head-to-Head leagues. Jake’s FanGraphs points rankings will come out the day after my 4×4 rankings. We’re starting with middle infield.

Read the rest of this entry »


Ottoneu: Chad’s 2026 Keep or Cut Decisions on the Mound

Guardians starting pitcher Joey Cantillo throws a pitch against the Texas Rangers
Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

We wrap up this series today with a look at tough keep or cut calls on pitchers. This is the group I like the least. Pitching is an area where I least trust the projections and so I have the hardest time figuring out how to value these guys. As a result, I tend to prefer obvious values and I am often willing to pay a premium in trade for a guy pitcher I have no questions about. Of course, they are pitchers, so there are always questions – volatility in performance, injury risk, etc. But, I still have to make decisions, so here are some of my tough ones.

Read the rest of this entry »


Ottoneu: Chad’s 2026 Keep or Cut Decisions at OF

Wyatt Langford taking off from the box after putting the ball in play.
Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

It feels like it has been forever since I last updated this series by reviewing my tough calls at MI and that is what the holidays do to us. A couple of weeks of family time and travel and suddenly it’s 2026, we’re just over a month out from pitchers and catchers reporting, and I am running out of time to make these decisions. Today, we turn our attention to the OF and debate whether to hold these OF bats or kick’em to the curb.

Read the rest of this entry »


Ottoneu: Chad’s 2026 Keep or Cut Decisions at MI

Credit: Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We’re now onto the fourth installment of our Keep or Cut decisions series. Jake has offered up his tough choices at CI/C and MI, I covered CI/C last week so now it is my turn to discuss MI. Usually, I make a point of looking at names Jake didn’t look at, but this week, I am going to start by (quickly) rehashing one of the players he covered with a slightly different take.

Read the rest of this entry »


Ottoneu: Chad’s 2026 Keep or Cut Decisions at CI and C

Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Jake Mailhot kicked off our series of articles reviewing our toughest keep or cut decisions on Monday, looking at some tough calls at C and CI. Today, I’ll follow his lead and go over my toughest calls at those spots, looking at one tough call each at 1B, 3B, and C. Read the rest of this entry »


Chad Young’s Tiered Rankings Preview

Last week, I asked you what you wanted to see from my rankings this winter, and the results were pretty interesting. I got a ton of comments, messages on Slack, etc. It was great to hear how much those value those rankings provide (except to the one dude who clearly hates rankings; sorry to you and the anti-rankings community for any harm I cause you with my rankings this off-season) and how much people appreciate the one-line comments on each player. But there were some other pieces of feedback worth noting, and those have all shaped my plan for rankings this year.

Read the rest of this entry »


Ottoneu Rankings Season – What do you want to see?

With arbitration behind us, trade season upon us, and cut decisions looming, it is rankings season for your favorite team of Ottoneu writers. The last couple of seasons, you have gotten tiered rankings for Ottoneu FanGraphs points leagues both from Jake Mailhot and from me. We’ve focused on FanGraphs Points because it is the most popular Ottoneu format, and because the combination of our rankings and 5×5 rankings from other writers are enough to create a decent set of rankings for 4×4, 5×5 and SABR Points Ottoneu leagues. But you know what we haven’t done? Asked you what you want?

Read the rest of this entry »