Man, it was no fun this year being in an AL-Only league, as the biggest name to cross over was Tommy Pham. Last year, he enjoyed a surprise breakout, posting a .398 wOBA, driven by power, speed, and BABIP skillZ. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone nearly as well for him this season, as his wOBA has plummeted to just .320, thanks to a decline in his HR/FB rate and dive in his BABIP. Having lost some playing time in St. Louis recently, he should return to being an every day player in Tampa. How might his new home park impact his performance? Let’s find out.

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This is an updated version of an article originally posted in 2013 and then reposted in 2015 and 2017. It’s a vitally important exercise to perform, so I think it’s worthwhile to continue to resurface it each season around this time.

Heading into the final two months of the season, the effect any individual player will have on our place in the standings has continued to diminish, which means that this time of year represents one of the final chances to improve our teams. It probably doesn’t need to be stated, but it’s important to reiterate for those still clinging to preseason values (I usually cling to them far longer than most, but even I know to give them up at this point!) — you need to essentially throw player values out the window and trade for needs based on your position in the various statistical categories. Don’t worry about overpaying if you still expect the trade to net you positive points. Obviously, you want to make a trade that brings back the greatest value in return and gain you the most standings points, but if the best return offered to you is a player whose owner paid $15 for him during the auction for your $25 player, it’s still absolutely worth accepting if you determine that it should gain you points.

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The non-waiver trade deadline is almost upon us! So far, it’s been relatively uneventful, but there was one big name that was on the move — the Moose himself, Mike Moustakas. The Brewers traded some of their outfield depth for about two months of Moustakas to boost their chances of making the playoffs. Let’s compare the relevant park factors to to determine how much this change in home parks could impact his performance.

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Last week, I discussed the most disappointing starting pitchers after comparing CBS’ projected versus actual ranking. Today, we look into the surprises and ask ourselves whether they could keep up the magic.

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The upcoming non-waiver trade deadline is always a fun time for fantasy owners, especially for those in mono leagues. Trades open up opportunities for those already on the club or newly arriving, plus prospects recalled to replace those traded away. Furthermore, many teams are treating this time as the official time to play for the future. Let’s discuss two names who may benefit from such moves in the near future.

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Yesterday, I attempted to discuss the season’s biggest hitter disappointments by comparing each player’s projected CBS ranking to his current actual ranking. Unfortunately, injuries played a bigger role than I realized for several of the players, which explains a good portion of their disappointing fantasy value. Today I’ll discuss the biggest surprises and luckily injuries won’t screw up my analysis this time!

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Last week, I compared CBS’ projected rankings versus their actual rankings to determine which starting pitchers have disappointed the most. Today, I’ll check in on the hitters. I used the same simple math, subtracting projected ranking from actual ranking and then sorted by the difference in descending order. I excluded injured/suspended players not expected to return soon, hitters who missed a chunk of time to injury that has limited their counting stat production, and those in the minors. I limited the players to those projected inside the top 200. Basically, if they were only projected to earn a couple of bucks, is it really so disappointing if they’ve “earned” -$10 so far? Nah.

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With two ratio categories out of four they contribute to, starting pitchers could turn around their seasons much more easily than hitters, who must make up ground in four counting stats. I compare the CBS projected and actual rankings and sorted by the difference for a list of the most disappointing and surprising starters. I eliminated any pitcher currently on the DL. These six are arguably the most disappointing. Will any of them deliver the kind of value over the second half that fantasy owners paid for?

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Since 2013, I have polled you dashingly attractive readers on which group of pitchers you think will post the better aggregate ERA post all-star break. The two groups were determined based on ERA-SIERA disparity, pitting the overperformers versus the underperformers during the pre-all-star break period.

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Yesterday, I discussed the nine hitters whose Auto Out% (AO%) had improved most versus 2017. As a reminder, AO% is simply the sum of strikeouts and infield fly balls (aka, popups) divided by plate appearances. Let’s take a look at the hitters whose AO% has risen most dramatically versus last season.

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