It’s time to take another stroll through Zach Sanders’ Outfield End of Season Rankings and today’s jaunt takes us all the way down to number 47 on the list — A’s outfielder Coco Crisp. A veteran outfielder, the now 33-year old, switch-hitting Crisp enjoyed one of the more productive seasons of his 11-year career in 2012 when he posted a .259 average with 11 home runs, 68 runs, 46 RBI and 39 stolen bases. He stayed healthy enough to amass 508 plate appearances over 120 games, was considered a leader in the clubhouse, and had a flair for the dramatic as he produced numerous game-winning moments for the A’s. Though not counted as a stat in fantasy just yet, Crisp enjoyed a total of six shaving cream pies in Oakland this year to commemorate his heroics. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time again to take a peek at Zach Sanders Outfielders End of Season Rankings and continue our exploration of fantasy value. If you scroll all the way down to number 37, a ranking that, personally, I feel is a little low, you’ll find White Sox designated hitter and both the Sporting News’ and MLBPA’s AL Comeback Player of the Year, Adam Dunn. Technically, he is no longer eligible in the outfield as he only played first base (52 games) and DH (93 games), but because he qualified there in 2012, we have him listed as such. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time again to jump back into Zach Sander’s Outfield End of Season Rankings and pull out another gem for us to discuss. And since I live in the Bay Area and have a hankering to “poke the bear in the zoo” and have my house egged next Halloween for blasphemy, it’s time to fire up all you Giants fans and dissect one of your darling World Champions. So let’s scroll on down to good ol’ number 29 and talk about Hunter Pence. Read the rest of this entry »

C’mon readers of RotoGraphs, you didn’t really think I was going to let the year end without another piece on Adam Jones from me, did you? I was just waiting for the appropriate time and with the release of Zach Sanders’ Outfielder End of Season Rankings, that time is now. So scroll on down to number six, check out those numbers and $21 value and let’s talk about Baltimore’s number one outfielder. Read the rest of this entry »

As I sit here 30 pounds heavier and still feeling the effects of slipping into a pumpkin pie-induced coma, I am reminded by Zach Sanders’ End of Season Outfielder Rankings that we’re still doing our player evaluations from 2012 and it’s now time to get back to baseball. Obviously, there are plenty of interesting players in the outfield to sift through and discuss, but as I scrolled through, something that caught my eye and had me pleasantly surprised, was that Michael Bourn was sitting at number 16. While most head to head leagues and most of the ottoneu universe dismiss the importance of a burner like Bourn, roto league owners should be looking to grab him in 2013 and gain that much-needed edge in the stolen base and runs scored categories. Read the rest of this entry »

There are plenty of things that I am thankful for this year. Adam Jones’ breakout and Melky Cabrera’s PEDs bust which proved his 2011 was indeed unsustainable without a little illegal assistance — two articles and a bold prediction (found here, here and here) I took a mess of heat for in the comments section that still have me smiling at the haters — are two such examples. But what I am most thankful for in the fantasy baseball world is the mess of young, raw talent I own in my primary keeper league that has no contracts and a keeper structure that has a minimal inflation rate. Mike Trout, Brett Lawrie, Jason Kipnis, Jason Heyward, just to name a few. But I can’t keep them all and at first base I am left with a tough choice that I will turn to you for some thoughts: Would you rather keep Paul Goldschmidt or Anthony Rizzo? Read the rest of this entry »

After Jeff Zimmerman busted out with the Bill James projections yesterday, I was inspired to bring back the Keeper League Would You Rather series from last offseason. Sure it’s not even Thanksgiving yet and sure, we’re still more than two and a half months away from pitchers and catchers reporting, but it’s never too late to start thinking about your keeper league protects for next season. Obviously, there are a number of factors that go into determining who you keep and who you release — cost, position scarcity, the type of players your league seems to always covet most, just to name a few — so we’re going to stick to comparison within the positions and while we can’t really neglect potential costs, we’re going to focus more on the players’ statistics and expectations. So without further ado, let’s get to our first comparison — Would you rather keep Yoenis Cespedes or Justin Upton? Read the rest of this entry »

For the regulars of RotoGraphs, you know that I covered the catchers all season and somewhere in the early goings of the second half, I finally put Buster Posey in the top tier, all by himself. Every other catcher to me was flawed in some way and for at least one way or another paled in comparison to the Giants backstop. Well, after looking at Zach Sanders’ Catcher End of Season Rankings and looking at Posey’s return value of $23, I would say that I was not wrong in my thinking. Posey is, indeed, a cut above the rest and is well-deserving of his number one ranking. Read the rest of this entry »

While the rest of the baseball community tries to make heads or tails out of yesterday’s Marlins/Blue Jays trade, a deal that only furthers the belief that Jeffrey Loria is one of the worst in the business, I’ll stick with Zach Sanders’ Catcher End of Season Rankings and scroll on down to a personal favorite of mine, at number seven, Miguel Montero. If you’ve owned him at any point over the last four seasons, then you know how valuable he can be in fantasy and if you haven’t, then you’re about to be let in on one of the best kept secrets at the catcher position. Read the rest of this entry »

With news that the Boston Red Sox have signed longtime Atlanta back-up David Ross, now would certainly be an appropriate time to look down Zach Sanders’ Catcher End of Season Rankings, scroll down to number 12 and take a look at Jarrod Saltalamacchia. With a breakout year that saw him play a career-high 121 games and post career-best numbers in the primary fantasy categories, save for average and on-base percentage, the Red Sox now face some tough decisions. Do they keep Salty as their primary backstop and keep Ross in the reserve role to which he is accustomed or do they deal Salty away and make room for a potential catcher platoon with Ross and upstart Ryan Lavarnway? Read the rest of this entry »