Nothing better than a piping hot Country Breakfast, loaded with OPS and smothered and covered in rich, delicious stat lines, to help you win your fantasy championship…

After a breakout season in 2012, added position eligibility and arguably one of the best nicknames in baseball right now, Billy Butler is headed towards being one of the sexier picks in fantasy drafts next season. Batting .313 with 29 home runs and 107 RBI while amassing 20 games played at the position this past season, Butler is no longer just a DH and will garner some serious attention in the future. Though accidentally omitted in Zach Sanders’ End of Season First Base Rankings, Butler should be slotted sixth with a value of $19 and while that may not be enough to land him “elite status,” it certainly made him one of the better value picks at the position this past year. Read the rest of this entry »

If you need to see the definition of LVP, then please check out Eno’s article where he describes the fantasy awards that we’re doling out here. You can also just accept that it stands for Least Valuable Player and stay with me right here. It’s pretty self-explanatory, right? And with the title of the piece, obviously you know who won. But rather than just declare Troy Tulowitzki as the guy who screwed fantasy owners over the most and walk away with the shortest article in RotoGraphs history, let’s look into it a little further. Read the rest of this entry »

By true definition, at least by Aesop’s fables, the turtle represents the old adage, “slow and steady wins the race.” By our definition, at least how Eno laid it out, the fantasy turtle is the best buy-low/waiver pick-up that dominated in the second half of the season. While some of our awards were fairly unanimous, this one wasn’t, as nine players received votes. Again, the title of the piece tells you that Kris Medlen won, but let’s look a little further into it. Read the rest of this entry »

As Eno laid it out for you yesterday, this week is dedicated to handing out some of RotoGraphs most coveted and dubious fantasy awards. For this installment we’re going to look at the American League Fantasy Hare, an honor bestowed to the AL player who came out of the gate white-hot, was a fantastic sell-high candidate, and then fizzled out in the second half. Those who sold him we’re obviously overjoyed while those who paid the steep price to own him in the second half, were left banging their heads against a wall. The title of the post gives away the winner, but let’s look a littler deeper into it and who else Mark Trumbo edged out for the honors. Read the rest of this entry »

There I was, waging a fierce comeback. I was in second place, down 12.5 points in my friend’s 12-team 7×7 mixed, roto league with just over two weeks remaining in the regular season. The point differential seemed massive, but not impossible. There might be an ‘I’ in ‘quit,’ but not now. Not today. I took a long, hard look at the standings and assessed the situation. Read the rest of this entry »

Depending on how close a race you are in, whether it’s a roto league or head to head, this is your last-ditch effort to finish on top. If you need strikeouts to scratch out a point, then you load up on potential strikeout pitchers. If you need to add a few ticks to your team OBP, then so long as it isn’t a keeper league, ditch everyone that isn’t contributing and get someone else in there who is. This is obviously nothing new and I’m not offering up some secret advice. I’m just trying to encourage you to keep the fight goign for one more day. Do everything you can and walk away from the season with your head held high. Read the rest of this entry »

As Eno pointed out yesterday, streaming on the final day of the season can be a tricky proposition. Teams headed for the playoffs might pull back a starter or at least give him an early hook while team that are out of it could leave a pitcher in far longer than he should be left in (rember Edwin Jackson’s last start?). But if you can grab even the slightest advantage in your final head to head match-up or you can eke out another point or two in your roto league, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to give yourself the best possible chance to win. Here are some names to consider here at the end… Read the rest of this entry »

We’re going to piggyback a post from early September done by Jeff Zimmerman that lists those that have been injured in September but are not on the DL. With rosters expanding to the full 40 here in the final month, teams no longer need to put players on the DL to open up a roster spot for a new arrival. However, for those still active  here ate the end and are streaming players to the bitter end, it can be tough to sift through those who have been banged up enough that they won’t make another appearance this season. Here’s an update… Read the rest of this entry »

We’ll be doing a wrap-up of each position once the regular season comes to an official close, but for now, let’s talk about a few of the backstops who made significant contributions to fantasy teams this year, but are likely to be overvalued next season.  Whether their stats regress or whether they come at a significantly higher cost than they should, either draft pick or auction dollars, some of 2012’s fantasy heroes behind the dish just won’t measure up next season.  I’m sure most readers of RotoGraphs are wary of the pitfalls, but just in case you’re new to the scene, here are a few to watch out for next season. Read the rest of this entry »

While I would like to say that the title of this edition of Kicking Rocks indicates a fool-proof way to win your league here in the final two weeks, it’s actually more of a plea for good sportsmanship.  Win or lose, you want to walk away from this season with your head held high and as someone who the rest of the league is excited to have back the following season.  The last six months were probably filled with a number of moments, both good and bad, and whether you had direct involvement or not, you still want everyone to walk away with the understanding that the league is a good one in which to play and that no matter what happens, it’s all still a game. With that, here are a few things of which to take note: Read the rest of this entry »