We stream all the time for pitching stats, but now it’s getting into crunch time for every stat on the board, especially in head-to-head leagues. Let’s look at the schedule this week and try to identify some key players in each category. Oh, and if this isn’t enough, check out the Daily Fantasy Strategy column on the site. If you squint right, you can find what you’re looking for in the Daily Five, even if you’re using it for a different reason.

We’ll start with steals because steals might be the best offensive stat to stream for.

Read the rest of this entry »

We haven’t been reporting all the Charlie Morton news that’s fit to print. Our last update on “mini Roy Halladay” came in mid-June and was for a Deep League Waiver Wire piece. He’s advanced a little in our estimation since. Is it time to pick up Charlie Morton in all leagues?

Read the rest of this entry »

When we broke down the Padres’ outfield in this space just two weeks ago, it was in response to a recent callup — Jaff Decker — and yet we found that that the outfield was mostly set in the present and the future. And so Jaff Decker hasn’t played like a regular (31 plate appearances over 11 team games), and hasn’t made much of an impact. There are many reasons to be a little bit more optimistic about this week’s callup.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Vogelsong and Roy Halladay have returned to the big leagues. Both have had decent results so far, and ones that can’t completely be explained away by matchups. On the other hand, the underlying realities of their arsenals right now combine to make a powerful argument against trusting either veteran with a crucial late-season start for your fantasy team.

Read the rest of this entry »

From Jeff Sullivan’s chat that’s happening *right now* on the site:

9:02 Comment From bdhudson
Jordan Zimmermann is developing a really unpleasant trend.

9:02 Jeff Sullivan:
This is an example of a prompt that sends me to 60 seconds of research

9:02 Jeff Sullivan:
This is why my chats go so much slower than others do

9:03 Jeff Sullivan:
Zimmerman’s first 13 starts: 2.00 ERA, 4% BB, 17% K

9:03 Jeff Sullivan:
Zimmermann’s last 12 starts: 5.27 ERA, 7% BB, 20% K

Read the rest of this entry »

Alex Rodriguez was The Prodigy, a killer shortstop in his teens that did everything. Then he was The Contract, the super star handcuffing a Texas team from being any better just by virtue of his salary. Then he was The Newcomer, the new third baseman in the Bronx that wasn’t quite a True Yankee, even when he helped bring a title to town.

Now he’s The Heel, possibly ratting on players, inspiring hate from opposing pitchers, hitting home runs and glaring back at the world as he grinds his cleats into home plate. It might be his best act ever.

Read the rest of this entry »

As the season heads into the last six weeks, things get funky. It happened earlier in Miami, where September roster expansion seems to happen in May these days. But in San Diego, it’s about that time. Coolstandings has the squad with a less than one percent chance for the postseason, and the team’s Vaunted Slugger has a busted wheel. The team doesn’t really have a top prospect ready to take over out there, either — this is the recipe for full-time plate appearances for a readily-available player. AKA fantasy gold.

Read the rest of this entry »

Darin Ruf is hitting just short of .300 with great power in his first 150+ plate appearances in the big leagues. Evan Gattis has 15 home runs in less than half of a debut season, and is catcher-eligible to boot. Let’s get crazy.

Of course, you knew what was coming, because titles work that way: they’re old. As terrible as it sounds for a mid-thirties desk jockey who has never been much better than the second- or third-best player on the court for his weekly lawyer league style pickup basketball game, two players that will be 27 years old at the end of the week are old, and that means something about their ceilings.

Still, there might be a chance these players are in different situations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s do one last round of ranks for the rest of the season. Cause I know you guys are still in it and winning your leagues because we’re helping so much, right? Right??

In any case, the trade deadline is coming up and this might help you decide on a trade or two. And to help you even further, this time I’m putting in the rest-of-season projections from Steamer. One stop shopping.

And because I can, I’m using pale ales to name the tiers. Read and drink responsibly.

Read the rest of this entry »

We can now say, with confidence and the backing of legal proceedings and pronouncements, that Ryan Braun did steroids. Those in yearly leagues have all said their curses dropped him — a good percentage of them won’t dip back into that well again, choosing to hold a grudge, or to just avoid the insecurity. But in keeper and dynasty leagues, the opportunity for arbitrage is here. Ryan Braun is available, and in a particularly desperate way in some of those leagues. But what will he look like without the juice?

Read the rest of this entry »