Astute readers perhaps noted a certain (Re)Introduction of the Fringe Five penned last week by my esteemed colleague Alex Chamberlain. This was a stark departure from previous Fringe Five columns, the totality of which were authored by former FanGraphist Carson Cistulli. Mr. Cistulli has moved on to a better place (Toronto) and so we must carry on his stead.

Alex and I will share this column throughout the year on a bi-weekly basis. Or semi-weekly. Whichever one means we each write once every other week. The internet, in its vast wisdom, seemingly suggests that both words could be correct. Or incorrect.

Anyway. You’ll notice both Alex and I have been infected by an extra helping of writer’s voice, a contagion I am certain can be traced directly to Mr. Cistulli. Behold, relevant words from the breast of Carson himself. To wit, what is this column and how does a player become eligible to participate?

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You might know me as the streaming guy. I certainly endeavor to be known as the streaming guy. And so, it might come as something of a surprise to find me writing a post against streaming. First, let’s back up a step.

What is streaming? In short, it’s the practice of using the waiver wire to extend the size of your bench. Instead of sitting on Fernando Tatis with the last roster spot, we can stream to use Brad Keller versus the Tigers, Shin-Soo Choo leading off versus Mike Leake, and Craig Stammen after Kirby Yates pitched back-to-back days. Make enough of these marginal upgrades over the course of a season, and you should be sitting pretty. It’s also a great way to find a Max Muncy before your rivals – assuming you know to not immediately cut him.

Clearly, this is a strategy for an active owner. Many fantasy players prefer to take a chiller approach to roster management. Scrounging can be tedious. Some would rather draft a team and make only a few changes. To these owners, streaming is the devil – it confers an advantage to their rivals that can only be matched by a larger investment of time.

This post is for these owners. Today, we’re going to discuss how to design good non-streaming leagues.

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Yes. We’re going to look at two games worth of data to find value changes for the remainder of draft season. Since you’re savvy FanGraphs readers, you know that nobody actually changed in value based on two games. Well, there’s one notable exception. We’ll get to him.

Still, there’s real baseball, and I’ll be damned if we don’t try to use it. Let’s break this into a few buckets.

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Consensuses make me nervous. When everybody agrees, there’s usually a way to profit with a contrarian approach. This season features perhaps the most monolithic consensus I’ve seen in the last decade. Ace starting pitchers are the key to life, liberty, the cosmos, and a rockin’ bikini bod. You can’t possibly contend without at least one ace. Multiple aces are preferred. This leads me to ask a question…

Is 2019 a LIMA year?

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A wild chat transcript has appeared. Throw pokeball!

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This is FanGraphs which means we’re all predisposed to translating reality into numbers. In our world, every event on a baseball field has a run value, and we can assign credit for these events to specific players. We like things to be tidy. A 3.0 WAR player is better than a 2.5 WAR. It’s right there in the numbers.

Except… well… per Dave Cameron, WAR comes with a +/- of about 1.0 over a full season. These are estimates. When comparing a three-win player with a 2.5-win player, it more accurate to say that there’s something like a 60 to 80 percent chance that the three-win player was better. The math is even fuzzier when comparing players of different positions. Especially pitchers and non-pitchers. And let’s not get started on who will be better. Ooh boy.

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For the last couple months, it was popular to wonder aloud – either on Twitter or to a room full of strangers – how Adam Jones remained unsigned. Nobody thinks peak Jones will return, but it does seem like he should perform like a one-win player. That has value, especially when it can be expected to cost about $3MM.

Everybody agreed he belonged on a roster. Selecting an actual fit was where we disagreed. For much of the offseason, I touted him as an obvious solution for the Indians. They’re the only contending club who could have actually improved with Jones. Rebuilding teams tend to shy away from veterans. Even so, he’s a proven clubhouse leader so he made sense for weaker clubs too.

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A few weeks ago, we quietly rolled out our FanGraphs-Plus (FG+) player captions. These are located on most major league player pages, sandwiched between the most recent links and the data tables. We don’t do enough to promote these often insightful and frequently humorous write-ups. And so, I asked my colleagues to identify some of their favorites for inclusion in this article.

My favorite part of this process is everybody’s approach to the prompt. I tend towards the absurd, such as prior to 2017 when I “mistook” Rougned Odor for his brother by the same name (the resultant caption was NSFW). Others like Jeff Zimmerman prefer very straight takes.

For more player caps, search literally any player. You can also read past seasons.

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Major league teams have become increasingly sensitive to roster flexibility. One way to extend the back end of the roster is to have players with options. In most cases, players come with three option years. This means their team can demote them to the minors without penalty. Once an option is used in a given year, that player can be demoted any number of times. For example, the Rays yo-yoed numerous relievers between Durham and Tampa to extend their bullpen.

Once a player has been optioned three times in his career, he is said to be “out of options.” In other words, he can no longer be sent to the minors without passing through waivers. If the player is good enough, he’ll be claimed by another club. They’ll either use him in the majors or try to pass him through waivers again.

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Here is today’s chat transcript.

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