Take a peek at the Diamondbacks reliever depth chart. Archie Bradley sits atop the pecking order. We project 22 saves. Free agent acquisition Brad Boxberger is penciled in for seven saves. Yoshihisa Hirano doesn’t have a player page yet and therefore is not listed. He’s definitely in the battle. The Diamondbacks will have more than 29 saves. Perhaps consider the rest as belonging to Hirano.

By NFBC ADP, fantasy owners believe Bradley will close. His 186 ADP is sandwiched directly between undisputed closers Brandon Morrow (185 ADP) and Blake Treinen (186 ADP). At this price, Morrow is the heist equivalent of successfully robbing Fort Knox, but that’s a subject for another day. Boxberger has a 321 ADP. Hirano is floating at a 395 ADP.

In The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational (#TGFBI aka Justin Mason’s baby), Bradley has a 177 ADP. Boxberger has only been picked in two of 13 leagues (295 ADP). Hirano has found love in three leagues (298 ADP). A lot of people play NFBC. Mason’s baby is comprised of 195 self-styled fantasy baseball experts. There seems to be a resounding consensus that Bradley will close.

I wonder if he’s even the front runner to win the job. There are three problems with Archie Bradley the Closer in 2018. Read the rest of this entry »

The transcript is posted as well as a plea for votes.

Meanwhile, go vote in the #MyWalkUpSong contest. I’ve entered Dies Irae as performed by Epica. Can you just imagine the stadium-wide chills as Aaron Judge walks to the plate with the bases loaded and this blasting on the mega-speakers? Ahh, it’s so good!

I’m opposed by some sort of thought piece which requires a paragraph of explanation.

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Hey Justin Mason, this industry slow draft thing was a good idea! I’m of course referring to The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational aka TGFBI aka NFBC for industry nerds. The most beautiful thing about it? I can report on my internal thought process in real time. In a typical draft, everything happens too quickly. Any after-the-fact explanation feels like a self-congratulatory narrative.

With four hours per pick and 15 owners taking their sweet time*, I can very thoughtfully tinker and tailor my approach. Spying is an option too (you’ll see), but I haven’t found a role for soldiering. As I mentioned last Friday, the original plan was to take a contrarian approach. I’m not just trying to beat 14 other industry rivals, I want to win the whole shabam. Achieving ultimate victory requires out-drafting, out-managing, and out-waiver wiring 194 opponents. It’s a tall order. To this point, my roster isn’t feeling very contrary. Let’s explore.

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I recently had a trade discussion in an ottoneu league (this isn’t an ottoneu specific article, bear with me). Anyway, I was trying to sell a veteran outfielder and a top pitching prospect for Cody Bellinger. Their salaries were about equal. My sales pitch: the veteran projects for a comparable FGpts total to Bellinger. The prospect pays for the nine year age gap. The offer was firmly declined. My sales pitch was roundly poo-pooed.

Let’s see what you think.

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As you may have heard from Justin Mason and Jeff Zimmerman, The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational (#TGFBI) slow draft begins today. Jeff recently wrote about the conundrum of picking third overall. I’m also picking third. While he took Charlie Blackmon, I selected the chic Trea Turner. I’m not too happy about it.

Blackmon made my list for the third pick, but he was the first name I crossed off. For a very simple reason. I’m in a lot of leagues. Too many leagues. They’re all either a keeper or dynasty format. In fact, TGFBI may be my only redraft league this season. The point is this – I’ve been sitting on multiple Blackmon shares since he broke out. I got them cheap, and I’ve kept them cheap. He’s treated me well, but one bad season could sink nearly ALL of my teams. I opted to diversify. I’ve never owned Turner before.

They say to zig when others zag. Or vice versa. I’ve always thought that the others would be zigging, thus encouraging me to zag. Never mind. The point of this article is to discuss weird incentives.

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The Screw Cancer league drafted last night. It’s an ottoneu FGpts format put together by former FanGraphs kingpin Dave Cameron. He – and some others – were forced to leave the league due to new commitments. It’s my first season in Screw Cancer, and it was my first draft of the season.

Since joining the league, we’ve raised $1,283 for cancer-related charities. If you’d like to participate, please contact me directly.

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Although it’s not quite an age-old debate, we in the fantasy baseball community like to argue the relative merits of using the win or quality start (henceforth QS) for measuring pitcher performance. Obviously, in a general baseball sense, we mostly agree that neither stat is important. However, for fantasy purposes, a count of good starts does seem a useful category. And we only have two ways to do it – either use wins or QS. I’m here to propose a third alternative.

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I’m trying something new this winter. For years, I’ve lamented the near worthlessness of rankings. Here’s me in 2014 saying some things about how much I hate rankings. Here I am again in 2016. Here’s me with a graph (that’s not me!). Apparently, this post is an even-year tradition. However, I’m doing things a little differently this time. That’s what we’re here to talk about today.

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Sometimes, I grow weary of writing introductions. The title is pretty self explanatory. If you need more time to mentally prepare yourself for analysis, here’s a short thread about my knuckleball and Vicente Padilla’s slickball. Ok, let’s go.

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We sometimes assume things based on a very small piece of information. Over the stagnant winter months, that assumption can crystallize into a certainty. This guy will break out. That guy will play every day. Then, Spring Training rolls around. The whims of managers – and injuries, mostly injuries – quickly lay waste to months of fantasy baseball dogma. No religion experiences as much upheaval as baseball.

Already, a few potential sleepers are seeing their value change.

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