Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Over the years, I’ve gone to the cutting edge of stats to find advantages. I can go into a deep analysis on any player’s fantasy value, but there isn’t always time to analyze each player’s profile. For a shortcut, I use OPS to evaluate hitters and xFIP and botERA for pitchers. They give me a good predictive look, especially in a small sample. Besides those stats, I might make a cursory look at BABIP and Contact% for hitters and K%-BB% for pitchers.

Note: Recent plate appearances could be the #1 stat to follow for hitters, but I’m going to focus on production stats.

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Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even larger entry fees ($2.5K to $15K). They are named Elite leagues (previously called High Stakes Leagues), and there are nine of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers try to gain every advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in five or more leagues.

Note: Again, I noticed almost no good options and it showed in the players added. Normally, I write up the players added in five or more leagues, so I included a few guys added in just four leagues.

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Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Note: Any noted rostership rates come from the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship, the same rates we use on the FanGraphs Player Rater. For reference, these leagues are 12-team Roto leagues with 30-man rosters (2 C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, MI, CI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P) and weekly add/drops. This rate can be compared to other rostership rates found in this article.

American League

Angels

• Grayson Rodriguez should be off the IL any day.

RHP Grayson Rodriguez
Injury: Lower back tightness
IL date: June 15 (15-day IL)
Expected return: July 10
Status: Threw 5 1/3 innings in Triple-A rehab start on July 4, allowing one run on four hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Is expected to return to start on July 10.

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7:31	Jeff Zimmerman:

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Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

In this article, I cover the players using CBS’s and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. I start players being added at CBS who started the week on less than 40% of rosters.

The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by hitters, starters, and relievers.

Note: This article will be a working document over the weekend. I’ll rank the players with the information I have on Saturday morning and will update it when I find time and as information comes in. I’ll put the date and time for any updates below

• • 7/4 morning: All players ranked, and the notes for some I find interesting. Many of the top guys have no write-up because they’ve featured for weeks.
  • 7/5 morning: Not much change in movement. I did rerank the top starting pitchers. Baltimore bullpen information added.
  • 7/5 morning: Add Victor Bericoto

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Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even larger entry fees ($2.5K to $15K). They are named Elite leagues (previously called High Stakes Leagues), and there are nine of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers try to gain every advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in five or more leagues.

Note: Again, I noticed almost no good options and it showed in the players added. Normally, I write up the players added in five or more leagues, so I included the guys added in four leagues. Additionally, went over $46 with most of the max’s in the $20’s.

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Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Note: Any noted rostership rates come from the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship, the same rates we use on the FanGraphs Player Rater. For reference, these leagues are 12-team Roto leagues with 30-man rosters (2 C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, MI, CI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P) and weekly add/drops. This rate can be compared to other rostership rates found in this article.

American League

Angels

Astros

• Lance McCullers Jr. is beginning his rehab assignment.

RHP Lance McCullers Jr.
Injury: Right rotator cuff impingement.
IL date: May 19 (15-day, retroactive to May 16)
Expected return: July
Status: Made first Minor League rehab start June 25 for Triple-A Sugar Land, throwing three scoreless innings.

In his first rehab start, there was no pitch mix change, and his average fastball velocity dropped 0.4 mph. The key was no walks after a 5.0 BB/9 in the majors this season. He can build around his 9.8 K/9. He’s readily available (1% rostered), so he could be a free add if he contains the walks. Read the rest of this entry »

7:51	Jeff Zimmerman:

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Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

In this article, I cover the players using CBS’s and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. I start players being added at CBS who started the week on less than 40% of rosters.

The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by hitters, starters, and relievers. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Denzer Guzman (.748 OPS) hit second over the last two games.

• Jose Siri (.858 OPS) started in seven of the last eight games. Read the rest of this entry »