Author Archive: Jeff Zimmerman

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even a larger entry fee ($2.5K to $15K). They get originally named “High Stakes Leagues” and this year there are nine of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers are going to try to gain any 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 four or more of these leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

7:32	Jeff Zimmerman:

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In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (about 40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting 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. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• Gio Urshela (.756 OPS, 0 HR, 1 SB) has started in all but one game and has played six games at shortstop.

• Brandon Drury (.556 OPS) may only be starting against lefties. Read the rest of this entry »

This offseason, I struggled with how much fantasy-based content is too much content. I’ve created plenty of material including a 300-page book on my process and several articles per week here a FanGraphs. In addition to writing about fantasy baseball and playing in a few free leagues, I started dipping my toe into high stakes. The entries started out small but I’ve rolled my winnings back in and it was a sizable amount this spring.

With five figures on the line, I felt the pull of providing the best content available and being competitive in these leagues. This offseason, I had several takes. Some I made public while others, I sort of kept to myself. Here are three examples.

1. One of my guys this year was José Suarez (shares). I didn’t go into the offseason being high on him but liked some of his mid-season changes.

A complete transformation. [Suarez’s second half 18% K%-BB% is in line with Wood and his comps (Urias and Alcantara). He is a breakout in hidden plain sight. I would take Wood ahead of him (longer track record), but Suarez would be an easy second choice.

… I ended my campaign for him right then and tried to roster him in every league. While others noticed the article, I didn’t go out of my way to make him one of my guys. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• José Suarez’s spot in the rotation isn’t in question … just yet.

Nevin deflected a question about his level of concern about Suarez, but it’s likely too early for Suarez’s spot in the rotation to be in question, especially because he’s out of Minor League options. But if his struggles continue, he could be sent to the bullpen. In that scenario, Canning could be the club’s fifth starter, and Davidson would serve as the sixth starter and occasional long reliever.

He’s not getting the swings-and-misses from last year (12% SwStr% to 10%) because he is filling up the strike zone (53% Zone% to 56%). Read the rest of this entry »

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even a larger entry fee ($2.5K to $15K). They get originally named “High Stakes Leagues” and this year there are nine of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers are going to try to gain any 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 four or more of these leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

7:31	Jeff Zimmerman:

Read the rest of this entry »

The pitch clock is one of the various rule changes implemented this season. Some pitchers were going to be affected more than others, but it was tough to know who exactly before the season started. Some names are starting to come to light with Carlos Carrasco blaming the lack of time between pitches for his velocity drop.

Carlos Carrasco could not record an out in the fifth inning of his season debut. His final line:

4+ IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 96 pitches.

Carrasco's average four-seam fastball velocity was 91.1 mph, the lowest of any outing in his career. pic.twitter.com/yEmDTDr6a2

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 3, 2023

With most starters having one start under their belts, I decided to see who gained or lost velocity each time through the batting order compared to last season. Read the rest of this entry »

In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (about 40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting 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. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters.
Read the rest of this entry »