So it is time for the annual article examing how hitters performed who didn’t let an injury heal and played through the pain. Whether these hitters cause permanent damage to their bodies or pick up bad habits, they continue to underperform their projections. Besides tallying the results, I have started collecting next year’s player list.

I first determined the decline in an article covering 2017 to 2019 and have continued collecting names and results (2020 and 2021). Read the rest of this entry »

Using Injured List spots is a key part of any fantasy league. Knowing who to stash, when to stash them, how long to wait can have a huge impact on your season. For Ottoneu leagues, like with MLB, the 10- and 15-day IL designations don’t impact roster construction. Those players count against your 40-man cap. The 60-day IL, however, does not count against your roster and that gives you an opportunity to carry more than 40 players at times.

As the season winds down, there is an opportunity to use that to improve your roster depth headed into the off-season.

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The Trading Ethics Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Strategy Section

• The ethics of making late season trades
  • Trading in redraft leagues late in the season – trades between a top team to a middle/bottom team
• What should a team well out of the money be compelled to do down the stretch, and what should they not be allowed to do (if any)?
• The Mathematics of a Fair Fantasy Sports Trade (article linked)
  • Making a team “better” – is it a higher points total potential, or a higher probability of winning / cashing in a league?
• Measures that we can take to prevent late season ethics issues, and still keep engagement
  • Changing trade rules
  • Adding engagement deterrents
  • Penalties for bottom finishers

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The Injury Returnee Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Strategy Section

• Should you immediately insert injury returnees into your active fantasy lineups?
  • Hitters vs. Pitchers

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The Pre-Season Injury Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Injury Update – Reuven gives us the injury updates.

Hitters

• Ronald Acuna Jr.
• Fernando Tatis Jr.
• Evan White
• Julio Rodriguez
• Brandon Belt
• Adley Rutschman
• Odubel Herrera
• Andrew Vaughn
• Luis Urias
• Chris Taylor
• Cavan Biggio
• Greg Bird
• Carter Kieboom
  • Maikel Franco
• Evan Longoria
  • Wilmer Flores
• Nick Ahmed
  • Josh Rojas
• Yermin Mercedes
• Dominic Smith
  • Mets lineup & defensive allignment

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The Spring Training Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Matt Williams

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

Strategy Section

• What can we learn from this year’s Spring training?
  • How will 2022 be different?
• How will the start of the 2022 season differ from a typical season?
• Using middle relievers in fantasy baseball early on in the 2022 season.
• The return of 9-inning doubleheaders.
• Fantasy leagues – Drafting in 2022
  • Should we push off drafting our 2022 fantasy teams until after the season starts?
  • Drafting early in the morning.

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The Healing Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Ron Shandler

LABR Congratulations

Strategy Section

• Dealing with the current injury frequency level in baseball
  • Roster construction
  • Risk management
    • Broad Assesment Balance Sheet (BABS)
  • Reasons for injury frequency by team
  • Risk-adjusted pricing vs. managing to a risk budget
  • First round picks
    • Fernando Tatis Jr.
    • Ronald Acuna Jr.
• How to think about Binary Risk
  • Jacob deGrom
• Playing fantay against “Power Drafters” who take on more risk
• Is the market still right to draft risky elite starting pitching?
• Is the market overpricing stable closers in early drafts?
• How to value prospects in drafts?
  • Bobby Witt Jr.

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With the season just over, I’d like some help collecting information on the hitters who played through a 2021 injury. First, I’m not looking for those who may have struggled because of COVID-19 complications but played through a physical injury.

The information can help fantasy managers help point to why a hitter may have struggled when they begin their 2022. Also, my research has shown that these hitters see a production decline that can be incorporated into projections. It’s one offseason data point to have available going forward.

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The Late August Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Waiver Wire

Pitcher Preview

Injury Update – Reuven gives us the injury updates.

Follow us on Twitter

• Ariel Cohen (@ATCNY)
• Reuven Guy (@mlbinjuryguru)
• Beat the Shift Podcast (@Beat_Shift_Pod)

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The Self-Evaluation Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Nicklaus Gaut

Field of Dreams

Strategy Section

Self-Evaluation

• For teams in contention
  • Looking at categories to make gains
• For teams not in contention
  • Evaluating what went wrong
  • Following player hot streaks in August/September
  • Trying different strategies

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

• Most innings pitched in 2021

Starting Pitchers who could be limited

• Chris Bassitt
• Julio Urias
• Casey Mize
• Alek Manoah
• Trevor Rogers
  • FIP vs. xFIP

Final Month Fades

• Hitters to Fade
  • Is Nelson Cruz a Hall of Famer?
  • Francisco Lindor vs. Jose Iglesias vs. Amed Rosario
• Pitchers to Fade

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