In all honesty, virtually all of the legitimate talent has likely already been plucked from your league’s waiver wire by now. Everyone gets so transaction crazy early on, that it’s hard to believe there are still some stones left unturned. And yet, there always seems to be a player or two that slips through the cracks for a variety of reasons. Here’s a look at two that might interest you… Read the rest of this entry »
When searching each week for those under-owned gems for deep league use, it reminds me how bad I feel for those Only-leaguers dealing with an injury. Your replacement options are throw up inducing and you’re basically flipping a coin between two hitters that get five at-bats a week. That is no fun! Though the first player discussed below is most certainly owned in all NL-Only leagues, he should be available in deeper mixed leagues and would therefore be worth a look.
Nearly a month into the season, the time is nigh to update the RotoGraphs preseason ranks at each position. Some have already been done, in fact. We’ll be getting to AL Outfielder Ranks Version 2.0 next week, but to tide you over in the meantime, here are a pair of Alexes — one Riser and one Faller. Consider your appetite whetted.
This week in the national league outfield we’ve got two interesting players – one for shallow leagues and one for deeper leagues. Happy hunting.
Dexter Fowler (39% owned in Yahoo, 63.6% owned in ESPN)
Call this an appeal to the Yahoo owners who are on the fence about Fowler, because something about the ESPN game has made him more appealing already. ESPN projected Fowler to hit .275 with seven home runs and 27 steals, while Yahoo thought his 2011 would look more like .266 with five home runs and 25 steals. That might explain a little bit of the variance, and perhaps ESPN has more five-outfield rosters. In any case, Fowler is definitely ownable.
While the obvious strategy is to have everyday players in your lineup to achieve maximum offensive production, sometimes, it makes sense to go with a platoon player. Maybe the at bats aren’t as regular — maybe he gets only three or four starts per week. But if his numbers are solid and he’s outproducing some of your regulars, then why not give him a try. Here’s a pair of platooners worth a look right now… Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s Deep League Waiver provides fantasy owners with a potential third base replacement for Ian Stewart and my first dive into the pitching free agent pool.
Last week, we examined the fantasy fallout of Manny Ramirez’s abrupt retirement and what it meant for his current-turned-former Rays teammates. This time, let’s look at how another erstwhile big-time AL stud might impact his fellow outfield mates’ fantasy production. Except in this case, it’s a return.
We RotoGraphs positional correspondents will be updating our rankings in the following weeks. The purpose of this excercise is to show movement – despite the small sample size so far, players have showed us something to digest. Either they’ve shown they can be an every-day starter so far, or they’ve lost their grip on a job. Some movement is natural.
But we’re also probably going to change our rankings a little less than the average media outlet. We know that the last three weeks shouldn’t have changed too much about what we think about these players on a fundamental level. So if you see a slumping star ranked highly, take pause before emoting. He may still show he’s worth that ranking. The arrows are for players that have jumped tiers, since they are the most interesting anyway.
Top of the Line
Ryan Braun
Carlos Gonzalez
Matt Holliday
Matt Kemp
With every lowball trade offer that comes my way for Jay Bruce, I am often reminded of the words of Winston Churchill who once said, “Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.” I am also reminded of the words of the recently departed Chuck Tanner — “There are three secrets to managing. The first secret is have patience. The second is be patient. And the third most important secret is patience.” These words couldn’t ring more true. Read the rest of this entry »
Time to take a look and see who might be available in your leagues and could be worth adding to your squad. It’s still real early, but there might be a few choice names out there that can help, whether it’s short term or long term. Here’s a few to think about… Read the rest of this entry »
