Always an underrated power source, Josh Willingham has become more and more Adam Dunn like this season than the Willingham we are used to seeing. In the past, Willingham has been a tremendously undervalued source of power while not destroying your batting average. While he has never been a contributor in that category, he has scuffled along with serviceable .260 marks in three of his four seasons leading up to this year.
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Rookies of the Year have a mixed record of success after their first season. Some, like Albert Pujols, Justin Verlander, and Ryan Braun, go on to have many productive seasons and great careers. Others, like Bobby Crosby, Dontrelle Willis, and Angel Berroa collect their trophy and promptly crater. It’s too early in Chris Coghlan’s career to unceremoniously drop him in that second category just yet, but his wRC+ in 2012 was five. That’s it, just five, or the equivalent of 95 percent below league average, so he was certainly headed in the direction of obscurity. Recently, however, not only has Coghlan (ESPN: 6.7 percent owned; Yahoo!: 3 percent owned) received consistent playing time in a way he hadn’t in previous seasons, he has been hitting the cover off the ball. Read the rest of this entry »
If a show can find a way to shoe-horn Mark Paul-Gosselaar, Beau Bridges, Heather Locklear and Malcom McDowell into the same office, I can find a way to relate Nick Franklin to Yasiel Puig. Hey, they’re both hot young things that deserve a thorough brief directed at those in redraft or shallow keeper leagues. Done!
Over the winter, we went through every team’s roster in our Depth Chart Discussions. The Dodgers outfield chart was done very early on, before camp had even really begun to get rolling, and so the focus there was as you’d expect it to be. Would Andre Ethier be a platoon outfielder? What could you expect from Matt Kemp, coming off shoulder surgery? Would Carl Crawford even make it back at all?
Valid questions, each and every one, but two full months into the season, they seem now laughably simplistic. Crawford, of all people, has been durable and productive. Ethier has been at odds with manager Don Mattingly. Kemp has been atrocious and is now injured, and all of a sudden Scott Van Slyke and Joc Pederson are names to know just as much as Yasiel Puig.
So with all that’s happened, let’s reset this mess and get you all up to speed, because there’s value to be had here. Read the rest of this entry »
As I look through the standings of my various roto leagues, the common thread that ties them all together is the ease at which points can be accrued just by boosting your stolen base totals. In one league, less than 10 stolen bases separate fourth place in the category from ninth place. In two others, 12 steals could make up an eight-point difference. If people love the strategy of streaming pitchers so often, what’s the harm in streaming in a stolen base guy for a week or two? Obviously, those who are left on your wire are, more or less, one-category helpers, but for just a temporary boost, who cares? There’s nothing wrong with a quick fix if you know that’s all you’re looking for. Take your steals and…pardon the pun….run! Here are a pair of guys who fit the bill perfectly… Read the rest of this entry »
Just over 50 games into the season — and about 200 plate appearances in — we have a little bit more information to judge our players on. One of the key statistics that tends to stabilize around the 200 PA mark is BB%. We’ll call today the all optimistic or all bullish version. Next Wednesday will feature the updated tier rankings, but perhaps two weeks time will bring us an all bearish write up.
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Today we go real deep to find you potential hidden treasure that will catapult your fantasy teams into Yoo-Hoo shower stardom. Then again, you’re all definitely in first place already, because you read RotoGraphs every day and get the best advice on the planet.
He is owned in just 16% of Yahoo! leagues and has posted consecutive seasons of a sub 100 wRC+, but Colby Rasmus is attempting to march towards relevance once again. He made a similar move at the start of last year when he hit 16 home runs in his first 327 plate appearances. His relevance then faded over his next 298 plate appearances, hitting just seven home runs and recording a .256 on base percentage.
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If there is one guy I have been following relatively closely throughout this year in case I wanted to pick up a bat, it has been Domonic Brown. In his first year as a starter and his hype at an all-time low, he is available in most leagues and can be had at really any time. To me, now is the time to pick him up and give him an opportunity.
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It’s deep league waiver wire day, which is obviously the best day of the week. Apologies to my NL-Only league friends, only American Leaguers today.