American League Outfielders: Updated Rankings
Two weeks into June, it’s about time to update our rankings for American League outfielders. Again. Also in this installment? An apology to Melky Cabrera.
Archive for Strategy
Anthony Rizzo: Mining the Minors
As Tom Petty once sang: the waiting sucks. (I may be paraphrasing.) So while anticipation is brimming over a prospect who will make his major league debut later today, alas, there was ungood news about another elite ‘spect who was also ready to help fantasy owners, until as Phil Collins once sang, something happened on the way to the big leagues. (Paraphrasing again.) Plus? A whopping kit and a heaping caboodle of other callups.
Lance Lynn and Mike Carp: Mining the Minors
In this installment: Kyle McClellan‘s temporary rotation replacement and Jack Cust’s potential DH intruder.
Jordan Lyles, Brandon Belt and Tyler Colvin: Mining the Minors
This week’s edition covers one top prospect making his MLB debut and a pair of recalls who didn’t fare so well earlier this season. Plus? The usual batch of players who only apply to really deep leagues. In fantasy, no transaction is too small.
Kicking Rocks: Trade Talk
One of the most exciting aspects of fantasy baseball is trading. It can also be the most frustrating as well. We’ve already talked about those stupid early season offers where people are constantly testing your knowledge and your patience — something like his David Freese and Livan Hernandez for my Jose Bautista was a personal favorite. But now we’re two months in, things have settled in for the most part, your waiver wire has been picked clean, and now everyone is trying to improve their squad via the trade. Getting the right deal done is tough enough, but the process to get there can be a tenuous path riddled with both ignorance and annoyance. Today we’re going to go through some do’s and don’ts which may help expedite the process with little fanfare or, at the least, keep you from wanting to choke the life out of a moronic competitor. Read the rest of this entry »
Juan Nicasio and Andrew Oliver: Mining the Minors
This column has a rather wide range when it comes to fantasy impact. It’s a nature-of-the-beast thing, trying to predict when minor leaguers are going to get their shot. And so there have been players highlighted in this space who have soon thereafter become relevant (Chris Davis) or even useful (Jerry Sands) to fantasy owners. And there have also been those mentioned — many more, in fact — who remain in Triple-A (Charlie Blackmon) or downright useless (Mark Rogers). This time, however, expect a 2-for-2 performance. At least in terms of how soon this pair of prospects will be reaching the majors.
Kicking Rocks: Catching Up
The fantasy baseball season waits for no one and your absence from the day to day operations of your team and league can often be unforgiving. Driving out of town for the weekend to attend your niece’s christening? Tough break on missing that rookie sensation’s sudden availability on the Yahoo waiver wire. Your wife’s idiot baby cousin is getting married in some remote corner of Mexico where there’s no internet service? Too bad you couldn’t get those potential trade emails as your competition swooped in and brokered the deals for himself. Your dad died? Well, sorry for your loss and sorry that a DL’d David Wright and Adam LaRoche are still sitting in your active lineup. There are no time outs in this game, so if you miss even just a few days, you’re going to have to dedicate some serious time to catching up. Read the rest of this entry »
Domonic Brown, Mike Minor, Rubby De La Rosa: Mining the Minors
As May comes to an end, so mitigates some of the financial incentive for teams to keep their prospects in the minor leagues (i.e. Super Two status), which means youngins should start popping up all over big-league rosters once the calendar hits June. Get ready to get busy, my little waiver wire watchers.
John Axford & Brandon League: Buy Low Candidates
Allow me to make an assumption. If you’re reading the roto-blog at FanGraphs you’re likely smarter than your league mates. We tend to attract a different kind of cat over here. You’re more rational. You have a deeper understanding of what makes baseball tick, and you use that information to outwit your lesser prepared league mates. That being said, you’re all aware of how fickle saves can be. If a closer has a few rough outings in a row, or a less than stellar ERA, people tend to freak out. Again, not you guys, those other people. Paying for saves on draft day tends to be a fruitless endeavor, but there’s no reason you can’t hoodwink an owner in May whose panicking over small sample sizes.