Following the lead of my colleagues this week I’ll continue with players available to stream as  your head-to-head leagues come to a close.

David Murphy

As opposed to our own David Wiers, I’m not afraid of streaming Murphy, especially when his ownership is down to just 30% in Yahoo! leagues. Murphy has somehow been able to shed the platoon tag that’s been placed on him his whole career. Coming into the season his OPS against southpaws was .676…it’s .856 right now with a .351 batting average. That success has enabled him to turn into a fulltime player. His performance has dipped a bit in September as compared to August (.944 OPS) but he may be helped by the Rangers playing their next five games at home where he, like every other player in baseball, does very well. The A’s have a very good pitching staff and Murphy has been held hitless the past two games, but you’re not likely to find a better option owned in fewer than 50% of leagues.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re almost in rear-view mirror mode. Impossible though it may be to comprehend, the season is almost over and if you’re not winning your league, you’re currently on the sliding scale of realizing you’re not going to win your league. If you find yourself in the latter group, I’m sorry for that.

With losing in mind, however, I wanted to highlight a draft that I thought was just simply ludicrous back in March. A manager punted pitching. Like, the whole thing. Not just saves — but anyone who might toe the rubber.

You might be totally familiar with this tactic, but I’d never seen it actually utilized in a money league before — and not by a manager who actually managed the whole length of the season.

This is a mixed, standard roto, 12-team league in the Yahoo! format — with a $100 buy in. I didn’t even realize it was happening during the madness of the draft. It was when I started to scan the competition that I noticed one team drafted just four relievers, all in the last handful of rounds: David Robertson, Alexi Ogando, Randy Choate, and Duane Below. Yes, Duane Below.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ll be doing a wrap-up of each position once the regular season comes to an official close, but for now, let’s talk about a few of the backstops who made significant contributions to fantasy teams this year, but are likely to be overvalued next season.  Whether their stats regress or whether they come at a significantly higher cost than they should, either draft pick or auction dollars, some of 2012’s fantasy heroes behind the dish just won’t measure up next season.  I’m sure most readers of RotoGraphs are wary of the pitfalls, but just in case you’re new to the scene, here are a few to watch out for next season. Read the rest of this entry »

I hate them. I hate head-to-head leagues. I won’t win a single one this year. And, obviously I’m not saying I had the best team in all five of those leagues, but I figured I’d win at least one of them.

Nope.

Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s less than two weeks to go and you’re noticing you have some catching up to do in innings pitched, you best get busy. I know in two of my high-payout standard roto leagues, there are four points separated by two wins, and at least a couple points to be had in strikeouts. As much as I hate the win category, I know I’m in win-chasing mode, and to that end, I’m looking at the most favorable matchups I can find.

There are a good number of decent options on the waiver wire as you head into the weekend, but I’m going to make a few recommendations based almost exclusively off of the fact that some starters are facing lineups that have been struggling to score runs. After all, if they don’t score, you’re in darn fine shape.

Read the rest of this entry »

It is that time of the year when fantasy teams begin to reach their pitching limits. Limits are in place to to mimic the innings thrown by a MLB team’s pitching staff over a season. Owners should dive into the leagues rules to see if a team can get a late point rush by maxing out as many pitching innings as possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday we did the power, today we do the speed. And as you know, “first you get the stolen bases, then you get the runs, then you get the women.” *

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re still here, congratulations! For a second, it made sense to write about Addison Reed possibly losing his job to Matt Thornton, but Colin at the Bullpen Report wrote just about what I would have, which is that, “Holy BABIP, what’s going on with Reed?!” Matt Thornton is a pickup, but Reed’s not a dropper, not at this point. Mike Axisa also had more on this today.

So instead let’s reprise last week’s article and look at players that can help in power categories this week (speed tomorrow). Leagues of all sizes and depths should find an interesting player or two here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s all go streaking! Streaming. Yeah, streaming. It might be useful for head-to-head playoff scramblers if we pointed out the nice matchups for the weekend. If the schedule holds, you might be able to get the jump on your competitor by picking up a good Saturday start today, for example. Good luck, and keep your clothes on, for the most part. Pants are overrated though.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I am going to steal a column idea and talk about everyone’s least favorite subject, my fantasy team. I am going to look at the options I have in the playoffs for a team decimated by injuries. For the two people still reading, hang in for a ride of self pity.

Read the rest of this entry »