After a couple of weeks dominated by the trade deadline and subsequent moves, it’s back to normal this week with a decent number of hitters and starters and a few relievers.

In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters. Read the rest of this entry »

As we push towards the stretch run, almost every league I am in has a contender desperately pleading for innings on their trade block. Between injuries and underperformance and weird drop-offs in production after the crackdown on sticky stuff, there just does not seem to be enough pitching to go around.

Last week I covered free-agent position players to help you fill your games played; today we look at pitchers rostered in less than 50% of leagues who can help you fill out your innings pitched. Reader beware: If you need starting pitching, the choices are not good.
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There are quite a few more names this week as are cleaning out the players who have seen their playing time clear up. Lots of hitters without jobs and relievers who are not in line for Saves. It is one of the more talented list of players I’ve profiled this season.

For this weekly feature, I use the NFBC Main Event because of the number of identical leagues. Additionally, the managers stay engaged longer on the whole since each spent $1700 per team. I tried to find that sweet spot between the obvious and bizarre drops and will focus on players dropped in seven to ten leagues. Previously the number was six to nine, but I adjusted with the Main Event adding four leagues since I did the report. Read the rest of this entry »

Even though it comes from a football coach, the saying, “The best ability is availability” absolutely applies to Ottoneu baseball leagues, particularly points leagues. Having the best players won’t do you much good if you aren’t able to fill out all your games played.

Just as an example, in one of my points leagues, the best offense is putting up 5.72 points per game. The second best is putting up 5.61. For the second-place team, at that scoring rate, a full season of 162 games per position at all 12 positions would be 10,905.84 points. If the team at 5.71 P/G ends the year having left 35 games on the table, that would be enough to fall behind the other team in total offensive points. Put another way, those teams are separated by 138 points right now. Leaving 24 games on the table could make up that difference.

As injuries, COVID cases, and other issues increase, Ottoneu managers should be searching for players they can add to help max out that 162 games player per position. Here are some names that are rostered in less than 50% of leagues who can help you out.
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The Engagement Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Patrick Davitt

Strategy Section

FAAB / Waiver Wire / Roster Churn

• Distribution of FAAB dollars throughout the season
  • Does current standing matter?
• Does player aquisition strategy alter in the month of August?
• Injury rates 2021 vs. 2020 vs. 2019
• Sholud we churn our rosters more or less in the final two months of the season?
• How to decide when to cut a player in the final two months
  • Jacob deGrom case study
  • Other specific player examples

Category Movement

• Categories that are more volatile late in the season (more movement) & categories that are less volatile
  • Why ratio categories are highly volatile

Engagement

• Can you win a league if you are towards the bottom in August?
• Do you have a moral / ethical obligation to play hard until the very end in fatnasy baseball?
  • What if you play in many leagues?
• Is it right to divert time spent away from leagues that you cannot win?
• Is there an ethical difference between neglecting to set a valid lineup vs. foregoing waiver wire pickups?
• Is there an obligation to ensure that your fantasy team reaches the minimum inning requirements?
  • How should a league commissioner interviene if teams are not on pace to reach the IP threshold?
• Creating incentives to increase league engagement down the stretch

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Holy smokes, what a list of players to go over this week. While those who play in shallower leagues than the Main Event might not be impressed, the available talent is significantly better than the most recent options. The players are more than just a bunch of injured or demoted guys. It’s a good week to look into the past week’s drops for a few bargains.

For this weekly feature, I use the NFBC Main Event because of the number of identical leagues. Additionally, the managers stay engaged longer on the whole since each spent $1700 per team. I tried to find that sweet spot between the obvious and bizarre drops and will focus on players dropped in seven to ten leagues. Previously the number was six to nine, but I adjusted with the Main Event adding four leagues since I did the report. Read the rest of this entry »

What a nightmare to figure out who’s fantasy value is up, the same, or down from all the deadline trades and subsequent roster adds and drops. All the players traded on Friday weren’t with their new teams until yesterday, so it’s tough to know everyone’s role. With so much going on, I’d recommend two things.

1. Check Sunday lineups for who is playing and their lineup position. I made the following rankings knowing who played on Saturday, but the valuations could change a ton come Sunday as lineup positions and closer roles clear up.
2. Be careful with drops. Just because a player is on a new team with a good lineup spot, it doesn’t mean that they have to be added. Ensure any add improves the fantasy team.

In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Guest: Bill James

Personal History

Sabermetrics Section

• How has sabermetrics changed over the years?
• What metric is Bill James most proud of creating?
  • Bring your dog to the park day
• Ariel’s suggestion for Bill James’ Runs Created formula
• Undervalued statistics in today’s game
• The best defensive metrics to use
• Closer by Committee in baseball today
• Beating the Shift
• Similarity Scores

Injury Guru Trivia of the Week

• Career batting averages – Ariel vs. Bill

Baseball Across the Decades

• Greatest Players of all time
  • Hitter – Babe Ruth
  • Pitcher – Roger Clemens
• How would Babe Ruth & past baseball players stack up against 2021’s major leaguers?
• Expansion in Baseball

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I’m now back from a nice vacation with my two kids and it is now time to finish the season strong. Many of the drops listed below make sense because they were headed to and from the minors or the IL. A few names do stick out as being decent options for adds (e.g. Zimmer and Brubaker).

For this weekly feature, I use the NFBC Main Event because of the number of identical leagues. Additionally, the managers stay engaged longer on the whole since each spent $1700 per team. I tried to find that sweet spot between the obvious and bizarre drops and will focus on players dropped in seven to ten leagues. Previously the number was six to nine, but I adjusted with the Main Event adding four leagues since I did the report. Read the rest of this entry »

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