Archive for Waiver Wire

Beat the Shift Podcast – Sabermetrics Episode w/ Bill James

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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Who is Being Dropped & Why (Week 17)

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 »


Sunday Night Waiver Wire & FAAB Chat

7:31
Jeff Zimmerman: A couple of items before we start.

7:32
Jeff Zimmerman: The next two chats may not happen. I’m taking a vacation starting next Saturday going into the weekend. I might do the first Sunday or someone might fill in.

7:33
Jeff Zimmerman: Second, no Tout Wars FAAB since it runs on Wed night this week.

7:33
SCOTT TINSTAAPP: Drop Schwarber in 15-team NFBC context?

7:35
Jeff Zimmerman: This is a tough one. I just can’t see him playing in the OF. Maybe every other day. I’d try to hold but if you have a 6 red suit case team like a couple of mine, he has to go

7:35
Mike: Do you drop Schwarber in the 15 or 12 team NFBC formats? Also, I’m feeling ready to cut bait on Heaney, is that instinct wrong?

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Waiver Wire Report (Week 15)

Good luck finding available talented players this week. Besides Vidal Brujan and just a few players who might not have been picked up last week (Sheets and Megill), there is not much on the wire. If there is a week to spend a minute on each team and have a few cool refreshing beverages, it’s this week. Here are three items to consider when making decisions for the short upcoming week.

  1. The Dodgers are at Colorado after the break so someone like Yonathan Daza (14% rostered) might be worth adding.
  2. The Yankees and Red Sox play an extra game (4 vs 3) and maybe someone like Enrique Hernandez (featured below) might be worth an add.
  3. In the next full week, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Colorado all have five games.

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 »


Who is Being Dropped & Why (Week 14)

I’m being a little selfish this week. A few of the players who were dropped in six leagues interested me, so I included them. I seperated out the hitters in Colorado. I think they were not good enough hitters to roster, but I don’t know for sure. I’ll study the Colorado threshold later this week.

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 »


Waiver Wire Report (Week 14)

I always rank the players by who I’d draft first in a redraft league. It’s getting to the point in the season when an individual team’s focus may need to be category-based (e.g. AVG or SB) so move down the list since several players may be able to fill those needs. Also, if a team is needing a closer, this is the week to do your homework. Several bullpens are up in the air and with other managers taking the day off to drink beer and blow stuff up, it may be time to grab a couple.

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 »


You’re Going…A Third Time Through the Order?!

A starting pitcher going three times through the order has been one of those analytically driven game tactics that have had an effect on the game-by-game innings accumulation of starting pitchers. Fantasy managers playing in standard 5×5 roto-leagues know that the only way to decrease a ratio statistic like WHIP ((BB + H) / IP), is to add more numbers into the denominator (IP) while keeping the numerator (BB + H) the same. A pitcher who goes three times through the order is also likely to accumulate a lot of innings. The more quality innings accumulated, the better off your ratios will be. If a starting pitcher faces the lineup a third time and it’s only the fourth inning, chances are they are not going back out for the fifth. So, if we find pitchers who consistently face the order in its entirety a third time, we can generally assume it’s because they are pitching well.

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Who is Being Dropped & Why (Week 13)

Last week, none of the drops seemed like a value and deserved to be immediately rostered. The options are better this week, especially if a manager can wait on a hurt player (e.g. Boyd or Goodrum).

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 »


Sunday Night Waiver Wire & FAAB Chat

7:30
Jeff Zimmerman: Welcome. Here are the bids from the two 15-team Tout Wars leagues

7:31
Jeff Zimmerman:

7:31
Quarantino Martinez: Any interest in Cal Quantrill, especially with Det this week? Him or Ober?

7:32
Jeff Zimmerman: He’s on some of my bid lists. Quantrill has a nice two-step the week after Detroit

7:32
Jeff Zimmerman: Now, Ober does have a two-step this week.

7:33
Lauren J.: Daulton Varsho is killing me in my H2H forever-keeper league. At this point, I’d rather punt the catcher position. Opposed to me grabbing Raleigh and hoping for a call-up?

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Waiver Wire Report (Week 13)

It’s catcher week with eight of them seeing their rostership jump. Otherwise, it’s a lot of the same players who are slowly seeing their rostership climb.

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 »