Archive for Daily Fantasy Strategy

I’ve mentioned this before, but each week I take the updated Steamer rest-of-season projections and run them through the Draftstreet scoring system to get per game projections for each player. Every day I’ll compare those projections to cost to determine value plays for the day. After the jump I’ve embedded a couple of charts with the updated per game projections for the rest of the season. When preparing each day, you can export the prices from Draftstreet and put them in a column next to each player’s projection (use the vlookup function in Excel to do this). Then just divide cost by points, and you’ve got value for all players.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s date marks the 37 year anniversary of the film “Star Wars” being released and 31 years since “Return of the Jedi” first opened. Rather than link to “Star Wars” itself, here is a great take on the ending of “The Empire Strikes Back” and RotJ, courtesy of Kevin Smith and “Clerks.”

On today’s agenda:
1. The Odor in Texas is growing
2. A big day from George Springer
3. Welcome back, Adam LaRoche
4.The Daily Five

Read the rest of this entry »

I was going to riff a little on Corey Kluber today, but Fangraphs’ newest addition August Fagerstrom took care of that yesterday. I moved onto to Dallas Keuchel, only to remember that Mike Petrellio wrote about him wonderfully. Finally, I said: “I guess I’ll write about Phil Hughes.” Too late, Jeff Sullivan already beat me to it and I can’t compete with him.

I found someone to talk about, though. Jimmy Rollins. Rollins’ obituary was written by most fantasy players late last season. His power had vanished, and his speed was just waning with age. Not so fast. Using wRC+, Jimmy Rollins is having the best offensive season of his career, by a rather large margin. Rollins has only posted a wRC+ better than 105 once, when he posted a 119 mark during his 2007 MVP season. He’s currently (Friday afternoon) sitting at 132. His power has bounced back, and so has his walk rate.

His batted ball profile hasn’t changed much, but his approach at the plate has. Rollins is swinging at fewer pitches than he ever has. His 38.5% swing percentage gives him the 16th lowest swing% in the major leagues. You may be wondering, why does that matter so much? Well Rollins has always had pretty good contact skills, so dropping the percentage of pitches he’s swings matters a ton. His overall swing% has dropped; likewise his o-swing%. He’s chasing less, and even when he’s chasing he’s making less contact, therefore putting fewer bad balls (which usually don’t amount to much) in play. Rollins is swinging less, but it appears when he swings he’s swinging at pitches he knows he can do damage with. It’s an approach that has helped countless people over the years including: Brian Dozier, Adam Lind, Edwin Encarnacion, and Jose Bautista (go Blue Jays, I guess?).

Read the rest of this entry »

Twenty-five years ago today “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” was released in theaters. It is by a significant margin my favorite Indiana Jones film. The trailer alone makes me want to re-watch it.

On today’s agenda:
1. Appreciation of Adam Eaton
2. A home run display in Miami
3. Stephen Drew in Single-A
4. The Daily Five

Read the rest of this entry »

Another Friday is upon us. On Wednesday, we talked a little about Sean Doolittle. Today, let’s focus on C.J. Wilson, who happens to be pitching tonight.

Wilson has often been labeled: inconsistent. Maybe he’s been a little inconsistent at times, but that happens to everyone.  Since 2010, though, Wilson has been the 15th best pitcher in the major leagues according to WAR. If you prefer RA9-WAR, he’s been the 13th best pitcher. Granted, WAR isn’t of much use in fantasy leagues, but humor me. Without looking, would you have guessed Wilson was essentially James Shields’ equal during that timeframe? I wouldn’t have. I also wouldn’t have placed him above Gio Gonzalez, Mat Latos, or Matt Cain, but there he is.

The past few years, the only qualm anyone has been able to have with Wilson has been the amount of free passes he’s given out. Well, he’s remedied that somewhat in 2014. His walks are down a little; the lowest they’ve been since 2011. His strikeout rate is also the highest it’s ever been as a starter. And so his his ground-ball percentage. Keep it rolling, sir.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is the 14th anniversary of Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP.” Personally, I think the album has held up well over time and is my second favorite album of his after “The Eminem Show.”

On today’s agenda:
1. Bad news for the Texas Rangers
2. Mike Moustakas demoted
3. An update on the Oscar Taveras watch
4. The Daily Five

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is “Be a Millionaire Day.” Hey, it could happen, after all, I’ve got a dream.

On today’s agenda:
1. Alex Cobb to potentially return Thursday
2. The usefulness of Yan Gomes
3. Kole Calhoun’s looming return
4. CC Sabathia out until July
5. The Daily Five

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is the 15th anniversary of Backstreet Boys‘ album “Millennium.” I think I still know every word from I Want it That Way.

On today’s agenda:
1. Bad news for Andrew Cashner
2. A big night for Chris Owings
3. Kolten Wong is back, hitting
4. Jaime Garcia to start today
5. The Daily Five

Read the rest of this entry »

Eric Stults‘ wasn’t hit hard after all. In fact, he was barely hit at all. Baseball, man. It’s a weird game. And speaking of weird, despite the fact that Brian Dozier is completely legit, it’s weird to see his name at the top of leaderboards. He went deep again last night – bringing his total to ten. Weird game, indeed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s Roto Riteup was written while I pondered whether or not I want to eventually purchase Halo 5: Guardians. I have some very fond memories of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.

On today’s agenda:
1. Thoughts on the Colorado Rockies outfield
2. Trevor Bauer to the majors
3. Josh Reddick’s big day
4. Quick hit on Alex Meyer
5. The Daily Five

Read the rest of this entry »