All posts under "Fantasy Strategy" - Page 5

Guys (and gals).....closers are really weird this year. Every season is a circus when managing and projecting the ninth inning, and while I wouldn't classify this year as chaotic or overly active, it's just plain odd. We've seen all-star closers...

Javier Baez (CHC) - Javy Baez stole two more bases on Monday and is now on pace for 29 stolen bases. The rest of his on-pace for statistics are just as impressive with him currently trending towards .254/.286/.522, 37 HR,...

In The Field OF Ronald Acuna Jr. (knee/back) is targeting a return in the Padres series (June 14-17). 1B/OF Eric Thames (thumb) has been playing games during his rehab stint and could be back as soon as June 11. He...

As we near the 40% completion mark of the season, I must ask you the following question: Do you know where your saves are? In rotisserie leagues, the window to meaningfully impact your place in the standings is quickly closing...

Happy June! If you've made it this far into the baseball season and you're still reading columns on closers, that's a positive sign! Things stayed hot on the closer front this week and it's looking like it'll stay that way...

In the Field 2B Nick Franklin (quad strain) is still rehabbing and there is not a clear date for his return. 1B/OF Eric Thames (thumb) is rehabbing and is still expected back sometime in late June. 1B Jesus Aguilar has...

It's the last week of May, but it finally feels like April in the closer world. Lots to discuss and tackle in this week's closer update. Unlike last week, there's actually new situations to discuss and analyze, while also creating...

In the Field OF Justin Upton was hit on the wrist with a pitch on Thursday and did not play Friday night but was in the lineup Saturday night. OF Boog Powell (knee) started his rehab assignment on Wednesday. The...

Howdy folks! We're just past the 25% mark in baseball's regular season, which means it's time to start digging in a little deeper into the analytics behind the result stats for our fantasy baseball players. If you followed us in...

So you want the Cliff Notes version of the current landscape of closers? Greg Holland is still awful, no one can close for the Angels, the White Sox are still annoying, and AJ Minter is still good. Get it? Got...

Yasiel Puig seems to be purposely aggravating fantasy owners that didn't start him this week, as he hit his third HR in the last four games last night. He was 2-for-3 yesterday while adding 2 walks. Puig was so incredibly...

Sometime between now and the next column, most teams are going to hit the 25% completion mark on the season. While the negative activity has picked up recently, we're still waiting for the hammer to fall and knock out our...

J.A. Happ had a night to forget as he gave up 7 ER in just 3.1 innings, allowing 10 hits with 2 walks. Prior to yesterday, Happ was posting his best swing and miss rates of his career, leading to...

Ronald Acuna has somehow lived up to the hype, going 3-for-5 yesterday with his second HR of the season. The sample here is far too small to draw any conclusions, but one of the amazing things about Acuna in the...

In The Field C Tyler Flowers (oblique) is on a rehab assignment and should return late next week. 1B Eric Thames was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a torn UCL in his left thumb. He had surgery on...

Raisel Iglesias entered with two men on yesterday and promptly allowed both runners and one more to score. Iglesias's stats are a little bit alarming - and certainly not indicative of a sub-1.00 ERA. His SwStr% is elite, but he...

In The Field OF Manuel Margot was placed on the 10-day DL with bruised ribs. The guy most likely to see an increase in playing time is OF Franchy Cordero. He has an interesting power/speed potential but he really needs...

In The Field C Tyler Flowers was placed on the 10-day DL with an oblique strain and is going to be out multiple weeks. Oblique injuries can be tricky and difficult to completely heal. His replacement C Kurt Suzuki left...

All baseball players are created equal, right? Of course not! So why are we still attempting to analyze the maturation curve of starting pitchers the same way we analyze the maturation of offensive players? For years, we have approached aging...

Barrels? BABIP? xFIP? Those aren't real baseball stats! You play in a standard 5x5 fantasy baseball league, so why should you care about sabermetrics? It's a question we get frequently on our show on SiriusXM. Lou Blasi, Walter Kuberski, Sky...

It's the officially the final month of the regular season and the NFL season kicks off in less than a week! If you're reading this column, it means you're still in the thick of either playoff contention or winning your...

Fatigue is settling in. Both with our closers and ourselves. The official fantasy football draft weekend is upon us, rotisserie league standings are firming up and head-to-head playoff spots are being clinched. This is the time in your league when...

After this weekend, we only have six more weeks of the baseball regular season! For those of you in head-to-head leagues, that also probably means you only have two to three more weeks before you start your playoffs. Around The...

Well, after a fairly uneventful week in the bullpen, hopefully your index fingers were able to heal up after an active waiver wire period following the trade deadline last weekend. Our bullpens for the stretch run are starting to take...

Well if excitement is what you were after, this year's trade deadline was as thrilling as they come. If you include the month leading up to July 31st, we saw eleven teams make a change at the closer position, which...

Yu Darvish (LAD) - The Dodgers went fishing and they landed a much-needed starting pitcher to help anchor the front end of their starting rotation with Clayton Kershaw on the shelf. Darvish, who will be a free agent at the...

After a several weeks chock full of fantasy relevant trades involving closers, that trend continued in the week leading up to the trade deadline. Let's take a look at everything that happened and look ahead to what activity we might...

The trade deadline is still ten days away, but we've already seen a flurry of activity that has shaken up the bullpen situations for several teams. We'll break down each of the trades and look towards other possible moves that...

Welcome back to baseball! Hopefully everyone had a wonderful All-Star break and found the time off enjoyable and rejuvenating. We're just a few weeks away from baseball's non-waiver trade deadline and we're certainly in the midst of the most important...

While baseball won't be hosting their Midseason Classic until next week, most teams hit their halfway mark of the season earlier this week. That means we've arrived at the holy grail of "on pace for" comparisons. With that theme in...

Well, the calendar has officially turned to July. That means we're only a couple of weeks away from the all-star break and just a few weeks away from the trade deadline. The rumors are starting to heat up around the...

Chris Archer-Rays-SP Chris Archer went 6 IP and gave up 5 ER on 8 H, 2 BB, and 4 K's against the Orioles. Archer through 16 starts has a 3.97 ERA (3.33 xFIP). He has upped his strikeout rate to...

Around the League: -Matt Bush may be losing his grip as the primary closer for the Rangers and his blown save on Friday night did little to help his case. He's continuing to strikeout batters at a decent rate, but...

Around The League: -Aroldis Chapman pitched one inning for Double-A Trenton on Friday night and came away with a couple of strikeouts. According to the YES Network, Chapman will rejoin the Yankees this weekend and will be available for Sunday's...

Around the League: -If you subscribed to our in-season management package last year and followed this column, you'll know we were extremely high on Rasiel Iglesias during the 2016 campaign as an alternative at closer to Tony Cingrani. In fact,...

After nearly a month of endless updates on volatile closing situations, we finally have a week where there were not any significant shake-ups in the ninth inning. We'll take this opportunity to dig a little deeper into the player pool...