All posts under "Preseason Prep" - Page 12

Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Storylines: GP Are You With Me? Gregory Polanco is poised for a breakout season, and as the 96th player off the board on AVG in the NFBC so far, we see significant value here. His 2015 .256/.320/.381...

A Change in Approach For Kole Calhoun Going into the 2015 season, Kole Calhoun was a fantasy darling, shooting up the fantasy draft boards. While he had a fine season, we saw an interesting shift in the type of hitter...

Is Price Worth the Price for Boston? One of this off season's biggest moves was David Price signing a 7-year $217 million contract with the Red Sox. It's hard to believe this guy is now playing for his fifth team...

In a world of change, baseball's five-man pitching rotation has been a given. In fact, for those under 40, it has been that way, well, forever. For decades, we've had a few assumptions when it comes to a pitching staff....

Sabermetric analysis is and has been the foundation of our Fantasy Baseball player projections since 1999. This analysis along with our founding concept of position scarcity, has helped us achieve superior consistency in projections accuracy. All of which can...

Mike Wright Wright made his MLB debut on Sunday against the Angels and had an impressive debut to say the least. Wright went 7.1 innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts, no walks, and only four hits allowed. He got...

Back to Their Old Ways? Edwin Jackson (SP-CHC) - Not to be a bully but Edwin Jackson is a fantasy disaster. As a Cub fan, I cringe every time Jackson takes the mound. Much to surprise, he has actually been...

With opening night rapidly approaching, the pictures with positional battles and injury concerns are slowly but surely growing more lucid. Devon Travis (2B-TOR): The Blue Jays officially named Devon Travis as their starting 2B on Tuesday. And the crowd goes...

It would be patently unfair for me to post all these columns over the previous two months without providing the lifeblood of preseason anticipation ... Predictions! I'll right that wrong today. With the 2015 season less than a week away,...

Justin Verlander (SP-DET). Verlander is questionable both to make his next spring start and to be ready for his first start of the regular season after being lifted from his most recent start with soreness in his triceps. While this...

Chicago Cubs Jorge Soler - Lets talk about Soler power. No, not solar power, but (Jorge) Soler's power. Overshadowed by teammate and mega prospect, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler has quietly put together an impressive Spring Training. Through 15 games, the...

(Note: This is a continuation from Part 1, which was published on 3-27-15) NL Outfielders Eric Young, Jr., Atlanta Young, Jr., is back on radars after appearing to win the early-season centerfield spot in Atlanta. His defense is spotty, his...

Twins Brian Dozier's Power/speed Combo Brian Dozier has been on the fantasy map for a couple seasons now, with an 18/14 HR/SB season in 2013 followed up with a 23/21 pairing in 2014. Now headed into 2015, Dozier is a...

New York Yankees Replacing Mariano- Not necessarily a one man job I know it's a year late on the "Replacing Rivera" storyline, but after almost two decades of being the most stable fantasy closer in baseball, the Yankees closer situation...

Cincinnati Reds Has Johnny Cueto established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball? Johnny Cueto was brilliant in 2014. Cueto went 20-9 and posted a 2.25 ERA over 243.2 IP. Cueto had been labeled as a health risk...

Notes from the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues... Down the homestretch With less than two weeks to go until Opening Day, some positional battles are becoming clearer. For the Rangers the main unsettled spots are left field, left handed reliever, and...

As we drive deeper into the Spring Training season, we will be looking at a few players from each of a trio of teams, the Padres, Cardinals and the Blue Jays. These 3 teams have the ability to be very...

There are a pair of things that we can all agree on as we arrive on the doorstep of 2015 ... 1. Mike Trout is the unquestioned number-1 overall pick and, 2. There's a ton of pitching to be found...

Bruce Rondon (RP-DET). Rondon's name is one to keep in mind as a possible closer-in-waiting. Despite missing the 2014 season due to TJ surgery, Rondon has hit 100 MPH with his fastball during spring training and posted solid numbers in...

Archie Bradley and As The Diamonbacks' Rotation Turns A day after general manager Dave Stewart declared that Bradley wasn't "Major League Ready," the former top pitching prospect tossed 4 solid innings, allowing 2 unearned runs on 5 hits while striking...

Minnesota Twins Twins' top power threat: Oswaldo Arcia The 23-year old Twins' outfielder has yet to go deep in Spring Training this season, but he has a pair of doubles, and is hitting for a good average (.364). Granted, Arcia...

Rene Rivera - I feel like I left a bit unsaid a few weeks ago regarding Rivera, whose 318 ABs last season were his highest total since 2007. Rivera was pushed to the majors (and into a backup role) right...

Rising Stars: Mookie Betts (BOS-CF) - Let's start things off with one of the hottest batters in spring training, Mookie Betts. In 29 at bats Betts already has 13 hits, seven of which have gone for extra bases. If the...

San Diego Padres: Kevin Quackenbush (RP - SD) - Going into the 2014 season as a relatively unknown commodity, Kevin Quackenbush proved his worth down the stretch and is now in the conversation to be the primary set-up man for...

Andrelton Simmons - Simmons turned in a huge day at the plate Saturday launching his first homer of the spring while going 3-for-3 on the day. Simmons was terrible last year (worse than the player formerly known as BJ Upton...

Anyone who has even been in the same zip code of a fantasy baseball draft has heard of the 'Closer's Run.' It's the moment when someone decides to breach the dam, take that first closer of the draft, and, thus,...

Ian Desmond is definitely a position where you can get a leg up on your competition these days, because if you include Hanley Ramirez, there are still only 4 guys that clearly should be off the board in the first...

Cincinnati Reds What to expect from Joey Votto in 2015? Joey Votto had an injury plagued 2014 season. His quad injury never seemed to heal up and forced him to the DL. Votto only played in 62 games, but is...

How many times a week do you think, "If I could just hit the rewind button and do it again."? Dozens? Fantasy baseball players LIVE the "If I Coulda' Game." It could be a misstep that you made on a...

Minnesota Twins Phil Hughes' breakout: More to come or regression? A year after going 4-14 with a 5.19 ERA, Phil Hughes had a record-setting 2014 in which he won 16 games, posted a 3.52 ERA, threw over 200 innings with...

We all know that Spring Training stats don't matter, and it's pretty much true. Springs stats have very little correlation with what happens during the upcoming season, whether it's because of small sample size, minor league competition, or players working...

Baseball offers a linguistic world of abbreviations, acronyms, and short-hand. Seriously, each spring most of us wake up to our first rounds of draft prep only to spend a good half-day scavenging through all the new tools of analysis that...

Atlanta Braves Jace Peterson, Pulling away from the pack? - Okay, maybe it's too early to say he's pulling ahead in the Braves' second base competition but Peterson is off to an excellent start to spring training. He's hitting a...

Notes from the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues... It's déjà vu all over again The Rangers lost approximately 9 million games to injury right now. The big news this weekend is that they have started picking up right where they left...

During the year, I write "A Closer Look" for our in-season analysis subscribers. It's a weekly column that takes Fantistics' advanced statistical perspective and applies it specifically to the closing position. I'm a firm believer that relievers can be an...

St Louis Cardinals Trevor Rosenthal (CL) - Closer Controversy? Trevor Rosenthal saved an impressive 46 games in 2014 but his lack of control resulted in 6 blown saves. After posting a 2.39 BB/9 rate in 2013 he ballooned to 5.37...