Champ or Chump: Nick Markakis and Matt Kemp

It's officially the All-Star Break, a time when it's always fun to take a closer look at who was on the rosters. You have surefire studs like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. You have guys who came out of nowhere such as Blake Snell and Jesus Aguilar. Finally, you have elder statesmen like Nick Markakis […]

Champ or Chump: Enyel De Los Santos and Jake Bauers

Several rookie pitchers have been sent down to the minors in recent days, including a few that we've previously examined in this column (Walker Buehler, Freddy Peralta). Teams are just manipulating their rosters in light of the upcoming All Star break though, so there's no need to panic if you've invested in them. Speaking of […]

Champ or Chump: Jorge Polanco and Steven Duggar

I tried to give up the prospect beat in this space last time, but then the Giants summoned Steven Duggar from the minor leagues. He had some buzz during Spring Training, so he probably warrants a closer look even if he's a little older than the average prospect (age 24). Jorge Polanco also returned from […]

Champ or Chump: Brad Miller and Kyle Tucker

This column has spent a lot of time covering prospects so far in 2018. We've had some calls that proved correct (Shane Bieber, Ronald Acuna, Fernando Romero) and others that don't look as great in hindsight (Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres). The Astros called up top prospect Kyle Tucker prior to Saturday's action, so we'll take […]

Champ or Chump: Adalberto Mondesi and Daniel Robertson

This column usually examines players in the midst of a breakout or slump and tries to determine if it represents a change in a player's baseline. This time, let's do something different. Let's look at two candidates to break out in the second half, before they become hot waiver wire commodities. Both of the names […]

Champ or Chump: Jon Gray and Luis Castillo

The early portion of any fantasy draft is filled with household names, but rarely gets truly exciting. Things don't get interesting until it's late enough to start calling out your sleepers, the guys that you just love but want to wait on because you can. Get those picks right, and you can enjoy watching your […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For June 30

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. We're coming up on the halfway point of the season, but there's still plenty of options on the waiver wire to aid your championship quest. For those who are […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For June 29

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. We're coming up on the halfway point of the season, but there's still plenty of options on the waiver wire to aid your championship quest. For those who are […]

Champ or Chump: Anthony DeSclafani and Aaron Hicks

It can be very tempting to search your waiver wire using each player's production to date. Most platforms allow you to sort available players based on your area(s) of need, seemingly encouraging you to do exactly this. It's fine in certain situations, but the underlying peripherals may tell a completely different story. For example, Anthony […]

Champ or Chump: Frankie Montas and Jonathan Loaisiga

If you're participating in the Rotoballer Challenge on the RT Sports platform, you've probably noticed that they have a list of the most acquired and dropped players for the week on every league's homepage. This past week, all 10 of the listed adds were starting pitchers. Everybody is apparently looking for an extra arm. With […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For June 25

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on […]

Champ or Chump: Kyle Gibson & Eduardo Escobar

Most fantasy owners are searching for the latest toy from the minor leagues on their waiver wires, but sometimes it's better to invest in a player with a more extensive track record. For example, fantasy baseball experts have been touting Kyle Gibson's potential for years, and he appears to have finally figured something out in […]

Champ or Chump: Daniel Palka & Dylan Covey

Pop quiz: Name three position players on the Chicago White Sox not named Jose Abreu. If you're an active fantasy owner, you can probably answer the question...with more difficulty than you care to admit. The same is true of the team's starting rotation. While the team as a whole isn't great, they still have a […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For June 18

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire. This article, which began last season, runs seven days a week. We are always ready to stream. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be […]

Champ or Chump: John Hicks & Willy Adames

Injuries are always a touchy subject in fantasy baseball. Nobody ever wants anybody to get injured, especially if you paid a high price to acquire them in March. Yet if your roster is light on saves or in need of a particular position in a deeper format, somebody getting hurt is the best chance you […]

Champ or Chump: Alen Hanson & Max Muncy

Personally, I use a player's track record as my primary means of evaluating minor leaguers. While other owners chase after the Juan Soto's and Ronald Acuna's of the world based on their prospect ratings, I tend to let other owners burn their early draft picks and FAAB on those guys. They could be studs right […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For June 11

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on […]

Champ or Chump: Jalen Beeks & Miles Mikolas

While fantasy baseball owners would love to roster a rotation consisting entirely of Max Scherzers and Corey Klubers, it's not feasible if you're in a remotely competitive league. Breakouts help, but the true key to maintaining strong performances in the pitching categories is to stream effectively. Basically, that means starting streamers in favorable matchups while […]

Champ or Chump: Niko Goodrum & Brandon Nimmo

There's a lot of fantasy analysis out there, and everybody has their own likes and dislikes when it comes to the numbers they look at. Personally, I can't stand Hard%. It was invented as a proxy to measure contact quality, but Statcast gives us specific numbers to measure the same thing much more precisely. It's […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets for June 4

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on […]

Champ or Chump: Jorge Soler and Shane Bieber

Even if you're happy with your current position in the standings, it's important to avoid complacency. Any production from an unexpected source (such as Jorge Soler of the Kansas City Royals) is liable to disappear at the drop of a dime, so it wouldn't hurt to start looking into a backup plan. Likewise, even first […]

Champ or Chump: Mallex Smith & Mitch Moreland

It's rare for a May transaction to significantly impact the fantasy landscape, but we've had two that did so recently. First, Denard Span and Alex Colome were traded to the Seattle Mariners. Colome's owners are now forced to speculate on who his successor might be in Tampa Bay, while Span's value remains constant as he […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For May 28

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on […]

Champ or Chump: Tyler O'Neill and Juan Soto

It seems like we're far enough into the season for the minor leagues to stop pumping out shiny new toys for fantasy owners to play with, yet the hits keep on coming. Nineteen-year old Juan Soto is the latest blue chip prospect to make an MLB debut, and the hype surrounding him is roughly equivalent […]

Champ or Chump: Dustin Fowler & Austin Meadows

Fantasy owners have been struggling with stolen bases since rotisserie baseball was invented. The prevailing thought used to be that they would always be available on the wire, encouraging owners to concentrate on power in their drafts and sort speed out later. As the total number of steals began to decline, many owners went the […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For May 21

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on […]

Champ or Chump: Matt Adams and Freddy Peralta

By now, you've probably heard that the United States Supreme Court has opened the door to legalized sports betting outside of the state of Nevada. The issue has several complicated angles to consider, but I've long felt that fantasy owners should have a familiarity with how betting on baseball works. Each game's over/under numbers and […]

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets for May 14

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on […]

Champ or Chump: Jeimer Candelario and Fernando Romero

While it's still much too early to give up on your team, your league's standings page is starting to mean something. If you're deficient in HR or well short of the IP pace of your rivals, you should take action before it is too late. One way to do so is a trade, but it's […]

Champ or Chump: Tyler Mahle & Caleb Smith

Popular waiver wire arms are once again today's topic of discussion. If you're in need of a new pitcher for your staff (and nearly everyone is), both Tyler Mahle of the Cincinnati Reds and Caleb Smith of the Miami Marlins have probably crossed your mind. Neither has much of a track record though, so you […]