Pirates Release Francisco Cervelli

The Pittsburgh Pirates released catcher Francisco Cervelli (concussion) on Wednesday. The 33-year-old was on a minor league rehab assignment but had been out since late May and was hitting just .193/.279/.248 with a homer and five RBI in 109 at-bats this season. Cervelli had a career-high 12 homers -- his first time ever with double-digit […]

Francisco Mejia Emerging As Quality Backstop

San Diego Padres catcher Francisco Mejia cracked a solo homer in four at-bats Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds. The long ball was Mejia’s eighth of the season as he continues ascending as the Friars everyday backstop. Since his recall on June 18, the 23-year-old has lifted his OPS from .466 to a now-sturdy .776. After […]

Contact Rate Risers and Fallers for Week 21 - Buy or Sell?

Welcome to Contact Rate Risers and Fallers for Week 21! Our premium tools allow us to get out ahead of trends in player performance, including contact rate. Every Wednesday, we'll be looking at some players that have seen an increase in contact rate and some that have seen it decline. Contact rate can foretell a […]

Digging Deeper: AL-Only Waiver Wire Report for Week 21

Every week in baseball, a significant player will hit the injured list, slip into a slump, or get traded out of a good spot. How fantasy owners adapt to these situations can make or break the season as a whole. One lousy add might not hurt the long-term standing of a team, but failing to […]

Champ or Chump: Will Smith and Rafael Devers

The end of August is always something of a turning point for this column. Many roto leagues are basically over, while owners in H2H formats are either waiting for their playoffs to start or looking ahead to next season. Waiver wires tend to be fairly barren even if your league is still competitive, and your […]

Robinson Chirinos Tallies Four Hits In Defeat

Houston Astros catcher Robinson Chirinos went 4-for-4 with the team's lone RBI in the Astros 2-1 loss to the lowly Tigers. Chirinos now has hits in each of his last four starts and seven out of his last nine, going 10-for-29 (.344) during that span. The veteran backstop enjoyed a fruitful month of June, slugging […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the Thursday, August 22nd edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss […]

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (8/22/19): MLB DFS Lineups

Thursday sees a reasonably busy day with 10 games taking place. Just one of those games is in the afternoon, between the Giants and Cubs, leaving nine of the games in the evening to make up the main slate. That slate will make up the featured one on DraftKings and is where our attentions on […]

Buster Posey Sits Out on Wednesday

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (rest) is out of the starting lineup for Wednesday's game against the Chicago Cubs. The veteran catcher will get a routine day off to rest here. Stephen Vogt will draw the start behind the plate and bat fifth versus righty Yu Darvish. Vogt has been a reliable option as […]

Willson Contreras Working Out Wednesday

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras (hamstring) is working out in the outfield before the game on Wednesday. Contreras has been out since Aug. 3 but has been one of the more valuable fantasy catchers this year, hitting .275/.365/.525 with 19 long balls, 45 runs and 57 RBI in 87 games. He's a must-stash and can […]

Brian McCann Placed On Injured List, Alex Jackson Recalled

The Atlanta Braves placed catcher Brian McCann (knee) on the 10-day injured list on Wednesday with a left knee sprain and recalled rookie catching prospect Alex Jackson from Triple-A Gwinnett in a corresponding move. The veteran McCann was hitting .264/.336/.423 with 10 homers and 39 RBI in 239 at-bats while splitting time with Tyler Flowers […]

Alex Jackson Likely Coming Up To Replace Brian McCann

Atlanta Braves catching prospect Alex Jackson received a clean bill of health after being removed from the game at Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday, so he'll likely be called up when Brian McCann (knee) is placed on the injured list. McCann injured his left knee on Tuesday night and is expected to land on the shelf, […]

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (8/21/19): MLB DFS Lineups

Welcome to Wednesday baseball on DraftKings. It's a historic day, as we see the Houston Astros as -510 favorites against the Detroit Tigers. Justin Verlander is on the mound and he has to be one of the safest plays of the season. With that said, there are plenty of other options to look at and […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the Wednesday, August 21st edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss […]

Power Hitting Risers & Fallers for Week 21 - Buy or Sell?

As with last week, the focus will be on the full season numbers. Not much else to say, so let's jump in. Weekly reminders: EVAB (pronounced ee-vab or ev-ab) is simply exit velocity on "air balls" - meaning fly balls and line drives, as shown on Statcast. Isolated power -- ISO -- is slugging percentage […]

Top 30 Impact Prospects for Redraft Leagues (Week 21)

Well, we hope you’ve been reading this series all season long because we’ve introduced you to a plethora of players that have impacted the Majors Leagues this season… and this past week may have been the busiest one all year. Last week’s list saw six players receive a promotion within the past seven days. Five […]

Digging Deeper: NL-Only Waiver Report for Week 21

Every week in baseball, a significant player will hit the injured list, slip into a slump, or get traded out of a good spot. How fantasy owners adapt to these situations can make or break the season as a whole. One lousy add might not hurt the long-term standing of a team, but failing to […]

Brian McCann Injured Tuesday

Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann (knee) was removed from the game early as a precaution on Tuesday with left knee soreness. It's concerning since the 35-year-old missed two months last year while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Catching prospect Alex Jackson, the team's No. 25 prospect per MLB Pipeline, was taken out […]

Austin Hedges Thinks He Deserves More Playing Time

San Diego Padres catcher Austin Hedges went 4-for-4 on Sunday with a go-ahead home run against the Phillies but was back on the bench on Monday in favor of youngster Francisco Mejia. Despite his struggles with the bat, Hedges leads the majors in defensive runs saved at the position, even though he's been seeing 42 […]

Time To Replace Your Battery Mate?

It's crunch time in the 2019 fantasy baseball season and as we head down the stretch everything can feel like it is magnified. Every win, point, or stat accrued feels more important than it did back in May. If your team is still competitive you've likely settled on the primary guys that have gotten you […]

Catcher Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 21

As we near the end of August you may have already found a dependable catcher that you roll with week-in and week-out, but as we know, backstops are the most volatile position in fantasy baseball. With that being said, we should always be aware of the landscape of the position just in case a few […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the Tuesday, August 20th edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss […]

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (8/20/19): MLB DFS Lineups

After a meager nine-game slate on Monday and some light weather, we’re back to a full slate here on Tuesday with very few weather issues. In fact, we have one doubleheader, so it’s going to be a wild day of baseball.   In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for […]

MLB DFS Top Value Plays for Wednesday August 21st, 2019 (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Below you will find our Premium DFS value plays for August 21st, 2019. These picks will target low-priced players in the main slate. These are daily outlier value plays or lesser thought of guys. They normally lay outside of the main pool of players that […]

MLB DFS Top Value Plays for Monday August 19th, 2019 (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Below you will find our Premium DFS value plays for August 19th, 2019. These picks will target low-priced players in the main slate. These are daily outlier value plays or lesser thought of guys. They normally lay outside of the main pool of players that […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the Monday, August 19th edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss […]

Christian Vazquez Collects Career-High 19th Double

Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez finished 2-for-4 with a run batted in and two runs scored in Sunday's win over the Orioles. Vazquez registered his career-high 19th double in the sixth inning which also delivered his 53rd RBI. In his fifth major league season, Vazquez is having a breakout year and has made a […]

Tom Murphy Mashes 13th Home Run

Backup catcher Tom Murphy once again made the most of his opportunity to start, hitting his 13th home run of the year on Sunday in a 7-0 win over Toronto. In his last start on August 12, Murphy hit two home runs and continues to show that he has thunder in his stick every time […]

Yasmani Grandal Sits Out Sunday

Milwaukee Brewers catcher Yasmani Grandal (rest) is out of the starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Washington Nationals. Grandal has seen an increased workload lately, so he'll get a much deserved off day here. Manny Pina will draw the start behind the plate and bat sixth versus righty Erick Fedde. Pina doesn't have enough […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the Sunday, August 18th edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss […]