Andrew Bailey (RP, LAA) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed, AL-only Leagues OWNED IN: 1% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Andrew Bailey will work in tandem with Cam Bedrosian in the Angels’ closer role to start the season, according to manager Mike Scioscia. Bailey, 32, totaled 75 saves across his first three big league seasons with the Athletics, but has struggled to […]

Santiago Casilla (RP, OAK) - Closers and Saves Waiver Wire Adds

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Saves Leagues OWNED IN: 36% of Yahoo Leagues ANALYSIS: After an entire off-season of speculation, the Athletics may have tipped their hand on their closer for this season. Last night, Santiago Casilla nailed down the first save opportunity for Oakland. Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle were not chosen to close the game out, and were […]

Streaming Wars: Waiver Wire Targets for April 5th

Over the offseason, there was much ado about the home run surge of 2016. Would it continue into 2017 or was regression looming? One game into the MLB season, and we already have 30 home runs - a 5,400 home run pace. Yasmani Grandal, Rougned Odor, and Khris Davis have already popped two apiece, as has […]

Streaming Wars: Exploiting the Waiver Wire to Win Your League

Welcome to Streaming Wars, a new column offering waiver wire recommendations for the next day. Streaming goes by many names such as micromanaging, churn and burn, etc. Whatever you call it, the goal is the same - to fully leverage your weakest roster spots. Streaming is not for everybody, but it is for mostbody. Sometimes, you'll have […]

Week 1 Waiver Wire: 0-25% Owned Pickups

Baseball is finally back. In light of this, let's give that free agent pool one last look over before the stats start flying. Here are the best players who are owned in 0-25% of Yahoo leagues. You can see our column on 25-50% owned players as well. These are your deeper Week 1 waiver wire pickups and […]

Week 1 Waiver Wire: 25-50% Owned Pickups

Wow, we're really here. After all this time, baseball is truly back. Happy Opening Day RotoBallers! In light of this, let's give that free agent pool one last look over before the stats start flying. Today, we'll look at players who are owned in 25-50% of Yahoo leagues and see who stands out. You can […]

Jason Grilli (RP, TOR) - Closers and Saves Draft and Waiver Targets

BALLER MOVE: Draft / Add in All Saves Leagues OWNED IN: 6% of Yahoo Leagues ANALYSIS: Roberto Osuna will start the season on the DL for the Toronto Blue Jays. It's unclear how long he will be sidelined for, and Jason Grilli is expected to serve as the closer for now. Joe Biagini may be another option for […]

Baseball Award Predictions that (Probably) Won't Come True

My least favorite type of baseball articles to read are preseason predictions for awards. Nobody in their right mind is going to pick against Mike Trout for AL MVP and there's a very narrow population of players that are considered in the NL. It's not exactly informative to hear someone say, "Clayton Kershaw has a […]

Turning Two: Who Will Earn 50 Saves in 2017?

Welcome back to our sixth edition of Turning Two. We've now discussed candidates for 50 HR, .350 BA, 300 K, 20 W, and 20/20 campaigns for the 2017 season. This week's topic focuses on the one position we have yet to cover, the most mystical of fantasy players, closers. Reaching 50 saves is an impressive, yet not rare, feat. Since […]

Deep League Closer Handcuffs

"Don't overpay for saves." As dedicated fantasy baseball players, we've heard it a million times. When you start to see closers fly off the boards in your draft, however, it's tough not to pull the trigger so you don't get stuck with Jim Johnson as your lead fireman. There's no need to panic though. Given […]

Potential Pitcher ADP Busts for 2017

With REAL BASEBALL set to start on Sunday (with three games no less!), most fantasy drafts have either occurred or are set to happen very soon. With that in mind, we’re set to put a wrap on our positional avoid series with the final chapter: pitchers. Pitchers are as volatile as they come in fantasy […]

The Latest Bullpen Updates You Need to Know for Your Drafts

We're less than a week away from Opening Day and on the verge of a huge fantasy draft weekend. It's finally time for baseball season to be in (don't say "full swing" don't say "full swing") full effect! Many fantasy leagues have already drafted, but there is still a waiver wire to scour and buy-low/sell-high […]

Addison Reed (RP, NYM) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~ 220 CURRENT ADP: ~ 250 ANALYSIS: Addison Reed had himself a career year last season with the Mets. The former closer set new career highs in innings pitched, K/BB rate, ERA, among many other things. By all accounts it was his most successful season as a reliever, and at 28-years of age there’s no […]

Podcast: After Hours With RotoBaller Radio - Closer Tiered Rankings & ADP Valuations

RotoBaller co-founder Real Talk Raph and esteemed co-host Anthony Aniano of RotoBaller Radio discuss 2017 closer and relief pitcher tiered rankings, ADP and draft valuations. Be sure to tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every Saturday and Sunday between 5-8 PM EST. You can also find new weekly shows on BlogTalkRadio live or on […]

Blake Treinen (RP, WAS) - Closers and Saves Draft and Waiver Targets

BALLER MOVE: Draft / Add in All Saves Leagues OWNED IN: 15% of Yahoo Leagues ANALYSIS: At last, the speculation is over. Blake Treinen has officially been announced as the closer for the Washington Nationals. Not Shawn Kelley, and not Koda Glover (gasp!). If you are in a league that values saves, go add him now. If you […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 10: PITCHf/x

One of the most fundamental questions in fantasy sports is if a player's current performance is sustainable. More than any other sport, baseball has a slew of statistical measures that can be dissected numerous ways to analyze player performance. PITCHf/x is a publicly available pitch tracking system that provides a lot of different data to […]

Maximizing Yahoo DL and NA Slots In Your Draft

Most fantasy baseball leagues have at least one DL spot. Many have two, three or even more. While certainly useful during the season when players inevitably get hurt, they can also be part of your draft strategy. Not as widely used and relatively new to Yahoo leagues, NA slots allow you to stockpile difference-makers for the […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 9: Pitcher Batted Ball Distribution

The league average batted ball distribution in 2016 was 20.7% liners, 44.7% grounders and 34.6% flies. Last time, we took a brief look at how pitchers may specialize in either grounders or fly balls. Fly ball pitchers have a BABIP advantage over their ground ball-inducing counterparts, since fly balls (.127 BABIP in 2016) consistently have […]

Draft Values: The 2017 All-Bargain Team

This article first appeared on the Metro news publication. Our long national nightmare is nearly over. No, not that one…here we’re referring to the lack of baseball. Opening Day is right around the corner, and not a moment too soon. After last week’s look at the busts, let’s end draft season on a happy note […]

Neftali Feliz (RP, MIL) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~190 CURRENT ADP: ~222 ANALYSIS: The former closer has had an up-and-down career since 2014 so he will look for consistency in 2017 as the best candidate to close down wins for the Milwaukee Brewers. Entering the season under a rebuilding phase, the Brewers may trade Feliz if his value warrants a desire […]

Brandon Kintzler (RP, MIN) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~200 CURRENT ADP: ~248 ANALYSIS: The Minnesota Twins are slowly developing pieces for the future. A secure spot on the roster appears to be closer Brandon Kintzler. While he pitched to a 3.15 ERA with just 17 saves, his job appears to be secure. Former closer Glen Perkins is recovering from a […]

Cam Bedrosian (RP, ANA) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~190 CURRENT ADP: ~210 ANALYSIS: The son of a legendary closer that won a Cy-Young Award, Cam Bedrosian could very well have the Angels closer gig sealed up by the end of spring training. After his call up last year, he threw 40.1 innings in which he earned a 1.12 ERA and a […]

Relief Pitchers - Updated March Rankings and Tiers

We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at relief pitcher rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have seen a bit of movement. As […]

Jeff Kahntroff's 10 Bold Predictions for 2017

Just when you thought it was over... this will officially conclude our Bold Predictions series for the fantasy baseball season. Last year was the debut of my 10 bold predictions, and I think I did pretty well. But you should be the judge for yourself and review how I did before deciding how much stock […]

Bill Dubiel's 10 Bold Predictions for 2017

Here at Rotoballer, we truly do believe in the "grand finale" concept--that's why you're getting MY bold predictions after all the other chuckleheads. By chuckleheads I mean my talented and respectable colleagues. Be sure to check out just how wonky we all get this time of year with our entire Bold Prediction Series. I didn't have […]

Milwaukee Brewers - 2017 Fantasy MLB Team Preview and Outlooks

As we wrap up our MLB team previews, it's time to preview one of the young, upcoming teams in the National League with the 2017 Milwaukee Brewers Team Outlook. The Brewers finished last season 73-89, but are a team that should be on the rise despite a relatively quiet offseason. We'll take a look at the team's […]

Relief Pitchers and Closers - Overvalued and Undervalued

Now that the first day of Spring has passed, we are now entering the prime season for fantasy baseball drafts. Before you enter your draft room this year, it would behoove you to check out our ADP analysis pieces here at RotoBaller. This will ensure you have a good working knowledge of how players are […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 8: BABIP For Pitchers

While FIP is a useful tool to predict a pitcher's future ERA performance, fantasy owners should remember that ERA, not FIP, is what really matters in most formats. This means that we are interested in the "luck" that separates the two statistics. While some of this luck is unpredictable, we can and should predict some […]

Closer Hot Seats and Setup Men Who Want To Sit In Them

"Closer" can more or less be considered a starting role in fantasy baseball. It's not a starting role in the sense that the player actually starts every game, nor does he start in a regular rotation, but he has a set role that his manager uses him in. The whole point of trying to convince you […]

Rick Lucks's 10 Bold Predictions For 2017

Our series of bold predictions continues with my piece. I felt that I was a little bolder than most of my colleagues last season, including the only recommendation I saw for Steven Wright's breakout campaign. I also touted Drew Storen as a top reliever for fantasy purposes. That one didn't work out so well. This […]