Valuable Long Relievers of 2020 and the Lingering Impact (Part 1)

The circumstantial insanity of the 2020 MLB season necessitated some adjustments in strategy, both for big-league managers and fantasy baseball GMs. One of these adjustments, prompted by frequent doubleheaders and the three-batter minimum rule, was the greater use of long-relievers and a generally reduced workload for rotation pitchers. That makes sense from the perspective of […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball First Base Rankings

Once again, I'll start by saying the 2021 baseball season is not guaranteed to be a normal one. But for now, let's just close our eyes and dream of a world unencumbered by COVID-19 and talk about our silly little game as if a 162-game season will come next spring. Join me for my position-by-position […]

Biggest Brl/BBE% Fallers from 2020

Last week, I discussed the importance of the Brl/BBE% and examined some players who had improved the most in the shortened 2019 season. If you haven't yet taken a look at that, I would encourage you to because I also gave a detailed breakdown of why I like this particular stat. However, if you simply […]

Squaring It Up: 2020's Biggest Brl/BBE% Gainers

Often when it comes to fantasy baseball, we get overloaded with statistics and it becomes hard to sort out what's useful from what's misleading. Many experts can write pages about why they swear by certain stats as being the most predictive for future success or accurate in reflecting who had a good season. In the […]

Howie Kendrick Retires After 15 Seasons

Second baseman Howie Kendrick announced his retirement on Monday after 15 major league seasons. Kendrick won a World Series title with the Washington Nationals in 2019 and was named the MVP of the National League Championship Series while also hitting a go-ahead home run in Game 7 of the World Series to help beat the […]

Joe Maddon Thinks Jo Adell Needs More Seasoning

Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon thinks top outfield prospect Jo Adell "needs more time in the minor leagues, no question." Adell is possibly the best prospect the Angels have had since Mike Trout, but he struggled as a rookie in 2020 to the tune of a .161 batting average. The rookie struck out 55 […]

Statcast Review - Noteworthy xBA/xSLG Hitting Leaders

Thanks to its abbreviated schedule, the 2020 MLB season resulted in some unusual outcomes. Michael Conforto posted the highest full-season BABIP since Ty Cobb in 1913, Luke Voit was on pace for 60 home runs, and Robbie Ray walked a ridiculous 18% of the batters he faced. xStats were not immune to that weirdness, xBA […]

Angels Sign Alex Claudio

The Los Angeles Angels signed left-handed reliever Alex Claudio to a one-year, $1.125 million deal on Wednesday. The 28-year-old had a 3.44 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 311 appearances for the Rangers and Brewers from 2014 to 2020, recording 217 strikeouts and 78 walks in 311 2/3 innings. Left-handers have hit just .202/.246/.310 against him […]

MLB's Best Pitches by the Numbers

One of the most-often used algorithms in the data science world is called clustering. Clustering is defined, by Wikipedia, as: grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense) to each other than to those in other groups (clusters) In baseball […]

Biggest Fallers of 2020 – Relief Pitchers

In an abbreviated 60-game season, a large number of relievers previously considered to be lockdown closers or dominant set-up men struggled consistently, ultimately resulting in a negative impact on their fantasy value. As we previously did with RP risers, we will now look at the biggest fallers of the 2020 season as we gear up […]

Raisel Iglesias To Angels - Fantasy Impact

The 2020 Winter Meetings may be taking place virtually, but that didn't stop the Los Angeles Angels from addressing one of their biggest needs before some participants could even log on. The Angels acquired former Reds closer Raisel Iglesias who should immediately slot into the ninth-inning that has been a sore spot for the Halos for […]

Statcast Review - Hard Hit/Exit Velocity Pitching Leaders

Pitcher contact quality can be a tricky attribute for fantasy managers to incorporate into their analysis. On one hand, pitchers are more at the whim of hitters when it comes to contact quality than the other way around. On the other hand, it certainly seems as though pitchers can exert meaningful control over their contact […]

Projecting Power in 2021: Early ADP Air% Exit Velocity

Looking at average exit velocity to project future power is not very useful compared to looking only at balls hit in the air. Because who cares how hard ground balls are hit? However, it can be even more useful to parse out those velocities into more refined bins and cast a more critical eye to […]

Trevor Bauer An Obvious Option For Angels

People are convinced that the Los Angeles Angels are determined to add a top-of-the-rotation starter this winter, and National League Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer is the obvious option. Bauer is from Los Angeles and played his college ball at UCLA, so he might relish the opportunity to come back home. The Halos' top trade […]

Angels In The Mix For James McCann

The Los Angeles Angels remain in the mix for free-agent catcher James McCann, according to sources. They have been in on him from the beginning, and McCann has ties to Southern California, as he was born in Santa Barbara and went to high school in California. But the Mets have been seriously engaged in talks […]

Top 250 Dynasty Prospects for 2021

The 2020 baseball season was unlike any year we’ve ever seen with its shortened season and schedule that can perhaps be best described as organized chaos. The absence of a minor league season played havoc with prospect prognosticators. The 2021 season — and perhaps beyond — will continue to present unique challenges as the pandemic […]

Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Redraft Prospects for 2021

The abbreviated, wild-ride known as the 2020 MLB season has come to an end and the playoffs are in full swing. Sadly, that means fantasy baseball seasons are finished. And prospects watchers have turned their attention towards the 2021 season. The 2020 season saw a significant number of key contributions from rookies and, had you […]

Angels Acquire Closer Raisel Iglesias From Reds

The Los Angeles Angels have traded for Cincinnati Reds closer Raisel Iglesias, according to a Twitter post by the Angels. Relief pitcher Noe Ramirez and a player to be named later will head to Cincinnati. Iglesias should immediately slot into the closer role for an Angels team that had five different players earn a save last […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings

The 2021 MLB season isn't guaranteed to be normal but I have hope that next spring will be much healthier. As such, I will approach ranks as if a traditional 162-game season is coming. Join me for my position-by-position ranking series for the 2021 fantasy baseball season. How much weight do we give 2020? How […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings

The upcoming 2021 season may not be normal -- going from 2020 to 2021 doesn't wave a magic wand -- but there's still comfort in baseball. As such, I will approach ranks as if a traditional 162-game season is coming. Join me for my position-by-position ranking series for the 2021 fantasy baseball season. How much […]

Rangers Hire Former Pitcher Chris Young As GM

The Texas Rangers hired Chris Young as executive vice president and general manager on Friday, and he'll work under president of baseball operations Jon Daniels, who has been the team's GM since 2005. The 6-foot-10 Young pitched 13 seasons in the majors and has been the senior vice president in charge of on-field operations and […]

Angels Trade For Jose Iglesias

The Los Angeles Angels acquired shortstop Jose Iglesias from the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday in exchange for minor league right-handers Garrett Stallings and Jean Pinto. Iglesias is a replacement for Andrelton Simmons, who is a free agent and wasn't given a qualifying offer. David Fletcher could also play shortstop, but he is expected to take […]

Year-in-Review: Dylan Bundy

“Just when I thought I was out, he pulls me back in!” –That’s what fantasy managers found themselves saying about Dylan Bundy this year, as the longtime sleeper finally woke up with career-best numbers across the board, highlighted by a 3.29 ERA, 2.95 FIP, and 4.24 K/BB ratio. Going into 2020 Bundy’s NFBC ADP was […]

Projecting Power in 2021: Elite Levels of Air% Exit Velocity

Everyone wants more power, even more so when it comes relatively cheap. But even when pricey, you're going to need to draft a bomber or two. One of the best ways to see how a player's power is trending is to sift through their exit-velocities to see what they're saying. Most know by now that […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Outfield Rankings

I think most of us would agree that looking forward to 2021 is a good idea. For me, that means immersing myself in the upcoming baseball season. While there's no guarantee COVID-19 won't affect the '21 season, I will approach ranks as if a traditional 162-game season is coming. Join me for my position-by-position ranking […]

Faster and Furious: Pitchers With Rising Velocity

The shortened 2020 season resulted in some small sample size related caveats surrounding analysis heading into 2021, but fastball velocity is largely immune from that issue. Fastball velocity is extremely quick to stabilize, and even a few pitches can provide fantasy managers with a reasonably clear understanding of a pitcher’s velocity. Further supporting that notion […]

Year-in-Review: Shane Bieber

2020 AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber was just simply remarkable in every definition of the word this past season. He led the majors in a number of statistics such as ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122) and tied for the major league lead in wins (8) and quality starts (10). The deeper you look into […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Shortstop Rankings

As we begin to look towards the 2021 baseball season, we can only hope that COVID-19 will be handled well enough to let the season run as normal. Since this is a mere early ranking exercise and we have so much ahead of us, let's just close our eyes and chat as if a 162-game […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Third Base Rankings

Hope springs eternal for the 2021 baseball season, but it's hard to imagine we'll be completely past COVID-19 by then. Plus, we could see opening salvos for the CBA debates to come. But for now, let's just close our eyes and dream of a perfect world and chat as if a 162-game season will come […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Second Base Rankings

As usual, I'll start by saying the 2021 baseball season may still be affected by COVID-19. Maybe even more labor disputes just for a curveball. But for now, let's just close our eyes and dream of a perfect world and chat as if a 162-game season will come next spring. Join me for my position-by-position […]