Fantasy Baseball Preseason Injury Updates
Injuries remain commonplace in all sports. Baseball has seen the rate of injury continue to rise over the past few years. In fantasy, if someone is not in the medical field, it is hard to gauge how long a player will be out and whether they need to be replaced in a lineup. Sometimes this […]
Reds Considering Willy Adames
The Cincinnati Reds are still looking at shortstops and have considered free-agent Jonathan Villar and trades for Cleveland Indians shortstop Amed Rosario and Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Willy Adames. Cincy signed infielder Dee Strange-Gordon to a minor league deal over the weekend, but he's mostly a depth/fallback option at the position. Adames would likely cost […]
Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Redraft Prospects for 2021 (Part 2)
Spring Training 2021 is almost here, which means it’s time to start thinking about prospects again. A strong pop-up performance from a rookie or two can have a massive impact on a fantasy manager’s season. If we look back to the truncated 2020 season, we can easily locate a healthy dose of players that had […]
Top 750: Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Rankings
What's up RotoBallers. Today we are bringing you our top 750 fantasy baseball dynasty rankings for the 2021 MLB season. Dynasty leagues, or keeper formats, continue to become more and more popular in the fantasy sports landscape. For those of you who are playing in dynasty formats, or are interested in long-term valuations of fantasy players, […]
Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Redraft Prospects for 2021 (Part 1)
Spring Training 2021 is almost here, which means it’s time to start thinking about prospects again. A strong pop-up performance from a rookie or two can have a massive impact on a fantasy manager’s season. If we look back to the truncated 2020 season, we can easily locate a healthy dose of players that had […]
Ji-Man Choi Wins Arbitration Case
Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi won his salary arbitration case against the team and will earn $2.45 million in 2021, according to a source. The Rays had filed at $1.85 million. Choi hit .230 with three home runs, a .741 OPS and 16 RBI in 42 games in the shortened 2020 season. He […]
Rays In The Marcell Ozuna Derby
The Tampa Bay Rays are interested in free-agent outfielder Marcell Ozuna, although it's likely a long shot that he lands in Tampa. The right-handed slugger nearly won the Triple Crown in the shortened 2020 season, but the lack of a universal designated hitter could be negatively impacting his market this offseason. Ozuna can play left […]
Tampa Bay, Chris Archer Agree On Deal For 2021
The Tampa Bay Rays and right-handed pitcher Chris Archer are back together again after coming to terms on a contract for the 2021 year. The Rays dealt Archer to Pittsburgh at the Trade Deadline in 2018 in exchange for a package that included Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows, two cornerstones of the Rays' current success. […]
Dynasty Shortstop Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
The shortstop position is usually one of the most exciting to choose from on draft day but the options are even more enticing in dynasty. As we prepare to flip the calendar to 2021, fantasy baseball managers are poring over MLB free agency news and the latest rankings. That includes our constantly-updated dynasty rankings. We've […]
Marcus Semien to the Blue Jays - Fantasy Impact
Toronto may have come up short in the Francisco Lindor sweepstakes earlier this offseason, but they got a new middle infielder last week with the signing of Marcus Semien to a one-year deal. Semien has played exclusively at shortstop throughout his career with Oakland, but he'll likely slide over to second base in Toronto with […]
Wander Franco Earns Spring Training Invite
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has officially earned his first Major League Spring Training invite for the coming year. Franco, 19, is widely viewed as the top prospect in the Majors for a second consecutive year despite not having yet played above Class A Advanced. Preternaturally talented, Franco could make a strong push for […]
Are We In or Are We Out? - Bases loaded Podcast
Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) rolls solo and dives into the names you gave us on twitter that you are not sold on or unsure with how to go about handling in the upcoming 2021 season. Subscribe to the Bases Loaded podcast, part of RotoBaller Radio's Podcast Network. Like and Subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get […]
Examining The Most Effective Pitches in Baseball
There is just nothing better in sports than Baseball Savant. We can derive almost any insight we want from their pitch-by-pitch dataset. One challenge I wanted to take a crack at was to see if I could find which individual pitches in baseball are most effective regardless of who throws it, just looking at pitch type […]
Jameson Taillon to the Yankees - Fantasy Impact
After bolstering their rotation with the signing of Corey Kluber last week, the New York Yankees acquired another starter over the weekend as they shipped off four prospects to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jameson Taillon. Here's how that deal broke down: Yankees receive: RHP Jameson Taillon Pirates receive: RHP Roansy Contreras, RHP Miguel Yajure, INF Maikol Escotto, […]
Dynasty Third Base Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
We will continue our early preseason look at each position with some thoughts on individual player values heading into 2021. We've already gone over first base and second base rankings. Today, we examine a fairly deep third base position. As we prepare to flip the calendar to 2021, fantasy baseball managers are poring over MLB free […]
Top 440: Early H2H Points League Rankings
Welcome back RotoBallers. Below you will find our early 2021 fantasy baseball H2H points league rankings (top 440). As you may know, head-to-head points formats are typically underserved by fantasy baseball outlets - but this is an area that we at RotoBaller take pride in and specialize in. Throughout the preseason and regular season, we will […]
2020 Schedule Outliers - AL East Starting Pitchers
One of the major changes MLB teams faced during the 2020 season was the lack of a diverse set of competition. Instead of playing around 20 other teams as they would in a normal season, teams played only nine different opponents in 2020. Additionally, two-thirds of each team’s games came against opponents within their own […]
Top 680: Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings (January)
Welcome back RotoBallers, and Happy New Year! Below you will find our staff's early 2021 fantasy baseball tiered rankings (top 680) for 5x5 mixed leagues. In case you missed it, you can also see our tiered positional rankings as well. Three our lead fantasy baseball analysts - Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus and JB Branson - have analyzed the MLB offseason moves and are ready to […]
Dynasty Second Base Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
We will continue our early preseason look at each position with some thoughts on individual player values heading into 2021. We've already gone over first base. Today, we continue with second base. As we prepare to flip the calendar to 2021, fantasy baseball managers are poring over MLB free agency news and the latest rankings. […]
Four Pitchers Who Changed Scenes
It has been a slow off-season to this point, but we're starting to see some moves made, in the form of both free-agent signings and trades going down. There will be plenty of more action over the next several weeks, as there are still a lot of unsigned free agents, and no shortage of trade […]
Dynasty First Base Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
As we prepare to flip the calendar to 2021, fantasy baseball managers are poring over MLB free agency news and the latest rankings. That includes our constantly-updated dynasty rankings. We will take an early preseason look at each position with some thoughts on individual player values heading into next season. Today, we start with first […]
Stunted Growth: Prospects Who Need More Time
So in 2018 and 2019, I was living the dream as I interned for a Minor League Baseball team, and I was looking forward to coming back in 2020. And then the season was canceled. Obviously, I was disappointed by everything that happened, but while I can shrug off missing a summer of interning and […]
Valuable Long Relievers of 2020 and the Lingering Impact (Part 2)
In part one, we examined the bullpens in Toronto and Cincinnati. 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 […]
Three Hitters Set To Break Out Later Than Expected
Finding breakout hitters can be a difference-maker for fantasy teams, especially when those hitters have had limited success at the major league level and are older than when players typically have their best seasons. Whether it be through added playing time, skill improvements, or some combination of the two, post-prime breakouts can be excellent draft […]
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 […]
Year-In-Review: Rafael Dolis and Jordan Romano
As I created my early 2021 Relief Pitcher rankings, I realized how wide open so many bullpens are right now due to free agency. One team that will surely add a late-inning arm this offseason is the Toronto Blue Jays, as Anthony Bass and Ken Giles are both now free agents. But are they in […]
Kevin Kiermaier Unlikely To Be Traded
Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier is available in a trade, but the Rays love him as a clubhouse guy and as their Gold Glove center fielder, so the chances of a trade are unlikely this offseason. With left-hander Blake Snell being traded to the Padres this week, Kiermaier is the only player remaining with […]
Early Positional Breakdowns: Second Base - Bases Loaded Pod
Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) and Jorge Montanez (@Roto_Nino) get an early start on the 2021 positional outlooks. Subscribe to the Bases Loaded podcast, part of RotoBaller Radio's Podcast Network. Like and Subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio as well! Be sure to also tune […]
Blake Snell to Padres - Fantasy Impact
It would be a massive understatement to say that the San Diego Padres are in "win-now" mode. They have just shipped off their number-three prospect in Luis Patino, as well as Francisco Mejia and two other prospects to acquire lefty Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays. Less than 24 hours later, they made another […]
Phillies Acquire Jose Alvarado In Three-Team Trade
The Philadelphia Phillies acquired left-handed relief pitcher Jose Alvarado in a three-team trade on Tuesday involving the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rays sent Alvarado to the Phillies, the Phillies sent left-hander Garrett Cleavinger to the Dodgers and the Dodgers sent infielder Dillon Paulson and a player to be named to the […]