Rays Designate Hunter Renfroe For Assignment

The Tampa Bay Rays designated outfielder Hunter Renfroe for assignment last Friday to help clear their 40-man roster for three young prospects. Renfroe appeared in 42 games last year (34 starts) during the shortened 2020 season and hit the first grand slam in Rays postseason history during the wild-card sweep of the Blue Jays. However, […]

Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft - ADP Surprises

Of course, there are many changes to be made throughout the offseason. It feels as if the dust is still settling on the 2020 World Series yet baseball fans are more ready for the upcoming season than ever. We have no idea whether a full schedule can be played, what games will look like, and […]

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 […]

Analyzing Fly Ball Metrics: Pitchers to Trust in 2021

Welcome back to some 2020-2021 offseason fantasy baseball analysis! I recently took a look at pitchers who could see a decrease in performance next season based on their fly-ball metrics from this season. Some of these metrics included home run-to-fly-ball ratio, fly-ball rate, and average launch angle. To reiterate the value of this type of […]

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 […]

Noteworthy xwOBA-wOBA Pitching Leaders

One of the oddities brought on by the shortened 2020 season was the number of qualified pitchers with huge gaps between their xwOBA and wOBA. In 2019, only seven qualified pitchers posted a wOBA at least 0.050 points away from their xwOBA in either direction, a number that ballooned to 52 pitchers in 2020. Of […]

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 […]

Nick Bitsko Likely To Have Surgery

Tampa Bay Rays pitching prospect Nick Bitsko (shoulder), the team's first-round pick this year, is likely to have surgery soon to relieve discomfort in his right shoulder. The severity of the injury won't be known until after the procedure. The 18-year-old was taken 24th overall by the Rays out of high school, but the hard-throwing […]

Blake Snell, Kevin Kiermaier Available In A Trade?

The Tampa Bay Rays could be receptive to trading players like starting pitcher Blake Snell and outfielder Kevin Kiermaier this offseason as they look to balance their budget after losing significant revenue in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. Tampa has already declined the 2021 options on starter Charlie Morton ($15 million) and catcher Mike Zunino […]

Kevin Cash Named AL Manager Of The Year

Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash was named the American League Manager of the Year on Tuesday. Cash led the Rays to their first AL East title since 2010 despite having 13 players on the injured list on Sept. 1. Twelve Rays had at least one save and the pitching staff's 3.56 ERA was the […]

2021 First Look Fantasy Values: Third Base

The baseball offseason may officially begin with the end of the World Series but the projections offseason began last Thursday night with the release of the first Steamer projections for 2021. Created and maintained by mathematics teacher Jared Cross and his former students, Steamer remains the industry standard for non-aggregated projection systems, as well as […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Catcher Rankings

Let's cut right to it: 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. It is time to decide how […]

2021 First Look Fantasy Values: Outfielders

The baseball offseason may officially begin with the end of the World Series but the projections offseason began last Thursday night with the release of the first Steamer projections for 2021. Created and maintained by mathematics teacher Jared Cross and his former students, Steamer remains the industry standard for non-aggregated projection systems, as well as […]

2021 Fantasy Value First Looks: Shortstop

The baseball offseason may officially begin with the end of the World Series but the projections offseason began last Thursday night with the release of the first Steamer projections for 2021. Created and maintained by mathematics teacher Jared Cross and his former students, Steamer remains the industry standard for non-aggregated projection systems, as well as […]

2021 First Look Fantasy Values: First Base and Second Base

The baseball offseason may officially begin with the end of the World Series but the projections offseason began last Thursday night with the release of the first Steamer projections for 2021. Created and maintained by mathematics teacher Jared Cross and his former students, Steamer remains the industry standard for non-aggregated projection systems, as well as […]

Charlie Morton Prefers To Play For Rays

Free-agent starting pitcher Charlie Morton's agent, B.B. Abbott, said that his client "wants to play" next season, but only in the right personal and professional situation. The 36-year-old had his $15 million option for 2021 declined, making him a free agent, but he said he prefers to return to the Tampa Bay Rays and keep […]

Charlie Morton Wants To Keep Pitching?

Tampa Bay Rays right-handed starter Charlie Morton, who became a free agent on Friday when the team didn't pick up his 2021 option, is believed to want to continue his career. Last time he was a free agent he preferred to remain on the East Coast. Morton's 7.0 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement over the last […]

Rays Decline Options On Charlie Morton, Mike Zunino

The Tampa Bay Rays declined their options on starting pitcher Charlie Morton and catcher Mike Zunino on Friday, according to general manager Erik Neander. Both players will become free agents, but Neander said the team will keep the door open for them to return. Morton went 2-2 with a 4.74 ERA in nine regular season […]

Randy Arozarena's 2021 Fantasy Value: WPC+ Videocast

Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut look back at the amazing rookie season and postseason run by Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena in order to project his fantasy baseball value and ADP for 2021. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and […]

FanDuel MLB DFS Lineup Picks (10/27/20): Daily Fantasy Baseball Advice

Whether or not Tuesday represents the swan song of the 2020 baseball season, the journey to crowning a new champion has been a wild ride, full of exhilarating, historic moments inside the bubble.  Blake Snell and Tony Gonsolin are running back their Game 2 matchup, in which the latter recorded just four outs, seemingly by […]

MLB DFS Prop Picks for Tuesday (10/27/20) - Monkey Knife Fight

Game 6 of the World Series goes Tuesday night, with the Los Angeles Dodgers aiming to win their first World Series since 1988. That means more opportunities to play props and win with Monkey Knife Fight. The teams have alternated wins throughout the series, with the Dodgers taking Game 5 by a 4-2 score on […]

Rays To Be Aggressive With Bullpen Stable

Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash said the team will "get aggressive" with their bullpen stable of arms in Game 6 of the World Series against the Dodgers on Tuesday. "If we can somehow get a lead and limit them, we've got some of the big guys in the back end of the bullpen that […]

Warning Signals in Shift Increases: Part One

Shifts work. Not all the time and not against everyone but eventually there is a sufficient amount of data on a player to be able to draw some pretty strong conclusions about what advantages can be gained by shifting. There are good reasons that Joey Gallo was shifted against 98.5% of the time in 2020. Not everyone […]

DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS (10/25/20) (Premium Content)

Wow. Baseball doesn't get much more exciting than what went down in Game 4. After a bunch of lead changes, six home runs, and a final play that will live in baseball lore forever, the Rays went home the winner and the series is now tied 2-2. Clayton Kershaw returns to the mound for the […]

DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS (10/25/20)

Hopefully, everyone stayed up late enough to catch the ending of Game 4, it was magical. Congrats to both teams for making the series quite enjoyable to watch. The World Series's fifth game will take up to a beastly matchup of Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow. Pitching should be the key to this game as […]

DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS (10/24/20) (Premium Content)

Can Tampa Bay finally stem the offensive tidal wive that the Dodgers have begun to unleash? That will be the central question surrounding Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday, with L.A. looking to be in true mid-season form. After what is likely only a sign of things to come, heavy bullpen usage has […]

MLB DFS Cheat Sheet for 10/23/20 (Premium Content)

Game Three will give the series advantage to someone tonight. The pitching matchups feature a budding ace, Walker Buehler, and a craft veteran, Charlie Morton. The regular season has been a bit of a rollercoaster for both these hurlers-a slow start followed by a great deal of success as the innings piled up. The Dodgers […]

Brandon Lowe Breaks Out Of Slump In Big Way

Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe hit two home runs -- both to the opposite field after he hit zero opposite-field homers in the regular season -- in the 6-4 World Series victory over the Dodgers in Game 2 on Wednesday. Lowe helped the team snap a major league record of 10 straight games […]

Charlie Morton Gets The Nod For Game 3 Of World Series

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Charlie Morton, who is 5-0 in five playoff starts with the team, will get the ball for Game 3 of the World Series against the Dodgers on Friday. Morton's velocity was down during the regular season, but he's been great in the postseason. The right-hander threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings […]

MLB DFS Cheat Sheet for 10/21/20 (Premium Content)

Game Two of the World Series tonight, and the Rays will send Blake Snell to the mound in the hopes of evening the series after losing game one. The Los Angeles Dodgers will at least begin with Tony Gonsolin on the bump, but will likely be going with a number of bullpen arms.  Only select […]