Chris Archer To Start On Opening Day

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer will start on Opening Day. Archer remains the clear ace of this four-man rotation, although fantasy owners may be a bit hesitant to invest after he posted a 7.48 ERA and five home runs to close out last year in September. He's still a low-end fantasy ace after […]

Mallex Smith Will Be Ready For Opening Day

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Mallex Smith (hamstring) said his sore right hamstring is feeling better, and he is not concerned about missing Opening Day. Smith is all about speed, and he's stolen exactly 16 bases each of the last two seasons. He played in just 81 games with the Rays in 2017 due to their […]

Brad Miller To Play Thursday

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Brad Miller (toe) will play in a minor league game Thursday, and he is fully confident that he will be ready for Opening Day. Miller dealt with injuries last year as well, playing in just 110 games and disappointing with a .201 average and nine home runs. That's after he surprisingly […]

Updated Relief Pitcher Rankings - 2018 Fantasy Baseball

One final time before regular season baseball returns and our lives are, at last, complete, RotoBaller's staff writers are updating their 2018 fantasy baseball rankings. Today, we'll be taking a look at one of the shallower positions - relief pitcher. As usual, there are a few elite options at the top, and it gets much […]

Brad Miller Out Another 4-5 Days

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Brad Miller (toe) will miss another four to five days before he's able to play in a game, but his availability for Opening Day shouldn't be impacted, according to manager Kevin Cash. The left-handed hitter slugged a whopping 30 home runs in 2016 but fell back to earth dramatically in 2017, […]

Deeper First Base Sleepers - Undervalued ADPs

We are gathered here today to discuss everyone’s favorite fantasy buzzword, the “sleepers”. Not only that, but we’re tabbing these guys as deeper sleepers with a focus on the first base position. That means no Jose Martinez cop-out blurbs because that dude has already woken up and then some! With draft season officially underway, it's […]

Third Base H2H Points Rankings - March Update

We are getting closer and closer to the first pitch of the 2018 MLB season. Spring training is in full swing which means we are right in the thick of draft season. If you have a draft coming up soon, make sure to use our rankings for all league types. Regardless of the platform or […]

Updated Shortstop Rankings - 2018 Fantasy Baseball

With the regular season only a few weeks away, the esteemed RotoBaller staff has updated their rankings one last time. We continue our review of the March update with a look at the glorious shortstop position. There's a bevy of talented bats ready to be penciled in at the "6" this season, but the sure things draw […]

Updated Catcher Rankings - 2018 Fantasy Baseball

One final time before regular season baseball returns and our lives are, at last, complete, RotoBaller's staff writers are updating their 2018 fantasy baseball rankings. Today, we'll be taking a look at the shallowest position - catcher. As usual, after the few elite options are off the board, it's probably best to leave filling this […]

Jake Faria Gets Roughed Up Sunday

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Jake Faria only lasted 1 2/3 innings Sunday versus Minnesota despite the plan calling for him to go four innings. He allowed five runs, with four being earned. Observers said he labored with his tempo. There was an element of bad luck, as three hits bounced off fielder's gloves and […]

Matt Duffy Is On Track To Be Starting Third Baseman

Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Matt Duffy is projected to be the Rays starting third baseman, according to Roster Resource. He is hitting .333 so far this spring. In his last healthy season in 2015, he batted .295 with 12 home runs and 12 stolen bases. Duffy will be 27 years old when the 2018 […]

Kevin Kiermaier Is Having A Poor Spring Training

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier is having a poor spring training. He is batting .240 and his only steal attempt led to him being caught. Despite this sounding bad, it likely will not matter. Outside of an injury, it is quite likely that nothing will matter in regards to him until the regular season […]

Denard Span A Possibility For Designated Hitter

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Denard Span is listed as the starting designated hitter, according to Roster Source. Span is coming off a 2017 season where he batted .272 with 12 home runs and 12 steals. He rarely strikes out, having not topped 79 strikeouts in a season over the past eight seasons. Span is one […]

Wilson Ramos Will Be Wearing Wristbands This Season

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Wilson Ramos will be armed with more information in 2018. Rays catchers will be wearing wristbands with cards detailing information about the pitchers for the team. This move was partially motivated by the new rules limiting visits to the mound. Ramos spent much of the 2017 season fighting injuries. He only […]

Chris Archer Is Feeling Better As The Spring Progresses

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer felt the best he has all spring after his outing Thursday. He allowed five hits and two runs in three innings. However, he felt the best he has and was especially happy with his changeup. He has struck out 734 batters over the past three seasons, but he […]

First Base H2H Points Rankings - March Update

Welcome back RotoBallers. With the MLB season just a few short weeks a way, it's time to update our rankings and analysis to account for injuries, free agent signings, spring training risers/fallers and more. We kick off our updated March rankings today with the first base position. Bill Dubiel breaks down each tier and provides analysis […]

Christian Arroyo Looking Good In Spring Training

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Christian Arroyo has been looking good so far in the spring. Manager Kevin Cash says he will see time at second, third and short. The position that he should see the most time at is third base, which will be his "primary" position, according to Cash. It is uncertain if Arroyo […]

Nathan Eovaldi Looking Good So Far In Spring Training

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi has looked good so far in spring training. In previous occasions, his fastball has been impressive and in this outing, his breaking ball was "electric" and he had a "really good day" overall. He has talent but has been erratic so far in his career. In 2014, he […]

Willy Adames On The Outside For Second Base Job

Tampa Bay Rays middle infielder Willy Adames is not favored to win the second base job coming out of the spring. Manager Kevin Cash said that Adames was on "the outside looking in" in regards to the second base starting job. In the long term it seems likely that Adames will find his home at […]

Points League Primer - Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy

When discussing fantasy baseball, an often neglected but entertaining format is the points league. These exist in both season-long cumulative and weekly head-to-head leagues. While existential debates about scoring categories and their true depiction of player worth are endless, points leagues arguably get closest to the objective of sabermetrics. Points leagues attempt to define a […]

ADP Myth Busters - Debunking Myths in the AL East

This series will attempt to help fantasy baseball owners make informed opinions on players whose ADP may not be in line with their value for the 2018 season. As fantasy owners, we can fall into a "group think" mentality and start to overlook certain teams and players. If we aren't careful, those ideas can turn […]

Top First Base Prospect Rankings - 2018 Impact Rookies for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back, RotoBallers. I'll be breaking down impact prospects by position. Today I'm bringing you my top 10 first basemen - MLB prospect rankings for the 2018 fantasy baseball season. First base is always a challenging position to find rookie stars. It’s not every year a Cody Bellinger and Rhys Hoskins reach the majors. Most […]

Updated First Base Rankings - 2018 Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back RotoBallers. With the MLB season just a few short weeks a way, it's time to update our rankings and analysis to account for injuries, free agent signings, spring training risers/fallers and more. We kick off our updated March rankings today with the first base position. Harris breaks down each tier and provides analysis […]

Best-Ball Draft Strategy Overview for Fantasy Baseball

It's finally March, which can only mean two things: Spring Training and fantasy drafts. All the effort spent on rankings and draft prep finally come to fruition. Once your draft is completed, you then get to spend every day of the rest of the season analyzing player performances, scouring waiver wires and setting the best […]

Points Leagues Starting Pitchers - Overvalued and Undervalued

As we’ve discussed before, points leagues are a bit of a different animal from the more popular head-to-head and rotisserie formats. One of the most obvious differences between them is how pitchers are valued. In a points league, the top pitchers routinely outearn the top hitters. Most analysis will tell you to favor bats in […]

Hitters Who Changed Scenes for 2018

We are just weeks away from the start of the 2018 baseball regular season, which makes it a good time to look back at the big roster moves made in this most recent offseason. I already provided a group of four pitchers who changed scenes. Now, here are four hitters who moved to different teams. For […]

Champ or Chump - Kevin Kiermaier and Alex Bregman

Our friends at FantasyPros have added ESPN and CBS to their composite ADP rankings, drawing from a total of six sources (those two plus Yahoo!, Fantrax, NFBC, and RT Sports). The vast majority of you probably use at least one of those services, making the compiled ADP data a fairly reliable predictor of what might […]

Carlos Gomez Arrives To Camp

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Carlos Gomez has finally arrived with the ballclub and should start appearing in games in the next few days. First, there was a visa issue that kept him away. The Rays used that time to decide what the corresponding move to make would be. He was signed after trades diminished the […]

Champ or Chump - C.J. Cron and Carlos Gomez

As promised, it's time to take a closer look at the players Tampa Bay brought in to replace those that the team shipped out of town. C.J. Cron has been buried behind uninspiring fantasy options such as Albert Pujols in recent years, but his underlying power metrics suggest a 30-HR campaign if given regular PAs. […]

RotoBaller Industry Expert Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft

On Thursday, February 15th, we brought together an illustrious group of industry experts to take part in the RotoBaller Friends and Family mock draft. We'll be playing this out as a best ball league. Our participants represented sites like: Creative Sports (Lawr Michaels) Fangraphs (Alex Chamberlain) GuruElite (Ray Flowers) Fantasy Alarm (Howard Bender) CBS (Heath […]