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 […]

Isiah Kiner-Falefa To Be Starting Shortstop In 2021

The Texas Rangers plan to give Gold Glove-winning third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa the chance to be the starting shortstop next season and have told former shortstop Elvis Andrus to prepare to play all infield positions. The 32-year-old Andrus is the longest-tenured Ranger after 12 seasons and is the only player left from back-to-back World Series […]

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 […]

Rangers Listening To Offers For Lance Lynn

The Texas Rangers are listening to trade offers for starting pitcher Lance Lynn. USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale reported two weeks ago that rival executives fully expect the Rangers to deal the 33-year-old right-hander this offseason. He's entering the final year of his three-year, $30 million deal and could be a very nice one-season rental for […]

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 […]

Year-in-Review: Clint Frazier

With the 2020 MLB season in the books, the focus now shifts to the 2021 season. Coming off such a strange and unusual 2020 season, the biggest questions will revolve around just how much should fantasy players buy into small-sample-sized performances. That question will very much be surrounding Clint Frazier, the former top prospect who […]

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 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 […]

Corey Kluber's Option Declined By Rangers

The Texas Rangers declined to pick up starting pitcher Corey Kluber's $18 million option for the 2021 season on Friday, making him a free agent. They'll give him a $1 million buyout instead. However, the Rangers are willing to re-sign the veteran right-hander to a contract of lesser value, mostly likely a one-year, incentive-laden deal. […]

Rangers To Use Two Pitching Coaches In 2021

The Texas Rangers will use Doug Mathis and Brendan Sagara as co-pitching coaches for the 2021 season, with Mathis working from the dugout and Sagara working out of the bullpen. Former pitching Julio Rangel was let go after two seasons on the job and after Texas pitchers combined for a 5.07 ERA the last two […]

2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Values Based On Contact Quality

In part one of this series, I established that zxwOBAcon is the primary driver of season-to-season changes in xwOBAcon and that the biggest risers in zxwOBAcon each season tend to be rebound candidates. Furthermore, rebound candidates recover all of their zxwOBAcon losses more often than not and frequently outperform their season x zxwOBAcon in season […]

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 […]

Dissecting Contact Quality In Search Of Fantasy Bargains

Of the 1,015 hitters sampled(1) between 2015 and 2019, there were only 14 instances of hitters making more productive contact against pitches outside of the strike zone than against pitches inside of the strike zone based on xwOBAcon. Based on the same sample, the average hitter was a whopping .116 points better against pitches inside […]

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 […]

Lineup Order Risers and Fallers: AL West 2020 Review

It’s the offseason and there are about to be a bunch of moving parts. This allows for speculation in terms of players gaining or losing playing time, moving up or down a batting order and much more. The idea here is to highlight some lineup situations for each team and some potential winners or losers […]

Champ or Chump: Year in Review

Now that the 2020 fantasy baseball season has come to a close, it is time to assess your performance. Did you ignore red flags that you wish you hadn't? Was a strong process foiled by unpredictable factors outside of anybody's control? Both of these things are likely true to some extent. The key is to […]

Effects of an Innocuous Move: Brian Goodwin to Cincinnati

If you would've told me at the start of the 2020 season that one of the two moves made by the Cincinnati Reds at the Trade Deadline would be for a Major League outfielder, I would've been forced to assume that any four Reds outfielders had been suspended for the season for pulling some sort […]

Texas Not Planning On Releasing Rougned Odor, Elvis Andrus

The Texas Rangers have a financial conundrum in the form of their middle infield duo of Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus, as both are under contract for at least the next two years, with Odor having a team option and Andrus having a vesting option in 2023. But general manager Jon Daniels revealed Tuesday that […]

Corey Kluber Unlikely To Have 2021 Option Picked Up

Texas Rangers right-handed pitcher Corey Kluber is not likely to have his $18 million team option picked up for the 2021 season, per general manager Jon Daniels. While it’s possible that Kluber could return on a lesser contract, Daniels’ approach to free agency indicates that the club will not go out of it’s way to […]

Reviewing Kyle Bishop's 10 Bold Predictions for 2020

My bold predictions for the 2020 season were published on March 4, or roughly a week before everything went to hell. At the time, nobody knew that we'd be left with a 60-game sprint as opposed to the usual marathon of 162. The shortened season obviously changed the calculus a great deal, but it can […]

FanDuel MLB DFS Lineup Picks (9/27/20): Daily Fantasy Baseball Advice

Sunday is the final day of the regular season, and this includes a big slate. My suggestion is to grab a valued arm that can snatch up a W, then load up on bats for a fun day of home runs! The matchups to take advantage of being in Cleveland, New York(Mets), and the Cubs/White […]

Top MLB DFS Tournament Stacks and Avoids for 9/27/20 (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. We will be releasing our Premium MLB DFS picks every single day of the week for the entire MLB and fantasy baseball season and postseason.   Top Avoids of the Day for 9/27/20  Reynaldo Lopez vs. Chicago Cubs There aren't a ton of sure things […]

Shin-Soo Choo Eyes Return In 2021, Will Prepare To Play

Texas Rangers outfielder/designated hitter Shin-Soo Choo is slated to become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2020 year. After signing a seven-year deal with the Rangers ahead of 2014, Choo will hit the free-agent market at 38 years old, yet he has made it clear that there is uncertainty surrounding ‘21, even as […]

Joey Gallo Sees Power Production Tail Off In September

Texas Rangers outfielder Joey Gallo has slashed just .160/.236/.321 during 24 games in September. With just three home runs in that stretch, his fantasy appeal has cratered, particularly in formats where strikeouts earn negative points for managers. Gallo has produced a whopping 35% K rate this year, which has led to a .191 xBA, both […]