Which Fantasy Players to Trade Away…And to Trade For

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Daniel Marino

Heyward

Draft Them Then Trade Them – These players start out quickly, then slow down during the season.  These are the players to “sell high”. (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis, Fantasy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Interesting Stats

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Daniel Marino

CanoJeter

Non-Feared Players - Perhaps these players aren’t the least feared hitters.  After all, Bryce Harper and Adam Jones are offensive forces.  Yet, the following players did not receive an intentional walk last season: (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

2013 MLBDirt Mock Draft Results

Posted on February 18, 2013 by David Kerr

Miggy

On January 27, 2013, I had the pleasure of hosting and taking part in the first annual MLBDirt.com Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft. First things first, I want to thank Jonathan Mitchell, William Tasker, Daniel Marino, Charlie Nehl, Mike Schwartze, Wayne Bretsky, Ray Guilfoyle, Mike Hilbig, Mark Kaplan, Jeff Furtah, and Alex Kantecki for taking part in the draft. We had a mix of MLBDirt.com writers and six well respected Fantasy Baseball writers. All of these men are recommended follows on Twitter and I will give you their contact information at the end of the article. One thing that makes Fantasy Baseball fun is the different opinions you can get. These guys all have great insight and baseball knowledge.

Without any further adieu, here is the 2013 MLBDirt Mock Draft Results. Please feel free to comment and engage in discussion!

ROUND 1 (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis, Fantasy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

2012 All-Fantasy Team

Posted on December 5, 2012 by David Kerr

Mtrout2

This is part one of three in a 2012 season’s end report on fantasy baseball. The first installment will be the top overall producers at each position, the second installment will be the bust’s at each position, and the third installment will be the overachiever’s that more than likely put a lot of fantasy teams over the top. I will choose a C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF’s, a SP, and a RP to fill out the team. I hope you enjoy it! (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis, Fantasy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Yankee Fans Ire is Misdirected

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Daniel Marino

Okay, the facts are the facts:  Alex Rodriguez stats are declining.  He is aging, and has trouble turning on  a 95 MPH fastball.  He flirted in the middle of a playoff game and he makes more money per season than all of the fans at Yankee Stadium combined.  He comes off as trying to be a saint, when we all know that is not true.  He has admitted to using performance enhancers.  Take all of these facts, add in to the mix yet another poor post season, and you have disgruntled Yankee fans. (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

American League Position All-Star Starters

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

The other day I revealed my starting position players for the National League and today I give you my American League starters. The All-Star game is just days away but here are the guys who I think should be starting for the American League.
(more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Bautista and Encarnacion Developing into Quite the Combo

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

We all know about Jose Bautista’s ridiculous career turnaround. The guy came out of nowhere and is again one of the top players in the league so far this year. Well the Blue Jays have another surprise story this year in Edwin Encarnacion and together the two have become one of the best one two punches in all of baseball.
(more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Surprises in Early Offensive Numbers

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

We are more than halfway through the month of April and most teams have already played double-digit games. This is not a big sample size but there have been some surprises in the beginning of this long season, from the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-1 start to the St. Louis Cardinals scoring the most runs in the game despite the face of the franchise and future hall-of-famer Albert Pujols leaving for the Los Angeles Angels.

And, to our surprise, there have been some major overachievers and some major underachievers, including the aforementioned Albert Pujols who has yet to hit a homerun and is hitting only .268/.318/.366 through his first 44 plate appearances outside of St. Louis red. Here are a few of the statistical surprises so far this season:

The “No Walk” club includes some surprising names as well as some you might expect to see (min 30 PAs) with three Texas Rangers appearing on the list: (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Stan Musial Award – American League MVP

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

In one of the tougher awards to decide from, I had to choose between Jose Bautista and Jacoby Ellsbury at the top of my American League Stan Musial (MVP) award. Both players deserve the top spot but my job is to decide who decides it just a little more.

Bautista led the AL in HR (43), SLG (.608), OPS (1.055), wRC+ (181), wOBA (.441), and rWAR (8.5). He was 2nd in OBP (.447) and fWAR (8.3) and was an excellent base runner with a +2.7 Bsr. He also stole 9 bases and walked more than he struck out.

Ellsbury led the AL in fWAR (9.4) and finished 3rd in rWAR (7.5). He hit .321/.376/.552 with 32 homeruns and 39 stolen bases while playing spectacular defense in center with a +15.6 UZR. He was also a good base runner with a +1.2 Bsr.

So, who did I decide. Check out my full ballot below.

(more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »

Keystone All-Stars

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

With my starting rosters already posted and my back up catchers selected yesterday, I will move on to the keystone position and, I won’t lie, the American League was incredibly tough to narrow down.

National League

Danny Espinosa (WAS) – Back on June 20th I named Espinosa as my Washington Nationals representative. This still holds true, although he may not be the lone representative but that is for another post and another position. He is currently hitting .238/.323/.465 with 15 homeruns and 9 stolen bases. Add 12 doubles, 4 triples, a +4.2 UZR, the best Bsr among second basemen (+2.5), and a 3.0 fWAR, and you have a pretty easy choice for an All-Star.

Brandon Phillips (CIN) – Phillips leads all NL second basemen in UZR (+4.6) and is 2nd in base running (+2.2 Bsr). He is hitting .295/.347/.411 with 6 homeruns and 4 stolen bases. Not the power-speed combo we are used to from Phillips but the .347 OBP marks the highest of his career for any season with more than 36 plate appearances. Kelly Johnson is having a good defensive season (+3.5) and showing a good power-speed combo with 13 homeruns and 8 stolen bases but he has a .289 OBP and a -2.2 Bsr and misses the cut.

American League

Howie Kendrick (LAA) – Kendrick spent a little time on the disables list but that has not stopped him from being one of the best second basemen in the game. He is 2nd in fWAR (3.7) among second basemen and has the 2nd highest total UZR (+10.1) in the Majors. He is currently hitting .305/.362/.477 and leads all AL second basemen with a .372 wOBA and 138 wRC+. Kendrick also adds a +1.4 Bsr to his 8 homeruns, 18 doubles, 2 triples, and 8 stolen bases.

Dustin Pedroia (BOS) – In possibly the toughest decision I had to make I chose Pedroia over both Ian Kinsler and Robinson Cano. Pedroia leads all second basemen in OBP (.388), BB rate (15.7%), in UZR at second base (+9.0), and is tied for 1st in stolen bases (15). His +3.6 fWAR ranks 3rd in the AL among second basemen and sits just ahead of Kinsler’s +3.4 and well ahead of Cano’s +2.3. With all due respect to Cano and his 14 homeruns and .502 SLUG it was Kinsler that really made this the toughest choice. He ranks in the top three in almost every category but thanks to a weak BABIP he has a weak .243 AVG and he misses the cut in favor of Pedroia who ranks 1st in too many categories to pass up.

This does not mean that Kinsler or Cano are completely off the roster. They both have legit cases and as I research the positions further I may find room for at least one of them. Stay tuned.

-Jonathan C. Mitchell can be found writing about the Tampa Bay Rays at DRaysBay and you can follow him on twitter at @FigureFilbert and follow MLBdirt at @MLBdirt

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,694 other followers