Fans and fantasy owners can be remarkably short-sighted.

In trying to project for an upcoming season, the tendency is to look at last season’s results and assume they are going to repeat themselves. Understandably so, too; the fresher information is the safest approach to evaluating players and the best way to feel good about the picks you’ve made.

It takes some guts to reach for a rookie or a player coming off an injury plagued season. We can’t look at the statistics and feel safe in our decision-making, so we tend to avoid those players and only look at them when prices are absolutely right. Read more »

The end of a season is just about the only time where fans and fantasy owners can sit back and appreciate what their favorite players have accomplished. All things are equal then, so all numbers count the same. But, up until that point, there’s an ebb and flow to every player’s season, where hot streaks, cold streaks and fundamental changes should alter how he is viewed by fantasy owners.

There are all kinds of ways to split the numbers and get a deeper sense for a player’s long-term value. One of the easiest, most common ways is to take periodic snapshots of his production. Constantly take looks at the last seven days, the last two weeks, this month, last month, before the All-Star break, after the All-Star break. The numbers and the trends reveal stories and tell you where players have been and where they could ultimately be going. Read more »

Nolan Reimold has impressed Baltimore Orioles management with both his power and his patience, according to the Baltimore Sun. Reimold has exhibited a maturity well beyond his years and experience, which has helped him carve out an everyday role with the O’s.

Impressively, Reimold has 10 walks to just six strikeouts so far in June. Combined with his .326 batting average, the 25-year-old rookie has an impressive .453 on-base percentage and 1.034 OPS this month. Read more »

Pay any kind of attention to trends and streaks, and you’ll notice that Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester has been on fire. The 25-year-old has gone 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 22 innings over his last three starts. Lester is overcoming his early struggles in a big way, and he’s adding a fantasy-friendly element to his game in the process.

All those strikeouts — he ranks third in the American League with 96 and is one of a handful of starting pitchers averaging better than 10 Ks per 9 innings — are new to Lester’s game. He made leaps and bounds last season, going 16-6 with a 3.21 ERA, but was never a true dominant force because he had too many walks and not enough strikeouts. Read more »

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Torii Hunter may have finally gotten on the national map with Saturday’s three-home run outburst, but he’s been doing that kind of work all season.

Three homers in a game made for good SportsCenter highlights, but they were just part of a much bigger picture. Most fantasy owners could have already told you that Hunter was in the midst of a career year. Read more »

We touched on this in our “All-Overachiever Team” piece, but it’s too remarkable of a statistic to not go a little deeper.

San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is finding it a little harder to abuse opposing pitchers these days. The 27-year-old slugger has next to no lineup protection, so hurlers are blatantly working around him and taking their chances with Kevin Kouzmanoff. Read more »

Success in any brand of baseball, Major League or fantasy league, is measured by more than just the contributions of star players. The guys who unexpectedly step up and deliver throughout the season most often make or break that team’s chances of competing for a championship.

In real baseball, managers have tentative ideas of what each player on his 25-man roster will give him throughout the season. Fantasy owners aren’t much different. They do their best selecting players in their preseason drafts, then scour the waiver wire all season long looking for diamonds in the rough who can help their chances for a league title. Read more »

Manny Ramirez is 30 games into his 50-game suspension. In 20 games, or just prior to the All-Star break, the dreadlocked slugger will return to his familiar post in left field at Chavez Ravine. Fantasy stardom should come with him immediately.

Most fantasy owners, myself included, haven’t paid much attention to the timeline of Ramirez’s suspension. If he’s not on your roster, then why should you care? Well, just take one moment to consider a buy-low trade for the disgraced Hall of Famer now. Any more than that, and the opportunity will pass you by. Read more »

The Philadelphia Phillies placed closer Brad Lidge on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right knee Tuesday, according to the team’s official site. Overwhelming reaction to this news, especially from Phillies faithful, has been cheers and celebration, rather than disappointment and frustration.

Lidge has been, quite simply, awful this season. And while there were signs he was righting the ship, there have been more stumbles along the way and a league-leading six blown saves. He’s the polar opposite of the lights-out closer who went a perfect 41-for-41 in save chances as the Phillies won the World Series last season. Read more »

Today’s box scores are mini-encyclopedias of information. You can not only tell what a player did that particular day, but what his batting average is and how many doubles, home runs, RBIs and stolen bases he has. Learn how to read them right, and box scores provide valuable information in your efforts to comb the waiver wire for hidden gems.
 
Each stat summary is a snap shot of that particular game as well as a brief glimpse at how the relevant players are performing this season. If a guy performs, you can quickly and easily investigate what that means to you and your fantasy league. Read more »