Category: BASEBALL

By Dalton Del Don A.L. East 1. New York Yankees 2. Tampa Bay Rays (wild card) 3. Boston Red Sox 4. Toronto Blue Jays 5. Baltimore Orioles Fantasy angle: The Yankees regret the Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda trade, but the platoon at DH with Raul Ibanez and Andruw Jones is plenty productive anyway. Alex…

By Dalton Del Don Hanley Ramirez Is A Top-Three Fantasy Player Not that Ramirez is getting discounted that much, but he’s coming cheaper at draft tables than at any point in his career coming off a down 2011 season. It’s admittedly worrisome he’s become such a groundball hitter over the past two years after never…

By Dalton Del Don It wouldn’t be a total shock if Dee Gordon struggled at the plate to the point of being demoted this season, but his ability to steal bases also gives him a ton of upside in fantasy leagues. Over the last three seasons at ages 21-23, he’s totaled 182 steals throughout the…

Talking spring training stats. Check it out.

By Dalton Del Don Mark Teixeira has hit .252 over the past two seasons, and since he doesn’t run, it’s easy to consider him overrated as a three-category player who will likely cost a second round pick (ADP: 27.25). I disagree and consider him a top-15 fantasy player. During his three years in New York,…

By Dalton Del Don I traveled to Phoenix last weekend to participate in LABR, a prominent industry league that has been around for 19 years. I was in the NL-only league, which is extremely deep with 13 participants and 10 pitching slots to fill. Here are the full results, and here’s my roster: C –…

My latest column for the NYT, in which I use SwStr% to uncover some over and undervalued pitchers.

My latest column for the New York Times.

Players I’m targeting in fantasy baseball drafts this year.

By Dalton Del Don N.L. MVP 1) Matt Kemp – Close call between Kemp and Braun, with playing center field and in a tougher hitter’s park being the tiebreaker. 2) Ryan Braun – Great season. Awesome player. 3) Joey Votto – A big drop off after the top two. Could have went Justin Upton here,…

By Dalton Del Don Last year I finished 135-117-4, after picking every game ATS over the past four years, I’m 521-475. That’s 52.3% – I’d like to see that number 1-3% higher, but I must say I’m pretty happy about it. I went 12-5 with my “best bets” last season as well. Onto the Week…

By Dalton Del Don Matt Kemp and Jacoby Ellsbury are two outfielders having terrific seasons who barring injury or complete collapses will be top-10 fantasy picks next season, but Curtis Granderson might be having a better year than them both. Granderson is well behind in batting average, but his counting stats are ridiculous. In fact,…

By Dalton Del Don After posting a fine .308/.361/.438 line as a 24-year-old in 2009 and then a disappointing .673 OPS last season while dealing with injuries, it now seems so obvious Asdrubal Cabrera was a player to target in drafts this year, but few could have predicted just how good he’s been so far.…

By Dalton Del Don With a .294/.354/.523 line while playing shortstop, J.J. Hardy has been one of the most pleasant surprises of 2011. Despite missing more than a month of action, his 13 homers are the fifth most from the SS position in all of baseball. His .878 OPS is also third best, all while…

By Dalton Del Don Finally back to full health, Jose Reyes is on pace to finish with 120 runs scored and 58 steals while batting .336. With a 26:23 K:BB ratio over 307 at-bats, he’s shown real growth this season, and while Reyes remains an injury risk, he only recently turned 28 years old and…

By Dalton Del Don Entering the year, Vegas set the line on Ichiro Suzuki finishing with 200 or more hits at even odds, which was interesting considering he had eclipsed the mark all 10 years he’s been in the league. He’s currently on pace to finish with 178 hits, so he’s got a lot of…

By Dalton Del Don David Price posted a 2.72 ERA last season, but because of an accompanying 2.4:1 K:BB ratio, I avoided him at draft tables. So far, it’s certainly been to my detriment. While his ERA has risen to 3.35, he’s posted an 83:14 K:BB ratio over 91.1 innings with a 1.01 WHIP, so…

Never been a huge fan of player interviews in general, but I was able to interview Roy Halladay last week, so I pass along the link.

By Dalton Del Don I must say, I’m pretty jealous not owning Michael Pineda in any of my fantasy leagues. While there was some concern his still developing changeup would leave him vulnerable to left-handed hitters, it turns out his fastball is so good, it doesn’t really matter. In fact, Pineda’s average fastball velocity of…

By Dalton Del Don Zack Greinke currently has a 5.79 ERA, but you don’t need me to tell you he’s pitched far better than that with an accompanying 39:3 K:BB ratio over 28.0 innings. Entering 2011 and before he suffered broken ribs while playing pickup hoops, I debated having Greinke either fourth or fifth (versus…