Nathan Dokken169 posts

Fire - Mitch HanigerPerhaps no hitter over the first few weeks has flown under the radar as much as Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger. Through 23 games, the 23-year-old is hitting .305/.372/.659 with 8 home runs and 24 RBI. Haniger was productive in an injury-shortened 2017 season as well, hitting .282 with 16 homers and 5 steals over 96 games. That power was good for a .209 ISO, but this year he's sitting at .354, which is good enough for fifth in MLB at the moment. He's been primarily batting cleanup or sixth, which…

Here we are for another week, and it's party time! The ugly weather is behind us, so bah gawd let's play some baseball!Don't suck down too much RonDiaz and get all short-sample happy on your roster, though, my friends. That's almost as bad as taking your pants off on a boat during spring break. Don't act like you haven't done it.It's important during these early weeks to exercise patience with your roster. For instance, Hanley Ramirez is on pace for a 30/30 season, just as he predicted during spring training. Will he…

It's been one heck of a fun second week of baseball. Everyone is on the DL, multiple games have seen benches-clearing brawls, and Shohei Ohtani looks like he might actually stand a chance to be the phenom he was billed as. Ok, so there are varying degrees of "fun" there, but hey! Life isn't just slurping down ice cream and raisins under a palm tree. Which denotes true fun, of course. You know what melts ice cream? If you answered "a spicy Dominican sunset," well, you're weird. Correct, but weird. It's fire, you silly goose!…

Welcome to the first edition of my weekly Fire & Ice articles here on Fantrax. Each week I'll be looking at a player who has been under performing (Ice) and over performing (Fire) and diving into the numbers to evaluate whether their performance is legitimate or anomalous. The title is also as close as I could get to a Game of Thrones reference without getting too carried away (and if you ever want to talk Thrones please find me @NathanDokken on Twitter).There's only one week in the books, so a lot of stats aren't…

Well, folks, here we are. It's the end of the line for my 2018 Dudes and Don'ts, and it's my first foray into calling D&Ds at closer. They're an incredibly volatile bunch, and with so many bullpens still unclear as we roll into the season, one call could be completely wrong within a few days of me writing this. All it takes right now is one bad outing for one of the guys vying for a job to bump him way down the closer depth chart. So what the hell, let's have some fun! It is fantasy, after all. To the Dude! The Dude -…

Welcome to the Negative Nate version of Dudes and Don'ts! It was actually more difficult than I thought it would be for me to come up with names here. I dislike plenty of starters, but with most of them, it's all purely injury related. That doesn't make for great written content. "Hey, this guy gets hurt all the time. He'll get hurt again this year. Don't draft him!" Shampoo, rinse, repeat. Guys like James Paxton, Alex Wood, Rich Hill, and Danny Duffy all congregate under this umbrella of doom. I expect varying returns of…

With all hitting positions in the books, it's time to move to the mound. As was the case with my Outfield Dudes, these players are all going to be down a bit in Fantrax ADP. It doesn't do you any good to have me tell you how great Chris Sale is (especially when it comes to kirigami). The aces will cost you plenty, and you're just hoping they break even and don't bust. The real profit comes from the players you're taking in the middle-to-late rounds that provide excellent returns on your investment. Here are some starters I…

All right, enough of the mushy stuff! I was 100% positive on the last edition of my Dudes & Don'ts, looking only at my Dudes in the outfield. Well, now it's time for the hate! *Cues up Slayer, starts moshing with himself* Every position is full of landmines, and there are more than a few in the outfield this year. It's like Saving Private Ryan out here. Is that reference too dated? Man, I'm getting old. It's like Hacksaw Ridge out here! Ok, so maybe the war analogies are a bit extreme. It's still just fantasy baseball.…

I really wanted to call this "Dudes in the Outfield," but I think I'll leave that to an aspiring screenwriter. Kevin Costner is already lining up for the lead role. Outfield is a deep position, like starting pitcher, so as promised I'll be breaking the positions up into two write-ups each. There are plenty of outfielders I like early on (hello, Byron Buxton), but it doesn't do you any good for me to tell you to draft top-20 outfielders. Therefore, my Dudes are generally going to be the guys you're drafting as your third…

Boy, is there ever a lot of young blood at the top of the shortstop position this year. The top four are all 24 or younger (Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager). According to Fantrax ADP, the only shortstop inside the top 20 that is older than 30 is Zack Cozart. It's a young man's position, which makes it easier to dream on the upside of these young guys than to worry about the downside. Not everyone will take a step forward this year, though, but let's evaluate a few of these options. The Dude -…