Fantasy

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…

Much like the best barbeque sauce or a stern letter sent to a co-worker, there’s no better type of prediction than a bold one. And I’ve seen plenty of writers throw out bold predictions like “Francisco Lindor finishes 2018 as a top-15 player!” To those writers, I give a hearty scoff. That’s not a bold prediction; that’s a mild prediction. That’s the generic brand sauce that disappoints your friends and neighbors when you pull it out for your grilling session. It’s the Kyle Seager of predictions. It likely produces, but no…

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.…

As the calendar has turned to March, we are suddenly seeing some trends in drafts this year. ADPs are starting to course-correct, and there is sufficient enough data to pick out a few players to target and a few players to avoid. Of course, these do change at the whims of the MLB faithful, as a few bad at-bats in spring or finally signing with a team can either increase or decrease a player’s value somewhat drastically. But as it stands right now, there are a handful of players that are draft targets for me in most of the…