Laura Holt

Author: Laura Holt

Read some of Laura Holt's 193 posts

Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: So Far, Sogard

June 22, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 2 Comments

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I don’t know about you, but it seems to me like the waiver wire is running extra thin these days. Not that there’s ever too much to choose from in deeper leagues, but this is the first week where I’m having trouble finding even the weakest replacements to help cover injuries, at least on my AL-only team.  I’m just feeling a free agent lull… Kimbrel and Keuchel have signed, there haven’t been any Yordan Alvarez-level promotions in the last few weeks, and some injured stars are finally returning – often bumping part-time players who had gained some temporary deep-league relevance out of a gig.  For now, I’m just trying to tread water in the leagues I’m doing well in, and trying to keep an eye out for any possible addition that could help my teams that have been floundering.  That, then, brings us to this week’s list of players that may be available to assist owners in NL-only, AL-only, and other particuarly deep fantasy baseball leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Need A NewMan?

June 14, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 6 Comments

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Happy mid-June everyone! School’s out, the weather’s warming up, and real-life leisure activities and starting to chip away at fantasy baseball time, at least in my household.  So, let’s get right to what we’re here for:  looking at some players who might be available for those who need help in AL-only, NL-only, and other deep fantasy baseball leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Don’t Let Your Season Peter Out Just Yet

June 7, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 6 Comments

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Hello, deep-league friends and acquaintances!  Welcome back to the area of Razzball where each week we dig in every little crevice we can find in hopes of discovering buried fantasy baseball treasure.  In our world we are used to having to be beggars, not choosers, when it comes to looking for free agent and waiver wire help for our fantasy baseball teams… but that just makes it all the more satisfying when we do manage to stumble upon a hidden gem.  For the most part, though, we’re just looking for everyday rocks which which we can plug the holes of our lineups — once again, here are this week’s handful of names who could, in the right circumstance, be useful to those in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Can DJ Spin Some Stats?

May 31, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 5 Comments

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We’re one-third of the way through the 2019 baseball season, and let’s remember one thing: it is really, really difficult to predict what major league baseball players are going to do.  I just looked up the stats on starting pitchers this year in terms of who has provided the most standard, 5×5 fantasy baseball value so far in 2019. I am now going to jot a few names down to keep with me at next year’s drafts, as a reminder that no matter how dire things look in the middle of a draft or auction, there are options out there, even in the deepest of leagues.  So far this season, Justin Verlander ranks number one in 5×5 fantasy pitching value so far, which is not a huge surprise.  He is followed by three players who may have had injury/age concerns, but whom we all knew could be great:  Hyun-Jin Ryu, Zack Grienke, and Stephen Strasburg.  Then, things get interesting, as the next three guys probably were not even drafted in standard leagues:  Jake Odorizzi, Lucas Giolito, and Matthew Boyd.  Are all three of these guys overperforming and due for some serious regression?  Perhaps. (Though I’ve become a pretty big Matthew Boyd fan and am heavily invested… fingers crossed).  But even two months of top-10 level production from them is enough to make a huge impact on a deep-league fantasy team, as those of you who own any of them probably know.  Just something to keep in mind in future drafts, while for now we stay focused on 2019 and look to see who might be out there that could be of interest to those of us in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: What’s (Har)old Is New Again

May 24, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 9 Comments

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Here we are in late May, and the injury parade just keeps on marching along.  I’m not sure which is more frustrating – checking baseball news to see that what you thought was your perfectly healthy closer has suddenly been placed on the IL, a la Wade Davis, or having your stud players just sitting in your lineup without playing.  Those of you who own George Springer, Christian Yelich,or Khris Davis (who STILL is on the A’s active roster as I write this, even though it was quite clear that he was in intense pain every time he took a swing in his last game) know of what I speak.  There are no obvious replacements when you lose one of the guys you’ve been counting on in a very deep league, but we’ll keep doing what we do here:  trying to find a few players who might be worth looking at in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Looking For A Free Agent Who’ll Treat You (Da)wel

May 17, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 4 Comments

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Another week, more exciting prospect call-ups, as Keston Hiura is now a full-fledged Milwaukee Brewer, and Brendan Rodgers is rumored to be on his way to join the Rockies as I write this.  If you play in a shallow league, perhaps you had the opportunity to grab Hiura off the waiver wire and are now a little more invested in his major league baseball career than you were a week ago.  If you play in a very deep league, chances are both Hiura and Rodgers were drafted back in March even in re-draft formats, and perhaps have been owned for years in an NL-only, dynasty type league.  No, we deep-leaguers aren’t going to be finding guys with Hiura’s or Rodgers’ upside floating in the free agent pool too often, so we have to get much more creative.… and on that note, here are this week’s players that may be more realistic targets in AL-only, NL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Mayday

May 10, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 1 Comment

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Happy second week of May, everyone!  It’s still early in the baseball season, but not necessarily as early as it might seem… within the next few days, most teams will have played 40 or 41 games, which means we are just about 25% of the way through MLB 2019.  Still a relatively small sample size, I suppose, but each day that goes by we can feel more celebratory about the guys we drafted in multiple leagues who are treating us very well so far (Tyler Glasnow, Matthew Boyd, and Caleb Smith, right now I love you all more than you’ll ever know). We can also beat ourselves up a bit more every day over the fellows who are looking like downright mistakes (Tyler Skaggs and Colin McHugh, what can I say?… feels like it’s just not going to happen for us this year).  Then again, the players in that first group might crash and burn at any given moment, and those in the latter could turn it around at a moment’s notice, which is why fantasy baseball can be both so exciting and so excruciating.  Speaking of excruciating, that’s exactly how looking for help on the deep-league waiver wire can feel this time of year – but let’s take a look at a few guys who might be available in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Caught In A Webb

May 3, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 6 Comments

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Another week, another seven days of fantasy baseball disappointment and injury frustration… at least for those Corey Kluber and A.J. Pollock owners out there.  The good news with these two one-time fantasy studs, if there is any, is that sadly, they cannot really do more damage out of your lineup than they were doing while they were active in 2019.  Losing someone you drafted early gets more devastating the deeper the league is, and sometimes you just have to hope other owners are dealing with as much bad luck as you are.  For now, let’s move right on to looking at some players that may be on the radar for those of us in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Help In the Nick Of Time

April 26, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 8 Comments

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Things can change in a hurry in baseball, and when they do, things can change even faster in fantasy baseball.  Since last week, we’ve seen the horrific collision between Starling Marte and Erik Gonzalez, the Pirates promotion of shortstop Cole Tucker, and Tucker’s sudden fantasy relevance.  He went from being a 2% owned player in CBS leagues, where he was probably only hanging around on keeper/dynasty league type rosters, to being a 30% owned player who has a legitimate shot to obtain at least some degree of mixed-league relevance this year.  It’s just another reminder that, in leagues both deep and shallow, you need to stay on top of things and not let a potential asset to your roster get away. The players we’ll be looking at this week may not have the upside of a Cole Tucker type, but may be worth a look for those of us searching for help in AL-only, NL-only, and other very deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Howie Gonna Fix Our Banged-Up Fantasy Teams?

April 19, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 2 Comments

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Another week, another round of tweaked hammies (hope you’re as not-really-hurt as you claim, Jean Segura!), nightmare pitching (thanks for nothing, Corbin Burnes!), and various trials and tribulations that cause headaches for any fantasy owner, but are particularly excruciating for those of us in the deepest of leagues, where suitable waiver-wire replacements range from nearly-impossible-to-come-by to completely non-existent.  Once again, here’s hoping you’re avoiding as many of those headaches as possible while we take a look at players who may be of some interest to those in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Time To Josh Around A Little?

April 12, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 4 Comments

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How’s it going, deep-leaguers?  Hope everyone out there has dodged as many fantasy baseball injury bullets as possible, since we know that losing your studs in a deep league is a much different level of disaster than it is in the shallow, mixed-league world.  It’s not super helpful to read about how you might consider picking up Dansby Swanson or Eduardo Escobar to replace Trea Turner in your lineup when the “best” shortstop available in your league is Kevin Newman. As we continue to ask for leniency from the fantasy baseball gods, let’s do what we do here, and take a look at some players who may be on the radar for those of us in AL-only, NL-only, and other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: Colin On Anyone You Can For Help

April 5, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 13 Comments

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Baseball is finally in full swing, and if you are a member of the Club of Deep-League Fantasy Baseball Owners (CDLFBO — pretty catchy, huh?), and play in NL-only, AL-only, or other extra deep leagues, you’ve come to the right place.  Each week, we swim in the deepest end of the player pool, taking a look at a handful of players that some shallow-leaguers may have never even heard of, but that we CDLFBOs might be needy enough to take a look at for our teams. Our threshold for now will be guys who are less than 10% owned in CBS leagues, so let’s see who might be out there waiting to cozy up to an available roster spot.

Please, blog, may I have some more?