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Laura Holt

Author: Laura Holt

Read some of Laura Holt's 308 posts

Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep: An Early Look At Cheap Second Basemen

February 23, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 35 Comments

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I’m not sure how many leagues I’m in where I’ll be in the market for an off-the-radar second baseman, because as my drafts have gotten going over the last couple of months I’ve found myself trying to fill the 2B position earlier rather than later.  I’ve found myself willing to perhaps overpay a bit for Ozzie Albies or Whit Merrifield, or maybe gamble on an upside-without-a-long-track-record, relatively early pick of Cavan Biggio or Keston Hiura.  Things get dicey in a hurry, as I’m not remotely interested in, say, Jose Altuve or Dylan Moore at their current ADPs (which are both around 100 overall according to NFBC).  I might take a flier on Mike Moustakas (ADP #120) who qualifies at 2B in most leagues, Tommy Edman (#129), or Nick Solak (#169), but I’m not overly confident that any of those three will provide solid value at those prices, let alone confident enough to reach for any of them.

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

Rolling In The Deep: An Early Look at First Base

February 16, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 14 Comments

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Over here in the deep-league cubicle of Razzball, we’ve looked at late-round starting pitchers and outfielders, and now it’s time to move on to a group of gentlemen I like to call first basemen.  We’ll look at guys who, according to current NFBC ADP, are ranked outside the top 15 first basemen drafted and outside the top 150 overall.  What I’m going to begin with, though, is a quick public service announcement to anyone in an AL-only league:  in case you hadn’t noticed (and I hadn’t, until I wrote this post), there is as ridiculously steep a drop off from the top few guys to the next group as I ever remember seeing.  Based on NFBC ADP, your top 5 AL first basemen are D.J. LeMahieu, Jose Abreu, Vlad Guerrero, Luke Voit and Matt Olson (whose current ADP is #90).  Looking at the 1B list after that, you get a slew of national leaguers, and do not hit another AL name other than the first two on this list (both of whom also qualify at OF, for what it’s worth) until Miguel Sano at #191.  Yes, I said Miguel Sano at #191.

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

Rolling In The Deep: An Early Look At Cheap Starting Pitching

February 9, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball | 9 Comments

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It’s still only early February and meaningful baseball feels light years away, but as far as I’m concerned it’s never too early to think about your next fantasy draft.  Last week we thought a bit about the outfield, but this week I’m in the mood to switch gears entirely.  So, let’s ponder some starting pitchers who are going late in drafts that could conceivably outperform their ADP.  We’ll keep things outside the top 250 players selected based on current NFBC ADP, including a few guys outside the top 400 that likely won’t see little yellow stickers with their names on them on draft boards outside of NL-only, AL-only, and similar formats of interest only to those of us in the deep-league world.

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

Rolling In The Deep: An Early Look At Cheap Outfielders

February 2, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 12 Comments

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Happy New Year, Readers!  Yes, I know it’s February, but this is my first post of the year, and as far as I’m concerned, the year doesn’t really start until I can officially start thinking about fantasy baseball.  To the surprise of no one who’s ever met me, it turns out I’ve been thinking about fantasy baseball a lot lately; I’m preparing for my third draft now, after having completed my annual Thanksgiving week draft in November and another the first week of January.  As always, I’m excited to reconnect with the Razzball community and hope you and yours had as good an offseason as possible, and are healthy and ready to win a fantasy championship or two in 2021. I’m crossing all of my fingers and toes that spring training and the season start safely and on time, which means it’s never too early to start looking at some potential targets for those of us who play in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.  Let’s kick it off with outfielders, as we take a look at a handful of players who currently have ADPs (according to the current NFBC rankings) outside the top 250 — but may have a sneaky something to offer, particularly in the deep league world.

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

Rolling In The Deep: Deep League Hot Finishers

September 21, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep |

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As we head into the final week of the season, it seems like a good time to look back — well, back a few days or weeks anyway.  Even with only 60 games, many players who started the year as deep leaguers were able to prove they belong in a much shallower stratosphere in 2021.  Take Luke Voit… I told you in my post way back on January 14th of this year that I’d already drafted as my first baseman in a league, liking his value at the time, which was around #200 in terms of NFBC ADP.  Let’s just say that I don’t think any of us will be getting Voit with anything close to a 200th pick next spring.  I’m also pretty sure Alec Mills’ no hitter will keep me from being able to scoop him up at the end of an NL-only draft next year the way I did this year.  So let’s move on and look at a handful of players who have very recently — and a little more quietly — been playing well, with an eye not only on last minute help in 2020, but also potential consideration in 2021.

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

Rolling In The Deep: Get Your Party Started With A New D.J.

September 14, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 2 Comments

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Two weeks of baseball left, kids!  If you’re still in the thick of things in your fantasy league, congrats — and if you’re not… well, maybe you actually still are, because things can change in a hurry in a 10-week season.  Let’s peruse a few names that may be of interest as we approach the end of the year, particularly to 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: Duvall Your Work While You Still Can

September 8, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 3 Comments

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We all knew this “season” was going to go by quickly if it went at all, and now we’re living the reality of it, as just three weeks remain.  I’ve had a few teams take quite the hit of late — the compacted season makes for some maddening volatility in the standings, and a few horrendous pitching performances plus some key missed games from my hitters have knocked me from near the catbird seat to the middle of the pack. As is the case for me even in normal times, my deep league teams feature waiver wires that have been picked clean, and there’s even less maneuvering to be done in terms of attempting to reconstruct my rosters.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to regroup in time, but am fighting on, since one thing we’ve all learned is to expect the unexpected this year.  So, the pickings may be slim, but let’s take a look at a handful of players (all under 15% owned in CBS leagues) that may 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: Fasten Your Seat Belt

August 31, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 1 Comment

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Happy almost September!  Most MLB teams are past the halfway point of this insane little 60 game season, but if your leagues are anything like mine, there’s still all kinds of standings volatility happening.  A couple of bad starts can be devastating, while one day of big offensive production can help by leaps and bounds.  I’m not sure how many of my leagues will go down to the wire, but I’m trying to grab every extra counting stat when I can, while I can.  And speaking of trying to improve one’s team, time for our weekly look at some names that may be of interest to those of us in AL-only, NL-only, and other deep leagues, keeping our list to players who are around 20% owned or less in CBS leagues.

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

Rolling In The Deep: Tap(ia) Into Some Production

August 24, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 2 Comments

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We’re beginning week 6 of the MLB season, friends, and as I type this baseball is still being played, stats are being counted, and fantasy leagues continue to hum along.  If you’re in one of those fantasy leagues and need some hitting reinforcements over the next month, let’s take a look at some names that may be of interest to those of us in the deeper end of the fantasy baseball world — we’ll concentrate on guys that are under 15% owned in CBS leagues this week.

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

Rolling In The Deep: Week 5 AL Reinforcements

August 17, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 2 Comments

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Just as we expected, the 2020 baseball season has seen its share of highs and lows.  On the deep-league fantasy front, let’s hope your season has seen more highs (if you’re reading this, Anthony Sandander, Teoscar Hernandez, or Brandon Lowe, thank you for everything so far, and please keep it up!), than lows (sorry, Oscar Mercado, but I’m looking at you).  If you’re in the fantasy baseball thick of things but need some reinforcements, let’s take our weekly look — AL version — at some guys who may be of interest to those of us in deeper leagues (we’ll use a 20% or less owned in CBS leagues threshold this week).

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

Rolling In The Deep: Deep League SOS Calls, NL Edition

August 10, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep | 6 Comments

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Well, I knew the 2020 season would be weird, but I guess I really wasn’t expecting it to be quite so grueling.  Filling in for injured players, COVID list players, and players not playing due to other teams’ COVID outbreaks has been from exhausting to downright impossible in my deeper leagues.  Carry on we must, though, as MLB continues to seemingly defy the odds and keeps checking games off the calendar.  This week, we’ll look at some NL names who may be of interest to those of us in the deep-league world.

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

Rolling In The Deep: Early Deep League MVPs

August 3, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Rolling In The Deep |

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Well, the season’s been as weird, wild, and worrisome as expected so far.  We’ve seen some horrific starts from first round hitters, and, not as surprisingly perhaps, some ridiculously good starts from some of our under the radar deep league hitters.  Assuming that major league baseball games are still being played this week, let’s look at some of those good starts, with an eye to the future and who might be able to keep it up for 2020 and perhaps beyond.

Colin Moran.  I drafted the Pirates third baseman in a deep league or two because I thought he’d get more playing time than he deserved (he has), not because I thought he’d be leading the league in homers (5) as of Saturday (which he is… which I guess proves me wrong about that whole deserving playing time thing).  I’ll hold tight in the leagues I own him, and hope this is a sign to come for 2021 since one of those leagues is a keeper league, but I’m not going crazy over him in standard leagues.  I’ll be rooting for him, sure, but I can’t imagine he’ll have another week and a half of production this year that matches his huge start to the season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
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