Failure is a part of fantasy, and no matter how much analysis or knowledge we put into our draft, players are going to underperform what we thought they would. When this happens, we then must decide if the player is worth continuing to play or even roster; maybe we need to cut our losses while we can and find replacements. But underperformance can, and often is, a temporary blip, not something that must be immediately reacted to.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Shortstops
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Should We Buy The Dip On Albies & Volpe After Their Down Year?
September 18, 2025 | 2025 Fantasy Baseball, Players by Position, Second Basemen, Shortstops | 1 Commentby: ADHamley
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard lots of industry chatter about Ozzie Albies and Anthony Volpe. Both have had disappointing seasons, and when established names underperform their draft price in any given season, I’m usually ready to jump in to draft them at the next season’s discount. Prior to this week, though, I wasn’t completely sure how I felt about Albies and Volpe for next year, so I decided to take a closer look at their numbers. Here’s what I found.
Please, blog, may I have some more?In Roto, those underlying stats are extremely helpful when I’m in the middle of a season, and I know which categories I need to bolster in order to get the best overall stats across all 10 categories. But what about during draft season? There are no standings then, so we don’t have the ability to look at the SB category and see that we’re only 4 SB away from picking up another point in the standings. In season, when we see a category where it’s possible, even likely to gain points, it’s an easy decision to go get someone from the waiver wire who can get us there without hurting us in other categories. But in the preseason, we are deciding between any number of hypothetical rosters. How do we decide between two players of similar projected $ value?
Please, blog, may I have some more?The last time I put out a rankings list was nearly 2 months ago as we were coming out of the All-Star Break. At that time, I was still hesitant to fully buy in when it came to players who have had unexpectedly good or bad seasons. Well, we’re running out of games to play, so maybe it’s time I come around on some players. As a result, you’ll see some fairly significant movement up and down this week’s ranks.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Today, I’ll take a look at another tendency of drafters: a willingness to overpay for a big year, or, even worse, for a player in a bounceback year. To that end, I’ll discuss 4 players who have either outplayed their last season draft prices by significant margins or, at the very least, demonstrated a skill (or two) that drafters are often willing to pay up for.
Please, blog, may I have some more?In reality, it’s probably a little too early to start looking seriously toward next season, but that’s what fantasy degenerates do. On the serious side, thinking through where players are likely to be picked this coming year compared with where they were picked this last year is an extremely valuable exercise in terms of finding potential value to profit from next year. If we can predict an approximate ADP for certain players, we can already determine if those players are going to be interesting to us based on cost. Fantasy leagues are won through the simple act of getting more value for a pick than the ADP would suggest.
Please, blog, may I have some more?When players spend the first couple of months of the season falling well short of our expectations, fantasy players are often guilty of just refusing to consider those guys at all for the rest of the season. While it’s understandable to want to refuse to roster any player who really hurt you early, that kind of emotional dismissal might cause us to miss out on good rebounds in the second half that we can get some value from. The three players I’ll discuss today all started slowly for various reasons, and I saw lots of social media buzz about dropping these guys and never looking back. But we might want to take a second look to see if there is still value to be had.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Middle infield hasn’t been the easiest place to find gems this season. While the SS player pool feels similar to its usual high quality with the top 10-12 at the position, its depth isn’t there in the same way we’ve seen in recent years. Conversely, while 2B doesn’t offer much ceiling this season, it seems to me a deeper position where I can find surprising help off the waiver wire to fill some stat needs. But it only goes so deep, and all of the usual suspects are widely rostered.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Anyone who has watched Mookie Betts this year can see something is very wrong. Blame this year’s struggles on his preseason virus-related weight loss if you will, but that weight loss and weakness don’t explain away last year’s big dip in performance. Something is different, and it’s bad.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I’ve based the list of players below on comments from my readers (you know, the ones that say something to the effect of “How could you not include this guy?!?”). I actually really like those types of comments because they make me take a second look at players I may not have given appropriate credit to.
Please, blog, may I have some more?By this point in the season, the waiver wire has been foraged repeatedly, so to find help, we’ll need to look deep. Below are three deeper league options that may be able to help, even where you have needs in shallower leagues.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Revisiting my middle infield rankings as we finish up the season’s first half. Top 30 middle infielders plus some big fallers.
Please, blog, may I have some more?