Anthony Franco99 posts

I’ve spent this offseason looking at players who elevated or tanked their fantasy stock with surprising seasons. Today, I’ll touch on a player whose season was more enigmatic than  unexpected. Ozzie Albies had a star-level first half before his production cratered after the All-Star Break. Without context, his line looks relatively pedestrian: .261/.305/.452 with 24 home runs and 14 stolen bases. For a 21-year-old, though, it was an exceptionally impressive season, albeit not one unforeseen given our preseason love of Albies…

I’ve spent the offseason looking at players whose fantasy stock was elevated or depressed by surprising 2018 seasons. This particular post is in the same spirit, but it might not be in the same genre. In the aggregate, Randal Grichuk’s season was not entirely eye-catching. He hit .245/.301/.542 with 25 home runs- fine (Grichuk’s third consecutive season exceeding 20 home runs), but unspectacular. Yet Grichuk’s clustering caught my attention. After hitting .206 in the season’s first half, Grichuk hit .280 with 14 home runs…

Given the hectic past week in Major League Baseball, I’ll take a detour from my surprise players of 2018 to look at a player who has been in the news for the better part of three weeks. Robinson Cano is finally a Met. What’s more, he’s a better player than you think.If you're like us you can’t wait until spring to get the 2019 fantasy baseball season started? Well, you don’t have to. Leagues are already forming at Fantrax.com, so head on over and get your league started today.Robinson Cano: Old and Expensive…

Are we seeing the demise of Joey Votto as a fantasy force?

Did Mike Foltynewisc take the next step in 2018 or was it just a matter of fortunate batted ball results?

Was 2018 a career year for Javier Baez or just the beginning of his prime?

A 90-win team traded arguably its top position player, in Mallex Smith, for a catcher who hit .201. An 87-win team traded away a former top-five draft pick, in Mike Zunino, to leave themselves with one catcher on their roster. That player, David Freitas, will be thirty years old come opening day and has all of 123 MLB plate appearances, with a .218/.271/.318 line, no less.For that reason, it makes sense that both teams’ fanbases seemed to react negatively to Thursday’s Mike Zunino for Mallex Smith swap between the…

The 2018-2019 offseason is upon us. Fantrax is previewing the relevant and noteworthy pending MLB free agents, noting which players' fantasy values are subject to change with the upcoming roster machinations. Here we'll focus on MLB free agent hitters. Also check out our breakdown of the fantasy relevant free agent pitchers. MLB Free Agent Hitters This is not a comprehensive list of MLB free agents. Instead we're sticking solely to players whose signing will have significant fantasy impact on the team they join and on the…

Anthony Franco tries to identify the real Mitch Haniger for 2019.

Will the real Jonathan Villar please stand up.