Garrett Richards

After only one week of MLB play, every stat comes with a number of sample size caveats. Players’ actual results mean very little for the rest of the season (sorry, Matt Davidson and Yolmer Sanchez). On the other hand, there is a full season’s worth of potential value to be had for owners who identify sustainable early-season breakouts, so it’s worth examining some players who have shown interesting underlying skills, which are more likely to be meaningful than a player’s batting average or home run total to this point.…

I’m old enough to remember when you would have no idea where your team stood in the standings until at least a week or two into the season. In a way, we were almost better off. Nowadays, you can see live standings from the first day of the season on. When I woke up on Friday and saw I was in last place in my Fantrax Roto league, I had to laugh. The truth is that one day is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Sure, it would be nice to get off to a quick start, but the important thing is to have the correct pieces…

This gets said most seasons, but starting pitching is incredibly deep. Between safe veteran options and up-and-coming young flamethrowers, there's a little bit of everything in this part of the rankings. I've always preached the depth of pitching while filling out your roster. It's certainly important to grab some top-tier arms, but filling out your pitching staff with strong late-round options can pay big dividends. And this year, the late-round options you'll find below are quite intriguing. Included are several…

I'm a big fan of deep leagues, but one of the less attractive aspects of drafting a large player pool is finding players you can be enthused about in the later rounds. Usually, it's not a problem we need to sweat. Even in deep formats, savvy owners can usually fill the gaps they left with bad late picks through trades or FAAB bidding. So imagine being in a 15-team league with 50-player rosters that doesn't allow trading or add/drops. That is a reality for me and the 14 owners who paid a $150 entry fee for the chance at a…