very week in baseball, a significant player will hit the disabled list, slip into a slump, or get traded out of a good spot. How fantasy owners adapt to these situations can make or break the season as a whole. One lousy add might not hurt the long-term standing of a team, but failing to take advantage of breakouts or impact bats before others sure can.The primary challenge of playing in an NL or AL-only league is often the lack of options regarding adding and subtracting players when needed. In[...]

Changes are coming in the desert, as the Diamondbacks look ready to move things around in their bullpen. The Reds, meanwhile, look like they're going back to how things were before. The A's got their closer back from the injured list, but is he still going to be their closer? What's going on with the Cubs and Rays bullpens? What about the Red Sox? They have a plan, finally, but what is it?With the All-Star Game coming up, that means the trade deadline is on its way as well. [...]

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Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Josh Hader retired all six batters he faced to earn his 19th save of the season. Hader was called on to protect a two-run lead and was his usual automatic self to slam the door on the Mariners. Hader has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball with a 1.82 ERA and an absurd 17.44 strikeouts per nine innings. His 54.1 strikeout percentage leads the league, Ken Giles is second at 43.9 percent. Hader won't get as many saves as traditional closers, but th[...]

Hockey is over (congrats, Blues), basketball is done very soon, and football won't start for a while. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage: BASEBALL! School's out, the sun is beating down across America, it's summer folks. And that means baseball takes center stage. This season is already showing the importance of relief pitchers, and the emergence of bullpen committees across the league and more and more teams using openers is rearranging the landscape of relief pitching league wid[...]

Every week in baseball, a significant player will hit the disabled list, slip into a slump, or get traded out of a good spot. How fantasy owners adapt to these situations can make or break the season as a whole. One lousy add might not hurt the long-term standing of a team, but failing to take advantage of breakouts or impact bats before others sure can.The primary challenge of playing in an NL or AL-only league is often the lack of options regarding adding and subtracting players when needed. I[...]

Welcome to this week's Power Hitting Risers & Fallers. All stats are full season through Monday, May 20th (unless otherwise noted). It's that time of year when in-season trends become apparent and full-season numbers may not tell the best story. (They may be most accurate, but they may not tell the best story.) Fortunately, the Statcast Search feature allows a specific player in a specific time range to be studied, with countless ways to further parse the numbers.Your weekly reminders: [...]

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Some pretty important moving and shaking went on this week in the bullpens across the league. Craig Kimbrel is still looking for somebody to love him (Queen reference in intro: ), and I'm still recommending anyone holding him in fantasy leagues without an NA spot lets him go. Thought it would be good to get that clear off the top.Diving into more current news, the Braves went into a full committee, the Twins dipped their toes in the committee pool, the A's escaped a bullpen disaster, and the Cub[...]

Milwaukee Brewers reliever Josh Hader recorded a perfect two inning save while striking out five batters in Saturday's win against the Mets. This was a great rebound for Hader as he had been bad in his previous three appearances. Also, Jeremy Jeffress allowed three base runners and a run to score without recording an out, so that helps the competition for saves. Hader looked like his old self on Saturday and seems to have a firm grasp on the closer role for the Brewers heading forward.