A report recently came to light that the San Francisco Giants were making first baseman and owner of a genuine super-beard,Brandon Belt, available in trades. Apparently, there are teams interested in the oft-injured slugger, despite the whopping $48 million due to him over the next three years. Its not terribly surprising that Belt is available, as teammates Madison Bumgarner and Brandon Crawford are also very publicly on the block amid a teardown from the glory years of 2010 to 2015. The Giants[...]

After a full fantasy season of using Statcast measures to predicting risers and fallers each week, its time to take a step back and view the big picture. One of the most straightforward Statcast measurements we relied on was exit velocity or the speed the ball comes off the bat immediately after being hit.It is well known that certain players consistently mash the ball (Aaron Judge, Joey Gallo, Giancarlo Stanton, J.D. Martinez) and, not surprisingly, they made their way to the top of the list fo[...]

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson (rest) is out of the starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Angels. Olson will get a breather against the left-handed starter. Chad Pinder will draw the start at first base and bat eighth versus lefty Tyler Skaggs. Pinder is hitting .333/.412/.733 over the last two weeks, so he could be a cheap sleeper option on Saturday.

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson produced the only As run of the game, serving as the only bright spot in a 5-1 loss to the Twins Sunday. He finished the game 3-for-4 with a solo shot in the second inning off Kyle Gibson. Olson's homer was his 28th of the year and he continues to raise the bar for his career best. He raised his batting average to .246 which is lower than his 2017 rookie campaign but Olson also reduced his strikeout rate this season (24%). At 24 years old, Olson remai[...]

Welcome to Week 25 of the Cut List. This week I'm taking a look at Adam Jones, Carlos, Gonzalez, Odubel Herrera, and Starlin Castro.   All four players should be cut in most standard shallow formats. We're in the thick of the fantasy playoff season and we need to own players who are actually producing results. These four players are not.   Want some waiver wire advice to make up for those necessary cuts? Make sure you check out our waiver wire blog for the best pickup cons[...]

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson hit his 26th homer of the year off Andrew Cashner in a 10-0 win over the Orioles. The first baseman went 2-for-4 with a run and three RBI. He has recently been an all-or-nothing play and will probably stay that way for the remainder of the season. Even though he's part of a streaking offense, it's important not to fall in love with Olson. There are usually better first base options every night and it should remain that way for the rest of the regular [...]

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson (rest) is out of the starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Minnesota Twins. Olson does not hit left-handed pitching well, so the A's will give him the day off on Saturday. Mark Canha will draw the start at first base and bat seventh against lefty Stephen Gonsalves. Canha hits left-handed pitching well, so he's worth a look as a cheap DFS option on Saturday.

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 49% of leagues ANALYSIS: Oakland Athletics shortstop Marcus Semien has a modest overall batting line sof .262/.321/.386, but he has notched double digits in home runs (10) and stolen bases (13) for the fourth consecutive season and is pacing toward 90 runs scored. He has done this while running the best strikeout rate of his career to boot. The whiffs have gotten even more infrequent since the All-Star break (17.2%), during which time Semien has[...]

2018 is shaping up to be my worst fantasy baseball performance of the decade. I'm on track to win my home league, but I'm doomed to finish in the bottom half of the standings in most of my entries this season. There are plenty of reasons why obstacles with which we're all familiar. It's frustrating, but sometimes it just isn't your year. A quick look at the draft results in each of my leagues reveals a common thread -; my work in the room was subpar. You've heard the expression, "You can't wi[...]

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson smacked his 22nd homer of the season in the eighth inning off Joe Jimenez to cap off the 6-0 victory over the Tigers. Olson is two short of duplicating his homer output from 2017. Unfortunately, he hasn't resolved his batting average issues and his power comes with a .240 AVG. Olson finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. He remains a very good source of power in an exploding offense; make sure you can make up the batting average elsewher[...]