It’s spring time, which means baseball is heating up and people are enjoying fresh air again. We are excited about both of these and want to take a moment to announce some of our latest features and changes:
A major update hit the Fantasy Assistant today involving team projections, matchup analysis, and category analysis. The first sport to receive this update is baseball, but expect them to show up for basketball, football, and hockey in the coming days.
Projected Stats & Rankings
New Predictions
Previously, we had projected stats, but now they also show you where you are projected to rank against other teams in your league. Each category and ranking is accompanied by our standard color system of red, orange, and green. Each color gives you an easy overview of strengths and weaknesses.
By default, we are showing 8 hitting categories and 7 pitching categories for baseball. These projections are based on your current starting lineup. The final categories are called “PTS”, which estimates where you will rank based on standard h2h scoring in both pitching and hitting.
For those of you playing other sports, you will see different stats relevant to your sport but it will all work exactly the same. The goal is to give you a well rounded overview of your team whether you are playing category based h2h, rotisserie leagues, or standard h2h.
Matchup Analysis
Matchup analysis by team
A completely new section has been added which allows you to compare stats projections against your entire league. Again, these projections are based on your starting lineup moving forward. By default we are showing you all teams in your league based on the entire season, but you can also break things down to seven days or the past 30 days.
There are plenty of different ways you might want to use this data for setting your lineup. For example, if I am playing Tiny Webb next week , then I can set my lineup accordingly based on their team’s recent performance.
To do that, I can select that team from the dropdown to easily compare the two. If I know I have no shot to win in saves, then I may want to skip that category all together and try to get points in the remaining categories.
As I mentioned earlier, each sport will have different categories, but the matchup analysis will remain the same. This update is already live on FantasySP. and our CBSSports apps.
Norichika Aoki had a brief but slow start to the season but he is officially heating up now.
Analysis: It seems that about this time every year you have more than a handful of impatient fantasy owners dropping proven commodities. This year is not any different. Aoki started the season 0 for 9 and to some owners only two games were enough and dropping Aoki seemed like the “smart move.” He has since gone 9 for 16 from the plate and raised his batting average to .360.
We have really gone downhill if we are dropping proven fantasy assets after two games. In Aoki’s first two seasons he has averaged 25 steals, 9 home runs, 81 runs and a .287 batting average. Aoki was the 38th best fantasy outfielder last year… ahead of guys like Ben Zobrist, Austin Jackson, Denard Span, Ben Revere, Michael Bourn, Colby Rasmus, Giancarlo Stanton, Nick Swisher and Bryce Harper. Aoki is a lock for a great batting average and a solid amount of runs. He supplies more than enough in other categories yet he still doesn’t get any love.
Aoki is now available in 10-25% of fantasy leagues.
Melky Cabrera notched his third home run of the season Sunday afternoon against the New York Yankees.
Analysis: Melky has 3 home runs through 7 games this year… he had 3 home runs all of last year in 88 games. Who knows if Melky is back on his “vitamins” or if last year was just an injury plagued off year? What we do know is that the Melk Man is a solid ballplayer and that he is leading off for the Blue Jays which will mean his run total should be great considering his lifetime OBP is a respectable .337 and he has Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion to drive him in each game.
Melky Cabrera can produce in all five categories as a solid middle tier fantasy outfielder. He was banged up for most of last year and it is easy to forget that the Melk Man is just twenty-nine years old. Currently, Melky Cabrera is available in 30-60% of fantasy leagues. He’s not likely to sustain this kind of power but he is capable of 15-20 bombs, a solid batting average, some speed and plenty of runs.
We are in the first week of April which means it is once again time to guess if this is the year Dexter Fowler finally breaks through. Fowler already has three multi-hit games so maybe this is the year or maybe he’s just toying with our fantasy baseball hearts… again.
Analysis: Dexter Fowler has 6 hits through three games this year which include 2 doubles, 1 triple and 1 home run. He’s leading off for Houston which is great for his run total but there isn’t much pop in the Astro lineup behind him. As mentioned many times before- Fowler has all the raw tools you could ask for but he just hasn’t put it all together yet. He did steal 19 bases and hit 12 home runs last year in just 119 games and he also hit .300 in 2012.
Fowler has 20/20 potential this year and it is certainly a wise decision to pick him up now. He may be on the verge of a huge 2014 campaign or just another borderline fantasy relevant season. Currently, Dexter Fowler is available in 45-55% of fantasy leagues.
