Stock Rising- Wilin Rosario

Wilin Rosario is second among all major league catchers with 23 home runs this year. Despite the power from the twenty-three year old, he remains available in seventy percent of fantasy leagues.

Analysis: Wilin Rosario is second in homers, tenth in runs batted in and eighth in runs among major league catchers. He’s putting up great fantasy numbers for a catcher yet he remains available in tons of leagues. It may be that he plays in Colorado or that he still qualifies as a rookie but he does not get much love in the fantasy world. He is on a tear right now, Rosario has homered in three consecutive games and has raised his slugging percentage up to .545 in the process.

I understand that many owners have given up at this point in the fantasy season but putting the best fantasy roster together should remain a priority regardless of the standings. At this point in the season only nine catchers have more than fourteen home runs, so it doesn’t make any sense to stick with a guy like Alex Avila who is owned in more leagues despite trailing Wilin in all five roto categories.

Buying Low- Russell Wilson

Russell Wilson is the Seattle week one starter but is he in a position to put up QB2 numbers?

Analysis: If Russell Wilson does indeed struggle Matt Flynn will always be there lurking around this year. Flynn is capable and is being paid the sizable contract but he’s also one of the top thirty most owned quarterbacks while Wilson is still available in the majority of leagues as well. You know what you’re going to get with guys like Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jake Locker(tons of picks) but Russell Wilson just may be something special.

Wilson certainly has the weapons with guys like Sidney Rice and Braylon Edwards. If those two receivers can stay healthy with Marshawn Lynch pounding the rock, Seattle will have the best offense in the NFC West. Throw in a motivated Kellen Winslow and Zach Miller and you have yourself a very solid offense built around one athletic rookie who has rushed for 150 yards in three preseason games. If you already had your draft and got stuck with a Ryan Fitzpatrick it is a no-brainer here… pick Russell Wilson up and just see what happens. Worst case scenario is that Wilson loses his job by week four while Fitzpatrick is vying for the league lead in interceptions.

ADP Watch- Rashad Jennings

Rashad Jennings is a very interesting back to take a look at especially with the Jags and MJD at odds on a contract.

Analysis: Rashad Jennings is sporting a career 5.4 yards per carry average with five touchdowns and zero fumbles on 123 carries. It may be a small sample size but he can certainly be a feature back going forward. Even if MJD gets a deal done soon he will be more susceptible to injury this year. At the moment MJD is the 4th-10th back being taken off the board while Jennings is the 40th with an ADP in the 105-135 range. You can get away with drafting Jennings as your fourth back yet he may wind up as a RB2 if the MJD situation goes south.

Jennings makes a great low risk/high reward back at the moment considering his 175 rushing yards on just 36 preseason carries. To expect MJD to come in and carry the rock in every down and situation without proper camp time is crazy(see Chris Johnson last year). Jennings is a fine 225 pound back and if a trade is to happen he is an absolute steal.

ADP Watch- Fred Jackson

Fred Jackson in the thirteenth running back being taken off the board in standard league drafts. His ADP sits in the 24-34 range.

Analysis: Fred Jackson has only rushed for over 1,000 yards just once in his career. In fact, he’s never scored more than six rushing touchdowns in one season either and he’s thirty-one years old. Many experts are putting a lot of stock into what he did early in the 2011 season and consider him a borderline RB1/RB2. Jackson has also never carried the rock more than 237 times in a season which would have been the fifteenth most in the NFL last year. Will he carry the ball enough to put up the yards and can he break his career high of six rushing touchdowns? Will he stay productive as the season wears on the thirty-one year old vet?

There seems to be plenty of question marks regarding Fred Jackson and very few statistics that give you confidence going forward. CJ Spiller is ready for a breakout season and he put together a very solid second half last year. It just doesn’t make sense to draft Jackson as a borderline RB1/RB2 when guys like Michael Turner(23TDs last two years) and BGE(24TDs last two years) are out there later in drafts.

FantasySP Apps Arrive at CBSSports

Have you heard that CBSSports recently launched their own app store?  We been watching from the sidelines since its launch a few months back but things are about to change.   We pride ourselves as being ahead of the curve by creating useful and affordable fantasy tools that we ourselves use on a daily basis.  For the first time, we are expanding our efforts to support another platform.

Some of the best features at FantasySP are now available in the CBSSports App Store as standalone apps. All the following apps are available or will shortly become available for their NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB App Stores:

  • Player Trends Plus – This app brings our Player Trends  to CBSSports! It shows trending player news from hundreds of sources and allows the user to flip through each source. The days of relying on one source for player news are over. It’s perfect for setting your lineup and following big news trends as they unfold.  You can easily get a leg up on the waiver wire if you are the first to hear about breaking injury news.  Needless to say, it is a must have for Sundays.

  • Trade Analyzer  – Our suite of Trade Analyzer’s are among the best in the industry. Their goal is to analyze trades to decide the winner of the trade and if it’s a fair trade. It analyzes raw statistical analysis in dozens of categories, compares performance to expert predictions, looks at trending performance, and much more.  This is a great tool for league commissioners and those who need help in deciding if a trade is right for you.

  • Fantasy Assistant – Our tool helps you dominate your league by recommending waiver wire pickups, analyzing historical team performance, breaking down team ratings by starting lineup /entire roster, evaluates player importance, and much more.  This version has been tweaked to run on the CBSSports platform and is a must for any serious fantasy sports player.

We have a few important characteristics in each and every fantasy tool and fantasy app that we create.  Each app MUST be easy to use whether you are a first time player or a fantasy veteran.  Each app MUST share the same visual polish and signature of the FantasySP brand.  Each app MUST be of the utmost quality in terms of visual interface and the usefulness of the tool.  Each app MUST be affordable so users of all ages can take advantage of them.

You also may be wondering that since FantasySP is supporting CBSSports apps that updates and features will only be released for one platform or the other.  The good news is that these apps were created to be cross platform compatible.  New features and improvements can be created once and easily pushed out to all of our users.   This means that when a change is made to our FantasySP website, then the CBSSports apps will also have this change go live.