April 9th Weekly Release Notes

It’s officially fantasy baseball season!  There are major improvements to baseball stats and features this week.  Some of which aren’t completely finished, but are worth mentioning.

Fantasy baseball waiver wire suggestions via the Fantasy Assistant are live!  This has been a few weeks in the making, and I am super excited to get it out the door.  Keep in mind that only a week of the baseball season has gone by and that is hardly enough data to go on.  Expect waiver wire recommendations to improve as the season progresses.

There are new baseball stat categories including: slugging percentage, on base percentage, and onbase plus slugging (OPS).  The player ratings for hitters have been enhanced to include these categories to help evaluate players.  These are BIG changes that don’t come too often, so expect to see tweaks to player ratings as the season continues.

More changes will come to the Fantasy Assistant’s accuracy and statistical categories that are presented to you.  I will personally be using it quite a bit and will make sure it is up to par.

Onto the complete list:

  • NEW! Logged out users will see a red navbar up top. This is to make newcomers to the site aware that we have awesome features and it’s worth their time. (Logged in users will also see this in the future).
  • Amazon SES now handles most of the emails that get sent out. Weekly emails are the last to be migrated over.
  • Graceful fallback for foxsports player ids have been added (incase something breaks, it won’t totally break).
  • FIX for the Miami Marlins.
  • FIX for CBSSports syncing, more specifically league names with odd characters.
  • FIX for Yahoo DL/IR spot from not being correctly recognized.
  • Baseball data is now cached for a shorter amount of time.
  • Site structural fix that no one cares about but me.
  • FIX for top mlb players.
  • FIX for player trend emails from sending duplicates (sorry folks).
  • FIX for yahoo league transaction accuracy, sometimes another league might show up.
  • FIX for team rating graph from showing up broken or with the wrong data.
  • NEW! Additional player rating categories added for hitters, which meant a LOT testing, number crunching, and new types of data to sift through.
  • NEW! Fantasy Assistant improvements with the ability to add more than 5 categories for waiver wire suggestions.
  • NEW! Player Stat boxes now show slugging percentage, runs, and stolen bases.

 

Buying/Selling Luke Hochevar

Luke Hochevar pitched very well in his first start of the season against the Angels.

Analysis: Hochevar pitched 6.1 innings and allowed just two runs while striking out four batters for the win. He has never come close to becoming the ace he was projected to be but can he help your fantasy squad this year?

Only time will tell but he makes an interesting watch.

On the negative side of the debate, Hochevar has posted an ERA north of 4.6 each of the last four years. However, his xFIP hovered in the 4.0 range from 2010 to 2011. He is not much of a strikeout artist but he does not walk tons of batters either. On the positive side, Hochevar’s fastball velocity has been up the past two years and he did pitch 198 innings last year. Hochevar is the definition of a hit or miss lower tier starter this year but it will pay to keep an eye on him. Another one or two solid starts and you have to ride the hot hand and hope it turns into something more. His last three starts in 2011 were very good so hopefully he can carry that into this April. He’s available in just about every league so you have time to monitor his starts.

Under The Radar- Dexter Fowler

After an awful spring training hitting just .138, Dexter Fowler has flown under the fantasy radar.

Analysis: Spring training stats are pure garbage. If you take a look at what Dexter Fowler did in September last year- .287 BA, 3 HR, 3 SB with 9 RBI, he was improving. What I liked most about his play in the last two months of the 2011 season was the twenty-nine walks. For a guy with a career 11% BB rate you just have to love the improvement. Fowler is quite capable of a 10 HR/25 SB season this year and if he can stick at the number two spot in the batting order he just may put up those numbers. In Fowler’s first game of the year he already has a stolen base with a run but more importantly he drew a walk.

Dexter Fowler is owned in just 28% of ESPN leagues and that number should be rising over the course of April. He will be a solid run provider and stolen base threat if he gets his fair share of playing time. A .270 batting average would be ideal for the toolsy outfielder since his career mark sits at .262. His power like Cameron Maybin over the past two years is coming this year.

Last Call On JJ Hickson

Since his move to Portland, JJ Hickson has turned his disappointing season around.

Analysis: JJ Hickson is one of the NBA’s hottest power forward/centers and fantasy owners have been taking notice since late March. Hickson’s line in his last five games looks like this- 15.6 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.0 BPG with a 59% field goal percentage. You really cannot ask for more from a guy who is still available in about half of all fantasy leagues. His minutes have been hovering in the thirty minute range over the past week as he continues to put up solid numbers.

Outside of Marcus Camby for blocks there really isn’t too much left on the wire in terms of big men. Hickson’s point production might take a hit a bit but he will rebound very well with the minutes he’s been getting. There isn’t much time left in the fantasy basketball season and taking a chance on Hickson just may pay off. Keep in mind that Amare is still out, DeJuan Blair is struggling and Derrick Favors isn’t blocking shots anymore. With the numbers he keeps putting up, it’s last call on JJ Hickson.

Stick With Turner

Evan Turner is being dropped from many leagues across the country while he still continues to produce.

Analysis: Just because Turner is not dropping twenty-five points every game does not justify dropping the shooting guard/small forward from your fantasy squad. Evan Turner is averaging 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 31.8 minutes of floor time in his last ten games. Any shooting guard getting thirty plus minutes of playing time with his talent needs to be owned. Yes, he’s only averaging ten points per game in that stretch but his field goal percentage is a respectable 44% and is at 50% in his last four games. The man still gets his fair share of assists(2.6 p/g) yet he is only owned in about thirty percent of fantasy leagues.

All Turner has to do is take more shots and then …boom …he’s back. In the Sixers last two games Jodie Meeks is 5 for his last 16, Young 6 for 16, Hawes 5 for 17 and Holiday is 6 for his last 19 shots. Evan Turner needs to start taking over, he’s got a hot hand while the rest of the Sixers do not. He’s still a solid option in all leagues but do not be surprised when he catches fire again.