For those that watch baseball religiously, a lot has been made of the so-called five tools that scouts look to when evaluating players. While fielding and throwing are important, they typically don’t matter to fantasy players. So, most fantasy players focus on the other three tools: hitting, hitting for power,

2015 Quick Overview The Chicago White Sox have perpetually been in the middle of the pack since they won the World Series in 2005. Last year, they finished with a lackluster 76-86 record despite some aggressive moves made in the offseason. They remain a franchise that isn’t sure whether it’s

There are many ways to rank players. I don’t claim to have a monopoly on the truth, but I hope my methods balance analytics with common sense. The analytics part is probably the most involved. We take runs above replacement from the past three seasons according to three different sources

First basemen and utility players are clearly the glamour position in fantasy baseball. There are more good ones than at any other position. This makes it difficult to plan for a draft. You can go one of two roads on draft day. You can simply pick the best players regardless

View image | gettyimages.com This is the second installation of the “Where are they now?” series. Obviously, catchers have seen a rash of injuries and unexpected bad play, so that edition had much more to offer for a series about disappointments. First base has been rather stable in comparison, so

View image | gettyimages.com You can’t get any more different in fantasy circles than catchers and first basemen. Still, there are some things that are similar at all of the positions. Some players have surprised and outperformed expectations and some players have not met expectations. With one third of the

View image | gettyimages.com Below I’ve ranked 27 first basemen in five tiers. These are the guys I think will provide the most value going forward. Most of these guys play primarily at first base with the exception of Buster Posey and Stephen Vogt. I didn’t want to list any other

View image | gettyimages.com As some of you may know, Chris Garosi and I participated in a recent fantasy draft. I shared my VORP findings with him to assist with the drafting process. He made a couple of suggestions to make the system better and we will incorporate those as

View image | gettyimages.com We continue the over and under series with the first basemen. Fantasy players typically use first basemen at both the first base and utility slots. Some leagues also add in a corner and middle infield slot as well. Therefore, we will evaluate the top 24 first

As we saw with the catchers, there are a few guys that rise and fall when we compare early rankings and the first few expert drafts. It may seem like insanity to begin looking at baseball at January, but most of the major moves have already been made and teams