Author: Nicklaus Gaut

Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 11 am Central time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!

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Hello, friends.

We're halfway through August, and championship races are getting tight. But unfortunately, there is only so much you can control when coming down the stretch. The team you have is mostly the one you're stuck with, however, the most hay to be made is in your pitching decisions.

Last week, we did our final update on which teams you should be attacking and avoiding with your right-handed pitchers. This week, it's obviously time to switch over to the wronghanders.

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Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 11 am Central time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!

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Hello, friends.

With the trade deadline behind us and rosters mostly settled, it's time to take one final crack at identifying the teams you should be going out of your way to stream against, and who should be avoided whenever possible.

With waiver-wires long since picked clean, finding valuable streamers is your quickest way to big changes in your standings as we enter the championship run. But as the white-haired lothario, Kenny Rogers, once opined, it's also about knowing when to fold 'em. As the season dwindles, so too must your spectrum of usable starters, at least compared to what it was early in the season, given how much more information you're working with. Obviously, that starts with knowing much more about team offenses now than we did in May, but just as big of a decision driver should be your own individual league circumstances.

We're no longer in the willy-nilly times of spring and early summer; if you're hunting for a championship in the middle of August, you can't just throw out every reasonable start you have available. The closer we get to the end, the more particular you might need to be, honing in on the categories you need to push, or possibly sacrificing any you can afford to. That might mean opening up your spectrum of usability for a team that's sneakily been in the dumps against a certain hand (like the Dodgers vs LHPs), or tightening it almost all the way up to avoid a power-surger (Toronto vs RHPs).

We'll tackle what to do with right-handers first, starting by splitting the season into two (unavoidably) arbitrary samples, using April through June, and post-July as our borders. We'll also use runs scored as a jumping off point, but let's first acknowledge the limitations of using team runs scored versus a particular hand.  IE. It's not as black and white as the numbers suggest, given inherited runners, pitcher switches, etc.

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Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 11 am Central Time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!

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Hello, friends.

It's dead-liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-nne day...the day after. Trades have been made, with more that we thought would be (*cough-cough..starting pitchers...cough-cough*), not happening. With trades come repercussions, both on the receiving and giving ends, and fantasy players have just one main question.

What now?

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Hello, friends.

With the All-Star break behind us, and the inevitable trade deadline shakeup just now crossing the horizon, let's pause to appreciate power. Or, at least, appreciate those who've seemingly leveled up in an area that often portends more round-trippers.

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Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 11 am Central Time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!

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Hello, friends.

With the All-Star break in the rearview mirror, the trade deadline on July 31 looms large. Players will be moved, but until we know where to, it can be hard to judge how much their value will change, given the importance of their new surrounding casts and/or home ballpark to that increased/decreased value. However, while we don't know where everyone will be going, we have a much better idea of who will be going.

If you know where the holes are going to be, you can at least make some reasonable guesses on who will likely fill them, whether it's a bench hitter moving into a more full-time role, or a top prospect being summoned to take a newly opened spot in the rotation. Or, in today's case, we can look at which bullpens are about to be carved up to be divided among the contenders, and which former setup men are about to get their shot at closing glory.

We'll look next week at potential holes in rotations and lineups, but let's start in the bullpen, as old relievers getting new roles can quickly swing the Saves landscape in your league. Are you still in the mix for a league title but have a Saves category mired in mediocrity? Now's your time to shine.

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