Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball

After some Very Important Weather Talk we dive into a position with both promise and disappointment (often embodied in the same player). We compare and contrast early-round young bucks Adley Rutschman and Yainer Díaz, debate what might be left in the tank for Sal Perez and J.T. Realmuto, identify an off-brand Cal Raleigh who might be better than the original, and comb through the lower tiers for players who might not totally fill you dread and sadness.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy."You can find Flags Fly Forever on Bluesky (@flagsflyforever.bsky.social). The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com. 

Welcome to preview season 2025! We begin our positional previews with a corner that is not just cold, but downright Arctic (at least before cliimate change melted all of the sea ice) past a certain point. We have mild disagreements about Matt Olson and Josh Naylor, and I beef with Fangraphs over their disrespect of the great metropolis of Sacramento, California. We share skepticism about Michael Toglia and Cody Bellinger and dive in the deep water to find some bargains in the one-star tier. Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy."You can find Flags Fly Forever on Bluesky (@flagsflyforever.bsky.social). The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

At last, we have gone through our positional reviews for 2024 (yeah, we skipped relievers, sorry), finishing up with starting pitchers. If aces didn't always ace, they at least held serve (Spencer Strider being the exception, sob). Some nice innings consumers in the next tier down, and the lower tiers had far more misses than hits.We refer to Mike's review article at BP, which you can find here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/article/95769/2024-mixed-pitcher-valuations-recap/. Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy."You can find Flags Fly Forever on Bluesky (@flagsflyforever.bsky.social). The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We continue with our positional group reviews from 2024, this time focusing on catchers and corner infielders. Jon had some occasional mic trouble but Mike mostly says the smart stuff, anyway--so no big loss there!Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy."You can find Flags Fly Forever on Bluesky (@flagsflyforever.bsky.social). The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We continue with our positional group reviews from 2024, this time focusing on middle infielders. Shorstops were great! Second basemen, not as much. Also, listen to Mike beoming audibly disturbed when Jon whispers the words "Wenceel Perez." Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy."You can find Flags Fly Forever on Bluesky...soon (stay tuned!). The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We're back! Mike and Jon revisit Mike's preseason tiers to see just how the OF position stacked up in 2024. From the first round (what happened to Julio?) to those waiver-wire gems (Brenton, Jurickson, and Lawrence...hello).Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy."You can find Flags Fly Forever on Bluesky...soon (stay tuned!). The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We did it! In our very first try at the NFBC Main Event, we finished 121st out of 855 entries, which sounds mildly impressive at best. But more to the point, we won our league, completing a dramatic reversal of our early-season misfortunes (well documented in earlier episodes). After briefly patting ourselves on the back, we look at the 2024 season through the lens of our draft, our waiver pickups, and our in-season management. We make some overall observations about the strange run environment of 2024, and the particular quirks of the Main Event competition. Mike mentions his excellent BP article from June, "Even Rutherford B. Hayes Made History," which you can find here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/article/91878/even-rutherford-b-hayes-made-history/Thanks, everyone, for listening during the 2024 fantasy season! We will have some fun podcasts over the next few months (hopefully with a few Very Special Guests) before we get back to our positional previews for 2025 in January.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

Everyone is already drafting (whether mock or real) for 2025, but we at Flags decide to look back at the board from 2024 and ponder some questions about the first round, about what happened to the elite starting pitchers (spoiler: they were pretty good, Spencer Strider aside, womp womp), about whether drafting elite closers was a good choice, and what types of roster construction seemed to work out. In spite of ourselves, there is more Corbin Carroll talk, and we introduce a new character to the Flags Fly Forever extended universe: one Gavin Sheets (or Gavin Sheetz, if you're from certain counties of the Keystone State). We had fun, and we hope you will, too.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

Since the last podcast, a lot has happened in the world. One of things that hasn't happened is the White Sox winning a single game.Today we avoid current events to discuss some fallout from the trade deadline, with quite a bit of attention to the closer landscape for the rest of the season. Also, we make some more general observations about a deadline that was low-key interesting, even without a lot of stars moving teams. And the podcast ends with a brief mention of the most Giant player who has never played for the Giants until now.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

Hey, it's (just past) the middle of the season, so Mike and Jon talk a bit about how patience with slow starters and consistent FAABing have worked wonders for their suddenly-halfway-decent Main Event squad.Then we dive into Mike's midseason valuations, which you can find here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/article/92181/midseason-fantasy-valuation-update-2024/Sure, the pitching landscape looks weird but--guess what?--it does every year at midseason. We talk about what to do if your staff is full of found money like Reynaldo Lopez, Seth Lugo, and Jake Irvin. (spoiler: don't stand pat!)Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We have a conversation with Larry Schechter, fantasy legend and author of the new book, The History of Fantasy Sports. We talk about how the history of fantasy baseball is more complex than you might think, some of the people and personalities that led us to where the game is today, and where it might go in the future. You can find Larry's book at all of the usual online purveyors, though if you'd like to support local bookstores you can order it here: https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=larry+schechter. Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

Mike and Jon welcome Rotowire's Jeff Erickson for a free-range conversation centering on our midseason process, specifically as it relates to player evaluation, the timing of cuts and adds, roster management, FAAB strategy, and how we balance our time spent on baseball with, you know, living our lives. We start off with a little DadCast(tm) conversation before getting down to baseball stuff.You can find Jeff's work at www.rotowire.com, on many Rotowire podcasts, and on the Sirius/XM Fantasy channel. Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

Mike and Jon talk about the tragicomic Mets, the utility of rolling three-week samples, not holding too tightly to fast starters who slow down, and then we conclude with a little game where we discuss players whose rest-of-season value has changed the most, for better or worse. Sorry, Bo Bichette.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

What to talk about as the MLB season rounds the first-month post? Well, Mike and Jon text regularly about many things--and a good portion of those are baseball-related. So we looked at a few text exchanges we've had over the last couple of weeks and continued the conversation "in person," as it were.Topics included:- how can we "plant flags" for early-round players that we value when we are inundated by the groupthink of ADP? (or, should Zack Wheeler have been a first-round pick?)- why does the three-week sample at the beginning of the season hold sway over our minds and player evalutions long after those hot or cold starts have ended? (or, why do you still feel bad about Francisco Lindor when you should feel bad about Matt Olson?)- it's a wacky ERA leaderboard! Is this small-sample nonsense or is the SP landscape changing?It's a freewheeling grab-bag of a conversation, hope you enjoy!Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We kick the ass of April doldrums with the help of our Very Special Guest, the one and only Grey Albright of Razzball and ostentatious eyewear fame.After some desultory baseball discussion we talk about New Jersey's favorite defunct libertarian tourist attraction and torture park--I speak, of course, of Action Park! (If you want to know more about this hell/heaven on earth, please watch the HBO documentary, Class Action Park.)Other topics we cover:Awkward middle-aged man goodbye hugsWhat Grey's ReadingInternet: net gain or loss for humanity?Why none of us are eager to travel to FloridaAnd many other topicsLook, if you've listened to Grey before, you know this is a chaotic shitshow, but it's also a lot of fun.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We're getting all T.S. Eliot on you, because for us, and for fantasy basebal content, April is kind of a dead zone. Rather than overreact to fast and slow starts, we discuss some process points in evaluating your early-season roster and negotiating FAAB at this time of year. We do this through the lens of our own underperforming Main Event team (at what point does "underperforming" just become "bad"? hopefully we won't have to answer this!). Also, find out who the player is that was inexplicably dropped in our league and our approach to FAABing for him. That's a tease, my friends!Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to the awesome and generous Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

Hey, it's actual baseball season! After the whirlwind of positional previews and draft discussion, we put a cap on the 2024 draft season by discussing the NFBC Main Event team that Mike and Jon drafted. It was the first time either of us had participated in a Main Event, and we talk about our decision to ante up, our overall strategy, our focused strategy once we knew where we were drafting (7th), and our experience in the draft (fast and furious). While our team is off to a, ahem, slow start, we remain optimistic that good things will happen! (Watch this space for updates.)Before our Main Event discussion, we discuss a couple of players who could prove disappointments--Esteury Ruiz, having been sent down, and Evan Carter, having not yet learned how to hit left-handed pitching (and thus in danger of losing playing time). Beyond these specific players, we are reminded that sometimes real baseball can influence fantasy baseball in unpredictable and inconvenient ways.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro.You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund.

We take the occasion of the recent Tout Wars auction weekend to do a deep dive on auctions--what we prefer, how we prepare, and some strategies and advice for those new to the format. We love auctions!In this episode we discuss:Why in-person auctions are so fun and rewardingHow preparation and strategy are different than a draftWhy you should have a Plan A and a Plan B (and possibly a Plan C)The risks and rewards of price enforcementHow to handle the endgameThat One Time Mike Had a Perfect AuctionWe also talk about the Tout Wars NL-Only League, where friend of the show Grey Albright of Razzball completely avoided starting pitchers (a gambit attributed to Mike and Doug Dennis that in fact goes back to the early days of fantasy baseball).We conclude with a discussion of how Mike reallocates values in his bid limits when players get injured (Gerrit Cole, Devin Williams) or suspended (Noelvi Marte). All in all, a pretty nerdy episode. You'll love it.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro.You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund.

Bit of a mixed bag this week:We review Mike's Tout Wars Mixed League draft from earlier in the week. (You can see the draft board here: https://www.fantrax.com/fantasy/league/1ojcq64zltc8i9la/draft-results)We talk (again) about your strategy for drafting starting pitchers, and why Mike generally avoids the "blob" of mid-tier starters. We also introduce Mike's auction bid limits and discuss how to use them, and how not to use them.Finally, we talk about the risk of players who have not yet made their MLB debut, focusing in on three names for this draft season: Jackson Chourio, Wyatt Langford, and Jackson Holliday.Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro.You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund.Special thanks to Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.

We talk outfielders this week, and given the size of the position, we did more of a strategy overview than deep dives on indivdual players. It's an interesting year at the position--great, five-category options up top but a fairly long tail of useful players deep into the 200s, and beyond. Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on "Fantasy" or visit our Twitter feed @baseballpro. You can find Flags Fly Forever on Twitter @FlagsFlyBP. The hosts of Flags Fly Forever are Mike Gianella(@mikegianella.bsky.social) and Jon Hegglund(@jonhegglund.bsky.social). The producer of Flags Fly Forever is Jon Hegglund. Special thanks to Petite League for permission to use their track "Mets" for the intro and break music. Find their sweet lo-fi indie-pop sounds at petiteleague.com.