Episodes
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...
Published 04/27/24
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...
Published 04/12/24
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...
Published 04/04/24
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...
Published 03/21/24
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...
Published 03/08/24
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...
Published 03/01/24
We step away from our positional previews to discuss the LABR Mixed League draft, which Mike took part in on Tuesday, February 20. We talk about the difference between stand-alone leagues and larger multi-league competitions, strategies for the first four rounds, how to respond to early spring training injury news, building drafts around your starting pitching strategy, what to do when closers get pushed up, and so much more. (I would like to apologize to Nick Martinez for my unkind comment...
Published 02/23/24
We continue our march through the positions, spending this episode on the somewhat top-heavy position of shortstop. We go through our ADP tiers, discoursing on the following players: Bobby Witt Jr. Trea Turner Francisco Lindor Corey Seager Elly De La Cruz Gunnar Henderson Bo Bichette CJ Abrams Oneil Cruz Xander Bogaerts Dansby Swanson Anthony Volpe Trevor Story (A Very Short Story, or Five Seconds of Regret for Jon) Willy Adames Ezequiel Tovar Vaughn Grissom Carlos Correa Zach...
Published 02/16/24
Our corners, we like them hot. Mike and Jon discuss just about every third baseman under the sun as we motor along with our positional previews. Featuring: José Ramírez Austin Riley Rafael Devers Royce Lewis Manny Machado Alex Bregman Nolan Arenado Josh Jung (with appropriately bad puns) Spencer Steer Jake Burger Ke'Bryan Hayes Noelvi Marte Alec Bohm Isaac Paredes Max Muncy Maikel García Jeimer Candelario Junior Caminero Eugenio Suárez Matt Chapman Colt Keith Wilmer Flores Tyler...
Published 02/09/24
Hey friends, it's keystone time, and also stick around to find out why Mike utters the sentence, "second base is our kids." Before we go full Dadcast, however, we do discuss the following players: Mookie Betts Ozzie Albies Marcus Semien José Altuve Nico Hoerner (and the Problem of Stolen Bases) Matt McLain Ha-Seong Kim Gleyber Torres Group of Spidermen Pointing at Each Other (Stott, Giménez, Gelof, Estrada, Edman) Luis Arráez Nolan Gorman Ryan McMahon Jonathan India Luis Rengifo Jorge...
Published 02/02/24
New year, new producer, but your same old hosts are back. Mike and Jon talk first basemen for the upcoming 2024 season. We go through tiers of NFBC average draft position, and discuss the following players: Freddie Freeman Shohei Ohtani (UT) Bryce Harper Matt Olson Pete Alonso Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. Cody Bellinger Paul Goldschmidt Triston Casas Spencer Torkelson Josh Naylor Yandy Diaz Vinnie Pasquantino Rhys Hoskins Andrew Vaughn Ryan Mountcastle Justin Turner Anthony Rizzo Josh Bell Ty...
Published 01/31/24
The season is over, long live the season. Or something. Anyway the lads recorded what ended up being their final episode of the regular season during Game 5 of the World Series. Hear them react to a new champion being crowned. Before that, Mike and Samuel went back and forth on what they feel about this year's playoffs as a whole. It's a thoughtful discussion, which hey is nice! Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an email at [email protected] or a message at our...
Published 11/03/23
Oh hi there. How have you been? We've been fine, thanks for asking. If you want to hear about baseball, this is the episode for you. There's a lot of discussion about fantasy off the top, specifically evaluation in hindsight. Real nitty gritty stuff if you're into that. If you're not, fear not! It then diverges into a discussion of the upcoming ALCS...sorta. One member of the team has lost their faith in their club, and wants to publicly opine about it. That splinters off several times. In...
Published 10/13/23
There's an amount of baseball on this episode that should probably be described as "surprising." In what direction is up to you, the listener, to discover. We start with a game based around the revolving door of mediocrity that is the Los Angeles Angels. We live watch the Alex Cobb almost near no hitter (spoiler alert even though it was 3 days ago?). We also do our best to jinx Jon's TGFBI status,even though there is no such thing as a jinx ever. Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an...
Published 09/01/23
Oh hi, dear listener. It's been a moment, we've all been busy and baseball has baseball'ed in 2023. But we do have a show for you that has a...select amount of baseball discussion. We also talk about food a lot, travelling, and Jon ends the show with a wonderful fatherhood based anecdote. We're having fun, so we hope you have fun as well. Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an email at [email protected] or a message at our Twitter feed @FlagsFlyBP. Flags Fly...
Published 07/21/23
Oh hi there. You doing alright? Making sure to drink water and take your medicine? Good, good. We're proud of you for that self care. Anyway, so MLB really has the show down again this week because somehow it only seems to be getting worse. Maybe it'll get better soon, who can say? We sure can't, because it all looks awful. As a result, we ended up doing something really odd on this episode. We went through Cameo looking for baseball players to record new intros for us. It turns into a pseudo...
Published 06/16/23
And we're back, now that we all are back in houses and assorted other things. There's some fantasy talk, but admittedly the recent events have gotten us a bit sour. So we do the best we can. And we don't scream...that much. Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an email at [email protected] or a message at our Twitter feed @FlagsFlyBP. Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information, visit baseballprospectus.com and click on...
Published 06/02/23
You'll have to listen to the full episode to understand the title. That's what makes a good title right? Right? Don't answer that actually, just love you. Anyway, I could tell you about all the baseball we talked about on this show. I'd rather tell you though that right after we finished recording, we spent ten minutes discussing our favorite Taylor Swift songs. As men between the ages of 30-55 do. Anyway, enjoy! Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an email at...
Published 05/12/23
Oh hey, didn't see you there. It has been a minute hasn't it? How have you been, how's your spouse, your kids? The job still treating you right? No? Well that blows, unionize your workplace and take back the means of production. Anyway this week we're back after illness and tech problems derailed us for the past two weeks. Mike upon review does sound like he's broadcasting in the past, but it's fine all his content is from this time period(largely). Also we lost Jon, dunno where he went. He...
Published 04/21/23
Releasing a day early to celebrate Opening Day, the lads are back with their full prediction slate. Who will win each division? Who takes home the major awards? Mike, Jon, and Samuel tell you in the first half of the episode. The second half is a game show! Samuel took like two years off from baseball, and uh his knowledge is a little sketch on player movement. Mike and Jon brought a list of players in the hopes of stumping Samuel about their current whereabouts. You can probably figure out...
Published 03/30/23
It's over. It's finally over. The positional series has come to an end, with all intended disrespect towards catchers and relievers. It's starting pitching week, and since you noticed the episode isn't 19 hours long we're following the same pattern as we did with outfielders. We're hitting the high notes, giving you the map to how to handle starters at both the high and not so end. If you listen to this episode back to back with all our others, you're guaranteed(*) to win your draft(*) and...
Published 03/17/23
We're almost there. We're so close y'all. The positional series is close to completion, and we're here today(or whenever you hear this we're not time cops) to talk about the outfield. Is there a lot of those? You bet your redacted, but we handled it well. Steering through the waves, getting you what you need and nothing you don't. Especially a Dennis Lamp update. You NEED a Dennis Lamp update. Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an email at [email protected] or a...
Published 03/10/23
It's shortstop week on Flags Fly Forever. Mike, Jon, and a large number of fans at Mike's house are here to close out the infield portion of our series. There's a lot of big names in this spot, a lot of things to consider when drafting, but fear not. The lads get you where you want to be, and you'll be blown away by their analysis! Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an email at [email protected] or a message at our Twitter feed @FlagsFlyBP. Flags Fly Forever is a...
Published 03/03/23
Our positional series continues with the hot corner. Mike Gianella and Jon Hegglund take you through third base, a position with a strong top end but that curves out real poorly. How should you handle the second tier and lower of the position? The lads make sure you're well taken care of so you'll avoid the pitfalls and ride the wave to success. Got a content idea for the show? Shoot us an email at [email protected] or a message at our Twitter feed @FlagsFlyBP. Flags...
Published 02/24/23