Who Are Your "Trusted" Fantasy Baseball Experts?

[Tanner Bell]

Curious to see if there are resources out there that I'm missing and should be reading. I follow a ton of guys on Twitter, but I'm sure there are some that have fallen through the cracks. Who are you top five most trusted fantasy baseball resources? I'll start. I'm a sucker for guys who explain why more than the who to pickup and can back it up with stats. In no particular order:

• Todd Zola
• Moonlight J
• Paul Sporer
• Tristan Cockroft

Who are your "trusted" resources?

[dannahann]

I do trust the four your listed and would like to include Matthew Pouliot and also B-Fly.

[Mithrandir]

None

It's a crapshoot.

[Lucky]

I like Tanner's list, plus my hero, Kevin Seitzer.

I also put stock in Big Jon and Eric Stashin.

I'm leaving some people out, but I just had a tooth pulled.

[Tanner Bell]

Whoa. Over 80 people have read this and only three responded? Booooooooo.

[Mithrandir]

Whoa. Over 80 people have read this and only three responded? Booooooooo.

Maybe the others don't bother with the "experts"?

[The Dane]

Whoa. Over 80 people have read this and only three responded? Booooooooo.

I can't speak for the others, but I'm not sure how to answer this question. Information is information. I trust all of it and none of it at the same time. The four your listed are all great, of course, and there are may others I read, but I don't really "trust" anything.

[Moonlight J]

you named the only 4 people I trust

[Moonlight J]

sarcasm aside...

Larry Schechter
my Rotowire & BP colleagues
the guys at Razzball

[Todd Zola]

Whoa. Over 80 people have read this and only three responded? Booooooooo.

Probably because 70 of the reads was me seeing who else named me

I've got a serious question for you.

Why the quotation marks? If you truly trust us (and thanks by the way) do you "trust" us or trust us?

I bet if you posed the question

Who do you trust you may get more responses.

But what do I know. I'm just a "so-called expert".

[schlesinj]

I follow Ray Flowers and Pat DiCapro along with most on the list.

[RSF]

One thing to note is that different writers are strong at different things---Matthew Berry is an entertainer; Matthew Pouiliot is primarily a news/flash analysis guy; Zola does a lot on projections and methodology; Shandler does a lot on methodology; etc.

I find Rotoworld a terrific resource for fantasy news, but they are just not very good at fantasy analysis---it's superficial at best. Some of the guys around here do a nice quick assessment of news/impact as well (often a lot better than Rotoworld) and that's helpful in the moment; it's also not the same thing as what Zola or Shandler really focus on, I don't think, and so it's really just 'different'

I find a number of the minor league baseball writers (in particular Callis and Keith Law, as well as Sickels) to be significantly better than anyone doing fantasy prospect analysis because they actually watch the players and bring experience at projecting guys. That's not to say some of the fantasy guys focusing on prospects don't have a perspective, but for me reading the guys with first-hand knowledge is a lot more useful. I thought Jason Grey was terrific at this, but of course he ended up being hired as an actual scout so....

With that preamble, for me personally the guys who have a solid grasp of sabermetric tools and net out what they mean for a player aren't very interesting---I can look at that stuff myself. A bunch of the guys on Fangraphs and Rotographs are this way, and pretty much everyone on CBS Sportsline. I'm an analytics guy though---I'm already checking all the saber stats. For someone who is more focused on scouting or is not as into analytics, getting a 'netted out' sabermetric perspective on a player is interesting.

Guys who are aware of all those tools and really focus on what it means at a more micro level---"given the sabermetrics, and the schedule/part of the season/potential roster situation you might be in...consider this" are most helpful for me because I don't need to read the saber background, and don't necessarily have the time to read the detailed schedule/matchup info on everyone out there each week. I think Cockroft is great at this, and Mike Podhorzer and Al Melchior do this well too. Zola does this well too, when he does it. Some of Karabell's stuff is good as well (he's not quite as reliably analytical, imo). I also think Nate Ravitz is great though he isn't as 'available'

The type of writer I personally don't find interesting at all is the 'gut feel' type...I think Berry is one of those at core; Perry Van Hook is another. I know some really like them, and respect we each look for different things.

Anyway, one person's take...

[Fresno Bob]

I trust the Towers of Power Fantasy Hour (or two) with your hosts, Paul Sporer and Jason Collette.....except for music, because the music Jason picks suuuuuuccccckkkkkkkssss.......

[FBP]

I find Bernie Pleskoff worthwhile

[griswold]

I trust the following:

Jason Collette
Todd Zola
Paul Sporer
Jon Williams
RHD (w/ his minor league picks)
Revo (breakout playing time)
Ron Shandler

I trust Kevin Seitzer of course....but he can't "reveal" much anymore with his new position....lol

I'm sure there are other experts who are very good at what they do in the baseball world....but I truly believe I have no reason to "cheat" on these guys by "seeing other people".