Restraint

I am cutting back. I am only playing two fantasy baseball leagues so far this year. Compared to the three I played last year, this will be pretty easy. Winning however will not necessarily be easy. One of these leagues is with of people who are related to one of my friends, and it is always a very competitive league although it does tend to overvalue Red Sox which is all right with me because I am able to grab a few good players that normally I could not grab. I am sure that I overvalue Phillies as well, but surprisingly I have never ended up with a team full of Phillies. I will normally have maybe two of them, but I do it because they are good players first and foremost. My other league is full of other bloggers such as myself who just got together one day on some message board on the Internet and started playing. The hardest part of this league is that there are 20 teams. Therefore, every team ended up with a few solid players, but by the time we got to the final round, it was even hard to find anything but bench players.

Winding Down

As baseball season is winding down, my fantasy baseball seasons are also finishing up. After a somewhat rocky year, the Ducks are down by 14 points in the first round of the playoffs, but I feel like we should be able to make up that deficit by Sunday as we have three starting pitchers going as well as Joakim Soria whereas my opponent only has two starters left and no relief pitchers in the lineup. Hopefully, our slight pitching advantage will be enough to advance on in the playoffs. The Perpetual Blogging Co. started out hot, but we have kind of died out in the Battle of the Blogs. I don't think we will be able to make the playoffs which is regrettable, but I feel like we had a semi-decent year, and we will have to wait until next year. Finally, TCWT has had the most successful year as we have already clinched a playoff spot even though I've only made one roster move all year. We have been very successful, so I hope that we can progress forward and maybe I'll win a couple of titles this year! I will definitely keep you all posted.
Photo by Rafael Amado Deras on Flickr

Fantasy Update

I think that it is high time for an update on my fantasy baseball teams. For one, the Ducks are surviving relatively well right now as we are riding the arm of Ubaldo Jimenez to second place in our division. I pleasantly had an excess second baseman since I had both Ian Kinsler and Casey McGehee. Therefore, I dished Kinsler for Roy Oswalt hoping for that trade that will get him out of Houston into the Land of Run Support. We have also pleasantly had an excess of outfielders, but we are surviving pretty well and are hopefully ready to move up the ladder.

My next team TCWT is holding down third out of a league of 10. The problem there however is that I was loaded with shortstops but both Jimmy Rollins and Troy Tulowitzki are both sitting on the DL. Rollins will be back soon, but until then I'll have to suffer with lower production. Other than that, this team is doing very well recently with Mark Reynolds mashing home runs and a pleasant surprise from rookie Andrew McCutchen in the outfield.

Finally, the Perpetual Blogging Co. team in a Battle of the Blogs has been dominating as far as pitching goes. When you have a pitching staff highlighted by Ubaldo Jimenez again, Roy Oswalt again, Chris Carpenter, and Mariano Rivera coming out of the bullpen, you should do pretty well. However, I have had an interesting time filling some spots with Troy Tulowitzki and Mark DeRosa on the DL. However, Justin Upton and Colby Rasmus are holding on with my offense and hopefully everyone else will carry us on.

Photo by kevindooley on Flickr

Fantasy Problems

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, one of my fantasy teams is cursed with too many good outfielders. I have Adam Dunn, Garrett Jones, Chris Young, and Alex Rios but only have three outfield spots. I know you're thinking, move either Adam Dunn or Garrett Jones to first base. Well, I have Prince Fielder there. Okay then, put one of the outfielders at DH. Well, I have too many good players, so I have Ian Kinsler at DH who is batting .320 since he returned from injury and Casey McGehee at second who possesses one of the hottest bats in all of baseball right now. Then, what do I do? Play let's make a deal! My pitching staff is particularly weak at the moment. Basically, it consists of Ubaldo Jimenez and a bunch of other guys. I have David Aardsma and Joakim Soria as well, but I'm not a fan of using relief pitchers in head-to-head leagues. So, that's what I'm shooting for. I don't know if any of my fantasy league groupmates read this blog (even though they should), but I am open to making a deal right now for outfielders. Also, what do you do when you have one of the most consistent catchers in the game in Jorge Posada as well as Carlos Ruiz who is batting .350 and has the fourth most points among catchers? I hate to rely fully on Carlos Ruiz despite the fact that he is a Phillie because he has never been known for his amazing bat. Anyway, enough of my problems, but if anybody has any advice in regards to any of these dilemmas or have any dilemmas you want my two cents on, write me either an e-mail or some comments below!

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Pitching Matters, Hitting Matters

My fantasy baseball team was flying. We were beyond hot, but now after one bad week we are back in second. Isn't that the way life is? You might be flying along doing great, but then something comes and trips you up. For my team, it was pitching that halted us. I got -9 points overall from Ben Sheets and only 7.5 from Wandy Rodriguez. When you get negative points from half of your pitching staff, it is awfully hard to win. It seems as if pitching is what can win or lose the week. At least in my league, a good game from a pitcher can offset an entire week by one hitter who happens to be amazingly hot. When Ubaldo Jiménez threw that no-hitter, I got over 40 points. I don't think I've gotten that many points from any hitter in one week even though I have potential stars Prince Fielder and Evan Longoria. Think about the way that pitchers only pitch once or twice per week. Their points need to be adjusted to make up for the lack of playing time. However, I feel like pitchers account for much more than half of my fantasy team's success. In a real baseball game, I feel like pitchers account for half of the game since they cannot win without help from the offense. They could pitch a no-hitter but due to lack of offense from their team and some key errors could lose the game. Without offensive and defensive support, the pitcher has no chance of winning. That being said, without a solid performance from the pitcher the team has no chance of winning. Therefore, I think that we need to balance the role of pitcher and hitter in order to have an accurate representation of a real game of baseball.

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Pete Rose Division Preview

Inspired by one of my fantasy league competitors who released a division preview for the Mickey Mantle Division of our fantasy baseball league on ESPN, The Battle of the Blogs, I have decided to brief you all on my division, the Pete Rose Division (don't tell anyone how much I'm betting on the Perpetual Blogging Co.)

Hot Stove Philly-I personally love this team. Between Manny Ramirez and Ichiro Suzuki, this team has some of the best pure hitters in baseball. Add that to the powerful bats of Adam Dunn and Dan Uggla and one of my favorite underrated players in Cody Ross and they seem to have a great shot on the offensive side. The pitching is no slouch either behind Roy Halladay and Josh Beckett. This pair of aces backed by the always injury prone yet high ceiling Ben Sheets give Hot Stove Philly a great chance in our division.

Five Tool Prospects-I think that this team, which is led by Albert Pujols, has the potential to be well-rounded if Rich Harden and Jake Peavy can return to the form that we all know they will eventually. On offense, this team will have a lot of home runs with Pujols, Joey Votto, and Ryan Ludwick. Also, behind Chone Figgins, Brian Roberts, and Shane Victorino, the Prospects will outrun almost any team in the league. With a solid performance from Peavy and Harden, this team will be serious competition.

Sports Page Network-I love the fact that this team is led by the twin sluggers from the Twin Cities. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau will definitely pace this team on offense with solid contribution from Ryan Zimmerman. This team is one of the few that can claim to have amazing bullpen pitching with Francisco Cordero, Bobby Jenks, and Matt Capps. I think that the key to success for this team will be behind Ricky Nolasco and Gavin Floyd. If these two guys can put up solid ERA and wins, this team will be able to win any category on any given week.

Babes Love Baseball-I think that the first major issue this team will need to address is the second baseman as Freddy Sanchez is on the DL and there is no backup on the bench. Other than that though, this team is going to live or die on the youth movement. Behind Matt Wieters, Cameron Maybin, and Jason Heyward on the offense, this team could be very exciting as well as high scoring with Prince Fielder anchoring first base. Dan Haren anchors a pitching staff that hopes to lead this club to the playoffs and beyond.

Perpetual Blogging Co.-I like my team, but there are definite parts that need improvement. I also went young with my offense anchored by Justin Upton and Troy Tulowitzki. However, I think the strong point of my team is my relief pitching with Mariano Rivera leading the charge supported by Jon Rauch who I hope is going to get a ton of either holds or saves now that Joe Nathan has fallen. I really need Chris Carpenter to stay healthy and team up with Ubaldo Jimenez and drive my team full speed ahead.

I hope you enjoyed this preview of my division. Please support all my competitors' blogs as well as continuing with mine!
Photo by by Ed Yourdon

One More Go

Well, I thought it would never end. I have finally come to my last fantasy baseball draft for the year. Tonight, I get to match up with my fellow bloggers from around the country in the Battle of the Blogs. I thought that today I would put my reputation on the line and set my rosters here for all of you to see and hopefully think, "This guy knows how to pick a team!" No, I am just kidding; I am by no means a genius by my own measure. However, I seriously want your opinions about who I should dump and who was the absolute best pick I made. So, without further ado:

League: In the Big Inning God Created (10 teams)
Team Name: TCWT

Catcher: Brian McCann
First Base: Adrian Gonzalez
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Third Base: Mark Reynolds
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki
Outfielders: Ryan Braun, Bobby Abreu, and Andrew McCutchen
Utility: Jimmy Rollins
Starting Pitchers: Chris Carpenter and Jon Lester
Relief Pitchers: Carlos Marmol and Brian Fuentes
Bench: Outfielder Alfonso Soriano, First Baseman David Ortiz, Outfielder Alex Rios, Utilityman Jorge Cantu, and Starting Pitcher Clayton Kershaw
Awesome? Not so awesome? Let me know!

The Family Fun League (ironically, not even my family; 15 teams)
Team: Ducks

Catcher: Jorge Posada
First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Ian Kinsler
Third Base: Evan Longoria
Shortstop: Yunel Escobar
Outfielders: Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, and Cody Ross
Designated Hitter: Garrett Jones
Pitchers: David Aardsma, Scott Baker, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Wandy Rodriguez
Bench: Catcher Jason Varitek, Utilityman Casey McGehee, Outfielder Chris Young, Pitcher Joakim Soria, and Pitcher Ben Sheets

I think it is going to be a good year for my boys. I hope I haven't tipped my hand to my draft mates tonight, but I think that you will notice that there is only one overlapping player. Let's hope that one more draft goes well and helps me pursue a Triple Crown!

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Nice Guys Finish Last

The Twins may believe that Joe Mauer would be worth $184,000,000 over eight years, and if I was in their shoes, I probably would spend the money too. After all, even though Joe Mauer will be one of the highest-paid ballplayers in history at the age of 26, due to the incredible position scarcity as well as the fact that he hit .365 last year and has never hit below .293 make him the type of player that every organization would love to have behind the plate. Also, on top of that Mauer is a back to back Gold Glove winner, and, according to Baseball Reference, his stats echo those of Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, and Tony Lazzeri at similar points during their careers. All of these aforementioned players, you baseball historians might note, were Hall of Famers. Granted, Mauer needs to keep up his numbers to make the Hall, but when your name is mentioned with any Hall of Famers, you don't complain. Also, if this would not be enough for any team to love him, you may recall that ESPN the Magazine article a few months ago where the author had attempted to gather autographs from all the major sports and only Joe Mauer replied with a handwritten personal note. Oh man, don't you hate it when a ballplayer seems to be a great person as well as a great ballplayer?

I think I have sufficiently explained why Joe Mauer would make my real-life ultimate dream team and why he is one of my favorite players. However, I think that everyone, myself included, need to properly value Mauer as we draft our fantasy team. Last year, he hit .365 with 28 home runs and 96 RBIs. By far, he was the best catcher in baseball. However, while a catcher is important, most of the time the catcher only contributes a small amount of the team's fantasy points anyway. Therefore, don't pass over guys like Prince Fielder, who hit .299 with 46 home runs and 141 RBIs, or Ryan Braun, who had 32 home runs and 20 stolen bases while batting .320 and driving in 114 runs. While there are fewer great offensive players behind the plate than there are at first base or in the outfield, fantasy baseball is driven by offense and the maximum possible output. Fielding and leadership, which I think are very valuable in a real-life player, do not matter in fantasy sports because really, how would you quantify them? Therefore, when you're drafting your fantasy team in the upcoming days, remember that if all you do is draft the nice guys without regard for their stats, you very well might finish in last.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Bad Streak

Wow, my bracket is essentially dead. With the fall of Kansas, my national champion is gone. With the fall of Georgetown, one of my Elite 8 teams is out. UTEP, one of my favorite upset teams, never pulled off the upset I hoped for. Washington has survived two more games than I thought they would. Villanova choked by almost falling in the first round before being knocked out by St. Mary's in the second. It is kind of pathetic that I have only nine of the Sweet 16 correct. However, I guess you can't pick them right all of the time, but I admit that I would have rather picked them right more often than I have. So ends another fantasy game that I had any hope of winning even though the tournament is far from over. I will continue obviously to enjoy the tournament, but I will not have a chance of winning this fantasy game. Now, we move on to fantasy baseball where I fully intend to do much better! However, this also will entail a vast amount of luck on top of some expertise. There's not much you can do when you draft that can't miss starting pitcher only to discover that in his final spring training start he tore his rotator cuff and will be done for the year. In a season of 162 games, there is so much that can go wrong; it seems about as random as real life. Every so often we have those breakout moments where we can't miss and we feel like we have improved greatly. To contrast this, we all have those moments where we need to break this slump and get rid of the bad luck. See, I bet you never thought that fantasy baseball might be applicable to everyday life!

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A New Fantasy

Casual hobbies rarely develop into two billion-dollar potential industries. However, when this growth takes place over just 25 years and relies on many free services, it is even more remarkable. What on earth could I be talking about? This industry that has influenced and on occasion messed up the lives of many, many individuals is the industry of fantasy sports. I know I've written about my obsession with fantasy baseball prior to this, but an article I read on CNN International brought this issue to my mind once again. (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/01/06/fantasy.football.moneyball.sabermetrics/)

This article states that 26,000,000 Americans play some form of fantasy sports in one year. According to the U.S. Census, there are just over 304,000,000 people in the United States. Therefore, by crunching these numbers, almost 9% of Americans of all ages play some fantasy sport. This article highlights the fact that this industry is going to attempt to branch into the world market through utilizing the international passion for soccer. I think this is a great idea; I wish this had been done earlier. I think that if this trend can catch on and prove to be profitable, it will perhaps encourage American companies, such as ESPN, to attempt to sell international soccer to Americans. I don't mean to insult Major League Soccer, but I would like to be able to watch and be aware of the higher quality soccer that is around the globe. Given the intense observation that fantasy sports require, any Americans that would play fantasy soccer would demand greater coverage through American media outlets.

I hope this phenomenon extends to soccer, and I hope this extension occurs in America as well as around the world. Soccer is a great sport, but I feel that many highly skilled soccer players get their maximum media coverage in high school by the hometown newspaper simply because soccer has for some reason not grabbed the prominent position it has in the rest of the world.