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Good draft, guys. I think mine is pretty solid. I am pretty excited for the season to start.
If you do that, you'll have to make pre-arrangements to have the picks already made -- or the parties to the trade will have to PM each other their picks. The Yahoo interface won't let me change the draft order on a round-by-round basis.
Good draft, guys. I think mine is pretty solid. I am pretty excited for the season to start.
Good draft everyone and GL
Tiny island vs. the world
Good luck to everyone. Let the marathon, what we call the MLB season, begin.
I'm pretty pumped about my team, I think I got the potential to go undefeated
Mark Teahen and Cameron Maybin...remember the names
Last edited by Thunder Dan; 03-27-2009 at 09:04 AM.
I appreciate how quickly we could do that and how easy everyone made it. Thanks to all; good luck on a successful season.
And if anyone wants to trade me a closer, I'm all ears.
Seriously, How can you not fear my lineup?
Catcher- Victor Martinez
2nd- Chase Uttley
SS- Jimmy Rollins
3B-Chipper Jones
1st-Carlos Guillen/Victor Martinez/Jim Thome
OF-Granderson
OF-Magglio Ordonez
OF-Manny Ramirez
Bench
Alex Gordon (stud)
Lastings Millage
Torii Hunter
Comeron Maybin (another stud)
Mark Tehan (hitting .500 in spring training with 4 homers last week)
Pitchers
Cy Young Cliff Lee
Johnathan Papelbon
John Lester
Armando Gallaraga (stud)
Scott Baker (stud)
this is a dream team
Lets see how you do rook
My bench is better than half of the teams. I look at some of these teams and laugh- both my lineup and pitching has the potential to be in the All Star game.
Because I had this ing ass last year.Catcher- Victor Martinez
Good players. Possibly the best keystone combo in this league.2nd- Chase Uttley
SS- Jimmy Rollins
He'll spend half the season on the DL.3B-Chipper Jones
These guys were waiver wire fodder all last year...In a 12 team league. Except for Martinez...whose ing ass I had. Stupidly.1st-Carlos Guillen/Victor Martinez/Jim Thome
Decent player.OF-Granderson
One of my favorite players, getting pretty long in the tooth though.OF-Magglio Ordonez
Well he's Manny.OF-Manny Ramirez
No offense but I think just about every guy on that list outside of Papelbon spent time on the waiver wire last season...including Cliff Lee(who was picked up by FWDT at some point never to return).Pitchers
Cy Young Cliff Lee
Johnathan Papelbon
John Lester
Armando Gallaraga (stud)
Scott Baker (stud)
this is a dream team
You have a good team but safe to say you are the person most impressed with it.
he kind of sounds like me last year and I did HORRIBLE until i figured out how to play and then made some decent waiver pick ups to lead me to a 1st round playoff elem. Lets see if Dan is so lucky.
Yeah, I remember you turned your season around after a couple of asswhuppins from Melmart. We'll see what he does...
If all-star teams won championships, that would be great. And your bench better be better than more than half the league ... only the top 4 teams make the playoffs, which is less than half the league.
Your team is pretty good with potential, but I don't fear it at all. Since I have you as my opponent Week 1, I guess we will see if all your crowing is for naught.
OH, and I think both my catchers are better than yours. And I have five closers, possibly six. And I have a Cy Young winner, too (Lince ). And two studs, Wainwright and Garza. Oh, and there is that Jake Peavy guy ... he is pretty good, too.
Last year, someone (ATrain, I think) wanted some sort of a preview of the teams at this juncture. I don't have the time to do an extremely careful team-by-team analysis, but I did ask ESPN's draft analyzer to apply ESPN's projections to the teams we drafted and forecast the possible results. I'll admit that what I got back is far from perfect -- I can't get ESPN's draft analyzer to exclude AVG and include OBP; and I'm not sure that the numbers they've come up with reflect the positional usage that we employ. So while I'm not sure that the results are very good at all -- and I'm certain they become irrelevant come Sunday night -- they do at least offer the spark of conversation.
With that said, here's my 2009 category-by-category preview, based on ESPN's analysis:
Offensive Categories
HOME RUNS
1. alamo's terror squad (proj. 422 HR) -- for alamo50, Ryan Howard's presence goes a long way towards cinching the category, but a slew of guys with the bats to reach 25 or so home runs (Sizemore, Quentin, Bay, Votto, Cantu, Wells) makes that outcome much more likely.
2. ATRAIN's Army (415)
3. You Hang, I Bang (405)
4. Dominican Republicans (364)
5. Them Boogie Knights (350)
5. Eric B whatever (350)
7. Bashers (341)
8. Screwballs 3 (329)
9. A Fraud's Roiders (320)
10. Each Hit (233)
RUNS
1. You Hang, I Bang (1650) -- the lineup of this braggadocious newcomer, Thunder Dan, boasts 7 players who are projected to score at least 90 runs (Rollins, Granderson, Utley, Peralta, Ramirez, Guillen, and Thome) and another 5 who are projected to score between 80 and 90.
2. ATRAIN's Army (1637)
3. Eric B whatever (1528)
4. alamo's terror squad (1505)
5. Dominican Republicans (1453)
6. A Fraud's Roiders (1340)
7. Them Boogie Knights (1321)
8. Screwballs 3 (1183)
9. Bashers (1162)
10. Each Hit (1145)
RUNS BATTED IN
1. ATRAIN's Army (1610) -- A strong, if quarrelsome, finish to last season's newcomer brings ATrain back with sights on the le. A lineup boasting 4 guys likely to best the 100 RBI mark in '09 (Hamilton, Braun, Youkilis, and Atkins) helps. Having a total of 10 players who are projected to exceed 80 RBI is all the better.
2. alamo's terror squad (1532)
3. You Hang, I Bang (1517)
4. Eric B whatever (1439)
5. Dominican Republicans (1409)
6. Them Boogie Knights (1314)
7. A Fraud's Roiders (1286)
8. Bashers (1230)
9. Screwballs 3 (1119)
10. Each Hit (1004)
STOLEN BASES
1. ATRAIN's Army (263)
2. EricB whatever (232) -- the Yahoo autodraft function loaded EricB's team with speed to burn in 2009. With 4 guys who are likely to swipe at least 20 bags (Reyes, Upton, Kemp, and Beltran) and another group with a good chance to get at least 10 (Werth, Markakis, Kelly Johnson, Iwamura, and Napoli (gasp! a running catcher), EricB stands to be a threat to win this category in most weeks.
3. You Hang, I Bang (222)
4. A Fraud's Roiders (219)
5. Dominican Republicans (209)
6. alamo's terror squad (188)
7. Screwballs 3 (168)
8. Each Hit (161)
9. Bashers (139)
10. Them Boogie Knights (101)
BATTING AVERAGE
While batting average is NOT a category in the league and doesn't really come close to approximating OBP, it's the best I've got.
1. You Hang, I Bang (.288)
2. Them Boogie Knights (.286)
3. A Fraud's Roiders (.286)
4. EricB whatever (.283)
5. Dominican Republicans (.282) -- Reverting to the form of 2 years ago, timvp's devotion to the home land results in a lineup littered with big names and bigger bats, including perrenial MVP candidates Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez, annual multi-category forces like Vladimir Guerrero and Alfonso Soriano, and the hope of high average/high power seasons from Carlos Pena, David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre, with the speed of Rafael Furcal, Willy Taveras, and Carlos Gomez.
6. Each Hit (.281)
7. alamo's terror squad (.277)
8. ATRAIN's Army (.276)
9. Screwballs 3 (.275)
9. Bashers (.275)
Pitching Categories
Strikeouts
1. Them Boogie Knights (1745) -- While offering no starters who are projected to rack up 200 K's in '09, The Truth's staff instead boasts great depth, including 6 pitchers (Burnett, Volquez, Gallardo, Billingsley, Verlander, and Jimenez) projected to fan at least 150 hitters. Add to that 2 strikeout per inning guys in the bullpen (Wood and Morrow) and the Truth appears to be that K is the letter of the day.
2. Screwballs 3 (1725)
3. Bashers (1688)
4. Eric B whatever (1642)
5. Each Hit (1597)
6. A Fraud's Roiders (1526)
7. alamo's terror squad (1485)
8. ATRAIN's Army (1321)
9. Dominican Republicans (1214)
10. You Hang, I Bang (1162)
WINS
1. Them Boogie Knights (139)
2. Screwballs 3 (136) -- a perennial contender for the league crown, whottt's 2009 entry is built on a foundation of big arms from elite teams, including 8 pitchers projected to win at least 10 games (Shields, Matzusaka, Lilly, Beckett, Maine, O. Perez, Saunders, Scherzer) as well as a group of willing win vultures in the pen.
3. A Fraud's Roiders (133)
4. Each Hit (129)
5. Bashers (121)
6. Eric B whatever (120)
7. alamo's terror squad (112)
8. You Hang, I Bang (107)
9. ATRAIN's Army (102)
10. Dominican Republicans (76)
SAVES
1. Bashers (169) -- virtually running away with the projections in this category, slayermin's use of the consecutive picks in each even and odd numbered round has resulted in a bullpen built on the all-time record holder for saves in a season (KRod), an unhittable closer in last season's biggest moments (Lidge), and 3 other guys are projected to save 28 games or more in 2009, despite recent changes in scenery (Fuentes, Lyon, Street).
2. Screwballs 3 (154)
3. A Fraud's Roiders (153)
4. Each Hit (128)
5. Them Boogie Knights (88)
6. Dominican Republicans (86)
7. alamo's terror squad (80)
8. Eric B whatever (69)
9. ATRAIN's Army (66)
10. You Hang, I Bang (43)
EARNED RUN AVERAGE
1. A Fraud's Roiders (3.420) -- last year's runner-up (still reveling over Zambrano's no-no to win the semifinal) and this writer's favorite owner (other than whottt), FromWayDowntown went into the draft hoping to build a club around strong starting pitching and might have done it. With a staff anchored by traditional low-ERA guys (Santana, Halladay, Webb, Oswalt), the promise that an instant star (David Price) might return to the big leagues soon, and the hope that a one-time Yankee ace (Wang) will dominate in a down rotation role, A Fraud's Roiders figure to be strong in ERA.
2. Bashers (3.467)
3. ATRAIN's Army (3.568)
3. Dominican Republicans (3.568)
5. alamo's terror squad (3.601)
6. Eric B whatever (3.648)
7. Each Hit (3.701)
8. Screwballs 3 (3.717)
9. You Hang, I Bang (3.749)
10. Them Boogie Knights (3.770)
WALKS PLUS HITS PER INNING PITCHED (WHIP)
1. ATRAIN's Army (1.207)
2. A Fraud's Roiders (1.226)
3. Bashers (1.240)
4. alamo's terror squad (1.254)
5. Dominican Republicans (1.269)
6. You Hang, I Bang (1.273)
7. Screwballs 3 (1.279)
8. Eric B whatever (1.283)
9. Each Hit (1.287) -- she won the thing last year, after narrowly missing out the year before, and Melmart1 returns for Year 3 to continue whipping up on the boys. To begin her reign, she's drafted a team with a great balance of strong starters (Line , Peavy, Wainwright, Garza, and Chris Young) a big-time closer (Nathan) and several guys who are projected to thrive in bigger roles in 2009 (Qualls, Francisco). By season's end, expect to being hearing "Each Hit" when talking about playoff contenders.
10. Them Boogie Knights (1.306)
That's Great, But What Does it Mean?
Putting those pieces together, here's how ESPN thinks the teams rank -- using the old roto standings (10 points to team leading category, 1 to team that's last in the category, ties result in split points) -- which, last year, were a pretty fair predictor of the head-to-head standings:
10. Each Hit -- 37 points (11 points offense; 26 points pitching)
9. Screwballs 3 -- 48 (14 off. /34 pitch.)
8. Dominican Republicans -- 52 (31 off./21 pitch.)
7. Them Boogie Knights -- 52.5 (24.5 off./28 pitch.)
6. Bashers -- 53 (12 off./41 pitch.)
5. You Hang, I Bang -- 56 (44 off./12 pitch.)
4. Eric B whatever -- 59.5 (36.5 off./23 pitch.)
3. alamo's terror squad -- 60 (35 off./25 pitch.)
2. A Fraud's Roiders -- 66 (26 off./40 pitch.)
1. ATRAIN's Army -- 66 (41 off./25 pitch.)
Frankly, though, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the standings at season's end were almost completely inverted. Melmart, whottt, and timvp are among the best owners in this league -- if not it's 3 best. So, like all predictions, this projection will likely be rendered a complete waste when September rolls around.
Pitches will be thrown in anger on Sunday. Get your lineups set and try, as much as possible to remain an active participant in the league. Yahoo will let you set your lineup many days ahead of time -- I could set my lineup for next Friday right now and make sure it will be different than my lineup for next Thursday and next Saturday. If you're going away or can't find time on a daily basis to check in, please consider using that feature.
Mostly -- have fun this season!
Good luck to all.
Last edited by FromWayDowntown; 04-02-2009 at 04:17 PM.
That's cus I felt sorry for him and told him how to improve his team and pick players up from waivers.
V-Mart was hurt last year, and can play 1st base as well. He has always had a solid bat. If not, I also have AJ Piezynski and Kelly Shoppach who can be manageable
Chipper Jones was lights out last year, and besides Wright, there arn't too many 3rd basemen better than him.
Pitching doesn't win fantasy baseball. My pitchers might be the weakness of my team, but that was on purpose. Between Lee, Carmona, Lester, Baker, Galaraga and Mark Burle I can get some wins, pick up points with Saves with Papelbon- and get the strikeouts from Arradando and Samajiaza
My middle infield will be the most productive infield in our league
My corners should be decent between Gordon, Jones, V-Mart and Carlos Guillen
and my outfield has the potential to put up 80-100 homers and 150-175 doubles, plus hit in the .300s
Gordon and Teahan are primed for breakout years (each hit 2 homers in a game this week, Tehan is hitting around .500) Plus, Teahan plays all 4 infield positions!
Maybin will give me 25-30 stolen bases, Granderson maybe 20-25
It's probably the most well drafted team in the history of fantasy baseball
plus, I didn't even mention emerging stars Sin Soo Choo and Lasting Millage. Those are my insurance policies! They would be starting on most teams
WOW .... so according to that projections, I guess Atrain is gonna win. We will never hear the end of it if that happens!
I think like FWD says, timvp, whottt and I are gonna have something to say about being ranked the three last teams.
My offensive team doesn't look all that hot, but I think they are well-balanced and solid and will improve as the year goes on, like my squad last year. I was mired in the middle of the pack for several months before my team took off. Nobody feared my team this time last year. I am not worried at all.
I think the interesting difference between head-to-head fantasy and roto is that massive aggregations of numbers really don't mean a lot beyond the hope that they bring some kind of week-in/week-out consistency.
If a team hits 100 more home runs than the rest of the league, it's not going to "win" home runs any more than a team that beats its opponent by 1 in that category every week.
Ultimately, that's why the "preview" above is largely worthless.
The great thing about head-to-head is that you don't develop cushions in categories. If you're dominant in one category, you'd better win it every week. And if you're weak in other categories, you'd better win everything that your team is good at each week. That's why I honestly think that head-to-head fantasy does a better job of catching some of the variables of real-life baseball than a pure roto league does.
Not on mine.
And in that regard, my insurance policies (for Carlos Lee, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Nate McLouth) are Bobby Abreu, Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon, and Delmon Young.
I'll transform into y Commish for just one second, but -- ahem -- I think I'll take mine.
Man, I would like to pummel Thunder Dan next week just to shut him up. But if history holds up, I will get my ass handed to me on week 1. I think TPark beat me 8-2 week 1 last year
EDIT: I just looked it up ... I lost 3-6-1. Not quite as humiliating but bad nonetheless.
Here is the thing though. This doesn't take into account the actual number I will beat everyone by in the offensive categories because I'm banking on proven hitters like Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez, Victor Martinez and Curtis Granderson who all had down years last year. Plus, I'm there are the locks of Alex Gordon and Shin Soo Choo having breakout years
Like I said, I know I'm lacking in pitching- but those guys get hurt all the time, so there is no use wasting precious draft picks on those bums. Within a month of the start of the season, a closer will go down, and I'll pick up the replacement and I'll be right back in the saves lead. Then, starters like Carmona will have bounceback years, and there will always be that other guy that nobody ever hears of to breakout
and if all that fails, just find out who the Nationals are playing and pick up the opposing pitching staff for the week.
Get that weak stuff outta here. I looked at your lineup earlier today and I almost ruined my keyboard when I spit my coffee out laughingMan, I would like to pummel Thunder Dan next week just to shut him up. But if history holds up, I will get my ass handed to me on week 1. I think TPark beat me 8-2 week 1 last year
That doesn't matter at all. If you beat your opponent in runs by 1 or by 100, you still only get 1 win for that category. If you beat your opponent in home runs by 2 or by 20, it is still only 1 win.
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