Spurs Talk Fantasy Baseball 09

[FromWayDowntown]

There are maybe only 5-8 pitchers you can guarantee will be solid for you, other than that it's a crap shoot. I can pick up another closer once one goes down, pick up a starter anytime.

Agreed -- guys like Santana, Webb, Halladay, and Oswalt come to mind.

And it would have been foolish for any league with NL players to have let Tim Lince go undrafted last year, since he had won 7 games in 24 starts in 2007 and had struck out more than a batter per inning.

[TheTruth]

By the way about the limits on waiver wire moves in the post season...where are we on that? I say 3 per week. That's more than enough to cover any injuries.

I think that is a pretty stupid rule. If a guy wants to build his team through the wire he should be able to. Doesn't matter what point of the season we're in.

[whottt]

I can pick up another closer once one goes down

Famous last words...why don't you ask Truth how well that strategy worked for him, then take a look at how he drafted this year. Hint: Don't look at the stats from last year. Look at the roles they have this year.

You think you're the only one that looks for closers? I've got 5 of them...and I guarantee you I will go after any closer that becomes available.

[Melmart1]

I apologize for not being at the draft, I was driving some things over to Tucson Arizona and had some car trouble and didnt get to the hotel until midnight central.

that being said, it looks like Yahoo Auto draft lucked me into a decent team.

I apologize again guys, I try my best in this but I suck at Yahoo Baseball Fantasty, but I still like it none the less.

Thanks for the great breakdown FWDT and thanks everyone for your understanding, hopefully.

It's all good. ATrain wasn't there for half the draft. I think it auto-drafted Ben Sheets for him. Ouch!

[FromWayDowntown]

We've been remembering that name for the past 3 years. Still waiting on that breakout season.

Now come on!! Gordon is at least a weathy man's Billy Butler.

[TheTruth]

Famous last words...why don't you ask Truth how well that strategy worked for him, then take a look at how he drafted this year. Hint: Don't look at the stats from last year. Look at the roles they have this ye are.

You think you're the only one that looks for injured closers? I've got 5 of them...and I guarantee you I will go after any closer that becomes available.

I wish I could post my roster, cause I drafted a pretty damn good team. I just didn't realize it was a daily league to start the season, and didn't really keep track of it. I was the deadbeat owner last year.

[whottt]

I think that is a pretty stupid rule. If a guy wants to build his team through the wire he should be able to. Doesn't matter what point of the season we're in.

And I disagree and have been arguing against for 3 years now.

Then let's just eliminate the pitching categories if we are going to render them meaningless in the playoffs. Why bother drafting a pitching staff when you get over run with sheer volume.

You do not see real baseball teams dropping their entire pitching staffs nightly in the post season. It is a complete detatchment from the real game to do that in fantasy baseball.

[Thunder Dan]

guys get called up and give you quality starts and win tons of games because hitters have never faced them before.

Guys get called up don't come and hit .300.

Young Pitching gives you diminishing returns (Lince , Volquez) once hitters know how they are pitching them. Hitting takes time- that is why you draft hitting and pick up pitchers throughout the season

[FromWayDowntown]

I wish I could post my roster, cause I drafted a pretty damn good team. I just didn't realize it was a daily league to start the season, and didn't really keep track of it. I was the deadbeat owner last year.

The Truth's 2008 draft

[FromWayDowntown]

guys get called up and give you quality starts and win tons of games because hitters have never faced them before.

Guys get called up don't come and hit .300.

Young Pitching gives you diminishing returns (Lince , Volquez) once hitters know how they are pitching them. Hitting takes time- that is why you draft hitting and pick up pitchers throughout the season

Lince was pretty much a diminishing return for all of 2008, once the NL hitters got to know him. . . . .

[Thunder Dan]

You think you're the only one that looks for closers? I've got 5 of them...and I guarantee you I will go after any closer that becomes available.

that is why I drafted 2 setup guys from teams with new closers. Once Marmol and Fuentes get demoted or hurt, I'm money

[Thunder Dan]

Lince was pretty much a diminishing return for all of 2008, once the NL hitters got to know him. . . . .

saying year to year. He won't win a Cy Young every year

[TheTruth]

OH sweet, you can look at your team from last year.

C - Mcann
1b - Miguel Cabrera
2b - Phillips
SS - Tulo (what a letdown)
3B - Youklis
OF - Josh Hamilton
OF - Markakis
OF - Kemp
U - Loney
U - Hawpe

P - Volquez
P - Grenke
P - Lester
P - Lirian
P - Myers
P - Bedard - Verlander

But yeah, ZERO closers.

[FromWayDowntown]

that is why I drafted 2 setup guys from teams with new closers. Once Marmol and Fuentes get demoted or hurt, I'm money

Marmol's been demoted; Kevin Gregg is going to close for the Cubs to start the season. I'm sure that whottt (who drafted Gregg) is well aware of this.

[Melmart1]

Lince was pretty much a diminishing return for all of 2008, once the NL hitters got to know him. . . . .

Yeah, he really hurt my team bad last year. So did that Peavy guy, who the NL batters have had three years to try and crack. They have obviously gotten to him.

[TheTruth]

And I disagree and have been arguing against for 3 years now.

Then let's just eliminate the pitching categories if we are going to render them meaningless in the playoffs. Why bother drafting a pitching staff when you get over run with sheer volume.

You do not see real baseball teams dropping their entire pitching staffs nightly in the post season. It is a complete detatchment from the real game to do that in fantasy baseball.

Considering this is FANTASY baseball, and really doesn't have anything to do with reality I don't see why it's a big deal. Do major league teams get a point if they hit more homers than the other teams in the league?

Teams that work the waiver wire smartly should be rewarded. Nothing, IMO, wrong with building your team a certain way and using that strategy to get you wins in the playoffs.

[FromWayDowntown]

saying year to year. He won't win a Cy Young every year

Well, he made 24 starts in 2007 and made 34 starts in 2008. 2008 was better for him than 2007.

Just sayin.

[Thunder Dan]

Marmol's been demoted; Kevin Gregg is going to close for the Cubs to start the season. I'm sure that whottt (who drafted Gregg) is well aware of this.

he sucks. Brady Quinn's go-to will be closing by year's end

[FromWayDowntown]

Considering this is FANTASY baseball, and really doesn't have anything to do with reality I don't see why it's a big deal. Do major league teams get a point if they hit more homers than the other teams in the league?

Teams that work the waiver wire smartly should be rewarded. Nothing, IMO, wrong with building your team a certain way and using that strategy to get you wins in the playoffs.

I don't disagree with this, but I do tend to agree with whottt that the game becomes terribly distorted (on the pitching end at least) in the playoffs, when owners are furiously gobbling up as many starters on each night as possible to put together incredible totals in some of the counting categories.

It's pretty infuriating to have built a good staff of pitchers that you're unwilling to jettison to waivers only to lose categories like K's or Wins because your opponent can add 3 starters every night and roll up 50 or more additional IP during the week.

And I tend to think that while Fantasy is not exactly a real world simulation, it shouldn't be so easily bas ized into something that has very little bearing on what the real world is.

[whottt]

Considering this is FANTASY baseball, and really doesn't have anything to do with reality I don't see why it's a big deal. Do major league teams get a point if they hit more homers than the other teams in the league?

Teams that work the waiver wire smartly should be rewarded. Nothing, IMO, wrong with building your team a certain way and using that strategy to get you wins in the playoffs.

You don't have to do it smarly without limits...you can just add 5 new pitchers every night and overhwelm your opponents in wins and k's. There's no intelligence to that, it is a sheer numbers game. It just about totally destroys any strategy or talent scouting on the pitching side of the ball.

The entire purpose of including the pitching side of things is for owners to utilize strategies on that side of the ball.

I mean if we just want to eliminate pitching and draft the best hitters available every round then why don't we just state that's what we are going to do?

Why go through the motions of even including those pesky pitching stats?

[whottt]

When he started rumbling about a trade, I figured this was his plan. Short of someone talking overtly about blocking the deal -- by explaining what the plan was -- or burning an early pick on ARod (something I nearly did a few picks in front of timvp's selection -- I took Carlos Lee instead; the picks that followed were Pedroia, Sabathia, Manny (all pretty reasonable, I think), and then timvp's back-to-back of Vlad and ARod) it was a hard thing to stop.

For what it's worth, I did play in an auction league with roto scoring, in which one guy had ARod, Pujols, and Howard (a keeper from the previous season) -- and still didn't come close to winning the league. What he didn't have, though, was the speed of a guys like Soriano and Furcal (if he can stay healthy) or any pitching to speak of (timvp does at least have Liriano and Rivera).

What gets me is that timvp I believe got Arod with Melmart's 3rd round pick. It's insane that Arod was still on the board in the 3rd round.

[FromWayDowntown]

What gets me is that timvp I believe got Arod with Melmart's 3rd round pick. It's insane that Arod was still on the board in the 3rd round.

Technically, ARod was the first pick of the 4th round.

I think, in light of his surgery and the uncertainties that surround it, he's generally coming off the board in Round 3 or so. And, like I say, I definitely considered him in Round 3, but chose to go with Carlos Lee instead, if only because he's likely to put up fairly comparable numbers while playing in substantially more games than ARod. I don't think ARod, at that point, would have been a bad pick for anyone.

Of course, you too could have had ARod instead of David Wright, Lance Berkman, or Prince Fielder.

[whottt]

Technically, ARod was the first pick of the 4th round.

I think, in light of his surgery and the uncertainties that surround it, he's generally coming off the board in Round 3 or so. And, like I say, I definitely considered him in Round 3, but chose to go with Carlos Lee instead, if only because he's likely to put up fairly comparable numbers while playing in substantially more games than ARod. I don't think ARod, at that point, would have been a bad pick for anyone.

Of course, you too could have had ARod instead of David Wright, Lance Berkman, or Prince Fielder.

I was definitely including myself in said indictment. I totally snoozed on Arod. Didn't have a clue he was still on the board by the 3rd round, I was too zeroed in on Fielder at that juncture. I figured he was off the board by the end of the second round...price I pay for going outside to smoke a cig between picks

Arod with a 40 pick in the draft is an insane steal. His counting numbers aren't going to be as good as they usually are this year, but his PCT's will be.

[EricB]

It's all good. ATrain wasn't there for half the draft. I think it auto-drafted Ben Sheets for him. Ouch!

That would be me that Ben Sheets went to

I replaced him with Todd Wellemeyer however, who was top 10 in strikeouts last year and has looked even better in Spring Training this year for the Cardinals

[Melmart1]

That would be me that Ben Sheets went to

I replaced him with Todd Wellemeyer however, who was top 10 in strikeouts last year and has looked even better in Spring Training this year for the Cardinals

Oops, I thought it was him We got a good laugh out of that. Glad you picked up someone good. Having only 10 teams means the waiver wire isn't as barren as it might normally be.