This post is the first of (hopefully) a weekly post for all my baseball-loving followers. I will be discussing the ever important, life-altering activity known as Fantasy Baseball. If you care little for either of those words, then by all means, read over older blog posts, play some video games (what I will be doing after this), or go be not like me and go be social/ have friends.
For this post, I will discuss each of my teams and then give some general advice. Next week, I would prefer to make the players/teams I discuss to be based on your teams, not mine. Please email me at timnicodemus3@gmail.com or find me on Facebook or Twitter (@timnicodemus) to ask questions or names you want me to vet for you. I will say my one weakness is evaluating trades, especially if you do not provide enough background info (ie what type of league, how many teams, points system, etc.) If you ask a trade question, please provide gratuitous information. Keep in mind, my strength is pitchers and random hitters. Use that information to your advantage!
Team 1: MLB.com, "Wacky Deacs", H2H, 12 team. MLB.com leagues are weird. It is a weekly-set line-up and you draft pitching staffs not individual pitchers. That made drafting difficult, but is much easier to set pitching line-ups. This team has done decently well (so far I am 5-3 and winning this week's match-up for the top wild card spot) but injuries to Brett Gardner and Nick Markakis have forced me to bring in some random OFs. I remain a big Angel Pagan fan, especially since he already has a decent 10 steals and has decreased his strikeouts. He is, perhaps, showing his great 2010 was not a fluke. Take him cheaply if you can.
Team 2: Fox Sports, "The John Buck Stops Here" (I love wordplay!!), H2H, 10 team. This H2H format is a stock-type league, wherein the catagory scores are cumulative (I am currently 39-37-4). The poor John Bucks have gotten crazy unlucky. My season started with Albert Pujols playing terribly, only to have Markakis, Carlos Santana, Stephen Drew, and Roy Halladay all get hurt for extended periods of time. If you are like me and have gotten hit by the injury bug, move players into the DL sidelines and move on. Don't drop them if you can help it. Pick up someone from Add/Drop for temporary replacements. Do not overreact! Every year I see guys cut really good players who get hurt for a few weeks. Don't be that guy, or people like me will poach them cheap.
Team 3: Yahoo!, "Wacky Deacs" (sue me, I'm not super creative), H2H, 12 team. It was computer-drafted and is points based, not the traditional 5x5 or 4x4 H2H. I've had a few DL problems (Evan Longoria and Yoenis Cespedes) but aside from having to scrape for a good 3B, I have dominated this league. At 7-1 its hard to see weaknesses. I recently changed to running out more RPs, but since saves and wins are not weighted equally, I have a lot of SPs to rotate through. I particularly am high on Max Scherzer (owners are running from his rough but unlucky start, so trade cheaply for him) and James Shields. Picked up R.A Dickey cheap and Trevor Cahill in a decent trade. Love them both, but don't take them if you don't need them in a shallow league.
Team 4: Yahoo!, "John Buck Stops Here" (seriously, how great is that name?!), H2H, 12 team. Same system as Fox Sports team. Admittedly poor start (Unlucky? Bad computer-draft? Matt Kemp injury? All the above?). Not all bad though. Henderson Alvarez is proving me right. I have been on the "Alvarez train" for a while. It's a small train, jump on it! Also, almost dumped Aroldis Chapman but kept him and have reaped those benefits. Matt Capps has found ways to screw me royally (thanks Twins!) but have been able to pick up decent platoon-player in Mitch Moreland. Still waiting for Paul Goldschmidt and Ryan Roberts to start playing baseball (and waiting and waiting and waiting). This team is going to need some luck to turn around, or I may need to make drastic changes.
Team 5: Yahoo! "Latos Intolerant", H2H, 12 team. By far the most competitive league. These guys know them some baseball. Unlike the two other Yahoo! leagues, this was not computer drafted. My one big weakness is relief pitching, but Rafael Betancourt was easy to pick up cheap during Rockies slide and Santiago Casilla is quietly going nuts. My boy Brandon Morrow is also going decently crazy. My favorite sleeper pick was Edwin Encarnacion. Is E5 going to keep this pace up? Hahahahaha no! But he could turn into a sustainable source of surprise value, especially in that he fills either 1B or 3B role. In any other league, this team could be easily in 1st place, but so far I am happily top 4 and ready to make some moves come July.
Overall, I echo my previous statement about patience. It is only June 1st; if a star playing is still pretty slow or injured, do not just cut the player. Stay with it. In the meantime, hammer add/drop lists weekly. You will be surprised at the value you can find there from time to time. As always, there is no magic formula to winning fantasy baseball. As my one Yahoo! team has shown me, even a great line-up can get freaking unlucky from time to time. Stay on top of injuries and make sure you are getting plenty of starts from pitchers. Aside from that, don't panic and ask questions for next week's Fantasy Friday!
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