Baseball Quest April 22, 29
Posted by CC's Desperados, Jun 2 2008, 08:58 AM
April 22-
I survived week two by only losing two places in the overall standings. I currently rank 24th overall. As I enter this week, I have a couple of issues. I don’t have a second closer and still haven’t received a Rafael Soriano update. With Rich Harden on the shelf, I don’t have enough depth at starting pitching to get enough strikeouts. Last year I had Hamels, Beckett, Billingsley, Maine, McGowen, and O. Perez when the season ended. I can see my starting staff doesn’t measure up. I need a couple of players to step up if I’m going to stay in the hunt. If I had one more win and 15 more strikeouts last week, I would have 165 more points in the overall standings. I would be in 12th place. I can make up those points, but I need to know where I should be in those categories.
When I set my lineup this week, I had a couple of pitching decisions. I added Cliff Lee, Zach Duke, and Hong-Chih Kuo. I decide to use Zach Duke for double starts and put Cliff Lee in my lineup. I was going to use Kuo because he would get more strikeouts, but I remembered last year when he started. The first game they pulled him in the 5th so he didn’t have a chance at a win. I thought he needed a game to get his pitch count up. He should have double starts next week. When I put Duke in my lineup, I had to bench either Parra or Villaneuva. I like both of them, but they are on the road against St. Louis. Villaneuva has pitched well against St. Louis in the past, but he was facing Wainwright. I liked Parra’s match up against Kyle Lohse Jr. better. I went with Parra. I have 10 starts for the week. If Parra or Villaneuva pitches poorly, they might lose their spot in the rotation. Gallardo will be back this week.
I haven’t talked too much about my hitting because I haven’t really had any major issues yet. Sure I have the Andrew Jones problem, but I don’t think he is going to hit under .100 all season. He didn’t look good yesterday against Maddox. He took his share of pitches, but I don’t think he made solid contact on any pitch. I’m still in his camp, but pretty soon it will be only Andrew and I.
Hitters
Starters Pos AB BA R HR RBI SB
Conor Jackson
1B 28 .286 8 0 7 0
Derrek Lee
1B 52 .346 9 4 9 0
James Loney
1B 44 .386 6 2 4 1
Rickie Weeks
2B 47 .213 13 3 4 4
Ryan Zimmerman
3B 53 .226 5 2 6 0
Kurt Suzuki
C 42 .310 6 0 2 1
Russell Martin
C 41 .146 4 0 4 1
Andruw Jones
CF 40 .100 3 0 1 0
Chris Denorfia
CF 2 .500 0 0 1 0
Corey Patterson
CF 42 .262 9 4 9 2
Lastings Milledge
CF 52 .308 8 1 5 1
Jason Bay
LF 39 .282 10 3 5 1
Mark Teahen
LF 42 .286 4 1 3 0
Bobby Crosby
SS 51 .294 8 1 8 0
Hanley Ramirez
SS 48 .396 11 3 8 2
Totals 623 .278 104 24 76 13
This is my current stats for all my hitters. I’ve used the same 14 hitters except for Denorfia getting two at bats in the Japan games. Average wise I have 5 players under performing and 4 players who are batting a lot higher than they will end up. I like the pace I’m on in regards to at bats.
Today I have three pitchers going so it’s moving day again. I’m watching Lester pitch as I write this. Man does he piss me off. He looked better in the first three innings. He threw a couple of nice curve balls on the outside corner. He even threw A 90 PMH fastball on the outside corner. He just doesn’t make enough good pitches. He never gives you the feeling he is in command. He leaves way to many pitches at belt level. In both the 4th and 5th innings he walked the leadoff batter. In the 5th, it went walk, walk, sac, single, single, and another walk. He left with bases loaded and was at the mercy of Julian Tavarez. I thought he would give up the runs for sure. Julian struck out two batters and save me from a beating. The nine bases runners didn’t help, but I can live with the 4 runs. If Lester doesn’t get it together, he could the one pitching in the bull pen. Bonderman and Duke didn’t pitch well. Detroit’s defense let Bonderman down. His pitching line was good through 6 innings. Minnesota knocked out Bonderman in the 7th. He left with two runners on with one out. The pen gave allowed both runners to score. I liked that he struck out 5 batters. Zack Duke pitched ok. He allowed 3 earned runs in 6 innings, but he had zero K’s. For they day, I had 16.1 innings pitched allowing 29 base runners and 11 runs. I could take the beating with a few K’s and a win. I have 7 more starts for the week. If I get less than 3 wins, I’m digging my self a hole. The top teams in my league have 11 wins. As of today, I should have 9 wins-I have 6.
I was thinking about Lester’s pitching today. I was comparing it to some of my bowling experiences. In bowling in some ways is similar to pitching. You need to get your body to execute a shot just like a pitch. When you timing is off, you are all over the place. You need to find a way to correct what you are doing wrong to have success. The better you are at knowing what makes you tick the better player you will be. A strong thought process is a key to being consistent. In addition to finding your rhythm, you need to adjust to the lane to find an angle where you can have a higher strike rate. Sometimes you can throw the ball in the area you want, but the ball doesn’t have the right action to knock all the pins down. A ten pin here, a four pin there, it just seems like you can’t get in the flow. A pitcher throws the ball over the plate, but he might not have the zip on his fastball or hang a slider. You are close, but you are off just enough where you are getting hit. You have a frustration level that might match getting squeezed by an umpire. You throw a good shot and leave a stone 8 pin or even a swishing 7-10. After a couple of good shots, a player might make a mistake trying to make something happen. The shot is might end up leaving a split. A pitcher’s mistake might end up getting hit out of the park. So I guess my point is, as bad as some pitchers look, they might find themselves the next time out. If they develop a solid thought process, they will be more consistent. You should be able to see a pitcher showing growth. In the fantasy baseball world, you keep searching for a player who might go to the next level. Lester looks like he will be on my bench in a single starts week unless he show improvement on the weekend.
In bizarre turn of events in the Moylan gate episode, he was place on the DL today. The word is he is worse than Soriano and headed to see the dreaded Dr. Andrews. I still haven’t received any news on Rafael Soriano, but it might be a good sign that he isn’t seeing the Dr. Andrews.
For those who own Brandon Lyon, I watched him in the 9th inning today. The umpire squeezed the shit out of him today. For what I saw, he looked like he will be ok. In fantasy baseball a player’s value can turn on a dime, but I’d have more confidence in Lyon after watching him today.
It has been a rough week trying to watch baseball. The real world tends to get in the way of living in a fantasy world. Villanueva and Parra both were bombed in St. Louis. Parra had the edge in strikeouts 3-0. As of today, I think Parra will be the one bounced from the rotation.
With no wins on Monday, I hung around in the standings until Parra and Bonser pitched poorly. Bonser had no strikeouts. After my five starts for the week, I have zero wins and only 11 K’s. My relievers are keeping me alive. After Marmol pitched on Friday afternoon, I had 11 K’s in six innings of relief. When I started the day on Friday, I dropped to 139 overall. The slow slide in pitching was finally starting set in. I have two starts tonight. I need really need a couple of wins to stop the bleeding. If I continue to slide, it could take me a month to catch up in wins. My offense went in the tank last night. The highlight of the night was two runs scored.
The news finally came down about Rafael Soriano. He threw some on Tuesday and was scheduled for an appearance on the mound today. If everything went well, he could be back on Tuesday. The news wasn’t as good on Moylan. He could be done for the year.
My new and improved Dontrele Willis (Cliff Lee) pitched great. He got me on the board with my first win for the week. He pitched 8 shutout innings with 8 K’s. Cole Hamel pitched well until the 8th. He gave up a single, double, and intentional walk. He left the game with none out. The bullpen came on and allowed all three runners to score. This was the fourth time this week that I had a starter leave the game with bases loaded. In three of those games, all the runners came around to score. In the other game, no one scored. For those four games, they have a strand rate of 25%. I believe the league average in major league baseball last year was around 72%. One of my pet peeves is when a starter leaves the game after intentionally walking a batter. Why don’t they let the reliever walk the next batter? Hell, he is the one who is most likely going to let him score. Or maybe we could have the second baseman come on and do all the intentional walking for the season. As you know, it is all about me in fantasy baseball.
Conor Jackson is on fire this week. He has 3 homeruns and 10 RBI while batting .500. Last night he just missed hitting for the cycle. In his fourth at bat, he had his second triple. He could have stopped at second with Arizona already leading 9-0. Bobby Crosby had a big night two doubles and a three run homers. He looks like he is going to have a good year. I expect him to start moving up in the lineup. Another interesting development in Oakland was Kurt Suzuki batted lead off tonight. He went 2-4. If he can hold onto the lead off spot, it would increase his value dramatically. I moved back up to 58th. I have three more starts over the weekend. I really need three wins to keep pace. I also need 14 more strikeouts to hold my ground.
My bad week of pitching continued. Unfortunately I was away from my house so I haven’t watched that much baseball in three days. From the box scores I can see Bonderman was a bum. He had no command and walked 6 batters in five innings. I’m lucky that he didn’t give up more than 2 runs in the game. The way he is pitching, he is no lock to make the lineup next week. Lester was brutal through the first three innings. He gave up 7 hits and three runs. The only positive was he didn’t walk anyone early. He settled down and made it into the 7th inning. His final was 6.1 9 33 2 5. It is improvement in K’s, but he is far from dominating. For the day I had 7 K’s which put me at 41 for the week. I have a shot to get my quota if Duke strikes out a few and my relievers chip in.
Along with my poor pitching, my offense has slowed down. I’m getting some steals and homeruns, but my batting average is starting to slip. I still don’t have a lineup issue. Weeks and Patterson can’t get on base to steal any bases. Weeks was 2 for 22 for the week with 8 K’s. Patterson didn’t get a hit for the week. He has only 4 strikeouts in 59 at bats. He won’t lose playing time if he is putting the ball in play. Jay Bruce had a shoulder problem in AAA so he isn’t pressing for major league at bats yet. I need a hot streak out those two to jump start my steals. For the year I’m ok in that area, but I’d like to get a nice run from Patterson if he loses his job. Derrek Lee, Hanley Ramirez, and Conor Jackson are the only players who are producing at this point in the season. Hanley looks to be healthy. He has 5 homeruns and 5 steals. Lee has 7 homeruns already. Conor Jackson might be ready to take the next step up. He had a monster week. He scored 10 runs and drove in 10. Conor hit .480 with 3 homeruns and 1 steal. This could be the best week he will have all year. I benched him in another league this week. Joe Crede had been hot and had 7 games to Jackson’s 6. To think I missed out on Crede’s 3 homer/11 RBI week last week.
My one week wonder Zack Duke is being kicked to the curb. He pitched 10 innings with ZERO K’s. Zack gave up 8 runs and 20 base runners. With moves like this you wonder how you even stay in the hunt. I had 10 starts for the week and racked up one win. I dropped Duke for Jesse Litsch. He cost me $37. He has two starts at Tampa Bay and Kansas City. Last year he only struck out 50 batters in 111 innings. Maybe he is another Carlos Silva. He hasn’t pitched well this year, but he has 12 K’s in 15 innings. During spring training he had 19 K’s in 25 innings. I’m hoping he added another pitch to make batters miss more often. He might be a buy and hold if he shows any improvement in that area. Last year he had a 3.81 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. He has some potential. For the week I had 61 innings pitched with 99 bases runners. I can’t believe my ERA wasn’t worse. Another week like this and I could be buried until August. My pitchers allowed 27 more base runners than I had hope. I will need 100 innings with a 1.00 whip to get back to where I was. I really don’t have the staff to put those numbers.
For the week I hit 12 homeruns, 52 runs, 43 RBI, 6 steals, and batted .266. I have the most runs scored in the NFBC. I lost the most ground in batting average. I’m about 16 RBI behind. I sense a big push in homeruns and RBI. A couple of my players have been cold, but I like what I see from a couple of others. The homeruns are on the number and I’m one steal behind pace. Wins are going to be my biggest problem. I’m already 5 wins behind pace. My ERA (3.78) is ok, but my WHIP (1.367) is on the wrong side of the number. I lost more ground in strikeouts. I had 41 for the week. I’m 18 behind pace. If I would have pitched Kuo instead of Duke, I would have held ground in ERA and K’s. My damage in WHIP would have been half as much. I was living the life of a gambler. Lee looks like he is a nice addition and Kuo could be. He has double starts this week.
April 29-
The wheels are starting to come off the bus. My pitching staff took a nose dive and I’m in 101st place heading into week 4. I received news that Rafael Soriano is still having an elbow issues. He is schedule to throw in the outfield on Tuesday and the mound on Thursday. I’m not very confident that he will be back any time soon. Rich Harden is milking his 10 million dollar contract. He might decide to throw in a week or two when he feels up to it. With 1 win last week, I’m wheeling out my double starter again this week. Villanueva and Parra face St. Louis again. They both pitched poorly against them last week. I expect both to pitch better this week. Kuo and Litsch have two starts this week. Litsch is a gamble because he is on the road both games. Kuo doesn’t have two ideal match ups at Cincinnati and home against Colorado. Hamels and Lee have pitched well so they were automatics. I had to decide between Bonser, Bonderman, and Lester. I didn’t like the 6 walks from Bonderman so he gets the week off. Lester looked improved on Sunday and is at home vs. the Angels, but I chose Bonser because I think he has better command at this point in the season. He is facing Oakland on the road. Oakland was scoring runs a couple of weeks ago, but they don’t have a lineup that you really fear.
I didn’t change any hitters. Patterson is losing some playing time because he hasn’t had a hit in a week. I have to remember that he is my base stealers. I’d prefer him to play everyday, but I think he will only play against right handed pitching unless Cinci has an injury. If he plays well, he will get more playing time. He could steal 3 bases in a game at any time. My only other option is Brad Wilkerson who has been very cold. He has no homeruns and 4 RBI while batting .182. Andrew Jones is still cold and has been benched in 20% of the leagues this week.
Villaneuva pitched better than last week, but he walked four batters and had only one strikeout. His pitching line was 7 3 22 4 1. He didn’t get the win. He left the game when it was tied at 2. My pitching staff is piling up the walks the last week or so. Russell Martin is starting to heat up. He had three hits. Torre batted Andrew Jones 8th last night. Jones played better for 5 games and got a chance at clean up on Sunday. He struck out 3 times. Torre must be getting frustrated with him. His next stop will be on the bench. The Dodgers line up changes everyday. The only two constants are Furcal leading off, Kent clean up, and the pitcher 9th. If someone gets hot, they will get a chance at a favorable spot in the line up.
Today is another moving day. I have three starts. It would be nice to get a couple of wins and a few strikeouts to help push me back up in the standings.
It was moving day alright. I’m moving down toward the cellar in the pitching categories. Parra pitched better than last week, but he is still allowing over two base runners per inning. He struggled through five innings. He left the game with a 4-3 lead. Milwaukee extended the lead to 8-3. I thought I had a shot to break my winless streak. St. Louis cut the lead to 8-7 entering the 9th. Gagne decided to make the interesting by allowing the first two batters to get on base. With runners at 1st and 3rd with no out, I thought I had lost my chance at the win. Gagne struck out the next batter and my chances looked a little better. The next batter was Pujols. I thought he would beat me for sure. Gagne got him to him a hard ground ball to 3rd. Hall fired to second and Weeks made a poor throw to first. Fielder couldn’t dig it out of the dirt for the final out. Derrek Lee makes that play everyday of the week. The tying runs scores and no win. Parra final line was 5 9 33 22. He is barely alive for a starting job. Later on the night, Kuo and Litsch continue my streak of bad pitching. Kuo gave up 8 hit and 5 runs in 3.2 innings. Litsch looked like he struggled through three innings, but he only gave up 2 runs. In the fourth, he struck out the first batter his 4th of the game. He walked the next batter and then had Hinske 0-2. Litsch threw a pitch inside and Hinske hit a ground ball just in side the line at first for a double. The outfielder bobbled the ball to allow the run to score. After a 1st pitch single and a walk, Litsch was gone. His line was 3.1 8 55 2 4. He pitched poorly, but he did have 4 K’s in 3.1 innings. If he pitches better on Sunday, I might keep him if I can. My era of the year is now over 4.00 and my whip over 1.40. I have a long uphill battle saving my pitching.
As I suspected, Andrew Jones was on the bench tonight along with Mr. Patterson. Corey did pinch hit and get a triple and score a run. Hopefully he is back in the line up tomorrow. I thought I had a bad night hitting, but .294 with 10 runs and 8 RBI are good for a slow night. I had 1 steal and zero homeruns. Kurt Suzuki batted lead off for the 3rd day in a row. I dropped to 143 overall with 655 pitching points. I’ll need 1600 if I’m going to have shot this year. With two more starts today, I hope a can make a move back in the right direction.
When your team has one win in fourteen starts and your ace steps to the mound, you are hoping for him to put up a few zeros to keep his team in the game. Cole gave up a double, single, pop out, homer, single, ground out, intentional walk, and struck out the pitcher. His pitching line was 1 4 33 1 1 after one inning. When your staff is on the skids, it seems like you can’t catch a break. After the first inning, Cole settled down and pitched great. Through 7 innings his numbers looked very good considering his start to the game 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 11 K’s. Cole had thrown 110 pitches and 75 for strikes. Philly had a 4-3 lead. I thought he had done his job and was done for the night. I went to bed. When I woke up, I saw the skid continued. Milwaukee won 5-4. To my surprised, they wheeled Cole out for the bottom of the 8th. He gave up a double to Braun and another homerun to Fielder and his night was done. Later the night Bonser pitched in Oakland. He struggled with his command and walked 4 batters in 6 innings. Minnesota lost the game 3-0. His pitching line was short in K’s, but it wasn’t bad 6 3 22 4 2. Carlos Marmol chip in for a cheap save after Wood blew it in the bottom of the 9th. I’ve now gone 16 starts with one win. I’m glad this in April. With my theory that pitcher win one out of every three starts. I will need to win 7 out of my next 8 starts to get back on pace.
My offense is just steady. I batted .294 with 7 runs, 2 homers, 7 RBI, and 2 steals. A 180 days like that and I will be high in a lot of categories. Andrew returned to the line up and batted second. He went 1-5 for a run. Hairston got the start again in Cinci. Patterson pinched hit again and had a double to drive in a run.
I watched Mike Mussina pitch the 6th inning last night. He threw one pitch over 80 MPH. It appeared to be his fastball at 83. He threw a couple of what I think were change ups at 63. I dropped him in a couple of leagues last week. Some might get excited about his pitching line, but I’m avoiding chasing him anymore. He could have some really bad days.
Cliff “Dontrele” Lee wins!! It’s been frustrating watching almost every pitcher pitch poorly and allow a ton of base runners. Lee pitched a complete game three hitter with no walks and 9 K’s. He had great command of his fastball. He threw it constantly between 91-93 MPH. He could hit both sides of the plate with it and located it up in the zone. I bet he threw 80% fastballs tonight. The Royals were chasing his fastball up and missing it. I don’t know how long it will last, but he does look very good so far. I also watched Jeremy Bonderman. He was throwing the ball well, but he can’t throw a strike. He walked 7 batters and struck out 7. He was close on lot of pitches, but he couldn’t locate his fastball when he was behind in the count. He faces the Yankees next week. He will be on my bench again.
The last three days have been uneventful. My offense has slowed down to a crawl. I had three starts over the weekend. Villanueva pitched well and had a 3-2 lead when he left the game. The bullpen blew the lead in the eighth inning. His line was 6 6 22 0 5. On Sunday Jesse Litsch pitched great 7 5 21 0 4. He won the game 5-2 giving me 2 wins on the week. Manny Parra had a shutout going until the top of the 6th inning. He gave up two runs and left with Milwaukee trailing 2-1. Parra struggled with his command again throwing 99 pitched 57 for strikes. He seems to have a problem throwing his fastball down and inside. It’s like he pulls his body down and through the ball which makes it go low most of the time. He hasn’t made it past 5 1/3 innings in any game this year.
For the week my pitching wasn’t that bad. I had a 3.66 era and a 1.20 whip with 47 strikeouts. I got screwed by Kuo not getting his second start on Sunday. The Dodgers decided that Loaiza had problems warming up in the bullpen when he was pitching in relief so they put him back in the rotation. Kuo had one K on Tuesday and didn’t pitch again for the rest of the week. Between Kuo and Duke, I have one strikeout from that roster spot in two weeks. Kuo became expendable with no starting job. I put a $53 bid in for Greg Smith who has double starts next week. He is more of a juke ball throwing lefty. The only other decision I had was whether of not I wanted to keep Brad Wilkerson. He hasn’t done anything so far this season. Toronto called up Adam Lind to take Frank Thomas’s spot on the roster. Lind should be good hitter with some power. If I needed some help in average, he might be able to take over for Andrew Jones if he continues to struggle. I bet Jones is 60% active this week.
I won Greg Smith 53-41, but I lost on Lind 101-89. I kind of wish I had gone a little higher on Lind. It’s tough to invest in a player who is going to sit on your bench. I do think he will be better the Wilkerson.
For the week, I had 53 R, 5 HR, 42 RBI, 9 SB, and hit .267. I’m still leading every team with 209 runs scored. I’m on pace in steals with 28 on the year. I’m 19 RBI behind pace and I’m about 5 homeruns behind after this week. My batting average is starting to be a concern. Jones, Weeks, Patterson, and Zimmerman are all hitting under .225. Three of those players are concerns going into the season, but Zimmerman is a surprise.
Wins are my biggest problem in pitching. I have 9 on the year and I’m 7 behind pace. Harden did throw off the mound, but he is two weeks away. I need 23 more strikeouts to catch up. My ERA is right on the number at 3.75 and my whip is at 1.32. I need better starting pitching to get wins and push my whip down. Soriano had a set back when he threw on Saturday. I think he is going to be a problem all year. I have 9 saves which is 6 behind pace. It is a tough problem chasing saves and wins.
All in all I like my offense. I don’t have a lineup problem. Patterson lost some at bats last week to Hairston who was called up. Patterson had two steals and scored 5 runs in limited playing time. I need a 7 steal week out of him before he loses playing time to Bruce. Jones better get hot on the road because it will be tough for him with the fans when the Dodgers return home. My pitching is a work in progress. I haven’t made any yet, but I did add Lee. I also kept Litsch who looks like he might help.
Rant/Resume
Posted by CC's Desperados, Jun 2 2008, 08:58 AM
I guess the first question most WCOFF players would ask is: who is this jackass Madstriker and where did he come from? Other might think of me as some NFFC yahoo jumping over to the WCOFF. And there will be a few who will say “oh yeah he is the guy that does well in baseball, but he has never done anything here”. Yes, I’m a NFFC and NFBC player first. Why…because I heard of their events first!! I entered a couple of baseball events in 2004 and got lucky and won both. Hell my team had a chance to win the overall finishing 3rd. When I knew I was going to cash, I decided to jump in and play some high stakes football. I had been running three 16 team leagues for a number of years. I drew the 14th and some guy name Gordon Gekko was sitting next to me. I was lucking enough to draft Culpepper and Harrison with my first two picks. I came out of the draft with NO starting running backs. After the second week I was 0-2. I made a strong play for that stud Lamar Gordon ($971). In week 3 I beat the first place team with Gordon and Zereoue. Yes…Amos Zereoue…..I made a roster change at 12:50 and put him in. The team I was playing never refreshed his live page so he didn’t know I slipped him in my lineup. On Monday he thought I hacked into the system and pulled a fast one. I don’t know if Gordon’s 10 points were a difference in me winning or losing, but I only lost one game after that week and won the league. Gekko went on to win a $100,000.
After that season I became aware of the WCOFF. I couldn’t pull off two trips to Las Vegas. I always thought I was better at baseball. Baseball is a job and football is an event. I enjoy the Sundays watching football games, but I knew football was more of crapshoot for me. I knew I could win, but I thought I would have to be lucky and draw the right draft position. In my mind I think I will get the right draft spot once every three years. If someone does well more often than that, they have been either very lucky drawing draft spots or they are a very good player.
When the WCOFF offered Atlantic City as a drafting location, I decided to give it a shot. I drew a late draft position and had a bad year. Over the next winter, I had a couple of conversations with Jesse about doing some baseball work. Instead of running a baseball web site, they bought the WCOFF. During the baseball season, I did some work for the baseball mafia web site. I decided to playing in a few more WCOFF events and stay in Vegas for ten days. In year two I drew the 11 hole and donated again. I did have success in a couple of other WCOFF satellite events. I won my entry this year and lost in the title game for a second.
It is usually very difficult for me to get ready for football because I’m in the middle of some battles in baseball. I’d much rather look at baseball players than study football. Last year I decided to do an early draft to get me thinking about the football season. I think it help me get ready for the upcoming season. After last baseball season I did a lot of work for baseball mafia. The feed back was very positive about helping players get ready for NFBC season. Because of my baseball work, I was asked to do some work for the WCOFF magazine. It's a tough challenge mentally because of the timing with baseball, but it will only help me for this upcoming football season.
So this is my story why I appear on your boards. I’m I ready to start posting everyday on these message boards…I don’t think so. I’ll add something here or there. What I do think is that the main core of message board posters have left the building. I don’t know all the names, but I do know some. I see them spreading their wings elsewhere. So question is: who will be the next group of names to offer input here? Will it be the WCOFF players with some history or will they allow a new group of players looking for football talk to take hold?
I can’t say I’m better than anyone else in football. Maybe I was lucky a couple of years. What I do know is I have an opinion and I’m willing to draft the players I like because of it. I can sell anybody who wants to listen who I like, but they won’t listen. They will draft who they like because they have an opinion. And that is how it should be in fantasy football. Do your homework and be prepared….listen to everyone’s opinion, but make the final call on your own.
Baseball Quest May 6
Posted by CC's Desperados, Jun 2 2008, 08:58 AM
May 6-
I started week 5 in 96th place overall. Pitching is where I’m having the biggest problems. I have 839 points out of a possible 1950. I’m in 354th in wins with 29 points. If I had 16 wins, I would be in a tie for 87th place. It’s almost like clockwork for wins. You know the goal, but it is like pulling teeth sometimes. I have 134 points in saves. I could see myself losing ground over the next couple of weeks until I find a second full time closer. I hope I’m closer in wins when that happens. This week I have four double starts lined up for Tuesday. I benched Bonderman in New York. He isn’t throwing the ball well enough to be the lineup. I also sat down Parra. I’ll use in him in double start weeks until he shows he can pitch into the 7th inning. Milwaukee sent Dave Bush to the minors. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him traded. He hasn’t been that bad. I think he has pitched better than Parra for sure. Lee, Villaneuva, and Litsch earn their way into my lineup. I think only Lee and Hamels are locks right now. It looks like I have 11 starts this week.
Monday was a slow day for my team in baseball. Most of my players had the day off and I didn’t have any pitchers starting. But on Tuesday, I have another moving day. This time I have four starters going Lester, Smith, Hamel, and Bonser. I need a good start to the week in wins.
It is very rare when you have all your pitchers pitch well on the same day, but last night was a very good night for my pitching. I had 31.1 innings pitched with 27 K’s. I had a 1.44 ERA and a 0.83 whip. Every starter pitched 7 innings or more and gave up 2 runs or less. It would have been a great night if I had got 4 wins, but I’ll take the 2. I feel lucky to have that. Hamels left with one out and two runners on in the 8th with a 3-1 lead. I thought for sure the bullpen was going to blow it. Romero walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. Tom Gordon came on and allowed a slow ground ball to score one run. The other two runners moved up a base. The next batter swung at the first pitch and hit a slow ground ball to second. I feel as though I caught a break. I can never understand why a batter swings at the first pitch in key situation in a game. Philly scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to open up the lead. Jon Lester pitched lights out. He allowed one hit over 8 innings. I don’t think he was any better than any other start. I just think Toronto swung more. He walked 4 batters and had 6 K’s. He only threw 58 strikes in 99 pitches. It was nice to see the 99 pitches over 8 innings compared to the usual 6. He isn’t out of the woods yet, but it is a start. He left the game with score tied at 0-0.
Pitchers
Starters Pos IP ERA W WHIP K SV
Boof Bonser
P 7.0 1.286 1 1.000 8 0
Cole Hamels
P 7.1 2.455 1 .955 6 0
Cliff Lee
P 0.0 - -
Jon Lester
P 8.0 .000 0 .625 6 0
Jesse Litsch
P 0.0 - -
Carlos Marmol
P 0.0 - -
Greg Smith
P 8.0 2.250 0 .750 5 0
Joakim Soria
P 1.0 .000 0 1.000 2 0
Carlos Villanueva
P 0.0 - -
Totals 31.1 1.436 2 .830 27 0
I talked about how bad my pitching was last week and what I needed to do to fix it. After a week, I’m back on pace except for the wins and saves. I have a 3.47 ERA and a 1.26 whip with 266.2 innings pitched on the year.
My offense also came around. My team hit 4 homeruns and drove in 14 runs. I needed help in both areas. My batting average continues to slide. I’m down to .271. I don’t like that number. I had my best night overall on the year and I moved back up to 31st overall so it was a great moving day.
31 CC's Desperados
Shawn Childs Las Vegas League 8
1,562.5 1,126.0 2,688.5 +425.0
In the new today John Smoltz went on the DL. There was a report he might consider going to the bullpen and be the closer if the Braves needed him there. I hope Soriano gets it going soon. If not, saves could be my downfall again this year. This week Max Scherzer will the hot pick up. He pitched in relief and was lights out 4.1 innings with no hits, no walks and 7 K’s. I’m sure Arizona will say he is in the rotation for Gonzalez. As much as I’d like to have him, I can’t afford him. He could be this years Cole Hamel or Tim Lincecum.
After a big move, you hope you can hold your ground until you have another day with multiple starters pitching. If they pitch well, you will have some follow though and make another gain in the standings. Last night Cliff Lee was my only starter. He pitched well. And I think for the first time all year, I had a game where I didn’t have to sweat a win late in the game. Lee had an 8-0 lead going into the top of the 7th inning. He gave up an infield single, single, and a three-run homer to break his streak of allowing no runs in 27 innings. He is 5-0 on the year. For the night, I think only Russell Martin played well. He was 2-2 with a homer and 3 walks. He is starting to come around. Andrew Jones continues to struggle, but he is taking his walks. I view this as a good sign. He went 0-3 with two walks. He is on a pace for 90 BB and 174 K’s. Jeremy Bonderman won his start against the Yankees. His command was better only walking two batters. He gave up 2 runs in 7 innings, but he had only 1 K. He only threw 57 strikes in 100 pitches. He has double starts next week so I’m hoping for the best. Greg Smith pitched better than him, but he didn’t win the game. I’ll need that win at the end of the week to break even in wins.
The day to day grind of fantasy baseball wears on you mentally sometimes. You want your team to play well so bad, but they just don’t cooperate. After my big push on Tuesday, my offense has slowed. My batting average is down to .267. I thought I’d make a push in homeruns this week, but I’ve only hit two since Tuesday night. I’ll need at least 5 over the next two days to hold my ground for the week. Andrew Jones continues to make outs at a record pace. Carlos Villanueva was off to a great starts last night. He pitched 4 shutout innings with 4 K’s. He had a 4-0 lead when he gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the 5th. He allowed two more base runners before getting an inning ending double play. With the score the same entering the bottom of the 6th inning, he gave up a single and 3 consecutive homeruns. He gave up 8 hits to the last 11 batters he faces. It’s amazing to see someone look so good and then look so bad two innings later. Maybe he just doesn’t have enough to go through the batting order three times. I liked the start, but I hated the finish. I won’t have to worry about him losing his job with Gallardo going down for the season. I liked the fact that he didn’t walk anyone.
Jesse Litsch got my 4th win on the week yesterday. He pitched really well 7.1 5 22 0 3. My offense had a good night led by James Loney who had a homerun and 6 RBI. For the night, I hit .291 with 11 runs, 2 homers, 13 RBI, and 1 steal. If my pitching holds up today, I will have made a huge move this week. With four starts today, I would be very happy with 2 wins and good pitching. They are the same group who pitched on Tuesday. I can’t expect them to pitch as well they did earlier in the week.
Rich Harden had a minor league start a couple of days ago. I think he will have one more before he returns to the majors. I don’t know if I can take another DL stint by him. When he comes off the DL, I’ll use him. If he goes down again, I’m going to send him away.
The week will be an interesting week on the waiver wire. Max Scherzer will be the hot shot rookie. I could see him going for over $400 in most leagues. I don’t think I can afford him. I could see him having some problems if he doesn’t have good secondary pitches. I didn’t see him use them enough on Tuesday night to know if he had the command of them. Jeff Clement will offer some power from catcher once he qualifies. He is only eligible at utility right now. I could use the power from my second catcher, but I like what I’ve seen from Kurt Suzuki. He is still batting lead off and playing almost every day. Wladimir Balentein was also called up. He will take over for Brad Wilkerson who was waived by Seattle. I have Wilkerson on my bench. With Andrew Jones playing so poorly and Corey Patterson losing at bats, I should make a move on him. I’m not sold on his batting average, but he should offer power and a few steals. I’m not convinced he will play everyday. Between the three players, I could see $750 free agent dollars being spent this week. I haven’t decided on what I’m going to do yet.
My second moving day of the week wasn’t as exciting as my first. My 4 pitchers only had one win. Jon Lester pitched well again. He threw 112 pitches with 72 for strikes. It might be his best game of the year in regards to highest percentage of strikes thrown. Boston won the game 7-3. His final line was 6 4 11 3 5. Cole Hamels had a two run lead twice in the game. The second time he gave two hits with two outs in the inning. The second hit was a bad first pitch fastball inside that was deposited in the left field seats. Cole seemed to want to throw his fastball more in the 5th and 6th innings. He left the game with score tied at 4. I expected better from him facing San Fran. He was facing Lincecum so it wasn’t an easy match up. Boof Bonser gave up a lead off homer to Curtis Granderson and then struggled badly to get out of the first inning. He gave up 6 hits and 5 earned runs. He threw 45 pitches. He pitched well after that and allowed only two more base runners. His final line was 6 8 65 05. Those next five innings were huge when you have a bad start. The funny thing is he left the game trailing 6-3, but the Twins scored 4 runs the next inning to win the game 7-6. My last start was Greg Smith. I mentioned he was the junk ball throwing lefty earlier in the week. He made the step up to being a crafty lefty! He pitched great 6 3 11 2 10. He left the game losing 1-0. Just like Bonser, Oakland scored runs in the 7th to win the game 3-1. A couple of more innings and a different pitch selection, I could have won all four games.
For the week, my pitching was lights out consider the group of starters I have. I ended up with 5 wins and 71 K’s. My era and whip are solid for the year. I’m still chasing saves (-7) and wins (-6). I’m working on the wins, but I need to find a closer to help in my chase for saves. Here are my pitching numbers for the week:
Pitchers
Starters Pos IP ERA W WHIP K SV
Boof Bonser
P 13.0 4.154 1 1.154 13 0
Cole Hamels
P 13.1 4.050 1 1.050 11 0
Cliff Lee
P 6.0 4.500 1 1.333 3 0
Jon Lester
P 14.0 .643 1 .857 11 0
Jesse Litsch
P 7.1 2.455 1 .682 3 0
Carlos Marmol
P 4.2 .000 0 .214 7 0
Greg Smith
P 14.0 1.929 0 .786 15 0
Joakim Soria
P 3.0 .000 0 .333 4 2
Carlos Villanueva
P 5.0 10.800 0 1.800 4 0
Totals 80.1 3.025 5 .946 71 2
The 71 K’s put me back on pace for the year. I now have 244 for the year which is 4 more than my goals. I don’t have a big edge, but I’m on the right side of the number. I think next week I don’t have enough double starters to get my quota. I will lose some ground for sure. I’ll keep working the wins until a find another closer. There hasn’t been any news about Soriano so he is starting to look like a lost cause with news that Smoltz might get some saves.
My offense had another bad week. I hit .241. Patterson is losing playing time and Andrew Jones hasn’t done anything to make you think he will come around. Even though I didn’t hit for the week, I still scored 55 runs and had 43 RBI. My steals were right on the number with 7 for the week. Homeruns went backwards for the second week in a row. I had only 8 for the week. I think I’m behind by 6 homeruns. It feels like I’m in a worse position, but I’m 92nd overall with 49 homeruns. If I start to hit some homeruns, I’ll gain points in RBI also. As a whole, my offense has done well and I still don’t have any injuries. I’m 22 hits behind hitting .280. If Patterson, Jones, Zimmerman, and Weeks were hitting .246 combined, I would be at .280. I’m not confident my batting average will get to .280, but I do think the numbers show that I should be fine in that area.
Hitters
Starters Pos AB BA R HR RBI SB
Conor Jackson
1B 105 .343 27 5 25 2
Derrek Lee
1B 127 .339 28 8 23 2
James Loney
1B 120 .275 14 3 25 1
Rickie Weeks
2B 122 .197 28 4 9 6
Ryan Zimmerman
3B 129 .217 12 3 14 0
Kurt Suzuki
C 112 .286 17 0 10 1
Russell Martin
C 105 .286 19 3 13 2
Andruw Jones
CF 98 .163 14 1 4 0
Corey Patterson
CF 90 .200 15 4 11 5
Lastings Milledge
CF 118 .263 15 1 11 3
Chris Denorfia
LF 2 .500 0 0 1 0
Jason Bay
LF 109 .266 21 6 11 3
Mark Teahen
LF 112 .277 10 1 8 0
Bobby Crosby
SS 127 .268 19 2 20 0
Hanley Ramirez
SS 126 .317 25 8 19 10
Totals 1602 .266 264 49 204 35
I made only one free agent move for the week. I cut Brad Wilkerson and picked up Miguel Batista for $42. He has double starts at home. I really don’t like him as a pitcher, but I’ll give him a chance for a week. I actually won a NL only league because I didn’t pitch Batista in September. He was killing me in whip and era. Last year I lost an AL only league when my opponent pitched Batista the last week of the season. His pitching staff was reeling until Miguel pitched a two hitter the last weekend of the season. I don’t have a good feeling about him, but he does have two good match ups. He pitched well in his last start.
Magazine Draft
Posted by CC's Desperados, Jun 2 2008, 08:58 AM
Tonight I took part in the WCOFF magazine draft. I drew the 5 hole. There were no surprises as Tomlinson, Peterson, Jackson, and Westbrook went before my pick. I took Addai and was happy to have a piece of Indy's offense. In the second round, I selected Andre Johnson. He was the 7th receiver off the board. In the third round, I probably should have grabbed another receiver, but I decided to grab Maroney. I have him as a breakout player this year. In the 4th, I went with Kellen Winslow. I'm not sure if this was a bit early. I'll know more in a couple of months as the player settle into certain ranges. After I took Winslow, I was thinking maybe I should have taken Romo. He lasted until the 4/5 turn for pick one. He is a very nice player for a team who has a stud running back. On my 5th pick, I was thinking I needed a receiver for sure, but I thought there was a drop off at running back. I could have selected James or Stewart. I figured Stewart had more upside. I hope I'm solid at running back and have an edge. There were a couple of receiver I liked at 5, but I wanted to see how they fell. When it got back to me at 6, some of the receivers I liked were gone. I decided to take Driver. I didn't want to gamble on a player with upside. I wanted someone steady. Driver could have a lot of action in the Green Bay offense. He isn't getting any younger. The next round I grabbed Derek Anderson. I like the hook up with my tight end. I don't think Anderson will last this long come September. In the 8th, I took a shot on D.J. Hackett. He showed flashes last year. He will have to stay healthy to have a breakout season. It might not be smart to have two Carolina players in my lineup each week. Because this draft was so early, I didn't track the bye weeks.
1.5 Joseph Addai
2.8 Andre Johnson
3.5 Laurence Maroney
4.8 Kellen Winslow
5.5 Jonathan Stewart
6.8 Donald Driver
7.5 Derek Anderson
8.8 D.J. Hackett
Is this team a contender?
Reflection
Posted by CC's Desperados, May 23 2008, 12:20 PM
Last year I wrote this about the top running backs in the draft. It's interesting to look back and see where your mind was entering the football season. As Lenny wrote in the WCOFF magazine, 50% of players don't live up to your expectations due to injuries or performance. Last year I didn't like Henry, Parker, and wouldn't have drafted Rudi Johnson. If I had a mid to late draft pick, I would have avoided these players. I did like Maroney and Bush who didn't help anyone win any championship last year.
So entering this years football season, I like to look back and see where I made mistakes.
The World Championship of Fantasy Football is less than a month away. There will be close to one thousand contestants this year. They will be playing for a first place prize of $300,000. I tell my friends you have a better chance of winning the WCOFF than the lottery. All you have to do is nail eight key picks and hope that the fantasy gods shine on you during the play-off run.
The eight key picks are the nucleus of your starting line-up. Every week you submit a line-up of one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight-end, one flex player (RB, WR, or TE), a kicker, and a defense. It is nice to have the top kicker and defense, but you can be wrong at the draft and still find a serviceable one on the waiver wire. The question is how you find the key eight players. I know everyone will have an opinion and you wonder how you can compete against an owner that has the stud running back.
If you have an early draft selection, a stud running back will put you in prime position to make a run at the title. The question is will he be in top form when the fantasy play-offs come around. Last year San Diego was a scoring machine and Tomlinson was engine of that machine. He had a part in 33 of San Diego’s 58 touchdowns. The 33 touchdowns were more than 50 % of the teams scored in the NFL for the whole year. When you think about that, it is unbelievable. I’ll take Tomlinson and can have all of the Green Bay Packer’s offensive players. We would be about even at the end of the season in total touchdowns.
San Diego led the league in scoring last year. I would think they can repeat their total from a year ago. Maybe, a few teams score at a high level with them, but they should be in the top three in offense again. Rivers is a year older and should be a little better. His total touchdowns should increase and Tomlinson’s touchdowns should go down some. Either way, it is going to be tough to compete with a back that could score 25 touchdowns.
Last year Steven Jackson had a break out year. Most people could see him having a good year, but no one expected him to have 90 catches. He was the running back to have during the play-off run last year. The problem was there were a lot of teams that didn’t make it to the play-offs with him. His first 6 weeks of the year were good but not dominate. His last 6 weeks were Tomlinson like. If he can get his yards per carry up to 5, it would offset the loss in receptions that most people think he will lose. The best part about Jackson is the Rams are a good team not a great team. He will be needed late in the year for the Rams to make the play-offs. If you draft Jackson, you will only be a few lengths off of the Tomlinson owner.
It looks like Larry Johnson will be signed soon. He would compete for the top spot in the draft if Kansas City offense was anywhere close to San Diego. With questions at quarterback and wide receiver you really have to be a Larry believer. He will be the main ingredient in the Chief’s offense. The last three years Kansas City’s touchdowns have dropped every year (60, 45 and 36). If they score any less, you wonder how many touchdowns Larry will get. He will score about half of the Chiefs touchdowns. He is a workhorse and it is nice to see him on the field all the time. Tomlinson could have a ten touchdown edge and 500 more yards. The gap is getting wider.
Frank Gore looked great last year. He is on a team that is improving. Last year he fumbled a couple of times and didn’t get all the goal line carries. San Francisco should score more this year. If he can hang on to the ball, he could match Larry Johnson numbers just by being on a better team. Gore broke his hand early in camp. He should be a 100% by the start of the year. The only question is he has had a history of injuries, but he looks to be in great shape. He will be neck and neck with Larry Johnson in most drafts.
Joseph Addai is in a great situation. He is going to be the primary back on a high scoring team. He is quick and he can catch the ball out of the back field. Last year Addai and Rhodes caught 76 passes. They had 413 rushes. If Addai could get 80 % of each, he would have 325 carries and 60 catches. Those would be great numbers. He would need to score double digit touchdowns to match Gore and Johnson. Indy’s offense is more explosive so there is always the chance he could do more. You would only hope he can handle the load. You should be able to get his back up late in the draft.
Shaun Alexander is coming off a bad year. He missed half of last season with a foot injury. It really showed in his yards per carry. He had a career low 3.6. If Alexander can bounce back, he should be solid in rushing yards and touchdowns. He has averaged over a touchdown per game for his whole career. If they threw to him out of the back field, he would move up a couple of spots. He has caught over 40 balls three times in his career. The problem is he has been a non factor in the passing the last three years. For him to match any of the second tier backs, Seattle has to score 45-50 touchdowns this year. Last year their offense struggled with Hasselbeck and Alexander having problems most of the year.
I think owners with any of these six players are solid enough to compete for their league title. Each owner will have to out draft the Tomlinson owner in order to close the points edge they are giving up. After the top six players, there will be big swings in opinions on players. Any one of them could be a break out player or a bust. If you get two breakout players, you are in the game. If you grab two bust players, it is going to be a long year.
Brian Westbrook is the fashionable 7th pick. He is a solid pass catcher and he had a career year. He had 240 carries last year. His highest previous total was 177. If you add that to his 77 receptions, he touched the ball over 300 times for the first time in his career. He had 177 carries and 73 catches in 2004. Philadelphia drafted Tony Hunt this year. He should take some of the load off Westbrook. I think a healthy Westbrook should touch the ball 250 times. Anymore than that they could be inviting injury. Brian Westbrook is a good second back, but I think you need someone that does it all to be your lead back.
Reggie Bush is a young Brian Westbrook. He has a lot more upside with less risk. He is used in tandem with Deuce McAllister. The New Orleans Saints look like they are going to be a top offensive team this year. If Bush can establish himself better in the running game, he could get 200 carries this year. With 200 carries, he could approach 900 yards if he get has yards per carry up to 4.5. He had 88 catches last year which seems a bit high. They had a few injuries at wide receiver so he might have caught a few more than he will this year. I could see 75 catches for 750 yards. I think the choice between Westbrook and Bush is really close. I know Bush is going to be a superstar in this league so I’d place my bet on him. I think he will rush for 1000 yards and have 1000 receiving one year. If he could put up those numbers this year, he would be worthy of the 7th pick. If he matches Brian Westbrook, he will be a good second back. The problem is either player won’t slip to the second round. You need to find the stud player to go along with both of these players.
Travis Henry is this year’s sleeper pick. A lot of fantasy owners think the starting job in Denver is instant gold. They could be right. He had 1200 rushing yards in 14 games with a bad Tennessee team last year. He hasn’t caught many balls out the back field since 2002. A healthy Henry could easily rush for 1400 years and double digit touchdowns. The only problem I have with him is fumbles. He did a better job last year, but in his first three years at Buffalo he had 23. A few of those at the wrong time and he could be in Shanahan’s doghouse.
Willie Parker is coming off a great year. He has an ankle problem. It looks to be minor. Pittsburg as a team struggled last year, but Fast Willie was running on all cylinders. They have a new coach and a new player in the back field Kevin Barlow. Last year Najeh Davenport came over to Pittsburg just before the start of the season. He wasn’t a 100% early in the year. You have to wonder if they would use him at the goal line and cut into Parker’s value. Going into last year’s draft, it wasn’t real clear what was going to happen. Parker went on to set a career high in TD’s. I’d hate to get burned by Davenport or even Barlow getting more carries and touchdowns. Willie has the writing’s of bust for me. Ankle, Davenport, Barlow and a new coach is too many questions for me.
Rudi Johnson has been as consistent as they come. You can expect 1400 yards rushing and 12 Td’s. He has done about that for three straight years. His only threat to steal carries is out for the year. You wish he could catch the ball out of the back field better, but he is what he is: a grinder. Maybe he breaks out and gets 1600 yards rushing and 15 Td’s this year. With those numbers, he still isn’t better than Westbrook or Bush with 1500 yards and 75 catches.
Willis McGahee doesn’t come with the best resume, but he has had a flash before. In 2004 he took over for Travis Henry after week 5. He scored 13 touchdowns the last 11 weeks and he had seven 100 rushing games. When you look at last year, you wonder how many times he ever broke into a team’s secondary with a chance to make a player miss. I not sure how much better Baltimore’s offensive line is compared to Buffalo. McGahee should be a lot quicker than Lewis was last year. It seemed like Lewis was always stuttering into the hole. Baltimore will look to run the ball a lot if they have the lead. McGahee hasn’t caught a lot of passes out of the back field in the past. Baltimore said they wanted to get him involved more in the passing attack.
These twelve players will take us to the end of the first round of the draft. Not every player will get drafted in the first round, but ten out of these twelve will for sure. I would say there are at least six running backs that will play as well or even better than the last six in the first round. Some will go anywhere from the second round until the sixth round. The owners who draft in the last six spots can win, but they may have to take a few shots on players who have the whole show. I know everyone wants to compete and win their league, but to win $300,000 you will need stud players. They are there for the taking, but will you take the risk of getting sacked for the chance at taking home the gold. After this test, you will need to pass seven more challenging decisions. I didn’t say it was easy. I said you had a better chance than hitting the lottery. It’s a lot more fun and it’s a lot more stressful if you do get in position to win. So go hit the fantasy books and sign up for the biggest event in fantasy sports. The World Championship of Fantasy Football at www.wcoff.com and soon you will be dusting the field.
After rereading this, I think is funny to see where I was right on a couple of players, but so wrong on others. If you want to win the overall title, you can't afford to give away any draft picks. Well last year was last year, it's time to find the players who will win you fantasy gold. This years 1st round will be wide open.
The Decision
Posted by CC's Desperados, May 22 2008, 10:13 PM
It’s late December with your play-off hopes on the line, you are facing a third down and five at your opponents thirty yard line with 52 seconds left on the clock and you are down by two points in the game. It’s been snowing all afternoon. Do you run the ball straight up the middle and take what the defense give you and kick a long field goal with your season on the line? Do you run outside an take a chance at a loss and either put more pressure on your kicker or force your quarterback to make a play on forth down? Do you throw the ball and except the fact that if it is incomplete, your season rides on a long kick in bad weather? There are so many decision during a football game that determine who will wins or loses. The margin of victory could be the difference of a player just running out of bounds to save one second on the clock. It could be a bad spot that negated a first down by less than an inch. Every decision will have an impact on which team wins and loses. In fantasy football you get to make all the decisions. If you want to win the overall prize in The World Championship of Fantasy Football, you need to get a lot of decisions right at the draft table.
When you are the draft table at any fantasy event, you can only control your pick. You don’t decide where you will pick and the other owner will dictate to you who will be available when it is you turn. You do get to decide which order you would like to get all the players you want. The players who you believe will lead you to the promise land. A funny thing happens at the draft. The other owners don’t always allow you to have the players you want. This is when you have to make big decision. A big decision on draft day is moving a player up a round or two. You do this because you feel a player is going to have a breakout year. A like to call these players “impact players”. Every football season there will be a couple of players who will have a jump in performance. The better you are at identifying those players. The better chance you will have at having success every year. Now the trick is figuring out how to get them before you opponent does.
During the season every fantasy football owner is presented with many decisions every week. Who do I sit? Who can I pick up to fill in for a player on a bye week? Which quarterback to play? I’m a big believer in eliminating decisions during the season. I think the less decision you have to make. The better you will be at not making mistakes during the season. This is a lot easier said than done. It falls back on your draft plan. Did you draft three quarterbacks who were about the same and hope one would break out this year? If you did that, you might be flipping coins every week to see who has the best match up. I know some fantasy owners love this part of the game, but I like to avoid it as much as possible. I want a solid starting line-up. These are my players who I am going to go to battle with. Sure, I’ll have to make an adjustment if someone has a job change or isn’t playing up to par.
So to me, I think on draft day. You need to make the best decision that will allow you to make fewer decisions during the season. I’m a quarterback guy. I want someone who I can wheel out there every week and depend on as being the core of my team. In the WCOFF, the quarterback isn’t valuable as many other fantasy leagues based on four points for every touchdown pass. It is difficult to draft one early, but I think there will be a point where you are choosing between a lesser running back and/or questionable receiver. The same goes for running back and receiver. If you are drafting players of similar skill levels, you are leaving more to chance every Sunday when you are setting your line-up.
When you have your next draft, I would make my decision with the ultimate goal of having less decisions during the season. This easier said than done, but I think you can make adjustment during the draft that will make it easier to manage during the season.
on Arizona Diamondbacks 2010