He don't have a heart. I just keep feeding him shells. He gets it poppin' in the hood, so his name ring bells.

3.03.2005

Fantasy Baseball Tips

OK, since we have a lot of new players in the league this year, I thought I would put some tips here to help you prepare before the draft.

League Overview
We play in a head-to-head league. In this kind of league, you are matched up against a different manager each week, and compete in the 11 statistical categories (6 batting, 5 pitching). Each category counts as a "game", so at the end of the week, if you are beating me in R, RBI, AVG, W, K, ERA, I am beating you in HR, Steals, OPS, and WHIP, and we have the same number of saves... then you would have a win/loss record for the week of 6-4-1(tie). Your goal is to have the best win/loss record in the league, and the top 6 teams in the league make the playoffs. Notice that you don't actually have to hit the most home runs or strikeout the most guys to win; you just need to do better than whoever you are playing that week.

That means that you don't have to be wonderful in every category; there are still 10 others to win. You will see a lot of teams give up on saves and stolen bases. Those are fairly specialized categories, and often the people who get you a lot of SB's don't get you much of anything else. The key is to have a team that you think can consistently win at least 6-7 categories. Which 6-7 you want to win is up to you. Build a pitching monster and get guys who hit for good average? Build an offensive monster, and focus just on winning saves, WHIP, and ERA every week? Entirely up to you. There is no one winning strategy, and if you pick a weird way to approach it, odds are you'll build a great team because no one else will be drafting those guys!



Draft Day

This is the day that you assemble the core of your team. It's an important day in the season, but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't end perfectly; there are still trades, free agents, and lots of other ways to improve during the season. However, you probably want to make sure you get enough "fantasy" talent to keep you in the running, so here are some tips for draft day:

1) Yahoo! pre-ranks every player in baseball for you.
They have decided who the #1, #2, etc. in baseball is, all the way down to Byung-Hyung Kim. So, if you panic and don't know what to do, just take the next best guy available! That is a strategy that rarely goes wrong. In fact, Bob is probably drafting his entire team just by letting Yahoo! rankings dictate who he gets; he won't even need to be there.

2) There are 3o teams in baseball, but we only have 12 in our league. None of your players will be as bad as Cesar Crespo.
For example, at the end of the draft, there will be over 15 2B players who go undrafted, but play every day for a MLB team. All you need to decide is which positions you want to have elite people at, and which ones you think you can manage with simply really good players at. We only start 36 outfielders in the whole league, but there are 90 who start. Don't worry; your team will not suck!

3) Look at a mock draft.
There is a good one at this link: click here. This will help you determine when you should draft players. For example, lets say you want Johnny Damon on your team above all others. Johnny didn't get drafted until round 6 in this draft, so you probably don't need to use your 1st round pick on him. Now, lets say you have the 3rd pick and want Manny Ramirez, but he didn't go until the 10th pick in this draft: who cares. Draft him anyway. All the players within a round or two of each other are pretty similar, so if you want to draft Damon in round 3-4, go right ahead. If you don't think Nomar is worth the first pick in the 4th round, pick somebody else. This is just a guideline to start from. (Also, at the bottom of that draft page, there is draft advice by position that might help you if there are certain people you really want to get.)

4) Feel free to pick the players you like.
I guarantee a lot of the members of the Red Sox will be drafted before they were in this mock draft. That's fine. There is nothing wrong with putting players you like on your team, even if they technically aren't the best person available. All these rankings are guesses; who knows who is going to have a good season this year? I overpaid for Bronson Arroyo last year, because sometimes I think he is the second coming of Jesus. I still finished second in the league. Take people you can have fun with.

5) ASK QUESTIONS!
None of us are so hardcore about this game that we won't give you suggestions if you can't decide what to do with your pick. Speak up, ask questions, can't hurt.



Advanced Draft Advice

1) Look at position depth.
There are a gaggle of insanely good outfielders and first basemen. There is only one awesome second baseman: Alfonso Soriano. As a result, you will see Soriano drafted early, even if his numbers aren't as good as other people who are still available. That is because he provides an edge over who everyone else will be playing at the position. Look at the top people at each position, and see if you want to draft someone with mediocre numbers early so you don't end up with someone even more mediocre.

2) Beware of position runs.
You might not draft a catcher because all 3 that you want are still available when it is your turn to pick. If someone else drafts one of them, the rest might be gone before you get to pick again. If you have a short list of players that you want to put at a position, be aware that a lot of other people might want them too, and once one goes, they all might go within 1 round.

3) Look for bargains. Beware of bargains.
Sometimes in the later rounds, you will notice that someone who was ranked 81st is still available at pick 108. That is usually a great situation. Pick them. But be careful: sometimes they were left alone because they just tweaked their knee in a spring training game and won't be available until mid-May.

4) Remember that averages (ERA, WHIP, AVG, OPS) are weighted by appearances.
For example, a closer might have a very low ERA and WHIP, but only pitches 3-4 inning a week. Your mediocre starter has an iffy ERA and WHIP, and because they got 2 starts this week, pitched 13 innings. His averages carry a lot more weight than your ace closer's do. Same thing applies to a batter who might not play the whole week (catchers, injuries, etc).

5) Don't draft Albert Pujols.
I want him on my team at pick #11. Thanks.

3.02.2005

Oops, missed a couple CDs

Sorry about that!

March 8th
50 Cent, "The Massacre"

March 22nd
Queens of the Stone Age, "Lullabies to Paralyze"

The Big March Releases

These are, to date, the CDs and DVDs coming out this month that are non-negotiable purchases for all sane people:

March 1st
The Mars Volta, "Francis the Mute"
"Brotherhood of the Wolf" 3 Disc Special Edition (special features are awesome in my French version, can't imagine how cool they must be if you can understand what they are saying!)

March 15th
"The Incredibles" (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

March 22nd
"Finding Neverland"
"STAR WARS - Clone Wars, Volume 1" (!!!!!!!)

March 29th
"Closer" aka "The Natalie Portman as a Stripper Movie"

 
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