First the Vernon Wells sleeper post (hahahahahahaha — terrible), then the Alex Rios sleeper post (hahahahahahahaha – worse), now a Kevin Youkilis sleeper post…. Seriously, am I getting old here? What the eff in the effhole? Where’s my youth love? My rookie nookie! I blame ESPN and the rest of the schmohawks out there in Internet land. Why does ESPN rank Youuuuuuk in the 2nd round last year <italics for emphasis>for them<italics for emphasis> and now he’s 100? I get that he had a bad year, but he’s done? Just like that? Fork’s in him? How is he being drafted in the 80′s of mock drafts? I understand he’s injury prone, but everyone’s done with The Greek God Of Limps? I have a lot of questions. So what makes Kevin Youkilis a 2012 fantasy baseball sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?2012 Fantasy Baseball Draft
For those fantasy players who play in standard mixed leagues, the hot stove season is a time of excitement. These owners can just sit back and enjoy the player moves, secure in the knowledge that regardless of what happens there will not be a huge impact on gameplay.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I’m a pretty harsh critic of Razzball, but occasionally we’ll post things that even I feel are extremely helpful. Usually these are done by other people for our site. Yesterday, we brought you the one and only 2012 Fantasy Baseball War Room. (Honestly, there may be more War Rooms than you can shake a stick at, but who’s intro’ing anything by saying we brought you the “one of a couple zillion War Rooms?”) Another thing we’re offering is the 2012 fantasy baseball tiers, brought to you by regular commenter and all-around solid F.O.R., VinWins. This fantasy baseball tier sheet is like the Cliff Notes version of the 2012 fantasy baseball rankings. The tiers give you where I ranked players and the tier names, which should give you a rough idea of what I’m thinking when you don’t have much time.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Here’s a post that’s gonna make you wanna slap ya mama and call her Frances Fisher. The other day I told you how to draft your pitchers for 2012 fantasy baseball. I laid it out to you nice and simple (if you have a degree in “What The Hell Is Grey Talking About?” Not a PhD, mind you. Just a BS.) Today, we forget all that jabberwocky on the who-ha and get down to business old school-style (which means if you don’t comprehend, I will hit you over the head with a baseball bat signed by Joe Clark.) What I’m hoping to lay out to you is who do you draft 2nd if you’ve drafted so and so first. I think it might be helpful to go through pairings for your 5 outfielders, all your middle and corner infielders too. I’m not sure I’ll have the time or patience to do them though. We’ll see! Or not. Your choice. For easy reference, the royal we will be using the top 10 2012 fantasy baseball rankings and the top 20 2012 fantasy baseball rankings. I’m going to assume you’re in a 12 team, 5×5, MI, CI, 5 OF, 1 Utility, 1 Catcher league. Anyway, here’s some pairings for the first two rounds of 2012 fantasy baseball drafts:
Miguel Cabrera – I’d put him with just about anyone, but another 1st baseman. The reality of the situation is you want to get someone that is going to give you a few steals, say, 10. A third baseman would work, but it might be unrealistic to think you’re going to get Longoria. That leaves you with Wright. That doesn’t sound too shabby. Think about how for the last five years prior to 2011 and you would’ve loved to have Wright and Miggy on the same team. I say, live in the past and do it. But I’d say “Do it” like Ben Stiller in the Starsky & Hutch remake. Now it’s totally not ideal to grab Wright if you think Miggy will get 3rd base eligibility. Right now, I put it at about 85% that he will have 3rd base eligibility within a few weeks of Opening Day, so if you wanna grab an outfielder instead, I’m not hating the game or the playa (that’s not Spanish for beach). I say grab Andrew McCutchen or Jay Bruce. Wanna go for a 2nd baseman? Kinsler might be there. Swiggy with one of those three looks real nice to me. Your team would be balanced heading off to the third pick. Someone like Reyes or Hanley would also work, though they might not be there. Now, the risk with not grabbing a 3rd baseman is if Miggy starts treating grounders at third like they’re empty beer cans and starts booting them. Then you may have punted 3rd and Miggy is sent back to first before his 3rd base eligibility kicks in. Kicks being the operative word. Really, as long as you avoid a 1st baseman, catcher and a starter while getting some combo of power and speed, you should be fine. For those of you who are thinking you can grab a 1st baseman and then move Miggy to 3rd two weeks in, you’re screwed if Miggy doesn’t get 3rd base eligibility, even if that possibility is only slim. And, yes, that’s the only time Miggy and slim will ever be used in a sentence. In summation, don’t put unnecessary risk on the table in the first two rounds.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
This was author and innovator Lou Poulas’ introduction, “While Grey and Rudy do a great job of breaking down everything you need to know for 2012 fantasy baseball, drafts still trip me up. I’ve been lamenting my inadequacies from the past 3+ years which resulted in an inordinate amount of time number crunching in Excel. My quest – a draft day “war room” that allowed me to keep my finger on the pulse of the league while minimizing my effort. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to keep track of more things as opposed to fewer.”
Presenting the free 2012 Fantasy Baseball War Room.
Please, blog, may I have some more?With the Razzball Commenter Leagues sign ups in full swing, we look at what last year’s RCLs showed us. I.e., this is what it took to win these fantasy baseball leagues last year. Across thirty-six 12 team leagues, you would think you’d have some wide variations, but it’s amazingly close what you need in each category to do average vs.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
While killing time waiting for 2012 projections to be ready (hoping Point Shares are up sometime next week), I finally got around to calculating Point Shares / $ values for 2011. I’ve posted it for 10/12/14/16 team MLB formats as well as a 12-team ‘Best Value’ comparison that includes RCL ADP, my pre-season Point Share projections, Grey’s rankings, and stats on how RCL teams that drafted those players fared (big thanks to VinWins for his RCL work – check him out in the forums!).
Please, blog, may I have some more?For these pairings, I’m going to be using our 2012 fantasy baseball rankings. Notably, the top 20 starters for 2012 fantasy baseball, top 40 starters for 2012, top 60 starters for 2012 and the top 80 starters for 2012. Okay, now that we have our links and shizz done. What is a pitcher pairing? It’s how you plan on putting together a fantasy staff. It’s a plan of action. If you have A pitcher, which B, C and D pitcher goes with him? You should have six starters. The sixth starter is Brad Peacock or take whoever you want. I suggest an upside pick. Brad Peacock comes to mind. Or Mike Minor. Mike Minor also comes to mind. I’m going to assume you’re in a 12 team, 5×5 and some variation of 9 Pitchers league. (NOTE: What you are about to read is massively confusing. If it were found scribbled in a notebook, the FBI would be watching me.) Anyway, here’s some pairings for pitching staffs for 2012 fantasy baseball drafts:
TIERS
If your first pitcher is from the tiers: “The top tier. Didn’t I already say that?” and “The aces that once were.” — These tiers are from Halladay to Greinke. There’s very little chance I have anyone in any of these tiers. If I do have one, I wouldn’t take another pitcher until the Gio tier that goes into the top 40 starters. Then I’d grab one guy from the tier of Moore/Scherzer and one guy from the flyer tier of Sanchez. Finally, I’d finish my staff off with — that just sounded like a phone sex operator — an out there flyer from the top 80 starter post (a pitcher in the top 80 post that I like, preferably), then I’d grab Peacock or Minor. So Greinke, Daniel Hudson, Beachy, Minor, Peavy and Peacock. That staff will probably have 13′s in every pitching category in a 12 team league.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Grey: What is Ryan Braun worth in 2012?
Rudy: Not sure. I’d like to know what is Jayson Werth’s brawn in 2012?!
Silence.
Silence.
Rudy: Oh, right, this is the time of year where you need me to be mathy vs.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Okay, so it’s not the best 2012 fantasy baseball team, but, man, that title sings, right? This is the best 2012 fantasy baseball team that I can put together when drafting from my top 100 for 2012 fantasy baseball and top 300 for 2012 fantasy baseball. Honestly, I could draft another 25 teams from those lists, and they’d all be different. If I took Longoria in the 1st round, everything after it would change. For this exercise, I’m taking Swiggy first, because, well, I have him first overall. Then once I take him at number one, I can’t take another player until the 24th pick, then choose two players within the next 24 picks, then 2 players in the next 24 picks and so on until the end of the top 100. Just like a snake draft. It would be nice if I was in a league where someone drafted Halladay, Verlander and Kershaw in the first round and I was able to take Longoria in the 2nd round, but since Miggy and him are in my first 10 picks, according to the rules I’ve set up for myself, I can’t take them both. Then, as we all know, once you get into the 100′s, there’s wide gaps between ADP and where players are actually taken. People tend to look at team need over value. So for this exercise, once I get to pick #101, I’m going to pick two players every twenty picks, rather than every 24 picks. That’s to account for the wide margin between ADP and where players are drafted. Finally, because there is so much latitude in the last 100, I gave myself free reign to fill up my team. Throughout the draft, I also gave myself the ability to reach to a lower draft pick, but not reach forward. It should still be my ideal team… Or not. Let’s see, shall we? Bee tee dubya, this team is 5×5, one catcher, 5 OFs, MI, CI, 1 UT, 9 P, 3 Bench, just like the Razzball Commenter Leagues that are signing up still. Anyway, here’s the best 2012 fantasy baseball team:
C: Joe Mauer (10)
1B: Miggy Cabrera (1)
2B: Chase Utley (5)
3B: David Wright (2)
SS: Dee Gordon (15)
MI: Zack Cozart (16)
CI: Adam Lind (7)
OF: Jay Bruce (3)
OF: Drew Stubbs (6)
OF: Andre Ethier (8)
OF: Torii Hunter (12)
OF: Lorenzo Cain (17)
UTIL: Chris Heisey (25)
P: Madison Bumgarner (4)
P: Anibal Sanchez (9)
P: Matt Moore (11)
P: Jhoulys Chacin (13)
P: Ryan Madson (14)
P: Mike Minor (18)
P: Jordan Walden (19)
P: Kyle Farnsworth (20)
P: Brad Peacock (21)
BENCH:
P: Ted Lilly (22)
P: Jim Johnson (23)
P: Aroldis Chapman (24)
So what do we learn from that in the most general sense? You don’t have to draft pitchers early. For those looking at my staff and thinking it won’t compete, my last year’s staff when I did this dream team post was:
P: Jon Lester (5)
P: Dan Haren (8)
P: John Axford (13)
P: Daniel Hudson (12)
P: Jhoulys Chacin (14)
P: Chris Perez (15)
P: Craig Kimbrel (17)
P: Mike Minor (18)
P: Jordan Zimmermann (19)
BENCH:
P: Ryan Madson (20)
P: Jason Motte (21)
P: Rafael Soriano (22)
You can switch Mike Minor out of there for Beachy too, because once he was in the rotation I switched the two of them on all of my teams. As I’ve said in the past, I may not know a damn thing, but I can pick a pitching staff. Seriously, Lester, Haren, Hudson and Chacin were all you needed. Then you throw in Beachy, Madson, Kimbrel and Axford and you have 12′s in every pitching category. And that’s not considering you could’ve dropped Soriano and picked up a great waiver wire guy. This shows you that you need to really load up on hitters early, because, as much as you like that late-round-flyer man in the 18th round to be your corner guy, it’s probably not gonna work out for you. Make sure you have at least two outfielders, a 2nd baseman, 3rd baseman and 1st baseman in the first ten rounds. In my team above, I even reached way down for Ethier in the 8th round because I wanted to make sure I had an extra bat. Also, I find myself grabbing Mauer this year to offset Stubbs and other average drains. No one’s getting anything from catcher, so may as well get some average there if he comes at the right price. I am not reaching for him. If he’s there in the 9th to 10th rounds, great. In the end, this really is just an exercise. It’s fun though! For me. So what do you think of my fantasy fantasy team? Don’t like it? Go to the top 300 and make up your own fantasy fantasy team and post it in the comments. Or not. Decisions, decisions!
Please, blog, may I have some more?