Despite the tiny sample, what one player are you most worried about so far?

Visit this week’s roundtable @ RotoAuthority to see my answer (which clearly resulted in jinxing Nefty Happy) and others…

Visit this week’s roundtable @ FantasyPros911 – the only fantasy baseball blog that my namelganger Rudy Giuliani reads – for the answers.

THE TOPIC: What can we expect from Colby Lewis in 2010?

It must be remotely close to a new fantasy baseball season as the Fantasy Roundtable returns from a couple months of dormancy.

This week’s Fantasy Roundtable is being hosted by the roundtable creators over at FantasyPros911 – the only fantasy baseball blog that my namelganger Rudy Giuliani reads.

THE TOPIC: What were your biggest mistakes in 2009?

Enjoy!

Second Half Sleepers that should be available in more than 50% of mixed leagues.  Here’s the answers.

THE TOPIC: Where would you draft David Wright in a mid-season league and why?

I veered toward the most bearish in the group – saying I’d take him somewhere in picks 20-30.  Grey put him at #14 in his midseason fantasy baseball rankings.  Click on the link above to see what some other Fantasy Bloggers thought…

THE TOPIC: Three pitchers who have exceeded expectations so far are Jon Lester, Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander. Owners of these pitchers have been relying on them as weekly starters who play an intricate role for their fantasy teams. All three are on pace to strike out over 240 batters. If you had to choose one of these pitchers to continue this trend, who would it be? Why?

All three pitchers got a vote so it’ll be interesting to see how all us ‘perts will look in retrospect. I just wish the Phenoms offered up Jason Marquis because I think he’s a lock for 22+ wins…

THE TOPIC:  You find yourself in 7th place in a 15 team mixed 5×5 league.  You’ve just lost your best hitter to injury and your pitching isn’t that good.  If you really want to win, what do you do?

Spoiler alert! There’s no fool-proof way to do this – no matter how much you really really want to win – but there’s some good advice in here nonetheless.

What category(ies) do you think about least when drafting and managing your fantasy roster?

Brett Greenfield – Fantasy Phenoms
Wins.  You have the least control over predicting it.

Tommy Landry – RotoExperts.com
When I am drafting my fantasy teams, I almost completely discount the Wins category at the draft. In fact, I so dislike it as a fantasy category that I altered my main league to count Quality Starts instead. Why do such a thing? First, pitchers are inconsistent and never a sure thing. How can I possibly value a number of wins for a guy who might start three games and go down for the year with a busted UCL? Or get removed from the rotation? Demoted? You get the picture. The second, and more important issue, is that wins are highly dependent upon team defense, quality of bullpen, and just plain dumb luck. It’s easy to see why, if your team can’t field a ball, you’ll lose out on win opportunities (Hence the FIP metric). Same goes for teams with shoddy bullpens who can both blow the win/save and trash the SP’s ratios (via inherited runners scoring) in only a few short pitches. But the one factor that can absolutely kill fantasy value for pitchers (even on the elite teams) is luck. This is the reason BABIP has become such an important stat in fantasy over recent years, because it demystifies the impact of luck on the game. That said, I never again want to suffer through a season like Roger Clemens had in 2005, where his shiny happy 1.87 ERA was only good for 13 wins in 32 games started. Go for Ks and especially the ratios, and cross your fingers about the wins, because you simply can’t predict that category with any degree of certainty on a year-to-year basis.

Tim Dierkes – RotoAuthority.com
The two I think about the least are wins and saves.  With wins, I feel that I just can’t control it.  I wouldn’t draft an OK pitcher on a good team, like Chien-Ming Wang, just in search of the W.  It doesn’t always work, but I don’t worry too much about the quality of a team or offense if I like the starter.  Even during the season I don’t change that approach, I just try to assemble guys who will succeed in ERA, WHIP, and Ks.

With saves, I’ll wait until late in the draft and go for the Frank Francisco/Huston Street/George Sherrill class, for the most part.  But during the season I am vigilant in making sure I have three or more active closers.

Mike Podhorzer – FantasyPros911.com
Technically, I think about every category equally since I calculate dollar values for every player. If I didn’t though, the Wins category would be the easy answer. We all know how flukey the category could be, whether it’s the bullpen blowing your win or your pitcher’s offense deciding not to show up for the game; there are too many variables that go into wins and losses that are out of a pitcher’s control. Last year, Gavin Floyd won 17 games with the White Sox, while posting a 3.84 ERA in 206.1 innings. In just 10 fewer innings, his rotation mate John Danks only won 12 games, despite posting a superior 3.32 ERA. The difference? 8.51 runs of support behind Floyd compared to just 6.51 for Danks. Wins should not be completely ignored as the odds are a pitcher on a team with a good offense like the Red Sox will win more than a pitcher with the backing of a weak offense like the Pirates, but focusing on the pitcher’s underlying skills is the much better approach.

Adam Ronis - Newsday
The category I pay the least attention to is wins. There are too many factors involved in wins that are beyond a pitchers control. They need run support, defense and the bullpen to hold the lead since most pitchers rarely go the entire game. Johan Santana easily could have won 20 games last season and won 16 because of poor run support and a shoddy bullpen. This season it has been even worse. He has two losses and didn’t allow an earned run in either one. He is 4-2 with a 0.78 ERA. Dan Haren has a 2.09 ERA and a 56/9 K/BB ratio in 56 innings and is 3-4. For most other stats you can go by a players skills, but for wins too many elements are involved that are outside of the pitcher’s control.

Patrick Cain- Albany Times Union
Without a doubt average is the least thought about. I use to pay little attention to WHIP, but now its average. If I’m taken a bunch of Adam Dunn-like players I’ll be sure to grab one high average guy, but that’s the extent of it. One reason could be I focus most on my H2H league. And avg in a H2H is incredibly variable. Even great avg hitters like Albert Pujols has 0 for 10 streaks, so you can still have week of a team .250 followed by a followed .450.

Jon Williams – Advanced Fantasy Baseball
I try not to concentrate too much energy thinking about the actual 5×5 categories especially when it comes to pitchers. I prefer to look at K/BB ratio, K/9, and Ground Ball percentage. I believe this gives a much truer indication of a pitcher’s skills than Wins, Saves, ERA, or WHIP. I also look at the defense and lineup of the pitcher’s team. If a pitcher shows good skills and pitches in front of team with a quality defense and/or a great lineup, they go even higher up my rankings.

Hitters are another story. It is impossible to ignore the traditional categories with hitters but there are still better indicators of skills. I like to look at Ground Ball/Line Drive/ and Fly Ball percentages. Consistently high Line Drive rates are a solid indication of a skilled batter, especially when it comes with high walk rates and low strikeout rates. In potential power hitters, I want to see a high Fly Ball percentage and consistent HR/FB ratios. A player’s team and position in the lineup helps when estimating potential Runs and RBI totals.

Rudy Gamble – Razzball
I can’t argue with the consensus that Wins are the flukiest stat.  I just look for SPs with solid ERA/WHIP/K potential and generally get boned on Wins (how does my boy Randy Wolf have a sub-3.00 ERA on a 27-13 team and have 2 wins?).

I tend to discount AVG more than others.  I find low AVG guys like Adam Dunn, Mark Reynolds, and Dan Uggla fall in drafts further than they should given their value in other categories.  I just look to complement with cheap AVG/Runs guys  like Freddy Sanchez or Placido Polanco.

As for Runs, RBIs, and Saves, I consider all three to be highly driven by opportunity.  I find Runs/RBI are driven mostly by lineup spot and will adjust expectations if shifts are made (e.g., Kemp loses value getting put so far down in LA lineup).  For Saves, I’ll pickup just about any guy who is closing.  My goal is to draft enough Saves that I can live without pickups but, if I’m successful picking up Saves on the waiver wire, I’ll start trading closers at some point during the season.

The Fantasy Roundtable this week is hosted by Tim Dierkes of RotoAuthority who I remain friendly with despite refusing my suggestion to add an animated Cartman to his site that says “Respect RotoAuthoritah“.  His question:

Here on April 30th, what is your single biggest fantasy baseball regret of the year?

Fairly good mix of responses.  Check it out…

The first one was hosted by Patrick Cain of the Albany Times-Union Fantasy Baseball section.  His advantageous location in the heart of New York State politics makes his blog the must read for the Governor and his staff (as in his staff must read it to him – the NY Guvn’r is blind, people!  If he can’t see prostitutes, we New Yorkers assume he’s much less likely to frequent them.  Wonder if he does the Ray Charles thing and feels their wrists to know if they’re skinny or not?).  Anyway, here’s the link and the question:

What cold starts should I be reading into…and why?

I answered this one about 2 weeks ago but my advice seems fairly prescient.   Worth checking out.

The second one is from Patrick DiCaprio of FantasyPros911.com - the site that fantasy pros like Grey and I go to only in the case of an emergency.  I kid of course as one of the 911 (Mike Podhorzer) is beating me both in an NL league and in the Fantasy Razzball standings (will do a post on the standings later this week).  Here’s their link and question:

Whom do you prefer for the remainder of the year, Aaron Hill or Howie Kendrick?

What – you expected Shawn Hill vs. Kyle Kendrick?  The answers on this one proved to be rather consistent.  Go figure.  On a side note, Kendrick would be a tough last name if you were an old Jew because the fellas would all nickname you Schmendrick (the Howie would fit in well too).  It would be almost as bad as being JJ Putz or Japanese pitching star Fakokta Mashugana.