So it’s not really the 2nd half mark in the fantasy baseball season, but it’s the All-Star Break so what else are we going to talk about? The newest The Challenge: Rivals? If this show were on E!, CT would not only have his own spinoff, but he’d be getting married to a Kardashian by now. Also, love how they seamlessly drop Real World/Road Rules from the show name, throw in people who you’re not even sure what show they were originally on and make the show better. The Real World is now just the minor leagues for The Challenge. Finally, on the last episode Mike in the water sounded like a dolphin getting f**ked by a shark. Okay, as with all of the other 2011 fantasy baseball rankings, take this list with a grain of salt. If you need a 2nd baseman, but an outfielder is above him that doesn’t mean you can’t trade the outfielder for the 2nd baseman. Also, things change in fantasy baseball.
Please, blog, may I have some more?2011 fantasy baseball
So Grey lost his stache in a tragic sparkler related accident, but did manage to partially recover the remnants and is having them reattached as we speak, so I’m going to fill in for him on this sacred of holidays, July 5th.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Grey is indisposed and asked if I would take a look see at the comings and goings in fake baseball land. So here I am. Not sure which to focus more on, the comings or the goings, but we’ll see how it goes or comes.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
So I participated in a 20 team, 5×5 draft (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OFs, UTIL, 2 SPs, 2 RPs, 3 Ps, 4 Bench slots) recently because Grey was watching the Oscars instead (Um, Tivo?). I came away hating the time I had to wait between picks but also that my queue was being raided worse than an adventure with Short Round.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Many things have changed since December when we kicked off the 2011 fantasy baseball sleeper posts. For one, the date. For two, some of these guys are no longer that sleepery. For three, hut-hut-hike! As long as you don’t reach too far, sleepers can make all the difference on your team. You’re not grabbing a sleeper in the first round. You’re not like, “Hey, Swiggy Cabrera, you go threaten death on the shot girl, I’m going with Juan Miranda.” You should have a solid foundation in the first eight to ten rounds, then mix some sleepers in after that. If you click on the names for these players, there’s entire posts about some of them with their 2011 projections. It’s magical! Anyway, here’s some sleepers for 2011 fantasy baseball:
Shaun Marcum – Member back in December when he was first traded and I started raving about him? We were younger back then and you had more hair. Also, Marcum was still sleepery then. Now? Not so much. Seems like everywhere I look people are abuzz with excitement over Marcum. Assuming you don’t pay too high of a price, he can still have value.
Please, blog, may I have some more?It’s always good to look at spring training numbers to give you an idea what you can expect from guys during the season. They’re facing the top pitchers who are all displaying their best stuff. No one needs time to get warmed up. No one’s trying new pitches or getting a feel for the ball. They are at the height of their game in March. In fact, I think someone should propose to Bud that the World Series could easily be played in March. Yes, The March Classic. I like how that sounds. Since these spring training numbers mean so much, I decided to look at some players in March:
Sean Rodriguez – Has 6 homers while batting .460. Forget Sean-Rod, how about Wow-Rod?! Am I right or am I right-right?!
Please, blog, may I have some more?So we had our first draft. Rudy and I. We drafted a pretty badass team if this were 2004. Maybe they can show this draft on ESPN Classic. If I can somehow bait my leaguemates into my DeLorean, I could win this league. Rudy’s a bit of a fantasy baseball cougar, so let’s blame him. No, Rudy, we can’t draft Brian Giles! Maybe I’m just sore because I missed out on Shaun Marcum, Ian Desmond and all the Pirate hitters I’m crazy about — black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow! We did grab Brandon Allen and Yo-lease. I’d like to mortgage Jhoulys’s future! You know what I’m saying?! Yeah, I’m not entirely sure either. When Rudy put our team through his magic calculator, we came in 3rd place overall. Frankly — no relation to Cliff — I like our team the best. We have some holes, but if you don’t have holes in this deep of a league, you’re playing with a bunch of autodrafters from ESPN. “So, what kind of things do you like to do on the weekend?” “I am a computer, I do not understand your small, during-draft talk.” Anyway, here’s my 2011 fantasy baseball team with thoughts on different draft trends I noticed:
12 teams, Roto, 5 x 5 — C, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, OF, OF, Util, BN, BN, BN — P, P, P, P, P, P, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL
‘PERTS TEND TO GO FOR THE STARS AND SCRUBS DRAFT STRATEGY
If you’re looking for that draft strategy, you’re at the wrong site. I don’t buy that it’s a good idea to have Ryan Braun, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday on the same team if it means you have Paul Janish, Xavier Nady, Melvin Mora, Wilson Ramos, Ronny Paulino, Jon Jay, Jarrod Parker, Jordan Lyles, Yonder Alonso and Julio Teheran all in your starting lineup. A lot of them aren’t even starters in the major leagues. And the ones that are are (stutterer!) W to the onky. You should spread your risk around. If the aforementioned team loses one of their top three players, they have as much chance as I have with Megan Fox. David Silver, really? Even if they don’t lose one of their guys, I still don’t like their chances. I usually don’t even like to spend more than $30 on any one player. In this draft, we exceeded that only once and you see that even if we lose Kemp, we have depth all over the place. Which brings us to the next point.
Please, blog, may I have some more?From the files of “Oh, my God, Grey is really stupid,” I predicted Shaun Marcum would start this year’s All-Star game. It’s hyperbole, people! No, it’s man love. No, it’s I’ve lost my mind for Shaun Marcum and there’s no one that can stop me. He’s on all of my fantasy teams this year. I gave him the 2011 projections of 15-8/3.35/1.15/185. That’s Cy Young shizz. If I didn’t think I’d get committed by giving him an ERA under 3, I would’ve. I didn’t love him this much when he was on the Blue Jays. I saw a guy who was just returning from surgery, a guy who doesn’t throw very hard and a guy who throws a lot of fly balls. So what changed and why is he now a 2011 fantasy baseball sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?The other day in the comments someone asked that I give some pairings for my first two rounds of the 2011 fantasy baseball drafts. I was going to do this anyway (you’re not the boss of me!), but sometimes I need a gentle nudge in the right direction. Not a noodge, thank you. What I’m hoping to lay out to you is who do you draft 2nd if you’ve drafted so and so first. I already did the pitchers pairings. 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 2011 fantasy baseball rankings and the top 20 2011 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 2011 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 also be ideal, but it might be unrealistic to think you’re going to get A-Rod or Zimmerman. Youuuuuuuuk would be available in my fantasy fantasy world and have 3rd base eligibility at the start of the season, but getting Youuuuuuk might not be realistic either. What is realistic is Matt Kemp, Justin Upton or Andrew McCutchen. Miggy with one of those three looks real nice to me. Your team would be balanced heading off to the third pick. Someone like Kinsler, Pedroia, Phillips or Reyes would also work. Really, as long as you avoid a 1st baseman, catcher and a starter, you should be fine.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Since back in June when you abandoned your fantasy baseball team because it was totally sucking and you returned to your cubbyhole of Doritos and Freezer Pops, you’ve longed for this day. As Bob Marley sang, this is your redemption song, mon. Or womon. It’s time again to join some fantasy baseball leagues. Before you close all of your extraneous porn windows and rush to sign up, let’s explain how these fantasy baseball leagues are going to work. We’re going to have a bunch of leagues and crown a winner from each, then we’re going to crown ONE winner from all of the winners. We will be be crowning the winner by taking each team’s points and multiplying it against a ‘league competitiveness factor.’ If you want to see how it worked last year, go here.
Please, blog, may I have some more?