Fantasy Baseball Advice

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:

Travis Buck – Four ding dongs with a phenomenal spring OPS of 1.165.  Now we just need him to pull a Giancarlo and hyphenate his last name to Buck-You.

Scott Moore – Who Moore?  How about “Who Cares Moore, He Has 3 Homers Already!”  Am I right, or am I right-right?

Ryan Dempster – The Dumpster dropped out all his garbage last year and he’s back with a 1.50 ERA.  Is that champagne?  No, that’s Dempster sparkling!

Alex Rodriguez - Smoking balls left and right and that’s just what he’s doing off the field.  Seriously, he’s hitting bomb after bomb this March.  This is pulled from the latest article on A-Rod’s man strength, “No, you can’t ignore these numbers,” Girardi said. “And the way he’s driving the baseball is what you’re used to seeing from Alex and that you can’t ignore.”

These stats are from 2011 Spring Training.  That’s right.  You fell for the oldest trick in the book, mon.  These are not from 2012.  Seriously, please stop looking at spring stats.  That Girardi quote is from 2011 as A-Rod was having a spring training to remember only to go on and have his worst season.  Ryan Dempster was having about as solid of a spring as a pitcher can have and then he went out and had a 9.58 ERA in April of last year and never looked right.  ‘Scott Moore who?’ is right.  He has 7 homers in his career and did nothing last year.  Travis Buck had 2 homers all of last year after lighting up Spring Training.   Spring stats mean nothing.  Let me say it again for emphasis, spring stats mean nothing.  You should only be looking at who’s healthy, who’s winning position battles and who’s winning rotation spots.  The rest is meaningless.

The first season of Fantasy Razzball – a fantasy baseball game where you try to manage the worst team possible – has been quite the trip. Never have players such as Brian Bixler (backup Pittsburgh SS – 41 AB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .195 AVG) and Kyle Kendrick (he of the 1.81 WHIP) been so celebrated. Never has unforeseen success like Cliff Lee and Chad Gaudin been so derided.

At about the 4 week point, our Razzball leader is baseball card blogger Cards in the Attic with 88 of a potential 120 points (standings here and at bottom, click thumbnail on right for rosters). The Aardvark Trading Company hasn’t been playing scared – he’s leading the league in At-Bats (one of 3 above the 752 pro-rated minimum) and 4th in innings pitched. It’s just that his team is playing like a whole bunch of Billy “Fuck Face” Ripkens. Led by staff aces Matt Morris (3 Losses, 9.15 ERA, 1.98 WHIP) and Matt Chico (4 Losses, 6.04 ERA, 1.55WHIP), the AardvarkTradingCo.Com is setting the pace (or is it trailing the pack?) with 50 out of a possible 60 pitching points.

Yours truly is in 2nd place as my team has cooled off (warmed up?) after a torrid (horrid?) start. Damn you John Denks and Pat Maholm! Rotoprofessor is in 3rd place and our teams are performing quite similarly. We’ve done a bit better in offense with 42.5 and 44 points, respectively, managing some rather low HR/RBI (8/63 and 7/71) and awful (awesome?) batting averages (.237 and .235). Hitting MVP’s include Mike Lamb (1B/3B, .182, 0 HR), Brian Bocock (SS, .172, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 22 Ks), Travis Buck (OF, .154, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 20 Ks), and Cody Ross (OF, .146, 41 AB, 1 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI).

Underdog entry Josh the Non-Blogger has been the overachiever (underachiever?) managing 4th place with a well-balanced squad. Greener On The Other Side and Sweet Lou’s Defunct Baseball Lab have struggled out of the gate with ABs – falling 100+ below the necessary pace (pro-rated 5200 team AB) and seeing their HR nearly double after the adjustments were made. Fantasy Baseball Generals has struggled with a pitching staff that doesn’t realize it is supposed to suck – don’t take my word for it, here is their commentary on it.

Should be interesting to see how the season progresses. It’s a lot tougher to maintain a lead when your best players are the most likely to be benched, demoted or released (see Matt Morris).

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