Zen And The Art Of Fantasy Baseball: Impermanence As A Reminder That Fantasy Is Kind Of Awesome

The Moment of Zen:

As I write this, I’m on the road to my hometown for the funeral of a very important person in my life, my grandmother. She outlived not only my other grandparents but also my parents and was such a fixture in our family’s lives that it’s almost hard to believe that time finally won out. Her long life is, in so many ways, indicative of her quiet strength, her loving nature, and the way she served as a model for all of us. As I’ve been looking back over my experiences with her, I cannot remember a single time she said a negative word to or about another person. She was what love looks like.

But now, memories are what all of us who loved her have left. All things, including and especially life, are temporary. We all know this, but we probably don’t really think about it until days like this – when we’re reminded of mortality. The Buddha himself, in what were reported as his last words, reminded us of the inescapability of impermanence. Depending on the translation, the exact words may differ, but essentially his final point was: “Conditions are subject to decay.” And he went on to instruct us to work out our salvation on our own, as he was able only to point out the way for us.

Impermanence invariably leads to suffering. We miss what we lose – even if we have known from the beginning we would lose it. One aspect of Buddhist practice is that the acknowledgement of impermanence, and understanding of it, can save us from the craving we understandably feel once we have lost what is important to us. This acknowledgement is at least one aspect of walking the Eightfold Path.

As I face today and the reminder, as pointed out in the Five Remembrances, that all that I love will eventually be taken away from me, I am also trying to focus on the many things I learned from my grandmother, not just the ways I regret her loss. Those lessons I took from her, while still impermanent, can continue as long as long as I continue on. One thing she taught all of us around her is that the time for gratitude is always, not just some of the time.

How in the world does this apply to fantasy baseball?

As I review my fantasy teams today and see how they fare after a full month of the season, oh my, my teams aren’t as successful as I had hoped. Apparently, I drafted a lot of players who are off to slow starts, and as a result, I’m middle of the pack in many of my leagues. I know it’s still early, and there is much season left, but when the competitive juices are flowing, it’s awfully difficult to feel gratitude for the game of fantasy. But my grandmother would have wanted me to overlook my frustrations with nonessential things (fantasy results come to mind here) and still find the joy that keeps me coming back.

In the spirit of celebrating my grandmother’s memory and not falling prey to the suffering impermanence can bring, this week I’ll take a look at a couple of players who are performing above expectations this year. Two players come to mind in particular, Nolan Arenado and Miguel Vargas Jr., as they’ve been much more valuable to fantasy teams than I expected, and on a personal level, I find myself cheering for these guys and personally encouraged by their comeback stories.

Nolan Arenado:

Arenado hasn’t been all that good for a couple of years now, prompting the Cardinals to trade him to the Diamondbacks while eating a good portion of his remaining salary. I, for one, had no interest in drafting Arenado in the preseason except in the deepest of leagues – I fully expected him to be a below-average player and virtually unusable in 12-team leagues and smaller. And despite him justifying my fears for the first couple of weeks, he has recently begun to show signs of life.

Through April 12th, it was reasonable to question whether Arenado should be on a major league roster. Through 52 PA in his 16 games played to that point, his stat line was woeful: .180 BA, .192 OBP, 0 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB (1.9% BB%), and 13 K (25% K%). While it wouldn’t be fair to expect Arenado to perform at his career levels, his OBP was shockingly low, and his K% was over 10% higher than his career mark (and nearly 14% higher than 2025’s mark). Anyone who assumed that he still had something left in the tank and had taken a flyer on him in a deep draft was understandably dropping him anywhere they had him. 

Then, magically almost, Arenado turned things around: On April 13th, he had a huge game, collecting 2 HR and 5 RBI, and just like that, he decided to look like a good player. From that point, in his 64 PA, he has hit .356 with 5 HR, 12 R, 14 RBI, 5 BB (7.8% BB%), and only 11 K (17.2% K%). While his hard-hit metrics show he has significantly lost pop in his bat, he’s at least gotten his maxEV up around last year’s number (107.5 mph compared to 2025’s 108.3), giving some hope he hasn’t lost the ability to get the ball out of the park when necessary. His 8.1% Barrel% is well above anything he has done for nearly 10 years now.

If in need of a 3B or CI in a deep league, Arenado would seem to be a real option as long as he looks like this version of himself. I’ve been jumping over him when searching the waiver wire, but maybe it’s time I gave him a run.

Miguel Vargas:

Vargas had an unexpectedly useful season in 2025 after the Dodgers finally seemed to give up on the once-touted prospect. With multi-eligibility at 1B and 3B, he provided stats that could, in a pinch, even benefit CI-needy managers in 12-team leagues: .234 BA, 16 HR, 80 R, 60 RBI, and 6 SB. His 40.5% HH% had been a 14-point increase from the previous year.

Despite the decent year, those numbers were still not really what we might be looking for in shallower leagues, so most of us weren’t drafting him except in the deepest of leagues. But Vargas wasn’t deterred. In his first 145 PA of 2026, he has managed 6 HR, 22 R, 17 RBI, and 5 SB. While his .220 BA is tough to digest, his current pace (extrapolated to 650 PA) of 27 HR, 99 R, 76 RBI, and 22 SB is kind of ridiculous. Is Vargas this kind of player? 

There are some elements that make this run look potentially real. His HH% is up 4 more points this year, his maxEV is up a full tick, his Contact% is improved to 86.6%, and he isn’t swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. His 16.6% BB% is, well, kind of good, and he complements that huge number with a 17.2% K% (despite the power he’s showing). Vargas has both plate discipline and some pop. Until he proves otherwise, I’m going to believe in what he’s doing.

If in need of CI help, both Arenado and Vargas are widely available and offer ways to help your teams. More importantly, seeing these two guys, both written off at different times for various reasons, succeed in the multiple ways they currently are leaves me with, dare I say it, joy. These guys kept working at their craft despite their critics and are succeeding, and I, for one, couldn’t be more delighted for them.

My grandmother seemed to appreciate her life regardless of what she faced on any given day. That’s a lesson I’ll take from her today. I’m reminded that fantasy baseball, though it can be frustrating and confusing, is fun. As irritated as I could be with my teams and the players who aren’t performing as I hoped, I’m reminded that I play this game because I want the frustration and confusion. I love baseball and always have. And one thing I was able to share with my grandmother near the end of her life was my work in fantasy writing and how much I’ve been and am still enjoying it. Getting to watch her beam with the type of pride only moms and grandmoms can have – that’s what I’m thinking of right now.

Until next week. –ADHamley