Hello, readers of this blog post. That is you. I joined eleven other fantasy baseball experts for a draft the other day. These experts came from all walks of life and all countries (mainly US and Canada) and were united on one front: the love of pretending they are more gifted in this fantasy baseball shizz than all others. It takes certain sized brass balls to anoint oneself a fantasy baseball expert. Did they attend the Fantasy Baseball College of Charleston with yours truly? Some did, others did not. I believe Scott Q. Pianowski from Yahoo was home schooled by Brandon Funston. Whatever the case, we all share a knowledge of fantasy baseball to make you marvel…until it’s June and Marco Estrada has a 1.50 WHIP and has been bumped from the rotation and you want to kill one of us. That is then, young squire. No rush to judge now. Rudy broke down who was in this ‘pert draft that I’m about to have my own looksie. Here’s my team and some thoughts on this 12 team, mixed league for 2013 fantasy baseball:
C: Salvador Perez (15)
1B: Paul Goldschmidt (2)
2B: Robinson Cano (1)
3B: Mike Moustakas (11)
SS: Jimmy Rollins (7)
2B/SS: Jed Lowrie (22)
1B/3B: Manny Machado (13)
OF: Adam Jones (3)
OF: Shin-Soo Choo (4)
OF: Desmond Jennings (5)
OF: Domonic Brown (18)
OF: Lorenzo Cain (20)
UTIL: Nolan Arenado (24)
Bench: Dee Gordon (25)
P: Zack Greinke (6)
P: Yovani Gallardo (8)
P: Jon Niese (9)
P: Greg Holland (10)
P: Jake Peavy (12)
P: Glen Perkins (14)
P: Jose Veras (16)
P: Marco Estrada (17)
P: Tommy Milone (19)
Bench: Jonathon Broxton (21)
Bench: Frank Francisco (23)
THAT’S NOT A BANANA IN MY POCKET, THAT’S MY UPSIDE RUBBING YOUR LEG
I went upside caca-cuckoo. I saw your upside and I check raised to the bettor all of my upside and I borrowed all of the upside from the Asian man next to me at the table and put that upside into the pot too. Here’s what my thought process was: I’m a crazy waiver wire lunatic. I’m not holding a UTIL guy that I draft past the first week unless he starts hot. So why draft someone as if I’m gonna hold them? That goes for my last two OF spots too. I saw someone like Alejandro De Aza sitting at the top of the draft pool for about five rounds, and I thought, “I could see myself owning him for about 17 days then dropping him.” So, Domonic, Cain or Arenado either go big the first week of the season or they go home to the waiver wire.
A BENCH BAT, GREY YOU LIED TO US?!
It’s true, I never take bench bats in a 12 team mixed league, and suggest the same for you. But, prior to dropping some interrobangs on my head, Hanley was removed from the WBC game with a hand injury in the middle of our draft, so I grabbed Dee Gordon. Obviously, Gordon’s donzo now and I replaced him with Tim Collins for the time being. He’ll probably be off the team by Friday. I’m a chronic rosterbator!
I RANKED DEAD LAST FOR ESPN’S POST-DRAFT STANDINGS, SO I MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT
I don’t agree with ESPN’s projections, so I don’t care what they preseason rank me. My team is the bee’s knees and the witch’s supernumerary nipple. If your dog had five fingers, it would give the middle one to ESPN’s preseason rankings. My pitching is plenty deep enough with three potential number ones. My biggest concern for my pitching is YoGa in April when he has a lifetime ERA of, like, seven. I have more saves than you can shake a stick at no matter the size of said stick. My hitting is purdy with a capital URDY. The only questionable pick early on was Shin-Soo in the 4th round, but right after him went Ellsbury, pitcher, pitcher, Zobrist, Ian Desmond, pitcher, pitcher, Kipnis. What am I taking better than Choo? Yu Darvish, who was one of those pitchers? Adam Wainwright, who was another? I will say I liked the B.J. Upton pick right before Choo and had him queued up myself, but, alas, I can’t cry over a spilled BJ, which sounds ‘graphic. Now, am I thrilled I drafted Rollins? Well, he was the top ranked shortstop last year. Sure, he’s not getting younger no matter how many cucumber slices he sleeps with on his eyes and how much avocado he applies to his wrinkles, but at pick 77 overall, I’m biting on him. My biggest reach drafting vs. my top 400 is Moustakas. As I said in my top 20 3rd baseman post, people seem oddly down on him in the non-sexual way. What’s everyone’s problem with Moustakas? He’s 24 years old with solid power and good track record of better batting averages in the minors. Doesn’t it seem likely he’ll outperform his preseason projections and shoot up the rankings for next year? Machado’s another one. In my sleeper post on him, I compared him to a young Hanley. A young Hanley means a 20 homer, 40 steal guy. That’s good, over-the-internet friend. Okay, maybe not this year. Maybe not ever. But Machado can give you 20 homers and 20 steals this year. Sure, I didn’t draft many Corey Hart or Marco Scutaro-types that had good years in the past, but I was drafting for 2013. Sue me!* (*Don’t sue me.)
Grey can I get your stamp of approval or disapproval on my recently drafted team. My piching is probably a little too strong and offense a little weak. Can I compete? How bad is my offense?
12 Team Mixed H2H Keeper 6×5 (Hits)
C: S. Perez
1B: P. Fielder
2B: J. Gyrko/E. Bonifacio
3B: B. Lawrie
SS: J. Rutledge
OF: J. Heyward
OF: D. Jennings
OF: S. Choo
UTIL: P. Goldschmidt
BN: P. Borjous
SP: M. Cain, C. Lee, J. Samardzji, K. Medlen, T. Hanson, M. Fiers, D. Gee
RP: J. Papelbon, S. Cishek, E. Frieri, R. Madson, M. Boggs
Thanks in Advance…
I agree with your assessment… Lee and Cain are a bit too much… So the pitching is excellent, but your hitting is still plenty strong… Your league is shallow though so you’ll have to stay on top of waivers…
@Grey:
So is Arenado breaking camp with the Rockies and if so do you see him playing everyday? Maybe I missed something but I thought they were still going with Pacheco/Nelson for now.
He’s just an upside flyer… I’ve since dropped Broxton for Reimold so he could be my UTIL guy…
Something I think I misheard on the podcast made me realize that you should call Rudy and your podcast segment, “The Stache and the Stats.”
Also, I love your team precisely because of the upside potential. I swear, the first 100 picks of any draft usually bore the shizz out of me. It’s those crazy upside picks later on that keep me playing. The same sensibility makes it impossible for me to pass a yard sale…
I feel the same way… Especially in the RCL, there’s some many guys on waivers that my team will be may be made or broken on Machado, Moustakas, Arenado, Cain, Brown… Man, that sounds beautiful… (Give it a month…)
@Grey: I have such high hopes for you! I also have high hopes that you realize the brilliance of “The Stache and The Stats,” but I’m not holding my breath.
I don’t want to be reduced to just a sexy mustache…
@Grey: my bad. Sorry for objectifying you. I can’t imagine how painful such a thing could be.
@royce!: I like the stash and the stats, but in greys case it would the stash and the sass….same person.
I have a yard sale problem too, I’ll go out for donuts and came back 2 hours later with never been read books for my kid and some weird lamp that was made out of a turn of the century coffee grinder….true story
@Jack Full of Hate: “the stache and the stats” reminds of the new mlb now show on mlb network with harold reynolds and brian kenny.
in fact, i’d say grey and rudy are the fantasy version of them, haha.
Grey: I have 2 bench bats in my 12 team mixed points league – with 6 bench spots (Aoki, Machado). Should I drop one? Other option is guy in our league needs a 3b after Freese went on IR. I’m trying my Machado for his Austin Jackson. If/when he rejects this, would you trade Machado/Fowler for Austin Jackson and maybe Shelby Miller?
My team:
C: Jesus
1: Goldy
2: Pedroia
SS: Rutledge
3: A. Ramirez
IF: Rizzo
OF: McCutchen
OF: J. Upton
OF: Ethier (could use upgrade to 3rd OF)
UT: Fowler
B: Aoki/Machado/Jeter (soon to be IR spot)
Pitchers are pretty decent (Bum/Scherzer/Peavy/Niese with Iwkuma/Kendrick as RP’s and Burnett/Beckett/Wilhemsen on bench)
I’d take Austin for Machado/Fowler…
@Grey:
Thanks Grey – would you rather trade away Ethier or Fowler in this trade? They are ESPN projected in the same range for our league but I took Ethier before Fowler.
I’d trade away Fowler… He’ll be redundant if you get Austin…
I was curious on your thoughts from my 12 team 6×6 (ops/holds) auction draft
C-W Rosario – 6
1b- A Rizzo – 15
2b-R Weeks – 12
SS-Rollins – 10
3b-Middlebrooks – 6
Of- Jennings 14, Stanton-40, A Jones – 27
Util-Rios – 11
BN – Gyorko-2, Reddick-2
SP-Greinke-19, Sale-17, Wainwright-19, Harvey-8, Niese-7, Minor-7, Kennedy-7
RP-C Perez-7, Cishek-8, Veras-3, McGee-5, Broxton-5
Your pitching looks great I don’t love your hitting… It has a ton of risk at some key spots…
Grey! Would love your take on this reclamation project I inherited. It’s a 12-team 5×5 keeper league with 1-5 year contracts (2 players can be on restricted contracts). Players in lower case I inherited and players in all caps I drafted last night:
C – joe mauer
1B – CHRIS DAVIS
2B – rickie weeks
3B – KYLE SEAGER
SS – jimmy rollins
LF -ALEX GORDON
CF – CARLOS GOMEZ
RF – jose bautista
UTIL – alex rios
BN – david ortiz
BN – ADAM DUNN
BN – jeff francoeur
BN – mike carp
SP – MADISON BUMGARNER
SP – jake peavy
SP – edwin jackson
SP – A.J. GRIFFIN
SP – FELIX DOUBRONT
SP – MIKE FIERS
RP – john axford
BN – SHAUN MARCUM
BN – brian wilson
BN – ricky romero
BN – tim stauffer
Waivers open up on Friday so I’m doing more house cleaning, but how bad of a first year am I looking at? Thanks!
Team looks like a bit of a mess…. Your average and power could be an issue… Your pitching looks ransacked as well… I don’t understand your bench bats either besides Ortiz…
@Grey: Yeah, I told them I’d take on a mess and I got what was promised. There are some decent guys on waivers, so most of the bench sludge will be gone soon. Will be working trades and the wire all season. Thanks!
No problem…
Love the site, 1 time poster. NL only keeper and I have 3rd pick of prospect round. Looks like I will get one of Baez, J. Fernandez, T.dArnaud, Puig. Not sure how the 2 guys in front of me will draft so what are your thoughts on ranking these 4 prospects. What about more of a win now pick and taking Dee Gordon? Thanks for the input.
Thanks! Forget Gordon, he was sent down… Puig, d’Arnaud, Baez…
Hey Grey,
c-Perez
1b-Ike Davis
2b-Rutledge
3b-Longoria
ss-Reyes
of-Braun, CarGo, Choo
util-Jennings
util-Alex Gordon
sp-Kershaw, Moore, Harvey, Minor, Bailey, Cahill, Garza, Ryu, Teheran
rp-Soriano, Janssen, Holland
Cozart is available. What would you say to swapping Reyes for Wainwright and grabbing Cozart? I’m feeling good about my squad but am just a bit nervous about my pitching. What do you think?
I’d hold for now…
@Grey: Word. Thanks.
Hey Grey,
So I’m in this crazy 20-team team with a bunch of uber-serious fantasy low-lifes (we have our own website, league records and two “beat writers”… yeah, we’re super cool). Anyhow, these guys know their stuff and with 21 roster spots and 20 managers rosters get, how shall I say, stretched. So, can you give my team the look-see. Any suggestions are great (PS: I got Halladay when the draft crashed for half a second. Love that… not… and PPS: Didn’t want to take Price but it was #35 overall (I had traded back in the 2nd), so I gambled and Goldschmidt was gone before my pick in round 3)
20 team, Rotisserie 8×8 (standard + hitters: doubles, triples, BB; pitchers: IP, BB, HLD)
C: S Perez (9)
1B: F Freeman (5)
2B: J Rutledge (8)
SS: J Peralta (17)
3B: A Ramirez (3)
OF: G Stanton (1)
OF: S Choo (4)
OF: C Crawford (7)
UT: D Stubbs (11)
BN: M Brantley (21)
SP: D Price (2)
SP: R Halladay (6)
RP: H Street (10)
RP: J Veras (14)
P: F Doubront (12)
P: J Teheran (13)
P: C Tillman (15)
BN: A Cashner (16)
BN: J Burton (18)
BN: E Mujica (19)
BN: R Belisario (20)
For a league that deep, I like your team…. The hitting looks solid, bit low on power potentially, and the pitching looks very heavy on upside/risk…
@Frankiejay: What is the website? I’m intrigued…
I like that late pick of Jed “Glass Joe” Lowrie. He’s a “jam it or cram it” type with real power, multiple position eligibility and brittle bones. Drink some milk Jed!
Yeah, hopefully his bones don’t go all-brittle-like…
Grey let me know what you think about my team that I recently drafted. Where should I improve? Weaknesses? Do I have a chance of winning with my current roster.
10 Team Mixed H2H Keeper 5×5 (OBP instead of Batting Average)
C – B. Posey
1B – R. Howard
2B – Everth Cabrera
3B – E. Longoria
SS – E. Andrus
CI – Miggy Cabrera
MI – Andrelton Simmons
OF – S. Choo
OF – D. Jennings
OF – A. Gordon
OF – C. Beltran
OF – N. Cruz
Util – J. Morneau
Bench – A. Ethier
P – C. Lee
P – M. Cain
P – H. Kuroda
P – J. Parker
P – Gio Gonzalez
P – S. Miller
P – C. Kimbrel
P – H. Street
P – J. Grilli
Bench – T. Cahill
Bench – F. Doubront
I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Thanks
You have a chance of winning always in a league that shallow… Will depend on injuries and waiver wire pick ups… Your middle infield is a bit of a mess and don’t love your late round hitting flyers… The reason why you hitting is lagging a bit is your pitching is better than it needs to be… You don’t need Lee and Cain… And Gio… And Kimbrel…
Grey,
Doesn’t look like you followed your own P advice.. pitchers in the 6, 8, 9, 10, 12
It was the way the draft went… All of the pitchers are still guys in favorable tiers that I like…
In a 12 team 5×5 roto keeper, how worried should I be with starting the year with these arms?
Price
Halladay
Josh Johnson
Dillon Gee
James MacDonald
Bud Norris
Tommy Milone
Should I drop one for Porcello? Hang on to all 7? Usually have 6 SPs just don’t know which to trust
Thanks
I;d be concerned… Porcello isn’t better…
I heard Rudy trashing Reyes on the podcast. I know where he’s coming from. I still think Reyes will blow up this year in the good way. If he does I’m gonna be there to remind Rudy. I’m going to be an opossum up in the Razzball crawlspace.
Wilson Ramos hit two home runs today. Already announced that he and Zuk are going split catching doodies down the middle. Could see it being Ramos’ job full time by the ASB. That makes 3/4 of a season from Ramos and that might just be better than any other C2 you’re likely to get in a deeper league.
This last week in Arizona is a perfect week to ignore spring numbers. It must have warmed up and dried up out there because balls have been flying out of the yards.
Speaking of spring numbers though, you really can’t pitch much better than Lestah has for the Sawks. Somebody mentioned him as the comeback veteran in the morning comments and I think it’s a good call.
One guy on your roster who is pretty interesting in Machado. Hard to read what he’s going to do. He didn’t run much at the big league level despite showing some speed in the minors. Baltimore was last in the league in steals and second to last in attempts behind Detroit last year. Showalter teams traditionally don’t run much. He’s been chirping in the media about how much he hates the new rule that disallows the fake throw to third:
“Relief pitchers are really squawking about it,” Showalter said. “I chuckle when these announcers always say, ‘Oh, that never catches anybody. Why do they ever do it?’ The things that keeps from happening were huge. These guys sit up there and say, ‘Why are they doing that?’ It shuts down the first and third. A right-handed pitcher had to have that move. Otherwise, you’re giving up 90 feet all the time.”
He’s been talking about having his guys run a lot in that situation.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ramos the full-time catcher by May 1st… Zuk has no business sharing duties… I hope he gives Machado the green light, he is a big wild card here, but at corner I don’t mind it… I was competitive last year in the RCL and I dropped Zimmerman after 3 homers and .220 average and 3 months… I just need guys to not fall flat on their face…
Grey, you are awesome for responding to everyone’s comments. I’ve got one more team for you to look at.
This is my draft for a 12 team 6×6 (obp and whip) league. What do you see as strengths and weaknesses? Should I dump some of my bench bats?
Thanks so much!
C Wilin Rosario, (13)
1B Prince Fielder, (1)
2B Rickie Weeks, (11)
3B Aramis Ramirez, (6)
SS Josh Rutledge, (19)
2B/SS Jedd Gyorko, (24)
1B/3B Adrian Gonzalez, (4)
OF Carlos Gonzalez, (2)
OF Shin-Soo Choo, (8)
OF Carlos Beltran, (10)
OF Carl Crawford, (14)
OF Norichika Aoki, (15)
UTIL Anthony Rizzo, (9)
Bench Will Middlebrooks, (17)
Bench Dustin Ackley, (21)
Bench Starling Marte, (23)
P Cole Hamels (3)
P Madison Bumgarner, (5)
P Max Scherzer, (7)
P Sergio Romo, (12)
P Tom Wilhelmsen, (16)
P Matt Garza,(18)
P Trevor Cahill, (20)
P Carlos Marmol, (22)
P Santiago Casilla, (FA pickup)
DL Brian McCann*, Atl C
The team looks very solid, especially the hitting… Those aren’t bench bats to drop, they’re guys to move into the lineup while trading for other guys… You look like on backend starters… I could see trading Crawford for a #2 SP and moving middlebrooks into 1B/3B and A-Gon to OF… Or just moving Marte to outfield….
Grey,
Just finished a 10 team H2H keeper draft (keep 12 each year) with 9 hitting stats, 8 pitching stats, and 30 moves max
The only keeper I kept was Medlen and my league weighs pitching very high (and drafts them like crazy – early)
c-J.Mauer
1B- J. Votto
2B – J. Kipnis
SS – I. Desmond
3B – D. Wright
CI – P. Goldschmidt
MI – J. Altuve
LF – R. Braun
CF – A. McCutchen
RF – J. Bruce
Util – P. Sandoval
SP – K. Medlen
SP – J. Niese
SP – P. Hughes
RP – C. Kimbrel
RP – C. Janssen
P –A. Cobb
P – T. Hanson
BN – J. Beckett
BN – M. Fiers
BN – D. Gee
BN – J. Hammel
BN – C. Tillman
BN – M. Garza
DL – B. Beachy
Obviously, I’m risking a lot in my pitching departement. Wondering what you think of my squad? Also, once the first game is played and Garza goes to the DL, should I pick up a BN hitter or leave it flexible for another starter ( or to stash C. Leubky)?
wire – H – C. Crawford, J. Reddick, T. Hunter, JJ Hardy,J. Lucroy, H. Kendrick, K. Morales, C. Maybin
P – J. Grili, K. Jansen, A. Petitte, S. Marcum, J. Santana, J. Macdonald, R. Porcello, S. Kazmir
Thanks in advance, keep up with the great advice,
Josh
You have plenty of bench arms, I’d grab a bench bat… Crawford is good there…. Your team is stacked, but it’s obviously a shallow league so injuries/waivers will play a huge part…
If you had to pick a side for this season..
Votto/Ellsbury/A.Gordon or A.Gonzalez/CarGo/Brantley
You would pick..? And how close? Thanks for the help!
Votto side…Close enough…
Hey Grey. Enjoyable article once again, thank you for that! Could I get your feedback on my team I drafted? 12 Team H2H each team has 5 keepers. I kept Stanton, Heyward, Mccutch, Cespedes and Craig.
C-Perez
1B-Craig
2B-Kendrick
SS-Simmons
3B-Moustakis
OF-Stanton
OF-Mccutchen
OF-Heyward
UTIL-Cespedes
Bn-Bonifacio
Bn-Carpenter
Bn-Belt
SP-Hamels
Sp-Gallardo
Rp-Holland
Rp-Balfour
P-C.Janssen
P-Samardizja
P-Teheran
BN-Cashner
Bn-Burnett
DL-Beachy
DL-Luebke
Thanks in advance!
Thanks! Your outfield looks great but the infield leaves something to be desired… Your pitching looks decent, but it looks risky with upside bets…
@Grey: thanks! Yea I’m leanin pretty heavy on those OF.
Keeper League Draft question.
12 teamer, keep 8 guys yearly (no expiration)
Who is an under the radar guy who will not be up in the majors in 2013 who could be worth stashing for 2014?
My draft has already passed and guys who may fall under this category like Cole, Bundy are scooped up.
@Chad Donaldson:
What about Billy Hamilton?
I’ve been mulling around a theory this off-season about pick ups and drops in fantasy baseball. I’ve noticed over the years that the more moves a team makes, the higher they finish in the standings, on average. I think I recall seeing a post where Vin confirmed that this is true in the RCL leagues. Could be misremembering. I had always assumed that the activity on the waiver wire correlated to better finishes because it reflected a manager’s level of engagement and in keeping all roster spots filled rather than having too many empty at bats and that is certainly a big part of it.
However, I had access to some team histories in competitive leagues where I could see week by week drops and pick ups and I noticed that the teams that were most active on the wire also tended to end up more often with the breakout players (Dickey, Rosario last year, etc, not big name prospects but the guys nobody saw coming). I gave that some thought. If you are churning and burning through your adds and drops like crazy, aren’t you more likely to miss a lot of opportunities than if you are thoughtful about adding guys you believe in and then being patient with them?
And here’s what I kind of came up with. First, let’s say that some percentage of guys on the waiver wire will break out and let’s assume that nobody really knows more than anybody else who those players will be. If you have 50 players on your roster at some point you have a larger number of those players at least on your roster at some point (whether or not you get the timing right). In other words, you can’t hit on a breakout player if you don’t at least own him at some point in the season.
Then I thought about this. Let’s say you’re in a weekly league or you are at least picking up a guy for week long blocks in a daily league. At the end of a the first week you look at the player and you say, was he good, yes or no? If the answer is yes, you keep him, if the answer is no, you cut him. And each week you do that until you get a feeling that maybe the player has established a useful talent level and he becomes a hold.
On the other hand, if you are patient and you hold onto that guy, you might get a string of bad weeks in a row, a month or more depending, before you finally cut bait. With the churn and burn method, you have less chance of having a string of bad weeks from a player because you’re bound to get lucky some of the time, whereas if you’re holding a guy who is not going to break out hoping that he will, you’re going to get consistent bad production.
I think it’s a mistake to think you can handicap the break out season among non-top tier prospect year over year. It’s like believing that you can increase your odds of winning the lottery by really thinking hard about which numbers to pick more than if you just buy as many tickets as possible.
@OaktownSteve: A team’s standing points and # of transactions are positively correlated but it isn’t 100%. It’s helped by the fact that teams that start poorly are more frequently abandoned (or close to abandoned) while owners w/ teams in contention will frequently spend more attention. It’s a balance between being patient enough to not overreact to slumps and holding on too long.
@Rudy Gamble:
In roto leagues, I think you can afford to be more patient. In h2h, you should be cycling in hot players to boost production.
I would say that the most active teams are better because they are staying on top of trends. Last year was an anomaly in that the top scoring hitter and pitcher in many leagues, Trout and Dickey were available on the waiver wire in most leagues. This is not the norm and may not be repeated for a long time.
Agreed last year was an anomaly with trout/dickey. Don’t agree roto and H2H are different in terms of patience if rosters/teams are equal.
@Rudy Gamble:
I think you should be patient only if there is sufficient track record to warrant it and I think it has to be a pretty perception of upside. Otherwise, I think you should burn through players like crazy. Just like I said, you can’t own a breakout player if you never have him on your roster. The more players you roster in the course of a season, the better chance you will have owned one or more. And if you own him, then you get a shot at catching him for the hot week that becomes the hot month that becomes the breakout season. My point is, I really think you should cut bait on non-performers very quickly not only because you don’t want poor performance, but I think it actually increases your chances of getting a long-term break out guy over the patient buy and hold method. Just an observation. Take it for what it’s worth.
And Reyes is going to blow out your projections, Gamble.
I am not disagreeing. I had a lot of transactions last year but was also wise (or fortunate) enough not to drop anyone too early (except AJ where I missed his last hot week or three). Oh, I also dumped Addison reed a couple days before he got the closer role.
Are you really disagreeing that there is a balance to this? Should I drop Longoria if he has a bad two weeks?
The lesser the player’s potential + track record, the quicker to cut bait.
@Rudy Gamble:
We agree. I am saying this is among the riff raff that you shuttle through your team. Like I said above, you show some patience with track record or upside.
My main point here is that more transactions actually seem to lead to more pick ups of long term break out players among the undrafted unwashed than does the buy and hold method with those players. I am saying you give ’em a week and then you cut bait. You’ll miss on a few where they improve after you cut them and that stings but you have to get over it because in the course of a long season, churn and burn works better. And maybe that’s part of the point here as well. I think fear of how you’ll feel if you drop a guy who catches fire lately leads to holding too long and that leads to lost productivity and also missed opportunity cost for those guys you could be burning through in search of a lottery ticket.
Yup, we’re in agreement. Can’t fall in love with players at the lower end of your roster. Once you realize a guy isn’t going to perform up to expectations and there are better options out there, cut bait.
Oh, and feel free to call me out if Reyes has a top 30 season. If/when he gets injured or has a blech season, I expect my props.
I can’t believe in our expert league that Reyes was drafted before Harper….
@Rudy Gamble:
The love for Harper is pretty much universal at this point. I’m real surprised. The only way to explain that is whoever took him is a firm believer in the scarcity model. If you think Tulo will be hurt and Castro will not improve much on last year and you think Reyes is going to have an MVP type season then you might think that he gives you a big edge at SS. But I don’t think Reyes before Harper is the right call.
I’m pretty leery of Harper relative to others. I have this thing in the back of my mind going “Heyward starts with ‘h’ and Hosmer starts with ‘h’ and Harper starts with ‘h’.” I know…real scientific. Something just nags at me. This game just ain’t easy for anybody at the MLB level. There’s a lot of grown men out there who will be spending time figuring how to get the kid out. Doesn’t show up in spring as much because you’re seeing guys who haven’t seen you a lot and they are just trying to work on their stuff and build the pitch count.
This was my first draft in a 12 team H2H league with 8×8 (H, R, HR, BB, OPS, AVG, XBH, RBI and IP, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP, K/9, and Q/S). Where are my weaknesses? Did I screw the pooch before this season even begins?
C- J. Lucroy
1B – T. Frazier
2B- I. Kinsler
3B- M. Cabrera
SS- D. Espinosa
IF- K. Morales
OF- A. Jones
OF- S. Choo-choo
OF- C. Beltran
OF- Y. Cespedes
Util – A. Escobar
BN – S. Marte
BN – D. Span
BN – T. Plouffe
SP – Z. Grienke
SP – J. Zimmerman
SP – M. Latos
RP – M. Rivera
RP – T. Wilhelmsen
RP – G. Perkins
P – Chris Sale
P – R. Cook
P – E. Mujica
P – A. Bastardo
BN – T. Milone
BN – T. Hudson
@SmoothCrimiNOLE: What’s not to like? I guess a better 1B would be ideal–maybe you could package Sale and an RP for a top guy?
@SmoothCrimiNOLE: I agree with Long Bawls, try for a better 1st baseman…
The thought of Count Funston home-schooling Pianowski clears up one of life’s great mysteries.
@Tio: Did he officially become a Count? Hadn’t heard…
@Grey: Supposedly he’s waiting on that last vowel…
@Long Bawls:
Watch any episode of Sesame Street and tell me that Count Von Count is not Funston’s Daddy. The uni-brow is a dead giveaway.
@Tio:
One bad draft pick, Two bad draft picks, Threeeee bad draft picks…. Ahhh, Ahhha, ahh.
Wow, I like your team. IN part because it looks a lot like mine. Healthy self-esteem!
That said, I just got offered Beltre, Reddick, Jansen and Niese for my Goldschmidt, Rutledge, Milone. I feel like I gotta take that, right?
@Long Bawls: Thanks! Sounds like a decent trade for you…
I know Scott is the primary prospect guy, but I wanted to ask your opinion… Would you want to own the rights to any of Wong, Nick Franklin, Springer, Starling, Archer, Barnes, Gausman or Carlos Martinez over Rendon or Straily? If you think I should ask Scott, that’s fine.
@Jon: I’d ask Scott too, but would go Martinez or Wong over Straily…
Thinking of trading BJ Upton for Jake Peavy…
Would you make that trade?
12 team H2H
Montero, Jesus(C) SEA
Davis, Ike(1B) NYM
Hill, Aaron(2B) ARI
Longoria, Evan(3B) TB
Castro, Starlin(SS) CHC
Harper, Bryce(OF) WAS
Jones, Adam(OF) BAL
Stanton, Giancarlo(OF) MIA
Upton, B.J.(OF) ATL
Frazier, Todd(1B,3B) CIN
Hosmer, Eric(1B) KC
Aoki, Norichika(OF) MIL
Davis, Chris(1B,OF) BAL
Bumgarner, Madison(P) SF
Chapman, Aroldis(P) CIN
Milone, Tommy(P) OAK
Ryu, Hyun-Jin(P) LAD
Street, Huston(P) SD
Teheran, Julio(P) ATL
Zimmermann, Jordan(P) WAS
Harvey, Matt(P) NYM
Parnell, Bobby(P) NYM
@RYUdone: I’d hold…
Always enjoy the articles Grey. I will be here checking you out all season as usual! Would you mind taking a peak at this team and let me know what you think. A little different on the scoring settings, so take a look at that too. I will be DLing Motte when Yahoo lets me do so. Thanks!
Yahoo 10 Team H2H Daily Roster includes 4 SPs and 3 RPs
Hitting – OBP, SLG, HR, RBI, SB, R
Pitching – QS, IP, SV, ERA, WHIP, K/9
C – Y Molina
1B – Goldschmidt, C Davis
2B – Espinosa
SS – Rollins
3B – A Ramirez
OF – McCutchen, Shin Soo Choo, A Jones, Pence, C Davis
UTI Any of the above guys
SP – Verlander, Gio, Samardzija, H Bailey, Milone, Burnett, J Beckett
RP – Motte, Wilhelmsen, Frieri
@shill: Thanks! Your team looks really solid, I don’t love Davis though with SLG it could help… If you get productive seasons from Aramis and Rollins it would go a long way towards a great team…
Hey Grey, this site is great and by far the best content and entertainment for FBB all season.
I’m in a 12 team standard 5×5 H2H league with playoffs format at the end of the season. I waited for round 5 to nab pitching, which I never do. There were still good arms to put together a solid staff in the early/mid rounds while the lower-end higher-upside guys I liked at the infield spots (instead of the middle-of-the-road schmohawks) stayed on the board for me. Where do you think are the weak spots in my roster are to address and what should I give up? Any digs at my drafting?
C: Jesus (15)
1B: Goldschmidt (4)
2B: Rutledge (13)
SS: Asdrubal (8)
3B: Todd Frazier (12)
OF: G Stanton (1)
OF: J-Up (2)
OF: Adam Jones (3)
OF: D Stubbs (17)
UTIL: Dominic Brown (21)
BN: Colvin (20)
BN: Starling Marte (21)
BN: Jedd Gyorko (23)
BN: Ryan Ludwick (24)
BN: Chris Carter (wire)
SP: Scherzer (5)
SP: Latos (6)
RP: Mo (10)
RP: Hudson Street (14)
P: Jordan Zimmerman (7)
P: Jon Lester (9)
P: Jake Peavy (10)
BN: Beckett (16)
BN: Cashner (22)
BN: Fiers (25)
DL: B Beachy (18)
@Utley: Thanks for the kind words! You look weak on average and speed, which aren’t major concerns in H2H… I think the team is solid overall… Ludwick seems unnecessary and if you have Peavy or Lester start well I could see trading one for an OF upgrade…
david murphy is on the wire – pick him up and drop ludwick for now?
Go for it…
Morse or frazier? In a h2h dynasty league whom would u rather have and why? FYI I would be rotating him around my inf of util spots
@Ryan: Frazier… Why’s are in my rankings…
So I was in an auction draft and ended up with Mike Napoli and Jesus Montero for a grand total of $4 just tyring to keep people honest. Seems like I don’t want to keep both of them . Your thoughts on which to try to trade?
@Scott: I don’t think you can trade either if you bought them for that much… Maybe use Napoli as a sweetener in a trade…
Grey, I’m in an NL-only 12 team, 24 man keeper league with an auction budget of $270. I gotta throw one of these guys back if I can’t trade him: Jay 2013-3, Colvin 2014-8 and Chooch 2014-9. Leaning toward tossing Colvin. Remember, those 2014 contracts make them tradable. Who gets the boot?
@Pefacommish: Colvin
Keeper league, I have Wright, Cespedes, Jennings, Kipnis, Medlen, who do I take first between Longoria, Bautista, Kershaw and Cano (I am real hot for Longoria, both of them.)
@John Miceli: You have Wright, don’t need Longo… I’d go Cano…
Anyone noticed Homer Baileys splits from last year. Not so surprising but the extremity (big word of the day!) of it is.
HOME- 5.16 ERA, 99 IP, 121 H, 21 HRs (!), 28 BB, 79 Ks
AWAY- 2.32 ERA, 108 IP, 85 H, 5 HR, 24 BB, 89 Ks
Incredible difference, even more than I realised. He’s pure garbage at home, but an all-star on the road! A reverse rich-mans Clayton Richard for want of a better example?
I’ve already drafted him so surely he’s strictly a road play until proven otherwise?
@TheNewGuy: Looks like a Road Scholar, for sure… His homers can be the death of him… Depends on the league on whether you start him at home… Can play it safe in April, if you like…
@Grey: In a 10 teamer I think I have to play it safe all year don’t I, until he figures out how to pitch in Great American like Cueto and Latos have (if he ever does).
Road scholar thats the razz-term I was looking for!
Yeah, you can play it safe in the early going…
@Grey: I owned him all year after, say, mid-June and I did bench him at home at times. But he did have 2 really good starts near end of year at home including my first ever fantasy no hitter (pretty sure it was at home); which i almost benched him for.
The offense is crappy…I’m kinda surprised. You got lucky with Grienke falling so the pitching looks good.
We’re gonna have to disagree, Messiah…
And thats a damn solid looking upsidey team drafted there friend.
Thanks!
16 team keeper (keep 5), roto, yahoo, 5×5.
trading Konerko and Gyorko for Cespedes. too much? good? not enough?
MY TEAM.
CA- Perez. 1B- Butler. 2B- Kendrick. 3B- Moustakas. SS- Rollins. IN- Machado.
OF- Choo. OF- Willingham. OF- LMartin. OF- Bourjos. UT- Konerko.
BN- Gyorko, Lind, Gentry, Wells, SSmith.
SP- Price. SP- Bumgarner.
RP- Reed. RP- Parnell.
P- Gregerson. P- Brothers. P- Valverde.
BN- Fiers, Milone, Hammel, Richard.
@SpecialFNK: I’d take Cespedes…
I had a player hit the DL today and open a slot on my roster. I’m wanting to pick up an extra starter. Here’s my current SP staff (it’s eerily similar to your staff above, even though I drafted it before you):
Greinke
Gallardo
Samardzija
Peavy
Estrada
Here are some available names that I know you like (mostly from your starters to target post), considering I’ve got mostly high K, and higher WHIP risk, who would you suggest I pick up?
Phil Hughes
Wade Miley
Jason Hammel
Tommy Milone
Mike Fiers
Dillon Gee
Felix Doubront
Kyle Kendrick
Bud Norris
Nathan Eovaldi
Thanks!
@The Dude: Hammel or Gee depending on matchups for now…
@Grey: Interesting. I was leaning toward Hammel until I saw you picked up Milone with Hammel still on the board in this RCL Expert league. Gee was also still on the board. Buyers remorse?
Nah, they’re all tomato-tomahto… Milone’s actually the guy you should pick up, my oversight…
I haven’t had a chance to check on the other teams’ rosters, but any particular reason why you chose Tim Collins over Aaron Crow to handcuff Holland? I’m curious because both of those guys are available in my league and I may pick one of them up.
Also, Franky Fransico… Do you think he’ll get the job back when he returns from injury? Worth a stash? He’ll probably hit the DL once the season starts so I could use my DL spot for him and hope he wins the job back at some point. Is that what you are thinking?
Your constant hyping of Machado is really starting to seep into my brain. I have Longoria in a keeper league, and if I got another 3B, he would have to be in my Util spot. I have this rash called Prospectitus that I can’t get rid of. I kinda wanna trade away Kinsler and get Machado (not straight up, I’d get another player along with Machado). Steer me away from the cliff…please. If I traded Kinsler, I would have to move Rutledge to 2b and Cozart to SS. I think I lose a lot, just for a potential stud in a year or two. But the rash itches so much, I wanna itch it!
I’m not handcuffing Holland… I’m simply going for a guy that has a good K/9… As mentioned, he prolly won’t stay on the team… I dropped Frank Frank for Reimold… He could get the job back at some point, but he’s really terrible so you can stash him on the DL if you like — SAGNOF after all…. Don’t trade Kinsler for Machado…
@Grey: Thanks for steering me clear from the cliff’s edge. I needed that. Like an over-the-internet slap in the face. “Get it together man!”
Yeah I just looked at Collin’s numbers from last year and he had a lot of K’s.
I’ll wait for Franky Panky to go on the DL before I do anything. I kinda doubt he gets the job back from Parnell.
Thanks for the reply…back to work now :(
Ha, no problem…
Also, I like your Salvador pick in round 15 and your Dominic Brown pick. There’s that itch again…
Ha, thanks!
What is this “ESPN post-draft standings” thing? You mean on the standings page, where we’re all ranked 1, the order of the teams listed is how ESPN predicts the teams will finish according to their projections? Why did I not know this?!
During the draft, it tells you the projected standings… The listed teams in the standings right now are not their projections…
@Grey:
Of course… these standings are based on the fantasy projections of ESPN staff, led by Senior Fantasy Writer Matthew Berry. Whose fetish for Bartolo Colon is starting to get concerning.
Yeah, I’m not concerned about their projected standings… I like Sky’s team that he posted yesterday and he was at the bottom of his league’s pack in their projections and they had JB first there and his team looks solid for 2009.
@Grey: My team is dangerous. And I just picked up Mitch Moreland for a opening season ride for some extra stattages. Prepare thine anus, Razzball Writers.
@Grey:
If the projections were that easy, we could crown the champ after the draft. It would save us the 6 month grind that is the baseball season.
This also means that Eric Karabell and Matthew Berry would actually be Fantasy Experts.
Grey,
Long time lurker, first time poster. Love the site and the article! Please take a look and let me know what you think. Everyone starts; no bench except for injured players or rookies. All transactions, add or trades cost money. Moustakas went in round 5, Rutlege, Frazier, Machado and Estrada all went by round 10. Thanks.
C Lucroy, Jonathan – MIL 13
C Iannetta, Chris – LAA 23
1B Fielder, Prince – DET 1
2B Espinosa, Danny – WAS 15
SS Aybar, Erick – LAA 19
3B Longoria, Evan – TB 2
INF-DH Goldschmidt, Paul – ARI 3
INF-DH Hosmer, Eric – KC 11
OF Holliday, Matt – STL 4
OF Choo, Shin-Soo – CIN 6
OF Jennings, Desmond – TB 7
OF Gordon, Alex – KC 10
OF Cuddyer, Michael – COL 21
UT Martin, Leonys – TEX 25
UT Aoki, Norichika – MIL 17
P Moore, Matt – TB 8
P Wainwright, Adam – STL 5
P Niese, Jonathon – NYM 12
P Samardzija, Jeff – CHC 9
P Holland, Greg – KC 16
P Wilhelmsen, Tom – SEA 14
P Griffin, A.J. – OAK 20
P Ryu, Hyun-Jin (R) – LAD 23
P Veras, Jose – HOU 26
P Eovaldi, Nathan – MIA 27
P Matt Garza 20
P Brandon Beachy 24
Rookie Nolan Arenado
Rookie Kyle Gibson
Thanks for the kind words! I need the number of teams in your league to judge it…
@Grey: @Grey:
D’oh!!! 12 Teams I drafted 9th.
I like the hitters a lot… Pitching looks like it could be absolutely fine and I like guys you have, but it is a tad risky for upside…
@Grey:
Roger, thanks! I’ve already picked up Boggs for Eovaldi, and if i can’t trade a closer Fiers, Dillon Gee, Doubront and James McDonald are on the wire. Available bats are David Murphy, Chisenhall, and Cozart and Beckham.
Those are all streaming guys in your league with your team… Fiers, Gee…
The obvious pun on Miller (in your other thread), well played sir!
H2H draft coming up sunday and I really want to get Shelby(ville). Can I wait till the last round or two or do I need to pick him earlier now his spot is confirmed? Of course if he’s gonna get shutdown early then he’s not as valuable in this format actually…
Draft him around 200th overall to get him for sure…
How would you compare Desmond’s value to Hill or Zobrist in a keeper league? Who do you like best over the next 2-3 years?
@Jon:
Desmond is only 27 while Hill & Zobrist are 31. I think the latter we have seen their apex of production, but Desmond still has some unseen upside. Whether he reaches it is another matter though.
@Tio: yeah, I know Grey doesn’t love Desmond but he does have a few prime years still ahead of him…
I like them Desmond, Zobrist…
@Grey: Thanks!
Grey, I inherited a keeper league, a friend needed an extra player in their league. I set my keepers as Kershaw, Tulo, Kinsler, BJ Upton & Kimbrel (it was either him or Pablo). Here is my team in a 10 team 6×6 (standard 5×5 + OPS & K/W ratio) I wanted rutledge had to settle w evercab (is that me quoting u? Good 1 btw) standard lineup w 2 UT: Drafting from 1st position, non-snaking:
C. Perez
1st. Pujols, Morneau, Ortiz
2nd. Kinsler
3rd. Pablo
SS. Tulowitzki
3OF: BJ, Desmond, Gardner, Morse, Granderson
UT. Frazier, E. Cabrera
4SP/1P. Kershaw, Lee, Peavy, Halladay, Beckett, Estrada, Fiers
2RP: Kimbrel, Street.
* The plan was to insert Ortiz & Grandy into DL(3) pickup Beachy (or Luebke or Pineda) into final DL slot for now, grab League & Miller Time or would you recommend another OF or diffrent starter. Frazier could be it instead of Gardner & I can swap between him & evercab for speed with Morneau & Morse for better hitting. (should I even have morse in a 10 team? I like him since they moved their fences in) I’m used to playing in 12/14 team leagues & its weird having more flexibility. Any thoughts or advicer Grey, please. I appreciate it
Morse is fine for now… Your team looks decent, but EverCab, BJ, Gardner and Morneau… Blech… Your pitching is much better than your hitting, which isn’t great…
@gamebreakers:
I would definitely keep Morse in a 10-team league. He has had a monstrous spring and the Mariners lineup should be much better this year. Also factor in that they moved the fences in at Safeco. If Morse can stay healthy, he will easily outproduce draft position.
Of the 3 hurt guys, I like Beachy best as a DL stash.
i no i no i no,its only spring but Morse just took Kershaw out for his 8th hr,i hope some of this roles over since i own him everywhere
Yeah, it’s spring… We’ll see… Safeco is bringing their fences in, though…
@Grey: good things is that where im getting him,all he needs to do is 75-25-80-280 and its a steal,staying healthy 1st
@AL KOHOLIC:
I’ve been saying all off season, do not sleep on the Mariners. Their lineup could actually be kind of stacked if a few things break right. And they have deep arms. They could go to any of their big three arms Paxton, Walker or Hultzen any time if the need to. They have an underrated bullpen too. I remember seeing Coco in a post game after playing the Mariners say “man everybody in their ‘pen throws a hundred.”
If you’re not into spring numbers, look at Smoak’s September slash line: .341/.436/.580. Something clicked. If Montero can just handle the catching well enough to be in the lineup most days then they have Morales, Morse and Montero in the middle with the possibility of big upside in Smoak and maybe a solid season from Saunders. Anything the get from Ackley is gravy.
@OaktownSteve: Yep. I’ve drunk enough of the Kool-aid that I picked them to earn a wild-card berth. It may just be that I live in Seattle and am over-exposed to the going-ons of their team, but the 2013 version of the Mariners is truly world’s better than the 2012 version.
spring my ass,have you seen the 10 inches of snow in st. louis?
@AL KOHOLIC:
I saw Craig Sager almost wreck a backhoe trying to plow it before Sunday’s NCAA tournament games in KC.
@Tio: ha,im in louisville and we just missed the snow
I haven’t seen 10 inches of snow since I was a roadie for Rick James…
@Grey:
“Cocaine’s a hell of a drug.” – RJ as quoted on Chappelle Show
Evil sh*t!
im off to a rough start in my main league lost adam eaton, headley ( had to keep him) and now motte. how entrenched will boggs be in the closer role??? should i pick him up???? obviously others will be going for him too but i’ll just throw in a wild bid on him. real cash but i have a decent budget for my roto lol…….
I’d grab Boggs…
@Grey: will do- over the internet friend. thanks for the quick response!!
No problem…
@anarchy burger:
If you grab Boggs there will be 2 scenarios:
1. Motte is out for the year or much of the year… you will regret not grabbing him.
2. Motte is back in 15 days. You get the saves and cut Boggs once Motte is back… Zero risk move for you.
Either way, the downside for not grabbing him is the worst.
@Tio: good call tio- thanks. i’m gonna try to get boggs. now i just have to figure out how much dough i wanna spend. he’ll be a hot commodity this weekend.
@anarchy burger: Hold the government!
Here is my RCL team, drafted last night from the turn. I feel i am light on avg and saves. Any other holes? Will drop Hardy or Segura for a hot bat once the season starts.
C Sal Perez
1B Encarnacion
2B Altuve
3B Longo
SS Segura
MI Gyorko
CI Frazier
OF Stanton
OF Gordon
OF Pence
OF Ichiro
OF Brown
U Hardy
BN Hicks
SP Greinke
SP Moore
SP Peavy
SP Minor
SP Milone
SP Fiers
SP Teheran
RP Pestano
RP Veras
RP Gregorson
You look light on power, not AVG… Saves are definitely an issue as well… Hardy’s hot garbage… I’d drop him first…
Grey :
Of all the experts on the inter-webs , you ranked ike davis higher than anyone else … and
by a considerable margin .
i haven’t stalked every one of your drafts , but , it seems that you have
not drafted ike davis for any one of your teams .
please explain .
would you re-rank ike davis differently now ?
if so , why ??
I have a 1st baseman by the time I’d draft Davis… Thinking other things besides a corner man when he comes up…
@costaricanchata:
Love Ike Davis this year. I’m an owner. I think there’s a chance he not only rebounds on the batting average side but rebounds huge. LIke to the tune of .270 to go with 30 bombs and he’ll hit clean up.
its funny,when we were kids,after a snow youd see snowmen everywhere ,kids having snowball fights and sledding everywhere,now they are all inside on thier computers
You too!
@Grey: Ha!
You do grow outta it to some extent but theres still some kid thats still wants to go out there and throw snowballs and go sledging again. Pity my friends dont feel that way lol.
@TheNewGuy: When I have kids, if it snows outside, I will force those children to get out there in it at gunpoint, if necessary. Every child should play in the snow. And your enemies? They should play with the fishes!
Just got an interesting offer in my 14 Team OBP Keeper..
A-Gonz and a 1st rounder next year for Trumbo and Moustakas.
My team: C Napoli, 1B Hosmer, 2B Bonifacio, 3B Longoria, SS Aybar, IF Moustakas, LF Braun, CF Fowler, RF Trumbo, OF Ross, Util Colvin, Util Carpenter, BN Hicks
Sounds good for you…
@Bazzrall:
A-Gonz will outproduce Trumbo easily… and the first round pick next year in a 14-team league is huge. The only downside is giving up Moustakas which you can stomach this year with Longoria entrenched. I would probably do the deal.
yeah but im getting old,and throwing snowballs hurts my arm these days,but im still down for a little sledding or a snowman
Bah humbug!
@AL KOHOLIC: Remember, Al Koholic, elevation is the key to any fight. Just look at Obi-Wan and Anakin! (Of course, let’s disregard that Darth Maul had the high ground on Obi-Wan in the first prequel)
Nevertheloo, take the high ground and you won’t have to torque that whingy arm of yours so much!
Unless I am able to trade for a 3B, which one is the best option if I can’t get a trade done.
Matt Carpenter
Lonnie Chisenhall
Tyler Plouffe
@Harkrider:
Depends on what your team needs. Chisenhall has the most upside and has had a great spring. He is the type of guy who will benefit from Tito over Acta as manager… Plouffe if you need HRs but he will drag you down in average and obp. Carpenter would be more of a fill-in guy to add roster flexibility, but little to no upside there. He will likely get 2B eligibility at some point this year when Freese is healthy.
Carpenter
@Grey: here is my current team in a 5×5 league
C – Perez
1b -Votto
2b – Espinosa
SS – Castro
3b- carpenter
OF – Bruce, Heyward, Beltran, Gordon
UTIL – Pujols, Goldy
Bench – Rutledge, Aoki
SP – grienke, Scherzer, samardzija, Parker, minor
RP – wilhelmsen, Marmol, holland, romo, clippard, Boggs
No idea how many teams…
@Grey: 10 teams, but with 2 UTIL spots multiple teams have 2 or more 3B
@Harkrider: I’d go with Chisenhall for now…
@Harkrider: I would recommend Chisenhall. Post-hype sleeper! As long as your team can afford the likely BA hit. If not, yeah, Mr. Carpenter would be a full meal for your roster.
I find this site clearly the best for fantasy advice , so thank you for providing it. The rankings and projections are usually a great help. Im in a 10 team Roto league , wanted to know what you thought about my team overall..especially the Sp backend. Thanks in advance…podcast rule too..
Picked 8/10 in a snake:
C-Vmart
1st-Votto
2nd-Weeks
3rd-Zimmerman
SS-Elvis
OF-Craig, Willingham,Jennings
(2) Utility-Pujols ,Howard
Bench: Everth Cabrera, Domonic Brown, Rutledg
SP -W,L,Saves, Holds,Era, Whip
Cain, Bumgamer, Halliday, Estrada, J.Teheran, S.Miller.
RP-K.Jansen, Frieri,Romo,Nathan,Wilhelmsen
do we believe in Rutledge enough to trade lil Elvis?
This is the best fantasy site PERIOD!
THANKS
Thanks for the kind words! I think your team looks solid… I have a few small issues (don’t love Halladay or bench bats)…. I believe in Rutledge enough to trade Elvis, but I don’t think you need to do it yet…
Not sure if anyone else has posted, but local word is Adam Eaton’s elbow is only Grade 1 and likely to be healed by the end of April. If you have a DL spot, he may be worth stashing after all.
@Elijah:
Let’s wait and see on Rutledge. He was extremely feast or famine last year and had a high K-rate with low BB rate. Not usually good qualities.
I am still high on Eaton. He is the type of guy who will come back as soon as safely possible and he will still be hitting during the injury so he should come back quick out of the gates.
OK, the ol’ H2H draft is tomorrow afternoon (hoping for a good Friday indeed). We count OBP as well as AVG. We’re 14 teams this year. I’m all in on your top 12. The next few are:
13. Matt Kemp
14. Adam Jones
15. Josh Hamilton
16. Ian Kinsler
17. Adrian Beltre
18. Jose Bautista
How far up the list do you bump Bautista in this league? Up above Jones?
I know we’ve been over this before, but I’m sweating that I’m going to be picking near the end and looking at some of these guys as my #1 pick. (Though I guess there’s a pretty good chance that Longo or J-Up will be available at #14)
On that note, where would you want to be picking in a 14-teamer?
@Steve: Don’t mean to butt in but (almost stutterer!) congrats on getting a razzball glossary named after you. The Stevametrics it will now always be known by (with a big thanks to Jay Bruce id guess), you must be proud!
I’d move Bautista above Jones, yeah… You’re gonna be fine with Longo and an OF… Or you could get an OF and Goldy… I wouldn’t hate that either…
@Grey: A you nervous enough about Kemp to move Bautista above him too? Or do their respective injury histories make it a wash?
Make it a wash…
I realise my comment above is pretty hard to top, but I think that Worley being named the Twins’ Opening Day starter might just do it.
@Steve: Was this a ‘to subscribe’ comment? Steve!
@Grey: No! Posted it after the actual fantasy baseball question above. *frowns in indignation*
Yo Grey! and anyone else willing to help,
Random questions, hope it’s not too out of place here…
What is the gist of the War Room…do I use it during my draft? Does it cross off players for me automatically?
So basically: What’s the best use of the War Room Tool? Anyone with opinions/reccomendations, I’d appreciate.
Good Luck this season razzers
Ha! I’d use it after the draft to see how my team stacks up… Some people use it while drafting to see what categories they are lagging in…
@Grey: Gotcha. Sounds kind of hard to constantly update who’s been picked while still being prepared for your upcoming picks.
If anyone has or does use the War Room during the draft….any thoughts or advice?
@Thrilla: I use it just to log my picks, so I can track how I’m doing in the various categories. Not enough time to log everyone’s picks.
@Steve: thanks steve. that’s what i’ll do. So you check War Room tab in Excel and look at the Goal Tracking box?
razzers and three razzettes*
@Thrilla: Razzettes…nice name bet they’ll like that.
Grey,
Where would you target Boggs in a 12-team roto draft right now?
Around the point that the 15th-20th closers are off the board?
Do you like him more than Kenley Jansen?
Also where would you target Shelby Miller?
Somewhere in the Miley, Estrada, Burnett territory?
Thanks!
@Drexel Hill Dragons: Around the 25th closer off the board… I’d take Jansen in some leagues before him… Miller is in the Estrada territory, yeah…
@Grey: Thanks! Very helpful.
Can I get your feedback on this draft of mine? Auction 13 teams mixed 5×5. I broke the bank early on Cabrera and Braun (Goldy, AJ and Peavy were cheap keepers) Thank you!
C Riemold
1B Goldschmidt
2B Kipnis
3B Cabrera
SS Rutledge
OF Braun
OF Jennings
OF Jackson, Austin
U Rizzo
R L. Martin
P Wainwright
P Samardzija
P Morrow
P Hammel
P Beckett
P Miller
P Doubront
P Peavy
R Holland
R Cook
R Robertson
R Tillman
R Cobb
R Kendrick
Your pitching staff looks like a mess of upside/risky picks… Your hitting looks much better, which is a good thing, much better to have a strong hitting team…
@Grey: Would I have been smarter downgrading Braun to say… Shin Choo or J Bruce, and upgrading Wainwright to Cliff Lee or Grienke?
Nope…
For what its worth, the guys over at Rotographs are high on Moose. Likewise, big Ike fans as well.
Cool…
grey,can i please get your opinion of my team? 12 team 6×5 (xbh).
ca s. perez
1b p.fielder
2b d.murphy
3b t.frazier
ss z.cozart
of g.stanton
of m.holliday
of s.choo
util p.goldschmidt
util i.davis
sp scherzer
sp gallardo
rp jansen
rp frieri
p iwakuma
p minor
p kennedy
p cobb
p s.miller
p samardzija
j.veras
I like your hitting a lot… Don’t love your pitching, but I see that it’s 6×5 so it’s understandable… I think you’re gonna have problems with some of the risk/upside you drafted for SPs…
@Didier Drogba: goalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!
The WAR room is bloody brilliant! Can’t believe I’ve never used it before.
Is 100% meant to be good for 1st place or 3rd (with the theory that get 3rd in all cats and you win overall)?
1st place… It’s good, but admittedly slow…
@Grey: All but wins im looking good at….and we know how predictable wins are.
So lookin good!!!
Is it too early for trade advice?
I just drafted for a Keeper league and i was just offered Adam Wainwright and Zack Greinke for Clayton Kershaw.
My Gut feeling says decline but this also seems like a lot of value…Any Advice?
Never too early…. I’d take Wainwright…
12 team 5×5 H2H CATS NL only..Adam Eaton dropped..Got $100 FAAB How much to blow??
$8
Alright, I’ll bite. I’d like an honest assessment of this team in a 10T, H2H, 7×7 (BB, OPS, QS, L) league with 30-man rosters:
C: Rosario
1B: Freeman
2B: Zobrist
SS: A. Cabrera
3B: Longoria
MI: Rutledge
CI: I. Davis
OF: Kemp
OH: Bautista
OF: Harper
OF: Fowler
OF: Aoki
DH: Berkman
BE: Lucroy (I know, don’t need him)
BE: Myers
BE: Carpenter
P: Bumgarner
P: Latos
P: Gallardo
P: Scherzer
P: Samardzija
P: Harvey
P: Minor
P: Teheran
P: Estrada
P: Cashner
P: Street
P: Holland
P: K. Jansen
P: Boggs
I know speed/runs could be an issue, as I don’t have anyone elite. The pitching is loaded with high risk/reward-types, but I feel strangely satisfied with the potential there. Best waiver bat available is Domonic Brown, who I’m thinking of dumping someone for. Thoughts? (Thanks in advance)
Speed and runs don’t look like a major issue… You look light on power… I agree with what you said about pitching… Your SPs look better than your hitting overall…. Team looks solid enough… Lose Lucroy for Domonic…
Rutledge in yahoo random league… Hes still available in the 18th… Haha tomorrow in the RCL i predict hes gone in the tenth!
Same with goldschmidt… Went in the 8th i think it was, in espn? Maybe 7th? Tomorrow… He’ll be long gone in the 3rd!!
This is gonna be tricky.. maybe even a little sticky.. i probably end up with one of your favs cuz im stubborn. It will be meds.. ssshhhh!
Don’t forget to give Machado, Moore and Frazier some love…
@Grey: almost forgot about moore! Good lookin out grey.. the other two, i already know man i want them like “a fat kid wants 9 hours of video gaming a day and donut shop close by”.. and thats me paraphrasing you!
Can’t we put the donut shop in the basement with the kid?
@Grey: donut delivery, is that a real thing, because it should be
If it’s not, why isn’t it?
@Grey: we need investors and a name
I think T Moore’s an eccentric millionaire, so there’s half of the equation…
@Grey: if we bring him in he’ll want to call it E S T R A D A ‘ S
! ! !
@Jack Full of Hate: Donut Go Anywhere
@Kangaroo Hops:
“Grey: i think we have better above..”
:D
@prezii: “Donut Go Anywhere…We’ll be Right Over!” It practically sells itself.
@Grey, kinda makes me want to be a fat kid in a basement. Not gonna lie… Matt adams 12 years ago! Thats my wish…
Adams 12 years ago was the mom in Gilbert Grape… No foolin’, check IMDB…
@Grey: saa nappp! Thats a hugeee pitch!
@prezii: sounds like my current lifestyle
you ready for tomorrow, I’m going in naked, no notes no war room, all my noggin, there will be blood!
@Jack Full of Hate: im ready son! No war room for me neither.. just a piece of paper with pizza, backwood crumbs and a lil jizz on it…
@prezii: sounds like my bed sheet
@Jack Full of Hate: wait.. ah fuck this is ur bed sheet… My bad!
@prezii: was that you I boned last weekend?….nice rack prezzi
Ciao Grey — this is a fairly low-level question, but in a deep roto league where I think I’m OK on power, getting Ben Revere for Lorenzo Cain is an upgrade, right?
What is the latest you’ve heard on whether Revere will bat at the top of Phillies’ lineup or at the end? I know Charlie Manuel isn’t the cleverest guy around, but can he really plan to bat middle aged guys like Rollins and Utley 1-2 and have speedsters Dominic Brown and Revere 6th and 7th? That’s what I’ve read.
I saw Revere was at leadoff against Detroit today but Rollins and Utley were out of the lineup. Does Revere still get his SBs even batting ahead of the catcher and pitcher?
Ciao Enrique — I’d hold Cain…
What do you think about this: Cutch + Avila, Molina or Miguel Montero for my Posey + Victorino, Gardner or Marte? I know you’d deal Posey for the Dread Pirate, but which C would you want back and which OF would you send to make it fair? H2H keeper league.
(Or would you rather just have the Posey side?)
Montero… Trade Marte…
@Grey: Would you give as much as Victorino and still do the deal?
Sure, it’s fair…
Grey/Rudy,
Any advice on my team – where I need improvements? 12 Man League 7×6 with OPS
C- Sal Perez
1B – Goldschmidt
2b – Espinosa
SS – Tulowitzki
3rd – Zimmerman
OF – Stanton
OF – Choo
OF – Aoki/Morse
Util – Sandoval
SP- Greinke
SP – Scherzer
SP – Peavy
SP – Niese
SP – Parker
SP – Milone
SP – Hughes
SP – Teheran
RP – Holland
RP – Betancourt
Also would you drop either Milone/Hughes/Teheran for Shelby Miller?
Thanks
You look light on speed but maybe that was by design with OPS… Your pitching looks very strong, maybe a tad too strong… I’d lose Hughes for Miller…
Quick question-
Braun or Trout at 2 overall? Draft is tonight… and I know for sure Miggy goes #1.
I would pick Braun in a heartbeat if it weren’t for these suspension rumors. Now I am on the fence.
Thanks in advance!!
Braun
10 team money league (too shallow for my likes, but oh well)
I’m on the turn at pick #10. I’m going 1B/OF with first 2 picks (Fielder/Pujols and Giancarlo/JUpton). In the 3rd/4th rounds I’m expecting Adam Jones, a 3B (either Zimmerman or Encarnacion), Castro, and Goldschmidt to all be available. Based solely off your rankings I’d be taking Jones and GSchmidt – I have 2 Util spots so I don’t mind taking 2 1st basemen early, but would it be better to grab one of the 3B or SS while I can?
Thanks!
@Mark:
should add that OPS is a 6th category.
Forget SS…. Jones, 3B or Goldy are all solid… I’d take Jones and Goldy, yeah…
@Grey:
Thanks! That’s what I was thinking. Almost let the Cubs fan inside me get the better of me.
I know you don’t like bench bats, but my staff is solid, or so i think for a 12 – roto
Greinke
Moore
Peavy
Szmardja
Burnett
Beckett
Miller
G Holland
Whilhelmson
On the offensive side I have two OF spots to fill with
Fowler
Cain
Marte
Carter – when he gets eligibility
Boneface, he might be my 2nd baseman, have Infante till BF iseligible, but he may not play every day :(
Do I drop one of these OF’s for another bullpen arm, here’s whats available
Clippard
Casilla
Melancon
Frank Frank
Valverde
My thinking is grab Clippard or Casilla for the occasional save, more saves for Casilla, better ratios for clippard. I’m thinking Cain or marte should go, i just can’t decide who. Clippard could be the white Janseen
Yeah, your staff is solid, totally fine, probably be better than mine… OF looks fine, and they’ll probably sort themselves out by April 15th… Right now, they’re all tossups… Fowler, Marte would be my first choices… I’d hold for right now, those MRs aren’t that interesting… And if a closer gets hurt tomorrow, I’d lose Carter until he becomes an OF… Unless you’re weak on power and high on speed, then Bonifacio…
@Grey: I’m week on speed and thats why boneface should stay. not loving his situation. are you sating fowler and marte are first to go?
My problem with marte is he k’s way too much, 18 in spring already. I just looked up cain and he has a 1/3 k/bb ratio this spring which is promising for a guy set to bat leadoff.
So you wouldn’t drop marte for Casilla or Clippard
I wouldn’t drop any of them right now for a random MR… Spring means nothing… Marte has nice upside, but like I said they’re all tossups, more or less, I’d try to wait for one or two to emerge than drop the excess baggage…
@Grey: sounds like I got a “toss-up salad” going here…..glossary term?
Ha… I think it’s more chronic rosterbating, which is also my problem…
@Grey:I rosterbate so much I have a callous on my mouse finger every baseball season.
a toss-up salad is when you have a bunch of the usable/same on your roster and bench and have no idea what to do with them. They have too much potential, or ability to give to someone else but have no idea where to play them all
@Grey: why isn’t rosterbate in the glossary?
Hmm… I kinda thought it was… Will add…
@Grey: I checked, i thought it was there. You need to give yourself the credit sometimes. You old rosterbater you
Gray, thanks man for such an informative site. I just recently came across it and hands down one of the most complete fantasy sites I have ever seen. Keep up the great work and thanks again. I’d like to get your opinion on my 5×5 12 team drafted Sunday.
C Brantly, Rob (MIA – C)
C Perez, Salvador (KAN – C)
1B Trumbo, Mark (LAA – OF) 1B OF
2B Zobrist, Ben (TAM – 2B) 2B SS OF MI UT
3B Ramirez, Aramis (MIL – 3B) 3B CR UT Res
SS Tulowitzki, Troy (COL – SS) SS MI UT Res
CR Zimmerman, Ryan (WAS – 3B) 3B CR UT
MI Reyes, Jose (TOR – SS) SS MI UT Res
OF Aoki, Norichika (MIL – OF) OF UT Res
OF Choo, Shin-Soo (CIN – OF) OF UT Res
OF Jackson, Austin (DET – OF) OF UT Res
OF Marte, Starling (PIT – OF) OF UT Res
OF Murphy, David (TEX – OF) OF UT Res
UT Crawford, Carl (LAD – OF) O OF UT Res
Res McCann, Brian (ATL – C) 15-DL C UT Res
Res Teixeira, Mark (NYY – 1B) O
P Anderson, Brett (OAK) P Res Off
P Balfour, Grant (OAK) O P Res Off
P Beckett, Josh (LAD) P Res Off
P Griffin, A.J. (OAK) P Res Off
P Holland, Greg (KAN) P Res Off
P Miley, Wade (ARI) DTD P Res Off
P Nathan, Joe (TEX) P Res Off
P Parker, Jarrod (OAK) P Res Off
P Richard, Clayton (SDG) P Res Off
Res Cashner, Andrew (SDG) P Res Off
Res Hudson, Daniel (ARI) 60-DL P Res Off
Res Lohse, Kyle (MIL) P Res Off
Will obviously drop Hudson and cycle 2-3 sp per week
Thanks again–Shad
Thanks for the kind words! The hitting looks okay, has a few concerns… Your hitting could fall apart if Trumbo can’t hold up 1st and Tulo gets hurt again… Right now, it looks fine with some power concerns…. McCann isn’t worth even stashing… Your pitching’s a bit of a mess, I’m not seeing a number one or number two really… Beckett’s more of a three at this point in his career…
Grey – I used the War Room (secretly) in our draft for the first time this year, I think its going to pay its dividends – mind taking a look at my team? 12-Team H2H, R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG, W/S/K/ERA/WHIP. 8 Keepers carry into next season.
C: Jonathan Lucroy (13)
1B: Albert Pujols (1)
2B: Ian Kinsler (3)
3B: Todd Frazier (9)
SS: Danny Espinosa (11)
OF: Matt Holliday (5)
OF: Shin-Soo Choo (7)
OF: Hunter Pence (10)
Ut: Prince Fielder (2)
Ut: Ichiro Suzuki (14)
B: Emilio Bonaficio (16)
B: Ryan Doumit (20)
B: Michael Cuddyer (22)
P: Gio Gonzalez (4)
P: Cliff Lee (6)
P: Jason Motte (8) – Boggs sitting in my waiver wire, dropping Cuddy.
P: Jake Peavy (12)
P: Casey Jannsen (15)
P: Shelby Miller (17)
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu (18)
P: Steve Cishek (19)
P: Tommy Millone (21)
Thanks
Yeah, your team looks nice… I do think you are low on speed, that might be why you grabbed Ichiro and Bonifacio… Doumit isn’t necessary… Your pitching is stacked… Gio and Lee are great, might a tad too good….
@Grey: That’s what I like to hear – Thanks
Holy balls! I have a draft in less than an hour and just saw that I have the first pick–a huge deal for me as I’ve never had a #1 fantasy pick in any league, ever (and we’re talking a pretty long history). Dread Pirate is my favorite player in baseball and I was planning to draft him as high as #2, with Miggy at #1, until I actually got my draft slot. Now I’m considering McCutchen. I know your rankings for the two, but I’m obviously asking because my Dread Pirate love is so strong that I can’t simply follow your rankings blindly when in doubt (as I normally do). Please make the decision for me. Many thanks, from a confused guy.
@chillmodious: Has to be Miggy. He is as reliable as the tide coming in.
Yeah, I’d go Miggy…
rcl league. i think i did okay, but I did botch a few picks
C Jonathan Lucroy, Mil C
1B Ike Davis, NYM 1B
2B Howard Kendrick, LAA 2B
3B Evan Longoria, TB 3B, DH
SS Marco Scutaro, SF 2B, SS
2B/SS Alexei Ramirez, CWS SS
1B/3B Ryan Zimmerman, Wsh 3B
OF Andrew McCutchen, Pit OF
OF Adam Jones, Bal OF
OF Hunter Pence, SF OF
OF Alejandro De Aza, CWS OF
OF Josh Reddick, Oak OF
UTIL David Ortiz, Bos DH
P Yu Darvish, Tex SP
P Matt Moore, TB SP
P James Shields, KC SP
P Mariano Rivera, NYY RP
P John Axford, Mil RP
P Jason Grilli, Pit RP
P Ryan Cook, Oak RP
P Andrew Bailey, Bos RP
P Sean Marshall, Cin RP
Bench A.J. Burnett, Pit SP
Bench Phil Hughes, NYY SP
Bench Lorenzo Cain, KC OF
Your middle infield is a bit of a mess, but I do like your hitting overall… Your pitching looks solid enough… You’re gonna need to stream and chase some saves… Bailey’s not worth holding for now…
Hey Grey,
Drafting in an hour and a half. In the first couple of rounds, are there any guys off the top of your head who you would target specifically with it being an OPS league? I’ve read all the OPS centered posts and have a list of guys to target in later rounds worked up. I’ll know my draft position in about an hour.
in a head to head 9×9.. H R HR RBI K SB AVG OBP SLG K QS CG SO W L SV ERA WHIP
16 teams snake draft position 13…
C Salvador Perez, KC C
1B Paul Goldschmidt, Ari 1B
2B Danny Espinosa, Wsh 2B, SS
3B Ryan Zimmerman, Wsh
SS Josh Rutledge, Col
OF Justin Upton, Atl OF
OF Josh Hamilton, LA
OF Justin Ruggiano, Mia OF
Chris Carter, Hou 1B
Todd Frazier, Cin 3B, 1B
Bench Zack Cozart, Cin
Bench Starling Marte, Pit OF
Bench Gordon Beckham, CWS 2B
Bench Denard Span, Wsh OF
P Alex Cobb, TB S
P Hyun-Jin Ryu, LAD SP
P Mike Fiers, Mil SP
SP Mat Latos, Cin SP
SP Jeff Samardzija, ChC SP
SP Derek Holland, Tex SP
SP A.J. Burnett, Pit SP
RP Kris Medlen, Atl SP, RP
RP Drew Storen, Wsh RP
Taking a loss on saves every week but even with no ace think I can hang in pitching and hitting should be strong… thoughts?
I agree with what you said about hitting… Pitching could be okay, but you might lose more than just saves… You have a bunch of pitching question marks… On a smaller hitting note, I imagine you’ll find Marte can go for Ruggiano and Cozart’s useless on your team…
@Grey:
any pieces you suggest to move?
Sure, see if take multiple guys for one upgrade… Like Marte and Ruggiano for one SP…
@ Grey: Had my 12 team auction draft that is a 5×5 format with a $550 salary cap. Let me know what you think.
C Jesus Montero $11
1B Eric Hosmer $21
2B Jose Altuve $26
SS Josh Rutledge $10
3B Mike Moustakas $19
INF Manny Machado $12
OF Giancarlo Stanton $79
OF BJ Upton $49
OF Desmond Jennings $31
OF Shane Victorino $20
UT Lorenzo Cain $2
SP Madison Bumgarner $47
SP Mat Latos $49
SP Matt Moore $38
SP Jarrod Parker $12
SP Shelby Miller $9
RP Greg Holland $9
RP Rafeal Betancourt $5
B Brett Lawrie $33
B Wil Myers $8
B Brett Gardner $10
B Dustin Ackley $7
B Jean Segura $1
B Leonys Martin $7
B James McDonald $3
B Chris Tillman $6
For a total $524. I think I may be a little steal heavy and not really enough pitching depth. Any thoughts would be great.
Yeah, you are steal heavy but also power light, which isn’t great… Only two guys on your team may hit more than 20 homers… Your pitching is insane, way too many top arms, then you really don’t have middle of the rotation guys… Team could be fine, but there’s some trouble areas…
@Grey: I was thinking of adding Chris Carter for some pop. May be a chocolate Adam Dunn and give me some solid homers.
I say go for it…
Hearing Cashner to the ‘pen on RW and Ross to the rotation. Anyone hearing different?
@AnotherFalstaff: I read on rotowire that the 5th starter spot was down to Cashner and Ross. Ross has been decent enough in ST that I still think that the Padres will put him in the rotation to start the season in order to cut down on Cashner’s IP and to see what they have in Ross. I also (not so boldly) predict that Cashner will be in the rotation in a month, at worst.
@AnotherFalstaff: Though, I’d be happy to be wrong. Cashner deserves the spot.
Who would be your early-season fav:
Team A vs Team B
Posey – Santana
Goldy – Votto
Cano – Kipnis
Zimm – Mous
Tulo – Aybar
Desmond – Lowrie
Frazier – I.Davis
Jennings – Beltran
Stanton – CarGo
B.J.Upton – Harper
Victorino – Kemp
Gardner – Fowler
Lawrie – Teix
Bumgarner – Cain
Medlen – Kershaw
Zimm – Latos
Bailey – Sale
Milone – Moore
Harvey – Lester
Hammel – Hellickson
Cashner – Beckett
Gee – Masterson
Cobb – Chacin
Street – Chapman
Jansen – Holland
Frieri – Reed
DRob – Brothers
Luebke – D.Hudson
(If that’s really hard to read, I’ll post in a different format)
@Jon: Team B
Yeah, it’s pretty impossible to read…
@Grey: Better?
Team A
C Posey
1B Goldy
2B Cano
3B Zimm
SS Tulo
MI Desmond
CI Frazier
OF Jennings, Stanton, B.J.Upton, Victorino, Gardner
DL Lawrie
SP Bumgarner, Medlen, Zimm, Bailey, Milone, Harvey, Hammel, Cashner, Gee, Cobb, Luebke
RP Street, Jansen, Frieri, DRob
Team B
C Santana
1B Votto
2B Kipnis
3B Mous
SS Aybar
MI Lowrie
CI I.Davis
OF Beltran, CarGo, Harper, Kemp, Fowler
DL Teix
SP Cain, Kershaw, Latos, Sale, Moore, Lester, Hellickson, Beckett, Masterson, Chacin, D.Hudson
RP Chapman, Holland, Reed, Brothers
Yup, much better… I like B…
Greg:
Great columns and great writing (“upside caca-cuckoo?”) — it’s tough to read your stuff at work, because it always makes me laugh out loud.
I’m in a Yahoo, Roto, 12 team, 7×7 league with 10 keepers. Yahoo’s draft tool would not load, so I got stuck on auto-draft but compensated a bit with some fast waiver wire moves after the draft. I think my primary weakness is saves and holds, and the fact that some key guys (Headley, Eaton) are taking a two month injury vacation to start the season. So, I’ve stocked up on more hitters than I usually do to stash some prospects and backfill for those deficits. My starting pitching looks good, though I am afraid Lester and Holland may ruin the ERA.
I’m feeling good about the auto-draft giving me Lester given his Spring so far. I’m pondering Zito and Iwakuma as additional starters but I probably need more holds (Wilton Lopez?). I’m thinking that in a 12 person league Chapman and Romo may be enough to stay competitive on saves — everyone that has a breath of a chance at getting saves (poor Broxton drafters, Chappie is the closer again) has been snatched. Holds are underrated by my league. I grabbed Javier and dumped Romero faster than you write stretched analogies.
So, dump the hitting ballast except for Eaton and Headley backfill? Keep the prospects on hitting until some pitchers emerge in the first couple of weeks? Any thoughts appreciated, even if humor at my expense.
-Cory-
C-Posey (Keeper)
1B-Pujols (K)
2B-Walker
3B-Headley (K)
SS-Aybar
OF-Eaton (K)
OF-Carlos Gomez (K)
OF-Swisher
UTIL-Morneau
Bench: Ichiro, Tori Hunter, Wil Myers, Daniel Murphy, Chris Parmelee, Jordany Valdespin
SP: Cueto (K), Josh Johnson (K), Shelby Miller (K), Lester, Holland, Fiers
RP: Chapman (K), Romo (K), Javier Lopez
Thanks for the kind words! Iwakuma’s not a bad name, but Zito — yikes… You have plenty of saves… You don’t need more right now, guys will become available… Yeah, dump some bench bats… I’d only hold Ichiro and Myers from that crop… Your team looks very light on power… I’d trade Cueto for a power bat… It’s a 12 team league, but your hitting looks like a 15 team league…
@Grey: Thanks. My mistake — it’s a 14 team league, so maybe my hitting is not that far off. I gather that means I can part with Cueto more easily. I’m in the hunt for a big bat at 2B, SS or OF.
I’ll be drafting #5 overall in the OPS league that starts in 10 mins…the player rater seems to like Trout in all formats more than you do in the top 400. Obviously Trout won’t be there at #5, but who would you take out of Cano and the dread pirate? I assume Cutch, but just checking to make sure.
Cutch
@Grey: Braun fell to me so I grabbed him instead. If the PED shit blows up, both of my money league teams are screwwwwed…haha.
I just realized how appropriate it is that a guy named Boneface would give you speed…
About to choose a second catcher. Salty or Castro for upside?
@L-Boogie: Salty
@royce!: Damn. He was just taken
Grey, Looking for your thoughts on my recent draft in my annual league. It’s a 12 team H2H 6×6 the additional (or 6th) category for offense is OPS. and Quality Starts for pitching. The real curveball is the pitching positions on the roster. There’s 3 SP spot’s , 3 RP spot’s, and 4 P spots. The Bench has 7 spots so its roster in general is larger than usual. The additional pitching spots changed my approach a bit. This is obvious by my Greinke, Medlen, Scherzer picks. I feel good about my pitching depth but I’m not over top in love with my hitting outside Upton, McCutchen, Longoria, Goldschmidt, and Choo. I love where I got Rutledge but hate that I drafted Utley. Sorry I’m a long winded a-hole
Colt .45’sView All
Round Pick Player Position
1. (5) Andrew McCutchen OF
2. (20) Justin Upton OF
3. (29) Evan Longoria 3B
4. (44) Paul Goldschmidt 1B
5. (53) Zack Greinke SP
6. (68) Kris Medlen SP,RP
7. (77) Max Scherzer SP
8. (92) Shin-Soo Choo OF
9. (101) Brandon Morrow SP
10. (116) Joe Nathan RP
11. (125) Chase Utley 2B
12. (140) Jeff Samardzija SP
13. (149) Dan Haren SP
14. (164) Josh Rutledge 2B,SS
15. (173) Ernesto Frieri RP
16. (188) Bobby Parnell RP
17. (197) Lorenzo Cain OF
18. (212) Jason Kubel OF
19. (221) Ben Revere OF
20. (236) Brandon Belt 1B
21. (245) Hyun-Jin Ryu SP
22. (260) J.P. Arencibia C
23. (269) Shelby Miller RP
24. (284) A.J. Griffin SP
25. (293) Dayan Viciedo OF
26. (308) Bud Norris SP
27. (317) Andrew Cashner SP,RP
Your pitching looks stronger than your hitting, but the hitting doesn’t look bad, assuming this is a 3 OF league… You look light on power though, which isn’t great…
Yes 3 OF league with 2 UTL spots. I’m just not crazy about some of the power guys after the first couple rounds and tried to target a mix of upside ( Cain, Belt) Power ( Kubel, Arencibia) and speed ( Reevre). Figure I’ll drop Viciedo some time in the first two weeks for any one flashing some decent power.
Does J.Weeks or D.Gordon have a better chance of contributing this year?
Gordon
Would you do any of these deals? I would be the one needing the pitching, because my draft was mean to me. (10 teamer/keeper)
A. Gordon ($2) for Zimmermann ($3)
Gordon for Gio ($1)
Gordon for Yu ($10)
For these three deals would you add Freese ($5) to Gordon to get any of these pitchers?
I’d take Gio and I’d add Freese…
Yo grey man,
What side of trade. J Zimmerman for a Gordon
And why the mad love for milone. He a cracka who cant crack away from oakland
Respeckt
Ha… It’s a fair trade, depends on needs… I’d take Gordon… Respeckt
Ugh…draft is in the 9th round and I’ve had the player I was planning to take picked 1 or 2 spots ahead of me 5 times already. FRUSTRATING AS FUCK.
Grey (and Steve)… thanks for the Miggy advice earlier. Here’s the squad (10-tm ESPN H2H 5×5):
C – Sal Perez
1B – AuShizz
2B – Jedd Gyorko
3B – Miguel Cabrera
SS – Jimmy Rollins
MI – Rutledge (will go to 2B or stay depending on Gyorko)
CI – Anthony Rizzo
OF – Adam Jones
OF – Shin-Soo Choo
OF – Desmond Jennings
OF – Norichika Aoki
OF – Starling Marte
Util – Mike Moustakas
SP – Mad Bumgarner
SP – Matt Moore
SP – Max Scherzer
SP – Jeff Samardzija
SP – Matt Harvey
SP – Marco Estrada
RP – Huston Street
RP – Tom Wilhelmsen
RP – Glen Perkins
RP – Steve Cishek
RP – Casey Janssen
RP – Mitchell Boggs
————————————
You approve, even for a 10-teamer? (I assume you’ll approve of having a Gyorko and a Rizzo on the same squad) Any weaknesses I should be keeping an eye on?
I approve… You look maybe a tad light on power and heavy on speed, but your league is shallow so you can fix that in season if it becomes an issue… I think the team looks solid overall… Your pitching is stacked…
@Grey: Thank you… yeah, the pitching situation worked out kinda strange. I was secretly avoiding Scherzer and Samardzija, but I did have them ranked high-ish and they just kept falling and falling. Scherz came at 101 and Samardzija at 161. It’s possible I develop an ulcer by May.
The thing I’m actually the most shaky about is Marte. I really want him to succeed, but I have this terrible feeling he’s going to be poopy-pants this season. Oof. Is it Opening (sun)Day yet?
Hopefully no poopy-pants…
Grey! Thanks for all the advice and content. Great site.
Who is the better SAGNOG!! candidate to add off waivers:
Perkins or Grilli?
Thanks again.
@Carlos:
Add Cishek too that. Cishek, Perkins, or Grilli.
SAGNOF
No problem… SAGNOF! Perkins…
Should I drop Jarrod Parker, Homer Bailey or AJ Burnett to open up a spot for streaming? My plan was to add Boggs once Motte is officially on the DL here in a few days. Or should I just not even add Boggs and use the open RP spot to stream instead of dropping one of my rotating bench Starters? Thanks man! I’m in a 10-team Yahoo H2H points league.
W: 12 / L: -4 / K: 2 / Walk: -1 / HR: -1 / SV: 8
SP – Zach Greinke
SP – Jake Peavy
SP – Jonathan Niese
RP – Joe Nathan
RP –
BN – A.J. Burnett
BN – Shelby Miller
BN – Homer Bailey
BN – Jarrod Parker
DL – Jason Motte
I’d add Boggs and hold the starters you have for right now…
I just drafted my Yahoo 12-team, 6×6 (OPS, K9, and QS replacing Ws). 1300 innings pitched limit.
I would sincerely appreciate some advice as to how my team looks. I feel like the draft was going well at first, but that I overspent in the $20-40 range. So I missed out on some mid-tier value, and then I felt like I got a lot of value from the back end of the draft, in the $1-10 range.
C – Salvador Perez $6
1B – Goldschmidt $34
2B – Pedroia $27
3B – Beltre $35
SS – Jean Segura $1
OF – Cespedes $26
OF – Adam Jones $34
OF – Aoki $4
Util – Rizzo $15
Util – Todd Frazier $4
Bn – Josh Reddick $2
SP – Bumgarner $28
SP – Shields $16
RP – Chris Perez $3
RP – Street $3
P – Perkins $4
P – Bailey $6
P – Anibal Sanchez – $4
BN – Mike Minor $2
BN – Jason Hammel $2
BN – Julio Teheran $2
DL – Jeter $1
Thanks.
@Principle Blackman:
Keeping in mind that this is an OPS, K9, and QS league, with Jeter on the DL I can throw some FA dollars at another starter or a bat. Who should I pick up outta these guys: Fiers, Cashner, Jose Veras, Fujikawa, Al Al, Andrew Bailey, Dom Brown, Leonys Martin, Starling Marte.
Thanks again.
Fiers
I think you could have some issues with your pitching staff… Your hitting looks like it should be okay… The league is shallow enough where you’ll be fine with guys off of waivers for pitching…
Hoping you can assess my recent keeper draft. H2H league (holds a cat) where I kept 8. Thanks for your help and any advice is welcomed.
C – Buster Posey (K)
1B – Eric Hosmer (K)
2B – Ben Zobrist (K)
3B – Manny Machado (K)
SS – Danny Espinosa
2B/SS – Josh Rutledge
1B/3B – Ike Davis
OF – Andrew McCutchen (K)
OF – Matt Holliday (K)
OF – Dexter Fowler
Util – Kendrys Morales
Util – Will Middlebrooks
BN – Lind, Marte
Pitching – D Price (K), C Sale (K), AJ Burnett, H Bailey, M Estrada, F Doubront, Sergio Romo, Broxton, B Rondon, Mike Fiers, T Milone, G Cole
No idea how many teams…
@Grey:
12 TEAMS, sorry for leaving that out.
I also was just offered Longo, Hamels, Bourn, Uggla for Price, Zobrist, Holliday, Broxton. Thoughts?
Thanks
Hi Grey,
I was hoping you could muster up the strength to review one more team. Take a look and give me an idea of what my weaknesses are and how could best address them. 12 team H2h outfield specific.
C. M. Napoli
1b. P. goldschmidt
2b. D. Espinosa
SS. J. Rutledge
3b. W. Middlebrooks
Rf. S.S. Choo
Cf. M. Kemp
LF. J. Willingham
OF. A. Jones
Util. E. Hosmer
B. S. Perez – C
B. A. Eaton – CF
B. T. Frazier -1B/3b
B. D. Freese
Sp. M. Bummgarner
Sp. j. Lester
Sp. J. Johnson
Sp. T. Hudson
Sp. J. Zimmerman
Sp. H. Ryu
Sp. j. Teheran
Sp. M. Garaza
Sp. B. Beachy
Sp. P. Hughes
Sp. A. Cashner
Sp. M. Estrada
Rp. J. Hanrahan
I like your hitting a lot, maybe a tad low on average but that’s fine in H2H… I don’t love your pitching… Lots of guys I wouldn’t draft… It should be fine though since your league is shallow and it’s H2H…
We need a glossary term for when you pass on a guy you really want because his ADP is lower thinking he will come back to you and then gets swiped a spot or so ahead of your next pick. That’s the story of my draft. Happened with Goldy, Zobrist, Aaron Hill and a couple of others already. On the bright side, it appears no one else in this league has a brain so they are all drafting full pitching staffs despite the fact the settings are rigged for closers and MRs…
Yeah, hate when that happens… You got sniped!
Hey grey, 12 mixed keeper leagues, standard + OPS and holds, how’s my team? It feels like I went too crazy with the OF and ran out of money for the rest of my offense.
Avila
AGon
Rutledge
Middlebrooks
Nunez
Dread Pirate, Stanton, J-Up
Frazier, Fowler
Scherzer, Samardzija, Gallardo, Peavy, Kennedy, Niese, Shelby
Parnell, Boggs, Pestano, Gregerson, Santos, McGee
Wil Myers
Thanks!
Your team looks solid, doesn’t look like you ran out of money except with Nunez, but he’s fine for now…
Need some help..doing a league with settings I have never done or even heard of before. Here is the breakdown:
One of every position players (LF, CF, RF) +1 IF and 1 OF and 1 Util.
5 SP
6 RP
5 Bench
1 DL
Maximum 330 Games Started by pitchers and max acquisition moves for the season of 25 (wow).
Offensive categories:
HR, BB, RBI’s, K, IBB, SAC (.5), CS, Grand Slam, TB, Runs, SB, XBS, HBP, GIDP (-2), Game Winning RBI
Pitching categories:
IP, Blown saves (-5), Walks issues, games started (3), home runs allowed (-2), QS (10), perfect game (5), ER, K, Shutout (5), Hit batter, CG, No hitter, Saves+holds (7)
Advice for draft strategy? Do I stick with the same hitter heavy approach that you preach? Do I have to grab a top starter early with this scoring and limit of moves? Avoid all closers and focus on MR guys?
Thanks grey!
@Eric: 16 team league btw..
Sounds like the league is a crapshoot of luck… No real way to plan for that other than hope you don’t get hit by injuries… I’d definitely go heavy hitter… For pitching, I’d try to get reliable guys that aren’t injury prone and usually go 200 IP…
Oh, and I would grab a top starter, just one… And I’d forget closers and get a couple top MRs…
@Grey:
Cool thanks, yeah closers seem like they can be more damaging than helpful.
Would you try and get a SP from the 1st tier? Up to Felix? Or 2nd tier?
Also, is Ryu someone I should still target, or maybe avoid because he could lose his job and my moves are limited?
I’m also thinking that SP’s who are on crappy teams get a boost in value in this league, since wins and losses don’t count. So Samardjiza/Niese as well as A’s pitchers have upgraded value?
Hold onto your moves for now… Yeah, true about SPs on bad teams… I’d try to get SP from the 2nd tier…
@Grey:
Thanks a lot. Couple more: Should I avoid rookie pitchers? (H2H league) so they won’t be available down the stretch and limited moves..
And should I try and have 1 or 2 bench hitters out of the 5 bench spots?
Draft is into the 19th round now. Offense looks good in every cat other than steals, just grabbed bonifacio as a bench to shore that up though. Ended up missing on all my early targets in the infield so in your honor grey, I will be starting Rutledge and Frazier instead of having them start the season as bench bats as I had hoped to do. You better be right about these kids! I’ve cherry picked all the closers and MRs I’ve wanted up to this point. The people in this league are idiots for not being able to see that the settings making drafting a full compliment of SPs completely counterproductive.
@grey,
In a vacuum, would you rather r. Zimmerman & j. Zimmermann or t. Frazier & z. Greinke?
Zimmer
Alright, without further adieu, here’s what I ended up with Grey. 6×6 OPS w/ SVs HLDs and K/9 w/ a 15IP minimum/week
C- VMart (8-92) Def didn’t plan on going catcher early, but Trumbo and Ike Davis went the previous 2 picks and they were my targets.
1B-Butler (4-44) Goldy went 1 spot ahead, curse words were uttered…
2b-Seager (13-149)
3b-Frazier (12-140)
SS-Rutledge (14-164)
OF-Braun (1-5)
OF- Jones (2-20) Picked him over Longo bc the player rater had longo at 30something in OPS
OF-Hamilton (3-29) Longo picked 1 spot ahead
Util – Choo (6-68) Really didn’t need another OFer, but again left without a good pick and didn’t want to wait and miss him.
Util – Ortiz (8-116)
B-Bonifacio (19-221)
B-Berkman (20-236) Maybe he will make up for screwing me last year…
SP- Greinke (5-53) Almost went with Zobrist here, but figured I needed a reliable SP to give me a good start every week for my RP heavy strategy to work.
SP- Peavy (9-101) Didn’t really want to make this pick but I had nothing that looked like a decent value.
RP- Papplebon (7-77) CL
RP- Rivera (11-125) CL Wasn’t planning on grabbing 2 elite closers, but couldn’t believe he fell this far.
P-Cisheck CL
P-Kenley Jansen MR
P- David Robertson MR
P- Al Albuquerque MR
B- Boggs CL
B- Pestano MR
The war room has me at 103% on runs, 120% on HRs 98% on AVG and 115% on RBIs. Only 62% on SBs, but that’s without counting bonifacio. I felt good enough about Greinke and Peavy to not even roster a 3rd SP as I can pick up someone else later if needed one week to hit my 15IP minimum. Literally no one else loaded up on closers and MRs (the guy I beat in the finals took Motte in the 9th though…lol) so hopefully I’ll have a solid shot at defending my title in this one.
@letsgobravos: Ortiz was 10-116. As soon as he’s DL eligible, I’ll grab someone else to replace him. Being an OPS league, I figured he was still a good value at that point. Kelly Johnson wasn’t drafted, would you consider him for depth at 2b?
You don’t need Kelly Johnson, he’s a part-time player right now and at the bottom of the order…
@Grey: Alright. Hadn’t even thought about drafting him, but he was one of the higher ranked guys left on my board (board set to your top 400) at the end so figured I’d see what you thought.
I’m seriously puzzled by this draft. No one else took more than 3 RPs and 10/12 teams took 2 closers and no MRs. Even the commish who set up the RP heavy settings only took 2 closers.
What do you think of the rest of the team?
@letsgobravos: Whoops, missed your post below with general thoughts…
I agree with the war room… You’re light on speed, but since this is H2H that’s not a major concern… I think the team looks really solid overall, hopefully Braun and Hamilton don’t give you any unforeseen problems…
@Grey: If Braun gets a PED suspension, I’ll be in the hurt box since I have him on both teams this year. Still, I felt like I couldn’t pass on him at #5 overall whereas I took him at #2 overall last week.
Would you consider trying to package a big name guy like Hamilton to try and acquire an upgrade at 3b or 2b? Or do you think I’m in good shape going with both of your favorite upsiders as starters?
I think you’re fine for now…
Had my first NFBC experience. Drafted in a 12-Team League with 30-man rosters. Your thoughts please, Grey?
C)SPerez
C)Iannetta/Brantly
1b) Goldschmidt
2b) Utley
3b) Frazier
SS) AsCabrera
Mi) Rutledge/Keppinger
Ci) Rizzo
OF) Braun
OF) Heyward
OF) Bourn
OF) Cain/Taveras
OF) DBrown/LMartin
U) Freese
P) Price
P) Wainwright
P) Peavy
P) Estrada
P) SMiller
P)McCarthy
P)Wilhelmsen
P)Betancourt
P)Cishek
Bench P’s: Gee, Maholm, Pestano
Hitting looks a tad heavy on speed and light on power… Don’t really love what Bourn brings… Your pitching looks solid…
I just finished an auction in a keeper league (12 team, 5×5) where I took Bauer with my last $1. He’s starting the year in AAA, as I drunkenly found out moments ago, but do you have a projection for when he’ll be called up? Is he worth one of my five bench spots to stash, or should I dump him for someone immediately useful?
Dump him…
@Grey: Heavy sigh.
Yo Grey,
Back for another season of punishment..
Draft tonight in our 14 team H2H redraft ESPN league.
This year turned out better than last, I think, although I couldn’t get the Online War Room to work for beans.. Took 10 minutes to update each selection, so I had to wing it. How did I do?
I know, too many bench bats.. It’s a deep league.
7 Albert Pujols, LAA 1B
22 Adam Jones, Bal OF
35 Ryan Zimmerman, Wsh 3B
50 Zack Greinke, LAD SP
63 Jimmy Rollins, Phi SS
78 Max Scherzer, Det SP
91 Ike Davis, NYM 1B
106 Hunter Pence, SF OF
119 Carlos Beltran, StL OF
134 Rickie Weeks, Mil 2B
147 Mike Napoli, Bos C
162 Lance Lynn, StL SP
175 Todd Frazier, Cin 3B
190 Jason Grilli, Pit RP
203 Josh Rutledge, Col SS
218 Ernesto Frieri, LAA RP
231 Michael Cuddyer, Col OF
246 Marco Estrada, Mil SP
259 Trevor Plouffe, Min 3B
274 Mark Reynolds, Cle 1B
287 Andy Pettitte, NYY SP
@Abdoozy: oh, it’s a 6×6 with OPS and QS.
You look a little low on average and speed, which aren’t terrible things in H2H… Your pitching is decent but too shallow… You could use another starter, but I’m sure you’ll be streaming… No idea what bench bats you have…
This is eerily similar to my team, eerily meaning that 10/25 guys are the same. 10 team league with a very busy waiver wire. I feel good about it but the biggest up(ton)side is that Kate Upton may decide to join up(ton) for a family gathering. Whadya think?
C – Salvador Perez (18 – 152)
1B – Joey Votto (1 – 9)
2B – Ian Kinsler (3 – 29)
3B – Todd Frazier (12 – 112)
SS – Jimmy Rollins (7 – 69)
2B/SS – Danny Espinoza (14 – 132)
1B/3B – Paul Goldschmidt (5 – 49)
OF – Justin Upton (2 – 12)
OF – Adam Jones (4 – 32)
OF – BJ Upton (6 – 52)
OF – Desmond Jennings (9 – 89)
OF – Hunter Pence (13 – 129)
UTIL – Kendrys Morales (17 – 169)
BENCH – Dominic Brown (25 – 249)
P – Matt Moore (8 – 72)
P – Yovani Gallardo (10 – 72)
P – Jeff Samarzija (11 – 109)
P – Mike Minor (15 – 149)
P – Jon Niese (16 – 152)
P – Tommy Milone (20 – 192)
P – Tom Wilhelmsen (19 – 189)
P – Kenley Jansen (21 – 209)
P – Glen Perkins (22 – 212)
BENCH – Bobby Parnell (23 – 229)
BENCH – Casey Janssen (24 – 232)
Yeah, looks like a great team, just like mine… Kidding…Not really… It does look like a solid team, nice outfield and balance of power and speed… Pitching looks decent as well…
Two more for you Grey:
12 team, H2H, mixed
B: R,. H, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, K, E, AVG, OPS
Rosario
Berkman
Cano
Wright
Zobrist
Hamilton
Choo
Crawford
U: AGon
U: Kendrys
Bench: Quentin, Luis Cruz
DL: Hart
P: W, L, CG, SV, ER, HR, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP, K/9
Gallardo, Kuroda, Burnett, Estrada, Vogelsong, Ryu, Kazmir
Nathan, Romo, Adams, Hernandez, Uehara
Next:
12 team H2H mixed
B: R, 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OPS
VMart
Butler
Utley
Longo
Andrus
CI: Pedro Alv.
MI: Escobar
LF: Braun
CF: Aoki
RF: Choo
OF: Crawford
U: Berkman
BN: Span, Infante
P: W, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP, K/BB, QS
Darvish, Kuroda, Vogelsong, Ryu, Miley, Chen, Beckett, Kazmir
Romo, Broxton, Pestano, Adams
Like you, I got caught on the wrong end of the, Let’s way overpay Chapman to be the closer. You can advise to the contrary, but also like you I’m dropping Broxton, as I think there’s a better chance of Fujikawa taking Marmol’s job than Broxton taking over for Chapman (and Fujikawa is still available) and I’d like a 2-2 balance for SV and HLD.
And as I advised your one other man on the site, I’m now all in on Kazmir. He was at 94-95 when he was all that, and 85-86 when he washed out, and he always had a problem with excessive walks. He hasn’t walked many so far, and he’s sitting between 90-92 and topping out at 94. I’ll take the 90-92 over the 94-95 if he can avoid all those walks. He and Ryu are why I love the scouts. What Rudy and the SABR folks do is great, and helps, but nothing quite like the scout in Korea and some dude down watching independent league baseball in Texas, telling the team, Yo, GM, I don’t care what league he’s in, and what the past history is, this fella can pitch… And in Kazmir’s case, hopefully, the time away has bred some sorely needed maturity.
Hopefully you’re right on Kazmir for your sake… Both teams are similar, the hitting looks solid and the pitching not so much… You’re gonna have to stream some and work waivers with those staffs… The 2nd team’s offense is a bit weaker… Don’t love the amount of speed you have, a bit too much…
GrEY!!!!
So look. I drafted in my 14×3 keepr league not telling how many teams but. . . CAN YOU LOOK AT MY TEAM THIS IS IMPROANT thank you love you much podcast writeup war room t-pain wrapper cheese
C – BUSTER FUCKING POSEY
1b-Joey vott
2b robsina caNO
3b eva longorina
ss will ferrell
outfielder ryan braun
of michael trout
of giancarlo gorganzolla stanton
bn bubba starloin
sp clayton shawshank
sp adam dunn
sp stephen strasborg
sp joel piniero
rp heath THE HEATH BAR bell
rp eric gagne
p p.j. walters
p justin verllander
Ha…
ESPN, 10 team league – 5x 6 (holds added), ESPN’s post draft ranking had me projected to field something like 42 points, what is your ‘pert opinion?
C- Rosario
1B – Goldschmidt
2B – Espinosa
SS – A. Escobar
3B – Frazier
CI – Rutledge
MI – Rizzo
OF- Giancarlo
OF – CarGo
OF – Adam Jones
OF – Bruce
OF – Jennings
UTL- Shin-Soo Choo
P – Gio, MadBum, Scherzer, Estrada, Doubront, Garza,Teheran
RP – Nathan, Putz, Grilli, Pestano, McGee, O’Flahrety
Thanks in advance for any input
CBS 12 team keeper, H2H points league. Can I survive?
C – Perez
1B – Craig
2B – Altuve
3B – Seager
SS – Reyes
OF – Bruce
OF – Heyward
OF – McCutcheon
U – Napoli
Bench: d”Arnaud (M), Hosmer, Plouffe, Lawrie (DL)
SP – WY Chen
SP – Jaime Garcia
SP – Gio
SP – Vargas
SP – CJ Wilson
Benh: Shelby Miller, Pineda (DL)
RP – J. Johnson
RP – Perkins
I have used your advice in these past years and have always ended up near the top of my league – so if I had to generalize your strategy is get hitters in the 1st five rounds, do not draft a catcher or SS early, starting pitching is always deep so take your 1st pitcher at the grienke tier. Is that about right? or do you have a post going over all of the positions and overall strategy in one?
I’m crushin’ you Grey. 12 team mixed:
C: M. Montero
1B: A. Gonzalez
2B: A. Hill
SS: J. Rollins
3B: D. Wright
OF: R. Braun
OF: J. Upton
OF: C. Gomez
Util: A. Ramirez
Util: J. Morneau
SP: C. Lee
SP: M. Harvey
RP: M. Rivera
RP: F. Rodney
P: K. Jansen
P: G. Perkins
P: M. Estrada
P: Homer Bailey
DL: B. Beachy
I stream all year and always win. Thanks cya.
Team looks okay, but it’s hard to say because half the pitching will come down to streaming… Hitting is solid though… Decent team overall…
@Grey:
Hey didn’t think I’d even get a reply lol thanks for the shout out. Streaming is the way to go, bro. You know?
And why isn’t anyone talking about Morneau?
Cause he’s been lousy for two years…
@Grey:
Aren’t you always harping about “draft for this year” and something about a DeLorean? Concussion symptoms purportedly a thing of the past and a contract year, I could see him wayyyy outperforming his ADP.
Yo grey why did you pass up on Longoria round two? That move gets the gas face.
I wanted a 1st baseman…
@Grey: I see. gas face rescinded.
Grey, first of all you rock, you rule. I need your analysy’s on my LuLu team, please feel free to (criticize). This league starts 8 batters & 6 pitchers (any combo of 6)
C. Salvy Perez (i think every single comrade of this razz has Salvorado on their team)
1B. Salvy’s comrade Billy Buts
2B. Jose Altuve (I drafted Ben Zobrist here but, hey later on he became my SS)
3B. Evan Longoria
SS. Ben Zobrist
OF. Matthew Kemp
OF. Carlo Stanton
OF. Jay Bruce
My offense is just a mess I hope Jay B doesn’t hit below .240
Pitchers: Mat Latos (ok), Roy Halladay (lol), Brandon Money Morrow, Dan Haren (lol), Hyundjf-Jun Ryu, Anny Sanchez (lol), Marco Estrada, Glen Perkins, Greg Holland, Clay Buchholz (lol), Julio Teheran (lol)
Ty
Thanks! Your offense isn’t a mess, but it looks low on speed, which isn’t terrible… Your pitching is a mess… That I will agree with…
12 Team H2H 5X5 AVG HR R STEALS RBI SAVES W K WHIP ERA
Last of 3 teams, you loved the other 2, this is probably my second fav team. Thoughts?
C – S. Perez
1B – P Goldschmidt
2B – J. Rutlidge
3B – R. Zimmerman
SS – E. Andrus
OF – McCutchen
OF – J. Upton
OF – Choo
UTIL – B. Gardner
UTIL – M. Machado
B – L. Martin
B – L. Cain
P – Bumgarner
P – Medlen
RP – Perkins
RP – Parnell
P – J. Peavy
P – M. Harvey
RP – Cisek
P – Estrada
P – E. Jackson
P – A.J. Griffin
RP – Boggs
Yup, looks like a solid team too.. Don’t love Edwin and you look high on speed and a tad low on power… Nothing huge though and you have lots of balanced hitters…
So in a 12 tean head to head 5×5 but with 30 roster spots and 6 keepers how am I looking? We even did our draft like real drafts where we went reverse order of prior year standings and the same pick in each round. 10th over all for me. The * marks a keeper
C Jesus and Salty
1b Votto* and Goldschmidt along will Carter on Houston for 1b/of and Moss on oakland for the same
2b Espinosa and Beckham
3b Machado and Middlebrooks
ss Aybar and Cosart
OF Jackson* Stanton* Willingham* Oscar Tavares( It is a keeper league) and David Murphy.
SP Price* Hamels* Moore Hudson Estrada Ryu Hammell and Nolasco
RP Holland Betencourt Fujikawa Pestano and Wade Davis
I know week in the bullpen and my team is not winning any batting titles for sure!
@Joel: We also start 2 UTL spots
You look light on power and average… Your pitching looks solid, better than your hitting…
@Grey: Really? I thought power was a stong suit with Votto Goldy Stanton Willingham. Seems like every one on the roster could hit 20+ HR this year except Aybar and Tavares
Goldy looks like he’s behind Votto, Taveras and Murphy look like they’re in your lineup… Look at how I listed my team in the post above…
Just had my draft 12 team H2H what do you think?
C S Perez
1B Paul Goldschmidt
2B-Kyle Seager
SS Asdrubal Cabreaera
3B Ryan Zimmerman
OF Giancarlo Stanton
OF Jose Bautista
OF Alex Gordon
UT Anthony Rizzo
UT Kendreys Morales
BN Coco Crisp
BNJuan Pierre
BN Jed Lowrie
SP Mat Latos
SP Brandon Morrow
RP Sergio Romo
RP Greg Hollan
P Ian Kennedy
P Jon Niese
P Steve Chiske
P Ernesto Frieri
BN Alexi Ogando
BN Shelby Miller
BN Ryan Dempster
BN Chad Billingsly
BN- Hiashi Iwakuma
I don’t like two of your last three SPs, and the SAGNOF on your hitting bench isn’t totally necessary… I get it though, for H2H in case you need steals… Those will be streaming spots… Your hitting and the top of your pitching look solid, nice team overall…
Hi Grey,
That’s what I was telling you about last week (espn post draft standings).
Every mock I did I ended up last. It was very frustrating.
Well, you win your league and I’ll win mine and we’ll laugh at ESPN.
Good Luck
Thanks, Pops!
I screwed up drafting Bauer last night trying to run someone up in the auction. I was thinking of trading him for Doubront or dropping him for Kyle Kendrick. What do you think? Thanks!
Go for Kendrick…
Grey,
I used your rankings last night for my draft (3rd overall pick) – I am in a 10 team H2H Points league (we lost a few owners this year – used to be 14 team). So there were more options – Just wanted to get a sanity check on my draft/Roster as there are alot of options on the waiver wire:
C Salvador Perez (17)
1B Ike Davis (8)
2B B Phillips (5)
3B D Wright (4)
SS J Rutlege (11)
OF A McCutchen (1)
OF Carlos Gonzalez (2)
OF Justin Upton (3)
U S Choo-Choo (9)
B D Ortiz (18)
B I Suzuki (19)
B L Berkman (20)
P Z Grienke (6)
P M Cain (7)
P J Paplepon (13)
P J Samardjia (12)
P Mariano Rivera (14)
P Hyun-Jin Ru (15)
P Jordan Zimmerman (10)
Bench Jonathan Niese (16)