Fantasy Baseball

[surfer]

There’s nothing sexy about thirtysomething players who are past their prime. There’s little upside and no breakout potential, and on a visceral level, it’s just way more fun to draft Starling Marte or Xander Bogaerts and fantasize over gigantic seasons that may or may not happen. But value is value.

Good stuff from Jonah Keri: http://grantland.com/features/2014-fant ... alue-buys/

[crawjo]

So I had my draft earlier this week. We've gone from a 13-team league to a 10-team league, so there's more talent to go around, and this is my roster to start the season:

C Yan Gomes
C, 1B, 3B Carlos Santana
1B David Ortiz
2B Chase Utley
3B, SS Xander Bogaerts
3B Aramis Ramirez
SS Troy Tulowitzki
CF Austin Jackson
CF Shane Victorino
OF Ryan Braun
OF Matt Holliday
OF, 1B Nick Swisher
OF Nick Castellanos

SP Madison Bumgarner
SP Yu Darvish
SP Julio Teheran
SP Danny Salazar
SP Andrew Cashner
SP CJ Wilson
RP Craig Kimbrel
RP Grant Balfour
RP Jose Veras
RP Joaquin Benoit
RP Luke Gregerson
RP Mark Melancon

Even with the smaller league, I think this is going to be one of my stronger teams, although I'm a bit concerned about Ryan Braun's thumb.

[jon abbey]

David Robertson onto the DL, pick up Shawn Kelley if he's still floating around. Adam Warren has also been impressive so far.

[surfer]

David Robertson onto the DL, pick up Shawn Kelley if he's still floating around. Adam Warren has also been impressive so far.

Nice thanks, just did.

Here is my team, pretty happy with it, its pretty similar to the team I had last year that came in 3rd.

Lineup:

Buster Posey SF - C,1B 
Brandon Belt SF - 1B
Chase Utley Phi - 2B
Josh Donaldson Oak - 3B
Elvis Andrus Tex - SS
Adam Jones Bal - OF 
Matt Holliday StL - OF 
Wil Myers TB - OF 
Matt Adams StL - 1B/DH

Bench:

Miguel Montero Ari - C
Rajai Davis Det - OF
Nick Markakis Bal - OF
Adam Lind Tor - 1B

Pitchers:

Justin Verlander Det - SP 
Danny Salazar Cle - SP 
Jeff Samardzija ChC - SP
Zack Wheeler NYM - SP
Mike Leake Cin - SP

Bullpen:

Danny Farquhar Sea - RP
Rex Brothers Col - RP
Francisco Rodríguez Mil - RP
Mark Melancon Pit - RP
Drew Smyly Det - RP
Shawn Kelley NYY - RP


Bench:

Travis Wood ChC - SP
Nathan Eovaldi Mia - SP

DL:

Doug Fister Was - SP


I'm a bit thin on my bench for middle infielders / utility infielders, which is going to be a problem even if nobody gets hurt, on off days and such, but I figure I have some SP depth I can trade for a super-infielder in a week or so. My BP isnt great either, I have a bunch of setup guys, but hopefully KRod and Kelly stick at closer.

[jon abbey]

Kelley's looked good in his first two save chances, you might want to sell high on him with Robertson almost certainly back in about a week (he was throwing already without a problem on Friday).

[Mo Noyz]

That sorry ass Yahoo software didn't draft a SS for me in autodraft, so I had to snag someone out of the FA pool shortly before the season started. I was a huge steals guy last year, so I went with Alexei Ramirez thinking I'll at least get some decent steal numbers out of him. And he's currently slashing .420/.463/.680! Four fucking sixty three! Absurd.

Last year a couple of weeks in I was in a dire situation with my SS (Andrelton Simmons) who was absolutely sucking. Picked up Jean Segura...

Got some kind of weird mojo going with SS in the FA pool.

[surfer]

I noticed David drafted Salazar as well. He's been awful and has earned some time on my bench to get his shit together. The worrying thing is that his avg velocity is down from 96 to 93, and his K rate is down subsequently. Luckily I have good SP depth, and Chavez has basically taken his place. I can afford to be patient with Salazar as he is really a long term project.

[crawjo]

Yeah I've been discouraged by his start. But how about that crazy game he had where he only lasted 3.2 innings and yet struck out 10! I don't think that has ever happened before.

My team overall is performing very well, but Salazar has been holding me back. I contemplated dropping him today but will be a little bit more patient. This year I'm trying to cut down on long-term projects...my goal is to win the league, as I think I have a team capable of doing that.

[surfer]

Salazar on the road against the Giants last night:

7.0IP 1ER 5H 1BB 8Ks

[surfer]

Top 5 teams to stream starters against:

1. Padres
2. Cubs
3. Mets
4. Houston
5. Pittsburgh

[bostontricky]

22nd consecutive Foxy Lady draft coming up later today. There's a reasonable foundation in place:

$3 Chris Carter, $2 Omar Infante, $4 Leonys Martin, $5 JD Martinez
$4 Jose Quintana, $1 Chris TIllman, $5 Brad Boxberger, $1 Wade Davis

Need a catcher, 3B, SS, OF/1B and another bat; ace pitcher, and another starter that won't kill me, plus a random bullpen guy.
I have money to burn ($112 for the eight spots), and Felix and Trout will probably go for $85 combined. Price and Weaver are also available as starters ($25-30 range), then a giant step down.

Bats are scarce - after Trout and Cabrera, the next bat is, who, Hanley Ramirez? Longoria? I'm guessing bite the bullet and spend the money upfront, and try to bargain hunt where possible.

- - - -

Wow, so much that. Cabrera is brought up first and goes for $56, and Trout for $63, holy shit. David Price $35, then I basically have to snag Felix for $37. Think I did a reasonable job filling out.
There was some immediate remorse with some of those guys at those prices, and then after you watch people overpay for the dregs, you think, hey not so bad. That said, I have no idea whether this is a contending team or not.

C Vogt $3
1B Carter $3
2B Infante $2
3B Seager $21
SS H Ramirez $32
OF C Davis $21
OF L Martin $4
OF JD Martinez $5
DH D Jennings $6

SP F Hernandez $37
SP J Quintana $4
SP C Tillman $1
SP M Gonzalez $1
RP B Boxberger $5
RP W Davis $1
RP D Farquhar $1

[bostontricky]

If you stick around long enough, you'll see everything. 23rd season in an AL-only, 16 player roster 5x5 league:

I'm hanging around in the money for the first half of the season, but my offense disappears for six weeks, and I dip down to10th place and make the always painful decision that it is time to punt and plan for next year. Moved some market-rate or expiring players for cheap keepers, all to teams in the top four spots:

Kinsler (expiring) to the first place team for Devon Travis, $1 through 2018
Seager (market rate, $21) to the fourth place team for Castellanos, $1 through 2018
Rajai Davis (market rate) to the second place team for Rosario, $1 through 2018
Quintana and Pomeranz (both expiring) to the first place team for Blake Snell $5 and Soria $1

Snag some attractive players to fill in some holes: Zunino at $5; Andrus at $10; outright dump Jose Bautista to take a flyer on Teoscar Hernandez.

-----

And I'm up 22 points in two weeks and in fifth place, three points out of the money, and I've traded a boatload of talent away to teams in front of me. They're going to name fifth place after me, sure looks like it's going to be four times in eight years.

[bostontricky]

I love this time of year, the frantic wheeling and dealing the couple of days before we declare our protected players heading into our April 2 draft. 24 years running now; two guys have had kids own teams at one point.

I'm sitting on a surplus of below- and at-market talent; time to pull some two-for-ones to get down to nine protectables...

[crawjo]

Hey,

If anybody is interested in joining a fantasy league, let me know. My league has a spot. It is a keeper league (five players) with a $20 entrance fee. I've been in it for several years and it's a lot of fun.

[bostontricky]

(blows dust off of thread)

I'm here because I'm in an unusual (to me) predicament: I managed to go last wire-to-wire in our AL-only league last year, which meant I was picking first in our biweekly drafts during the season and am therefore, stocked to the fucking gills. We have expanded rosters to 23 and leveled the budget for all teams at $162, but teams still pay in the $40-50 range for upper echelon players, there are some bargains to be had for the patient. Anyway, I can keep nine of the following players, all have two years remaining except Andujar and Adamesr:

C $5 Tom Murphy
1B/OF $5 Kyle Tucker
2B/3B $5 Nick Solak
3B $5 Miguel Andujar
3B $5 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
SS $5 Bo Bichette
SS $5 Willy Adames
OF $5 Yordan Alvarez
OF $5 Williie Calhoun
1B $5 Nate Lowe
SP $5 Griffin Canning
SP $5 Brendan McKay
SP $1 Matt Shoemaker
SP/RP $5 A.J. Puk
RP $1 Zack Britton

Couple other pieces of interest ($5 for Darwinzon Hernandez and Jonathan Loaisiga, $1 for Danny Salazar if he signs with an AL team), but that's 13 or 14 keepers, even without them so I am looking to trade multiple players for single players at below market rates, and think there's enough to pick up two players.

I can get $3 Matt Olson for two years right now for Tucker, Adames and Puk; or Tucker, Adames and Solak.
I've offered something involving Bichette and lesser talents for one year of Gerritt Cole @ $19.
One year of Verlander @ $31 is the fallback.

So if I pick up Olson and one of the aces, what other seven players would you keep. I'm getting blinded by all the potential here.

[jon abbey]

not putting much thought into this or even reading the whole thing, sorry, but my guess is that Andujar starts the year in AAA as there is no real position for him in NY and he needs the defensive reps. I think he could be a real impact bat again if NY trades him (or if they ever have the personnel to make him a perma-DH) but I would not expect a big year from him this year unless he goes to COL in an Arenado deal (I do think Arenado will be in NY by June or so).

[bostontricky]

Excellent point about Andujar: I'm in the same situation with a few of those players not being guaranteed a position, and leaning towards moving them (regardless of 2021 potential). I really like Solak, but if he's not Tony Phillips 2.0 and playing 100 games instead of 150, I'm less interested.

Stripping out the spare parts, I guess the quick questions given a $162 budget are at this point:

Kyle Tucker at $5 or Matt Olson at $3?
Two years of Bo Bichette at $5 to get a year of Gerritt Cole at $19?

[jon abbey]

again, just playing time, Olson has a full-time job, Tucker still is somewhat blocked by Reddick for another season.

Bichette/Cole is tough, Bichette looked incredible down the stretch last year but there are a bunch of guys as good as him. Cole is a top 2 pitcher (with DeGrom) and is almost certainly going to break the alltime Yankee record for strikeouts in a season if he stays healthy.

[bostontricky]

Canning's elbow and McKay's shoulder are kind of sorting this thing out for me, and eliminating almost any possibility of working out a trade. Cole for Bichette and a rapidly emptying bus of useful players in 2021 might still work out.

If no trade, leaves me with Murphy, Tucker, Solak, Guerrero, Bichette, Alvarez, Calhoun, Puk, leaning Andujar. Leaves a boatload of money for two top-notch starters, a closer, and cobble together some speed with what's left.

[bostontricky]

Came here to grab a couple of historical tidbits, and am horrified by the fucking carnage of previous seasons.

We put our 12-team 5x5 league on hold for 2020, and got right back to the same questions this spring. The guy who had Cole wanted five players for him, so I held out until we had to protect rosters, and managed to not deal Vlad, Alvarez, Bichette, or Tucker.

The goal at the draft was to get one of the tier 1.5 starters (Berrios), Whit Merrifield, and a closer (Iglesias). Astutely worked the bottom of the barrel for parts and picked up some nice pieces with no better than the 12th pick in our biweekly drafts: Zunino, Sulser, Sewald, DJ Peters.

I'm sitting on 112 fucking points right now.