Brian Wilson’s Beard Creates Fantasy Nightmare
After Brian Wilson’s “Fear the Beard“ 2010 campaign, one where he had 93 Ks in less than 75 IP pitched, 48 S, a 1.81 ERA and WHIP of 1.179 closing games for the World Series winning San Francisco Giants, I decided that I was going to walk away from my 2011 Fantasy Baseball draft with him at all costs. My thinking was that the Giants were a team that wins a lot of games with great pitching and not a lot of offense which would translate into a plethora of saves for Wilson going forward just like it did in 2010.
In 2011 Wilson’s beard was out of control and so was his pitching. Wilson did have 36 saves, but he killed my pitching category as he was hurt and recorded just 54 Ks, a 3.11 ERA and a WHIP the size of his beard of 1.473. The exponential growth of Wilson’s beard may have been a great marketing decision, but clearly it threw off the balance in his pitching motion. I’m not suggesting that the weight of the facial hair caused subtle changes to his motion, but clearly having to clear the beard in the process of his delivery changed his mechanics affecting not only his effectiveness and accuracy, but his arm.
Yu Darvish Comes to America and Kicks Me in the Groin
Darvish wasn't happy and shouldn't be as was credited with a win while inflating my Fantasy ERA and WHIP
Considered the best pitcher in Japanese professional baseball, the Texas Rangers bid in excess of $51 million just to land exclusive negotiating rights with Yu Darvish this off season and then paid him another guaranteed $56 million to play. Two weeks ago I shelled out $19 of my own in my auction draft for the 25 year old Japanese import. So what was all the hoopla about?
Darvish made his American debut last night for not only the Texas, but for my Fantasy Baseball team as well. While he did in fact get credit for a win, it was not exactly the type of performance that either the Rangers or I paid for. Yu’s pitching line included a 42 pitch first inning that made me want to puke. Darvish started his MLB career by walking two batters, giving up four hits and unleashing a wild pitch during a Seattle Mariners never ending four run first inning. In the second inning Darvish gave up another two hits and a run. Darvished finished the night with 5 2/3 innings, 5Ks and 4BBs giving the Japanese sensation an unsensational ERA of 7.941 and a whopping WHIP of 2.1176!
Fantasy Baseball: Loading Up on the Phillies Infield
Sure the Phillies infield is older than Moses, but they can stay healthy, right?
Game after game the Philadelphia Phillies trot out to play Grapefruit League games without first baseman Ryan Howard and second baseman Chase Utley. Saturday Plocido Polanco left the game against the Toronto Blue Jays after jamming his left ring finger while diving back to first base. So what do we make of the All-Star littered infield (even if only by name) that the Phillies have?
A few weeks ago I hears Mike Cardano on the Sirius XM Fantasy Channel morning show with Scott Engel and Adam Ronis say that he thought the big named Phillies stars would collectively miss too many games this season to win the NL East and that either the Miami Marlins or Atlanta Braves would win the division. His point was that if all the infield starters played (Howard, Utley, Rollins, Polanco, and Ruiz) and Philadelphia had either All-Star, Roy Haladay or Cliff Lee on the mound, the six guys on the infield would collectively be over 200 years old with an average of 34 years of age! He stated that while Philadelphia still had a great starting staff and upgraded the bullpen with Jonathan Papelbon too, Haladay or Lee was bound to miss time this season and there was no telling what members of the infield would be able to show up and work on any given night.
Tommy Hanson is Trying to Sabotage My Fantasy Baseball Season
It’s happening again. Just prior to last spring training Zack Greinke broke a rib playing basketball and the M*A*S*H unit known as my Fantasy Baseball roster injury carousel started. The injuries didn’t stop all season, only progressing and only getting worse. At one point I had 11 of my 31 guys on the DL. The injuries came to body parts both likely and unlikely, but the most offensive one was the oblique strain which sidelined six of my guys in 2011. Blame it on no more steroids and players taking Creatine they said. I don’t care what the catalyst was, I just know it sucked and ruined my season.
Now this year it’s déjà vu all over again as the Atlanta Braves’ Tommy Hanson, a guy I was counting on heavily to blossom into a true stud this season, drove off the road in a one-car accident on the way to the spring training complex on the first day of workouts leaving him with a concussion.
Why I Will Draft Adam Dunn With My First Pick
Last season Adam Dunn pointed his bat like Babe Ruth, but ate too many Babey Ruth's...
I’m Baaack! I’ve decided that if I’m going to finish in the money that I need to take a gamble. I’m in a 12-team mixed 5×5 league where we can protect up to 12 players and we have an auction draft. The team that finished last the previous year, which happens to be me (what else is new), nominates a player and then it’s a free for all, auction style. The 11th place finishing team then nominates someone and we bid auction style, and so on. We continue on until the first place team nominates a player, then it comes back to me and the process starts over again for the next round. Here’s my strategy, and it doesn’t matter that the other 11 teams will now know, because I nominate first.
Fantasy Baseball Isn’t My Thing
Remember a few years ago when Geoff Jenkins did this? I had him too.....
Well, another season has come and gone and once again I finished in last place. Surprise!
Coming out of my draft, I honestly thought I had the best pitching staff in my 14 team 5×5 league. I had a starting rotation of Zack Greinke, Ubaldo Jimenez, Phil Hughes, Josh Johnson, and Jonathan Sanchez. Greinke went on the DL with broken ribs from playing basketball before he even threw a pitch. Then one start in to the season Jimenez went on the DL with a hang nail (seriously). Hughes’ pitching arm died (really, he had dead arm), Johnson messed up his shoulder and was lost for the year and Sanchez was put on the DL basically because he couldn’t throw strikes.
Javier Vazquez What the Heck!
Javier Vasquez has been Fantasy Gold going down the stretch
For those of you in contention for a Fantasy Baseball league championship, you know how valuable quality starting pitching down the stretch can be. While I don’t have any personal experience with this, I can certainly understand the math. For me it’s not placing in the money that’s the goal, it’s not finishing in the basement. Over the past 19 years I’ve come in last 15 times and no higher than 10th in a league with 12 teams. I’m sick of being the doormat of my league and I’ll do just about anything to get out of it.
This year was a typical year for me where ‘Costa’s Law” seemed to rein supreme once again. Anything that could go wrong with my roster did and my players started getting injured left and right in spring training. Leaving the draft I thought I had an awesome pitching staff, but then it happened. Almost from the get-go my starting pitching staff was devastated. Zack Greinke broke a rib playing basketball, Phil Hughes had an a “dead arm” (a dead pitching appendage?), and Ubaldo Jimenez had a hang nail or some other lame finger injury. As if that weren’t bad enough I had Brian Wilson, one of my two closers, miss time with an oblique injury. Then when I finally got those guys back I lost Josh Johnson for the year.
10 Things You Shouldn’t Do in the Bathroom of a Sporting Event
Usually by now I’m out of the running for my Fantasy Baseball league and looking towards my Fantasy Football team. With all the uncertainty surrounding the NFL season however, my interest level just isn’t there this time around. Lately believe it or not, I’ve turned to actually watching baseball games and rooting for teams and not just players.
For whatever reason I latched onto the Florida Marlins this year and when they were 10 games over .500 and just a game out of first I thought I might have a special summer ahead of me and something to really root for and follow. Now that the Marlins demoted their 2009 ROY, and their manager left them flat, I feel like I’m left without team. Oh sure there’s still a team on the field to root for, one that’s lost 18 of their last 19 games. Even I do better than that in fantasy.
I know the Marlins are getting a new stadium and everyone is sick of playing in the football stadium they are at now. But just because the facilities aren’t great and the team sucks shouldn’t mean that the fans should be disrespectful. The last game I went to before the Marlins most recent road trip was just awful, and the scene in the bathrooms was downright deplorable.
What do I do with Ubaldo Jimenez?
It happens to me every year. I walk into my Fantasy Baseball draft room before the season with a chip on my shoulder and something to prove. I do my homework, I feel good about the guys I protected going into the draft, the money I have to spend and the players I have targeted to get. And then it happens…
The can’t-miss rookies that don’t pan out, the career worst slumps, the injuries, the injuries on top of the career worst slumps. After 20 years of going at it, believe it or not, this is unquestionably my worst year. The range of emotions one experiences when they know they are already out of it in May is hard to describe. If there’s anyone who can describe it however, it’s me. I’m angry, I’m jealous, I’m depressed and apathetic. If there’s an adjaverb to describe it, I’ve felt it.
If you’ve read my bio you know that I’ve been playing in a money league with the same guys for 19 years. Not only have I never finished in the money, I finished last 15 times and no higher than 10th in a league with 12 teams. There’s nothing worse when things are not going well then trading a player who is not doing well and then having him do well for the guy you trade him to. Actually, let me correct that, there is something worse. It’s worse when the player you receive in return for that trade was doing well before you got him and then stinks up the joint or gets hurt when you get him.
MLB Player Injuries: How Do Fantasy Owners Avoid Them?
Can it possibly be that I’m just the unluckiest Fantasy player on the earth? I completely understand that if you have aging veterans with a history of injury problems like Chris Young of the Mets on your roster, even if they perform well for a period of time, the bang for rotisserie buck can be short lived. But what do you do when the players you are counting on get hurt? All of them?
It seems to me that so much of being successful in Fantasy sports has to do with the health of the players you have on your roster. Unless I’m missing something here, more often than not, the Fantasy owner has no control over that whatsoever. If you have Scott Rolen, Jake Peavy, Joel Zumaya, Scott Kazmir, Rafael Furcal, or any other of a number of veterans that always seem to be on the DL, you really can’t say you are surprised that they are there again. After all, it seems like these guys have been on the DL as much as they have been in the active line up the past few years.
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