h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts VII
March 12, 2010
Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP). Read more
Leave Well Enough Alone: A Message to NCAA Basketball and Fantasy Baseball
March 10, 2010
The NCAA is thinking about expanding its basketball tournament from 65 to 96 teams. That’s like Rich Garces deciding to add 31 pounds to his midsection. Sure, it seems like a good idea at first, but it will lead only to unsightly consequences. And why do the good people of the NCAA feel the need to transform the crown jewel of college athletics? Because more teams should have a chance. Why, some people suggest that the tournament field be expanded to include every Division 1 school. This just proves the old adage that stupid people have stupid ideas. You see, the NCAA tournament already includes every Division 1 team.
The NCAA tournament awards an automatic bid to the winner of every Division 1 conference tournament. If you view the conference tournaments as the preliminary rounds to the NCAA tournament, then every Division 1 team, regardless of regular season record, starts their conference tournament with a chance to win the National Championship by going on a 9, 10, or 11 game winning streak (amazing that the Big East tournament has only one less round than the NCAA Tournament).
But wait!!! Not every Division 1 conference has a tournament. The Ivy League rewards its regular season champion with the league’s automatic bid. The remaining student-athletes are left to lament their absence from the NCAAs as they prepare for their midterm examinations in molecular pathophysiology, complex function theory, and advanced badminton. At least it’s not the first time that an Ivy League student was not invited to a big dance.
So, on behalf of the colleges that rejected me when I was in high school, let me make the case for tournament expansion. After all, it wouldn’t be sporting to give all the other Division 1 schools a second chance at glory while excluding our cerebral superiors. Why, I remember as a young lad I watched the 1992 East Regional final between Duke and Kentucky with the uneasy feeling that something was missing. As Christian Laettner’s game winning shot tore through the net and the hearts of Duke haters everywhere, I though to myself, “if only Dartmouth had been given another chance.” And as I watched Duke’s Thomas Hill squint at the camera through tears of disbelief, I knew he felt the same way.
Many fantasy baseball leagues suffer from the same maladies of judgment that plague the NCAA’s decision makers. The term is March Madness; named for the month in which one or two of your fantasy league’s owners try to rewrite your league’s rulebook to their advantage. These are the owners who advocate for a top 3 payout when they have good keepers and a top 4 payout (or a switch to a redraft format) when they have bad keepers. These owners bemoan the paucity of DL spots when their star players are hurt, but campaign to eliminate all DL spots when their team is healthy. These owners made 350 moves the summer they were “between jobs”, but yell and scream for a 30 move maximum when putting in the long hours at their new law firm.
My advice to league commissioners out there is to leave well enough alone. Sure, new leagues take time to discover an identity, and even established leagues have room to improve. However, major change is more likely to implode than improve. If your league prefers auction, don’t listen to the one person screaming for a draft. Instead, tell him to join a draft league and replace him with someone who prefers auction. Enacting a major rule change is the equivalent of ending your current league and starting over with the same owners. You’ve all been happy for the last 10 to 15 years in your league’s current format; why start over in a format that you may not enjoy?
However, if the majority of your league is not having fun, blow it up and start over. Keep the rules you like and ditch the ones you hated. Fantasy baseball should be fun, and tradition, while important, should not stand paramount to happiness. Which is why I am joining the masses in support of the Ivy League Seven (the seven schools that do not finish the regular season in first place) to fight for NCAA tournament overexpansion. Who knows? Perhaps one day we will all be lucky enough to see a first round matchup between North Carolina and Strayer University; the victor but 18 wins away from One Shining Moment. March Madness indeed.
h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts VI
March 10, 2010
Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP). Read more
h2h Corner ~ Nathan takes a ride on the closer carousel
March 9, 2010
I don’t think anyone would have bet that Joe Nathan would be the first closer to pay his quarter to ride the carousel. But it looks like Nathan is done of the year, and Roby Neyer does a good job elucidating on the Twins bull pen options. Read more
Farewell to 2009 – Still the Same?
March 9, 2010
Welcome back everyone. Glad to see everyone here, and hope you all enjoyed the Saints beating the Steelers, I mean the Colts, in the Super Bowl. But as Bill Veeck said, there are two seasons – winter, and baseball. And winter has passed.
Now that FB101’s Player Rankings are completed – and do check them out, at the Player Rankings button on the top of this page – lets take a moment to revisit my farewell to 2009 Part I and Part II column, to see what’s changed and what hasn’t. So as a pre-draft/auction review, I’ll review the changes…everything else I stand by. And do check out those articles – they’re draft strategy, in easy-to-digest bits.
Part I:
Yes, Mauer is still a first round pick. Yes, stay away from Beltran and Reyes. Yes, Josh Johnson is an ace. Yes, Lester before Beckett. Yes, Kemp is a top OF. But…
23) I had said that Jacoby Ellsbury is a 2nd rounder, Michael Bourn is a 3rd rounder and Nyjer Morgan is a 4th rounder. I still think Ellsbury is a 2nd rounder – for my money, he is the best fantasy OF in the American League – but I’d drop both Bourn and Morgan a couple rounds. Speed is plentiful enough (Andrus, Borbon, Podsednik, Crisp, etc) that Bourn and Morgan should be taken in the 5th or 6th rounds.
And, well, that’s it for Part I. Now on to Part II:
Yes, ARod is a top 5 pick. Yes, Braun is top 3. Yes, I’d go Pujols-Fielder-Howard at 1B. No, I don’t think Scutaro will be that good again (though landing with the Red Sox is about as good a spot as he could have asked for). Yes, take a good catcher (especially in the AL).
12) I said that David Wright is more of a third round pick than a second rounder. But after hearing what the idiot Mets did with their opposite-field hitting plan, it makes sense that Wright’s power numbers suffered. He’ll be helped tremendously by Jason Bay’s presence in the lineup, so I think Wright is a solid second rounder.
22) Everyone is saying how Cole Hamels is a man on a mission and has that look in his eye and spring in his step – I’m still not convinced. My valuation is exactly the same – it remains to be seen whether 2009’s high workload and his postseason collapse will have a negative effect. I wouldn’t touch him before the 8th or 9th round.
25) After losing a little bit of faith in Carl Crawford, I would change my first round a little bit (changes in bold) – (1) Albert Pujols, (2) Hanley Ram2irez, (3) Ryan Braun, (4) Alex Rodriguez, (5) Chase Utley, (6) Prince Fielder, (7) Ryan Howard, (8) Tim Lincecum, (9) Joe Mauer, (10) Matt Kemp, (11) Mark Teixeira, (12) Evan Longoria.
So with that, the regular articles may now commence…see you back here real soon.
h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts V
March 9, 2010
Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP). Read more
h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts IV
March 8, 2010
Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP). Read more
h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts III
March 8, 2010
Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP). Read more
h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts II
March 6, 2010
Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP). Read more
h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts
March 5, 2010
Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP). Read more
Did You Know…?
Brandon Inge hit the fifth most HRs (27) among third basemen?
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