The Counselor is IN:
A Fantasy Stud is someone that is exceeding their Fantasy Projection (or at least making it if they are projected to be a Stud). A Fantasy Dud is someone that is under achieving for your team. I have a mixed bag of both on my team.
Stud: Jonny Gomes of Tampa Bay. He is my biggest Stud. He has 10 homers, has 21 RBI's, and is batting .299. He is my power guy. He had 21 Homers last year but is on pace to blow that away.
Stud: Hank Blalock of Texas. He had a down year last year. I expected him to pick it back up this year and he has. He has 5 Homers, 16 RBIs, and is batting .350.
Stud: Luis Castillo of Minnesota. He is batting .373 and he has 7 RBI's and 3 stolen bases. The Batting Average puts him on this list. He was my pick up for the loss of Soriano. He is no Soriano but Castillo has done a great job of replacing him for me.
Stud: Michael Young of Texas. He is batting .371 and has 1 homer, 13 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. I expected Young to have another good year but his batting average is outstanding for me again.
Stud: Jon Papelbon of Boston. He has excelled by being put in the Closer's Role. He has a 0.00 ERA, a 0.649 WHIP, and 9 saves. Over paying for him during the auction has become well worth it.
Stud: Jose Contreras of Chicago W.S. My best starting pitcher so far this year. He has an ERA of 1.55, a WHIP of .897 and 3 Wins.
Dud: Francisco Cordero of Texas. He has 3 saves and 3 Wins but has blown at least 4 save opportunities. He as a mammoth ERA of 12.00 and a huge WHIP of 1.889. There is still hope for him but right now he is killing me. The speculation is that he is hurt. We go on the DL and stop the bleeding.
Dud: Johan Santana of Minnesota. He is off to a usual slow start but it is killing me. He has an ERA of 4.81 and a WHIP of 1.479 with no Wins. This might be acceptable for the end of my rotation but not for my ACE of the staff.
Dud: Bruce Chen of Baltimore. I would be okay with Santana's numbers for Chen but Chen is not even close. He has a 7.84 ERA and a 1.790 WHIP with no wins.
Dud: Brad Radke of Minnesota. I traded for Radke to add another solid arm to my rotation and I have not been rewarded at all. He currently has an ERA of 7.50 and a WHIP of 1.54. He has 2 wins but they came before I traded for him.
Dud: Jeff Mathis of the Angels. I knew that it was a chance to take a Rookie catcher. I was hoping for something a little better. He currently has 1 homer and 2 RBI which I probably would not complain about if he did not have the horrid batting average of .118.
Dud: Dan Johnson of the A's. Dan came through for my team last year as a free agent pickup for an injury. This season so far, I am hoping he gets injured. He is batting .118 with 2 RBI and 0 Homers and Stolen Bases.
Dud: Corey Paterson of the Orioles. Corey is meeting my expectations with 1 homer, 4 RBI, and 4 stolen bases. Where he becomes a dud is with is current batting average of .156. If he was hitting .256 I would not be complaining at all.
The Counselor is OUT:
Yardbarker
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Pre- Draft and Post-Draft Thoughts
The Fantasy Counselor is IN:
Last Saturday was one of the best days of the year. It was Draft day for my Fantasy Baseball Auction. I look forward to my draft days with eager anticipation. I game plan for weeks. I spend endless hours prep work. I love my drafts. Here were my needs going into the draft: I needed 2B, Middle, 1 Outfielder, and one DH for offense and 6 pitchers. My pitching goals were to get 2 more upper level starters, another potential saves guy, and fill out the rest of pitching with solid pitchers- starters and relievers. My offensive goals were to fill in the 2B and Middle with best quality available and to not over spend for an Outfielder and DH. I am needing stolen base people since I have lost Soriano and Ichrio both from last year. I 0nly had $96 of my $300 cap left to spend. It would be a challenge.
What went Right:
I was able to get my 2 upper level starters. I was able to pick up Barry Zito and Jose contrary. I felt good about those to go with my pitching stud: Johan Santana. I also kept the cheap but good starting pitcher- Bruce Chen.
I was pleased with my 2B and Middle guys. I picked up Luis Castillo as my 2nd Baseman. He was the best AL 2nd Baseman that was not kept. He also has good speed and should help with the stolen bases. My middle guy is Juan Castro. He was not at the top of my list but I felt good to get him. He only cost me a $1. He will hit for decent average. He will be solid but not great but I can live with that.
I was able to get some potential saves guys. I already had Francisco Cordero on my team. I picked up Jon Papelbon who has been doing most of the closing for the Red Sox instead of Foulke. I over spent for him but with 4 saves so far, he might earn every dollar this year. I also picked up the injured Dustin Hermanson. I hope he will be back in June. I knew that Bobby Jenks has been shaky. I know that Dustin was a gamble but he only cost me $4. It is a good gamble. I also picked up Fernando Rodney of the Tigers. He is currently closing because of an injury to Todd Jones. Todd has a handspring injury which can be a lingering thing. I picked up Rodney as an injury pickup to Hermanson. This got me more saves possibilities than I was expecting to get. In the past, these guys went ultra high.
What went wrong:
I paid premium dollars for Torri Hunter. I went out and spent cash I should have saved for some of the good quality starting pitching at the end of the draft that I missed. I did get a heck of a player. He brings good average, some power and some more speed to my team. I was worried about speed and that is why I ended up with him. I honestly expected the other person bidding against me to keep going but he did not. This is not sour grapes. I am very happy with Torri but I did not stick to my game plan with him. I did not get enough starting pitching. I am behind in the Win category.
I picked up a bunch of quality set up guys that can get an occasional win and save and also will keep my ERA and WHIP down. Those are not bad things but I need more wins to compete. I am already in talks to trade away Fernando Rodney and I might trade Dustin Hermanson in the process to get more wins. I think I am fine in saves category.
What is my grade: Overall I felt like my draft was a B+. It should be good enough to keep me in the running again. I will be checking over free agents and waiver wire transactions to better my team. I will be examining possible trades.
Chances of Winning the League: 5:1. Not nearly as good as last year (when I did win). With me having Soriano on a contract and loosing him to the NL really hurt this year. I had to pay his contract and did not get anything in exchange. I also have a bunch of contracted players so I was much more tied in this year.
This is my report on my team.
The Fantasy Counselor is Out:
Last Saturday was one of the best days of the year. It was Draft day for my Fantasy Baseball Auction. I look forward to my draft days with eager anticipation. I game plan for weeks. I spend endless hours prep work. I love my drafts. Here were my needs going into the draft: I needed 2B, Middle, 1 Outfielder, and one DH for offense and 6 pitchers. My pitching goals were to get 2 more upper level starters, another potential saves guy, and fill out the rest of pitching with solid pitchers- starters and relievers. My offensive goals were to fill in the 2B and Middle with best quality available and to not over spend for an Outfielder and DH. I am needing stolen base people since I have lost Soriano and Ichrio both from last year. I 0nly had $96 of my $300 cap left to spend. It would be a challenge.
What went Right:
I was able to get my 2 upper level starters. I was able to pick up Barry Zito and Jose contrary. I felt good about those to go with my pitching stud: Johan Santana. I also kept the cheap but good starting pitcher- Bruce Chen.
I was pleased with my 2B and Middle guys. I picked up Luis Castillo as my 2nd Baseman. He was the best AL 2nd Baseman that was not kept. He also has good speed and should help with the stolen bases. My middle guy is Juan Castro. He was not at the top of my list but I felt good to get him. He only cost me a $1. He will hit for decent average. He will be solid but not great but I can live with that.
I was able to get some potential saves guys. I already had Francisco Cordero on my team. I picked up Jon Papelbon who has been doing most of the closing for the Red Sox instead of Foulke. I over spent for him but with 4 saves so far, he might earn every dollar this year. I also picked up the injured Dustin Hermanson. I hope he will be back in June. I knew that Bobby Jenks has been shaky. I know that Dustin was a gamble but he only cost me $4. It is a good gamble. I also picked up Fernando Rodney of the Tigers. He is currently closing because of an injury to Todd Jones. Todd has a handspring injury which can be a lingering thing. I picked up Rodney as an injury pickup to Hermanson. This got me more saves possibilities than I was expecting to get. In the past, these guys went ultra high.
What went wrong:
I paid premium dollars for Torri Hunter. I went out and spent cash I should have saved for some of the good quality starting pitching at the end of the draft that I missed. I did get a heck of a player. He brings good average, some power and some more speed to my team. I was worried about speed and that is why I ended up with him. I honestly expected the other person bidding against me to keep going but he did not. This is not sour grapes. I am very happy with Torri but I did not stick to my game plan with him. I did not get enough starting pitching. I am behind in the Win category.
I picked up a bunch of quality set up guys that can get an occasional win and save and also will keep my ERA and WHIP down. Those are not bad things but I need more wins to compete. I am already in talks to trade away Fernando Rodney and I might trade Dustin Hermanson in the process to get more wins. I think I am fine in saves category.
What is my grade: Overall I felt like my draft was a B+. It should be good enough to keep me in the running again. I will be checking over free agents and waiver wire transactions to better my team. I will be examining possible trades.
Chances of Winning the League: 5:1. Not nearly as good as last year (when I did win). With me having Soriano on a contract and loosing him to the NL really hurt this year. I had to pay his contract and did not get anything in exchange. I also have a bunch of contracted players so I was much more tied in this year.
This is my report on my team.
The Fantasy Counselor is Out:
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
25 Man Rosters and Depth Charts
The Counselor is IN:
It is time to take the Fantasy Baseball draft list and compare it to the current 25 Man Rosters and Depth Charts for the MLB teams. MLB has links to every MLB team's site. On these sites, you can find that team's Active Roster and Depth Charts. There are many other sites that do offer this for you. To me, the official team sites are the most reliable list. Here is a link to the Orioles roster and depth chart. You can go to any MLB team sites from there.
The problem with using these sites like this, is that there is no easy and quick way to put a list of rosters together. I had to copy and paste into a word document to make a list. This can be time consuming but I find it to be necessary.
I am in the process of verifying that every player on my list is on the 25 man roster. I also want to know if they won the starting position or not. Are they pitching as a starter or in the bullpen. I will change the associated dollar amount to match. I also make notes of these things on my draft sheet.
The Injury list is also important. You need to know if one of these players are injured and how bad. Then you have to decide how it will affect their value. C.C. Sabitha was injured during opening day for the Indians. Depending on the projections of time he will be out, it may or may not affect his fantasy value. It is important to know these things before any draft.
The Counselor is OUT.
It is time to take the Fantasy Baseball draft list and compare it to the current 25 Man Rosters and Depth Charts for the MLB teams. MLB has links to every MLB team's site. On these sites, you can find that team's Active Roster and Depth Charts. There are many other sites that do offer this for you. To me, the official team sites are the most reliable list. Here is a link to the Orioles roster and depth chart. You can go to any MLB team sites from there.
The problem with using these sites like this, is that there is no easy and quick way to put a list of rosters together. I had to copy and paste into a word document to make a list. This can be time consuming but I find it to be necessary.
I am in the process of verifying that every player on my list is on the 25 man roster. I also want to know if they won the starting position or not. Are they pitching as a starter or in the bullpen. I will change the associated dollar amount to match. I also make notes of these things on my draft sheet.
The Injury list is also important. You need to know if one of these players are injured and how bad. Then you have to decide how it will affect their value. C.C. Sabitha was injured during opening day for the Indians. Depending on the projections of time he will be out, it may or may not affect his fantasy value. It is important to know these things before any draft.
The Counselor is OUT.
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