(Tuesday) Fantasy Wrap: Week 6

Sorry for the late post here--things should be getting back to normal in the next week or so (for the love of God, let them return to normal in the next week or so)

This was a hit or miss week for the ol' fantasy squads. Let's see how it went.

MegaLeague: Last Week 18-23-4 (5/5 Division, 15/20 overall)

So, I didn't win, but I didn't get killed. In commemoration of Dontrelle Willis' return to the major leagues, let's call that progress, at least until it becomes a pattern. This week ended in a tough 3-4-2 loss, that actually bumped me up to 3rd in my division and 13th place overall. Generally abysmal pitching killed me and I couldn't pull through to get that last RBI or SB to break a deadlock in those categories.

A Gold Star goes to Michael Young for his .500 OBP and 1 SB. He was consistently solid all week. In fact, so was Arod, who's much maligned return netted 2 HR, 4RBI and a .444 OBP (8 walks!) to help my team on the offensive side. His return stands to be a big boost to this squad.

No Thanks To Andy Sonnanstine and Armando Galarraga. These two pitchers each had two starts this week. Sonnanstine rewarded me with 12 ER, 4K, and a 14.09 ERA. In turn, I rewarded him with a place on the waiver wire. So long. Galarraga's 2 starts yielded only 6.1 Innings (*gasp*) and included 10 ER, 4K and a 14.21 ERA. Super! He'll be sitting on the bench this week as we wait for him to return to form. I'm not expecting Cy Galarraga like we saw at the start of the season, but I wasn't looking for Chan Ho Galarraga either. Somewhere in between would be nice.

Work League: Last Week 39-30-1, 4th place 1.5GB
Domination of the league's commissioner was the story of this week. I was on the good side of a 10-4-0 bootstomping, despite some more poor pitching. Bless the man who created a league that is heavily skewed towards the offensive categories.
This win pushed me back into a tie for 1st place, a nice place to be now that more than 20% of the season is behind us.

A Gold Star goes to Raul Ibanez and the following line:

9 R, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 1 SB, 26 TB, .481 AVG, 1.539 OPS

Impressive.

No Thanks To: Gil Meche, yet another early season stud to fall to the law of averages. A 10.38 ERA/1.85 WHIP and only 1 K is not going to cut it my man. Time for you to Greinkeize yourself a little bit.

Blog League: Last Week 1820 Points (+208), 1st Place
The points flowed freely this week thanks to some stellar pitching by the majority of my starters. None moreso than the Doc himself.

A Gold Star goes to Roy Halladay, who threw down 60 points, a team record for points in a week. My main man Curtis Granderson added a cool 30 and Miguel Cabrera 32 on the offensive side as the Tigers had a hot and cold week (sweeping, swept, sweeping again in last 9 games).

No Thanks To a pair of pitchers who underperformed. Jonathan Sanchez and Chris Volstad each ended up at -1, which really, is not that bad considering the alternatives. Jose Lopez only put up 5 points at 2B, which certainly needs to improve, however.

In all, the 1st place lead grew as the 2200 point threshold was cracked. I have a feeling that this buffer will be much needed as players start to cool off over the next few months.

So there we have it, a good week on balance considering I moved up or stayed at the top of the standings in each league. Things need to improve in the MegaLeague, but we are into our second "round robin" payout schedule now, so this is an ok start on that. To wrap it up:

MegaLeague 21-27-6, 13/20 Overall, 3/5 Division
Work League 49-34-1, T-1st
Blog League 2206 Points, 1st (+270)

Good luck with all of your teams this week, and be remember not to over-manage.

Monday Fantasy Wrap: Week 4

Has been PPD. Like a ballgame caught with bad weather, a lost weekend, lost power and attempts at starting to move have delayed the wrap-up, to the point where I figure that we might as well move on to Week 5 next Monday.

In a nutshell though:
MegaLeague: Lost 3-6 last week , Dropped to 16-17-3. Still 2nd in division, now 11th overall

Work League: Won 9-5-0, still in 2nd place, now 1.5 GB at 33-22-1

Blog League: 1360 points, still in first place by an ever-shrinking margin, derailed by an unintentional benching of Justin Verlander's 11 K win on Sunday, brought on by being out of town will little time to devote to fantasy baseball managing so that I could pursue some of life's finer pleasures.

That's the quick and dirty--I hope that the ship of life will begin to right itself here shortly and regular posting will be able to resume.

Monday Fantasy Wrap: Week 3

Short and sweet this week because there aren't enough hours in the day...

MegaLeague: Last Week 14/20, 4/5 Division, 7-8-3

This team is really struggling offensively and but was salvaged by some dumb luck and excellent Sunday managing. The moment after Armando Galarraga was guaranteed his Quality Start, Andy Sonnanstine was immediately moved to the bench--securing my victory in the ERA category. The week ended as a 6-3 win after Alexei Ramirez notched a late-game stolen base and Nyjer Morgan got caught stealing for my opponent.

A Gold Star goes to Alexei Ramirez, who was not the best player on the team but had 3 Net SBs, and clinched that category for me singlehandedly. His 5 RBIs and team-leading .375 OBP for the week were a nice bonus.

No Thanks ToDioner Navarro who had a .150 OBP and contributed very little elsewhere on the week. His .197 OBP and 14 strikeouts on the season has landed him on the waiver wire. So long and good riddance.

Work League: Last week 1st Place, 20-7-1 (+2.5)

A top of the standings matchup as I faced the 2nd place team. I responded by getting completely demolished. A 10-4 loss falls squarely on the shoulders of poor performances all around. Although I will say, how can a team that gets 3 Quality Starts end up with ZERO wins? Ugh.

A Gold Star goes to Curtis Granderson, who took last week's criticism to heart and responded with 4 HRs, 1 SB and 20 TB to go with a .333 AVG and 1.241 OPS. Earlier this week I said that he had the recipe for breaking out of a slump. Looks like I was right.

No Thanks To Dan Taylor, Manager. Who wisely benched Scott Baker for his start at Boston before it was rained out. The next day, before the rescheduled game, Dan had a change of heart and started Baker instead. You sir, are an idiot. Baker's 11.57 ERA and 2.46 WHIP are your reward. Stupid.

Blog League: Last Week, 1st Place (+114)
A bit of a slowdown didn't unseat me from the top of the charts, although it is clear that a lot can change in this league from week to week. I am the first in the league to break 1000 points (1065), but my lead has been trimmed to 88.

A Gold Star goes to the aforementioned Curtis Granderson (38 points), Jason Bay (33) and Brandon Inge (31) who kept the offensive onslaught coming. Roy Halladay had two very good starts, but only one win. Still, his 25 point contribution was nothing to sneeze at.

No Thanks To Miguel Cabrera. The former Horse that carried this team on his back showed up with a measly 7 points--this is nearing bench-warming Kelly Shoppach territory, people--thanks to no power, few hits and a couple GIDPs. Given his torrid start, I'm willing to accept a down week, but this has to turnaround pronto.

So this week was a bit of a mixed bag. A win in the MegaLeague was nice to have, but all of my teams were a little off, basically treading water until better times arrive.

The Wrapup:
MegaLeague: 9th of 20 (2nd of 5 Division) 13-11-3
Work League: 3rd Place 24-17-1, 3.5 GB
Blog League: 1st Place, 1065 Points (+88)

Good luck with all your teams this week and take a lesson from my mistake with Scott Baker--be careful not to over manage.

Monday Fantasy Wrap: Week 2

In what was an otherwise strong fantasy week, I was reminded of the harsh mistress that is the head-to-head league. In these, freak weather storms and other such acts of God conspire to sink your chances. Or, in a more common situation, some badass player has a terrible, terrible week and you lose your head to head matchup. The best team does not always win, but such is life.

MegaLeague: Last Week: 4-4-1 (T-10 out of 20, T-2 out of 5 in Division)

Who postpones a night game at 4pm? Well, the Cubs and Cardinals apparently. Now, I didn't read the news. Maybe there was a monsoon or some sort of local catastrophe, but that game screwed me big time. Why, might you ask? I had Ted Lilly starting and my opponent and I were tied with 3 Quality Stars apiece. We get a max of 6 starts per week and I chose Volstad and Lilly for my Sunday. Volstad blew it and my hopes shifted to Lilly. All the while, Rick Porcello shut down the Mariners from my bench. Managerially, I would have made the same decision every time, which is why I'm blaming the weather.

Week 2 becomes a narrow loss to a division rival of 3-4-2.

A Gold Star goes to my collective pitching staff of Lilly, Volstad, Armando Galarraga, Andy Sonnanstine, Jonathan Broxton, Heath Bell and JP Howell, who gave me 3 Quality Starts, a 1.46 ERA and 5 SV+HD, leading to utter dominance in the latter two categories. Michael Young and his 3 HR, 5 RBI and 2 Net SB (SBN) were a nice boost too.

No Thanks To: Alexei Ramirez. Before the season, I made two trades that brought over Adam Lind (and Mark DeRosa) and Alexei Ramirez. This week Alexei Ramirez repaid me with a .143 OBP, 1 RBI, and 3K. Sweet. Carlos Gomez didn't strike out but had a .182 OBP and -1 SBN to assist (had I not benched him today, an additional -1 SBN would have been tacked on). You two are like peas in a pod.

Work League: Last Week: 10-3-1 (3rd out of 12)

Coming of a strong week, albeit against last year's cellar dweller (I was 11/12, thank you very much), this week I faced the 2nd place team, who I am statistically tied with but is in second because he has one fewer loss and two more ties.

So, how'd that turn out? Pretty well actually, to the tune of a 10-4 victory. Early offensive dominance gave way to a close win in a few categories (RBI: 45-41, SB: 9-8) but convincing margins in the other categories (R: 59-35, HR: 16-11, TB: 166-124, AVG: .329-.252, OPS: .962-.761) show that the best team clearly won. The pitching was less stellar, as I was dominated in Wins (1-5), Ks (29-57) and QS (2-4), but my 7 Saves, 3.41 ERA and 1.24 WHIP knotted the pitching categories at 3 apiece.

A Gold Star goes to Raul Ibanez, who gave me the following line:

7 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, 24 TB, .550 AVG, 1.79 OPS

Cycle-hitting Orlando Hudson and Ryan Ludwick's 3 HR/10 RBI/21 TB performance are worth mention as well.

No Thanks To: Curtis Granderson. a .133 AVG and .266 OPS aren't helping anybody out buddy, and the 2 R, 1 RBI and 2 TB are all you can hope for from such a sad performance. Maybe calling you out ON A BLOG DEDICATED TO YOU, will light a bit of a fire.

Also not helping was alleged fantasy stud Hanley Ramirez, who batted .167 with 7 Total Bases. Killing me.

Blog League Last week: 430 Points (2nd Place, -19)

Wow. This was ugly. Oh, not for me, mind you, but the rest of the league that has to put up with me. It was a massacre. In my experience with fantasy baseball, success is fleeting and the season is oh, so long, so I'll enjoy this one.

My slim deficit heading into the week exploded into a 114 Point Lead.

A Gold Star goes to Ryan Ludwick (36 points) and Michael Young (35 points) who were rock-solid all week long.

No Thanks To Justin Verlander (3 Points) and Manny Parra (1 Point). Fellas, you were outscored by Curtis Granderson and he was awful (see above). Pull yourselves together.

So that's it for this week's fantasy wrap. This season has started off much better than years previous, with one glaring exception, and my overall standings at the end of week two are:

MegaLeague: 14/20, 4/5 Division, 7-8-3
Work League: 1st Place, 20-7-1 (+2.5)
Blog League: 1st Place, +114

Good luck with all of your teams this week, and be careful not to over manage

Monday Fantasy Wrap: Week 1

Since it's the start of the season, I thought that this presented a good opportunity to summarize this week in my team's fantasy baseball team. I realize that it is possible that nobody will care, but since I have thoroughly frustrated my wife by obsessively conversing about my fantasy teams, I thought that this would be a good secondary outlet.
A primer:

I have a team in three leagues:

MegaLeague: 2008 Standings: 6th of 20
20 Teams, 18 Man Rosters, Head-to-Head, Keeper League, Auction Draft,

Hitting Categories:HR, RBI, K (- points), Net SB (SB-CS), OBP
Pitching CategoriesK, QS, ERA, SV+HD

This week's opponent was my college friend Butter. A slow start on my part portended a miserable outcome, but a mid-week rebound salvaged a tie. Final Score 4-4-1 (tonight's Cubs/Brewers game has no impact, unless Derrek Lee steals a base):

That should be good for a 4-way tie for 9th place, in a 20 team league. Meh.

A Gold Star goes to: Adam Lind 3 HR, 12 RBI, 4 K, 0 SBN, .419 OBP

No Thanks To: Derrek Lee, Carlos Gomez and Dioner Navarro, each of whom treated me to a sub-.200 OBP for the week, with only one HR and 5 RBI between them. Gomez's SBs did help me win a tie there, but his 9 K's left something to be desired.

Work League: 2008 Standings: 11th of 12
12 Teams, 25 Man Rosters, Head-to-Head, Keeper League, Standard Draft

Redemption time in my work league, as I enter my second season. My team was bad, bad, bad last year. Of course, it didn't hurt that I was playing the last place team this week, yet I performed more admirably than expected. A 10-3-1 victory came on the heels of an offensive onslaught that left me with the following line:

51 R, 17 HR, 55 RBI, 15 SB, 169 TB, .311 AVG, .956 OPS

Ladies and Gentlemen, that is an unstoppable force. And just so you don't claim stat inflation due to roster size, the offensive stats of my opponent were 27 R, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 2 SB, 88 TB, .217 AVG, .623 OPS. A 3-3-1 Tie in pitching statistics were the only blemish on the week, in a league that I expect to contend for right out of the gate.

A Gold Star goes to Miguel Cabrera 5 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 0 SB, 24 TB, .520 AVG and 1.546 OPS (!) with a special thanks to Alfonso Soriano for adding in a healthy dose of power and speed.

No Thanks To Mike Jacobs, who was drafted late purely for his power potential, and yielded 1 measly RBI to go with his .176 AVG and 5 TB. You hit 41 points lower than the next lowest on the team (Pablo Sandoval). Thanks dude.

Blog League New League
12 Teams, 24 Man Rosters, Points League, All-Season, Standard Draft

Ah, the league for blog-cred. I have never done a points league before, but am really starting to dig it. While head-to-head is all the rage, I miss the season long excursion of fantasy baseball (I used to do Rotisserie Leagues), I feel that it is a truer reflection of putting together a solid team. My team got off to a scorching start, and would have easily captured first place if not for a 50 point game by Aaron Harang (CG, SHO, 3 H) that allowed Legion of Doom to leapfrog me. Still, I like the way this team is put together, pitching questions aside (that's always the case, isn't it?) and I think that I'll be battling with teams at the top all summer long.

Ending week one, I stand with a hearty 430 Points, 19 behind the leader and 51 ahead of 3rd place. Not too shabby at all.

A Gold Star goes to Brandon Inge who rewarded me for having the foresight of drafting him with 39 Points. Fellow late round pick Randy Winn chipped in 32. When your worst starter is Lance Berkman and his 16 points, you know things will be alright. Roy Halladay (43 points) also came up big on the Pitching side of things.

No Thanks To Manny Parra (-7), Rick Porcello (-6), Jonathan Sanchez (-3) and Justin Verlander (-2) the combined negative points of each account for the entire deficit between me and the first place team. Thanks fellas.

Curtis Granderson

Finally, what would a post here be without recounting the week that was for Curtis Granderson? An 0 for Sunday hurt the cause a bit, but you can't complain too much about:

.241/.281/.483, 5 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB

Small sample size hurts the AVG/OBP/SLG, but the rest of those numbers look good.

That's it for this week's Monday Fantasy Wrap, good luck with all of your teams this week and be careful not to over manage.