Memorial Day Everyone! Honor to our country's fallen and enjoy your day off (if you have one). Week 7 brought more excitement in the world of OTM Fantasy Baseball. Some Highlights:

- Yours Truly (Beard of Zeus) took on wolf's Horrible Dissapointments in an epic struggle that came down to one at-bat between Michael Bourn and Craig Stammen in last night's ATL/WAS tilt. Zeus ended up winning the battle and the war 379.5 to 369.5 but it could have easily gone the other way.

- LWI All-Stars managed two 100+ pt days during the week.

- OTM 1 has 8 teams (half of the league) sitting at 5-2 after 7 weeks.

- Over in OTM3 we have the only undefeated squad with the Cuddly Penguins sitting at 7-0

League Links:

OTM #1 (Wakefield): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=17748

OTM #2 (Varitek): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=18989

OTM #3 (Drew): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=159993

OTM vs. PSA: http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=196498

Mirabelli http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/48381

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The OTM Fantasy Extravaganza enters week #7. In OTM1 we have 7 of the 16 teams with 4-2 records, 4 of which are tied at the top of the West Division.

League links below

OTM #1 (Wakefield): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=17748

OTM #2 (Varitek): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=18989

OTM #3 (Drew): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=159993

OTM vs. PSA: http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=196498

Mirabelli http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/48381

Total Point Standings After the Jump

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Week 6 in OTM Fantasyland. OTM #1 had its first tied match-up in Week 5.

League links below

OTM #1 (Wakefield): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=17748

OTM #2 (Varitek): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=18989

OTM #3 (Drew): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=159993

OTM vs. PSA: http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=196498

Mirabelli http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/48381

- Total Point Standings After the Jump!

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Week 5 starting in the Fantasy World. League links below (I've got them now so they open in a new window!)

OTM #1 (Wakefield): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=17748

OTM #2 (Varitek): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=18989

OTM #3 (Drew): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=159993

OTM vs. PSA: http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=196498

Mirabelli http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/48381

Enjoy

-BZ

OK, so the other thread got bogged down a bit. But, in short, we have 5 OTM leagues running this year and this is the place to talk fantasy baseball. I'll post the league links here in the post header so that others can get a glimpse into each league. If a member from the other leagues will post a comment with the league link, I'll compile here.

OTM #1 (Wakefield): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=17748

OTM #2 (Varitek): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=18989

OTM #3 (Drew): http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=159993

OTM vs. PSA: http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=196498

Mirabelli: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/48381

Enjoy

-BZ

Opening Day Rosters have been released for all 30 ML teams and some of your favorite Ex-Red Sox players are among the lists. I've taken the liberty/time to compile a list of them for you here, by team for your enjoyment.

* = Drafted by the Sox

** = Signed as an Amatuer Free Agent

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Figured we'd pull these out of the Extravaganza Post and put them in positional form here to discuss. It was a great draft - very fast and hectic at least from my end where I lost my plan about round 7. I think there were like 6 rounds where the top 3 in my queue went out from under me as I waited impatiently for the draft to come back around. I ended up with a olid offense with tons of potential breakout guys, but my pitching will be a work in progress all season.

Anyway, rosters after the jump - Enjoy

-BZ

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At 8:45pm this evening OTM #1 (Wakefield League), OTM #2 (Varitek League) and OTM #3 (Drew League) will embark upon the ultimate Fantasy draft as all three keeper leagues will be drafting simultaneously. You can follow the picks here as we will be posting/updating as they occur.

Join us here to talk Fantasy Baseball, discuss picks or just heckle your favorite posters in general. I will try to post each round for OTM #1 and someone from the other two leagues can do the same.

Enjoy and Good Luck!

-BZ

Fangraphs has released what will likely be the last Top 100 prospect list for the 2012 season and 3 Red Sox made the list (thought probably not the 3 you suspect - well at least not one of them)

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/top-100-prospects-for-2012/

Here is BA's Top 100 for comparison

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2012/2612998.html

Prospect lists are fun and while they may do a good job predicting future success, they are speculative at best. I took the 40-man roster of the current iteration of the Red Sox and listed each player's highest appearance on BA's Top 100 historically. A certain lefty reliever was once the 8th best prospect in all of baseball!

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Now that we have 3 leagues (well 4 if you count Aloha's Mirabelli carry-over) pretty much setup, it's that short window of draft prep, mock drafting, anxiety-about-your-first-pick time. This post can be a place for everyone to gather and commiserate, sh#t-talk and whatever for the 2 weeks or so prior to the drafts.

I had a suggestion on one of the threads that we perhaps name the leagues in honor of our three veterans that are no longer in a Sox uniform - Wake, Tek and Drew.

The Vets league has already set its draft order and I sit in the enviable? unenviable? position of picking 3rd....who's it going to be?

Let's get some pre-draft chatter going!

-BZ

OK, the Vets League is filled and whoever pulls this out is going to have to do a bang up job to get through these heavy hitters! As it seems that the discussion on the Fantasy Site has become sporadic, I thought it would be better to bring it over here since we are setting the rules for both leagues and most of us tend to check in here often. So far we have the following based upon community input

Type: H-2-H Points, Keeper

Draft: Snake, Sunday March 25th, 8:45pm EST

Roster: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, IF, OF, UT, 5 SP, 2 RP, 2 P, 3 Bench, 2 DL

Scoring:

Batters: TB = 1, R = 1, RBI = 1, BB = 1, SB = 2, SO = -0.5, CS = -1

Pitchers: IP = 3, QS = 3, W = 2, SO = 0.5, ER = -2, H = -1, BB = -1, L = -2, SV = 5

Limits:

Starts: 10*

Weekly Transactions: 7

Keepers: 5

Playoff Teams: 6 (Regular Season Weeks: 1-21, Playoffs: 22-24)

* We are working on a method to manage a hard limit of 10 starts. The current ESPN automatiob only cuts the starts off after the day of the 10th start. Commisioners will remove the points from any start after the 10th and if your 10th comes on a day with multiple starts then you will receive the worst start - point-wise from that day

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Here is an update on the action as of today: 2/16/2012

Elsewhere: Bedard (PIT), Bell (FL), Beltran (STL), Breslow (ARZ), Broxton (KC), Buerhle (FL), Cahill (ARZ), Capuano (LAD), Capps (MIN), Cespedes (OAK), Darvish (TEX), Garland (CLE), Gonzalez (WAS), Harang (LAD), Jackson (WAS), Ludwick (CIN), Madson (CIN), Maholm (CHC), Nathan (TEX), Qualls (PHI), Ramirez (MIL), Rodriguez (MIL), Saunders (ARZ), Sherrill (SEA), Wheeler (CLE), Willingham (MIN), Willis (PHI), Wilson (LAA), Zumaya (MIN)

In the Fold: Ortiz, Shoppach, Bailey, Ross

Hung Em Up: Varitek, Wakefield

Current Leader(s): aubatron2011

Here is an update on the action as of today: 1/31/2012

Elsewhere: Bedard (PIT), Bell (FL), Beltran (STL), Breslow (ARZ), Broxton (KC), Buerhle (FL), Cahill (ARZ), Capuano (LAD), Capps (MIN), Darvish (TEX), Gonzalez (WAS), Harang (LAD), Jackson (WAS), Ludwick (CIN), Madson (CIN), Maholm (CHC), Nathan (TEX), Qualls (PHI), Ramirez (MIL), Rodriguez (MIL), Saunders (ARZ), Sherrill (SEA), Wheeler (CLE), Willingham (MIN), Willis (PHI), Wilson (LAA), Zumaya (MIN)

In the Fold: Ortiz, Shoppach, Bailey, Ross

Contenders already out of the running: BobZupcic, Dave D, LesterJohn, Revived0103, AlohaSox, nuthinboutnuthin, TLD, Rogue Nine, Jake_W, Brandon C., outofleftfield, wolf9309

Current Leader(s): aubatron2011

Fangraphs just came out with an article about the Sox outfield as you can read here:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/red-sox-need-outfield-help/

With Ryan Kalish suffering yet again from injury and the news Carl Crawford may miss some time or his wrist surgery linger coupled with the fact that Ryan Sweeney is miscast as a starter, the Sox outfield (while not its biggest problem) is becoming a secondary issue.

Is Marlon Byrd part of the solution?

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This is a follow up to the Top-10 Clearinghouse and includes the full rankings of various sites: Missing are Hardball Times and Baseball Prospectus which tend to come out later. The first table has the raw list data. I then took the players and averaged their rankings to come up with a cummulative ranking for the Top 20. If a player did not appear on a list say for BA's Top 10 then they were ranked 11th and so forth. Tables after the jump

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Here is an update on the action as of today: 1/18/2012

Elsewhere: Bedard (PIT), Bell (FL), Beltran (STL), Breslow (ARZ), Broxton (KC), Buerhle (FL), Cahill (ARZ), Capuano (LAD), Capps (MIN), Darvish (TEX), Gonzalez (WAS), Harang (LAD), Ludwick (CIN), Madson (CIN), Maholm (CHC), Nathan (TEX), Ramirez (MIL), Rodriguez (MIL), Saunders (ARZ), Sherrill (SEA), Willingham (MIN), Willis (PHI), Wilson (LAA), Zumaya (MIN)

In the Fold: Ortiz, Shoppach, Bailey, Ross

Contenders already out of the running: BobZupcic, Dave D, LesterJohn, Revived0103

Current Leader(s): aubatron2011

Numerous 2012 Red Sox prospect rankings lists are already out with more on their way. I've compiled the ones that I've found here in this post as a clearinghouse. For lists that went farther than the Top 10, I've cut them off to keep a consistent comparison.

Chart after the jump

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Here is an update on the action as of today: 12/29/2011

Elsewhere: Bedard (PIT), Bell (FL), Beltran (STL), Breslow (ARZ), Broxton (KC), Buerhle (FL), Cahill (ARZ), Capuano (LAD), Capps (MIN), Darvish (TEX), Gonzalez (WAS), Harang (LAD), Nathan (TEX), Ramirez (MIL), Rodriguez (MIL), Sherrill (SEA), Willingham (MIN), Willis (PHI), Wilson (LAA)

In the Fold: Ortiz, Shoppach, Bailey

Contenders already out of the running: BobZupcic, Dave D, LesterJohn, Revived0103

Current Leader(s): aubatron2011

Here is an update on the action (Table below)

Elsewhere: Bedard (PIT), Bell (FL), Beltran (STL), Breslow (ARZ), Broxton (KC), Buerhle (FL), Cahill (OAK), Capuano (LAD), Capps (MIN), Darvish (TEX), Gonzalez (WAS), Harang (LAD), Nathan (TEX), Ramirez (MIL), Rodriguez (MIL), Sherrill (SEA), Willingham (MIN), Willis (PHI), Wilson (LAA)

In the Fold: Ortiz, Shoppach

That's right folks, last year's pick 5 is back! The idea is to pick 5 players that you think might or will be on the Red Sox 2012 roster that are not currently listed on the 40-man. Posting rules are below.

RULES:

1. Post your 5 picks in the subject and of course; feel free to elaborate on your picks in your post

2. Feel free to heckle or laud others picks but please make sure you do as a reply under their original post

3. Bets end on 11:59pm Friday, November 29th or when the first acquisition comes through.

4. You receive 1 pt per player that the Sox sign and that sticks with the team (makes opening day roster)

5, Tie-breaker will be done by cummulative 2012 salaries (winner = the higher cummulative salary)

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With the additions of Drake Britton, Will Middlebrooks and Che-Hsuan Lin the current iteration of the Sox 40-man roster holds 38 names. There are a few non-tender candidates amongst the arbitration eligible players to make room for free agents.

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The 2011 baseball season offered a lot for Red Sox fans; a miserable start to the season, a dramatic peak in the middle where nothing seemed to go wrong and then a devastating ending. Looking back is easy to pick on the negatives but the offense/defense combination that the team managed was not one of them. I decided to look back on the last 75 years of Boston Red Sox baseball to see - just how good was the 2011 team. I'll show the raw data first, then the top ten offensive/defensive seasons by WAR.

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For the past 5 seasons the Boston Red Sox have had the luxury of penciling in a name for their starting right-field job. While J.D. Drew didn't inspire the confidence that comes with a regulat 150+ game player, he did, at the very least, offer some stability as a defensive stalwart and solid bat. In 2012, things will be different and while RF is not the huge gaping hole that the back-end of the rotation is, it is still a critical part of the team and deserves discussion. In this article we will look at what we currently have, what's out there to be had and what the best options may or may not be for #9 position.  

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Fact #1: The Boston Red Sox are in need of starting pitchers to fill innings this season behind their top 3

Fact #2: The Free Agent list of starting pitchers for the 2012 off-season just plain sucks

Now with those out of the way, let's take a look at the list of the 25 prominent free agent starters and see if we can come up with a few names that might be palatable at the back end of the 2012 Red Sox rotation. We could look at a number of stats but I've whittled them down to the following:

Age, 11 Salary, 11 xFIP, Career xFIP (c xFIP), Career WHIP (c WHIP), GB% and a stat I made up - IPY3 (Average innings pitched per year over the past 3 years).

Table after the jump with comments (table is pre-sorted by "c xFIP". I've also included John Lackey as a reference, since that's kind of who needs to be replaced 

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Recent history would attest to the fact that the Red Sox FO has done a pretty good job in the trade department (and much less so in the free agent department). The 2011-2012 off-season may or may not see a large turnover of the roster, but it is possible that one, maybe two trades can and will happen to improve the club. With that in mind lets look at the roster and the best assets the Sox have to offer when it comes down to the negotiating table.

....after the jump

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I disappeared from this site for a while at season's end due to a very unfortunate event - I went back to work. Teaching has its pros - pay NOT being one of them - but the cons are long-hard hours come August-September. Luckily this year, I didn't miss much Red Sox baseball during those months because they forgot to play. Now that I'm a bit more settled into the routiine, I've found time to revisit lately and here is my plan for the 2012 Red Sox. So Big Ben, if you are reading...take some notes. This will be in Step-by-step fashion, due to my teacher-ness (no, I do not teach English).

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Back in 2004 the Boston Red Sox were up against a wall a bit due to the fact that they held 0 first round selections in the Amateur Draft (They had given up their pick to the A's). The Sox first pick came in the second round on overall pick number 65.

With that pick they went against the mainstream, went against the "toolsy", the "5-category potential", the "raw-power" and selected a 5'8" SS out of Arizona State University.

Had OTM readers been following the draft in 2004 as we do today, I can imagine the comments. With the lack of hindsight I'm sure they would have been less than stellar.  "A short middle infielder!, come on!" "Where is the pitching!" "Great another David Eckstein!"

Enter Dustin Pedroia

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We've reached the halfway point of the season and what a half it has been. A 2-10 start, a 8-1 record vs the rival Yankees, an offensive barrage to bring the Sox to first place in the East, then an inter-league fall-off all leading to a 47-34 record. A quick doubling of the record points to a 94-68 record for the season (but remember this includes the 2-10 run which is highly unlikely a second time). So, barring a huge fall-off we are looking at a 94-98 win team and a run in the playoffs. Epstein has been quoted in the media that the team cannot take on a large amount of payroll this season, so we are unlikely to see a Bay/Martinez type of deal, but that does not mean that moves will not or cannot be made.

So its time to be the Armchair GM. What would you do with a team that is good to great but needs some tweaks and has supposed limited financial resources? My go after the jump

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In November of 2002, Theo Nathan Epstein was named as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox and became the youngest GM in history at that time. Eight plus years and 2 World Series trophies later, the 2011 Red Sox are battling for the playoffs in large part due to the maneuverings of Mr. Epstein. As the GM you have basically three ways to improve your squad and make sure that it is competitive each year:

(a) Amateur Draft

(b) Trades

(c) Free Agency/Extensions

This will be a three part series and since its YAD SDRAWKCAB I'll start with (c).  

In this post I will look at Epstein's Multi-Year Free Agent signings & Extensions. For contracts that have expired I'm using Fangraphs WAR and equivalent win earnings to get an idea of the value added by the player. I want to make the caveat here that by no means is this a tried and true method for evaluating value but its the best I have so here goes. For contracts that are on-going I'm using an equivalent methodology for contracts (since about 1/3 of the 2011 seasons has been played then I'm using 1/3 of equivalent value for that year)

List after the jump chronologically and with comments: 

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Continuing the series of looking at the best and worst of the past 50 years by position, we move to the FirstBase spot. Using Baseball-Reference and a little Excel magic, I'll be looking at the Top 10 Best and Worst seasons by both WAR and OPS+

* To qualify for the season a player had to have played the most games at that location for the team for that season

Number after the Jump

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