SB Nation User Blog: acr

Stephen Strasburg WARNING!

acr — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:10:14 -0000

This warning applies to those who play in CBS Sportsline leagues. Strasburg is eligible to be picked up as a free agent on Sportsline in NL Only leagues but not in AL Only leagues. In fact, Sportsline already has Strasburg's "affiliated" MLB team as the Nationals.

There is a small chance (signing issues) that Strasburg falls to the Mariners as the second pick. So what if that happens? If Sportsline handles things as they have in the past it means all those teams in NL Only leagues who picked up Strasburg will have an ineligible player. This may not seem like a big issue to some but it can be an issue to others. Sportsline traditionally has only a few spots available for bench players- although this may not apply quite so much to those who run their commissioner service.

The oddity is that Sportsline seems to be indicating Strasburg will be eligible nomatter which MLB team drafts him. This may not be the case at all. A couple years ago Roger Clemens signed with the Astros a year after being with the Yankees. Clemens was eligible in AL Only leagues and able to be drafted in those leagues. It was later he decided to sign with the Astros. But upon signing with the Astros Clemens was no longer eligible in AL Only leagues. I had carried Clemens on my roster for several weeks, just waiting for him to be activated. But it was all for nothing.

If you pick up Strasburg and he is drafted by an American League team and if Sportsline decides he is no longer eligible in NL Only Leagues you have no right to complain. But a lot of that will depend on Sportsline and how they decide their rules.

Fantasy Baseball: Must We Always Allow Even Trades?

acr — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:38:06 -0000

So there are a few unwritten rules of ethics involved in fantasy baseball. One of which is not to vote against even trades. Who came up with this? In every league I have ever been involved in this unwritten rule existed- kinda like the unwritten rule in the real game not to steal signs.

A NL only h2h league I have this year had a couple owners with an agreed upon trade: Ted Lilly straight up for Ryan Howard. Seems a little iffy to me. But the two owners thought it was fair. It was vetoed by the league. Then came the mesage board posts- mainly with the Howard owner claiming that NL only leagues are usually won by the team with the best pitching staff. And because of that Howard for Lilly is actually fair. The trade was proposed again and this time it went through with a couple objections.

I asked myself, who cares if it's fair? Here we have an owner saying pitching rules NL only leagues yet he decided to draft Ryan Howard instead of a starting pitcher. Now he wants to trade for pitching to make his team better. The Lilly owner may have a need at first as well. But why should all the other teams in the league be obligated to approve these two teams getting stronger?

It seems to be a classic finger pointing argument- if you veto a fair trade you are obviously a jerk who knows nothing about the unwritten rules of the game. So trades go through and the teams get stronger. I am not really buying into it. And I would appreciate comments from others.

Have you traded yet?

acr — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:59:00 -0000

I was wondering what some of the fantasy trades have been thus far this year. List your league type and scoring format as well. Plus throw in why you made the trade- out of desperation or just a trade out of the blue?

I am in three leagues- AL only h2h 10 teams, NL only h2h 10 teams and a NL only 4x4 roto from here on faketeams. No AL only league trade as of yet. In my NL only roto league I traded Carlos Zambrano for Adam Dunn. I felt that was a fair trade as I was very pitcher heavy and outfield weak. Plus hopefully Dunn becomes corner infield eligible sooner than later.

In my NL only 10 team h2h league I was offered Jose Reyes straight up for Matt Cain. That took me by surprise as I had offered the guy David Wright for Reyes a week earlier which he turned down. I accepted the trade Reyes 4 Cain offer pretty quick.

CHIEN-MING WANG fallout?

acr — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:03:42 -0000

So Chien-Ming Wang is supposed to get his next turn in the rotation in Boston this Friday night against Jon Lester. That should be interesting. I am sure the last thing the Yankees want to do is burn up their bullpen on a Friday night with two games left against their arch rival. At Scranton it appears Kei Igawa is on track with the same rotation spot as Wang. Because of that would he be the first AAA starter called up? It appears his next start would also be the 24th, at Rochester.

Jason Johnson follows Igawa in the rotation and is pitching today. Nomatter what Johnson does I would doubt the Yankees recall him unless absolutely needed. This coming Wednesday should be Phil Hughes' turn and I suppose all eyes will be on whether the Yankees let him have his turn or not. Should he get pulled at the last minute I think that would be a pretty good sign that he may get the call Friday against Lester. But that would have Hughes going on extra rest (seven days).

Any thoughts on how this may play out? It appears neither Igawa or Johnson are on the 40 man roster for the Yankees.

Yikes! Carpenter leaves game after 3 innings

acr — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:45:21 -0000

Cardinal Chris Carpenter left the St. Louis v. Arizona game before throwing a pitch to start the bottom of the fourth inning. He had thrown 50 pitches through 3 innings, giving up four hits and striking out two with no walks. He looked to be pointing to his left side about his ribcage area as he walked off the mound. Just after he had thrown a couple warm up pitches Yadier Molina went to the mound, the trainer came out and out went Carpenter. Through ten innings this year Carpenter had not yet given up an earned run. And in Spring Training he had 1.52 ERA threw 23.2 innings pitched. He also ended 2008 with an short comeback, throwing just 15.1 innings but allowing only three earned runs. That would be a total of 49 post surgery innings (minus minor league rehab starts) and an ERA of 1.28. You can also throw in a 1.02 WHIP and 33 k's. Guess we Cardinal fans can just hope for the best at this point.

What Would Be The Perfect Scoring Format For Fantasy Baseball?

acr — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:30:24 -0000

I guess every scoring format is criticized to some extent. Head-to-head leagues with a playoff system can be bad for a team that dominates a league yet has one bad week during the playoffs. Also, during the playoffs a really good team could go up against someone with a ton of 2-start pitchers. That by itself can make boost above average team over the hump and onto a league title.

Roto leagues are probably more fair in that regard, but it is really difficult to catch up should your team fall behind early in the standings. And, as the seaon progresses, it becomes more and more difficult to catch up. This can make teams toward the bottom stop participating.

Maybe there should be some way of having first half and second half winners in roto and head-to-head? Shoot, there could be a mini playoff right before the All-Star break. Then teams could get a fresh start concentrating on the second half of the season. Maybe even have first half and second half winners combie to have some sort of end of season playoff in head to head leagues?

Then on top of this is the issue of which categories to use and/or how many points should be awarded for each category in head to head play. Should OBP always be used over BA? Or would using both be better?

And what about categories like being hit by a pitch for a batter or holds for a reliever? Maybe "quality holds" needs to be added as a new category? And then there is the famous One Out Save and its evil cousin, the Three Inning Save.

Should we have quality saves? Heck we already have quality starts, although that can be bullpen dependent. Besides all that, why can't my NL pitcher get credit for when he hits a homerun or otherwise has a nice day at the plate? How can that not be important? Sheesh.

Are there any scoring formats anyone simply hates or thinks is better than all others? What about categories?

Rate my NL only Sportsline team

acr — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:18:45 -0000

Here is the results of my final draft. The scoring format is NL only, H2H with points as below-

Scoring for Batting Categories
1B - Singles	1 point
2B - Doubles	2 points
3B - Triples	3 points
BB - Walks (Batters)	1 point
CS - Caught Stealing	-1 point
HP - Hit by Pitch	1 point
HR - Home Runs	4 points
KO - Strikeouts (Batter)	-0.5 points
R - Runs	1 point
RBI - Runs Batted In	1 point
SB - Stolen Bases	2 points

Scoring for Pitching Categories
BBI - Walks Issued (Pitchers)	-1 point
BS - Blown Saves	-2 points
ER - Earned Runs	-2 points
HA - Hits Allowed	-1 point
INN - Innings	3 points
K - Strikeouts (Pitcher)	1 point
L - Losses	-5 points
S - Saves	5 points
SO - Shutouts	5 points
W - Wins	7 points

The scoring has been tweaked since last year. Previous scoring by Sportsline has 10 points for wins with fewer negative pitching categories. Hitting has been tweaked a bit too by giving negatives for k's and CS. There have been a few other minor changes as well. But I noticed that previously closers were a premium with the high end closers scoring about the same points during a season as a top starting pitcher. That's not the case anymore. So I decided to not spend an early pick on a closer, actually I did not get one at all- just decided to go with the temp assignment of Carlos Villanueva and taking fliers on Corpas and Kuo. You have to start two relief pitchers now as well.

But here is how my team turned out-
C- Chris Snyder

1b- Joey Votto

2b- Olando Hudson

3b- David Wright

SS- Stephen Drew

OF- Alfonso Soriano

OF- Milton Bradley

OF- Rick Ankiel

DH- Aramis Ramirez

SP- Adam Wainwright

SP- Matt Cain

SP- Aaron Harang

SP- John Maine

SP- Chris Volstad

RP- Hong-Chih Kuo

RP- Carlos Villanueva
Bench Hitters-

Chad Tracy

Kosuke Fukudome

Bench Pitchers-

Kenshin Kawakami

Joel Pineiro

Manny Corpas

FWIW- I had the #4 pick and took David Wright. The first three picks went Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols and Johan Santana. I could have taken Jose Reyes, and maybe should have done so. I just thought that position scarcity came into play and I ended up with Stephen Drew at SS. I guess we'll just see how the new park comes into play with Wright's HR totals. Then again maybe Wright will go back to stealing 20-30 bases a year again.
Any thoughts?

I usually come away from most drafts feeling a little iffy. I won my NL only Sportsline league last year but drafted guys late like McLouth, JJ Hardy, Bengie Molina, Ricky Nolasco, Vazquez, Andre Ethier and had two guys playing dualing banjos on first- LaRoche and Mike Jacobs. I did not get in on the Manny, CC or Rich Harden sweepstakes.

But I used the same drafting strategy, except for the premium value of closers of course- I drafted Wright with my first pick and took Aramis Ramirez a little later. This gave me a decent DH and helped dry up the 3b pool. I guess we will see how things go this year.

I targeted players who Sportsline had ranked really low- Harang, Tracy, Fukudome, Kawakami and Pineiro. Some guys I wanted late were taken by others. But I can't really complain too much. If Kuo and Corpas get some closing shots I may have a decent chance.

My 4x4 NL Faketeams auction draft results

acr — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:12:41 -0000

I saw a few other posts about the FT 4x4 NL only roto draft and figured I would throw in my 2 cents worth. Here is my final drafted team-

Men Behaving Bradley
Pos	Player	Salary	Elig
C	Hundley, Nick C SD	$1	C,U
C	Rodriguez, Ivan C HOU	$7	C,U
1B	Young, Dmitri 1B WAS	$1	1B,CI,U
2B	Uggla, Dan 2B FLA	$23	2B,MI,U
3B	Glaus, Troy 3B STL	$10	3B,CI,U
SS	Furcal, Rafael SS LA	$19	MI,SS,U
MI	Lopez, Felipe 2B ARI	$10	2B,MI,U
CI	Hall, Bill 3B MIL	$5	3B,CI,U
OF	Fowler, Dexter CF COL	$1	OF,U
OF	Ankiel, Rick CF STL	$13	OF,U
OF	Pence, Hunter RF HOU	$22	OF,U
OF	Moss, Brandon LF PIT	$1	OF,U
OF	Gomes, Jonny LF CIN	$1	OF,U
U	Sanchez, Gaby 1B FLA	$1	1B,CI,U
P	Carpenter, Chris SP STL	$12	P
P	Street, Huston RP COL	$6	P
P	Hoffman, Trevor RP MIL	$12	P
P	Harden, Rich SP CHC	$17	P
P	Lidge, Brad RP PHI	$26	P
P	Wainwright, Adam SP STL	$18	P
P	Zambrano, Carlos SP CHC	$23	P
P	Kuo, Hong-Chih RP LA	$4	P
P	Harang, Aaron SP CIN	$9	P
RES	Tracy, Chad A. 1B ARI	$1	1B,CI,U
RES	Vazquez, Javier SP ATL	$13	P
RES	Davis, Doug SP ARI	$1	P
RES	Martis, Shairon SP WAS	$1	P
RES	Belliard, Ronnie 2B WAS	$1	1B,2B,3B,CI,MI,U
RES	Wallace, Brett 3B STL	$1	3B,CI,U

So I ended up possibly ok at catching. And my middle infield and pitching is enough to possibly compete in a few categories. I have obvious needs in the corner infield and extreme needs in the OF. My batting average could be suspect and the recent news that Glaus may be out until June really hurts.

This was my first auction draft and I went in figuring to try and find a few bargain pitchers and then try to find some bargain hitters. I tried to stay away from the high dollar players- those that would fetch $30+. But I made the rookie mistake of running out of money early in the auction. I guess that's what happens when above average pitchers are thrown out there combined with my obsessive/impulsive shopping habits.

In the past I have always done snake drafts, NL only and AL only and done fairly well over the past few years. But the auction draft is a whole different animal.

Since the draft I have dropped the meathook and Brett Wallace in favor of more immediate needs in Casey McGehee (BU to Bill Hall) and took a flier on Walter Silva. Guess I'll hang onto Gaby Sanchez and see what happens. I certainly could see him back at some point soon for the Marlins, especially if the Emilio Bonifacio experiment takes a left turn. Though I admit Emilio was a nice pick.

So my OF consists of Rick Ankiel, Hunter Pence and three "say what?" guys. Maybe Dexter Fowler gets some ab's. Jonny Gomes and me both are breathing a sigh of relief Shef signed with the Mets. Brandon Moss may be ok. I am not sure any of the other Bucs can take a lot of right field at bats away from him. If he plays league average I will be thrilled. Between Fowler and Gomes the edge has to go to Fowler at this point. That's simply because Dexter has not yet totally sucked at the MLB level the past three years. The only hope for Jonny is that if fellow former Ray, Jorge, revived his career in the NL then maybe Jonny can too. That has to be a sign. So I'm runnin' with it. Maybe there'll be an injury in the Reds OF? I don't know. Gomes is hitting well in ST but that is probably because he is seeing more fastballs there. A couple off-speed benders could have his back torqued out by the middle of this month. I still have hope though. As a PH he may see more fastballs anyway.

The corner infield also has question marks. Probably not as many as the OF since some of my CI's have recent had success at the MLB level. Can Ronnie Belliard get 20 ab's per week? That question in itself tells you how desperate my CI situation is. But hopefully Chad Tracy can return to his 2005-06 days. Same for Mr. Hall, though I am less optimistic in Bill's case. So McGehee comes on board. Glaus needs to certainly get healthy sooner than later. And in the mean time Ross Gload will be taking ab's away from Gaby who'll be hacking away in New Orleans. Geesh.

Oh well. Any thoughts?

What do you believe in most?

acr — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:38:09 -0000

Sabermetrics? Gut instinct? Only what you see? Old school?

Some are really into sabermetrics while others want to watch a guy play. There is a school of thought that says a person will see what they want to see and everyone should leave it up to the numbers. Others will preach that numbers can be misleading, nomatter what saber stats are used. Then there are the "old school" numbers such as OBP, doubles, K/9, OBP against, etc that people zero in on. And others just go on their gut instinct.

I have to watch a player in the field, at the plate or on the mound to make a judgement. I am sure others will feel differently. Plus I always throw in a little gut instinct. Saber stats help when making the final call. But of course any stats help. I just think that everyone is going to know the saber stats anyway, so why bother that much?

Poll

Do you believe in Sabermetrics or trust your eye? Or do you just go with you gut? Or are you old school?

Sabermetrics

4 votes

Only what I see

2 votes

I just go with my gut instinct

3 votes

I go old school (OBP, doubles, k/9, OBP against, etc)

5 votes

14 votes | Poll has closed

Baseball Storyline 2009?

acr — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:14:39 -0000

So here we are about to open the 2009 season in MLB. What is on tap to keep an eye on this season? Not much. The economy is threatening the game so there were only a few major contracts signed this past off-season. Homeruns have dropped each of the last few years. There were 5386 homeruns hit in 2006, 4957 in 2007 and 4878 in 2008. That's nearly a 10% drop over that time period and those numbers will most likely see a continued downward trend in 2009. And there are no 600 homer guys coming up. Not even 500 homer guys. Unless you count Gary Sheffield. I'm sure he was clean the whole time. Remember the past few runs at homer titles? Barry Bonds went unceremoniously to the top. I still recall the Darth Vader like congrats from Hank Aaron played from the big screen at AT&T Park. And Mike Bacsik is now forever trivia fodder. Or is it Mark Bacsik?

Heck, even last year we had Yankee Stadium closing and the Rays winning out the AL East. The Cubbies fell again. And once we figured out that most everyone used steroids, even a new name is not that surprising anymore. Any 300 game winners on the horizon? Randy Johnson has 295. He had 280 at the end of 2006. Anything else? I guess we can wait to see if Josh Hamilton relapses. People love a train wreck. Can the Rays repeat? Can the Cubs get to the World Series? Not real exciting stuff.

What we do have is a chance to see a run by four hitters at the single season strike out crown. Mark Reynolds is reigning king being the first player to break the 200+ barrier for whiffs in a season. He set the record just last year. But there are others wanting his crown- to begin with, Ryan Howard. He k'd 199 times each of the past two seasons. Is 200 there? I have to think so. And what about Adam Dunn? He has tapered off the last couple seasons but still cracks the all time single season leaders at 5th and 6th place. So there certainly is room for hope. And a newcomer is on the scene- Jack Cust. He whiffed 197 times last year in only 481 at bats. Has there ever been a time in baseball history when the top four single season leaders in a category have all been in the prime of their careers? Maybe not. So we could be witnessing history in the making. It sure beats waiting on the Cubs to fold again.