I'm starting up a new fantasy league on the premise of using mostly team-independent statistics and weighting so that a replacement-level player is worth 0.  The separations between events like singles and doubles are taken from linear weights, but the baseline values have been adjusted to achieve the eponymous replacement level neutrality.  It is a total points league (meaning everything gets added together, as opposed to category-based scoring).  Points are scaled as runs (in essence I've tried to reverse engineer VORP, although the positional adjustments aren't there; 2Bs and SSs get a DP bonus, at least). I'd like it to be fairly deep, so there are large rosters.  

This is a Yahoo league; direct link: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/register/tos?league_id=78859&password=yaybaseball

League ID#: 78859
Password: yaybaseball

Current draft time: Sun Mar 9 4:00pm EDT

I've also thrown in a few "fun" bonus categories like no hitters and grand slams.

Full details in the extended copy.

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I'm curious to see what effect the recent downturn in Sox performance has done to people's opinion of Francona.  On the one hand, it's been painful to watch the last week or so and the division title is very much in jeopardy.  On the other, the Sox do not appear to be in danger of missing the playoffs and are allowing some banged up players time to heal.  The bullpen situation could be described as either unclear or a big mess depending on your perspective.  So, how does this reflect on Tito?  Take the poll.

The Giants have placed Russ Ortiz on the DL and Lincecum is expected to start on Sunday.  I've seen a number of recommendations that Lincecum is good enough to warrant picking up even before his date of arrival is known, so I wasted no time in grabbing him in my leagues.  I figured I'd try to give a little back to the community of this blog by posting the news, since I've picked up a few tips here.

Linkage:
http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070503&content_id=1944924&vkey=news_m lb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

In case you haven't heard of Lincecum, he is 4-0 in AAA so far, his ERA is 0.29, and his K/9 is 13.4.  So grab him if you've got any fungible pitching slots...

I realized somewhat late into a draft that the "DH" slot doesn't just mean you get to pick a hitter to be there--they actually have to have eligibility, like a defensive position.  This was long after the premier DH's were gone.

Of Gomes and Kubel, who do you like better in a total points format this year?  (1B, BB, R, RBI, SB=1; 2b=2; 3B=3; HR=6; K, CS =-1) Their projections seem mostly similar; Gomes has more of a track record but also had shoulder issues last year.  Marcus Thames could also be in the mix and has great power but unfortunately for him he has major playing time issues since Sheff came to DET, although BP sees him getting a lot of ABs spread around DH LF RF and a bit of 1B.  Seems like Kubel's big advantage is that he doesn't K as much. Finally, I picked Andy Marte late as a wait and see if he breaks out kind of guy, so I could ditch him and take both Kubel and Gomes. Decisions, decisions...

I picked up Scott Olsen of the Marlins last week on the waiver wire, and I received a trade proposal offering Barry Zito.  Olsen has been really hot lately, but Zito has more of a track record, and the A's usually play well in the 2nd half, notwithstanding their failure to score runs for Zito of late.  Would you do the trade?

I'm in a points league and I've accumulated an overabundance of 1B and OF types on my team due to pack-rat instincts and a lot of them being on the waiver wire, and I am looking for advice on who to get rid of/try to trade.

I'm definitely keeping these guys: Delgado, Dunn, Gomes.

The bubble guys:
R Winn, J Morneau, L Overbay, M Kotsay, M Murton.

I'm leaning toward keeping Winn, but I'm really not sure--it seems every time I make a swap in the lineup, the guy who just sat on the bench goes and hits a homer or two.

Who would you keep?  Who would you try to trade away?  (At this point, I could use pitching, and perhaps a good extra middle INF).
Thanks!

The Red Sox' lack of extra-inning games means that every time the game has been tied in the ninth inning, it has been decided in the ninth inning.  I can think of a number of walkoffs at fenway, and I remember one in toronto.  Additionally, the game tonight (Wed.) in Cleveland was decided in the top of the 9th.  Does anyone know or have the inclination to figure out how well the sox have done in games in which there was a tie going into the 9th?  I have a feeling it's a pretty good number, and it would also be interesting to see whether 'clutch hitting' continues to be an illusion as has been previously reported.