2008 FantasyMLBTIPS Fantasy League Update

League parameters: 12 team mixed roto. C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, UTIL, 2 SP, 2 RP, 3 P and 5 BN. Categories are standard 5x5. 

2008 is the inaugural season of the FantasyMLBTIPS.com Fantasy Baseball league. The league consists of three of TIPS’ own writers (Mike Navarra, Ron Vackar and Jeff Lowe) and nine selected readers. The league has been active so far this year with each team averaging close to eleven transactions in the early going. Each of the writers want to finish at the top of the league to prove his standing as a TIPS expert, while the other owners are trying to take down the big boys. Well fellas — bring it on. We can take it and so far our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rankings show that we’re dishing it out pretty well (knock on wood). I’ll be taking a regular look at the league with updates on trades, key picks ups, standings updates and hot topics on the message boards. Let’s check it out: 

To this point there haven’t been any trades, but that shouldn’t last much longer. There are a few teams angling for stats they did not get enough of coming out of the draft. I am not one to make rash decisions early in the season, but trading for deficiencies in categories makes sense at any point in the season. Teams are looking to deal from strength to improve weaknesses, which is what all fantasy owners should do. Pulling off a trade in this league may be tough, however, because generally owners want to fleece their trading partner and that won’t happen in a league of this caliber. First rule of trading in this league: Don’t try and rip off a writer — we will blog about it. 

If you don’t know about our league, it is run by Yahoo — quite possibly the worst site in the history of fantasy baseball when it comes to minor league callups. Johnny Cueto had a rotation spot coming out of spring, so why was he not available on the site??? I was trying to pick him up every day from the draft until he was added into the system. He was not added until the day before his first start and then was on waivers for three or four days. I cannot be the only guy who has a problem with this. The only reason I’m spending so much time on this is because he has to be the biggest free agent pickup in fantasy baseball to this point. TIPS founder, Jeff Lowe, from All Eyez won the Cueto derby and promptly put him on the trading block looking for saves. All Eyez also won the race for Peter Moylan when the news of Rafael Soriano hitting the DL was first reported. Luckily for him, he was able to get Manny Acosta as well — now that Moylan is off to see Dr. James Andrews.  Somehow Jorge Posada was dropped by Mr. Met after only a week of baseball. I know Posada has struggled to throw runners out with his shoulder injury, but he can still DH and makes for a fine option at the catcher position — too good to be dropped outright. Several key players were added early in the season including Nate McLouth, Jeff Keppinger and Carlos Gomez. Every Seattle reliever short of Kaz Sasaki and Norm Charleton were picked up following the J.J. Putz fiasco. The transaction pages are littered with catchers, including Kenji Johjima at the moment. 

This week a couple of trades were the hot topics on our message board. Both trades involved one of our owners, but in his other league. The first trade was Erik Bedard for Curtis Granderson and either Edinson Volquez or Javier Vazquez. The owner also had Aaron Harang and Chris Young on his staff so he could afford to lose Bedard. His outfield of Ken Griffey Jr., Eric Byrnes and Brad Hawpe was a little weak so getting Granderson in this trade makes sense. Throw in the fact that you’re getting a solid pitcher in return, ultimately Vazquez, and it’s too good to pass up. Vazquez will put up high strikeout numbers at the expense of some ERA and WHIP, but the return is more than enough for Bedard. I actually think that our TIPS owner took his league mate for a ride on this one. 

The other trade that the owner brought to the group for opinions was Ryan Zimmerman for Aaron Harang in a 10- team mixed head to head league. Head to head leagues traditionally place a little more emphasis on pitching than on hitting so that bumps up Harang’s value a little bit. It’s not a bad offer overall, but the owner who would be receiving Zimmerman already has Chipper Jones and Kevin Kouzmanoff. I, and the other league members who responded, thought that the upgrade from Kouzmanoff to Zimmerman was not great enough to warrant giving up Harang. 

Here are the standings as of the end of play Tuesday, April 15, 2008. The writers in this league own the following teams: Rosin Bag Grenadiers (Ron Vackar), UMustveMisremembered (myself) and All Eyez (Jeff Lowe). Check out the other blogs about the FantasyMLBTips league to view draft results and draft commentary by both the writers and the other owners.

WEEKLY ANALYSIS: 

UmustveMisremembered says:
Best Pick Up — [4/11] Jorge Posada; Vaporizers — Posada needs to be owned in all leagues, regardless of injury

Worst Drop — [4/8] Jorge Posada; Mr. Met — To pick up Yadier Molina???

Best/Worst Spot Start — [4/12] Boof Bonser, [4/13] Greg Maddux; UmustveMisremembered — Combined 2 W, 11 IP, 0 ER, 6 K, 0.73 WHIP

Best Move/Non-Move — Evan Longoria; Fear the nut — His decision to not drop Longoria after he was sent down (and not expected back until June) could turn out to be huge. 

Rosin Bag Grenadiers says:
Best Pick Up — [4/10] Rafael Betancourt; All Eyez — Terrific foresight by All Eyez; this was five days before Borowski was placed on the DL.

Worst Drop — [4/8] Jorge Posada; Mr. Met — This is where you really hope you were one of the guys in the league that waited until the end of the draft to get your catcher

Best/Worst Spot Start — [4/13] Greg Maddux; UmustveMisremembered — An oldie but a goody. Of course he'd throw well right after I age bashed him last week.

Best Move/Non-Move — [4/16] Xavier Nady;  Vaporizers — This free agent pick up made a ton of sense. Vaporizers' outfield is certainly not the team's strength, but picking up Nady will give him better righty/lefty matchups where he can now mix in the left handed sticks of Johnny Damon and Corey Patterson, and the right handed sticks of Matt Diaz and Nady. In our Yahoo league where only 162 games per position are allowed, getting the most out of the right matchups is of the highest importance. 

All Eyez says:
Best Pick Up — [4/12] Ryan Doumit; Mr. Met —  Doumit has always had the talent; just needed the playing time. He launched a bomb off of the “invincible” Johnny Cueto.

Worst Drop — [4/15] Rich Hill; UmustveMisremembered — 200 K-potential pitchers don’t grow on trees. He needs to find his groove, but it’s not like he’s Daniel Cabrera.

Best/Worst Spot Start — [4/12] Boof Bonser; UmustveMisremembered — W, 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Best Move/Non-Move — [4/11] benching Jeff Francis; Fence-Riders — An easy decision but good management nonetheless; With Francis going up against AZ for a second time at AZ and against Webb, it didn’t look good. L, 5 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 3 HR, 3 BB, 2 K

Comments

[Mike Navarra]

Good call on my drop of Hill Jeff. I reacted to seeing that he was being moved to the pen. With 2 pitchers already on the DL and short rosters at pitcher I dropped Hill. I hate pitchers anyway. I liked him coming into the year and regret dropping him at the moment. Good news is that I was able to pick up D-Mac so it was like a trade. New worst drop of the year so far though in my other league. In a 12 team mixed with 5 OF and 28 man rosters Victorino was dropped yesterday, and we have a DL spot.

[TIPS]

Ha, well your getting McGowan actually justifies your dropping Hill. It looks a lot better when you see the whole picture. I lost both waiver claims on both Hill and D-Mac! Maybe I should stop commenting on the "Worst Drop" section for players that can still be claimed via waivers!