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 (1 DL spot also available). Categories are standard 5x5. 

Placido Polanco or Kelly Johnson… that is the question. Or at least it was the question on our message board this past week. Polanco made it on my “Stock Up” list this week because he’s been on fire — we all knew that his batting average wouldn’t stay that low for that long. RBG and Mr. Met were going back and forth arguing over who they would most want, with Mr. Met trying to defend his dropping of KJ for Polanco. Polanco and Johnson have similar overall value for non-keeper leagues — it just depends on what you need most out of your second baseman. Johnson gets the edge in homers, while Polanco is better for average. Both players have produced about the same number of runs, RBI and steals since the beginning of 2006. It really just depends on your preference. 

The league continues to see a lot of activity on the FA wire; there have been a total of 92 adds and drops since May 5th. There’s also been a lot of spot starting going on with starting pitchers and catchers. Owners with a roster spot available are streaming players through their empty spot in an attempt to fill their roster every day. Those light Mondays and Thursdays where there aren’t many games scheduled make for good days for teams to get an extra game out of their catcher spot. 

 Here are the standings as of the end of play Tuesday, May 13, 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 — [5/6] Kelly Johnson; Rosin Bag Grenadiers — Johnson provides depth behind the talented Brandon Phillips.
Worst Drop — [5/11] Vernon Wells; Mr. Met — Wells was on his way to a bounce back year with 5 HR and 24 RBI and a .281 average this year. Pedro Martinez should be back within a month and Wells can take up the DL spot.
Best/Worst Spot Start — [5/6] Jonathan Sanchez; Fear the Nut — L, 4.1 IP, 4 K, 7 ER. Young pitchers are inconsistent and this was just an example of that.
Best Move/Non-Move — [5/8] Jorge Posada; All Eyez — Nice job by All Eyez of stashing away a top catcher when he got the chance.   

Rosin Bag Grenadiers says:
Best Pick Up — [5/8] Mike Lowell; Fear The Nut — Lowell was an RBI machine a year ago, and just like the cream in your coffee, he too will rise to the top. The warmer the weather gets, the more we start to see things balance out in fantasy baseball.
Worst Drop — [5/11] Scott Olsen; Vaporizers — Olsen pitches for what apparently is a far underrated or far overachieving Marlins team. Whichever it is, he's pitching well, hitting spots like never before and looks like a fantasy ace. When you catch a fish like this one, you don't throw it back!
Best/Worst Spot Start — [5/10] Gavin Floyd; All Eyez — 3.2 IP, 5 ER, 0 K's, 11 BB+H. That's the Gavin Floyd we all know. Who was that other guy borrowing his skin and taking no-hitters into the late innings?
Best Move/Non-Move — Jason Isringhausen; Standard Error — We saw another owners bail on Eric Gagne, which may not have been the right move after seeing Gagne back in the closer role last night. The decision to not drop Isringhausen will prove to be a good one in the long run. Weather the storm, there's still a reliable closer to be had in Jason Isringhausen. 

All Eyez says:
Best Pick Up — [5/10] Ryan Franklin; Fear the nut — I fully expect Izzy to get his job back, but Fear the nut did a good job of reacting quickly and grabbing Franklin, who could get him a few saves while Izzy works on his mechanics.
Worst Drop — [5/5] Mike Lowell; All Eyez — I was gift-wrapped Lowell after Blalock went down with his injury, and I messed up by dropping Lowell in order to make some spot-starting moves. He was batting .204 when I dropped him and now he’s up to .263 and coming off of a week where he was nominated for the American League Player of the Week Award.
Best/Worst Spot Start — [5/9] Aaron Laffey; Standard Errors — W, 0 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 K. Another nice spot-starting move by SE.
Best Move/Non-Move — [5/10] Not picking up Salomon Torres; All Eyez and Fence-Riders — I couldn’t believe how many ESPN “experts” were telling people to pick up the former Pirate. Torres is better coming in with men on base, so coming in to close games in the 9th with no one on base just doesn’t make sense. Mota has been pitching better of late, so I made a speculative pickup and stashed him on my roster (this was before the news came out about Gagne being removed from the closer role).  Of course, it looks like Fence-Riders made the better move by using a waiver claim on Gagne, who was suprisingly back in the closer seat last night.