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. 

With his finger hovering over the mouse, he’s ready to click send. The email consists of just four words, “Stop pimping me out!” His name is Jorge Posada, and the email is directed at the FantasyMLBTips.com Fantasy Baseball League. All joking aside, last week I said that I would not waste a waiver claim on Posada because I had Russell Martin — and I stuck to that statement… well sort of. When Posada actually cleared waivers — possibly thanks to Ron Vackar’s prostitution statement — I snatched him up and placed him in my DL spot that was previously occupied by Chone Figgins. At this point (still in 9th place) I need all the help I can get and have no problems taking on extra risks. It can’t really get much worse. I may have to make my team logo a red cross seeing as I’ve  pretty much witnessed my whole team get injured this year. 

Roster turnover continues to be high, and I was also able to pick up the hotly debated Kelly Johnson after he cleared waivers. He’ll serve as added depth for me at 2B, and now that Figgins is struggling to come back from his hamstring injury, KJ may play an even bigger role for me… With the spot-starting strategy being employed by many teams, it places an increasing emphasis on finding the right guy to run out there each time. In Yahoo! Leagues, you have to pick up players a day in advance to get their stats, but spot-starters are now being picked up two to three days in advance so that owners can ensure that they get the guy they want. Jonathan Sanchez and Randy Wolf were recently picked up this way… Other players picked up this week include Andre Ethier, Ian Stewart, Edwin Encarnacion, Chris Perez and Milton Bradley. Players that were sent packing include Jim Thome, Clint Barmes, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Eric Gagne, Lastings Milledge and Johnny Damon. 

The second TIPS league trade went down this week and saw Chase Utley and Carlos Pena get shipped from Fence Riders to Standard Errors in exchange for Brian Roberts, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner. Fence Riders then dropped Willy Taveras from his roster to complete the trade. I’m never one to like giving up the best player in the deal, especially one that is a top-five fantasy player, but this is a fair trade and addresses the needs of both teams. Fence Riders needed speed and got it in the form of Ichiro and Roberts, while Standard Errors needed power. It’s a fair trade and meets the needs of both teams, so have at it boys. 

On the message board there was a comment by Standard Errors singing the praises of this weekly article, so I thank you for that sir. One word of advice though, knock on wood after your comment about your Magic 8-Ball that you use to choose your pitchers. 

With no veto system in place, our league commissioner, Ron Vackar, had put out a post about the recent trade. If anyone had a problem with it, they could voice an opinion on the board. Nobody had a problem with the trade so it went through without a problem. And then there was Placido Polanco. Hopefully now we can put the KJ vs. Polanco debate to rest. Mr. Met dropped Polanco this week and the debate has ended. Both owners have given up on their chosen second baseman and moved on to hopefully greener pastures. Following the drop though, Polanco had a great night in the game when the Tigers scored 19 runs. Polanco went 4-for-5 with an RBI and four runs — prompting some foul language from Mr. Met. 

Here are the standings as of the end of play Tuesday, May 27, 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 — [5/24] Ian Stweart; UMustveMisremembered — A rare non-waiver call up who had been killing it in AAA. 12HR, 43 RBI and 6 steals. If he can do 3/4 of that I’ll be ecstatic.

Worst Drop — No bad drops this week in my opinion. Just spot starters and off day fill ins.

Best/Worst Spot Start — [5/19] Jon Lester; Standard Errors — 9 IP, 9 K, 2 BB, 0 H, W. I wrote my part of the article before the Lester start so I had to give it due press here at this point. Good pickup SE.

Best Move/Non-Move — [5/21] Chris Perez; All Eyez — If you think that Ryan Franklin, Russ Springer or Jason Isringhausen will end this season as the Cardinals closer you are probably in the minority. He hasn’t given up a run and has a win in five appearances. 

Rosin Bag Grenadiers says:
Best Pick Up — [5/26] Kevin Kouzmanoff; Standard Errors — It pained me to drop “Kooz” earlier in the week. It almost made me consider putting David Wright on the block in an attempt to strengthen my 1b position which has plagued me through the season’s first two months. This was about the time “Kooz” started picking it up last year and if the past week’s production is any sign of things to come, you’re going to want him on your roster for the duration of the season.

Worst Drop — [5/25] Willy Taveras; Fence Riders — This was supposed to be the spot where I continued my feud with Mr. Met regarding the Placido Polanco/Kelly Johnson dispute. That’s old news now, so it’s time to start another controversial dispute. I get the trade that Fence Riders made for Ichiro Suzuki and Brian Roberts; he needs sb’s. But, why then would he drop Taveras? At the very least, Taveras could have been used as trade bait to another speed hungry team.

Best/Worst Spot Start — [5/23] Oliver Perez; UMustveMisremembered — 5 IP, 4 ER, 14 BB+H. Perez represents the MLB’s version of Jekyll and Hyde. UMustve got the bad end of Jekyll and Hyde-like Perez this time around.

Best Move/Non-Move — [5/26] Cutting Ian Snell; All Eyez — Cutting your losses is tough to do. Over-committing to a player you trade for can backfire at times. All Eyez’ decision to cut this piece of his early season trade will go a long way to preserving his ERA and Whip standing which has slipped in recent weeks thanks in part to Snell’s impersonation of Jose Lima. 

All Eyez says:
Best Pick Up — [5/27] Scott Podsednik; Standard Errors — I like what SE is doing here. He may not have Pods on his roster for long, but while Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe on are the DL, Podsednik will get increased playing time and could easily yield SE a handful of steals. Temporarily grabbing a former 70-SB guy is a good gamble for those teams looking for a boost in steals.

Worst Drop — [5/25] Jim Thome; Fear the nut — I know Thome has at times looked awful this year, striking out at Ryan Howard-like rate. But he’s still a career .280 hitter, and when healthy, he’s almost a guarantee to get 35+ HR and 100+ RBI. Knock on wood, but I haven’t heard of any back problems so far this year.

Best Move/Non-Move — [5/26] Dropping Ian Snell; All Eyez — As Ron points out, it just doesn’t look like Snell is going to take another step forward this year. Yes, he’s very talented… but owners (including myself) can sometimes get blinded by talent. Snell has been pitching poorly since the All-Star break of last season. In the first half of 2007, he had a line of: 7-5, 116.2 IP, 93 K’s, 2.93 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, .239 BAA. After the break, he had a line of: 2-7, 91.1 IP, 84 K’s, 4.83 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, .294 BAA. In 2008, Snell has picked up right where he left off and now has a line of: 2-4, 62.2 IP, 44 K’s, 5.46 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, .310 BAA.