Fantasy Baseball: Are Deep Leagues for Better or Worse?

I just got finished drafting in an eighteen team league, which to my knowledge, is the largest amount of teams Yahoo allows. This will be the forth year I am apart of this league, whose commissioner runs a sports cards stand in the local hobby shop. The same regulars appear year after year, so there is a sense of camaraderie amongst the managers.

It was actually this commissioner, who I modeled my Closers Schmosers mentality after, because he was the first to begin the elimination movement. With such a massive league, and only so many good closers to go around, it made sense. Now all that needs to be done is the elimination of catchers, because when you look at it, how many good hitting catchers are there?

That is the one negative to really deep leagues. There is Joe Mauer, Victor Martinez, Brian McCann, and now Matt Wieters, apparently. But after that, there is no one left but lower tier hitters. Sure, Russel Martin, Mike Napoli, and Bengie Molina are worth a mention, but after these six guys, the quality severely drops off.

People argue that fantasy sports are just supposed to be there for fun, and I agree, to a certain extent. I look at it one way: if you have an all-star at every position, and you are facing a team with all-stars of equal caliber at every position, how much fun can it be?

When you have ten teams or less in a league, that is what it becomes. Twelve teams, and each manager still has a good lineup. More than that? Now it’s becoming realistic!

Fantasy managers want to be able to open the draft window and make their selections without much thinking. But where is the fun in that?

Take my draft tonight, for example. Eighteen teams. By the time the fourth round rolled around, all the stars were gone. Not having to worry about closers made it easier, but then there were those poor managers on auto-pick who will end up being stacked with meaningless relief pitchers.

But as for thinking, man did this draft drive me nuts. You make one selection, and then you gear up for you next one. But more than likely, since there are more than twenty picks, due to snaking, before you go again, just scrap all plans you have, and wait to start thinking again when there are only four or five teams left ahead of you.

I love to play in small leagues every once and a while, where I don’t have to think, but deep down, I just love large leagues. It adds a true sense of realism because teams are like actual teams. A star here, a star there; role players everywhere else.

With the thirteenth pick in this years draft, I thought I would be able to grab Lincecum, but there I go thinking again. Had to scrap those plans when the team in front of me chose him. I settled for Prince Fielder. Below is my team:

Batters: C-Bengie Molina, 1B-Prince Fielder, 2B-Brian Roberts, 3B/1B-Pablo Sandoval, OF-Michael Bourn, Jason Heyward, Brad Hawpe, UTIL- Mark Teahen (1B/3B/OF), BN- Skip Schumaker (2B/OF), and Randy Winn (OF)

Pitchers (No relief stats, so no relievers): Dan Haren, Jered Weaver, Ryan Dempster, Phil Hughes, Jonathon Sanchez, Barry Zito, Tim Wakefield, Todd Wellemeyer

As you can see, I’m a Giants fan. Sandoval will come in handy because of his duality in the infield. As for pitching, Sanchez should have the best year of his young career, this season. Barry Zito, with all his struggles, never gets injured and will be out there every five days getting me innings, and hopefully, wins, this season. Todd Wellemeyer has been pitching out of his mind this spring, so I grabbed him with my final pick.

But just take a look at my entire roster. It’s not bad, but it’s not beautiful either. But I look around at all the other teams and everyone is average. It’s like fantasy baseball parity at it’s finest.

Deep leagues are not for everyone, but if you want to feel intensity and realism, give a league with fourteen or more teams a chance, or go all the way to the bring (of insanity) with an eighteen team league. Feel what it is like to actually have to think and build a team, when the superstars run out pretty early.

Wellemeyer and Pucetas Battle for 5th Spot in Giants Rotation

Brian Sabean’s drafting and construction of pitching depth in the organization has set manager Bruce Bochy up to be a very lucky man. His biggest decision at the culmination of spring training? To decide on who gets the fifth spot in the rotation.

The two most likely contestants to win that spot have been narrowed down to free-agent acquisition Todd Wellemeyer and the homegrown pitching prospect Kevin Pucetas. Both candidates have been the best two Giants pitchers this spring, and have combined for 19 innings pitched and a minuscule 3 earned runs allowed, for an ERA of 0.92. Their performance has been unreal, but the decision will be a tough one.

As I said in this debate, on who will win the fifth spot in the rotation, I believe that Todd Wellemeyer will get it, mainly because of his experience; the Giants do have one of the youngest pitching staffs in the league, so he would be the balance at the back-end of it. He’s 2-0 with an ERA of 1.20 and is having the best spring of his career. He also has experience in long relief, and should he falter, he can easily be moved there.

Pucetas, meanwhile, has an identical record as Wellemeyer with a mind-boggling 0.64 ERA. He has also shown great control of his pitches, walking only 2 batters in 14 innings. For a player who has never pitched in the majors before, control always seems to be an issue, but not for him.

Neither of these pitchers are strikeout pitchers, they rely on getting ground balls and utilizing the defense to make plays. With the Giants already having three strikeout pitchers in the rotation, this could be a welcome relief, because pitchers like Wellemeyer and Pucetas rely on contact, and they throw less pitches this way.

No matter what happens, the Giants cannot go wrong with giving the job to either of these two. Madison Bumgarner has struggled of late and being that he is still very young, he could use a season in Triple-A.

But there is a question of, if Wellemeyer gets the job, what will happen to Pucetas? Well all know that if Pucetas were to get it, Wellemeyer would just move to the bullpen, but not necessarily the other way around. Should he get it, do the Giants put Pucetas in the bullpen, to get him major league experience, or do they send him down to the minors so he can start on a regular basis?

Personally, I would have to send him down because there would be no sense in hindering his development by giving him irregular innings in relief. Let him throw for a few months down there and by June, if the status-quo is alright, then he would have to wait until September.

As I said previously, this is a problem that major league teams love to have.

Fantasy Baseball Secret Unveiled: Closers Schmosers!

As a fantasy baseball manager since 2003, I have experienced moderate success; in 15 teams I have managed, I have won the championship twice, while finishing in the top-three five other times. Both championship victories I have both came last season, because it was after I realized what the secret was.

It’s nothing groundbreaking, nothing that would make you go, “Oh, why didn’t I think of that!”, but it’s there, and it’s right in front of your face. Some managers even do it by accident, and I guarantee they have experienced some form of success.

The secret is this: forget about closers. Wait a minute…what? You mean to tell me that you don’t draft Francisco Cordero in the fifth round when there are so many superstars available? That’s right my fellow fantasy managers, I just ditch the closers.

Think about it; we waste an early round pick for a player who is going to get our team one stat– the save. When he gets one, terrific, we increase one stat column. But blow a save, and your ERA for the week can be messed up so much you end up losing that category.

The closer is a position that was made up in baseball, and now the fan following of them has led to an almost cult stature.

“Only a certain pitcher can be a closer!”

“It takes a certain mindset to close out a game!”

Those are the things I hear when I discuss the importance of closers to the game. Now we even have to play certain music when they come out, and oh, almost forgot, they have to grow some kind of intimidating facial hair style.

There is only one closer in baseball– Mariano Rivera, and I’m not a Yankee fan.

They may very well be important, but they are blown out of proportion. Let’s face it, anyone can be a closer. How many times a season do we see a “star” get injured, and some journeyman schmuck comes in and saves 30 games? Oh, and it just so happens they’re a free agent that off-season and they end up getting a huge contract with a new team. David Aardma saved 38 games last year…enough said.

Sorry for that, the rant is now over. Back to fantasy baseball stats and how to win your league.

If you wanted to be totally bad-ass, like yours truly, then create a league and do not instill a closer/relief position. Or, if you want to really piss people off and prove a point, keep relief pitchers available and get rid of the save stat. How many closers will we see picked up then? Probably close to none.

This would all be just babble if I didn’t win the championship in 2 out of the 3 leagues I have played in since dropping the closers off my team. I must also add that both of these victories came in league where closers were an available position and saves were a stat. The glory of the Yahoo fantasy setup are those starting pitchers that count as relievers as well. So that’s exactly what I did. Found two starters who count as both an “SP” and “RP” and plugged them in the relief position.

Obviously I lost the saves category every week, but when most teams were rolling two and three closers at once, I was winning the Innings Pitched, Strikeouts, and Wins categories pretty severely. Most often ERA too, because one bad performance wouldn’t necessarily end my week.

This season I have three suggestions for that fantastic SP/RP versatility: J.A Happ on the Phillies, Joba Chamberlain on the Yankees, and Todd Wellemeyer on the Giants.

Happ pitched extremely well last season and is a lock for a spot in the rotation. Why Yahoo even has him listed as an RP is beyond me, but take advantage of their mistake as once a player is listed in a certain position, they can not be removed, only new positions can be added to them.

Chamberlain is tricky because of the weird pitch and innings count he will be on, but with the Yankee’s offense, I would be willing to take the chance.

Todd Wellemeyer looks like he will win the Giants fifth spot in the rotation due to his superb spring. Should he continue this, figure him for 8-10 wins on the season.

This idea may seem a bit wacky, and I understand not all leagues have the same setup. I think the majority of fans use Yahoo, meaning this is the correct configuration. I highly recommend you try it; you’ll lose the saves category every week, but you will never lose innings pitched and strikeouts.

If you don’t trust me, try an experiment on just one of your teams. Even if you have already drafted, now is the time to offer in a trade, your superstar closer, and have a chance to get a decent starting pitcher or hitter back. It may seem crazy, but I guarantee that once you go this way, you’ll never go back.

Who Will Get the Giants Fifth Spot in the Rotation?

The San Francisco Giants have built up a formidable starting rotation over the last two seasons. One could make the argument that it is top three in the majors, if not the best one completely. Tim Lincecum has won the Cy Young award in back to back seasons, Matt Cain is coming off a 14 win year in which his ERA dropped to 2.89, Barry Zito made a strong recovery late last season in which he upped his strikeout totals and lowered his walks and ERA from the previous two seasons.

Meanwhile, Jonathon Sanchez has a ton of potential, with a fastball in the mid-90′s and a deadly slider, and he even found himself throwing a no-hitter last season. But with all that, who will nail down that last spot in the rotation? Do the Giants go with another kid, or do they give it to a veteran?

If this year’s spring training stats were to be the deciding factor, then the job would clearly go to Kevin Pucetas, who is awaiting his major league debut. He is currently 1-0 and has not allowed a run in the seven innings he’s tossed so far. At 26 years old, and a 42-13 minor league record, he may be mature to handle the jump to the big leagues.

Top pitching prospect Madison Bumgarner is also being looked at for the job. At only 21 years old, he was given a brief look last season when he was called up in September. He threw one start, which he went 5.1 innings allowing 5 hits and 2 runs, but not factoring in the decision. He would go on to pitch 10 innings, striking out 10 and having an ERA of 1.80. He is probably the best of the available pitchers, but the Giants should, and will most likely hold him a couple of months to see how he does in the minors. If the number five pitcher is struggling and Bumgarner is doing well, he could get called up.

The final option for the spot goes to veteran Todd Wellemeyer, who was signed to a contract by the Giants this winter. The former relief pitcher turned starter has a major league record of 29-29, with an ERA 4.74 in 195 games pitched. He has also fared well this spring, having a 1-0 record and an ERA of 2.00. Because he is a veteran, he would be my choice to get the job. As I said earlier, if he falters, he can be moved to long relief where he had success in Kansas City and St. Louis.

It will be a tough decision, but the problem the Giants have is something that teams dream about; too many good, young pitchers, and not enough spots to put them.