Fantasy Baseball Thread III

[Say Hey Kid]

The sign says 'no homers'. We're allowed to have one. Hope it works out.

Please continue. I got Siegrist!

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[rangerssharks414]

For my auction dynasty, do I claim Denard Span ($9) off of waivers? If so, who do I cut? I get a cap penalty of half of the player's salary (rounded up) if I cut someone. It is a 5x5 roto.

Mike Trout $57
Bryce Harper $36
Adam Jones $29
Josh Donaldson $22
Matt Carpenter $18
Manuel Machado $15
Carlos Correa $13
Corey Seager $7
Russell Martin $7
Michael Conforto $6
Aaron Judge $6
Kendrys Morales $3
Max Kepler-Rozycki $3
Kyle Tucker $1
Welington Castillo $1
Nori Aoki $1
Austin Meadows $1
Clint Frazier $1
Franklin Barreto $1

Clayton Kershaw $45
Madison Bumgarner $28
Scott Kazmir $14
Hisashi Iwakuma $10
Zachary Wheeler $9
Edinson Volquez $8
Ian Kennedy $8
Jose Berrios $8
Tyler Glasnow $5
Francisco Rodriguez $4
Ervin Santana $4
Yovani Gallardo $3
Kyle Zimmer $2
Brett Cecil $2
Robert Stephenson $1
Pat Neshek $1
Braden Shipley $1
J.A. Happ $1
Greg Holland $1
Lance Lynn $1
Brady Aiken $1

 

[Garlando]

For my auction dynasty, do I claim Denard Span ($9) off of waivers? If so, who do I cut? I get a cap penalty of half of the player's salary (rounded up) if I cut someone. It is a 5x5 roto.

Mike Trout $57
Bryce Harper $36
Adam Jones $29
Josh Donaldson $22
Matt Carpenter $18
Manuel Machado $15
Carlos Correa $13
Corey Seager $7
Russell Martin $7
Michael Conforto $6
Aaron Judge $6
Kendrys Morales $3
Max Kepler-Rozycki $3
Kyle Tucker $1
Welington Castillo $1
Nori Aoki $1
Austin Meadows $1
Clint Frazier $1
Franklin Barreto $1

Clayton Kershaw $45
Madison Bumgarner $28
Scott Kazmir $14
Hisashi Iwakuma $10
Zachary Wheeler $9
Edinson Volquez $8
Ian Kennedy $8
Jose Berrios $8
Tyler Glasnow $5
Francisco Rodriguez $4
Ervin Santana $4
Yovani Gallardo $3
Kyle Zimmer $2
Brett Cecil $2
Robert Stephenson $1
Pat Neshek $1
Braden Shipley $1
J.A. Happ $1
Greg Holland $1
Lance Lynn $1
Brady Aiken $1

I would probably claim Span and drop Greg Holland who is a free agent hoping for a team to sign him while he spends 2016 recovering from Tommy John surgery. He just has no value for this year...and if you're playing the long game and hoping he returns next year and gets a closer's role again, I would say make him prove it first. Span gives you value this year with some more speed and runs scored.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, I'd cut Holland if I wanted to add Span.

Anybody got a line on relatively deep sleepers at SP, especially for the first month of the season or so? The top FA pitchers are guys like Koehler and De La Rosa -- we have 5 SP spots, and a lot of teams end up using 4 or 5 of the bench spots for SPs as well, so pitching is extremely thin. My pitching staff is very weak, and I have Ryu and I assume Daniel Norris going on the DL, so I'm looking to take flyers on some guys and hope to at least stream them for decent starts.

Going to look into schedules myself when I have time, but figured maybe someone has an eye on some guys who are performing well in spring training and could be worth pinning a hope and a prayer on. I'm thinking about trying Volquez, who is solid anyways, and maybe Charlie Morton, out of an old, irrational habit from his days as my favorite Pirate.

 

[Garlando]

Shot in the dark, but I was recently names co-league manager in a long standing keeper league (standard 5x5 scoring) where we keep 11 each year in a 12 team league. I've mentioned it before on these boards, but this is my favourite/main league because of the activeness and baseball knowledge of the other owners. Everyone knows their stuff and there’s such a committed core group.

This season we have 3-4 spots open...was wondering if anyone was interested in joining?

The available teams are:

Cardinal Uprising http://games.espn.go.com/flb/clubhouse?leagueId=55658&teamId=7&seasonId=2016

Team Empty http://games.espn.go.com/flb/clubhouse?leagueId=55658&teamId=13&seasonId=2016

Bremerville Nine http://games.espn.go.com/flb/clubhouse?leagueId=55658&teamId=15&seasonId=2016

Cereal Killer http://games.espn.go.com/flb/clubhouse?leagueId=55658&teamId=16&seasonId=2016

The league page is here if you want to check out settings or whatever
http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=55658&seasonId=2016

So if interested please let me know either by responding or send me a PM.

 

[Garlando]

Yeah, I'd cut Holland if I wanted to add Span.

Anybody got a line on relatively deep sleepers at SP, especially for the first month of the season or so? The top FA pitchers are guys like Koehler and De La Rosa -- we have 5 SP spots, and a lot of teams end up using 4 or 5 of the bench spots for SPs as well, so pitching is extremely thin. My pitching staff is very weak, and I have Ryu and I assume Daniel Norris going on the DL, so I'm looking to take flyers on some guys and hope to at least stream them for decent starts.

Going to look into schedules myself when I have time, but figured maybe someone has an eye on some guys who are performing well in spring training and could be worth pinning a hope and a prayer on. I'm thinking about trying Volquez, who is solid anyways, and maybe Charlie Morton, out of an old, irrational habit from his days as my favorite Pirate.

Some SPs that I like late and feel you should look into include Joe Ross, Matt Moore, Rich Hill, Erasmo Ramirez, Jose Berrios (top prospect), Robbie Ray, Zach Wheeler (won't be back for a few months but is a good stash), Matt Wisler, Jesse Hahn, and maybe even Chase Anderson. I recommend you do your research and watch Fangraphs for articles and see what guys have a chance to break out and give you value. Hope I was able to help, best of luck!

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Some SPs that I like late and feel you should look into include Joe Ross, Matt Moore, Rich Hill, Erasmo Ramirez, Jose Berrios (top prospect), Robbie Ray, Zach Wheeler (won't be back for a few months but is a good stash), Matt Wisler, Jesse Hahn, and maybe even Chase Anderson. I recommend you do your research and watch Fangraphs for articles and see what guys have a chance to break out and give you value. Hope I was able to help, best of luck!

Thanks! I should have been more specific and said we are a keeper league. All of those guys are currently on rosters, except Berrios, who I may try and stash, but I think I can wait until mid-May or so before making a decision about whether to do it.

I have Wisler, and am hopeful he'll be an under the radar surprise. Our league is basically really tapped out for pitching. The best add is probably Volquez, but I don't really want to bid too much and waste free agent money for later in the year... I'm going to try and add Eduardo Rogriguez for cheap, but he's also a DL-stash, so it doesn't help my problems.

Luckily my first few matchups are in my favor, so I don't want to overthink and add pitching just for the sake of it. But my depth is pretty bad: I have Kershaw, and then its Matz, Nola, Smyly, Wisler, Fister, and Gibson. My batters are really good- I'd say possibly league best from top to bottom, with Lucroy, Goldschmidt, Panik, C. Seager, K. Seager, Marte, McCutchen, Braun, and Polanco and Conforto at Util spots, with Ender Inciarte on the bench as a backup.

My general thinking though is that some cheap pitching points helps in the cold first 4 or 5 weeks, but maybe it's best to see who comes out of the gate strong, and hope to stream them and then get good news about Ryu.

 

[Garlando]

Thanks! I should have been more specific and said we are a keeper league. All of those guys are currently on rosters, except Berrios, who I may try and stash, but I think I can wait until mid-May or so before making a decision about whether to do it.

I have Wisler, and am hopeful he'll be an under the radar surprise. Our league is basically really tapped out for pitching. The best add is probably Volquez, but I don't really want to bid too much and waste free agent money for later in the year... I'm going to try and add Eduardo Rogriguez for cheap, but he's also a DL-stash, so it doesn't help my problems.

Luckily my first few matchups are in my favor, so I don't want to overthink and add pitching just for the sake of it. But my depth is pretty bad: I have Kershaw, and then its Matz, Nola, Smyly, Wisler, Fister, and Gibson. My batters are really good- I'd say possibly league best from top to bottom, with Lucroy, Goldschmidt, Panik, C. Seager, K. Seager, Marte, McCutchen, Braun, and Polanco and Conforto at Util spots, with Ender Inciarte on the bench as a backup.

My general thinking though is that some cheap pitching points helps in the cold first 4 or 5 weeks, but maybe it's best to see who comes out of the gate strong, and hope to stream them and then get good news about Ryu.

You have a really strong offence for sure! Assuming it's head to head format, you should be able to win most of the batting categories most weeks. The key will be for you to win a pitching category or two to secure victories. To me, the easiest strategy will be stream and win K's (although Wisler and Fister and Gibson aren't big K guys) and hopefully also win another category or two like Wins or something. If I'm you, I would definitely grab Volquez for the K's and I'd probably grab Berrios too as he is already arguably the best twins starter and he will likely be up shortly after the super two-deadline. Stash him and give yourself a potential #2 fantasy starter for the future. He pitched a lot of innings last year too so he should come up to the majors without really any restrictions. At the very least, put Berrios on your watch list!

Beyond that, do your research on the available options! Rotoworld Forums is a great resource that I've used for a few years. They have a fantasy baseball talk section, lots of interesting names come up and for the most part there is good discussion.

Good luck!

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I'm stashing Zack Wheeler. Should be back around the break.


Was offered Chris Archer and Jose Batista for Chris Sale and Gregory Polanco.

I'm a big fan of Sale, but I'm leaning towards yes on this deal. Thoughts?

 

[DJ Spinoza]

You have a really strong offence for sure! Assuming it's head to head format, you should be able to win most of the batting categories most weeks. The key will be for you to win a pitching category or two to secure victories. To me, the easiest strategy will be stream and win K's (although Wisler and Fister and Gibson aren't big K guys) and hopefully also win another category or two like Wins or something. If I'm you, I would definitely grab Volquez for the K's and I'd probably grab Berrios too as he is already arguably the best twins starter and he will likely be up shortly after the super two-deadline. Stash him and give yourself a potential #2 fantasy starter for the future. He pitched a lot of innings last year too so he should come up to the majors without really any restrictions. At the very least, put Berrios on your watch list!

Beyond that, do your research on the available options! Rotoworld Forums is a great resource that I've used for a few years. They have a fantasy baseball talk section, lots of interesting names come up and for the most part there is good discussion.

Good luck!

Thanks again! I'll check out those forums soon - this is basically the only forum I really visit, and draw news from various sites, but mainly twitter.

We are a H2H points league, so I don't have to worry about specific categories, even though generally speaking I like to grab as many K guys as possible. Sometimes I try my luck with the more finesse pitchers, because as long as they aren't giving up HRs, a solid 6 inning effort is like the glue that makes a pitching staff really excellent in my league. My plan right now is to target Volquez but not waste too much $ on him since I think I can beat my first matchup no matter what. I'm also going to try and nab Eduardo Rodriguez and IR stash him for a few weeks to see how things play out-- I think he has serious question marks, but he's capable of being very useful.

As for Archer/Bautista for Sale/Polanco, that's a tough one. I like Polanco to break out a little bit more with consistency this year, replicating his general minor league profile. But even if you are totally sanguine on Polanco, it's hard to imagine him being near Bautista this season. Archer could approach Sale this year, but even conservatively, the gap between them is probably less than the gap between Bautista and Polanco. It's a tough call but I think I'd do it.

 

[rangerssharks414]

I'm stashing Zack Wheeler. Should be back around the break.


Was offered Chris Archer and Jose Batista for Chris Sale and Gregory Polanco.

I'm a big fan of Sale, but I'm leaning towards yes on this deal. Thoughts?

I'd lean towards yes as well.

 

[Shrimper]

I'm doing my first Baseball league this year.

Are there any basic things I need to know?

 

[rangerssharks414]

I'm doing my first Baseball league this year.

Are there any basic things I need to know?

For one, the settings. Not every league is the same.

 

[Satan]

7 x 7 -- year 1 of a keeper league where we keep 4 players

C - Russell Martin
1B - Mitch Moreland
2B - Robinson Cano
3B - Kyle Seager
SS - Addison Russell
2B/SS - Starlin Castro
1B/3B - Joey Gallo
OF - Mike Trout
OF - Billy Hamilton
OF - Brett Gardner
OF - Ender Inciarte
OF - Alex Gordon
DH - Chris Davis
UTIL - Dexter Fowler
BE - Tim Anderson

P - Chris Sale
P - Chris Archer
P - Francisco Rodriguez (RP)
P - John Lackey
P - Mike Fiers
P - Kenta Maeda
P - Mike Leake
P - Johnny Cueto
P - David Robertson (RP)
BE - J.A. Happ
BE - Zack Wheeler -> will be on DL soon
BE - Will Smith (RP) -> will be on DL soon
BE - Rick Porcello
BE - David Hernandez
BE - Jose Berrios


Any glaring weaknesses? I picked first so it was pretty annoying to have to pick twice and then wait 22 picks. My plan is to throw Wheeler and Smith on the DL for the first half of the season and likely pick up positional players since I only have one guy on my bench to swap out.

Wish I had another DH eligible guy to replace Davis with as well...

 

[rangerssharks414]

Ewwww... a DH spot?

Your corner infield is horrible for a 12 teamer (yes, I know Davis is 1B eligible, but he's probably your only DH eligible player).

Gallo got sent down, so you're going to need another corner infielder.

 

[rangerssharks414]

I did get Span off waivers. I cut Happ, though. I decided to keep Holland around because TJ surgery nowadays has a good comeback rate, and he was great before getting hurt. Happ was a panic nomination, and nobody else bid on him. I hate him in that ballpark.

 

[Ricelund]

I ended up pulling the trigger on the Gomez for Hamels deal. Here's my roster going into the draft (5x5, Roto, AL-only, 11 teams):

Abreu - $38
Bogaerts - $20
Springer - $15
Buxton - $10
Hosmer - $20
Lindor - $10

Carrasco - $10
Hamels - $13

Here are the available SPs:

Price

Felix
Tanaka

Odorizzi
Walker
Iwakuma
Rodriguez
Gausman
Cobb
Hahn
Zimmermann
Porcello
Kennedy
Smyly

Then a slew of $1-10 guys.

Would you go big with Price? Or spread it around on second/third-tier guys?

 

[trentmccleary]

Standard 5x5, 20 team roto ... Picked 14th overall
Focused on late round hitters before the draft, so I drafted pitching early.
Haven't played in 4 years, so you might notice a penchant for players of an older vintage.

C – S. Perez (7th)
1B – D. Ortiz (4th)
2B – D. Gordon (1st)
3B – JH Kang (11th)
SS – A. Ramirez (16th)
OF – K. Calhoun (6th) [acquired for K-Rod (8th)]
OF – E. Gattis (10th)
OF – G. Parra (7th) [acquired for B. Crawford (9th) & S.Smith (22nd)]
UT – B. Lawrie (13th)
UT – J. Mauer (17th)

BN – R. Howard (18th)
BN – C. Coghlan (20th)
BN – F. Gutierrez (21st)
BN – C. Crawford [waivers; L.Chisenhall (23rd)]
BN – C. Owings [waivers]

SP – M. Bumgarner (2nd)
SP – C. Archer (3rd)
RP – M. Melancon (5th)
RP – C. Allen (6th)
P –M. Leake (12th)
P – E. Santana (14th)
P – U. Jimenez [waivers; Y. Gallardo (19th)]

BN – J. Peavy (15th)
N/A – J. Urias [waivers]


After the trades,Yahoo now projects me to finish 1st (originally it had me 7th).

1st = R-16, HR-14, RBI-18, SB-15, Avg-7 ... W-17, SV-15, K-18, ERA-8, WHIP-12 ... 140 total points

To maximize efficiency (units per point), I typically shoot for 15th in every category. I'll platoon the heck out of my depth hitters to get squeeze more production out of those spots.

Crawford - Parra: didn't believe in Crawford and I badly needed R, SB's and AVG.
K-Rod - Calhoun: never wanted to finish 1st in SV and my OF needed some solid power.
Gallardo - Jimenez: Gallardo was getting bombed in ST and Jimenez guarantees higher K totals.

 

[keslerburrows]

I'm stashing Zack Wheeler. Should be back around the break.


Was offered Chris Archer and Jose Batista for Chris Sale and Gregory Polanco.

I'm a big fan of Sale, but I'm leaning towards yes on this deal. Thoughts?

I would decline.

 

[TootooTrain]

Have any of you taken part in a 20 team league before? Been asked by a friend of mine to join one he's setting up as the last team available. 3 keepers each. I've been in 12tm 30 man roster leagues. 14 teamers. But nothing beyond that. Is it fun or mostly frustrating?

 

[rangerssharks414]

Have any of you taken part in a 20 team league before? Been asked by a friend of mine to join one he's setting up as the last team available. 3 keepers each. I've been in 12tm 30 man roster leagues. 14 teamers. But nothing beyond that. Is it fun or mostly frustrating?

Yes, I have a few times. The league was 20 teams with 28 (I think?) man rosters. The wire was obviously empty for most of the year. I stopped playing in that league, though. I did win it once. However, it was not a keeper.

If you miss on your first pick, good luck.

 

[Satan]

Someone offered me Sano for Leake so I took it.

 

[trentmccleary]

Have any of you taken part in a 20 team league before? Been asked by a friend of mine to join one he's setting up as the last team available. 3 keepers each. I've been in 12tm 30 man roster leagues. 14 teamers. But nothing beyond that. Is it fun or mostly frustrating?

It requires a lot more work, knowledge and skill. IMO, it's a lot more fun and I won't go back to 8 or 12 team leagues.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

It requires a lot more work, knowledge and skill. IMO, it's a lot more fun and I won't go back to 8 or 12 team leagues.

20 team leagues require a lot more luck, because whoever has the least injuries wins, because there are no good players available and I won't go back to them. I play in 2 10 team leagues and the bench sizes are 2-4 players and the GMs love it.

 

[trentmccleary]

20 team leagues require a lot more luck, because whoever has the least injuries wins, because there are no good players available and I won't go back to them. I play in 2 10 team leagues and the bench sizes are 2-4 players and the GMs love it.

The injuries and the scarcity are what make it fun. It's boring to play in a 10 team league, your .270, 25 hr 3B goes down and you pick up a .265, 25 hr 3B the same day off of waivers. I like having to know who all 255 starters are, platoon situations, bounceback candidates with ST stats, new position eligible players.

I have a record of 13 x 18+ leagues I've played in (5x1st place, 5x2nd/3rd, 1x4th, 1x5th, 1x8th). All of them faced injuries; it takes work, skill and knowledge to recover from them.