Tagged: relief pitchers

News and Announcements – 5/9/12

We are now in the fifth matchup of the season, and we are beginning to see some separation.

Pugh’s Knockers, Team Moreland, and Freese Warning are the top 3 scoring teams thus far, respectively. Pugh’s offense looks especially dynamic, though he lacks any punch on the pitching side. We will see if this hurts him in the long run.

The three lowest scoring teams so far are: Team Hamer III, Liberty Flames, and Black Grease Rohrer. All is not lost, though…the total points scored don’t mean a thing in the long run – its all about Wins and Losses.

And the parity in the league looks to keep things exciting for the long haul…the remaining 12 teams are separated by approximately 150 points. This is less than 40 points per week between #4 and #15.

NEWS:

Josh Hamilton is batting .406 14HR 40RBI through 30 games. At this pace, he will be first man since Ted Williams in 1941 to hit .400; He will become first non-steroid assisted man to hit 70HR; He will become first man to have 200RBI in a season EVER (besting Hack Wilson’s 190 RBI in 1932)…oh, and he will be the first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yazstremski over 40 years ago.

Greatest season of all time? Could happen…

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

To everyone who lives in the St. Louis and Virginia Beach areas…

John Smoltz just released his autobiography, and is going on a brief book signing tour. He will be in Downtown St. Louis this Saturday, May 12th. He will be at “Books-a-Million” on Princess Anne Rd on Monday, 5/14 at 7:00pm. I’m going to be headed over there early if anyone wants a ride from the Portsmouth/Western Branch area.

I will post something on the message board with more information & links.

Continuing the Dance

NOTE: League Note from Wednesday, April 25th 2012

So I was tortured by the sights of miraculous sunrises and the peaceful sounds of waves for the last week. After spending the weekend recuperating, things are back to normal. And expect me to be as chatty as ever…

The second week of matchups for the season saw things become more normalized. The Red Sox game starting at 11am on Monday through some of us for a loop, but all things considered it was a lot less hectic than the marathon match-up in the opening weeks.

Philip Humber tossed a Perfect Game, and was barely celebrated. He wasn’t even the highest fantasy scorer of the week; James Shields pitched 16.1 innings in 2 games, allowing only 1 run while earning 2 Wins for a total of 55 points.

In other news, All-Stars started looking like All-Stars. Josh Hamilton, Evan Longoria, and Curtis Granderson all big weeks.

We only have 4 teams who remain undefeated: Adam Pearson, Matt Dean, Paul Morrison, and Brett Shaw. The youngest and oldest members of the league. How sweet.

Steven Pugh and Adam Moreland are easily the 2 highest scoring teams thus far.

To those who are new to fantasy, do not be discouraged early. Things usually don’t become clear until the first week of June. We are still weeks away from that.

The remaining schedules will be finalized this week. I will let you know when its done (They are complete for the first 5 matchups already).

Oh yeah, almost forgot….we now have a few Weekly Trophies. You can access these from the “League” page screen, under the top menu.

Screenshot from League Settings Page

March 26th – Draft Recap 2012

 

What a draft…

The first hour was insane. At least a dozen players were being purchased in the $50-65 range. It took serious cojones to stick it out to get your guy…or serious impatience.

Again, being the inaugural year of this “Dynasty League”, one of the most crucial things to accomplish is engaging interest.

To accomplish this, I will try to maintain regular news and updates – On the league’s ESPN page, the league website, and on Facebook.

How about we start with a Draft Recap? I will briefly look at each team’s strengths and weakness, and possible areas of need. This will be unbiased, and I won’t rank the squads.

Here we go…

 

TIM TALLIS

  • Strengths: OFFENSE – 3 solid 1B; well rounded all-around offense that is POWER-heavy; RP
  • Weaknesses: Outfield; SP – has 2 legit upper-level starters, questionable after that

ADAM PEARSON

  • Strengths: PITCHING – Starters and Relievers, loaded; SPEED; Catcher
  • Weaknesses: POWER; Infield depth; Bench depth

CHASE COWELL

  • Strengths: OF – loaded with All-Stars; Closers; Young, strong SP
  • Weaknesses: Infield Depth (1B, 2B, 3B)

JEFF DEASON

  • Strengths: SP – young, power arms, lots of potential; Offensive prospects
  • Weaknesses: Infield depth; Injury-Risk players; AAA players

JOHN WEAVER

  • Strengths: Top-Level Hitters (Napoli, Kinsler, Pedroia, Pence) with two ELITE 2B; Power
  • Weaknesses: Pitching depth (SP and RP); bench depth

JOHN HAMER

  • Strengths: SEAN MARSHALL (lol); Balanced offensive, lots of mid-level talent; SP and RP depth; Bench depth
  • Weaknesses: 1B and 3B; lack of offensive superstar

TED ERTL

  • Strengths: 2B, 3B, SS Stars; Young Offense; SP depth
  • Weaknesses: NO Speed; overall pitching depth; bench depth

SCOTT BENDIGO

  • Strengths: OF Speed; Top-Level SP Depth; SP depth; Hitting prospects
  • Weaknesses: Overall Power; Injury-risk players

MATT DEAN

  • Strengths: Overall Offensive Balance; SP and RP depth; Youth
  • Weaknesses: Speed; OF depth

BJ WILLIAMS

  • Strengths: Top-Level SP; Infield depth
  • Weaknesses: Speed; OF depth; RP and SP depth

GREG LILES

  • Strengths: Lots of Power AND Speed; IF depth; RP depth
  • Weaknesses: OF depth; Top-Level SP

TROY CREDLE

  • Strengths: IF Depth; Power; SP and RP depth
  • Weaknesses: Speed; 1B durability; OF depth

BRETT SHAW

  • Strengths: Speed; Top-Level SP; Relievers
  • Weaknesses: Offensive Depth (IF and OF); Second-level SP depth

BRIAN KERZEL

  • Strengths: TOP two 1B; IF depth
  • Weaknesses: Injury Risks; OF depth; MLB active players; Saves; RP depth

ADAM MORELAND

  • Strengths: OF depth; Speed; RP depth
  • Weaknesses: IF depth; power; Starting Pitchers

TIM ROHRER

  • Strengths: OF depth; Speed; Top-level SP
  • Weaknesses: RP depth; IF Depth (C, 1B, 3B)

STEVEN PUGH

  • Strengths: OF Depth (Kemp & Braun); Power AND Speed; C depth
  • Weaknesses: PITCHING (SP and RP); 2B, 3B, SS depth

PAUL MORRISON

  • Strengths: Offensive depth (IF and OF); Power and Speed; SP depth; Youth
  • Weaknesses: Bench depth; RP depth; Youth

So there you have it. This list should be an easy reference for those looking to make trades this week. It is being copied to the Facebook site, and the league website.

March 25th

Draft Day 2012

March 25th

8:00pm EST

March 21

Alright boys and girls, Draft Week is upon us.

SUNDAY, MARCH 25th, 8:00p EST

A few notes on the recent scoring changes:

– Trying to emulate fantasy football as much as possible. This will include the following:

  • Weekly roster updates
  • Head to Head match ups weekly
  • Points scoring, whoever scores the most points in a week wins

– Points will be awarded for accumulated stats, not ratios. (This means you get points for hits, HR, steals, etc., but not for batting average, e.g.)

– There are 10 Offensive starters, and 10 Pitching starters (Pitchers divided this way: 3 Starting Pitchers, 3 Relief Pitchers, 4 ‘open’ pitcher slots)

– As far as pitching categories, we will not be including Wins and Losses. The reasoning for this is as follows:

  • Wins and Losses are awarded despite the pitcher’s contribution
  • There is an element of luck involved in earning the W or L
  • To include these categories tends to overvalue the starting pitcher
  •  The depth of this league will limit the number of elite starting pitchers available
  • This will increase the value of the relief pitcher, which will require more serious decision-making about who to start in the 4 ‘open’ pitcher slots.
  • This completely negates the “streaming” strategy often used in fantasy baseball, where a team rotates starting pitchers, constantly earning more innings than his opponents. (If you still don’t understand “streaming” in regards to fantasy baseball, Google it)

– The league is divided into 3 divisions (East, West, Central), with 6 teams in each division:

  •  Each Division Winner earns a playoff birth
  •  3 teams with the best record that do NOT win a division will earn “Wild Card” births into playoffs
  •  Playoffs will be 6 teams, 1 week match ups, 1 Loss elimination format

So there you have it. A basic summary of how this league is set up.

This is loosely open for adjustment, but ONLY BEFORE THE DRAFT.

There is an open poll and discussion regarding the number of keepers…this is something that isn’t absolutely necessary to determine before the draft. I’d like to, believe me, but it remains to be seen what the activity level will be. For example, we may be looking for new members for 1/2 the teams next year. If that’s the case, I don’t want to make it 12 Keepers in Year 1 of this Dynasty League.

Just know that it will be AT MINIMUM 3-5 Keepers, and likely more. You may decide to draft a Prospect to keep on your bench for the future.

Just sayin’…

I will copy this note into the Facebook group as well. I will write 1 more note later in the week ALL ABOUT the Draft (to include specific things to remember regarding strategy, ways to practice and prepare, and links to help you)