In yesterday’s comments about Wilmer Flores, a reader referenced K/HR leagues. I must admit, I have never heard of K/HR as a fantasy stat. I don’t feel bad, a couple pointed google searches turned up precisely nothing on the topic. With K/HR in mind, let’s turn our attention to some quirky leagues. As always, we have the comments for further discussion.
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Depending on your perspective, a feature/bug of Zach Sander’s valuation system is how it weights playing time. If you put Wilmer Flores into your shortstop position on April first and never moved him, he would have been worth -$7. On a rate basis, he’s comparable to Xander Bogaerts, Jordy Mercer, and Brandon Crawford, all of whom ranged from $2 to $5 of value. In other words, it was a solid fantasy debut for Flores.

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Ottoneu arbitration ends on November 14. We’re edging closer to the conclusion of voting season and the beginning of trading season. In FanGraphs Staff Two, 10 out of 12 teams have submitted their allocations. Now makes for a good time to tinker with my initial picks. You can read about my first pass through arbitration here.

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After losing four categories of production in 2013, Jimmy Rollins disappeared from draft boards around the country. Nobody wanted a piece of his age 35 season when it seemed like his career might be winding down. However, I boldly predicted 40 home runs plus steals (HR+SB) in a rebound season, and Rollins provided the goods. For a player I acquired in most of my leagues for $3 or less, Rollins turned around with $16 of value. According to FantasyPros, he averaged just $4 to acquire.

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Madison Bumgarner has emerged as a reliable fantasy ace, one that nobody can ignore after a fantastic postseason. He practically won the World Series all by himself (more on that in this year’s THT Annual) with a 1.03 ERA, four wins, and a save over 52.2 October innings.
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Entering the season, a typical projection for Kyle Seager was about 75 runs, 20 home runs, 75 RBI, 10 stolen bases, and a .260 average. What we got was slightly better – 71/25/96/7/.268. Headmaster Sanders pegged that line as worth $16, making him the fifth most valuable third baseman. FantasyPros had his average cost at $11 with a high of $16. Basically, you got what you paid for with Seager.

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We’ll talk about two separate tactical topics today, because neither is really sufficient to carry a post by itself.
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Anthony Rendon turned in an excellent 2014 season en route to a $26 valuation. His 111 runs were third best in the league, and his 21 home runs, 83 RBI, 17 stolen bases, and .287 average were all above average. He was the most valuable third baseman and third best second baseman. That flexibility only compounded his value. He cost just $3 on average according to FantasyPros, with a high of $12. Any way you slice it, he was a steal.

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We often talk about fantasy strategy here. I often talk about strategy. When we do so, we lump tactics and strategy together in a way that obscures the relationship between two similar concepts. Tactics and strategy must be executed hand-in-hand to find success, and it can be helpful to recognize when you’re employing a tactic and a strategy. It’s not a mind-blowing topic, but the offseason is a great time to make subtle adjustments to how you think about fantasy sports. I’ve identified this as a potentially valuable adjustment for myself, and I’m sharing it with you.

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After yesterday’s mostly unpopular Chase Utley pun, I’m going to play the old politician’s card and stick to the facts. Right, “facts.” In any case, here we have a guy named Ian Kinsler, one who developed a bit of a injury prone label in Texas but has missed few games from his age 29 through 32 seasons. Last year was his first outside of Texas after he was dealt for Prince Fielder (the Rangers would like that one back!).
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