On New Years Day, I promised I would create a number of experimental leagues. Today I’m unveiling the second – Fire and Forget. There is a method to my madness when designing these experimental leagues. In recent seasons, I’ve been unable to keep up with the sheer volume of industry leagues I get roped into. Lack of attention to detail means not finishing first, so I’m cutting down on most of them.

I plan to play a dynasty, ottoneu, sim (2005 season), home, college, and MLBTR league. The latter is my only redraft. But I love draft season way too much to have only three normal leagues. These experimental formats will combine my love of unique drafts with a minimum of in-season management.

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Last night, my friends over at RotoBaller hosted a 12-team industry draft. Nine major fantasy providers were represented including me, Paul Sporer, and Alex Chamberlain for RotoGraphs. Justin Mason provided the assist for Sporer who was also drafting his #BeatSporer league.

While we talked a big game about preferring auction drafts, we did a snake because they take half the time. And the league isn’t even real. As somebody said, it’s a fake fake baseball league. We picked 23 players – 2 C, MI, CI, 5 OF, and all the normal stuff. No bench. We didn’t use RTS so no pretty auto-generated table. Here is the team I drafted, and you should be able to view our league.

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On Tuesday, we had a mini-debate in the comments regarding the early season availability of Justin Turner. The Dodgers third baseman underwent microfracture surgery this winter, a procedure that often includes a winding path back to full time reps.

Early reports had Turner missing part of the regular season. More recently, it’s been said he’ll be “100 percent” by Opening Day. I have my doubts, but it got me thinking about how to value him in a fantasy draft. My thoughts on the subject don’t merit a full post. To make up for it, I’ll offer some opinions about Miguel Sano and Aroldis Chapman too.

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Over the offseason, you were treated to a front row seat while I problem solved a ridiculously expensive roster. First, I whined that my leaguemates wouldn’t pay for my stars – namely Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw. Then, I detailed my execution of Plan B: Not the Birth Control. Then I jettisoned my back end of the roster players – trading some of them for nothing in return. Now, it’s time for the thrilling conclusion – my probable Opening Day roster.

The journey was instructive for me. I’ve never taken a true stars and scrubs approach to fantasy. I’ve always been a depthmonger. That’s right, I mong depth. Usually. This time, I’ll be relying on a few top 10 players to stay amazing. A host of $1 players will fill the remaining cracks. Let’s get down to details.

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Over the weekend, I had my first normal(ish) keeper deadline. The roster was packed with useful players who could be kept right around cost. It made for quite the challenge deciding on cuts and auction strategy.

Here’s the background – 12-team 5×5 roto (OPS), standard deep rosters (2 C, 5 OF, MI, CI), $310 auction budget, unlimited keepers at previous auction price +$7. And here are my various keep/cuts.

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On New Years Day, I promised I would create a number of experimental leagues. Today I’m unveiling the first – Utility Wars. There is a method to my madness when designing these experimental leagues. In recent seasons, I’ve been unable to keep up with the sheer volume of industry leagues I get roped into, so I’m cutting down on most of them.

I plan to play a dynasty, ottoneu, sim (2005 season), home, college, and MLBTR league. The latter is my only redraft. But I love draft season way too much to have only three normal leagues. These experimental formats will combine my love of drafts with a minimum of in-season management.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve started our annual Depth Chart Discussions, re-branded as Playing Time Battles for 2016. You can catch up on every team we’ve covered in the Playing Time Battles Summary post or following along using the Depth Chart Discussions tag.

This time yesterday, there really weren’t any Cubs playing time battles to discuss. There’s always the token catcher chat, and we’ll flesh that out below. Some words could have been spilled regarding utility men Chris Coghlan and Javier Baez. Overall, it wouldn’t have been an exciting post. With Dexter Fowler’s stunning agreement, there is a real battle to address.

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In the real world of baseball, the Orioles recently agreed to terms with Yovani Gallardo on a $35 million contract. Then they ran their classic bait-and-switch physical, cried “shoulder,” and leveraged Gallardo down to a $22 million guarantee. This is not the first time the O’s have killed a player’s leverage. Usually they go on to sign with another team for much less money.

You’d be hard pressed to find any 30-year-old pitcher without some kind of radar blip in their shoulder or elbow. In his prime, Gallardo threw 93 mph. This was back when 93 mph rated among the hardest throwing starting pitchers. Now he throws 90. There’s a pretty decent chance that whatever’s wrong with his shoulder is already assimilated into his game. Furthermore, given the contracts signed by Ian Kennedy and Mike Leake, decline appeared to already be priced into the original $35 million figure.

Gallardo and his agent should have anticipated the Orioles. They should have laid groundwork to co-opt the false leverage gained by the Orioles with the physical. Before any figures are exchanged, it’s the agents job to say, “we know you’re going find something when you run your physical. Let me be clear, we aren’t renegotiating.”

That statement doesn’t mean what it says. Here’s the sub-text. If you, the Orioles, find something in my client’s physical, we’ll budge. A little. Like a very tiny bit. Maybe we’ll accept a small percentage of the contract as very easy to trigger incentives. It depends what it is too.

Put another way, do you think Scott Boras would have taken a $13MM reduction in guaranteed pay? Doubtful.

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With drafts fast approaching, it’s time to start talking auction strategies. Sometime soon, I’ll offer advice on nominations and common early bidding patterns. Today, let’s begin with the end of the draft.

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We’ve started our annual Depth Chart Discussions, re-branded as Playing Time Battles for 2016. You can catch up on every team we’ve covered in the Playing Time Battles Summary post or following along using the Depth Chart Discussions tag.

We’re now three-quarters of the way through our playing time battles series. The remaining assignments in the series come in one of two flavors – nightmare or virtually battle free. The Marlins fall into the latter category.

The outfield will once again feature Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna with Ichiro Suzuki chasing hit records in the background. Derek Dietrich may be the fifth outfielder, or they might round up somebody who isn’t also a primary backup infielder. Whoever it is, they’ll only play when somebody suffers an injury.

Second base is Dee Gordon land. Dietrich is on backup duty here too. Gordon will team up with Adeiny Hechavarria for double plays. Scouts love Hechavarria’s defense (UZR finally liked it too last year), and he hits just enough to play regularly. That leaves us with three positions that are pseudo-unsettled. Even that’s a stretch.

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