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The American League “Fantasy Turtle” has provided a good deal of fodder over the past couple of weeks.  Recall that the “fantasy turtle” is considered the best buy-low player in the AL for fantasy purposes. For more background on the fantasy awards, please see this post.

There was hardly consensus when the staff voted for this award. Alex Rios, Doug Fister, Brandon Moss (see Cwik’s Turtle argument), Torii Hunter (whom David Weirs made a case for), Carlos Santana, Derek Jeter, and Yoenis Cespedes all received at least one vote. Ben Zobrist and Max Scherzer each received three votes, so I’m going to key in on them.

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By true definition, at least by Aesop’s fables, the turtle represents the old adage, “slow and steady wins the race.” By our definition, at least how Eno laid it out, the fantasy turtle is the best buy-low/waiver pick-up that dominated in the second half of the season. While some of our awards were fairly unanimous, this one wasn’t, as nine players received votes. Again, the title of the piece tells you that Kris Medlen won, but let’s look a little further into it. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are the definitions of each award, but the easiest thing to note is that draft cost is factored into most of our awards.

Well, duh. Even with cost factored in, Mike Trout ‘ran’ away with the hardware here, too. And (duh) nobody on the staff reached for this one, because, man, how many different ways can you say that Mike Trout was awesome this year, especially after all the real-life American League MVP discussions?

Here’s my attempt: Trout was amazingly consistent this year.

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As Eno laid it out for you yesterday, this week is dedicated to handing out some of RotoGraphs most coveted and dubious fantasy awards. For this installment we’re going to look at the American League Fantasy Hare, an honor bestowed to the AL player who came out of the gate white-hot, was a fantastic sell-high candidate, and then fizzled out in the second half. Those who sold him we’re obviously overjoyed while those who paid the steep price to own him in the second half, were left banging their heads against a wall. The title of the post gives away the winner, but let’s look a littler deeper into it and who else Mark Trumbo edged out for the honors. Read the rest of this entry »

The regular season is over, and fans of 22 teams are either rosterbating or sharpening their knives for awards season. Let’s jump in this fricassee with our own brand of blathering: the RotoGraphs Fantasy Awards. This week, our writers will be looking back on the excellence put forth in fantasy baseball this season and bestowing great honors upon them.

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First off, I’d say no. Very loudly, no. No, no, no. It’s a fools errand if you think you can predict a .399 slugging percentage into .498; a .110 ISO into .212; a HR per-at bat rate of 95 (!) to just 19. Nuts.

However, were there some lingering details about Chase Headley’s batting profile that should have made fantasy owners perhaps a little more bullish on his 2012 prospects? Probably.

Back in December, I suggested you might take a chance on Headley. An excerpt:

“I simply do not accept that Headley’s true talent, even considering the Petco effect, is something in the low 100′s in ISO. He’s turning 28 in May, he’s demonstrated much more power in the past, and if I were a betting type, I’d say we could see something more in the .140′s — which doesn’t turn him into a masher, but it would certainly portend more home runs in the future.”

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Freedom from shame at least. They were supposed to be bold. So let’s revisit those predictions.

[Sorry no chat today, gotta get my stuff done before heading to the city for the Bay Area meetup. And sorry for abrupt ending last week, got an important call.]

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There I was, waging a fierce comeback. I was in second place, down 12.5 points in my friend’s 12-team 7×7 mixed, roto league with just over two weeks remaining in the regular season. The point differential seemed massive, but not impossible. There might be an ‘I’ in ‘quit,’ but not now. Not today. I took a long, hard look at the standings and assessed the situation. Read the rest of this entry »

Hopefully we helped you win some gummibears this year in your leagues. Since we work hard at this, we would love to hear about your successes. Not that we ran your teams, but this is a collective on some level. I know I’ve learned from you and I hope I’ve helped you along the way. So when you gloat or brag here, you gloat or brag for the RotoGraphs crew.

Represent!

[Also: Bay Area people, come to the FanGraphs meetup on Friday at 21st Amendment! I’ll be there shortly after the early game starts, but we officially begin at four. See you there?]

Congratulations to all of you league champions out there! I hope that the RotoGraphs staff played no small part in helping you along the way to victory. For those of us who didn’t win any leagues this year (myself included), we’ll go get em next season. Much like the Chicago Cubs: there’s always next year!

Now — and with apologies to our regularly scheduled content — since I am a lucky enough position to speak on such a public forum, I’d like to dedicate this space to the Oakland Athletics.
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