Kicking Rocks: The Waiting Game
Let’s face it. Fantasy football is for suckers. You can have the worst draft in the world and still end up in your championship game just by being active and playing the waiver wire properly. It is not nearly as complex nor as difficult to find success at as it is in fantasy baseball. Still, it serves as a great distraction through the long, cold winter when all you have to keep you warm is the news from the Hot Stove League and the anticipation of your fantasy baseball draft.
But here we are in Week 16 of the NFL and most leagues have either wrapped up or will finish by the end of this weekend. There’s no more fantasy football, your distraction is gone, and you’re still close to two months away from pitchers and catchers reporting. Sigh.
On top of that, the majority of the impact MLB free agents have found new homes and the most exciting news is that the Rangers posted a ridiculous amount of money just to get the chance to talk with Yu Darvish. Sorry, but that just doesn’t jazz me up. Sure, he’s a big-time strikeout pitcher who has had amazing success in Japan, but put him in the Ballpark at Arlington and let him face some American League hitting which now includes Albert Pujols and then we’ll see where he’s at. This isn’t Mr. Baseball and Tom Selleck is no Albert.
The Prince Fielder saga? Sure, I’m curious to see where he ends up, but given the fact that I’m in 3 different keeper leagues and don’t own him in a single one, I can’t say that I’m hanging on each and every tweet with bated breath. He’ll land somewhere and wherever he lands, he’ll hit home runs. Miller Park plays to hitters very nicely, so it’s not like he’s escaping Comerica and heading to…well, Arlington.
So what else is there to do? What else will take my mind off of this pre-spring lull?
I can celebrate Hannukah with my family, but that will only remind me that Ryan Braun, a keeper I do own, will be lost for the first 50 games of the season. Not to mention, potato pancakes give me the wind something fierce.
I could go to my neighbors’ house and celebrate Christmas with them, but then I would have to sit and watch a bunch of people that aren’t me open a bunch of gifts from each other and, as a Yankees fan, be reminded of the fact that we have no shiny, new toys this year.
New Year’s Eve? A quick passing evening that will undoubtedly be ruined by some amateur who either throws up on my shoes or spills a drink on my wife’s dress. I’d rather sit at home and wait for a Prince Fielder tweet.
From there, what’s left? January is filled with cold, crappy weather and post-holiday blues. It’s the longest 31 days of the year followed up by the 2 longest weeks of the shortest month. Baseball news is minimal, my keeper rosters are already set, and I’ve done as much pre-draft strategizing as I can without seeing guys in camp.
T.S. Eliot once wrote that “April is the cruelest month.” Obviously he never played fantasy baseball nor sat through a most somber January waiting for the season to begin.
Happy Holidays to you all!
Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over 10 years on a variety of websites. In addition to his work here, you can also find him at his site, RotobuzzGuy.com, Fantasy Alarm, RotoWire and Mock Draft Central. Follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or for more direct questions or comments, email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com
2012 Fantasy Baseball should include a roster spot for therapists
as a Yankees fan, be reminded of the fact that we have no shiny, new toys this year.
This is the sort of thing that, even if you think it, you shouldn’t say it, because you’re just going to get made fun of.
Like, people might post this video.
That’s ok, kid. I can take it. Growing up six subway stops away from Yankee Stadium and having the opportunity to meet Thurman Munson on more than one occasion as a young kid allows me to be a pinstriped fanboy.
Atleast I’m not posting SpongeBob videos…
And yet I still dislike you for all your shiny toys
Nothing wrong with being a pinstriped fanboy — wait, I don’t actually believe that.
Nothing so very very wrong with being a pinstriped fanboy, especially if you were born north of Washington Heights (I would say “in the Bronx,” but my uncle is from Inwood). I mean, it’s not on the scale of evilness of liking the Eagles or anything like that. But you can’t expect anyone else to lend a sympathetic ear to your plaints that you didn’t get exactly what you wanted this year. I mean, as a Pirates fan, it’s like you’re Blair Waldorf coming around to the mean streets of Williamsburg* to complain to Vanessa Abrams about how you’re still driving last year’s Ferrari, capiche?
Meeting Munson must have been pretty awesome, though.
*Filmed in Long Island City, of course.
And yes, I’m posting SpongeBob videos and making extended Gossip Girl references. Because I am just that gangsta.
Or because the SpongeBob video showed up when I searched for “world’s tiniest violin.”
You know I used to struggle with this, too. Fantasy football just wasn’t ever enough to help bridge the gap between baseball seasons. But then I found fantasy basketball. Hear me out … I never used to really enjoy watching basketball all that much until I gave fantasy a try. It comes at the perfect time and strikes the perfect balance between the hyperactive micro-management required by fantasy baseball and the dumb, run-of-the-mill luck, once a week management that fantasy football requires. Plus, if you have a local NBA franchise it helps you generate a little more interest. I can now actually look forward to the five months off to work on my baseball rankings and projections with the odd fantasy basketball team to occupy me during breaks!
My sentiments exactly. It’s for that reason that I really love fantasy basketball. Even casual sports fans at least knows a good number of basketball players. For someone to get into fantasy baseball, you have to be pretty knowledgeable of stats that can give you an advantage. Also, fantasy baseball and football both share large swings in player performance from week to week unlike basketball, in which fantasy points are pretty consistant, allowing both casual and hardcore fans a good experience.
Well if you’re that bored then maybe you can answer a fantasy baseball question about my keepers. I have 2 slots left, one of which I can use for Matt Cain, but the second comes down to Shin-Soo choo who had a horrible injury filled year or Michael Pineda who could be a future top 10 pitcher. I also have Alex Avila but given we only keep 1 catcher I can’t see using my final spot on him over the other 2 names mentioned. So who would you keep? Their costs are basically the same as both were f/a pickups, and we basically use the standard 5×5 scoring with ops added for hitters and hits allowed for pitchers (and we swapped wins for quality starts).
Well, without knowing who your other keeprs are, I am leaning towards Pineda. I agree that he has what it takes to become a top 10 hurler and I would bank on that more than Choo returning the 20/20 player he was prior to the rash of injuries he suffered last year. Not to mention a 1-2 punch of Cain and Pineda is nice in a 5×5 format. And as much as I like Avila, there’s probably some regression coming and Pineda’s expected value should prove better for you overall.
Ok, now what…?
Please disprove Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow%27s_impossibility_theorem
Show all work.
I think I’d rather go back to the SpongeBob video….
That’s the way I was leaning as well, thanks for the input. I didn’t mention my other keepers because they were irrelevant to me in making the final decision, but they are all hitters. I usually keep bats and find pitching in the draft or on waivers. I just know since I won my leauge that no matter who I release, they will have zero chance of getting back to me at the end of the first round. Thanks for the advice.
My brain hurts just looking at that