New Year’s Fantasy Resolutions
Ah yes, the good ol’ cliche post, the backbone of holiday blogging. The internet wouldn’t be the same without them. Anyway, in 2011 I resolve too…
stop punting saves.
This is my nasty habit. Because saves are generally easy to find on the waiver wire and in free agency throughout the summer, I put them on the back burner in the draft and usually end up selecting maybe one closer total (last year it was Chad Qualls, yikes). That leaves me at a disadvantage in the first few weeks, before guys have a chance to lose their jobs. In 2011, saves will not be an afterthought on draft day.
grab an elite catcher.
I’ve never drafted a surefire top tier fantasy catcher, I’ve always spent the season riding hot streaks and trying to find the next big thing. I did luck out and have Russell Martin for his monster 2007 season, but since then the catcher position has been a bit of a sore spot for my teams. Next year, I resolve to get one of the big three fantasy catchers, preferably Joe Mauer or Victor Martinez because they also spend a bunch of time at designated hitter.
avoid young pitchers in the AL East.
Brian Matusz is a great, great young talent, but he killed me last year. In his first 21 starts, he had six wins, a 5.46 ERA, and a 1.51 WHIP. Yeah, he finished very strong (11 starts, seven wins, 2.18 ERA, 1.03 WHIP), but it hardly made up for the first four months of the season. Regardless of their prospect status, I’m steering clear of Jeremy Hellickson and Kyle Drabek in 2011 (and by all accounts, they’re two of the best pitching prospects in all the land). There’s just too many great teams in the division, and lumps will be taken.
draft Aaron Harang.
I already explained this elsewhere, but yeah. I’m digging the Petco Park effect.
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So what about you guys, got any fantasy resolutions for the New Year?
Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.
Here’s my resolution. get the best fantasy player…Roy Halladay. Win league
Ignore mock drafts and average draft results. Take the player I want (or most fear missing) and quit trying to ‘time the market’ when building my team.
Stop drafting Jay Bruce? Maybe my goals are too lofty…
punting saves isn’t so bad. last year, i drafted only brian fuentes and ended up #2 in saves by year’s end.
After watching this past season of The League, I’ve realized that I am a slave to the rankings. So no longer will I fall victim to this issue. I will draft who I want, when I want; and I will crush my leagues in 2011.
I hear you, but I also like to play the rankings a bit, so to speak. Take Martin Prado last year, I wanted him because he was eligible at basically every position and was a good bet for a .300+ AVG. I was considering taking him in the 15th round or so, but Yahoo! ranked him in the 300’s I believe. I waited it out a bit and landed him a few rounds after I was willing to take him.
Doesn’t work all the time, but I do try to keep the rankings in mind for that purpose. This year I think I’m just going to go for it.
Well, of course situations like that are key in drafting. Glad you brought that up, honestly. My post probably did seem a bit misinformed, as if I’d take, say, Prado as my first overall pick. Obviously, no one in their right mind is making that decision.
I just can’t allow myself to choose Player X over Player Y because X is ranked four places above Y when I clearly like Y much more or Y fits my team better than X. This has certainly come back to bite me in the ass in years past. Then again, I was a total noob so there’s nowhere to go but up in 2011!
I somehow managed to score 112 out of 120 pts in my Roto league last year. I have no idea what my resolution is, but I doubt I will ever have a year like 2010.
Well at least you found an outlet to brag about your team, even if it didn’t quite fit the post or comments 🙂
I was under the impression that 2011 was going to be a bit deeper catcher field than usual with the addition of Posey and Santana in that elite category.
Here’s a list of of my top two tiers of catchers for next year with Baseball Monster’s 2010 standard deviation for each:
Mauer +0.04 (136 games)
Martinez -0.24 (127 games)
Santana -0.30 (46 games) [-1.77 over full season]
Posey +0.24 (108 games) [-0.49 over full season]
McCann -0.45 (143 games)
Montero -0.89 (85 games) [-1.42 over full season]
Napoli -0.70 (140 games)
Wieters -1.41 (130 games) [I may be bullish on him]
In a standard 12-team league that only leaves 4 teams with a tier 3 or below catcher. Soto, Buck, Posada, Y. Molina, Pierczynski and Martin are all guys I’d be okay with if I had to use them.
I see this as a much deeper position than many others. The difference between tiers 1 and 2 is fairly shallow, and that will cover 2/3rds the teams in standard league.
Unless one of the top 5 guys falls in my lap during a draft, I’m going to try to go for one of the tier 2 guys.
I drafted Napoli in the 12th round last year and he served me very well, ended up winning the league. I just hope he gets more playing time.
In case you care, I’d take Soto over any of your tier 2 guys. He won’t be batting 8th next year.
Already acted on your #1 resolution (mine also), as it leaves too little margin for error in the other categories. After zero closers the last 2 seasons, I’ve traded for 4 closers this off-season, and the highest single salary is $10. And yet, I don’t want to tell you about the hitters I had to forsake to get them.
Also, in our deep mixed league I chase slim categories, not slim positions, then try to pick a few counting stats at catcher here and there during the season.
“Also, in our deep mixed league I chase slim categories, not slim positions…”
That’s an interesting concept… can you offer an example of how this would differ in practice while drafting…?
To me, it seems like slim category guys are the same, for the most part, as the slim position guys. Or, alternatively, this seems a textbook way to end up with speedsters or one category monsters too early… (at least that is what I would be afraid that I might end up doing with that focus)
I’d be very interested to hear how you apply this strategy practically.
I like your “cliche” article, but in 2010 I drafted: Valverde and F.Francisco, Brian McCann with a late fifth rd pick (keeper league), James Shields too early and Shaun Marcum late and Aaron Harang too early. I also had CarGo, Longoria, Adrian, Crawford, Lincecum, Wandy and finished 8th. So … these are all good precepts, and taking the guys you like over the guys who are most highly ranked by the crap magazines is key, but it can all go horribly wrong even when you make the “right” picks.
May 2011 be a better season.
My auto-drafted team punted saves for me. I compensated by trading a slumping Hamilton for the Matt Lindstrom/Brandon Lyon tandem (I wasn’t being lazy, saves were pretty much impossible to come by on the waiver wire in this league) and then swapping a then inactive Cliff Lee for the pre-meltdown Chad Qualls. Probably the two worst trades I’ve ever made. I finished 7th. My resolution: don’t panic and overpay for saves. I also traded Roy Halladay for Mark Reynolds (auto-draft didn’t give me a third baseman). Resolution #2: stop undervaluing SP.
Better resolution still – stop auto-drafting altogether. If you can’t make the draft, don’t play in the league. You’re missing the best part!
This year, hell right now, I’m locking in keeper Alfredo Simon at $8.