Archive for MLB

Whether you like it or not, it’s time again for me to throw a tantrum reminiscent of a nine-year old sore loser, stomp my feet, and threaten to take my ball home as the real baseball world, once again, ignores my fantasy needs this season. It is the savvy fantasy player that does the necessary research and scouting to put together a strong list of potential September call-ups to supplement their fantasy roster in an effort to either stave off challengers for first place or to make a strong late-season push for a championship run. You not only look for talent but opportunity as well and assuming it’s the MLB bottom-feeders that will likely turn to their youth late in the year, you select a strong group of young up-and-comers. But apparently an organization’s desire to win a minor-league championship trumps their desire to see their youth face big-league competition and now my bench is littered with promising names that may never see any action at the major league level this year, thus rendering my list of September stashes useless to me in a fight for a title. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh Melky.

Melky, Melky, Melky.

How you’ve screwed over so many now.

With word breaking of Melky Cabrera’s indiscretion and subsequent 50-game suspension, there’s been a rush of emotion and not one bit of it is good. Who cares if he came out, admitted the wrongdoing and apologized. You can stuff your sorry’s in a sack as George Costanza would say. Is an apology going to replace a .346 average with a decent mix of power and speed in the middle of the Giants’ lineup during a pennant race? No. Is it going to help fantasy owners who have grown to rely on his production at such a crucial time of the season? No. So really…who cares if he’s sorry?  He might as well have pulled a Sammy Sosa and pretended not to speak English because the end results are the same. Melky cheated, got caught and it’s the rest of the baseball community, both real and fantasy, that suffer.

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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.

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While you never want to be cast aside by the only team you’ve ever called home for your entire professional career, the Pirates refusal to pick up Ryan Doumit’s $7.25M option may have been the best thing that could have happened to him as a baseball player.  It may have been nice to continue playing for a team whose amazing turnaround in 2011 caught the eyes of MLB and its fans, but in an effort to extend his playing career, Doumit needed to move on.  His time in Pittsburgh has run its course.  He needs to go somewhere that can showcase that offensive potential that has had us champing at the bit since he first showed up in 2005.  He needs to go somewhere where his defense behind the plate won’t be such a liability.  He needs to go to the American League.

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One of the primary reasons that people give as to why they opt not to play fantasy baseball but are the first to form a fantasy football league is the sheer length of the season.  Six months is apparently two months too long for them.  However, those of us that are able to cope with the time frame know the real answer; the amount of work it takes to, not only prep for the season, but to stay active and alert all season long can be a testament to one’s patience, work ethic and mental endurance.

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As the MLB non-waiver trade deadline approaches, fantasy owners should be paying close attention to which teams may be buyers, which teams may be sellers, and which relevant fantasy players could be on the move.  A look at which players whose contracts expire at season’s end and are headed into free agency is as good a place to start as any. Read the rest of this entry »