Thank You, Albert Pujols
There is no MLB trade deadline information or secret fantasy baseball advice to be had here. No sleepers, no breakouts, no rookie names for you to be the first to know. Today is merely a day of appreciation; a chance to thank one of the greatest baseball players of the new millennium for something which he gets very little credit or notoriety. Thank you, Albert Pujols, for changing the game of fantasy baseball forever.
Believe it or not, I have never actually owned Pujols in any fantasy league in which I’ve played and yet I have continued to reap the benefits of his presence year in and year out. For those that don’t remember, the consensus top pick in every fantasy draft for nearly a decade came from virtually out of nowhere. I still remember looking at the Cardinals spring depth chart a week prior to the 2001 season and reading comments from Tony LaRussa saying that Pujols would begin the season in Triple-A. But a strong end to the spring and a few banged up veterans later, Pujols was in the lineup on Opening Day. He cracked his first home run on the fourth game of the season, pulled his average up above .300 on game 5 and the rest is history. It was from that moment on, that Pujols, unknowingly, changed the game of fantasy baseball.
The easiest comparison to make is to say that Pujols did for fantasy baseball what the movie Rounders (and maybe some increased ESPN coverage) did for poker. There was always an underground subculture, but upon release of the Matt Damon film, the game went mainstream — big time. Suddenly every guy in the world was the next Johnny Chan and poker professionals from all over saw their levels of wealth increase exponentially as they feasted on the chip stacks of the would-be hopefuls. The same can be said of Pujols’ sudden emergence from complete unknown to household name.
The use of the internet, like ESPN’s television coverage of poker, obviously helped usher fantasy baseball further into the limelight. It made the game easier to play as the stats were now computerized and more manageable. But the beginning of Pujols’ career marked a point where every newbie fantasy player suddenly became the top scout in America and made it their mission to find the next big thing. Those of us, who had been playing in dynasty and keeper leagues had learned to scout minor league talent, but the drafting of unproven rookies grew to a level this game had never seen before.
And that’s where the thanks comes in. With every new fantasy player eager to be the one who discovers the next Pujols, countless veterans with proven fantasy value are being bypassed. Late round draft selections are being used on players who may or may not be called up while more well-known players slide down the ranks, left to be stolen by the more experienced and patient veteran owners in drafts.
The best part is that a great number of these rookie fantasy owners are more so the casual player of the game. It’s not like they are crunching the numbers or doing an in-depth analysis of the player. It’s more of a “pick 4 rookies you read about in a fantasy magazine, draft them all, and see who pans out” type strategy. Throw it all against the wall and see what sticks, if you will. So while they are using their final four or five picks on unknown commodities, guys like me are scooping up late round sleepers to be used immediately.
You even see it now during in-season trade negotiations. While some of these people are overpaying for the potential of what Brett Lawrie may or may not do if/when he gets called up, I’ve bought low on Dan Uggla and am now watching my team climb in the standings thanks to his expected second half surge. The guys who are waiting for a Lawrie call-up and asking what people expect from him upon his arrival are doing just that….waiting. I’m boosting my HR and RBI total in July and August while they’re still wondering how much they may get in September.
So thank you, Albert. Thank you for coming into the baseball world the way you did. Thank you for giving so many rookie fantasy owners the hope that they too can discover a player of your talent before anyone else. Thank you for making it look so easy that they keep trying. And thank you for having a talent so rare that these wannabe scouts miss more than they hit. Some of my teams have never had it so easy…
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
Thank you, Bobby Bonilla, for getting injured and letting Albert take your starting job.
This is dumb.
Such nuanced, well articulated logic! Tell me, do you write books or speak at seminars for the mentally handicapped? Obviously, they must be mind numbing to behold, truly.
If you make a claim, back it up or articulate your “beef” in a coherent fashion. If you have no interest in demonstrating an ability to articulate well, maybe its time to shut the digital pie hole eh?
Maybe I can just say this was a stupid article? Or is this the positive feedback only section?
At least write an article about like… Longoria starting a wave of young players signing early contracts and not getting shuffled around at the trade deadline.
Something relevant to… you know… anything other than “some rookies end up being real good durrrr”.
… or wait… was the moral of the story here “writing articles about rookies and over-hyping them to novice fantasy owners lets me take advantage of people that believe my bullshit”?
@Tom B
Of course you have the right to say whatever you want. I was simply pointing out, in my own unique way, that a) if Fangraphs disappoints you, read something else and b) posts like, “this is dumb” will undoubtedly endear you to like minded posters but not to those who actually think that assertions like yours should be explained. Why is it dumb? What was it about the article that bugged you?
The metaphysical value of my point or our posts is nil but for what its worth, its my two cents for what they’re worth.
“The metaphysical value of my point or our posts is nil but for what its worth, its my two cents for what they’re worth.”
Should read – “…for what its worth, that’s my two cents.”
That’s what I get for not proofreading…*sigh*
Ask for a refund?
That’s OK, Tom. Not every article is for everyone. With all of the MLB trade deadline news going on, I thought a nice, simple little post basically saying that too many people are focusing on the September call-ups and passing on proven talent would be beneficial to those looking to make some fantasy deadline deals of their own. I’ve done a bunch of the RotoGraphs chats on Fridays and the number of questions pouring in, asking about RoS projections on guys like Lawrie, Jennings, and Trout has been insane. Perhaps my angle — using Pujols’ emergence at a time when the game of fantasy baseball really started to go mainstream — wasn’t to your liking? It happens. Some of the people, some of the time….and so on and so forth….
Yes, an article about how Longoria’s signing of his contract is a nice trend-setting moment for younger players, but how is that going to help you with fantasy baseball? Isn’t that the point of RotoGraphs? Fantasy baseball?
As always, I do appreciate your feedback. My skin is thick enough to take some harsh criticism. Perhaps my next post will be more to your liking…
I disagree with the following:
“It’s more of a “pick 4 rookies you read about in a fantasy magazine, draft them all, and see who pans out” type strategy.”
You’re not going to win any leagues picking the zero-upside veterans (e.g. Wiggington, Arroyo) at the end of the draft. My teams are always the most successful when I spend my early picks on boring, steady veterans and reach for the stars with the later picks.
I sorta agree. I think where this impacts drafts most are in the 10-15 round area. Thats where you see fantasy newbies trying to out do each other with finding that next Pujols-type guy. I think it’s better to take young upside guys late, but not in the middle of drafts.
As a whole the focus of fantasy baseball owners in general seems to trend toward young players with short track records. Like how CarGo was a first round pick in every draft this year and Matt Kemp the year before. I think this could also be some Pujols residual.
Whats the most valuable fantasy commodity? Not not power/speed guys, not unhittable closers, not top tier MR, its reliability. I think that’s ironically been lost in this type of Pujols fallout 10 years later especially when you consider Pujols has been the model of consistency.
People have “learned” from 2001 but not every year since somehow…
*top tier MI…
Man, print that trade out and stick it on your fridge. Pure genius.
The article’s not “dumb,” just kind of arrogant, but that’s the point in a way.
ding ding ding ding!!!!!
we have a winner!!!!!
Idiot
Wow, some of you commenters are jackasses. Maybe you can complain if you pay for him to write articles. Otherwise stfu and if you don’t like if gfy and don’t say anything
If I’m ever in a fight, IV…..you’re my man.
This comment is dumb. See how pointless your internet whiteknight-ing is?
Well Tom, I think all of your comments are idiotic, so I’m good with whatever you think, because clearly it doesn’t matter what you think.
When I don’t like an author, I just stop reading their articles. Bender’s a little in-your-face with his style but at least he changes the pace a little.
While you are holding on to Torii Hunter and Aubrey Huff I am starting Desmond Jennings…its worked out well so far.
touche….
I’m surprised at some of these comments… this article brought up a very good point. Although sticking with the veterans may boring compared to the fun of “discovering” a rising rookie, it is something that every fantasy baseball manager must have the self-control to do in order to be successful.
I agree with the other point of ‘thank you albert’ as well, although my thanks are more for his contributions to the game in general. Watching him hit all those line-drive home runs….his swing is something special. And who can forget game 5 of the 2005 NLCS?
+1. Pujols has done so much for the game of baseball, he’s the great new hope in the new ERA of baseball. I hope he sticks with the Cardinals, it would be great to see him stay there the rest of his career.
I’m not thanking him for his performance this season. I was counting on typical Albert – I guess I haven’t thanked him enough over the years! (He did help me win a ring when I traded him at midseason for a golden haul.)
Um, not to pile on too much, but I agree with Tom B above. Pujols was not the first great player to come out of nowhere, he won’t be the last, and he didn’t “change the game of X forever”, where X = {baseball, rotisserie, cricket, poker… dating}. Rotisserie fanatics of a certain bent were shying away from “boring veterans” in search of the hot unproven youngsters long before Pujols came along. I know because I was doing just that in the 1980s. In fact I was in on the bidding for Pujols that spring, but dropped out before my rival owner bought him for 10. I thought that was a little high for a guy who was skipping a level or two.
It’s well written though, in terms of prose and grammar. There’s no need to beat up the author, but the column didn’t really add anything of value for me.
Of course, Pujols was not the first to do it, but the timing of his emergence was the point. Back in the 80’s, the game of fantasy baseball was not nearly as popular as it was in the late 90’s/early 00’s. We were obviously searching for sleepers and hidden gems back then, but when the explosion in this industry hit, there were suddenly a dozen magazines on the newsstands and hundreds of web sites out there “outing” all of the sleepers for which we used to have to dig and research to find. Even the casual player has a potential rookie list and arm and a half long and since Pujols appeared, they have been raiding the rookie pile much sooner than that of the proven veterans.
Can I ask, what led you to pick up Uggla? I heard in several chats on fangraphs that they didn’t think Uggla would rebound like this.
It’s awesome that each FanGraphs author has his/her (well, “his” anyway, who are we kidding) own independently functioning brain and can break from the wisdom of the crowd every now and again… 🙂
The cost of Uggla, when I dealt for him back in mid-June was pretty low. When I did a piece on him back then (http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/bullish-on-dan-uggla/), a number of things were discussed both by me and the commentators on the post — BABIP, xBABIP for example. But the main thing that I saw in watching a number of his at bats was that it really seemed to be a mental/timing issue. He was hacking away, falling behind in counts, popping it up in the infield, all the things you see in a struggling player. Given his previous few seasons, I thought it was just a matter of time and acclimation to his new team/contract before he started to turn things around. It took him a little longer than most had hoped, but he’s certainly gotten back into form.
Your description of mid-June Uggla fits almost perfectly for Jayson Werth’s current situation
Except Werth isn’t as good a hitter…
I don’t agree with this. I’ve won both leagues I’ve been in thus far and I’ve gotten good solid prospects as my foundation. I found guys like Jose Bautista when I learned of his everyday job in toronto and saw his walk percentages every year. I’ve waited on Brett Lawrie and I also bought into Drew Stubbs late last year. I waited for Brandon Morrow and Michael Pineda as well. They’ve all produced for me and I’m still in 2nd place this year battling for first. I don’t agree with this article at all.
I also agree with Badazzmofo. I too have Jennings and he’s been an excellent pick up so far.