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Rate My Fantasy Baseball Team

Posted by EJ Fagan at 5:27 pm 10 Responses »
Mar 272010

I just finished a marathon 4-hour live draft. Half of our league were on our computers, the other half at Pour House in the city. Its a pretty competitive 12 player, head-to-head, 5×5 league. We’ve been doing this for five years now, and I generally get hammered due to being away from my computer for 2 months every summer. Still, I’ve had some bad drafts recently after taking up a fairly risky young player-heavy strategy. Here is the team I just drafted:

C: Matt Wieters
1b: Joey Votto
2b: Brian Roberts
SS: Jose Reyes
3b: Ryan Zimmerman
OF: Matt Kemp
OF: Jay Bruce
OF: Garrett Jones
Util: Vlad Guerrero
Util: Juan Rivera
BN: Dexter Fowler
BN: Brett Gardner
SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Jake Peavy
SP: Scott Baker
RP: Andrew Baily
RP: Frank Francisco
P: Jamie Shields
P: Ted Lilly
P: Matt Thornton
BN: Kevin Correia
BN: Johnny Cueto
BN: Ian Kennedy

I had the 7th overall pick of the draft. I generally hate being sandwiched in the middle of the round, but it only burned me once or twice in the late rounds this year. I had a choice between Matt Kemp and Prince Fielder with my pick, and I picked Kemp without hesitation, knowing that Joey Votto would be available in the later rounds. Roy Halladay was a value pick in the 2nd round, even though I hadn’t planned on looking for a starting pitcher at that point. I then selected Votto, and got Ryan Zimmerman in the 4th round. I was pretty shocked to see Jose Reyes around in the 5th sound, so I scooped him up, and then added Brian Roberts a round later.

At that point, I felt pretty secure with my hitting core, so I started drafting some upside. Jake Peavy could be a real bargain, even if he’s going to get hurt by the American League and his new home ballpark. While he is healthy, I’m pretty sure he’ll be a top-5 starter. I love both Jay Bruce and Garrett Jones, and could potentially get 2nd round numbers out of them. Wieters was an easy pick when he was available, and could also be 2nd round material when all is said and done. I grabbed Guerrero and Rivera late for some solid all-around numbers. Dextor Fowler is one of my favorite young hitters, and Brett Gardner doesn’t suck as a 25th pick.

After Peavy, I felt a little insecure on the pitching side, so I picked up Jamie Shields and Scott Baker. Andrew Baily was another value pick – I had prepared myself to be content with Brian Wilson as my lead closer. Frank Francisco was the last real solid closer left when I picked him, which may have been a round too late. I figure that there’s a 50/50 shot that Matt Thornton is a closer by June, and his numbers are great regardless. Ted Lilly had a much better 2009 than people expected. Correia, Cueto, and Kennedy are slight reaches, but it was late and I’m expecting all three to have some upside.

I think that if a few things go may way, I have a really dangerous team. It doesn’t take a lot of faith to expect a great year out of Jose Reyes, and Matt Wieters is begging to break out. I’m pretty solid in stats all around, though I’m depending a bit on Reyes for my stolen bases. I love the HR/RBI/Runs that my team should put up, and batting average shouldn’t suck either. While my pitching carries some risk, Halladay is the perfect rock to build my church on.

Thoughts? How do you think the team will measure up against my 11 other opponents?

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Yankee Bullpen Could Go Deep

Posted by EJ Fagan at 10:00 am 3 Responses »
Mar 272010

Chan Ho Park's greatest MLB momentThe current Yankee bullpen lineup of Mariano Rivera, Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Sergio Mitre, Chan Ho Park, Alfredo Aceves and Joba Chamberlain. A lot has been written about how formidable this group looks going in to the season. The Yankees probably have the most reliable, deep group of relievers that they’ve started the season with in years.

What is less written about is something that we don’t see all that often in baseball these days. The 2010 Yankee bullpen sports four different relievers who could genuinely be considered long relievers, and one more capable of going multiple innings. Alfredo Aceves, Joba Chamberlain, and Sergio Mitre all showed their starting skills in spring training. Chan Ho Park is a former starter who frequently went multiple innings last year, and David Robertson averaged over 2 innings per appearance in the minors.

I’m not too sure what the implications of having a bullpen capable of going so long are. The Yankees have a pretty steady starting rotation – they don’t need to worry about constantly having to go to the bullpen in the 5th inning. They really could have used the deep bullpen in the dog days of the mid-to-late 2000s when any game not started by Chien-Ming Wang made you hold your breath. The team shouldn’t need a lot of multiple-inning appearances to get through the 2010 season unless things go catastrophically wrong.

One thought: if the Yankees want to impose some sort of innings-saving rules on Phil Hughes, they have the opportunity to do so with this bullpen. If Hughes is limited to 5 innings for a month or two, they won’t destroy their bullpen. While I hope the Yankees don’t concern themselves too much with this (I’d rather just let Hughes pitch until he hits his ~180 inning limit, and then move him to the bullpen for the playoffs), I think that its an option open to them.

Furthermore, the Yankees will be well set up for those weird rain delays, double-headers, or early starter exits that come up over the course of the season. I think that this flexibility is worth real wins. The Yankees have an offense to come back if the starter lets up 6 runs in the first 3 innings. If they can remove that starter with some confidence that it won’t destroy their bullpen they should be able to salvage a few games that they wouldn’t have otherwise. It wasn’t that long ago that we were all holding our breaths and praying that our starting pitcher went 6 innings just to keep reliever’s arms from falling off.

Relievers who can go the distance represent an effective Plan B that MLB teams often lack. You’ll find a lot of bullpens that have more guys likely to come in for one out than who are capable of pitching two or more innings. Its a nice luxury to have, and I hope Girardi has thought about how to press home his advantage.

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Joba not overly disappointed about role

Posted by Steve S. at 7:55 am 15 Responses »
Mar 272010

It appears that fans are taking the news of Joba being a sent to the bullpen much harder than he is himself. Check out some of these quotes:

Brian Hoch of MLB.com

“Right now, I have to embrace the role that I’m in,” Chamberlain said. “I can’t think about being a starter at this point. For me to help this team now, it’s being in the bullpen and trying to figure out a way to get guys out there. It’s unfair to my team to think about something else when this is my job right now.”

While admitting that there was some disappointment in the decision, Chamberlain said that he is “excited” about the assignment, and the Yankees plan to have him pitch a relief inning on Saturday against the Tigers in Lakeland, Fla., to begin his adjustment process.

Pete Caldera of NJ.com

“I can’t think about being a starter at this point. It’s unfair to my team to think about something else when this is my job now,” Chamberlain said. As to the constant debate, “I don’t know if it’s ever going to end.”

Chamberlain is expected to step back into the primary setup role, and he’s scheduled to begin that transition today, with an inning of relief against the Tigers at Lakeland.

On Friday, a day after manager Joe Girardi chose Hughes as his No. 5 starter, Chamberlain took the news in stride. “It’s really nothing new for me,” he said. “Just click back in that other mode and go from there.

“It could be worse. They could talk about sending me down.”

I think it’s safe to say we can call off the suicide watch. I posted on March 21st an exchange between Mo and Joba that seemed to indicate that Joba wants to be in the bullpen, but brushed it off at the time as two guys who were just kidding around. Now I’m not so sure.

Mark Feinsand also reports that he’s anxious to get his fastball back to where it was back in 07/08. There have always been whispers about Joba’s conditioning and needing the occasional kick in the butt to do what it takes to be a successful starter on this team. Is it crazy to think that Joba really likes being a reliever? The swashbuckler who comes out of the pen, throwing gas, blowing away hitters and saving the day for his team and 50,000 fans? It’s where he found the most success, he took the town by storm back in 07 and he clearly gets amped up in a way that he doesn’t as a starter. We all saw that in the playoffs last year. He wouldn’t be the first, the Red Sox wanted Jonathan Papelbon to be a starter, and went into Spring Training of 08 with him preparing to be in the rotation. But midway through camp Paps told them his heart was really in the bullpen, and that was the end of it. As fans, we can all discuss his value in various roles based on statistical measures, but at the end of the day the game is played by human beings. Maybe this one just likes being the hero who saves the day. One thing is for sure though, he got over his ‘disappointment’ really quick.

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