Monday, May 05, 2014

First foray into fantasy baseball - a report card

After all these decades as a baseball fan and my last twelve years as a writer of the same, I had resisted fantasy baseball. I had tried fantasy football years earlier and hated it because I was rooting for players to do well against my favorite teams and it was too confusing. But peer pressure by my colleagues over at It's About the Money, Stupid, set me up to give it a shot this year. After the first five weeks of the season, I am not doing too badly.
I liked the name of my team: "Nights in Josh Satin." It's an ode to the Moody Blues. And I felt I did well in the draft and have made some decent pick ups on waivers. Here is my current team:
That seems pretty strong to me. But I never seem to get a day where more than one of those starters pitch on the same day and when they do, they seem to cancel each other out. Hunter has eight saves, but they are never clean and his strikeouts are down. Thornburg and Martinez have been inconsistent. That kind of talent should be getting me better results than they have currently.
My position players: Carlos Ruiz. (I had Wilin Rosario, but he just went on the DL and I can't seem to get myself to carry more than one catcher since they only play five days a week.) Albert PujolsMike TroutJayson WerthXander BogaertsIan KinslerJosh DonaldsonWil MyersIan DesmondMatt AdamsAdam EatonJedd Gyorko and George Springer.
Adams is hitting well, but not for power. Springer was supposed to be a duel power and stolen base threat. Not so far. I thought I'd get more from Bogaerts and even Trout has been a little sleepy. I can't complain. I usually get good offense and have enough variety to cover off days.
In a twelve-team league, I am currently in sixth place. I am a distant 44 and a half games behind The Overlord, otherwise known as Jason Rosenberg. And so it seems that I am simply treading water.
Maybe I'll get better as the season goes along. I have enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I just feel like I am still fishing for the right combinations. Do I need more relievers? How much do starters matter more than utility positions? Should I waste a position on a backup catcher? I have no clue. I follow a lot of fantasy experts like Chris McBrien (@cmcbrien) but I am not going to lean on them as a rookie at this.
I'll just muddle through. After all, it's my first attempt and I am ahead of six other teams!

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