Friday’s Fantasy Flight
February 17th, 2012 | by Ray Flowers |
No, I won’t be sampling wines for you on this day, I’ll just be taking a look around the league touching on Ryan Braun’s suspension, CC Sabathia’s lack of girth, Phil Hughes hype, Tim Wakefield’s retirement and more. I know, how exciting.
There is still no resolution in the Ryan Braun PED case. I don’t know about you, but I get the feeling that the longer this drags on the more likely it is that the 50 game suspension is going to be reduced.
Gary Carter passed away yesterday at age 57. Carter finished his career with 324 homers, 1,225 RBI, 2,092 hits, 11 All-Star game appearances and a spot in the Hall of Fame. The world is worse off with his passing.
I’m still sitting on that A.J. Burnett article I wrote a week ago. Yankees, trade the guy so that I can finally post this sucker (apparently the Yankees will pay $20 of the $33 million left on his deal, but because there is money involved the Commissioners Office has to get involved before the deal with the Pirates can become official).
Don’t buy the Phil Hughes hype that is already coming out of Yankees beat writers. For my thoughts on the hurler see his Player Profile.
Did you see this insane story that the Jim Leyland plans on getting Brandon Inge some work at second base this spring? Jimmy, you are kidding right? Inge, at one time a plus defender at third base, has never played second base as a professional. I understand that the Tigers might be non-plussed by guys like Danny Worth, Ramon Santiago and Ryan Raburn, but Brandon Inge? Over the last five seasons Inge has hit better than .240 just a single time and he batted .197 last year proving that he simply isn’t a major league caliber hitter any more. As for Raburn, he too has issues, but he finished on a tear last year hitting .341 with a .967 OPS over his last 45 games. Why the team wouldn’t give him a shot instead of Inge is beyond me. Don’t look for Inge to play second base — this story seems like sheer folly to me.
Last night went great by the way. There’s no telling what the weekend might hold. If I didn’t tell you all, 2012 is the Year of Ray…
Craig Kimbrel and Jonny Venters both focused more on training their bodies than throwing this offseason. Both felt that after they made 79 and 85 appearances that building up their stamina an bodies was as important as anything. Venters reportedly gained about seven pounds of muscle. In a related news story I curled a 10 lbs. weight yesterday in my garage.
It’s that time of year, and we’re getting the ‘he reported in great shape’ reports again. Here’s one. CC Sabathia has lost a lot of weight this offseason according to Buster Olney. That’s good news as he was threatening to play Godzilla in the remake with only green paint on since his girth wasn’t in need of a costume.
THE AARP CROWD
Jason Varitek hasn’t decided if he will retire. Let me make it easy for you Jason – hang em up. You’re still a highly respected signal caller, but your defensive acumen is on the wane, and the last time you hit .240 was 2007. Varitek has hit .256 in his career with 193 homers and 757 RBI in more than 1,500 games played.
Tim Wakefield has decided to retire. Wakefield won 200 games in his career and saved 22 in over 3,200 innings. He was never an elite fantasy option, but he won 16 games twice, on two other occasions he also won 17 games, and from 1995 through 2011 he tossed less than 140 innings just one time (129.2 in 2009). I wish someone would teach me the knuckleball. Let’s hope that scouts don’t push knucklers out of the game forever – they give us hope that we could pitch in the big leagues.
Brandon Webb is throwing off flat ground. I wish him the best, but he’s through. Webb threw four innings in 2009 then none in 2010 and 2011. It’s a sad end to what was shaping up to be an excellent career. From 2005-08 an average Webb season resulted in 18 wins, a 3.23 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 181 Ks and 232 innings pitched. To say that he was a fantasy beast is a vast understatement.
By Ray Flowers
Tags: Brandon Inge, Brandon Webb, CC Sabathia, Criag Kimbrel, Gary Carter, Jason Varitek, Jonny Vetners, Phil Hughes, Ryan Braun, Ryan Raburn, Tim Wakefield
By Gerry on Feb 17, 2012
Got your guide and love the idea of SOLDS. ESPN offers this and we are going to go with this. Our league has always been a proponent of holds however I don’t like how some relievers can only get holds stats, some can only get saves stats, and starters can’t pick up reliever stats. That is why hitters are always more valuable because they can contribute in all categories. Pitchers are somewhat specialized however combining the stats Holds Saves makes revilers better.
We use OPS as 6th hitting cat. I like the idea if a player works a walk or gets allot of extra base hits they are going to be rewarded. Both are huge parts of the game, esp walks
My question is what pitching Cat would you add to fill out our 6×6? Preferably I would like it to be a stat that both starters and relievers to bring value to pitching. the cats that would make sense are k/9 or opponents BA allowed. Would you be cool with either of them? Your help would be appreciated
By godfather on Feb 17, 2012
hah! 2b is to leyland what humphries is to kardashian…the same respect dangerfield used to get…might as well play miggy there, since skipper considers it a hiding place, sort of a defensive dh
By Ray Flowers on Feb 17, 2012
Gerry – Glad you league is being progressive. Good for you all.
I’d add K/BB. Your already doing strikeouts, so you don’t want to double up with K/9.
By Mike on Feb 17, 2012
Hey Ray, I’m enjoying the guide. Great work!
Quick question…20-team, H2H-Points keeper league with $70 cap, (salaries go up $1/year)
Need an arm. Max Scherzer $3 or Cory Luebke $2?
By Ray Flowers on Feb 18, 2012
Mike – Glad you are enjoying the Guide.
Both arms are solid. I’d go with Scherzer, but it’s awfully close. If the biggest consideration is money, then go ahead and go with Luebke who has a great arm and home ballpark.
By Craig on Feb 18, 2012
Ray,
I’m in a 5×5 roto league, roster changes are daily, and there is no cap on innings pitched. We’re able to start 9 pitchers a day. I feel like there should be a way to exploit the scoring (within the rules) with no cap on innings? However, a revolving door of pitchers could do some damage to my ERA and WHIP.
I must mention this is a money league. I’m just surprised there’s no cap on IP over at CBS? Odd.
By Joe on Feb 19, 2012
Ray – I totally agree with you on the length of this Braun PED decision indicating a reduction in his suspension. What a joke. Why ban every other offended for 50 games but not Braun? Why the need to look for excuses? They all claim that they “didn’t know”.
By Ray Flowers on Feb 19, 2012
Craig – If there is no IP cap, it’s because the league was set up that way. All commishoner services at this point give you that option. Your commish must not have checked one.
Two main options.
1- Stream pitchers and try to win in wins, Ks.
2- Use only your elite arms and try to win ratio/ERA
Obviously having a couple of closers for either plan is best.
Really up to you how you do it. I’d prob. go heavy on my offense, get a kick ass group there. Focus on closers and middle relievers for rotation thinking I could dominate in offense and finish strong in WHIP/ERA/SV and win the league.
By Ray Flowers on Feb 19, 2012
Joe – We need to hear the whole story with Braun. Apparently his test was higher than any in the history of humanity, so it sounds like something might be going on (a tainted sample etc.). We’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.
By Gerry on Feb 19, 2012
Another Dynasty question. Sorry to flood your board but respect your opinion and want to make sure we are playing in the best possible league.
Standard 260 auction for our Dynasty hybrid league.
I have had a few ideas in terms of number of keepers. Would you cap the number of keepers each team can keep or cap the number of auction dollars each team can use? Do I keep 15 players for $180 and leave myself a big budget? Do I keep 8 players for $200 and dig for value?
Also how do you deal with inflation? If I keep a player for 15 one year how much is he going to count against my cap number for the next year and so on
Thanks
By Ray Flowers on Feb 20, 2012
Gerry – You should cap the roster sizes in a dynasty league NOT the $ spent. If someone wants to keep $200 worth of guys or $65, that’s on them. Leave the freedom to choose to the owners.
The easiest way to deal with inflation is to set up a price increase. Most leagues use $5. If you have a guy 10 this year he’s 15 the next, then 20, then 25. That’s fairly standard.
By Chris on Feb 20, 2012
Ray, auction keeper league, 12 teams mixed. $5 annual salary inflation.
Can keep 5
Harper $1
Trout $1
Brett Lawrie $5
Pineda $1
Trevor Bauer $5
Rickey Weeks $14
Pomeranz $5
Daniel Hudson 10
Avila $5
Please rank.
Thanks Ray, glad to have you back on my drive home!
By Ray Flowers on Feb 20, 2012
Chris – You can keep five guys who go up $4 a year. My thoughts.
1 Harper $1
2 Lawrie $5
3 Trout $1
4 Pineda $1
5 Daniel Hudson $10
PS – Glad to be back on the 5-8 slot on SiriusXM Radio… it does feel like home.