2010 Fantasy Baseball Coverage on the Fantasy Pros 911

Last year the Fantasy Pros 911 introduced The Great Fantasy Debate. I was selected along with 11 other fantasy baseball bloggers to compete in a head to head weekly blogging competition. Thanks to all of the support from friends, family and the Bloop Single following I was one of the finalist and selected to write a weekly column on the Fantasy Pros 911. - http://www.fantasypros911.com/the-great-debate-everyone-is-a-winner.html

Starting just before the New Year I began Fantasy Baseball for Beginners. The editorial schedule that I put together calls for a series of topics presented in multi-part weekly articles. Right now I'm working on part 2 of a 6 part series covering fantasy baseball basics. Future topics will include Spring Training, Draft Prep, and Opening Day.

Look for Bloop Single to still include individual player profiles, my league strategies including draft results and memorabilia and baseball card collecting thoughts.

Here are the Fantasy Baseball for Beginners articles to date.

http://www.fantasypros911.com/fantasy-baseball-for-beginners-setting-the-stage.html
http://www.fantasypros911.com/fantasy-baseball-for-beginners-understanding-stats.html

Pick up a copy of 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster)

First NFBC Mock Draft of 2010

In prep for the upcoming fantasy baseball season I completed my first NFBC mock draft yesterday. I'm very rusty and have spent very little time studying 2009 fantasy baseball player performance. The first 10 rounds went pretty well but this early in the year it's tough to draw many conclusions beyond the first several picks.

Here are my draft results for the first 10 rounds with the 14th overall pick:

1) Tim Lincecum, SP - as much of a lock as you'll ever find with a pitcher in fantasy and should make a run at his 3rd straight Cy Young
2) Carl Crawford, OF - love getting tons of speed and a quality OF this early
3) Brian McCann, C - the NFBC requires 2 starting catchers so I'm inclined to invest in at least 1 really solid one
4) Kendry Morales, 1B - I think he's a legit .290+, 30 HR+ 1B and can still be had at a bit of a discount
5) Carlos Lee, OF - still has enough left in the tank to excel in 4 categories and chip in 5-10 steals
6) Jonathan Broxton, RP - the best closer on the board, will cement himself as elite this season
7) Brian Fuentes, RP - 2 stable closers means 1 less major worry throughout the season
8) Stephen Drew, SS - took a step back last year but the upside is still there at age 27
9) Roy Oswalt, SP - if he can stay healthy a great 2nd fiddle to Lincecum
10) Russell Martin, C - young enough to have a few more great seasons in him, paired with McCann no one will touch me at catcher

Pick up a copy of 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster)

Somewhere in Time - Walter Johnson

"On August 2, 1907, I encountered the most threatening sight I ever saw on the ball field. He was a rookie... He was a tall, shambling galoot of about twenty, with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves, and with a sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance... The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him... every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park." - Ty Cobb

"The Big Train", Walter Johnson, went on to establish himself as perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time and if you owned him on your 1913 fantasy baseball team you would have had a shot to ride him to a championship. Walter Johnson was the AL MVP that year and led the majors in every major pitching category. 36 wins, 243 Ks, .78 WHIP and an utterly ridiculous ERA of 1.14 would dominate 4 pitching categories. Other notable stats include a league leading 11 shutouts, a then record 55.2 consecutive scoreless innings and a gaudy 6.39 K/BB (strikeout to walk ratio). Digging a little deeper we can see that Johnson's dominance was underpinned with .23 HRs per 9 innings and a .219 BABIP (batting average on balls in play).

A modern day equivalent looks like Greg Maddux's seemingly perfect '92 season with the Cubs. This was Maddux's first Cy Young season and despite his dominance he still comes up 7 shutouts short of Johnson's 1913 season. Known as a control artist, Maddux was also far off of The Big Train's pace with a less than spectacular 2.84 K/BB ratio.

As an MVP and league leader in 4 roto categories it's likely that Walter Johnson would have been the consensus #1 overall pick in the 1914 fantasy baseball draft. Although he wouldn't duplicate his 1913 success, he didn't disappoint either with a league leading 28 wins and 225 Ks.

Pick up a Walter Johnson baseball card on eBay!

Alfonso Soriano - Fantasy Baseball Star if Falling Off a Cliff

In this week's Great Fantasy Debate on the Fantasy Pros 911 I was the away team and had to explain why a second half bounce back was unlikely for former fantasy stud Alfonso Soriano. Even though it's apparent that the decline is on, I really thought this was great year to buy Soriano at a bit of a discount - add that to the list of things I got wrong heading into this year's fantasy baseball season.

Soriano is still a productive player but the speed seems gone. With even 20 stolen bases Alfonso Soriano would be a top 5 OF but now it looks like 10 may be his best case. Moreover, his batting average is horrid and expected batting average (xBA) barely cracks .250.

Read about my take on the decline of Alfonso Soriano at the Fantasy Pros 911 Great Fantasy Debate - and VOTE FOR GREG!!!

If you're a baseball card collector, pick up an autographed Alfonso Soriano baseball card on eBay!

Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend - New Book Available Now

I became a Satchel Paige fan after watching Ken Burns Baseball
this past winter on DVD. I love watching the series to learn about the old time players and the two that stand out the most to me are Walter Johnson and Satchel Paige.

Satchel played all over the country and internationally for Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Toward the end of his career he would follow in Jackie Robinsons' footsteps and finally make the majors. The reason I'm a big Satchel Paige fan is that;
1) He may very well have been the greatest pitcher in baseball history - the fact that we'll never know for sure only adds to the mystery
2) Satchel did it with style - not only was he reported to throw 14 pitches but they all had clever, intimidating and very cool names - Midnight Creeper, Midnight Rider, Bee Ball, 4 Day Creeper, Long Tom, the Barber and the feared Trouble Ball (I have no idea what the Trouble Ball was but I'll assume it was aptly named

Recently I found a new biography on Satchel Paige on Amazon - Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend. I've promptly added the book to my wish list and will have to write a review once I get a chance to complete it.

In the mean time you can pick up a copy of the new Satchel Paige biography, Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend on Amazon.com today - click here to get your copy of the book today.

The Great Fantasy Baseball Debate Update

While my record has sank to 3-3 in the Great Fantasy Debate I think I've cranked out some of my better posts recently. It's been tough to invest a ton of time in it with fantasy baseball season in full swing but I think I'm still a contender to win the contest.

Here are summaries with links to my last 3 posts;

Week 7
We were asked to come up with our all time baseball top 10 list. Keeping in line with a modest fantasy slant I went with a top 10 'never was' list. It included Negro League greats like Satchel Paige, other international players and even some fictitious ones like the Bad New Bears Kelly Leak and Sid Finch. This may have been the most fun I've ever had writing a baseball blog post. Maybe I'll come back to it in the offseason with a deeper dive on all 10 players.
http://www.thefantasybaseballhalloffame.com/greg-top-10-all-time-never-was-fantasy-baseball-players.html

Week 8
The question was to come up with my all time fantasy baseball team - I can't help but think that my all time never was team from week 7 had some inspiration. I took the approach of career stats rather than 1 season wonders which many other writers did.
http://www.thefantasybaseballhalloffame.com/greg-all-time-fantasy-team.html


Week 9
If you're middle of the road or worse in your fantasy league how do you climb back into it? My advice is to play like you're already dead and go out and get the big-time underperformers now! David Ortiz, Joses Reyes, and to an extend Jake Peavey are the guys to roll the dice on.
http://fantasypros911.com/week-9-greg-marta-vs-joey-vanzo.html

Remember, VOTE FOR GREG!!!

You can also find autographed Satchel Paige baseball cards and memorabilia on eBay - click here!

Nick Markakis v Carlos Beltran - The Great Fantasy Baseball Debate Week #5

This week The Great Fantasy Debate gets a little more fun with a head to head comparison of two fantasy baseball outfield studs - Nick Markakis (pictured 2008 Allen & Ginter baseball card) and Carlos Beltran. Here's the question:

Home team, tell us why Carlos Beltran is the better Fantasy Baseball Player
Away Team, tell us why Nick Markakis is the better Fantasy Baseball Player

I have the Nick Markakis side and cite some fairly good points - Markakis is younger, hits for a higher average, bats in the three hole and Citi Field may be one of the best pitchers parks in baseball. I'm a Mets fan so this one was kind of tough. Truth be told I think Beltran is the better pick for this season but clearly Markakis is the pick in any keeper format.

I did implore a high batting average early strategy in both of my NFBC drafts this year and Markakis would be the better pick in that case.
NFBC Main Event draft results
NFBC Satellite draft results
The theory being that loading up on BA early lets you pick up some low BA guys later that have specific scoring categories that you need. It can be hard to tell what your fantasy baseball team may need after the first 10 rounds or so and maximizing batting average early on creates a lot of flexibility.

Click here to vote for Greg in this Week's Great Fantasy Debate.

Remember to pick up a Nick Markakis autographed baseball card on eBay!