Fantrax/CDM Fantasy Sports

[aceeight]

Nah, I talked to the guy for at least 10 minutes. Mostly about the NC State loss in Greensboro in 1974. Probably should've asked him about Sam Gilbert, but I thought I should be "nice".

Oh, i believed you back then, just would never pass on a chance to mess with you. I read very little on the other forums on this site. I'm sure posters get attacked regularly just like the old yahoo boards. Hopefully it is mixed in with a lot of humor. There were so many really funny people on our boards back then.

 

[DemonDeaconz]

Am I going to be in trouble with having 4 1B and only 11 SP? I have 5 relievers

 

[aceeight]

Am I going to be in trouble with having 4 1B and only 11 SP? I have 5 relievers

I start with 12-13. I usually end up with 12. One problem with just 11 it's harder to ride it out if a star pitcher goes on the 15 day DL. (somebody is almost always hurt) Like Bud said it is really just what you are comfortable with.

I saw that you were going with 3 catchers. Nothing wrong with that, but your cheap guy "Cervelli" is projected to get about 250 at bats. Not very good for fantasy unless you were playing it that way. I wouldn't short myself a starter while using a guy like him as a 3rd catcher. Once again it is all up to you.

 

[aceeight]

Kendall Graveman

He sure has come out of nowhere. Fantrax didn't have him listed so he is 700k. After a terrific spring he will probably be 4th in the rotation for the A's. Doesn't strike out a lot of batters, but he is a guy to keep an eye on if you find your team needing a cheap pitcher.

 

[DemonDeaconz]

I start with 12-13. I usually end up with 12. One problem with just 11 it's harder to ride it out if a star pitcher goes on the 15 day DL. (somebody is almost always hurt) Like Bud said it is really just what you are comfortable with.

I saw that you were going with 3 catchers. Nothing wrong with that, but your cheap guy "Cervelli" is projected to get about 250 at bats. Not very good for fantasy unless you were playing it that way. I wouldn't short myself a starter while using a guy like him as a 3rd catcher. Once again it is all up to you.

Don't know where you saw that he's projected at ~250 at bats. Fantrax projects 337. Bethancourt (350k) is projected at 440 AB.

I have a few options: I could keep Cervelli... Or I could drop him for Bethancourt..... Other option is drop Cervelli and pick up a ~900 SP (Probably Ross or Cobb) and bump my roster up a little (at 42.6m right now)

I like how you have made a point of getting a lot of ABs out of your guys this year. Castro (990k) is projected to hit 622 times. Granted they were taking into account he'd be batting second. So that reinforces your keenness to Soler. I take it Castro will start at 5th. Him and Soler may share some time in that 2 spot, however. Maddon loves to shuffle his deck

 

[aceeight]

My new roster

Made some hard choices today. Keeping Gomez and dropping Dickerson for Betts. Dickerson is having some back problems and that move stops what would be several changes. I dropped Rizzo for Abreu as sort of a double switch. Still have Tomas since he still may make the opening day roster. Just need him for 3 weeks and think he will contribute later in the season. Decided to keep Clipard since he will pitch at least a month. (advantage of having 5 closers) Doolittle's injury sounds bad to me. Wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't play at all or quickly injures himself again.

Still haven't set my opening day roster or even filled out my Rookie leagues.

ACTIVE
Pos Player Salary
C Gattis, Evan C,UT - HOU 740,000
C Gomes, Yan C,UT - CLE 770,000
1B Abreu, Jose 1B,UT - CHW 1,430,000
1B Goldschmidt, Paul 1B,UT - ARI 1,440,000
2B Odor, Rougned 2B,UT - TEX 710,000
2B Walker, Neil 2B,UT - PIT 920,000
3B Arenado, Nolan 3B,UT - COL 940,000
3B Tomas, Yasmany 3B,UT - ARI 750,000
SS Reyes, Jose SS,UT - TOR 1,160,000
SS Tulowitzki, Troy SS,UT - COL 1,360,000
OF Betts, Mookie OF,UT - BOS 720,000
OF Gomez, Carlos OF,UT - MIL 1,410,000
OF Marte, Starling OF,UT - PIT 1,070,000
OF Puig, Yasiel OF,UT - LAD 1,190,000
OF Soler, Jorge OF,UT - CHC 770,000
OF Trout, Mike OF,UT - LAA 1,770,000
UT Harper, Bryce OF,UT - WAS 1,100,000
UT Souza Jr., Steven OF,UT - TB 400,000
SP Arrieta, Jake SP,P - CHC 930,000
SP Cueto, Johnny SP,P - CIN 1,230,000
SP deGrom, Jacob SP,P - NYM 900,000
SP Kershaw, Clayton SP,P - LAD 1,720,000
SP Pineda, Michael SP,P - NYY 850,000
SP Scherzer, Max SP,P - WAS 1,350,000
RP Clipard, Tyler RP,P - OAK 840,000
RP Robertson, David RP,P - CHW 1,160,000
RP Storen, Drew RP,P - WAS 1,060,000
P Chapman, Aroldis RP,P - CIN 1,310,000
Total 30,000,000

RESERVE
Player Salary
Wong, Kolten 2B,UT - STL 780,000
Bryant, Kris 3B,UT - CHC 560,000
Desmond, Ian SS,UT - WAS 1,270,000
Encarnacion, Edwin 1B,UT - TOR 1,190,000
Harvey, Matt SP,P - NYM 950,000
Hernandez, Felix SP,P - SEA 1,460,000
Kluber, Corey SP,P - CLE 1,210,000
Sale, Chris SP,P - CHW 1,280,000
Strasburg, Stephen SP,P - WAS 1,170,000
Walker, Taijuan SP,P - SEA 560,000
Zimmermann, Jordan SP,P - WAS 1,140,000
Melancon, Mark RP,P - PIT 1,100,000
Total 12,670,000

 

[aceeight]

Don't know where you saw that he's projected at ~250 at bats. Fantrax projects 337. Bethancourt (350k) is projected at 440 AB.

I have a few options: I could keep Cervelli... Or I could drop him for Bethancourt..... Other option is drop Cervelli and pick up a ~900 SP (Probably Ross or Cobb) and bump my roster up a little (at 42.6m right now)

I like how you have made a point of getting a lot of ABs out of your guys this year. Castro (990k) is projected to hit 622 times. Granted they were taking into account he'd be batting second. So that reinforces your keenness to Soler. I take it Castro will start at 5th. Him and Soler may share some time in that 2 spot, however. Maddon loves to shuffle his deck

For some unknown reason I never look at Fantrax projections. lol I looked at this site http://www.rotochamp.com/baseball/TeamPage.aspx?TeamID=PIT&StatType=RotoChamp that has him from 187-404 I believe. Click on his name to see all the projections.

At bats has always been my Achilles Heel. I realize how important it is in the rbi/runs scored category to say the least. Still, last year I finished 15th in my Gold League in at bats. I do pretty well in innings pitched which I feel is also very important. More at bats seems to be my goal every year.Facepalm

 

[aceeight]

We still have 15 different players on our 40-man roster. I'm still following things, but I see fewer & fewer players whom I am even giving any thought to changing now....which is how you should feel 4 days before the season begins after three months of constant research, I suppose. It's probably going to take an injury of some kind to change my roster at this point. I think my roster total is $42.75M...which is a very comfortable number.

The biggest decision I have to make now is whether I want to subscribe to Extra Innings.....because as closely as I follow my fantasy team, I actually spend very little time watching any of the games. When I'm watching a game I always feel like I am missing 14 other games. It's all about the numbers for me, because I don't really care enough about any real team to worry about who is winning any particular game....unless one of my pitchers is in it. So I follow the "Live Scoring" more than anything else. I had Extra Innings a few years ago, but I haven't subscribed to it in the last two years. You get constant updates on MLB....which is a great channel...and I also get MASN, which carries all the Orioles & Nats games. Then ESPN carries games, along with Fox Sports South & Fox National Sports a couple of nights a week. I may get it this year. Haven't decided yet. Is there a deadline when the price goes up if you haven't already subscribed?

We finished last year with 13 different players. So only having 15 different players right now is pretty tight, imo.

I love the baseball package. Of course I watch zero network tv. For me sports IS reality tv. lol I have my little tablet to follow live scoring and such on my coffee table while I watch a game. Have a tv in the computer room so it is kind of the same thing. Actually, extra innings is a lot like live update for me. (can check on any team at any time) I spend the most time on good games and the games where I have pitchers going. During the summer I watch baseball games in the evening. It is only a bargain if you enjoy watching a lot of baseball.

 

[aceeight]

Finally set up my starting lineup for week 2. (Maybe a little change from day 1) I'm only going to have five 2-starter pitchers the first full week. Usually have 7 and sometimes had to decide who not to go with having 8. Still had to take out Gomez to make cap.

Tomas is still the guy I am waiting to hear if he breaks camp. Probably go with ARod or Lamb if he gets sent down.

 

[aceeight]

We still have 15 different players on our 40-man roster. I'm still following things, but I see fewer & fewer players whom I am even giving any thought to changing now....which is how you should feel 4 days before the season begins after three months of constant research, I suppose. It's probably going to take an injury of some kind to change my roster at this point. I think my roster total is $42.75M...which is a very comfortable number.

The biggest decision I have to make now is whether I want to subscribe to Extra Innings.....because as closely as I follow my fantasy team, I actually spend very little time watching any of the games. When I'm watching a game I always feel like I am missing 14 other games. It's all about the numbers for me, because I don't really care enough about any real team to worry about who is winning any particular game....unless one of my pitchers is in it. So I follow the "Live Scoring" more than anything else. I had Extra Innings a few years ago, but I haven't subscribed to it in the last two years. You get constant updates on MLB....which is a great channel...and I also get MASN, which carries all the Orioles & Nats games. Then ESPN carries games, along with Fox Sports South & Fox National Sports a couple of nights a week. I may get it this year. Haven't decided yet. Is there a deadline when the price goes up if you haven't already subscribed?

I am at 42,670k which is right there with you. In the past I usually start about 700k behind you...every year is different.

 

[aceeight]

As I said earlier, there are only a couple of guys on my roster that I'm still considering dropping...and only a few that I am considering picking up.

One pitching change that I am considering is dropping David Price (1310K) for Michael Pineda (850K). That would give me another 460K....which I would need to use most of somewhere as an upgrade, because my $42.75M roster total is already 500K below my neutral number of $43.25M and I don't think I need to be a million below that number.

I looked at Pineda's game log from last year and he only gave up more than 2 runs in 1 of his 13 starts, and he has been brilliant in ST with a 23:1 K:BB ratio over 19 innings & a 1.42 ERA.

If I did that I would only have 4 SPs getting two starts the first full week, with Sale missing opening day....but you can't let one week determine who is going to be on your roster.

About the only other player I've thought about possibly dropping is Dickerson (940K), but I don't know who I would get. Picking Marte (1070K) back up would be well within my budget, but that's more of a lateral move. And I don't think I can afford to get a McCutchen or Stanton when I already have high-priced guys like Trout, Goldschmidt, Abreu & Gomez....not to mention Kershaw & Felix, etc. There is no use to have a bunch of expensive hitters if you can't get all or most of them in your lineup. Of course, there's always Brantley. He & Pineda would be close to an even swap moneywise for Price & Dickerson. The best thing would probably be just to do the SP change and use all that money to easily get all my big hitters in the lineup until I see how some of these young guys are going to pan out.

Pineda is the first pitcher I picked this year. He was so impressive when he came back last year and the price was right at 850k. Great spring so there is further evidence he is finally back. Great guy to take a chance on, imo. I reluctantly dropped Dickerson for Betts. I also got Abreu for Rizzo in that exchange so that helped. I still worry about Castillo because he can really hit, and is a terrific outfielder. Hopefully he will be taking bats away from Victorino when he comes up.

 

[DDeac08]

Just made several changes. I have a little more studying up to do, but I think this will be close to my final team.

Pos Player Salary
C Gattis, Evan C,UT - HOU 740,000
C Ramos, Wilson C,UT - WAS 620,000
1B Abreu, Jose 1B,UT - CHW 1,430,000
1B Encarnacion, Edwin 1B,UT - TOR 1,190,000
2B Gordon, Dee 2B,UT - MIA 1,110,000
2B Wong, Kolten 2B,UT - STL 780,000
3B Arenado, Nolan 3B,UT - COL 940,000
3B Donaldson, Josh 3B,UT - TOR 1,260,000
SS Bogaerts, Xander SS,UT - BOS 690,000
SS Reyes, Jose SS,UT - TOR 1,160,000
OF Arcia, Oswaldo OF,UT - MIN 730,000
OF Bautista, Jose OF,UT - TOR 1,260,000
OF Ellsbury, Jacoby OF,UT - NYY 1,200,000
OF Harper, Bryce OF,UT - WAS 1,100,000
OF Springer, George OF,UT - HOU 900,000
OF Stanton, Giancarlo OF,UT - MIA 1,580,000
UT Garcia, Avisail OF,UT - CHW 770,000
UT Rizzo, Anthony 1B,UT - CHC 1,260,000
SP Arrieta, Jake SP,P - CHC 930,000
SP Harvey, Matt SP,P - NYM 950,000
SP Kershaw, Clayton SP,P - LAD 1,720,000
SP Ross, Tyson SP,P - SD 920,000
SP Samardzija, Jeff SP,P - CHW 1,010,000
SP Scherzer, Max SP,P - WAS 1,350,000
RP Allen, Cody RP,P - CLE 1,070,000
RP Chapman, Aroldis RP,P - CIN 1,310,000
RP Melancon, Mark RP,P - PIT 1,100,000
P Carrasco, Carlos SP,P - CLE 880,000
Total 29,960,000

RESERVE
Player Salary
Lucroy, Jonathan C,UT - MIL 890,000
Goldschmidt, Paul 1B,UT - ARI 1,440,000
Altuve, Jose 2B,UT - HOU 1,400,000
Segura, Jean SS,UT - MIL 870,000
Hamilton, Billy OF,UT - CIN 1,090,000
Puig, Yasiel OF,UT - LAD 1,190,000
Cole, Gerrit SP,P - PIT 920,000
deGrom, Jacob SP,P - NYM 900,000
Fiers, Mike SP,P - MIL 770,000
Kluber, Corey SP,P - CLE 1,210,000
McHugh, Collin SP,P - HOU 850,000
Strasburg, Stephen SP,P - WAS 1,170,000
Total 12,700,000

 

[aceeight]

Something I just thought about:

The season lasts six months....and we've spent almost 2 1/2 months preparing for it. I registered my team on January 22nd, and I've spent at least a little time researching & working on it just about every day since then.

I'm ready for the season to start. I enjoy all the research, but it gets a little stressful the last week or so. (thinking too much) I have easily spent 20++ hours a week the last few months on my team. I am ready to just start enjoying baseball. Once baseball begins it is more about managing and just paying attention, imo.

Finally added all the players to my 4 teams. That was a lot of work....may regret having all these teams.

 

[DDeac08]

Are you only going to carry 3 closers?

And no backup at 3B? (Of course, you may be thinking that you will pick up Bryant when he's brought up. Ace & I decided to go ahead and have him from the start to save using one of those 17 purchases...since he will be back in Chicago about two weeks after the season starts.)

I missed the backup 3B. Thanks. I had Rendon, but I cut him tonight.

As for the closer, I was planning on going with only three. Is that not recommended? My thought process was that there is so much closer turnover from year to year. I assume I can use a claim at some point and get a full-time cheap closer.

 

[aceeight]

Late entry from Tiger Pride: Gold League #1

I am in league #3 and it filled up today. The teams that finished 1-2 in my Gold are in my league again along with the guy who won your league. Sure wish there was more players playing Fantrax.

 

[DDeac08]

I really should have started working on this much sooner. I spent most of the past few weeks preparing for my main auction league (which went very well) and now I'm rushing to get my fantrax team set.

I think my hitting is a little weak in this current lineup, but I'll hopefully be able to work on or both of goldschmidt or abreau in after the first week.

Any glaring issues with this team?

ACTIVE
Pos Player Salary
C Gattis, Evan C,UT - HOU 740,000
C Ramos, Wilson C,UT - WAS 620,000
1B Encarnacion, Edwin 1B,UT - TOR 1,190,000
1B Rizzo, Anthony 1B,UT - CHC 1,260,000
2B Altuve, Jose 2B,UT - HOU 1,400,000
2B Gordon, Dee 2B,UT - MIA 1,110,000
3B Arenado, Nolan 3B,UT - COL 940,000
3B Sandoval, Pablo 3B,UT - BOS 1,050,000
SS Bogaerts, Xander SS,UT - BOS 690,000
SS Segura, Jean SS,UT - MIL 870,000
OF Arcia, Oswaldo OF,UT - MIN 730,000
OF Bautista, Jose OF,UT - TOR 1,260,000
OF Ellsbury, Jacoby OF,UT - NYY 1,200,000
OF Harper, Bryce OF,UT - WAS 1,100,000
OF Martinez, J.D. OF,UT - DET 870,000
OF McCutchen, Andrew OF,UT - PIT 1,640,000
UT Garcia, Avisail OF,UT - CHW 770,000
UT Wong, Kolten 2B,UT - STL 780,000
SP Harvey, Matt SP,P - NYM 950,000
SP Kershaw, Clayton SP,P - LAD 1,720,000
SP Kluber, Corey SP,P - CLE 1,210,000
SP Ross, Tyson SP,P - SD 920,000
SP Samardzija, Jeff SP,P - CHW 1,010,000
SP Scherzer, Max SP,P - WAS 1,350,000
RP Allen, Cody RP,P - CLE 1,070,000
RP Chapman, Aroldis RP,P - CIN 1,310,000
RP Melancon, Mark RP,P - PIT 1,100,000
P Britton, Zach RP,P - BAL 1,080,000
Total 29,940,000

RESERVE
Player Salary
Lucroy, Jonathan C,UT - MIL 890,000
Abreu, Jose 1B,UT - CHW 1,430,000
Goldschmidt, Paul 1B,UT - ARI 1,440,000
Donaldson, Josh 3B,UT - TOR 1,260,000
Reyes, Jose SS,UT - TOR 1,160,000
Puig, Yasiel OF,UT - LAD 1,190,000
Arrieta, Jake SP,P - CHC 930,000
Carrasco, Carlos SP,P - CLE 880,000
Cole, Gerrit SP,P - PIT 920,000
deGrom, Jacob SP,P - NYM 900,000
Fiers, Mike SP,P - MIL 770,000
Strasburg, Stephen SP,P - WAS 1,170,000
Total 12,940,000

 

[DDeac08]

Thanks bkf. Good luck to you as well.

 

[aceeight]

Yasmany Tomas

For all Tomas owners: He was just sent to Triple-A to open the season.

I expected and planned for that to happen. Have to wonder why it took so long for the decision. Not even close to being ready to play 3rd, and there is no room in the OF right now. He may never be able to play 3rd so they may move an OF at some point in the next couple months.

I don't see any 11th hour moves for me today. I have been looking at Chris Archer as a replacement for deGrom. With all the injuries at TB he should get plenty of starts this year. (opening day for 1) Haven't checked the status of Cobb lately either.

 

[aceeight]

Clay Buchholz 740k

Boston spends a bunch of money to get back to where they were, and this is their ace? (has had a good spring) He sure thinks he is back to his old self. This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy. Fool's gold or a missed opportunity on my part.?

 

[aceeight]

Check out deGrom & Harvey's ST stats. I use CBS Sports for that. You can click on stats, then team. That's the easiest way I've found to do it, anyway. I look at ERA, WHIP and...probably as important as anything for me.....the K:BB ratio. Both deGrom & Harvey have been great this spring. ERA's under 3, WHIP under 1, and great K:BB ratios.

(That's what sold me on Pineda...a 23:1 K:BB ratio.)

Are you going to start King Felix?