Saturday, March 8, 2008

Blizzard in the Midwest

Wow, Today's March 8th, and there was 20 inches of snow in Columbus, Ohio. Go figure. I go back to one of my fundamental principles: Nothing good comes out of Ohio. Except Lebron James. Haha. Keep in mind this is a University of Illinois student talking, one who has been ingrained to have at least some form of hatred for the buckeye state.

Anyway, fantasy baseball is just 3 short weeks away, and i bet most of you can't wait. Here are some tips that will help you in any fantasy draft but a little more geared towards this years:

1.) Again, my fundamental edict in fantasy baseball: Take pitchers later. Yes, you will be tempted by the Dan Harens and C. C. Sabathia's of the fantasy world, and when the 6th round comes around your fingers will be itchin to take a starting pitcher. But i pray thee, ( going shakespeare here), resist temptation. Pitching tends to be the most fluctuating position from year to year, and just go see last year's draft results to see steals in the very late rounds. Josh Beckett, the aforementioned Sabathia, Chris Young, and others come to mind. These guys all vaultd up to the high rounds this year because of just last year's performance.....which means this year u can draft guys in the late rounds who will wind up in the top. Obviously, no guarantees, but these guys should have the best chance of doing so:

Daisuke Matzusaka, Francisco Liriano, Carlos Zambrano, Chien-Ming Wang.

2.) Also avoid relief pitchers early. You really don't need saves all that bad, as you can pick them up as the seasons go along because all 30 teams need closers, and those tempting ERA/WHIP and K numbers from top guys like K-rod, nathan, and JJ Putz won't matter as much as a solid bat or a stud pitcher just cuz they don't pitch enuff. You can get guys like Matt Capps and Rafael Soriano in the late rounds, who are very close to being as solid as the top guys.

My sister's calling about Pokemon. Fire-type Pokemon can burn metal-type Pokemon? Huh, who came up with that? Didn't have that when i was in 7th grade. I started with a squirtle, FYI.

Guys i love who may be underrated this season:

Grady Sizemore, Derek Jeter, Carlos Zambrano, Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay, B.J. Ryan, Travis Hafner, Nick Markakis, Jason Bay, Hideki Matsui, Huston Street, Mark Teixeria

Trust me, more than half of these guys will overpeform their ADP ( Average Draft Position) this year.

In contrast, i would wager some money that these groups of guys will do worse than where they're being drafted right now:

Eric Byrnes ( sorry, loved him last year), Magglio Ordonez ( way overrated), Prince Fielder, ryan braun, curtis granderson, Troy Tulowitzki.


Gotta go.

Good luck w/ ur respective fantasy baseballs.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You're forgetting the deepest sleeper of them all, the late round flier. A top ten strike out talent last year, who if he learns control, any fantasy owner will be hard pressed to find a more talented pitcher. I'm talkin' about a guy who usually goes undrafted in "99.99999 and add a few more 9s on the end of that" (says professor Roszkowski) leagues. Who is this? A 6'7" MONSTER. Spent 3 years under the tutelage of the greatest pitching coach in the MLB. You know him as D.C., Daniel Cabrera Mr. Yan. Worth a gamble in all formats, you cannot do better with the last pick in the draft, his upside is worth it.