Fantasy baseball begins

First off, congratulations to the North Carolina Tar Heels for winning the mother of all tournaments, the NCAA tournament 2009. I guess all they need to do is play a Big Ten team in the final, and they're golden (see Illinois, 2005).

Anyway, main idea of this post is: DON'T PANIC about your fantasy baseball team! For many nascent managers and noobies to the game, this is probably the toughest week of all. The culprit? The sample size. Most teams have played just 4 games, maybe even 3, but traditionally managers tend to freak out and think the worst of their best player, and the best of the worst players on the free agency list. I'm here to say, the MVP of fantasy sports in the first 4 games WILL NOT be the Fantasy MVP of the whole year, and you gotta STICK TO YOUR GUNS on the players who you drafted at the beginning of the year. Especially Ryan Howard, man, you KNEW Ryan Howard was gonna get off to a bad April. Everyone and their mother knew that. If you have him, stick w/ him. Through all the 0-for-4's with 3 K's.

Exhibit A:
Emilio Bonifacio- star of "Baseball Tonight," Brad Evans fantasy columns, and casual conversations between fantasy baseball managers, this guy's name has popped up more than the gophers in the "bop the mole" game you used to play at Chuck E. Cheese. Yes, he has 2B/3B eligibility, Yes he's the #1 fantasy player in Yahoo! right now, but NO, he will not be this good throughout the year. As I am writing this, managers around the country are watching videotape of Emilio, exposing his weaknesses, writing down that they gotta bring the corner infielders in on him to prevent the bunt single, and basically diminishing his value. This reminds me of when Jay Bruce got hurt last year, had 4 or 5 great games, I unleashed him for Aubrey Huff, and then Bruce turned back human.

Marco Scutaro: ranked 6th in Yahoo! sports right now, the man has never reached 10 HR's in a season, never reached 80 runs scored, never hit above .280. Don't panic here and make rash moves.


On the flip side (heavy hitters who are starting off slow)

Jose Reyes is 4-of-16 with 1 run and 1SB. Obviously, not that great. Just think, though, if he had this 4-game stretch from July 27-July 31st while u were on vacation in Tahiti, you would furrow your brow slightly (if that) and then go back to drinking your pina colada, or whatever floats your boat.

Jimmy Rollins: 2-for-18. Same deal. There's no way this guy fails to score 100 runs and hit 20 HR's if healthy, so take a deep breath.

Prince Fielder: Well, actually, I dunno about this one. Seems counterintuitive for a guy to be a vegetarian but look like he's made of hot dogs. I'm biased cuz I've never owned him, probably never will.

So the moral of the story is, it's early. If anything, look at other teams' rosters, look for guys like Reyes and Rollins, Jason Bay, David Ortiz, and throw some ridiculous trade offers at them. If not, whatever. No skin off your bones. If there's even the slightest chance they're willing to nibble, pounce like the fantasy baseball tiger you are.

Speaking of tigers, Tiger Woods making a Saturday charge at the Masters? Let's hope so, or else sunday's coverage will be full of "chad campbell marching up the 18th in pursuit of his first championship." Eck.