Balance

Balance in Japanese is 均衡 = Kinkou. Balance has various meanings and is a very important component of people’s lives as well as……..fantasy baseball lineups.

I’ve evolved my thinking of fantasy baseball over the years to stress the importance of balance on a fantasy baseball team. I normally only play 5x5 leagues, (other fantasy leagues have MORE stat categories, more stress one has to deal with), but I’ve found that over the course of the season it’s generally good to have balance on your team, players who contribute in steals, some who contribute in power, saves, etc. It’s probably wise not to “punt” a certain category, especially in head to head categories because almost half of what one’s outcome is every week is determined by the opponent’s team, and the opponents can have all kinds of deficiencies. You want to be there to capitalize. The theory behind punting is to totally give up on one category (usually saves, or steals) and get a leg up on other categories. It’s an intriguing possibility on paper, but hard to implement in real life. Players get random steals. Punting saves allows other teams to go all-relievers (depending on the weekly innings cap) and go for ERA and WHIP. Especially in head-to-head leagues, where weekly results can swing on few wins, runs, steals, etc., one wants a balanced team that can take advantage of any category and not just keep pouring on stats in categories that are already out of contention.

In order to do this, it’s great to have a bunch of 5-category producers, and then some specialists doing important stuff on a roster. Ideally, one drafts .300-100-30-100 (BA, runs, HRs, RBI’s) as much as possible in the early going, then gets homer-specialty guys or steal-specialty guys later.

Important speciality guys and whether they’ll keep it up:

1.)    Dee Gordon has 38 steals right now, on pace for about 90. Probably won’t reach that, but an important pure-speed guy that can propel a slow-moving team into a contender every week. Don’t think he’s getting moved from the leadoff spot in LA.

2.)    Alfonso Soriano- keep an eye on Soriano. This is EXACTLY what he did last season. Start off OK for the season, now in a prolonged slump, ceding playing time to Ichiro Suzuki and sits against right-handers………but there could be 20 HRs in about a month and a half soon.

3.)    Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson are FOR REAL. They are legitimate, bona fide, 4-category guys (no steals). Highlights the importance of not devaluing young guys coming off breakout seasons- they might just be legit.

4.)    What to do with Ryan Braun- supposedly his thumb issues should have sidelined him by now. Very interesting case with enormous potential if he’s healthy all season.

5.)    Chris Carter, Adam Dunn- probably should stay away from these guys due to sub-.200 averages, but so so intriguing if you’re “streaming home runs.’

6.)    Michael Morse- absolutely legit homer option even in San Francisco.

7.)    Anthony Rizzo- looks like he’s broken out in Chicago.

8.)    There are certain guys that just accumulate runs because they’re at the top of prolific lineups- Denard Span. Ian Kinsler (has a 120-R season under belt). Matt Carpenter.

9.)    The 2 candidates for having the most hits this season are Jose Altuve and Melky Cabrera. They both get a TON of chances.

10.) I’ve always advocated getting NL West closers, and for good reason- 3 of top 6 saves leaders are form NL West. Frankie Rodriguez has fallen off and should continue to do so.

11.) Need some strikeouts? Wade Miley has more than Michael Wacha or Jeff Samardzija and boasts a 25K/1BB ratio in his last 3 starts. Buy.

I have terrible physical balance, meaning I get pushed over easily, don’t’ do well on a balance beam, and seriously need yoga.

But in terms of life balance, I think I might be the poster child. Get a little exercise, travel a little, watch a little TV, have a little fun but not too much fun. At times I feel like my body can tell me when I need what, or my brain just directs me to things I need or feel like I want to do. I sometimes DREAM of things I want to do! To extend the fantasy baseball analogy, I basically have a bunch of 5-category producers stabilizied – steady job, steady lifestyle (8 hours of sleep, don’t smoke, exercise regularly), good connection with family, and now I just need some one-category producers = date more frequently to find “the one,” go on vacation for 2 months in the summer, have an adventure of a lifetime, and get it all out of your system.

Balance can also mean the thing that measures your weight, which hasn’t been so kind recently. I think humans are built to gain weight, we are supposed to eat more than we can, and that excess energy goes towards weight-building. The only stopping us from that is exercise and discipline/diets, things that require a lot of work and dedication. I used to be overweight and now am in great physical shape, so I’m not that conscious of it, but even still I get a little apprehensive about getting on a scale once every week. My expectations of how much I’ve lost/gained over the week do NOT always match with what number is reported. Seriously, are there just secretly 2lb-gaining foods out there that we don’t know about? And can we get a “Warning: consumption of this food will result in a body weight gain of 2lbs. Consumer discretion is advised.”

Fantasize on (in a balanced manner),

 

Robert Yan