Thursday, August 25, 2005

Where did I go wrong?

(If you don't care about fantasy baseball, you'll want to do a big scroll here.)

I made the mistake of playing three fantasy baseball leagues in a summer in which I was overwhelmed by work and kept up a busy family, soccer and housework schedule. There's just no way to keep up when you're doing all that.

Still, I'm finding myself today trying to figure out where it all went wrong. I started with the best of intentions and made the right moves in ditching a couple of players early (I had Cristian "maybe I'll break .200" Guzman in two leagues and got rid of him in April in both cases). I also snagged Jon Garland early in his big win streak and got Travis Hafner on two teams.

Everything else just went horribly astray, like Brian Carroll's shot to seal the game for D.C. United last night.

Here's the breakdown.

Team 1: 12-team, head-to-head, no keepers: R, HR, RBI, SB, E, AVG, OPS / W, SV, HBP, K, ERA, WHIP


April 3Aug. 24
C Johnny EstradaC A.J. Pierzynski
2B Tadahito Iguchi (bench)1B Mike Sweeney
OF Alex Sanchez2B Brian Roberts
3B Melvin Mora3B Melvin Mora
SS Cristian GuzmanSS Bill Hall
1B/OF Aubrey Huff1B/OF Aubrey Huff
OF Carl CrawfordOF Juan Encarnacion
OF Manny RamirezOF Jeff Francoeur
UT Sean CaseyUT Sean Casey
2B Luis Castillo2B Luis Castillo (bench)
OF Coco Crisp (bench)OF Matt Lawton (bench)
RP Chin-hui Tsao (bench)OF Willy Taveras (bench)
SP Jeremy BondermanSP Jon Garland
SP Woody WilliamsSP Bruce Chen
SP John ThomsonSP John Thomson
SP Barry ZitoSP Barry Zito
P Danny GravesP Brad Penny
P Jaret Wright (bench; rotating)P Jaret Wright (bench; rotating)
P John SmoltzP John Smoltz
RP Latroy HawkinsRP Chris Reitsma

I made a lot of minor moves along the way, but the big ones were trades. I didn't trade very well -- a couple of these moves were followed by insulting offers from the league's resident fleecer, so clearly I had become the patsy at the table.

  • April: Drop Tsao, Williams and Guzman, pick up Garland, Chen and Jose Valentin (later dropped).
  • May 7: Trade Crawford for Hinske and Encarnacion.
  • May 22: Trade Crisp and Eric Hinske for Sweeney.
  • Aug. 22-23: Trade Ramirez and Bonderman for Penny, Roberts and Francoeur; drop Julio.

Team 2: No keepers, 10-team head-to-head league: R, H, 2B, HR, RBI, SB, A, AVG, OPS / W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP

This one is the most perplexing, though you can see the disappointments in my Opening Day lineup -- Thome, Rolen, Patterson and Perez have all been hurt and/or had horrifying runs. This is the league in which someone dropped Melvin Mora after the first week, so that gives you some idea of the panic level of the competition. Still, I dropped Chacin too soon.

I've listed ALL my moves just to show how frustrating it's been.

April 3Aug. 24
C Johnny EstradaC Bengie Molina
1B Jim Thome1B Travis Hafner
2B Chone Figgins2B Ron Belliard
3B Scott Rolen3B Eric Chavez
SS Miguel TejadaSS Miguel Tejada
IF Chipper JonesIF Chipper Jones
OF Johnny DamonOF Johnny Damon
OF Corey PattersonOF Brian Giles
OF J.D. DrewOF Jeff Francoeur
UT Ken Griffey Jr.UT Shea Hillenbrand
OF Alex Sanchez (bench)C Brian McCann (bench)
no one on DLC/1B Mike Piazza (DL)
SP Chris CarpenterSP Chris Carpenter
SP Oliver PerezSP Kevin Millwood
SP Jake WestbrookSP Casey Fossum
P Greg MadduxP Greg Maddux
P Tim HudsonP Tim Hudson
RP Eddie GuardadoRP Eddie Guardado
RP Latroy HawkinsRP Scot Shields
RP Jorge Julio (bench)RP Brandon Lyon (bench)
  • April 11: Drop Hawkins, add Lyon.
  • April 28: Drop Westbrook, add Gustavo Chacin.
  • May 6: Add Juan Encarnacion.
  • May 14: Drop Encarnacion, add Corey Koskie and Trot Nixon.
  • May 18: Drop Figgins, add Bret Boone.
  • May 20: Drop Koskie, add Chavez.
  • May 28: Drop Drew.
  • June 7: Add Rafael Palmeiro.
  • June 16-17: Drop Sanchez, Julio, Chacin, Boone and Nixon; add Giles, Mark Redman, Chris Young, Danny Haren and Richie Weeks.
  • June 24: Drop Hillenbrand, add Hafner.
  • June 28: Drop Perez, add Joe Blanton.
  • July 9: Drop Patterson, add Reggie Sanders.
  • July 24: Drop Thome, add Milton Bradley.
  • July 28: Drop Blanton and Haren, add Shields and Hillenbrand.
  • July 29: Drop Weeks, add Belliard.
  • Aug. 6: Drop Estrada, Young, Bradley and Redman; add Fossum, Millwood, Piazza and Francoeur.
  • Aug. 22-24: Drop Palmeiro, Sanders, Rolen; add McCann (temp replacement for Piazza) and Molina (perm replacement).

Team 3: 16-team keeper league, traditional Roto: R, 2B, HR, RBI, SB, A, AVG, OPS / IP, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP

April 3Aug. 24
C Jason KendallC Brian McCann
1B Sean Casey1B Richie Sexson
2B Alfonso Soriano2B Ray Durham
3B Scott Rolen3B Bill Mueller
SS Cristian GuzmanSS Omar Vizquel
IF Aramis RamirezIF Jay Gibbons
OF Corey PattersonOF Adam Dunn
OF Alex SanchezOF Matt Stairs
OF Eric ByrnesOF Matt Lawton
OF Brian Jordan1B Travis Hafner
OF Shannon StewartOF Shannon Stewart
(empty bench spot)3B Bill Mueller
SP Pedro MartinezSP C.C. Sabathia
SP Jon LieberSP Jon Lieber
SP Brad Penny (DL)SP Brad Penny
RP Dan KolbRP Miguel Batista
P Rodrigo LopezP Rodrigo Lopez
P Bronson ArroyoP Bronson Arroyo
P Tim WakefieldP Tim Wakefield
P Jorge Julio1B Phil Nevin (bench)

Various fill-ins: 1B Calvin Pickering (last time I listen to the sabermetrics geeks), OF Jason Lane, IF Jorge Cantu, IF/OF John Mabry

  • April 12: Drop Guzman, pick up Vizquel
  • April 13: Trade Ramirez for Thome
  • May 18: Trade Casey and Martinez for Sexson and Batista
  • June 24: Trade Soriano and Thome for Dunn and Hafner

Next year, I'm sticking to soccer. Not that I'm doing any better there.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Team 1: By effectively dealing Crawford and Crisp for Sweeney and Encarnacion in May, you cost yourself a lot in steals, runs, average and playing time.

Garland helped your pitching, but without a real closer you're giving away a category each week. Plus you had a little bad luck with Zito and Smoltz not producing all season long like they're doing now. In that league it's helpful to have a handful of good relievers to keep in the lineup while you shuffle your starters in and out.

Team 2:
Drop Figgins, add Bret Boone says it all.