Draft Day Challenge, May 23

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Daily baseball is all the rage in the fantasy sports world, so I will be covering the game a couple of times a week here at BaseballGuys.com. To that end, I’ve partnered with DraftDay.com to give all my wonderful followers, that’s you, the chance to play the game on a daily

Shuffle Up: Manny Machado, ahead of schedule

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

Here are your Shuffle Up corners for the month of May. Dig into them, think about them, disagree with them. I'll be back with commentary later tonight.

Normal rules apply, of course. We're trying to project 5x5 value to come; what's happened to this point is an audition, not a mandate. Players at the same price are considered even. Don't worry about the prices in a vacuum - what matters is how the players relate to one another. Your intelligent and respectful disagreement is always welcome.

Please remember the golden rule of shuffling: a player doesn't gain (or lose) 15-20 percent of value simply because he's on your roster.

Courtesy injury ranks are at the bottom. I won't debate those (I'm generally not as

Roto Roundup: Prince Fielder, Edwin Encarnacion, Carlos Santana and Others

Source: Fake Teams by Ray Guilfoyle

Hey Fake Teams readers, if you ever have fantasy baseball questions, whether they relate to a trade offer, an add/drop, player evaluation, etc., feel free to post them in the comments section of the daily Roto Roundup or any other article posted by the other Fake Teams writers. Someone will answer your question, so please do not hesitate to ask any question you may have.

Prince Fielder is having his "ON" year

Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder is one of the more consistent hitters in fantasy baseball, but he does have a tendency to have alternating "on" years and "off" years. What I

Mostly MLB Notes: Buying Matt Cain and examining what’s wrong with Eric Hosmer

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Matt Cain entered this season having allowed 129 homers over 1,536.2 innings (0.76 HR/9). This year, he’s already served up nine home runs over 34.2 innings. Put differently, he’s allowed the same amount of long balls this month as he did all of the 2011 season, which spanned 221.2 innings. Cain has never had a season in which his HR/FB% was higher than 8.4. That number currently sits at 19.1% in 2013. While some could view this as regression hitting hard, Cain’s previous sample was too big to be written off as a fluke, and it’s worth pointing out just two of his six starts this year have come at home. Cain’s fastball velocity is down slightly in the early going (about 0.5 mph less compared to last

Fielder hits seventh homer, Tigers roll Twins - Prince Fielder | DET

Source: Rotoworld Baseball

Prince Fielder belted his seventh home run of the season in the Tigers' win over the Twins on Tuesday.

FanDuel Contest: $3000 Friday Tournament

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Every Friday at BaseballGuys.com, I relay to you how you can sign up for a daily fantasy baseball game courtesy of FanDuel.com. Today is no different. I’ll spend a bit of time detailing how you can win some cash, and then I’ll give away all my secrets by letting you know who should, or shouldn’t, be in your lineup. Oh, and finally, I’m also going to be in the league,

Shuffle Up: Michael Cuddyer gets his groove back

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

Today's ranking assignment takes us down on the corner, the first basemen and the third basemen. Settle in, settlers.

What you'll see below are prices for most of the Yahoo-eligible cornermen going forward. There are a few rules here: if you're in the minors or on the DL, you don't make this list. Too variable in worth, league to league. If you're catcher-eligible, you don't make the list – everyone's probably going to use you at catcher anyway. Don't obsess over the actual dollar amounts – what matters is how the players relate to one another. When players are at the same number, they're considered even.

The games to this point are merely an audition. We're trying to figure out who's worth the

Mostly MLB Notes: The Matt Harvey Show

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

I’m not sure what more can be said about Matt Harvey at this point, but I’ll go ahead and continue to pile on the praise. The guy has allowed six hits over 22.0 innings this season. Six! Thanks to a 0.82 ERA and a decent 0.55 WHIP, he’s been the No. 1 ranked fantasy player so far. Harvey’s control still isn’t great, as he’s walked multiple batters in all three of his outings (and he had a 3.93 BB/9 rate across Triple-A and with the Mets last year), but his stuff is among the nastiest in the league already. Harvey’s average fastball velocity (94.3 mph) has been the fourth-highest among all starters this season, while his slider (88.6 mph) has easily been the fastest (next highest is Madison

Clever Ball: Roto Arcade’s 2013 MLB Predictions

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

Predictions are silly. Predictions are fun.

Today we collect the Yahoo! Five (Funston, Behrens, Evans, Del Don, Pianowski) and we invite Michael Salfino to sit in. It's Crystal Ball time, 2013 MLB season. We've seen the future, and this all works out reasonably well.

Share your predictions in the comments, and Happy Opening Day, gamers.

Brandon Funston, Lead Singer

NL Playoffs
Washington
Atlanta
St. Louis
Cincinnati
San Francisco

AL Playoffs
Toronto
Detroit
Kansas City
LA Angels
Oakland

World Series – Washington over Toronto

NL

A.L. Tout Wars recap: Pedroia, Longoria, Mo, Moose and an abundance of Astros

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

First, some history: Back in 1887, at the inaugural Tout Wars auction (held at an opium parlor, now defunct), the first player nominated was Pretzels Getzien, staff ace of the Detroit Wolverines. Pretzels was coming off a 30-11 season. He went for $13, sold to Ernie Lanigan of the nascent Sporting News. It wasn't a great buy, but tolerable. Getzien won 29 games in '87, third highest total in the league, but his ratios were merely adequate.

Fortunately for Lanigan, he also spent $24 on right-hander

A.L. Tout Wars recap: Pedroia, Longoria, Mo, Moose, and an abundance of Astros

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

First, some history: Back in 1887, at the inaugural Tout Wars auction (held at an opium parlor, now defunct), the first player nominated was Pretzels Getzien, staff ace of the Detroit Wolverines. Pretzels was coming off a 30-11 season. He went for $13, sold to Ernie Lanigan of the nascent Sporting News. It wasn't a great buy, but tolerable. Getzien won 29 games in '87, third highest total in the league, but his ratios were merely adequate.

Fortunately for Lanigan, he also spent $24 on right-hander

A.L. Tout Wars recap: Pedroia, Longoria, Mo, Moose, and more

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

First, some history: Back in 1887, at the inaugural Tout Wars auction (held at an opium parlor, now defunct), the first player nominated was Pretzels Getzien, staff ace of the Detroit Wolverines. Pretzels was coming off a 30-11 season. He went for $13, sold to Ernie Lanigan of the nascent Sporting News. It wasn't a great buy, but tolerable. Getzien won 29 games in '87, third highest total

A.L. Tout Wars recap: Pedroia, Longoria, Mo, Moose and more

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

First, some history: Back in 1887, at the inaugural Tout Wars auction (held at an opium parlor, now defunct), the first player nominated was Pretzels Getzien, staff ace of the Detroit Wolverines. Pretzels was coming off a 30-11 season. He went for $13, sold to Ernie Lanigan of the nascent Sporting News. It wasn't a great buy, but tolerable. Getzien won 29 games in '87, third highest total

Fantasy Baseball: All-Value team, 2013

Source: Roto Arcade by Brandon Funston

They say timing is everything. That might be giving "timing" a little bit too much credit. But at least in the case of fantasy baseball drafts, it's spot on. When 2013 comes to an end, you can count on this page to be top-heavy with players that not only had successful fantasy campaigns, but were also afterthoughts on draft day. With that in mind, here's an All-Value team for 2013 - again, it's all about the timing (ADP).

First Base - Chris Davis, Baltimore (Yahoo! ADP 160, Y! '12 rank 89): Players that can hit 30 home

Analysis of My Tout Wars Experts League Draft Results

Source: Fake Teams by Ray Guilfoyle

I participated in my first Tout Wars Experts league draft last night with a strategy to take an ace starter early to anchor my staff and then wait on pitching till round 9-10, filling my hitting roster spots early. This league is a mixed, 5 x 5 league that utilizes OBP instead of batting average, but I am not going to look for high OBP hitters just for the sake of doing well in that one category. In other words, I am not going to change my rankings for a hitter with a high OBP.

I pretty much stuck to my plan, taking an ace in the 4th round, then not picking another pitcher until the 10th round. I had the 12th pick in the draft, and with Prince Fielder and

Fantasy Baseball 2013: First Base Primer

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

First base has always been a power position, dating back to the days when your great-great-grandfather owned Dan Brouthers* in his 4X4 league down at the Elks Lodge.

Last year, 27 different major league players reached the 30-homer plateau, and nine of them had first base eligibility. Eighteen hitters drove in at least 100 runs, and seven were first basemen. The average top-20 player at this position in 2012 delivered 80 runs, 28 homers and 95 RBIs while hitting .288. If you somehow fail to pile up power stats at first — not easy to do, but possible — then hopefully you'll invest in Bautista, Stanton, Cabrera or some other elite power

Are Your Expectations Reasonable?

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Today I’m going to break down a handful of players an attempt to refute the prevailing wisdom about at least one aspect of their game. Hopefully the piece will be a thought provoking one, even if you disagree with my conclusions.

Robinson Cano‘s Power
Cano hit 33 homers last season, the first time

Buster Posey, Fantasy Schmohawk

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

It's more like you're a schmohawk if you draft Buster Posey in the 2nd round. Let's just look at his MVP season. Hmm, it might take me a while to get through 300 hours of video to look at his MVP season. Plus, you give this to me on VHS?! Grey's Intern, "Sorry, Mr. Albright, MLB is a bit behind with their technology. I assumed you didn't want grainy black and white film with Mel Allen voice over." Put an ad on Craigslist for a new intern! GI, "Aw, shucks." All right, due to a slight setback we're gonna have to look at Posey's season through the online prism of stats. His MVP year was 78/24/103/.336/1. To compare and contrast: he had the 66th most runs, one behind Michael Young and Andre Ethier. Yay. Yay,

Spin Doctors: Who’s No. 1, Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera?

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

Now that the Super Bowl result is in the books (no one left to beat, Joe Flacco), the roto public turns an eye to pitchers, catchers, and the rest of the fantasy baseball carnival. The top of the ranking board is always a hot-button topic, and today, in this forum, Brandon Funston and Scott Pianowski have a difference of opinion on how they'd kick off a draft. Share your thoughts (and Ryan Braun sympathizing) in the comments.

B-Fun leads off: Last season, Miguel Cabrera became the first player in 45 years to win a Triple Crown. That's a first place finish in the AL in three of the five categories in our roto racket. But despite his rare trifecta, and the fact that Mike

2013 Rankings: First Basemen

Source: Fantasy Baseball 365

Next up in the positional rankings is first base. The position offers a lot of offensive talent, young and old. Players will be drafted out of this player pool to fill more than first base, they'll also fill corner infield spots and utility positions as well. 

Rank First Name Last Name Organization 1 Albert Pujols Angels 2 Joey Votto Reds 3 Prince Fielder Tigers 4 Edwin Encarnacion Blue

Pressing Questions: The Detroit Tigers

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

The 2012 Tigers were supposed to be a good-hit, bad-field bunch that contended for the AL Pennant. The last target came to pass, even if the path getting there didn't take the expected shape.

In spite of Miguel Cabrera's Triple Crown season (and controversial MVP), Detroit finished a mere 11th in the majors in runs (726), dropping 61 from the previous year. And don't blame it on the home yard, as Comerica Park played slightly favorable for offense in 2012. The full-season loss of Victor Martinez obviously didn't help, though the addition of Prince Fielder countered that nicely.

The Motown defense turned out to be problematic in spots, passable in others: while

Fantasy Baseball 2013 Head-to-Head Points League Rankings: First Base

Source: Fake Teams by Alex Kantecki

Last Friday, I released my first set of Head-to-Head Points League Rankings here at Fake Teams, giving you my top 20 catchers. Today I do the same thing, giving you my top 20 first basemen.

Surprisingly and maybe even shockingly, it wasn't Albert Pujols, Joey Votto or Prince Fielder who led all first basemen in points in 2012. No, that honor belonged to

Fantasy Baseball 2013 Head-to-Head Points League Rankings: First Basemen

Source: Fake Teams by Alex Kantecki

Last Friday, I released my first set of Head-to-Head Points League Rankings here at Fake Teams, giving you my top 20 catchers. Today I do the same thing, giving you my top 20 first basemen.

Surprisingly and maybe even shockingly, it wasn't Albert Pujols, Joey Votto or Prince Fielder who led all first basemen in points in 2012. No, that honor belonged to

Prince Fielder: #1 Fantasy First Baseman?

Source: Fake Teams by Ray Guilfoyle

I ranked Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder as my #1 fantasy first baseman for 2013 in our Consensus First Base Rankings back in November, and I don't think I would change my stance on that now that we are about three weeks from Pitchers and Catchers. In his State of the First Base Position piece, Bret Sayre wrote the following, and I think it is a very important point when analyzing the landscape for fantasy first baseman:

However, what 2012 did provide was the breakouts of many less heralded options - which leads to an

Fantasy Baseball 2013 AL-Only Rankings: First Base

Source: Fake Teams by smokeymcpots

Albert Pujols - It takes everyone a little while to adjust to LA, Hamilton watching his back pockets in the batting order is going to work wonders.

Prince Fielder - It's an every other year thing for Prince, check the HR totals in odd years. While you are there check all the other counting stats.

Edwin Encarnacion - Breakout is real, in that line-up with better OBP guys in front of hm could be a better counting stat year then last

Pressing Questions: The Arizona Diamondbacks

Source: Roto Arcade by Brad Evans

Youth is often unreliable. Last year, the Diamondbacks learned the hard way.

After Arizona shocked the baseball world in 2011, taking the NL West crown, expectations were relatively high for a strong encore. Instead, Kirk Gibson's club straddled the fence, splitting its 162 game slate straight down the middle (81-81). Early season physical setbacks to Chris Young and Daniel Hudson combined with Justin Upton's dramatic power outage, likely a consequence of a thumb injury suffered in April, explained the team's ordinariness.

Unhappy with last year's mediocrity, GM Kevin Towers has racked up the cell phone minutes this offseason. Young was sent packing to Oakland in

Positional Eligibility Matters

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

 

The Tigers announced, through GM Dave Dombrowski, that Victor Martinez will not catch in 2013 as the Tigers plan to let Alex

Player Profile: Freddie Freeman

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Freddie Freeman, the Braves’ first baseman, had a solid second season. In fact, “solid” may not quite be the correct adjective to use when describing his 2012 efforts. Some will see the drop in batting average and the nearly identical OPS and worry that he didn’t take a step forward in Year II. Some will remember the constant physical issues that hindered him included a couple of week span where his vision became an issue. I on the other hand think the seeds are

Player Profile: Torii Hunter

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Torii Hunter is coming off of one of the best seasons of his distinguished career, and the 37 year old realized this might be his last contract of significance, if not the last contract, of his big league career. He said he wanted to find a home where he could play full-time and have a chance to win. He got his wish Wednesday when it was announced that he signed a 2-year, $26 million deal to join the Tigers (for more on the deal and how it came to pass read the entertaining story of

OPS Fantasy Leagues: 2012 First Basemen Review

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Here is a look at the value of first basemen over the past season in OPS fantasy leagues. This is not meant to be a ranking so much as adding a lens to illustrate their relative value with OPS as a component. They are listed from highest to lowest OPS. Note that I only included players with at least 300 plate appearances in 2012.

The Top Ten

Joey Votto – His .337/.474/.567 line is insane and his 1.041 OPS was a career high. I’ve continued to be impressed with his incredibly increasing walk rate: 12.9% in 2009, 14.0% in 2010, 15.3% in 2011, and 19.8% in 2012. I expect him to continue to remain an elite OPS player and potentially league leader in OBP.

Edwin

Top 20 Starters, 2012 Fantasy Baseball

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

All the final 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters are done. For those that skipped today’s title, this starts the top 20 starters for 2012 fantasy baseball.  This is NOT for 2013 (caps for those still wearing their Frankenweenie 3-D glasses).  This is a recap.  Will these affect next year’s rankings?  Sure.  But not entirely.  To recapitulate, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater.  We’re (me) using it to fairly gauge our (my) preseason rankings.  In the general sense of things, I’m much better at ranking and projecting pitchers.  I’m not

2012 Positional Review – First Base

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Now that the 2012 season is over, it’s time to review how my predictions went for each position in fantasy baseball. To that end, I will review my top-10 at each position and give a brief rundown on how each of the ten performed. I’ll also list which player was a “Hit” (someone who lived up to expectations) as well as a “Miss” (the player who simply failed to impress).

Note: All of these rankings are taken from the

Top 20 Outfielders, 2012 Fantasy Baseball

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Went over the catchers, 1st basemen, 2nd basemen and shortstops and top 20 3rd basemen for 2012 fantasy baseball. Guess what’s next!  No, not pitchers. Read the title, man.  In 2010, there were only 5 outfielders that hit 30 homers, in 2011 there were 9, this year there were

Top 20 1st Basemen, 2012 Fantasy Baseball

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

After drudging through an Andy Dufresne-type tunnel for the top 20 catchers for 2012 fantasy baseball, I find myself with a group that actually really hurt or helped your team depending on how you drafted. If you went wrong with your 1st baseman, it could kill your season.  Hey, Eric Hosmer, no hard feelings from me.  We are totally fine.  Please enjoy these cyanide pills I made special for you.  If you went right, you might’ve won your league.  To recap, this final ranking is from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater with my comments.  Anyway, here’s the top 20 1st basemen for

Top 20 Catchers, 2012 Fantasy Baseball

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

It feels like yesterday the baseball regular season started.  You wrote “I heart baseball” in permanent marker on your arm, then you met a girl who wrote “I heart guys who heart baseball” on her arm, then, during sex in September, you screamed out “I love you, Chris Davis!” and now you don’t have baseball or a girlfriend, unless your girlfriend was Bill James.  C’mon, calendar, make like a soldier and turn to March.  The only cure for the post-baseball season blues — recapping the preseason top twenty lists and being hand-fed Doritos.  First up, Cool Ranch and our preseason 

To Sum Up

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

The 2012 regular season is over. Special congratulations should be handed out to Miguel Cabrera for winning the Triple Crown, and to the Orioles who made the playoffs winning 93 games a year after they lost — 93 games. To celebrate the end of the regular season I thought I would list some of my favorite tweets of the last 24 hours. You are all following the BaseballGuys’ Twitter account, right? If

Shields Runs Into Orioles Lucksaw

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Yesterday, James Shields yields 15 Ks, 1 run, but a win ain’t won.  Murray Chass just bid a penny on the world’s smallest violin on eBay so he can play it just for Shields.  Murray had this to say, “When men were gristled, and ladies were more gristled, we had a name for yellow-bellies like James Shields.  That name was ‘Can’t do what needs to be done for a win.’  It may not have been the most succinct of names, but before Al Gore went and invented the Internet, we didn’t need succinct.  We needed appropriate.  Now you only have 140 characters to say something and it’s never appropriate!”  I’ll say this for Murray.  He sure has ornery in spades.  ”Now kids are playing spades on their

Santiago Leaves Indians Bats Chilly

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Yesterday, Hector Santiago went 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 1 walk, 10 Ks.  Hey, it’s the White Sox closer from 6 months ago, with that gig lasting for a minute.  Not an Urbandictionary minute, which is a long time.  An actual minute.  (Member the Closepocalypse?  What a exciting time to be alive.)  By making Santiago the closer, Robin Ventura was taking precedent from Ozzie and throwing chaos on a fire, but when he called Stephen Harper a great man and was met with indifference, Ventura realized he didn’t have what it took to be crazy.  Stupid?  Sure, he did charge Nolan Ryan, but crazy he couldn’t pull off.  After the closer experiment, Santiago went back to middle relief and eventually landed in the rotation.

RCL Roundup: October 1

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

The Rank Railheads hit the magic 120 mark in RCL 40, but panthers_freak (We’ve Got the Runs — Baseball Reasons) made a charge and now is just 2 back of the Railheads (118-116) in the Master Standings with 3 days to go.  We’ve Got the Runs is almost certain to gain half a point in Wins, so if the Railheads drop back to 119, this championship could be decided by fractions of a point.

 

However it turns out, it won’t detract from the amazing season the Rank Railheads have put together. I never thought we would see anyone reach 120 points.

Sandoval Would Prefer If You Called Them Pleasantly-Plump Trippers

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Yesterday, Pablo Sandoval hit two homers, and his third in two days to bring his season total to 11.  The other day when Alberto Callaspo hit his 10th homer, I went into our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater to see who had been more valuable this year, Alberto Callaspo or Pablo Sandoval.  First rule of Fantasy Baseball Player Rater Checking, if you’re looking to see how a player compares to Alberto Callaspo, there’s a problem with said player.  There’s no second rule.  That’s the only rule you need.  Eric Hosmer or Alberto Callaspo?  Oh, man, Hosmer you done messed up.  Alberto Callaspo or Michael Young?  Damn, Michael Young, you smell like a

OPS Fantasy Leagues: Just Like Heaven

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

This week I wanted to discuss some players that have unexpectedly carried teams in OPS fantasy leagues. Some of them have simply stayed healthy, while others have become completely different players, at least temporarily. The best example of an incarnation is…

Edwin Encarnacion – Matthew Berry said he would rather have Encarnacion than Prince Fielder in 2013. I mean, that’s just obnoxious. Sure, Fielder has his ups and downs from year to year, but he’s been a top fantasy player for a long time and there’s no reason to expect that to change. That’s a big contrast to Edwin, who already has a surprising 40 home runs this season. He’s been especially helpful due to him qualifying at third base, where

Royals Aim To Odorizzi Their Stinky Season

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

The Royals called up Jake Odorizzi, which means nothing really for this year.  He will start next weekend vs. the Indians, and that could be a spot start in some fantasy leagues, but this is more for 2013.  Or, since it’s the Royals, this is Moore for 2013.  In order to be protected from a Rule 5 draft, the Royals had to call him up.  I don’t think this means we see Odorizzi in the rotation to start next year, but he’ll be in the mix for the last spot.  Knowing the Royals, they’ll find someone like Randy Wolf or Carl Pavano for that last spot.  Jeremy Guthrie’s run with the Royals this year is the worst thing that could’ve happened for Royals fans.  Now ownership can get another half-dead veteran

Alex Avila: Jaw Injury

Source: RotoWire.com MLB

Alex Avila: Avila suffered a jaw injury after colliding with Prince Fielder on Sunday, Tigers Director of Media Relations Brian Britten reports. Visit RotoWire.com for more analysis on this update.

Avila leaves after taking elbow from Prince - Alex Avila | DET

Source: Rotoworld Baseball

Alex Avila left Sunday's game after being inadvertently elbowed by Prince Fielder while the two were chasing a pop-up.

Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues: Weddings and Gambling Addictions

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Right off the bat (pun intended, or not, I’m not sure), I’d like to sincerely apologize for missing a week. I tried to squeeze it in but my wedding took precedence in the end. Beautiful party. Gorgeous ceremony. I looked stunning, oh, and my Wife did too. Other than a female friend of mine getting pushed by another woman, and her being told to “stay away from my man, you bitch,” things couldn’t have gone any better. In fact, that might have been one of the highlights. My Dad seemed to enjoy it and I know I did.

Being heavily involved in multiple fantasy baseball leagues is quite similar to being in a serious relationship. Only in this particular case, I have five fantasy leagues and only one serious relationship.

Taking A Closer Look at First Base for 2013: Goldschmidt, Hart and Davis

Source: Fake Teams by Alex Kantecki

Coming into the 2012 season, first base looked so deep. Weren’t quick enough to snag Albert Pujols or Joey Votto? No problem. Missed out on Miguel Cabrera or Prince Fielder? No biggie.

As the season winds down, those who failed to land one of the big boys probably regret selecting Eric Hosmer or Michael Cuddyer

Taking A Closer at First Base for 2013: Goldschmidt, Hart and Davis

Source: Fake Teams by Alex Kantecki

Coming into the 2012 season, first base looked so deep. Weren’t quick enough to snag Albert Pujols or Joey Votto? No problem. Missed out on Miguel Cabrera or Prince Fielder? No biggie.

As the season winds down, those who failed to land one of the big boys probably regret selecting Eric Hosmer or Michael Cuddyer

NatGio Shows The World One Pretty Pitcher

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

You could argue Mike Minor threw a slightly better game yesterday and deserved the lede, but you’d be arguing with a computer screen and over what should be the lede on a fantasy baseball blog.  It’s about time I gave Gio Gonzalez (7 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 9 Ks) some love after emoting all over myself in the preseason about how much I wanted Gio on every team.  In December of last year — yes, December — I gushed over Gio like a little schoolgirl that just got a free shopping spree at American Girl Place.  I followed up that gushing volcano of man love with me ranking him 17th overall.  I’m not right all the time, but sometimes you just gotta sit back and say, “Grey, your mustache is thick as your

OPS Fantasy Leagues: Return Of The King

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Here are some updates on guys I covered earlier in the year and where I expect them to be for the rest of the season:

Albert Pujols – When I last wrote about him a few months ago, he had an OPS below .600. I remember people talking about how he was struggling to adjust to American League pitching. Since then he’s been getting to know them, getting to know all about them. The King has impressively turned his season around to the tune of an OPS well over .900 since June. His BABIP and low home run to fly ball rate are two areas that have vastly improved as the season progressed. I expect him to be more than king for a day, and continue to dominate for the rest of the season. One potentially exciting development

McDonald Grabs Win and He’s Lovin’ It

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Old McDonald got a win, K, K, K, K, K! And in this win he struck out seven….Yes, James McDonald finally showed flashes of his first half form again last night, pitching 6.0 innings, surrendering just 2 hits, 0 ER, and striking out 7 for his 11th win.  It was a huge rebound for J-Mac, who’s been downright awful since the All-Star break. Pirates GM Neal Huntington decided to give McDonald a few extra days rest and well, give that GM a raise, sir! You know, his mother had been saying the same thing all along. “What are ya doing, Jimmy! Giving up  so many runs, destroying so many ratios, you’re just tired, sweetheart! Get some sleep, you stay up too late. You need rest, you’re a growing boy, Jimmy!” Mother