A couple posts ago I was complaining about not winning in fantasy sports. It still completely baffles me that I could not win the league last year in baseball. This is a subject I fear that I will never be able to let go.
Purely for my own indulgence, I'd like to talk about my roster.
C-Pablo Sandoval-572 AB/79 R/25 HR/90 RBI/5 SB/ .330 AVE
I saw Kung Fu Panda as a huge sleeper last year. He finished 2008 with big numbers and a great average after being called up by the Giants at the end of the year. Sure, he might have been a fluke, but what I loved was that he was getting the full time gig at third base while still being eligible for catcher under Yahoo rules. A full time player that you can slot in at the C spot is a dream come true. My plan was to draft Pablo and Matt Wieters, the rookie sensation, and trade whichever one had the most value later on. Well, Pablo was awesome, having a great breakout year. Wieters ended up not being worth the hype, and I dealt him at some point.
1B-Prince Fielder-591 AB/103 R/46 HR/141 RBI/2 SB/ .299 AVE
Nothing like getting top 5 production from your second round draft pick. Fielder was, by far, the MVP of the team. Huge year, and consistent to boot. Other guys on the team had cold spells and hot streaks, but it was Fielder who was consistently ape shit every week. He was coming off a down year in which his transition to a vegetarian lifestyle was criticized, but he was still a monster bat at the position where power is needed. Good move there. I highly doubt he'll be available in the 2nd round this year.
2B-Chase Utley-571 AB/112 R/31 HR/93 RBI/23 SB/.282 AVE
Look at those numbers. Nice, right? How often will you find a 30/20 guy at 2B? I was able to snag Utley in the 3rd round due to concerns that his offseason surgery would cause him some problems. Even at that point in the draft I thought I was taking a gamble. It helped that Pedroia was coming off an MVP season and half the guys I play with are Sawx fans. Utley ended up being awesome. He's a bit streaky, but it was alright... until September, that is. As soon as the playoffs began, Utley went stone cold. On September 1st, Utley had an average of .304. He finished at .282. Over that last, most crucial month Utley went 22/108 (.204). And THAT is why I will not be drafting Utley this year, unless he falls, again, to the 3rd round.
3B-Miguel Cabrera-611 AB/96 R/34 HR/103 RBI/6 SB/.324 AVE
For the second year in a row I made Miggy my first round pick. There's something about him that is very un-exciting. I think it's his consistency that does it. He never has a huge week. Not much to say about him except he keeps almost every category afloat while the various other parts of the roster can blow up and suck at their own discretion. He ran it to some trouble this off season with a drinking problem. It's easy to forget that Miggy is very young. Hopefully he cleans up his act and takes things to the next level.
SS-Gordon Beckham-378 AB/58 R/14 HR/63 RBI/7 SB/.270 AVE
The biggest source of drama in 2009 was definitely my SS situation. I drafted Theriot, included him in a trade for Reyes, lost Reyes to a season ending injury, went through an assortment of Alcides Escobar/Erick Aybar/ Maicer Izturis/Jhonny Peralta/Everth Cabrera/and Elvis Andrus, and finally settled on Beckham who had a very good debut in the majors. Beckham started slow, got really hot in July, went cold in August, and finished nicely in September. If you take his numbers at 600 ABs you get a line of: 92/22/100/11. Not bad at all at SS. I'll take it, and Beckham will definitely be on my radar next year, even though he loses shortstop eligibility.
OF-Matt Holliday-581 AB/94 R/24 HR/ 109 RBI/14 SB/.313 AVE
I didn't draft Holliday but I did get him on a sweet buy-low situation. My OF was garbage at the beginning of the season but I was able to build something nice from nothing. I had Magglio Ordonez (big time slump), Ankiel (garbage), Snider (bust), and Maybin (still waiting for that breakout) to begin the year, but I ended up with a great squad at the end. Holliday was awesome. I got him near the time he was traded to St Louis where he really seemed to enjoy batting behind Pujols. He suffered a power outage and stopped running in September, so, like Utley, I am kind of pissed at him, but he was still batting .326 so I can't complain too much.
OF-Nick Markakis-642 AB/94 R/ 18 HR/ 101 RBI/6 SB/.293 AVE
I've had a man crush on Markakis for a few years and I was bummed when I couldn't get him in the draft. I was able to trade him off on another buy low where he started playing a little better. However, Markakis is now in the same doghouse as Utley as my 2009 fantasy killers. You think Utley was bad with his .204 September average? Well Marakis was even worse with a .198. He, also like Utley, came in to September with a .304 average. It was all downhill from there. I was especially surprised with this production as Markakis was starting to get a reputation for second half explosions. Well, you win some you lose some.
OF-Shin Soo Choo-583 AB/87 R/20 HR/86 RBI/21 SB/.300 AVE
Choo was another proud drafting moment for me as he was a guy I was definitely targeting. I got him in the 17th round and he was definitely worth it. His one bugaboo was injuries and he managed to stay healthy. He was a little heavy on the K's (our league counts strikeouts) but he was solid in every single other category. He also hit a bird one time on a shallow outfield bloop.
Util-Denard Span-578 AB/97 R/8 HR/68 RBI/23 SB/.311 AVE
Span was another guy I wanted to grab as a sleeper but he went before I could get him, where I settled on Maybin. However, he was part of the ill-fated preseason trade where I sent away my pitching staff for Jose Reyes. Span was perfect in this OBP/K league. He gave me a solid OBP, stole a few bases, and scored a bunch of runs. Not bad at all at the utility spot.
SP-Adam Wainwright-233 IP/19-8/212 K/2.63 ERA/1.21 WHIP
Wainwright has been on my team for 4 years now. I love this guy, he's been a sleeper every year while offering at least SP2 production. Unfortunately, his Cy votes finally put him on the map and I'll probably never see him again.
SP-Cliff Lee-231IP/14-13/181 K/3.22 ERA/1.24 WHIP
Another buy low steal. He was slumping at the time of acquisition, but shortly after he was traded to Philly and he exploded. I cant recall what I gave up for him but it was definitely worth it. Once he got out of Cleveland he reduced his walks (33vs10) and shaved a half a run off of his ERA. Nice.
SP-Ricky Nolasco-185 IP/13-9/195 K/5.06 ERA/1.25 WHIP
What can I say about Ricky? By every indication there is no way his era should have been as awful as it was. He started awful. His April ERA was 6.92. His May was even worse at 12.23. He still showed great control and had no problem striking guys out, but he was just plain too damn hittable. His BABIP was absurd at the time, around .350 if I recall correctly. I hung on to him though, as his numbers looked fine. He was sent down for a little while, and when he came back it appeared that he corrected his issues. His second go around showed significant improvement and was striking out 10/9 IP, which is great. So, I'll give Nolasco a pass on 2009 as he didn't really hurt me too much, and stuck around when it really counted.
SP-Tommy Hanson-127 IP/11-4/116 K/2.89 ERA/1.18 WHIP
I hate to wait forever for Hanson to get the call, but it was well worth it. He experienced some good luck, but I wasn't complaining. His debut went so well that a number of 2010 rankings have him among the top 25 SPs for the year. Apparently I'm kind of a sucker for these hot new rookies as I was also the guy who held on to Wieters forever. And a couple years ago I managed to get both Tim Lincecum and Yovani Gallardo as soon as they were promoted. However, I'm also the guy who drafted Alex Gordon, and look how that turned out. Sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes it does.
SP-Arroyo/Slowey/Baker/Kuroda/Kawakami
My other pitchers were hit and miss, for the most part. Arroyo, as it turns out, is absolutely money in the second half. He's the pitcher version of Adam Laroche. Slowey was a target of mine as he walks nobody. Unfortunately he had a season ending injury kind of early on. Baker I took a chance on when someone else cast him off. He's like Slowey, another Minnesota product. These guys have great control. Kuroda is a solid pitcher. Nothing fantastic. The downside is that he rarely gives you more than 6 innings. Kawakami... meh.
Closers-Bell 42 SV/Soria 30 SV/MacDougal 20 SV/ Gutierrez 10 SV
I learned a lesson about closers last year. Not going to share it, but I learned something. Anyway, I traded away a number of closers throughout the year in a number of those buy low deals. I'm the a-hole who picks up the closer-in-waiting the second that the grumblings begin on trade rumors. In review my end of year closers were either solid or garbage. Bell had a breakout year and I expect that he will be overrated this year and Soria had another great year despite an injury. MacDougal, on the other hand, is a WHIP killer and never deserved the job. Gutierrez didn't deserve the job either, and he no longer has the job.
So, in review, I had career years out of Sandoval, Fielder, Utley, Holliday, Span, Choo, Wainwright, Lee, and Bell. It was all kittens and rainbows for 95% of the year. When the playoffs came, however, it was like a completely different squad.
The guy who beat me had a number of spare parts, and it is especially painful in that I traded them to him:
C-Miguel Montero-this guy is actually really good, but he was a part-timer
1-Cuddyer-he had a career year, but no where as good as Fielder
2-Cano-solid, and unlike Utley, he didn't completely disappear in the playoffs
3-Reynolds-had a monster year, but he only batted 260 and set the record for Ks (223)
S-Alberto Callaspo-Who? Exactly. This dude went nuts in September with an ops of .970. In the week of our matchup Callaspo had 1/8 of his RBIs
O-Rajai Davis-another nobody known for stealing bases and nothing else. In that week he had 1/7 of his RBIs
O-Ludwick-he sucked last year
O-Matsui-I traded Matsui to him, hoping to cash in on the name and team. He thanks me by smacking a couple of dingers
Util-Jose Lopez-another guy I sent to him. At least he didn't screw me over.
Other than that he had no decent pitching other than Sabathia. His closers were nice though.
What it all came down to was that everything that could go wrong for me, did, and whatever could go right for him, did.
What are the chances of me ever assembling a team like this again, especially in a 14 team league? Zilch. Nada. It was a learning experience, at the least. It definitely forced me to pay attention to the September track record for players.
Pitchers and catchers report this week, so it's time to finalize my prep, and stop bitching about the past. But god damn that sucked.
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