Overreactions for Opening Day

My team is off to a mediocre start. I was sitting on a fine batting average last night but I woke up to find out that Denard Span and Bobby Abreu combined to go 0/9 with 3 Ks. That was less than impressive. Panic mode!

Anyway, at catcher I may have a situation. I already knew that Napoli would lose playing time to Jeff Mathis but I didn't think Mathis would get the first start. On top of that the guy went yard. Luckily, I may have unearthed a gem as I am drawing on the strategy that got me Sandoval as a catcher last year by playing Pittsburgh first baseman Jeff Clement. I guess Yahoo is basing is position eligibility on two years ago (last time he played in the majors) when he was a back up catcher in Seattle. I'm not saying that Clement is Sandoval by any means but getting a full time position player to play in your catcher slot is a definite advantage. However, Clement's success in the minors hasn't quite stuck in the majors so far. There's a reason why I was able to pick him up since I realized I wouldn't have to waste a draft pick on him: No one else wanted him. We'll see how this experiment goes.

My temporary fill-in until Berkman returns from the DL may end up staying on the team. I grabbed Konerko and he immediately responded with a home run and two walks. Not too shabby. He most likely won't touch 30 homers ever again but he isn't a bad temp at all. As a matter of fact, he's currently on pace for about 160 dingers. I'm going to ride that out and see what happens.

My second base job temporarily belongs to Scott Sizemore who went hitless last night but did pick up a walk and a run. He is getting some early predictions for AL ROTY but I'm most likely going to cut him as soon as Gorden Beckham gets 2B eligibility which should happen by the end of the week. Beckham had a decent debut as the White Sox second baseman by picking up a couple hits.

The Yankee combo of third and short did ok in the shootout against Boston. A-Rod didn't do to much but Jeter did get me a steal.

My outfield... ugh. Hitless. All three of them. Ellsbury, Abreu, and Span. That's two lead off guys and a guy who bats second. 0/14. I should cut them all.

Pitching was... ugly. Beckett got beat up by the Yanks Sunday night but he also signed a flashy new contract. Haren put in a solid performance yesterday, but my numbers for the day were awful thanks to three of my five closers getting roughed up. Jason Frasor responded to getting named as the Toronto closer by getting absolutely destroyed and Franklin allowed a couple runs himself in a non-save situation.

What does all this mean? Well, it's opening day... so... nothing. The fantasy gurus are all invoking the name of Tuffy Rhodes as a means of reminding fantasy players not to get all worked up over opening day statistics. Rhodes is a a guy who, back in 1994, hit 3 homers off of Dwight Gooden on opening day. He then proceeded to hit 5 more for his career.

Good lesson to learn. However I am still trying to trade away my pitching staff so it apparently hasn't sunk in to my think skull yet. If you aren't overreacting then you aren't trying. That's my motto.