MLB Fantasy picks

[Kahalu'u Kid]

Without looking at those Fantasy Magazines, I was wondering who everyone's gonna get (top 5 or so players)?

[Marco]

Re: MLB Fantasy picks

I admit, I'm one of those losers that buys fantasy magazines. Hey, other than surfing and videogames, this is all I get to spend my money on! But without looking at any of them, I'd say my top 5 would be: Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Johan Santana, Alfonso Soriano and Jose Reyes.

I just had a draft the other day with my boys, and this is my team (not like anyone seems to care here, from the response to this thread):
C K. Kohjima
1B R. Howard
2B D. Uggla
3B G. Atkins
SS D. Jeter
CI J. Giambi
MI T. Iguchi
OF G. Sizemore
OF C. Lee
OF C. Quentin
OF D. Roberts
UT F. Thomas

SP R. Oswalt
SP F. Hernandez
SP J Papelbon
SP N. Lowry
SP C. Park
RP H. Street
RP C. Cordero
P E. Gagne

I'll list my teams from my other drafts when they happen, cuz I know everyone here is just dying to hear about it. All 1 of you!

[Kahalu'u Kid]

Re: MLB Fantasy picks

^I know man! There's a bunch of people on here who said they love MLB, so I figured I'd start this thread. Then they all disappear! Oh well...

How can you have Jose Reyes in your top 5? (Is he a personal fave or something? or maybe the mags know something I don't). I know he's a really good player, but if you're talking shortstops, I think Tejada is still more productive even though he's with the O's. And no Vlady! Well, you got Howard, so that's just as good.

Regarding your team, I had some of the same players. Uggla did well for me last year, even though he got hurt. I think Iguchi might be a better everyday player though, especially with the guys that follow him in the batting order. (Konerko, Thome, Dye). I had Johjima too. I think he'll really hit this year. Your outfield is looking okay, Lee is good, Sizemore is okay (strikes out too much for a lead-off), and Dave Roberts is average in my book. Frank Thomas utility, nice pick, but no defensive points as he will only DH.

Nice starting rotation, except for maybe Park. Oswalt is money every year, Hernandez has tons of raw talent, Papelbon coming out of the bullpen, and Lowry I don't know too much about. Gagne, if healthy will put up big numbers, and Street (I had him too) is all business too.

Hey thanks for posting up Marco, I'll let you critique my teams after draft day. Aloha.

[Marco]

Re: MLB Fantasy picks

I kinda thought more people here played fantasy baseball, too. I probably assumed that because all of my friends and family do. I've been playing fantasy sports with them for years (almost 1/3 of my life), so I assumed that everyone else played too. Guess not.

How can you have Jose Reyes in your top 5? (Is he a personal fave or something? or maybe the mags know something I don't). I know he's a really good player, but if you're talking shortstops, I think Tejada is still more productive even though he's with the O's. And no Vlady! Well, you got Howard, so that's just as good.

Well, Jose Reyes is top 5 in almost all the mock drafts I've seen on sites like espn.com and mlb.com. He went third in my draft last week. The reason being is that there's a much sharper dropoff in talent at SS than at OF and 1B, which are traditional power positions. And Reyes is still really young, hits for great power and average for his position, and can singlehandedly win you the SB category every week. I actually like Tejada better personally, but for fantasy baseball, Reyes is at the top of everyone's list at shortstop. But I agree Vlady's a monster, and could easily make a lot of top 5 lists. He's just not on mine.

Regarding your team, I had some of the same players. Uggla did well for me last year, even though he got hurt. I think Iguchi might be a better everyday player though, especially with the guys that follow him in the batting order. (Konerko, Thome, Dye). I had Johjima too. I think he'll really hit this year. Your outfield is looking okay, Lee is good, Sizemore is okay (strikes out too much for a lead-off), and Dave Roberts is average in my book. Frank Thomas utility, nice pick, but no defensive points as he will only DH.

Yeah, I think my team's pretty good and should be competitive. Strikeouts and Defense don't count in my leagues, so I like Sizemore and Frank Thomas a lot. I've actually never been in or seen a league where defense was given points. Only in fantasy football. How does it work in baseball? And I agree that Roberts is just average, but he's good for SBs, which is something I really covet in my leagues.

Nice starting rotation, except for maybe Park. Oswalt is money every year, Hernandez has tons of raw talent, Papelbon coming out of the bullpen, and Lowry I don't know too much about. Gagne, if healthy will put up big numbers, and Street (I had him too) is all business too.

Thanks. But a couple things: Papelbon's not coming out of the pen. The Sox are converting him to a starter this year. But yeah, Park isn't that great. Lowry is a southpaw on the Giants, and puts up pretty decent numbers. My pitching isn't the best, but I usually concentrate on hitting more, and didn't start selecting pitchers until midway thru the draft. I gambled on Gagne at the end, hoping that he'll rebound from his last two years, but mostly went with safe picks this time. I like to change up my strategy for each draft. In the next one, I'll go after "potential" players like Alex Gordon, Markakis, Hughes, Matsuzaka, etc. Then do something different in the last one, which is gonna be an auction.

Anyways, I'd like to see who you got after your drafts, so definitely post them when you're pau. I still have two more to go. They're real good fun.

[Kahalu'u Kid]

Re: MLB Fantasy picks

^Regarding the defensive points and strikeouts, whoever's setting up your league has the option of deciding which stats get how many points. It's one of the options in Fantasy. Our leagues always give points for defense (I believe put outs and assists), as our commissioner tries to keep it as close to real baseball as possible. That's why our utility players end up being so important. If these players are real DHs on their teams (like Thomas), they don't get defensive points on the daily. Of course many DHs are worth it even if they don't play in the field.

If your commissioner is giving big points for stolen bases, then yeah, Reyes is probably better than Tejada.

How bout dropping Dave Roberts for Shane Victorino? I know Shane hasn't started a full season yet, but he's played super good for the Phils, and look where he's batting.

I know Papelbon is a starter now, I meant that he's leaving the bullpen--bad choice of words by me.

I think my top five is gonna look something like this:
Pujols, Howard, Vlady, Chris Carpenter (cuz everyone and their mom wants Santana, and NL pitchers don't have to face DHs), Soriano ... Shane Victorino will also be higher on my list than he deserves, cuz I wanna be able to follow his progress daily.

[Marco]

Re: MLB Fantasy picks

What site do you use for your fantasy sports? Because the ones that I've always used don't come with defense options for baseball, as far as I know. It sounds interesting, but I'm a little hesitant to try it. I'll try ask my buddies if they maybe want to test it out in one league. I know it would totally throw off most ratings of players as standard leagues never include Defense. I assume that errors would then be given negative points for that category, or something like that?

The commish doesn't give extra points for steals in my leagues. I just like them, is all. Most of my leagues are H2H. We only have one roto league. Reyes puts up similar power numbers and average to Tejada, and has the benefit of being much younger and gives you SBs. At this point, I think Miggy can't go anywhere but down, while Reyes is all upside. That's why I like him more.

I'm thinking of dropping Roberts and Park, but haven't decided who to pick up on the waiver wire yet. Maybe I'll go with your advice and grab Shane Victorino, cuz it'd be good to have a local boy on my team. I think someone else may already have him. Maybe Dane Sardinha.

Carpenter's a stud, but I wouldn't choose him over Johan just cuz everyone loves Santana. You make a decent point about him pitching in the NL, but Santana doesn't seem to have any issues pitching in the AL. That's where he's been his whole career. But hey, nothing wrong with your list. Everyone's got their own preferences.

[Kahalu'u Kid]

Re: MLB Fantasy picks

We're playing on Yahoo. There's an option to set up the entire point system based on how you want it. Last year though, we were able to select the point values for each stat, but this year that option is gone.

So with defense, you get points for put outs and assists, and then negative points for errors.

Yeah, I think you're right about Tejada vs. Reyes, Reyes is all upside, w/Tejada heading the opposite direction (shoulda stayed w/the A's!). My sleeper pick though, is Hanley Ramirez.

Better get Shane fast! He was the #3 secret pick on somebody's Fantasy Expert page for outfielders. I just noticed Dane Sardinha got traded to the Tigers, right on! However, I wonder if he made the 40-man roster cuz he's only played in one or two big league games. Also, he won't see much playing time behind Pudge Rodrigues, so Victorino would be waay better.

Don't get me wrong, I think Santana's the best pitcher in the league by far, it's just that everyone's gonna try and get him.