Group Think: Fantasy Baseball

[Suicane75]

Sure, some of us are in leagues together so we might not want to tip our hats too much but I thought it would be interesting if we sort of kicked around our thoughts some. Every few days I'll post another batch from ESPN's top 300.

1. Mike Trout, LAA OF
2. Miguel Cabrera, Det 3B
3. Andrew McCutchen, Pit OF
4. Paul Goldschmidt, Ari 1B
5. Carlos Gonzalez, Col OF
6. Chris Davis, Bal 1B
7. Jacoby Ellsbury, NYY OF
8. Edwin Encarnacion, Tor 1B, DH
9. Robinson Cano, Sea 2B
10. Adrian Beltre, Tex 3B
11. Adam Jones, Bal OF
12. Hanley Ramirez, LAD SS
13. Prince Fielder, Tex 1B
14. Ryan Braun, Mil OF
15. Troy Tulowitzki, Col SS
16. Carlos Gomez, Mil OF
17. Jason Kipnis, Cle 2B
18. David Wright, NYM 3B
19. Joey Votto, Cin 1B
20. Bryce Harper, Wsh OF

My initial thoughts, Braun is too low, Kipinis scares the fuck out of me.

[Lathum]

Cano is way to high. See Adrian Beltre. There are also a few guys on that list I don't trust to have repeat years. Davis and Goldsvhmidy.

[ntndeacon]

I hope you are right re : Goldy... I just traded him for Wainwright , Greike, and Coepedes

[jbergey22]

Id bump E5, Cano, Beltre, GoGo and Kipnis down.

Id bump Prince, Wright and Votto up.

If you are in a keeper league Id work on getting Buxton. Should be ready to go in 2015.

[panerd]

HamRam is much too high based on his recent injury history. I think that is the deal with Braun's low ranking also. If it was just Biogenesis it might effect his value a little but he also most likely agreed to the suspension last year because his hand was bad enough that he was likely going to not play anyways.

[murrayyyyy]

So I should feel good getting Adrian Beltre, Tex 3B, Adam Jones, Bal OF & Prince Fielder, Tex 1B in the same draft? (16 team snake, had pick 16)

[Chief Rum]

Id bump E5, Cano, Beltre, GoGo and Kipnis down.

Id bump Prince, Wright and Votto up.

If you are in a keeper league Id work on getting Buxton. Should be ready to go in 2015.

E5?

[murrayyyyy]

E5?

Encarnacion... he was so bad at third base then they gave him the nickname E5 because of all his errors made. Something like one every four games.

[Suicane75]

21. Dustin Pedroia, Bos 2B
22. Ian Desmond, Wsh SS
23. Evan Longoria, TB 3B
24. Yasiel Puig, LAD OF
25. Alex Rios, Tex OF
26. Jose Reyes, Tor SS
27. Ian Kinsler, Det 2B
28. Freddie Freeman, Atl 1B
29. Giancarlo Stanton, Mia OF
30. Shin-Soo Choo, Tex OF
31. Buster Posey, SF C, 1B
32. Justin Upton, Atl OF
33. Elvis Andrus, Tex SS
34. Eric Hosmer, KC 1B
35. Jay Bruce, Cin OF
36. David Ortiz, Bos DH
37. Jose Bautista, Tor OF
38. Yadier Molina, StL C
39. Josh Donaldson, Oak 3B
40. Albert Pujols, LAA 1B, DH

Think a lot of the power in this group, Freeman, Stanton, Upton, should be higher. Will continue to never own Elvis Andrus.

[jbergey22]

Up Longoria, Reyes, Choo, Pujols

Down Desmond, Rios, Freeman, Andrus, Papi

I just cant see taking Papi there. His age has to eventually get him.

[Suicane75]

What about Freeman don't ya like?

[Vince, Pt. II]

Worried about Posey this year. He had a huge slump and never really turned it back around last year.

[jbergey22]

What about Freeman don't ya like?

There is nothing I dont like about him. I just think he is a bit overvalued right now in fantasy baseball. His .371 BABIP last year will likely decrease and Im not convinced he is more than a 20-23 home run guy,

The positive to picking him there is I think he is one of the safer bets out there to get you around a 300 average with 20 home runs.

[panerd]

Instead of starting a new thread I figured I would post in this one.

I have the first pick in our NL-only minor league draft. I am thinking it comes down to Taveras or Baez. You get them for $5 for two years. My inclination is that Taveras will play more this season and have an impact but the injuries and my Cardinal bias scare me. Any opinions? Other players? (If they make a ML roster like Bradley or D'Anuard they are already going to be taken these have to be minor league players)

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

Baez looks to be elite power at a valuable position. Not sure that pushes him over but it is something to consider.

[panerd]

Baez looks to be elite power at a valuable position. Not sure that pushes him over but it is something to consider.

Yeah Baez seems to have way more upside (position, HR's) if they are both playing x number of games. I can never figure out what Epstien is doing in Chicago though. Obviously Castro is a proven ML talent but seems like Barney or Valbuena would be easily replaced. Of course I am going strictly fantasy numbers and not considering contracts, defense, etc...

The one plus to Taveras is that my league is based in St. Louis so the Cardinals in our league usually have more value for trades. That Polanco from Pittsburgh has me intruiged also but maybe I am just overthinking this. :)

[Ramzavail]

def go Baez.

[SackAttack]

Not sure I'd put Puig as a top-25 talent yet. He strikes me as a Raul Mondesi type right now. He's got the tools, but he chases too much to expect that kind of seasonal output from him.

If he's able to repeat his performance from August where he started actually taking walks, he'll be dangerous. Right now, though? We don't have nearly enough information to justify ranking him that high.

[TLK]

So who are the sleepers this year? I have a 14 team auction tonight and haven't done any homework.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Pablo Sandoval seems to be going pretty low; he's in a contract year and in incredible shape. Not sure exactly how much higher he should be going (if at all), but he's playing for a contract and it seems painfully obvious that the Giants aren't going to give it to him.

[Vince, Pt. II]

If you have Brandon Belt, now might be a good time to sell if you've got someone in your league who likes to jump on early bandwagons. He made a change late last season in his approach and has hit like gangbusters ever since. As much as the homer in me would love to think this is the new, real Brandon Belt, he's never hit 20 HR in a season and he's a lefty hitting at AT&T Park most of the time.

That being said, I think he's going to be a great contributor this year, and he's likely to hit 2nd a lot, in front of the likes of Posey, Sandoval and Pence.