2011 Fantasy Baseball Advice Thread

[DanGarion]

Ok, I know we have done this thread earlier seasons, as we get closer and closer to opening day I'm sure there are many of us that will be looking for a second (or more) set of eyes to give advice.

I'm in a keeper league I already had Webb down all last year, and now the bomb of Wainwright going down and basically decimated my pitching staff. I have Zimmerman and AGonz and I'm contemplating trading one of them for pitching.

I have an offer on the table of Adrian Gonzalez for Josh Johnson and Freddie Freeman. I'm thinking it's pretty damn good deal considering our league, everyone is always looking for the next possible stud. Other than that I had someone offer me Cueto and Aaron Hill for Dustin Pedroia, I'm not big on that, he then counter offered Dan Haren, Cueto and Hill (or Reynolds) for Zimmerman and Pedroia. Still not exactly what I would like to do.

[jbergey22]

Id stay clear of Haren. He didnt seem like the same pitcher last year. I do like the A-Gon for Johnson and Freeman trade.

This may seem like a homer thing to say but if you could get Francisco Liriano this year I think you would be very happy. Each year back from injury his arm has gotten stronger and last year he had a lot of bad luck go against him and still did very well. This could be the year he breaks out with 20 wins and a sub 3 ERA.

[DanGarion]

The guy offering the trade for Johnson and Freeman has told me he would do Zimmerman instead...

I agree with Haren, I'm staying away from him.

[ntndeacon]

I would surely do zimmerman for Johnson and Freeman, I assume the pool at third is not completely dried up

[Ramzavail]

I would not trade A-God. He's going to go off in Fenway.

I would not keep Freddie Freeman unless I was in a league with 10 or more keepers.

[panerd]

Kyle Mcclellan in an NL only league for a $1. Worth the shot as a keeper or do I just get a lot of local hype here in St. Louis? I would be dropping Ubaldo Jimenez at $23. (I am well aware the Jimenez is the much better pitcher but it would free up $22 more for hitting if McClellan can get 10-12 wins and 100 something K's)

[Ramzavail]

I think McClellan at $1 is a good buy

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

I think McClellan at $1 is a good buy

My only fear is they sign a free agent or he doesn't impress in spring training than I am stuck with just ERA and WHIP and watching as Jimenez repeats the first half of last season. I guess that's fantasy baseball!

[Ramzavail]

I agree. If your auction was tomorrow, I'd wait

[Chief Rum]

Actually, Haren pitched very well with the Angels. His poor times last year were with the DBacks. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a bit of a product of playing on such a poor team. Also, Haren is from SoCal, so this is home. And the Angels have improved their overall team defense. Haren is also not yet on a downward slide due to age. There are all sorts of reasons to think that Haren will in fact have a bounce back year.

If you're looking for an Angels pitcher likely to take at least a small step back, I would look at Weav.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

I would surely do zimmerman for Johnson and Freeman, I assume the pool at third is not completely dried up

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

I would not trade A-God. He's going to go off in Fenway.
.

+1

[PurdueBrad]

Let me jump in with a need for advice. I'm entering a 14 team keeper league as an expansion team. We're cutting up the two teams that left and doing a three team fantasy draft (three expansion teams are taking their place). I was lucky enough to draw the #1 pick in the expansion draft and have the following choices (we are a total score league rather than h2h or categories):

Carl Crawford
Evan Longoria
Josh Hamilton
Felix Hernandez

Thanks to a couple draft pick trades, I do currently have two keepers of my own as well: Adrian Gonzalez and Andrew McCutchen.

I was sure I was going to go Crawford but I've gotten several offers if I would draft Longoria and another offer if I would draft Hernandez. I would like to keep whoever I pick as a foundation of my team, but I guess I was surprised there was no interest in Crawford.

[jbergey22]

I really like Longoria in this situation since 1B and OF are a lot deeper. Pitching seems deep this year as well plus with pitcher injuries I never like to put too much into a single pitcher.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

I would not trade A-God. He's going to go off in Fenway.

I would not keep Freddie Freeman unless I was in a league with 10 or more keepers.

17 Keepers...

[Ramzavail]

well I think Crawford is definitely a top player, however, Longoria and F-Her are better keepers. Younger and in their prime while Crawford is probably at the later half of his prime (plus OF are not as scarce)

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

17 Keepers...

sure, I'd still try to keep Gonzalez over Zimmerman.

[PurdueBrad]

Thanks a ton for the advice guys, I've been struggling with this one a lot. I'm a Pirates and Red Sox fan (can't tell from my first two keepers, right?!?) so I knew I was going into it with a bit of a bias.

[ntndeacon]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

Let me jump in with a need for advice. I'm entering a 14 team keeper league as an expansion team. We're cutting up the two teams that left and doing a three team fantasy draft (three expansion teams are taking their place). I was lucky enough to draw the #1 pick in the expansion draft and have the following choices (we are a total score league rather than h2h or categories):

Carl Crawford
Evan Longoria
Josh Hamilton
Felix Hernandez

Thanks to a couple draft pick trades, I do currently have two keepers of my own as well: Adrian Gonzalez and Andrew McCutchen.

I was sure I was going to go Crawford but I've gotten several offers if I would draft Longoria and another offer if I would draft Hernandez. I would like to keep whoever I pick as a foundation of my team, but I guess I was surprised there was no interest in Crawford.

What are the offers for your first pick. Clearly you need young keepers. and if no ofers are in place a great young 3b is a wonderful thing to have, but if any of them get you 2-3 great players in return...I might be tempted...How many keepers do you get in this league?

[Qwikshot]

My keepers might be a problem.

I get to keep 3 but not 3 of one position.
Head to head league
Avg, RBI, Steals, HRs, OPS(which kills me)
W, Saves, WHIP, Ks, ERA

Verlander
Kershaw
Lester
Longoria
Heyward

I have an early draft pick because my season did not turn out well.

I'm figuring Kershaw, Lester and Longoria...

[PurdueBrad]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

What are the offers for your first pick. Clearly you need young keepers. and if no ofers are in place a great young 3b is a wonderful thing to have, but if any of them get you 2-3 great players in return...I might be tempted...How many keepers do you get in this league?

Hey ntn-

The most attractive offer I've received is someone's 1, 3, and 5'th round picks in the regular draft. We keep 5 players, so this is the equivalent of a 6'th, 8'th, and 10'th round pick for Longoria. It does let me get some depth in there though.

For comparison, I was able to get Adrian Gonzalez for a regular draft 2'nd round pick (equivalent of a 7'th rounder) and Andrew McCutchen for a 5'th round pick (equivalent of a 10'th round pick). So I am without a 2'nd and 5'th round pick as it is, which does make the Longoria move a bit more attractive.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

The most attractive offer I've received is someone's 1, 3, and 5'th round picks in the regular draft. We keep 5 players, so this is the equivalent of a 6'th, 8'th, and 10'th round pick for Longoria.

If you can keep 5 guys with no restrictions on length of keeping them, I go with Longoria or possibly Hernandez with the nod to Longoria because the third base position doesn't have alot of elite options.

Longoria for 6,8 and 10 is the equivalent of Longoria for David Price, S Marcum and Ian Desmond (based on a cheat sheet). I pass on that.

And you already have Crawford lite in McCutchen. In a 14 team league to get he for the equivalent of a 9th rounder is most excellent.

[PurdueBrad]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Longoria for 6,8 and 10 is the equivalent of Longoria for David Price, S Marcum and Ian Desmond (based on a cheat sheet). I pass on that.

That's a terrific way to look at that. I'm kicking myself for not having thought of it.

Looks like, barring anything crazy between now and March 19'th, that I will be taking and keeping Longoria with that first overall pick. Thanks guys!

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

My keepers might be a problem.

I get to keep 3 but not 3 of one position.
Head to head league
Avg, RBI, Steals, HRs, OPS(which kills me)
W, Saves, WHIP, Ks, ERA

Verlander
Kershaw
Lester
Longoria
Heyward

I have an early draft pick because my season did not turn out well.

I'm figuring Kershaw, Lester and Longoria...

I would try to trade Verlander (if you don't want to keep him) He's a keeper. And I'd imagine somebody would want Verlanders 230 K's.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

I would try to trade Verlander (if you don't want to keep him) He's a keeper. And I'd imagine somebody would want Verlanders 230 K's.

+1

[DanGarion]

Ok so I have a couple different offers now for Zimmerman or Adrian Gonzalez.

It appears I might have all of these offers.

Zimm or AGonz for Josh Johnson and Freddie Freeman

Zimm or AGonz for Roy Halladay and a player that has not been determined

Zimm or AGonz for any of these combinations of players.
Romero/Gio Gonzalez
B. Anderson/Ike Davis
Alex Rios/Ricky Romero
John Danks/Ian Stewart

(Just to get some reference here is my team as it stands right now before we drop down to only 17).
Brennan Boesch
Shin-Soo Choo
Michael Cuddyer
Andre Ethier
Kosuke Fukudome
Rafael Furcal
Adrián González
Chase Headley
Jason Heyward
Adam Jones
Víctor Martínez
Jayson Nix
Dustin Pedroia
Freddy Sánchez
Ryan Theriot
Danny Valencia
Ryan Zimmerman

David Aardsma
Andrew Bailey
Dallas Braden
R.A. Dickey
Barry Enright
Matt Garza
Jeff Niemann
Joakim Soria
Jonathan Sánchez
Adam Wainwright
Brandon Webb
Barry Zito

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Ok so I have a couple different offers now for Zimmerman or Adrian Gonzalez.

I trade Zimmerman before Gonzalez. Curious what the other player is on the Halladay one.

[Ramzavail]

clearly, you could use a SP.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

clearly, you could use a SP.

That's what I'm thinking. I almost do the Zimmerman for Halladay straight. If the other player is anyone that can be kept, I do that trade easy.

Then again, I'm not a huge Zimmerman fan.

[DanGarion]

Ok, I'm working on another one with another owner.

Danks and Ian Stewart for Zimmerman.

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Ok, I'm working on another one with another owner.

Danks and Ian Stewart for Zimmerman.

fair enough, but I'm not sold that Ian Stewart is better than even Chase Headley and you have him. I'd go for the better pitcher and draft a 3B or if you need to squeeze Headley in, do that.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

fair enough, but I'm not sold that Ian Stewart is better than even Chase Headley and you have him. I'd go for the better pitcher and draft a 3B or if you need to squeeze Headley in, do that.

I went ahead with the trade. There isn't going to be much in 3B left with 17 keepers and Headley was on my cut list, I might keep him, but I'm still unsure.

[Ramzavail]

so you'd keep Stewart and possibly Headley?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

so you'd keep Stewart and possibly Headley?

Yeah, which will cover my 1B, 3B, and CI positions.

[Ramzavail]

its not terrible, i just know im in a few keeper leagues with 18-19 keepers, and those guys were either fringe keepers or not kept and drafted early in the restocking draft.

[Suicane75]

Ok gentlemen. I'm faced with having to rank my draft position preference in a 15 team league. Where would you prefer to draft given your druthers?

[Ramzavail]

(I'm assuming snake draft) anywhere but the middle of the draft.

I like 3/13 - I find that if I get back to back picks, I tend to reach on players. 3/13 gives me enough space between my picks to mentally overcome that. But that could just be my crazy head.

[Suicane75]

Thanks for the input. I was actually preferring the middle but now you have me thinking. Last year I had the 2nd pick and picked Mauer. Didn't hurt me but I would of felt better a few spots down.

[panerd]

NL Only Keeper League:

I trade Ubaldo Jimenez $23 for Clayton Richard $2. (Decided not to mess with McClellen from earlier) I lose a few K's and definitely take a hit on ERA but it also gives me $21 more to go after heavy hitters. Good idea or terrible?

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by panerd

NL Only Keeper League:

I trade Ubaldo Jimenez $23 for Clayton Richard $2. (Decided not to mess with McClellen from earlier) I lose a few K's and definitely take a hit on ERA but it also gives me $21 more to go after heavy hitters. Good idea or terrible?

Bid keepers are hard to give yes/no advice on just because there are so many variables.

On a basic level, If Jimenez and Richards were FAs in your league, would do you expect they would go for? If say Jimenez would go for say $35 and Richard for $5 then you have $9 more value in Jimenez and I wouldn't do the trade or if Jimenez would be around $25 and Richard $17, then you would gain $13 in value and I'd do the trade..

Granted, depends on who you have already, who is available and how much money you have right now.

[Suicane75]

Draft question. I have the 6th pick (yeah I know ).

15 team mixed. 14/9, 5x5.


Assuming Tulo, Ramirez & Pujols are gone do you

1) Select from one of the remaining 1B studs? Gonzalez, Voto, Cabrera
2) Select from one of the OF studs? Crawford, Braun, Gonzalez
3) Robinson Cano

[Suicane75]

Dola, anyone have a link to any articles on the top rookie prospects for fantasy this year? Stark has one on ESPN but it's Insider.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

+1

I can't trade, I can only keep. In the end, since I'll have the 2nd overall pick.

The league lost two teams, so we are an 8 team league now (sigh). This means they'll always be talent on the waiver wire but not enough bench spots to keep talent. I imagine trades will go down this season as you can pluck something serviceable in your lineup/rotation. Though I do think elite pitching will be a hot commodity, middle tier guys should always be available to take advantage of matchups.

Our commish sets a 5x5 league the only difference is that instead of runs we have OBP which seems redundant but the guy wanted something to reward walks (go figure, and the league approved). OBP seems to kill me. Actually WHIP destroyed me last year (Verlander, Lester, Greinke and Vasquez placed me in a deep pit of despair early).

1)Longoria - No brainer
2)B Posey - catchers who can provide pop and avg are a big plus in my book, it's like having an extra power hitter.
3) Lester and Kershaw - WHIP, Ks, and Wins to anchor my rotation.

I could not keep more than 2 players per same position so Verlander must go back to the FA pool. Heyward was injury prone and I could probably grab some semblance of power hitters to replace him. Prince Fielder is a power hitter that I could replace with another power hitting 1st baseman.

Targets:

Tulowitski - No brainer I think if the 1st overall doesn't grab him.
Votto
Braun
Wright
Kemp - Steals plus power

[MrDNA]

Drafting in a keeper league. I was an expansion team last year and my pitching was atrocious so I know I need to address that with the number two overall pick (yes, I finished ahead of someone!!... the other expansion team...). These are the hurlers I have my eye on:

• Wandy Rodriguez
• Bronson Arroyo
• Jaime Garcia

Also available, but IMO not as attractive as picks, are Brett Myers, Hiroki Kuroda, Ted Lilly, Clayton Richard and Dallas Braden.

Scoring for pitchers is:
APP - Appearances 1 point
CG - Complete Games 15 points
INN - Innings 0.5 points
K - Strikeouts (Pitcher) 1 point
L - Losses -5 points
PKO - Pick Offs 2 points
QS - Quality Starts 5 points
SO - Shutouts 15 points
W - Wins 10 points

My thinking is, while I like Rodriguez better as a pitcher and would probably draft him to an actual team, that stupid "win" stat means I ought to guy with one of the guys whose teams can score runs behind them and pick up the 10-pt. W. What do you guys think???

[Mustang]

NL Only auction keeper..

I'm heading into the season with Arroyo ($5), Cueto ($10) and Bailey ($4) all going on the DL. Any of these I should be really concerned about health wise? Would you replace any of those with R. Wells? ($5). Would you take Wells over Coghlan? ($5)

All the above pitchers I would expect to go for more if available on the open market at the draft. I estimate Arroyo $9, Cueto $15. Bailey is the tough one.. he could go for $1 or he could go for $10.. it is a crapshoot. Wells is probably priced correctly. (keep in mind our guys do NOT go for the range of typical auction cheat sheets...)

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by MrDNA

My thinking is, while I like Rodriguez better as a pitcher and would probably draft him to an actual team, that stupid "win" stat means I ought to guy with one of the guys whose teams can score runs behind them and pick up the 10-pt. W. What do you guys think???

Wins are a crapshoot. Figure out what the stats might be for the other cats and then figure in a high/low for wins.

You have the 2nd overall pick and those are the best pitchers available? Man.. thats rough.

[Logan]

Who do you guys like in the sleeper 3B category? It's definitely my clear weak spot (Gonzalez/Uggla/Hanley/Stewart around the infield) so I'm looking for someone to have on the bench in case Stewart struggles, ends up sharing too many ABs, or I need a boost.

[Ramzavail]

Neil Walker (prob is elig)
David Freese

[rowech]

Lidge on the shelf for a little bit, I have Nathan and Street as closers and Kuo and Kimbrel as possibles. Do I drop one to pick up either Contreras or Madson? If so, who do I drop and which do I pick up?

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Logan

Who do you guys like in the sleeper 3B category? It's definitely my clear weak spot (Gonzalez/Uggla/Hanley/Stewart around the infield) so I'm looking for someone to have on the bench in case Stewart struggles, ends up sharing too many ABs, or I need a boost.

Thinking Johnson from Houston might actually be a decent hitter. His spring has been good after a really good second half last year.

[Qwikshot]

Finished my keeper draft, had 2nd overall pick, of course, the 1st pick was Tulo, so I was stuck with Braun. (AVG, SB, HRs, RBIs, OBP and W, Svs, ERA, WHIP and Ks)

C- Posey -decent numbers plus OBP; yahoo has 1st base eligible, which is nice.
1st - Morneau - In an eight team league, everyone forgot him. Drafted him in the mid teens of a 20 round draft.
2nd - Kinsler - value where I drafted him, and I have him backed up with later picks.
3rd - Longoria - keeper from last year
SS - Andrus - Tulo gone, Rollins, Jeter, Reyes, I decided his speed is useful
OF - Braun - my only other 100+ RBI guy, which may pose a concern
OF - McCutchen - I drafted a Pirate, hopefully he won't lose hope after Opening Day
OF - Ellsbury - Again a super late pick that I couldn't resist, got burned last year
U - Gardner - Speed again

SP - Lester - keeper - These two are my anchors
SP - Kershaw - keeper (see above)
RP - Papelbon - again super late, couldn't resist
RP - Nathan - should be back
P - Hanson - a decent starter on a pitching strong team, 30 k's shy of 200 last year
P - Broxton - again this is what happens on an 8 team league

Bench

OF - Rasmus - may supplant Gardner
2b - Aaron Hill - 26 homers last year after an awful start
2b - Beckham - wonder if he'll get 3b eligibility, not bad for a late pick
SP - Beckett - expendible starter, but promise of a rebound
RP - Storen - a lot of promise on a bad team

First team, in a long time, that I'm excited about...let's see what I think by the All-Star game.