Fantasy Baseball Time
I’ve got my first big fantasy draft of the season this morning (10am PST). It’s in the online championship at nfbc.stats.com. Info for that particular contest can be found here:
http://nfbc.stats.com/baseball/contest/generic.asp?id=1180
I’ve played there since 2007 and it is by far the best online fantasy gaming site you can find. Drafts with many different types of formats are occurring daily up until opening day.
In this particular contest, there are 12 teams, 30 rounds and you get up to 70 seconds to make a pick so this will last a good 3 hours. I have several nuggets to mine in this draft but I won’t bore you with those picks. One of my favorite things to do is go back after a draft is complete and see where certain Giants went in relation to where they were drafted in previous drafts. Below, I’ll list off the most coveted SF Giant players in fantasy baseball (and there are a few) and the rounds they have been going in and later I’ll update this thread to include the round they actually went in my draft:
Buster Posey: he’s the first catcher taken in every draft. This year, he’s going (on average) at pick 16 (so, 4 picks into the 2nd round). The next catcher usually isn’t taken till pick 56 and that’s Joe Mauer. Posey is going way too high for my tastes so he’ll be on someone else’s team unless he drops into the 4th round (unlikely).
Update: Posey went 16th pick, 2nd round.
Matt Cain: He’s averaging as the 7th SP taken in a draft going at pick 46 (mid way through the 4th round). The 6 getting drafted ahead of him are Strasburg, Verlander, Kershaw, Price, King Felix and Cole Hamels. It will be unlikely that I draft Cain, though I’ve owned him before and have been happy with him.
Update: Cain went 9th pick, 3rd round. Absurd.
MadBum: the 13th SP taken, he’s sandwiched between Yu Darvish and Adam Wainwright at pick 61 (beginning of the 6th round). Depending on how the draft unfolds for me I might take him and could see myself drafting him in the 5th.
Update: MadBum was falling to me, I could almost touch him. He went 3rd pick, 6th round. I was pissed, I wanted him but took Cliif Lee 5 and he just didn’t fall to me.
Timmy: Last year he was the third SP taken, usually in the 3rd round. This year he’s the 30 SP taken going at pick 131 (end of round 11). I could definitely see myself drafting Timmy around 11, he could be a huge overlay and it’s picks like this that you have to have to win anything in fantasy baseball. Either that or they ruin you and you curse their name all the way up till the joyful moment you get to hit the button that bounces their ass to the waiver wire……
Update: Timmy went 11th pick, 10th round. I would have taken him in 11th round. I wasn’t too bummed.
Voggy: He’s the 50th SP taken going around round 19. I don’t see myself drafting him.
Update: He went middle 17th round.
Zito: If he gets drafted (so far he’s been drafted in only 48% of NFBC drafts) he’s going in the 30th (last) round.
Update: undrafted.
The Panda: He’s the ninth 3rd baseman taken, usually going in the 7th round.
Update: I got him! I took him in the 7th round. I was thin on 3rd basemen that I liked, glad I took him when I did or I would have been stuck with Lonnie Chisenhall…who I drafted in the 26th round just in case Pablo finds another hamate bone to fracture.
Crawford: he’s almost always undrafted
Update: undrafted
Scoots: he’s the 14th second baseman taken (again, on average) usually going around round 17.
Update: he went in round 21. He had been going round 17. And yes, I was the one who drafted him. I needed a MI back up and he qualifies as both SS and 2nd so I grabbed him (plus, he was an overlay).
Belt: He’s been getting drafted all over the place. He’s the 21st first baseman getting drafted at an average spot of round 20 but he’s been drafted as high as round 10. I could see myself reaching a little early for him if I need another first baseman around round 17. He could pay off big in 2013.
Update: This was a hard one to watch. I drafted Votto #1 (6th pick in first round) and then I drafted Hosmer in the 9th round (love him) so I wasn’t going to draft another 1-bagger. I watched that fucker drift to the 23rd round. I was going to take him 24, just on principal. Huge, HUGE overlay. Had I not taken Hosmer I might have drafted Belt 16/17ish…..
Pence and Pagan: Pence is the 29th OF taken usually in round 10, Pagan is the 45th OF picked, usually around round 14/15. I’m not interested in either.
Update: Pence went 11 and Pagan went 17–again, I had to take him. 17th round for Pagan is a gift, plus I needed SB’s.
Romo: he’s getting taken in round 13 and I think that’s too high. I have 6 other closers that are in my closer pool that I like better (and I’ll be picking 2 or 3 of them for my team).
Update: Romo went 14.
No other Giants are getting drafted.
Update: no other Giant got drafted.
Anyway, that’s what I’m doing this morning. I’ll check in later with the results.
Happy Sunday.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Sounds like a fun day. Good luck in the draft, Flav.
RotoChamp’s composite Fantasy Rankings for our guys. I’m not a fanstasy guy, this is just for what Craig and the rest of the Fantasy players think of these rankings and general info:
Posey (1)
Belt (32)
Scutaro (2B 22 , SS 21)
Crawford ( 32)
Sandoval (8)
Blanco ( 52)
Pagan (16)
Pence ( 14)
Cain (8)
MadBum (13 )
Lincecum ( 26)
Vofelsong (50)
Zito (144)
Romo (3)
Affedlt ( 66)
Casilla (70)
Kontos ( 78)
Mijares (127)
Ramirez (134)
Lopez (150)
The last 6 pitchers you listed have no fantasy value unless its a league that counts holds (which is lame and usually only done in free leagues).
Is the corresponding # to each player their ranking over in the position they play?
Yes, it’s by position. And I made no judgement on the fantasy value. I only listed the rank by position. OFers are listed by actual position also.
I see. Thanks. For the starters it’s pretty dead on with the NFBC. NFBC is affiliated with rotowire and if they’re associated with rotochamp it wouldn’t surprise me if they get their data from the drafts held at nfbc. I pay zero attention to espn and yahoo draft results, they are no where close to the results at the NFBC (sometimes 7-10 rounds off). But that’s to be expected, the big site’s are free, NFBC is a cash site where you commit big dollars to play.
RotoChamp provides Fantasy software, it doesn’t make a determination on the worth of Fantasy Leagues. It seems to be a well respected site.
Good luck Flav. Our last game in Scottsdale today. Timmy on the bump. Team has been going with the starters through 6 with the starters (Cain and Bummy) going 5. Everyone looks good. Peugeot played most of the game yesterday, starting in LF, moving to CF after 5 and then logging time in both CF and RF. gillis pie and Brown both hit in late ((LF nas CF, respectfully). Peguero got to a ball down the line and threw a frozen rope into 2nd. I think he will be the 5th OFer. I think the IF position is the most open at this time.
Most of my Picts are on my camera’s memory card. I will send this to Flav later. Will email you some good ones on my phone this morning Craig.
Make it a kick ass Sunday Flappers!
I heard some crowd noise over the radio yesterday and thought it might be you. 🙂
The Giants’ Facebook page posted this quasi-advert to pump up interest/ticket sales for the WBC:
“And then there were FOUR! The World’s Best are coming to AT&T Park.”
Uh, the World’s Best already reside at AT&T Park.
Caught some of lurie’s on radio after coaching last b-ball games of the season yesterday. He said —–HIS pics, not mine I haven’t seen any ST and don’t give a flying F—-the first two guys up from AAA during the reg season would be Bond and Hembree. Like all, he figures Gaudin gets the last spot, and he is also not impressed with anyone of the backup IF guys and thinks Abreu will open on the DL and Tanaka in Fresno. He was supposed to talk live to Kiesh but I was home by then and didn’t catch it.
He also had some interesting things to say about Theriot—that basically he blew SF off after Scuts arrived and took his PT. His supposed demands for a starting job of course weren’t going anywhere. He isn’t playing ST for any team and would seem to be in a good spot once teams make final cuts, but isn’t likely to return here. Again, disclaimer—-this is Lurie talking, not me.
These guys seem irrelevant to me at this point, but it’s hard to discount Arias contribution last year, and what he did nailed himself down a job and leaves the other guys scrambling.
Well, Lurie is a low talker…
I think Noonan will be up before Bond.Seems to me if ever they were going to keep Brock it would be when he was hitting .380 and the rest of the utility candidates were Men-Dozing it. As to Hembree, many think he’ll be the closer before the year is out, but opinion on him is all over the map.
Kieschnick, as I posted before, needs a huge AAA season to get a shot to be the RFer next year, he never was in any plans for this year.The mystery guy is really Crawford- he won me over and the rest of the Flappers mostly loved him already- but almost every site that makes projections has him regressing. You’ll note he’s ranked just behind Scooter on RotoChamp’s composite rankings for shortstops. It seems that some see Marco taking over the SS position at some point.
I figure Crawford weathered a lot last yr, especially early on and improved. I’ll take the hopeful view that his improvement only continues.
I do not understand the view that he should regress. And yet he’s seen as under .700 OPS and barely .300 OBP , .230 to .245 or so by the sites that make projections. I am not a slave to those numbers but when there’s so much agreement, I wonder what they’re seeing that we don’t. This is a kid who got better in the field and at the plate- his two best months were August and September. In fact, if we’re looking for reasons why they didn’t miss Milky, Crawdad and Belt were two major reasons, not just the usual guys cited ( Scooter, Pagan, et al) . The bottom of the order (Belt, Blanco, Crawford ) were huge factors in September.
Man, I’d love to put him in my famed 20-80 club, but I’d go .260 10-50 .730 OPS and a GG…
Some ex-Giants this Spring. Position players only. I’m sure I ‘ve missed a bunch, these were just who came to mind from the last 3 years or so. I know Darren Ford has been sent down,, don’t know how many others have been cut adrift..
Schierholtz , Cubbies .353 .998 OPS 34 AB
Frandsen , Phils .317 .959 OPS 41 AB
Joseph, Phils .462 1.308 OPS 13 AB
Iskikawa, Orioles .200 .499 OPS 25 AB
Burriss, Reds .257 .563 OPS 35 AB
DeRosa, Jays .458 1.250 OPS 24 AB
Rajai Davis, Jays .188 .494 OPS 32 AB
Velez, Jays .300 .764 OPS 20 AB
Milky, Jays .325 .800 OPS 40 AB
Culberson, Rockies .158 .674 OPS 19 AB
Christian, Cards .250 .669 OPS 32 AB
Nady, Royals .333 .745 OPS 21 AB
Cody Ross, DBacks (injured) 7 AB 0 Hits
Fontenot, Rays .226 .600 OPS 31 AB
Keppinger,WSox .476 1.071 OPS 21 AB
Stewart, Yanks .217 .641 OPS 23 AB
Bill Hall, Angels .333 1.000 OPS 9 AB
Darren Ford, Pirates .182 .364 OPS 22 AB
Rohlinger, Indians .111 .444 OPS 9 AB
Uribe, Bums .345 BA .918 OPS 29 AB
Downs, Marlins .139 .491 OPS 36 AB
Guzman, Pads .345 1.203 OPS 29 AB
Obviously Sabean is an idiot for trading Nate and Joseph for Pence. Or not. Burriss is getting a fair amount of ST time with the Reds. Love to see him break through.
He’s probably gotta be able to hit the ball out of the infield first. But I like Manny, too.
4 hour draft. tired.
Chi sent me some pics on my phone that I’ll upload later.
Yeah, it’s what we’ve seen from Manny, 35 AB, 1 xrtra basehit. He’s 5/6 in SB, though.
Eli, Rangers, .200 .600 OPS 5 AB
Jury is still out on Wheeler and Joseph, but usually the guys Sabean gives up on perform about as they did here. Or worse. Exception of course being that twins closer whose name escapes me ..;).
Wheeler is on about everybody’s top ten prospect list. About 5 by most. He figures to be in the rotation by mid-season.
That’s true. I guess what I meant was he still hasn’t gone out and proven it yet..But all indications are he’ll be a top gun.
Sabean and the Giants went through some tough times at the end of the Bonds era. Sabean followed up on his “lunactic fringe” phase by signing Armando B in the offseason. Lotta water under the bridge since then.
Lincecum, somewhat behind the pace in the wake of the infamous blister, had a prettty decent ST outing today, against some good hitters. Not great, but but ok. Speaking of the mid oughts — maybe Lincecum should confer with Moises Alou about hand-toughening techniques.
Armando might have ended up being an accidental turning point for the franchise. I believe that was the last year we gave up draft picks for a FA. In 2005, our first pick was Ben Copeland in the 4th round. In 2006 it was Tim Lincecum.
Miller reports that national media reporting Giants looking for an OFer, with Blanco flailing at the plate and Torres being hurt so much so far in ST. Peguero looks like a decent option, but Sabean usually doesn’t like depending on untested players…
Andres *is* starting to drive the ball. Monster shot Friday, line drive triple a few minutes ago. As with Betty Grable, it’s all about the legs..
Belt with 2 hits so far today. Just smoked an RBI shot off the LF wall. If he’s smoking shots oppo, that’s a sign his swing is dialed. I really hope this kid breaks out this season. Pence looks like he may be more patient and looking to go with pitches more this season. If those two guys were solid this season at the plate, add that to Panda and Posey, we could be looking at above 4.5 runs per game…
Since we did not add the big additional bats we needed in the off-season, we will need to depend on better performances from Pence and Belt. Can we really hope for another meltdown by LAD? Their talent appears to be among the best in baseball.We also need a power closer. Hope Hembree can be…
LA didn’t really *melt down* they just never did anything till the last 2 weeks of the season (when they were already out of it).
.. As Craig said, the Bums didn’t really melt down. We were just too good in August/Sept/Oct. We went 38-20, they were 30- 27.
Crazy Horse at AT&T Park tonight. It’s a cool storyline.
Wouldn’t surprise me to see Angel hit 3rd on occasion this year…
That’s actually possible depending on how it goes with Blanco/Torres.
I hadn’t seen this before now, but supposedly the Giants were in trade talks with the Yankees, with Pill going to NY. But with Pill having knee surgery, that’s off. Boy, how bad is it in Yankee-Ville? To paraphrase somebody or the other, ” Have you had the Corned Beef at the Ben Ash Deli? It’s worse…”
I updated the main thread if anyone is interested in where the Giants went. I took 3, I’ve never taken so many Giants before: Panda, Pagan and Scoots.
Also, Chi sent some photos to my phone from his ST trip with his daughter and I put them in the Flapper Photo Bucket to the right. LOVE the dead head Giants hat, my man.
What are the chances of Posey, Panda, Pence & Belt combining for 100 homers this year?
5%
80 is probably 50%
If you think of it as 60 for the first 2 guys and 40 for the second 2 guys it might be possible. Belt’s the wild card.
90.
90? Unlikely. I’ll say 78, you can take the over
OK, I’ll take the over at 78 1/2. Prize: anything signed by Andres Torres.
ok. booked.
Loo, you think Posey and Panda are going to hit 60 HR’s between them? Belt’s power will come later, he might hit 15 this year if he’s lucky. Pence is a 20 HR guy playing a full season with us in his dreams. Panda and Buster COULD hit 30 each at some point in their careers. Not this year.
I don’t think anything. Once in a while I try to stimulate some baseball chatter.
Any of you guys enter a bar today?
no, but I powered back a few Tecate’s (bottled) at about 11am today…….
Gillespie with a walk off 3 run dinger
welcome to ATT for the wbc, guys….everyone in the stands is all bundled up. Gee for a night game in march at ATT (and actually weather has been warmer than usual lately)…wonder what Pagan had told his buddies about playing here?
Loo, I think how many bombs posey winds up with depends a lot on how well Pence can protect him. If Pence hits .260 and strikes out a lot chasing bad pitches, Posey won’t see anything to hit. Avg could still be high, rbis too if top of the order gets on base, but without protection I don’t think he gets more than 20 HRs.
Pablo or Belt could wind up at 5th spot if Pence struggles; I’d look for more HRs from both those two than Posey.
I’d like to see Posey/Panda/Belt/Pence 3/4/5/6…
Those 4 hit 50 homers as Giants in 460 total games last year.
If they play 460 games again, we won’t have to worry about that basking thing after this year ..
As long we’re talking HRs, just saw the numbers on Pagan from last year (yes b-ball selectioned out I’m watching the pr-japan game). He hit 8….add in blanco and whomever in LF, plus Pence in RF….how many does that add up to? 40 maybe?
Posey 22
Belt 20 ( I have to do it)
Scooter 8
Crawdad 10
Panda 25
Blanco/Torres/Peguero 20
Pagan 10
Pence 23
Yes, I did make sure my guys added up to 90.
Posey: 18 (and if he hit’s .300 I’ll be totally happy. I think he might come up a few ticks short of .300 though)
Belt: 13 (and I’d take 15+ surprise sb’s, and though I don’t own him now I have 5 more drafts left and he shall be mine at some point)
Scoots: 8 (hit .280ish and do all that fundy shit and I’ll be happy)
Panda: 20 (I’m banking on him hitting .300+)
Pagan: 10 (but with 35 sb’s)
Pence: 17 (and toss in a few speeches on his way out of town)
…and I’m not taking a stab at the 3 headed monster, no idea how many they’ll hit.
A 1-0 game in the 7th inning at AT&T Park. Who could have predicted that? (grin)
Er- check that….3-0.
revret
Nice story in today’s NY Times about A.J. Ellis. Yeah, he’s a Dodger, but he’s taken a long road to get to where he’s at these days. And I didn’t know that he led the league in seeing number of pitches per AB. He led the Dodgers in on-base percentage last season, which I wouldn’t have predicted.
Dodger love. From zumiee, yet. That’s why the Flap is great
I’m probably not as worried about the Dodgers as I should be, I guess.
he was a nice little story last year but I’ll lay the betting line right now that he doesn’t hit .250 in 2013. BTW, I heard Grienke is playing catch now. That’s a nice step for him. Playing catch is fun. He’s not pitching against us opening weekend, and that’s a good thing.
My prediction for the Dodgers in 2013- they flounder at .500, and 2-Trips gets fired in August. They surge in September, and make the 1-game Wild Card playoff, and get eliminated.
I think Mattingly’s gonna be there for a long time. Of course all New Yorkers love him.
seems about as likely as anything else. I’ve always felt that Hanley will poison them at some point with his *stolen bases that do nothing” or his shitty defense or his dumbass *eye goggle* pose that is going to get his ass kicked. And Beckett and A-Gone were as *advertised* (at least by me).
I’m not worried about the Dodgers and I said that last August(when others were shitting their pants). It would be nice if Grienke hit the shelf or under-performed but I really don’t give a shit. Barring something unforeseen, we are winning the West again……
Damn, mention of the Dodgers reminds me I have to tape The Walking Dead tonight!
I think we’re gonna see a little power surge this year.
Sandoval: 31
Posey: 28
Pence: 27
Belt: 22
Pagan: 14
Could be the green beer talking.
Yep, yer officially drunk. (grin)
he has been for about a week now. 🙂 Seems to be coming out of it now though, that’s a good thing.
I think it’s really cool how baseball is so wildly popular in Japan, but….Japan needs to lose this tourney. They don’t need the 3-peat.
Little rough there, zumiee. Gotsta luv the land what brought us Godzilla
Hey, you might not believe this, and it being the internet- why should you, but I was BORN in Japan. My dad was in the U.S. Air Force and my family was stationed there for a couple of years. I went through most of my life believing I was ineligible to run for U.S. President, but it turns out U.S. military bases count, a la McCain, born in Panama.
Well know this and know this right now.
If you were to run–I would be the first motherlover in line to vote for ya.
This is no lie
I have no idea what’s happening in that Pepsi Max commercial, or what Pepsi Max is, but that commercial makes me chuckle every time. That crunching screen in a pick-up basketball game is hilarious. And so true. Ain’t nobody expecting a screen in a pick-up game.
Well, Posey hit 24 on a mending leg. With Pence hitting .219 behind him he hit 11. I don’t see him hitting less. Pablo healthy should easily double down on 12. Belt was a confused and tortured mess last yr. I think 18 is doable. Pence doesn’t get Citizens Pk for 50 games, so maybe a slight drop off, still like 20 from him.
86 it is.
86? I’m still seeing 94
New Mexico all the way in the NCAA…
Did St Mary’s make it?
Yes, and Cal made it, too.
That blue wall is starting to grow on me.
And today’s Giants game comes on after this WBC game.
Japan is rallying. The P.R. bullpen is getting tested.
Let Chino close it out…
Posey and Pence are probably maxed out at 25 tops here- neither pull enough to go huge. 20 is probably it for Belt, maybe 25-30 in a career year. Panda is the one who could “leave Earth” 35-40 times. Just keep him away from hitting coaches, Mom, and evil women…
His biggest challenge will be staying on the field for 150+ games.
When he came up I posted that staying on the field would be his tougherst challenge, and I repeated that several times. But he hasn’t missed that much except for the hamates, of which he now has none.
But I doubt they they expect 150+..from anyone.. well, maybe Pagan.
Pablo’s all-out style is what concerned me but aside from the hamate injuries which are neither weight nor hard play related, he’s been remarkably durable. It’s still a concern, but he’s actually a remarkable athlete, not fast but very agile.
Let’s hope this isn’t a big deal.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Third baseman Pablo Sandoval experienced discomfort in his right elbow on Sunday, an ailment that will remain mysterious until he receives additional treatment and undergoes more tests on Monday.
Sandoval was scratched from Sunday’s lineup against the Colorado Rockies when he felt numbness in his fingers while playing catch. He said that he initially felt pain during Saturday’s Cactus League game against Cincinnati, when he whipped a throw to second base. The switch-hitting Sandoval, who experienced similar discomfort a couple of years ago, said that he also feels soreness when he swings right-handed.
Asked to evaluate his condition, Sandoval said, “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s anything serious.” He added that his elbow felt worse on Sunday than it did on Saturday.
Manager Bruce Bochy remained calm. “We think he’ll be fine. He’s had this before. It’s always a concern anytime there’s an issue with the arm. Right now we feel it won’t be too long [before Sandoval resumes playing].”
Sandoval has been impressive at the plate this spring, batting .435 (10-for-23) with one home run and four RBIs.
“The one that’s alive at the bottom trying to eat its way out.”
Goodnight all.