Ready your international amateur free agent pool money: it's your 2025 Fantasy Baseball thread! (with a poll about replacing one OF slot with CF)

and i am completely lost as to how to approach my absolute mess of keeper eligible players

actually, we don't need 4 IL slots. gonna knock that down by one.

I'd agree to the CF position so long as those of us with 3 OF keepers with no CF are grandfathered in and not penalized by some sudden rule change that invalidates years of drafting results based on previous rules.

Also Thermo, if you currently are keeping a CF, I would recommend you either trade that player or drop them prior to the season start in the interest of transparency and unbiased parity as league commish.

Instead of doubles I think we need a negative offensive stat: GIDP for example?

no, only possible keeper for me in the OF is Kwan and he's LF. and i'm undecided on him.

i'm willing to work with anyone that has trouble with the new setting, but there's limits on what i can do in terms of roster set-up, as yahoo defines who is and isn't a CF. if it turns out the endeavour is profoundy unfair for anyone and there's no workaround, i'll just scrap the whole thing.

we had GIDP a while ago and it was dumb. just unfairly punished hitters that had slow/numerous runners in front of them

I am firmly in the "worth a try" camp. Why not try it and see how it goes, just a bit of fun, let's be cool, etc.

i just spent forever looking for the custom position eligibility tab, incase it could help the teams that have 3 OF keeper options (by my count there are two likely teams to have a likely packed outfield). turns out they got rid of that option like 2-3 years ago.

i am also okay w/ the proposed cf rule

lol

I know that you all disagree, but I liked having one random and fun category (e.g. cycles).

Fielding percentage is silly because it doesn't correlate to being a great fielder.

For pitching, we never had Inherited Runners Scored or On Base Percentage Against. One problem with saves and holds is that you can load up on mediocre relievers on winning teams. Adding more team-independent categories could make pitching choices more interesting.

I know that Inherited Runners Scored isn't really team dependent but the point is to reward excellence more. I'm not saying that we all haven't benefitted from guys pitching the sixth inning, giving up two runs, and "earning" a hold. But it could be good to get away from that.

team-INdependent, that is

i agree the zany wild card stats are fun, but the majority didn't like the chaos involved so it's probably off the table for the foreseeable future.

OBP or OPS against could be fine – but i think inherited runners would wind up like when we had blown saves. having a neg stat for relievers would make having them pointless. and speaking as someone who has, at times by necessity, loaded up on mediocre relievers – the damage they can do to your ERA with a couple bad outing is very real!

i think the ERA and WHIP stats really do offset one's ability to simply stash random bullpen arms, i've definitely had seasons where i thought i was doing pretty well with my RPs and then it just takes one shit guy like Craig Kimbrel having a meltdown to kill excellent outings by your SPs, not even just the other RPs.

so - i don't think i have the tools available as commish to let a team get around a OF/CF/CF set-up. and manually setting position eligibility no longer exists as an option. i thought last year that it wouldn't have much of an impact on any teams, but hadn't taken into account trades that happened during the season...
as much as i like the idea, and seems to be popular enough, maybe it's best to shelve it for a year or two. give our OF-heavy teams a chance to plan accordingly.

I’m cool with whatever. A random wildcard stat seems fun.

i'm gonna put in my keepers now for team most likely to soon be formerly known as Corbin Burnesen, unless i draft him again.

Tarik Skubal (28)
Jarren Duran (28)
George Kirby (27)
Fernando Tatis Jr (26)
Corbin Carroll (24)

Your team makes me want to barf already. I hate it.

Can someone re-post the keeper spreadsheet on this new thread?

Also hello old friends

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hpsG8k76efjA3bMamBZbU_RRa9Wf99KXzrFZHbsKdeI/edit?gid=1545943393#gid=1545943393

my <27 keepers are so depressing

thanks dude

xpost

so i only have three i can keep and they will be skenes, lee, and volpe

if you want to double check things, the results of the 2024 drafts is here:

https://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/2024/b1/41654/draftresults?drafttab=team&draft_results_period=current

obviously any trades and drops aren't reflected there

EVERYONE READY FOR THE DRAFT ORDER REVEAL?!

"Make the upcoming reveal overflow with joy, and let pleasure drown the brim." --Jose Canseco

using last years team names, the random website randomizer gave us the following order:

1 No Xmas For Colt Keith
2 Honey Nut Chouri◎s
3 Gott Money I'll do anything 4U
4 Steve Barber & a Cast of 1000s
5 Celebrity Skenes
6 Einstürzende Baumgarten
7 Billy Childish Bambino
8 Barf Sandwich
9 Send Nootbaar
10 Naked Ragans
11 Ohtani Dancer in my Hand
12 Corbin Burnesen 
13 Yamamotopsycho Nightmare

Incredible team names

after last season's disaster, i am rebranding

going back a decade-plus, here are a bunch of our number one overall picks

2024 - Mookie Betts
2023 - Aaron Judge
2022 - Luis Robert Jr
2021 - Jacob deGrom
2020 - Jacob deGrom
2019 - Juan Soto
2018 - Clayton Kershaw
2017 - Manny Machado
2016 - Jose Bautista
2015 - Giancarlo Stanton
2014 - Miguel Cabrera
2013 - Jarrod Parker (?)

so that 2013 draft, the way to enter keeper picks was different/annoying and i had to enter them at the beginning of the draft instead of the end.
so the actual first selection was Justin Verlander that year.

and amazing really... even 12 years ago, he was still too old to be kept!

that makes sense! turns out i drafted JV, he wasn't really #1 overall worthy in the end...

whooooooa first pick thats exciting! ok "no xmas for colt keith" will get a name change at some point but in the meantime here are my probable keepers

Taj Bradley 24
CJ Abrams 24
Andres Gimenez 26
Jhoan Duran 27
Ronald Acuna 27

i might switch out the unexciting taj or andres picks for an equally unexciting tyler oneill pick after i do some more research.
FANTASY BASEBALL!

i'm definitely keeping Gunnar Henderson (23) and McClanahan (27).
likely going to keep Jackson Holliday (21) because i'm still a believer and don't want to toss away my 1st round pick so lightly.

but then i'm at a loss at the final two from:
Ozzie Albeis (28); fan fav but has been in decline.
Steven Kwan (27); epic first half of last season was probably an outlier
Jesus Luzardo (27); 80 grade name, but was terrible in '24 and seems to alternate between good and disaster
Kyle Harrison (23); would like another SP and he's probably less volatile than Luzardo. and if he pans out, i can keep him much longer

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

rolling with these 5:

elly de la cruz (23)
hunter greene (25)
jordan walker (22)

cody bellinger (29)
freddy peralta (28)

also, i have changed my team name from barf sandwich to little guys

i assume we'll change it to CF + 2 OFs? i think it's a fine idea, and it makes good hitting CFs a more valuable roster addition, shakes things up a bit 👍

Sorry, I need another reminder of how to pick my keepers.

So. Glad most people are down - but I missed one team that will be affected by it more than I realized. Will work on a solution with them to ease transition - so implementation might come next season if that’s the best way forward.

Hope I've done this right:

Under 27: Royce Lewis + Vlad
27-29: Isaac Paredes + Jeremy Pena
Under 30: Gabriel Moreno

speaking of stat categories, this was probably addressed years ago, but there are 7 pitcher categories and 6 for hitters. i don't have a problem with it, i just wondered if that's on purpose, to tilt it toward pitchers slightly?

well - thats why we had XBH and then doubles for a while. and also why a negative stat for hitter (like GIDP or errors) was not going to get implemented for hitters (at least not without a matching one for pitchers). but, in leu of a hitting cat that we can come to come consesus on, i'm not too troubled by having one more for pitching since SV+H is sort of it's own thing, with relievers having a lesser impact on ERA, Ks etc and none whatsoever on W and QS.

cool, makes sense!

I still really don't like it being a 6x7 but I also don't know what I'd cut from pitchers

Tbh at this point maybe QS? Seems like even great pitchers don't get a lot of 6 inning games anymore, and carrying mid workhorse to get a relatively rare stat is a drag

i'd rather ditch wins over QS!

Or that yeah lol

keepers for Naked Ragans:

spencer torkelson (<27)
nolan jones (<27)
emmanuel clase (27-29)
adley rutschman (27-29)
cole ragans (27-29)

sent emails to a couple managers, if y'all could be good enough to check

My keeper situation kind of sucks this year, in part because I had to autodraft last year and didn't pick up many young players.

I guess I'll go with:

Keepers for Ohtani Dancer In My Hand (name change TBD)

Michael Harris II (<27)
Tristan Casas (<27)
Yordan Alvarez (27-29)
Logan Webb (27-29)
Bo Bichette (27-29)

That's a pretty good list of keepers Imo!

I'd agree to the CF position so long as those of us with 3 OF keepers with no CF are grandfathered in and not penalized by some sudden rule change that invalidates years of drafting results based on previous rules.

Also Thermo, if you currently are keeping a CF, I would recommend you either trade that player or drop them prior to the season start in the interest of transparency and unbiased parity as league commish.

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, January 21, 2025 1:07 PM (three weeks ago)

xpost I didn't have as many keeper eligible players as in previous years, I like having more options. IDK, Harris II and Casas have underachieved (partly due to injuries) but they're still young, Bichette will hopefully make an effort during his walk year. Webb is a stud, no doubt about it. Trading for Alvarez last year really saved me -- it's a decent keeper class almost thanks to him alone.

contract year, so Bichette will be a god this season!

Haha maybe I'm just comparing your keepers to mine this year, considering Tyler oneill is a serious keep candidate I'm not exactly swimming in talent

i talked about mine upthread. two good ones, two "i guess" and then 3 candidates for the "ffs, this is what i have?!" 5th spot.

Going back to the 6x7 thing tho, this is kind of a big one for me. Upvalues pitchers by 16% is far more disruptive re: how we have drafted and kept players than the 3OF-2OF/1CF change.

While reading that please fix the grammar in your mind lol I am terrible at typing on phone

Thermo: a potential solution I would be down with would be add CF but also add 1x more UTIL (total of 2)?

I’d be good with that, as a temporary measure. How long would you need to have that in place?

And I guess I will postpone getting rid of doubles, as will made a fair point I hadn’t considered. Either we find another hitting stat that isn’t dumb (I’d be fine to go back to xbh) or we remove a P cat (like wins, or WHIP or K/BB) (tho I’m sure this could potentially be disruptive for one or more of our teams). But let’s tackle that change for next season. A little late in the game to be tweaking anything beyond the cf/utl thing)

How long would you need to have that in place?

2027 to be fair/grandfathered.

so let it be written, so let it be done.
we will add a CF slot and reduce OF to two, add a second UTL slot for a three year transition period along with one more roster spot to accommodate the 2nd UTL slot.

and this will be the last season for doubles, with another tbd move to keep the hitting/pitching balance unchanged.

is it too late to lobby for XBH over 2Bs? 3Bs got unfairly shafted in the previous stat cats. Far more valuable IRL (and scarce!).

(and thank you <3 )

My newly rebranded “little guys” team supports any move which rewards scrappy little guys

we did xbh before, the problem is at least imo is that since you're basically counting home runs twice, it devalues guys who don't hit home runs in a way that doubles was presumably supposed to get around. we also already have slugging so yeah it just meant power was the only thing really of value

in the end the same guys who hit homers are also the guys who hit doubles lol so the experiment didn't really work, cutting the category entirely makes the most sense (and glad to see cutting a pitching cat is on the docket for next year. W or QS makes the most sense to me as one's a nonsense stat and the other's too reliant on old-school managers not pulling their starters)

I’ll admit it is a little weird to curse out my doubles king Jarren Duran for also legging out 14 triples. I don’t know if combining those two is possible, I do agree that the XBH cat is imperfect.

i think we actually looked for a 2b+3b cat and it couldn't be done

When is the draft?

scroll up to the top dude

That's a lot to ask.

keepers for send nootbaar:

Logan Gilbert 27-29
Austin Riley 27-29
Jordan Westburg < 27
Matt McClain < 27
Yainer Diaz 27-29

RIP my jordan lawlar experiment

does anyone have a good (free/downloadable) resource for player position eligibility and/or age? i used to just download fangraphs data but it's behind a paywall now

Yahoo has its own rules about eligibility, so I’d check the player list via our league page for that.

Keepers for Billy Eilish Bambino:

JWood <27
JSoto <27
KTucker 27-29
JNaylor 27-29
WAdames 27-29

very tempted to revise my keepers to not keep either of my <27 eligible players to free up more draft space. can't imagine i'd mourn the loss of spencer torkelson and nolan jones.

I guess it depends if you think you would be able to get better players at the tail end of the draft. I’ve definitely had years where I was tempted to do that, prior to seasons where I had to fill out my keepers with some middling closer.

contemplating doing this myself with my 5th slot.

does anyone have a good (free/downloadable) resource for player position eligibility and/or age?

my google sheet has everyone who's ever been drafted before for age, at least. Not position tho. Gets you halfway there?

Oh hey uh will CFs be able to play in OF slots?

Yup.

REVISED keepers for Naked Ragans:

emmanuel clase (27-29)
adley rutschman (27-29)
cole ragans (27-29)

newly rebranded Mike Minor Threat selects:

Jackson Holliday | 21
Gunnar Henderson | 23
Shane McClanahan | 27
Steven Kwan | 27
Ozzie Albies | 28

i might switch out the unexciting taj or andres picks for an equally unexciting tyler oneill pick after i do some more research.

I must now revise this to say that taj is no longer unexciting. According to some article that I accidentally opened he has introduced a "cutter/slider" pitch to his arsenal and that's enough to convince me he's exciting now

tyler bro'neill is an estranged interest of mine, but honestly i think he's a great pick/keeper. if he ever stays healthy he could very much be one of those unexpected sleeper dudes who ends up a top 20 batter

Yeah he was good at times last year, I def see the appeal - Tbh still considering him over gimenez. I guess I've still got a solid week to waffle on that pick!

Actually you know what, I already have enough steals on my keepers, I don't need a week. New keepers for no xmas (new name tbd):

Taj Bradley 24
CJ Abrams 24
Jhoan Duran 27
Ronald Acuna 27
Tyler o'neill 29

yamamotopsycho nightmare

bobby witt, 24
spencer strider,26
oneil cruz, 26
pablo lopez, 29
dylan cease, 29

Clem: Paredes is only 26, so you will need to pick someone else for your 27-30 age group and decide who out of Paredes, Moreno, Vlad and Lewis is going to get the cut from your under 27 group (of which i am including the "anyone under 30" pick in)

Sorry, will fix that tonight.

Date is determined as-of April 1, since that is usually when the season starts btw.

after only two weeks, i have again rebranded my team: Stefanic Panik
anyone who pre-ordered jerseys will have their money refunded in full

by the way, i have made our league publicly viewable for the ilxor looky-lou's:

https://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/ilbbfuntime/2025

not sure why i can't see this thread on the ILBB New Answers page? i was watching for it
anyway, thankfully i made the deadline.

Your 2025 Chourios Keepers:

J. Chourio
M. Miller
J. Ryan
J. Steele
W. Langford

awesome. two left to go.
i've been updating the league with our selects, so i beseech you – double check the draft results that you have the correct guys before draft day!

Einstürzende Baumgarten

Julio Rodriguez 24
Bryce Miller 26
William Contreras 27
Rafael Devers 28
Michael King 29

Sorry, Jarred.

New team name is Return of the Cerutti Column

Does this work? Unless I'm misreading, I don't have any options for 27-29; I only see three guys on my list who qualify.

Vlad Guerrero (<27)
Royce Lewis (<27)
Bryson Stott (27-29)
Jeremy Pena (27-29)
Jordan Hicks (27-29)

you don't want to keep Paredes over Stott or Hicks?!

you only need to have two guys in your 27-29 group. you don't need to have three. before you had four guys who were under 27, one too many, so you only needed to eliminate one player from that group, but you dropped two guys, Moreno and Paredes.

are you sure you'd rather have Hicks and Stott or Paredes plus one of Hicks/Stott?

Sent you a message--did misunderstand. Keep Paredes + Hicks, send Stott on an ocean liner to Finland.

ok. adding Stott to the ice flow list

all selects are entered. if there's any mistakes, I'll have up until the morning before the draft (i think) to fix.

i guess i should get a second poll up on how to deal with our doubles situation next

Thermo: are you still rolling with doubles then?

For this season yes. Will sort out how to rid ourselves of this meddlesome stat for next season soon.

Making a mental note to bypass Earl Webb on draft day.

Two days until the draft!
I hope people were able to double check their selects in the draft results page. It’s comically easy to make a mistake using yahoo’s keeper tools.

Since hopefully we will all be dropping in here for the draft soon, I'm posting a survey for input on how we want to remove doubles, as it sounds like we are all on board with eliminating it.
And since we want to maintain balance vs pitching stats, we either replace doubles with another hitting stat (our best option being XBH - with the flaw that it places too much of an emphasis on power hitters); or we remove a pitching stat. Wins, QS and K/BB are all options.
You should be able to make multiple selections and also i hope this works...

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8ZM2WT5

I have voted and am willing to accept the whims of the electorate.

i somehow failed to be able to submit my poll response (think it has to do with my recent shift to duckduckgo), but i voted for all options except for removing QS. and even that, if that’s what the herd decides, i’m cool with

it's possible it might not accept multiple choices. the wording/set-up was a little confusing

ready to send QS adrift

There will be a link here as to where I actually have to be at 4:00, right?

go to the main fantasy baseball page (if you’ve looked at the 2025 league or anything in the past several months, that one)

it will be unmissable

i am in the middle of 156 personal problems, all at once, have done zero preparation, and will have to leave the draft early. it’s gonna be another banner year for the lil guys

He's got 156 problems and the draft ain't one.

which obviously means this year is mine! as is my custom, i guarantee total victory this season

Don't mean to be insensitive...I went to the main page, see links for "add to calendar" and for a mock/practice draft. But nothing for the actual draft--assume that will be visible as 4:00 approaches? (I know I did this last year, but I remember nothing.)

30 mins before a link will show up

start pre ranking, z!

Since I’m a little unclear, are we talking about changing the statistical categories at this point or at the end of this season?

oh man - sorry - this (doubles thing) is for 2026. i should have put that somewhere.

updated the header.

*moves Timmy “double doubles” Rollins* back to the top of the pre-draft rankings*

draft is open!

link for clemenza:

https://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/18239/draft

go here and click on “ENTER LIVE DRAFT” on the right

(and don’t worry, we have another 22 minutes before it starts)

Thanks--I'm on standby, ready to start giving away wins.

Corbin Burnesen for at least one more season --

C - Joey Bart
1B - Bryce Harper
2B - Connor Norby
3B - Jake Burger
SS - Xavier Edwards
OF/CF - Fernando Tatis, Corbin Carroll, Jarren Duran
UT - Riley Greene, Profar
BN - Encarnacion-Strand, Tyler Fitzgerald, Hoskins
NA - Matt Shaw
SP - Skubal, Kirby, Burnes, deGrom, Lugo, Gavin Williams, Clay Holmes
RP - Ryan Walker, Kirby Yates

here's that sheet i make every year. yes as at least one of you noticed, i did not draft for 2025...

C - Cal Raleigh
1B - Vinnie Pasquantino / N Lowe / Soderstrom
2B - Gleyber Torres / L Rengifo
3B - Mark Vientos / (L Rengifo)
SS - Corey Seager / CJ Abrams
CF - Jackson Merrill / Luis Robert Jr.
OF - Ronald Acuna Jr.
OF - Lawrence Butler / Tyler O'Neill

SP - lol... Jack Flaherty / Yusei Kikuchi / Brandon Pfaadt / Taj Bradley / Kumar Rocker / Eury Perez
RP - lmao... Jhoan Duran / Yimi Garcia

plus 2 spots now for early waiver and another spot once acuna is officially DLed.

lil guys

C - Willson Contreras (will also be eligible for 1B soon)
1B - Paul Goldschmidt
2B - Marcus Semien
3B - Jazz Chisholm, Jr (also CF), Eugenio Suarez
SS - Elly De La Cruz
CF - Cody Bellinger
OF - Brent Rooker
OF - Jordan Walker
Bench/UTIL - Joc Pederson (OF, platoon against RHP), Eugenio Suarez (3B), Jordan Lawlar (SS, more of a keeper thing), Connor Wong (C/1B),

SP - Tyler Glasnow, Hunter Greene, Freddy Peralta, Carlos Rodón, Ryan Pepiot
RP - Edwin Diaz, Jordan Romano, Lucas Erceg, Bowden Francis*

IL - Shohei Ohtani (P)

*https://64.media.tumblr.com/47d60ca32f747413b18653b591008516/tumblr_mn0xmfjgEE1qdmmiqo1_400.gif

the rebuilding Stefanic Panik:

C | Tyler Stephenson
1B | Christian Walker
2B | fan fav Ozzie Albies (k)
SS | Gunnar Henderson (k)
3B | Manny Machado
OF | Kerry Carpenter, Stephen Kwan (K)
CF | returning mainstay Bryan Reynolds

UTL/Bench| Jackson Holliday 2b (k), Brandon Lowe 1B/2B, Heliot Ramos CF, Zach Neto SS (possible keeper), Hunter Goodman C/OF (possible keeper)

SP | Shame McClanahan (k), Roki Sasaki (possible keeper), Spencer Schwellenbach (possible keeper), Sonny Gray, Nathan Eovaldi, Brandon Woodruff, Jeffrey Springs

RP | Ryan Pressly, Cade Smith, Bryan Abreu

lol * Shane McClanahan

Billie Eilish Bambinoz

C - Austin Wells (25)
1B - Josh Naylor (27)
2B - Jose Altuve
3B - Junior Caminero (21) / Ryan McMahon
SS - Willy Adames
OF - Juan Soto (26), Kyle Tucker (28), James Wood (22)
CF - Mike Trout / Jake McCarthy (27)
UT - Willi Castro (27) @ 2B/3B/SS/OF/CF

SP - Garret Crochet (25), Kodai Senga, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck (28), Jose Berrios, Yu Darvish, Drew Rasmussen, Reese Olson (25)
RP - Josh Hader, Andres Munoz (26), Trevor Megill

happy with my keepers and very little else.

adding the 2nd DH spot noticeably made offensive selections much thinner than previous drafts.

I almost went for Crochet over Roki. He’s a few years older than Roki, but I liked that he’ll hit the ground running this year

yamamotopsycho nightmare

c logan o'hoppe
1 ryan mountcastle
2 luis arraez
3 alec bohm
ss bobby witt jr
of-schwarber, oneil cruz, sal frelick
util ced mullins, lane thomas
bn bryson stott, ceddane raffaela
na roman anthony

sp yamamoto, dylan cease, pablo lopez, ranger suarez...jackson jobe? (i imagine strider and rodriguez are starting season on dl)
rp helsley, king felix, kenley jansen

I almost went for Crochet over Roki. He’s a few years older than Roki, but I liked that he’ll hit the ground running this year

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, March 16, 2025 4:35 PM (twenty-five minutes ago)

I went for Crochet over Roki because I'm all set on 21-22 year old uber-elite prospects but more importantly: Crochet was the #8 SP in fWAR in MLB last year.

Roki led his team (the Chiba Lotte Marines) in starts missed due to shoulder stiffness the last 2 seasons 😬

(i imagine strider and rodriguez are starting season on dl)

― j.q higgins, Sunday, March 16, 2025 4:57 PM (one hour ago)

Strider is starting tomorrow vs. BoSox!

Newly renamed Bichette's Brew:

Batters:
C - Shea Langeliers (ATH - C)
1B - Triston Casas (BOS - 1B)
2B - Luis García Jr. (WSH - 2B)
3B - Alex Bregman (BOS - 3B)
SS - Bo Bichette (TOR - SS)
CF - Michael Harris II (ATL - CF)
OF - Matt Wallner (MIN - OF)
OF - Jorge Soler (LAA - OF)
Util - Yordan Alvarez (HOU - OF)
Util - Carlos Correa (MIN - SS)
BN - JJ Bleday (ATH - CF)
BN - Jonathan Aranda (TB - 1B, 2B)
BN - Zack Gelof (ATH - 2B)
BN - Carlos Santana (CLE - 1B)

Pitchers:
SP - Zack Wheeler (PHI - SP)
SP - Max Fried (NYY - SP)
RP - Tanner Scott (LAD - RP)
RP - Justin Martinez (AZ - RP)
SP - Sandy Alcantara (MIA - SP)
SP - Dustin May (LAD - SP)
SP - Logan Webb (SF - SP)
BN - Max Scherzer (TOR - SP)
BN - Nick Martinez (CIN - SP, RP)

I'm happy to roll with that pitching staff. There are serious question marks on offense, I drafted 11th and many great hitters were already taken, and from those remaining, I wasn't looking for a first baseman (possibly a strategic error on my part because of the extra Util spot this year). That's how I ended up drafting four pitchers in the first six rounds, which is not what I expected going in. Essentially I'm betting on my keepers -- I need Harris II and Casas to stay healthy, and for Bichette to bounce back.

naked ragans 2025 edition:

c: adley rutschman
1b: freddie freeman, michael busch
2b: nico hoerner
3b: josh jung, max muncy
ss: francisco lindor
cf: pete crow-armstrong, brenton doyle, jasson dominguez
of: heston kjerstad
ut: michael toglia (1b, of), juan brito (2b, 3b, ss, of)

sp: cole ragans, jared jones, hunter brown, cristopher sanchez, brayan bello, hayden birdsong
rp: emmanuel clase, alexis diaz, pete fairbanks
na: bubba chandler

i had a plan going in that quickly went out the window once it became clear how many of us were prioritizing keepers in the draft. this did allow me to pick up some better established players (i was not expecting to get freeman or lindor at my draft position) and i still ended up with a lot of keeper-eligible players, just not a lot of my top picks.

Celebrity Skenes (new name on deck): some holes and some prayers but I think my team is fun as hell

C: JT Realmuto, Ivan Herrera (24)
1B: Polar Bear Alonso
2B: Mookie Betts, Kristian Campbell (22)
3B: Matt Chapman
SS: Masyn Winn (22), Anthony Volpe (23)
CF: Parker Meadows (25), Jung-Hoo Lee (26)
OF: Christian Yelich, Dylan Crews (23), Michael "Cold" Conforto
SP: Paul Skenes (22), Framber Valdez, Robbie Ray, Luis Castillo, Spencer Arrighetti (25), Nasty Cortes
RP: Carlos Estevez, Kyle Finnegan, Yennier Cano

Update: We are now Cold Conforto Farm for some reason

I didn't even think about keepers, though I was hoping to get Jackson Merrill for my first pick.

C - Will Smith
1B - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
2B - Ketel Marte
3B - Nolan Arenado
SS - Jeremy Pena
CF - Aaron Judge
OF - Anthony Santander, Colton Cowser
Util - Isaac Paredes, Royce Lewis (hurt already, of course)
SP - Aaron Nola, Kevin Gausman
RP - Jeff Hoffman, Robert Suarez
P - Reynaldo Lopez, Jordan Hicks, MacKenzie Gore
BN - Byron Buxton, Garrett Mitchell, Lars Nootbaar, Tommy Edman, Lourdes Gurriel, Gabriel Moreno

I too was hoping to get Jackson Merrill, though I thought it was pretty unlikely. In the end, I realized a lot of those draft strategy guides I had on hand were not useful in a draft where a few dozen guys are off the board already. So I had to recalibrate it a bit. I assume much like seasons past by the All-Star break half of these guys will be gone from my team.

one of my brilliant moves in the 2024 draft was grabbing junior caminero for keeper purposes, letting him be NA all year before some reason dropping him late season, all so that i could get prevail in an down-to-the-wire race for 11th place or whatever it was i ended up as.

keepers will break yr heart! it is my recommendation to fellow managers to trade all of them to me, just before the end of this season, especially the really good ones

I drafted Colton Cowser because he had a pretty solid season last year--although mostly based on two months--and, something I'd often check and probably shouldn't have been, he had a great spring. Could break out this year, or could just be a generic lineup filler.

Anyone else check spring training stats while drafting yesterday?

I checked spring training news just to make sure that certain guys (mainly pitchers) were healthy.

I was checking the same in terms of spring training health, I changed my draft strategy slightly based around the fact that George Kirby had something flare up. I was always intending to get a solid SP with one of my first two picks, but I leaned a bit more into the rotation over the first 10 than I otherwise would have. I tried to somewhat follow what I did last season, just getting one catcher and a couple solid foundation relief dudes. I think the only guy I drafted specifically because of a fairly strong spring training was Hoskins, he’s hit a bunch of HRs and I figured with Harper’s history I could use a solid back up 1B. Of course I somehow have four players who qualify at first base.

Last year I was so freaking proud of my SP stable coming into the season:

Spencer Strider (25), Max Fried, Zach Eflin, Shane Bieber (28), Nathan Eovaldi, Triston McKenzie (26), Nestor Cortes (29)

Within 2 weeks, only 3 would still be pitching. Strider and Bieber didn't even make it through their first starts lmao.

i think cowser was a good pickup, i had him on my list and i was surprised that he was ranked as low as he was. he's got more proven ability than some of the prospects that got drafted before him and is only 25

i'm glad i at least got PCA, he's my favorite cub right now. he might end up only being a hits and steals guy but he started flashing more power late last season and in the spring

Strider is starting tomorrow vs. BoSox!

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Sunday, March 16, 2025 6:01 PM (yesterday)

@higgins:

Strider- 2.2IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 6Ks in 27 pitches thrown 😵

!!!

i don't think Bieber even got drafted this year!

i drafted Cowser last year and couldn't justify hanging onto him he was playing so poorly. then had a crazy hot final two months. i do think he'll be a solid OF/CF guy going forward.

only dude where spring training made a difference was Hunter Goodman. ZiPS was really high on the dude, he had C/OF eligibility, and is killing it right now – whereas some of my other total-flier-young-guys i was considering are having a rough time of it.

I've used all of my good team names at this point so i guess this year we're Guts of Pasquantifier

Gut* of

i'm posting post-waiver bc I somehow didn't draft a 3B

Honey Nut Chouri◎s

C S. PEREZ
1B Y. DIAZ
2B J. INDIA
3B M. GARCIA (W)
SS E. TOVAR
-
OF J. CHOURIO
OF T. HERNANDEZ
OF W. LANGFORD
UT S. ◎HTANI
UT T. WARD
BN V. ROBLES
BN S. STEER
BN E. HERNANDEZ (+)

SP J. RYAN
SP J. STEELE
SP C. SALE
SP Z. EFLIN
SP N. LODOLO
-
RP M. MILLER
RP L. HENDRIKS
RP A. CHAPMAN (+)
RP C. MARTIN
RP M. STRAHM

gonna give myself a solid C- on that draft/prep

anyone looking for speed, hmu (robles for example could rake, idk yet). need a proper 3B/RPs

1st place - stop the count!

Totally forgot that I'm supposed to actually pay attention to starting pitchers--I take it I don't get any credit for MacKenzie Gore's start today since I just left him as a "P" and not an "SP."

As long as they are in the starting lineup, you are credited with their stats 👍🏻

Thanks, I think I'm finally clear on that.

Hate that I have to ask stuff like this--I can't find a button anywhere that will allow me to put Royce Lewis on the IL. I did this a few times last year and remember it being very easy.

if you look at your team page, next to each player there's a blue rounded rectangle with their current position (SS/OF/Util/BN/etc) so you'll want to click on Royce and you'll see at the bottom of the batters section an empty IL spot you can click on and he'll move down there.

you'll see an empty spot appear with a rounded rectangle labeled "IL "

Thanks again--I don't remember doing it that way, but it did work.

April Fools' Day, so perfect:

https://i.postimg.cc/HkWYGmnC/barber.jpg

(Only time I'll ever get to do that.)

After all the hot starts from "the greatest players in MLB" this season, I was extremely surprised to learn that I own the #1 player in the league, especially considering he's a notorious slow starter.

It’s that Chicago Cubs magick

Tucker's Similarity Scores through age 27 is a pretty wide-ranging mix of career paths from here:

Danny Tartabull (958.2)
Ryan Klesko (957.6)
Willie Stargell (949.8) *
Richard Hidalgo (949.2)
Larry Walker (948.9) *
Eric Davis (948.4)
Tim Salmon (947.4)
Frank Howard (945.1)
Yasiel Puig (940.1)
Wally Post (939.8)

* - Signifies Hall of Famer

It’s that Chicago Cubs magick

― omar little, Thursday, April 3, 2025 11:55 AM (twenty-one minutes ago)

LFG

yahoo fantasy now has a little symbol next to each player's name to indicate if they're using the torpedo bat

not really sure how i'm supposed to use that info

i kinda want to add a torpedo bat guy just to be part of the fun. i have zero torpedo bat guys

they should ad a peach emoji next to Cal Raleigh too, because that's about as relevant as the torpedo bats imho

1st place - stop the count!

― bnw, Wednesday, March 19, 2025 10:56 AM (two weeks ago)

My offense has woken up a bit and I have moved up from a miserable distant last in most offensive categories to a nearly respectable last or next-to-last in those categories.

Too late to add disaster starts and no-outs-recorded relief appearances as stats, or

Anyone looking to take over a team? I just don't have the energy or engagement to give this the attention it needs. I got some good advice last year, but I just don't bother checking for days. I find the draft fun, then I sort of lose interest. I'm basically as lame-duck a team as the Athletics.

That sucks to hear dude. I’m not sure how often non-league people check in here; maybe ask in the general 2025 thread. If no takers, maybe just do your best and we’ll contract your franchise - which is a shame, as I love the name.

maybe think of it as immaculate grid but for current players?

I'm terrible at that now too...I'll put a post on the general thread and hang around till someone bites. But if you want to break up the Steve Barber franchise and have a fire sale, that's fine too.

I don’t see an equitable way to break the team down tbh. Probably best to leave the players to rot

If there are no takers, I'll finish up--I just won't be monitoring it all that much.

I don’t see an equitable way to break the team down tbh.

many are saying that reverse alphabetical is a good way to decide who takes the first player

I agree.

<3
Zzzteve Zhasta

son of a bitch! i literally had Marte ready to add and was choosing who to drop when Omar scooped him up

also checked in on our survey on what is to be done with these troublesome doubles and it's a dead heat. only 8 respondents so far so will leave it going for a bit longer to see if we can get a clear winner.

here is the link again: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8ZM2WT5

that happened to me with Ben Rice 😢

and i will do it to someone else, and the cycle of violence will go on

son of a bitch! i literally had Marte ready to add and was choosing who to drop when Omar scooped him up

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, April 23, 2025 8:20 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago)

Y'all how do you think I feel?

Right before our draft keepers lock I was waffling so hard over keeping NMarte versus WAdames which is hilarious in retrospect as Marte has outproduced 25 games of Adames in only 2 games.

i painted myself into a bit of a corner by drafting so many keeper-eligible players. i don't want to drop any of them for at least a month or so to have a chance to see how they're going to perform, so i don't have much roster room to swap out players. but this has made the season more chill for me, since i've decided i'm riding things out for a bit.

the little guys are behind the team without a manager

this is good. things are building up behind the scenes

As long as there’s positive vibes in the clubhouse

the little guy are full of grit. they grind out the season. they play hard even when they're down 100+ points

Did yahoo get rid of "chart view" for looking at league standings? Most of the time I'm checking through the phone app and I hadn't really noticed that they'd changed the website.

i had a dream the other night that i was able to claim tatis off the waiver

My fall from grace and omar's rise took a bit longer than I expected... perhaps i need help micromanaging or merely avoiding the IL.

Steve Barber hitters today: 5 HR, 7 RBI, .477 OBP, .811 SLG.

Steve Barber pitchers today: 0 wins, 0 QS, 0 SV/H, 15.68 ERA.

Looks like you were pitching to your hitters

no offence meant, Mr Shasta, with that trade offer. had to start somewhere.

at any rate i have a glut of talent at SS and can't keep running out a line-up that has three of them in it.

i love Jacob Wilson, he's doing amazing. almost took him in the draft, but didn't so he's not keepable.
i drafted Zach Neto as a stop-gap while Henderson was out and he has also been amazing and is only 24.
Gunnar is off to a slow-ish start, but i'd have to be blown away to let him go. he's my boy.

anyways. someone please offer me something for a SS. only thing i'm not looking for is <27 talent.

after drafting nolan jones last year and michael toglia AND brenton doyle this year, maybe i'll finally learn my lesson about drafting hyped rockies

Figured starting Lopez against the jays slumping offence was a safe streaming option… 7 ER in 1.2 IP.

https://i.imgur.com/aESVywR.png

Think I got you beat today. 8 runs 0 outs start from pfaadt

2.5 points separating 4th from 10th place.

yup. then 20 points between 2nd and 3rd and another 20 separating 3rd and an apparently unmanaged Steve Barber & a Cast of 1000s at 4th!

I've been managing nonstop since my anguished offer to bail! I mean, I check my lineup most days. I haven't been too caught up in my bounceback to 4th, being fully aware of that logjam--I regularly bounce around from 7th to 11th most days.

And my team would be better renamed Aaron Judge & and a Cast of Thousands...

Right now I have 3 catchers, 3 short stops and no serviceable 1B

that can only mean you need another C

Ok, I’m listening

And here I am wishing I could split Salvy in half

ok whoa, i assumed he had better numbers, nvm

updated the trading list with this:

carson kelly available - need more counting stats for SP (more innings more wins/QS)

as usual, despite feeling like i’m overloaded with pitchers, i have the lowest IP in the league - gotta shift my roster more toward SPs

I am seriously considering keeping Goodman and Swellenbach (or possibly Neto) instead of Jackson Holliday and Roki at this point. Might also give up on fan fave Ozzie Albies. If anyone wants to swap a 27-29 guy (going my way) for one of my under 27 dudes - shoot your shot.
I have learned my lesson this year on reaching for marque prospects

As much as I love his personality, Ozzie is cooked imo.

Ya, it’s a bummer

Neto is good imo but it easy to overlook on that team. Roki worries me, I think the Dodgers got cocky with that signing.

I have Ramos too who’s probably better to hang onto than Holliday/Roki

it is emblematic of my season that i am ranked second-best for ERA but second-worst for wins

you might have the same problem me and clemenza do - low IP total. my WHIP is one of the best; my QS are the worst. i just don't get enough innings for counting stats for pitchers.

Well you don't have a lot of SPs and you're next to last in IP (your IP is tracking -129 to the max IP). Not hating as a lot of people punt Ws for ratios as you're doing. So if you were to add more mid/bottom SPs and pitched them, your ERA would likely suffer.

Now Cold Conforto Farm otoh: tied for 1st in QS, tied 4th in ERA... and 9th in Ws. That's bad luck.

z_tbd: was trying to figure out why I do so poorly with pitchers, and that makes sense.

it's my problem every year - i'm always struggling to just keep starting pitchers in the rotation, keep up with injuries, etc

I hate day games--I always get caught with someone on the bench (Gausman today).

On a day when he goes 8 innings in a 2-hit shutout, of course.

Keep him benched.

i'm sure you guys are right about a lack of IP being part of the problem, but yesterday i had hunter brown pitch 7 scoreless innings with 9 Ks and cristopher sanchez give up one run over 6 innings with 11 Ks and neither got a win

and they were facing each other! i should've been guaranteed one win!

breh, marquee matchups rarely end up with Ws for the SPs, it's always decided in the 8th/9th+++

Well not to worry. The poll I shared and then forgot about is favouring removing wins.

How do I move a player to the NA list again? (Suarez, suspended.)

SUSP is not eligible for NA

good news is he's off SUSP today

Thanks. My team is feisty and brawl-prone.

I don't think we discussed the incident but Tatis was HBP 3x and Suarez hit Ohtani once and got suspended.

Typical Dodgers. I def got Suarez's back and I'm glad that his Suspension was reduced.

Was their an actual brawl? I just glanced at the story briefly.

No brawl but it was an earned retaliation after Tatis kept getting peppered. Whiny LA fans were up in arms.

Petition to rename my team: The Lowe Bros (or The Lowe-Brows)

i mean i just recently changed my team name for a second time this season, so live your truth! (tho i do prefer the latter)

I was trying frantically earlier tonight (10 minutes to game time) to swap Royce Lewis (off the IL and right into 3B) for Arenado (DTD). I could not make it work. I even cut a player who was on the IL to free up space, and I still couldn't get the sequence right. No matter what I did, I kept getting a message that I had too many players. Help?

Move Pena and Cruz to from the bench to the IL and you'll have at least another slot, maybe two.

Once you do that, move Lewis to your bench.

Thanks, will give that a try. (Not sure if I'll be able to retrieve the player I dropped...probably no big loss if I can't.)

the commish might be able to offer his commish powers... ?

It's Santander. Maybe we could put him in special Clemenza-needs-a-day-to-figure-this-out holding cell.

Sorry lads, I was celebrating the birth of this here fine nation (and the blue jays glorious victory over the yanks) by eating and drinking to excess and then nodding off to the latest Wes Anderson.

I think you’re ok Clem? DTD guys can’t go on the DL, but you should have no issue swapping Lewis and Pena tomorrow. If you’re worried about Santander - I don’t think you need be.

What I really want to do is DFA Wes Anderson.

So that’s me cooked on the season. Was hoping I could crack the top three, but Schwellenbach is probably out for the season. Joining Sasaki and McClanahan on the IL ugh

Remind me again who your keeper eligibles are?

Neto, Goodman, Holliday, Henderson, Ramos, Kwan, Sasaki, McClanahan and Schwellenbach.
RIP Ozzie Albies

I think it was within the past 2-3 weeks when I picked up Ceddanne Rafaela off the scrapheap (to replace Jeremy Pena, I believe). My team continues to fall apart, but that might be my best acquisition in two years.

YOURRRRRR 2025 ILB Fantasy All-stars:

NL:
C: Will "Underrated" Smith - Steve Barber & A Cast of 1000s
1B: Pete Alonso - Cold Conforto Farm
2B: Ketel Marte - Steve Barber & A Cast of 1000s
3B: Eugenio Suarez - little guys
SS: Elly De La Cruz - little guys
CF: Pete Crow-Armstrong - Naked Ragans
OF: Kyle Tucker - Billy Childish Bambino
OF: Kyle Schwarber - Yamamotopsycho Nightmare
DH: Shohei Ohtani - Honey Nut Chourios

SP1: Zack Wheeler - Bichette's Brew
SP2: Paul Skenes - Cold Conforto Farm
SP3: Matthew Boyd - Gut of Pasquantifier
SP4: Spencer Schwellenbach (RIP) - Les Misiorowski
SP5: Logan Webb - Bichette's Brew
SP6: Nick Pivetta - Billy Childish Bambino
SP7: Sonny Gray - Les Misiorowski
RP1: Randy Rodriguez - Corbin Burnesen
RP2: Tyler Rogers - Naked Ragans

AL:
C: Cal "Big DOMPSTER" Raleigh - Gut of Pasquantifier
1B: Spencer Torkelson - Corbin Burnesen
2B: Ceddanne Rafaela - Steve Barber & A Cast of 1000s
3B: Jose Ramirez - Return of the Cerruti Column
SS: Bobby Witt Jr. - Yamamotopsycho Nightmare
CF: Aaron Judge - Steve Barber & A Cast of 1000s
OF: Bryan Buxton - Steve Barber & A Cast of 1000s
OF: Riley Greene - Corbin Burnesen
DH: Randy Arozarena - Return of the Cerruti Column

SP1: Tarik Skubal - Corbin Burnesen
SP2: Garrett Crochet - Billy Childish Bambino
SP3: Nathan Eovaldi - Les Misiorowski
SP4: Jacob deGrom - Corbin Burnesen
SP5: Hunter Brown - Naked Ragans
SP6: Joe Ryan - Honey Nut Chourios
SP7: Max Fried - Bichette's Brew
RP1: Josh Hader - Billy Childish Bambino
RP2: Aroldis Chapman - Honey Nut Chourios

doesn’t seem like anyone’s that interested in trading this season but if you’re looking for a decent-hitting catcher, I’ve got Carlos Narvaez or Victor Caratini available (due to Rutschman about to come off the IL)

C is so deep this year, will be hard to tempt a trade when there is a catcher currently sitting on the FA wire that is ranked higher than any of your 3 catchers, then there are 2 more FA/Waiver options as good/better as your other 2 guys.

Ya, I was running with three catchers for a while!

hey just putting it out there. sometimes I see players who have been dropped that I think the owner could’ve gotten something for if they made the effort

i feel seen 👀👀

emmanuel clase placed on leave as part of a gambling investigation. annoying that in fantasy he's considered day-to-day during this so i can't free up his roster spot without dropping him.

I'll bet you $20 he'll be back by mid-August.

bet

sign up for free and you bet you'll get instant rewards and your first $100 of bets on whether or not players who bet should be be disciplined, all on bet on baseball is good and betting is good.com, if you have a problem with gambling call this number, the inbox is full though

mis amigos: Miguel Trucha ya está disponible

buena suerte carnal~

vaja con dios guey~~

i am determined to make little guys the ‘best of the rest’ and i will never give up

jordan lawlar may not get a hit in 2025 but he is likely to record at least one hit in 2026, a year in which i guarantee he will win MVP, they should just go and give it to him

similarly, it was a great decision to not only keep jordan walker this year but also start him at every opportunity this year. he is the most due of any baseball player, and will also the NL mvp in 2026 along with lawlar

We should be talking more about the Corbin Burnesen vs Billy Childish Bambino dogfight at the top of the fantasy standings. Without yahoo chart view it's harder to track what's going on, but this is the best fantasy slugfest that we've had in years.

Return of the Cerutti Column DO NOT DO THIS TO ME

I NEED THIS

4th place is like…copper prize!

and the good kind of copper, not the coppers and robbers kind

congrats mr shasta on your second 1st place finish in the last 5 years! omar made it very close. a battle of vorped minds dynasties!

also, re: doubles next season, we had 8 responses. three in favour of removing doubles and wins, three for replacing doubles with xbh and two in favour of removing doubles and QS.
since it's 5 to 3 in favour of getting rid of a pitching stat to balance out removing doubles, i think it makes the most sense to lose doubles and wins next season.

congrats to billy chilidsh bambino, corbin burnesen, and honey nut chourios.

i managed to keep jordan walker on my roster for the entire year AND finish 4th!

congrats to the winnners
another mediocre season for me, oh well, someone's gotta be mediocre

Congrats Shasta 🫡 while I hope I kept you sweating a little bit, it was a well-earned chip

ILBB Fantasy Awards (manager, league rank):

ALMVP: Aaron Judge (Steve Barbera, #1)
NLMVP: Shohei Ohtani - batter (Honey Nut Chourios, #2)

ALCY: Tarik Skubal (Corbin Burnesen, #5)
NLCY: Paul Skenes (Cold Conforto Farm, #9)

ALROY: Nick Kurtz (YamamotoPsycho Nightmare, #25)
NLROY: Cade Horton (SendNootbar, #136)

Little Guys will claim the comeback player of the year, george springer

Thanks to everyone for playing, it was yet another fun season.

We should continue to debate the value of cats as I think our mix is obviously not perfect but there's still some room to improve.

ALSO: there's a large (50%?) chance I drop one of my HIGH-VALUE OF keepers before next season's deadline, which means we could switch to the 2xOF,1xCF,1xUTIL configuration (ie, going from 2xUTIL -> 1x UTIL) that Thermo proposed initially for 2025.

This would increase the quality of non-rostered players in the free agent pool. Not sure if everyone felt the squeeze this season when hunting for value in FA/WW pickups, I sure did.

my other league is AL only; so even with the extra UTL, our league feels like a veritable candy store of sweet offerings!

Congrats Bambinos! I'll happily take the copper, I was lodged in 3rd place most of the year with no real threat of moving anywhere

Congrats Shasta on a well-deserved win.

My team sucked because everyone got injured, I'm hoping for better luck next year.