Strike 1, 2, 3 and yr locked out at the ollll’ bawlllll gaaaaaaammmeeeeletstiethisinwithfantasybaseballsomehow2022

Another year, another questionable start date...

Teams have been auto renewed and league is here.
Same rules as always, I'm sure we know them by now.
Let's try to submit our picks two weeks before baseball usually starts... let's say, March 19. Hopefully we can draft the 27th, but won't set that until the whole labour thing gets sorted out. Will push back if things are looking bad.
Here is Will's super-awesome spreadsheet!

Apparently we all hate XBH. I've checked and there doesn't appear to be any new scoring stats – but if we want to replace XBH with something else for hitting (ideally a counting stat) go ahead and shout out ideas (I still like the idea of fielding% until a better fielding metric gets added, but thats just me).

And congrats again to last year's champ, NoTimeB4Time. He is now the baddie (without a Vlady)!

also: our league can now drink in Ontario!

oh hey! may there be baseball this year

i am definitely going to vote against FPCT, i've been in leagues with that and it's just a mess. it basically just adds an element of randomness. i don't think there will ever be a good fielding stat for fantasy tbh

category ideas i had last year:
1. replace XBH with doubles. XBH doesn't work because it's basically the same stat as SLG, it double counts HRs, and the league already feels very tilted towards home run hitting (and i say this as the new owner of vlad and joey gallo). the one thing we're relying on it to count is doubles. triples are very rare. i really wish yahoo offered a "2B+3B" stat or even better "SB+3B," but until then i don't think it's a crime if we ignore triples (they're still counted in SLG at least). the best triples hitters in baseball don't hit enough triples to make them better XBH targets than power hitters who hit a lot of doubles and HRs, no one's drafting nicky lopez because he might hit 3 more triples than the next guy.

2. or just cut that category entirely and make it a 6x6 league, also cutting one of W/QS or one of K/K:BB. this would at least make SBs a little more important and harder for people to punt in favor of raw power

3. replace NSB with SB. NSB is "better" and more accurate but having negative SBs is another thing that makes it easier for people to punt it entirely. with small rosters and 6/7 categories being hitting-related, there's not much room to really incorporate or plan around speed outside of a few really good players. so removing caught stealings would maybe make the league a little more speed-friendly by helping that player type stand out a bit more

i am open to 1&2, but waaaay prefer NSB. if people want to punt it, go for it – other managers will gladly take those points. it's something i think is important to evaluating a player overall, the speed doesn't matter if dude's a terrible baserunner and making lousy outs. i think it's great they way it can elevate the value of a guy like Bichette (or Tim Raines!) who does not make mistakes out there.

one stat i really wish we had, was one for both RBI/runs. basically RBI + R - HR. those are both team dependent stats to a degree and I'd love to mitigate that my merging it into one.
on that note – i might be cool with dropping W. or doubles is a neat idea instead of XBH.

keepers I'm probably going with (only two carryovers from last year!)

Francisco Lindor 28
Max Fried 28
Jack Flaherty 26
Ozzie Albies 25
jarred Kelenic 22

if people want to punt it, go for it – other managers will gladly take those points

i just assumed everyone punted NSB every year?!

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, May 24, 2021 1:19 PM (eight months ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's not a big deal or a hill i'll die on, but my point is i feel like the league is set up so that the managers that take those points are putting themselves at a general disadvantage unless they get one of the few first-round burners who also contribute in the other 6 categories. combination of small rosters and 7 categories makes it so a speed-first player has to be exceptionally good at stealing bags to make up for the hits you take in other categories, and incorporating CS into SB further limits the population of viable SB-first candidates. i don't think i have access to last year's full standings but i believe the top 2 teams were ones that gave up on NSBs in favor of hitting stats.

but lowering the number of categories could also help. and/or adding more active roster spots if people are into that.......

Ok. I did mean that comment somewhat tongue in cheek. I do take a guys speed into consideration (it wound up being one of two deciding stats in my league last year) and it’s something I’ll target later in drafts if I don’t land any speedy guy in the earlier rounds when I’m in “best guy I can grab” mode.

I really wish yahoo would add some fresh stats for us. No idea what the issue is.

And here’s the full, expanded settings from 2021.
If you view the league page through a web browser instead of the app, there’s a lot more info.

The top 5 teams finished as follows in NSB: 7th, 4th, 9th, 1st & 5th. Out of 13 teams, I’d say only one of the top 5 teams came close to punting it.

In my first post there I meant to in my *other* league

thanks for that link. it's actually bleaker than i thought though, NSB was the worst category (including pitching) for each of the top 3 teams. there were points to be gained or protected there for all 3 but outside of the occasional nicky lopez/whit merrifield stream they all decided it wasn't worth pursuing, which was what i meant by "gave up on." idk if changing NSBs to SBs would make players like lopez or merrifield (who is a beast in standard 5x5, i was surprised to see him dropped and added multiple times) more palatable, but with the current league setup i think NSBs are definitely the easiest category to marginalize.

other wacky idea: destroy XBHs, replace SLG with doubles, fuck a home run

Ya, Merrifield had the worst year of his career. (Tho 40 for 44 is sb attempts!)

he was still great irl and in 5x5, rostered in 98% of leagues and still going in the 4th round this year. in 5x5 he's amazing with SBs and R, good in AVG and surprisingly useful in RBIs due to his doubles hitting. in our league he kinda sucked because his biggest failing was amplified 3x in HR, SLG and XBH, and his main calling card was dampened (though -4 SBs is not a huge deal)

again i really don't care that much about NSBs and am mostly just arguing for the sake of it, i think it's more important to address the overlapping power categories

i think that's the wrong spreadsheet at the top! try this one

i like ✖'s ideas above, def think doubles over XBH at the very least. also attracted to the 6x6 thing bc i don't like QS as a stat.

i'm agnostic on NSB but looking at the stats it really only seems like three teams didn't punt NSB! and they finished 4/9/8. or maybe steals are just down, idk. that said i always look at steals (net or otherwise) as a "you can get a few on the waivers" stat anyway, SAGNOF (then again i have only won once and haven't done well in a few years sooooo what do i know)

anyway assuming no injuries between now and keeper deadline i'm keeping

Wander Franco  21
Eloy Jimenez   25
Shane Bieber   26
Trea Turner    28
Mookie Betts   29

As defending champ, I accept my role as the dark lord of the league this year. The fantasy season WILL be played! I will use replacement fantasy players if I have to!

but my point is i feel like the league is set up so that the managers that take those points are putting themselves at a general disadvantage unless they get one of the few first-round burners who also contribute in the other 6 categories

I agree, and I'm also in favour of a stats change. Most stats are flawed in some way, but there are a bunch of interesting ones that we've never used: inherited runners scored, net saves, on base percentage against ... and those are just the pitching categories.

I also don't mind a little bit of randomness thrown in, e.g. categories like no-hitters and cycles (we had both one year, but one is enough).

We did have rando stats that one season (maybe two) but everyone turned on them pretty quickly from what I remember. It was more fun in concept than actually having do deal with a middling team jump up 13 points over night and be pretty much entrenched there.
I also remember having blown saves one year (not much different from having net saves) and very quickly people stopped carrying set up guys and we ditched that pretty quickly too.

One random stat can add some unpredictability to the season -- a team middling in 8th place might fluke into a no-hitter and jump to 3rd or 4th, the potential is there to keep more teams in the hunt.

I agree about blown saves, that's a terrible stat. But there are plenty of other choices. Even a stat like singles adds some strategy and forces teams to add players with a specific skill (rather than just the best overall hitters).

i feel like if we did one rando stat, we'd have to have at least a 2nd (one pitcher, one hitter) to make it a little more equitable.
my main issue is how unpopular it was last time. maybe something slightly less rare like shutouts and grand slams might get more people on board?
i do like the idea of OBP against or something similar. we'd have to ditch WHIP tho.

i am not smart enough about fantasy baseball to give good input on all this but NSB does seem like a fairly useless category right now. i'd be in favor of switching it out or dropping it.

I dunno. If people wanted to get rid of XBH because it put too much focus on power hitters - getting rid of NSB seems counterintuitive to that idea to me.

i don't see how rando stats is good, you can't plan for rando and planning is the fun part of fantasy ball!

Ha!

penciled-in keepers for He Ain't Javy (He's My Baez) (likely team name change to come)

Adley Rutschman (24)
Chris Paddack (26)
Sandy Alcantara (26)
Pete Alonso (27)
Lucas Giolito (27)

mostly pretty easy decisions this season. vaguely considering swapping in Andrew Vaughn for Paddack but for now this is the crew. i'm gonna need bats.

With rando stats, if team gets the first no-hitter/cycle/etc. then scoring in that category jumps from (in the case of a 13-team league) a 13-way tie at 7 points, to a 12-way tie at 6.5 points and one team with 13 points. That's a 6.5 point swing, which isn't enough to flip the standings on its own. No manager could hope for a rando stat to completely rescue his season! If others hate then, no problem, but it would be a way to add (reintroduce) something to the league.

The stats we use now are a little *too* good, in the sense that you can plan the draft more or less by looking at WAR leaders from the previous season. But if we added singles and double plays turned it would add a different strategic element! I don't know, it could be interesting to add some speed/defense first categories while removing power categories like XBH and/or SLG.

the stats available to us aren't the best imho:

Batters
Games Played
Games Started
At Bats
Runs
Hits
Singles
Doubles
Triples
Home Runs
Runs Batted In
Sacrifice Hits
Sacrifice Flys
Stolen Bases
Caught Stealing
Walks
Intentional Walks
Hit By Pitch
Strikeouts
Ground Into Double Play
Total Bases
Putouts
Assists
Errors
Fielding Percentage
Batting Average
On-base Percentage
Slugging Percentage
On-base + Slugging Percentage
Extra Base Hits
Net Stolen Bases
Stolen Base Percentage
Hitting for the Cycle
Plate Appearances
Grand Slam Home Runs
Outfield Assists
Double Plays Turned
Catcher Interference

Pitchers
Pitching Appearances
Games Started
Innings Pitched
Wins
Losses
Complete Games
Shutouts
Saves
Outs
Hits
Total Batters Faced
Runs
Earned Runs
Home Runs
Walks
Intentional Walks
Hit Batters
Strikeouts
Wild Pitches
Balks
Stolen Bases Allowed
Batters Grounded Into Double Plays
Save Chances
Holds
Total Bases Allowed
Earned Run Average
(Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched
Strikeouts per Walk Ratio
Strikeouts per Nine Innings
Pitch Count
Singles Allowed
Doubles Allowed
Triples Allowed
Relief Wins
Relief Losses
Pickoffs
Relief Appearances
On-base Percentage Against
Winning Percentage
Hits Per Nine Innings
Walks Per Nine Innings
No Hitters
Perfect Games
Save Percentage
Inherited Runners Scored
Quality Starts
Blown Saves
Net Saves
Saves + Holds
Net Saves and Holds
Net Wins

Balks!

Is there even a difference between WHIP and OBP against?!

i mean, the obp against would look far more impressive what with it being a smaller number but uhh... yeah not much of a difference eh?

Good I’m not too late.

Corbin Burnesen:

Fernando Tatis Jr.
Yordan Alvarez
Corbin Burnes
Brandon Woodruff
Freddy Peralta

Oops:

Tatis: 23
Alvarez: 24
Burnes: 27
Woodruff: 29
Peralta: 25

MLB was kind enough to extend the deadline for us.

let's go. are we still doing the draft next weekend?

oh wait, the draft wasn't set for next weekend. nevermind.

ahhh – might want to push the draft day back since there will be a later start to the season. gonna wait to see what the official opening day is.

also, i've been getting emails about the category changes in addition to the comments here and, considering the limited stats at our disposal, i figure we have one of three options:
• replace xbh with doubles
• drop xbh along with a corresponding P category – wins most likely
• do nothing, because our league is perfect and so are you

• wild card 4th option: replace xbh with something nutty like cycles or grandy slammies

I vote for option 2 with the proviso that QS should go instead of W, because i like position-agnostic stats (SP and RP are positions now ok?!).

id be fine with option 1 though. and ok with option 3. and i hate option 4 lol

short version here's my ranked ballot

2(QS) > 2(W) > 1 > 3 > huffing a fart > 4

ok – so official opening day is pushed back by about 1.5 weeks. lets set the draft for Sunday April 3rd. ahhh... 3:30pm eastern (so done by diner)?
please please PLEASE, have your selects in by the weekend before. i don't want to go on a rant here about how my life is falling apart, but april is set to be a horrible month for me – so let's get this done on time!

ah, true about RP wins. always a fun bonus.

1>2>3>4

additionally: replace XBH with doubles, destroy SLG and QS anyway, R/RBI/2B/HR/OBP/NSB

i don't hate it

ANYWAY whatever you end up picking, thermo, as always if you need any help lmk i can do whatever you need!

Gonna email you actually.

R/RBI/2B/HR/OBP/NSB

This is interesting ... very streamlined, I like it. Not a huge fan of keeping W and dropping QS (too dependent on luck). Anybody interested in a semi-exotic pitching category such as Inherited Runners Scored?

We only have one stat for relievers (sv + h) anything like that or blown saves would cause people to stop running set-up guys entirely, I think.

Yes, you're right. And I really like SV + H rather than having the separate categories. I never liked having to scramble to pick up a few extra saves by keeping a watch on the revolving door of closers.

guns of buxton

jose ramirez (29)
carlos correa (27)
jose berrios (27)
pablo lopez (26)

is that even right? don't believe i can hold onto my other keeper eligible guys for age requirement. would love to be wrong, though.

looks right to me, you only had pablo in that bracket

Snitker Conspiracy

Rafael Devers (25)
Franmil Reyes (26)
Brandon Lowe (27)
Jorge Polanco (28)
Noah Syndergaard (29)

Thanks!

yeah I only have one quality start so far and I almost sat the starter for that game because it was against the Dodgers.

Corbin Burnsen team ERA: 9.62

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, April 11, 2022 5:25 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

and my batting's ops/slg is .272/.284, somehow. week 1 is always weird. (that or i have made roughly 10 huge mistakes)

I had a good run there between draft day and opening day.

(that or i have made roughly 10 huge mistakes)

this is usually my strategy

xpost lol

yes.

getting some writing done

https://i.imgur.com/zqxA5GN.png

i drafted 3 guys who were on the IR when i drafted them

two weeks later, when i have 5 guys on the IR: (insert surprised pikachu)

Not to get too judgy about such things, but three is a lot of hurt dudes to draft. (Unless they were all keepers)

they weren't! i just didn't stick to the script! (and one of them was acuna, so... not a lot of choice there)

You have my blessing on Acuna

Important news: Put ze Candelario Back! has finally put ze Candelario back.

was surprised to see Graveman was floating out there!

The Jarred Kelenic experiment is probably over for the Baddoos. My 9th place team just can’t manage room for him on the bench. If anyone has more faith than I do, feel free to offer literally anything.

I’d been looking at Arraez. Mostly because in my last OOTP sim he became a Boggs-like god

i had him on a team in the past couple of seasons, he's a solid OBP contributor for sure

i was going to snag him this am. oh, well!

i'm excited that holding on to adley rutschman for 1.25 seasons while waiting for the orioles to call him up will finally pay off by getting me the 40 points i need to jump from second place to first place

i have faith, friend-o.

penciled-in keepers for He Ain't Javy (He's My Baez) (likely team name change to come)

Adley Rutschman (24)
Chris Paddack (26)
Sandy Alcantara (26)
Pete Alonso (27)
Lucas Giolito (27)

mostly pretty easy decisions this season. vaguely considering swapping in Andrew Vaughn for Paddack but for now this is the crew. i'm gonna need bats.

― na (NA), Monday, February 14, 2022 2:42 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

well i made the wrong decision there (by keeping chris paddack instead of andrew vaughn). i think i dropped paddack even before he got tommy john, while vaughn is looking like a solid hitter who will probably continue to improve. vaughn is available but having him as keeper-eligible would have been the real value.

i always liked his plate discipline. not as much power as you'd hope from a 1b tho, so the OF eligibility helps some. obv at this point tho, anyone under the age of 26 is going to be looking better than Paddack.

had vaughn for a while, dropped him because he just wasn't providing enough upside in any specific category. but he might go wild at any moment.

my biggest regret, and i've had a few, was trading one year of aaron judge for two years of joey gallo. lol.

my second biggest regret was drafting 4 players who i knew were going to be IL/NA for a long time and praying no one else would get hurt. lol.

entertaining offers for berrios and ramirez, i guess

i've got willy adames and seiya suzuki coming off the IL in the next week, but i don't really need either of them in my lineup right now. they're both keeper-eligible. i'm open to trades, primarily for reliable sources of SV/Hs.

i should never have dropped Kirk. holy shit.

Everyone except omar little keep reading. Omar stop reading here

...
...
...

Fellas how are we gonna sabotage omar little

seems kinda rude to go out of our way to sabotage the 6th place team but i'm always down for a plot

Wait did I pick the wrong person

Yes I did. Ignore previous post how do we sabotage... Whoever is in first I forget who is who

he’s more of a lurker these day. But also running away with it this year!!

spent a good chunk of the season in 2nd and I'm hesitant to make any trades because I'm not sure it's surmountable

more i think about it the more i wish i pushed for hitter strikeouts to be a category. i can't believe i argued for making the categories nicer to non-power hitters and completely forgot that was an option. strikeouts impact two pitching categories, may as well judge hitters against them too!

for next year i propose replacing something or other with Ks

my starting pitching rotation, which had been pretty reliable for the first couple of months of the season, seems to be all shitting the bed at the same time

see if you can guess which two starting pitchers i had in the two day games today lol

Was Giolito one?

once jacob degrom, max scherzer, bryce harper, aroldis chapman, ty france, nathan eolvaldi, grayson rodriguez and andrew heaney come off the IL i'm gunning for that top spot

My god. Taylor out with an injury now… I think this might be one of the worst drafts I have ever had.

keeper list updated through july 5th, if anyone's interested -- all drops and trades (well, trade) accounted for

important note for teams that i have a trade offer out to: the trade deadline is in like 3 hours

Oh. I totally forgot it was upon us!

Daring trade going on there, I love it.

wow! Giolitto trying to shuffle into first with a 20 point swing through pitching!
this is the good stuff i don't get to see in other leagues

yolo

That trade might work out for *everyone*.

I considered some fun proposals but don’t know even with the players that were offered if it would make a difference. I sent another proposal to someone earlier today but then realized it would leave me shy one keeper so I decided to pull it.

was assuming the deadline would be 12AM PST like normal, looks like it's going a little bit longer

thank you both for entertaining my many desperate offers for players you understandably wouldn't want to give up

Well it was certainly a close one but congrats to Billy Childish Bambino for winning the chip — what Verlander and Judge did this year to the rest of fantasy was obv absolutely disgusting.

Have them both on my other team!

Congrats to BCB, aka gygax (tho you probably won’t see this)! Schooled everyone this year! I think, second victory??

congrats to BCB on the dominant win! at the least the competition for 2/3/4 was interesting. my big trade didn't really pay off but no regrets.

Congratulations BCB, you led nearly wire to wire with by far the best team and it really wasn't close.

My team kind of muddled around all year -- a bunch of good but not great seasons, never managed to cobble together a decent outfield or bullpen. My keepers for next year should still be good so hopefully I can bounce back.

late congrats to the dominant BCB squad. maybe we should do a weekly setup next year to avoid that kind of runaway? just a thought