In an effort to get back in the habit of writing more, I decided to produce what I hope will be a reoccurring series of blog posts where I can talk about multiple topics in a shorter format. This post you are reading now is the first of that series. I have seen a few other sites I read do something like this
(Prospects365, Pitcherlist to name two) and I think it is a great idea. Ideally, it would be a weekly series, but we will see how this goes. Maybe there will be a theme to the thoughts, maybe there will not. This time, there is (Spoiler Alert, it is about previous topics I covered). Let’s get right to it!
Thoughts on Patrick Wisdom for 2019
Author’s Note: The majority of this piece was written yesterday on my day off before Asdrubal Cabrera signed with the Rangers on a 1 year deal to play third base. That said, most of what I covered is still relevant, though Wisdom might not make as much of an impact as I first thought in the upcoming 2019 season. That said, I hope you enjoy the article either way.
With the baseball season only about two months away, it is time for me to really start planning for my upcoming fantasy leagues. I currently play in two AL-Only leagues, an 8 team Roto Auction redraft and a 15 Roto dynasty league. In order to do well in AL-Only leagues, I have found it is important to get as much elite talent as possible and then supplement the rest of your roster out with a combination of solid role players and players with upside (these things are not mutually exclusive). One such player that looks like he will have (Author’s Note: read as “had”) both of those things going into 2019 is Patrick Wisdom of the Texas Rangers.
Continue reading “Thoughts on Patrick Wisdom for 2019”A Different Way to Play Fantasy Baseball
Since 2013, I have been the commissioner of what I would refer to as my home fantasy baseball league. This is definitely my favorite league to play in as I get to compete against, and sometimes dominate, my friends. It has always been a 12 team keeper league that started with rotisserie (roto) scoring with the intent to limit the randomness that is apparent in the head-to-head (H2H) format. The rest of the league details are not important. What is important is that the league is constantly evolving year over year. I schedule an off season winter meeting where we discuss ways to improve the league each year and then send out surveys to get votes from all managers to enact the changes. This concept is not unique to our league as I have read about other long running leagues that do things like this. However, what I believe is unique is a change we enacted that came about prior to the start of the 2016 season that has definitely improved the way we play fantasy baseball. I would like to share that change with you now.
Setting the Stage: Opening Day 2018
It is finally here! It feels like just a week ago that I was watching the Astros celebrate their 2017 World Series victory over the Dodgers. Finally, meaningful baseball will be played and the fantasy season can begin. No more speculating what will happen as we can finally watch the season unfold before our own eyes. All the hope we had in the offseason for our favorite teams will begin to fade with each passing day (looking at your Mets). It seems like every author who writes about baseball provides their predictions for the upcoming season. With this post, it looks like I can officially put myself into that group of people. In addition, I will cover the fantasy leagues I will be competing in this year as I will be referencing them on occasion. I only had the idea for this post yesterday so no record projections by me. I am just going off of my gut . Let’s begin.
Continue reading “Setting the Stage: Opening Day 2018”
The Effect of the Diamondbacks’ Humidor on Paul Goldschmidt
Since the beginning of last year when the Arizona Diamondbacks announced they would be introducing a humidor at their home park, Chase Field, there has been a lot of speculation as to how this would affect baseball being played. There is an expected reduction in overall offense as a result, but the question is just how much of a reduction. For those not familiar with the term, a humidor is a device that is used to control the humidity of the objects inside. Usually they are used to store cigars, but in this case this one will be used for Major League baseballs. The specific requirements for the Chase humidor will be 50% humidity at 75 degree Fahrenheit. Alan Nathan, a baseball physicist, took a look at this and in an article for The Hardball Times concluded that there would be a 25-50% reduction in home runs at Chase Field. This is definitely a substantial percentage and with news of the humidor being installed officially for the start of the 2018 season, the fantasy community has be fading Diamondback hitters and talking up Diamondback pitchers. I have been wondering for sometime if this was an extreme reaction to this news and if there was a good way to determine this. Up until recently, I was not sure, until I read an article that gave me an idea for this totally not scientific method feature below.
Continue reading “The Effect of the Diamondbacks’ Humidor on Paul Goldschmidt”
