Part IV: Head to Head Competition - Free Agent Ethics

My last portion of head to head play deals with the ethics involved with picking up players - particularly pitchers off of free agents to boost wins and/or strikeouts against your opponent when the ERA and WHIP categories appear to be cemented to one side or another. Here are the two policies we have that make this process much easier to follow through on.
1. We don't have a maximum amount of games played or innings on a weekly or season basis.
2. We don't have a cap for how many moves an owner can make during the season.

Both of these policies are in place so that GMs can stay active and keep interest. There has been discussion that we should change both of these rules particularly the second one, but I remain reluctant to do so. Instead I believe that everyone in the league has an ethical responsibility to the other owners to make transactions beyond the contribution of just one game. It is particularly important to follow up on this in a league among friends. But just to assure fair play, last season we did implement a policy that froze rosters for the playoffs (you could only drop players) and we are continuing that policy this season.

There is a situation where I would pick up a pitcher on the last day and this is why it is important we keep the rules we have. Today (the second last day of the weekly matchups) for instance I picked up Livan Hernandez because Rich Harden went on the DL. I did this because I believe Livan is the best pitcher available. If he had a start on Sunday, then I would start him not because of how the matchup is going but because Livan is a good pitcher. Who's to say that I'm really being honorable with my reasoning? Well like I said its a league among friends.

Week 3 Standings

As always, here is the rundown of Week 3 in the Cheverus Fantasy Baseball League:

Week 3 Standings

Bold denotes a contributor to Fantasy Baseball Phenoms

Games Back
1. Sean --
1. Brablc --
3. Alvarez 1.5
4. Curtis 1.5
5. Blake 2
6. Nick 3.5
7. Stevie 4
8. Markie 6.5
9. Phelps 6.5
10. Ricky 9.5

Here's how it went down:

Brablc wins ugly against Markie, 5-4

This was one of the cases, where if Brablc played anyone else he would have been bloodied and left for dead, however, Brablc matched up with Markie perfectly. Brablc won the pitching categories with a solid 3.21 ERA and 1.03 WHIP while Markie battered him in hitting winning every hitting category execpt steals.

Blake defeats Curtis, 5-4

Probably the best stat line of the year in this one. Blake lost the steals category after recording 10 steals in one week to Curtis who recorded an insane 12 steals. It was also a battle of opposing pitching strategies with Blake going for quality (winning ERA and WHIP) and Curtis going for quantity (K's and Wins).

Sean outshines Ricky, 7-2

I've been critical of Ricky in past posts (he's a closet Phenoms fan, by the way) however, you can't fault him this week. Sean was just utterly impressive. The highlight of this great week lied in the 2.12 ERA and 1.00 WHIP that his pitching recorded.

Stevie outlasts Nick, 5-4

One of the closest matchups of the season with basically every category coming down to the final days. One thing to note is Nick's strategy to carry five closers on his team. It is something to watch as the season progresses.

Alvarez makes Phelps his bitch, 6-3

Trash talk from Phelps early in the week didn't seem to faze Alvarez has he easily took down the WZBC Sports Radio Infamous Man of the Year. The Devil should be getting a winter jacket pretty soon, as well. Cause although its only three weeks, it looks like Alvarez might make the playoffs.

This week's matchups:
Curtis vs. Brablc- Cream of the Crop.
Harlem vs. Team Rima- Only gets better.
Blake vs. Alvarez- Wow, this could be possibly the best week of matchups ever.
Ricky vs. Nick- Can Ricky climb out of last? Can Nick retain that last playoff spot?
Stevie vs. Phelps- Let's see if Stevie proves that Phelps is the league's bitch!

One more week down,

Brablc

Part 3: Head to Head Competition - Preaching Balance

Writers note: This article applies for standarad 5x5 leagues

The best attribute of head to head is that you have to play each team according to their weaknesses and strengths so each week your strategy will change. For this reason I have always believed in having a well-balanced team so that on any given week you have a chance to win any category. For hitters, the category that is most difficult to balance is steals since a good hitter will generally take care of runs, RBI, average (or OBP), and homeruns. For pitchers the category that is most often ignored is saves because it requires a person to have several of them and on the surface they only benefit your team in one category.

First, stolen bases are essential. In my most important league (the keeper league with all the other geeks on this site) I went top heavy with power hitters. Some people argue that this is the best strategy since you can win 4 out of 5 offensive categories, but I disagree. Only one time in the past three weeks have I taken a majority of the runs, RBI, average, HR categories. If I keep the team I currently have, I do expect to take these categories more often than not, however, if I can lose any week if the players on the opposing teams get hot. As we saw from Brandon Phillips's great power surge last week (18 RBI) or Kevin Mench's new shoes (6 homers in 6 games) it can happen randomly from unlikely sources. In addition, the big time power hitters usually get their numbers in streaks, so what happens when they get cold? Right now I have 6 stolen bases. Not for the week, but for the season. Everybody in the league has at least double that number. It is clear that I need to make a change and here are my options:

1. Make a trade. Brablc and I have discussed Carl Crawford for Manny. Its definetly something that appeals to me, but being a Red Sox fan who has been watching the games lately I know Manny is still Manny and ready to start putting up huge numbers. The player ranking on Crawford doesn't lie however, and this may be a very good option assuming Brablc sweetens the deal just a little.
Nick also has both Jose Reyes and Chone Figgins, which suggests that I could trade him my power for his speed, but he isn't interested (this is a first) - yet. In my opinion he only has 3 guys that will hit 30 homers this year, the problem is all of those guys have been hitting homers so the need for power hasn't been established yet. Players I could trade include Michael Young if I get Reyes or possibly Konerko and a pitcher if he needs power.

2. Grab a free agent. The cheap version of getting stolen bases means hurting your other categories. The best guy out there in our league right now is likely Joey Gathwright. He hits at the bottom of the order so his other stats will bring me down considerably and he has one less at bat a game compared to Podsednik or Ichiro, but I keep Manny, Konerko, and Young.

3. Wait it out. Right now Barry Bonds is limping his way around the bases, but hes hitting them out - if he can keep hitting and playing (the bigger question of the two) he becomes another trade piece. My bigger need is likely pitching anyway right now with Noah Lowry already on the shelf and Rich Harden possibly heading there as well.

The other stat that gets ignored (more so than steals) is saves. Last year one person in our league gave up Isringhausen and Francisco Cordero in the same deal because he felt he was not going to win saves with those guys alone and it was easier than giving up a powerful bat or dominant starter. I don't advise using this strategy. If you consistently start 3 or 4 closers on your roster, their strikeouts and innings (thus ERA and WHIP) will be equal to a starter. And with Isringhausen and Cordero's low ERA and high K numbers. This kid was one Octavio Dotel injury away from having Huston Street complete what would statistically amount to a dominant starter.

This year one of the team's has only Brian Fuentes as his closer. He has made no intention to trade him and in fact is shopping around for more closers. He already picked up Gagne in case he can come back and close. While he probably should have more closers to begin with he is taking the right approach now. Despite only having one closer he tied me in saves which just supports that on any given week anything can happen. With Eddie Guardado struggling, the Marlins closer job in limbo, the Red Sox in need of another starter (possibly Papelbon?) closers are constantly moving around and he will be quick to jump at another closer and right the ship. After all, its still April.

Part 2: The Winning Strategy of Head to Head

Going back to last April, I struggled to start my fantasy baseball season. Last year, I panicked. It started with my pitching. Oliver Perez was terrible. Javier Vazquez didn't rebound. Johan Santana didn't carry my staff like he was supposed to out of the gates. So I felt like I had to make a move. Enter Roy Oswalt.

Don't get me wrong, Oswalt is a stud. He has been for years, but I gave away too much. Chone Figgins (MLB best 62 SB and a top 30 player), Jason Bay (11th overall according to yahoo), and Dustin Hermanson (closer for prolonged period for White Sox). All of these guys went to my chief rival and eventual regular season champ; Curtis. Curtis currently has Jason Bay on his roster as a result of this deal.

I spent my whole season recovering from this and ultimately cost my team a chance at winning it all as a result, but that was then and this is a new season.

I refuse to overpay for pitching despite being short of starting pitching again this season. I will not overcompensate for stolen bases; a category that I am extremely weak in. Here's why

1. Free agents. There were some studs last year as there are every year at every position that went undrafted. In the area of starting pitching Chris Capuano, John Lackey, Brett Meyers, Doug Davis, and Jon Garland were among pitchers who went undrafted and finished in the top 100 overall. Then there were saves coming from Derrick Turnbow and journeyman Todd Jones. For stolen bases last season I picked up Willy Taveras and Julio Lugo off the waiver wire. And then for just good old fashioned power guys in the infield Jhonny Peralta emerged at shortstop, Morgan Ensberg reached his potential at third, Jorge Cantu came from seemingly nowhere to lead second basemen in RBI, even Tony Clark found himself hitting 30 homers again at first. Finally if outfield help was needed, youngsters Chad Tracy and Matt Holliday emerged to have solid seasons.
This year will be no different. Some may have already been found in Jonathan Papelbon, Justin Verlander, and Alex Rios are the early candidates that fit this mold. Its just a matter of keeping your eyes open and seeing the trends that Tom, Curtis and others have already mentioned.

2. Deadline trading. Last season I began to keep an excel spreadsheet (I'm a dork, but what do you expect when I'm blogging about my league) of how my weeks would do against everyone else in the league if I were playing them that week. From this I got a good idea of what I needed and what I could afford to give up. People get desperate starting two weeks before the deadline. Last year I made up for an otherwise weak offense (after trading to get Oswalt) by getting Johnny Damon and Michael Young just to name a few. Some managers got desperate for depth while others felt like they were out of it and wanted to trade for keepers. The deadline creates a sense of urgency with some owners just want to make a deal because its the trade deadline. This is by far the best time to do deals for all those reasons and you have an incredible sense of where your team is.

Some people might add a third point by saying its important to maximize your starts, but I disagree as I will discuss in my next blog.

Part 1: Head to Head Competition Rules

Over the next 4 days I am going to do 4 different posts about head to head competition. Starting with this blog explaining why head to head competition beats every other type of fantasy baseball league.

I've done rotisserie (and I am presently in one rotisserie league), I've done salary cap, and I've seen protrade.com - but none of them compare to head to head. Don't get me wrong. I love all of fantasy baseball. All the other leagues are as good as the red head from American Pie, but head to head competition is the hot foreign chick.

Rotisserie leagues usually result in half the teams in the league out of contention by May 1. The only way to keep the bottom dwellers interested is to have some incentive for winning a category, but in this case the league actually grows furhter apart. A bottom dweller with Chone Figgins for instance might go after Juan Pierre to try to "steal" the steals category. The easy solution to getting a Juan Pierre or Scott Podsednik is to over compensate overall value players to a contender. Thus, the other contenders suffer and the bottom dwellers grow worse. What fun is it checking the box scores every night just seeing if some guy stole a bag?

Salary cap leagues are more realistic to what a baseball GM has to deal with, but we (Curtis, Sean, Brablc, CA) tried one last season in an AL only format and the results were terrible. We did it through yahoo, who doesn't offer a salary cap, so we had to keep track of the numbers ourselves. ESPN does have auction values, but you and your buddies can all have the same players. It is only realistic to the point that your league is a keeper league. Would the Red Sox really want to trade an expensive player like David Ortiz for Josh Barfield if the league only lasted a single year? ESPN does not offer a keeper league with its salary based league.

Protrade.com is interesting, but you are not competing in a small league but against a large number of people and against numbers. If you are not familiar with it think of a stock portfolio, but with athletes.

Head to head offers the best of everything. Everyone is a contender for at least half of the year. If you start the year out on a sour note (like I have this year, thank you Barry Bonds), one good week can boost you in the standings and also in morale. The greatest strength about my head to head league is that all ten teams compete and follow it day in and day out. I don't think this could happen if it weren't for the playoffs that aren't offered in other leagues. Because of the playoffs the team in 8th place can make a move or two at the trade deadline, work their way into the promised land and try to actually win the league five weeks later. Last year the 5th seed, took home the bragging rights.

Jim from American Pie took Michelle, but this is fantasy baseball not Hollywood. I'd take Nadia any day.

Staying out of Limbo

Join me in Fantasy Baseball's version of limbo. A place where solid hitters plague your lineup and adequate starters jepordize your ERA and WHIP every week. Have too many players that aren't good enough to put in your lineup and too good to drop to the waiver wire? Then you know what I'm talking about. If not, let me provide you with a few examples:

Brian Giles

An ultimate stud in an OBP league, however, in any other league just an average UT player. I have him in one league and I have no idea what to do with him. He's been sitting on my bench for forever but I feel guilty dropping him. Is he undroppable? I just don't know.

Livan Hernandez

A great rotation guy on any team, well, any MLB team. In fantasy, I wouldn't touch him (although I drafted him in 17th round). I have finally came to the realization that he's a cancer. In his good starts, he'll give up 2 or 3 ERs in 7 innings but in the bad ones (1 out of 3 starts) he gives up 6 or 7 ERs. Not to mention a WHIP in the 1.40 region. These numbers will never help you in a fantasy week. I'd much rather take a chance on a Daniel Cabrera, who has dominant potential than this guy. (I dropped Livan in my one league).

Greg Maddux

He's started off hot this year, but I can't help but label him a "limbo" player. I had him last year and I just could never get a read on him. He's one of those pitchers that get that "good" label but he'll rarely be great. Maddux also is a victim to what umpire he gets on a given night. If he gets that outside corner he's fine but if he doesn't look for a blowout.

Garret Anderson

He's not the hitter he once was. He'll never get the RBI totals he had earlier in his career and he has never put up great runs numbers. So what makes this guy a viable option on fantasy teams. His past track record makes him too good to drop and for those who have them they'll pay the price in their offensive categories.

If you have these players with the exception of Giles (I still don't know where to place him) I would advise you to drop them. Push them to the curb and take someone with potential such as Alex Rios. Which gets me to my second point....

The Value of Roster Flexibility

Here are two points to take under consideration with that extra roster spot:

1. Keep one spot on your roster that is fluid.

By this, I mean to make one spot a revolving door with a different player taking up shop every week. Why you ask? This allows you to make more moves on hot players and stops you from being hestitant in making free agent pickups. Who cares if you drop Mr. Irrelevant for a pontential young stud. And if that young stud fails to work out, you can just try again next week. Using this strategy you'll be able to pick up guys like Grady Sizemore and John Patterson and hold onto them when they impress. I've passed on too many guys that I liked because I felt I couldn't drop some average guy. Don't be a victim of "limbo" players.

2. Give up your waiver wire priority NOW

One of the most overated things in fantasy is having waiver priority. It gets in the way of making waiver wire decisions every time. Should I waste my waiver priority on So and So? If you have to ask yourself this question, then do it and do it quick. If you don't, you'll have to ask yourself this question several more times and miss out on some really good players. Very rarely does a player come around that the #1 waiver priority is needed for (ex. Felix Hernandez). So don't waste time deciding whether to use it and just use it. You'll thank me later.

Keep yourself out of limbo,

Brablc

Week 2 Standings

As always we will keep you up with the results of Week 2 in the Cheverus Fantasy Baseball League:

Week 2 Standings

BOLD denotes contributors to Fantasy Baseball Phenoms

Games Back
1. Brablc --
2. Curtis 0.5
3. Sean 2
4. Blake 2
5. Nick 2.5
6. Alvarez 2.5
7. Stevie 4
8. Phelps 4.5
9. Mark 5.5
10. Ricky 6.5

How it went down:

Curtis narrowly defeats Alvarez, 5-4

Matt made a statement this week albeit not exactly what he had in mind. Down big early 10-0, Alvarez's team clawed back to lose 5-4 in this high profile matchup behind a huge 3-homer day from Albert Pujols. Lackey and Patterson led Curtis's domination in pitching with two strong starts apeice.

Blake outlasts Markie, 5-4

Markie's team continues to resemble that of the play of Manny Ramirez (who is also on his team). His team always starts off slow and this year is no exception. Blake won in a battle of futility with a 5.43 ERA and 1.48 WHIP, however, his 6 SBs were impressive.

Sean defeats Stevie, 6-4

The most impressive stat of the week was the 10 SB's put up by Stevie's team including 2 from both Andruw Jones and Adrian Beltre. Sean's pitching produced a few gems compiling a 3.22 ERA and 1.29 WHIP, however, they failed to get any wins for the team, winning only one game. Sean's week was highlighted by the pitching duel between Jake Peavy and John Smoltz.

Nick trumps Phelps, 6-3

This is fantasy's version of the Royals vs. Reds, yeah I don't care either.

Brablc demolishes Ricky, 7-1

Down 5-4 with only Sunday left, Brablc made a stunning comeback. With the brilliant pitching performances of Beckett, Haren and Mitre, he took over the K's and WHIP categories while tying in Wins and ERA. Without one Milton Bradley assisted HR off the bat of D'Angelo Jimenez, Brablc would have won 9-1.

Matchups This Week:
Markie vs. Brablc- Let's just hope this isn't the weak his offense wakes up.
Curtis vs. Blake- Curtis will win this matchup. The only question is by how much.
Ricky vs. Sean- Sean already has the hitting categories covered, pitching stats are the only stats up for grabs.
Stevie vs. Nick- Maybe the Royals are for real this year. Or maybe not.
MattCA vs. Phelps- Matt will do something wrong but it won't matter.

So there's your recap, if you want any other features or articles let us know.

Brablc

Week 1 Standings

I know you have all been axiously awaiting an update so here are the results of Week 1 in the Cheverus Fantasy Baseball League:

Bold denotes Fantasy Baseball Phenoms contributors

Cheverus Fantasy Baseball League

Games Back
1. Curtis --
2. Alvarez 1
3. Blake 1.5
4. Brablc 2
4. Stevie 2
4. Sean 2
4. Phelps 2
8. Ricky 2.5
9. Nick 3
10. Markie 4

How it went down:

Curtis trounces Markie 7-3:

Markie turned in a pretty horrible week even by his standards. A notorious slow starter, he hits his stride towards mid-season. Markie's power base of Texiera, Bonds, Manny and Kornerko combined for 0 HR's and 8 RBIs. Curtis set league high numbers with 51 runs, 16 HRs and a .339 BA.

Alvarez beats Nick 5-3:

Overall, Alvarez's team performed well in all facets of the game being respectable in both hitting and pitching. The one impressive stat of the week was his 71 K's from his pitching that includes Santana (both of them), Oswalt, Webb, Schmidt, Oliver Perez and Millwood. Nick's team (aka Markie's farm team) was solid as well but his pitching is hurting with the injuries to AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia. Note: At the end of the week, Matt made the first significant trade of the year with Blake, sending Mark Mulder and Scott Posednick for Pat Burrell and Morgan Ensberg. And yes, we are still wondering what Blake was thinking.

Blake narrowly defeats Ricky 5-4:

This matchup is inconsequential. Both teams won't make the playoffs.

Sean and Phelps tie 5-5:

Worked out like you would think it would. Sean won the hitting categories due to Phelp's anemic offense and Phelp's dominated in pitching with his stellar rotation of Halladay, Buerle, Zito, Pedro and Randy Johnson.

Stevie rallies to tie Brablc 5-5:

Saved the best for last. This one was in question all the way to the last game of the week between the Cardinals and Cubs. With Brablc being up by one RBI and one SB, it was his Rolen vs. Stevie's Pierre to determine if the week would end in a tie. Overall, the most impressive stat of the week was Brablc losing saves despite recording 7 over the week. Stevie ended up with 8 saves.

This week's matchups:
Brablc vs. Ricky- Will come down to pitching.
Blake vs. Marky- This is Markie's redemption.
Curtis vs. Alvarez- Best matchup so far! This is a statement week for Alvarez.
Harlem Boys vs. Stevie- Tough and important early season matchup
Phelps vs. Nick- Watching this matchup is like looking at Curtis. Yeah, it's ugly!

The Art of Trading

It's that time of year again. The time to gauge your team's talent and fill the necessary holes that you see after the first few weeks. While I recommend a little longer grace period in evaluating your team's strengths and weaknesses (probably a month), it is never too early to test the waters as you'll be surprised what you might find. So here are some tips and realizations on being an effective trader:

1. Trading ain't easy

Creating a trade that benefits two teams is extremely difficult. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to make a deal go through. It also takes a certain degree of compromise and flexibility.

2. Communication, Communication, Communication

Usually that first offer is not the offer that gets accepted. It helps to let the other owners know what you need and what you are willing to give up. I recommend either writing something on the message board or offering a trade to another owner that identifies the players that you would like. Knowing the wants and needs of the other owner drastically increases the possibility and lessens the time of a deal getting done.

3. Know your trading partners

The tendencies of your trading partners is critical to sucess. For instance, Sean aka Harlem Boys and I have made four trades over the past two years. This is for the simple reason that we know what the other will and will not do. For one, I know Sean will be willing to take high risk/high reward guys in trades. Knowing this I know I need to offer him high ceiling players like Jonny Gomes instead of steady contributors like Brian Giles. Also, play off baseball fan allegiences. If someone is a Red Sox fan, you might want to offer him Coco Crisp in a trade or Curt Shilling. This comes in useful, as well.

Another aspect of this, is knowing who you would never be able to trade with. I will never trade with Curtis. From his outlook, if he doesn't get the obvious best of the trade, he won't make it. He lacks flexibility in his thought process that just doesn't mesh with the way I make trades. Since I know this I don't waste time trying to make trades with him.

4. It takes value to get value

There is no way you can get a good player without giving up one in return. I think the biggest stigma that gets in the way of managers making trades is attachments to players. However, to make your team better you'll have to give up players that you truly like and that's the nature of the game.

5. Every offer deserves a counter offer

No matter how bad the offer is, a counter offer is the best response. Some of the best trades come from some of the worst beginnings. Don't get mad at a bad offer, just try to improve it.

6. Make friends with your IM

AIM is by far the best tool to talk trades. You might say that the phone is better but I disagree. AIM allows you to think and measure your responses to fellow GMs and provides for the best forum to structure a trade.

I hope this helps you in your quest for the perfect trade. And any great trade you make after you read this, feel free to give me credit.

Happy trading and good luck.

Trades with the Injured

The beautiful part of spring much like real baseball teams in fantasy baseball is that there is new hope. Could this be the year? If the young players produce, if the breakout candidates have the breakout year, if the one key player stays health...

Well tough luck. Mark Prior, out. Ben Sheets, at least the ear is ok. Kerry Wood - come on what did you expect? Eric Gagne, gonyay. So in comes the offer from that one guy in your league who just wishes you to have a "mouse fumble" where you hit accept on the Pujols for Polanco deal by accident. Obviously these deals (usually offered by Matt) are rejected, but there is no doubt that everyone from the frequent traders to the stingy traders has interest in these guys. What is most interesting about the injuries is that when trades take place for the wounded which guy got the best of the deal cannot be decided until much later after the trade.

So what does one do if he holds one of the injured? First of all hold on to them. They do have value to everyone in the league although it is often difficult to gage the value. If you are starting to have a crowded DL roster or have an inkling that the player on the DL will not recover post a message stating your interest in making a trade. I would highly advise holding onto Sheets and Prior specifically. When these guys come back they have the potential (appologies for using the word potential when it is the only thing ever discussed with Prior these days) to be a number 1 fantasy pitcher and compare with Peavy, Zambrano, or Oswalt.

If you don't own one of them this is the best time to take a chance. Last year I took a chance on Barry Bonds in the middle of April. He never came back but Jamie Moyer and Preston Wilson were not exactly missed. Some fantasy owners could be pressing already especially if the free agent pool appears dry to addressing their weaknesses. Just be careful of two things. One, if you already have a player on the DL (Julio Lugo, Armando Benitez, Noah Lowry) you don't want to over crowd your team with DL players. Two, be sure not to give talent equal to the potential if the injured player has a history of injury or possibility of further injury.
Happy Fantasy,
Mark Schruender