Disjointed Kitsch

I’m not an extreme basketball fan. I generally avoid pro hoops and only start watching college basketball after the super bowl. However, Bob Knight holds a special place in my sports idol hall of fame.

Perhaps it’s because of my Indiana heritage, but I think more it was his “damn the torpedoes” style. He coached more than just basketball, he coached life. Sure, he’ll be remembered more for his antics on the court than for his record wins, championships, or graduation rates but for those that experienced him up close or watched from from afar he’s one of those rare individuals that was bigger than the game itself.

I’m glad to see him exiting the game he loves on his own terms and not because he pulled a “Woody Hayes” (another coaching great). Hopefully Bob will have time to enjoy his other passions, family and continue to love the game in a new way.

While I won’t claim to be an expert in Fantasy Baseball, my Keene Blackflies team managed to come in first with 73 points. There’s still the little matter of wrapping up the season for Colorado and Philadelphia, but the second and third place teams don’t have any players on those teams while I have 3 (2 batters and a relief pitcher). I don’t think I’ll drop three points today/this evening so I’ll go ahead and claim “I Win”!

During a prior post I mentioned some “tips” that I picked up by watching other teams/owners and just playing the game. I don’t think I’d change anything on that list, but I will add a note about “Game Starts”. Each time a starting pitcher “starts”, it counts as 1 “Game Start”. The league I played in caps the number of “starts” for starting pitchers to 120. So after my starting pitchers started a collective 120 games, they didn’t collect stats any more. I’m not sure if that means they can collect stats if the play in relief rolls, but it does mean a fundamental shift in strategy if you have a cap: either you have to pace your play to stay under the cap or burn to it and then bring in strong relievers (setups, closers, etc..) to keep your pitching stats moving upward. For me I opted for a combination of setup men and closers. That generally kept the WHIP and ERA stats down while adding to strike outs. I think the ideal is to burn to the cap early getting starting pitchers with strong K to BB ratios and then use the last 2 months of the season to lower the ERA and WHIP with relievers while ditching starters. Just make sure you don’t ditch a really good starter since they can wind up on another team and hurt you. Better to “sit ‘em” than trade/release them.

One other item I might mention is that I had a hard time finding a catcher. Catchers take “days off” or have certain pitchers that they don’t catch for (Tim Wakefield for instance) or both which limits their productivity in batting. I eventually ended up with a catcher that had only a few routine days off and caught for the entire pitching staff. Unfortunately it took me half the season to find him.

At any rate I had fun and learned a whole lot about baseball in the process. I’ll probably play again next year. It certainly kept me occupied from April through September. Now.. back to football!

At the break, I’ve got the lead! Some things I’ve learned so far:

• Go for more than just batting average. Those RBI, home runs, etc.. count too.
• Start as many players as possible every day. Players get days off, especially catchers so have backups.
• Get a good multi-position backup - e.g. Freddy Sanchez can play 2nd, 3rd and SS so I can play him when my regular/s take a day off or during slumps.
• Get pitchers - starting and relief. I’m not sure of the best balance here but more than 1 good closer from a consistent winner, e.g. Jonathan Papelbon, is a must. Have more than 3 starting pitchers and rotate the starting ones in.
• Make daily starting line-up changes based on the DL, days off, starting pitchers, etc
• Don’t be afraid to pull a starter if he’s sagging during the last 7-15 days. Points matter, not loyalty
• Keep an extra outfielder. There are 3 OF positions and more times than not one of them is out.

I’m not a guru on this by any means, but this is what I’ve leaned so far in a 1/2  season. Playing fantasy baseball has made the past-time more real to me and as a result I’ve payed more attention to the games, players, etc.

I’m anxious to see how the 2nd half of the season goes!

I like fantasy football and every fall/winter I play in 3-4 leagues. Sometimes I win it all, sometimes I’m an also ran, other times I loose horribly. Every year after the SuperBowl I look forward to the next season so I can play again. I’m not much of a hoops watcher, although March Madness grabs my attention, and hockey, although watchable isn’t something I follow. Baseball is OK, but I don’t pay much attention to it until late September and the playoffs. However, I miss the fantasy sports world and figured I give Fantasy Baseball a try, at least for a year. Who knows, I might get into the game if I have a more vested interest in the players.

ESPN.com has free leagues and I found the most appropriate league to give this a try. The league is called “I Hate Baseball” and my team is the Keene Black Flys. Since I know next to nothing about “who’s who” in baseball outside the household names in the paper, I picked an autodraft leage that scores points based on pitching and batting stats.

We’ll see how this goes. Might actually be fun. At the very least I’ll have a new topic to talk about with my buddies that do follow baseball.