Fantasy Baseball Blues

All World All Sports

-Digger's Daily-

Fantasy baseball managers across the country have scrambled all season long to fill voids created by player injuries and subpar performances from some of the games biggest stars. Thousands of teams are played on various internet sites from ESPN to Yahoo. Games are composed in many formats from rotisserie to head to head. No matter which version you play, 2009 has been a rollercoaster year for most players. As for managers, it's been survival of the fittest trying to cope with roster losses.

I've been playing fantasy baseball for years. Since the days of Prodigy Online. Remember Prodigy? As draft day approaches managers spend time ranking players based on personal preferences. Power, speed, pitching and favorite players all factor into decision making processes. 2009 has been a season of a vast injuries and subpar performances from a few key players selected high in a majority of drafts.

Anyone drafting New York players this year are probably disappointed. Alex Rodriguez, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain and Chien Ming Wong represent a few players disrupting teams leaving managers scrambling for replacements. Just like in the pros... from east coast to west coast it's been a season of trying to field healthy lineups and plenty of trade chatter.

Streaky hitting has also played an important part in fantasy team performances this year. Take a player like Swisher (NY) who was probably a very late draft pick in most leagues. He wasn't slated to be more than a replacement player for the Yankees. Nady was supposed to be their everyday right fielder until an early season injury landed him an extensive disabled list stay. Swisher was red hot in April only to come crashing down to earth in June.

Manny Ramirez, after officially signing with LA, was probably ranked on everyone's top 10. A 50 game MLB suspension certainly riled thousands of fans outside of Hollywood. I'll throw out a few more names which have fantasy managers grumbling... Jimmy Rollins (.214), Garrett Atkins (.206), Jay Bruce (.216), Alfonso Soriano (.224), Grady Sizemore (.227), Russell Martin (.244), Francisco Liriano (5.88), Brad Lidge (7.27, 8 blown saves) and Kerry Wood (5.68, 4 blown). Baseball's disabled list has been overly crowded again in '09. Scrambling to replace a replacement player has also handcuffed numerous teams, fantasy and pro.

One of my favorite fantasy games is Baseball Manager (BBM). It's not your normal fantasy setup and is based on live games and a stat pool compromised of unused stats from previous games. In Baseball Manager lineups are designated against right handed or left handed starters. If a player is in your lineup facing a righty, and also faces a righty in real life on the same day, then his live appearance is used. If not, then a random previous appearance is selected from his stat pool. BBM is a unique style of playing fantasy baseball. Other games are fine but this one requires a bit more of managerial challenges from player salaries to setting lineups and reliever appearances.

Right around this time of year another wrench gets thrown at teams in AL & NL only fantasy leagues. Trades. Teams could lose their star players when getting traded from one league to another. MLB teams out of playoff contention or struggling in attendance often shed heavy contracts by dealing players to contenders. Adrian Gonzalez to the Angels? Michael Young to St. Louis? Anything and everything can happen approaching MLB trade deadlines.

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