Spring Training Wrap-Up

Well, spring training is over, and we're now finally into the meat of the regular season (I only count the Japan Series games under protest).  Now, don't get me wrong -- I'm happy the regular season is here.  But I also think it's important to pay homage to spring training, its quirks, its meaningful moments, and its less-than-honorable ones.

So, in no particular order, here's a "Top 8" list of the more unique moments from the 2008 Spring Training.

1. Cardinals play their AA team.  Friday 3/28 saw the Cards make a visit to Springfield to play their AA club in front of a whopping crowd of 9,567.
2. Yankees play Virginia Tech.  A class act, made even classier by ensuring the game was played in Blacksburg.
3. Yanks sign Billy Crystal to a one-day contract.  He did work the count to 3-1...
4. Dodgers play the Colosseum.  About 120,000 came out to see a pretty fun show.
5. Dodgers and Padres play China. A long trip it was...
6. Red Sox and Oakland versus the Japan League.  The MLB teams managed to win their four exhibition games versus the Japanese league teams, but they weren't all easy.  Seems that pretty much every article contains at least one MLB player commenting on the noise level in the games.  Check out this link at MLB.com for coverage of the Sox' dust-up with the Hanshin Tigers.
7. The Yankees-Rays rumble.  How often do suspensions have to be handed out during Spring Training games?
8. Tommy Lasorda comes out of "retirement" to manage the Dodgers.  While Torre and Co. took the Dodgers to China for some sightseeing and baseball, the legend came out to manage a few games for the boys in blue.  Tommy's low-key style went over well, as in his first game back Lasorda got into it the umpire over a call.

Must be in the front row...

The Brewers are auctioning off two tickets to their opening day game against the Giants.  The seats are, actually, the "Best Worst Seats in the House," in homage to Uecker's Miller Lite ads from the 1980s.    Bid as of now is $17 for the pair.

Riddle me this...

I have to admit a great deal of confusion when reading this article, which for some reason the New York Times has decided to resurrect to celebrate the opening of the 2008 season.  Theoretically, Russell Baker was making some sort of self-mocking comment apologizing for writing yet another metaphor and cliche-laden homage to the start of the baseball season.  Still, as the dandelions sprout over the freshly mowed grass of our nation's field of dreams, it is nice to step back from yet another debate over Clinton - Obama - Wright...

Baseball in the Coliseum

The flip side of my strange tendency to get up early in the morning is that I tend to fall asleep pretty early -- even on a weekend night.  Nevertheless, I'm going to try and keep it together long enough to catch at least some of the exhibition game between the Dodgers and the Red Sox at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which for those of us on the east coast won't be starting until about 10 PM.  Granted the left field won't be as short as it was when Wally Moon was whacking his "moon shots" over the 40-foot screen -- though I think 200 feet is short enough.  I have mixed feelings about the situation surrounding this game -- specifically the appropriateness of having the Sox get back in spring training mode -- but it's not going to keep me from enjoying the spectacle.

Using OpenID

Hey folks... thanks to those of you who have been reading and commenting.  I had intended to enable anonymous commenting for some time in order to help build an audience, but that makes it hard to track conversations, and in any case, I think people should put their names on things, even if it is an online pseudonym.  So... if you want to post comments, you'll need to sign in with some sort of OpenID.  This can easily be acquired by clicking here. One of the first things it will tell you is that you may already have an OpenID username. If you don't have one yet, you can get one by signing up for an account with Google, which will get you all sorts of cool stuff as well, in addition to the ability to post comments to this blog. If anyone has any problems with this, feel free to email me, and I'll try to help set you up.

My draft: Part 2

This is the second part of my draft analysis, which covers picks 16-29.  I discussed the first 15 picks in an earlier post.

First permit me 4 sentences of whining and moaning...

I have to say that going into this part of the draft, I had expected a 24-hour break after the 15th pick, which I had intended to use to analyze my team and plan some intelligent picks. The bulk of the group decided to press on -- I didn't protest, and so I made some dumb picks. Nevertheless, I pulled the trigger and picked them, so I have to own responsibility and either trade ‘em or dump ‘em. In any case, I’m really not unhappy with the individual players – but I am less than pleased with the overall bunch.  Waah.

My picks

Round 16(#160): Matt Cain (SP SF)
Round 17(#161): Willy Taveras (OF COL)
Cain’s one of those pitchers that fall into the sleeper category. He probably won’t get a ton of run support, so I’m going to have to be careful about when I put him in. Taveras I grabbed because I was still short two outfielders, and I was looking for guys who could steal.

Round 18(#180): Dustin McGowan (SP TOR)
Round 19(#181): J.D. Drew (OF BOS)
McGowan had a pretty good finish to the season (WHIP was 1.143 post All-Star break), and with the Jays’ lineup, he should make for a good spot starter, with the potential to break out. Drew? He’ll help with OBP, and maybe knock in 10-15 HR if I’m lucky and he can stay healthy.

Round 20(#200): B.J. Ryan (RP TOR)
Round 21(#201): Heath Bell (RP SD)
Going into this round, I figured it was time to draft a set-up guy. I got absolutely housed in holds last year, so I had determined to pick up one of the relatively small number of reliable set-up men in the draft. I identified Shields, Rafael Betancourt, and Jonathan Broxton as people I wouldn’t mind having. Unfortunately, just as I queued these players up, they dropped off the board, being taken with picks #196, #198, and #199. This was the only expletive I uttered during the evening, but it was a loud one. So I picked up Heath Bell. After watching the Sox-A’s game Monday, I’m surprised I didn’t pick Okajima, who went with six picks later.

Ryan… well, let’s just say he was a long shot. Call it a roll of the dice.

Round 22(#220): Jeremy Accardo (RP TOR)
Round 23(#221): Randy Johnson (SP ARI)
Here’s another roll of the dice. If the Big Unit makes it back, he’s a high value pick. Accardo I got to back up Ryan.


Round 24(#240): Daniel Cabrera (SP BAL)
Round 25(#241): Jerry Owens (OF CHW)
The dice keep rolling. If Cabrera could ever dial it in, he’ll be unhittable. As far as Owens… a the time of the draft he was looking pretty good – there were some groin problems, but he was playing well and looked like he had put the injury behind him. As of today (3/26), he’ll be starting the season on the DL because of a tear.

Round 26(#260): Hiroki Kuroda (SP LA)
Round 27(#261): Clay Buchholz (SP BOS)
Once again, I go with the unproven Japanese League player. Kuroda had an insane 2006 season playing for the Hiroshima Carp, with a ridiculous 1.85 ERA and a 1.004 WHIP. He’s reported to be a serious groundball pitcher with really good control. Buchholz, at the time of the draft, looked like he’s be opening the season in Pawtucket. I’m not fooled, and neither are the other 76% of CBSsports.com fantasy owners who own him. He’ll be making the 50 minute trip up I-95 to Boston sooner rather than later.

Round 28(#280): Gil Meche (SP KC)
Round 29(#281): Brandon Lyon (RP ARI)
Meche could be a lot worse. Sure, he’ll not get much of any run support… but he’ll reliably start, and he did improve over the course of the season. As far as Lyon… I’m guessing he’ll get a bunch of saves and / or holds, but I also suspect I’ll pay for those with a loss or two unless he stops screwing around with his fastball and throws the good breaking stuff that got him 35 holds last year. I’m keeping a close eye on him.

Overall, I have to say that I’m not too happy with my team. I met my goal of drafting a more solid infield than I’ve had in previous years – but I also missed a few opportunities to draft players such as Posada who would have made a better contribution to my team. Next year, I’ll go into the draft aware of my tendency to pick “known” players. I also did a poor job of drafting my reserve, ending up with a huge stable of pitchers, several of whom I’ll have to let go in order to back up my batting. Right now I have a team that I’d project to finish in the middle of my league. I’ll need to make a few trades to improve my team and make it competitive.

Morning juice

"Canseco, in New Book, Says He Introduced Rodriguez to Steroids Supplier."  So reads the headline in today's New York Times.  It goes on to state...

Although Canseco said that he did not see Rodriguez “do the deed,” he said that he hooked Rodriguez up with Max and “did everything but inject the guy myself.” Canseco has acknowledged that he despises Rodriguez, and he said he did not include Rodriguez in his first book because he worried that people would question his motives.

Right.  So here we go again.  I find it fascinating to note Canseco has the chutzpah to title his new book "Vindicated."  

Good morning, Red Sox Nation

Once again, the MLB powers have decided to kick off the 2008 season in the friendly confines of the Tokyo Dome.  Note that it's officially the "Opening Series 2008," though I suppose I might be reading too much into the semantics of the wording.  Nevertheless, in honor of opening day, and with apologies to Jack Norworth, here's my own homage to Opening Series 2008.

Super Happy Fun Opening Baseball Day Series Song 2008

(to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game")

The season's opening in Tokyo,

So wake me up with the dawn!

I'll skip the peanuts and Cracker Jack,

Just give me some coffee that's laced with some crack...

If I wake this early for baseball,

How perfect will my workday be;

Unless asleep at my desk I do fall

And they fire me!

Good morning and best wishes for a productive workday to anyone east of the International Date Line who's sick enough to be up for this game.  I suspect I'll be tuning in as well, but I'm always up at this time anyway.

The Golden Idol of Sizemore

Grady worship is not a new thing.  However, I think that it's gone to a either a new high or low, depending on whether or not you're a Tribe fan, with the anouncement that Sizemore's 2007 Gold Glove season will be recognized at the Jake (sorry, now Progressive Field) May 24 with a golden bobblehead.  Searching the internet, I can't find any other player so honored.  The closest I've been able to find for any active player is this gold based statue for Chien Ming Wang. Luckilly, I he's been able to keep a pretty level head despite the admitted rabidity of his female fandom. Hope this doesn't swell his head any more.

My draft: Part 1

Right. So here is my team for this year. Out of respect to my league members, I’m not going to post everyone’s picks, though I’ll talk about a few of them as they relate to mine.

I picked this team for a 10-team rotisserie league, with basically standard scoring except that we count OBP and holds in addition to average and saves.

My overall strategy going into this draft was fairly straightforward. In general, I lean towards players with a higher OBP. However, in the past this has led me to have teams that do very well in runs scored, steals, and OBP, but weak in HR and RBI. So I started by ranking players using a variant of the “tiers” strategy described by CBSsports.com’s Scott White, highlighting players projected to have an OBP of .371 or higher (last year’s winning OBP).

For some strange reason, the computer gods deigned to give me the first pick. After my initial moment of glee, I recognized the mixed blessing of having the first pick. Sure I got to draft A-Rod. But then I would have to sit on my hands for 19 picks while a lot of good players dropped off the board. Then I’d get two back-to-back picks, but then the pattern would repeat itself. Every 19 picks, I get two.

So, with commentary, here are my picks.

Round 1 (#1): Alex Rodriguez
No real surprise here. I briefly considered, just for argument’s sake, the possibility of David Wright. Couldn’t do it, even if I seriously believed in the contract year theory.

Round 2(#20): Brandon Phillips (2B CIN)
Round 3(#21): Robinson Cano (2B NYY)
The first two rounds of the draft saw the middle infield go very quickly… particularly shortstops (Ramirez, Reyes, and Rollins were all gone) – and Chase Utley was the #9 pick. It was pretty clear that the quality at second base would be gone by the next chance I had to pick. So I grabbed both of these players, and took care of my MI/2B positions.

Round 4(#40): C.C. Sabathia (SP CLE)
Round 5(#41): Carlos Guillen (1B DET)
Approaching these picks, it looked as though Jeter might be available, but he was taken with the 36th pick. This cleared out most of the quality at that position. Luckily, Guillen still has SS eligibility in our league, and had him in my shortstops group, so I happily picked him. However, the computer slotted him in at 1B, which to my chagrin, I didn’t notice until a few rounds later. More about this later.

Going into the draft, I wanted a 1# and #2 starting pitcher. After that, I figured the quality would level off enough to make “tiering” ineffective. Picching went quickly in our draft – Santana (#8), Webb (#19), Verlander (#22), Beckett (#23), Dan Haren (#34), and even a pair of relievers -- Papelbon (#25) and K-Rod (#38) -- were all gone. C.C. Sabathia was the last first tier pitcher available. No problem here – I had him last year, and I think he’s up for a better year this one than last.

Round 6(#60): Brian McCann (C ATL)
Round 7(#61): Chipper Jones (3B ATL)
I like having a strong catcher, and there were only five I was willing to draft: Martinez, Martin, Mauer, Posada, and McCann. Mauer was actually the first catcher drafted (#14), and then one team took both Martinez (#32) and Martin (#49) on successive picks. At this point, I had the option of picking either Posada or McCann.

                  R | H | 1B |2B | 3B | HR | RBI| BB| KO| SB| CS | BA | OBP | SLG

McCann   51 | 136 | 80 | 38 | 0 | 18 | 92 | 35 | 74 | 0 | 1 | 0.2698 | 0.3200 | 0.4524
Posada    91 | 171 | 108 | 42 | 1 | 20 | 90 | 74 | 98 | 2 | 0 | 0.3379 | 0.4261 | 0.5435

Based on last year’s stats, this should have been a no-brainer. Yet for some reason, I pulled the trigger on McCann. Why? Probably because I’ve had him on my team for the last two seasons – coincidentally, picked him up at the start of his first full MLB season (which he ended hitting .332, with 24HR, 93 RBI, and an OBP of 0.3882). He’s a solid catcher – clearly one of the top catchers in MLB – but Posada’s the better player, and I should have picked him. Seems that I have a soft spot for former players… witness my picking of Sabathia.

Round 8(#80): Bobby Abreu (OF NYY)
Round 9(#81): John Smoltz (SP ATL)
By this point, I had noticed that the outfield pickings were getting pretty slim. So I grabbed Abreu for the outfield, and John Smoltz for my #2 started. I like reliable, and he falls into that category. Lackey was still available, but I didn’t grab him because I’ve been burned in the past on the mid-season return from the DL. He was taken with the 84th pick by a player who auto picked the entire team.

Round 10(#100): Corey C. Hart (OF MIL)
Round 11(#101): Todd Helton (1B COL)
I was surprised that Helton was still available at this point. He won’t do as much for batting as he has in the past, but I’m looking for him to pump up my OBP and hit about 90 RBI.

Round 12(#120): Ben Sheets (SP MIL)
Round 13(#121): Julio Lugo (SS BOS)
Ben Sheets has been injured so many times, I probably should have avoided him altogether. But none of his injuries are on that glorious arm he has, so maybe – just maybe – he can make it through a season…? Plus having him on my team gives me an excuse to listen to the Brewer broadcast, and Uecker still calls one of the most entertaining games in baseball.

Speaking of players I shouldn’t draft, we have Lugo. By this point, I had noticed that the computer had put Guillen at 1st base, instead of at shortstop where I intend him to reside for the season. Now, petulantly, the computer was requiring me to find a shortstop. I would have liked a shortstop with a reasonable OBP and good run scoring ability. None were available. So I picked Lugo. At least he’ll steal some bases while he negates Helton’s OBP.

Round 14(#140): Johnny Damon (OF NYY)
Round 15(#141): Jason Isringhausen (RP STL)
I wasn’t really intending to pick an all-Yankee team. But Damon was still available, and if he can stay healthy, he’ll be a good value. Izzy was one of the last second-tier relievers available.

I'll post the balance of my picks later.  As you can see, I've got some good players, but the makings of some problems, which will emerge in the final rounds of the draft.

Bonds' Job Interview

I’ve really never wanted to be one of those people who kicks another when he’s down, and Barry Bonds is certainly down now. Besides a federal indictment (which apparently now is going to be rewritten), injury problems, and the general scorn of the community of baseball fans, he’s apparently having some trouble finding employment. His job hunt difficulties are nothing new –- and they’ve been fodder for other writers before (see this site for some resume writing strategies for Bonds).

But now, it seems, the union’s going to get involved, and is going to investigate whether or not any collusion is going on in the collective reluctance of the 30 MLB teams to hire Barry. I can’t imagine this being anything more than a pro forma response to ensure it’s protecting the rights of one of its members. Union head Donald Fehr certainly didn’t sound too enthusiastic when asked about this. One can imagine the phone conversation in the office, passing the word down that “yeah, we gotta do this.”

Which got me thinking about Bob Newhart. Follow me on this one. Well before his television career, Newhart got his start as a stand-up comedian whose routines often involved him portraying a participant in an improbable phone conversation, such as a security guard at the Empire State Building calling for advice on what to do about King Kong. One of my favorites is a phone call to Nelson Doubleday discussing marketing strategies and the rules for baseball, ending with the comment, “forget it. No one will ever play baseball.”

So, with apologies to Bob Newhart, here’s what I think might happen if Barry Bonds interviewed by phone for a job with a team that's not quite at the MLB level…

---

"Well, Mr. Bonds, I have your resume and cover letter here in front of me, and we're pleased that you've expressed interest in joining us here at Rancho Cucamonga Middle School. I'm Assistant Principal Stevens. Our Principal, Mr. Johnson, is in the room here with me, and he'll be listening while I do this interview. Our process here is to conduct initial interviews by telephone, and then invite a small group of applicants to interview in person.

"Now, we do have a number of questions that we ask of all job applicants, but before we begin that portion of the interview, I need to clear up a bit of confusion. Based on your resume, I'm not quite certain which position you're applying for…"

"I see. Well, while I certainly recognize your interest, we already have a health teacher, and Mrs. McGreevy won't be retiring for a number of years. We do have a baseball coaching position, for which it seems you're qualified. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Principal Johnson is telling me that it's an assistant coach position.

"Good. Good. I'm excited as well. Now, can I ask you, how did you learn about this position?

"Interesting. Most of our applicants don't have agents, you see. They learn about job openings through the newspaper, job fairs, and so forth. Okay. So, tell me a little bit about yourself, and why you're interested in joining us.

"Career change? Well, I can certainly understand that. A lot of our teachers are second-career people… yes, the economy is tough, these days. Job market is saturated. Yes, I understand. I should caution you that there are a lot of people interested in teaching as well. Now, what sort of relevant experience do you have?

"Well, I do think I've heard your name before, but I can't remember where… oh! You're a professional athlete? How exciting. What do you play? Baseball? Well, that seems appropriate, I suppose. And are you still playing?

"No, I'm afraid I don't follow baseball. I like golf, personally. Do you know Tiger Woods?

"No. Okay. So you're a baseball player… You're the current home run record holder. Again, I don't really know that much about baseball… Principal Johnson just scrawled a large asterisk on your resume. I really don't know what that means… Let's just say that you've played professional baseball for a few years, and leave it at that. I'm sure you'd make a fine assistant coach for our school.

"Now, do you have any questions for me?

"Right. Now, while we certainly don't mind you having the occasional guest in school, I'm afraid that in general, we won't be able to let you have an entourage. I'm sure they're all nice people, but it might cause a bit of a distraction. Other questions?

"Yes. If you're offered employment, you will be required to take a drug test… well, I think that you go to a hospital for that… what are they screening for? Gosh, I don't know… the usual things, I suppose. I'd have to get back to you on that one. That's a technical question beyond me, really. Maybe you could ask our chemistry teacher… oh, that noise is Principal Johnson coughing… goodness, I think he's laughing and crying at the same time. I think we have time for one more question.

"Well, I guess that really depends. Certainly you're permitted to miss work if you have to appear in court, although I think that policy is really meant for jury duty, or a traffic ticket… perjury trial? Gosh, that sounds like it might take up a lot of time. Well, we'll have to burn that bridge when we come to it, I suppose.

"Well, again, on behalf of the entire interview committee, I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. I know we have a number of other highly qualified candidates for this position… I know that the librarian, Mr. Johnson, is interested. He's never played baseball, but the kids love him… We'll be making our decision in the next few weeks. Okay, Mr. Bonds. I'll be talking to you. Bye."

Getting started

I didn’t grow up a baseball fan. I grew up to be a baseball fan.

My first introduction to fantasy baseball was through a work league. Its first year I, for some reason, was not involved. I vaguely remember receiving an invitation to participate, but shrugging it off, using one of the multitude of excuses in my life. I’m too busy. need to pay more attention to my family. The dog won’t like it. I don’t know enough about baseball.

That last one was probably the big one for me. I knew about baseball fans – I mean, serious baseball fans. The kind of people who grew up with a copy of The Baseball Encyclopedia in their house. They could quote statistics, tell you who played second base for the Dodgers despite being Yankee fans, and swing a bat with at least some degree of competence. I sort of knew what batting average meant, but I couldn’t name a member of the current Dodgers, and when I tried to actually play the game… well, let’s just say there my lack of competence truly showed itself. My father, whatever else he may have been, was not the sort of dad to take his son out back for a game of catch. I vaguely remember one day at summer camp, being herded onto the field with a group of other kids for a game. A bat placed into my hand, I swung three times, and the only thing I hit was the ground after swinging so hard at the third pitch I fell on my ass. Dusting the dirt off me as the other kids laughed, it was clear that baseball was not my sport. So when the option to participate in fantasy came, I didn’t step up. Not my thing.

And life went on. Yet after a while, I noticed that I was, like the proverbial kid on the bench, left out. My work colleagues were participating, and I knew that some of them knew even less about baseball than I did. Yet they were having a blast. Smack talk bounced around the lunch table. Trade offers of varying degrees of complexity were hinted at, informally offered, with various sweeteners (beer primary among them) thrown in. A trophy was created, displayed, and by the end of the season flaunted. Remember the ad on ESPN a few years ago with the guy drinking coffee out of his trophy? That might as well have been our office and our champion.

I wanted in. And even before the invites went out, I made it known I wanted in. Pick me.

My first draft day happened. It was, I learned, a 5x5 Yahoo league. I didn’t really know what that meant. There was a lot else I didn’t know, including most of the names on the draft board. I let the computer do the work for me.

I got my butt kicked. It may have had something to do with the fact that pitching staff was built around the highly touted Jose Contreras, who ended that 2004 season with a whopping 5.64 ERA. Halfway through the season, I was so far out of contention, I don’t really know why I kept playing. Except that, even when I was losing, I was having fun. I managed not to finish in last place. That dubious honor went to a colleague who, after drafting, forgot the password to her account and went on to forget about her team.

The next season was better. I learned more about strategy. I learned about the players, position scarcity, and why batting average is one of the least accurate reflections of player quality in use. I learned how to trade. I did better.

More than that, I came to love the game in general. XM Radio’s baseball coverage helped here. I found myself listening to games at night, choosing games as much for the coverage’s potential entertainment value (Bob Uecker) as the quality of the game. I spent a summer week in Cape Cod, watching college kids try to master the fickleness of the wood bat. I went to a few more live games than usual.

The next season, I won. More than that. I housed my competition, beating the second place team by 17 points., setting the league record for most points in a season. I was hooked.

Since then, fantasy sports has become, if not an obsession, at least a significant hobby. I won’t profess expertise – there are many, many people on the web who are experts in fantasy sports, and I’m not one of them. I’ve had some success – I finished my league in second last year, choking in the last two weeks after leading most of the season. I also won my first season of fantasy football, despite knowing almost nothing about fantasy football. Hence the title, “A Fantasy Fluke.” I can talk a bit about why I’ve done well, but that doesn’t mean I can explain it – or repeat it. So if you’ve come here looking for how-to-win strategies, you are in the wrong place.

What I intend to do here is write about fantasy baseball from my own perspective. How it impacts my life, what my team is doing. I’ll probably write about the fantasy industry as well, which generated around $1.5 billion in revenue in 2005. I hope you enjoy.

Next entry, I’ll write about my team this year. We just drafted last night, and I am not a happy camper.