(fantasy memoirs) food for thought

[Ogie O]

A collection of thoughts, recollections, and vitamins to swallow in preparation for the near (oh so near) future:

Consider this a trip down memory lane, and you\'re in the sidecar of CobraTron\'s hot-rod motorcycle with white-wall tires and taped up handlebars.

For those of you that have been playing fantasy baseball (or bei\'bol if you\'re in front of congress and forgot your english at home (but i digress)) ...if you\'ve been playing for years counting longer than 3, and have paid attention to the trends of seasons, guides, and experts - I ask that you chime in your thoughts and comments as well...

In years past, where Aubrey Huff had nearly every position eligibility, where Bobby Abraeiou was a top 20\'ish pick, where Oliver Perez was a fireballer from San Diego, where there was only 1 Chris Young (and he was a kid from the Texas Rangers organization), where Travis Hafner was a top-5 player...

- There was NO major push for making 3rd base the primetime position for mandatory power/production. There was no David Wright, there was no A-Rod yet, there was no Longoria/Braun/Gordon lethal rookie combo\'s or over-reaching really. There was no zimmerman as a darkhorse yet. You had an Eric Chavez as a \'gem\', Troy Glaus was beginning to flex his muscles, and guys like Phil Nevin were \"it\"..., and you had plenty of role players to fill in; but not draft immediately as we do now.

- There was NO major push for drafting 2b\'men as soon as we do these days. Jeff Kent was a masher, but check out his competition from those seasons (especially for fantasy baseball considerations! ) Bret Boone, Robbie Alomar, and Craig Biggio were the cream of the crop... (or was it cream and the clear crop )

- There was a HUGE bias for monster outfielders. Check out the leaders, check out the \"producers\" and the glamorous picks then. Guys like Andruw, Bonds, Larry Walker, Sosa, Luis Gonzalez, Jeremy Burnitz!!!, and Reggie Sanders were the top cats - guys like Vlad were beginning to skyrocket in value for their \"well rounded\" stats, which led us as recently as last year to the following trend:

- the Pence/Hart/Rios/Ubercategory producers debate - Consider how highly touted each guy was with providing guaranteed 20/20/20, or 30/30/30, (or more in hype) value and how much more attention was shifted to drafting guys like that instead of the HR/RBI mules that we knew only a few seasons ago as our building blocks...

- last year, catchers were the rage. vMart was going to take the triple crown, JR Towles was going to win TWO rookie of the year awards, Soto was So-green\'light-go, and guys like McCann and Mauer were Godsends to fantasy squads. No longer were we told to draft 3b\'man, no no - CATCHER is the new 3b.

- some could argue that this year 2b is the new catcher, which is the new 3b... go on, read up on the trends and opinions - take a few mockdrafts and see who picks what when, there\'s an absolute push for 2b, no? Pedroia, Kinsler, Utley, cano one day, etc etc, no?...

I find these trends fascinating.
I wonder what the next big one will be...

We seem to be focusing slightly more on the Joba\'s, Scherzers, and SP/RP monster youth movement; perhaps that\'s the next biggie... the kids that don\'t pan out as immediate Lincecum\'s might get pushed into the middleman/setupman role to maximize their firearms?

...that\'s it for now, feel free to chirp your thoughts/memories

cheers.

[smack]

Great read Cobra!!!

- the Pence/Hart/Rios/Ubercategory producers debate - Consider how highly touted each guy was with providing guaranteed 20/20/20, or 30/30/30, (or more in hype) value and how much more attention was shifted to drafting guys like that instead of the HR/RBI mules that we knew only a few seasons ago as our building blocks

This is what took me back (hurt to read a bit, I\'ll be honest) but I remember they hype behind those guys.

- some could argue that this year 2b is the new catcher, which is the new 3b... go on, read up on the trends and opinions - take a few mockdrafts and see who picks what when, there\'s an absolute push for 2b, no? Pedroia, Kinsler, Utley, cano one day, etc etc, no?...

It\'s a sick, sick cycle . . . but you got to love it!

[bobjr488]

haha. nice work.

here\'s a little taste of my 2003 yahoo public championship team (see attached).

Wow, what a trip down memory lane. How i ever won with that team is anyone\'s guess!

ok, let\'s try this again:

Jeff Bagwell (Hou - 1B,Util)
Aaron Boone (Hou - 2B,3B,SS,Util)
Carl Crawford (TB - OF,Util)
Jason Kendall (Mil - C,Util)
Magglio Ordóñez (Det - OF,Util)
Jay Payton (Bal - OF,Util)
Scott Rolen (Tor - 3B,Util)
Frank Thomas (Oak - 1B,Util)
Michael Young (Tex - 2B,Util)

Rocky Biddle (Was - SP,RP,P)
Lance Carter (Tor - RP,P)
Adam Eaton (Bal - SP,P)
Jon Garland (Ari - SP,P)
Rich Harden (ChC - SP,P)
Liván Hernández (NYM - SP,P)
Matt Mantei (Det - RP,P)
Brad Penny (Bos - SP,P)
Joel Piñeiro (StL - SP,RP,P)
Mariano Rivera (NYY - RP,P)
Jeff Suppan (Mil - SP,P)
Woody Williams (Hou - SP,P)

I wish i could show you the stats but........... it\'s just too much work at the moment!

[Ogie O]

wow, nice 2legit... !

i remember the good old days of Bagwell being a fantasy beast, and sick in real-life too. had a nasty batting stance too (haha)


sidenote - i know the post was long, but it\'s just a reflection collection of thoughts, not meant to be interpreted in any way or offer any guidance; just plain old fun typing that would have been talked over in a bar with pint in hand or at a ballpark with hotdogs and overpriced beers :P

[slappybeaver]

Great thread Cobra!

In honour of 2legit\'s Championship winning team from 2003, heres my Yahoo Public League Championship winning team from 2004!

Batting
Player R HR RBI SB AVG
Miguel Cabrera (Det - 3B,OF,Util) 101 33 112 5 .294
Sean Casey (Bos - 1B,Util) 101 24 99 2 .324
Eric Chávez (Oak - 3B,Util) 87 29 77 6 .276
Carl Crawford (TB - OF,Util) 104 11 55 59 .296
Coco Crisp (KC - OF,Util) 78 15 71 20 .297
Brian Giles (SD - OF,Util) 97 23 94 10 .284
Jeff Kent (LAD - 2B,Util) 96 27 107 7 .289
Jorge Posada (NYY - C,Util) 72 21 81 1 .272
Álex Rodríguez (NYY - 3B,SS,Util) 112 36 106 28 .286
Mike Sweeney (Sea - 1B,Util) 56 22 79 3 .287
Miguel Tejada (Hou - SS,Util) 107 34 150 4 .311
David Wright (NYM - 3B,Util) 41 14 40 6 .293

Pitching
Player W SV K ERA WHIP
José Contreras (CWS - SP,RP,P) 13 0 150 5.50 1.47
Octavio Dotel (CWS - RP,P) 6 36 122 3.69 1.18
Randy Johnson (SF - SP,P) 16 0 290 2.60 0.90
Al Leiter (NYY - SP,P) 10 0 117 3.21 1.35
Roy Oswalt (Hou - SP,P) 20 0 206 3.49 1.24
Jake Peavy (SD - SP,P) 15 0 173 2.27 1.20
B.J. Ryan (Tor - RP,P) 4 3 122 2.28 1.14
Carlos Silva (Sea - SP,RP,P) 14 0 76 4.21 1.43
Brett Tomko (NYY - SP,P) 11 0 108 4.04 1.34
Brandon Webb (Ari - SP,P) 7 0 164 3.59 1.50

Overall they would still be pretty damn good now!

Looking at the draft some of the picks would seem outlandish today. I took A Rod 1st (fair enough), Gagne went 4th and Mark Prior went 6th!

I also thought looking at the squad I must have picked up Cabrera, Peavy, Webb and Wright, but I actually drafted Cabrera and Peavy and also Harden in the last round! Also had Rocky Biddle in the 16th.

If only it had been a keeper or dynasty league. Ah well.
Gotta wonder about A Rod and Tejada\'s numbers tho!

[gui]

haha Rocky Biddle and Matt Mantei... got to love it