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Well, it's about that time of year again. Hot stove leagues are all done, spring training is or about to get under way, the snap of fastballs hitting catcher's gloves and the crack of bats launching balls over the fence is in the air. Yes my friends, spring is almost here. It's a time of optimism where last years aging vet has his swagger back, a can't miss rookie is tearing up practice and turning heads. Optimism runs rampant that THIS years team can go all the way.
Which is exactly where I am right about this time of year. Completely positive that THIS year, I'm gonna win it all rather than languish at or near the bottom of the standings as my guys under achieve yet again. No, this year, I'm going to guess right on all my pitchers. My starters are all going to win 20 games and my relievers are going to be save and strikeout deamons. My position players are all going to hit .300, have power and drive in plenty of runs. And yes, THIS year.... I'm actually going to find someone who steals some bases.
So, if any of you have the gumption to take me on, I've formed what I hope to be an official right of summer for all TCA regulars. The first ever TCA Fantasy Baseball league. We are set up for 10 teams in a head to head style of competition. Six of the ten teams will make a three week play off at the end of the season. For you fantasy baseball regulars, I've made a couple of changes in the Yahoo default settings and scoring.
We will have a live draft on Saturday March 28th at 10:00 PM EST. The roster size is 20 broken down as follows.... C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Utl, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN. Scoring will be in a 6x6 format with position players scoring consisting of R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG and OPS (a combination of on base and slugging percentage) and the pitchers scoring broken down in W, SV, K, HLD (a relief pitcher coming in and holding a lead), ERA and WHIP (walks and hits allowed per inning pitched).
I've made a couple of other subtle changes. The first of which is; I've eliminated the Yahoo "no cut" list. For those of you fantasy rookies, a no cut list is traditionally assigned to the top 50 players drafted in your league. While the intent of the no cut list is noble, in daily practice, it's a PITA if one or more of your star players goes down for the year. Without it, you no longer have to carry players that aren't going to play. As painful as it might be to cut A-Rod, if he's in jail or Kerry Woods blows out his elbow again this year.... they do you no good stuck on your roster with no way to get rid of them. I've also added a second DL (disabled list) spot. We all know that baseball players as a rule are pansies. They go on the DL for blisters and hang nails so I added another DL spot since we're sure to need it at some point throughout the season. I also changed the Free Agent waiver period from two days to one and after the draft, there is no waiting period on available players. They are all FA's and available right away (I may change this back.... I haven't decided yet).
For ALL of you who think you want to play.... may I remind you (or tell you rookie managers), that it's no fun (or that it actually SUCKS a big one) when a manager quits and/or stops setting his line ups. Baseball is a LONG season so remember, it's a long commitment. With no $$$ involved or on the line (we can certainly change this if you all prefer), it's easy to say, "oh hell forget about this" when you're at the bottom of the standings with no hope in sight. TRUST me.... I KNOW since that's usually where I reside. But quitting half way through is just plain unfair to the rest of the league who you beat up on early in the season. Besides, Yahoo now allows "co-managers" for teams or you have the ability to assign your team entirely to a different manager if something changes or comes up and you can no longer participate. So, there is really no reason for a team/manager to quit.
To register for the league, go to: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ Then click on the BLUE (NOT yellow) "Join a League" button. Then click on the "Join Custom" button. Enter the league ID: 187100, then enter the password: strikezone. You will then fill out team information and register for the league. Be sure to test your system for drafting purposes. Good luck.... I hope we get some more who are interested. If you like baseball at all, you should enjoy it.
With that.... who's interested???
EDIT: I've also added that a manager must have 40.0 complete innings pitched for the week or NONE of the pitching stats will be counted. What this does is force a manager to use starting pitchers in his line up and not all relievers (who can typically have better ERA, WHIP and SV stats). Especially come play off time. It also nudges you to keep an eye on your staff and actually start pitchers who are paying that day. Rather than set your two best starting pitchers in the two SP slots and never change them for the entire year (believe me, I've actually SEEN this).
For those of you newbies (or vets who've never experienced this restriction) that are worried about this, don't. 40.0 innings isn't really that difficult to hit. It's actually still possible in the scenario I described above so I may change it to 50.0, 60.0 or even 70.0 innings required for the week. With seven available pitching spots, getting 10.0 innings per day total (70.0 for the week) should be a breeze. I was usually over 100.0 for the week in the same format in another league last year. But, then again, I often used SP's in the P slots a lot where some guys only load up with relievers. You vet's know the guys I'm talking about.... they grab all the top closers and relievers and end up dominating the pitching stats. Minimum innings pitched puts a stop to that. Also, you don't need to worry about keeping track of total innings pitched. There is a large box at the lower left of your team page where Yahoo tracks it for you.
Which is exactly where I am right about this time of year. Completely positive that THIS year, I'm gonna win it all rather than languish at or near the bottom of the standings as my guys under achieve yet again. No, this year, I'm going to guess right on all my pitchers. My starters are all going to win 20 games and my relievers are going to be save and strikeout deamons. My position players are all going to hit .300, have power and drive in plenty of runs. And yes, THIS year.... I'm actually going to find someone who steals some bases.
So, if any of you have the gumption to take me on, I've formed what I hope to be an official right of summer for all TCA regulars. The first ever TCA Fantasy Baseball league. We are set up for 10 teams in a head to head style of competition. Six of the ten teams will make a three week play off at the end of the season. For you fantasy baseball regulars, I've made a couple of changes in the Yahoo default settings and scoring.
We will have a live draft on Saturday March 28th at 10:00 PM EST. The roster size is 20 broken down as follows.... C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Utl, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN. Scoring will be in a 6x6 format with position players scoring consisting of R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG and OPS (a combination of on base and slugging percentage) and the pitchers scoring broken down in W, SV, K, HLD (a relief pitcher coming in and holding a lead), ERA and WHIP (walks and hits allowed per inning pitched).
I've made a couple of other subtle changes. The first of which is; I've eliminated the Yahoo "no cut" list. For those of you fantasy rookies, a no cut list is traditionally assigned to the top 50 players drafted in your league. While the intent of the no cut list is noble, in daily practice, it's a PITA if one or more of your star players goes down for the year. Without it, you no longer have to carry players that aren't going to play. As painful as it might be to cut A-Rod, if he's in jail or Kerry Woods blows out his elbow again this year.... they do you no good stuck on your roster with no way to get rid of them. I've also added a second DL (disabled list) spot. We all know that baseball players as a rule are pansies. They go on the DL for blisters and hang nails so I added another DL spot since we're sure to need it at some point throughout the season. I also changed the Free Agent waiver period from two days to one and after the draft, there is no waiting period on available players. They are all FA's and available right away (I may change this back.... I haven't decided yet).
For ALL of you who think you want to play.... may I remind you (or tell you rookie managers), that it's no fun (or that it actually SUCKS a big one) when a manager quits and/or stops setting his line ups. Baseball is a LONG season so remember, it's a long commitment. With no $$$ involved or on the line (we can certainly change this if you all prefer), it's easy to say, "oh hell forget about this" when you're at the bottom of the standings with no hope in sight. TRUST me.... I KNOW since that's usually where I reside. But quitting half way through is just plain unfair to the rest of the league who you beat up on early in the season. Besides, Yahoo now allows "co-managers" for teams or you have the ability to assign your team entirely to a different manager if something changes or comes up and you can no longer participate. So, there is really no reason for a team/manager to quit.
To register for the league, go to: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ Then click on the BLUE (NOT yellow) "Join a League" button. Then click on the "Join Custom" button. Enter the league ID: 187100, then enter the password: strikezone. You will then fill out team information and register for the league. Be sure to test your system for drafting purposes. Good luck.... I hope we get some more who are interested. If you like baseball at all, you should enjoy it.
With that.... who's interested???
EDIT: I've also added that a manager must have 40.0 complete innings pitched for the week or NONE of the pitching stats will be counted. What this does is force a manager to use starting pitchers in his line up and not all relievers (who can typically have better ERA, WHIP and SV stats). Especially come play off time. It also nudges you to keep an eye on your staff and actually start pitchers who are paying that day. Rather than set your two best starting pitchers in the two SP slots and never change them for the entire year (believe me, I've actually SEEN this).
For those of you newbies (or vets who've never experienced this restriction) that are worried about this, don't. 40.0 innings isn't really that difficult to hit. It's actually still possible in the scenario I described above so I may change it to 50.0, 60.0 or even 70.0 innings required for the week. With seven available pitching spots, getting 10.0 innings per day total (70.0 for the week) should be a breeze. I was usually over 100.0 for the week in the same format in another league last year. But, then again, I often used SP's in the P slots a lot where some guys only load up with relievers. You vet's know the guys I'm talking about.... they grab all the top closers and relievers and end up dominating the pitching stats. Minimum innings pitched puts a stop to that. Also, you don't need to worry about keeping track of total innings pitched. There is a large box at the lower left of your team page where Yahoo tracks it for you.
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