Preponderance of Pitchers
With apologies to mediocre EB for having slacked off the past couple of days, I now return to entertain you. Had my NYU league roto draft in NY yesterday. At one point I had the following IM exchange with a female friend:
Me: I'm in NY today.
Friend: Why?
Me: I have a fantasy baseball draft.
Friend: Hahahahaha
This is why girls really shouldn't be allowed to speak.
I love auction day. The fun of watching your team take shape, the strategy of bidding, making jokes about crappy players, and the excitement knowing that baseball is finally here. All great stuff.
Less great is deviating from your strategy like an idiot and messing up your team. I'll explain. After winning the bidding for Carlos Zambrano at $47 (steep, yes, but this is a keeper league, so inflation dictates that's not an outrageous price), a smart owner would have been content with that as the marquis pitching acquisition. Not I! Before the draft I played with different combinations of how much money to allocate for various positions. In none of them did I pencil in the bucks for two big time pitchers. Considering that I was entering the draft keeping Cliff Lee and John Lackey, 2 big pitchers at the auction seemed like a waste of money.
But there I was, joining the bidding on Roy Oswalt. I was thinking, "Hey buddy, I like Roy Oswalt." $40! $45! $50! Going once, going twice, sold to Eric, for $50. "Wow, Oswalt and Zambrano, that's great. Ok, now let's get some hitters...oh, look at that, can't do it. Well that was fun, now let's try to build for 2007." I was still able to get Gary Sheffield for $43, but then had to watch impotently as the remaing top level OFs were beyond my price range.
The result? Cursing at myself like a homeless nut the rest of the evening and an OF of my keepers Ryan Freel, who doesn't have a starting job, and Craig Monroe, who isn't all that good but I figured was worth keeping at $4, Sheff, and Dave Roberts and Matt Murton at a buck each. And two utility spots filled by Edwin Encarnacion at $3 and Josh Barfield at $2. Now, Murton, Encarnacion, and Barfield could be fantastic keepers. But because I'm not the Kansas City Royals, I don't customarily write off the year before it begins.
Oh, and the worst part is I ended up with one dollar left at the end of the auction. This drives me nuts. I got home and stared at my spreadsheet that read "total left: $1" for a good hour, stewing in anger. No excuse for having even a buck left; that's a rookie mistake. I just sat wondering when and where that money could have gone, replaying scenarios in my head when I should have gone one dollar higher on a player.
A couple of important take away points here. One, It was 4 am and instead of going to sleep I analyzed the composition of my imaginary team of men whose chosen profession is to hit a ball with a stick. Two, it elicited such emotion that I simmered in disgust at myself. And, I guess by way of inference from the first two - three, my life has no meaning and it would probably benefit mankind if I were removed from the whole earth thing we have going on here.
The great thing about roto is that usually everybody hates his own team at the end of the night. It's like we go in somehow expecting to load up on superstars across the board, and having even one or two lower tier dollar picks ruins the whole thing. "I can't believe I lost out on the bidding for Guerrero AND Pujols. Now some other guy has them. My team stinks."
I love this stuff. And with that, I'm heading out to my law school league draft. Self-absorbed recap of that tomorrow, so stay tuned.
Me: I'm in NY today.
Friend: Why?
Me: I have a fantasy baseball draft.
Friend: Hahahahaha
This is why girls really shouldn't be allowed to speak.
I love auction day. The fun of watching your team take shape, the strategy of bidding, making jokes about crappy players, and the excitement knowing that baseball is finally here. All great stuff.
Less great is deviating from your strategy like an idiot and messing up your team. I'll explain. After winning the bidding for Carlos Zambrano at $47 (steep, yes, but this is a keeper league, so inflation dictates that's not an outrageous price), a smart owner would have been content with that as the marquis pitching acquisition. Not I! Before the draft I played with different combinations of how much money to allocate for various positions. In none of them did I pencil in the bucks for two big time pitchers. Considering that I was entering the draft keeping Cliff Lee and John Lackey, 2 big pitchers at the auction seemed like a waste of money.
But there I was, joining the bidding on Roy Oswalt. I was thinking, "Hey buddy, I like Roy Oswalt." $40! $45! $50! Going once, going twice, sold to Eric, for $50. "Wow, Oswalt and Zambrano, that's great. Ok, now let's get some hitters...oh, look at that, can't do it. Well that was fun, now let's try to build for 2007." I was still able to get Gary Sheffield for $43, but then had to watch impotently as the remaing top level OFs were beyond my price range.
The result? Cursing at myself like a homeless nut the rest of the evening and an OF of my keepers Ryan Freel, who doesn't have a starting job, and Craig Monroe, who isn't all that good but I figured was worth keeping at $4, Sheff, and Dave Roberts and Matt Murton at a buck each. And two utility spots filled by Edwin Encarnacion at $3 and Josh Barfield at $2. Now, Murton, Encarnacion, and Barfield could be fantastic keepers. But because I'm not the Kansas City Royals, I don't customarily write off the year before it begins.
Oh, and the worst part is I ended up with one dollar left at the end of the auction. This drives me nuts. I got home and stared at my spreadsheet that read "total left: $1" for a good hour, stewing in anger. No excuse for having even a buck left; that's a rookie mistake. I just sat wondering when and where that money could have gone, replaying scenarios in my head when I should have gone one dollar higher on a player.
A couple of important take away points here. One, It was 4 am and instead of going to sleep I analyzed the composition of my imaginary team of men whose chosen profession is to hit a ball with a stick. Two, it elicited such emotion that I simmered in disgust at myself. And, I guess by way of inference from the first two - three, my life has no meaning and it would probably benefit mankind if I were removed from the whole earth thing we have going on here.
The great thing about roto is that usually everybody hates his own team at the end of the night. It's like we go in somehow expecting to load up on superstars across the board, and having even one or two lower tier dollar picks ruins the whole thing. "I can't believe I lost out on the bidding for Guerrero AND Pujols. Now some other guy has them. My team stinks."
I love this stuff. And with that, I'm heading out to my law school league draft. Self-absorbed recap of that tomorrow, so stay tuned.
posted by Eric at 6:20 PM
2 Comments:
If this blog turns into daily updated of your fantasy players' numbers, I'm going to break off Roy Oswalt's arm myself. Or just get Jeff Gillooly to do it.
Wasn't he a Royals prospect at one point or am I confusing him with everyone else in the world?
He's only been an Astro.
If by "everyone else in the world," you mean "nobody decent since Saberhagen," then you could definitely be mistaken.
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