Crimes Against Humanity
Reminder: Sign Up For Yahoo Fantasy Baseball If So Inclined
I still remain almost entirely uninterested in hearing about anyone's fantasy team, but I do feel inclined to remind you that you can use this thread to express interest in being a part of one of BCB's official leagues this season. Also, Yahoo! asked me to pass along this reminder.
Yahoo! Sports is the leading fantasy provider and home to the #1 Fantasy Baseball game available - all for free! Here are some of the features:
- Free live scoring
- Mock drafts
- Mobile apps
- Over 80 scoring categories
- Live and offline draft apps
- Tools to manage your keeper league
- Top-notch information and resources
- Expert advice throughout the season with bi-weekly video clips and weekly radio coverage on the Fantasy Freaks
Yahoo! Sports now offers the fantasy fanatic an even more competitive way to play – Pro Leagues are here! Join a Pro League for $20 or $100 and compete to win cash prizes.
Brewers Fantasy Players to Watch
So Kyle was asked to do a sponsored post about possible fantasy players to watch on the Brewers. If you've read this site at all, you might know how much he loves fantasy baseball. He was overcome with such glee that he couldn't physically type a post up, so I've been called out of the bullpen to tell you to go forth and draft these players.
Go draft this pitcher: Zack Greinke
The one strange thing about fantasy baseball is that it usually forces people to regress in their baseball acumen. Gone is OBP. Gone are defensive metrics (any of them). Gone are FIP and xFIP and tRA and all that stuff. In a standard 5x5 roto league you are encouraged, nay, required to draft players based on their RBI and batting average skills.
So that sort of stinks for Greinkers. We all saw last year how amazing he can be, but his traditional metrics didn't quite match up to his advanced stats. So, instead of being possibly one of the top three pitchers in a fantasy baseball draft, he is something like top 20. Top 15. Something like that. If you're drafting with Brewers fans, he's probably top three. Really, you should just play fantasy baseball with a bunch of Astros fans or something, so they all overvalue their own awful players. "Oh man, you guys, I can't believe Wandy Rodriguez lasted until the second round!" Next person: Drafts Roy Halladay.
Anyway, Greinke does the strikeout thing and he has a pretty good ERA. He also doesn't walk a whole lot of players, which puts him a notch above Gallardo in my book, though I could have put Gallardo here just as easily. Both players will win games. How many games, I don't know. There is no good way to predict that. We're using wins! Man, fantasy baseball can be ridiculous.
Go draft this hitter: Ryan Braun (Braun not suspended) or Aramis Ramirez (Braun suspended)
Say Braun is not suspended. Say someone asks you to write a fantasy post about the Brewers, and do a category on the best Brewers hitter. Who would you say? Not Carlos Gomez, that's for sure! (This does not apply to Mrs. Gomez)
Instead, let's talk about Aramis Ramirez. Quick! Can you guess which qualified third baseman had the second best average at the position in the majors last year? What about the third baseman with the fourth most homeruns? The fourth most RBI? The fifth most runs scored? Did you guess Aramis Ramirez? Wow! I have no idea how you would have guessed him!
(Notice how I didn't say steals? That's because who drafts for steals? And what third baseman steals bases?)
Ramirez is the second best hitter on the Brewers. Only Braun can top him. There are only a handful of third baseman better than Ramirez. The position doesn't yield very many great fantasy players. But draft him when the appropriate round comes.
Late round, "No, seriously guys, this guy is just ready for a breakout season. This last round pick is totally going to win me the championship this year" guy who probably will be cut within a week: Jonathan Lucroy
I don't know. There aren't very many players on the Brewers who we could realistically expect to have a breakout season. Morgan did that already. Weeks did that already. Hart did that already. I'm going to use Gamel in a different category. There aren't any pitchers who would have a breakout year, especially not for fantasy purposes.
So Lucroy it is. He's young. He hasn't hit very well in his career so far. He plays at a position that is practically devoid of all fantasy life. Why not? He might give you a middle-of-the-road batting average along with double digit homers. If you're the last one drafting a catcher, he might not be the worst option in the world.
Default rookie to watch: Mat Gamel
I mean, he's the only rookie on the team that could make any impact. I don't even know if he's qualified as a rookie anymore. He's also a first baseman. There are a whole lot of other first basemen who are better than Gamel. Unless you're in a 20 team league, he's probably not on your radar unless it's the last few rounds and you're a Brewers fan who has actually heard of him. Then maybe he's worth a flyer. He hit well in the minors. He hasn't hit well yet in the majors. But he might give some homeruns and a decent batting average.
Wily Peralta might have made sense in this category. But Gamel is probably going to be a starting position player, at least for a while. Peralta is going to linger in AAA until September unless something horribly wrong happens to one of the Brewers' starting pitchers.
Sleeper: Corey Hart
He's not much of a sleeper, but he might not go as high as he should, either. Thirty-one home runs last year, if last year were 2010! Twenty-six if last year were 2011, which it was!I don't know about you, but I always seem to never have a decent outfield when I play fantasy baseball. Maybe because I always think there will be plenty of options. There are three outfielders! That's three times as many as other positions! Scarcity!
Then I end up with Vernon Wells as my outfield star.
Hart is a really good hitter. Second or third best on the team, not counting Braun. He might get more RBI chances with Fielder gone, too! And he'll throw in some stolen bases! Think about Hunter Pence. Would you like Hunter Pence in your fantasy outfield? Well, Hart is basically identical. And Hart will go a couple rounds later than Pence, probably.
So, yay! Brewers fantasy players! It's not real baseball, but it can be fun! Just, nobody cares about your team but you. And the person beating you. Man, your team stinks.
On Bad Karma And (Hopefully) Atonement
Longtime readers of the site could probably make a laundry list of regrettable things I've said over the years. Here's a perfect example: In January of 2009, the Brewers were doing their usual routine of saying they were done shopping while actually not being done. Braden Looper was one of the more notable pitchers left on the market, and in the Mug on January 6 here's what I said:
I've been holding back on saying this for a while, but it seems like the time has come to make my final offer: If the Brewers sign Braden Looper, I will buy a Looper jersey.
Of course, a few weeks later the Brewers signed Looper. I'm not sure if I was a factor in that decision.
There was a problem, though: I was broke. My last "day job" had evaporated a few months earlier, and my wife and I were in the middle of planning both a wedding and a move at the same time. I never expected the Brewers to actually sign Looper, and when they did I didn't exactly have the cash on hand to make an immediate jersey purchase. So I listed it as a low priority and left it on a "to do someday" list.
Looper, of course, had one relatively poor season as a Brewer before going unsigned for 2010. So my opportunity to buy a jersey passed. Finally, when the Brewers had their Clubhouse sale this offseason, I was able to acquire this:
You might not be able to smell it from here, but the shirt reeks of bad karma.
Fast forward to this week. My wife and I were headed to Milwaukee for a pair of Brewer games on Monday and Tuesday. While packing in a hurry, I grabbed a Brewer shirt and tossed it into my suitcase. I thought it was the Braun shirt. It wasn't. It was this one.
Left with no viable alternatives, I wore it to Tuesday's game. You might remember Tuesday's game. It didn't go well.
Driving home after the game, I knew what had to be done.
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A Musical Interlude: Ice, Ice LOOGY
This is the part where I normally say "With apologies to (band I'm ripping off)," but I'm not sure Vanilla Ice actually deserves apologies. Queen might, though. Here's the video, if you need help following along.
Yo, Roenicke....let's kick it!
All right stop, and commence your shouting,
Mitch is back for another short outing.
Coming out, to retire a lefty
Cause that's the only thing that Stetter does deftly.
Will it ever stop? Yo, probably so.
If a righty comes up they'll call in Kameron Loe.
His splits are extreme, so keep a tight handle
Against non-lefties he gets lit up like a candle.
SWING, and then away you go.
One time Mitch struck out 15 in a row.
But ONLY one batter can be seen.
He gets a quick out and then calls in Sean Green.
Called in, then leaving, and he's on his way
You'd better watch fast or you'll miss his whole day.
But if a lefty is your problem, Mitch will solve it.
Get out the hook and let the bullpen resolve it.
Ice, Ice LOOGY
Ice, Ice LOOGY
Ice, Ice LOOGY
Ice, Ice LOOGY.
I think we can all agree that one verse of this was enough. Word to your closer.
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