Competitive Advantage - Moving Players

6/25/2008	Team Name	Points		Waiver	Moves
1	O.N. Thugs	107.5	1.5	11	50
2	IStillSuckCurveballs	103.5	0.5	8	9
3	IamJabrone	98	2.5	12	38
4	TheJimmyDixLongballs	97.5	-0.5	9	8
5	Black Sox	96.5	-1.5	7	20
6	90 Reds	88.5	-3.5	2	32
7	Milwaukee Whiffers	78	0	5	19
8	Phatsnapper	76	-0.5	1	9
9	Muddy Mud Skippers	53.5	0	4	10
9	Cheeseheads	53.5	0	6	15
11	Westy's Slugs	52.5	1	3	39
12	Benver Droncos	31	0.5	10	30

These are the standings for our league as of June 25th. For the past two weeks the top five spots have been fairly consistent, with C-Lauff and Roland fighting over first and O.D. making a strong run at the top of the order too. What's most interesting for me has been watching the many many moves of teams like the Thugs and Jambrone and wondering if I should be adopting the same strategy.

I mean, think about it. Is it normal that 40% of the top 5 teams have made less than 10 moves, while 2 of the 3 teams with the most moves are also in the top 3 of the league?

Unfortunately for me, this kind of rapid player-swap isn't included in any of my long-term plans. Part of this is that I'm still new to the fantasy baseball scene and still learning which players are for real and which are flukes. Most of it is personality - My memory can't really retain obscure stats and player info that well.

I'll just put it out there - is there a strong advantage in making frequent player moves? Are these low-move teams sitting in the top 5 just injury-bombs waiting to happen? With constraints such as time and / or knowledge is there a greater value in using your "Move" utility in trading than working the waiver?

It'd be interesting to track the number of trades made and the number of waiver moves made. It's probably in there somewhere.

Spitting Venom

Greg, one of our UPL regulars has a knack for coming up with timely, hilarious postings. This one just had to be archived:

Somewhere in a New York club... by: '90 Reds

Jun 24 9:31pm

...earlier this week I was sitting by myself, having a beer, minding my own. There were some freestyle rappers performing and they were pretty good. But then something quite unexpected happened... As I watched the next performer limp onto the stage, I thought to myself: "That's not The Chairman. That's not The O.N. Thug. That's not The Roland... Or is it?" Once he started to let it flow, he removed all doubt... Uh, uh, yeah, check it You know how I be, last week Jabrone couldn't do without me He was talkin' 'bout a "Jabrone Risin'" About first place fantasizin' I was without net access Almost wearin' a deer head dress But Jabrone still couldn't usurp me Of course not That's like Westy sayin' he make better trades than me! That's like Rupert sayin' he had a better draft than me! That's like the Cheeseheads talkin' better smack than me! That's like the Whiffers havin' more trophies than me! That's like the dyslexic Benver Droncos readin' better than me! That's like JimmyDix havin' longer balls than me! Stop, think about that It's not about that C-Lauff, Jabrone, tell me how 5th place taste? Uh, yeah, uh, uh, Jabrone, tell me how 5TH PLACE taste! Uh, uh, yeah Everybody sing it [holds mike to crowd] JABRONE, TELL ME HOW 5TH PLACE TASTE!

So naturally, there had to be a follow-up:

Re: Somewhere in a New York club... by: O.N. Thugs

Jun 24 10:16pm

While I can't confirm or deny any reports, according to TMZ.com, there was also a second stanza: Who's on top of the UPL? It's the O.N. Thugs you know so well. Who's on top of the UPL? It's the O.N. Thugs you know so well. Haters talk big game. Punks try to chase fame. Like Eight Belles, They all come up lame. Too many imitators. But no duplicators. Chumps wanna hate us. Jabrones ride the short bus. The Milwaukee Whiffers? Swept up by my Swiffers. JimmyDix? That's too easy. Forget Phatsnapper. May as well be Cheesy. '90 Reds? That's 18 years past. Bret Boone don't star in this cast. Westy's Slugs? That's 18th place. Too far back to see your face. Who's on top of the UPL? It's the O.N. Thugs you know so well. Who's on top of the UPL? It's the O.N. Thugs you know so well.

As I look more closely, I think that I'd put the "Haters talk big game... ...they all come up lame." lines at the end, just to build the flow a little better. But it wasn't a bad first pass response to what Greg posted. Plus, there's nothing like dissin' a horse that's been recently euthanized.

I'm sure that the fine folks at PETA will be contacting us soon.

-Chairman (aka O.N. Thugs)

Riding Out Storms II

The last few weeks have been sort of ridiculous. Defended my proposal on May 28. Wrapped up teaching for my summer school course. Drove out to Mizzou for a 5 day conference. Got back, and was prepping for a conference up in Chicago. Almost killed (and got killed by) a deer. Took off for Boston to help my brother pack up stuff for his move out to Hawaii. And finally got back home last night.

I think that I spent a few days in 2nd (and maybe even 3rd place). I was able to get online enough to update my roster a few times, and even pick up some new players. But, I haven't exactly been up to date on everything in either MLB or the UPL.

I knew that my catcher came back, and then got a concussion, so was out for a couple games. And I knew that my revolving door at SS had continued. I knew that my (historically) best starter was still getting lit up. And that my guys weren't really hitting (partially because I took on one too many bad hitting, fast guys).

So, it was interesting to find that somehow, someway, I'm still in first place right now. Go figure.

At this point, I've given up a few points in R, HR, and RBI, which hopefully will come back once Pujols gets off the DL. And when Furcal comes back, I should be able to close out more in R and SB. So, the offense should be OK. On the pitching side, my squad really needs Harang to not be terrible. Simply average from Harang may have been good enough to have this league put away by now (if he was 7-6, rather than 3-10, there would be a 7 point swing in the standings).

But as it stands, it's back to work :-)

-Chairman (aka O.N. Thugs)

Jabrone Rising

Like in real baseball, fantasy baseball is a season of steaks and slumps, highs and lows. Learning how to ride those out is part of the overall approach to managing a winning team. Right now, I'm on the streak of my fantasy life. On May 23rd, I was dead-to-rites in 7th place, somewhere in the low 80's in roto points, and Roland posted this:

"Please tell me that this hasn't become a 2-team league with me and the Boston Red Sox.

I thought that you had traded for David Wright and Grady Sizemore."

Well, I did trade for David Wright and Grady Sizemore, as well as Scott Kazmir. And, I picked up Shane Victorino, Aaron Rowand and Jay Bruce. And all they've done since that magical 23rd of May is the following:

David Wright (11 games): .467 OBP, 10 runs, 3 HRs, 7 RBI's, 2 SB's

Grady Sizemore (10 games): .400 OBP, 6 runs, 4 HRs, 7 RBI's, 4 SB's

Shane Victorino (10 games): .422 OBP, 16 runs, 5 RBI's, 5 SB's

Aaron Rowand (10 games): .476 OBP, 10 runs, 3 HRs, 13 RBI's, 1 SB

Jay Bruce (7 games): .667 OBP, 1.038 SLG, 12 runs, 3 HRs, 7 RBi's, 2 SB's

Scott Kazmir (2 games, 14 innings): 2 wins, 0 losses, .642ERA, .642WHIP, 16Ks

Clearly, the guys mentioned above have been the leaders of this full-on attack of first place. Though, I don't expect the same production from the guys above for the rest of the year, this goes to show that free agent pickups, timely trades and overall effective roster management can give your team the shot in the arm that it needs. It's been good enough to get me 30 extra points and I think the guys are good enough to keep me in the mix.

Now, if I can just get my top 2 draft picks off of the DL (Holiday and Peavy) and have Liriano come back from AAA and produce, I can make Roland sweat the whole year for his run at the UPL baseball trophy. Although this year, I'd like to think that I'm a more formidable contender than in years past.

Off to watch Joba Chamberlain eat up the Toronto Blue Jays as if he were Joba the Hutt. Jabrone rising, my friends, Jabrone rising.