We did a non-keeper league through P.S. last year, so there is at least a decent chance we can get enough people to do one. They just might be some pretty eh people.
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MLB 2017
- Thread starter biggie
- Start date
LEAVE IT TO SEAGER - A FANTASY BASEBALL RMT
INTRODUCTION
I have never won a Smogon Fantasy Baseball League Championship. That sucks. I had a really good team for years and I tried my damnedest to will a championship team into existence. There were some trades that should have got me over the hump. There were some moments that could have went a different way. There were some teams and owners who had outsmarted me in critical moments.
Last year, I made a promise to you. I promised that I would rebuild my talent-ridden team and would return to be a yearly threat. I likened my team to the New York Yankees, who would go from being a talentless and vapid organization to restocking their team and reshaping their potential overnight while still being competitive.
Last year was a bunch of bad mixed in with a bunch of good. On day one, I butchered the draft and left myself with about $18 unused when everything was all said and done. I kept some garbage and drafted even more. But I also had the foresight to take some risks that would pay out and help to give a new face to my franchise.
When the season started, I flung out to 1st Place, but soon crashed and burned until I ended up in 6th. In my playoff match verses Del Rio, a combination of a late game reliever win and a stinker by Dallas Keuchel saw a sure-fire victory turn into a miserable defeat.
My 2018 will be a different story. While you guys will be forced to let go superstars into the player pool as a result of keeping them the last 3 years, my team has been rebuilt with young studs on their first year of eligibility. I'm ready to get back to being a continual threat to the championship here boys. Try and stop me.
TEAM AT A GLANCE
IN-DEPTH
Giancarlo Stanton @ OF
$30 Cost ($30 Last / $36 Projected)
.273 AVG / 107 R / 53 HR / 121 RBI / 3 SB
The Red Sox are good. The Yankees are good. The Rivalry is back. Thank god. It has been way too long since these two teams have lined up at the top of the division. Giancarlo Stanton is someone I have liked, and now I have to hate him. Honestly, I doubt that he stays healthy based on his recent history. I will never forgive him from what he did two years ago when I traded for him and then he got hurt and was out for the season within a week. But when he is healthy and on a role, god damn can he single handedly change a fantasy season.
While I don't get much of a savings on Stanton, the $6 in savings I net help to mitigate the risk of injury. I also have a pretty cost efficient team, so I'm pretty sure that I can keep in the bidding on the Free Agents I'm targeting.
Aaron Judge @ OF
$16 Cost ($1 Last / $32 Projected)
.244 AVG / 104 R / 40 HR / 94 RBI / 7 SB
Judge's first full season was a tale of two. In his first half, he was mashing everything in sight. In his second half, he was a helpless twerp who played as if the Monstars stole all of his talent. His amazing September shows that he is not a Trevor Story-esque fluke at greatness, but his horrible postseason shows how quick he is to lose it.
Judge is a gamble. He was a gamble last year when I drafted him for $1 when he wasn't guaranteed a spot. If I had to spend $32 on him, I would be out. But at $16, I get him for the going rate of Miguel Cabrera and Xander Bogaerts. Those projections above represent a floor for Judge in my opinion, and if he is as streaky as he was last year, the months in which he is the best hitter in baseball are going to win me a lot more points than the bad months he'll be sitting on the bench.
Andrew Benintendi @ OF
$12 Cost ($12 Last / $22 Projected)
.282 AVG / 90 R / 22 HR /81 RBI /14 SB
Last year, Andrew Benintendi was my favorite player to watch on the Red Sox. He was not just the middle of our lineup, he was our lineup. Benintendi is going into his age 23 season and has cemented the fact in my mind that he is a five tool player right now.
Last year, the Red Sox offense gave pitchers almost nothing to worry about. This year, I think we are a different story. Betts can't be as bad as he looked last year. Bogaerts played through injury and also had a career worst season. Devers is going to be with us all season, and we won't have the black hole of offense that Tzu Wei Lin and Sandoval provided. JD Martinez will be a welcome addition.
All of these things convinces me that we are going to see a really really good season out of Benintendi. I'm excited to see what a little less pressure and a little more experience will do to take his game to the next level.
Corey Seager @ SS
$16 Cost ($16 Last / $24 Projected)
.298 AVG/ 101 R / 28 HR /84 RBI / 4 SB
Man, I don't know how I feel about Seager. Out of all my keepers, he is one I like the least when it comes to gutt reaction. He does not feel as sexy as some of my other players, and I wish he could actually steal some bases because that is the one category that I'm lacking with my keepers.
Though, when I go through the list of SS, it is hard for me to think that Seager is still a top fantasy SS. Correa has almost the same projections but with 4 more HR, but is projected for $34. I don't think that 4 HR is worth that much. Lindor also is projected for about the same average and power, but they're giving him 13 more SB. That's pretty comparable.
With Seager, I'm paying $16 to not have to worry about the vapid SS position. I'm happy with that. I think that with the lack of talent, those of you that don't have a SS are going to be overspending on players like Segura and DiDi and this is going to feel a lot better in retrospect.
Rhys Hoskins @ 1B/OF
$10 ($0 Last / $20 Projected)
.271 AVG / 76 R / 33 HR / 98 RBI/ 3 SB
He had 18 HR last year in 50 Games. When Judge was all but dead last year, this guy carried my team. He hits MONSTER JACKS and I'm all over it for $10. The old adage back in the day was that you can't win in fantasy if you don't have a good 1B. Well, the days of good 1B are over. Besides Goldy, Freeman, Votto, and Bellinger there aren't many good 1B options out there.
At the $10 price point, I'll be at the same price for like... Matt Carpenter and Justin Smoak. I'm getting a straight fire 1B in the same breath as a Bellinger for way less. Definitely excited to see this guy play a full season and how he can build off of a fantastic intro campaign.
$8 ($8 Last / $16 Projected)
15-7 /3.41 ERA /1.14 WHIP / 160 K
Dallas Keuchel lost me my playoff match-up versus Del Rio when all he needed was to not walk everyone in the park and get me a W verses the hapless A's. I want very much to flip him the bird and throw him in the trash where he belongs, but I can't. I need him. When he wasn't playing through injury, he recapured a lot of the magic that he had during his Cy Young season a few years ago and kind of was the one dependable piece of my pitching staff.
I'm all for cheap pitching as it fits my typical game plan of high offense + mid-tier pitching mixed with streams. Last year, I got my high powered offense back but I lacked the decent pitching to win many matchups. Keuchel being a lock as one of my aces means I don't have to get into big bidding wars for top end pitching if I don't need to.
Pitching is the biggest question mark right now on my team, but I think I have a pretty solid plan to put together a really competitive staff. Here is hoping you guys let me have ERod and Salazar on the cheap!
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