Fantasy Baseball: Starting Pitchers

[DietPepsiWinner]

Whats up everybody. new to the forum but been folliowing a while now & im a huge fantasy player. just thought id start a thread with each position for the fantasy season for all the fantasy players to talk it up , man is tomorrow april 1?? :00hour. My big draft is March 22nd, I will post my rankings for each position as I start to get closer to that date. anybody else here play any CDM games? im a big player there as well.

Haven't done too too much studying yet but ill post some of my early selection , please chime in fellow fantasy geeks :00hour

should be 1st taken at position: Johan Santana

On The Rise: Matt Cain/Scott Kazmir

On The Decline: Randy Johnson

Sleeper: Rich Hill/Scott Olsen/Ian Snell

Super Sleeper: Boof Bonser

Bust: Bronson Arroyo

Better Than You Think: Brett Myers

Barry Zito to the NL could mean a monster season for him. Andy Pettitte returning to the yankees could either be huge rewards for fantasy owners or total disaster. Cole Hamels is a monster X risk = X reward pick.

 

[Padre]

Wow i thought that Jake Peavy would have a good year, i just question my Padres and their run support.

 

[Jayhawk_Thor]

I like Bonser as a sleeper...

He got so much better as the season went on... Hopefully he can keep it up over the course of 30 starts... the Twins will need him.

 

[Jayhawk_Thor]

BTW...

Not sure you could call him a 'super' sleeper. If there are any even halfway knowlegable owners in your league, they should know about the way he ended the season and the team he plays for should translate into wins...

 

[ImFeklhr]

If Boof Bonser turns into a stud, I am commiting suicide.

That would mean the Giants traded a great closer (Nathan), potential Cy Young starter (depending if he recovers - Liriano), AND another solid starter in Bonser... for AJ f'ing Pierzynski.


:mj16: :mj16:


Not that I'm rooting against the kid

 

[DietPepsiWinner]

Bonser may not be a super sleeper, but it does depend on the the league your in. Must I pick another super sleeper? Ok then I'll go with Adam Loewen (Balt)

 

[2muchchalk]

i am a big fan of obtaining hitters in the early rounds unless a santana (first round) or carperenter late 2nd, early third falls in my lap. Even carpenter has questions if he can duplicate another year like the last 2.

I would rather grab a nice lineup bc pitchers are so unpredictable. I will grab a top closer if i think i am getting good value in the beginning rounds 5-7 and grab 2 more mid or low mid guys in the teen rounds. DO u guys feel the same way?

not sleepers or anything but i think u can get good value on cain, harden Escobar,Igawa,Blanton,Smoltz,Sheets

poor value on verlander, wang, Anibal Sanchez, jered weaver (his arm is killing him)

for sleepers i like Maroth, Chuck James,Cliff Lee,snell,Randy Wolf

 

[DietPepsiWinner]

i am a big fan of obtaining hitters in the early rounds unless a santana (first round) or carperenter late 2nd, early third falls in my lap. Even carpenter has questions if he can duplicate another year like the last 2.

I would rather grab a nice lineup bc pitchers are so unpredictable. I will grab a top closer if i think i am getting good value in the beginning rounds 5-7 and grab 2 more mid or low mid guys in the teen rounds. DO u guys feel the same way?

not sleepers or anything but i think u can get good value on cain, harden Escobar,Igawa,Blanton,Smoltz,Sheets

poor value on verlander, wang, Anibal Sanchez, jered weaver (his arm is killing him)

for sleepers i like Maroth, Chuck James,Cliff Lee,snell,Randy Wolf

as for the grabbing pitchers late it TOTALLY depends on your scoring system. roto or raw pts? and if raw pts you have to decide if hitting or pitching is more important. i have one league with all my buddies where the top 20 closers will ALL be gone come end of round 7 or 8. the way its set-up you just CANNOT win the league if you get stuck with only 2 closers instead of 3. Its just impossible.

i like matt cain a lot this year but the sophmore slump does worry me a tad with him, but keep in mind i have seen him go pretty high in a lot of drafts, including "expert" drafts. Hes ranked as high as #11 (in starting pitchers) in some fantasy mags too -- you know that always has some bearing with a few people in your league.

2 yeras ago i became a HUGE rich harden fan but he just cant seem to stay healthy, but for where you can get him you cant beat a 3 or lower ERA and 200 K potential.

Escobar is another that always seems to get hurt but no question he has electric stuff.

Igawa is a huge question mark. he could be BETTER than D-Mak and he could win 5 games and crumple under the pinstripe pressure. hes a bit risky to me.

I like Blanton is roto leagues, he just kills your strikeouts thou, although i do think he will get a little more in '07.

Smoltz is solid but aging and he actually goes somewhat early.

im also a big ben sheets fan but another that has to stay healthy. he puts up GREAT numbers when healthy thou

i dis-agree with verlander. hes only going to get better. i wouldnt take him in the top 20 starters, but right around 21-25i would with a quickness.

i like chuck james and ian snell too, love ian snell thou , i mean anybody that can sniff 15 wins w/the pirates i like. hes also got 200 K potential.

another im keeping my eye this spring is daniel cabrera (balt). this guy has 250 K potential along with wicked stuff that does not allow many hits. his lone problem is his walks, and it gets REALLY REALLY bad but ive read in two spots that leo mazzone has really fixed it, and ill be following that come spring training.

 

[2muchchalk]

i was really saying more value. Obviously if harden stays healthy he could be a number 1 pitcher. I am talking about risk/reward and where they will be drafted. if u can draft ryan howard in the 14 round, and risk getting first round production?(last season) that is value

Do i think verlander is better than esobar? of course. But you are getting escobar many many rounds after verlander . Every1 and their mother is going to want to draft the kid verlander (going a round or two higher than i think) after the tigers being in the postseason. Every1 is going to be scared of eso bc of the injury factor. Escobar could be worth the gamble in round 20 or whatever.

i was just talking about what kind of value you are getting for the round you are taking them.i am sorry i just assume every1 plays roto, but obviously the raw pt format is becoming more popular.



my first draft is march 11 keeper. than i go into the redraft league a few weeks later

 

[DietPepsiWinner]

yeah i do 3 BIG $$ leagues that are raw points, and just 1 big $$ roto league. Also do another roto league but the $$ not nearly as big as the other 4. also 2 of the 5 are salary caps leagues.

 

[2muchchalk]

can you explain raw points. HOw does your particular system score?


raw points is new to me.

 

[DietPepsiWinner]

I do two different styles:

#1 - salary cap. you pick 2 catchers, 2 1st basemen, 2 2nd basemen, 2 shortstops, 2 3rd basemen, 6 outfielders, 2 dh's, 6 starting pitchers, 4 closers. 8 man hitting bench, 4 man pitching bench. your team each week must be under the cap using the salaires provided.

that point system is:
hitting::
single = 1
double = 2
triple = 3
home run = 4
rbi = 1
run = 1
sb = 2
walk = 1

pitching::
win = 10
k = 1
IP = 1
save = 10

#2 - this is a draft league

scoring system:

hitting:
single = 1
double = 2
triple = 3
home run = 4
rbi = 1
run = 1
sb = 2
walk = 1

pitching:
win = 15
save = 10
k = 2
earned run allowed = -1
walk allowed = -0.50
hit allowed = -0.25
complete game = 10
shut out = 25

 

[Old School]

Even though the Minnesota Twins signed Sidney Ponson to a minor league contract, they expect him to win a job in the starting rotation, manager Ron Gardenhire said Wednesday.


"I view [Ponson] being one of our starters," Gardenhire said. "I expect him to step up and take one of those jobs. Whether it happens or not is totally up to him."

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune