fantasy baseball and the 2010 sheet
As many of you know, I am (almost clinically) addicted to fantasy sports, specifically fantasy baseball. Not only does it enhance my love for the sport, but it also helps pay my bills (last year I won just about a month’s rent playing fantasy baseball, and remember, I live in NYC). So I love it. And I’m good at it. So I love it more.
Every year in preparation for my baseball drafts, I had routinely prepared what was known among my friends as the Fantasy Baseball Super Secret Sheet (not a great name, but hey, at least you know what it is). The sheet consisted of four tabs: one for hitters, one for pitchers, and one each for NL and AL depth charts. It also contained all sorts of stats for the players in the MLB universe, as well as my personal tiered rankings. And I didn’t share with anyone – even friends who were in different leagues – because I spent about 100 hours of my time creating it, formatting it, updating it, and ranking the players. So get your own damn rankings.
Last year, for the first time, I decided to offer the sheet to you guys for the small sum of $5 (even though I had some serious gambling debts to pay off). I figured it was a bargain, because most fantasy baseball magazines are published and researched in January and cost $10. So for half the price, I was providing completely up to date rankings lists (and depth charts), all in an easily sortable Excel spreadsheet, which one could manipulate on his/her laptop during his/her draft.
And the response was overwhelming. And I mean “overwhelming” in the most literal sense – those who bought it not only wrote expressing their thanks and complementing my research and the ease of use of the sheet, but my inbox was inundated with these emails and other asking follow up questions, discussing certain players, talking strategy, etc. It was crazy. And so being a true capitalist, I thought that this year, I’d up the price to $10. The thank you emails (pre- and post-draft) made this an easy choice. As did my even more significant gambling losses during the most recent NFL season.
But we’re going to do something a little different this year. Simply: if you can prove to me that you’ve bought my book (currently $10.07 on Amazon), I’ll send you the sheet for free. Using my alternate email address – eiwwme@gmail.com – you can send me a phone pic of you with the book (or you with a receipt for the book) or forward me the email from Amazon or Borders.com or BN.com confirming your purchase, and the sheet is yours. Alternatively, if you don’t want to buy the book, you can send me $10 via Paypal to eiwwme@gmail.com and I’ll send you the sheet. So to recap: about $14 will you get you the sheet and my much beloved book (awesome!), or $10 will get you just the sheet (what – you don’t like reading and fun?). Your call.
(And if it looks like you’re taking the cell phone pic while holding the book at a bookstore, I reserve the right to refuse to send you the sheet. Jerkoff.)
A little about the sheet this year:
- There are the standard four tabs (hitters, pitchers, NL and AL team depths charts).
- 231 hitters are ranked, and 134 pitchers (that’s a total of 365 ranked players, though stats for a few hundred more are in the sheet).
- There are 41 columns/statistical metrics for pitchers and 26 for hitters (hitters are easier and require less work)
- We added some additional stats this year, most notably BABIP (both for hitters and pitchers); left on base percentage (LOB%), FIP (Fielder Independent Pitching on an ERA scale) and F-E (FIP minus ERA) and for pitchers; line-drive percentage (LD%) and home run to fly ball ratio for hitters (HR/FB), and several more. If you get the sheet, I’ll send an email explaining the importance and use of these stats.
- I’ve also noted which players are in a free agent (FA) or option year (Op) in their contracts, in order to highlight those guys who might have a little extra incentive this year.
- And of course, you get the standard Jason Mulgrew touches: sortability by multi-position eligibility, my tiered rankings, and my “I LIKE” column (a sampling of guys I “liked” in last year’s sheet, on my way to two wins and a second place finish in my leagues: Bobby Abreu, Shin-Soo Choo, Carl Crawford, Raul Ibanez, Justin Upton, Jayson Werth, Joey Votto, Ryan Zimmerman; Jonathan Broxton, Matt Cain, Chris Carpenter, Tommy Hanson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, Clayton Kershaw, Javier Vazquez – go ahead, those of you who bought the sheet last year can look it up).
Still don’t think it’s worth it? Like me break you off a little knowledge.
Do you know who I really, really don’t like this year? Matt Cain.
I know, I know – I just pointed out above that I liked him last year. And I did. But while Cain was good last year, he was even more lucky. For example, his BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) against was .268. The league average was about .297. That implies that Cain got some breaks or some help from his fielders. Further, Cain’s strand rate (or LOB%) was 81.6%, whereas league average is about 73.9%. Again, luck, and some mighty good middle relievers helping him out when he left games. Finally, Matt Cain’s was FIP was 3.89. FIP is, as mentioned above, Fielder Independent Pitching on an ERA scale. As the name implies, it’s a number that equates to ERA form independent of the caliber of fielding behind a pitcher. Cain’s actually ERA was 2.89. This difference of -1 further proves that Matt Cain was a lucky little SOB last year; he pitched like a 3.89 ERA pitcher, but his actual ERA was 2.89.
Now, is Matt Cain dog shit? Of course not. But is he a top 15 pitcher? Oh lord, no. As for someone who might be a top 15 (or even top 10) pitcher, there’s a guy I like who had an unfortunate BABIP of .336 last season (remember, average was .297). His strand rate was 61% (average = 73.9%). And his F-E (FIP – ERA) was an absurd +1.71; he pitched like a 3.35 ERA pitcher, but ended up with an ugly 5.06 ERA. The guy? Ricky Nolasco (who also averaged over a K an inning, to boot). I’m not saying that Ricky Nolasco is going to finish as a best pitcher in the league, but rather I’m only pointing out a few things that might make you bump Nolasco up on your draft boards.
(And I know that these are rudimentary explanations using big name pitchers. But I’m trying to be gentle here, as not everyone is as good at fantasy baseball as me and you, Fantasy Nerd Reading This Right Now and Huffing About How It’s Obvious That Everyone Likes Nolasco and Who Is This Mulgrew Guy Anyway.)
But all this and more is in the fantasy baseball draft sheet. Once again, send proof that you’ve bought my book to eiwwme@gmail.com and I’ll send you the sheet. Otherwise, fork over $10 via Paypal to me at the same email address and it’s yours.
And good luck this season.
