drafting with me and my buds in nyc on 3/19 and info on the 2011 fantasy baseball sheet
9 March 2011
The fantasy baseball sheet is coming. We’ll get to this in a minute.
But first, if you live in the NYC area, are serious about fantasy baseball, and are free on the afternoon of Saturday, March 19, I might have a fun opportunity for you.
On that afternoon, my longstanding fantasy baseball league (Iron Sheik) will hold our annual in-person draft at a bar in Manhattan (likely in midtown). Because of an impending birth, a bachelor party, and having to cover the University of Texas basketball team, three guys in the league can’t make the draft. And so we need three people to act as their proxies and draft their teams for them.
What do you get out of it? Well, we get bombed all afternoon, watch college basketball, eat horrendously unhealthy foods, and draft our fantasy baseball teams, all the while shit-talking. This is, hands down, one of my favorite days of the year.
What is required of you, commitment-wise? Well, first I’ll put you in touch with one of the three guys who can’t make it. You two will email, and the absent manager will likely provide either a rough framework for his team in the form of a list or just generally tell you what players he likes or doesn’t like. Then, it’s up to you. (Note that you will not be required to manage or pay any attention to the team during the season – we’d just need you to help draft it on that Saturday afternoon.)
Because of the level of autonomy – and I have to make this very, very clear – you must know your fantasy baseball. Sure, there are more intense leagues than Iron Sheik, but we are no slouches. So while you don’t have to know, for example, the 1 through 5 SPs for the Diamondbacks, you should be able to name three of their starters (or at least two of them – god, that rotation is terrible). So please don’t express interest in this if you’re only somewhat knowledgeable about fantasy baseball or baseball in general – if you draft Russell Martin in the sixth round, we will stone you to death.
(Just kidding.)
(But please, know your shit.)
Here are the specs of the league: mixed-league, ten teams, each team comes into the draft with four keepers, which have already been decided. Draft is 19 rounds, with 23 players per team, or 230 players total. Positions are C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util, Util for hitters and SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P for pitchers, along with five bench spots and two DL spots. Rotisserie league with standard five pitching categories (W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP) and R, RBI, SB, Total Bases (instead of HR) and OBP (instead of AVG) for hitters. I think this about covers it.
If you’re interested, please email me. I promise you that, if nothing else, it will be a fun afternoon.
************
And now, the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Super Sheet. This is almost done, and I plan to have it available by Monday. Before I give you the background on the sheet (which many of you already know), I’ll first cover how you can get it: you gotta prove to me that you’ve bought my book.
That’s it. Yes, in previous years, including even last year, we’ve offered the sheet for sale for $10. But no longer. I just want you to buy my book and prove it to me, and then I’ll send you the sheet. You can prove to me that you’ve bought the book by forwarding me a receipt from Amazon, Borders, B&N or wherever, or, if you’ve already purchased it, by sending me a pic of you with the book (nudity is not required, but it is encouraged) (just kidding) (that is, just kidding assuming you’re a dude) or a pic of the receipt. You must send the proof to my alternate email address, eiwwme@gmail.com. Like I said, the sheet won’t be available until Monday, but you can send the email now if you like and I’ll send it when it’s ready. And then you’ll a fun(-ish) book and a fantasy baseball sheet! Talk about a terrific one-two punch.
As for the sheet itself, I’ve been preparing a master Excel spreadsheet of fantasy baseball statistics for many, many years now, and I probably spend about 100 hours total on this thing. The sheet has four tabs (hitters, pitchers, NL and AL team depths charts), and last year I ranked 231 hitters and 134 pitchers, though there are stats in the sheet for a few hundred more players. Again, using last year as an example because this year’s is still being refined, there were 41 columns/statistical metrics for pitchers and 26 for hitters (hitters are easier and require less work), including notes about how is in a walk year and who qualifies at multiple positions. In short, it’s badass, and you can’t get this much fantasy baseball information at your fingertips anywhere else on the web.
And as I said, it’s not just statistics: you’re getting my ranks. I break (and for years have broken) the rankings into tiers (SS 1, SS 2, etc), but there is special column for guys I “like,” which is to say that I believe these players will perform better than their draft position indicates. This is where I make my money, y’all. In last year’s sheet, for the 2010 season I liked:
Hitters: Adrian Beltre, Rajai Davis, David Ortiz, Juan Pierre, Geo Soto, Vlad, to name a few. Oh, and three outfielders who turned out pretty good: Carlos Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, and Chris Young.
Pitchers: Clay Buchholz, Cole Hamels, Ubaldo Jimenez, Clayton Kershaw, Mat Latos, Francisco Liriano, David Price, Max Scherzer. If you had drafted any four of those eight, let’s just say your staff would have been in pretty, pretty good shape.
Of course, I’m cherry-picking here (some of my hitters recs – Justin Upton, Kendry Morales, Nelson Cruz, Justin Morneau and, gulp, Grady Sizemore, among them – were really battered or hampered by injuries), but for those of you who got the sheet last year, go ahead and look it over. You’ll see that, well, I really know my shit, and why one month’s rent per year is paid by my fantasy baseball winnings. Fucking love this shit.
************
So there you have it. If you’re in NYC, love fantasy baseball and are free on Saturday afternoon, March 19, let’s draft together. Otherwise, if you just want the sheet, send me proof that you bought my little book to eiwwme@gmail.com and I’ll start sending out copies of the sheet on Monday.
But first, if you live in the NYC area, are serious about fantasy baseball, and are free on the afternoon of Saturday, March 19, I might have a fun opportunity for you.
On that afternoon, my longstanding fantasy baseball league (Iron Sheik) will hold our annual in-person draft at a bar in Manhattan (likely in midtown). Because of an impending birth, a bachelor party, and having to cover the University of Texas basketball team, three guys in the league can’t make the draft. And so we need three people to act as their proxies and draft their teams for them.
What do you get out of it? Well, we get bombed all afternoon, watch college basketball, eat horrendously unhealthy foods, and draft our fantasy baseball teams, all the while shit-talking. This is, hands down, one of my favorite days of the year.
What is required of you, commitment-wise? Well, first I’ll put you in touch with one of the three guys who can’t make it. You two will email, and the absent manager will likely provide either a rough framework for his team in the form of a list or just generally tell you what players he likes or doesn’t like. Then, it’s up to you. (Note that you will not be required to manage or pay any attention to the team during the season – we’d just need you to help draft it on that Saturday afternoon.)
Because of the level of autonomy – and I have to make this very, very clear – you must know your fantasy baseball. Sure, there are more intense leagues than Iron Sheik, but we are no slouches. So while you don’t have to know, for example, the 1 through 5 SPs for the Diamondbacks, you should be able to name three of their starters (or at least two of them – god, that rotation is terrible). So please don’t express interest in this if you’re only somewhat knowledgeable about fantasy baseball or baseball in general – if you draft Russell Martin in the sixth round, we will stone you to death.
(Just kidding.)
(But please, know your shit.)
Here are the specs of the league: mixed-league, ten teams, each team comes into the draft with four keepers, which have already been decided. Draft is 19 rounds, with 23 players per team, or 230 players total. Positions are C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util, Util for hitters and SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P for pitchers, along with five bench spots and two DL spots. Rotisserie league with standard five pitching categories (W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP) and R, RBI, SB, Total Bases (instead of HR) and OBP (instead of AVG) for hitters. I think this about covers it.
If you’re interested, please email me. I promise you that, if nothing else, it will be a fun afternoon.
************
And now, the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Super Sheet. This is almost done, and I plan to have it available by Monday. Before I give you the background on the sheet (which many of you already know), I’ll first cover how you can get it: you gotta prove to me that you’ve bought my book.
That’s it. Yes, in previous years, including even last year, we’ve offered the sheet for sale for $10. But no longer. I just want you to buy my book and prove it to me, and then I’ll send you the sheet. You can prove to me that you’ve bought the book by forwarding me a receipt from Amazon, Borders, B&N or wherever, or, if you’ve already purchased it, by sending me a pic of you with the book (nudity is not required, but it is encouraged) (just kidding) (that is, just kidding assuming you’re a dude) or a pic of the receipt. You must send the proof to my alternate email address, eiwwme@gmail.com. Like I said, the sheet won’t be available until Monday, but you can send the email now if you like and I’ll send it when it’s ready. And then you’ll a fun(-ish) book and a fantasy baseball sheet! Talk about a terrific one-two punch.
As for the sheet itself, I’ve been preparing a master Excel spreadsheet of fantasy baseball statistics for many, many years now, and I probably spend about 100 hours total on this thing. The sheet has four tabs (hitters, pitchers, NL and AL team depths charts), and last year I ranked 231 hitters and 134 pitchers, though there are stats in the sheet for a few hundred more players. Again, using last year as an example because this year’s is still being refined, there were 41 columns/statistical metrics for pitchers and 26 for hitters (hitters are easier and require less work), including notes about how is in a walk year and who qualifies at multiple positions. In short, it’s badass, and you can’t get this much fantasy baseball information at your fingertips anywhere else on the web.
And as I said, it’s not just statistics: you’re getting my ranks. I break (and for years have broken) the rankings into tiers (SS 1, SS 2, etc), but there is special column for guys I “like,” which is to say that I believe these players will perform better than their draft position indicates. This is where I make my money, y’all. In last year’s sheet, for the 2010 season I liked:
Hitters: Adrian Beltre, Rajai Davis, David Ortiz, Juan Pierre, Geo Soto, Vlad, to name a few. Oh, and three outfielders who turned out pretty good: Carlos Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, and Chris Young.
Pitchers: Clay Buchholz, Cole Hamels, Ubaldo Jimenez, Clayton Kershaw, Mat Latos, Francisco Liriano, David Price, Max Scherzer. If you had drafted any four of those eight, let’s just say your staff would have been in pretty, pretty good shape.
Of course, I’m cherry-picking here (some of my hitters recs – Justin Upton, Kendry Morales, Nelson Cruz, Justin Morneau and, gulp, Grady Sizemore, among them – were really battered or hampered by injuries), but for those of you who got the sheet last year, go ahead and look it over. You’ll see that, well, I really know my shit, and why one month’s rent per year is paid by my fantasy baseball winnings. Fucking love this shit.
************
So there you have it. If you’re in NYC, love fantasy baseball and are free on Saturday afternoon, March 19, let’s draft together. Otherwise, if you just want the sheet, send me proof that you bought my little book to eiwwme@gmail.com and I’ll start sending out copies of the sheet on Monday.
