I very much blame Syndergaard. They gave him more innings recently and he got injured - clearly, there's a reason to not give him more innings. Health and endurance are skills.

Best not to repeat the Cespedes mistake, though I think the trajectory of the team in the last year or two warranted some gambles. After a rash of injuries, things are different.

Applying Rock Hall standards to Baseball Hall
What if Cooperstown inductees were decided in a similar manner?
https://www.mlb.com/news/baseball-hall- ... -265089914

In honor of the Indians getting rid of Chief Wahoo--in a year after they make a ton of money off of it--here is an article on the myths and history of the team name:

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/03/18/the ... -the-name/

Here's the editorial cartoon referenced in the article:

Jake Arrieta contract terms:

3/$75m as the default.

But Arrieta has an opt-out after 2/$55m.

However, the Phillies can void that opt-out by triggering a two-year extension, making the deal at least 5/$115m, but there are performance incentives in the first two years that could make it 5/$125 or 5/$135.

So, if Arrieta is fine or bad, the deal is probably 3/$75m. If he is better than expected, but not good enough for the Phillies to commit long-term, he probably opts out and leaves. If he overperforms, we'll see the extension. It's a pretty team-friendly structure, but Arrieta apparently wanted years and this structure is a way for him to bet on himself.

Edit: Someone on Reddit explained it better.

Just had my fantasy baseball draft for the league I won the championship in last year. 12 team league with 25 draft slots. 3 keepers per team with cost being you pick them 2 rounds above where you took them the year before (i.e. they had to be drafted so we couldn't keep Rhys fucking Hoskins our waiver wire championship winner).

Points league (R, TB, 2*RBI, BB, HBP, Sac, 2*SB, 15*Cycle, OFAST, -E for batters) and (3*IP, -H, -2*ER, -BB, -HB, K, -WP, -Balk, 3*QS, 10*CG, 5*SO, 15*NH, 20*PG, 10*W, -10*L, 5*S, -5*BS, 3*Holds for Pitchers)

Week long matchups and daily lineup setups (7 acquisitions per matchup with a max 120 on the year) with the following positions:

C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, RF, DH, Utility, 6 pitching slots (with only 5 primary SPs per roster), 9 Bench and 5 DL slots

My Draft was as follows(I had the backend swing pick because I won last year)

1. Carrasco SP (12)
2. Encarnacion 1B, DH (13)
3. Castellanos 3B, RF (36)
4. Keuchel SP (37)
5. Chris Taylor 2B, CF, LF (60)
6. Corey Dickerson LF, DH (61)
7. Jay Bruce RF (84)
8. Sonny Gray SP (85)
9. Ryon Healy 3B, 1B, DH (108)
10. Maikel Franco 3B (109)
11. Dylan Bundy SP (132)
12 Andrew Miller RP (133) (owned every year)
13. Dexter Fowler CF (156)
14. Paul DeJong SS, 2B (157)
15. Marcus Stroman SP (180)
16. Chris Devenski RP (181)
17. Francisco Lindor SS (204) (Keeper, owned every year)
18. Matt Strahm RP (205) (may start)
19. Gary Sanchez C (228) (Keeper, owned every year, probably the best keeper in the league considering cost and position)
20. Kyle Barraclough RP (229)
21. Chad Bettis RP (252) (will start at least to begin season)
22. Joey Gallo 1B, 3B (253) (Keeper, owned every year)
23. AJ Minter RP (276)
24. Lewis Brinson CF (277) (took him one year too early last year at 23 but hopefully this is his breakout year)
25. Robinson Chirinos C (300) (Mr. Irrelevant but I think will be a top 10 catcher with huge power upside at an absolute dogshit position

So my best lineup probably is as follows

C Gary Sanchez
1B Joey Gallo
2B Chris Taylor
3B Castellanos
SS Lindor
LF Dickerson
CF Fowler (hopefully Brinson pans out and steps in here soon)
RF Jay Bruce
DH Encarnacion
Utility: Matchups with Franco, Healy, DeJong, and Brinson

That's a slugging team, crx. Would you call that a heavy bet on Keuchel?

My team draft is on Wednesday.

You know we didn't really love making that pick there as neither of us love him (though his upside and win potential is excellent). But at that point you already had Scherzer, Kershaw, Sale, Kluber, Strasburg of the board in the 1st (which is how we ended up with Carrasco who I am pleased with) and then prior to picking Keuchel you already had Greinke, Severino, Verlander, Bumgarner, Martinez, Ohtani (lol), DeGRom, and Archer off the board with Thor, Robbie Ray, Aaron Nola, Darvish, and Paxton locked up as keepers. So at the position are other realistic options were the Cubs trio (Hendricks, Quintana, Lester), Tanaka, Arrieta, and Cole all of whom we really didn't like. But we were worried by the time we got back on the swing we would really be reaching (we didn't pick again until pick 60). Our ideal universe (which didn't work out) would have been for Khris Davis and/or Hoskins to be there. We were set to take any 2 of the three of them and Castellanos with those picks (with Castellanos being the 3rd) and then punt to pitching but we just didn't love any other hitter enough there so figured we'd go upside guy. I am really happy with Sonny Gray in round 8 though.

So long story short just felt like we had to do it there even though we don't necessarily love him. Back end of the swing is hard. But happy with our team generally because truly elite pop is huge in this league (that and RP Ks for non closers are the two areas that still aren't valued enough though home runs are getting closer).

Good luck in your draft!

How'd it go?

Bad news: The Rangers are going to suck fucking ass this year
Good news: The Parkman Shimmy will continue their reign of terror

Though their bullpen blew it (though in good company with a lot of trash fire relief days)

Ban analytics. Thanks. Bye.

Bleh. Here (3-keeper, 12-team league)

C: Gary Sanchez
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Brian Dozier
SS: Marcus Semien
3B: Nick Castellanos
IF: Justin Bour
OF: Domingo Santana
OF: Ian Desmond
OF: Yasiel Puig
OF: Kevin Kiermaier
UTIL: Nelson Cruz
BN: Nomar Mazara
BN: Kole Calhoun

RP: Corey Knebel
RP: Edwin Diaz
RP: Ken Giles
RP: Brad Brach
SP: Chris Archer
SP: Jose Quintana
SP: Alex Wood
SP: Kevin Gausman
SP: Trevor Bauer
SP: Shohai Ohtani
SP: Hyun-Jin Ryu

DL: Samardzija

Going to drop Ryu and Calhoun for sure. I went a little heavy on relievers this year. My rotation looks very K-heavy, but also high-ERA.

The hitting is distinctly lacking in studs compared to my past teams, but they simply went for too much money in the auction draft. I'm banking on a lot of guys either developing or having rebound years. The ceiling for this team is really high, but the floor is also really low. With 4 out of 12 making the playoffs, I'm not sure I'll make it this year. Also, the league is getting more and more competitive, so we'll see.

Currently looking to deal Cruz so I can play Ohtani in my UTIL slot - based on what I'm reading about Ohtani's exit velocity, I think he could also be an intriguing hitter.

Update: just dealt Cruz/Wood for Robbie Ray/Maikel Franco. Since it's head-to-head category by category, I'm hoping I can win pitching most of the time and get some lucky hitter wins.

My thoughts player by player below. It's a standard 5 by 5 roto setup for scoring with weekly matchups right (Avg, RBI, R, HR, Steals), (W, S, Ks, ERA, WHIP)? Lineups set daily or weekly?

So the good:

Think you did a good job on relievers (Brach aside and there are plenty of spec plays out there and if he's your worst your in good shape)
I like what you did with your infield (though I would potentially prefer a non 1st baseman at IF (though only if you set lineup daily)
You should be able to get good value for Cruz too and that would make your team better.


The Meh:
Outfield is a bit more of a mixed bag but I think you've got some potential upside and I do like Santana and Mazara a lot.

The intriguing.

I don't necessarily love all of your current starters individually but you've got some good upside buried there so you're interesting.

All in all I think you did pretty good though the feeling when you don't quite hit the targets you want always sucks

Not a bad play!