Month: July 2007

Matt Berry Rocks!

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Trade No. 3: Carl Crawford for Juan PierreOne gets tons of love and one gets no respect, but over the second half of the year, Juan Pierre is going to be the better fantasy player. I’m sorry. Continue to be the better fantasy player. You saw me mention Pierre briefly in last week’s newsletter but let’s put those numbers into even more of a perspective.

From June 1 through July 22:

Juan Pierre: 27 R, 24 SB, 0 HR, 12 RBI, .335 average
Carl Crawford: 32 R, 19 SB, 1 HR, 23 RBI, .278 average

The power is better for Crawford, but it’s not significant in the grand scheme of things and that’s not why you have either guy. Otherwise, they are basically the same, with Pierre hitting over 50 points higher. You could get Pierre plus something else for your Carl Crawford and not suffer any drop-off at all. Again, we play with numbers, not names.

The  words above are Matt Berry’s. Matt is a friend of mine. He was an annual contributor to the Guide until some scum sucking international conglomerate with the face of Mickey Mouse bought him off. Good for him. Weezil.

Or is that weasel?

The point here is that in his weekly newsletter to ESPN fantasy players he actually suggests taking Juan Pierre over Carl Crawford for the last two months of the season. And he does this without mentioning that Crawford is hurt.

But nobody knows how hurt Crawford is. He won the Devil Rays game today with a homer. His MRI was good enough. If Crawford misses significant time in the last two months because of injury then Pierre is certainly the better choice. And that could happen.

But when we’re considering names versus stats, Crawford is a star, Pierre is a role player. Unless you know something, the right answer is go with the star.

PS. Matt’s other example, going for Brandon Phillips over Derek Jeter, is similar. But closer. Phillips is a potential star aborning, so casting aside Jeter isn’t ridiculous, though it may not work out. For now, Phillips is the hot hand, Jeter the very steady one.

Depending on your situation, you can decide.

The Official Site of The Philadelphia Phillies: Official Info: Press Release

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The Iguchi Trade

The transaction deadline in Tout Wars is 5pm on Friday. The idea is to give players looking at Monday deadlines an idea of what the pros have done. And to give Nando DiFino material for his engaging ESPN.com column, Playing with the Pros.

How to determine when transactions have been made is an eternal struggle for fantasy leagues. In this case, the Phillies’ press release (linked here) is timed at 4:51 pm on Friday, nine minutes before the transaction deadline. Not one of the pros bid on Iguchi except for Major League Baseball Advanced Media employee Cory Schwartz. So, given our Vickery bidding system, his $22 bid on Iguchi becomes an uncontested $1 bid. Kudos to Cory.

If the Phillies’ press release was actually posted at 4:51, I doubt that the actual transaction was reported on the mlb.com or espn.com transaction lists, which we have used as the standard in the American Dream League. As Swatman of that league I check what’s on those two sites at noon each claims Monday and only players listed are eligible to be claimed.

But now I wonder if timestamped press releases on team’s individual sites should count? As long as the timestamp and the actual claim beat the deadline, I don’t see why not.

Fantasy sports info and games for fantasy football, fantasy baseball, fantasy basketball, fantasy hockey pools and more

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RotoWire.com

The shocking thing about the Rotowire redesign is that good looking can be so disorienting.

The site now looks somewhat organized, which is a plus, though in my 10 minutes visiting the new site I can’t say I’m happy with it. None of us, I think, change easily. I’m sure this will pass.

The other shocking thing is that forefront in the new design are Rotowire’s articles and newswire news. Secondary are the individual player updates that are the main reason I visit the site.

This so flies in the face of my experience, I want news updates long before I want news analysis, I fear this is a terrible mistake. But both RotoTimes and RotoWorld have made similar adjustments, so I may be in the minority. No matter what I think, in the new Rotowire design authorial voice and analysis wins.

Curious.

All the so-called news that’s fit to recap

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MLB Trade Rumors

I may well have recommended this site at some point, maybe even recently, but while reading it this morning I was reminded again what a great idea it was to collect all the trade rumors in one place. In part the idea works because Tim is a witty writer who does a nice job laying out the various discussions, chattering and possibilities. As we approach the July 31 trading deadline teams hoping not to be hurt by ML deals, and teams in the first waiver position hoping to be helped can stoke the fires all day (and night) long at this site.

An interview with Jim Brosnan

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SoCal Sports Observed

Jim Brosnan’s Long Season is a great baseball book, highly recommended to everyone who has an interest in the game. This gentle interview with Brosnan has a grace and good will about it that is awfully appealing, without being soft or nostalgic. My favorite part is when Brosnan names Willie Mays his toughest out, then recalls a game he struck him out three times. Retrosheet jocks should be able to retrieve the date. I like the memory. (Thanks to Bruce.)

Translated Home Run Numbers Good Til the Last Drop

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Baseball Prospectus

Clay Davenport and Will Carroll put together translated season-by-season home run stats for all of modern baseball history and demonstrate that Babe Ruth really was the greatest. There is a nice twist, however, one that seems very satisfying at first, but the explanation about how it came about makes me want to learn more about the project before throwing all my support behind it.

But even if you shouldn’t say this stands as decisive evidence, it sure feels right.