Rotoman

ESPN.com – MLB – BOXSCORE

It seems that even if you switch to another box score ESPN is happy to switch you from NO REFRESH to 90 SECOND refresh.

Why in tarnation am I still here? Why are you? Let me know. Thanks.

ESPN.com – MLB – Olney: Ripple effect

Buster takes an interesting angle when he says Beltran helps the Astros because their defense has been so bad. In spite the success of the pitchers, I agree. And it doesn’t hurt that he gets on base, runs, and hits for power.

Major League Baseball : Beltran Deal Fallout

I contribute to a package of opinions about the deal and what it will mean in the fantasy precincts, here.

ESPN.com – MLB – Scoreboard

ESPN.com has gotten pretty aggressive with it’s Insider program. First of all, they invalidated my username/password combo, which I’d had since 1996, when I was their first fantasy columnist–they published my projections in 1995 with the first week of launching, Ask Rotoman originated in 1996, and I wrote a series of 30 stories from 30 spring training camps in 30 days for a few years.

I can’t blame them for that.

Then they moved Rob Neyer behind the wall, which may be good business but doesn’t feel like it is. I visited to read Neyer, but if I want to pay to read him I’ll buy his books. His column is fun but way to slight to make me want to pay for it.

But old habits die hard and even though I “watch” the games at mlb and have come to like much of the fantasy services at Yahoo, when I’m just looking for news my fingers usually type ESPN.

But now the smart guys there have decided to default auto refresh of pages to on, meaning that I can’t sit on a page and read the box score without having the page redraw every 30 seconds. If I press the off button it stops, but if I jump to another page and then come back, the refresh is set at 30 seconds again. Even at a time like now, when all the major league action is done for the day.

If I was an insider, I’m sure, the site would recognize me and adapt my preferences, which would be no refresh (I can hit the button myself when I want to). It’s hard to begrudge the folks at Disney their money, though if they hadn’t blown all that money on the cartoon with Roseanne Barr playing a bossy cow maybe they wouldn’t have had to be so bossy themselves.

ESPN.com – MLB – Beltran sent to Astros in three-team trade

Obviously Beltran owners in AL leagues are bummed, but they had to be ready for this. The question is how high are NLer’s expectations.

I did a survey of AL hitters who moved to the NL following Shawn Green’s rather rude introduction to the senior circuit a few years ago. A little surprisingly, AL hitters moving to the NL do take a hit, at least in the short term. Not all of them, of course, but on the whole.

Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t jump all over Beltran. Even if he’s half as roto valuable in the second half in Houston, he’ll be worth an all-in bid. There is no way any team in position to acquire him can take a pasadena. But if he starts out 2 for 33 remember that the NL has some kind of hex on AL initiates.

But it doesn’t last.

Baseball Prospectus | Articles | Prospectus Today: Sheehan–Biased

I think this Joe Sheehan piece is on the free part of the Baseball Prospectus site. Sheehan is a very smooth writer and almost always a pleasure to read, but to my taste he usually goes on a little too long about not quite enough to truly enjoy.

But this Prospectus Today piece is the much-needed antidote to too much BP self promotion and self congratulation. I’ll let you read it, but let me say that my estimation of the goings on at BP have risen measurably today.

Growth is good.

Major League Baseball : Ask Rotoman

The new column is out, with lots of comparisons. Boone, Polanco and Vidro. Pedro and Prior. Manny and Lance. Byrd and Capuano. Wha?

Also, what to do when some jerk stops playing in your league, and an evaluation of the closer situation in Arizona.

ESPN.com – MLB – Rockies activate Walker for first time this season

In the preseason I was a pretty big proponent of the newly trim Walker’s chances this year. Not that I thought anyone should spend a lot on him, but I thought there was a decent chance he’d earn a lot and be a relative bargain.

Well, it’s too late for him to be a bargain, but there’s plenty of time for him to do some damage. He’s too fragile to fully trust, but is well worth a flyer if you are desperate. Or needy.

Wilkerson vs. Thomas

Wouldn’t you know it that two days after publishing my reasons why you should keep Frank Thomas for four games, rather than Brad Wilkerson for six during a week with no DH, Wilkerson has his second Big Game of the year. Big Games are those in which a player’s RBI and Runs add up to four (a totally arbitrary measure, of course).

So, if you took my advice and played Thomas over Wilkerson this week, tonight you’d be looking at a pinch-hitting appearance by Frank, and Wilkerson’s biggest game of the year. This is a tough game.

Major League Baseball : Ask Rotoman

The postings here have mostly stopped because I’m working full bore on the football magazine, which ships to the printer next week.

But Ask Rotoman at mlb.com keeps on keeping on, this week debunking splits, suggesting that it might be easier to start a new league than change an old one, liking Joel Pineiro perhaps a little too much, and really having no use for the White Sox bullpen–but appreciating it anyway.

Got questions? Send them to peter@askrotoman.com, or visit the discussion board (link above).