Answers to fantasy baseball questions (and much more) since 1996
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This week we discover whether all is unwell with Vernon Wells, discover whether a metric for week-to-week volatility makes any sense, and discovers (surprising!) that surprising pitchers off to a good start are… well, read the story to find out how convincing the evidence is.
This week we examine whether it might be time to throw off Alex Gordon in favor of Josh Fields, look at a wacky league that almost let the last place team take the fourth best player from the best team, and try to get excited about Dontrelle Willis.
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In this week’s joint, we discuss having too many second basemen, the wisdom of swapping Jose Reyes (and for whom), contradictions of Contreras and a secret story. Enjoy.
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Underachieving pitchers, underachieving hitters, and underachieving teams are the subject of this week’s column. It seems that not many write in about their good fortune. Figure out how to measure your bad fortune in this week’s Ask Rotoman.
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Who makes the weather, a reader asks, and I tried to find out. Plus an answer to the musical question, would you trade Maine for Weaver? And why it isn’t time to bail on Ichiro.
Today’s Ask Rotoman at mlb.com (with a weather related question) isn’t posted yet, but my editor sent along this press release from the Red Sox about tonight’s game:
 For Immediate Release
May 16, 2007
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FENWAY AREA WEATHER UPDATE (As of 3:00 p.m.)
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The current weather forecast (provided by the Red Sox private weather service, Meteorlogix) in the vicinity of Fenway Park calls for the possibility of rain showers and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening hours that could possibly impact the play of tonight’s Red Sox-Tigers game.
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The Fenway Park gates will open at the regularly scheduled time of 5:05 p.m., and the Red Sox will do everything possible to make certain that tonight’s game will be played. However, the Red Sox want to alert our fans to the current forecast for this evening.
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This forecast is of course subject to change as the day progresses.
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— RED SOX —
We’ll be tracking weather service stories as the season progresses. Somebody has to do it.
Great questions make for fun answers, which is why this week’s lead story is such a smile. Keep ’em coming.
This past Wednesday I wrote about Chris Carpenter:
So how is Carpenter doing? He threw Tuesday and said he felt fine, though we all know from experience that a pitcher always say that about his arm unless the darn thing is about to fall off (or maybe already has fallen off). Past history suggests that if all goes well, he’ll be back in two to three weeks, and maybe he’ll be able to slog through the season.
Or, of course, after a few more promising episodes throwing off a mound and then in a simulated game, he’ll be pulled from a rehab start and shut down to have surgery. He then might be in position to try to help the Cardinals secure a playoff spot in September.
We now know that it was the latter possibility that came to pass. I bring this up because I pursued Carpenter aggressively in Tout Wars NL and now face likely ruin this season in that league because of it. Carpenter’s demise is a reminder why the so-called experts don’t push the prices of any starting pitchers, which is why I’ve had pretty good success in recent years in Tout Wars loading up on starters.
Just not this year. Will I go after the best starter again next year? Despite the risk, if the prices for top starters stay low, I’ll be there.
What in the world can we do about pitching? I have some common sense advice. Why aren’t there any hitting free agents? More common sense. Two for one deals? Times when the common sense approach doesn’t work. The column is out now.
This week’s mailbag elicits opinions about Phillip Hughes, Alex Gordon, John Maine, Tom Glavine, and a lesson in how to deal from strength. It’s live now.