Answers to fantasy baseball questions (and much more) since 1996
It seems that Rollie Fingers is Milwaukee’s No. 1 tax deadbeat, though what he owed was only a lot of money. What he owes now with penalties (fair enough) and interest (blast it!) is daunting.
The lesson is if you make lots of money, make sure whoever “helps” you doesn’t leverage you in unbecoming ways.
My dad was a high school phenom. He was an amazing schoolboy pitcher, as they called them in those days, one of those guys who struck out 14 in 7 inning games. Regularly. He was scouted and signed, this is back in the 40s, and ended up in the Braves organization. The Boston Braves, that is.
I mention all this because the linked story about the Braves in Boston is an excellent introduction to baseball’s local appeal in Beantown (and its amazingly ragtag and robust local history there). And an expression of how important that locality is, even if a team can up and move. And then move again.
Great questions make for fun answers, which is why this week’s lead story is such a smile. Keep ’em coming.
Prof says computers must learn to “forget”
This is not the place for this comment, but this is my place.
I believe that forgetting is an important part of moving on, of being able to compromise in very construtive ways. So I’m pretty sure that this prof’s heart is in the right place.
But I think the issue is much less nuanced. If we have a good and verifiable record of everything all of us do, our public behavior will have to conform to that model. Our lack of information in the past offered countless opportunities for operators to game the system, but if we know who we all are and who everyone else is, all sorts of trusted (and fair) endeavors become possible.
I think much of what the past was built on was a duplicity, and that is going to be impossible going forward. How quickly that’s going to reshape the world is exciting possibiltity today.
Very exciting.
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.
This sort of obfuscation (a long word that means lying) is common, but I doubt is quite so blatant as in this case. And is rarely copped to so directly. It kind of makes it hard to do reasonable projections.
This is like Maddux gets to pitch in LA in his prime, Bonds gets to hit in Coors in the early oughts. Weird, but a strange and brilliant concept. Federer is clearly the best player on any surface other than clay today, but does that make him the best player in the world?
This gets me wondering why some promoter hasn’t concocted an exhibition to pit top pitchers versus top hitters in extra-game situations. I know I’d watch 100 pitches from Santana in Minnesota versus Pujols, followed by a similar exhibition in St. Louis. Talk about fantasy sports. Especially if the money went to charity.
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.
I was at the gym today and overheard two guys with a history talking about the Yankees.
A: He hit another one.
B: Let’s see what he does in September when they count.
A: Tonight it’s the Red Sox.
B: You’re already making excuses?
A: He’s been incredible.
B: Wait until September.
We now know that A-Rod did his part against the Sox, hitting two more homers (giving him 12 in 15 games, which I heard in the gym is the fastest pace ever at the start of the season–actually, earlier today it was 10 in 14 games that was fastest) but the bullpen coughed up the win in the 8th inning.
I’m on record believing that A-Rod’s choking last year was just a distortion of the way we look at situations. For instance, he led the league in lead changing RBI, so what if he struck out a few times when he could have padded that lead. The same things happen to everyone.
But the extroverted manage the situations better. Derek Jeter can screw something up and we remember all the good times. A-Rod screws up and we remember only the other screw ups. That’s what did A-Rod in last year.
Which is why I feel like we’re seeing a new, more emotive A-Rod this year. Maybe some of last year’s criticism got to this world famous introvert and made him see that if he wanted to enjoy the rest of what will surely be an illustrious career he better make sure he’s the one telling the story. Whether it was a friend, relative or some sort of shrink, the fist pumping hard running A-Rod who showed up for spring training has certainly changed the story.
Though hitting 12 homers in 15 games helps that, too. The real test will be when he strikes out with the bases loaded against the Sox in July, or even better August. And whether anyone then will remember the leads he gave his team in April that they squandered, which is why that strike out mattered at all.
Pitching, pitching, and more pitching. Should I dump young pitchers? Should I dump old pitchers? Can I dump all pitchers? Some thoughts on how to handle the inevitable disappointments this week on Ask Rotoman.