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Baseball Prospectus | Articles | Fantasy Focus: Rethinking Closers

I’m not sure if this is a premium product or not. Rotowire’s Chris Liss comes to the conclusion that paying for closers in mixed leagues is the wrong strategy, and even comes up with a good reason why you might want to do it. I’m going to have to do some work to figure out what’s happening in the pricing formula. Rotowire’s prices used to be a joke, but this at least appears to be trying to do the right thing. More on that later.

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How to Write a Book – Writing Course

I could insert a code in the above link and earn 35 percent of anything some sucker might pay to learn how to write her or his memoirs in a month. But I’m more seriously reminded of the Mary Tyler Moore Show episode when Ted Baxter, nincompoop anchorman, is writing his memoirs.

There is the usual hilarity, jokes about how you should have read a bood before you write one (Murray), and some sad empathic work by the lovely comic genius Georgette. But then we see Ted at work at a typewriter in the office as everyone is getting ready to go home, because he’s up to date in his autobiograpy. And when Murray or Lou turns off the light and says, Goodnight Ted, the room goes dark and we hear him typing that up to date work, “Goodnight Ted, they said.” He writes.

Somehow, Jose Canseco’s appearance in Congress had a little of that same feel.

Ps. If you want to sign up for Nick Davis let me know and I’ll sign up as an affiliate. Then I’ll refund one third of the money you waste. Now isn’t that a deal?

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How to Write a Book – Writing Course

I could insert a code in the above link and earn 35 percent of anything some sucker might pay to learn how to write her or his memoirs in a month. But I’m more seriously reminded of the Mary Tyler Moore Show episode when Ted Baxter, nincompoop anchorman, is writing his memoirs.

There is the usual hilarity, jokes about how you should have read a bood before you write one (Murray), and some sad empathic work by the lovely comic genius Georgette. But then we see Ted at work at a typewriter in the office as everyone is getting ready to go home, because he’s up to date in his autobiograpy. And when Murray or Lou turns off the light and says, Goodnight Ted, the room goes dark and we hear him typing that up to date work, “Goodnight Ted, they said.” He writes.

Somehow, Jose Canseco’s appearance in Congress had a little of that same feel.

Ps. If you want to sign up for Nick Davis let me know and I’ll sign up as an affiliate. Then I’ll refund one third of the money you waste. Now isn’t that a deal?

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Total Quality Stats: LABR-AL

The link takes you to the rosters at TQ Stats for the Baseball Weekly LABR AL draft. The next link takes you to the NL rosters.

Total Quality Stats: LABR-NL

Victor Martinez went for $22, Ivan Rodriguez for $20, Javy Lopez for $19, Jorge Posada and Jason Varitek for $15, and Jason Kendall for $13. I won’t argue about the prices of those other than Kendall–they seem quite fair–but Baseball Prospectus’s Nate Ravitz got a steal in Kendall. Mark my words.

The thorn in every manager’s side, AJ Pierzynski, also went for $13. Somebody screwed up here, don’t you think?

Which reminds me: There are no good catchers in the National League. Paul Lo Duca, Johnny Estrada and Mike Piazza each went for $14. Mike Lieberthal and Ramon Hernandez went for $13. I think you could argue that all stretch expectations.

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TOUT WARS: Battle of the Experts

I’m drafting an NL team this coming Sunday morning. The drafts are open to the public, if you are in NY and not involved in any egg hunts. It sounds like there will be a live online stream of comment, too.

I’m planning to buck the Stars and Scrubs trend and buy the most average team possible. No $20+ players. Though I reserve the right to change horses if the situation warrants.

[The rationale for totally spreading the risk is that there are few sure pitchers this year, so there are reasons to avoid the expensive guys–too much risk. And focusing on $15 players only (along with a few $1 pickups) imposes a certain discipline on separating guys who are cheap because they haven’t actually proven their upside yet, as opposed to guys who just aren’t all that good. I’ll be looking for the former.]

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Howstuffworks “How Performance-Enhancing Drugs Work”

I found this link on Yahoo. How steroids work is rather important to understanding why athletes might take them. Even if Jose Canseco isn’t around.

It also makes it easier to see why this isn’t a new problem or one that has changed the face of sport. Well, it has changed the face of sport, but that isn’t much different than all the other changes to the face of sport. At least that’s what I see.