MoFo Fantasy Baseball - The 2013 Regular Season

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syj, whats the word on the Giants this coming season? Is San Francisco hopeful? Is Tim Lincecum over the hill? Dont get any west coast hubbub over here in florida.
It's been a pretty quiet off-season for the Giants (except for the *smugness alert* World Series parade), because most of the attention in the division has been on the Dodgers, who are spending more than most countries these days, and the Diamondbacks, who made one puzzling move after another in the pursuit of "grit" or something like that.

From what I've seen, the Dodgers are the favorites in the division. Vegas has them at 90 wins or so, which I think is tied for the highest with the Tigers and the Nationals. So expectations are high for them, and it's mostly warranted. You look at a rotation of Kershaw/Greinke/Beckett/Ryu/Capuano (or whoever), and that's really strong. Bullpen is solid, and the lineup has Hanley/Kemp/Gonzalez/Ethier. There are some potential weak spots at 3B, 2B, and possibly LF, but all teams have question marks. The Giants fan in me sees that Ethier can't hit lefties, Gonzalez is walking less and seems to be in a decline phase, Ryu is an unknown, Kemp has injury concerns, etc. But they're clearly a strong team, and it's more fun anyway when the Dodgers are good and the Giants still beat them

The Diamondbacks are confusing. They're still a good team, but they managed to turn Justin Upton, Chris Young, and Trevor Bauer into Martin Prado, a couple of uninspiring shortstops, and some bullpen/back of the rotation arms. I personally think that teams need at least one superstar to be able to go deep in the playoffs, and the Dbacks just got rid of their only player with that kind of upside (Upton). Goldschmidt is good but not great, Aaron Hill is a quality 2B, Prado is useful, and the pitching is deep, but there's no superstar there. The Dbacks will probably challenge for a wildcard, but I don't see them winning the division.

The mood around the Giants is interesting. Lincecum is the biggest question mark, and most Giants fans have accepted that Cy Young Lincecum is never going to come back, but there's also a general sense that he is going to be better than last year. He said that he worked out a lot and fixed his mechanics, but the fastball velocity is still low and who knows if he can regain his control. I'm thinking an okay season, with an ERA in the mid-high 3's, with flashes of his old brilliance, but never quite getting there consistently. It's a shame, because he's just so awesome to watch when he's on. The offense should be good, like last year (which is weird to say after the years of great pitching and no offense). I doubt Posey puts up those kind of numbers again, but there's a decent core there with Sandoval, Belt, and Pagan, and the defense is very good too. I'm a little worried about all of the innings that the pitchers have thrown in the last couple of years. Mostly Bumgarner worries me (non-Lincecum/Zito division), because he's young and has all of those innings, but Cain is about as dependable as they come.

Overall (sorry this got so long!), I see the Giants at around 90 wins and competitive, so it comes down to whether the Dodgers put all the talent together and cruise to close to 100 wins, or having players like Crawford and Beckett fail to bounce back, have the holes in the lineup exposed, and struggle in the mid-80s.

Also: the Padres are pretty good and getting better, and I could see them finish close to .500 this year. The Rockies are not good.



Wow. Thank you for the response. I could see you all going deep into the playoffs at the least. Especially if Lincecum rebounds to at least 75% of his former self. Pitching is what takes teams deep into the playoffs, and the Giants can hang with anybody with their starters. You think non-steroid Melky will do well this season? Im hoping not cause Toronto just doesnt need him.

And yeah Im really really ready for some ball too.



Keep on Rockin in the Free World
Also: the Padres are pretty good and getting better, and I could see them finish close to .500 this year. The Rockies are not good.
close to .500 doesnt = pretty good.
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"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.



close to .500 doesnt = pretty good.
Well, if you want to get into semantics, then maybe not They've definitely got a lot of young talent in the minor leagues, though, and I'm curious to see how the ballpark plays now that the fences have moved in a bit.



Keep on Rockin in the Free World
its not semantics imo. put it another way, i really hope you are pretty good at Fantasy baseball this season.




A system of cells interlinked
Snagged a little depth as waivers cleared - now I have a one-bagger to fill in for Papi as he recovers on the 15-day DL when the season actually starts. Jumped on a Toronto pitcher, as well, just to make sure I can get enough starters going early this year.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



A system of cells interlinked
Meanwhile: Steal of the Draft? Reach of the Draft?

Discuss!

I'll start - Steal of the Draft was.... me!

I was getting VERY nervous in round 7, and had started brainstorming on which middle infield position I would have to ditch completely. I just hadn't done my homework, and didn't realize how little depth there was at 2B/3B/SS this season. Then BOOM, there he was, still on the board in round SEVEN...the quad-eligibility toting Martin Prado. Having this guy in the 7th game me a ton of leeway on how to backfill the rest of my middle infield, which was by pure value alone. I could virtually ignore each players position as I looked for sleepers and upside from the rest of the available players.

That just left me with a small issue at 1B, and since I was able to snag Papi to stick on my bench for the first couple of weeks, I just had to find a sub for the start of the season, and the sleeper I picked up on waivers should serve just fine (Matt Carpenter, who has 1B elig., but just landed the Cardinals starting 2B position).

REACH of the Draft: Tongo in round 1 - Longoria. What were you thinking??



Think I set my draft up decent, knew I was not going to be able to make it so I cannot be too disappointed. Looking forward to some good games this year, Atlanta needs to get to the postseason.
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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Hanley Ramirez out 8 weeks.
He's a joker. All the talent in the world but hasnt lived up to potential. And now the injuries de-railing him as well.



Too early. But if forced to pick, I'll say Longoria was the biggest reach, followed by (sorry mikey) Harper at 28th. Which is not to say either won't have a great year or even justify the slot at which they were taken, but just given what we know about both, the choice basically requires that they fulfill all or nearly all of their potential upside just to net out to fair value.




REACH of the Draft: Tongo in round 1 - Longoria. What were you thinking??
I wasnt just thinking about getting Longo, but David Price too. No way I couldve gotten Price if I grabbed Longo in the 2nd. I wanted the Longo/Price package man! If I was a Dodger fan this is like the equivalent of having Kemp & Kershaw. Thats just too much fun to pass up.



I wanted the Longo/Price package man! If I was a Dodger fan this is like the equivalent of having Kemp & Kershaw. Thats just too much fun to pass up.
Winning is fun.



A system of cells interlinked
Hey, if Longo goes off and returns to first round form, so be it. It's a bit of a long shot, though... but not impossible!