2017 Season in Review

Sunday marked the official last day of our fantasy baseball season.  For some teams, your season was unofficially over in late July.  And if you're the manager of Thor's Hammer...you're developing a bad habit of making that be the case most years.  Regardless of where you finished everyone experienced some hi's and low's in their season, well except for Mookie Monster...he pretty much had all lows, and deserves some recognition of your accomplishments.  Or lack thereof.  Without further ado...your season in review from bottom to top.

A reminder for the MVP and LVP...I look for guys who really outperformed their draft pick. For example, Jose Altuve was picked #1 overall and finished #2 on the player rater.  He may be the best player on a given team, but finished where he would be expected to finish according to where he was drafted.  For LVP, it's the same idea except going in the other direction.

#12 Mookie Monster (won $11.66)
It was a rough year for Mookie Monster.  His two wins came in weeks 11 and 15, which leave his 0-9-1 start has the second worst start of a year in BGT FBL history.  He has some solid options for keepers in Mookie Betts, Ian Happ, and/or Joan Moncada, so we'll see if he can draft better in 2018 and see different results.  MVP: Didi Gregorious who he picked up off the waiver wire at the End of April and ended our season as the #9 SS.  LVP: Tie between Yo-anus Cespedes (3rd rd) and Kyle Seager (4th rd)...two draft picks that performed well below expectations.

#11 Well Played Mauer (won $0.00...ouch)
One of the first teams to announce his fire sale, Well Played Mauer could never really get on the right track. Things look promising after a week 1 win but that was followed up by an 0-3-1 stretch with a few more wins sprinkled in the rest of the season. Including the playoffs, he ended the year on a 0-5-1 including a rare 0-12-0 loss in week 19 to the eventual league champion.  MVP: Mike Moustakas who was drafted 18th round and had a career year with 37 bombs.  LVP: This is going to be harsh, but way too many to pick just one.  Most of his draft picks underperformed according to where he drafted them. 

#10 Minnesota Twins (won $5.00...better than nothing!)
For the second year in a row, it didn't take long for Minnesota Twins manager Brian Michaud to forget that he had a fantasy baseball team.  MVP: Miguel Sano (because I am a homer) was drafted in the 9th round and was having a stellar year before his injury.  LVP: the manager himself.

#9 Thor's Hammer (won $23.33)
I have to be nice-ish here otherwise Cam will get butt hurt.  Thor's Hammer wasn't too far behind Mookie Monster to start the year...1-6-2 in the first 9 weeks yet he was determined to make a rebound.  Must have been sometime in early July when he was about 5 games out of the playoffs and he texted asking "if I win out...can I make the playoffs?".  The honest answer was yes, but the realistic answer was no.   Nonetheless, he battled and ended up playing spoiler in the last few weeks of the season finishing 5-2-1 and providing key losses to **JP**, Washed Up AF, and Seager Bros, Inc.  MVP: Giancarlo Stanton who somehow fell to the 4th round and is now trying to break the real home run record.  LVP: Arguably the LVP of the entire league...Miguel Cabrera who he drafted 8th overall.  Ouch.

#8 Seagers Bro's, Inc (won $30.02)
Yes, when there is a 3 way tie for the weekly category I give myself the extra penny.  Consider it a tip from you all to myself.  It was a very average year for Seager Bro's, Inc. as he never went on much of a winning streak and only experienced a true losing streak in the last few weeks of the season when it mattered most.  Otherwise, it was win one week, lose one week; win two weeks, lose two weeks; etc.  He did end up winning the consolation championship which will give him the 1st pick in the 3rd round, but other than that there isn't much to look back on.  MVP: Robbie Ray...an 18th round draft pick who ended our season as the #10 SP.   LVP: Aroldis Chapman who was the 60th overall pick, but ended up as the 30th reliever.

#7 **JP** (won $20.00)
**JP** went back and forth with Seager Bro's, Inc for the #7 spot in the standings most the season.  The path to their records was very similar (see above), but then something happened to JP's team.  From week 17 to the final week of the playoffs **JP** went 7-1-0 including a rare 12-0-0 drubbing. Even more impressive is that it was against KK Kluber who was the #1 team at the time.  His 5 game win streak to end the season made for an interesting 3 way tie for the final playoff spot, which is where he fell out of the mix.  MVP: Corey Kluber/Aaron Judge - Kluber was drafted by **JP** as the 6th SP off the board but finished at #1.  He flipped Kluber for Aaron Judge during the season.  LVP: Seung-Hwan Oh who was drafted #75 overall and barely finished in the top 75 at his position.

#6 Team Pup 'N Suds ($13.33)
He enjoyed a nice 6-1-0 streak in the middle of the season, that put him in the upper half of the standings and he never looked back.  He finished the last 7 weeks of the regular season with a 2-4-1 record which forced him into a three way tie breaker, but he prevailed as the 5th seed.  Unfortunately, his downward trend continued in the playoffs getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs by Washed Up AF and going 0-1-1 against Trout's Back Bitches in the final two weeks.  MVP: Anthony Rendon drafted at #101 and finished as #66.  LVP: Another candidate for league LVP...Jose Bautista.

#5  Trout's Back Bitches ($20.00)
I love when you guys make me write inappropriate words on a work computer.  If my memory serves, which it usually doesn't, this team was outside of the playoffs when Trout came back (bitch).  But then he lived up to his team name and was able to clinch a the #6 seed on the last day of the playoffs in a three way tie breaker.  His first year in the league after replacing a back to back champion could have been better, as he enjoyed mini winning streaks at times but suffered through an equal amount of mini losing streaks.  MVP: Former Twins great Eduardo Nunez who was drafted #157 overall and finished #64 on the player rater and #7 at SS. (Hey, we didn't need him) LVP: Ryan Braun drafted #36 overall and finished at #35 at his position alone.

#4 I'm Never Gonna Win Now ($10.00)
Such a good year...for only $10.  I think this makes two years in a row where Lemmage has actually paid full attention to his roster and look how he is rewarded!  He spent most the year in the top part of the standings thanks to a 4-0-1 start and a 4-2-2 finish.  That said, he could never jump into the 1st round bye conversation with a very middling performance from weeks 6 to 13.  He didn't need the first round bye as he got past the aforementioned team, but a disappointing second week lead to a 3rd place game which he then also lost.  MVP: Jake Lamb drafted as the 14th 3rd basemenand finishing as the 7th best 3B in our league.  LVP: Masahiro Tanaka drafted as the 18th SP but finished rated the #36 in our league.

#3 Washed Up AF ($63.33)
I believe this is the 3 straight year Musser has found himself battling for 3rd place, and the 2nd time he has come away with the 3rd place title.  Things didn't look good in the first quarter of the season as he started 2-3-1. Then he got hot going on a 7 game winning streak, followed by a 0-2-1 record, then finished the season 4-1-0.  For those of you counting at home that's 11 wins in the last 15 weeks of the season.  It wasn't until the second to last week of the season that Musser was eliminated from that first round playoff bye.  MVP: Aaron Judge/Corey Kluber - see explanation above under **JP**.  He was able to flip Judge for Kluber and Segura mid season.   LVP: Trea Turner who was drafted #21 overall and barely finished in the top 100 of the player rater.

#2 KK Kluber ($183.33)
He got "crime'd".  He held the #1 spot for majority of the season just to lose it in the last week.  In the end, it didn't really matter..he still got a first round bye and it still lead to a #1 v. #2 match up in the championship game.  It was a tight battle all week, but he could not prevail in the end.  His regular season record indicated that he won two games for each one that he lost, but his schedule says a different story. Outside of a 5 week stretch in the middle of the season where he went 2-2-1, he sprinted to a 6-1 start, and ended the season 6-3-0.  MVP: Chris Sale is having a historic season after being drafted #16 overall.  I actually don't get how he is behind Kluber on the player rater.  LVP: Johnny Cueto who was drafted #45 overall and ended up as the #82 overall SP.

#1 Team Reints (won $220.00)
Does this dude ever have a bad year?  I'm hoping to update the Handbook this year and calculate how much money everyone has one.  The point being that he has to be up almost $1K in this league, yet can never draft with us in person?  Oh and he flies for free.  Look Crime, if you're gonna steal our money every year the least you could do is grace us with your presence for draft day.  The invincible manager looked human through week 9 with a 5-3-1 record (PS - yes, he's so good every year that a 5-3-1 record is a bad look for him).  Albeit, he was just playing with our heads finishing the season, playoffs included, with a 12-2 record including a dominating 2nd round victory over I'm Never Gonna Win Now.  MVP: The manager himself.  Look at his line up and try and figure out how he has the players he has while only giving up a 14th round draft pick.  LVP: Starling Marte who he drafted 35th overall and ended as the #86 OF.

Thanks for another great year gentlemen!  I look forward to competing with you all in the 2018 season.   Good luck to everyone in their fantasy football endeavors!

With Love,
Commish

Two Spots for Three Teams

Entering the final week of the regular season, we still don't have a perfectly clear playoff picture.  The top 4 teams in the league have clinched a playoff spot although the order could vary greatly.  Here is a quick look at that:

• KK Kluber and Team Reints have clinched a bye, although they could flip flop for the #1 and #2 seeds.  They tied the season series, but ESPN has KK Kluber in the top spot.
• Washed Up AF  - who of course is Musser - is sitting in the 3 spot, but could fall to the 4 spot.
• I'm Never Gonna Win Now sits in the 4 spot, but could fall to the 5th spot.  He owns the tiebreaker over **JP** and Trout's Back Bitches, so he wouldn't fall as low as the 6th spot.

That leaves Team Pup 'N Suds, Trout's Back Bitches, and **JP** fighting for the final two playoff spots.  Here are those scenarios:

• Team Pup 'N Suds and Trout's Back Bitches sit in the driver seat as they lead **JP** by a game, which means they win and they are in.
• If all three lose or just **JP** loses, than Team Pup 'N Suds and Trout's Back Bitches are in.
• If **JP** and Team Pup 'N Suds wins, than Trout's Back Bitches would lose the tiebreaker to **JP** and be eliminated from playoff contention.
• There are two scenarios where the first tiebreaker (H2H) wouldn't work, and ESPN would use the second tiebreaker (I don't know what that is).  For these two situations, I don't know what would happen:
• If **JP** and Trout's Back Bitches win, that would leave **JP** and Pup 'N Suds in a tie. They tied in their season series.
• If **JP** wins but Trout's Back Bitches and Pup 'N Suds lose, than we have a three way tie for the two playoff spots.  

So Let's get a preview of the match ups that these three teams face in the final week:

• #5 Team Pup 'N Suds v. #8 Seager Bro's, Inc. - Seager Bro's was just eliminated after a weekend collapse in his week 20 match up.  Nonetheless, he'd love to play spoiler.  In week 10, Team Pup 'N Suds won handedly 4-7-1 and Seager is currently on a four game winless streak including losing three in a row.  Team Pup 'N Suds should win easily. #jinx
• #6 Trout's Back Bitches v. #1 KK Kluber - Uf-dah.  What a hard draw when you need win for Trout's Back Bitches.  That said, he crushed KK Kluber in week 10 by a score of 1-9-2.  As you might expect, KK Kluber had arguably the worst week of his season.  It's going to take another week like that for Trout to hold on as Kluber out-ranks him in every category over the whole season. #goodluck #youneedit
• #7 **JP** v. #12 Mookie Monster - Need I say anything?  In a must win week, what a great match up for **JP**.  Mookie hasn't won since mid July and his match ups haven't even been close.  **JP** should have no problem here.  #dontchoke

Here are my predictions:

• Seager over Pup.  Pup still makes playoffs as the 5 seed.
• Kluber over Trout.  Kluber clinches #1 and Trout misses playoffs.
• **JP** over Mookie.  **JP** clinches playoff spot as the 6 seed.

Good luck to everyone this week!

With Love,

Commish

Two Weeks and Two Spots

Two weeks and Two spots are all the remain for the season and the playoffs, respectively.  This week saw Team Reints, Murdered Da Beat (formerly like 12 other team names), and I'm Never Gonna Win Now clinch a playoff berth.  With KK Kluber clinching last week, four of the six playoff spots are spoken for.  Neither top seed, which gives a bye, has been clinched although KK Kluber, Team Reints, and Murdered Da Beat are all within a half game of the top 2 spots.

Unfortunately, this week also ended the dream for the Minnesota Twins (fantasy version) while the Minnesota Twins (real version) surge towards the playoffs.

Key Match Ups for week 20:

#6 Trout's Back Bitches v. #8 Seager Bro's, Inc.: This is a must win for both teams.  From the perspective of TBB, he is surrounded by teams that own the tiebreaker over him which could be fateful if he finishes with the same number of "points" (see playoff standings doc) as one of them.  For Seager, he literally needs to win out to stay alive in the race as he is two games back with two games left.

#2 Team Reints v. #3 Murdered Da Beat: For obvious reasons, this matchup has huge implications for each team respectively.  A win for Team Reints means clinching a first round bye in the playoffs.  A win for Murdered Da Beat and he moves into the #2 spot and owns the tiebreaker over Team Reints, which could be important if they finish with the same number of points.

All other match ups feature a contender versus a team out of contention.  Although there are only two teams weeks left, there is a lot of time left for movement in the standings.  A reminder to those of you who are out of contention...the consolation champion gets the 1st pick in the 3rd round (1st pick after keepers) in next years draft!  So, keep setting your lineups and participating!

With Love,
Commish

KK Kluber clinches and two more teams eliminated with 3 weeks left

As previewed in the previous post, week 18 was going to be a big week for our league.  The top three teams found a way to win which lead to KK Kluber being the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the 2018 BGT Fantasy Baseball League.  There is still a lot at stake for him as he only holds a half game lead for a first round bye in the playoffs.

On the other side of the standings, losses ended Thor's Hammer and Well Played Mauer.  The Minnesota Twins are on the brink of elimination as they find themselves three games out, but could possibly sneak in because of tiebreakers.  All in all, the only change in the standings was **JP** jumping over Seager Bros, Inc. after winning head to head in the week 7 and week 18 matchups.

With that, lets preview key matchups for week 19:

#5 Team Pup 'N Suds v. #6 Trout's Back Bitches - in week 8 Team Pup 'N Suds won 8-3-1 despite a mediocre offensive output and a pretty bad pitching.  All that mattered was that he did better offensively than his opponent by sweeping all categories, which gave him the advantage in a close pitching matchup.  They are currently tied for 5th/6th, so whoever wins will have sole possession of the 5th playoff spot.  This is the only matchup this week between two teams currently in the playoffs.

#1 KK Kluber v. #7 **JP** - in week 8 **JP** upset KK Kluber 8-3-1 behind one of the better pitching performances of the season getting solid starting pitching and relief pitching.  Overall, KK Kluber is doing better in most categories throughout the season include all pitching categories.  This is a big week for **JP** who will need another phenomenal week of pitching to hang with the best team in the league and avoid being on the brink of elimination.

#4 I'm Never Gonna Win Now v. #8 Minnesota Twins - in week 8 I'm Never Gonna Win Now won handedly 2-9-1 and that was when the Minnesota Twins was updating his line up.  As I said before, the Minnesota Twins are in must win mode and will need some sort of miracle to win this week if he continues to ignore his line up.

-Seager Bro's, Inc., along with **JP**, are pretty much in must win mode as one more loss this season will put them on the brink of elimination.
-Team Reints looks to secure a playoff spot in a matchup versus Well Played Mauer who was just eliminated from playoff contention.
-Gerry Bertier finds himself in a similar position with a victory, although it isn't totally clear if he will clinch because of tiebreakers.  To be safe, he should needs to win two more matchups in the last three weeks.

Good luck to all.
With Love,
Commish

Week 18 Could Paint a Clearer Picture

The trade deadline has come and gone.  Seventeen weeks have come and gone.  Four weeks is all the remains before the playoffs.  We are heading towards an exciting finish as nine of the twelve teams in the league are within 2 games of a playoff spot.  Technically, only one (Mookie Monster) time has been eliminated from contention but Well Played Mauer and Thor's Hammer are already looking towards 2018 as they were big sellers at the deadline.  On the other side of the standings, nobody has clinched a playoff spot although the top three teams are as close to guaranteed as you can get with I'm Never Gonna Win Now and Team Pup 'N Suds not too far behind.  It looks like a tiebreaker could play a pivotal role in the playoff seeding this year.  With that said, lets preview the key match ups for week 18:

#2 Team Reints v. #5 Team Pup 'N Suds - Andy Brinker and Co. narrowly edged a victory in their week 7 match up with a 5-4-3 victory.  It really doesn't get much closer than that.  Corey Dickerson had a monster week with 5 HR's which lead to a 4-0-1 sweep of the offensive categories.  Only one question remiains...will Crime Dogg get "dick"-ed again in week 18? #CrimeDawgDown

#7 Seager Bros, Inc. v. #8 **JP** - **JP* won their first match up, also in week 7, by a score of 7-5-0.  Seager Bros offense was dreadful while **JP**'s surged.  Seager Bros pitching was superb while *JP**'s was weak.  The two teams are the yin to the others yang.  One values closers while the others values starters, so this will most likely come down to the offense. Can the bash brothers put some room between him and **JP** for the 6th playoff spot?  Time will tell.

#3 Gerry Bertier v. #9 Minnesota Twins - this could be a viewed as a must win for the Minnesota Twins. They currently sit 2 games back of the 6th seed with 4 weeks remaining, which isn't an impossible climb but a difficult one to say the least.  Oddly enough, they also played in week 7 with Gerry Bertier squeaking by 6-5-1.  This matchup doesn't have tiebreaker implications, but a loss for the Twins ends their season and a loss for Mr. Bertier makes a playoff bye improbable.  #leftside #strongside

#1KK Kluber v. #4 I'm Never Gonna Win Now - I think I am noticing a scheduling trend here...I wasn't smart enough to realize this until now, but the match ups that happened in week 7 are happening again now.  Anyway, back then KK Kluber won 7-5-0 thanks to an awful pitching week from I'm never Gonna Win Now.  To be fair, KK Kluber wasn't much better, but all that matters was that he was better.  I'm Never Gonna Win Now dominated the offensive categories, but it wasn't enough.  Neither team has changed much although they are both dealing with a significant injury or two.  Can I'm Never Gonna Win Now win now? That question hurts my head.

Other matchups - #6 Trout's Back Bitches goes up against Thor's Hammer who just got done with a fire sale.  Should be an easy win.  Mookie Monster and Well Played Mauer, who have also mailed it in, will battle.  Sorry boys, that's all the recognition you get.

Good luck!  With Love,
Commish

Playoff Standings Debuted and Trade Deadline Notes

We've got 5 weeks left in the season and a very tight playoff race between 3/4 of the league.   The top 6 teams have a legit shot at a first round bye in the playoffs, while the top 9 have a shot at the playoffs in general.  I have updated the playoff standings document to show where teams sit as well as significant tiebreakers.   There are a lot of teams who are in fighting for a playoff spot that still have to play one more time, so these tie breakers can change.

Playoff Standings

As in Major League Baseball playoff runs are accompanied by blockbuster trades, and fantasy baseball is no different.  With the playoff landscape taking shape and the trade deadline fast approaching (7/5 @ 11AM CST), teams will assuredly be making moves to improve their championship odds.  Thor's Hammer and Well Played Mauer have publicly announced they are building for the future, while the same can be assumed for Mookie Monster.  Are you willing to give up 2018 draft picks for 2017 success?  In my opinion, the top 6 are in a position to sell draft picks and buy players that can lead them to a "chip" while teams 7, 8, and 9 are on the outside looking in and could go either way.  In Pence, I Trust has made a couple moves for a playoff push but isn't willing to give up draft picks at this time.  Minnesota Twins haven't said anything publicly and hasn't made a trade all year, so my guess is that they are standing pat.  On the other hand, **JP** has announced he is looking for starting pitching but will assuredly need to give up a draft pick to acquire the high end player he is looking for.

Good luck to everyone in the home stretch!

With Love,

Commish

In Honor of the Approaching Trade Deadline

We are a little more than three weeks away from the trade deadline.  In recent years, the days leading up to the deadline are busy for teams trying to buy for a playoff run or sell for next year.  With that said, there is more to trading than just knowing the players and/or picks in the deal.  But you also need to know who you are trading with.  I don't mean assessing the state of their team or figuring out their team needs, but figuring out what they normally look for in a trade.  Well lucky for you, Colin Reints (Team Reints) has come up with the trading tendencies for each team.

So, if you want to trade with someone who...
…undervalues your players then trade with Musser (Left Side...Strong Side)
…likes players that were high picks but now sucks then trade with Reints (Team Reints)
…overvalues his own players then trade with Roberts (I Decline Musser Trades)
...doesn’t want to trade then trade with Regis (Team Pup 'N Suds)
…wants future draft picks then draft with DJ (I'm Never Gonna Win Now)
…will reject your trade with no counter then trade with Tyler (Trout's Back Bitches)
…will give up anything for Hunter Pence then trade with Lenz (In Pence, I Trust)
…values players on hot streaks then trade with JP (**JP**)
…won’t respond then trade with Michaud (Minnesota Twins)
…wants Cubs or Twins then trade with Geary (Well Played Mauer)
…is willing to give up all his future picks then trade with Cam (Thor's Hammer)
… is looking for prospects then trade with Juan (Mookie Monster)

Now you have all the information you need to make those key trades that will put your team in a good spot in the now or in the future.  Whichever you decide.

With Love,

Commish & Crime

Numbers Never Lie: Strength and Weaknesses Edition

I feel that it's that time of the season, where everyone starts getting a feel for what their team is.  Good, bad, or somewhere in between...there is still a lot of time left between now and the end of the regular season for the standings to change.  A month and a half in, it may be time to buy low and sell high.  I mean, is Trevor Story really this bad?  Is Ryan Zimmerman going to keep hitting this well?  Who knows!  But what I do know is that past results don't mean anything about the future.

First thing to address here is the trading block.  We only have three teams who have updated their trading block with what they are looking for and what is available.  Get out there and update your block so we can get some blockbuster trades happenin'.  We know Musser has already tried to trade rape everyone, but luckily nobody has bitten....yet.  With so many empty trade blocks...here is my look on the strengths and weaknesses of each team in order of the current standings.

1. I'm Never Gonna Win Now (4-0-1)
• Strengths: Runs, Stolen Bases, Quality Starts, Earned Run Average, and WHIP.
• Weaknesses: Strikeouts
• Note: DJ is finally paying attention to his team and he has yet to lose.  It's surprising to see how well his starting pitchers have done, yet he is 3rd to last in strikeouts.  Most of his offense is pretty average, so he could look to bolster that at some point.
2. PED User (4-1-0)
• Strengths: Runs, Stolen Bases, Pitching
• Weaknesses: K/9
• Note: Somebody should tell Berts that he no longer has multiple steroid poppers on his team.  Anyway, he arguably has the best pitching staff in The League.  That said, he is in the same position as DJ...he needs to bolster his offense, especially since Zimmerman is due to cool off anytime here.
3. Team Reints (3-1-1)
• Strengths: Homeruns, Runs Batted In, Slugging Percentage, K's, and K/9
• Weaknesses: None
• Note: As usual, Crime Dogg has a very solid team top to bottom.  At worst, a couple of his categories are ranked in the middle of the league otherwise he is pretty much ranked in the top half of The League in everything.
4. Three Strikes and You're Trout (2-1-2)
• Strengths: Hitting
• Weaknesses: Saves, Earned Run Average, and WHIP
• Note: The rookie has a solid offense followed by mediocre pitching staff.  For now, he is punting saves, but he might need to consider adding some RP's to his staff if he wants to improve his rates.
5. Minnesota Twins (2-1-2)
• Strengths: Hitting
• Weaknesses: Earned Run Average, and K/9
• Note: Interesting mix here...Michaud has created a line up that leads league in Homeruns and Stolen Bases.  His offense is above average, but needs to bolster his pitching staff as all of his categories fall in the bottom half of The League.
6. Yu My, Boy Blue (2-2-1)
• Strengths: Homeruns
• Weaknesses: Earned Run Average and Runs Batted In
• Note:  As told by his record, Musser has a very average team right now.  Other than the categories mentioned above, he falls just above or below The League median in the rest of the categories.
7. Team Pup 'N Suds (2-2-1)
• Strengths: Saves
• Weaknesses: All other pitching categories
• Note: C-Reg has some work to do here.  Despite a 2-2-1 record, all his categories (except fro saves) rank below under The League median.  A look at his offense and it looks powerful, but just haven't taken off yet.  On the other side of the ball, you can see why the pitching staff struggles.  His two wins have come against the two teams that haven't one yet this year.
8. Thor's Hammer (1-2-2)
• Strengths: Quality Starts
• Weaknesses: I would love to say everything here, but 1) that isn't true and 2) Cam will bitch if I rip his team too much.  So here are his real weaknesses: Runs, Stolen Bases, Saves, and K/9
• Note:  Another team that needs to find somebody on the waiver wire or make a key trade, Cam Guys' team ranks in the bottom half of The League in most categories.  You know it's bad when trading for Trevor Story would actually improve your team...
9. In Pence, I Trust (2-3)
• Strengths: Saves and Pitching Rates
• Weaknesses: Strikeouts and Quality Starts
• Note: Lenz has a very average offense that he needs to bolster if he wants to be successful this year.  With a plethora of quality relief pitchers, most of which are bonafide closers, we can see flipping some of these guys into bats at some point.
10. Well Played Mauer (1-3-1)
• Strengths: None
• Weaknesses: Hitting and WHIP 
• Note: Mathematically, you can't rule out a team in mid-May but Max has a lot to fix here.  At best, a couple of his categories rank slightly above The Leagues median, but most everything is below that if not at the bottom.  To be fair, he's dealt with some injuries (Donaldson and King Felix) and disappointment (Arrietta and Edwin).  All is not lost, but he is fighting an up hill battle.
11. **JP** (0-3-2)
• Strengths: Strikeouts and Quality Starts
• Weaknesses: Hitting and K/9
• Note: I actually like JP's chance to bounce back from a really slow start, because he's got some good assets.  5 SP's currently ranked in the top 20 he could flip into some solid bats in a weak offense. He also may want to look for some RP's to balance his pitching rates.
12. Mookie Monster (0-4-1)
• Strengths: Runs Batted In and On Base Percentage
• Weaknesses: Runs, Homeruns, and WHIP
• Note: Juan's team is hard to get a feel for.  He's got 6 guys on the DL (one of them is coming off it today), and 4 of those guys are pretty crucial to his line up (Cespedes, Tulo, Melancon, and Familia).  As usual, he's got some of the best young players in the game.  If this team can get healthy, then watch out for a run later this year.  After all, it's not how you start, but how you finish.

Let this be an invitation to update your trading blocks, if not get some trade talks started between teams.  And of course, make sure you give your Mother's some mad love today.  

With Love,

Commish

Week 1 in the books

The end of Spring Training marks the beginning of the regular season, and we are already one week in.  Prior to the first week of the draft, we already had a decent amount of drama in the league.  Musser (2legit 2commish) was gracious enough to host the draft party, and even supplied top of the line bacon cheddar burger sliders, massive brats, delicious bacon wrapped steaks, and a fridge stocked with Summit EPA.

Pro tip: If you haven't been to Hyvee...get your ass there ASAP.

Anyway, he wined and dined us prior to the draft, and then proceeded to bend us over during the draft.  See what happened was that Musser was hacking his own internet connection when we were trying to draft, which lead to us getting kicked out and auto-picking players we didn't want and him drafting players that he knew we wanted.  This lead to the me frantically trying to pause the draft and save my team, but to no avail.  Nonetheless, we continued the draft and now the season is upon us.  If Max (Well Played Mauer) can auto draft his entire team and still make the playoffs like he did in 2016, then everyone else should feel fine if they accidentally auto-drafted a couple players.

With that being said, karma is a bitch.  Musser is getting bent over by DJ (I'm Never Gonna Win Now) 10-2-0, which is the most lopsided match up of the week.  Something tells me that Musser should maybe trade some valuable assets, like Hunter Pence, to rebound from this disaster.

Other than that, week one was a pretty standard week in The League.  As of 8:15pm, Team Reints looked to be his dominant self as he is enjoyed a 9-3-0 lead over Cam (Thor's Hammer).  At the same time, is it really surprising that Cam is getting hammered (see what I did there)?  Yea, I didn't think so.

Looks like the new guy in the league (Three Strikes You're Trout) is going to get his very career victory in the Bulldogs, Gophers, Tommies Fantasy Baseball League with a 7-5-0 victory of Mookie Monster.  Thus, a congratulations is in order.  But lets remember he has big shoes to fill taking over for a team that is back-to-back defending champions.

I feel like this next match up is of historical significance.  **JP** and Well Played Mauer haven't changed their team names in years, and they were both part of the first season ever with Yahoo!  Anyway, in week one it looks like Well Played Mauer is going to edge out **JP** with a 6-5-1 victory, unless Edison Volquez really gets his ass kicked against the Mets.

Shoutout to another marriage in The League.  Colin Regis wed his beautiful bride on St. Patty's day, which quickly turned in to St. Party's day.  I had the honor of standing by his side, and Berts (PED User) had the honor of being his best man.  I hope Berts got C-Reg a really nice present, because it looks like he is going to defeat C-Reg 7-5-0.  This is one match up that is neck-to-neck in many different categories, so that could easily change.

Finally, the Minnesota Twins rebounded after a dreadful 2016 showing and defeated In Pence, I Trust 8-4-0.  He might be due for a team name change as he has more SF Giants and AZ Diamondbacks on his team than he does MN Twins.  On the losing side, In Pence I Trust is trying to find a new leader after losing their leader for the last 3 years (Hunter Pence) in the draft.

I'm hoping that these will be more frequent this year!  I no longer have grad school to keep me busy, so I should be able to keep up with this AND update the Handbook this summer.  Good luck in week two everyone.

With Love,
Commish

Fantasy Spring Training

As teams start reporting for spring training, it's time for you to report to fantasy spring training.  The information below will provide you with all the information you'll need to get started.  Hopefully you kept in shape over the off season, but if not you have about a month to figure out who the big shots of 2017 will be.  Personally, I see a lot of potential in Bung Hole Park, but I don't want to give away too much of my insider information.  Please read through the items below:

1. Draft: Date and time is TBD.  The goal is always to get everyone at the draft, so we will continue to discuss draft dates until we find one that works for everyone or at least as many people as possible.  This will be more complicated this year as Colin Regis is getting married and going on a honeymoon, and I will be moving into a house all around the same time we will be drafting.
2. League Fee: $50 due ASAP . Please don't make me harass you.
• You can send it to me via paypal account: lenzx071@d.umn.edu
• You can send it to me directly: 4350 Brookside Ct, Apt 114, Edina, MN 55436 (until end of March)
• You can send it to me via venmo: @Lenzy2108
3. Payouts: $600 will be distributed in the following ways
• $10/week for weekly category winner = $210
• $200 for league champion
• $140 for runner up
• $50 for 3rd place
4. Draft Order: Picks 1-6 are determined by the reverse order of positions 7-12 in the 2016 final regular season standings.  Picks 7-12 are determined by the reverse order of positions 1-6 in the 2016 winners bracket.
1. I'm Never Gonna Win Now (DJ Lemmage) finished 12th place in Regular Season Standings
2. Minnesota Twins (Brian Michaud) finished 11th place in Regular Season Standings
3. **JP** (Jack Pederson) finished 10th place in Regular Season Standings
4. PED User (Ryan Roberts) finished 9th place in Regular Season Standings
5. Team Pup N Suds (Colin Regis) finished 8th place in Regular Season Standings
• Will receive 1st pick in 3rd round for winning 2016 Consolation Bracket
6. Tits, Clits, and Baseball Mitts (Joe Copas) finished 7th place in Regular Season Standings
7. Well Played Mauer (Max Geary) finished 6th place in Winners Bracket
8. Arietta is a Princess (Cameron Stelljes) finished 5th place in Winners Bracket
9. Suck My Dick N Trout (Chris Musser) finished 4th place in Winners Bracket
10. In Pence, I Trust (Matt Lenz) finished 3rd place in Winners Bracket
11. Team Reints (Colin Reints) finished 2nd place in Winners Bracket
12. Dick N Trout (Tyler Starr) finished 1st place in Winner Bracket
5. Keepers: This is the fsecond year of our new keeper rule being put into effect.  On the right side of this blog, you will see a section for "Useful Links" within that section you will see "Yearly Keepers".  Keepers are due one week prior to the draft.  This will be updated to reflect who has been kept in previous years, as well as who has been kept prior to the draft.  This new rule is best described in the handbook.  You can keep one player 5 times (6 seasons) and the other player 1 time (2 seasons).  The 5 time designation can change from year to year and there are two stipulations with this rule:
   1. The 5 time and 1 time designations follows that player in a trade.
   2. You can switch a 5 time keeper at any point...you do not have to keep him 5 times.
   Here is the keeper situation for each team:

• **JP**: Can keep any two players currently on their roster.
• Minnesota Twins: Can only keep 1 of the following players - Paul Goldschmidt and Jose Altuve.
• Team Reints: Can only keep 1 of the following players - Bryce Harper and Josh Donaldson
• Well Played Mauer: Can keep any two players currently on their roster.
• PED User: Can keep any two players currently on their roster.
• TCBM: Can keep any two players currently on their roster.
• Dick N Trout: Can only keep 1 of the following players - Nolan Arenado and Mike Trout
• Arrieta is a Princess: Can keep any two players currently on their roster.
• I'm Never Gonna Win Now: Can keep any two players currently on their roster.
• In Pence, I Trust: Can keep any two players currently on their roster.
• Team Pup 'N Suds: Can only keep 1 of the following players - Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Correa, George Springer
• Suck My Dick N Trout: Can only keep 1 of the following players - Jose Bautista and Manny Machado

I would strongly encourage everyone to run their pre-draft trades by me before you officially send them through ESPN to make sure you are not receiving a player that you cannot actually keep!!!!

6. Draft Pick Trading from 2016 Season: I have double checked our facebook group and believe I have made all the

appropriate trades that involved draft picks. Please, please double check your draft picks and let me know if you see

any disparities. We had a lot of trades involving draft picks last year, so it is possible I missed something or messed

up. I tried my best...it is your responsibility to check this!

7. Contact Information: This information will be kept on the ESPN League Homepage, because this blog is visible

to the public. Please double check to make sure that the information is up to date.

This spring will be extremely busy for me. Work, grad school, coaching baseball, and moving into a new house. If anyone wants to take this blog over for April and May, please let me know! I won't have much extra time to post the weekly updates, but would love to see what you all have to say!