Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Fantasy Player's Edge

April 23, 2008

A new section has been added to the Player's Edge.
It's called "How To" and tracks the daily activities of
a team managed by the Edge in a Head to Head league
against a weekly opponent. The rewards of successful
tactics will be revealed along with the consequences of
those moves that go awry.

Years ago when trying to learn the fundamentals of
playing this game I had searched for information,
unsuccessfully, that would provide insights on
"how to" play the game through real time daily
activity rather than "ex-post facto, I know
more than you do" commentary.

Please let us know if the new section is helpful as
the entire mission of the staff at the Edge is to be
entertaining and more importantly informative. If
you become a better player as a result of this site
then our mission will be accomplished. Most of all,
have fun, after all it's only a game albeit, a great one!!!!


Roster Shuffle:

Chad Cordero, fresh off his successful inning of relief, took
off for Birmingham to see Dr. Andrews the Kevorkian to
pitchers.

A-Rod missed yesterday's tilt due to a strained quad or the
birth of his 2nd child by conflicting reports. Today's the key
for owners. In a small footnote yesterday Cashman refused
to rule out a trip to the DL. Stay tuned.

Jacoby Ellsbury continues burying Coco Crisp. He hit a pair
of homers last night.

The Bourn Supremacy on the basepaths has been stymied by
a groin pull. Ouch!!

Fred Lewis has solidified his role as CF and leadoff hitter for
the Giants. He was 3/5 yesterday but may have to steal, 2B,
3B and home to score consistently in front of baseball's saddest
lineup.

Well what do you know, the Reds and Dusty have yet another
CFer in Jerry Hairston who was called up yesterday. C-Patt
owners may have to look elsewhere for swipes. Try Lewis.

Dan Ackroyd (Carlos Guillen) and Eddie Murphy (Miguel Cabrera)
are "Trading Places". Miggy will try 1B and Guillen moves to 3B.
Morty and Randy rejoice.

Cuddyer and Rolen are tracking to return over the weekend.
Can't hurt.

Gary Sheffield had a cortisone shot in each shoulder. You
might want to plan on Sheff missing a reasonable amount
of time this year. Just a thought.

J.J. Putz picked up right where he left off blowing away the
Orioles last night to pick up a save. Bedard will start on Saturday.

Manny Corpas is struggling mightily and if not for Fuentes being
shaky of late might be out of a job. The Rockies have quite a
Hurdle to overcome.

Jake Westbrook was placed on the DL with a pulled muscle in
his side. Take a look at the Nationals John Lannan if you need
to pick up Westy's innings.

Pedro Martinez will be reevaluated this week. Remember Pete
chortled a few days ago that he had a surprise for us. We'll see.

Speaking of miracles the owners of Viagra were admonished
yesterday for not discussing the downsides of the stuff on
their "Viva Viagra" cowboy commercial. Hey isn't it about
the upside!!!


Streamers: (tomorrow's probable starters available as free agents)

Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.

Shawn Hill- get it while you can. He's on his 2nd start so he's just
about at his annual quota of innings. 2-1, 2.57/1.29 over 14 frames
against the Shea's.

Chuck James- Neptune has nothing on this guy. Ramirez, Willingham
and Uggla are a combined 3/34 vs. King James. 3-1, 1.19/1.02 with
24 k's in 30 innings. (make sure he's starting as he complained of
soreness in his forearm after Saturday's start)


Spotties: (tomorrow's position players available as free agents)

Use these players to fill in for injured players and on off days.

Austin Kearns- regards Dickens as a genius, especially fond of
"Oliver Twist". 7/21, 4 extras, 3 jacks, 7 ribbies off Perez.

Ben Broussard- has the run of Bonderman's house. Ben the
Bruiser is 13/45, with 10 extras, 3 clouts, 12 rbi against him.


Start/Sit: (today)

Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.

Jermaine Dye (start)- heads to the field for some "Moose"
hunting. 20/53, 6 multiples, 2 blasts and 8 rbi.

Aaron Rowand (start)- totes that barge and lifts that bale
as he traverses ol' man river. 6/19 with 3 swipes vs. Maddux.

Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.

Normally sit these players in Roto formats only.


Javier Vazquez (sit)- he's a real Yankees doodle dandy.
1-3, 5.25/1.75 in 24 innings against the Bombers.

Corey Hart (sit)- would be better served listening to
Cole Porter tunes than facing Cole Hamels. 0/7, 4 k's.

Studs and Duds: ( a recap of yesterday's picks and pans)

Vincente Padilla (stream)-L 3ip/7e/9w/2k

Kyle Lohse (stream)- ND 4ip/4e/10w/1k

Jesse Litsch (stream)- L 3.1ip/5e/10w/4k

Jason Werth (spot)-2/4, 2 runs/ homer/rbi

Casey Blake (spot)-4/4, 2 runs/ homer/ 6 rbi

Craig Monroe (spot)-3/4, 2 runs/ homer/3 rbi

Todd Helton (start)-1/5, run.

C.C. Sabathia (start)-W 6ip/0e/6w/11k

Alex Rios (sit)-DNP (Gibbons reads the Edge)

Ed Byrnes (sit)-1/4, rbi



How To: ( this section is devoted to the fundamentals of daily play)

Head To Head: Player's Edge(PE) vs. Opposition(OP):

Week 4: Tuesday


Weekly Tot: R-H-RB-SB -BA/ W-SV-K ER-WH -SCORE


------PE----7--0--4--1--.281/-1--0--9-4.09-1.27---5
------OP--11--4-10--0--.400/-0--1--7-5.63-1.50---5

Offense: Lineups:

-----PE-----/----- OP

^B.Molina------^Martin
^Teixeira------^A. Gonzalez
^Roberts-------^J. Lopez
^Braun---------^A. Ramirez
^Escobar-------^Crosby
^Griffey-------^Butler
^C. Young-----^Hermida
^Milledge------^Dye
^Figgins-------^Longoria
Jacobs----------Rollins- DL
----------------A. Soriano -DL
----------------H. Kendrick- DL

------PE------//-----OP
11/36-4-0-2-1 // 10/29-6-2-4-0 (daily totals: H/AB,R,HR,RBI)

Pitching: Rotation-Closers

-----PE----/------OP

Harang--------^Haren
Shields--------- Greinke
Liriano--------- L.Hernandez
^Cain-----------Dempster
S.Hill------------Cueto
Kuroda----------Galarraga
^Saito---------^Nathan
^Corpas-------^Wagner
^Wood--------^Broxton
^Acosta-------- Kazmir (DL)
^Betancourt
R. Soriano-DL
Harden (DL)

-----PE--------//------OP
1W/0S, 9-5-13-8//0W/1S, 8-5-12-7 (daily totals: W/S,IP,ER,WH,K)

Weekly Totals- Batting Avg. PE(18/64) - OP (16/40)
Weekly Totals- ERA (5/(11/9) - OP ERA (5/(8/9) -(er/(ip/9)
Weekly Totals- Whip (14/11) - OP WHIP (12/8) - (w+h/ip)
Weekly Starts(est/week to date) 6-----OP--6

Daily Activity:

PE-Byrd(drop)/Jacobs-Sun
OP Wakefield(drop)/Galarraga-Mon
PE-Jacobs(drop)/Betancourt-Mon
OP-Damon dropped/Crosby-Mon

Strategy: I withdrew the priority waiver on Weaver late last
night after he got shelled by Boston. No-one took him so all
options are still available. Corpas blew a save badly last night
and if Fuentes hadn't been lit up lately would probably lose his
job. He still might. Betancourt will probably be needed for the
rest of the week. Kuroda starts on Friday and could be used to
stream Sat/Sun if necessary.

Game Keys: Gonzalez had a homerun for the second consecutive
day to help this opponent open big leads RBI and HR's. Although
the score is even he has control of 4 offensive categories while the
other 6 are in play. He's doing this without Rollins and Soriano!!!

^ -designates an active player on today's roster.


Final Thoughts:

Millions of people in thousands of leagues on virtually
every continent play fantasy baseball on a daily basis.
No player should take advise from any source without
taking stock of their league's settings and a good working
knowledge of the basics of the game. With that said we
all play to different degrees based on time and interest.
Some people are fanatical, others are very serious and still
others are simply playing for casual enjoyment. The Player's
Edge
welcomes all skill levels and the information provided
is not meant to be absolute. Simply said, when reviewing
the sections on streaming, spot plays and start/sit use those
players if you have a specific need. Be mindful of what specific
objective that you're trying to achieve, make your decisions
and move on. It's a 26 week long roller coaster ride so composure
and resiliency are the typical benchmarks of successful players.

To calculate era: total innings/9 = divisor, total earned runs/
by divisor = era. When using total innings use the fraction and
not the decimal to create the divisor. If your team has amassed
47.2 innings by Friday and allowed 9 runs the era would be
calculated as follows. 47.67/9 = 5.29667, 9/5.29667 = 1.70 era

Whip is calculated by adding the total hits and walks issued by
a pitcher or group of pitchers/total innings. Also use the fractional.
Ex: your team has pitched 34.1 innings so far this week and your
pitchers have allowed 46 combined runs and walks. Here's the
calculation 46/34.33 = 1.34 whip.

Batting average is total hits/total official atbats.


All Done!

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