Paul Goldschmidt – The Fantasy Sports Coach

FSWA Fantasy Baseball Draft

This year I made the choice to join the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and I couldn’t be happier. Not only do I get to belong to a great group that supports the industry’s best and brightest, but I get to participate in leagues with fellow writers.

This season I was asked to join the latest FSWA Fantasy Baseball Draft (The Nado DiFino Award) and I thought that was a great chance to see where my rankings stacked up before my main money leagues drafted over the next two weekends.

For Reference FSWA Leagues Start-

CC,1B,2B,3B,SS,MI,CI,OF,OF,OF,OF,OF,OF,UT,P,P,P,P,P,P,P,P,P

and Scoring is

Runs,RBIs,SBs,OB%,Slugging% – Ks,ERA,WHIP,QS,Saves

When I found out I had the fourth pick in the draft I was praying that Andrew McCutchen would fall to me becuase he fills up all five offensive categories and plays a position that will end up being depleted with 12 teams having to start 5 Out Fielders. Well in a draft full of fantasy writers that didn’t happen. Paul Goldschmidt was there for me to take him, but in a league where you start 9 Pitchers every week I couldn’t pass up on the clear number one, tier to himself, Clayton Kershaw. That was the first of many slightly controversial picks I made in this draft.

COACH ESSER DENNIS
4	Clayton Kershaw, LAD SP Over Goldschmidt was tough, but I’m happy
21	Jose Bautista, Tor OF Needed a high upside Outfielder and Bautista can top four categories if healthy
28	Justin Verlander, Det SP This was a personal preference. I have him rated 3rd-SP most don’t
45	Joe Mauer, Min C 2-Catcher League Mauer is huge in OB% and Runs
52	Matt Kemp, LAD OF -Big gamble on health here. Wouldn’t have got him in the next round
69	Matt Carpenter, StL 2B -Value pick here as he is plus in Runs,OB% and decent in Slugging%
76	Josh Donaldson, Oak 3B -Another value pick, Wanted to wait and go with a sleeper later, but not bad.
93	Trevor Rosenthal, StL RP -The last of the upper tier Closers and now with Chapman hurt its good value
100	Jose Abreu, CWS 1B -needed some upside power at 1B and love to gamble on Abreu
117	Hisashi Iwakuma, Sea SP -Iwakuma has a lot of upside as long as that finger is ready soon
124	Danny Salazar, Cle SP -Salazar is going to break out this year and reached a little here
141	Austin Jackson, Det OF -Jackson was always a target and his ESPN ADP kept him off screen
148	Jason Castro, Hou C -Castro was the last offensive Catcher that could be plus in Slugging%
165	Jason Grilli, Pit RP -Steady closer who has a decent WHIP as well
172	Brad Miller, Sea SS -big time target for me and it was tough to lay off Castro and Simmons as they fell
189	Khris Davis, Mil OF -Fourth Outfielder with power upside-a bit of a gamble
196	Lance Lynn, StL SP -Lynn is nice starter to have in this format with his K totals
213	Matt Garza, Mil SP -Auto picked Garza when Adam Eaton was in my que but had been sniped-still stings
220	Nate Jones, CWS RP -The last decent upside closer left.
237	Taijuan Walker, Sea SP – Walker here was a round early based on ADP, but the shoulder sounds good
244	David Freese, LAA 3B – Batting fourth against Lefties and if healthy not a bad Corner Infielder
261	Oswaldo Arcia, Min OF – One of my favorite late round power sources
268	Michael Brantley, Cle OF -Solid outfielder with room for improvement-pure depth
285	Neil Walker, Pit 2B – Could be a nice value pick for MI depth-if not, to the wire I go
292	Devin Mesoraco, Cin C -Vargas knee issues had me looking for a 3rd Catcher when normally I wouldn’t
309	Todd Frazier, Cin 3B – Too much potential this late in the draft. RBIs in a pinch
316	Erik Johnson, CWS SP – Late round sleeper or bust. I like what I saw last year and worth a gamble
333	Junior Lake, ChC OF – Needed Steals and he could get 20 this year while putting up decent Slugging%

As you can tell my team lacks stolen bases and I will have to look to make a trade early on or raid the waiver wire for this year’s Nate McLouth. Let me know what you think and who you are targeting in your fantasy baseball drafts.

The Challenge of Running Into Hot Fantasy Baseball Players

It appears that my luck (or lack thereof) has followed me from fantasy football into fantasy baseball. I feel I drafted a very solid team, but my early season results have been nothing to write home about. I drafted Ryan Braun with the third overall pick and he has been as good as advertised. Braun is a fantasy stud who can carry a fantasy team throughout the year. My infield is very solid with the likes of Adrian Gonzalez, Ian Kinsler and Evan Longoria. Besides Braun, my outfield consists of some late round gems such as Dexter Fowler and Starling Marte. My top starting pitchers are Adam Wainwright, Max Scherzer, and Jake Peavy. But my closers have been a mixed bag. Sergio Romo has been excellent thus far, but Joel Hanrahan seemingly has lost his closing duties to the reinvigorated Andrew Bailey in Boston.

While trying to figure out why my team was not dominating in the early going, I quickly found some players to blame. I missed the boat towards the end of the draft with selections such as Brandon Belt and Aaron Hicks who were quickly sacrificed to the waiver wire. In hindsight, I really regret picking Brandon Morrow over Jon Lester. I also rue the day of my gamble on Corey Hart’s injured knee and not targeting a solid right fielder earlier in the draft. Hart’s placement on the 60-day DL has forced me to play Adrian Gonzalez in right field and start one of my bench players (Todd Frazier and Matt Carpenter) at first base. I am losing significant power numbers when Carpenter is slotted at First Base as opposed to filling in at other positions periodically.

Before the draft, I targeted Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Moore but missed out on them by a pick or two. I have been scrambling to make up for missing out on both players ever since. That is probably why I reached for Belt and reluctantly took Brandon Morrow during the draft. I blame my poor time management for drafting Morrow, as I was down to the final five seconds on the draft clock.

Despite those shortcomings, I have made some quality early season pick-ups such as Jed Lowrie and Kyle Seager to partially offset those draft day mistakes. I even took a flier on Mark Teixeira who was dropped after the draft. Hopefully he does come back and can fill my all-important first base slot. He and Hart are stashed on my DL waiting to be utilized in June (fingers crossed). I also picked up Jose Valverde to fill the closer slot vacated by Hanrahan, and Shelby Miller to add some strike out power to my pitching staff.

Being honest with myself, I really cannot blame my team for some of my early season losses. Instead, I had the misfortune of playing against some players who produced extraordinary results. Two that come to mind are Carlos Gonzales who battered and abused the Mets, as well as Mike Napoli when he was doing his best Tony Conigliaro impression. I swear, the Green Monster is a magnet for that guy. I watched him rain double after double off that little league fence with the bases seemingly always loaded. Then incredibly, I was up against Anibal Sanchez last week when he decided to set a Tigers’ record of 17 strikeouts in one game.

Weeks like that reminded me of some fantasy football weeks your quarterback throws for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in the early game, only to be outdone by Drew Brees and his videogame-like numbers later in the day. Or if Chris Johnson (that would be CJ2K of the Tennessee Titans and not the pasty third baseman on the Braves) finally breaks out for you with a 100-yard day and a touchdown only to be outscored by Adrian Peterson during one of his record-breaking romps. I guess I didn’t realize that this type of misfortune also applied in fantasy baseball.

However, running into a couple of hot teams and players during the early part of the season is not going to get me off my game. I am going to stick to my strategy of playing match-ups and making some shrewd moves on the waiver wire. I will not hit the panic button and make a bad trade just to just to get a shaky closer or retread first baseman. After all, the fantasy baseball season is long and my luck is bound to even out. Right? Right???