I know no one else will be interested in this post, but I need to get it out of my system. On March 31, I wrote about my fantasy baseball team and how I had high hopes for it this year. I just want to illustrate how badly all of my projections have ended up to help explain why I’m in 10th place in a 14 team league (where I’m the commissioner). There have been 50 of the 162 scheduled games played thus far.
HITTING
C – Joe Mauer – best catcher in the league. I expected him to hit .335 with 15 home runs. He hasn’t played due to injury since May 4 and has only 1 HR (even though he’s batting .353).
1B – Derrek Lee – one of the best first baseman/hitters in the league. I expected him to hit .290 with 38 HR. He’s been hurt a little and is hitting .357 but he only has 3 HRs so far.
2B – Rickie Weeks – an early pick in the draft for a multi-talented youngster. I predicted he’d hit .277 with 13 HR and 32 steals. He’s hitting .251 and is on pace for 16 HR and 25 SB. Not bad, but I was hoping he’d exceed my expectations.
SS – Miguel Tejada – long time stud shortstop. I predicted he’d hit .305 with 27 HRs. He’s been hot over the last week to get on pace for 16 HRs while he’s hitting .315.
3B – Mike Lowell – drafted in the 23rd round in the draft. I predicted he’d hit .270 with 17 HR and 90 RBIs. He’s already hit 9 HRs and is on pace to hit 31 HRs and have 130 RBIs. He’s hitting .330. By far the best pick I made in the draft.
MI – Bill Hall – I spent a very high pick on this outfielder who used to play shortstop. I predicted he’d hit 33 HR while hitting .270. He’s hitting .260 and on pace for 19 HRs. He’s only stolen 1 base when I expected him to steal 11 on the year.
OF – Nick Markakis – I expected a breakout season for the young Oriole outfielder. I predicted he’d hit .302 with 26 HRs. Overall he’s been OK, but he’s on pace for 22 HR and he’s hitting .269.
OF – Chris Young – most people thought I was silly for taking this rookie of the year candidate so early. I predicted he’d hit 24 HR and steal 22 bases while hitting .265. He’s hit .278 thus far but he’s missed a lot of games with hamstring injuries and he’s on pace for 18 HR and 18 SB.
OF – Scott Podsednik – I wasn’t thrilled about taking him, but I needed speed and he provides it. Well, it’s hard to steal a base from the disabled list. He’s stolen 5 all year when I was expecting 50. He’s still 3-4 weeks from returning. He’s been a total bust.
OF – Scott Hairston and David DeJesus – I expected to start Hairston for only the first couple weeks while he was playing for an injured Carlos Quentin. He did basically nothing during that time. DeJesus has been fine – he’s on pace to score 120 runs but he’s only hitting .270 now as he’s been in a slump for some time.
DH – Jim Thome – he fell so far in the draft I had to take him. He was pretty good for the first few weeks, but I traded him to patch a hole in my pitching. He had been hurt for a few weeks when I traded him.
Other hitters that I’ve started more than once
OF – Chris Duffy – I traded for this speedster since Podsednik has been injured. He’s been almost as bad as someone not playing. In 85 AB for me he’s hit .165 with 4 SB.
OF – Jack Cust – I picked up the find of the year when I took a chance on this career minor leaguer and started him out of desparation his first year in the big leagues outside of September in 4 years. He’s hit 7 HR for me and had 19 RBIs, although he’s gone 0-17 lately and his average is down to .225 for me.
OF- Moises Alou – I got him in the Thome trade, and he got injured the next day. Just my luck – he hasn’t come back yet, but should be back next week.
PITCHING
SP – Daisuke Matsuzaka – the jewel of Japan – I traded up in the draft to take him with the first overall pick after keepers. He’s been decent, but he’s had control problems and his ERA is 4.43 when I expected 3.55. He’s won 7 games and struck out 64, so he’s doing well everywhere else.
SP – Adam Wainwright – I thought I was pretty smart taking this World Series hero who converted from closing to starting. I expected a 3.75 ERA and his currently sits at 5.59 although I didn’t start him one time when he got bombed, so his ERA for me is 5.02. Obviously a disappointment, but we’ll keep riding it out.
SP – Anibal Sanchez – the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter last year has been awful and I’ve released him. He’s been sent to the minors and reportedly has some injury. He won 2 games for me with a 4.16 ERA and only 9 strikeouts. I expected 3.85 ERA all year with 13 W and 145 Ks.
SP – Brandon McCarthy and Claudio Vargas – McCarthy was repeatedly bombed early in the year and has been better lately, but not good enough to start. Vargas was great to start out (before I trusted him enough to start him) and he’s been bad lately. I traded them both for Ryan Theriot (2B) and Tim Wakefield (SP). I’m happy to get rid of them, but haven’t gotten much in return.
SP – Randy Wolf – he’s been great. He’s exceeding expectations having won 6 games with 71 Ks.
SP – Phil Hughes – the #1 prospect in the minors coming into this year was called up early by the Yankees due to their struggling starting pitching. He got knocked around a little in his first start and in his second start he had a no-hitter through 6 1/3 innings. Then he pulled up with a hamstring injury and has been out ever since. He’s supposed to be back in mid-June and I could really use him.
RP – Jason Isringhausen – this closer has been very solid. He has 13 saves so far and a 1.42 ERA. No complaints.
RP – Brian Fuentes – he’s been fine too. 15 saves with a 2.22 ERA. No complaints here either.
RP – Al Reyes – the steal of the draft has been very good with 12 saves and a 2.49 ERA. I’m leading the league in saves.
Other pitchers who I’ve started
SP – Bronson Arroyo – I made the big Jim Thome trade for Arroyo and looking at last week I was salivating at the chance for him to face the worst two teams in the majors – the Nationals and the Pirates. He ended up giving up 12 runs in 6 innings with 2 strikeouts. It’s not my year when things like this happen.
As you can see I have had 3 much better than expected performances (Lowell, Wolf, Reyes), 3 very good performances (Fuentes, Isringhausen and Cust) and the rest have been from slightly below average to awful. That’s just not a good formula for success. Hopefully I can get this turned around before the end of the year.
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