Forum: base
Page 20465
Subject: Gurupie 20 - 2018 Regular Season Discussion


  Posted by: Species - SuperDude [07724916] Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:11

Constitution
Prospects - 300AB 110_IP/40_GP to remain a prospect.

(Draft Rounds 1-3, '04; 4-5, '05; 6-8, '06; 9-11, '07; 12-14, '08; 15-17, '09; 18-20, '10; 21-23, '11; 24-26, '12; 27-29 '13; 30-32 '14; 33-35 '15; 36-38 '16; 39-41 '17; 42-44 '18)
MGR: #, Name,Pos,Team,(# Call-ups)
Bean: 34.09 Nick Gordon, SS, MIN; 40.07 Brent Honeywell, SP, TB; 42.06 Forest Whitley, SP, HOU
bmd: 39.03 Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 3b, TOR; 42.01 Fernando Tatis Jr, SS, SD; 42.08 MacKenzie Gore, SP, SD; 43.04 Leody Taveras, OF, Rangers; 43.06 Jack Flaherty, SP, STL; 43.14 Colin Moran, 3b, PIT
Blue Hen: 43.15 Yusei Kikuchi, SP, Seibu Lions NPB; 44.03 Yordan Alvarez, 1B, HOU; 44.04 Derek Fisher, OF, HOU
Darkside: 42.11 Miguel Andujar, 3B, NYY; 43.08 Austin Hays, OF, Bal; 44.01 Alec Hansen, SP, Det
Great One: 36.01 Brendan Rodgers, SS, COL; R40.04 Kyle Lewis, OF, SEA
Guru: 39.18 Francisco Mejia, C, CLE; 40.11 Jake Bauers, OF, TB; 42.15 A.J. Minter, Atl, RP
Fosten: 31.08 Austin Meadows, OF, PIT; 43.13 Jeimer Candelario, 3B, DET
Judy: 39.01 Mickey Moniak, OF, PHI; 40.02 Alex Verdugo, OF, LAD; 42.04 Sixto Sanchez, SP, PHI
Khahan: 42.16 Michael Chavis, 3b, BOS; 43.12 Christian Arroyo 3rd/SS TB
Meatwads: 40.06 Juan Soto, OF, WAS; 42.07 Taylor Trammell, OF, CIN; 42.05 Jhailyn Ortiz, OF, PHI
mjd: 39.02 Kevin Maitan, SS, ATL; 42.03 Royce Lewis, SS, MIN; 42.10 Austin Riley, 3b, ATL; 43.01 Michael Soroka, P, ATL
Nerfherders: Kolby Allard, SP, ATL; 42.12 Luis Gohara, SP, ATL; 43.09 Brendan McKay, SP/1B TB
Slizz: 42.14 Jo Adell, OF, LAA; 43.11 Jesus Sanchez, OF, TB; 44.02 Gabriel Arias, SS, SD
Species: 36.17 Victor Robles, OF, WAS; 39.04 Nick Senzel, 3b, CIN; 42.17 Estevan Florial, OF, NYY; 42.19 Keston Hiura, 2B, MIL
Thumper: 39.10 Kyle Tucker, OF, HOU; 42.02 Bo Bichette, 2b/SS, TOR; 42.09 Triston McKenzie, SP, CLE; 42.20 Carter Kieboom, SS, WSH; 43.03 Mitch Keller, SP, PIT
Tree: 39.08 Michael Kopech, SP, CWS; 42.05 Willie Calhoun, OF, TEX; 43.02 Luis Urias, IF, SD
ttucowboy: 39.12 Yadier Alvarez, SP, LAD
Tosh: 37.12 Anthony Alford, OF, TOR; 43.07 Yoshihisa Hirano, RP, ARIZ
wg: Willy Adames, SS, TB; 42.18 Hunter Greene, SP, CIN
youngroman: 39.15 Luis Robert Moiran, OF, Cuba; 42.13 Michael Baez, SP, SD; 43.10 Kyle Wright, SP, ATL

These managers have had their 2019 Supplemental Draft selections altered via trade:
3-19-17 Thumper receives WG's 1st (Desmond + Harvey / B. Rodgers)
3-25-17 Meatwads receives WG's 7th for his 11th (2017 pick swap)
3-30-17 bmd receives Species' 7th and 9th for his 10th and 11th (2017 pick swaps)
5-21-17 Thumper receives WG's 8th for his 14th (Triggs, Wheeler / Altherr)
2-08-18 Species receives Meatwads' 4th for his 12th (Gordon/Cruz/E5)
2-09-18 GO receives slizz' 4th for his last pick (Acuna/Rodgers/Moncada/Quintana/Hill/picks)
2-09-18 GO receives Thumpers 3rd for his second to last pick (Acuna/Rodgers/Moncada/Quintana/Hill/picks)
3-07-18 Thumper receives Species' 5th for his 9th (Godley)
3-08-18 slizz receives bmd's 3rd for his 14th (W. Davis)
3-15-18 Great One receives Meatwads' 2nd and 5th for his 7th and last (2018 Supplemental)
3-16-18 Great One receives Fosten's 4th for his 10th (Matz)
3-16-18 mjd gets WG's 4th for his 14th (Winker, 2018 picks)
3-20-18 Fosten gets WG's 12th for his 14th (2018 pick)

The following managers have had their 2019 Prospect Draft selections altered via trade:

8-17-17 Thumper receives Fosten's 1st and 2nd round picks (Meadows)

These managers have had their 2020 Supplemental Draft selections altered via trade:

3-15-18 Thumper receives GO's 2nd and 5th for his 7th and 14th (Britton / Eaton + Calhoun)

Previous Champions
2003 (tie) Ref and StL Cards
2004 Ref
2005 Ref
2006 Beastiemiked
2007 Twarpy
2008 Ref
2009 Peter N
2010 Species
2011 (tie) Species and blue hen
2012 Toral
2013 Wazaaap Guy
2014 blue hen
2015 blue hen
2016 Species
2017 blue hen

Commissioner:
"Species" gmrobinson1@yahoo.com - "Tosh" lodnar@gmail.com - "Guru" (Treasurer) davehall@rotoguru2.com

Positions
C - 1 1B - 1 2B - 1 3B - 1 SS - 1 OF - 3 DH - 1 P - 6
Active - 15; Bench - 8; Total - 23; Must have active players on roster at each position

Returning Managers
As commissioners, we reserve the right NOT to extend an invitation to (or remove) any manager for any reason. Primary reason for being excluded would be abusive behavior, purposeful rules violations (ie colluding on a trade), inactivity (ie leaving injured/OUT players in as starters or not actively trying to improve your team), not participating in league business or repeated delays/unresponsive, or failure to pay your share of league fees. If an owner is removed or NOT invited back, a new owner will be recruited to take over the vacated team in its exact state. All monies will be forfeited.

Trade Policy
If there are 7 votes against the trade it will be sent to the commishs to be vetoed. There will be a min. of one full day to vote before the trade will be approved if the max objections are not reached. Everyone will be emailed by ESPN automatically as soon as the trade is accepted so they may review it. Make sure your email notifications are set up! Please check the site daily.

Trades involving draft picks/prospects will be listed in the trade and can also be posted on our leagues bulletin board and/or our thread at rotoguru.com. Note that off-season and pre-season (before draft is complete) trades will still be approved by the commishs.

Trades for draft picks - be they Supplemental or Prospect picks - may only be consummated within two drafts from the date of the trade. Example: in March 2015 before the Supplemental Draft, one can only trade either 2015 or 2016 picks. In June 2015, one could trade either 2016 or 2017 picks, etc.

Trade deadline - the trade deadline is the last day in August available in the ESPN website.

Minimums for GP and IP:

A team must accumulate a minimum of 1375 GP by hitters over the course of a season. For each 15 games of shortfall, a team is assigned one demerit. Demerits will be integer values only. Thus, a team with 1-15 games of shortfall will receive one demerit, 16-30 will receive 2 demerits, etc.

A team must accumulate a minimum of 1200 IP over the course of a season. For every shortfall of 15 IP, a team is assigned one demerit. Demerits will be integer values only. Thus, a team with 1-15 IP of shortfall will receive one demerit, 16-30 will receive 2 demerits, etc.

GP and IP demerits will be combined for each team. However, the first two demerits will be forgiven.

If a team finishes “in the money” for prize pool purposes (ranked 1-6), then demerits will be ignored.

For lottery teams, the following penalties will be applied to every pick in the next year’s supplement draft:

If a team accumulates more than 10 demerits, then it will be removed from the lottery and assigned the 14th pick in all rounds (i.e., behind all lottery teams, but ahead of any prize pool teams.)

For teams with less than 10 demerits, that team is pushed forward one place in the supplemental draft rankings for each demerit. For example, if a team finishes in last place (20th) and has 5 demerits, then that team will be treated in the draft rankings as though it finished in 15th place (and the teams actually finishing in places 16-20 will each move down one place.)

If more than one lottery team has a demerit, then the lottery rankings will be successively applied starting with the worst finisher and then moving up to the next worst finisher, etc.

Keepers
There will be 9 players available to be kept heading into the season. You will have a deadline to post your keepers. You may change your keepers up until the deadline.

Players drafted in the Rule 4 draft the previous June are not eligible to be kept as keepers. This rule applies even if that player has played in the major leagues. All Rule 4 draftees must go through at least one Prospect Draft prior to being eligible as keepers.

2017 Prize Pool
There are 19 of 20 people in the prize pool @ $15 each. That means there is $285 to distribute. Teams are required to always be in it or out of it once they committed to it in 2005. These will be the payouts: 1st $110; 2nd 65; 3rd 45; 4th 30; 5th 20; 6th 15. If a non-participant places 1st-6th, his money will be reallocated so there is always a 100% payout. 1st-5th place will be moved up a spot in the prize money and the 6th place $15 will go to the treasury to help defray dues costs to all. Dues are used to pay for the league champion trophy and draft.

Supplemental and Prospect Draft Lotteries:
The lotteries for both the Supplemental and Prospect Drafts will be conducted within 30 days of the end of the previous season.

Timing of the Keeper Deadline, Prospect Draft and Supplemental Draft
Each March, as proposed by a Commissioner, the league hold the following events, in this order:

1) Keeper Deadline: all teams must designate their keepers. They may designate up to 9.
NOTE: At this time, once the Keeper Deadline has passed, managers may also call up prospects to their active roster. In this scenario, those prospects are separate from their 9 keepers.
ADDITIONALLY: Once the keeper deadline has passed, managers may exceed 9 or more players by trade.
2) Prospect Keeper Deadline: Managers designate their Prospect Keepers. They may designate up to 3.
3) Prospect draft picks are assigned and the Prospect Draft is commenced per our rules below.
4) The Supplemental Draft is completed.

Supplemental Draft, FA Pickups and Waivers
The Draft will be held prior to every season after Keepers are announced. A "NBA style" lottery will determine the top three selections. The lottery for the following season will be completed within 30 days of the end of regular season. Picks 4 - 20 and all picks in subsequent rounds will be in inverse order of previous years finish and will not snake.

Players must be available in the ESPN player pool to be drafted or added during the season via FA or WW. No amateur player may be drafted or picked up via FA or WW if the player in question still has amateur status or is a prospect. Also, if a player is drafted in the June MLB draft, while he may be freely picked up and used on a roster, please note that per our keeper rules they may not be kept the following season. All Rule 4 draftees must go through one Prospect Draft before they become keeper eligible.

There is a 3 hour per draft pick time limit and a cumulative time limit of 12 hours. (Subject to change). You may not exceed 23 players. You may not drop a player (or add a non-drafted player if you are short) until waivers have been turned on. You may trade for extra picks and you may trade your excess picks as long as it is done before the preceeding pick has been made. If you make a duplicate pick, the draft will continue and you may correct that pick at any time. Once you have been skipped, you will continue to be skipped until you are caught up. If a clock runs out, the next person on the clock will be charged for any time before his pick. If you are skipped due to a pick or c clock, you may still post your selection at any time.

Waivers will begin the season in the same order as the supplemental draft. Lottery picks and traded draft picks will not be considered when determining the waiver order.

Prospect Rules:
The underlined key deadlines and procedures are completed in a linear fashion, one after the other.

Keeper Deadline:
At a time announced by the Commissioner, all managers must have no more than 3 keepers on their prospect list. This is the only point in time where teams must have 3 or fewer prospects.

Managers will announce what prospects they intend to keep on the prospect list, which prospects they are releasing, and (if applicable) which prospects they are calling up and releasing (see below).

All hitters must have less than 300 ABs and pitchers less than 110 IP or 40 GP to remain a prospect. Otherwise, they must be moved to your active roster or released. Managers must monitor their own prospects. If they are later to have found to be over the max. at that deadline, the player will be immediately removed as a prospect and put on waivers.

Owning another team's prospect pick has no bearing on the above.

Assignment of Prospect Picks:
After declaration of kept, released or called up prospects, Managers are assigned new prospect picks dependent upon how many prospects they kept - with the total sum of kept prospects and new picks of your own limited to a total of 3. Specifically:

- If you keep 3 prospects, you receive no new picks
- If you keep 2 prospects, you receive your 1st round prospect pick
- If you keep 1 prospect, you receive your 1st and 2nd round prospect picks
- If you keep no prospects, you receive your 1st, 2nd and 3rd round prospect picks

If an owner has traded away one of their prospect picks, they must reduce their kept prospects below three in order to comply with the terms of their trade. See "if you have traded away a pick", below.

Owning another team's prospect pick has no bearing on the above.

End of Keeper Deadline Activity:
Upon the completion of the keeper deadline and the assignment of picks, managers may then exceed three prospects by trade.

Processing of Traded Prospect Picks:
After the assignment of picks, the league will officially process all traded picks:
If you have traded away a pick: As noted above, any team that has traded away a pick must comply with the terms of their trade. This means that the number of prospects you are allowed to keep is reduced by the number of prospect picks you have traded away. As with any trade, if an owner trades away a pick in a round that they do not own, the receiving party receives a pick of a higher round to satisfy their trade.
If you have traded for a pick: Acquired picks are only used as picks in the Prospect Draft. The owning of another team's pick in no way alters the number of prospect keepers you may have, nor does it effect the assignment of your own prospect picks.

Prospect Draft:
The Prospect Draft will be held during the preseason after keepers are finalized (but before the Supplemental Draft). Drafts will be in inverse order of the final standings of the previous year and will not snake. A "NBA style" lottery will determine the top three selections. The lottery for the following season will be completed within 30 days of the end of regular season. Picks 4 - 20 and all picks in subsequent rounds will be in inverse order and will not snake. Players will be selected on our thread at rotoguru.com if possible. If that site is down, our draft will continue on the bulletin board of our page if we have knowledge of all picks selected previously. Ties will be broken by a dice roll. There will be up to 3 rounds.

A draft-eligible prospect is defined as a hitter that has less than 150 Major League at bats or a pitcher with less than both 55 Major League innings pitched and 20 Major League games pitched. Further, to be eligible, the player must be a professional baseball player, defined as one of the following:

- Under contract with a MLB teams system. This does not require them to have been assigned to a minor league team at the time of the draft.
- A professional player playing in/having played in Japans Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league.
- A professional player playing in/having played in Koreas Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) league.
- A professional player playing in/having played in Cuba's top professional league, the Serie Nacional.

Amateur players in High School, College or otherwise subject to the Rule 4 draft are not eligible.

There will be a 3 hour per pick clock and a 4 hour cumulative clock to draft. If you are skipped, you may make your selection at any time. Time will not accrue from midnight to 8 am ET, though anyone may select during that time if their pick is up. Once the draft concludes, the only way to add a prospect is via trade or future drafts. After the draft, you may bring this player on your active roster at any time (as long as hes in the ESPN database) by dropping a player.

Prospect callup rules: Managers may call-up and then send down their prospect up to two times without losing their rights as a prospect as long as that player has not hit the maximum ABs/IP/GP threshold. Once a commish allows the call-up, he will add the number of times that player has been called-up next to his name in the Prospect List below. At the end of the season, all prospects on the roster will be considered optioned so they wont have to be counted as a keeper so long as they have not hit their threshold. Before a commish will option or send-down a prospect, he will look at the stats for that player including games played that day if the lineup freeze has passed. If a prospect is renounced or hits his threshold while on your roster (called up), his name will be removed from your prospect list.

Alphabetical list of Prospects:

Willy Adames
Jo Adell
Anthony Alford
Kolby Allard
Yadier Alvarez
Yordan Alvarez
Miguel Andujar
Gabriel Arias
Christian Arroyo
Michael Baez
Jake Bauers
Bo Bichette
Willie Calhoun
Jeimer Candelario
Michael Chavis
Derek Fisher
Jack Flaherty
Estevan Florial
Luiz Gohara
Nick Gordon
MacKenzie Gore
Hunter Greene
Vladimir Guerrero JR
Alec Hansen
Austin Hays
Yoshihisa Hirano
Keston Hiura
Brent Honeywell
Mitch Keller
Carter Kieboom
Yusei Kikuchi
Michael Kopech
Kyle Lewis
Royce Lewis
Kevin Maitan
Brendan McKay
Triston McKenzie
Austin Meadows
Francisco Mejia
AJ Minter
Mickey Moniak
Colin Moran
Jhailyn Ortiz
Austin Riley
Luis Robert
Victor Robles
Brendan Rodgers
Sixto Sanchez
Jesus Sanchez
Nick Senzel
Michael Soroka
Juan Soto
Fernando Tatis
Leody Tavares
Taylor Trammell
Kyle Tucker
Luis Urias
Alex Verdugo
Forest Whitley
Kyle Wright
 
1Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:12
THE DRAFT IS OVER!

Excellent draft, everyone. We are done a week before the season starts. We must have had a really good pace, because we started 5 days earlier (by comparison) than last year but finished 7 days earlier overall.

Having a little time between is important for administrative duties. Tosh generously takes our draft and re-enters it into ESPN, which allows all of the undrafted players to be placed on waivers. Waivers run for 48 hours so this will give teams plenty of time to get their team in order, consider waiver pickups and be set for Opening Day.

NOTE: No pickups can be made until waivers are run.
 
2Bmd
      ID: 825715
      Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:54
Regarding callups and sent downs. Is this correct assuming "prospect A" never goes above prospect limits?

Prospect A called up
Prospect A sent down
Prospect A called up
Prospect A sent down
Prospect A called up(can no longer be sent down).
 
3Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 14:07
2: That is correct. All send downs assume that the prospect has not exceeded AB/IP thresholds.

That last call up in your scenario can be as a 10th keeper. Doesn't matter. Two full call ups/send downs while retaining rights.
 
4Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 14:19
ESPN is good for a lot of things.

Entering off-line drafts that involve keepers and in-draft trades is NOT one of them.

I'll get back to finishing the data entry this evening. Most rosters are complete. I need to figure out and process the trades.

If your roster is currently in error, or missing a player (or two), don't be afraid to speak up.

I'll be back later ......

 
5Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 16:20
I've only done it in Yahoo, and its very easy there. We already have our rosters, so I'm not sure why the draft needs to be completed in ESPN?
 
6Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 17:03
Agreed that Yahoo is very easy.

We always re-enter the draft so that players can properly go through waivers. My feelings get a little hurt when no one makes a claim. So be sure to do it!
 
7Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 23:17
THINGS OF NOTE -- I cannot find any trades that resolve these issues. Each team listed only has 22 players at Draftime. No teams had extra players this year.
1. Species has only 22 players
2. GreatOne has only 22 players
3. WG has only 22 players

The draft has now been re-set, and re-entered. This is the process (mostly as a checklist for myself for next season)

- Re-set the draft
- Enter the 10th/11th keepers
- Enter the draft results -- (ESPN does not allow going over 23 players.)
- Close the draft
- Process all the in-draft trades. -- (ESPN does not allow to fidget with keepers while entering draft results)
- Go back and add additional draftees, so that everyone has 23 players.
- Re-set Transaction counter to zeros
- Set the Waiver order

I think I did it correctly.

PLEASE CHECK YOUR ROSTER FOR ACCURACY!!
 
8Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 13:54
THANK YOU TOSH for the usual HUGE help after the draft. What a pain that is......but a necessary evil to help us use the tools for our draft efficiently.

My roster is accurate. I traded Godley and didn't get a pick back.

Waiver order is set. Everyone is on waivers, so now we are in full Regular Season mode and should be operating as normal.

Species 2018 Season Preview:

There are several teams looking to end blue hen's reign of tyranny:

slizz -- Kershaw, Correa and Rendon lead a top-to-bottom list of strong players on his roster. He does have some risk in that he is reliant upon several young players to significantly contribute, between Moncada, Buxton, Polanco and Mazara. He doesn't need them all to break out necessarily, but he just needs them to step up. My guess is he has 1 breakout, 2 very good years and one bust amongst the quartet. I like his pitching mix -- Kershaw and Price leading some stud RP and some upside SP in Richards and Morton.

Meatwads -- Some idiot filled him up with a beastly hitting trio to make a run this year, and he put together a really strong team. A beast of an offense led by Joey Gallo, E5, Hoskins (another brilliant trade by yours truly) and Nelson Cruz in the power department with Christian Yelich's supreme consistency and Dee Gordon's elite steals and you have a potent mix of big power, OBP and steals. Jansen and Diaz lead a HUGE RP core of uber-elite K/9 relievers with Chad Green and David Robertson to team with a lot of sites' darling Luis Castillo. If Johnny Cueto and Zack Godley do what I think they will do, I think Meatwads has a supreme mix of starters and relievers to do very well.

Guru -- don't sleep on the Boss this year. He started with the perfect infield, with studs at 1b, 2b, SS and 3b as well as top 10 OF George Springer on the hitting side. He combined that with 4 strong pitchers - All-World Kluber and underrated Hendricks to go with 2 decent to good closers in Doolittle and Vizcaino. Guru has joined the high K/9, low ratio relief core trend by adding Andrew Miller, CJ Edwards and Mychal Givens to his pitching staff. With only 5 hitter keepers (as awesome as they are) however, Guru has a challenge to keep up with the other favorites. It might be fair to suggest that in-season management (streaming, trades) could be low on Guru's strengths list.....he will need to be on the top of his game to keep up in hitting.

Fosten -- Any team with Goldy, Turner and Trout has to be discussed. But while I do not want to be unfairly critical, I am going to have to observe that no team has done less with more than this team. Keeping Billy Hamilton when you have Turner, Trout, Goldy and Zimmer as a 10th keeper is a complete waste of resources....and you draft Mallex Smith on top of it. Why? Fosten also missed the RP memo and drafted a bunch of hurt/mediocre starters. Admittedly guys like Wheeler and Matz undoubtedly have upside and are worthwhile investments for many G20 teams. But they would look a lot better on a rebuilding team than they would a contender who has 3 top 15 overall players on his roster.

blue hen -- bh is the best in-season manager in G20. He is going to need to be this year if he wants to beat some of these other teams. While his hitting core of Votto, Altuve and Donaldson are top notch, and Schwarber is primed for a huge year while Elvis Andrus looks very solid at SS. There is little doubt he is starting with one of the best bases of pitching there is between Verlander, Archer, Cole (if he ever turns the corner) and Paxton -- will that be enough with spotty closers (LAA combo and Brach, who has Givens to contend with and Britton coming back)? Honestly I am skeptical. I think bh is vulnerable.

Up-and-comers:
mjd: Putting together a lot of very high end keepers/potential keepers in Ray/Sanchez/Giolito/Puk and on offense with Olson/Margot/Happ/Eloy/ and guys like Mateo and Dejong as well.

Tree: I gave Tree a hard time for appearing like he is barely alive (pops in and out), but very quietly had an amazing draft, pooling together players who can come back into value like JBJ, C. Taylor, N. Williams, Profar, Rosario, and Jordan Montgomery. He has Stroman, Gausman and Taillon, who seemingly have been on breakout lists for 3 or 4 years. Hopefully 2 of them break out and he has some strong SP keepers moving forward. Coming up through the farm he has Kopech and Willie Calhoun ready as well!

Nerfherders: Last but NOT least (if not first!), Nerf has assembled a beast of a SP staff with Scherzer and MadBum along with McCullers (if he can ever stay healthy) and Snell (ready to break out) along with the potential of Sean Manaea. He has Bellinger and Myers as offensive stalwarts and his patience with Orlando Arcia and Lewis Brinson (from our 2016 N. Cruz trade) sure look like they will be rewarded this year. He also has Luis Gohara on the farm.

youngroman: Not so much up and coming, as he has a stable of strong keepers. Roman's problem seems to always be health and things not just gelling together in the same year. If Miguel Cabrera has a decent year, with his hitting flexibility (Cabrera with 3-position eligibility, Morales at DH) he can put up some big numbers of offense.

Great One: Could this be the year it all comes together? He has seemingly been on the cusp for 3 years. But now he has established beasts in Freeman, Baez, Arenado, Devers and Bogaerts on his infield with Domingo in the OF. The trio of CMart, Wood (needs to stay healthy and endure a 180 IP season) and Quintana are strong and Lamet could take a huge step forward this year. Adding to that he has Rodgers and Lewis on the farm.

Thumper -- He has done a lot with the team he inherited, and has Bird, Shaw, Castellanos, Souza, Chapman, Kingery, Crawford and the Prodigy himself Ronald Acuna coming up (yikes!). He has Luke Weaver and Walker Beuhler on his pitching staff and Britton as a closer-stud-in-waiting.

Other teams have some building blocks as well!

Despite my temporary re-load, I am extraordinarily excited about 2018, as I think this will be a real dogfight year (similar to 2016) where 3 or 4 teams have legitimate chances to win.
 
9Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 12:05
...very quietly had an amazing draft...

aww, shucks.

thank you. i felt pretty lucky that in most cases, if there was a player i was targeting, he turned out to be available when i was looking for him.

i'm thrilled to be able to continue my man crush on Profar, and hopefully the Rangers will find a place for him and he'll end up becoming a full-time super utility guy.

and what, no love for Gleyber Torres among my prospects? ;)
 
10Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 13:11
Still awaiting league dues from BMD, Nerf, Pete N, Tree, Judy, and Youngroman.

See this post for details.
 
11Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 14:21
Gee. I like my team, but I guess no one else does. If the youNg’uns decide to grow up, it will be interesting...
 
12beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 14:24
Guru, sorry for the delay. I've sent payment.
 
13Bmd
      ID: 825715
      Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 17:01
Judy, Species is just buttering them up for future trade talks.
 
14Species
      ID: 102481820
      Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 17:46
13: Hahahahaha......yes,there is that

......plus a laziness in avoiding writing up 19 teams
 
15GO
      ID: 14143919
      Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 21:27
I have interest in acquiring an additional starting pitcher. Have a variety of resources to pay for it. Picks or players etc depending on if you are rebuilding or not.
 
16Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Sat, Mar 24, 2018, 20:02
Anyone else having trouble with ESPN saving lineups?

I tried to schedule thru April 4, but when I go back and double check they are back to something I didn’t put in...
 
17Fosten
      ID: 4097314
      Mon, Mar 26, 2018, 10:46
Species, great analysis! You are a perennial contender and your team is ready for another run. Abreu, Sano, Seager, Betts, Conforto are a solid core of players, even if DeGrom has no hair. I am expecting a top score from your squad once again. However my good fellow, pertaining to the Mobsters, we must be using different maths! I am quite hopeful these lads can play good baseball.

The troops!
  • 4 keepers from R9’s 2015 team: Goldy, Trout, Billy, Trea (was a p-keeper at the time)
  • 4 keepers from trades: Darvish, Upton, Berrios, Meadows (p-keeper)
  • 3 keepers from drafts: Rivero, Iglesias, Zimmer (10th keeper)
Less with more!
  • 3 starters to eat innings (@MetsGM #TradeHarveyForBundy #WorldSeries): Bundy, Wheeler, Matz
  • 2 hitters for roster flexibility: Mallex - led the minors in SB once. Crush - led the majors in HR twice.
  • 2 relievers to round out the pen: M.Montgomery - beat the Curse of the Billy Goat. Holland - had 166 SV over his last 4 season (Jansen 168).
Fosten’s Opening Day Jamboree Giveaway!
  • 2B Raul Adalberto Mondesi, KC - 22 - had 13 HR & 21 SB in 321 AB at AAA last year.
  • (p-keeper) 3B Jeimer Candelario, DET - 24 - will be the best Tigers rookie. Since Dale Alexander in 1929.
  • SP Brandon Finnegan, CIN - 24 - started last season with a 9k 1-hitter before injuries derailed his breakout.
  • OF Max Kepler, MIN - 25 - is a 9-year Twins veteran, scouted at 14, signed at 16.
  • C Austin Hedges, SDG - 25 - had 18 HR as a rookie, changed his swing this off-season for more HR.
  • OF Hunter Renfroe, SDG - 26 - had 26 HR as a rookie, has 70 raw power.
  • SP Tyler Skaggs, LAA - 26 - At this point, what hasn’t been said about Tyler Skaggs!
Best of luck this year and well wishes to everyone. Looking forward to another exciting season of g20!
 
18Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Mon, Mar 26, 2018, 11:23
Ugh, Bumgarner. I guess I'll wait til next year!
 
19blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Mar 26, 2018, 12:15
Blue Hen's Official Best Pick By Round

1.02 Tosh (tie) - Yasiel Puig - should have been kept
1.18 BMD (tie) - Jeff Samardzija - underrated, hope the injury isn't serious
2.15 Guru - Brett Gardner - never gets kept, always gets drafted high
3.07 Tree (tie) - Todd Frazier - power is a guarantee
3.14 Slizz (tie) - Eric Thames - needs some PT, but potential keeper
4.03 Tree - Amed Rosario - will he ever break out?
5.19 Great One - David Dahl - will HE ever break out?
6.12 Nerf - Aaron Altherr - it's crowded, but if he plays, he'll do well
7.18 mjd - Jorge Soler - it's all set up for him to break out this year
8.05 Slizz - Drew Steckenrider - up near the league leaders in letters in name, one ahead of "Barraclough"
9.11 Darkside - Carlos Gomez - has great history if he can recapture it
10.09 Species (tie) - Starlin Castro - he started so young, he's still not that old
10.17 Fosten (tie) - Raul Mondesi - he's a good gamble at this point
11.04 Thumper - Devon Travis - when healthy, he's a very viable G20 starter
12.12 Nerf - Curtis Granderson - one down year, but he's still got it, power and walks are great in this league
13.18 WG - Steven Duggar - decent prospects, looks like he'll get a shot
14.05 WG - Jake Diekman - heh, outside shot he closes, worth the gamble
 
20Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 10:41
Calling up prospect AJ Minter for the 1st time.
 
22Fosten
      ID: 4097314
      Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 11:29
Calling up prospect Jeimer Candelario for the 1st time.
 
23Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 19:12
I am already NOT LIKING this new Phillies managers decisions...
 
25Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Sat, Mar 31, 2018, 12:49
All prize-pool dues for 2018 are now paid. Thanks.
 
26Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Sun, Apr 01, 2018, 15:13
I currently have no home runs, no wins, and no saves.

This season is starting off promising.
 
27Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 16:46
4 on DL, manager sitting Herrera and Franco.

Prediction: Phillies manager will be gone by June 30.
 
28blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 11:01
I'll take you up on that bet. There is no way Kapler isn't still the manager July 1. I don't have much issue with benching Odubel (crowded OF) or Franco (especially if it gets both Cesar and Kingery in).
 
29Khahan
      ID: 2911322610
      Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 14:55
I had the Phillies as a dark horse wild card team this year. But with Kapler at the helm, that doesn't seem feasible. However, the question is - how does the front office feel about the team? If they think the team is still in full rebuild mode, they wont care about Kapler as much. But if they think the Phillies were going to be competitive in 2018, he's gone sooner rather than later. I hate to say it, but I think the front office still views the team as in being in rebuild mode. Which is a shame.
 
30Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 15:40
I interpret the Phillies as a team of ascension. With rookies/2nd year players like Crawford, Hoskins, Kingery, Williams and Alfaro anchoring the offense -- that is a LOT of reliance on young players. Sorry, but that is a very tall order for such a young team. They will be improved but they have a way to go until contention.

Patience. I love where they are going, and if they are truly players for Harper next year, watch out!
 
31GO
      ID: 14143919
      Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 18:45
Fire the coach!
 
32Meatwads
      ID: 221352816
      Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 16:59
If anyone out there hoarding 11 shortstops would like to trade one, get in touch with me.

It turns out losing my starter to a 80-game suspension is more of a burden than my weak mind can deal with.

I'm looking for a solid, stop-gap level guy. Not looking to pay for untapped upside or aiming for franchise players. Someone who plays most days and doesn't butcher my OBP. Someone who won't be a keeper, but could help this season.
 
33Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Sat, Apr 07, 2018, 09:04
Andrelton Simmons is available for the right price. He was a keeper, so I expect keeper value for him.
 
34Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Sat, Apr 07, 2018, 20:14
Franco heating up. He’s changed his launch angle so he should hit more HR...
The OF is so crowded with Hoskins who has to play, Herrera, Altherr and Williams. I don’t know how he can keep them all happy.
Also the inf is Franco, Crawford, Hernandez and Kingery: not sure how to keep them happy.

Tough dilemma. But you don’t want to alienate or trade any of them...

This team needs to be in the AL for the DH. It would be perfect for player rotation...

Too bad baseball doesn’t do free substitution...😚⚾️

The pitching will be the decider.

 
35youngroman
      ID: 19238238
      Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 04:54
I did not want to jinx it yesterday, but: OHTANI

2 games as pitcher: 1st a quality start, 2nd carrying a perfect game into the 7th with 12 K's. 2 games, 2 wins.
4 games as batter: 3 HR

it will be fun with him in the next few years.
 
36Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 17:19
Drives me nuts that espn locks players whose games are postponed...

What is the rationale for that. I could have put a sub in for russell...
 
37GO
      ID: 565491620
      Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 23:35
I've also never understood that. But i think we ask that every year.
 
38blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 11:44
Why lock anything ever? What would you propose instead?
 
39Khahan
      ID: 2911322610
      Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 13:07
Why lock anything ever? What would you propose instead?

Just that postponed games don't get locked so we can move players out for active ones.
 
40GO
      ID: 14143919
      Wed, Apr 11, 2018, 18:37
Explain why you would lock players into a game that doesn't happen in the first place. At the least it should be for games that are called in advance. I think we all understand if it's an in game rainout.
 
41blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 09:37
What if your player isn't starting in that game? I mean, you have to draw the line somewhere.
 
42Khahan
      ID: 2911322610
      Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 13:17
Draw the line at when the game starts (in the case of a ppd game, it doesn't start so it shouldn't lock). And your player not playing in that game is kind of point - no player is playing in the game. Just set the coding so that ppd doesn't lock players out when game time starts.
 
43Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 13:33
All non-keepers on my team available:

- Hanley Ramirez - placing 8th on the Player Rater in the early going. He has boasted of wanting to go 30-30 and already has 3 SB. He has 7 starts at 1b already so should be 1b eligible soon. Obviously not being platooned so Moreland is not an issue.

- Starlin Castro looks great as a leader amongst the fiery Marlins.

- Matt Kemp has a .412 obp in the early going and makes a great plug guy 4 or 5 times a week.

Looking mostly for 2019 supplemental pick upgrades but anything is considered.
 
44GO
      ID: 565491620
      Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 21:19
GO acquires Brandon Morrow (and Thumqer 10th round 2019 Supp Pick)
Thumpqer acquires Dinelson Lamet (and Thumqer's 3rd round 2019 Supp Pick -- owned by GO)
 
45Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Fri, Apr 13, 2018, 07:38
Confirmed
 
46blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Apr 13, 2018, 09:36
Looking to deal newly-injured Elvis Andrus for a like-valued outfielder, closer, or both.
 
47blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Apr 13, 2018, 15:57
And now I need a third baseman too.
 
48Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Sat, Apr 14, 2018, 09:42
I am apparently a very bad luck charm for Dinelson Lamet. Gets TJ surgery news the day after I trade for him! Sorry Dinelson!
 
49Species
      ID: 102481820
      Sun, Apr 15, 2018, 17:43
Trade:

WG gets Hanley Ramirez and Species' 2019 8th

Species gets WG' 2019 3rd
 
50WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Sun, Apr 15, 2018, 19:53
Confirmed
 
51Fosten
      ID: 4097314
      Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 13:44
So, an 11:05am game was cancelled a day in advance, but I can't pickup FA this afternoon for tonight's schedule, because ESPN already flipped the calendar? C'mon Disney, get it together.
 
52WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 14:55
You know who does have it together? Judy and I, who just made the following trade:

Judy gets Ian Kennedy and WG 2019 6
WG gets Jose Peraza and Judy 2019 7
 
53Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 15:15
Confirmed.
 
54Blue hen
      ID: 410452818
      Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 19:15
Would love to hear how Judy projects Kennedy and Peraza and how she arrived at the value that wound up in here. Also interested to hear about other offers for Peraza she considered.
 
55Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 19:42
Geez BH.

I need another decent starter and have 3 SS. WG wanted a SS. My other 2 SS are more valuable to me than Peraza.
Russell is a keeper and Owings has 2B, SS and OF flexibility.

No one else asked about Peraza. Also have Panik at 2B.

What’s not to like?
 
56Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Tue, Apr 17, 2018, 09:54
Just sent ticket to ESPN about locking players of ppd games. Here is the link if you would also like to let them know.

https://support.espn.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000010352&category=Fantasy%20Baseball§ion=managing_your_league_&article=360000088011&articleName=lineup_lock_times_
 
57Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Wed, Apr 18, 2018, 16:29
They did it again. Russell locked, but if he weren’t I could have put a sub in to maybe get some counting stats.

What is the problem with these guys.

Makes no sense!
 
58beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 11:26
Calling up Colin Moran for the 1st time.
 
59beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 11:37
Kennedy for Peraza? A guy that wasn’t even drafted, pitching for one of the worst teams in MLB, and had a 5.38 ERA last year for a guy that was kept that is playing everyday at a premium position with 30 SB potential?

I’m far from a Peraza fan but Kennedy is terrible. He’s at best a streaming option in this league. Picking him up a week before and somehow getting a keeper out of him is just crazy.
 
60slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 21:06
TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT

Slizz trades:
Tyler O’Neill, OF, STL
2019 10th rd s-draft pick

Thumqer trades:
Matt Strahm, P, SD
2019 6th rd s-draft pick
 
61Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 21:08
Confirmed!
 
62Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 12:35
Trade noted.

We are roughly 13% through the baseball season. Understanding there have been a lot of rainouts and different teams have simply missed some games, still teams should be cognizant of their GP and IP. The longer you wait to improve your pace, the harder it is.

Teams should have roughly 178 GP and 156 IP at this time to be on pace. All teams have sufficient GP to date (great job), however 6 teams are currently falling short of IP.

It is very early. Just reminding teams very early to be cognizant. Thanks!
 
63blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 13:05
13 percent, wow! And Joey Gallo still has 50 more home runs to hit.

I'm looking to deal for a solid closer and an older hitter (possibly non-keeper, but someone I definitely won't drop). I have starting pitching to burn, and a nice prospect situation, plus picks.
 
64WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 20:35
I’ll offer a higher pick for a solid closer. Bidding war!
 
65 beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 23:32
Jordan Hicks is available. Looking for a pick upgrade in 2019 Supp draft.
 
66GO
      ID: 565491620
      Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 23:35
Crazy that Kennedy has a ownership percentage than Peraza.
 
67Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 17:35
FYI -- I will be out of the country from May 1st through May 19th. While I will have wi-fi everywhere I am going, I am doubtful I will be checking the boards or returning emails very much during this time.

Please direct any commissioner related requests to Tosh and Guru. They have League Manager authorities on ESPN - and as far as I am concerned - I am comfortable delegating any commissioner-like rulings to them as well. I will leave it to them to decide their comfort level in doing so. Barring some huge controversy, I don't expect anything material to pop up that they couldn't handle.
 
68beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 23:46
Calling up Jack Flaherty for the first time.
 
69slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 00:12
TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT

Slizz trades:
Danny Valencia, 1B, BAL
My 2019 6th rd pick

BMD trades:
Jordan Hicks, RP, STL
BMD 2019 8th rd pick
 
70beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 00:14
Confirm.
 
72mjd
      Dude
      ID: 501381415
      Sun, Apr 29, 2018, 14:23
Confirmed
 
73beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Sun, Apr 29, 2018, 15:25
The Gibson/Martin trade was between slizz and mjd. I was not involved.
 
74slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Mon, Apr 30, 2018, 09:05
Hahaha whoops...sorry Bmd!
 
75slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Mon, Apr 30, 2018, 12:09
TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT

Slizz trades:
Russell Martin, C, TOR
2019 7th rd pick

MJD trades:
Kyle Gibson, SP, MIN
2019 11th rd pick

***self edited for reference
 
76beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Mon, Apr 30, 2018, 17:27
Sending Flaherty down for the 1st time.
 
77blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, May 01, 2018, 17:31
Team Blue Hen May 1 Report

6th place is obviously disappointing for the defending champs, but two big keepers (Donaldson and Elvis) missed significant time. When you only keep 5 hitters, that's a recipe for disaster. Along with the dumpster fire of closers, it's good to at least be in the hunt.

Hard to argue with the keepers selected. Miguel Cabrera's been quite good, but can't make a case that he should have been kept. Verlander and Cole have been fantastic, and Paxton and Archer are still looking to dominate. Schwarber took that step up we've been expected, and Votto and Altuve produced as expected.

The draft is another story. Bedrosian and Brach are barely hanging on to their roster spots, and Parker is already gone. That's three of the first four picks. Semien went from excess at the draft to a necessity when Andrus went down. Maybin and Dyson are two other draft picks still around, although the steals haven't been there.

The big strength has been waivers. Lucchesi, Triggs, Bautista, and Villanueva all have pretty good value right now. As usual, waivers is better than the draft.

It's going to be a fun season - no running away with things this year. And will definitely need a closer!
 
78blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, May 04, 2018, 13:58
Anyone got a closer?
 
79blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, May 09, 2018, 14:41
Looking to deal these players for RP, OF, and youth.

James Paxton
Joey Lucchesi
Elvis Andrus
Christian Villanueva
Derek Fisher
Jarrod Dyson
 
80 beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Wed, May 09, 2018, 17:44
Wade Davis and Boxberger available. Looking for picks in return.
 
81beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Thu, May 10, 2018, 00:18
Sending Moran down for the 1st time.
 
82beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Thu, May 10, 2018, 10:26
If interested in Wade Davis, send me an offer by 7 ET. I’ve had a few inquiries and would like to get a trade processed by midnight tonight.
 
83 WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Thu, May 10, 2018, 12:11
Anyone want Nick Kingham, SP, Pirates for an older SP??
 
85beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Thu, May 10, 2018, 19:59
Wade Davis Trade:

Bmd gets WG’s 2020 1st round supplemental pick
WG gets bmd’s 2020 14th round supplemental pick.
 
86beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Fri, May 11, 2018, 22:07
Boxberger Trade:

Bmd gets BH’s 2019 2nd round supplemental pick
BH gets bmd’s 2019 13th round supplemental pick
 
87 Khahan
      ID: 2911322610
      Mon, May 14, 2018, 15:26
Hey folks
Hotmail has decided to make changes to their inbox and those changes are not compatible with security protocols on my work computer. Basically I can see the intro to a message but nothing else. Can't open, forward, reply etc. So if I'm suddenly slow in responding to messages its because I really only have time at home in the evenings and can't do it anymore from work. If we're in the middle of trade talks, bear with me.
 
88Fosten
      ID: 4097314
      Mon, May 14, 2018, 16:33
And on the 285th AB, Candelario went for an MRI... Mobsters send Jeimer down for the 1st time.
 
89blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, May 15, 2018, 10:34
Boxberger trade confirmed.
 
90Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Tue, May 15, 2018, 13:38
Meatwads and I have agreed to a trade:

Bean sends 2020 last pick and Andrelton Simmons
Meatwads sends 2020 2nd pick and Jonathon Villar
 
91Meatwads
      ID: 43056268
      Tue, May 15, 2018, 13:41
<90> Confirmed
 
92blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, May 15, 2018, 14:30
Looking to trade Elvis Andrus and Joey Lucchesi for an outfielder and a closer of similar quality.
 
93 WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, May 15, 2018, 14:50
Looking to swap Justin Smoak for an OF... anyone interested??
 
94Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Wed, May 16, 2018, 10:22
i've had several inquiries about Yasmani Grandal. he's definitely available.

if interested, i'm looking for starting pitching (preferably with Ks), and just about any keeper level player that's not in his 30 or older.

also, package deals are good too.
 
95GO
      ID: 14143919
      Thu, May 17, 2018, 19:03
Only one more month of Gabe Kapler coaching?
 
96slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Thu, May 17, 2018, 22:56
Brutal. Just brutal. Re: Kapler

Anyone want Steckenrider or Betances?

I need to shed a spot and can live with trading one...
 
97slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Fri, May 18, 2018, 17:29
I’m gonna start fielding offers for my players. 2 months in and my season didn’t go as planned:

-my streaming is as good as my keeper hitting.
-Buxton sucks again
-Kershaw fastball is down another mph and is no longer elite
-Price has been awful
-DL hit my team hard

If things don’t improve quickly I will be a seller...
 
98ttucowboy
      ID: 35226100
      Sun, May 20, 2018, 08:09
Trade Announcement

Khahan trades:
Brian Dozier

ttucowboy trades:
Yadier Alvarez (p)
2019 1st round prospect pick
2019 2nd round prospect pick

****I'm also looking to trade for a closer. The market has been set and I'm willing to pay full market price (1st, 2nd or 3rd round supplemental pick depending on who we are talking about).


 
99Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Sun, May 20, 2018, 11:03
confirmed.
 
100beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Sun, May 20, 2018, 11:54
Calling up Flaherty for the 2nd time.
 
101blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, May 21, 2018, 12:26
Upping this a bit. Looking to package Elvis Andrus (or Marcus Semien) and James Paxton (or Chris Archer) for the best hitter I can get in return. If you're fine in hitting and struggling in pitching, let's talk.
 
102Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Tue, May 22, 2018, 10:54
Nice trades!! Trades updated on the website, as well as the two Flaherty callups.

Anyone looking for a strong veteran SP should hit me up about CC Sabathia. Great ratios so far and pitching on one of the best teams in the league. I also have Matt Kemp as a solid OF bat and Starlin Castro if anyone loses a 2b.
 
103Meatwads
      ID: 43056268
      Wed, May 23, 2018, 12:55
Meatwads calling up Juan Soto for the first time!!
 
104Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Wed, May 23, 2018, 17:33
With three of my best four hitters on the DL, I am way past trying to compete, and simply looking for enough warm bodies to play games for me so I don't go under the inane GP limits.

Meanwhile, I have the best pitching staff in the league. I'm willing to trade an SP for a hitter of any position.
 
105blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, May 25, 2018, 13:57
Trade Announcement

Khahan receives:
- Marcus Semien

Blue Hen receives:
- Kelvin Herrera
- Khahan's highest available 2nd round prospect pick at the time of prospect keepers. If he trades all of his 2nds, it becomes a first.
 
106Khahan
      ID: 2911322610
      Fri, May 25, 2018, 14:02
confirmed 105. If all my 2nds are used, it becomes my lowest first round.

but since i'm looking to acquire p picks, not trade them, that's likely not a concern.

To others who have inquired about one of my closers, they are now off the market.
 
107darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Fri, May 25, 2018, 14:46
Trade announcement
Tree gets Manny Pina, prospect Miguel Andujar and darkside's 2019 11th round supplemental

and

darkside gets Yasmani Grandal and Tree's 2019 8th round supplemental
 
108Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Fri, May 25, 2018, 15:02
Confirmed.
 
109Fosten
      ID: 4097314
      Sat, May 26, 2018, 10:34
Calling up Candelario for the 2nd time.
 
110darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Sat, May 26, 2018, 20:27
The McCullers for Cain deal is straight up. No picks/prospects/etc.
 
111Nerfherders
      ID: 2211442615
      Sat, May 26, 2018, 20:33
Confirmed
 
112Fosten
      ID: 4097314
      Wed, May 30, 2018, 00:35
Calling up Austin Meadows for the 1st time.
Putting Justin Upton, Max Kepler, and Dustin Fowler on the trade block.
 
113Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Wed, May 30, 2018, 13:46
I'm ready to part ways with Arcia and Brinson, if anyone would like to take a chance on a couple of young players.
 
114blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, May 30, 2018, 16:10
Looking to deal Paxton or Archer (or Verlander), I guess, for the best hitter who will have me.
 
115blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, May 30, 2018, 16:12
Looking to deal Paxton or Archer (or Verlander, I guess), for the best hitter who will have me.
 
116Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, May 31, 2018, 16:58
We are basically 1/3 of the way through the season. For our GP and IP limits, that means you should be around 458 games played to date. I am pleased to report that ALL teams are above that threshold. Great job! For IP, you should be at 400 IP. I am disappointed to report that 8 teams are below that threshold. Some significantly so. Please do your best to pick up the pace.

Tosh has run out to a lead at the 1/3 pole, but stalwarts WG, bh and Guru are hot on his heels. darkside quite often surprises in the early going......can he reverse the trend of the past and stay in contention? Can Meatwads bring his team out of slumber to the top 3 where he belongs?

Lots to play out as the calendar turns to June. Good luck to all!
 
117Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 08:34
(Continuing Species post) what a better way to sustain or take a lead than reinforcing your team with a trade? Available for trade are Francisco Cervelli (Pos rank 1), CJ Cron (Pos rank 3), and miles mikolas (pos rank 15). I’m looking to package players together for solid younger talent.

I’m nawoomer at the google mail if you’re interested.
 
118blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 10:56
Team Blue Hen June 1 Report

Phew, glad I get to write this today vs. a couple weeks ago. As of this writing, Team Blue Hen is in second place, 8.5 points out of first. Earlier this month the team was... not doing as well.

So far, the story of our 2018 season has been pitching. We knew it would be a strength, after keeping four stud starters - Verlander, Archer, Cole, and Paxton. Verlander and Paxton have been about as expected. Cole has exceeded expectations, although he has a high pedigree and has been a top pitcher in the past. Archer came into the season with high expectations but struggled in April. But his 2.33 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in May could mean he is back on track. Overall, the team's 0.96 WHIP in May has led to 79 out of 80 points in non-save categories.

We knew relief pitching would be a problem, and tried to address it at the draft. Three of the first four picks were relievers, and in-draft trades for Wade Davis and Brandon Morrow fell through. May saw trades for Kelvin Herrera and Brad Boxberger, both having fantastic seasons, and they join waiver find Seranthony Dominguez (13 innings, no walks or runs), and draftee Brad Brach to form a solid bullpen. Sitting 14th in saves right now, but hoping to add a bunch of points as the season progresses.

Three keeper hitters have been solid: Jose Altuve, Joey Votto, and Kyle Schwarber are about where you would expect, and garnering the core of our stats. Josh Donaldson and Elvis Andrus have been injured, but we've been pretty lucky with their replacements. Both should be back and healthy in June.

Marcus Semien, in particular, was a revelation, providing great numbers leading off for the A's and bringing back Herrera in trade. Already, he's been the best pick of my draft.

This year, my streaming and waivers hitters have been quite good. Brandon Nimmo is the star, and at 25, looks like he'll stick around a while. He's a walks machine, but has shown power and speed this year. As for others, 9 of my stolen bases have come from streams this year, and 10 home runs. And streamed pitching has been good as well, although we are still searching for our first streamed save.

Overall, you have to feel pretty good about the team's performance in May. If some of these hitters can pick it up, or if we can trade some pitching for hitting, we'll be right there with the best of them.

See you in July!
 
119slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Sat, Jun 02, 2018, 17:22
I still think I can win this thing. Clayton Kershaw for sale. Need a pitcher and maybe a hitter.
 
120Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Tue, Jun 05, 2018, 20:12
Wow, rock bottom.

Is it time to give up on my young uns?

Gave up on ozuna, Nola and a couple others and look where they are now...
 
121Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Tue, Jun 05, 2018, 22:33
sitting in 13th place on my team Judy!!
 
122youngroman
      ID: 20555612
      Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 13:55
anyone interested in a first baseman? I have 4 eligible players on my roster that I am confident in playing on a daily basis:

Miguel Cabrera, back from his injury. OBP of .394 for the season. the HR's should follow
Max Muncy, outplaying Cody Bellinger, also eligible at 3B. 7 HR's and a OBP of .382 in the last 30 days.
Mitch Moreland, now the everyday 1B for the Red Sox, 10 homers and a OBP of .373 on the season
Ryan Braun, also eligible at OF. better than average, but not as great as he was in the past. already has 6 SB's though.

looking for stolen bases no matter at which position. willing to invest a 2nd player to make it work.
 
123Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 18:09
I also have some useful players available:

Matt Kemp: .374 obp, 9 HR, 34 RBI
Eduardo Nunez: Pedroia out. Multi position eligibility. SB.
Solarte: Multi position eligibility in solid TOR lineup.
 
124 beastiemiked
      ID: 825715
      Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 20:02
Alex Reyes is available. He’s still a keeper for me but my team is trying to compete so I may move him for a player producing that may be a fringe keeper. Interested in a SP or closer.
 
125Species
      ID: 102481820
      Sun, Jun 10, 2018, 17:05
Trade announcement:

Slizz receives:
Matt Kemp
Species' 2019 6th

Species receives:
Nick Williams (welcome back)
Slizz best 3rd in 2019
 
126slizz
      ID: 36362320
      Sun, Jun 10, 2018, 18:04
Confirmed.
 
127Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 15:10
man, Nick Williams has been around the world this year.

if anyone needs hitting, Todd Frazier is back at it, and available, for players and/or picks that will help me some this year, and certainly down the road.
 
128GO
      ID: 14143919
      Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 10:27
Wow, 7 HR night. Hopefully sign of my team really waking up.... kind of just been cruising along.

Still looking to add good reliable SP. Non keeper type.
 
129Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 10:29
Trade:

WG gets Stephen Wright and Y. Solarte and Thumper's 9th via Species

Species gets WG's drops and his 2019 5th.
 
130WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 16:45
Confirmed
 
131Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 13:49
Trade:

Tosh receives:
Sam Dyson
Species 2020 7th

Species receives:
Addison Reed
Tosh 2020 5th
 
132Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 14:00
confirmed
 
133ttucowboy
      ID: 545112110
      Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 11:12
Trade Announcement

Bean trades:
Fernando Rodney

ttucowboy trades:
2019 1st round supplemental draft pick
 
134Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 11:34
confirmed
 
135blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 13:28
I have some questions for the league. A guy named Reyes Moronta got the save yesterday for the Giants, in a bullpen that is definitely "in flux" after Strickland's injury. WG just added him now, 15 hours after the same happened, meaning there was ample time for people who check up on G20 either at night or in the morning to have seen the news. I'm a little curious why he sat on the waiver wire so long.

Which category do you fit into?
- You are WG.
- You have so many saves, the extra closer wouldn't help.
- You have so few saves, the extra closer wouldn't help.
- You had a trade for Fernando Rodney in the works, and while you needed saves, didn't think it would be honorable to stop the trade discussions.
- There was a slow-cooker related fire in your house last night, and you were too busy saving the dog and some pictures to notice.
- You only follow the Phillies, so had no interest in the result of a Giants game.
- You have a bias against someone with the first name Reyes (make your own political jokes, I'm not touching that one).
- You only check in to G20 every few days, so missed this entirely.
- You are actually a host, and this is just a ploy by Robert Ford to annoy BH.

Personally, I was loading up on bats for today's Thursday off day, and didn't have room. But looking at the transactions, not many of you were doing the same.
 
136Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 14:04
Two answers:

1) I am Robert Ford and love to annoy you

2) I listen to Giants radio any time I am in the car and feel very strongly that Moronta has very little chance for save opportunities. Yesterday Sam Dyson was pitching on his 3rd day in a row and just didn't quite have the snap on his pitches. It happens.
 
137Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 15:47
you left off:

- there's an asinine minimum innings pitched requirement, so a reliever with 33 IP so far this year isn't going to help me hit the category that's most important for non-contending teams, innings pitched.

i've already got one of those guys, and as soon as i drop him, y'all will be on him like vultures, so i'd just as soon hold.

you guys chase saves, i'll chase a non-category like innings pitched and somehow try to build a contender one day.
 
138Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 17:29
I'm not sure what exactly you're driving at, other than trolling.

Most of us don't check every boxscore of every game, every night. We have, you know, better things to do with our time.
 
139beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 22:28
Bh:
Hierarchy remains: Dyson | Watson | Melancon
 
140Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Fri, Jun 22, 2018, 00:09
Sam Dyson started the ninth inning tasked with protecting a three-run lead, but he allowed a pair of runs and exited with runners on first and second before Moronta locked down the win. Even with regular closer Hunter Strickland (hand) on the disabled list, Moronta likely remains behind Dyson and Tony Watson (who had already appeared in Wednesday's game) in the pecking order for saves, but the 25-year-old has an impressive 1.91 ERA and could be an option down the line if Strickland's replacements continue to struggle. - Per rotowire.

Why would we scramble to get him? There are currently 32 pitchers available in FA who have 1 save on the season. People will randomly pick some of them up and on occasion get lucky and get another save or two. What separates him, in your mind, from the other 32 pitchers to choose from with 1 save?
 
141Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Fri, Jun 22, 2018, 08:08
Now that he’s back making rehab appearences... Cueto is up for sale!
 
142Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Fri, Jun 22, 2018, 15:25
Today will be the first time this season that none of my starters are on the DL. Now we get to see how good this team could've been...
 
143blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 12:43
Donaldson, Andrus, Archer, Lucchesi, we all have injuries and need to work through them.
 
144Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 13:03
Calling up Jake Bauers for the first time.
 
145Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 17:48
Well that lasted all of two days, now Cain is down.
 
146blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 09:51
Donaldson on the block. Looking for a shutdown closer and a long term option at third base.
 
147Meatwads
      ID: 7527232
      Sun, Jul 01, 2018, 19:08
I've had enough managers approach me about Juan Soto that I figure a public statement is warranted. I'm letting everyone know he is only available if someone can mathematically guarantee me a title this season. It's a lofty standard to reach but I think he's earned it. He should be untouchable. I have no interest in dealing him, but I will for the title.

 
148blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Jul 02, 2018, 13:35
Team Blue Hen July 1 Report

Here we are at almost exactly halfway through the season. Team Blue Hen is in the driver's seat, in first place by five points, and in pretty good shape for the stretch run.

The theme for June was hitting. After an unbelievable 2.23 ERA 0.96 WHIP in May, those numbers fell to 5.00 and 1.38, salvaged by a good final week. On the hitting front, a .368 OBP with 35 homers and 147 runs set the team's standards for this season, including a week of .392 OBP and 18 homers. 18 homers in a week! So while homers and RBIs remain weak spots, they have room to grow, especially if they want to catch up to pitching, currently leading 81 points to 70.5.

Hitting has gotten to a nice place with Brandon Nimmo (.347, pace for 40 homers), Carlos Gonzalez (.366, pace for 140 runs), Jose Bautista (.341, pace for 100 walks), and Joc Pederson (.386, pace for 50 homers) have been revelations in the outfield (and Bautista at 3B while Donaldson heals). Streaming was great this month, with Nick Ahmed and Ketel Marte filling in for Elvis Andrus, and Jace Peterson lucking into a couple of steals.

Pitching struggled during the month, but James Paxton picked up some slack from Gerrit Cole's regression, and Verlander has given up runs with lots of strikeouts. Hoping Chris Archer gives us a shot in the arm soon. Musgrove and Lucchesi have mixed signs of brilliance with... the other thing.

At one point in June, the team had five active closers - Boxberger, Herrera, Swarzak, Brach, and Dominguez. To wit, it was our highest save total in any month this season. But like in Bryan Adams' Summer of 69, Familia and Britton came back, Herrera got traded, should have known we'd never get far. Still looking for some saves, but at least we got a bunch in June. Maybe some day I'll beat WG/Slizz/Pete/BMD to the waiver wire on a guy that matters. Maybe some day.

So there we are, halfway through and in first place. Hard to complain, but a long way to go. Great to see Meatwads streaking upwards lately, and always nice to see Pete and BMD near the top.

Good luck in the second half!


 
149Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Jul 02, 2018, 14:27
The following prospects have exceeded limits and are on their team's main roster. As such, they have been removed from the Prospect List:

Jeimer Candelario
AJ Minter


Players approaching limits that teams should be aware of:

Jack Flaherty
Miguel Andujar
 
150Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Jul 02, 2018, 15:43
Fellow G20ers:

We are past the halfway point of the season. To reach your 1375 games played minimum, you should have about 700 GP by now. I am pleased to notice that all teams are above that, but one just barely so. Thumper - be sure to keep up your GP!

Teams should be in excess of 600 IP now to reach the 1200 IP threshold. There are SIX teams that are not on pace to do so. I encourage you all to seek to catch up and get on pace.

Good luck to all.

PS - CC Sabathia available!
 
151Species
      ID: 102481820
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 12:35
Trade announcement:

GO receives:
CC Sabathia
Species 2019 8th

Species receives:
Some dude
GO 2019 5th
 
152Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 20:14
Got called out! My bad I deserved it
 
153Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 21:35
Trade announcement

Guru receives:
Johnny Cueto, SP
Miles Mikolas, SP

Thumper receives:
Guru’s 1st 2019 Prospect Pick
Guru’s 1st 2020 Prospect Pick
Chris Bassit, SP
Andrew Suarez, SP
 
154Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 21:36
confirmed
 
155Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 21:40
Actually, I believe the stipulation was my first round prospect pick in each of 2019 & 2020. I was presuming that this was to be my regular first round pick. If I happen to acquire an earlier first round p-draft pick, the traded pick is still my normal 1st round pick.
 
156Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 21:43
Agree on the stipulation
 
157Meatwads
      ID: 7527232
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 22:01
Trade Announcement

Meatwads receives:
Charlie Morton, SP
David Price, SP
Brad Hand, RP

Slizz receives:
Taylor Trammell, OF (Prospect)
Matt Harvey, SP
Nick Kingham, SP
Ivan Nova, SP
1st round supplemental pick (2019)
 
158Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Tue, Jul 03, 2018, 22:16
Confirmed
 
159Fosten
      ID: 4097314
      Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 00:10
Munson Mobsters 5th of July Sales Event!!!
It’s a hot one this year! It’s also a 9 player sale, where you can buy an entire keeper team! So if you want all 9, be sure to ask about our bulk rates. Supplies are limited.

Door buster sales!!!
Whether its power/speed, speed/power, or speed/speed that you’re after, we’ve got all your lawn and garden needs taken care of. Our products are built to handle the toughest g20 seasons. Our top of the line Upton has been voted “The player who is hitting behind Mike Trout" 10 months in a row! Just watch this Kiermaier slice through wood and debris! The Billy model can finish any job in half the time!
  • Justin Upton
  • Kevin Kiermaier
  • Billy Hamilton
Previously used items!!!
The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or an item that has been returned to the seller after a period of use. See the seller's listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
  • Yu Darvish
  • Dylan Bundy
  • Bradley Zimmer
Buy all 3 and win a prize!!!
Do you have what it takes to be a real life GM? The substitute teachers at Citi Field are talking about moving Jacob and Noah. (Mr. Alderson's not going to be happy about this when he gets back! Could you not touch the things on the desk, please?) You too can be part of this Amazin’ firesale and tell people at the watercooler on Monday that you just bought half of the Mets rotation.
  • Zack Wheeler
  • Steven Matz
  • Seth Lugo
 
160Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 12:14
155: Noted.

It is always my default, that absent any clarifying information, i.e:

- slizz' 1st
- My best 1st
- My worst 1st
- etc

.....that any traded pick is always the regular pick owned by the team trading it. With the agreement of the other team, you could always clarify it later.
 
161Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 12:54
A correction to the trade in Post 151:

The 5th for 8th swap is for 2020 picks. GO to confirm.
 
162Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 20:59
161: Make that a 6th for a 10th!!

GO to confirm.
 
163GO
      ID: 14143919
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 12:08
Confirmed
 
164Nerfherders
      ID: 2211442615
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 18:40
Can anyone else access ESPN right now? Glad I changed out my team this morning, but I wanted to check again before games started.
 
165mjd
      Dude
      ID: 501381415
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 18:46
No ESPN access for at least an hour.
 
166beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 18:56
It's down on the app and desktop.
 
167GO
      ID: 565491620
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 18:59
Nope.... great news as i know certain guys aren't playing like Profar and I can't do anything about it.
 
168GO
      ID: 565491620
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 18:59
and Freeman. Damn it!
 
169GO
      ID: 565491620
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 19:00
and Devers. Losing 3 starts tonight. Great.
 
170beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 19:02
Worst part is yesterday was Thursday so a lot of regulars had the day off and probably not in current lineups.

It's been down for a few hours too. Reminds me of the old Smallworld days.
 
171GO
      ID: 565491620
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 19:05
Can we post here and commish can change? I know I'd have Profar and Freeman out for Adams and Souza... don't think I have an extra hitter for Devers anyway.
 
172GO
      ID: 565491620
      Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 19:22
Well.. got Souza in for Devers. Missed out on Adams for Profar. Freeman appears to be playing. Conflicting info.

Lost multiple moves in RIBC. Ugh.
 
173Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Sat, Jul 07, 2018, 10:27
Sorry guys. We are at the whims of the site.
 
174blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 10:27
Still looking to trade one of my shortstops - Elvis Andrus or Jorge Polanco - for a solid closer or outfielder.
 
175 beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 23:24
Willing to deal some youth for an upgrade in hitting. Leody Taveras(prospect), Alex Reyes, Jake Lamb, Colin Moran(prospect but not for long), Domingo German.

Looking for a 1b, 3b, or OF.
 
176blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 17:35
David Dahl is already taking BP, so he'll be back soon. Who wants him?
 
177Meatwads
      ID: 43056268
      Sun, Jul 15, 2018, 23:14
- I have some pitching available...Zack Godley, Freddy Peralta, Luis Castillo, Felix Hernandez, Joe Jimenez, Chad Green and Lou Trivino.
- Willing to deal with contenders or rebuilders.
- Looking for R/SB/OBP at 2B/SS/3B.
- I would also deal pitchers for pitchers, as well as future prospect picks and supplemental picks.
- Some of my offensive players could be dealt, if it makes sense for the makeup of my team.
 
178blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 10:22
Team Blue Hen All-Star Break Halfway Through July Report

Bonus report for you guys, since there's no baseball to pay attention to.

Still sitting in first place, but Tosh has come out of his tailspin, and is hanging tough. The top 9 are all pretty interesting, with Guru, WG, and Meat as the obvious threats, and Pete, BMD, and Great One reliving their best G20 days, and Species... doing a terrible job of rebuilding.

From a standings perspective, still searching for homers, RBIs, and saves, as always, but at least all of them are over 10. Steals are becoming an issue, but that's usually pretty solvable. My current score, in the mid-150s, could be enough to win this thing.

From a roster perspective, it's been interesting. Two players in particular, Joc Pederson and Brandon Nimmo, have scuffled in July. But since both guys draw a ton of walks, sub-.200 batting averages become OBPs near .300. Sign me up for more of that in G20. Even better, Joc sits against lefties, protecting his stats and letting me replace them. The other hitters have been... fine. CJ Cron, Carlos Gonzalez, and Jorge Polanco (all available!) have been great finds, just what I needed to fill out the lineup. And Altuve and Votto keep chugging along.

On the pitching side, the aces have showed some vulnerability. Verlander, Cole, and Paxton are all superstars and could through a 10k shutout at any time, against anyone. And Archer is back. With 10 more points to gain in ERA and WHIP, there is room to grow.

Let's not talk about closers.
 
179Fosten
      ID: 37692012
      Fri, Jul 20, 2018, 13:17
Sending Meadows down for the 1st time.
 
180Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Fri, Jul 20, 2018, 17:55
Willie World!

(just sayin')
 
181Species
      ID: 326332416
      Tue, Jul 24, 2018, 17:33
Miguel Andujar has exceeded prospect limits. Given that he is called up on Tree's roster, he has now been removed from the prospect list and may no longer be sent down.
 
182Khahan
      ID: 51116166
      Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 12:04
Stephen Strasburg and Dallas Keuchel are available to those looking for quality IP to finish out the year. Draft picks prospects, prospect picks and other keepers are welcome. Don’t contact me asking what I want. Just send offers. I’m in the mountains this week and can review trades but intense research is a real PITA.
 
183 Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Thu, Jul 26, 2018, 17:56
crud. forgot to announce that i had called Andujar up.

Sal Perez is available for those who need a power hitting catcher. yes, he kills your OBP.

Dansby Swanson for anyone looking for a young SS.

i've also got several pitchers i'm willing to discuss too, so feel free to hit me up.
 
184blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Jul 26, 2018, 18:10
Need. A. Closer.
 
185Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Fri, Jul 27, 2018, 14:17
TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Thumqer receives:
Stephen Strasburg, SP

Khahan receives:
Zach Eflin, SP
Fosten’s 2nd round prospect pick in 2019
 
186Khahan
      ID: 51116166
      Fri, Jul 27, 2018, 14:25
Confirmed 185
 
187GO
      ID: 14143919
      Sat, Jul 28, 2018, 07:19
There were picks in the Kuechel deal obviously. I had multiple offers and can't which one was selected. Thanks ESPN.
 
188Khahan
      ID: 51116166
      Sat, Jul 28, 2018, 11:55
GO gives Matt Adams and his 3rd round supp and 2nd round prospect pick
Khahan gives Dallas keuchel and his 13th round supp
 
189Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Sat, Jul 28, 2018, 18:29
So in 2019 I have the following prospect picks:
round 1: my own, TTCU
round 2: my own, TTCU, Fosten's, GO's. The highest of which goes to BH.
round 3: my own

I also get GO's 3rd round supp pick and he gets my last.

I believe that is accounting for all my current draft pick and supp pick trades.

I've got Corey Knebel and some top 2nd basemen this season to trade and obviously plenty of prospect picks. Wouldn't mind more prospect picks, early round supp picks or a keeper worthy SS.
 
190Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 16:44
189: I confirm most of those picks, except that I do not find the trade that notes your highest 2nd round prospect pick goes to blue hen. Do you have the date of that trade or the post number in this (or previous) thread??
 
191blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 17:21
Post 105 - the Semien trade.
 
192Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 01, 2018, 17:14
191: Noted for the record. Thank you.

We are now basically 2/3 of the way through the season. That means that teams that plan on meeting our GP minimums should have approximately 921 GP so far. I am pleased to see that ALL teams are currently on pace. Ironically, yours truly is dead last at 924 GP.

For teams to make the IP limit, they should be at roughly 804 IP at this point. FIVE teams are currently short of that pace, with another two teams barely on pace. I remind managers to be mindful.

Trade deadline: By rule, our trading deadline is the last day in August that is available on the ESPN website. For 2018, that date is August 25th. Please plan accordingly.

Best of luck to all of the contenders down the stretch.
 
193 darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Wed, Aug 01, 2018, 17:55
C-losers available:
Shane Green for a high-ish 2019 supplemental pick
Kelvin Herrera for a bag of balls

Now that Odor is putting up respectable numbers, I'd also talk about moving him since he's blocked by Albies.

If someone wants to hang on to a broken Cespedes until next July, hit me up...he wouldn't be expensive.
 
194 beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Thu, Aug 02, 2018, 11:36
Jake Lamb available for a player that can help me this year. Would also do a pick swap for him. Not looking for much.
 
195blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Aug 02, 2018, 13:41
Looking to deal Brandon Nimmo or Joc Pederson for a better OF and a closer.
 
196Species
      ID: 102481820
      Fri, Aug 03, 2018, 17:49
Pedro Strop and Anthony Swarzak available.

Prefer 2020 pick swap.
 
197darkside
      ID: 2822316
      Sat, Aug 04, 2018, 08:35
Herrera for Gselleman includes blue hen sending me his 11th round 2019 supplemental for my 14th rounder.
 
198Blue hen
      ID: 410452818
      Sat, Aug 04, 2018, 09:59
Confirmed
 
199Fosten
      ID: 476192817
      Sun, Aug 05, 2018, 13:12
Trade Announcement
Fosten trades
Billy Hamilton
2019 last Supplemental Pick
Meatwads trades
Brad Hand
2019 9th round Supplemental Pick
 
200Meatwads
      ID: 43056268
      Sun, Aug 05, 2018, 13:14
Confirmed
 
202Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Aug 06, 2018, 14:13
Yoshihisa Hirano has surpassed prospect limits.

He is, however, NOT on Tosh's active roster. He can legally be kept on the Prospect List through the 2018 season. He would be required to be kept in Tosh's 9 keepers to be kept. No "10th keeper" eligibility since he has surpassed limits.
 
203Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Mon, Aug 06, 2018, 15:35
I've been thinking recently about making move #7 for this season, and that maybe I should activate Yoshihisa Hirano. He was picked as a prospect in the hopes he might turn into a closer. Not ready to activate yet .... but probably soon.

I do however ... NEED a COUPLE Starting Pitchers. Not aces. Not keepers. But decent #3 guys that can get me some quality starts. Looking to trade picks.
 
204blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 12:34
Looking for a power hitter and a base stealer, both non-keeper preferred, outfielder preferred.

I can offer a bevy of picks or prospect picks, plus some players, as below.

Starting pitchers:
Most likely to trade:
- James Paxton
- Chris Archer
- Joey Lucchesi
- Joe Musgrove.
Would talk about Cole or Verlander if it's a top shelf keeper.

Prospects:
- Derek Fisher (power/speed/plate discipline in the minors)
- Yordan Alvarez (.900 OPS in his age 20 season, now in AAA)
- Yusei Kikuchi (best pitcher in Japan, started their ASG, lock to be posted)
All three look to be 10th keepers next year, so you get a free keeper.

Older keepers:
- Josh Donaldson
- Jose Altuve
- Joey Votto
All struggling through injuries, but you know these guys are studs. Looking for multiple keeper-level players here, otherwise I'll just keep them.

Others:
- Joc Pederson (ton of homers, ton of walks)
- CJ Cron (power personified)
- Brandon Nimmo (walks machine, steals bases too)
- Jorge Polanco (.366 OBP with 4 steals since he's been back)

 
205Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 23:06
Trade:

Guru receives Shane Greene plus Darkside's 9th round supplemental pick in 2019

Darkside receives Carl Edwards Jr plus Guru's 5th round supplemental pick in 2019. However, if Shane Greene produces fewer than 5 saves for the rest of the season (post-trade), Darkside gets Guru's 6th round pick instead of the 5th round pick.
 
206darkside
      ID: 2822316
      Thu, Aug 09, 2018, 05:31
Confirmed. Thanks, Guru!
 
207 WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Thu, Aug 09, 2018, 11:35
Balancing going for it this year with looking to next year. Have had some discussions about the following guys, let me know if they can help you??

Zack Greinke
Carlos Carrasco
Blake Treinen
Wade Davis
Hector Rondon
Buster Posey
Whit Merrifield
Jose Peraza
Mike Moustakas
 
208GO
      ID: 14143919
      Thu, Aug 09, 2018, 23:13
Anyone with interest in power hitting Seattle prospect Kyle Lewis I would move him for a useful SP. Doesn't need to be a keeper.
 
209Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 08:54
[205] For documentation, Shane Greene has 23 saves at the time of trade.
 
210blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 16:33
Trade Announcement

BH receives:
- Jose Peraza, SS, CIN (welcome home!)
- WG's 2019 10th rounder

WG receives:
- Jason Kipnis, 2B, CLE (welcome home!)
- BH's 2019 3rd rounder
 
211WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 17:22
Confirmed, Kipnis my keeper in my debut season.

Anyone need saves? Can trade both Wade Davis and Hector Rondon together.
 
212blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 17:05
NEED POWER. If you have a power hitter you either won't keep or think could fetch something interesting in return, now's the time to talk.
 
213GO
      ID: 565491620
      Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 11:25
When Carlos Martinez returns this year it will be out of the bullpen for the rest of this season. Which means I need to trade him for anyone planning long term ace. Got multiple pitchers you want to condense? or a decent SP + closer?
 
214Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 15:45
The health of Chris Sale appears to be very tied to the success of my team.

I led the league for a long time. On the very day that Chris Sale went on the DL, I fell to 2nd place, and later fell to 4th for a day. And on the day he returned from the DL, I gained 4.5 points and re-took the lead.

Here's to your health Chris!
 
215Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 20:09
I don’t get it. I set my SP four days in advance and try to review it each night for accuracy and this is the second time that Porcello is sitting on my bench. What gives...
 
216WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Aug 14, 2018, 23:07
Calling up Willy Adames (1)
 
217Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 08:34
Looks like I'm on pace to fall short of min IP again this year. Despite logging in nearly every day, rotating starting pitchers often and actively managing my team, by the rules this league set forth I'm an inactive manager who needs to be punished in next years draft. Whatever. Like I argued the other year when this was brought up and passed - some days I simply do not see a pitching match up I want. I can take a crapshoot guy and kill my ratios or skip a day of bad match ups and kill my draft next season.

Yesterday is a perfect example. I didn't want to take any of those pitchers but I'm behind and need to catch up. I felt forced to make moves I didn't want to make and ended up with a guy with a 7.20 ERA on the day. What a choice I get!

One thing that did strike me though, as I looked over my year to date stats it only has me registered as making 16 adds. I find that impossible to believe.

At any rate I'd like to ask to drop out of the prize pool starting next season. As long as I have a sophie's choice for my team forced upon me by an arbitrary rule that does NOT measure what its supposed to measure I dont want to have to pay. You wont get any less out of me in the league activity. And I understand once you drop out, you are out. There is no shuffling back and forth.
 
218Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 12:11
217: I disagree. It can be done and done well.

I have ONE starting pitcher that has been healthy all year. Degrom has 151 IP. The next two pitchers on my team with the highest number of innings are Tanaka (97.1) and Stratton (long since dumped - 88.2). I traded Sabathia (whom I drafted late) who gave me 83.1 innings.

After that, I have 4 relievers who have each given me 40+ innings. After that, it is a mish-mash of streams and short term pickups. I sit with 68 points in pitching and have earned 16 and 12 points in the two ratio categories and 952 IP.

Yes, you sit at 19 and 19 points in the ratio categories, but have a mere 55.5 total points in pitching while lagging behind at 821 IP.

Particularly considering I literally did not have a draft pick in the Supplemental Draft until Round 8, I reject your argument and suggest that the rule is doing what it is supposed to be doing. The rule is intended to create more competition in strikeouts and wins - categories you have 2 and 6.5 points in respectively. I appreciate your high standards for your ratios, but the volume counting stats can still be made while keeping respectable ratios.
 
219Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 12:25
WG and I trying to trade. Espn will not take me to the trade info. Now what. I approve the trade.

 
220WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 12:38
Fixed.

Judy gets
Kyle Barraclough
WG’s best 2019 s11

WG gets
Lance Lynn
Judy’s worst 2019 s
 
221Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 13:04
205 / 209:

I worded the trade in this fashion:

"8-08-18 darkside conditionally receives Guru's 5th* for his 9th (S. Greene)
* Condition: if Shane Greene has 27 or fewer saves for the entire 2018 season, this pick becomes Guru's 6th "

I trust that is acceptable.
 
222Khahan
      ID: 51116166
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 14:07
218 - species. I reject your statement that the min IP was designed to make us more competitive in counting stats. It was put in place from day 1 as a way to measure activity. And to this day it still fails at that standard.
Yes I have less K’s and less W’s because I have less IP. I never argued any different. If I was bitching about losing because pitching was too tough you’d have a valid point. But I’m not. My complaint is the same it was on day 1. The min IP does not do what it’s designed to do. All it does it give teams a poor choice to make. I’m not even asking to change the rule. We went down that path and amazingly enough people can’t see the obvious. Instead I’m asking that since this rule change was put into place I no longer wish to put money into the league prize pool.
 
223Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 14:31
[221] - acceptable

[222]-I reject your "rejection."

As one of the people who developed the min IP proposal several years ago, I can say with certainty that one of the primary reasons was to make teams more competitive in the counting stats. We had teams that were obviously tanking, and with no minimum standards, there was no reason for those teams not to leave stats on the table (and even "rewarding" teams for leaving potentially active players on the bench). This, then, impacted the relative standings for all teams.

We had no particular interest in measuring (or rewarding) "activity", per se. That was never part of the rationale. I have even proposed that we place limits on total moves in order to throttle "hyperactivity" - although that proposal never gained any traction.
 
224WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 14:52
Even though I have made 199 adds, I have also been clamoring for a moves cap, as some are well aware. I think the non-churners are heavily disadvantaged to those (like me) that have the time and interest to make moves whenever, wherever. I can’t believe more people aren’t for it as I think it would do nothing but bring more parity to the league.
 
225 mjd
      Dude
      ID: 501381415
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 16:41
I'd be for a transaction cap. As it stands now, I'm seriously considering giving up my team next year, just as it could become competitive.

Not contending this year means I only need to check my line up daily to make the minimums. I don't think I'll have time to make the amount moves needed to be competitive next season.

I have SPs available for you contenders. Boarderline or non keepers for pick upgrades/future assets.

 
226Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 16:47
This is actually a good time of year to start debating rule changes -- teams are still actively thinking about baseball. It helps me as Commissioner when I get a list of ideas going and direct the league to consider / debate them.
 
227Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 17:03
Post 218 clearly states the minimum not being reached should result in a tankig penalty
A tanking penalty could be assessed based on not reaching a GP or IP minimum, or by failing to have a legitimate roster (however defined), or by some other standard(s).

Post 304 It was established because I wanted activity

It all goes back to keeping the league as active as possible

Nothing about "lets make counting categories be more competitive."
 
228Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 17:50
[227] - (you obviously mean post 281, not 218.)
I think that citation reinforces my statement [in 223], doesn't it?

And post 304 of that thread refers to the original rationale for the 170 game limit per position. That has nothing to do with the GP or IP minimums.
 
229Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 18:04
My recollection (which could be off) is that when I raised the possibility of limiting transactions, I suggested starting with something like 162-180, essentially one transaction per game day.

That would only impact four teams this year (blue hen, WG, and slizz are well over that standard, and bmd is at the cusp). Today is the 140th game day of the season.

There are six teams with moves tracking at a rate of roughly 70% of game days.

The other 10 teams are well below that level.
 
230darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 20:07
re: 224...true. I don't usually like rules that penalize those who work harder, but there is something to be said for parity. It's something of an existential question for the league to consider a moves cap. How much are we going to demand of the managers? Should someone like me be dumped because I don't try hard enough to win? I know some would definitely say yes, but I think many would say no because they'd have to include themselves in that bucket...

I would have more fun if it were a more chill, laid back league, but that's because I'm a lot older with so much more going on now that I can't possibly make hundreds of moves. Maybe getting rid of the folks who are doing OK, but only OK (like me) is the better solution. It's a fair question and I echo mjd in 225...I've considered giving up my team as well. I just can't keep up with the big dogs in terms of time and commitment.

Maybe someone would be better than me, I don't know. I do know that it's not because I suck at fantasy baseball. I play with several of you in mjd and Tosh's H2H and you know I can win a league. This one is different, though. I'm starting to believe it's not possible for me to win with my current life situation. Is that a problem with me, or the league?
 
231Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 21:55
I really would like to know what is going on at espn. I double checked the dates and PP tags for my SP. and, yes, I did hit submit.
I check in now and my two SP are on my bench.
Second time this week.

Really espn?
 
232ttucowboy
      ID: 545112110
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 22:04
I personally enjoy going dumpster diving for SPs. I've had the occasional bad start, but have had good results for the most part. I've had to tap the brake pedal since I'm actually on pace to exceed IP, but it's been fun and challenging.
 
233ttucowboy
      ID: 545112110
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 22:10
Add to post 232 --- I would not be in favor of capping number of transactions. For one, I care about bh's health and firmly believe he would lose his mind. More importantly, Tosh is proving you don't have to churn through the wire to be competitive. He has assembled a strong team and win or lose, he's in the mix without breaking his back trying to get the flavor of the day/week/etc.
 
234Species
      ID: 102481820
      Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 23:51
Okay, there is a decent sentiment to considering a cap on moves. Anyone else have a number in mind?? NOTE: ESPN has transactions caps in increments of 5 up to 50......then increments of 10 between 50 and 200.

My 2 cents.....in GENERAL I do not want to limit managers using skill and determination to get their teams in the best place to win. I know I get on this soapbox every time, but this league was not founded to be like every other league. It SHOULD be hard to win and take more skill and effort to do so.

Successful streaming and managing your roster via the waiver wire is a skill.

Getting to the wire faster than someone else is not a skill.....but besides picking closers getting there first does not mean you cannot skillfully stream in this league.
 
235blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 00:03
I challenge the league to find an innings cap that doesn't punish "only BH". I'm a mediocre drafter, I'm indecisive, and I hate catchers. i also appear to have a lot of time, although it comes in 2 minute bursts several times a day.

I'd support lower GP and IP limits for this league - most days, I am just using the waiver wire as my bench. That would curb some of the daily activity, but it seems like most of the league isn't interested in that activity, which is a shame.

We should also talk about roster slots. In RIBC, I can score from one of 22 slots on a given day. In G20, it's 15. I'd take more roster slots and increased roster size, plus a 4th or 5th prospect slot.

As for parity, I this year demonstrates the parity upside of this league - so many teams are competitive and with so many different styles.
 
236Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 00:19
Not in favor of a moves limit whatsoever...

At the end of the day the streaming dries up as you can tell from my place in the standings. Early on, I was able to stream quality players, but now the guys I’d stream like Kendrick, Almora, and Flores are all owned. Now I’m left scouring the wire for the Brandon Guyers of the world. That said, I’ve tracked my G20 streaming accurately for the season:

On the year, my hitting streams have a slash line of .322 (yuck) / 72 / 13 / 56 / 6.

Pitching I didn’t stream or need to stream, but have the line of 5.51 / 1.41 / 15 k

Moves limit would only force me further down in the standings. To me it’s a moot point where y’all are picking on BH for no reason. I care just as much and look where I’m at.

 
237beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 11:29
I’ve said it many times but I think games played limit should be less than 170. If we want to lower transactions, that’s the easiest way to do it while not punishing someone for being active. IP limit could be lower too.
 
238ttucowboy
      ID: 545112110
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 11:42
237 - Agreed. If you want to lower the number of transactions, lower maxes on GPs and IPs. The more I think about it, the more dumb it sounds to promote activity and cap transactions in the same league mission statement. Kinda like talking out of your ass.
 
239Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 12:28
In spite of injuries to guys you just dont want to drop, I don't see meeting IP restrictions as a problem, there are always guys left over that you can stream, albeit they usually suck.

GPs is generally the harder minimum limit to satisfy for me, due to platooning and the Monday/Thursday day off schedule. That said, it's a challenge, and for me keeps me in the game, even if my team is in the "second division". I have always been an advocate for reducing MAX GPs.

After careful consideration, if there were any rule I would change to increase the enjoyment I get out of playing here, it would be to add DL slots. MLB teams are using the 10 day DL so much now, it's hard to keep your decent players, while still sustaining a complete lineup. Players on the DL in MLB don't count against their roster limits, why must they count on ours?
 
240Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 12:34
I'd be in favor of going to more normal GP and IP limits. Having said that, I see that I am currently on pace to marginally exceed 162 GP at many positions. So it would presumably negatively impact me some in the hitting cats - although I assume I'd be a little bit more selective.

Reducing IP would not hurt me at all. In fact, I'm on pace to be under the 1200 minimum at this point. Only two teams are on pace to hit 1400 this year.

The top ten teams in IP this season are on pace to hit 1325 IP on average. Maybe a 1350 IP limit is enough of a reduction, at least for now.
 
241Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 12:41
Not sure how I'd break out my streaming stats vs. those for "regular subs". For this exercise, I excluded hitters who I kept on my roster for at least 2 consecutive weeks, and who played at least 14 games for me.

Those hitting streamers had a slash line for 105 games of .281/49/11/37/2

If I add in four guys who were long term subs (generally filling in for injured players, or else just my primary bench hitter), then the totals (for 179 games) are .297/74/14/68/3

Obviously, the counting stats help. But it is at some cost to my OBP ranking. As of this moment, the counting stats have gained me 12 ranking points, but the OBP hit has taken away 5 of those. Net gain of 7.

Pitchers: streamers (both starters and attempts at vulture saves) total 119 IP. They have produced 7W, 7Sv, 101K, 4.69 ERA, 1.54 WHIP. Again the counting stats have helped, but I have done no favors for the ratios. As of today, I have gained 13 ranking pts in the counting stats, and lost 5 in the ratios. So the next gain is currently 8.

So while my more active streaming this year (I’m on pace to have about double the number of moves that I’ve made in each of the two previous seasons) has definitely improved my overall standings (currently about 3 spots overall), my selections have not been kind to my ratios, in spite of trying to pay some attention to that.

Clearly, my team success is mostly attributable to my core players, and not any particular streaming skill. Of my core players, only three were originally my own prospect picks (Springer, Bauers, and Minter), Lindor was added via trade while he was still a prospect, Rizzo was added via trade (I think he was past prospect status at the time, though not yet fully established). Of my keepers, Kluber, Hendricks, Jose Ramirez, Kyle Seager, Doolittle and Vizcaino were all supplemental draft picks at some time in the past. (Ramirez was the crown jewel, getting him late in the supplemental draft several years ago when I only wanted a multi-positional bench player to fill in for off days. Who knew!?) I tried to bolster my SP in early July to offset losing Ryu to an early injury, getting Mikolas and Cueto in trade. Cueto, of course, turned out to be a bust.
 
242Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 13:04
I went to my first Spring training in 2015. I wanted to see Lindor play.

I was in PHX for a month, and the Indians kept starting Ramirez at short instead of Lindor. I was so pissed off, what are they thinking? Lindor was in the minors when the season started, Ramirez went to Cleveland and played 97 games at various positions. Lindor got called up mid-season.

Ramirez has definitely been the better offensive weapon. As you say, who knew? And how the hell did you score both, along with Kluber? Must be an Ohio boy.
 
243Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 14:08
... must be.
 
244Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 14:41
I would not be in favor of limiting transactions.
 
245Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 15:26
Ah, the famous Lindor trade.

I traded Lindor to Guru for his 1st Prospect Pick in the year that Kris Bryant was eligible for the P-draft. Guru was slotted 4th in the p-pick lottery. I had the 1st slot but wanted to get another pick in the Bryant - Gregory Polanco - Jose Dariel Abreu prospect draft.

Sadly for me, TWO lottery slots were won by teams LOWER than 4th in the draft. So instead of 1st and 4th, I ended up with the 3rd and 6th picks that year. I drafted Jose Abreu and Corey Seager that year.........in essence trading Lindor for Seager. Worked out better for Guru, but I didn't do half bad.
 
246Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 16:05
I am reminded of another of the covenants or "Ten Commandments" upon which all G20/G24 leagues were founded upon. The Founders (Ref and rfs) did not want a "set it and forget it" league. The Founders were specific about "the best TEAM - not just the best starters" should be the grounds upon which a winner in G20 was determined. The fact that GP maximums were materially higher than the total of regular season games was done purposefully to reward players with the best overall teams.

In real baseball, you need a 25 man roster, switching out matchups, using your utility players and even a full bullpen to win. As Ref transitioned commissionership to me several years ago (dayum....how long has it been?), he gave me these standards upon which the league was founded. I intend to carry them on.

Now, that doesn't mean we cannot adapt, but to me the concept of making changes to promote parity goes against the very foundation of the league.

========================================

I am interested in hearing from teams - particularly those who have expressed reservations about continuing/returning - as to what they believe it takes to WIN (or at least compete/do well) this league. Is it:

- Drafting
- Off-season trading
- Prospect development
- Roster construction (including the foresight to look 1-2 years down the road)
- In-season management (trades, FA pickups)
- Daily management (steams, just paying attention and not losing starts like Judy!)
- A bit of luck never hurts
- What else?

Obviously it seems like it is a LOT of all of the above. If so, why are we focusing on a transactions cap or lower GP/IP limits when daily management is but a modest (but important) part of the entire picture?
 
247beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 16:31
Ref And rfs aren’t in the league anymore. I like them both but I don’t think what they set out to make this league should have any bearing on what rule changes we do or don’t make.



“The fact that GP maximums were materially higher than the total of regular season games was done purposefully to reward players with the best overall teams.”

That may have been their intent but in practice it rewards teams that have extra time near the freeze(see who’s playing so you can make the appropriate adds/drops) and those that are the healthiest(more flexibility to stream). Since OBP is the only drag on hitters, streaming is extremely valuable. Someone could easily have the “best” team but lose due to not maximizing games played.


That said, I really enjoy this league.
 
248blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 16:46
Luck, skill, persistence, and luck, in that order.

Anyone want to switch out HR for SLG? Meat might think twice about acquiring Billy Hamilton in that situation.
 
249Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 20:57
246 - I have no reservations whatsoever about returning. I'm in.

But to answer your questions:

- Drafting: this to me is on the low end of importance. 20 teams 9 keepers, with the exception of 5-8 players we are essentially starting our draft with players most leagues take in the late teen rounds. Not that the draft is unimportant. I grabbed Marcel Ozuna the other year in it. You can pick up some good players. But really the draft to me feels more like its filling out your roster than setting it.


- Off-season trading This is higher importance than the draft itself to me. Your keepers set the tone for your team. Most of us keep 5-7 hitters and we start 9 hitters. Getting good players in the offseason to bolster your starting line up is, to me, like the first few round picks in redraft leagues.

- Prospect development I'm starting to see this as more important. Especially as baseball, fantasy baseball and information on minors expands and grows. This aspect locks up players without interfering with your regular season play. Its basically $200 for passing Go. Sometimes you land on income tax return and there goes your money. But sometimes you land on the Chance between Vermont and Oriental and draw an advance to Go card for a double bonus!

- Roster construction (including the foresight to look 1-2 years down the road)
Very important. Having players with positional flexibility is a must in league. And looking down the road you have guys like Dee Gordon who get positional switches. Because positional plug and play is so important, planning keepers and even trades based on where players will be next season is something to consider.


- In-season management (trades, FA pickups) Highly important. Being active, watching for injuries, nabbing players on a hot streak (if they are even available) and just maximizing games played is what makes this league
- Daily management (steams, just paying attention and not losing starts like Judy!)
See in-season management.

- A bit of luck never hurts Nope, though I think luck mostly affects if you finish 1st instead of say 3rd or 5th. Or 8th instead of 10th. Luck is less likely to have a team that projects out to a 15th place finish end up in the top 5.

With all that said I have 2 suggestions, 1 is more just a personal preference and if I stand alone wanting this, no biggie. The other is something I really think we should seriously consider.

First the personal preference. I would love to see a 4th OF slot or a 2nd Utility slot added. I wont get into this one too much. Like I said, its more personal preference than anything I can quantify.

But the other one is our IP cap. We should consider lowering it to 1350 - just a smidge down. As DPR astutely pointed out in the Dirty Dozen discussion thread, pitchers are pitching less innings these days. I dont know how to access past seasons to look into this, but I'd be willing to bet it takes more resources (roster space, daily transactions, time etc) to hit 1400 IP today than it did 10-15 years ago. Real baseball has changed, its not a bad idea to re-evaluate these things as we go.
 
250Fosten
      ID: 476192817
      Thu, Aug 16, 2018, 23:37
Munson Mobsters "3 Rookies and a Closer" Sale
Follow the mishaps and adventures of three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to pseudo-fatherhood with the arrival of a love child.
  • Teoscar "Tom Selleck” Hernandez - 18 HR this year, 8 HR last September. Needs to grow a better mustache.
  • Jeimer "Steve Guttenberg” Candelario - Started hot. Slumped in the middle. Looking for a big Guttenberg finish.
  • Adalberto "Ted Danson” Mondesi - 15 SB in 132 AB. You want to go where everybody knows your name.
  • Blake “Baby” Parker - Played by twin sisters. Re-cast in the sequel. Gets saves.
 
251Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 12:32
Just throwing this out there, in case it strikes a chord.

I have possible interest in acquiring a streaming-quality SP with a respectable schedule for the balance of the season. I am not looking for someone of keeper quality. I'd most likely be offering a 2019 supplemental pick upgrade in return, although I could also consider adding prospect Francisco Mejia into the mix.

If you are not in contention and have ample IP to exceed the minimums, this might be for you.

I've started looking through some of the rosters of the bottom dwellers and see a few potential candidates, although it is sometimes difficult for me to assess who you might consider to be keepers.

If you have candidates to suggest, I'll try to evaluate my level of interest quickly.

 
252Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 13:41
Wow, I was out for a couple days and this thread exploded.

My thoughts:

Regardless of what the intent of the league was upon setting it up, I think there should be some thought as to what a keeper league means. It should, in my mind, mean that the best team wins with the players it has acquired to play for that season. I do not believe that the FA pool should be part of a team's bench in a keeper league. Not to say that it can't be used to help, but not to the extent that it does currently. So either a transaction limit, reducing maxes, a combination of both, combined with at least one DL slot would go a long way to getting there. This, of course, is simply my opinion.

I am one of those low transaction managers because I still have this sense of what a keeper league is supposed to be. A guy gets injured, sure, get a new one. A guy plays poorly, get a new one. But not replacing my entire bench with another one on a random Thursday. The other keeper leagues I'm in use contracts, so there's already a built in limiter to transactions off the waiver wire. Those leagues feel like true keeper leagues. This league only feels that way in the offseason. During the season, it feels like any other redraft league.

I'm not about to leave the league, but I know I can't compete with the streamers unless I have a really, really good team.
 
253Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 14:04
various thoughts.

1. i hate the IP minimum. it just sucks and it's absolutely asinine that a category that isn't measured in regards to how you place in the league has such a bearing on our day-to-day activity.

the simple fact that we're even talking about it speaks to the significance of something that should be insignificant.

amen to this being an active league, but if someone is actively tanking, we know it, and we deal with it. no messing around here, if you tank, you're done. we tossed someone out of Football 101 last season because it was pretty damned clear he stopped trying, and in doing so created a fairly large ripple effect, not the least of which was potentially costing me the championship.

2. Transaction caps. as a competitor, a cap would benefit me, because i don't have the amount of time others do.

but at the end of the day, i think a cap on transactions is also asinine - so now we want to punish people because of an arbitrary measurement that says they're inactive - but also punish them because of an arbitrary measurement that say's they're TOO active.

3. prospects - this was touched on, but frankly, i'd love a much larger prospect keeper list. i'd also like to see something to alter how long you can keep someone you drafted as a prospect, as a prospect.

it can help balance power - i've long hated that you basically get a few hundred ABs or IPs to determine whether someone is a future all star or a bench rider.
 
254Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 09:16
Trade:
Guru receives Edwin Jackson from Youngroman
Youngroman receives Guru's 11th round pick in the 2019 Supplemental draft
Guru receives Youngroman's 14th round pick in the 2019 Supplemental draft
 
255youngroman
      ID: 20555612
      Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 16:21
trade confirmed.

my thoughts on the discussion above:
I don't think that lowering the IP limit to 1350 IP will make a huge difference. The hyper-active teams will still come close to that goal and all other teams will simply try to reach the minimum of 1200.

The problem my team has with this limit this year is that I had too many injuries (mostly hitters). If I would have had 2 DL slots I would have used those slots for pitchers to get some more innings. without these slots I had to drop a pitcher to have a healthy player in every hitting slot.

I don't know what 2 DL slots would mean for the league because this would significantly reduce the free agent pool by around 30 players. streaming options at pitcher would get reduced to near zero, there would be more gambles on setup man and some more hitters will be rostered as well. There should still be some hitters out there to plug into the lineup when needed. in the end it could lead to less transactions by the hyper-active teams because there are less valuable options out there.

and since I am at it: I hate that rosters lock with the first game of the day. I guess it would help many of us if it would be possible to replace players that are not in the lineup today with someone else from waivers even though an early game is already underway.
 
256mjd
      Dude
      ID: 501381415
      Mon, Aug 20, 2018, 16:23
In the Chacin-Grandy trade

mjd receives WG 2019 11th
WG receives mjd 2019 14th

 
257Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 13:08
Good discussion. Some topics that seem to have some interest in further discussion include:

Transaction cap:
Feelings are mixed. Several managers that do not stream very actively seem to be the most vocal against it.

Looking over the standings, SIX of the top SEVEN in the standings are also in the top six in games played. Coincidence? Doubtful. Tosh is FOURTH in GP but DEAD LAST in transactions at 10. Huge credit to Tosh for building a REALLY flexible roster to where all he needs (mostly) are daily roster moves. Guru is third in GP but only has 95 transactions.

For all of blue hen's machinations, at 485 transactions, he only has 6 more GP than Guru at 95 transactions. My question for the league is, where is the problem?

Innings pitched cap lowering:
I am not sure I get this argument either. For the record, as of this date the teams in 4th, 6th, 3rd and 7th are 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th in innings pitched. Tosh is 13th in innings pitched and Guru is 18th and they are 1-2 in the standings.

What would lowering the IP cap accomplish? Teams must balance streaming pitchers with risking two ratio categories. That is part of the strategy and there are only 2 pitching categories that you benefit from by streaming. That is part of the skill in managing and crafting your team.

Expand the prospect system:
This comes up every so often. I would likely be in support, but I try not to push that agenda too hard to avoid appearing self-serving. I encourage managers to come up with specific ideas and possible rules.

- Is it as simple as expanding our existing rules into a higher number of prospects?
- Do we offer more flexibility for the use of other teams' picks in deciding upon your keepers?

I think our callup rules are pretty decent. I am not sure I agree with Tree's thought about higher limits / more time to decide if they are a keeper. Sure, everyone would like to have held on to the Scherzers of the world through some early career ups and downs, but there has to be a limit somewhere.


I echo youngroman's sentiment about your entire roster locking at the first gametime. I checked ESPN's settings, and that is the only option available. We would have to change sites.

Keep up the discussion!
 
258WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 15:13
Confirm 256
 
259blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 18:01
Re: Species' comments on prospects, I'd like to propose a straight increase, going from 3 to 5, with the same exact rules in place otherwise. I know some managers support this and have been vocal here.

I'd like to hear from the dissenters. Can you let me know why you think this would be bad for the league?
 
260blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 18:02
I'd like to reintroduce my one of my previous proposals. The league champion only gets 8 keepers. Nothing induces parity more than handicapping champions.
 
261WG
      ID: 53213822
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 08:15
My thoughts:

To me, it's not so much the number of adds as it is the ability to make adds at any time, which leads to the large disparity between adds across teams. It baffles me that people don't see that this disadvantages probably more than half the league. Some people have better (quicker?) access to information, ability to act on that information, and desire to do so. Doesn't it annoy people that the same managers are the ones that always first react to closer changes or prospect call-ups and make the corresponding adds? Always being on the phone or computer and reacting first to breaking news shouldn't be part of the equation for what constitutes activity or good management skills in my opinion. This undoubtedly gives some managers (myself included, of course) a large advantage over those managers that can't or simply don't want to be ever-present on this front.

Next, my main issue with the no adds cap is the freedom it affords. Are BH's 5 or my 2 adds really needed to get to the same 1 GP that Guru gets with 1 add? Or that others get with .5 or .25 adds?? No adds allows certain things:

Example: An early game lineup comes out with a crappy C that happens to be starting, so you add that C to ensure a GP. Then another lineup comes out with a better crappy C, so you drop the first one for that one. And so on.

Example: I play my crappy C and at 7:05 I drop him to pick up a young SP also pitching today. I won't get his GP obviously but I get to sit on him in case he does well, and if he doesn't, I'll just drop him for crappy C playing tomorrow.

Example: I think crappy MR will be the next closer so I add him, drop him at 103 for crappy C playing that day, then at 105 drop crappy C for that same crappy MR so I can sit on him in case he becomes anointed closer that night.

Real example: TB-NYY was the only early game one day, so I added Michael Perez and Jesus Sucre one night just to ensure I'd get a starting C for the next day. Once lineups were announced I dropped Sucre.

Real example: I added Curtis Granderson, Renato Nunez, and Tyler White because they had good matchups the next day. No games started til 7 so I basically had all day to wait on better players to be announced and drop these 3 without consequence if I wanted to.

In all the above examples, access to information and ability to act on is it key.

No question all this involves intelligence and strategy, but it also undoubtedly unevens the playing field. An adds cap would not prevent streaming altogether, which for some reason is what some people worry will be lost with one, but it would force you to be smarter with your adds/streams and even the playing field a bit. Of course, anyone sitting at their computer for lineups to come out would still have an advantage, but less of one.

Some people think all the above is fine because, in theory, anyone can do it. Yes, but not everyone does, and I'm of the belief that if you see that not everyone can or does then the league should strive towards achieving parity by looking at facts and not theory.

As it stands, I don't think some of us will ever do poorly in this league because of the freedom and room for error this add anyone at anytime affords us. This is not to take away anything from the teams up top. Giving another manager my 200 moves with my keepers going into the year would obviously not result in the same current standing, and that's where individual manager skills come in. But I think there is still room for that skill to shine despite an adds cap.

Lastly, I think it's incredible Tosh is in first with so few moves made. No one finishes this high with that few ever. But like someone pointed out above, you have to be near perfect for it to happen, like appears to be happening. Otherwise, the rest of us hyper-active players will take over. It's like small market vs big market teams. Or entering a few lineups in a DK MTT vs mass entering: sure, you can still win, but it's a heck of a lot harder and the deck is stacked against you.

Also, I realize that me complaining about adds sounds funny since I've made the 3rd most, but I do that because I can and its necessary to succeed. But it doesn't change the fact that I think it leads to a huge imbalance, and will continue to do so going forward.
 
262Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 08:39
Yesterday, WG parsed his platform out to me, and there is no denying the logic.

My opinion has shifted in this matter, and I'm in agreement with him.
 
263WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 08:57
Thanks, Tree. Also, Nerf nailed it above. Despite being one of the offenders, I agree with everything he said.
 
264WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 09:44
Also, the whole concept of streamers seems odd to me. We draft players and prospects and trade for them in the hopes they will contribute to our team’s success for the long haul. Streamers are just guys you add for one day or a few days and hope they help in the short term. So on a light Thursday you add some random guy (by adding quickly when a lineup comes out :) ) and he hits 2 HR... seems funny to consider that praiseworthy when that guy wouldn’t sniff your roster on a full slate. Sometimes, like my real example above, you only started him because he was the only viable available option at the time. A bot could have led to the lineup choice with no independent thought from me. The streamer concept seems counter to the idea of building a strong team through drafting, trading, and management. Thanks to our unlimited adds the ability to constantly stream and make add/drops to your heart’s content to reach that streamer each day bigly closes the gap between, say, my OF3 and the OF3 drafted and held by the less hyper-active manager. That’s also why I trade away picks like there’s no tomorrow: you have 1 shot to nail that round 3 pick and I have 100 shots at adding a guy that will probably be just as good.
 
265blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 09:58
WG hit on something important. We should do what's best for the league. What kind of league do you want to play in? That's important for people to answer. It's obvious to me that this isn't about playing in a hyper competitive league, which still surprises me, but fine.

Strongly agree with what WG said: "That’s also why I trade away picks like there’s no tomorrow: you have 1 shot to nail that round 3 pick and I have 100 shots at adding a guy that will probably be just as good." To wit, my last several drafts have been terrible.

I'd posit that Tosh's success has been more due to luck (especially with health) than anything else. As mentioned, that's the only way to win with that few moves. Do we want a league where luck means more than skill?

Streaming has cost me players, including Zack Wheeler and Max Muncy. Sure wish I could have those two back. But a random number cap on moves (still waiting to hear a number that doesn't affect "only BH") won't be as effective as lowering the GP limits. Lowering the limits specifically encourages thoughtfulness about each move.
 
266WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 10:37
My next complaint is about the DL. What’s the reasoning for not having one? I lose Bryce Harper on day 1 and I’m disadvantaged to where I was going into the season; not being able to DL him is then a double whammy, forcing me to play with 8 keepers and 22 roster slots all year. A few more injuries like this and you’re playing very short handed. My proposal would be that any keeper could be DLd, and traded DLd players could also be DLd. Not sure where I stand on DLability of non keepers but I’m for it to some extent. I don’t like adding guys off FA purely to DL stash them, but if I add Jordan Hicks and he kills it for 3 months and seems like he can be a keeper, but then gets hurt... shouldn’t I be able to DL him? Maybe you can only DL non keepers that have been on your roster for some timeframe??

The best argument I can think of for no DL is to promote movement of keepers to less competitive teams: I trade Bryce to a rebuilder for current assets. I don’t like this because I worked hard to get Bryce and I’m basically forced to trade him to compete this year, and there are other methods for evening the playing field (see above!) that I think should be implemented first. Additionally, the DL slot still allows me to trade Bryce for help now if I want to: at least this way that tough choice is mine to make.
 
267Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 10:57
266: As commented by others, the dilution of the FA pool has been the main concern of adding a DL slot(s).....
 
268WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 11:02
Not following. It’s less important to make managers who lose keepers, a monumental blow to competitiveness, whole and more important to ensure there are ample options for a few managers to make unlimited adds/streams? Maybe there should be fewer FA options so people don’t rely on it so much and draft/trade/manage better??
 
269Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 11:29
<266> Seems to me that the DL slot for keepers only would require much commissioner monitoring. Nice compromise idea to win a few advocates for a DL though.

<267> Plenty of FAs available, its just that they all suck, cause streamers grab them before you can log on each morning. If you are not the first to FAs each day, and you want to add to your roster but the streamers grab the good ones from you before you can get there, then USE YOUR WAIVER PRIORITY, THAT'S WHAT ITS THERE FOR.

<268> Concur, wish NA was DL eligible too, but any thing to get past the proliferating 10 DL that real MLB teams are using so much nowadays would help.
 
270Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 11:45
Disagree with the moves cap. I will likely step down and bid adieu to G20 if one is implemented. I want a competitive league and the last thing G20 needs is more rules and regulations...I’m 2nd in moves and damn near last in GP.

My teams problem? Keepers and health...so I’ve had to stream just to make minimum GP. I lost:

Kershaw
Buxton
Thames

For most if not the majority of the season

Mazara
Correa
Polanco (shocker)
Price

For portions of the season.

I’m not crying about it, I made my bed and have to live with the results...I was definitely a contender going in, but like the real life Nationals, it never got going...that said, I would be for a DL slot provided it is for guys that were kept / prospects that exceeded their threshold and cannot be sent down. Why would that help?

Teams with keepers on the DL can fill those vacant slots to maintain their competitiveness...and if it thins out the FA pool, so be it. G20 should be a challenge. I’d put a proposal up for 2019 only to allow DL on keepers only...we can get a year to monitor and see how it really impacts the league. I think that would really close the gap between some teams struggling and don’t make a ton of moves and those who do.

The 8 keeper thing is silly. You’re the champ, you worked hard to get there...no reason to penalize you for winning. G20 requires so much to go right in order to win.
 
271WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 11:55
But Bean, that still doesn’t address the issue. Braun is dripped, sure, use waiver claim on him. I’ll still make 5 adds to get the best streamer today, and 5 the next day, and I’ll get the best ones as lineups are rolled out.

Slizz, not sure how you can possibly disagree with the fact the BH, you, and I have a massive advantage always being on our phones and computers and being able to react to news quickest. Your individual situation makes it no less the case. One could argue your 200 adds with that set of keepers got you where you are today, and if you weren’t so able to make those adds like some other managers are unable to you’d be even further back.
 
272WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 12:00
*Braun is dropped
 
273WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 12:08
I think it’s not competitive precisely because there is no moves cap. The same teams are at the top every year and sadly, the same teams are at the bottom every year.
 
274Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 12:13
I actually did use my waiver priority on both Braun and Herrera on the same day, and got them both. Just as an aside.

How about daily waivers? I'm not sure the mechanics of that in a daily league, but that might curtail some of the add/dropping before the first game of the day.
 
275blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 13:21
"The 8 keeper thing is silly. You’re the champ, you worked hard to get there...no reason to penalize you for winning. G20 requires so much to go right in order to win."

Then what is parity? A different champ every year? Teams at the bottom rising to the top? Can you lay out your vision for what a league with the right amount of parity looks like? That's for anyone, not just Slizz.
 
276blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 13:23
I strongly favor extra roster slots over DL slots. Mostly because I'm annoyed when a guy comes off the DL, and if I have to make a move quickly, it won't let me unless I both activate him and drop another guy. We have 8 bench slots in G20 (RIBC has 3, for comparison), and they exist for that reason, to hold onto players you don't want to drop. If we're so worried about injuries, let's just add an extra roster slot or two (we have 23, RIBC has 25, for comparison).
 
277beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 14:04
Drop the games played max to 162 a position and lower ip limit to 1350. Transactions would be cut in half.

IMO, our rosters are already big enough, we don’t need a dl slot.


I also don’t like expanding prospects from 3 to 5. Would suck the players pool further and adds a bigger headache when trying to add guys(don’t want to add someone else’s prospects). Good luck remembering the 95 prospects when you are 5 minutes before freeze and are trying to add a newly called up 2b at your kids soccer practice.
 
279Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 15:14
I'm against a moves cap. I dont think we should be doing something that inherently throttles activity. A moves cap, by its nature, does exactly that.

However, lowering the IP/GP can achieve the same thing. Personally, I have no problem with the GP. Wouldn't care if its lowered a smidge and wouldn't care if it stays where it is. I still think the IP needs to come down. We have the smallest roster size and fewest SP slots in G20 of any league I'm in. And even in those leagues with more chances to start pitchers and more roster space to keep more pitchers, many managers struggle to reach 1400 IP.

As of this writing, only 2 managers are on pace to exceed 1400IP. 5 managers are on pace to finish less than 100 IP under the cap (all are between 53 and 91 ip). The rest of the league is 100-250IP off pace. 1400 IP is unrealistic. The 1375GP is challenging but realistic for most people. A good 80% of the league isn't sniffing the cap.
A bit lower of an IP also helps mitigate the streaming strategies. The lower the cap, the more likely you are to hit it with your 'natural' players - guys you drafted or guys you grabbed to replace injured players.

And when more people are hitting the cap - that is where actual knowledge and paying attention to what you are doing comes into play. Getting guys with good k/9 for example rather than just inning eaters or sheer volume becomes important.
You dont want the IP cap so low that good k/9 guys gain extra value.

So for the proposals brought up so far, I'm against a transaction cap, but do feel lowering the IP/GP requirements can have the same result so I'd be in favor of that.

On a DL slot, I'm kind of ambivalent. But if we add a DL slot I really think it should just be 'add a dl' without any conditions. Its too much policing. There will be too many requests for exceptions - "but he WILL be a keeper" "He was a 10th keeper!" etc. And in a league this deep its going to be tough having that DL slot become an extra bench slot to be abused.

For the minors - rather than expand the #, lets also do away with the rule that doesn't let us use traded picks for prospects. We have a finite amount of prospects we can keep. This number, for the league as a whole, never changes. Right now 60 is the max prospects. If I trade for BH's 1st round pick we go from 6 keeper slots to 6 keeper slots. Its just a 2/4 spread istead of a 3/3. And if I trade for another manager's prospect along with 3 I already have, its the same - assuming we both had 3 prospects there were 6 between us. There still are.
 
280Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 17:00
We need to decide whether to propose a transactions cap or a reduction in GP.

Transactions cap:
I get WG's frustration and argument and respect him for bringing this up despite his ability to take advantage of the best FA transactions on a near-daily basis. I agree that those with the ability to react most quickly to days off, call ups and injuries have an advantage. You are arguing that there are too many "have-nots" in the league without the ability to compete for FAs on a daily basis.

But I am not sure that limiting transactions will actually result in a more competitive league. Honestly, the teams that have historically struggled are doing so for a lot more reasons than their lack of time to react quickly to player news. I do agree that to be a true threat to win that you must be able to maximize games and pick up new closers, callups and injury replacements, but teams can certainly be in the money without 150 transactions.

That said, I am concerned with suggesting this route due to some of the more strongly worded opposition to considering this direction.

Reduction in Games Played:
A reduction in games played theoretically will reduce transactions, but it does not address the hoarding concept that WG brings up.

If we go this direction, in no way, shape or form am I supportive of a drop to 162. I don't want to even drop to 165. I want more management and strategy, not less......but I am willing to compromise if the league feels strongly that this is needed.
 
281Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 18:52
<273> All of this discussion has opened my eyes about this league wider than ever. Its actually made me go to the transaction counters and the the transaction logs to look at time stamps. I am finally realizing that I am perhaps not a good fit for this league.

I simply refuse to get up in the middle of the night to have a chance at daily streaming targets, then monitor every lineup for every game to make changes during the day to optimize my streamers. I am hardpressed to understand a personality that would go to that extreme and believe it is a normal human behavior.

For some reason, I can't make myself relinquish my normal bodily functions for a stupid fantasy game. I think its time for me to leave you guys. Have fun.
 
283Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 19:10
If people are making hundreds of transactions over the course of a season, any argument about a diluted free agent pool is moot.

Maybe instead of a season limit to free agent moves, a daily limit would suffice.

This would prevent the quickest or most likely to be in front of a computer screen all day managers from picking off the top free agents every day.

This would kill multiple birds with one stone.
1. Limit moves
2. Allow for more access to quality free agents
3. Allow for quality free agents if a player needed to be placed on the DL.
 
284Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 19:30
Actually Tree may be on to something with the daily transaction cap. It would have be chosen carefully - too high and there's no point. Too low and it could actually stop people from being able to properly manage their team. I'm not sure what the sweet spot is, I'm thinking maybe 3?
But I see some potential with a daily cap to have less drawbacks/less severe drawbacks over other options.
 
285Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 01:39
My team is proof that you don't need to stream to be successful. And it's not all luck (sorry Blue Hen in 265). Rather than throwing darts at random MRs and youngsters, I drafted a versatile team that had a veteran backup for every position (except Catcher).

I have suffered injuries over the course of the season. There was a 2-week stretch where I didn't even need to look at the team because 7 of my 8 bench slots were on the DL. I went the first 2 weeks without a catcher. I went another week+ without a 2B. I made the conscious decision that I would rather get zeros for awhile rather than having to release one of my backups. I believed that the season-long results for a backup would outweigh the gains from a short-term streaming pickup.

I have a job (head coach of a swim team) without access to a computer while on deck. I have two teenage daughters that I'm constantly chasing around or driving someplace. There were certainly times that I went looking for a player to pick up ... but most of the time anyone interesting was on waivers, after spending a few hours on Blue Hen's roster. Picking up the *new* closer was impossible with my limited computer accessibility, and I didn't get a single one all year.

In the past few weeks, I picked up SPs Trevor Williams & Brett Anderson. And they've both been awesome thus far. I added Jed Lowrie just before he went on a hot streak. Pretty decent luck I got those three guys. But I also had bad luck. My main closer (keeper) is now a 7th/8th inning guy for a different team. My 2nd closer went on the 60-day DL after punching a wall. And I traded for a closer that got me a total of one save before imploding and losing that job. And my pick 1.02 (Puig) hasn't been awesome, and regularly found himself on the bench.

I don't even have that good of a team. I only had 8 legitimate keepers. I only kept Dexter Fowler because I was required to keep 9. Here are the YTD positional rankings of my current roster ...

C - #2
1B - #30, #35, #43
2B - #14, #25
3B - #2
SS - #22
OF - #12, #19, #22, #47
SP - #2, #18, #37, #48, #65
RP - #7, #16

And when looking at overall hitter rankings ... #7, #25, #38, #42, #63, #87, #92. So my team is certainly not top-heavy. But every player provides value in several categories.

So while some managers feel I am winning due to luck ... I contend having a balanced and flexible team got me where I currently am. Maybe I'll win. Maybe not. But I can't even stream a single player right now because I have no one to drop.
 
286blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 10:29
Wow, Tosh is pretty brave to taunt Lady Luck like that.
 
287blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 10:35
Trade deadline is in two days

I'd like to move the following pieces to help cement a title this year:
- Elvis Andrus
- Chris Archer
- Brandon Nimmo (.387 OBP!)
- Seranthony Dominguez
- Kendrys Morales
- Jose Altuve (come strong)
 
288 beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 12:10
Jake Lamb available for very cheap. Decent keeper for a rebuilding team. 30 homeruns And 29 homeruns in 2017 and 2016. 27 years old. Looking for a healthy SP or a small draft pick upgrade.
 
289Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 15:59
281: I think the successful streaming of many other teams in the league (see Guru's post #241 as just one example) offers a decent counter to your point of view. Yes, we have one manager who has taken the concept to an extreme level......but as is evidenced by the current standings, that specific behavior comes far short of a requirement to do well or win.

If the behavior of one extreme poisons your opinion of the league, so be it. Honestly I would have pegged you as the type to want to stick it to him and beat him without resorting to the same extreme.....

Question please, Bean: is your resignation from the league immediate or will you play out the season?

No matter what, I do want to express my appreciation for coming into the league in the first place. You did bail us out of a sticky situation that year when we lost a manager almost literally on the eve of the draft.....I have not forgotten that and have always been grateful for your participation (even inclusive of your at-times sharply worded criticisms).
 
290beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 16:18
Davis for Garcia deal - I’m sending Leody Taveras to WG. No picks involved.
 
291Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 23:33
<289> Species, I am done here. This is the kind of stuff I have been railing against since i got here. Rulesets that encourage weird behaviors to get an edge.
Subjective enforcement of unwritten rules etc.

I've tried to convince others that there is something wrong here, and its clear now, I am the problem. I am out at the end of the season. You've got plenty of time to find a replacement. There must be plenty of folks who would enjoy this.
 
293beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 00:01
What weird rule sets or subjective enforcement has occurred?
 
294Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 00:35
BMD

Though there are weird rulesets (not least of which is the poorly documented 10th keeper rule); what I said in <291> is there are weird behaviors.

Where I come from, waking up in the middle of the night, or monitoring lineups all day long for a game with negligible stakes is OCD. If the rules encourage it, and it is in fact happening, then the rules need changing to discourage the behavior for those who obvbiously need help. Waking up in the middle of the night just to remain competitive, or sitting by your PC all day is rarely considered fun.

As to subjective enforcement, some would love to have a touchy feely definition of "active". Others would like to whine about prospects not being promoted, when there is no rule.

Do you really want me to go on? I am out, isn't that enough?
 
295blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 09:59
Someone please get Bean a cell phone.

Also, let's agree to disagree on your other point- to me, paying attention to baseball is an important (and fun) part of fantasy baseball.
 
296Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 10:16
paying attention to baseball

To be fair, Bean never said anything about paying attention to baseball. He's talking about having to be up before the asscrack of dawn to get the best players for the day. Or to have a chance to get the streamer options for pitchers. Or to grab a newly anointed closer.
While I dont think its as prevalent as some have made it out to be, extra-early morning grabs (for me I'll say anything done before 6am, are sprinkled through out our transaction history.

Is it a problem? Yeah, to a degree it is. But unlike Bean I view it as an advantage managers willing to put in the effort gain over the rest of us. Me I have pretty severe insomnia. I'm often up until 2:30, 3 or sometimes even 4 in the morning. But my ass isn't going anywhere near a computer screen at that time because getting on the computer only makes it more difficult to get to sleep. I'm not sacrificing my health. That's my choice to make. Just like its another manager's choice to make to put this game over physical and mental health, just like its another manager's choice to walk away because its so crazy that the bar in this league is - get up at 4am to check rosters or dont bother.
 
297Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 11:23
To continue this discussion, there has to also be a certain advantage to east coasters. I'm in the mountain time zone, and I'm usually not at work until 11am EDT. I don't see ANYTHING baseball until then. On the weekends, it's even later. So even if I was to start streaming in the mornings, I'd already be at a distinct disadvantage.
 
298blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 11:49
How about those West Coasters that can see the end of almost every game by 10:30 PM or so. Sure seems like an advantage to me.

Not sure I agree with this one:
"He's talking about having to be up before the asscrack of dawn to get the best players for the day. Or to have a chance to get the streamer options for pitchers. Or to grab a newly anointed closer."

Very few transactions happen before 6 AM ET. If anyone thinks that's what holding them back, they're missing something. I have the phone next to my bed, and usually check news (takes like 10 seconds!) when the alarm goes off. But for the record, I am usually real busy around 7 PM ET, which is probably the single most important time of the day. It's hard to pin this on a single time of day - most people just check "when they can."
 
299Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 13:57
how about all those without spouses and children? that certainly seems like an advantage to me.

that being said, yea, i rarely have the opportunity to pick up a hot free agent.

i still don't know how i lucked into Jesus Aguilar.
 
300Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 20:41
He’s one id like to have back.

When Thames was facing a LHP I would stream Aguilar. Then you just happened to hold the when Thames happened to go down 😭...
 
301Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 23:02
An indicator of how close the battle is at the top.

Earlier in the day, Guru had one active player that was batting 0-3. And his overall score with those three at bats was -3.
 
302Fosten
      ID: 476192817
      Sat, Aug 25, 2018, 03:04
Trade Announcement
Fosten trades
Blake Parker
2019 12th round Supplemental Pick

ttucowboy trades
David Bote
2019 7th round Supplemental Pick
 
303ttucowboy
      ID: 545112110
      Sat, Aug 25, 2018, 03:06
Confirmed
 
304Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Sat, Aug 25, 2018, 11:40
Trade alert
Khahan Sends Andrew MCcutchen to BH
BH sends prospect derek fisher to Khahan
Khahan no longer owes blue hen his highest 2nd round prospect pick.
 
305Blue hen
      ID: 410452818
      Sat, Aug 25, 2018, 11:42
Confirmed
 
306GO
      ID: 14143919
      Sat, Aug 25, 2018, 14:00
ESPN "turns the page" to the next day after first game starts. There is not much advantage at all to being up in the middle of the night to get tomorrow's pickup like in the Yahoo format if I'm streaming pitchers or something.

Are these middle of the night transactions just the waivers processing?
 
307WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Sat, Aug 25, 2018, 15:48
Agree, I don’t think those middle of the night adds are so problematic. Common practice is to add tomorrow’s SP and good matchup hitters as soon as the first game today starts. I suppose you can wait til 3 or so and add a guy off FA after he goes unclaimed on waivers but that probably doesn’t happen much.

My issue has always been more with the first come first served nature, though I suppose it’s an inherent issue in most leagues. If most of you are also aware of it and are resigned to not getting the players from breaking news, injuries, or callups, why oppose measures that may reduce the advantage the hyper active managers have in being able to take advantage of this... wouldn’t those measures lead to more league parity? Are people not annoyed that they never get the new closers and prospects because others like me are always on their phones?? Putting a stop to or limiting that isn’t violating some inalienable fantasy sports right, in my opinion. An adds cap probably wouldn’t even impact 75% of the league.

As for DL, I don’t believe an extra roster spot is the same. I lose Bryce and add a player that gives me, maybe, 60% of the production. So that’s 2 spots for that 60%. You keep your 100% producing keeper and also add a guy that produces 60% on top. In real baseball if a player goes on DL, the team calls someone up to still be at 25, right? Every other team doesn’t just get a 26th player. You could say the rosters are big enough but then I counter that no DL is double penalizing.
 
308Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 10:11
Amit - your gripe is instantly fixed by making it daily waivers...meaning once the first game is played all players are locked until 3am/whenever ESPN runs its waiver cycle. Then everyone has a chance for a bite at the Apple and doesn’t have to worry about being first to their phone. Now 301am - first game is a free for all so it satisfies the streamers like BH and myself.

Full disclosure - I went 1/5 in picking the right closers this year despite being the first to get on the news...with only Peralta (KC) as my hit. It’s quite comical.

As for the DL - totally agree with WG. It helps teams maximize their GP and remain somewhat competitive. I think it needs to be for keepers only and not blanket DL to prevent abuse. Meaning only 180 marked players can be kept and if you send a player to the DL, announce it on the board like “Sending Byron Buxton / Clayton Kershaw / Carlos Correa / etc to the DL”.
 
309Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 10:13
If you kept said player as part of your 9, you’re not stashing him just to stash. This is a player who you believe has significant impact on your team...hence the 180 cap (20 teams x 9 keeers / ea).
 
310Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 11:19
i'm baffled with the thought that the DL gives a player an extra bench spot.

sure, injuries could hit your team hard enough that you can shuffle players in and out of the DL spot, but at the end of the day, the chances are lottery slim of picking up a future superstar for a DL guy and holding him.

and if that's truly a concern, the fix is simple. between the end of the regular season and the end of the world series, all teams must go back to normal roster size - DL guys must be active, which means you gotta drop peeps.
 
311Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 13:06
Good point, Tree...definitely something I did not consider was guys who suffer season ending injuries. That’s a quite simple fix. All teams, at season end, go back to a 23 man roster...

That said, I am only for the ability to DL keepers only. Blanket DL encourages hoarding guys one does not even care about.
 
312Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 14:15
With one DL spot, I just can't imagine a ton of hoarding.

That being said, expand to 2 or 3 DL spots, and make it similar to some of the football leagues I'm in with an IR. Put a guy in that spot, and he's automatically a keeper.
 
313beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 19:39
Does any team not have a player on the DL currently? Adding a DL slot only limits the player pool further. If we go the DL route I think it would be better to take 1 roster spot away and add 2 DL slots. No restrictions other than the player has to be on the DL.
 
314Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 20:29
i am baffled at the argument that the free agent pool is thin.

this is a 20-team league. of course it's going to be more thin than a 10 or 12 team league, but thats part of how the game is played.

the argument that a long-term injury to a key player or prospect weakens a team significantly because that can't drop or replace that player, is a strong one.

i've had to play without Aaron Judge for a month, and will likely not have him back for another 2 to 3 weeks, if that.

i've had to keep an an injured Julio Urias on my roster for 15 months - FIFTEEN MONTHS.

the games played and IP minimums are enough to hamstrung a team, but playing short-handed because we're worried the free agent pool is too thin?

isn't that the ENTIRE point of a free agent pool, that these are fill in players when someone goes down?

heck, adding a DL spot will further decrease the complaint that some people use the free agent pool as a bench.
 
315beastiemiked
      ID: 481162721
      Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 23:07
18 out of 20 teams have a guy on the DL. This is without a DL spot. With a DL spot I guarantee that 20 out of 20 teams have a guy on the DL. Seems like all we would be doing is taking an additional 15+ guys off waivers.
 
316Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 08:15
as previously mentioned, a solution to this is that if you're going to DL a guy, you're designating him a keeper.

that will basically prevent DL shuffling.
 
317WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 08:36
Not sure why the primary concern should be the ability to add people to our roster (FA pool) instead of managing our existing roster (starting lineup). I’m less concerned about who is available and more concerned about who I actually have.

Don’t like the forced keep though as it requires you to make decisions you can’t possibly make that far in advance. Who knows how Posey will progress in his recovery. What if he decides to retire in the offseason? I go back to Slizz and my idea of only being able to DL keepers and propose that instead.
 
318Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 11:54
In my various trades with BH, just to clarify since "his own" is often thought of as the pick I would have without any trades:
5-25-18 blue hen receives Khahan's best 2nd round pick (Semien)
8-25-18 Khahan receives his own 2nd back (via blue hen - McCutcheon)

The McCutcheon trade doesn't necessarily give *my* pick back to me. It gives back whatever pick BH would get from me in R2.
 
319blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 12:43
Agreed with 318, I'm actually fine if you want to just strike them both, since there's no more action happening.
 
320blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 12:51
I support the keeper DL idea. If you kept a guy last year, you can DL him, up to 9 slots that we'll add. If he comes off the DL, you must activate him immediately (one day grace period). As a courtesy, post when you DL or un-DL a guy.

Other players not eligible, not nearly as impactful. This offers some solace (and reduces some measure of luck) if you have injuries to your keepers, especially long-term or season-ending injuries.
 
321Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 13:46
318/319: Thanks for the clarification. I prefer to have both sides documented, just in case. I will correct the wording of the new trade.

----------------------

"Keeper DL" concept. I would love it if someone would offer up some perspective language to this potential change.
 
322Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 13:52
So the proposal is: Add DL slots that may only be utilized for players that were named in our keeper lists at the beginning of the current season.

Would this exclude minor league prospects and 10th keepers? I'm assuming yes.
 
323beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 13:52
Keeper DL I like a lot better. Would be a lot less on the DL.
 
324Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 13:57
322: I would lean towards yes - only players from your "9" keepers, not prospects that are called up.

Any other limitations? I agree with a mandatory time limit to activate them from the DL, but think 48 hours is better. Sadly, I am presuming this will have to be a manual monitoring thing.
 
325WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 14:00
I think exclude prospects because they already have built-in protection with the 3 callup rule, and the 10th rule is an added bonus as well that needs not further sweetening?

This keeper DL concept would be transcendent!

Not too early to start thinking about how to game that rule too lol
 
326Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 14:08
Want one of the top 15 prospects in the game?

I have three of them and am planting the seed for next spring:

Victor Robles is an easy top 5 prospect with a very high floor and star ceiling. High hit tool and great speed expected to produce 25-30+ steals. Power in the teens or perhaps to eclipse 20.

Nick Senzel is another high floor guy. He has a top flight hit tool and his power is burgeoning. Cincy has some work to do in deciding where to fit him into their infield, but he is coming in 2019.

Keston Hiura was probably the best college hit tool in the 2016 draft. Concerns about an injury affecting his ability to play 2b have gone away.

All three of these guys are easy "10th keepers" in 2019.

I am focusing on 2019 assets in post-9-keepers deals.

I also will have Prospect Picks as well as Yankees phenom Estevan Florial to trade. Start the conversation now!
 
327Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 18:23
326: An email inquiry has made it clear I need to better define what I would be looking for in trade for any of these prospects.

When I say 2019 assets I should have said is that I want players who are good to studly IMMEDIATELY. For example, to get Robles and Senzel I traded away Dee Gordon, Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion to get those guys. Cruz and Encarnacion are good example of players who are still REALLY good to stud-like, but have a more limited keeper value due to age and the likelihood of decline in the very near future. I am considering trading the future value of these studs to get stud stats from players whose keeper value is in question.

This can also apply to pitchers but with the instability from year to year the standard for pitchers in my mind is a little higher.
 
328blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 09:43
I was going to say we'd add 9 DL slots so each team could keep up to their 9 keepers. But that brought up a question: what about trades? If you trade for 2 players that were kept by other owners, can you put 11 players on your DL? Let's discuss trade ramifications.

We should also note that this is subject to ESPN limitations - I see two ways that impacts us. First, only players on the ESPN DL are eligible. When Cano was hurt and then suspended, he was SUSP, and not DL, meaning he would have to remain a bench player. Second, if you trade a DL'd player, I think you have to initially slot him into your active roster, then move him to DL. So you'd have to drop another player in the transaction.

I think I'm fine with both those cases, just want to note them.
 
329Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 10:19
Why does it have to be a DL slot for every keeper? Just say 2 or 3 slots that can be used for keepers only. If more than that go down - tough luck. That's how dl slots in every other league work anyway. You get 1-3. Not 1 for each roster slot.

I say we get 2 dl slots that can be used for keepers. I'd also suggest we use similar wording that we use in the 8-Men out league to define keepable players.

A player is only eligible for the DL if he was a keeper at the beginning of the most current season and spent no time as a FA or on the WW during the current season.

This allows for a player who was kept and then traded to be put on the DL but doesn't allow for a guy who was kept but later dropped and picked up by another team (or the same team even) to be put on the DL.
 
330blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 11:03
What about the major leagues? They don't have some arbitrary limit, and the resultant tough luck.

I can understand why you want the FA exception, but that seems harder to police. Maybe not. Seems like an edge case anyway.
 
331blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 11:13
Took a look at the RIBC standings, and it was interesting to consider it in terms of a moves cap. I'm not even leading in moves there - Da Bomb and Toral are ahead of me, and none of us is close to contention (although contention in RIBC is really 7th place).

I did notice that 12/16 teams in RIBC are going to be over 100 moves, and 7 over 150, and 4 over 200.

By contrast, G20 has 10/20 over 100, and 4/20 over 150, much lower totals despite the fact that moves help more in G20 both because of the higher limits and the value of finding a potential keeper.

To me, that seems like RIBC has an audience of more engaged, and yes, active managers. Which makes sense, because they've committed at least two years to get there. I always thought G20 was the "top shelf" of competition, but given these stats, plus my history here and in RIBC, that might not be true.

That said, Guru is last in RIBC with 27 moves... and in first place.
 
333WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 11:14
I’m for the 9 DL, but also think it goes without saying that anyone that hits waivers/FA should lose that DL protection. Although I could see a carve out exception for waiver claims keeping the protection, as if the claimer is taking on the contract. No preference though.
 
334Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 11:52
To me, that seems like RIBC has an audience of more engaged, and yes, active managers.

As I've said many times in relation to our min IP cap etc - lack of moves is a poor way to measure activity, especially in this league. The player pool is ravaged, that there often are not worthwhile moves to make. Its Tuesday, this week I've made 1 move - picked up an OF to replace McCutcheon after trading him. But every day this week, multiple times I've checked for SP. Today the first time I logged in there were 2 Probable starters for the day. One of them is Ryan Stanek is who Tampa Bay will typically call on for 1-2 IP to start the game. He's a reliever and utilized as such.
Yesterday - there were 2 SP available and I wasn't about to take either one. Sunday there were also just 2 SP available that had starts that day. Its not lack of engagement that limits moves. Its lack of options.
 
335beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 12:45
Bh, ribc has a shorter bench plus no keepers. It’s a lot easier to drop players in a league like that.
 
336blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 13:20
Two of today's starters are Felix Hernandez and Thomas Pannone, both with plum matchups against the Padres and Orioles. I noticed over the weekend that both were starting today, but I needed the slots for hitters yesterday, since many of my hitters were off and I am behind the limit paces in hitting. So, I specifically planned to be around at 6:06 local time, even though it was dinner time, to pick them up. And sure enough, there they were. I don't think I made some outrageous sacrifice to make it happen; it took about 30 seconds to complete both transactions. I knew that if I waited a few hours, both guys would be gone and I'd be stuck with Stanek.
 
337Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 13:35
<331> To me, that seems like RIBC has an audience of more engaged, and yes, active managers.

G20 is a keeper league, by all star break half of the teams are tanking, instead of trying to finish higher.
 
338Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 16:34
BH - I actually looked at Pannone yesterday afternoon for today's match up. I had him for his last start where he went something like 7 IP, 0 ER 6 k's and the W against Baltimore. I just wasn't positive he'd duplicate. And Felix Hernandez has done so poorly he got relegated to the bullpen for a while. On the season he's got a 5.62 ERA and a 1.42 whip (over the past 30 a 5.96 era and a 1.45 whip). I'd call that a juicy match up for San Diego. And that is exactly my point - I'm on looking. I am not snatching up a 5.60+ ERA pitcher. Pannone, Felix, Stanek and Ariel Jurado were the only 'probable starters' when I checked today's match ups yesterday. None of those were pitchers I was really keen on taking except maybe Pannone. But again, the point is - moves made does not measure activity like some people want to say it does. It doesn't measure the fact that I logged in yesterday, reviewed the choices and decided none of the match ups were good choices. To say ribc is more active than g20 because of # of moves completely misses the point.
 
339blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 17:03
Fair points all, glad we're discussing. And for the record, I don't think Khahan is "inactive" in the slightest (says the guy who's made three trades with him this season). And really, I don't think there's much of a problem in G20 at all now. Lots of competing teams, lots of activity, lots of chatter.
 
340Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 18:00
I have sent a leaguewide email to get more managers' participation in these discussions.

Also, I want to start nominations for Bean's replacement immediately. Not that he isn't welcome, and the trade deadline has passed anyway, but it may behoove the incoming manager to have the opportunity to adjust their rosters, get used to the league a bit and have the offseason to consider the direction of the franchise.

There is a general leaning towards existing Gurupies......however I also believe that the newer blood from off of the site (Meatwads, Thumper) has been highly successful. All new candidates require the recommendation of an existing team anyway, so it is not like they are just people off the street.

Please look at your friends in other leagues and have them reach out to me as well as introduce themselves here. Thanks.
 
341Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 18:50
Speaking of activity - Khahan's market is now setting up shop for off-season dealing.

Buy list - keeper READY players. Sorry, we don't want your, "he could be good" or your "give him 2 years and he'll be a star" We are overloaded on prospects exiting 2018 and need to move inventory.

What we're looking for in return is your keeper ready players. Are you looking to rebuild but not sure how to go about it? Just stop by the minor market and pick up some 1st and 2nd round prospect picks. In exchange, send us your keeper ready player. Easy swap.
*note - bregman and nola are off the market. Anybody else is available.
 
342Judy
      ID: 35493114
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 19:29
Sorry guys, been setting up and drafting in three football leagues.

My team sucks this year as hard as I have tried to get some points. I thought my basic keeper hitters were going to be fine so I left spaces for pitchers... most have not had good seasons. My hitters did not live up to expectations at all and the DL has hurt. Sanchez and russell currently reside there.

Hah. That didn’t work so well. When drafting the dregs I try to find guys who can play multiple positions so I can at least maybe get some countingstats.

I am also never near a computer or phone from 7:45 to 1:00 everyday. I do check lineups. I set them a few days in advance and try to check every night hopefully before the 7:00 games begin.

Looking on the waiver wire is a total exercise in frustration for me as they all suck and I don’t want to give up a guy who is decent sort of for a guy for a few DL days who sucks.

I sadly am also seeing kids I gave up on - Nola especially, who are now doing well.

I have also noticed that once I start failing in the % slots, it is impossible to catch up.

Crap it happened again. I set starters yesterday, just checked and now Boyd is starting on my bench and everyone except Hamels is locked. What the ?..
 
343darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 21:59
In my other leagues I'm near the top of moves. Here, closer to the bottom. I'm risk averse and, this being a keeper league, I'm always afraid of dropping some young guy who could be good, but is hurt, underperforming, etc. I just don't feel as comfortable dropping guys because, as mentioned, by the ASB folks are loading up on just those types of guys and I fear that once I drop them I'll never get them back. That said, I think I'm wrong and should be more aggressive in making moves. I'm still not sure that would get me within sniffing distance of a title, but I do think it's severely limiting the possibility.

Maybe keeper leagues aren't for me. Too much incentive to play for next year while the other leagues I'm in, I'm all in all the time because there is no tomorrow. I'll see how next year goes, but my life circumstances aren't such that I can devote the kind of time I perceive I need to win this league. In my mind it takes far more time and research to get anywhere in this league while my other two leagues (which, again, feature many of the same managers), I check in on every day, make moves, and never feel like I'm out of it (though they are H2H, so that's likely part of it).

I love the idea of DL slots. I certainly don't care that it would thin the FA pool. I disagree with the notion that we have a thin FA pool. Indeed, relative to the other leagues I'm in, I think ours is quite robust. I feel like there's always someone available. Perhaps that's a result of the aggressive mindset of some who are churning through and putting good players on the wire. I don't know.

Maybe this league has just passed me by. The idea of planning days in advance to pick someone up at 6:06 is not in my reality. At 6:06 I'm trying to get one or all three of my kids fed or bathed and FA pickups are near the bottom of my to-do list. It's about priorities and fantasy baseball has taken a nose-dive over the last decade, and especially the last few years. If that's not how managers in this league should be thinking, it's another strike against me. At the end of the day, I like fantasy baseball, but could really give a shit one way or another what happens. It used to be a way to pass time, but I don't have that much time anymore. Like I said, maybe it's passed me by. I'd like to see how next year goes, but if I continue to roll in the middle of the pack, I might let someone take my spot who will give it the time I perceive some think should be devoted to it.
 
344blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 11:25
Thanks for the insight, Darkside. Just curious, what are the aspects of this league (or fantasy in general) that are the most fun for you?
 
345Nerfherders
      ID: 2211442615
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 11:52
I'd be in for keeper DL slots. I think that will help most if not all teams. The question is how many, and who gets to go in there? Your 9 keepers for the current year.. how about your tenth? What if he's not a keeper, but you can immediately declare him a keeper for NEXT year by DL'ing him? For example I have Manaea on the DL. Not a keeper. But I could say "I'm declaring Manaea as a keeper and putting him on the DL."
 
346Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 12:01
I would lean towards a limited number of DL slots. Maybe 2. Maybe 3 tops.

I also agree with the concept of current year keepers only. And if they are traded while on the DL, they retain DL eligibility.......but free agents off the waiver wire would not.

No 10th keepers. They weren't keepers, they were prospects who were called up.
 
347blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 12:01
Right, I'd avoid all those situations. Has to be kept as one of the 9 from last year (180 total). No shenanigans.
 
348Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 12:30
I still find it interesting that a segment of the league finds that an inability to be on the waiver wire in a timely manner is a significant impediment to doing well in the league. Now, there is no doubt that it is an advantage but I still think the largest weakness of struggling teams is more in the offseason and preseason timeframes.

With rare exception, I contact almost every team in the league during the offseason and have a discussion roughly around the following:
- who are your keepers
- what are you looking to do? Reload? Complete tear down? Do you have a plan?
- who is available
- want my prospects? want my veterans? want my picks?
- what would it take to get player x

In too many cases I get a response of (something to the effect of) "it's the offseason - hit me up in March". I realize I am weird and partially obsessed with this league, but I am looking at this stuff for much of the offseason. I am reviewing prospect lists, projecting lineups and crafting my roster plans before the current season even ends (hence, post 326 above).

A recent trend has been the pre-negotiation of post-keeper trades. I plant seeds all offseason......water them gently.....fertilize.....all of that takes time and effort.

I am not trying to belittle or insult anyone in this league. But with rare exception (Tosh being the prime example here in 2018) it is the teams with a plan that succeed. Those teams make the most trades, acquire the best prospects and spot the breakout candidates before other teams do. As much as we all hope to find the Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Jacob DeGrom or Trevor Bauer superstar breakouts off the waiver wire or in the 5th round of the supplemental draft, with 19 other managers all hoping to do the same thing, there is a lot of competition for those stars.

And that is the point of G20. It is supposed to be hard and make you up your game.
 
349Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 17:52
Maybe this league has just passed me by. The idea of planning days in advance to pick someone up at 6:06 is not in my reality. At 6:06 I'm trying to get one or all three of my kids fed or bathed and FA pickups are near the bottom of my to-do list

this, exactly.

simply put, pouncing at a particular time isn't realistic for many people.

if im looking for a streaming SP for the next day, i see who's available, and then simply decide if he's worth the risk.

sometimes, you find a gold nugget in the pile of $hit (as i did with Jesus Aguilar), but that's a rarity.

the longer i've played in this league, the more i realize the odds of me ever winning, or maybe even finishing in the top 5, are slim, because i'd need a perfect season to do so - due to the aforementioned real life time contraints.

i enjoy the hell out of this league, but my expectations to win have been greatly tempered since my first year.

that's not to say i'm not going to keep trying :D
 
350darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 20:39
re: 344....I like playing a game centered around a game that I like. How's that for circular logic? I got into fantasy baseball during the Smallworld days, which is what brought me to this site. I loved that game and was damn good at it. Finished top 5 a few times and got invited to the inaugural RIBC (which I was only able to stay in for two seasons before getting demoted and dropping out due to grad school).

I like baseball but, honestly, it's a little forced. Sports, to me, are mindless entertainment and fantasy helped me give more of a damn. It's funny, but one of the reasons I wanted to care more about sports was to stay connected with my college friends who are all batshit crazy about sports. This was a way for me to ensure common interests in spite of moving away from them. Then I found out I liked fantasy and kept playing. I was honored to get invited into G20 because it seemed to me all the best managers were there and I was in rarified company.

But, as the years have passed, my time to keep up with baseball (the only sport I even try to follow anymore) has dwindled dramatically. I used to watch every Nationals game, now I'm lucky to see one a week. I used to scour box scores and news every day at work, then I got promoted a few times and have zero time at work to think about fantasy (and all the sites are blocked anyway). I get home and it's kids, kids, kids, then cleaning up dinner, and a free hour before I'm in bed getting ready to start all over again.

The reason I love the H2H leagues I'm in is that I'm always in it. You have a shitty week...big deal. There's always next week. Just make the playoffs and anything can happen. I feel like I have a chance there and it keeps me engaged. For some reason (and it really may be all in my head), there comes a point in the G20 season when I know I can't win and I stop caring as much.

I really wanted to try this year. I traded for Grandal when Castillo went down. I traded Cain for McCullers when I admitted my pitching was pathetic (and thought I'd be ok with Cespedes, Pollock, and Gomez) and reached out to 5 or 6 folks about closers, but couldn't get anything done. Then Pollock and Cespedes got hurt, my pitching got worse (and hurt) and I knew I was done. I've never felt resigned to losing in my H2H leagues but it happens every year here.

That's why I think it's possible keeper leagues just aren't for me. I don't take the proper approach. I don't drop guys quickly enough. I kept Ryan Zimmerman on my roster right up until he got activated. That's really stupid. I also don't have any time to make plans or work deals. Species said this league is supposed to be hard. Maybe I don't have it in me to work hard at a fantasy game. Time is the most scarce commodity in my life and I just never prioritize spending it on fantasy baseball, at least the amount of time I think is needed for this level of competition.

As I've thought more and more about it, it seems likely I no longer fit the mold of the manager this leagues needs. Like I said, one more year and if things are still status quo on my success, I'll probably drop out so the level of competition can be raised by someone with more time and energy.

 
351darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 20:53
re: 348...I agree the waiver wire isn't what makes a champion. It tends to be the people that are constantly working deals, making plans, researching prospects and, in short, spending a boatload of time thinking about how to win. The waiver wire is just another time-based element that is used by those folks, but it's not the most important part. Time is the key here and I, for one, have realized I don't have the time it takes to do all of those things. I'm still active, set my lineup every day, read news when I can, but I don't think I'm at a point in my life where I can take the approach you rightly suggest is part of a winning formula.

I guess my post a long time ago about 'is it me or is it the league' was to wonder...how many of the managers are spending that sort of time on the league? If it's only a few, then that seems like a problem. But, if I'm in the minority, then it makes sense for me to consider dropping out...after next year ;).
 
352Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 16:56
Juan Soto has exceeded prospect limits and is on Meatwads' roster. Accordingly, he has been removed from the prospect list.
 
353darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 16:06
RE: 221....Shane Greene has 28 saves and has met the condition of the trade I made with Guru.
 
354Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 19:47
...and thank you very much!
 
355Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Sep 05, 2018, 12:38
The Dirty Dozen league has a fun rule where the last place team has to cough up the $10.00 Draftime fee the next year. A fairly nominal, "kangaroo court" type of fine, but makes some sense.

Any thoughts on that?
 
356Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Wed, Sep 05, 2018, 12:58
I could support that.
 
357Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Wed, Sep 05, 2018, 14:47
I'm cool with that here, too. I came up with it a few years ago to discourage completely tanking.
 
358beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Wed, Sep 05, 2018, 15:52
I love that idea. I’d like to see it extended further than just last. Something like $10 for last $5 2nd to last.
 
359darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Wed, Sep 05, 2018, 21:07
I'd support that
 
360Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Sat, Sep 08, 2018, 08:21
And, for the second year in a row, my top pitching prospect - arguably the top pitching prospect in the league - goes down for the entire following season with a UCL tear and Tommy John surgery.

Last year Urias, this year Kopech.

What. The. Fvck.

Can we please have that DL thing?
 
361judy
      ID: 35493114
      Sat, Sep 08, 2018, 09:38
Guys,

Just to let you know so you can breathe a sigh of relief, my team is so bad and has so little hope of resurrection of any kind, that despite one season long ago almost getting up to the top until Cargo and McCann DL’d together mid August for the season, I am throwing in the towel on this league.

I really though my team would be mid mid pack this year — Sanchez, Santana, Russell, Herrera, Hamels, Franco, Giles, Jones, Reddick, Porcello, Gray, Peraza.(I did trade him and his only saving grace is 20 SB, the rest of his value is useless.)

Each of those players has slumped significantly — including DL stints — at some point in the season to show me that they are not as valuable as I had hoped they would be, but each has also had hot streaks. I do check the waiver wire, but there is nothing but losers there and I do not do the streaming thing. I do work to play as many position player games and pitch as many innings as I can.

This league is no longer fun for me. I do not have the timing or energy to make ridiculous amounts of transactions in the hope of getting lucky with a daily pick up.

So clap your hands and find another person to take over my woeful team for next year, 2019.

I will concentrate my fantasy resources on football where I do find championship success.
 
362judy
      ID: 35493114
      Sat, Sep 08, 2018, 09:42
357
I did not tank my team, it just sucks. I check in just about every day trying to get stats etc. I’ll pay the $10 for the next year’s manager if that makes people happy.
 
363Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Sat, Sep 08, 2018, 11:27
362 - sorry Judy. Didn't mean to imply the team in last place or near last place was tanking. Good or bad somebody will always be there.

Just meant it discourages people from doing it if they are so inclined. Doesn't mean somebody IS doing it.
 
364GO
      ID: 565491620
      Sun, Sep 09, 2018, 08:33
The last place thing is not directed at anyone... what it does do is give the bottom squads something to play for a bit to avoid. So you get a competition within the competition, even if just to avoid the nominal fee.
 
365Species
      ID: 281532116
      Sun, Sep 09, 2018, 12:35
362 - Judy - your integrity has never been challenged here. The mild little "fine" for being last would not be implemented until next year and would only be changed by league vote.

Sorry this league wasn't for you. I have appreciated your participation.
 
366Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Sun, Sep 09, 2018, 13:20
I would like to start the process of recruiting new managers for these 2 franchises immediately. I would like to get new owners into ESPN before the end of the season, get them into some of the discussions, and indoctrinate them into our rules. This will be infinitely better than starting up in February -- this will give new managers the chance to explore trades in the offseason.

We have had excellent results lately with both Gurupie and non-Gurupie managers, so I want us all to reach out to both. I would prefer to focus on managers with keeper league experience inclusive of prospect roster management. Per our rules, when there are multiple franchises available, a random draw will select a manager to choose their preferred franchise. As such, please find the rosters below, and feel free to point your recommendations here to see for themselves.

Judy's team:

Pos Player
C Gary Sanchez
1b Carlos Santana
2b Alen Hanson
3b Neil Walker
SS Addison Russell
OF Odubel Herrera
OF Adam Jones
OF Josh Reddick
UT Austin Romine
Bench Maikel Franco
Bench Roman Quinn

P Ken Giles
P Cole Hamels
P Rick Porcello
P Victor Arano
P Sal Romano
P James Shields
P Sonny Gray
P Matthew Boyd
P Ross Stripling
P Ryan Yarbrough
P Brian Johnson
P Kyle Barraclough

Prospects
OF Mickey Moniak
OF Alex Verdugo
P Sixto Sanchez


Bean's team:

Pos Player
C Yadier Molina
1b Joe Mauer
2b Jonathan Villar
3b Eduardo Escobar
SS Jean Segura
OF Ender Inciarte
OF Ben Zobrist
OF Denard Span
UT Yolmer Sanchez
Bench Adam Duvall
Bench Marwin Gonzales
Bench Christian Villanueva
Bench Tyler Austin

P Roberto Osuna
P Kenta Maeda
P Chase Anderson
P Anibal Sanchez
P Brad Keller
P Austin Gomber
P Aroldis Chapman
P Mike Fiers
P Jordan Zimmerman
P Junior Guerra

Prospects
SS Nick Gordon
SP Brent Honeywell
SP Forest Whitley
 
367Blue hen
      ID: 410452818
      Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 19:24
Accidentally dropped Schwarber. Sorry if that excites you. Can someone add him back?
 
368Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 19:34
367: Even League Managers can't do it until tomorrow, apparently.

This is a mistake that happens once in a while. When it is an obvious error I take the manager at their word. Please do not put a claim in on Schwarber. I should be able to correct this tomorrow.
 
369blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 11:01
Guru fixed this up. Thanks!

5 teams were within 2.5 points at the top yesterday. That's nuts. This finish is crazy.
 
370Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Wed, Sep 12, 2018, 03:12
Finally calling up Hirano for the first time.
 
371Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Wed, Sep 12, 2018, 12:17
Ugh, Manaea shoulder surgery out all of 2019. That's a big blow to my plans for next year. Shoulder surgery is usually a death sentence for pitchers - very few make it back from that.
 
372Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Sep 12, 2018, 12:35
370: Hirano has surpassed prospect limits. As such, now that he is on your active roster he has been removed from the prospect list.
 
373Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Sep 12, 2018, 12:53
Also noticed that Jack Flaherty has exceeded limits and has been removed from the prospect list.
 
374ttucowboy
      ID: 545112110
      Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 13:40
I'd like to thank Brian Dozier for being a total waste down the stretch. You da man.
 
375Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 13:04
I have invited two new managers to join the G20 in the place of the departing Judy and Bean. Upon their acceptance, I will be giving them immediate control over their teams in ESPN. While the trade deadline has passed, they would at least have the opportunity to pick up free agents and make some tweaks to their rosters before the offseason starts. I would like to thank Judy and Bean for their participation over the years.

Our first new manager is Gregg and he is a referral from Meatwads. He is a longtime veteran of keeper leagues and has a deep knowledge of prospects. A perennial contender, we expect him to be very active and I believe his experience may help us as we consider rule changes.

Our second new manager is Stan and he is a referral from blue hen. They met via the Razzball site and their leagues that are played on Fantrax. He also has an extensive and successful experience in fantasy baseball, keepers leagues and prospect centric leagues.

As is tradition, we need to have a random draw / coin flip to determine who has their choice of franchises. Once that is done and our new managers have introduced themselves and chosen their teams, they will take their franchises on ESPN. Guru, at your reasonable convenience please run a coin flip to determine preference for choosing their teams.

I really like the idea of getting the new managers on board before the offseason. Not only can they make a few FA tweaks to their teams, but they have the entire offseason to indoctrinate themselves into our rules, start trade talks, etc.

Gregg and Stan --- please take a few minutes to introduce yourselves, talk a bit about your fantasy experience and be sure to provide your preferred email......the sharks will smell chum in the water and I'm sure will try to stir it up a bit ASAP!
 
376Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 13:52
Just did it. Stan wins the coin flip.
 
377Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 19:54
Welcome in guys.
 
378darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 20:45
Welcome to the league, Gregg and Stan!
 
379Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 09:33
welcome newcomers to the most fun and frustrating league i play in.
 
380beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 10:24
Welcome!
 
381Blue hen
      ID: 410452818
      Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 14:49
Welcome Gregg and Stan!
 
382Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 18:28
Want one of the top 15 prospects in the game?

I have three of them and am planting the seed for next spring:

Victor Robles is an easy top 5 prospect with a very high floor and star ceiling. High hit tool and great speed expected to produce 25-30+ steals. Power in the teens or perhaps to eclipse 20.

Nick Senzel is another high floor guy. He has a top flight hit tool and his power is burgeoning. Cincy has some work to do in deciding where to fit him into their infield, but he is coming in 2019.

Keston Hiura was probably the best college hit tool in the 2016 draft. Concerns about an injury affecting his ability to play 2b have gone away.

All three of these guys are easy "10th keepers" in 2019.

I am focusing on established players with solid 2019 value, even if not necessarily keeper worthy (i.e. age, modest injury history).

I also will have Prospect Picks as well as Yankees phenom Estevan Florial to trade. Start the conversation now!
 
383Lyman
      ID: 48842210
      Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 23:19
testing
 
384Lyman
      ID: 48842210
      Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 23:20
Yo. New guy here. Name is Stan. Been playing fantasy since 2000. I set my lineup daily and tend to make a lot of moves. Not as many as fellow leaguemate, David Lipman, however. David joined my competitive keeper league this year and - judging by the Transaction Counter in Gurupie - it won't surprise to learn that he has made, by far, more moves than any manager in the league. It should also be noted that David in his first season is running away with the league title, so props to him. I'm currently in a dogfight for second place, setting my lineup daily, as I do right down to the final day of the season in any league I play in.

I'm a long time Tigers fan who was fortunate to be present at both Verlander’s no-hitter in 2007 and Armando Galarraga’s 28-out Perfect Game in 2010. Also a music historian with over 6,000 records. Can never seem to have enough vinyl.

Anyway, David Lipman was my gateway into this league - thank you, David! Also I'd like to extend a special thanks to Greg for the many detailed email and a thorough tutorial regarding the league setup and rules.

Watch out for the Lyman Bostock 10 in 2020 !!!!
 
385beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 14:02
Blocking players by picking them up with no intention of starting them is pretty lame.
 
386GreggoRomans
      ID: 7527232
      Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 23:29
Hi. I am Gregg Curry, taking over Judy's team, and I am looking forward to joining your league. I have been in fantasy baseball since 1984, and have been in leagues with several of you before. I will likely use my usual team name, the Greggo Romans, with apologies to Young Roman. My email is serenoart@yahoo.com, and my phone is 206-948-5125. As soon as I can count up all my Phillies, I will start dreaming up offseason trade possibilities.
 
387RecycledSpinalFluid
      ID: 158151719
      Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 00:44
Baseball sucks, but "Yeah Washington Gurupies!"
 
388Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 12:23
A Lymon Bostock reference?!?!? Wow!

I remember that dude when I got his baseball card. Between him and Bake McBride, I thought they had the coolest / weirdest names as a kid.

I just googled Bostock and was shocked to see that he was gunned down in the midst of his career (in my Dad's hometown of Gary, IN as well....yeeeesh). What a shame.

Welcome Gregg and Stan. Gregg is still working on using a 21st century computer and getting up to speed, but he should be in control of his team in ESPN soon. I am leaving Meatwads responsible for him until then! ;)
 
389Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 13:48
ONE WEEK TO GO!

- Can Guru hold on?
- Can WG or Meatwads make a miracle comeback?
- I'm calling it - bh is toast!

Over all of September, it seemed like the top 5 teams shuffled the lead on an almost hourly basis each night. Having left the mire of the 148 to 151 point range, Guru has put a little space between him and the pack. Can Guru do the unthinkable and bring home both G20 and RIBC wins this year?!?!?

A reminder for all teams:

Our practice is that once the final roster lock has happened on the last day of the season, all rosters are locked and additional roster moves are forbidden! So if you have guys you want to stash for the offseason, you must do so before Sunday's roster lock.

Good luck to all of the contenders!!
 
390WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 16:44
Demoting Willy Adames
 
391Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 17:25
390 noted: Adames is at 266 AB so he is eligible to be sent down.
 
392blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 17:33
BH has been toast for a while. But no one was running away with it, and it's hard to give up when you're 5 points out of first, even with smoke and mirrors. Obviously, this weekend changed all that.

I've been calling Guru the favorite for a while - surprised he hasn't been streaming more SP with a 15 point lead in ERA.

It's a battle between the soul of G20 (Guru), the brain of G20 (WG), and the heart of G20 (Meat). Whoever wins, it'll be a pretty great outcome.
 
393WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 10:20
I’d like to point something out and maybe lodge a formal complaint. I added Jose Pirela at 7:01, yet he was ineligible to be inserted into my lineup yesterday. The first game played was at 7:05, so I should have had Pirela eligible to use. League Settings don’t explicitly state that add/drops are allowed until first game of the day, but they do say that lineup changes are permitted til then (for each individual player’s game)... so it follows (and I’m sure is widely believed by everyone in the league) that add/drops are permitted for same day up until first game of day. Seems pretty crappy that ESPN randomly decides to make this lock at an earlier time yesterday (and many other days, as I’ve pointed out in the past), and I get screwed out of Pirela’s 3-4 with a HR when it’s so close to the end and categories are so tight. I’m chasing Guru in OBP and this could be a potential 2 point swing.

I don’t believe any change will come to this, nor do I even know if the commish can manually adjust if desired... but I think in rare circumstances, if the option is available, commish intervention should be ok? I don’t believe we should be at the whim of ESPN in all cases, especially when it seems to be illogical and an option for remedy exists. Is that just opening up a can of worms?? I’m sure there are plenty of counter arguments to this but in my seething rage I can’t see them right now.
 
394GO
      ID: 14143919
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 11:16
Are we sure no games started at 7 pm?
 
395WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:20
I did not see any in the box score.
 
396Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:23
I think the technical deadline is 5 minutes before the first game start. I missed out on a start in RIBC AA because I got there at 11:00:30, for a 11:05 start. Too late.

Yahoo, on the other hand, allows for changes right up until game time.
 
397WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:26
I don’t believe that to be the case. Their own help section doesn’t seem to indicate that either:

http://games.espn.com/flb/resources/help/faq?name=how-do-i-make-roster-adjustments-after-players-have-locked
 
398Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:29
Also, yes, picking up players only to drop them immediately in order to block others should be banned.

An easy thing to do is pick up every projected starter for that day and drop all of them except the one you wanted, thus preventing anyone else from using ANY of them. I'm just trying to make sure I get to 1150 IP and I'm not having an easy time of it.

 
399GO
      ID: 14143919
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:33
Players picked up and dropped become free agents again. So it is not possible to block like that.
 
400WG
      Donor
      ID: 35338278
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 13:10
I’ve been banging the drum for a moves cap all year, but since no one else wants one, I keep churning out players in the name of strategy as it provides the best chance to do well. If I am one of the perpetrators addressed in 385, apologies, but none of my add/drops have been made purely for blocking purposes. Lots of strategy involved in nabbing the first C or SS listed as a starter on a slow day or a day with early games, only to drop him when a better player is listed to start. Also strategy in adding a bench bat for a late game just in case the lineup for your 10 pm starter isn’t announced before lock and in case he doesn’t start, and then dropping that bench bat later when the lineup does in fact come out before 7:05 (or is it 7:01 :) ). I think the only true block would be adding a pitcher when you’ve maxed out already, but even then, this being a keeper league, how do we determine the demarcation line for what is or isn’t acceptable??
 
401Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 17:14
393: I sense your frustration but we are simply at the mercy of the ESPN site and its nuances. I do not have neither the rights to make retroactive lineup changes nor the time to address issues like this as often as they may come up during the season. The league is challenging enough to administer and I would not be thrilled having to add more to that pile........so we have to work with the site we choose to work with and use it to our best abilities.
 
402beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 21:35
I don’t know who’s doing it and I doubt it was intentional. I was just frustrated that on Sunday there were like 3 starting SP’s that all happened to be on waivers.

Does ESPN have a shorter waiver period? I don’t even know if people would want a shorter one but I feel like shortening it would be a positive.
 
403Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 23:36
As for non fantasy stuff, I am intrigued by the music historian with quite literally a ton of vinyl.

I want to know more - I spent about a dozen years in the music biz, and almost went back to school to get a masters in ethnomusicology.

As for Lyman Bostock, I remember his death quite well. I was only 9 or 10, but my Fandom was blossoming monstrously by then, and I remember being dumbstruck that a major leaguer could be murdered. It seemed implausible to my young mind.

Damned shame the guy who did it got almost no jail time, and essentially got away with murder to such a degree it caused the state of Indiana to change the law.

 
404Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 12:47
Step right up! Step right up!

Rebuilders may want to look at Rays Superstar in Waiting Wander Franco (from Rotowire Minor League Barometer):

Wander Franco, SS, TB – In larger, deeper dynasty leagues, fantasy owners have been falling all over themselves to acquire Franco. The 17-year-old is the nephew of Erick Aybar and took the Appalachian League by storm. Franco slashed .351/.418/.587 with 11 home runs, 57 RBI and four steals in 61 games. Perhaps most impressively, Franco had more walks (27) than strikeouts (19), an incredible statistic given his youth. A switch-hitter, he's been compared to Francisco Lindor, which is high praise at such a young age. He has the arm and soft hands to stick at shortstop. Franco will likely start the year at Low-A in 2019, and it'll be interesting to see how the normally conservative Rays choose to handle the wunderkind if he really is just too advanced for the lower levels despite being a teenager.
 
405Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 13:32
From 389:

A reminder for all teams:

Our practice is that once the final roster lock has happened on the last day of the season, all rosters are locked and additional roster moves are forbidden! So if you have guys you want to stash for the offseason, you must do so before Sunday's roster lock.
-------------------

ALL CONTENDERS PLEASE NOTE: Any playoff games due to ties for the playoffs are considered regular season games. These DO count towards the final regular season standings, so please take note.

As such, if there is a playoff game (or multiple games) to determine a division champion or wild card spot, roster moves involving those teams IN those playoff games will be allowed!

Managers may not make roster moves after Sunday's roster lock for players that are NOT involved in those playoff games (if any!). Please post here with any questions.
 
406beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 15:54
So if there’s a play in game due to a tie, any player picked up can’t be kept? What about players dropped during that time? I’m assuming they can’t be kept either.
 
407blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 16:30
I think historically, we've done it where if there's a playoff game, the final lock just shifts to that game. You can pick up other players too.
 
409Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 19:41
407: Maybe, but what I am saying is that I do not want any concerns about loopholes or circumventing of the rules. My guidance stands:

- To be eligible for 2019 keepers, players must be on your team at roster lock on Sunday September 30th.
- If there is a play-in game, which technically counts as a "regular season" game, pick ups of those players are allowed after Sunday but they will not be eligible as keepers.
- Anyone you drop (even if they were on your roster on Sunday) after Sunday's lock to pick up players for play-in games are ineligible to be kept.

These rules apply to players picked up after Sunday's lock. If you already owned players in a play-in game at Sunday's lock, then nothing changes.
 
410beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 21:13
Thanks for clarifying.
 
411Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 13:23
FOUR DAYS TO GO!

Is Guru's lead insurmountable? Probably not insurmountable statistically, but perhaps realistically! Every stat counts. Good luck to the contenders.

Speaking of Guru, Jake Bauers exceeded prospect limits and has been removed from his prospect list.
 
412Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 14:09
Yeah, I knew about Bauers. I was almost rooting for a late-season injury! Really pissed that he managed to just climb over the limit a few days ago. He turned out to be a useful player this season, but probably not strong enough to be kept next year.
 
413blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 15:27
Midseason, before we knew who the contenders were, I thought about making a run at Bauers for that exact reason. Not really a viable keeper, but a great 10th keeper.
 
414Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 08:35
[405] Although today's games are considered regular season games, I'm not seeing any way to set a lineup today. So maybe they aren't included for fantasy purposes on ESPN?

If so, works for me!
 
415beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 09:59
According to this article they don’t count.

http://www.espn.com/fantasy/baseball/story/_/page/flbrankings2k18notes09302018/fantasy-mlb-daily-notes-pitcher-rankings-hitter-ratings-plus-players-add-sunday


Congrats Guru!
 
416Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 10:19
Yee haw! - although after surviving the barrage of SP that Meatwads threw out there yesterday, I felt pretty comfortable that I could survive today's games.

Down the stretch, I was really rueing the fact that I had held on to Danny Santana for so long at the start of the season. I think I even held Santana while dropping Ryu, since I knew Ryu would have a long outage, while the info on Santana was indecisive. I could have used a few more starts back then, when the SP pickins weren't so sparse.

Then about the time I started thinking about picking up Ryu again, I did the trade with Thumpers for Cueto and Mikolas, and while focusing on that, someone else snatched up Ryu. Cueto turned out to be a bust, but Mikolas was gold. After I got him, he won 9 games in 91 IP, 3.05 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 71 Ks.

I decided to try to ride with a few extra "permanent" starters in the final month, rather than streaming day-to-day. Most of the streaming choices were unattractive, and although my ratios were solid, I did learn last season that a few disastrous starts can move the pitching ratios upward quickly. So I had 7 starters rostered for most of September. They did just well enough.

Crazy race down the stretch. Lots of scrambling and second-guessing.
 
417Bean
      ID: 304422310
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 10:25
grats Guru
 
418mjd
      Dude
      ID: 501381415
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 11:57
Great finish, guys.

Congrats, Guru.
 
419Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 12:40
415: Well, that is news to me! Honestly I just assumed the games would count since they are regular season games. I remember loading up in 2016 for potential players in play-in games for this reason.

But, this is great news for Guru, the 2018 Gurupie 20 League Champion! CONGRATULATIONS!!

I admit that I have always been skeptical of Guru's likelihood of being able to win a G20 title. Ever since striking gold with Kluber and Ramirez, Guru's core group has always had top 5 potential. But would Guru have the time to step up his in-season management with enough trades, waiver wire pickups and streams to close the gap??

Then you look at Guru's draft and you wonder how the hell he won:

1) Andrew Miller gave him 22 innings
3) Danny Salazar - nuff said
4) Evan Gattis got hot later, but gave Guru 1 HR and a .272 OBP in 26 games before dumping him
4) Avisail Garcia gave guru 1 HR and a .257 obp in 17 games
5) Carl Edwards was fine as a middle reliever - 55k in 32 innings with 3 wins and no saves
6) Mychal Givens kind of sucked. He did get 9 saves but ratios were poor.
7) Lucas Duda 3 HR and .314 obp in 24 games

His draft was saved by:
2) the criminally undervalued Gardner gave him 82 runs, 12 HR and 14 sb
8) David Peralta must have some good HGH or something, because his BA and OBP were identical to last year, but he increased his HR from 14 to 30 and his RBI from 57 to 87! WTH?
9) Mike Minor was a decent contributor, particularly from his draft position: 132K in 157 innings, a pedestrian 4.18 era but a sparkling 1.12 whip and 12 decent wins

So how in the hell did he win?
- His core hitters stayed healthy - Springer was the worst at 138 games but the other 4 hitters all played 148 games or more.
- Having 2 legit MVP candidates in Lindor and Ramirez goes a LONG way.
- Kluber was godly and Hendricks was strong.
- The Mikolas trade was HUGE.
- Strong saves without having to sell the farm.
- The Shane Greene trade gave him 9 saves - that by itself was good for 3 points.

Honestly this might have been the best G20 year that I can remember, with 5 legitimate teams (although Tosh faded in September) trading spots on a game-by-game basis for weeks! It was incredible to see 3 or 4 teams within 2 points of each other through most of September......but when Guru climbed into the 158 range and started to hold it, it was like a golfer in the clubhouse with a low score and it was up to the rest to catch him.........and nobody could do it. Congratulations Guru -- you managed really, really well and deserved it.
 
420Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 12:42
RK TEAM BATTERS PITCHERS TOTAL
PTS TOTAL
CHG
R HR RBI SB OBP K W SV ERA WHIP
1 Roto Guru 20 18 17 18 12 7 16 16 16 18 158 +0.5
2 Wazaaap Guy 15 12 13 19 13 18 20 19 14 10 153 -1
2 MIGHTY Meatwads 13 20 20 9 16 19 16 20 9 11 153 +1
4 Blue Hen 19 9 9 11.5 19 20 16 14.5 13 17 148 -1
5 Team Tosh 17 14 19 10 9 13 13 9 18 19 141 -1.5
6 beastiemike d 12 5 10 14 7 15 18 14.5 19 16 130.5 +0.5
7 ttu cowboy 11 15 14 11.5 10 17 14 11 11 14 128.5 +6
8 Endangered Species 9 7 8 13 14 10 10 12 17 15 115 -1.5
9 GO's Gaslight Anthem 14 11 18 15 15 4 4 17 10 3 111 -2.5
9 youngroman's Luschen 18 17 16 6 20 6 9 5 7 7 111 -0.5
11 Munson Mobsters 10 13 3 20 17 14 2 18 4 5 106 +3.5
12 ScruffyLookin' Nerfherders 5 8 5 7 6 11 19 3 20 20 104 +0
13 Khahans Keepers 8 4 12 8 18 5 8 8 12 13 96 +1.5
14 darkside of the moon 16 19 11 16.5 8 2 3 6 2 1 84.5 -1.5
15 Chicago White Sox 3 6 7 5 3 16 5.5 10 15 12 82.5 -0.5
16 The Thumpers 7 10 6 2 11 12 12 2 6 6 74 +0
17 Lyman Bostock 10 4 1 2 16.5 4 3 7 13 5 8 63.5 -1
18 Fort Worth House Martins 6 16 15 3 5 1 1 4 8 4 63 -1.5
19 Team mjd 2 3 4 4 2 8 11 1 3 9 47 -0.5
20 Greggo Romans 1 2 1 1 1 9 5.5 7 1 2 30.5 +0
 
421Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 12:54
Demerits accounting:

Only 2 teams failed to make our 1375 GP minimum:

- Myself (short by 11 games - 1 demerit)
- Greggo Romans / Judy

I am waiving any demerits for Greggo after inheriting Judy's team at the end of the season.

Three teams failed to make our 1200 IP minimum:

Nerfherders - 1163.2 (short 11.1 - 1 demerit)
Khahan - 1134.1 (short 65.67 - 4 demerits)
Tree - 1096.2 (short 103.1 - 6 demerits)

By rule, the first 2 demerits for each team are forgiven, that means that Khahan will be assessed 2 demerits and Tree will be assessed 4 demerits.
 
422Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 13:01
Of my total of 86 wins (pitching), 17 came from relievers. Not only did Edwards chip in 3 wins in just 32 IP, but Shane Greene added 2 wins to go with his 9 saves (in just 16 IP). So that trade really worked out well. 2 wins was worth about 2 ranking points. So it's not a stretch to say that the Mikolas and Greene trades were the difference makers.

Looking over the whole league, my win total was outsized for my IP. I only barely exceeded 1200 IP, and got only 7 points in Ks, but 16 points in wins. I ended up with 1 win for each 14 IP. Only one team had a higher ratio: Nerf (1 win per 12.8 IP). The league average was about 1 win per 16.6 IP. I don't know how much my success there was due to good fortune, and how much was due to the general composition of my pitching staff. Probably some of each.
 
423Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 13:23
i am going to bitch about the IP minimums until they're changed, because they're still asinine.

at one point i actively was playing catch up and trying to get to where i needed to be, and then, quite frankly, stopped, because every "SP" on the wire were the guys who go 1 or 2 innings, and then get pulled. what the hell was the was point of me being even bothering.

the MLB game has changed, and we need to change accordingly.
 
424Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 13:26
423: Yet only 3 teams were short. One barely short so no actual demerit incurred.

Sorry bro. The rule isn't the problem. That's on you.
 
425Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 13:26
End of year constitution for posterity:

Constitution
Prospects - 300AB 110_IP/40_GP to remain a prospect.

(Draft Rounds 1-3, '04; 4-5, '05; 6-8, '06; 9-11, '07; 12-14, '08; 15-17, '09; 18-20, '10; 21-23, '11; 24-26, '12; 27-29 '13; 30-32 '14; 33-35 '15; 36-38 '16; 39-41 '17; 42-44 '18)
MGR: #, Name,Pos,Team,(# Call-ups)

bmd: 39.03 Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 3b, TOR; 42.01 Fernando Tatis Jr, SS, SD; 42.08 MacKenzie Gore, SP, SD; 43.04 Leody Taveras, OF, Rangers; 43.14 Colin Moran, 3b, PIT
Blue Hen: 43.15 Yusei Kikuchi, SP, Seibu Lions NPB; 44.03 Yordan Alvarez, 1B, HOU
Darkside: 43.08 Austin Hays, OF, Bal; 44.01 Alec Hansen, SP, Det
Great One: 36.01 Brendan Rodgers, SS, COL; 40.04 Kyle Lewis, OF, SEA
GreggoRomans: 39.01 Mickey Moniak, OF, PHI; 40.02 Alex Verdugo, OF, LAD; 42.04 Sixto Sanchez, SP, PHI
Guru: 39.18 Francisco Mejia, C, CLE
Fosten: 31.08 Austin Meadows, OF, PIT (1)
Khahan: 39.12 Yadier Alvarez, SP, LAD; 42.16 Michael Chavis, 3b, BOS; 43.12 Christian Arroyo 3rd/SS TB; 44.04 Derek Fisher, OF, HOU
Lyman: 34.09 Nick Gordon, SS, MIN; 40.07 Brent Honeywell, SP, TB; 42.06 Forest Whitley, SP, HOU
Meatwads: 42.05 Jhailyn Ortiz, OF, PHI
mjd: 39.02 Kevin Maitan, SS, ATL; 42.03 Royce Lewis, SS, MIN; 42.10 Austin Riley, 3b, ATL; 43.01 Michael Soroka, P, ATL
Nerfherders: Kolby Allard, SP, ATL; 42.12 Luis Gohara, SP, ATL; 43.09 Brendan McKay, SP/1B TB
Slizz: 42.07 Taylor Trammell, OF, CIN; 42.14 Jo Adell, OF, LAA; 43.11 Jesus Sanchez, OF, TB; 44.02 Gabriel Arias, SS, SD
Species: 36.17 Victor Robles, OF, WAS; 39.04 Nick Senzel, 3b, CIN; 42.17 Estevan Florial, OF, NYY; 42.19 Keston Hiura, 2B, MIL
Thumper: 39.10 Kyle Tucker, OF, HOU; 42.02 Bo Bichette, 2b/SS, TOR; 42.09 Triston McKenzie, SP, CLE; 42.20 Carter Kieboom, SS, WSH; 43.03 Mitch Keller, SP, PIT
Tree: 39.08 Michael Kopech, SP, CWS; 42.05 Willie Calhoun, OF, TEX (1); 43.02 Luis Urias, IF, SD
ttucowboy:
Tosh: 37.12 Anthony Alford, OF, TOR
wg: Willy Adames, SS, TB (2); 42.18 Hunter Greene, SP, CIN
youngroman: 39.15 Luis Robert Moiran, OF, Cuba; 42.13 Michael Baez, SP, SD; 43.10 Kyle Wright, SP, ATL

These managers have had their 2019 Supplemental Draft selections altered via trade:
3-19-17 Thumper receives WG's 1st (Desmond + Harvey / B. Rodgers)
3-25-17 Meatwads receives WG's 7th for his 11th (2017 pick swap)
3-30-17 bmd receives Species' 7th and 9th for his 10th and 11th (2017 pick swaps)
5-21-17 Thumper receives WG's 8th for his 14th (Triggs, Wheeler / Altherr)
2-08-18 Species receives Meatwads' 4th for his 12th (Gordon/Cruz/E5)
2-09-18 GO receives slizz' 4th for his last pick (Acuna/Rodgers/Moncada/Quintana/Hill/picks)
2-09-18 GO receives Thumpers 3rd for his second to last pick (Acuna/Rodgers/Moncada/Quintana/Hill/picks)
3-07-18 Thumper receives Species' 5th for his 9th (Godley)
3-08-18 slizz receives bmd's 3rd for his 14th (W. Davis)
3-15-18 Great One receives Meatwads' 2nd and 5th for his 7th and last (2018 Supplemental)
3-16-18 Great One receives Fosten's 4th for his 10th (Matz)
3-16-18 mjd gets WG's 4th for his 14th (Winker, 2018 picks)
3-20-18 Fosten gets WG's 12th for his 14th (2018 pick)
4-12-18 Thumper receives his own 3rd back (via GO) for his 10th (Morrow)
4-15-18 Species receives WG's 3rd for his 8th (H. Ramirez)
4-16-18 Judy receives WG's 6th for her 7th (Peraza / Kennedy)
4-23-18 slizz receives Thumper's 6th for his 10th (O'Neill)
4-28-18 bmd receives slizz' 6th for his 8th (Hicks)
4-29-18 mjd receives slizz' 7th for his 11th (Gibson)
5-11-18 bmd receives blue hen's 2nd for his 13th (Boxberger)
5-25-18 darkside receives Tree's 8th for his 11th (Grandal / Andujar)
6-10-18 Species receives slizz' best 3rd for his 6th (Kemp)
6-18-18 Species receives WG's 5th for Thumper's 9th (via Species) (S. Wright, Solarte)
7-03-18 slizz receives Meatwads' 1st (Hand/Price/Morton)
7-28-18 Khahan receives GO's 3rd for his 13th (Keuchel)
8-04-18 darkside receives blue hen's 11th for his 14th (Herrera/Gsellman)
8-05-18 Fosten receives Meatwads' 9th for his last (Hamilton / Hand)
8-08-18 darkside receives Guru's 5th for his 9th (S. Greene)
8-10-18 WG receives blue hen's 3rd for his 10th (Peraza)
8-15-18 Judy receives WG's best 11th for her last (Lynn / Barraclough)
8-20-18 youngroman receives Guru's 11th for his 14th (E. Jackson)
8-20-18 mjd receives WG's 11th for his 14th (Chacin)
8-25-18 Fosten receives ttucowboy's 7th for his 12th (B. Parker)

The following managers have had their 2019 Prospect Draft selections altered via trade:

8-17-17 Thumper receives Fosten's 1st and 2nd round picks (Meadows)
5-20-18 Khahan receives ttucowboy's 1st and 2nd round picks (Dozier)
5-25-18 blue hen receives Khahan's best 2nd round pick (Semien)
7-03-18 Thumper receives Guru's 1st (Mikolas, Cueto)
7-27-18 Khahan receives Fosten's 2nd (via Thumper) (Strasburg)
7-28-18 Khahan receives GO's 2nd (Keuchel)
8-25-18 Khahan receives his best 2nd back (via 5-25 trade w/blue hen - McCutcheon)


These managers have had their 2020 Supplemental Draft selections altered via trade:

3-15-18 Thumper receives GO's 2nd and 5th for his 7th and 14th (Britton / Eaton + Calhoun)
5-10-18 bmd receives WG's 1st for his 14th (W. Davis)
5-15-18 Bean receives Meatwads' 2nd for his last (A. Simmons)
6-20-18 Species receives Tosh's 5th for his 7th (Dyson)
7-03-18 Species receives GO's 6th for his 10th (Sabathia)

The following managers have had their 2020 Prospect Draft selections altered via trade:

7-03-18 Thumper receives Guru's 1st (Mikolas, Cueto)

Previous Champions
2003 (tie) Ref and StL Cards
2004 Ref
2005 Ref
2006 Beastiemiked
2007 Twarpy
2008 Ref
2009 Peter N
2010 Species
2011 (tie) Species and blue hen
2012 Toral
2013 Wazaaap Guy
2014 blue hen
2015 blue hen
2016 Species
2017 blue hen

Commissioner:
"Species" gmrobinson1@yahoo.com - "Tosh" lodnar@gmail.com - "Guru" (Treasurer) davehall@rotoguru2.com

Positions
C - 1 1B - 1 2B - 1 3B - 1 SS - 1 OF - 3 DH - 1 P - 6
Active - 15; Bench - 8; Total - 23; Must have active players on roster at each position

Returning Managers
As commissioners, we reserve the right NOT to extend an invitation to (or remove) any manager for any reason. Primary reason for being excluded would be abusive behavior, purposeful rules violations (ie colluding on a trade), inactivity (ie leaving injured/OUT players in as starters or not actively trying to improve your team), not participating in league business or repeated delays/unresponsive, or failure to pay your share of league fees. If an owner is removed or NOT invited back, a new owner will be recruited to take over the vacated team in its exact state. All monies will be forfeited.

Trade Policy
If there are 7 votes against the trade it will be sent to the commishs to be vetoed. There will be a min. of one full day to vote before the trade will be approved if the max objections are not reached. Everyone will be emailed by ESPN automatically as soon as the trade is accepted so they may review it. Make sure your email notifications are set up! Please check the site daily.

Trades involving draft picks/prospects will be listed in the trade and can also be posted on our leagues bulletin board and/or our thread at rotoguru.com. Note that off-season and pre-season (before draft is complete) trades will still be approved by the commishs.

Trades for draft picks - be they Supplemental or Prospect picks - may only be consummated within two drafts from the date of the trade. Example: in March 2015 before the Supplemental Draft, one can only trade either 2015 or 2016 picks. In June 2015, one could trade either 2016 or 2017 picks, etc.

Trade deadline - the trade deadline is the last day in August available in the ESPN website.

Minimums for GP and IP:

A team must accumulate a minimum of 1375 GP by hitters over the course of a season. For each 15 games of shortfall, a team is assigned one demerit. Demerits will be integer values only. Thus, a team with 1-15 games of shortfall will receive one demerit, 16-30 will receive 2 demerits, etc.

A team must accumulate a minimum of 1200 IP over the course of a season. For every shortfall of 15 IP, a team is assigned one demerit. Demerits will be integer values only. Thus, a team with 1-15 IP of shortfall will receive one demerit, 16-30 will receive 2 demerits, etc.

GP and IP demerits will be combined for each team. However, the first two demerits will be forgiven.

If a team finishes “in the money” for prize pool purposes (ranked 1-6), then demerits will be ignored.

For lottery teams, the following penalties will be applied to every pick in the next year’s supplement draft:

If a team accumulates more than 10 demerits, then it will be removed from the lottery and assigned the 14th pick in all rounds (i.e., behind all lottery teams, but ahead of any prize pool teams.)

For teams with less than 10 demerits, that team is pushed forward one place in the supplemental draft rankings for each demerit. For example, if a team finishes in last place (20th) and has 5 demerits, then that team will be treated in the draft rankings as though it finished in 15th place (and the teams actually finishing in places 16-20 will each move down one place.)

If more than one lottery team has a demerit, then the lottery rankings will be successively applied starting with the worst finisher and then moving up to the next worst finisher, etc.

Keepers
There will be 9 players available to be kept heading into the season. You will have a deadline to post your keepers. You may change your keepers up until the deadline.

Players drafted in the Rule 4 draft the previous June are not eligible to be kept as keepers. This rule applies even if that player has played in the major leagues. All Rule 4 draftees must go through at least one Prospect Draft prior to being eligible as keepers.

2017 Prize Pool
There are 19 of 20 people in the prize pool @ $15 each. That means there is $285 to distribute. Teams are required to always be in it or out of it once they committed to it in 2005. These will be the payouts: 1st $110; 2nd 65; 3rd 45; 4th 30; 5th 20; 6th 15. If a non-participant places 1st-6th, his money will be reallocated so there is always a 100% payout. 1st-5th place will be moved up a spot in the prize money and the 6th place $15 will go to the treasury to help defray dues costs to all. Dues are used to pay for the league champion trophy and draft.

Supplemental and Prospect Draft Lotteries:
The lotteries for both the Supplemental and Prospect Drafts will be conducted within 30 days of the end of the previous season.

Timing of the Keeper Deadline, Prospect Draft and Supplemental Draft
Each March, as proposed by a Commissioner, the league hold the following events, in this order:

1) Keeper Deadline: all teams must designate their keepers. They may designate up to 9.
NOTE: At this time, once the Keeper Deadline has passed, managers may also call up prospects to their active roster. In this scenario, those prospects are separate from their 9 keepers.
ADDITIONALLY: Once the keeper deadline has passed, managers may exceed 9 or more players by trade.
2) Prospect Keeper Deadline: Managers designate their Prospect Keepers. They may designate up to 3.
3) Prospect draft picks are assigned and the Prospect Draft is commenced per our rules below.
4) The Supplemental Draft is completed.

Supplemental Draft, FA Pickups and Waivers
The Draft will be held prior to every season after Keepers are announced. A "NBA style" lottery will determine the top three selections. The lottery for the following season will be completed within 30 days of the end of regular season. Picks 4 - 20 and all picks in subsequent rounds will be in inverse order of previous years finish and will not snake.

Players must be available in the ESPN player pool to be drafted or added during the season via FA or WW. No amateur player may be drafted or picked up via FA or WW if the player in question still has amateur status or is a prospect. Also, if a player is drafted in the June MLB draft, while he may be freely picked up and used on a roster, please note that per our keeper rules they may not be kept the following season. All Rule 4 draftees must go through one Prospect Draft before they become keeper eligible.

There is a 3 hour per draft pick time limit and a cumulative time limit of 12 hours. (Subject to change). You may not exceed 23 players. You may not drop a player (or add a non-drafted player if you are short) until waivers have been turned on. You may trade for extra picks and you may trade your excess picks as long as it is done before the preceeding pick has been made. If you make a duplicate pick, the draft will continue and you may correct that pick at any time. Once you have been skipped, you will continue to be skipped until you are caught up. If a clock runs out, the next person on the clock will be charged for any time before his pick. If you are skipped due to a pick or c clock, you may still post your selection at any time.

Waivers will begin the season in the same order as the supplemental draft. Lottery picks and traded draft picks will not be considered when determining the waiver order.

Prospect Rules:
The underlined key deadlines and procedures are completed in a linear fashion, one after the other.

Keeper Deadline:
At a time announced by the Commissioner, all managers must have no more than 3 keepers on their prospect list. This is the only point in time where teams must have 3 or fewer prospects.

Managers will announce what prospects they intend to keep on the prospect list, which prospects they are releasing, and (if applicable) which prospects they are calling up and releasing (see below).

All hitters must have less than 300 ABs and pitchers less than 110 IP or 40 GP to remain a prospect. Otherwise, they must be moved to your active roster or released. Managers must monitor their own prospects. If they are later to have found to be over the max. at that deadline, the player will be immediately removed as a prospect and put on waivers.

Owning another team's prospect pick has no bearing on the above.

Assignment of Prospect Picks:
After declaration of kept, released or called up prospects, Managers are assigned new prospect picks dependent upon how many prospects they kept - with the total sum of kept prospects and new picks of your own limited to a total of 3. Specifically:

- If you keep 3 prospects, you receive no new picks
- If you keep 2 prospects, you receive your 1st round prospect pick
- If you keep 1 prospect, you receive your 1st and 2nd round prospect picks
- If you keep no prospects, you receive your 1st, 2nd and 3rd round prospect picks

If an owner has traded away one of their prospect picks, they must reduce their kept prospects below three in order to comply with the terms of their trade. See "if you have traded away a pick", below.

Owning another team's prospect pick has no bearing on the above.

End of Keeper Deadline Activity:
Upon the completion of the keeper deadline and the assignment of picks, managers may then exceed three prospects by trade.

Processing of Traded Prospect Picks:
After the assignment of picks, the league will officially process all traded picks:
If you have traded away a pick: As noted above, any team that has traded away a pick must comply with the terms of their trade. This means that the number of prospects you are allowed to keep is reduced by the number of prospect picks you have traded away. As with any trade, if an owner trades away a pick in a round that they do not own, the receiving party receives a pick of a higher round to satisfy their trade.
If you have traded for a pick: Acquired picks are only used as picks in the Prospect Draft. The owning of another team's pick in no way alters the number of prospect keepers you may have, nor does it effect the assignment of your own prospect picks.

Prospect Draft:
The Prospect Draft will be held during the preseason after keepers are finalized (but before the Supplemental Draft). Drafts will be in inverse order of the final standings of the previous year and will not snake. A "NBA style" lottery will determine the top three selections. The lottery for the following season will be completed within 30 days of the end of regular season. Picks 4 - 20 and all picks in subsequent rounds will be in inverse order and will not snake. Players will be selected on our thread at rotoguru.com if possible. If that site is down, our draft will continue on the bulletin board of our page if we have knowledge of all picks selected previously. Ties will be broken by a dice roll. There will be up to 3 rounds.

A draft-eligible prospect is defined as a hitter that has less than 150 Major League at bats or a pitcher with less than both 55 Major League innings pitched and 20 Major League games pitched. Further, to be eligible, the player must be a professional baseball player, defined as one of the following:

- Under contract with a MLB teams system. This does not require them to have been assigned to a minor league team at the time of the draft.
- A professional player playing in/having played in Japans Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league.
- A professional player playing in/having played in Koreas Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) league.
- A professional player playing in/having played in Cuba's top professional league, the Serie Nacional.

Amateur players in High School, College or otherwise subject to the Rule 4 draft are not eligible.

There will be a 3 hour per pick clock and a 4 hour cumulative clock to draft. If you are skipped, you may make your selection at any time. Time will not accrue from midnight to 8 am ET, though anyone may select during that time if their pick is up. Once the draft concludes, the only way to add a prospect is via trade or future drafts. After the draft, you may bring this player on your active roster at any time (as long as hes in the ESPN database) by dropping a player.

Prospect callup rules: Managers may call-up and then send down their prospect up to two times without losing their rights as a prospect as long as that player has not hit the maximum ABs/IP/GP threshold. Once a commish allows the call-up, he will add the number of times that player has been called-up next to his name in the Prospect List below. At the end of the season, all prospects on the roster will be considered optioned so they wont have to be counted as a keeper so long as they have not hit their threshold. Before a commish will option or send-down a prospect, he will look at the stats for that player including games played that day if the lineup freeze has passed. If a prospect is renounced or hits his threshold while on your roster (called up), his name will be removed from your prospect list.

Alphabetical list of Prospects:

Willy Adames
Jo Adell
Anthony Alford
Kolby Allard
Yadier Alvarez
Yordan Alvarez
Gabriel Arias
Christian Arroyo
Michael Baez
Bo Bichette
Willie Calhoun
Michael Chavis
Derek Fisher
Estevan Florial
Luiz Gohara
Nick Gordon
MacKenzie Gore
Hunter Greene
Vladimir Guerrero JR
Alec Hansen
Austin Hays
Yoshihisa Hirano
Keston Hiura
Brent Honeywell
Mitch Keller
Carter Kieboom
Yusei Kikuchi
Michael Kopech
Kyle Lewis
Royce Lewis
Kevin Maitan
Brendan McKay
Triston McKenzie
Austin Meadows
Francisco Mejia
Mickey Moniak
Colin Moran
Jhailyn Ortiz
Austin Riley
Luis Robert
Victor Robles
Brendan Rodgers
Sixto Sanchez
Jesus Sanchez
Nick Senzel
Michael Soroka
Fernando Tatis
Leody Tavares
Taylor Trammell
Kyle Tucker
Luis Urias
Alex Verdugo
Forest Whitley
Kyle Wright
 
427Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:03
Guru -- by rule, within something like 1 week of the end of the season we are supposed to run our lottery. Before we do that, we have two ties to work out:

WG and Meatwads for 2nd
GO and youngroman for 9th (which does effect the lottery)

No rush.....at your convenience.

I have the draft grid ready once the coin flips and lottery are done. With our new managers, I want an up-to-date draft grid available for them. HINT: Great One and me have a lot of picks in the first 5 rounds!
 
428Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:06
So I take it you want two coin flips first?
 
429Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:09
The rule isn't the problem. That's on you.

it's a combination of the two. i take responsibility, but it's still an asinine rule.

as i said, i was chasing the numbers and that just stopped being fun. it turned a league i enjoy into a grind, and that's why i stopped chasing those numbers - when you look at "probable starters" and they're all guys going 1, 2, or on a stretch 3 innings, what's the point?

if something is detracting from the fun of the game, it should be reviewed.

we'll use RIFC as an example - as RBBC has become more of a thing, only one RB is required to be played during bye weeks.

as pitchers who start - as opposed to starting pitchers - becomes more of a thing, we should take a long hard look at those IP requirements.
 
430Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:14
So by my reckoning, after demerits, Tree drops back 4 spots, from 3rd to 7th in the lottery seeding.

Khahan drops back from 8th to 10th in lottery seeding.
 
431Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:21
428: Yes please

430: Confirmed. That is my calculation as well.
 
432Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:21
Species - I just ran the two coin flips, and sent you the results.

I'm getting ready to head out for most of the afternoon/evening. I'll run the lotteries tomorrow.
 
433Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:22
I'm agreeing with Tree here and have been vocal about this in the past. The last 2-3 weeks of the season I'g login around 7 to 8am and look at FA and if there were any SP available, it was a starter for Tampa who is actually just pitching an inning of relief at the beginning of the game. There were many days with literally nobody to pick up.

In August when I was pushing hard to rotate pitchers to meet the IP min, I had an 18 or 19 in ERA and Whip. Once I started rotating them I actually lost points and fell in the standings. I lost more in ERA/WHip than I gained in W's and K's.

The rule, as Tree said, is asinine and serves no purpose other than kick managers while they are down. If its to encourage activity - it shouldn't be needed with this league. If its, as other have said in past arguments, to encourage people not to tank counting stats - well it backfired. I actually dropped in the standings. All the rule accomplished was dictate to me how I managed my team and punish me for not reaching a 100% arbitrary figure. Not only did I fall in the standings trying to reach the minimum, but I get penalized for falling short. Through no fault of my own. I can't reach the min IP limit if there literally aren't pitchers available.
 
434Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:35
And also congratz to Guru on a really nicely played season.
 
435Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:36
If you wait until game day, then it's generally too late to find a streamer SP for that day. When I was picking up streamers, I was usually looking out 2-3 days forward.

I'm not opposed to the IP minimum as currently configured. But I would support a reduction in the maximum IP. Three managers hit the 1400 IP max. Three others exceeded 1300 IP. If we set the max at 1300, then we'd have an extra 500 IP available for the other 14 teams. I'd support that.

Adding a DL slot - perhaps only for keepers - would also alleviate some of the difficulty in hitting minimums.
 
436blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 14:41
The rule, as Tree said, is asinine and serves no purpose other than kick managers while they are down. If its to encourage activity - it shouldn't be needed with this league.

I don't think this league is for people who make just over one move a week. I'll tell you, if you had been picking up pitchers in June, you'd have seen them throw many more innings, and you'd have wound up with studs like German Marquez or Joey Lucchesi. It's not the rule.
 
437ttucowboy
      ID: 545112110
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 15:00
Congrats Guru! Great year overall. I tried my best to get up there and contend, but my team fell flat in spots when it mattered most (looking at you in particular Brian Dozier---what a total disaster that trade was for me).

As far as the IP rule, I have zero issues with it. If you're waiting until the 11th hour to play catchup, well....that's on you. The TB example really isn't a good one either because quick research would enlighten you to them using an opener followed by a long man on those days (not the traditional bullpen day). I played Yonny Chirinos a couple of times in that situation and it yielded rock solid results.
 
438blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 17:34
Blue Hen End of Season Report

First of, congrats Guru on a fantastic year, here and in RIBC. Your team has been simmering for a while, and this was the right year for it to come together. As seen above, you made trades at the right time. You truly are the enabler of this league, and it's great to see you get the W.

Also, great performances by Meatwads and WG. Great to see Meatwads break into contendership; his nice moves show he'll be around a while. And we saw vintage WG for most of September; if he hadn't had a minor selloff earlier in the year, he'd probably have won this thing.

Tosh (even without many moves), Pete, and BMD were all up near the top, where they should be - they are great managers.

My own team had some amazing moments:
- From April 23 through June 3, the weekly ERAs were 2.70, 2.64, 2.31, 2.06, 2.38, and 2.02 with WHIPs of 1.06, 1.01, 0.99, 0.81, 0.99, 1.00.
- In the week ending May 6, we had 104 strikeouts, which is probably the G20 record.
- The week ending August 19, we had 10 saves
- The week ending June 24 saw 18 home runs, 42 RBIs, 50 runs, and a .392 team OBP for the week. The offense appeared on fire at that point.
- The team had a .376 OBP and 1.09 WHIP in September.

In the end, it wasn't enough. I kept 5 hitters, and all five underperformed by quite a bit:
- Elvis Andrus ended last year on fire, started this year well, but got hurt and then sucked when he came back.
- Josh Donaldson struggled, and missed a large chunk of the season, although he finished it out with a .920 September OPS
- Jose Altuve was great, but far below his standard, finishing under .400 OBP, under 15 homers, and most egregiously, under 20 steals.
- Joey Votto struggled mightily. His .417 OBP was great, but 12 homers and 67 RBIs weren't going to cut it.
- Kyle Schwarber had his moments and the final numbers are decent, but it wasn't the breakthrough we continue to expect.

With those struggles, it was going to be an uphill climb. I'm extremely proud of my team management this season:
- Brandon Nimmo was a revelation, with a .404 OBP, some power and some runs. At 25, he'll be kept by someone.
- Joc Pederson played 54 games for me with 14 homers, a 42 homer pace.
- Jose Bautista had a 30 homer pace for me, with a .324 OBP, definitely a sufficient stopgap when Donaldson went down.
- Carlos Gonzalez finished with a .355 OBP for me in 70 games, but his power pace slowed as the season went on.
- Franmil Reyes finished with a 30 homer pace at age 23, and should be kept by someone next season.
- Kendrys Morales hit 7 homers in 14 games for me (.431 OBP). I both picked him up and dropped him at exactly the right time.
- Seranthony Dominguez and Jose LeClerc combined for 25 saves and look solid for next season.
- Wei-Yin Chen, Chad Bettis, Eric Lauer, Jorge Lopez, and German Marquez were all dominant in multiple spot starts.

A few trades helped me out along the way:
- Andrew McCutchen hit 4 homers in 27 games with a .423 OBP.
- Jose Peraza hit 8 homers and had 5 steals in 42 games and looks like a real keeper.
- Brad Boxberger saved 21 games for me before falling apart.
- Trading twice for Kelvin Herrera netted 5 saves.

But most impressive management is this:
- 18 steals in 49 games from Travis Jankowski, Jarrod Dyson, and Rajai Davis kept me alive in steals all season. Stream steals from Jace Peterson (2), Wilmer Difo (2), Greg Allen, Chase D'Arnaud, Tyler Austin, Dylan Cozens, Yolmer Sanchez, Myles Straw, Brock Holt, Jackie Bradley, Enrique Hernandez, Denard Span, and Sandy Leon garnered 16 steals in 34 games. That's a total of 34 steals in 83 games. Streaming is helpful, folks.

Even with great management, it's hard to overcome so many injuries and so much ineffectiveness, along with a pretty mediocre draft. The season didn't turn out the way I had hoped, but there still a solid enough core (especially Votto, Altuve, Peraza, Paxton, Cole, and Verlander) to make a run at it in 2019. Looking to deal Archer, Schwarber, LeClerc, and McCutchen for top shelf hitters.

See you in February!



 
439Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 19:59
For some reason I couldn't access the site most of the day and had a question about today's games counting. Looks like they don't!

Grats to Guru! It's nice to see a new face at the top of the leaderboard.

I had a great pitching staff this year (arguably, the best in SP), and was on pace to comfortably make it to 1200, but kind of ran out of pitchers at the end with Manaea going down. It was a struggle in the last week to try to get to 1150 where I thought the 2 demerit limit was. I managed to get a couple starts here and there and got to 1163. I think I got a start from Gallardo where he didn't completely suck, and a start from Cahill. Those 9 or 10 IP got me over the hump.
 
440GO
      ID: 578392522
      Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 20:53
Congrats to Guru on this and RIBC. Has that ever been done?
 
441Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:30
[427] tiebreaker coin flips were won by Youngroman (over GO - 9th place)), and Meatwads (over WG - 2nd place).

Lottery will be run this afternoon.
 
442Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 19:37
Oh Yay.

An arbitrary standard punishes me by dropping me FOUR draft spots, and rewards other managers by moving them up - in essence, creating a strategy to block someone from hitting minimums in order to improve your own draft positioning.

As for that snide comment about this league not being for managers who make one move a week - it's as equally an asinine sentiment as the rule.

Ask the 3 last place teams to leave. The 9th,12th,and 13th place teams too.

Oh, and the 5th place team.

There isn't one manager in this league that isn't trying every day to not only better his team, but to finish as high possible in the standings.

To even remotely enjoy this league, you have to be active every day, which is why minimum ip is a silly standard.

As myself and others have pointed out, it literally became impossible to pick up an actually starting pitcher in the seasons final 6 weeks.

If we're not going to get rid of this asinine and arbitrary rule, then let's reduce the number significantly (when the rule was created, you didn't have relief pitchers start a game) to adjust to changes within mlb, and pair it with a signicant transaction cap so in the final weeks when some of us are chasing this arbitrary number, there actually are pitchers to pick up.

Dropping 4 spots in the draft is signicant for any team, much less a team near the bottom of the standings, and the punishment certainly doesn't fit the crime.

And apologies for my tone - I want to make it very clear that despite the implications made by others - I am very passionate about this league.
 
443Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 20:09
Lottery results

Prospect draft:
Pick 1: Greggo Romans
Pick 2: mjd
Pick 3: youngroman

Supplemental draft:
Pick 1: Lyman Bostock 10
Pick 2: mjd
Pick 3: Greggo Romans


Spreadsheet with lottery processing details is here:
http://rotoguru1.com/base/G20/G20-Oct18-14x4_balls.xls
 
444Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 10:28
Tree - at one point you held 3-4 catchers...Sal Perez, The Dodgers backstops, and Sisco. I can see the passion you have for the league, but maybe consider trying a new strategy in 2019. Those 3 catchers spots could easily eclipse 100 gp and 100 ip.

As for moving down in the draft, Ive nailed prospects regardless of slot. The %’s get lower as one moves on but keep grinding...as the “in the $$” managers have shown, it’s all about in season management.
 
445Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 11:38
443: Thank you, Guru! Not as much movement as many years, although youngroman did leap from 11th to 3rd....but #1 and #2 held steady on the Supplemental Draft. In the prospect draft, #1 and #3 switched places while #2 held serve. There is little doubt that is the calmest lottery we have ever had on that side....

The draft grids are up-to-date based upon the final standings, demerits and the lottery. They are now in Guru's hands for posting at his convenience....so everyone can know where they stand and what they have to work with this offseason.
 
446blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:33
Rules I'd like to vote on (but will leave it to Species to make these formal):

- Reduce IP max to 1350
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible
- Abolish catcher slot
- Add a 4th OF slot
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total)
- Add a 24th roster spot
- Add two prospect slots
- Make waivers an additional day
- Remove demerit system
- Champion only gets 8 keepers
 
447Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 13:47
at one point you held 3-4 catchers...Sal Perez, The Dodgers backstops, and Sisco... maybe consider trying a new strategy in 2019. Those 3 catchers spots could easily eclipse 100 gp and 100 ip

Three catchers, never four, and three for only the first six weeks of the season.

Let's talk about that strategy.

Sal Perez is a keeper and my starter. Cisco is a 10th keeper as a prospect.

Perez gets hurt right before the season starts, forcing me to pick up Grandal - Cisco isn't playing regularly yet, and I need a full time catcher so I can hit minimums, so I grab Grandal.

As soon as Perez is healthy, I move Grandal for the young slugging Yankee 3b, Andujar, who is now a keeper for me.

As a struggling team trying to build, do I give up on a guy with Cisco's pedigree just to hit minimums?

If I'm contending, or even close to contending, he's an afterthought and I drop him for a player I can use now - but if I'm trying to build, I drop him just to get a few extra innings pitched?

That's why the minimums rules are asinine and only serve to hurt teams trying to build.

And Perez, despite missing the first several weeks of the season, let all catchers in home runs and RBIs, was second in hits, and fourth in runs.

So, tell me, who do I drop?

The injured starter who is among the top 2 or 3 at his position?

The prospect with the good pedigree but has only been at the big league level for a couple weeks, so i'm still gauging how he fits into my team?

The fill in for my starter who is there basically because I need to hit minimums, and turns out to do well enough that he nets me a pretty strong young third baseman when I trade him?

On hindsight, of course you drop Cisco. But in April, you don't know that.

And this is how minimums hurt teams trying to build.

 
448Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 14:43
Do you guys remember the arguments Tree and I used to have in the political forums? All I can say is that any issue that Tree and I are in 100% agreement on is an issue worth taking a serious look at. ;)

Honestly though, a number of people have taken the 'try a different strategy approach.' As long as this is the rule, that is what we will have to do. But when the rules are dictating managers strategies instead of facilitating them, I think there is a problem.
 
449Tree
      ID: 217372011
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 15:24
Silly me, what was I thinking??

Why on earth didn't I drop Aaron Judge to gain a few extra IPs... I mean, he missed significantly more time than Sal Perez, and the suggested strategy is to drop stars so one can accumulate enough innings, right?

 
450Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 18:31
 
451Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 18:34
 
452beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 21:41
Tree, everyone has tough roster decisions to be made. I’ve lost out on some really good keepers in order to maintain minimums. We are all on a level playing field and the rules aren’t new. The minimums aren’t that hard to meet. This year was a little tougher since so many teams were in it at the end, however, you knew you are behind and still chose not to pick up SP’s. We can only keep 9 guys so I don’t buy the excuse that you had no one to drop.

It sounds like you missed the ip minimums out of spite. Species had many announcements throughout the season about the minimums. You even acknowledged them back in mid August, which is plenty of time to add a few SPs to hit them.

The minimums prevent tanking or loading up on every young guy and phoning in the season. That’s what would happen without the minimums. It makes teams make roster moves when they are in 15th place and have nothing to play for. They aren’t perfect, but the majority of the teams in this league voted for them(does that make us asinine?). Maybe the rule would get shot down if we had another vote. If there’s strong support for changing them Species will add it to the ballot.


 
453beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 21:47
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - I like
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes!!!
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - need to think about it more
- Abolish catcher slot - lol
- Add a 4th OF slot - yes
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - yes
- Add a 24th roster spot - yes but only if we added a 4th of
- Add two prospect slots - big nope
- Make waivers an additional day - I’m for the opposite, the shorter the better
- Remove demerit system - no
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - lol

My two adds
-20th place pays $10 toward draftime fee
-19th place pays $5 toward draftime fee
 
454Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Thu, Oct 04, 2018, 09:14
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - No, though adding a single or 2 dl slots for general use is good
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - yes
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - Would just prefer another P slot or two, but will Votes yes here
- Add a 24th roster spot - depends on OF and SP votes
- Add two prospect slots - 3 prospects is good (says the guy with 7 prospect picks this year). Unless you mean adding roster spots for prospects like yahoos N/A slot. then a yes.
- Make waivers an additional day - No, good like it is
- Remove demerit system - yes
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No

 
455Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Thu, Oct 04, 2018, 13:50
Some math to help support lowering the max IP cap:

2018 Total Starter IP: 26,066.67, 5.33 IP per start

2008 Total Starter IP: 28,198.67, 5.8 IP per start

A half an inning in 10 years.

Think of SP as start-buys. When you keep or draft a starter your'e buying 30 starts, presumably. If a team with good closers has a maximum of, say, 300 IP for relievers, that's 1100 IP a team has to come up with with start-buys. In 2008 you could buy 190 starts to get that. In 2018 you needed to buy 208 starts. That's more than one half season of a full-time starter more. There's only 4860 starts to buy, and if every team is wishing to get to 1100 SP IP, they're buying 4160 starts. The 'spare' starts - starts that are left over if everyone gets 1100 SP innings - have gone down from 1060 to 700.

If the 'opener' trend continues, starter IP are going to continue to dwindle, and start-buys are going to be harder and harder to come by as people need to buy more starts to get to their IP thresholds.

In the end I think 1350 is a fair number for an IP cap, but I would advise against adding roster spots as that just brings it back to where we are now.
 
456Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Thu, Oct 04, 2018, 15:11
Lets try a look at the demerit for missing the IP a different way. So many people claim, "It can be done." And yes, it can be. But I say, "it cannot be done by all."
We have 30 major league teams. 5 out of 7 days a week all 30 play. If we start 1 pitcher a day, using the math from 455, we have an average of 5.33 IP per day from SP. Over the course of a 180 day season that is 960 IP. So we have to start more than 1 SP a day.
There are 20 managers and 30 mlb teams. If 10 teams start 2 pitchers a day that means 10 teams cannot start more than 1 pitcher a day. On any given day, half the league is physically unable to have enough starters going to meet the minimum IP cap.
Yes, we have relievers to help. I ran 4-5 relievers out there every day. But sometimes they sit without pitching 2-3 days. Sometimes they pitch 1 out, sometimes 1 1/3 IP.
To meet the minimum IP cap we need to average 7IP per day. That's a tall order to ask of 20 people when statistically speaking half the league is looking at an average of about 6 2/3 IP per day (average IP from a starter plus average IP/day of some relievers.

Now, admittedly lowering the IP cap and thus the min IP limit will help alleviate some of this. But until we get a clearer picture of the number, issuing demerits to league members who may be mathematically unable to complete the task is patently unfair. Especially if we add roster spots. Some managers will keep that many more SP on their rosters which is that many fewer SP to rotate thru.

Oh, and those numbers dont take into account that 2/7 (or 28.5%) of the days, the available of SP drops because of off days. Those numbers above when looking at available pitchers compared to needed IP and team need assumes all 30 teams play. But in more than a quarter of the days, that is not the case.
 
457Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Thu, Oct 04, 2018, 15:19
Tree, everyone has tough roster decisions to be made. I’ve lost out on some really good keepers in order to maintain minimums.

EXACTLY. no way should we be sacrificing keepers to hit minimums. it is everything a fantasy game should NOT be about.

It sounds like you missed the ip minimums out of spite.

no, i just stopped trying, after weeks of seeing "starting pitchers" who would only go 1 or 2 innings being all that was in the free agent pool.

The minimums prevent tanking or loading up on every young guy and phoning in the season. That’s what would happen without the minimums.

is there historical precedence in THIS league of people tanking?

and what young guys are people going to load up on? there are very few in the free agent pool.
 
458Tree
      ID: 77532019
      Thu, Oct 04, 2018, 15:31
amen nerf and khahan.

as i said, the game is changing. and in a tiny view, a half-inning in 10 years may seem like nothing, but when the extrapolation is done, and time goes on, that number is going to grow.

the math here is real, it's changing the game, and on personal level, played a role in costing a struggling team a spot in a draft lottery.

*reduce the IP numbers as above.

*drop GP to 165, but 142 for catcher. no catcher played more than 140 games (ironically, one of the 19 catchers on my roster at season's end lead the league in GP for his position. more ironically, another of the 42,000 catchers on my roster finished 4th in the position in GP, despite being injured for several weeks. probably should have dropped him in the name of strategy).

* add a couple DL spots, with only keepers from the previous season being eligible (even if they were someone else's keeper)

* add one more bench spot, but only if we add one more OF or Util spot

* drop the demerit system. this entire thing is clearly a work in progress, and it's having a negative effect on things like the draft, which are designed to help weaker teams get better. punishing weaker teams doesn't help.


 
459darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Thu, Oct 04, 2018, 22:11
Congrats, Guru! Great season for you and I'm glad that our trade played a role.

I'd be fine with dropping the minimums, but don't want to abolish the demerits. Without the demerits the minimums are pointless. In my mind they're not only to encourage season-long activity, but also to keep rebuilding teams from hoarding young players who aren't playing.
 
460Khahan
      ID: 367431722
      Thu, Oct 04, 2018, 22:16
459 - what young players who aren't playing are we hoarding? There are 60 of them simply off the table. Who is left to hoard in any worthwhile capacity?
 
461Meatwads
      ID: 7527232
      Fri, Oct 05, 2018, 01:03
Awesome job this year Guru! I thought all the contenders played very well. You held off some monsters. I tried my best but couldn't pull it off. Your apparent love for the Indians paid off! Also, I noticed that the prospect grid and supplemental grid don't match the lottery results. It seems like you have them reversed.

This is how I'm leaning today. I could be swayed on a few of them...

- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - Yes
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - Yes
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - Yes
- Add a 24th roster spot - Yes
- Add two prospect slots - Yes
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No

 
462Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Fri, Oct 05, 2018, 09:02
Congrats Guru! Glad that Mikolas helped push you over the line!
 
463Khahan
      ID: 467501510
      Fri, Oct 05, 2018, 09:30
Can we get some clarification on the roster slots proposals? Say they all pass to add - we add a 4th OF slot, we add 3 P slots and we add a bench slot. Does this mean we are adding 5 total roster slots or are we converting 4 bench slots into positional slots and adding a bench slot so roster size only grows by 1? I'm assuming we're converting bench slots to positional slots then adding 1 bench slot so we'd effectively go from 15 starters and 8 bench to 19 starters and 5 bench, correct?
 
464blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Oct 05, 2018, 09:44
Just to clarify my own proposal, I meant add 1 roster slot (from 23 to 24) and convert one bench slot to an OF slot (3 to 4) and 3 bench slots to pitcher slots (3 to 9). Currently, we have 8 bench slots, this would reduce that number to 4 (although I can imagine not every pitcher slot would be filled every day).
 
465ttucowboy
      ID: 51737190
      Fri, Oct 05, 2018, 13:38
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - Yes, if it's not a big pain in the ass to keep track of.
- Abolish catcher slot - Lol, no
- Add a 4th OF slot - No
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - No
- Add a 24th roster spot - No
- Add two prospect slots - No
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - Lol, no
 
466youngroman
      ID: 20555612
      Fri, Oct 05, 2018, 18:48
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - No
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - 2 or 3 DL slots would be sufficient
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - No
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - Yes (no need for daily lineup changes. you simply can have almost all your pitchers active all the time. If some managers load up on relievers, more SP would be available for streaming purposes)
- Add a 24th roster spot - No
- Add two prospect slots - No
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No
 
467Thumqer
      ID: 39230821
      Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 07:47
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - No
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - Yes
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - No
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - No
- Add a 24th roster spot - Yes
- Add two prospect slots - Yes
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No
 
468mjd
      Dude
      ID: 501381415
      Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 14:17
Personally, I like things the way they are.

NO CHANGES.
 
469Tosh
      Dude
      ID: 057721710
      Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 16:15
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - No. Yes for 3x.
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - No
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - No
- Add a 24th roster spot - No
- Add two prospect slots - No
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No
 
470Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Sun, Oct 14, 2018, 14:36
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes. Would even support 1300, based on my reasoning in post 435.
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes.
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - Yes
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - No
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - Yes
- Add a 24th roster spot - No
- Add two prospect slots - No
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - Hell No!
 
471Fosten
      ID: 359421016
      Sun, Oct 14, 2018, 15:41
- Reduce IP max to 1350 - Yes.
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes.
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - No. Yes to a basic DL for all players.
- Abolish catcher slot - I’ll vote yes, just because nobody else has.
- Add a 4th OF slot - Yes.
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - Yes.
- Add a 24th roster spot - Yes.
- Add two prospect slots - Yes.
- Make waivers an additional day - No.
- Remove demerit system - No.
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No.
 
472Nerfherders
      ID: 33543714
      Mon, Oct 15, 2018, 13:24
- Reduce IP max to 1350 - Yes.
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes.
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - No, not that many. Maybe 2 max.
- Abolish catcher slot - No.
- Add a 4th OF slot - No.
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - No.
- Add a 24th roster spot - No.
- Add two prospect slots - Yes.
- Make waivers an additional day - No.
- Remove demerit system - Yes.
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No.
 
473darkside
      ID: 81492120
      Mon, Oct 15, 2018, 19:54
- Reduce IP max to 1350. - Yes
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - Yes
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - No
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - No
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - Yes
- Add a 24th roster spot - No
- Add two prospect slots - Yes
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - No
 
474blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Oct 16, 2018, 12:26
I've been keeping score: G20 Offseason Voting

Through 13 votes, here are some results:
- IP to 1350: 12
- GP to 165: 9
- 3 more SP slots: 8
- 9 DL slots: 7.5 (5 yes, 5 support some form of DL, BMD had no opinion, and MJD voted to leave everything. Only 1 hard no, Darkside)

I believe the 4 above have enough support to pass, or at least make it close.

More discussion:
- 24th roster slot: 6
- 2 more prospects: 6
- 4th outfield slot: 5

Probably toast:
- Remove demerits: 3
- Abolish catcher: 2
- Longer waivers: 1

 
475blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Oct 16, 2018, 12:31
Not counted in my votes: WG, Slizz, Species, Tree, Great One, Lyman*, Greggo*
 
477blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Oct 16, 2018, 13:29
Unrelated, I started a shared spreadsheet for G20 History

Obviously, plenty of blanks to fill in here.

If you have time on your hands, we could use some help populating data on the first tab, especially for recent years.

If you're Excel proficient (Roman!), anything else you can offer up is helpful.
 
478Slizz
      ID: 29614321
      Tue, Oct 16, 2018, 14:39
- Reduce IP max to 1350 - don’t care
- Reduce GP max to 165 per position - don’t care
- 9 DL slots per team, only players kept in previous offseason are eligible - Yes to keepers only. No to blanket.
- Abolish catcher slot - No
- Add a 4th OF slot - No
- Add 3 SP slots (to 9 total) - No
- Add a 24th roster spot - No
- Add two prospect slots - No
- Make waivers an additional day - No
- Remove demerit system - No
- Champion only gets 8 keepers - Lol, no
 
479darkside
      ID: 2822316
      Tue, Oct 16, 2018, 20:42
FWIW, my hard no on the DL is due almost entirely to my belief that it would be a commish nightmare. If the commishes are on board, I’m game. But I think they should have veto power on something like that.
 
480Species
      ID: 102481820
      Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 19:39
Konnichiwa!!

I will begin addressing the various proposals. Thank you blue hen for leading the charge for a straw poll. I can craft formal vote language from there.

I am thinking of 3 DL spots for keepers only. Let's not go overboard. Yes, that is basically self managed/overseen by the league.....but I think it is manageable.....we could even throw in a penalty for misuse to increase manager attention to self-management.

How about these LCS'??? Great series so far.
 
481blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 10:25
The link in 477 is getting close to complete managerial record. Still need some detail for 2003, 2004, and 2006, if anyone has it. For 2006, just need to know Cards or RFS and Trip or THK. If anyone has draftime links or if the data's still in sportsline, let me know.

All told, we're only missing 12 manager/season combos out of 320.
 
482blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 11:07
Guru to the rescue with some old data. I think almost every season is accounted for. So, without further adieu:

Best Managers in G20 History, by average finish:
1. WG 17.92
2. BH 16.05
3. MBJ 15.75
4. Ref 15.46
5. ksoze 15.00 (1 season)
6. Meatwads 14.25 (2 seasons)
7. Coyotes 14.00 (1 season)
8. BJ21 13.75
9. RFS 12.67
10. Youngroman 12.65
11. Twarpy 12.14
12. Guru 12.14
13. Tosh 11.94
 
483youngroman
      ID: 20555612
      Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 16:14
I enriched the sheet with all the data I had.
I added a 2nd manager column for seasons where there was a manager change. the 2nd column contains the manager that left during that season. the first column contains the new manager. don't know which manager should be attributed for the good/bad result that season.

what is missing:
- category data for 2009 and 2010. does anyone have them archived somewhere?
- GP and IP for 2003 to 2017. data since 2011 is available on ESPN but this can't be automated. need to find time to copy these values over.
 
484blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 17:06
I can enter GP and IP data, and moves, where available. I was going to enter the other stuff by hand, so you've already saved a ton of time.

For 2nd manager, let's just forget about it everywhere except where we show everything. If you're the second manager, you don't get credit for the season.

Adding cat leaders now - looks like Meatwads broke my HR record this season.
 
485blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 17:40
... and category records are in decent shape. Roman, you're the best.
 
486beastiemiked
      ID: 35282121
      Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 19:58
16 seasons is pretty impressive. Only 3 original owners which is kinda insane considering our league is as strong as ever.
 
487blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Oct 19, 2018, 10:48
I added a Championships section.

Not exactly news that Ref and BH have 4, Species has 3 and a bunch of people have 1. This counts ties as 1 championship, mostly because I couldn't figure out how to count them as a half. Roman, any ideas? Also added Most Top Three, Most Top Six, and Most Top Ten, if anyone is interested.

Roman, can you also check the roto standings? I think the order of categories changed over time, so which points are in which categories doesn't match up.
 
488blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Fri, Oct 19, 2018, 12:23
I added a "Draft Data" tab, and input the data from the 2018 prospect draft. If someone could populate the "Franchise" column and add previous prospect drafts, that'd be great. I have some ideas for draft related tabs.
 
489youngroman
      ID: 20555612
      Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 03:54
bh - I corrected the roto points for W/SV#/K that were off for 2011 to 2018.
 
490blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 10:59
Awesome, thanks Roman.

Current State of History Doc

Alright, here's what's still out there, either missing data or errors.

- Data Tab. Missing all data from 2009-2010 except final roto total. Desperately need this.
- Data Tab. Missing GP and IP totals for 2011-2017. You can find this info by going to a historical standings page, selecting a team, selecting Roster Summary, go to the bottom and look at the totals. Offense and Pitching are on separate pages. This info just needs to be added to columns AC and AD on the Data Tab.
- DraftData Tab. Missing all historical p-draft picks (top priority), s-draft picks and keepers. This data exists, just needs to be entered.
- Championships Tab. Doesn't account for half championships in any of the tables. Need a strategy here.
- Manager Detail Tab. Dropdown isn't sorted alphabetically.
- Manager Detail Tab. Prospect pick query isn't working.
- Categories Tab. Many roto categories aren't working.
 
491Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 17:13
blue hen and youngroman:

THANK YOU for taking the time to work on that incredible google doc with the proud history of G20. That is a LOT of fun and packed with great info.

482: I do find this "stat" interesting. Naturally I SUCK in this measure because of my "Ricky Bobby" mentality: If you aren't first, you're LAST! That attitude definitely knocks me down off of the G20 consistency leaderboard.

.....but I don't care. The column that matters is the number of Championships. The Yankees aren't measured on the consistency of their record. They are most measured based upon 28 World Series titles.

Obviously along the way I could have played for my best finishes.......but I honestly think I would have fewer titles, and be much less proud.
 
492blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 17:27
Agreed, I give you a ton of credit for your rebuilding path. But I give WG a lot of credit for always being near the top. If you have an acceptable formula that isn't here, happy to add it.

Fosten is updating GP and IP between 2011 and 2016 (I did 2017 this morning), so that should be finished off.

Roman, I still see some roto errors in there - 2011 pitching looks weird. Wondering if we should derive roto points, as a sanity check.

Meatwads did the 2017 p draft, and I added p draft history to Manager Detail. Having trouble with the formula for Franchise in DraftDetail.

Any Excel experts, could use your help with the last 4 bullets above.

 
493Fosten
      ID: 319161421
      Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 04:50
Data = Entered 2011+ GP/IP. Does older data exist?
DraftData = Entered 2007+ P-Picks. Missing 2004-2006 (Rounds 1-8).
DraftData = Added draft/keeper links for quick reference. Missing some old threads. Data needs extracted.
Manager Detail = P-Pick query now working. (Replaced VLOOKUP in DraftData:Franchise with INDEX/MATCH.)
 
494blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 11:32
Great work, Fosten. You're much better at this than Fantasy Baseball, he said with a smile.

I found the missing p-drafts and added links to your link. I think I'm going to add a links tab so we can keep that record without cluttering another tab.

I also found all the s-drafts except 2004. 2003, I just had a spreadsheet from Ref so I included it in a temporary tab.

Also found all the keeper declarations. Not sure how we want to tackle p-keepers, that's the least interesting to me. I think your links might be wrong - we used to do the p-draft in July, so p-keepers in March don't actually matter as much.

Do we want a separate tab for SDraftData vs. PDraftData? Seems like it'd get pretty long with every SDraft pick in there.
 
495blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 11:24
Fosten helped put together a To Do list, so I won't keep updating here. If you have time, expertise or both, go ahead and visit the spreadsheet and do what you can.

Looks like CBS was able to reactivate the league at guru20.baseball.sportsline.com, which should have stats, but I don't have credentials to get in there. Anyone?
 
496blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 11:53
One more update. I got into CBS and have added 2009-10 stats, and 2003-10 transaction lists (except some of 10 is missing from the site), in poor format on tabs at the end. I imagine fosten or Roman could work with that and get the data tab updated. The transactions is a lot of data, so hoping we can kill the tab when we have the numbers calculated.

Couldn't find GP or IP, and again, missing some 10 transactions.
 
497Ref
      ID: 19592411
      Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 12:59
Good stuff bh.
 
498Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 18:51
That spreadsheet is amazing! Thank you blue hen, youngroman, Fosten and Ref for providing some old data. REALLY adds to the enjoyment (for me at least) of this great league!

FYI -- someone points out that the draft grids flip-flopped the lottery results. They were right and I have corrected my master grid. Will post a replacement sometime later.
 
499youngroman
      ID: 20555612
      Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 19:05
added missing stats from 2009-2010 to data tab. I guess the "2009-10 stats" tab can be removed

I also added 2 activestats tabs. 1 for hitting stats, 1 for pitching stats. contains all player stats that were accumulated since 2011, split by each G20 team. if you spot something strange, point it out and I will correct it.

I also logged into CBS but could not find any meaningful info that we don't already have. ESPN is superior when it comes to historic stats.
 
500Blue hen
      ID: 410452818
      Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 23:47
This sheet is getting big. I was just going to say we should get Moves numbers and kill that huge tab.
 
501blue hen
      ID: 5254718
      Thu, Oct 25, 2018, 14:37
Roman, thanks for the activestats, awesome data. I set up a tab called Mgr Players, which lists the top players (sorted by AB) for the team in each year.

Some notes on that:
- I hardcoded a lot on that tab, you might have a more efficient way to do it, so we don't have to redo everything each year.
- The data is grouped by "Team Name" which is the actual team name listed on ESPN. So teams that changed their names are separate dropdown items. We could fix this, but it's manual work. They should match the franchise names and manager names we use elsewhere.
- Some of the player names are missing trailing letters. No real pattern there - I wonder if that was bad in the original data.

Unrelated, someone (I'm guessing Fosten) added a border column to DraftData and threw off the Detail tabs. I think I fixed that.

Still can't get HR or ERA to work in the Cats tab. Any ideas?
 
503Species
      SuperDude
      ID: 07724916
      Thu, Oct 25, 2018, 17:22
I have started a new Offseason Discussion thread, with its immediate priority the voting on some of the rule changes we have contemplated over the last month or two. Please go there and cast your votes.

Once that is done, we can continue in that thread with some further rule change discussions (expanding prospect draft, adding a 24th roster spot) and other offseason chatter (i.e. soliciting trades), as well as discuss and review the new google doc.