Harper out til AllStar Break

[Deadheadz]

Bryce Harper (ADP 10) gone at least 2 months

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/5764/bryce-harper

.

[Heisenberg]

Nothing like spending $1600 and having both Harper and Josh Hamilton on the team and watch the season end before April because two professional baseball players can't slide into a base without crippling themselves. Sickening.

[Edwards Kings]

Nothing like spending $1600 and having both Harper and Josh Hamilton on the team and watch the season end before April because two professional baseball players can't slide into a base without crippling themselves. Sickening.

That just sucks, dude. Now someone post about how important in-season management is and how injuries are just "part of the game"!

[DOUGHBOYS]

Nothing like spending $1600 and having both Harper and Josh Hamilton on the team and watch the season end before April because two professional baseball players can't slide into a base without crippling themselves. Sickening.

That just sucks, dude. Now someone post about how important in-season management is and how injuries are just "part of the game"!

We could say-
Injuries are not part of the game.
We could say-
In-season management is not important.
BUT, it would be like saying-
Yes Dear, your butt doesn't look too big in that dress.


Injuries like this do suck.
At the same time, the prospect of losing Harper and/or Hamilton cannot come as a total shock.

[Outlaw]

Nothing like spending $1600 and having both Harper and Josh Hamilton on the team and watch the season end before April because two professional baseball players can't slide into a base without crippling themselves. Sickening.

That just sucks, dude. Now someone post about how important in-season management is and how injuries are just "part of the game"!

We could say-
Injuries are not part of the game.
We could say-
In-season management is not important.
BUT, it would be like saying-
Yes Dear, your butt doesn't look too big in that dress.


Injuries like this do suck.
At the same time, the prospect of losing Harper and/or Hamilton cannot come as a total shock.

Totally predictable...lol It has become a game of chance at least so far this year or is that luck...

[Yellow Ledbetters]

Hopefully Ryan Braun isn't next......

[DOUGHBOYS]

Totally predictable...lol It has become a game of chance at least so far this year or is that luck...

It is amusing that fantasy players can opine that Harper will have a good season or a bad season.
Yet, find an injury, unpredictable.
Some players are an injury waiting to happen.
Harper for the most part, and Hamilton to a degree fall under that category.

[GetALife]

Nothing like spending $1600 and having both Harper and Josh Hamilton on the team and watch the season end before April because two professional baseball players can't slide into a base without crippling themselves. Sickening.

You think that's bad? I've got Harper, and five other "regular or starter" offensive players DL'd including at least one more high ADP like you. Think my season is over? Think in-season management can simply solve that problem?

[DOUGHBOYS]

Think my season is over? Think in-season management can simply solve that problem?

I've been in the same situation with different players
For me, I never thought my season was over...till it was.
And yes, I did think that in-season management could help.
The only other option is giving up.
Have you done that?

Edit- The plethora of injuries to others players should help you too. Other Managers are going through what you're going through, only to a probable lesser degree.
Set your sights lower. I forgot completely about Overall. And then first place in my league. Then second place.
Getting your money back is a swell accomplishment after the fantasy Gods have treated you so cruelly.
It can be done.

[morons]

Hang in there...

Fantasy baseball is about how your entire team does over the entire season.

I happen to have Harper/Hamilton combo on a team too, but I think it will still be competitive as the pitchers are great and the offense has depth.

Many other teams will have injuries and underachievers also, so you can still compete if the rest of your team is solid.

[TOXIC ASSETS]

re: Hamilton / Harper
Sorry to pour gasoline on your fire but both of these guys were high risk/high return type of players. Prior to this season Hamilton had played what could be considered a full season only 3 out of 7 times, and Harper played in only 118 games last year. You could have gone with much safer picks than these two guys. Not sure how your draft unfolded, but the way some players are performing this year, shows again the folly of ADP. How about a start of: 1. Adrian Gonzalez 2. Sonny Gray and 3. Chase Utley. Anyone who started like that would be in pretty good shape --- and I'll bet that anyone COULD have started this way if they had wanted.

[Edwards Kings]

I think my snarkey comment about the platitudes "injuries are part of the game" and the value of "in-season management" started the fire. Some (not here in this post) have been almost condescending in their use. No one has suggested giving up, no one is making excuses, no one is suggesting that injuries are not part of the game, and no one is suggesting that in season management is not important.

I was merely commiserating some bad luck, concurrent injuries to stud ball players. And it is not the injuries as much as the type of injuries. These were not sprained ankles or sore shoulders. It is easy to predict injuries when someone has a history of that type of injury. Brian Roberts will have issues with his back sometime this year. Fish in the barrel. Unless someone had inside information that Hamilton or Harper had congenital thumb issues to make them more susceptible, then I do not think this kind of injury is predictable, therefore making them an "oh, c'mon" moment, not a "well, I should have known it".

And in-season management, in both real baseball and fantasy, can only go so far. It is one important part of the overall picture with many important parts, one that is the equivalent of a Rorshach Ink Spot test.



Here, I see and infielder and an outfielder crashing into one another going for a fly ball. They are both on my team, at least one will go on the DL with a dislocated tallywacker, and my pitcher just got nailed with a hit and an earned run.

After a while, and after a certain number of injuries, in season management loses effectiveness and you are only treading water. I am not saying give up due to the injuries. Don't, because most of these injuries are short term and by August could be forgotten and like what was written, many are in the same boat. Keep managing, streaming, focusing on improving the stats you can, like we all do.

Now, just rub some dirt in it....

[Heisenberg]

Let me clarify a few points. I certainly will manage the hell out of my team and do all I can to make it and keep it competitive. I was just venting irritation and frustration about the almost unthinkable way 2 star players could get hurt in that way. I always get a kick out of some how people talk like they can predict injuries. Outside of guys who have chronic hammy pulls or concussions in the NFL I think the ability to predict injuries is a myth. I have played this game a long time. I certainly have avoided guys who are injury prone in countless drafts in the past. There always comes a point where the potential upside production if the guy stayed healthy becomes worth the risk. We all play that game. We all have drafted guys who have a history of injuries.

I do not believe anyone could have predicted these guys (Harper and Hamilton) would both tear thumb ligaments diving head first into bases. It is still a pretty bad break no matter what their history was. Would have been nice if the initial reports on Harper were not that the injury was minor so people could have factored that in during the Faab bidding.

[Heisenberg]

Edward Kings,

Great post. I made mine above before reading yours. It isn't that there were injuries. It was the TYPE of injuries they got. Huge downer for anyone having both of those guys on a high stakes team regardless of their injury history.

[BK METS]

I am not an expert in winning. I have lost many more times than I have won. But in nearly every league that I have won, I have experienced at least one significant injury to a top player, often more than one. I get it that it sucks to see the Bryce Harper injury. I have him in several leagues including 2 first place teams. But that's the key. If you can have a team that is competing and currently has Bryce Harper's mediocre stats, it must mean you are doing something else right, like drafting good late round picks and picking up decent free agents. I have been one of the ones that is critical of some who blame injuries for their failures and I can only tell you that the baseball season is a marathon. This isn't football. Injuries are not the sole reason why you will lose your league. The fact that there have been so many injuries can only increase the chances that nearly every team including the top teams, will be dealing with injuries. I have one team that lost Kershaw, Sale, and Cobb. Another that has Harper and Hamilton. But, I am so much happier to have those guys than being stuck with guys who suck all season. At least I can replace Harper with a player that might do well. Yes we are all tired of hearing that injuries are part of the game but this year more than ever, it might effect your team less than usual due to nearly everyone being in the same boat.

[Gekko]

I do not believe anyone could have predicted these guys (Harper and Hamilton) would both tear thumb ligaments diving head first into bases. It is still a pretty bad break no matter what their history was. Would have been nice if the initial reports on Harper were not that the injury was minor so people could have factored that in during the Faab bidding.

On the other hand, for some of us "lucky" owners, we felt there was an elevated risk in selecting players like Harper and Hamilton due to their injuries and underperformance and we stayed away from them no matter how far they fell

[Deadheadz]

What are you guys complaining about?

All my guys are healthy and I'm still in last place.

[lrr]

Certain things are a given. Injuries will happen. They hurt your chances of winning. If you have a lot of them your chances of winning diminish accordingly. If you are really good at FAAB, you can improve your chances. The more injuries, the harder you have to work at FAAB.

I try not to draft players with a track record of any type of injuries. Some players are snake bit. That didn't work so well this year so far. If you counted on young guys with upside like Avisail Garcia and Kole Calhoun who had no history of injuries, look elsewhere. The year I did best I had no injuries except for a twisted ankle by Mark Trumbo in the last week. My management of that team went well. One year I lost Farnsworth to injury before the year started. Then on that team I lost Matt Kemp after his first great month. Management of that team didn't go so well.

The one thing that made me more upset this this was Mark Trumbo. He is running around with Plantar Fasciitis all spring training and doesn't tell rotowire or rotoworld. Now he is now on the snake bit list.

[Deadheadz]

Certain things are a given. Injuries will happen. They hurt your chances of winning. If you have a lot of them your chances of winning diminish accordingly. If you are really good at FAAB, you can improve your chances. The more injuries, the harder you have to work at FAAB.

I try not to draft players with a track record of any type of injuries. Some players are snake bit. That didn't work so well this year so far. If you counted on young guys with upside like Avisail Garcia and Kole Calhoun who had no history of injuries, look elsewhere. The year I did best I had no injuries except for a twisted ankle by Mark Trumbo in the last week. My management of that team went well. One year I lost Farnsworth to injury before the year started. Then on that team I lost Matt Kemp after his first great month. Management of that team didn't go so well.

The one thing that made me more upset this this was Mark Trumbo. He is running around with Plantar Fasciitis all spring training and doesn't tell rotowire or rotoworld. Now he is now on the snake bit list.

It makes me wonder if Trumbo/Angels told Arizona about his PF trouble before he became a Diamondback.

[Heisenberg]

I do not believe anyone could have predicted these guys (Harper and Hamilton) would both tear thumb ligaments diving head first into bases. It is still a pretty bad break no matter what their history was. Would have been nice if the initial reports on Harper were not that the injury was minor so people could have factored that in during the Faab bidding.

On the other hand, for some of us "lucky" owners, we felt there was an elevated risk in selecting players like Harper and Hamilton due to their injuries and underperformance and we stayed away from them no matter how far they fell

Gekko,

I believe (I could be wrong) I read a post from you breaking down all the injured players you had from one team. How come you didn't use your clairvoyant skills to avoid them given the fact many of them had been injured before and clearly had elevated risk?

Anyone who read my previous post could see that I understand some players have risk. We all understand that and we all (gekko included) have drafted players with elevated risk. The point of the original post starting this thread is that it is hard to believe two important fantasy players, regardless of their injury history, could get hurt in the exact same flukey way with the same type of injury.

[Gekko]

Probably because I'm an idiot!

[Heisenberg]

I don't think there are many (if any) idiots here. I think most here are some of the best fantasy baseball/football players in the world. I think we all get hammered with bad luck from time to time. I think when the stakes are this high it can be mildly therapeutic to vent about our bad luck in a setting where we think colleagues will recognize their good fortune of not running into the same kind of bad fortune.

I still find it amazing that those two guys could both get the same kind of obscure injury in the same way by being incapable of simply running the bases or sliding in a base.

[ikenbaseball]

Before the drafts,we have all access to the same information. The statistics from the previous year(s) don't change.
I think the time that you put into drafting has a lot to do with how well you do. But the luck that you encounter that particular year plays a big factor always. Clayton Kershew getting hurt 2 hours after you drafted him is bad luck. Period.

If you really think about it, our drafts are really no different then MLB,NFL,NBA drafts.
Teams spend thousands of hours of time and millions of dollars preparing for their draft. When their team is finished drafting that night, they usually will tell their fan base that they had a "great draft."
Then reality hits when the season starts.

Remember the Yankees Brien Taylor?
How about the greatest basketball player(Michael Jordan) drafting Kwame Brown.
JaMarcus Russell/Ryan Leaf/Tim Couch/Akili Smith/all were franchise QB's..aside:Johnny Manziel will on this list.

I wish that my Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics would have great drafts every year. But they don't.
In the 2009 draft, the Patriots best pick in that draft was Julian Edelman, a 7th round pick, who was a QB for Kent State.
The rest of the draft was awful.

I'm not going to win every league every year. I've accepted that.
But just like in poker and the stock market, as long as I win more then I lose, I'll be content.

Good Luck

Krys

[JEagle]

Fact is guys get hurt all the time. It happens to everyone's teams at some point or another. I think people complain about it to make themselves feel better and to give themselves an excuse for not doing as well as they had hoped. Some years you are luckier then others but regardless you have to manage every move and every week as you are trying to win untile the season ends.
And let's be honest, no one should complain about Hamilton getting hurt....it's what he does.

[Heisenberg]

As I said before. I think we as serious fantasy players understand guys get hurt all the time. We understand injuries are part of the game and the team/roster management that comes with it is part of the game.

What cannot be denied is that it is kind of shocking that 2 high level professional baseball players could tear the exact same thumb ligament because they are in capable of sliding into a base safely. When both players are highly rated fantasy players and both are on your high stakes team, it is reasonable that a fantasy owner could be frustrated and feel like venting.