NFBC Message Boards

We see ourselves as the best of the best of fantasy baseball.
And sometimes, the best of the best looks very bad.
We can't even get team leaders right, let alone category leaders.

Here are the team leaders in rbi and a lot of our misses...

Baltimore-
Manny Machado was drafted in the first round.
Easy one.
Nope.
Answer: Mark Trumbo

Boston-
Mookie Betts was drafted at the end of the first round.
rbi was not his thing though.
So we get a pass.
Answer:David Ortiz.

New York-
No Yankee hitter was drafted highly (or pitcher for that matter)
Ellsbury, Gardner, and Teixeira taken well before this guy...
Answer: Carlos Beltran

Tampa Bay-
This one, by default, we get correct.
Nobody has stepped up their game on this team offensively.
Answer: Evan Longoria

Toronto-
Josh Donaldson became an NFBC sweetheart after his MVP year last year.
He's having a good year.
But after leading the American League in rbi last year, he doesn't lead his team this year.
Answer: Edwin Encarnacion

Chicago-
Jose Abreu was a solid second round pick.
His owners are not complaining about his 50 rbi.
They are miffed that he only has 11 home runs.
Not even half that of this teammate.
Answer: Todd Frazier

Cleveland:
We know that Michael Brantley is their best hitter.
But, no rbi can be had while sitting on their duff.
Still, we had no idea that this guy would break out.
Joey Gallo had a higher adp.
Answer: Mike Napoli

Detroit-
As of this writing, we're correct.
However, the leaders for the Tigers have 53, 52, 51, and 50 rbi.
Answer: Miguel Cabrera

Kansas City-
We're sorta right.
We had Lorenzo Cain higher, but that was more for his five category goodness.
Right behind him was the answer.
Answer: Eric Hosmer

Minnesota-
We fell into this one.
Easily, the best player on this team, this year, is Eduardo Nunez.
But he leads off on a team who makes a lot of outs, especially over the second part of their lineup.
So few rbi ops. Still, he is only five behind the Twins leader.
Answer: Brian Dozier

Houston-
Carlos Correa was an NFBC darling last draft season.
Most would say that Jose Altuve has been fantasy's best player.
So, it may be a surprise, but...
Answer: Carlos Correa

Los Angeles-
Here is a fact that will knock your socks off.
Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Paul Goldschmidt were the Overall top picks.
NONE are leading their own team in rbi.
Answer: Albert Pujols

Oakland-
Billy Burns was taken higher.
But, we get a pass since Burns was taken for his judyism.
Answer: Khris Davis

Seattle:
This one has gone as expected.
Robby Cano was taken higher, but mostly because of his positioanality.
And he along with Kyle Seager are only one behind the leader.
Answer: Nellie Cruz

Texas-
Most would have bet on Prince Fielder.
His U only status left him down in NFBC ranks.
So Adrian Beltre, right?
Wrong.
Answer: Ian Desmond

Atlanta-
No brainer, right?
The only Brave batter taken highly was Freddie Freeman.
That don't matter this year.
Answer: Nick Markakis

Miami-
Gincarlo Stanton was easily the highest pick by NFBC'ers among Miami players.
The timing of this post helps him.
Justin Bour is now one behind him since not being able to play.
Still, Stanton can only muster a tie.
Answer: Ozuna/Stanton

New York-
This is a pathetic rbi team.
Their third leading rbi guy is in the minors (Michael Conforto)
They bought Cespedes for rbi and he has delivered.
Answer: Yoenis Cespedes

Philadelphia-
One need only look at the Phillies second leading rbi guy to see what a bad lineup this is.
It's Freddy Galvis.
We'll take the Win here.
Answer: Maikel Franco

Washington-
Well, you know it's not Bryce Harper.
How were we to know that Harper would have two more rbi than Danny Espinoza?
Man, we suck.
Answer: Daniel Murphy

Chicago-
We took Anthony Rizzo as the best of Cubs hitters.
They have a lot of good hitters.
But, their best is....
Answer: Kris Bryant

Cincinnati-
Joey Votto leads the Reds in BB and OBP. And only BB and OBP.
I'm sure his owners are ecstatic.
While Votto walks to first, Adam Duvall is trotting around them.
Still, he is not their leader.
Answer: Jay Bruce

Milwaukee-
Ryan Braun, right?
Nope.
It's a fellow hitting 100 points lower than Braun and with an adp in a poorer neighborhood.
Answer: Chris Carter

Pittsburgh-
Andrew McCutchen does not lead his team in any roto category.
He trails David Freese (adp- one trillion) in rbi and has 77 more at bats than Freese.
A sad case.
Answer: Gregory Polanco

St. Louis-
This one may come as a surprise, but really isn't.
The best Cardinals hitter is their pinch hitter.
Pinch hitters usually hit at the bottom of the lineup.
St Louis pinch hitters have 45 hits. No other team, more than 30
A .366 pinch hitting average.
The leader, short lived though, due to injury.
Answer: Matt Carpenter

Arizona-
Perhaps we thought too much of Goldy.
He's still stealing bases, which made him attractive to us.
And he's been good in other categories, just not super.
Answer: Jake Lamb

Colorado-
Only five of the top 20 offensive adp picks lead their teams in rbi.
This is one of them.
Answer: Nolan Arenado

Los Angeles-
Yasiel Puig sure looks athletic, doesn't he?
Puig has 70 more points of batting average and 50 more at bats than teammate and 'Y bro' Yasmani Grandal and still, Grandal has more rbi.
And, if you think it's Corey Seager.
Surprise!...But barely.
Answer: Justin Turner

San Diego:
Nobody thinks of San Diego for rbi.
But they have two players in the top 12.
Matt Kemp is quietly having a great year, but hasn't attempted a steal.
And this guy was not on our adp radar.
Answer: Wil Myers

San Francisco:
Buster Posey was the clear favorite.
But he's not even second.
In fact, he's third among 'B's'.
3RD- Buster Posey
2ND- Brandon Belt
Answer: Brandon Crawford

Nice post. I know there are folks on the Board that have been playing fantasy baseball longer than myself, but I have to say that, at least so far, this has been the most surprising year to me in terms of players performing much better, and much worse, than expected. There always are surprises, but it just seems that there are more surprises this year than any I can recall. I know Greg's recent post pointed out some incredible bargains. Heck, just look at the Top 50 players in the NFBC Player Rater:

#5 - Ian Desmond - the free agent no one wanted; he lost a lot of money in 2015 but fixing that now
#6 - Wil Myers - how many saw him as the top rated 1B at the break?
#15 - Jonathan Villar !?
#16 - Eduardo Nunez - did anyone draft him in the first 30 rounds? (Kudos to you if you did)
#22 - David Ortiz - sure, I thought he'd do well in a strong lineup, but ... geez!
#27 - Mark Trumbo - leading MLB in HR and hitting .285
#28 - Rajai Davis - seems like he'll be able to steal bases at 50
#31 - Daniel Murphy - with a career high OPS of .809 in 2011, he's rocking a .957 OPS so far
#33 - Melvin Upton, Jr. - raise your hand if you saw him being the more valuable Upton this year
#41 - Jackie Bradley, Jr. - I thought he was OK, the type of OF you gamble on around Round 20 - he's been a stud so far

Just a few others outside the Top 50:

#55 - Aledmys Diaz - where did this guy come from? honestly, I never even heard of him before April
#77 - Jeanmar Gomez - ranked just above Carlos Correa; yeah, I saw that ... not.

It just goes to show, we don't know a lot more than we know. This game of ours always will be challenging and unpredictable. Also, like mutual funds, past success is no guarantee of future performance.

Mike

DOUGHBOYS wrote: Oakland-
Billy Burns was taken higher.
But, we get a pass since Burns was taken for his judyism.
Answer: Khris Davis

I didn't know that Billy Burns was Jewish.

We are suckers for past performance.

What will this mean for the future?
Does Kershaw and Altuve get some Overall number one action?
Is Trumbo a first rounder?
How far does McCutchen drop?
Is Cano back to being a bottom of the first round pick?
Who gets drafted first- Bogaerts, Lindor, Seager, Correa, Machado?
And where do Al Diaz, Nunez, Cozart, Story, Espinoza, Semien, Ad Russell, and Tulo fit in?
Shortstop looks to be a whopping powerful position next year.
Do we trust that the nags in Matz and Syndergaard's elbow's are just nags?
Do the Mets have a healthy Starter? For sure?
Is Stanton a first rounder?
How much do we trust JuDee Gordon?
Has Starling Marte eaten a Judy Jetson sandwich?
Sure, Wilson Ramos is hitting well this year. Is there a catcher worthy of being taken in the first five rounds?
Bryant, Donaldson, Arenado before or after Trout, Harper, and Goldy?
Along with Altuve and Kershaw, are these the first eight selected in most drafts?
Scherzer or Sale?
Arrieta?
What happens to Wade Davis?

This is our own soap opera.
We keep hanging on, waiting for the next episode.

Let's Draft!