Ramble on

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri May 13, 2011 4:09 am

In the spirit of my good friend RT's recent posts, as well as LV4 leaguemate Wayne's blog, he's a summary post about my NFBC experiences so far this year {I’ll only discuss my main event teams, but my other teams are in the same boat as well}

This off-season was different for me in that I had some serious "non-baseball" issues which required a good deal of my time/energy. I’m sure others deal with similar issues (this was my first time). When I determined the issues were trending in the right direction, I decided to join 5 February slow drafts AT THE SAME TIME to jumpstart my prep {in 2010, I began my hardcore prep in November}. Basically, I was about 3 months behind (compared to last year), and I was 100% OKAY with that because of my knowledge of the player pool and heck, those were the cards dealt to me…I couldn’t go back in time.

My draft day plans included two changes from previous plans:

ONE:

*Over the course of the past couple of years, my main event teams have had stellar offenses. What has prevented me from attaining my goal of win the 100K has been my pitching. While my pitching has been good, it hasn’t been stellar. I decided this year I would get two anchors for each of my pitching staffs (in other words, 2 SP in the first 5 rounds).

LAST year for the first weekend main event, I used 4th and 10th round picks on SP. The second weekend, I used 2nd and 7th round picks.

THIS year for the first weekend main event, I used 2nd and 3rd round picks on SP. The second weekend, I used 1st and 5th round picks.

TWO:

*Because I had less time to prepare this year, I decided I was going to use a similar draft plan for both weekends. Basically, I was going to roster more risk this year. This included selecting many of the same players on both of my teams.

LAST year, I drafted 4 players common to both main event teams (CarGo, Uribe, Padilla, F.Garcia).

THIS year I drafted 10 players common to both main event teams (Stanton, Furcal, Beckham, MRAM, Raburn, KK, Porcello, Capuano, M.Izturis, Bonifacio). Of course, most of them are duds or are underperforming to this point.

>>>>>>>>>

Any ways, my pitching staffs have been pretty good so far (as expected with the extra SP emphasis), however my offenses have been sputtering. I’ve already dropped 8 players from the first weekend team and a whopping 11 players from the second weekend team.

{Enter Jim Mora} And to think, whispers of the Hall of Fame? Hall of Fame? I just hope I can finish out of the cellar!

It’s been a very humbling year.

[ May 13, 2011, 10:09 AM: Message edited by: Gekko ]

Dirt Dogs · Post by **Dirt Dogs** » Fri May 13, 2011 5:40 am

Even the 2011 RedSox are off to a slow start.

You took a lot of risk in selecting common players for both teams that were already risky players themselves. In doing this you put both of your teams at double risk.

If anyone can recover it's the great Gekko. Some people might hant your rants and FAAB $$$ posts but the results speak for themselves.

maybe 2011 is a bridge year

Cornhusker · Post by **Cornhusker** » Fri May 13, 2011 5:46 am

Did you utilize the early pitching strategy for your slow drafts as well? If so, do the early results look more favorable?

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri May 13, 2011 6:19 am

Originally posted by Cornhusker:

Did you utilize the early pitching strategy for your slow drafts as well? If so, do the early results look more favorable? i'd have to look back, but yes as i recall. results are more of the same...middle of the pack (or worse)

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Fri May 13, 2011 1:57 pm

If you had more time to repair would you have discovered your way and avoided Stanton, Beckham, Man Ram etc. No...

It has nothing to do with your preparation time. You love your guys and it just looks like you were wrong this year.

You are faced with a choice of saying 3 out of 4 years is not good enough or you can stick with a plan that has given you results in the past.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:08 pm

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

It has nothing to do with your preparation time. You love your guys and it just looks like you were wrong this year. i'm not sure how you find "your guys", but i find mine by doing "prep". the more exhaustive the prep, the better the results (at least in my experience). maybe others do it differently.

Glenneration X · Post by **Glenneration X** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:09 pm

Originally posted by Gekko:

This off-season was different for me in that I had some serious "non-baseball" issues which required a good deal of my time/energy.I do hear that finding a good alias is extremely time & energy consuming.

All joking aside Mark, it's early. Two years ago, my Main was 380th overall at this time and finished the season 46th and at one point in August was 14th overall. It's a long season with plenty of time left.

Even if you don't turn it around, it doesn't diminish the pretty ridiculous accomplishments you've already got in your resume. I'm not sure I like seeing a humbled Gekko, makes the world seem off-balance to me.

Good luck the rest of the season Bud, I'm sure there's a run up the standings somewhere in there for you.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:22 pm

All joking aside Mark, it's early. Two years ago, my Main was 380th overall at this time and finished the season 46th and at one point in August was 14th overall. It's a long season with plenty of time left.. [/QB]wow, how did u turn it around? was there a key waiver pickup that did it?

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:45 pm

Originally posted by Gekko:

quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

It has nothing to do with your preparation time. You love your guys and it just looks like you were wrong this year. i'm not sure how you find "your guys", but i find mine by doing "prep". the more exhaustive the prep, the better the results (at least in my experience). maybe others do it differently. [/QUOTE]My point is you could have put in 20 more hours a week and I bet you would have still loved Stanton and Beckham. So your system failed you this year. More often than not it has come through. Stick with what brought you success and have enough faith that this is the exception not the rule.

I would put more credence in to your theory if it was the lack of some gems that was causing your teams to struggle.

Glenneration X · Post by **Glenneration X** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:50 pm

Originally posted by Gekko:

wow, how did u turn it around? was there a key waiver pickup that did it? A lot of factors, basically everything that went wrong the first couple months turned around and everything started to go right. Players that struggled until June went on tears like Beckett, Lee, Tex, Rollins, J. Upton, Street. Injured players came back strong like Carpenter. Every pickup seemed to produce like Montero, B. Anderson, DeLarosa, Blanks, Bruce, Feliz. It seemed like everyday I was getting 5 home runs, a few steals, a couple wins and a save. I won a couple weeks overall, just was a ridiculous couple months. Unfortunately all that went right in July & August came crashing down in September.

Still it proved to me never to give up no matter how far down. Like I said, keep plugging away. There's a ton of season left.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:55 pm

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

My point is you could have put in 20 more hours a week and I bet you would have still loved Stanton and Beckham. So your system failed you this year. More often than not it has come through. Stick with what brought you success and have enough faith that this is the exception not the rule.

I would put more credence in to your theory if it was the lack of some gems that was causing your teams to struggle. i appreciate your opinion. i've made some bad calls this year. the reason why i love some players is that i don't see alternative players that can bring me similar stats at a lesser price. MRAM was gonna be a goldmine this year, just like Vlad was last year. what a bozo!

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Fri May 13, 2011 3:40 pm

What are you crying in your beer for? Your Kowalski team will make alot of noise before the season is thru - no worries there.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri May 13, 2011 3:45 pm

Originally posted by Quahogs:

What are you crying in your beer for? Your Kowalski team will make alot of noise before the season is thru - no worries there. being a parent, i need to love all of my babies equally

rockitsauce · Post by **rockitsauce** » Sat May 14, 2011 5:29 am

Top 5 excuses, I mean reasons why Gekko sucks this year.

5. stress

4. the dog ate my cheatsheet.

3. had to go on Jenny Craig

2. not enough time to scan the ST boxscores

1. despite everything he says he is not perfect

Mark, you are a great player, probably deserving to be one of the next HOF'ers, but this whining about not enough prep time is BS. I agree w/ Chest, you're "guys" didn't pan out this yr like in the past (at least not yet).

You can't get a Cargo in the 7th rd every yr

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Sat May 14, 2011 5:46 am

Originally posted by rockitsauce:

this whining about not enough prep time is BS. i'm not trying to make more out of it. just wish i had started my prep in november.

hey, i could whined about chipper running too hard and you wanted him to slow down because you want him healthy for your teams?!?! ROFLMAO!!! remember that one?

rockitsauce · Post by **rockitsauce** » Sat May 14, 2011 8:02 am

the Gekmeister does not disappoint...never lacking in prompt, witty repartee!

I am seated at the barstool next to you crying in my own beer friendo. I make no excuses. I dropped Hosmer & Conger, drafted Manny, chose Ichiro over CY (that one really stings w/ every 3 run Bomb), and I shudder to think of the stupid trades I'd make if that was allowed

It's a good thing I love watching baseball just b/c I love baseball. If all I had was fantasy success to judge whether I had a good yr it'd be pretty dismal for the ol rockit.

TOXIC ASSETS · Post by **TOXIC ASSETS** » Sat May 14, 2011 11:55 pm

Don't worry Gekko, you should be able to pick up Jorge Posada on the waiver wire shortly. Buy low, sell high!