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I'm tired of this time of year. I'm ready for spring training. It's the next progression for us. Most of us have digested the numbers. Hell, I'm throwing them up.
Do we over analyze?
I do.
I have to stop myself from opening a notebook. It becomes a sickness for me.
Today, my wife made that decision for me. As a Valentines Day present to herself, she wants me, sans note books, for two days. And, she insured it by hiding all my note books.
I'm starting to break already.

Any way, on with the post...

I'll look to the season and picture how stupid I am right now.
When we see our fantasy player hitting against our fantasy pitcher, we do not think about ground ball rates, or contact rates, or ANY of the things that seem so important now.
All we're thinking is how the outcome may help our team.


During the season, the numbers become less important, because even if a pitcher has a great ground ball rate for a month, it could just be a trend. During the season, any group of numbers could hold for the year, or it could be just a streak.
This is the reason that off season numbers SEEM so important. They never change. They are what they are. And no matter if it's Shandler, or the NFBC, or Sporting News, or Yahoo, we ALL have the same numbers with which to work with.

We see Doug Fister with great ground ball rates and fear a change of Miguel Cabrera to the left side of the field.
In season, Fister has the bases loaded and our player, Adrian Gonzalez is up, we're not thinking about who's at third, we're thinking if our boy does hit a ground ball, have it find a hole for a two run single.
The luck of where that ground ball is hit can never be planned for. Fister could do his job and induce the ground ball, while Gonzalez is doing his and putting it in play. At the end of the year, those numbers become two rbi for Gonzalez and a higher ERA for Fister and both did their jobs.

See, this is what happens when deciding to play 'keep away' with my notebooks for two days? What I don't look at on paper, I play in my mind.
Today, I've gone from round one to round 30, in my head of what a perfect draft would be. Of course, this would be within the parameters of where most players are falling. In my head, it's not the same as looking on paper. Teams look so much sexier on a computer screen or paper than in our minds or telling a friend.

I have a love/hate relationship with the MLB Channel.
I tried them today to get my mind off who will be my eventual teams (and note books). Today, I learned that Yoenis Cespedes can really jump well on sand. Which is as helpful as knowing that Aubrey Huff is doing pilates.
Where does the madness end?
Manny Ramirez wants a job. So does Ibanez, and Damon, and Matsui, and Guerrero. These names alone teach us why there isn't an Old Timers baseball league. It's because designated hitter would be the premier position in the sport!
And who wants to see that?

See?
This is another thing that happens when my notebooks are taken away.
I get cranky.
I look for kids to step on my lawn.
I'll bring a Girl Scout to tears, telling her that she is not selling girl scouts for a good cause of an organization. She is selling girl scout cookies to help feed the greed of corporate America who get door to door sales for free. The product alone, could induce diabetic shock and maybe eventual death, but please, c'mon into the house, maybe you can help me find my damn note books and I'll buy all the darn cookies you have!

Tomorrow is Valentines Day.
I've been married to my wife for 36 years. It's a day where our spouse wants our full attention.
Even if they have to secure that attention in fiendish ways!
48 hours of attention. Sigh.
I love my wife.
And I'll love her tomorrow on Valentines Day as well and give her the attention she craves.
BUT, I'll love her a lot more when I get my note books back the next day!

Happy Freakin' Valentines Day everybody!

This is how I imagine Dan by the time it gets to that lovely, intimate Valentine's Day dinner tonight...



"Notebooks....please!!!!"

The last two days have been long. While my wife and I have been together over the last two days, I was not to mention a single word of baseball to her. Nothing about the NFBC, nothing about the new minor league team coming to our town, and to make sure of this she hid my notebooks with all my baseball notes.
Those notes include my Elias Red Book of baseball records, the Encyclopedia of Baseball, and the Bill James Handbook. The pilfering of my notes was ok, she is right in that taking the notes did give my mind a little break from fantasy stuff. But, I do miss those books. I like learning and knowing 'stuff' as much as posting it here. And I'm not much for looking it up on the internet.

Anyway, I thought all day have how I could give my wife the appropriate gift for Valentines Day. So, I decided to go to the only store the world seems to need, WalMart, to get some ideas. Normal flowers and chocolates won't do. The gifts had to be from the heart. I found everything I needed and took them home to present them to her.

I presented her with a wiffle ball bat and told her I hit a home run when I found her. Then, gave her 50 round chocolate balls. You know, those kind that are wrapped so they look like little baseballs.
Then the capper. A dvd. The movie?
The Notebook.
Perfect, right?
I thought so too, until she wanted to cozy up on the couch and watch the darned thing.
The things we have to do on Valentines Day!
After this chick flick to end all chick flicks was over, I told her the guy who directed the Notebook plays in the NFBC and that I was even lucky enough to exchange how we liked each others fantasy 'games'.
She theorized that Mr. Cassavetes couldn't have been thinking about baseball as such a beautiful movie was being made.
Wanting my notes back in the morn, I could only quietly agree, while rolling my eyes out of her field of vision.

I wake up before my wife and laying on the top of the toilet lid (that significance noted) were all my notebooks and baseball books.
I can admit that it did drive me a little crazy, but in the end, it was probably good for both of us.
Now, if Valentines Day landed near the end of March