Taking Things Personal

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DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

Taking Things Personal

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Sun Dec 06, 2020 2:24 pm

I believe everything, or most everything I read about fantasy baseball is now bullshit. Sure, it applied to myself and you as we were growing with the hobby. But now that we are veterans the stuff we read is to us as 'Chopsticks' is to Billy Joel.
A couple of examples....

'Don't Let Your Hometown Bias Influence You!'

Whatever.
Sure, if a Cubs fan, you shouldn't take Baez or Rizzo in the second round of a draft, but we know that.
If we are a Cubs fan, we will take Baez or Rizzo over another player if its close.
Heck yeah.
We root for the team and the player. Rooting for both doubles our pleasure.
Ball parks could factor in too.
It's ok to be a Yankee fan and think of your team first offensively.
They hit more homers at their home stadium than any other squad. Yes, including Colorado.
LET hometown bias influence us!
We're veterans enough to know what we can get away with when taking players from 'our' teams.

Here is my pet peeve and be ready for a rant on this one...

'Don't Let Personal Feelings Sway You In Drafts'

This one is total crap.
There are a few players I will NEVER draft. There are a few players I won't draft from year-to-year.
I'm not drafting somebody I can't stand.
I know you fellas think I hate Joey Votto. I don't hate Votto. I hate that he'd rather skip to first base with a walk rather than help one of the five roto categories. I can't own him. I watch him. I watch him walk. And it drives me crazy. But I don't hate Votto or really, even dislike him.

I strongly dislike David Price however.
I believe he is a phony. A self-entitled phony who thought he was a Hall of Fame candidate early in his career.
I've never drafted Price. I know I never will in the future.
Does that hurt my fantasy teams?
No.
Not once have I ever said, "Gee, I wish I had drafted David Price!"
But there were a lot of times when I did say, "Man, I'm glad I didn't waste a pick on David Price!."

Let's say I did draft Price. It puts me on tilt for lineups.
Never could I say, 'I have no qualms about starting Price.'
Never.
I would always have reservations about starting the sombitch because of the way I feel about him.
It would hurt me, even if drafting Price at a good...price.
If I were writing a piece to beginners, I would tell them to just avoid players disliked.
They're not worth your time.
It's hard to roster them.
It's hard to root for them.
It's hard to like yourself after drafting them.
Just avoid them.
You'll feel better about yourself.

There are year-to-year players we dislike as well.
I've never drafted Noah Syndergaard.
I don't hate Syndergaard.
My belief is that his chief skill is getting hurt.
He does that really well.
And coming off Tommy John this year, he's made the decision for me again.
Syndergaard is a media dream. Cool nickname. Cool hair. He even videos his workouts for folks.
And every once in a great while, he pitches well.
Just enough to keep his draft slot well above where it should be.
When Syndergaard changes and pitches a little more, I could be swayed to draft him.
But, that hasn't happened yet.

When I first joined the NFBC all those years ago, I read an article with this paraphrased headline...

"Don't Draft Pitchers In the First Round".

Everybody was saying it back then.
As if a league could not be won with a pitcher starting a roster.
It just shows you how little writers know (or think they know)
I remember reading that. It stuck with me.
So much so that I drafted Johan Santana with my first pick, ever, in an NFBC draft.
I won my Main Event and finished second Overall.
The next year, I saw the same articles.
It takes years for stupid things to be completely debunked.
This was a very stupid thing.
Now, we see five or six pitchers being taken in NFBC drafts.
Some writers STILL will not take a pitcher in the first round.
They are helping nobody. Especially themselves.
We are an ever-evolving hobby.
They should be evolving right (write?) along with us.

Some writers get it. They play here. They even do well here.
They wouldn't be caught dead telling us not to draft a pitcher in the first round now.
They've seen it work for years.
They're not turning a blind eye.
They know things change.
Go ahead.
Take players from your home team.
Avoid players you hate.
Take whoever you want in the first round.
Do what's best for YOU.
THAT SHOULD BE THE FIRST RULE OF FANTASY BASEBALL.
Especially for us, now that we're veterans.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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