Being Better....

[DOUGHBOYS]

I know I can be a better fantasy player.
I don't know one fantasy player who doesn't have at least one fault. The thing we have to do is realize our faults and improve on them.
My worst trait is 'bunching' players during a draft.
By 'bunching' players, I mean that I'll put players in a group instead of each individuals attributes.
A small bunching would be Dillon Gee and Mike Leake. I like both these players and as I told a friend of mine, when the 23rd round begins, a little bell went off in my head saying that it was 'take a Leake time'.....and if Leake wasn't there, 'Ah Gee...

Leake, most likely has a higher ceiling than Gee. He is A LOT better road pitcher than home pitcher. That makes sense, since the Reds home park is a band box. He has a higher ceiling because he never pitched a minor league game and it could be assumed that if he had gone through the normal process, he would still be early in his Major League career.
With Gee, he seems to be what he has shown. He probably won't get better. He probably won't get worse.
Neither are exciting. Neither are strike out pitchers. And neither seems to get blown out of the water. At worse, they will give you a very comfortable 6 inn, 6h, 2bb, 4 k type of performance.

In the one minute of time allotted to us, we should be able to summarize in our minds which pitcher works best for our roster.
I have them just about dead even in E.R.A, WHIP, and strike outs. As said, I have Leake with a higher ceiling, so he takes a bit of a lead. We then come to the headache of fantasy owners in dealing with starting pitchers....Wins.
First, Leake plays for a better team. At least in my mind. Point for Leake.
Second, before the Chapman injury, the Reds bull pen was better to hold leads for Leake. At the same time, the Mets have lost Parnell and really don't have a go-to guy in their bullpen, even at Closer. Another point for Leake.
Leake pitches better on the road than at home. While admirable, it is not a good trait for winning games. Weird things sometimes happen to visiting teams. Gee pitches well at home. Point for Gee.
I would NEVER take Gee or Leake's past Wins into consideration. Wins are one season at a time statistics.
So, I also give Leake a slight advantage in Wins, thus, the rounds of separation between them should be almost a full round.
Yet, in my mind, when I think of one, I think of the other. It is small things like that, that make me feel I can be a better fantasy player

Tomorrow or Monday, I will follow-up with a fault in lineup decisions.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I have a bad habit of outsmarting myself. We should never outsmart ourselves during the first weeks of a season.
Let me repeat...We should never outsmart ourselves during the first weeks of a season.
I didn't repeat that for your benefit, I did it for mine.
Let's make it simple, we are ALL stupid the first weeks of a season. At this time last year, we didn't know Chris Davis was who he was. And we didn't know BJ Upton would live up to his first name.
As Sgt, Schultz said, we all know nothing.
So, what did I do on the first weekend of the season? I outsmarted myself.

In looking at Pedro Alvarez swings, I judged them as being pathetic. I love Alvarez. I think he will lead the N.L. in homers this year. Still, the coldness of April, the poor swings, and the St. Louis pitching all led me to have little faith in him. Instead, I went for the lesser talent and warmer air of Juan Uribe.
So, of course, Alvarez goes off against Shelby Miller and hits two homers. Then, as if knowing I benched him, he flipped me the finger on his way to stealing second base.
I'm a grinder and I have to get these decisions right. It doesn't matter if Juan Uribe has a .300+ average and homers against upcoming pitchers. I'm not playing daily baseball. I'm playing tri-day or quad-day ball.
So, as Alvarez was flipping me off, I gave in, apologized, and told him never again. At least not this early in the year.
I don't know whether he is this year's Chris Davis or this years BJ Upton. Until then, I have to treat him like Pedro Alvarez. And as Alvarez middle finger reminded me, that ain't too bad.

[WSpencer]

It's a tough call with guys that usually get off to slow starts and at times we all outsmart ourselves in looking at the pitching match ups for the week for each hitter or if they are home or on the road. I try and tell myself that if I invested an early rd pick or if I am counting on a guy all season I keep them in no matter how terrible they look in the beginning. The numbers will eventually be there by the end of the season. The worst you can do is take a gamble and lose. I tell myself that now but I will inevitably gamble and lose especially when it comes to pitching.

[Quahogs]

Well, sheeeeeeeit, so it was YOU to blame for my bad call benching him this weekend too! Thanks Dough

[Rog]

I can not let him take all the blame for that move I chipped in with the voice of reason and thought it was a great idea to start Uribe. matter of fact I believe I started out the conversation with man Alvarez sure does look bad at the plate right now

[GetALife]

Don't forget Justin Upton hit how many homers right away last year? Then, had how many more for the remainder of the season?
Tori Hunter is looking like Upton this year so far, but I'm not insinuating he will follow quite the same.

[Atlas]

Don't forget Justin Upton hit how many homers right away last year? Then, had how many more for the remainder of the season?
Tori Hunter is looking like Upton this year so far, but I'm not insinuating he will follow quite the same.

Melky is on that path too.