Most leagues deduct for errors, but this kind of rewards players that DH. Most leagues also give points for sacrifice flies. I think that could be worth a point. I'd also prefer stolen bases be worth 2 points.

Ahh, I've always thought that sac flies were more of an unintentional (yet possibly still productive) out. I don't think advancing a runner necessarily merits points; if the runner scores, the batter still gets the RBI. I don't think any batter goes up wanting to create an out -- he wants a hit -- so failing that I don't think sac flies should be rewarded any more than the possible RBI from it. Shouldn't any out created by a batter be a deduction? In the case of a sac fly, I think the positive of advancing a runner (+1) cancels out the out created (-1).

Stealing bases is basically the same idea in that it advances the runner (if successful), but that advance may not have any positive outcome in the score of the game. There are batters who rely almost solely on stolen bases for their value, which is fine, but I don't think that it necessarily merits more than 1 point. Stolen bases already increase your change to score a run in a subsequent play - so the value of that is already inherent, IMHO.

And sure, in a real game, combinations of stolen bases and sac flies can create runs on the scoreboard - and since our rosters are filled with players from multiple teams, we may not always get the full benefit from such set-up plays, but I don't think we can just build in such potential points into the initial set-up acts themselves. (If that makes any sense )

PS - In the same vain, we're currently giving a point to batters Hit By Pitch -- this is not something that a batter (typically) produces for the team, but an (intentional or unintentional) negative for the pitcher who hit him.

Shall we continue to reward batters for actions they don't have control over (sac flies, HBP)? Drawing a BB can be skillful, but being hit by a pitch isn't. Pitchers should be penalized for hitting a batters - I don't think batters should necessarily be rewarded at the same time.... YET (for my 3rd edit of this post lol), batters who are hit by a pitch in effect are losing an at-bat and potential points for hits (or minus points for outs). How far can we predict what coulda happened?

The biggest reason for making stolen bases 2 points is that it adds another dimension when building your team. With it set at +1/-1, the SB factor is pretty much a non-factor when building a team. Power and average are pretty much the only the only things that matter. You're not going to draft a guy that steals 50 bases over a guy that hits 30 HR's. With SB's worth 2 points, you might consider a speedster over a slugger. In the last high stakes league I played in, SB's were 2 points and CS was 0.


... I disagree that a player has no control on a sac fly. Almost every player goes up to bat trying to hit a fly ball when there is a man on 3rd and less than 2 outs.

I agreed with you all the way until the HBP scoring issue (one of my pet peeves in the Baseball Challenge game). Ask Craig Biggio if HBP isn't a skill!

Seriously though, it's not the hitter's fault that he was hit by a pitch. In my opinion, a HBP is equal to a walk - you take first base and if someone is on first base already, that runner is advanced a base.

I have always been annoyed when HBP do not get you points, they SHOULD count for something. And I agree with DB HBP equals a walk.

That's true, but wouldn't he rather get a hit? I hear ya, tho...

With SB's worth only ONE point I still always wanted at least 1 good runner on my team -- how many super-sluggers do you expect to draft? A CS (caught-stealing, not chick-sandwich) should definitely be -1 because it's an OUT. All outs should -1 in effect (that's why I thought a sac fly canceled itself out )

I'm not entirely disagreeing - I was using it as an example for the previous points, and a point of discussion...

With SB's at only 1 point, you don't need "super sluggers". A guy that hits .240, has 25 HR's and 75 RBI's is probably going to have many more fantasy points than a player that hits .310 with 50 stolen bases and only a couple of HR's. IMO, that shouldn't happen.

As for sac flies, either way it's no big deal. We're only talking about a few points per player, per season.

i'm in cincinnati kid

I signed on tonight with the intention of discussing stolen bases, but Just Lou has already said exactly what I was thinking, and much better than I could have said at that. I think the CS is an interesting part of Fantasy Baseball, but who is going to draft someone like Juan Pierre, who is high average and high stolen bases but no home runs, when you could draft most other outfielders who are power hitters. The home run seems to be the focus of this fantasy league. I may be wrong though as I'm still trying to put all the stats in perspective.

My point though is that I have always loved watching a guy, power or not, stand there on first base and completely disrupt a pitchers performance because the pitcher knows he is going to attempt a steal.

Stealing bases is rare among players, HR's are not. Making SB's worth two points makes sense to me, especially if we are going to subrtact points for CS. I mean, we're not subrtacting points for fly-outs are we? I would just like to see speedy guys drafted as well as power guys.

All joking aside, you just made me realize that I will be gone for two weeks in July and at least another one in August.
Perhaps I should reconsider playing in the league. Shit. I totally forgot that I will be gone for at least three weeks out of the season.

I'm already in another fantasy league and perhaps with my being gone for several weeks in the summer, a second league is a bit too much. Besides it wouldn't be fair to the rest of you if I cannot stay on top of my teams throughout the whole summer.


EDIT : I forgot that I can set my line-ups in advance for the time that I will be away. So I'll stay in.



Don Cardi

Good. We didn't want to have to muscle you.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!



Don Cardi

Shhh. I'm going to be away for 3 weeks in August. You're killing my excuse if i don't win.

*cough*laptops*cough*

Tell that to my future wife while on my my honeymoon and moving from
NJ to Staten Island. ..."Honey give me a few minutes. I have to set my fantasy baseball team roster."

*cough* laptops and fantasy sports are the last thing I'll be thinking about when I'm in Italy *cough* ahem* clears throat


Don Cardi

Your dedication is overwhelming! Already whipped?? Bring the laptop into the john - she can't bother you (much) in there
Italy... what's to do there?? pfft! No excuse!

I plan on having a big enough lead by then so it won't matter.

Hey, if we are really serious about making this league as close to real life as possible, then maybe we should have a Steroid Stat too!



Don Cardi

Last time you went away on vacation I'm pretty sure it was MY LAPTOP that was used

It was still a laptop.

Hopefully by this Summer I'll have my own. Otherwise, I'll pay you more cranberry smirnoff to use it again!

Hey!! When we were away, Geoff said mine was the only laptop that he wanted to use!! What are you guys saying????

Did I say "laptop" or "lap dance"? I don't recall which I asked from whom now.... lol

Speaking of "laptop/dance's", I have a completely unrelated question

Can any of you suggest a website that gives good player information? Specifically up-to-date injury reports? I would hate to draft a guy not knowing he got hurt during spring training.

If I told ya, I'd have to kill ya...
There are at least 12 web pages I use daily throughout the season for research. (Not that they do me much good, apparently. )

Good ol' Yahoo has pretty much all you need to get started, though, at:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb

I didn't expect you to tell me the information to win , but I was more concerned about injuries to players during spring training. I don't want anyone else in the league to draft injured players either because then the season would be off to a lopsided start.

Then again, I guess being smart enough to find out that information before the draft is a part of the game as well.

Yes, YOU DO

Thats half the reason you go to a draft, my offline Fantasy Football League last year, everyone had their list of injured players just waiting to laugh at the person who wasted a 2ndd or 3rd round pick on an injured player.

well I did read almost 4 pages but now I'm done. I don't know how the RP-maxIP-debate ended (or if it's still going on) but here's my opinion:

I'm absolutely fine with the number of relief pitchers in our rosters. limiting to just 2 would make most middle relievers and a lot of closers absolutely useless. I don't mind about 'RP manipulation'. y'all already stated why it just don't work. believe me, anyone who tries some magic move looking for an extra few points will end up losing players and points. the most you can do is give away a top 5 2B just to use Jhonny Peralta at SS in one game and he gets a day off for no reason. (yes, I did that last season).
I'm okay with Plaw's complex system for SV. he always said that his system made sense because it ranked all pitchers accordingly (top closers 1st, top middle relievers 2nd, 2nd tier closers 3rd and on and on...) and I believe it did work very well in the end. the relievers with most fan pts are the greast closers. it just adds to the difficult of this game.
now, the BS + L is an issue. if L's weren't so hurtful, it'd be fixed. a pitcher is greatly penalized with H and ER when he goes bad, and the L many times is charged for a guy who didn't do that bad. so maybe a L shouldn't cost anything. it'd make sense for both startes and relievers, IMO.

I (Rated R Superstar) wish everyone luck.

The draft is less than a week away. Has it been decided if there are going to be any changes to the rosters or scoring system?