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FANTASY
MAN ENTERTAINMENT
Presents....
"Stupid Boss Doing His
Fantasy Draft At Work"
The Fantasy Man's First Short Film Production
Starring New York Stand Up Comedian John Iavarone!
Having trouble viewing? Click this link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFgUClBo19A
Also use the this link to rate this
video and leave comments on You Tube! |
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If you're the best at fantasy league sports, make some
extra cash with online
sports betting. |
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Need Answers to complex fantasy
baseball questions? For example, “Who
has had the highest on base percentage in the NL since
2004 with a minimum of 1500 at bats?”
Type your question in the box and this free database
will blow your mind! Try it...
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Check out a great
baseball song by Dave Potts.
Its called....
"If I Broke The Record",
from the perspective of a Minor Leaguer...
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BABES
OF FANTASY
Sponsored
by FantasyMerch.com |
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The
Fantasy Man is a Member of the Fantasy Sports
Writers Association -
FSWA
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| 2011
FANTASY BASEBALL TOP 10 BY POSITION |
| S=
Sleeper B=
Bust SS= Super Sleeper |
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Catchers
1. Joe Mauer
2. Victor Martinez
3. Brian McCann
4. Buster Posey
5. Carlos Santana
6. Matt Wieters
7. Geovany Soto
8. Miguel Montero
9. Kurt Suzuki
10. Jorge Posada
S= J.P. Arencibia
B= John Buck
SS= Miguel Montero |
First
Basemen
1. Albert Pujols
2. Joey Votto
3. Miguel Cabrera
4. Ryan Howard
5. Prince Fielder
6. Adrian Gonzalez
7. Mark Teixeira
8. Justin Morneau
9. Adam Dunn
10.Kendry Morales
S= Matt LaPorta
B= Paul Konerko
SS= Justin Smoak |
Second
Basemen
1. Robinson Cano
2. Chase Utley
3. Dustin Pedroia
4. Dan Uggla
5. Brandon Phillips
6. Ian Kinsler
7. Brian Roberts
8. Gordon Beckham
9. Rickie Weeks
10. Chone Figgins
S= Neil Walker
B= Kelly Johnson
SS= Eric Young, Jr. |
Shortstops
1. Hanley Ramirez
2. Troy Tulowitzski
3. Jose Reyes
4. Jimmy Rollins
5. Derek Jeter
6. Elvis Andrus
7. Stephen Drew
8. Rafael Furcal
9. Starlin Castro
10. Juan Uribe
S= Ian Desmond
B= Juan Uribe
SS= Reid Brignac |
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Third
Basemen
1. Alex Rodriguez
2. David Wright
3. Evan longoria
4. Ryan Zimmerman
5. Jose Bautista
6. Aramis Ramirez
7. Pedro Alvarez
8. Michael Young
9. Adrian Beltre
10. Mark Reynolds
S= Pablo Sandoval
B= Adrian Beltre
SS= Chris Johnson |
Outfielders
1. Carl Crawford
2. Carlos Gonzalez
3. Ryan Braun
4. Josh Hamilton
5. Matt Holliday
6. Nelson Cruz
7. Matt Kemp
8. Justin Upton
9. Ichiro Suzuki
10. Jose Bautista
S= Jason Bay
B= Corey Hart
SS= Angel Pagan |
Starting
Pitchers
1. Tim Lincecum
2. Roy Halladay
3. Cliff Lee
4. C.C. Sabathia
5. Felix Hernandez
6. Adam Wainwright
7. David Price
8. Ubaldo Jimenez
9. Josh Johnson
10. Mat Latos
S= Brian Matusz
B= Wandy Rodriguez
SS= J.A. Happ |
Closers
1. Mariano Rivera
2. Carlos Marmol
3. Heath Bell
4. Brian Wilson
5. Neftali Feliz
6.Andrew Bailey
7. Jose Valverde
8. Joakim Soria
9. Francisco Rodriguez
10. Jonathan Papelbon
S= Drew Storen
B= Brian Fuentes
SS= Kerry Wood |
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What’s Wells Fantasy
Value With Angels?
The Los Angeles Angels scored
a franchise-record 883 runs in 2009, which was second
in the Majors. Last season, they scored 202 runs
fewer, which was the biggest MLB
spread of a team from 2009 to 2010 and
clearly, it’s been one of their main goals to
address that in the offseason.
After whiffing on a few big
names such as Carl Crawford, who would have definitely
upgraded their run production, the Angels traded for
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, Vernon Wells, and his
mammoth $86 million contract.
It’s not that Wells is a bad
player by any stretch of the imagination but paying
him $86 million over the next four seasons seems kind
of ridiculous.
But fantasy baseball players
won’t care too much about those numbers as they are
only focused on what he will bring on the field. Which
– pun intended – will be the million dollar
question.
The main point fantasy players
have been making about this move is the fact that
Wells is leaving the Rogers Centre, which is one of
the most hitter-friendly parks in the MLB. If last
season’s stats are any indication, the Angels could
be in for quite a surprise in their mega-million
investment.
20 of Wells’ 31 home runs
came at home last season and he batted .321 at home
versus .227 on the road. Worse yet, he had a pretty
tough time at Angels Stadium as he batted just one
home run in 34 at-bats.
Truth be told, while the Jays
did have a better batting lineup than the Angels last
season, Wells was the focal point of that order and he
really wasn’t able to handle that role ever since he
was paid to be the big bat on campus.
In Anaheim, Wells’ bat
should be a little more disguised in the lineup with
the likes of Torrii Hunter and Bobby Abreu around.
The good news for fantasy
players is that their investment in Wells is a
year-by-year deal. He’s 32-year-old, so he’s
definitely not a shrewd long-term play but he does
offer some value in the right round this season.
He is from Shreveport, Los
Angeles and now that he’s playing close to home with
a new team, he might play with some more fire. Long
term, the prospects are not so hot as he does appear
to be a player past his prime. |
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TIPS
FOR A "GREEN"
2011 FANTASY BASEBALL SEASON
By Mike Kuchera
I am hoping we all do our part to try to save the
planet whether it's recycling, carpooling, or
conserving energy any way we can. Ridiculous gas/oil
prices have been a killer to our economy lately
despite the recent drops in gas prices over the last
few weeks. Don't worry, just when you're finally fully
recovered from this holiday season, gas prices will be
sky high again by Memorial Day! Can we ever catch a
break?!
As
a Fantasy Sports Expert and Player, I realize that
some of us who play fantasy sports may not take the
necessary steps to save energy and help our planet
when we are actually participating in this fun yet
frustrating game. The Fantasy Man is going
"Green" for the 2011 season and wants to
share some simple tips to help you at least get the
process moving along. Although many of these tips seem
to easy or small, anything little that we can do to
help.....helps!
The
Fantasy Man Goes Green!
Tip #1 - Blackle - When doing 2011
fantasy baseball research on the internet, can we
agree that most of us are using Google? Why not
try www.Blackle.com
. It's Google, but it's Google just toned down a bit.
Studies have shown that an all black computer screen
uses less energy than a white computer screen. Yes,
I'm being serious. Don't believe me? Check out the
ever so trustworthy Wikipedia
on Blackle.
Then, click http://www.blackle.com/
and search "Fantasy Baseball Advice". Whooo!
Whatta ya know.... look who's listed #1!
Tip
#2 - Go Paperless - This should be an obvious
one! Instead of printing out The Fantasy Man's 2011
Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings & Strategies and wasting all that paper,
why not save it to your laptop and bring your laptop
to your draft? Remember to charge your battery so that
you don't have to use excess energy at the draft site.
Then again, you don't want to use energy that will
cost someone else money, now do we?
Tip
#3 - Draft Online - It's always tough to find
the best time and place to get every league member
available for the draft. Now you can complete a 12
team fantasy baseball league draft on the Internet in
your pajama's. Mock
Draft Central offers all the features of a live
online draft. Think about what else you are
saving..... gas to get to and from the draft site,
deadly fumes into the atmosphere from your car, money
for extra food/drinks/gas, and time. Time is money
these days, isn't it?
Tip
#4 - Carpool/Public Transportation - If you
must do your fantasy draft live, there is a good
chance you are participating with friends, family and
or co-workers. First, choose a central location to
reduce travel for everyone. Then, why not carpool
together? Save gas, mileage, and the environment by
having one or two less automobiles on the road.
For me, many of my fantasy drafts take place in New
York City ( I live about an hour north), although it
can be expensive, I'd rather take the train into the
city than drive an hour or so and waste all that gas,
not to mention the $30 or so it costs to park in a
garage when you can't find a parking space. If I spent
$10 of gas and $30 to park, that's $40 (not counting
food and league fee) to do a fantasy draft plus the
carbon monoxide your car dumps into the environment
for that hour and then back. A round trip train ticket
costs about $20 and a subway ticket is about $2.50, I
think, or save yourselves a few bucks and walk.
Tip
#5 - The Draft - Draft day is the few hours a
year we as men look forward to getting away from the
wife, kids, girlfriend, mother-in-law, etc., and that
means food, beer, wings, cursing, making fun, burping
and more! It's better to have one or two people bring
the snacks and everyone can chip in when they arrive.
It's best to get a just few jumbo bags of chips or one
or two 24 packs of beer instead of everyone bringing
their own 6 or 12-pack. Think of all that extra
cardboard that's wasted if all twelve of you bring
your own 6-pack to drink during the draft.
Tip
#6 - Fantasy Team Management
- Did you know that if your computer is off and still
plugged into the outlet, it's still sucking out
electric? Did you know that if your laptop is off but
plugged into the wall, the battery pack is still
making sure your laptop is full charged. That's
costing you extra dough and it's costing you while you
sleep. So first, make sure your computer is off and
when possible, keep it unplugged. With desktops this
is tough, at least shut it off completely at night. If
you leave it on with a screen saver, you are wasting
energy and adding to your electric bill. It's also
wasting energy when it's "sleeping" too. If
you have a laptop, you can always unplug it when you
are finished. Laptops use 50-70% less energy per year
than a desktop and monitor. Always leaving your
computer, which is "better for the
computer", is an old myth!
Tip
#7 - Go Mobile - Last year I posted a great
article by Courtney
Hamilton of the NRDC about being eco-friendly when
it comes to fantasy sports. Courtney mentioned about
using your cell phone instead of a laptop or computer
to manage your team. You can get stats and manage your
teams through your cell phone now, and a cell phone
uses much less power than a plugged in laptop.
Tip
#8 - Water - STOP BUYING SO MUCH BOTTLED WATER!!!!
Think of how much bottled water Americans drink every
day, and then think about how many of those bottles
find their way into trash cans and then into the
environment. Too many. Let's be real people, bottled
water is not necessarily any cleaner than tap water.
That's just a marketing ploy to get you to buy the
bottled water. You are better off just buying one
bottle of water and then reusing that bottle by
filling it with your own tap water. Best of all, your
tap water is free (except for that small water bill
you might get each month) and in this economy, every
penny counts.
Tip #9 - Recycle - DUH! What were you
going to do with all those empty beer bottles and soda
cans from the draft? Throw them in the garbage? I hope
not!
Tip
#10- Fantasy Books/Magazines - When it comes
to buying fantasy baseball books such as Sam
Walkers "Fantasyland" (One of my
favorites), try to purchase used books that you can
get on Amazon or eBay. Or better yet, ask to borrow
these from friends or the library. We all love to read
but that tree would be better off if we manufactured
one less book. Now, doing it that way doesn't help
Sam's royalty checks but I'm sure he'd rather save
the environment! As for magazines, you can get the
same fantasy advice online that you could from a
magazine. http://www.fantasybaseballexpress.com/
is a great start. Save yourself a few bucks and get
great advice, some that you would never find in a
magazine (like free personal advice via email) while
at the same time saving a tree.
The
Fantasy Man plans to do what he can to help save the
planet in 2010 whether it has anything to do with
fantasy baseball or not. If we all pitch in just a
little bit, we can all make our world a better place
for us and our children.
GET READY!!! The Fantasy
Man's 5th Annual Thanksgiving Day Extravaganza
2-part/2-hour Podcast is coming! Thanksgiving morning,
wake up, eat breakfast and download The Fantasy Man
show at iTunes or at over 100+ other podcast sites like
www.Libsyn.com .
You can listen to it on your way to the in-laws....if
your wife will let you! ;)
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2011
Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: PART 1
By Mike Kuchera
Part 1: Getting Started
I
know what you're thinking, and I felt the same way
when I first started playing about 15 years ago.
You're probably asking yourself, where do I start?
Maybe you're tired of finishing at the bottom of the
standings year after year or could it be that you're
brand new to the world of fantasy baseball and have no
idea how to prepare. Let The Fantasy Man be your
guide.
My goal is to help you win your fantasy baseball
league. My goal is to help you manage your team
throughout the season to ensure consistent success
from April through September. My goal is to make sure
you don't trade away Ryan Howard for Rickie Weeks or
get ripped on deals that are clearly not in your
favor. My goal is to help you create fantasy baseball
success and earn that league championship prize
whether it be cash or bragging rights. Let The fantasy
Man be your guide.
Below
starts a step by step list on how to prepare for any
fantasy baseball season. I've broken it down into 3
parts... getting started, the draft, and team
management. If you're an expert or an
experienced player, this article is probably not for
you. However, if you need a reality check, the
information below could prove useful. What you see
below is what I do personally as I prepare for each
fantasy baseball season. Not to toot my own horn, but
if I play in say 10 leagues in a year, 9 of those 10
leagues I always finish in the top 5. That is a fact.
There is always a league or two that I just totally
give away whether it's injuries, unlucky picks, or
keeper leagues I tank on purpose for the next year.
In some ways, fantasy baseball is a crapshoot, but at
the same time, you do have 180 days or so to whip your
team into shape, into a winner. That is where I excel
personally. Maybe I draft a bad team in the beginning,
but throw in a few key trades, a couple of timely
waiver wire pick-ups, and I can literally go from last
place in late May to first place in early September.
I've done it many times. It's persistence and it's
being active, it's a little bit of luck, and it's
about making the right moves at the right time. You
have to know the players! That's fantasy baseball.
Here's how you get started, the way I get started....
1.
Know the Players - Let's keep it simple, if
you know how to read, you can get to know all the
players. Here is my basic philosophy to winning a
fantasy baseball league.... "Know the players!
Know what they are capable of! Know where and when to
draft them and how much to pay for them!" That is
what I live by. I will get more into that as we go.
2.
Preparing in November - Do you and your
friends/family/co-workers do a live draft every year?
Chances are, 7-8 of those 12 players in your league
picked up a fantasy magazine at the last minute and
tried to do a draft without really preparing. Trust
me, it shows. I personally start preparing in
November, but keeping up on "Hot Stove"
trade talks, seeing where players are getting traded
to, who is signing where, etc., is what I am looking
for on a daily basis. Read newspaper articles, scour
the websites for up-to-date-information, get the scoop
on players while most fantasy managers are still
fiddling with fantasy football. Pro
Sports Daily is a website that organizes articles
from all the major newspapers for free. Take advantage
of the information that's out there. One great website
for up-to-date trade talks and free agent signings and
rumors is MLB
Trade Rumors by a great fantasy baseball mind
named Tim Dierkes. Tim constantly stays on top of the
current talks and rumors but also includes articles
from other sources who write about the hot topics.
This is a great way to get your mind set on baseball.
At the same time in November, The
Fantasy Man (me) is preparing for the next fantasy
baseball season by adding rankings, cheat sheets,
draft tools, podcasts, etc. Start early and work up a
base of knowledge.
3.
Organizing Information - Did you know you can
get all of your favorite articles and blogs and such
organized into one page which continues to update
24/7. If you go to Google
and register a free account (might as well get a gmail
account) to service all of your fantasy baseball
communications. Once registered, click "My
Account" and then click the link for
"Reader". Then, open a new browser and go to
Fantasy
Baseball Express . In the right side bar, you'll
see a little orange icon that says "subscribe in
a reader". This is my RSS Feed icon. If a column,
blog, article, etc., offers an RSS feed, it will have
this icon or a link to subscribe. Click the icon and
copy the url. Go back to the Google reader and paste
it where it says "+ Add Subscription" in the
left side bar. This is where you add the FEED address.
Now, go to any of your favorite columns, blogs, news
geeds, etc., click the little orange icon, copy url,
and paste in reader. On some, you may automatically be
able to just "add" it to your reader by
clicking one button.
Now,
all you have to do is log into your Google reader (or
whatever reader you want to use) and all of the
updated articles are organized neatly for you. This
helps so that you don't have to spend time searching
for new articles by the same people or spend time
constantly clicking on websites and possibly not
getting updated information. Get all the info you need
on one page and save that time for studying players.
Part
2: The Draft - Preparation and Execution will be
posted next. |
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2011
Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: PART 2
By Mike Kuchera
Part 2: The Draft - Preparation and Execution
1. Participate in Mock Drafts and Mock Auctions
- The single best way to prepare for a draft is to
participate in mock drafts. I live by mock drafts and no
matter how much you know about players, mock drafts show you
hints as to when you could realistically expect a player to
be taken in a draft. Mock
Draft Central
provides the best software, it's free to register and
participate but if you are gung-ho about this, you'll invest
the few bucks it costs to do unlimited mocks. Are you
playing in a 12 team league this year? Do 12 team mock
drafts! After you do two or three drafts, you start to see
trends. You'll see when a closer run usually starts. You'll
see how quickly shortstops fly off the board. You'll see the
few quality third baseman that continue to last past the
15th round. You'll get an idea as to when players are
normally picked, as I mentioned above. I know that Roy
Halladay will rarely make it into the 3rd round in 2009, so
if you want him, you might have to take him with your second
round pick. If you know that and you plan to build your
staff around Halladay, you can plan accordingly. When the
draft gets here, you make your first pick, steal Halladay in
the second and then you dish out a plan from there.
Same goes for auctions. You can read the magazines and
websites all you want but most of them don't really give you
true values. Many of them base their values off stats. So
you'll find when you get into an auction, many of the top
players go for much more or much less than the
magazines/websites indicated. This is because most people
bid on players based on emotion. Many have a set price they
are willing to spend on certain players and many times, it's
much higher than the average magazine/website value. Those
values also don't factor in bidding wars between two or
three owners on any one player. You will soon be able to
read and print real auction values based on what people are
actually paying in real leagues I participate in here soon.
A quality auction website is Fantasy
Auctioneer.
2.
Draft Tools - Scour the Internet for free Draft
Tools. Draft tools are sets of rankings and analysis
provided by an expert or an experienced and respected
fantasy baseball manager(s). Usually you can print them out
without having to waste too much paper. The
Fantasy Man and Fantasy
Baseball Express will be providing a FREE printable
Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide sometime in the next few weeks.
Here is what we did in 2008.
Check the link list in the right side bar of this blog for
some other recommended sites.
3.
The Draft - Usually, most people don't have time to
do the research so they grab a fantasy baseball magazine and
try to "wing" it at the draft. Sometimes it works,
sometimes it doesn't. The magazines provide fantastic
information, rankings, and stats. I always have a magazine
at the draft with me mainly for the stats and sometimes I
like to compare their rankings to my own. The magazine I
trust most is Fantasy
Sports Magazine . It's a sentimental pick. I have been
buying this magazine for years! I am also featured as one of
the experts in their expert mock draft. Other than the mag,
I might have a printable fantasy guide from a favorite
website that I can write on, cross out players chosen , and
to keep track of my team. Check out The Fantasy Man's 2009
Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide.
4.
Keep Emotions in Check - Every fantasy manager has
a favorite team and a few favorite players. Although every
team has solid players in real life, not every team has more
than one or two solid fantasy player (i.e. Sandiego Padres -
Adrian Gonzalez). You have
to find a way to keep your emotions in check and separate
real life baseball from fantasy baseball. For example, my
favorite player is Derek Jeter. I was 16 years old in his
rookie year and I can tell you that in every fantasy draft,
I want to pick Jeter early to make sure I get him simply
because he's my favorite. Problem is, Jeter is a good
fantasy player but only when chosen in the right
circumstances (i.e. the 4th round of a roto draft or for
about $25 in an auction). You don't want to overpay for your
favorite players unless they are top-tiered fantasy talent.
Since I am a Yankee fan, I'll always jump on A-Rod at the
top, but everyone else has has a better place and time, even
Joba Chamberlain. What makes fantasy baseball fun is to be
able to cheer for your players, but if you pick all the
players from your favorite team, it'll be unlikely that you
could win your league. Now, I'm not saying you can't pick
your favorite players, but you need to do some homework and
figure out when is the best time to draft/bid for your
favorite players in order to get the most value out of them.
5. Drafting Players on the Same Team - If
you ask me now, I'd say in an active offensive roster of
10-13 starting hitters, you don't want to have more than 3
players from the same team. An example would be the Phillies
and drafting Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Shane Victorino.
If you add Pat Burrell, Jayson Werth or Jimmy Rollins to
that mix and the Phillies go on a losing streak, your team
is pretty much sunk. Same goes for your active pitching
staff. I like to stick with 2 of the best starters (if my
draft falls that way) and if I wanted a third from the same
team, then maybe as my 9th pitcher or as a bench guy for
emergencies would be okay. Except for keeper leagues, it's
unlikely that you'd be able to draft 3 star fantasy players
on the same team anyway, but yes, it will affect your
overall outcome as the season rolls along.
6.
Don't "Punt" a Category - If you are a
beginner fantasy player, punting categories is a no-no.
Always make sure that every position and every category is
represented in ALL 5x5 leagues. Why would you want to start
your season with a hole in your roster? Why start the season
with a category that is not accumulating points? Some
experienced players might be able to devise a plan that
works and punt a category in drafts, but they have to get
super lucky with the other players they choose. Winning a
league while punting a category is possible and has happened
before, but the odds are extremely low. In most 5x5 leagues,
Saves is the category that's most often punted. If you play
in leagues that are 7x7 or more, then punting a category is
not as much a problem since there are many categories that
can pick up the slack. The thought here is this.... If you
don't draft any closers, then during the season you won't
accumulate saves and points for saves. If you were the
unlucky one to get hit with a major injury or two to your
star player(s) or you made a few bad choices in the draft
with underperforming players, then your team is sunk. On the
other end of that, if you drafted say two closers who turned
out to be fantastic, and you still suffered those injuries
and under-performance, you could trade those closers to
upgrade elsewhere. I guess the same could be said the other
way, but it's much harder to obtain good closers via trade
during the season than it is to actually trade them away!
Part
3 of 3 will emphasize more on In-Season Team Management
Strategies.... |
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