We’re a little more than a third of the season so I wanted to do a recap of my $150 12-team NFBC mixed league. As I write this I have not looked at the standings so I will be entirely surprised to see where I stand.
Because of the small sample size I make it a habit to not look at the standings until June 1. I don’t players’ small sample sizes to bias how my team is doing. For some people, if after four weeks my team is in last place they A) could lose motivation to do well, B) drop/add players they shouldn’t and/or C) readjust their starting lineups to chase categories they trailing.
After the draft I wasn’t optimistic about my draft. I went heavy on hitting and closers and didn’t have any starting pitching. My conclusion, at the time, was my hitting will have to carry my team and I will need my closers to provide solid ratios in order to place in the middle of the pack.
Based on the image above I am (surprisingly) in second place. I currently have the best offense in the league. The biggest opportunity is home runs and RBI as I am currently in fourth place in both. Having Aaron Judge go on the IL has definitely hurt my home run potential. However, the fact I’m in fourth with losing Judge, my second pick, means I feel pretty good about my team. I’m in first in batting average and stolen bases; second in runs scored.
The biggest hole in my offense is first base. I was able to capture Christian Walker’s hot first month of the season but he’s been riding the bench the past two weeks because he’s looked awful at the place. Based on the free agent wire I am going to be streaming first base for the foreseeable future.
I have a 14 stolen base lead and barring injury I don’t see any team catching me. Since I have a big lead at the end of the season I can bench my speed players and play more home run oriented hitters. For example, I own Kevin Kiermaier. He hasn’t played in more than 106 games since 2015. The odds of him playing more than 100 games is unlikely. I currently have better options at OF but he’s always in my starting lineup because he has 10 stolen bases. He will always be in my starting lineup because I want to bank those stolen bases now.
For my closers I drafted Blake Trinen, Brad Hand and Kirby Yates. As an A’s fan I’ve watched Trinen a lot and he’s not the same pitcher as last year. His control isn’t nearly as good. I liked Hand because I thought the Indians would win 85-90 games. They may win 85 games but I feel like this is going to be a lost season for them; their offense and bullpen are bad; the starting pitching were dealt injuries and pitchers that are healthy have not been as good as the past. Yates may be this season’s Edwin Diaz in that Yates will save 50-plus games.
My starting pitching has been pretty good. I found Mike Minor, Frankie Montas, Chris Bassitt and Rick Porcello off the waiver wire. I picked up Porcello in late April/early May and he’s given me a 2.91 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 46 innings.
Like I mentioned in my draft recap my plan was to continually stream pitchers and be relentless with my evaluation of pitchers. For example, my “ace” coming out of the draft was Yu Darvish. I watched his first two starts and the raw stuff wasn’t there; he walked a lot of guys, but I was more concerned about the raw stuff. A pitcher can get away with walks if he’s striking out a lot of batters and induces weak contact but after watching him pitch I knew I would never feel comfortable starting him so I made the decision to release him. The same was true for Jeff Samardzija.
Overall, I am happy with my team. Other than first base I am happy with my hitting; if my players can stay healthy and Judge comes back I think its possible I finish in the top two of every hitting category. In regards to pitching, I have to continue to be relentless. For example, Bassitt has looked really good at times but in his last 2-3 starts his control has been an issue. If the control problems occur in his next start I may have to let him go, which will be difficult because he looked so good at the beginning of the year.
