tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63932352011-06-08T01:36:59.565-05:00Two regular joes (actually Alex and John) provide player rankings and strategy/tactics for the fantasy side of baseball, the greatest sport on Earth. We'll try to provide a comprehensive approach to fantasy baseball. (This site best viewed with Mozilla Firefox browser.)johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1080150057040968402004-03-24T11:40:00.000-06:002004-03-25T10:28:07.716-06:00

The note on the relievers entry below also applies to this list. (Both lists contain some pitchers who both started and relieved in the majors last year.) Serious oops: Somehow Danny Graves, who shouldn't even have been on the starters list, ended up being listed at No. 6! Sorry about that. It was an absolutely inexcusable mistake that is now fixed. Rank Player Team 1 Curt Schilling Bos 2 Mark

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1080149577795612102004-03-24T11:32:00.000-06:002004-03-25T10:29:26.280-06:00

Well, that was a bit of a long break -- had a little road trip -- but I think I'm back in time to still be of some use to anyone who's banging around the 'net looking to get a look at as many sets of rankings as they can in order to be fully informed for their fantasy drafts. I haven't made any notes to this list, nor have I separated the list into tiers (same with the SP rankings, which are up

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1079032362670339182004-03-11T13:12:00.000-06:002004-03-12T10:38:24.606-06:00

Guys to watch closely during spring training for either positive and negative signs on this list are Kearns, Dunn, Bradley, Bigbie, Matos, Redman, Bay, Cabrera, Mench, Jenkins, Burnitz, Griffey, Sosa (he's falling, baby), Wilkerson, Everett, Gibbons, Mora (you want him if he starts like he last season, because he'll be playing 3B for the Orioles), Luis Gonzalez, Juan Gonzalez, Walker ( he may

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078857695248738102004-03-09T12:41:00.000-06:002004-03-09T12:47:02.076-06:00

Instead of a lengthy preface to this list, I've added some short comments under the Forecast heading. Rank Player, Team Forecast 1 A. Rodriguez, Tex 2 M. Tejada, Bal 3 N. Garciaparra, Bos 4 E. Renteria, StL 5 A. Berroa, KC dn, the fences moved 6 D. Jeter, NYY up? is he pissed? 7 O. Cabrera, Mon 8 R. Furcal, Atl 9 J. Rollins, Phi dn 10 J. Reyes, NYM full season and pos. change... 11 K. Matsui

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078852987600433142004-03-09T11:23:00.000-06:002004-03-09T11:26:14.686-06:00

According to Lee Sinins' ATM Report, Jim Thome doesn't need surgery on his broken finger and may be ready for Opening Day. On Sheffield, Sinins has this to say: "Sheffield was examined this morning by a hand specialist in NY. While he has a torn ligament, he can play with it and is expected to return to the lineup later this week." I've found Sinins to be a very reliable and informative source

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078798643298935522004-03-08T20:17:00.000-06:002004-03-08T20:20:29.606-06:00

There are only two third basemen who can be considered as elite at their position coming into the '04 season. That could change quickly, though, as the two young Rangers who qualify at the postion in Yahoo leagues are both capable of slugging themselves into the first tier. Teixeira will probably only qualify at first in '05, where he will once again have to hit his way up the rankings. So take

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078697730806390642004-03-07T16:15:00.000-06:002004-03-07T16:18:35.543-06:00

The Jim Thome broken finger may drop him out of the first tier for drafting purposes. Keep an eye on the progress of his recovery and talk up the broken finger to your fellow managers as draft day nears. You may be able to steal a first tier 1B if you can plant enough seeds of doubt. Be sure to mention Thome's age (he'll be 34 in August), and his history of back problems.

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078696094537973832004-03-07T15:48:00.000-06:002004-03-09T12:19:41.793-06:00

Update (Mar. 9): Apparently Damian Jackson is pencilled in as the 2B and lead-off guy in Colorado. If that's the case, I guess you gotta move him up your draft list as he'll be hitting in front of Helton, Wilson and Walker. Don't move him up too far, though, because apparently Royce Clayton is playing SS and batting second. Also somewhere in the background of the Rockies' 2B picture is Jose Ortiz

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078637797407908512004-03-06T23:36:00.000-06:002004-03-06T23:39:41.106-06:00

I suppose anyone reading this has noticed that Paul Konerko, viewed as a solid 2nd tier fantasy 1B going into the 2003 season, is ranked well below the 2nd tier for 2004. And you already know the reason for that drop -- Konerko sucked at the plate last year (except for July and August when he averaged passable numbers in all 5 categories) , and dragged more than one fantasy owner down with him.

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078596976549527392004-03-06T12:16:00.000-06:002004-03-10T10:53:27.686-06:00

Okay, what we have here are players eligible at first base who might conceivably be of some use to you this season. The rankings are based on their perfomance over the last three seasons, except for Mark Teixeira and Nick Johnson. I've moved them up because of their extreme potential (Hafner's also been moved up, though his upside is nowhere near as high as the other two). I've separated these

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078188820168879662004-03-01T18:35:00.000-06:002004-03-01T18:56:36.250-06:00

When going into a fantasy draft, it's always best to have an idea of some specific goals. "Best player available with each pick" is a good, but broad, pursuit, and can leave you with holes to fill and weaknesses for your opponents to exploit. Also, if you're anything like me, it also leaves you vulnerable to fool yourself into making brash decisions. Like the time last season I took Ichiro

Alejandrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293748651498951539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1078153115512058712004-03-01T07:26:00.000-06:002004-03-01T18:57:21.076-06:00

Man, has it really been this long? Gotta get on this. So it looks like John's more of a stathead than I am; I understand that stuff and love to read pretty technical statistical analysis but doing actual work with the numbers myself tends to fall under my personal category of 'too much work.' Which, as you get to know me better, you'll find tends to pretty closely approach all-encompassing.

Alejandrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293748651498951539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1075492303057900772004-01-30T13:51:00.000-06:002004-01-30T14:03:12.513-06:00

Here's my view of how the catchers stack up against each other for the 2004 season. This ranking, as with all the rankings I will post, is primarily for 5x5 roto leagues. To produce the list below I looked at how each player performed over the last three seasons and ranked them by a weighted average of their stats (with 2003 getting the most weight). I then ranked them by an unweighted average

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6393235.post-1075239879768963772004-01-27T15:44:00.000-06:002004-01-27T15:57:40.610-06:00

Welcome to the wonderful world of fantasy baseball as Alex and I see it. Over the next few weeks, we will attempt to provide fantasy baseball rankings for the 2004 season. We will post thoughts on draft strategies before the season begins. As the season begins and progresses, our posts will probably wander to wherever our thoughts on the game take us. For those of you who have never played this

johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14752165311556606275noreply@blogger.com0