Line of the Day: June 12th, 2011

SP Tommy Hanson of the Atlanta Braves struck out a career-high 14 hitters over seven innings to lead the Braves to a 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros. The 14 strikeouts are the most in a game for an Atlanta Braves starter since John Smoltz struck out 15 New York Mets on April 10, 2005.

Line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 14 K; W, QS

My fantasy perspective: Hanson is currently the 5th-ranked Starting Pitcher on ESPN's Player Rater behind such fantasy heavyweights as Roy Halladay, Jered Weaver, Cole Hamels and Justin Verlander. Overall, he's the 24th-ranked player.

Hanson leads the NL with a league-low 6.0 H/9 but is allowing a career-high 3.2 BB/9. His 89 strikeouts in 83.1 innings translates into a career-high 9.6 K/9. Add in career-lows in ERA (2.48) and WHIP (1.03) and fantasy owners who invested a fourth-round pick (ADP of 48.7) in him have struck fantasy gold with a pitcher on pace to have a 20-10 record. What's your guess: over/under 15 wins?

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: June 11th, 2011

SP Scott Baker of the Minnesota Twins allowed five hits and one run in a complete game victory over the Texas Rangers. It was his fourth career complete game. He also struck out seven and walked none and threw 80 of his 112 pitches for strikes.

Line: 9 IP, 5 H, 1ER, 0 BB, 7 K; W, QS, CG

My fantasy perspective: Positively, Baker's ERA (3.55), WHIP (1.22) and K/9 (8.4) are all better than his career averages. Negatively, his BB/9 (2.5) and HR/9 (1.3) are slight above his career norms. Nothing says he can't be the 12-15 win pitcher he's shown to be in the past. The question is whether the Twins as a team can get back to their winning ways.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: June 10th, 2011

SP Jhoulys Chacin of the Colorado Rockies allowed just three hits while striking out nine over eight shutout innings as the Rockies held on for a 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The win was his seventh and is tops on the Rockies' pitching staff.

Line: 8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K; W, QS

My fantasy perspective: Chacin was a much-hyped sleeper pick coming into the season but who knew he'd become the ace of a Rockies' staff that had such proven winners as Ubaldo Jimenez and Jorge de la Rosa. Who knew he'd be leading the team in starts (13), innings pitched (87), wins (7), ERA (2.90) and strikeouts (74).

A few causes for concern going forward with Chacin would be an extremely low BAA (.197) and BABIP (.226), both likely a result of an extremely high GB% of 60.5%. Keep an eye on him as the temperature starts rising, humidity levels drop and balls start flying out of Coors Field.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Your League Probably Sucks...

...IF any of these examples are true about the fantasy baseball leagues you're in this season:

• Eric Hosmer is owned in only 59% of Yahoo! leagues. He has a 5x5 line of .309/18/5/21/2 in 32 games and has been an impact player since being called up on May 6th. He hit home runs in back-to-back games at New York on May 11th and 12th. He should have been 100% owned on May 13th, if not sooner. Check your waiver wire now to validate how much your league probably sucks.
• There is no reason whatsoever for Manny Ramirez to still be owned in 7.7% of ESPN and 5% of Yahoo! leagues. NONE! WHAT! SO! EVER! Quit sending trade proposals to these owners for any of their players. They gave up caring about your league long ago.
• Joe Mauer owners are dying to get his bat back into their lineups and there's hope it could happen in as soon as a weeks time. But can you explain to me why he's currently starting in 14% of Yahoo! leagues? Oh, I know why. Because those 14% of owners were so bromantically committed to having Mauer on their team that they no longer had anything to live for when he got injured. If your league hates the DL or has such limited bench spots, I have a formula for you. Lazy owners + crappy league settings - common sense = sucky league.
• Speaking of catchers: Does your league use a "two catcher" format? If so, it sucks. ESPN's Player Rater ranks just 17 catcher-eligible players with a rating above zero. Now I'm no mathematician but a negative rating on any scale has got to be a bad thing. Oh and one of those 17 players is Mr. Out For The Season Buster Posey, so let's knock that down to 16 players. Jorge Posada is ranked 27th and is owned in 18.4% of ESPN leagues. Nuff said. Quit requiring people to draft crappy hitters, you sadomasochists.
• Hey...you know that guy in your league who named his team after his favorite real team (most likely the Cubs) and his infield is made up of Carlos Pena, Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro and Aramis Ramirez? And his pitching staff is anchored by Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano with Carlos Marmol as his closer? Yeah? Well that guy sucks as an owner and any league that continues to invite that guy sucks too.
• Anthony Rizzo and Mike Moustakas were both called up to the majors this week and should see their ownership numbers skyrocket. Wait. What's that? You only get to make changes to your lineup weekly? Oh my. Weekly leagues suck. Plain and simple. This isn't fantasy football. Get involved in daily leagues or don't get involved at all. If fantasy baseball takes too much time and/or effort to manage a team over the course of six months then don't join.
• Keeper leagues are a lot of fun but why is everyone in your league talking about them in June? I'd rather play to win my league this year owning Johnny Damon than lose while owning Bryce Harper. Quit sucking and play to win now!

I'll continue writing these posts periodically to point out the number one frustration most fantasy baseball players experience in their leagues most years: INACTIVITY! Inactive owners affect the overall value of a league. How many times have you sent a trade proposal to another owner to simply have it ignored or expire?   Does winning a league filled with inactivity really give you any level off satisfaction if no money was involved? Probably not. Does kicking a cat before it can steal your soul feel good? The answer to that will always be yes. ALWAYS!

What experiences have you had which left you pondering whether or not your league(s) sucks?

Playing the Name Game

This edition of "Playing the Name Game" takes another look at player comparisons without knowing their names. Name recognition tends to sway our interpretation of a player's overall fantasy value. This exercise in player evaluating will help you find some waiver wire gems who are being overlooked by others in your leagues.

I'll run through a few of these comparisons (using standard 5x5 categories) for your fantasy baseball viewing pleasure and hopefully give you something to mull over as you assess your roster(s). NOTE: All statistics quoted are for games played through June 8th, 2011 and ownership numbers are from ESPN leagues.

• Player A: .310 BA (57/184), 29 R, 8 HR, 19 RBI, 2 SB
• Player B: .316 BA (55/174), 25 R, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 0 SB

Okay, not much difference here when you compare simple 5x5 lines. Too be fair, both players qualify at the same position. A deeper look into their numbers show Player A has 20 XBH and Player B has 22 XBH. Player B has walked 20 times while Player A has 19 walks. Hmmmm. Player A has a .890 OPS compared to Player B's .918 OPS. Still looking like pretty even players across the board. Let's go SABR via FanGraphs. Player A has a .345 BABIP, a .389 wOBA and a wRC+ of 145 while Player B has a .324 BABIP, a .396 wOBA and a wRC+ of 143. These guys are virtually twins of the baseball diamond. It's time for the reveal. Player A is Mitch Moreland and Player B is Todd Helton.

My fantasy perspective: Are you ready to know the stark difference between these two players? Moreland is 100% owned compared to Helton's 51% ownership rate. Moreland is looked upon as a young player on an offensively potent team with tons of potential while Helton is viewed as a player with injury concerns on the downside of his player career. The numbers tell us different.

• Player A: .293 BA (63/215), 34 R, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 9 SB
• Player B: .265 BA (58/219), 39 R, 5 HR, 26 RBI, 5 SB

Again, to be fair for comparison reasons, these two players both qualify at the same position. Player A has a significant advantage in batting average and nearly twice the stolen bases than Player B while the other three scoring categories can be considered a wash to this point in the season. Each player has 21 XBH but Player B has a significant 34 to 10 advantage in walks over Player A. Let's go SABR via FanGraphs. Player A has a .341 BABIP, a .335 wOBA and a wRC+ of 111 while Player B has a .317 BABIP, a .357 wOBA and a wRC+ of 127. Not a ton of difference here and I can see making a case to own either of these players. It's time for the reveal. Player A is Corey Patterson and Player B is Colby Rasmus.

My fantasy perspective: When I hear Patterson's name, I think of a player who hasn't had much of a career since 2008. But a deeper look into his Baseball-Refernce.com player page shows a 2004 season where he went 24/32 (HR/SB) and a 2006 season of 16/45. I'm not suggesting he's going to put up numbers like those in 2011 at 31 years of age but he has proven the ability to produce at the major league level. Rasmus is a 24 year old fantasy stud with many great seasons ahead of him and who deserves his 100% ownership rate but why is Patterson only owned in 69.2% of leagues?

This simple exercise of looking at the scoring category numbers that matter in your league and searching the waiver wires for the players who can fill those needs will make your team better. The hard part is knowing when to cut ties with the players with obvious name recognition for the players possibly available on waivers who can help your team win. And knowing is half the battle.