Official All-Star Ballot for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance

As a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, one of the requirements is to post an official All-Star ballot each year. As a member of the Fantasy Chapter, my ballot will have a fantasy skew to its nominees.

Let's get to the balloting, by league. Up first, COSFBA's 2011 American League All-Stars:

• C Alex Avila, DET (.303/28/10/45/3)
• 1B Adrian Gonzalez, BOS (.358/56/16/71/1)
• 2B Robinson Cano, NYY (.291/45/14/48/6)
• 3B Alex Rodriguez, NYY (.300/48/13/50/4)
• SS Asdrubal Cabrera, CLE (.290/50/12/43/12)
• OF Curtis Granderson, NYY (.279/68/21/55/12)
• OF Jose Bautista, TOR (.328/60/23/48/5)
• OF Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS (.304/55/9/39/24)
• DH David Ortiz, BOS (.311/47/17/48/1)
• SP Justin Verlander, DET (10-3, 2.38 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 124 K)
• RP Mariano Rivera, NYY (19 Saves, 1.84 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 23 K)

Now on to COSFBA's 2011 National League All-Stars:

• C Brian McCann, ATL (.300/27/13/43/2)
• 1B Prince Fielder, MIL (.306/48/21/67/0)
• 2B Rickie Weeks, MIL (.294/56/14/33/7)
• 3B Placido Polanco, PHI (.286/30/4/39/3)
• SS Jose Reyes, NYM (.334/58/3/31/27)
• OF Matt Kemp, LAD (.329/50/21/60/21)
• OF Ryan Braun, MIL (.309/55/15/57/16)
• OF Justin Upton, ARI (.304/45/12/39/14)
• SP Cole Hamels, PHI (9-4, 2.49 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 108 K)
• RP Joel Hanrahan, PIT (22 Saves, 1.24 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 31 K)

So there you have them, COSFBA's 2011 Fantasy Baseball All-Star rosters. Agree? Disagree? Use the comments section to award your fantasy baseball all-stars. Feel free to comment on who you'd have as a reserve player, too.

NOTE: All stats referenced are as of games played through June 25th, 2011 and are for standard 5x5 scoring categories.

Fantasy Forum: The Bryce Harper Edition

For this edition of Fantasy Forum, I reached out to fellow
Baseball Blogger Alliance members to get their opinions on the Washington Nationals phenom outfielder Bryce Harper and what they think is in store for the 2011 season and beyond. Here's what they had to say.

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William Tasker (@FlagrantFan) of The Flagrant Fan says:
Bryce Harper sure was fun while he lasted. All the experts say he's not ready. He needs more time. But the kid did everything right in his brief time in the Nationals' camp. He said the right things, he handled himself well. It was a blast to watch. It would have been great if the Nationals could live outside the box. The fan interest would have been huge. But we all know about the clock that the teams have to delay for financial reasons. We all know about the history and that no eighteen year old has ever played well in Major League Baseball. But there's always a first time. There's always a phenomenon waiting to happen if given a chance. And yes, this is all emotion and the voice of a fan. Sometimes it feels good to throw analytical thinking into suspension for a brief few moments. But, alas, sanity and business has trumped the dream.

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Aaron Somers (@BlogFTBleachers) of Blogging From The Bleachers says:
Ultimately I think the Nationals are taking a smart approach to Bryce Harper. Yes, we all understand that he is an immense talent and potentially an offensive standout before the age of 20 - something we have not seen since Alex Rodriguez. But, he is highly inexperienced and highly unproven to date. Allowing Harper to spend some time in the minor leagues will prove to be wise for a number of reasons. He will be able to grow and mature as a player - learning the professional game, coping with life on the road, adjusting to being an outfielder full time, and growing as a player. He'll also be able to mature as a person which can only be a good thing for anyone who is destined to be in the spotlight as much as he will be.

The Nationals have some solid building blocks in place to build around going forward - namely Strasburg and the two Zimmerman(n)s - and Harper will prove to be a nice compliment to that trio. The team is not ready to win it all right now, which further reinforces their intentions to let Harper gain some seasoning in the minor leagues rather than rushing him to the Majors. I'm not certain what their specific plan is for Harper this season, but I think we could see him on something similar to the schedule Strasburg found himself on last season. He'll begin in A ball, gain X number of plate appearances, and then he'll move up to AA. Again he'll remain there for a predetermined number of plate appearances before moving on to AAA to finish the season. This lets him gain some experience and confidence, work his way through the various levels of competition, and ultimately put Harper in a position where he can come into Spring Training in 2012 primed to win a starting role in Washington.

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Kyle Phillippi (@Kyle_Phillippi) of
GCOBB.com says:
Bryce Harper is a great story, but he'll be nothing more than "a #1 pick" this season. He certainly has all the potential in the world to make it to the majors... but not this season. There's no need for the Nationals, who most likely will not compete in 2011, to rush him out onto the field for the simple fact that he will sell seats.

Let the kid gradually enter the big leagues, just as every other prospect does. So far, Harper appears to have a good head on him, but even the slightest bit of favoritism could cause him to turn into a young, arrogant player. Washington should treat him the same way as the guy sitting next to him in Single-A.

For now, he's got all the hype in the world. His time will come, trust me.

Baseball Bloggers Alliance Day: 12/10/2010

Today is Baseball Bloggers Alliance Day, and as a member of the Fantasy Baseball Chapter I'd like to tell you what the BBA has meant to me and COSFBA.

First off, here's a little about the BBA straight from the source:
"The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in 2009 to foster communication and collaboration between bloggers across baseball.  Member blogs are encouraged to use one another to deepen their understanding of the game and the teams that play it.

While no formal requirements for membership exist at the current time, participating blogs are asked to keep their blogs current and to link to other member blogs on their blog roll.

The BBA has, as a secondary aim, the goal of producing year-end awards in a similar fashion to the Baseball Writers of America.  These awards can be found here in October with links back to the voters, ensuring transparancy and, most likely, the onset of some good baseball arguments."

As a relatively young blog, I went searching the internet for a group or organization that was doing great things for baseball bloggers and the BBA was exactly what I was looking for. I now feel like my blog belongs to something important and has a voice on a much larger scale than it would had I gone at this venture on my own.

In October, I had the pleasure of voicing my opinions and casting votes for the BBA's end-of-year awards (seen here) and was overwhelmed by the hundreds of views that post received. I've also submitted my Hall of Fame ballot, so keep an eye out for those results in early January 2011.

Be sure to take some time to visit the BBA website and visit as many of the nearly 240 member blogs as possible. Also look for BBA member tweets on Twitter by searching for the #BBBA hashtag and have a very happy BBA Day!

2010 Fantasy Baseball Awards: 10/09/2010

The 2010 regular season is now behind us and it's time to hand out some hardware. The Baseball Bloggers Alliance has new names for the awards we all know and love and I'll be handing them out from a fantasy perspective. And the winners are...

The Connie Mack Award for AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, TB

Joe Maddon manages the Rays like a true fantasy baseball god. Position flexibility is the best friend of every good fantasy baseball manager and Maddon gets the most out of his roster. Ben Zobrist played 15 games at 1B, 56 at 2B, 2 at 3B, 1 in LF, 14 in CF and 104 in RF. He used Sean Rodriguez at 1B for 3 games, 94 at 2B, 7 at 3B, 5 at SS, 5 in LF, 9 in CF and 8 in RF. He batted his catcher, John Jaso, in the leadoff spot for 169 at bats (+ 30 walks) to the tune of a .380 on-base percentage. Toss in guys like Reid Brignac (2B/SS/RF) and Willy Aybar (1B/2B/3B) and you can see why Maddon is taking home this award.
2nd Place: Ron Washington, TEX
3rd Place: Ron Gardenhire, MIN

The Connie Mack Award for NL Manager of the Year: Bobby Cox, ATL

Bobby Cox managed his Braves to the NL Wild Card and probably helped many fantasy managers win their leagues with the likes of fantasy no-names such as 1B/2B/3B Martin Prado and 2B/3B/SS/LF/RF Omar Infante. Cox is single-handedly responsible for convincing Billy Wagner to come to Atlanta to be his closer and Wagner responded big time (7-2, 37 SV, 1.43 ERA, 0.87 WHIP). Add potential NL Rookie of the Year Jason Heyward and NL Comeback Player of the Year Tim Hudson into the mix and you can see why Bobby Cox is taking home this award.
2nd Place: Bruce Bochy, SF
3rd Place: Bud Black, SD

The Willie Mays Award for AL Rookie of the Year: RP Neftali Feliz, TEX

I hate the mantra, "Don't pay for saves", because sometimes saves are worth paying top dollar for (Mariano Rivera, for one). For those owners that were able to get Neftali Feliz at the end of their drafts (ADP 222.5), they struck fantasy gold. Frank Francisco opened the season as the Texas Rangers' closer and promptly blew two saves (April 8th and 10th). Feliz recorded his first save on April 12th and never looked back, converting 40 of 43 save opportunities the season.
2nd Place: Austin Jackson, DET
3rd Place: Brennan Boesch, DET

The Willie Mays Award for NL Rookie of the Year: C Buster Posey, SF

Most people would agree that this award was a two-horse race, Jason Heyward and Buster Posey. Looking at it from a fantasy perspective, their numbers were relatively similar. The differences are that Posey put his numbers (.305/18/67) in 108 games while Heyward put up his numbers (.277/18/72) in 142 games. Also, Hayward's ADP was 114.1 while Posey was virtually undrafted. Lastly, Posey put up premium numbers for a catcher and finished 3rd overall for his position while Heyward finished as the 40th ranked outfielder.
2nd Place: Jason Heyward, ATL
3rd Place: Jaime Garcia, STL

Baseball Bloggers Alliance Announces 2010 All-Stars

Recently, the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (which I am now a member of) polled its members and announced the 2010 All-Stars. Take a moment to read the entire story and see the All-Star list here.

The BBA can also be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/baseballblogs and with hashtag #BBBA.