All five of these sessions for baseball specific fitness are superb, certainly the best I've found on the net
Active Warm Up
With Allen Thomas Director of Conditioning CWS (Chicago White Sox)
http://exercisetv.tv/watchvideo.aspx?id=600565663
Leg Circuit
With Allen Thomas Director of Conditioning CWS
http://exercisetv.tv/watchvideo.aspx?id=600565571
Lower Body Strength
With Allen Thomas Director of Conditioning CWS
http://exercisetv.tv/watchvideo.aspx?id=600565652
Core Training
With Allen Thomas Director of Conditioning CWS
http://exercisetv.tv/watchvideo.aspx?id=600565604
Upper Body Strength
With Allen Thomas Director of Conditioning CWS
http://exercisetv.tv/watchvideo.aspx?id=600565674
Thursday 26 February 2009
Thursday 19 February 2009
BB - Year 1 in fantasy baseball
After almost a year and a half of finding baseball had pretty much taken over my life, watching loads, reading loads, playing for real, playing MVP 2005 online, the next obvious outlet was going to be fantasy baseball.
Time to start testing out whether I had taken anything in with my experiences, and especially how deep my shallow understanding of sabermetrics had taken hold of me.
So I plunged in, bought the Diamond Draft software, started reading loads of fantasy sites.
(1)Signed up for a mostly Brit, 15 keeper, 7x7 with minor league keepers too, 12 team, 28 roster plus minors mixed league on ESPN with rosters set daily.
(2) A CBS points scoring H2H league with some of the guys off of our mvp2005 league, set weekly rosters
(3) Another Yahoo rotisserie league, mostly Italians started by one of the guys in mvpe, which was a 25 roster 15x15, maybe more ;) H2H league
(4) Fantasy Baseball UK, where you have a budget, and all players have access to the total pool of players in MLB at all times, but players value goes up with improved performance during the season, so it definitely helps to have a settled roster, set weekly.
(5)Salary Cap on Facebook, similar to 4 but can be set daily
(6) Post All-Star Salary Cap, very similar to 5, but obviously from the post All Star break ;)
(League 2 CBS H2H) I found this a frustrating league, rosters too small, little flexibility, because it's set for the week if you got 2 injuries, or players out for whatever reason you were stuffed, also it was points based which I never got completely top grips with in terms of utilizing properly. There was also a curious rule, I picked up McClouth and Quentin early on, but wasn't allowed to drop them later, same for Volquez, initially I was about 3rd/4th out of 12, but I gradually slipped over the season and ended up 6th, just missing out on the post season. Shan't be repeating that format, seemed too random, maybe I just needed to read up more on that one. Very little sense of community.
(3 Yahoo H2H) I initially started quite well, was about 4th out of 14, slipped to 8th, finished in 6th, but never enjoyed the league, no community contact, few trades, way too many stats, didn't like the yahoo layout, and was least involved in this one, felt very anonymous.
(4 Fantasy baseball UK) Was an interesting journey, picked too many streaky players early on, gradually started understanding the underlying stats more, and producing a good balance between established pricy stars, and fairly reliable young un's. Early on was hovering around 800th out of 4100, about mid season suddenly leapt to about 580th, then in the last month another jump to finish at 320, I needed it, my rivalry with someone I know - hey Mikey you still owe me a fiver I think ;), he'd made similar leaps as me during the season, but he didn't make the last one :) All in all not bad at all for a first year, and definitely aiming higher on that one this year.
(5 Facebook Salary Cap) and (6 Facebook Post-All Star Salary Cap) did really well, looking at daily match ups helped me a lot here, and similar progress in leaps as on the UK one, but with better results 18/8000 on post all star at the finish, 16th out of 21000 on the main salary cap. Gonna be hard to top those this year, though I've also learnt enough now to give it a shot, suspect I was in the top 5 the last 2 months in both leagues. Nothing like coming up against a bunch of low attention span youngsters to boost your self esteem ;)
(1 Brits ESPN 7x7 15 keeper league, with minors) Really though nearly everything I learnt this year came from 1, which I was heavily involved in.
For my first draft I definitely made some serious mistakes, too many oldies, had no idea how quickly their stats can drop off in the 35 plus age group if you pick the wrong year, picked players with poor consistency, and didn't realize just how far off the projections could be, waited too patiently with some players before dumping them, though that seriously hurt me with Ethier, I dumped him just before Manny arrived, and just before he got really hot but we were already 2/3 into the sdeason then, and I was desperate.
First 6 weeks very stable at bout 3/4th place out of 12, marginally off the leaders, but I was wasting a spot on Ken Griffey and Chris Duncan. Willingham and Jacobs got injured then when they came back were awful. Victor Martinez was awful, then injured, I'd picked him 3rd, Michael Young disappointing, especially on OPS, Figgins underperforming, or out injured, Peavy wasn't firing on all cylinders, he was my 2nd pick, Oliver Perez went truly atrocious, Randy Johnson mostly bad, Rafael Betancourt a disaster, as was Heilman, Fausto Carmona, and Betancourt, nuff said, and I was in freefall.
Ryan Braun and Francisco Rodriguez were the only outstanding performers, Hunter and Ordonez very reliable, as were Theriot and Loney at a lower level, ie average, and Wheeler was holding my holds together, but Frankie Rodriguez was, even with all the saves, struggling to do it on his own
By the All-Star break I'd plummeted from 100-110 points, down to 68, and was still dropping, soon 11th, and looking likely to be 12th. My season was over, so I decided to get drastic, and dropped over half my roster. Drastically trawled the waiver wires, anyone hitting 500 over the last week to 2 weeks I was watching like a hawk. On pitching my strike outs were low, no-one was winning games, with Betancourt out my saves were totally reliant on Frankie Rodriguez, then Wheeler started to get saves, so I decided to pick up Balfour and Howell, and Ervin Santana (a bit earlier, I had him and Saunders for a while), so I started to stabilize my strike outs and saves, and improve my holds, even though still not winning games. Thome started to pick up.
But the batting was still problematic, I was getting through loads of streaky batters who would suddenly slump, so I started looking at the peripherals on Fan Graphs (what a seriously wicked site that is) like Contact Rates, O Swing, checking on BABIP and seeing if that was just luck or a part of their career patterns, but also I started to seriously watch games in which those waiver wire batters were playing, and seeing how much I trusted them, how easily they were stitched up etc, how quickly they were learning, and I started to make some sound judgements, picked up Aviles, Shin Soo-Choo, Denard Span, Jayson Werth for a while til he slumped, Spilborghs til he got injured, Mark Reynolds (even with the bad BA, I'd decided two sluggers with a bad BA were OK for now, my BA was seriously wrecked anyways, but there were a few teams nearby re runs and homers and rbi's. Thome was now picking up more, Figgins back and performing more creditably, picked up Mora, Fernando Tatis. Salomon Torres I picked up early too and he helped on the saves, This stabilized stuff, and I got back to about 73, and 9th place, but then got stuck there coming to the last month of the season. I was now tuning into new arrivals quite fast, after 3 games loved watching Nelson Cruz, and trusted him, felt his attitude was spot on, very zen, and since the Rangers were scoring runs at will in this period also picked up Marlon Byrd and Gerald, Laird picked up Dickerson, Jody Gerut, and now I was motoring, and finished the season in 6th place, on 93 points, and only 10 points off from the scrap for 3rd. An intense learning curve.
So what did I learn?
Starters, there are always semi reasonable starters coming up, who'll get you Ok'ish stats, but look for relievers who are dual qualified, with high strike out rates, set up men behind closers who are wavering, batters who are hot, but if their peripherals are iffy dump them fast at the remotest sign of a slump, even at the risk of losing them - thankfully I got Aviles back after he hit a mini slump. Look for teams who are hot, but as much as looking at the peripherals, seriously watch players really early on in their arrival, and see how fragile their confidence at the plate is, how easily they are stitched up, how much they believe in themselves, and how quickly they are learning.
Fingers crossed for ok'ish production from Choo, Cruz, Span and Aviles this season, they are in my keepers. And yeah I don't expect the same output this season from them, and I won't wait anywheres near as long before dumping players this year, since I now know how many players come through with value during the season, who weren't in the top 50/100 prospect lists, but have serious value even if long term. Hopefully I've pulled back a little from the bad draft I made last year.
And as an oldie, I hate to say it, but one at most of them on a team, the drop off when it comes is not shallow for position oldies in the MLB.
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Time to start testing out whether I had taken anything in with my experiences, and especially how deep my shallow understanding of sabermetrics had taken hold of me.
So I plunged in, bought the Diamond Draft software, started reading loads of fantasy sites.
(1)Signed up for a mostly Brit, 15 keeper, 7x7 with minor league keepers too, 12 team, 28 roster plus minors mixed league on ESPN with rosters set daily.
(2) A CBS points scoring H2H league with some of the guys off of our mvp2005 league, set weekly rosters
(3) Another Yahoo rotisserie league, mostly Italians started by one of the guys in mvpe, which was a 25 roster 15x15, maybe more ;) H2H league
(4) Fantasy Baseball UK, where you have a budget, and all players have access to the total pool of players in MLB at all times, but players value goes up with improved performance during the season, so it definitely helps to have a settled roster, set weekly.
(5)Salary Cap on Facebook, similar to 4 but can be set daily
(6) Post All-Star Salary Cap, very similar to 5, but obviously from the post All Star break ;)
(League 2 CBS H2H) I found this a frustrating league, rosters too small, little flexibility, because it's set for the week if you got 2 injuries, or players out for whatever reason you were stuffed, also it was points based which I never got completely top grips with in terms of utilizing properly. There was also a curious rule, I picked up McClouth and Quentin early on, but wasn't allowed to drop them later, same for Volquez, initially I was about 3rd/4th out of 12, but I gradually slipped over the season and ended up 6th, just missing out on the post season. Shan't be repeating that format, seemed too random, maybe I just needed to read up more on that one. Very little sense of community.
(3 Yahoo H2H) I initially started quite well, was about 4th out of 14, slipped to 8th, finished in 6th, but never enjoyed the league, no community contact, few trades, way too many stats, didn't like the yahoo layout, and was least involved in this one, felt very anonymous.
(4 Fantasy baseball UK) Was an interesting journey, picked too many streaky players early on, gradually started understanding the underlying stats more, and producing a good balance between established pricy stars, and fairly reliable young un's. Early on was hovering around 800th out of 4100, about mid season suddenly leapt to about 580th, then in the last month another jump to finish at 320, I needed it, my rivalry with someone I know - hey Mikey you still owe me a fiver I think ;), he'd made similar leaps as me during the season, but he didn't make the last one :) All in all not bad at all for a first year, and definitely aiming higher on that one this year.
(5 Facebook Salary Cap) and (6 Facebook Post-All Star Salary Cap) did really well, looking at daily match ups helped me a lot here, and similar progress in leaps as on the UK one, but with better results 18/8000 on post all star at the finish, 16th out of 21000 on the main salary cap. Gonna be hard to top those this year, though I've also learnt enough now to give it a shot, suspect I was in the top 5 the last 2 months in both leagues. Nothing like coming up against a bunch of low attention span youngsters to boost your self esteem ;)
(1 Brits ESPN 7x7 15 keeper league, with minors) Really though nearly everything I learnt this year came from 1, which I was heavily involved in.
For my first draft I definitely made some serious mistakes, too many oldies, had no idea how quickly their stats can drop off in the 35 plus age group if you pick the wrong year, picked players with poor consistency, and didn't realize just how far off the projections could be, waited too patiently with some players before dumping them, though that seriously hurt me with Ethier, I dumped him just before Manny arrived, and just before he got really hot but we were already 2/3 into the sdeason then, and I was desperate.
First 6 weeks very stable at bout 3/4th place out of 12, marginally off the leaders, but I was wasting a spot on Ken Griffey and Chris Duncan. Willingham and Jacobs got injured then when they came back were awful. Victor Martinez was awful, then injured, I'd picked him 3rd, Michael Young disappointing, especially on OPS, Figgins underperforming, or out injured, Peavy wasn't firing on all cylinders, he was my 2nd pick, Oliver Perez went truly atrocious, Randy Johnson mostly bad, Rafael Betancourt a disaster, as was Heilman, Fausto Carmona, and Betancourt, nuff said, and I was in freefall.
Ryan Braun and Francisco Rodriguez were the only outstanding performers, Hunter and Ordonez very reliable, as were Theriot and Loney at a lower level, ie average, and Wheeler was holding my holds together, but Frankie Rodriguez was, even with all the saves, struggling to do it on his own
By the All-Star break I'd plummeted from 100-110 points, down to 68, and was still dropping, soon 11th, and looking likely to be 12th. My season was over, so I decided to get drastic, and dropped over half my roster. Drastically trawled the waiver wires, anyone hitting 500 over the last week to 2 weeks I was watching like a hawk. On pitching my strike outs were low, no-one was winning games, with Betancourt out my saves were totally reliant on Frankie Rodriguez, then Wheeler started to get saves, so I decided to pick up Balfour and Howell, and Ervin Santana (a bit earlier, I had him and Saunders for a while), so I started to stabilize my strike outs and saves, and improve my holds, even though still not winning games. Thome started to pick up.
But the batting was still problematic, I was getting through loads of streaky batters who would suddenly slump, so I started looking at the peripherals on Fan Graphs (what a seriously wicked site that is) like Contact Rates, O Swing, checking on BABIP and seeing if that was just luck or a part of their career patterns, but also I started to seriously watch games in which those waiver wire batters were playing, and seeing how much I trusted them, how easily they were stitched up etc, how quickly they were learning, and I started to make some sound judgements, picked up Aviles, Shin Soo-Choo, Denard Span, Jayson Werth for a while til he slumped, Spilborghs til he got injured, Mark Reynolds (even with the bad BA, I'd decided two sluggers with a bad BA were OK for now, my BA was seriously wrecked anyways, but there were a few teams nearby re runs and homers and rbi's. Thome was now picking up more, Figgins back and performing more creditably, picked up Mora, Fernando Tatis. Salomon Torres I picked up early too and he helped on the saves, This stabilized stuff, and I got back to about 73, and 9th place, but then got stuck there coming to the last month of the season. I was now tuning into new arrivals quite fast, after 3 games loved watching Nelson Cruz, and trusted him, felt his attitude was spot on, very zen, and since the Rangers were scoring runs at will in this period also picked up Marlon Byrd and Gerald, Laird picked up Dickerson, Jody Gerut, and now I was motoring, and finished the season in 6th place, on 93 points, and only 10 points off from the scrap for 3rd. An intense learning curve.
So what did I learn?
Starters, there are always semi reasonable starters coming up, who'll get you Ok'ish stats, but look for relievers who are dual qualified, with high strike out rates, set up men behind closers who are wavering, batters who are hot, but if their peripherals are iffy dump them fast at the remotest sign of a slump, even at the risk of losing them - thankfully I got Aviles back after he hit a mini slump. Look for teams who are hot, but as much as looking at the peripherals, seriously watch players really early on in their arrival, and see how fragile their confidence at the plate is, how easily they are stitched up, how much they believe in themselves, and how quickly they are learning.
Fingers crossed for ok'ish production from Choo, Cruz, Span and Aviles this season, they are in my keepers. And yeah I don't expect the same output this season from them, and I won't wait anywheres near as long before dumping players this year, since I now know how many players come through with value during the season, who weren't in the top 50/100 prospect lists, but have serious value even if long term. Hopefully I've pulled back a little from the bad draft I made last year.
And as an oldie, I hate to say it, but one at most of them on a team, the drop off when it comes is not shallow for position oldies in the MLB.
Intro
Image via Wikipedia
But then what to call it?
Needed some way of incorporating my nearly 20 year love affair with brit sub-bass breakbeat and chill-out music, my new religion baseball, and zen inspired abstract art a la Robert Motherwell
Thought about a play on Black Mountain, Motherwell had a great time playing baseball there in the 50's, gets mentioned
here in an interview with Motherwell.
Considering my age, thought of "Top of the 7th" ;) I'm coming up to 57, but then I've only been into baseball seriously for two years, including playing, and who knows when the game's gonna finish, and anyways ways too corny, then was looking for a play on bass and base, but couldn't come up with anything. So settling for this at the mo, naranja because I've always, right back to being a nipper, loved orange as a colour, so did Motherwell, and doing it in spanish hinted at his Spanish Elegies, the pic above is from that series of his. So if anyone can come up with something a bit cool, it would be more than appreciated.
I still might run with an idea I had last year, "The Baseball Virgin" :)
Now those were the main themes I wanted to post on, but I'm sure as hell I'll be touching on my classy mates, magic thinking (sadly still way too much hippy in me), I was pretty much a raj yoga monk for 20 years with cult connections, and lots of other tangential topics.
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