I'll start by saying what & why I like stuff first, then describe my thoughts & feelingss behind what I paint.
I grew up in a household and environment with zero art interest (surrounded by disgusting browns and greens in terms of household colours), and that was further enhanced by my art teacher at school, who seriously didn't help. So I detoured around the subject as much as I could, which wasn't difficult.
Having said that I loved maps, can remember making maps of my area before I was 11, but that was it.
Around 71, aged 19, I was in a very self reflective post acid blow out bubble. Not surprizingly my visual awareness had been heightened, if not activated by acid, some album covers hit me strongly, I remember the Quintessence album with the fold out sleeve and psychedelic mandala, but I still never drew or anything, don't even remember doodling much.
In my '71 onward reflective period, I started to get into art a bit, Edvard Munch was my starting point. I liked the way he flowed everything together hinting at the kind of visual connectedness between things that I experienced on acid but with an emotional component, especially his landscapes. I would have had great trouble at the time articulating that. Most people know 'The Scream', though for me that was too dark.
The obvious cultural corollary for acid at the time, in arty terms, had been the art deco movement, people like Mucha, but it never triggered anything for me.
Then I came across Paul Klee's Notebook in my local library. It had a big effect. It was a pretty big book with his sketches, ideas, test outs etc. One line from that book hit me hard, “Drawing is taking a line for a walk”. I had no idea why it hit me so hard but it did. I found it fascinating through that book, getting so close to the inner workings of an artists mind, even
though his work itself never completely gelled with me, a little too stiff and Germanic, and not enough flow. I then explored a lot of modern art, got into Kandinsky a bit, I suspect for the superficial psychedelic aspects but also his sense of space, but also the specific colours he was into. The next artist to hit me was early Mondrian, before he went abstract, and Cezanne, especially his watercolours of landscapes. Again I suspect the flow angle and nature combined was the attraction. Acid, outside, in nature, rather than urban environments, had hit me really hard, felt like a core part of my being, was still trying to find a way to represent and reaccess
those experiences/head spaces. I was doing a lot of drawings then.
That all died down drastically during my early guru days, (I was following/involved with an eastern meditation guru at the time), though after 2-3 years I did start following up on modern art again, and after 5 years or so started painting for the first time, just as I got into artists who were on that midway point between reality and abstraction. Mondrian's journey to abstraction I found fascinating, and then I finally got cubism, it hit me hard. In general I
preferred Braque's stuff to Picasso's.
At that time my wife and I were nursing her mother, who had double incontinence and dementia and required 24/7 care. I did the night shift, but that left a lot of time for painting while she intermittingly slept, as well as a lot of meditation time. That went on for 7 years. In about the 2nd of those years I came across the abstract expressionist Robert Motherwell, who radically altered me, as in bigtime. I became obsessed with him, almost to the exclusion of anyone else, although I do remember having a very powerful experience in the Rothko room at the Tate then. The lighting was very low in the Rothko room, so they were almost like spectral presences around the room, very meditative, although I was also aware of the dark emotional undercurrents, so the effect was not quite life transforming, unlike the effect Motherwell had.
Motherwell, how to describe what it is about his work, that to this day resonates so deeply with me?
This will be tricky.
One of the reasons I have problems with the standard canon of western art through the renaissance, right up to the impressionists, is that I can never seperate, nigh on most of the time, the awareness of the stifling cultural milieu they were produced in, the stiffness in the sense of being in a body, and the absence of any type of primitive rawness outside of the culture they are produced in. They are too conscious of how they are being perceived, of trying to satisfy clients, but also their sense of colour and space just does not resonate with me at all, a sense of time and movement frozen. There are some partial glimpses that escape that sense of claustrophobia and lack of resonance I feel.
Vermeer, Rembrandt's self portraits and a few of Murillo's and Velazquez's and Goya's work.
Standard technique never really does it for me, rawness and truth to the moment, especially in terms of being in a human body, does. No accident that, like Motherwell, the Altamira cave paintings, a lot of zen calligraphy does do it for me way more than pretty much all of western art. I've seen some Aboriginal and north American Indian art that resonates in a very similar way.
But expressionism, Pollock etc, a lot of the Germanic stuff also leaves me cold, like they are alienated from their bodies emotionally, so letting it all out usually just passes me by. As I write this for some reason, the word puritan is coming up, I find simplicity very attractive. I am definitely north european rather than mediterranean from that angle.
One of the reasons I like Motherwell so much, and I suspect that this also applies to my interest in Cezanne and Braque, is the way they don't hide their clumsiness, doubt, indecision, in fact embrace it as aspects of themselves and in the truth to that approach, transcend it. To quote a review of a Gunter Grass novel by Gabriel Jospivoci, "stammering is the truer, more exact, more imaginative word, and Grass's books, we could say, are all stammers, false starts, hesitations, haunted by the inability to move forward, to round out the sentence, the paragraph, the work. But like all the greatest artists, he has made a strength out of weakness."
That is a very modern concept, especially in terms of being a culturally more acceptable path to take.But before finishing this section there is another area of body expression that fascinates me, and that is sport. I suspect that this relates very strongly to my interest in Motherwell and zen calligraphy.
Although I do connect with the competitive side of sport, I suspect that is mostly about how that sense of competition is more likely to increase a sense of being in the moment, in the body more completely. No accident that my favourite sports book by far is 'A Zen Way of Baseball' by Sadahao Oh, which describes his approach to baseball as a martial art and how he
approached transcending the conceptual limitations that stopped him from being in the moment. A fascinating read, even if you aren't into baseball I suspect. I've always been fascinated by this aspect of sport, I suspect this is true for most people who are into sport. The moments they remember are always when people like Messi, Pele, Zidane, Best etc etc went to another level and transcended their limitations to express a sense of sublime beauty and artistry in the moment, that whole so difficult to attain sense of being in the zone. I know the one game I truly experienced it while playing baseball was unbelievable, so much so that my sense of time altered, everything went into seriously slow motion on one play that I pulled off and everyone in the ground stood up and applauded. I found it rather fitting that we were playing a Japanese team at the time Any feedback is gratefully received, and from where I'm coming from whether you feel you have anything to offer conceptually or not is irrelevant. I should think I pretty much covered why in my first post. To me art is no different, especially most of the art I'm interested in, than appreciating a moment of sublime artistry by Lionel Messi. Yeah it might enhance your appreciation if you knew what technical areas he was working on, how he thinks in his head, what diet he has, what conditioning
programme he uses, his awareness of interplay with his teammates etc etc, but I suspect not by much.
Sub-bass series
The sub-bass painting series for me is purely about trying to find some way of hinting at my experiences of sub-bass, which have been purely visceral as far as I am aware, although the sheer atavistic tendencies have regularly gone into that in-the-zone zen territory too on a regular basis. So that is definitely part of it too, but even that is quite visceral, verging on primeval.
The experience of sub-bass for me has been quite revelatory. Certainly an experience unlike any other aural experience I've ever felt/heard. The only other aural experience that gets close in intensity, out-thereness and sheer rawness has been from the late Coltrane (such as The Love Supreme and Ascension), Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Art Ensemble of Chicago type of free jazz, especially when Evan Parker is going his full on circular breathing route using a tenor sax.
My experience of sub-bass has certainly been less discordant than that, although it can be almost as disquieting. One experience at a dubstep night at Plastic People especially sticks in the mind, only time in my life I've experienced my cranium bones seriously wobbling, certainly freaked me out a bit for a few seconds. The sound system there was very powerful, and the experience was certainly enhanced by the huge amount of green being smoked there, it was also a very small club It was 17 years ago I first experienced sub-bass but my best experiences of it were at dubstep nights about 6 years ago. Seriously pissed off I missed out on dub back in the day.
Sub-bass, for those that don't know, is bass right at the edge of the aural range for human ears. It is as much a felt experience in the body as one that is heard. It's experienced like a very deep rumble/wobble in the body, in dubstep they talked of it rattling your rib cage. I can imagine whales would probably like sub-bass. It feels as though it's coming from within your body, rather than your body receiving it, like a primeval rumble from within your being.
Now I'm under no illusions that I'll ever be able to get close to a visual equivalent of its effects, and at the moment I'm painting it as external bass rings as if they are wobbling from bass bins, which is a little too literal for my liking. Since sub-bass is a pure sine wave, I might try painting it as sine waves through an abstracted body, I'm keeping that for later.
So far I'm no more than half pleased with what I've done, although the feedback I'm getting is quite positive so far, they are a little too 'pretty' to hint at the almost ghostlike spectral rumble that I experience sub-bass as, and they are also a little too close to Rothko looking paintings too.
The sub-bass sketches so far have all been done digitally using a graphics tablet and software. Just got a 40" x 40" canvas to do my first painted version.
The Baseball Series
Still unfinished, based upon the swing plane dynamics and torque of Nelson Cruz's batting swing as seen from behind home plate, with some abstract mash ups included.
Quite tricky trying to hint at a time series in a frozen moment covering all those aspects, especially torque, which is the stored kinetic energy created by coiling and resistance which is at the core of all power hitters swings. There is also something a little raw and clumsy about Cruz's swings, especially when he goes the other way, which I really like. Think I'm
also trying to project into these paintings something of the self doubt and tentativeness that Cruz carries with him emotionally, which he constantly seems to dealing with.
The thrid one is from overhead home plate breaking down his swing in moments of time.
The Other Paintings
These are harder to describe. They relate They relate to my experience of being in my body, fragments of memories, my experience of space and time. The original lines start purely from taking a line for a walk with as little conscious thinking as possible, just staying true to the line, then working colour into the shapes though they do evolve then too in form.
I spend a huge amount of time taken on each painting, just meditating on them. This leads to
extensive refining of the lines to reflect a sense of internal integrity, while trying to avoid, like the plague, how they will be perceived and the awful habit of slipping into easy mannerisms and cliche.
http://twitter.com/#!/hamzen
Friday, 11 November 2011
Friday, 29 April 2011
Training Sessions - 1
Well it's been a while!
Started training this week, first time this year, and a very late start after last years indoor spring training started weekly in February. But that was with a set-up club for the year, the Chelmsford Clippers, whiuch I was managing. More on that rollercoaster experience later, as well as some feedback on how my 2009 and 2010 leagues went. Adds I might have something to add re fantasy baseball, after 3 years I started getting some great results in 2010. Another article coming on my 2011 drafts later too.
But todays topic is training. When you are hitting nearly 60, 59 recently, you've been smoking for 20 years, and the only exercise you do is a few hours gardening a week, and plenty of walking, about 6 miles a week, going into training can be quite hard at the start of the cycle. Before todays session, I'd been doing about 20 squats with weights (13.6 kg/30lbs) twice a week for a fortnight just to ease into the year, the knee was holding up well after last years injury, which was encouraging, not even any twinges, and some muscle strengthening around the dodgy areas of the knee has given me some confidence that I;ll be able to attack with the lead leg again this year, thank god, I was worried if that might be it, and a continual knee brace required.
This Weds, 27th April, did about 30 squats with weights (13.6 kg/30lbs), 20 squatting to overheads like in the Olympics, about 20 medium to strong resistance bands while doing a full pitching motion from both left and right sides, then went down the park and did about 30 pitches. Pretty rusty pitching wise, need to start working on some lunges, very little extension and foot plant for torque resistance, so it was really as much about shaking off the cobwebs, getting used to the feel of a baseball again, really getting onto the seams and using the whip of release for some movement, and trying out the various pitches, fb, 2 seamer, change-up, curve and slider.
Started training this week, first time this year, and a very late start after last years indoor spring training started weekly in February. But that was with a set-up club for the year, the Chelmsford Clippers, whiuch I was managing. More on that rollercoaster experience later, as well as some feedback on how my 2009 and 2010 leagues went. Adds I might have something to add re fantasy baseball, after 3 years I started getting some great results in 2010. Another article coming on my 2011 drafts later too.
But todays topic is training. When you are hitting nearly 60, 59 recently, you've been smoking for 20 years, and the only exercise you do is a few hours gardening a week, and plenty of walking, about 6 miles a week, going into training can be quite hard at the start of the cycle. Before todays session, I'd been doing about 20 squats with weights (13.6 kg/30lbs) twice a week for a fortnight just to ease into the year, the knee was holding up well after last years injury, which was encouraging, not even any twinges, and some muscle strengthening around the dodgy areas of the knee has given me some confidence that I;ll be able to attack with the lead leg again this year, thank god, I was worried if that might be it, and a continual knee brace required.
This Weds, 27th April, did about 30 squats with weights (13.6 kg/30lbs), 20 squatting to overheads like in the Olympics, about 20 medium to strong resistance bands while doing a full pitching motion from both left and right sides, then went down the park and did about 30 pitches. Pretty rusty pitching wise, need to start working on some lunges, very little extension and foot plant for torque resistance, so it was really as much about shaking off the cobwebs, getting used to the feel of a baseball again, really getting onto the seams and using the whip of release for some movement, and trying out the various pitches, fb, 2 seamer, change-up, curve and slider.
The slider was a bit wild, down and outside were slippnig into up and inside to a righty, sometimes an effective pitch, but riddled with danger, can slip into the batters wheelhouse if not spot on.
Got one four seamer to fizz a bit, bear in mind that's for me, hardly a flame thrower, max last year was 74 mph, but the one that fizzed felt quick for me, muscles were all fully integrated, some leg drive and plant, a little bit of torque after the plant, and a good whip through, might have been at about 76, which for a first session was very encouraging. My usual tendency to go a bit wild and up in the zone to out of the zone wasn't happening so much, which considering how little extension I was getting, was surprizing and quite encouraging.
Strike out curve was going well, not dragging it down too much into the dirt, nice loop to it.
Really need to learn a get me over curve ball, and a consistent one at that, crucial to have when having off days at the mound, as I learnt too well in my couple of abbreviated outings last year. Change-up wasn't really happening, 2 seam/sinker was going fine, and down in the zone too, but not much movement.
All together not much movement across the board, but then a shortage of whole body arcing and late arm to hand whip, at my pace, guarantees that. But I'm confident about how that happens after 2 years working on pitching, and know that will come after 3-4 sessions.
After the niggling and extended knee injury last year much more encouraging signs this year.
Will now do nothing except a few squats and lunges before my next session in three days, which will give my body time to recover.
Thursday 29th. Ha ha, didn't know where to put myself all day, good ache from the back of the shoulders (both sides), lower back (both sides), thighs (more towards the knees), hamstrings, calfs, forearms and upper arms. The only area that felt missed was around the hips.
Overall well pleased.
Really need to learn a get me over curve ball, and a consistent one at that, crucial to have when having off days at the mound, as I learnt too well in my couple of abbreviated outings last year. Change-up wasn't really happening, 2 seam/sinker was going fine, and down in the zone too, but not much movement.
All together not much movement across the board, but then a shortage of whole body arcing and late arm to hand whip, at my pace, guarantees that. But I'm confident about how that happens after 2 years working on pitching, and know that will come after 3-4 sessions.
After the niggling and extended knee injury last year much more encouraging signs this year.
Will now do nothing except a few squats and lunges before my next session in three days, which will give my body time to recover.
Thursday 29th. Ha ha, didn't know where to put myself all day, good ache from the back of the shoulders (both sides), lower back (both sides), thighs (more towards the knees), hamstrings, calfs, forearms and upper arms. The only area that felt missed was around the hips.
Overall well pleased.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
My last draft
After the manic intensity of the auction draft, I was absolutely determined on this one to do a bog standard draft, with a hitting bias.
This league is a three division affair, but a couple of last years players dropped out of div 2, so I got a place straight into div 2, and wanted to make sure I at least have a fairly stable year in this one, especially since it was a 14 team 5x5 league, which I wasn't sure about re tactics for drafting.
Miguel Cabrera
Prince Fielder
Vlad Guerrerro
Shane Victorino
Nate McClouth
were the core of my batting, I also picked up
Milton Bradley
Nelson Cruz
Howie Kendrick
So well covered for pop, ave, but a bit thin on steals
Clint Barmes utility, for 3 position cover and steals, and Justin Upton for possible breakout year, left two weak positions, Saltalamacchia for catcher, and Khalil Greene at SS, Greene could easily have a recovery year, Salty we'll see, it's possible too
But offensively not too bad, except for steals
On the pitching front,
SP
Daisuke,
David Price
Matt Garza
Ubaldo Jimenez
RP
Joakim Soria
Joel Hanrahan
Frank Francisco
and Grant Balfour and Dan Wheeler as relievers
Again not too displeased, especially for a 14 team league.
Could be tricky if Price doesn't get called up til May, a distinct possibility, but I might use either of Wheeler or Balfour, for pitch and ditch, or maybe not ditch if I pick up someone useful, or one of my outfielders for a trade if they start hot.
This league is a three division affair, but a couple of last years players dropped out of div 2, so I got a place straight into div 2, and wanted to make sure I at least have a fairly stable year in this one, especially since it was a 14 team 5x5 league, which I wasn't sure about re tactics for drafting.
Miguel Cabrera
Prince Fielder
Vlad Guerrerro
Shane Victorino
Nate McClouth
were the core of my batting, I also picked up
Milton Bradley
Nelson Cruz
Howie Kendrick
So well covered for pop, ave, but a bit thin on steals
Clint Barmes utility, for 3 position cover and steals, and Justin Upton for possible breakout year, left two weak positions, Saltalamacchia for catcher, and Khalil Greene at SS, Greene could easily have a recovery year, Salty we'll see, it's possible too
But offensively not too bad, except for steals
On the pitching front,
SP
Daisuke,
David Price
Matt Garza
Ubaldo Jimenez
RP
Joakim Soria
Joel Hanrahan
Frank Francisco
and Grant Balfour and Dan Wheeler as relievers
Again not too displeased, especially for a 14 team league.
Could be tricky if Price doesn't get called up til May, a distinct possibility, but I might use either of Wheeler or Balfour, for pitch and ditch, or maybe not ditch if I pick up someone useful, or one of my outfielders for a trade if they start hot.
My first auction league draft
Not having read up a lot on auction drafts, I decided to use the composite price projections for my auction league set up at this site, especially since it incorporates Chone, my favourite projection system.
My initial ideas were to go for a fairly balanced approach with a slight bias toward hitting.
After getting Hanley Ramirez for a couple of dollars more than projected, I soon picked up Johan Santana for a good deal less than expected, and early on suspected pitching was being under-valued as per my projection system. So although I did pick up Brian McCann marginally under expected price, started focusing on pitching and picked up the following at well below my projected prices - CC Sabathia, Cole Hamels, Jonathon Papelbon, Mariano Rivera and Joe Nathan, although that was probably one too many in terms of dollar pay outs, since I was now quite low, but I was aiming to pick up about 2/3 of my remaining position players, and do the rest on the waiver wire after the draft. I soon found out the draft software does not allow you to do this, you have to keep at least one dollar for every position not filled. This drastically effected my drafting abilities over a couple of young un's like Nelson Cruz late in the draft, who was nominated just before I was going to.
So bearing all this in mind I'm not too displeased with my offensive set up, definitely lacking in power and steals too, but I made sure I picked for average, in the likely probability that if I trade one or two of my big arms hopefully for some decent pop and steals
Brian McCann - C
Casey Kotchmann - 1B
Aaron Hill, Tor 2B
Melvin Mora , Bal 3B
Hanley Ramirez, Fla SS
2B/SS Mike Fontenot, ChC 2B
Mike Lowell, Bos 3B
Johnny Damon , NYY OF, DH
Kendry Morales LAA OF
David DeJesus , KC OF
Jason Kubel, Min OF, DH
Ryan Spilborghs, Col OF
Jody Gerut, SD OF
Bench
Micah Hoffpauir, ChC OF
Nate Schierholtz, SF OF
Chris Dickerson, Cin OF
SP
Johan Santana
CC Sabathia
Cole Hamels
Jordan Zimmernan
Kelvim Escobar
RP
Jonathon Papelbon
Mariano Rivera
Joe Nathan
Jason Motte
Bear in mind this is a 5x5, with only 3 bench players, so although my pitching is really strong at the moment I've not got a single back up pitcher, so can't go the pitch and ditch route, although the innings maximum in this league is lower than normal.
Straight after the draft Ramirez, Hamels, Santana, Rivera and Nathan, I think, were suddenly day to day, but slowly they are all coming off of day to day, much to my relief ;)
So I'm well interested to know how this league will pan out for me, since i really don't have a clue how I'm standing with such a lopsided team, though I'm well pleased I got position scarcity offence like SS and C covered so well, and some pop with Hill at 2nd, which should make it easier for trading less scarce positions, but my injury risks, like Lowell, Mora and Hill just coming back worry me. Morales needs to have a good year too, as well as 2 of my younger outfielders.
But certainly it was fascinating doing an auction draft, and possibly a little too easy to get into reactive mode and dive in, when a lot of bargains are there to be had later on, which I lost on 2 dollar bids ;), live and learn. I also need to read up on the psychology of nominating, it's certainly a completely different kind of draft, yet I'm also pleased at how I changed tack so totally, and early on, we'll see whether that pays off, but I reckon I gained value in the pitching stakes, but lost some of that later by having so little left.
My initial ideas were to go for a fairly balanced approach with a slight bias toward hitting.
After getting Hanley Ramirez for a couple of dollars more than projected, I soon picked up Johan Santana for a good deal less than expected, and early on suspected pitching was being under-valued as per my projection system. So although I did pick up Brian McCann marginally under expected price, started focusing on pitching and picked up the following at well below my projected prices - CC Sabathia, Cole Hamels, Jonathon Papelbon, Mariano Rivera and Joe Nathan, although that was probably one too many in terms of dollar pay outs, since I was now quite low, but I was aiming to pick up about 2/3 of my remaining position players, and do the rest on the waiver wire after the draft. I soon found out the draft software does not allow you to do this, you have to keep at least one dollar for every position not filled. This drastically effected my drafting abilities over a couple of young un's like Nelson Cruz late in the draft, who was nominated just before I was going to.
So bearing all this in mind I'm not too displeased with my offensive set up, definitely lacking in power and steals too, but I made sure I picked for average, in the likely probability that if I trade one or two of my big arms hopefully for some decent pop and steals
Brian McCann - C
Casey Kotchmann - 1B
Aaron Hill, Tor 2B
Melvin Mora , Bal 3B
Hanley Ramirez, Fla SS
2B/SS Mike Fontenot, ChC 2B
Mike Lowell, Bos 3B
Johnny Damon , NYY OF, DH
Kendry Morales LAA OF
David DeJesus , KC OF
Jason Kubel, Min OF, DH
Ryan Spilborghs, Col OF
Jody Gerut, SD OF
Bench
Micah Hoffpauir, ChC OF
Nate Schierholtz, SF OF
Chris Dickerson, Cin OF
SP
Johan Santana
CC Sabathia
Cole Hamels
Jordan Zimmernan
Kelvim Escobar
RP
Jonathon Papelbon
Mariano Rivera
Joe Nathan
Jason Motte
Bear in mind this is a 5x5, with only 3 bench players, so although my pitching is really strong at the moment I've not got a single back up pitcher, so can't go the pitch and ditch route, although the innings maximum in this league is lower than normal.
Straight after the draft Ramirez, Hamels, Santana, Rivera and Nathan, I think, were suddenly day to day, but slowly they are all coming off of day to day, much to my relief ;)
So I'm well interested to know how this league will pan out for me, since i really don't have a clue how I'm standing with such a lopsided team, though I'm well pleased I got position scarcity offence like SS and C covered so well, and some pop with Hill at 2nd, which should make it easier for trading less scarce positions, but my injury risks, like Lowell, Mora and Hill just coming back worry me. Morales needs to have a good year too, as well as 2 of my younger outfielders.
But certainly it was fascinating doing an auction draft, and possibly a little too easy to get into reactive mode and dive in, when a lot of bargains are there to be had later on, which I lost on 2 dollar bids ;), live and learn. I also need to read up on the psychology of nominating, it's certainly a completely different kind of draft, yet I'm also pleased at how I changed tack so totally, and early on, we'll see whether that pays off, but I reckon I gained value in the pitching stakes, but lost some of that later by having so little left.
That's my three drafts for 2009 finished
In my 15 keeper league, with minor keepers too, still re-building after last years massive re-building, but got a high proportion of the players I wanted which was cool. I'll cover the other two drafts in subsequent posts.
C - Victor Martinez (keeper), hopefully some pop back this year after last years injuries and complete loss of power
C- John Baker - Got him off waivers last year, very consistent, decent batting ave so he won't be a drain on team ave, no pop though
1-James Loney (keeper), very consistent, reliable, lack of pop for first base though
2- Mike Fontenot - Hopefully he gets the majority of playing time over Miles, could be a really handy addition late in the draft, even with only 400 AB he could cover some of the slack, was surprized and pleased to get him so late
2 - Chris Getz - We'll see on this one, he was my last pick, so no great loss if he pans out, but Minors stats look interesting
3- Chone Figgins (keeper) - More of the usual please, and not too many injuries
3- Mark Reynolds (keeper)- Hopefully he gets off to an Ok start, cuts down on the strike outs a bit, and goes into early 30's in HR's. Slight worry a bad start with worse strike outs than last year could panic the D'Backs management, or if his fielding gets worse, fingers crossed on this one. If I lose him that's a major power source gone, and too early to find gems like I did offensively late last year
SS - Mike Aviles (keeper)- what a great pick up he was last year, hopefully not too much regression, and I don't end up regretting letting Michael Young go as part of my oldies clear out
OF- Ryan Braun, nuff said, and the offensive centrepiece for me,
OF- Torii Hunter, Magglio Ordonez, both consistent as, fair amount of pop, hopefully the ageing process doesn't affect both of them too much
OF- Nelson Cruz, Chris Dickerson, Jodie Gerut, Shin Soo-Choo, Ryan Spilborghs, great pick ups last year, all should be regulars, and with increased playing time this year hopefully they'll cover some of the power loss of letting Thome go, and that their averages aren't too bad, well Dickerson and Cruz specially with regard to averages
OF - Denard Span, my one worry, especially the way he's been playing this spring, I need his steals, though Dickerson, Spilborghs and Cruz should cover that if he loses playing time
OF - Chase Headley, mr consistent, and a steady slow learner all his career, increases across the board would be good and distinctly possible, inc an increase in ave. Need it from him since he was a minor league league keeper for me this year, which meant he was my 16th draft pick, which was a about a 3 round reach, but I didn't want to risk losing him
OF- Now onto the late round young-uns I took a flyer on, Micah Hoffpauir and Nate Schierholtz. Schierholtz should be getting plenty of playing time and could be a real bonus, Hoffpauir less playing time, but should reach the 25 roster and get 200 plus AB's, possibly more with injuries. Both should bat for decent ave and some pop, Hoffpauir could be this years Nelson Cruz for me.
In my minor leaguers I have Elvis Andrus and Jason Donald at short stops, both should get extended playing time this year, possibly Andrus more than Donald, but I'm wary this year, I'll take a hit on his AVE and OBP and SLG for sure, so will probably keep him in the minors, unless he's getting on base and stealing loads. I've also got two excellent back up catchers in Carlos Santana and Max Ramirez, next year I suspect for both of them, though bearing in mind the Indians and Rangers catching depth they could both easily get traded, so we'll see on that one. I've also got Chris Marrerro of the Nationals, and that's definitely at least another years wait.
But I'm overloaded with outfielders, and might well be looking for some trade action about a month in once the picture is clearer
Now onto the pitching, which has weaknesses, especially the SP's at the mo..
SP Jake Peavy (keeper), Ervin Santana (keeper), Kelvim Escobar (was lucky to pick him up so late, in my minor's lists David Price and Derek Holland. Don't think Santana and Escobar will be around til May, Price as well, Holland a good chance of getting called up mid season. So definitely a bit thin there, but the peripherals for all of them are excellent, suspect Escobar is likely to be the only one under 8K/9, and while waiting I've stacked up on high strike out relief pitchers, looking to get holds and saves going early, it's a 7x7 league, check out which of my excess outfielders are firing, and keep an eye for any breaking SP's like Cueto and Volquez from last year early on in the season, or maybe look to trade.
RP - Francisco Rodriguez (keeper), Matt Lindstrom, Joel Hanrahan are my save specialists, with good peripherals. I've also got Jason Motte in my minor leaguers, well pleased with that pick, and Dan Wheeler and JP Howell for picking up some spare saves when Perrcival's out, almost an inevitability, and Isringhausen loses it, a good chance there too. But if not Motte should get at worst some saves, if not become the Cards closer. So saves is looking OK barring injuries.
Re holds, Wheeler Howell, Dotel and Thornton from the White Sox all have high K/9 projections bar Wheeler, and he's so useful for holds and saves, and very consistent.
But I do have pitching weaknesses, I reckon I'll be low on wins, possibly mid table at best on strike outs, but my whip, K/9 and ERA should be near the top. I should be fine for saves, with Motte covering for Lindstrom if he's injured, loses his saver position, and Hanrahans low save potential, which could be higher if the Nationals improve a bit this year.
So all in all, not too displeased on the pitching front, definitely much tougher in my picks this year re peripherals. batting wise think I should be improved this year on ave, got some suspicions about power especially, which is why I stacked up on those outfielders, some worries about Reynolds and lack of cover for 1st and 3rd, and possibly losing Span's steals, but fairly confident I've covered those, so looking forward to a slightly improved year this year from 6th out of 12 last year, and that I'm recovering further from what turned out to be my bad first draft ever last year in this league, covered earlier in a my blog here
C - Victor Martinez (keeper), hopefully some pop back this year after last years injuries and complete loss of power
C- John Baker - Got him off waivers last year, very consistent, decent batting ave so he won't be a drain on team ave, no pop though
1-James Loney (keeper), very consistent, reliable, lack of pop for first base though
2- Mike Fontenot - Hopefully he gets the majority of playing time over Miles, could be a really handy addition late in the draft, even with only 400 AB he could cover some of the slack, was surprized and pleased to get him so late
2 - Chris Getz - We'll see on this one, he was my last pick, so no great loss if he pans out, but Minors stats look interesting
3- Chone Figgins (keeper) - More of the usual please, and not too many injuries
3- Mark Reynolds (keeper)- Hopefully he gets off to an Ok start, cuts down on the strike outs a bit, and goes into early 30's in HR's. Slight worry a bad start with worse strike outs than last year could panic the D'Backs management, or if his fielding gets worse, fingers crossed on this one. If I lose him that's a major power source gone, and too early to find gems like I did offensively late last year
SS - Mike Aviles (keeper)- what a great pick up he was last year, hopefully not too much regression, and I don't end up regretting letting Michael Young go as part of my oldies clear out
OF- Ryan Braun, nuff said, and the offensive centrepiece for me,
OF- Torii Hunter, Magglio Ordonez, both consistent as, fair amount of pop, hopefully the ageing process doesn't affect both of them too much
OF- Nelson Cruz, Chris Dickerson, Jodie Gerut, Shin Soo-Choo, Ryan Spilborghs, great pick ups last year, all should be regulars, and with increased playing time this year hopefully they'll cover some of the power loss of letting Thome go, and that their averages aren't too bad, well Dickerson and Cruz specially with regard to averages
OF - Denard Span, my one worry, especially the way he's been playing this spring, I need his steals, though Dickerson, Spilborghs and Cruz should cover that if he loses playing time
OF - Chase Headley, mr consistent, and a steady slow learner all his career, increases across the board would be good and distinctly possible, inc an increase in ave. Need it from him since he was a minor league league keeper for me this year, which meant he was my 16th draft pick, which was a about a 3 round reach, but I didn't want to risk losing him
OF- Now onto the late round young-uns I took a flyer on, Micah Hoffpauir and Nate Schierholtz. Schierholtz should be getting plenty of playing time and could be a real bonus, Hoffpauir less playing time, but should reach the 25 roster and get 200 plus AB's, possibly more with injuries. Both should bat for decent ave and some pop, Hoffpauir could be this years Nelson Cruz for me.
In my minor leaguers I have Elvis Andrus and Jason Donald at short stops, both should get extended playing time this year, possibly Andrus more than Donald, but I'm wary this year, I'll take a hit on his AVE and OBP and SLG for sure, so will probably keep him in the minors, unless he's getting on base and stealing loads. I've also got two excellent back up catchers in Carlos Santana and Max Ramirez, next year I suspect for both of them, though bearing in mind the Indians and Rangers catching depth they could both easily get traded, so we'll see on that one. I've also got Chris Marrerro of the Nationals, and that's definitely at least another years wait.
But I'm overloaded with outfielders, and might well be looking for some trade action about a month in once the picture is clearer
Now onto the pitching, which has weaknesses, especially the SP's at the mo..
SP Jake Peavy (keeper), Ervin Santana (keeper), Kelvim Escobar (was lucky to pick him up so late, in my minor's lists David Price and Derek Holland. Don't think Santana and Escobar will be around til May, Price as well, Holland a good chance of getting called up mid season. So definitely a bit thin there, but the peripherals for all of them are excellent, suspect Escobar is likely to be the only one under 8K/9, and while waiting I've stacked up on high strike out relief pitchers, looking to get holds and saves going early, it's a 7x7 league, check out which of my excess outfielders are firing, and keep an eye for any breaking SP's like Cueto and Volquez from last year early on in the season, or maybe look to trade.
RP - Francisco Rodriguez (keeper), Matt Lindstrom, Joel Hanrahan are my save specialists, with good peripherals. I've also got Jason Motte in my minor leaguers, well pleased with that pick, and Dan Wheeler and JP Howell for picking up some spare saves when Perrcival's out, almost an inevitability, and Isringhausen loses it, a good chance there too. But if not Motte should get at worst some saves, if not become the Cards closer. So saves is looking OK barring injuries.
Re holds, Wheeler Howell, Dotel and Thornton from the White Sox all have high K/9 projections bar Wheeler, and he's so useful for holds and saves, and very consistent.
But I do have pitching weaknesses, I reckon I'll be low on wins, possibly mid table at best on strike outs, but my whip, K/9 and ERA should be near the top. I should be fine for saves, with Motte covering for Lindstrom if he's injured, loses his saver position, and Hanrahans low save potential, which could be higher if the Nationals improve a bit this year.
So all in all, not too displeased on the pitching front, definitely much tougher in my picks this year re peripherals. batting wise think I should be improved this year on ave, got some suspicions about power especially, which is why I stacked up on those outfielders, some worries about Reynolds and lack of cover for 1st and 3rd, and possibly losing Span's steals, but fairly confident I've covered those, so looking forward to a slightly improved year this year from 6th out of 12 last year, and that I'm recovering further from what turned out to be my bad first draft ever last year in this league, covered earlier in a my blog here
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Baseball Fitness Training
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
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, 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.
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