The start of the season is closing in on us, so now is the time to ask all of you, the readers, what it is you would like to see from myself and our new fantasy crew this year. In the past, it had just been me, writing two pieces per week, trying to cover a variety of topics in the allotted time. This has always meant that many areas would have to go uncovered, as there was only so much to be done in the old format with one writer. Now though, we have not only multiple writers, but the Fantasy Beat blog, which means more updates and without the restrictive confines of scheduling.
You have already seen the work of newly added Craig Brown, as well as the guys from Heater and their daily Hot Spots column covering positional battles and playing time. I have not blogged much as of yet (thanks , fantasy rankings!) but this will not be the case as the season approaches and begins. This is where you come in–what is it that you want to see on the blog?
I have ideas already, and am mulling over additions to that in order to get you content as often as possible, but I want to open the floor to you folks in order to see what would cause you to not just make the Fantasy Beat blog a daily stop that will tailor itself to your needs. Here's where I am right now for my own ideas (at least, the ones I'm pretty sure we will be doing):
- A fantasy mailbag: I already tried this out once to see the response, and it was positive in both comments and e-mails, so this is something I hope to do weekly. That all depends on you guys and gals though, as you will need to provide me with questions to answer. I wanted to write one today, but all of the e-mails I received this week that would have fit in nicely had "Do not publish" checked off, which kind of defeats the purpose. I also plan on answering some chat questions I could not get to, or ones that merited a longer response, via the mailbag as well.
- Stat Report leaderboards: Want to know who is leading in TAv, or SIERA, or RBI Opportunities? Maybe who is at the bottom? Instead of just checking up on these stats every now and then, we can take a look at one or two a week, pulling from the top and bottom to see who is leading the field and who has been left behind. This is a good way to find some players who are breaking out, falling apart, or set to come back to earth for good or bad, and to do so from some different angles. I could setup some kind of rotation for these, so we aren't covering the same players all of the time, but still often enough that we can track their progress and know how to treat their season (buy, sell, hold, and so on.)
- Weekly matchups: For Sundays or Mondays. A look at a few exciting pitching matchups for the week, whether they be exciting for players at the plate or for the hurlers on the mound. This way you can see that, yes, you should start Jon Garland this week thanks to two starts in Petco, one of which is against the [insert awful 2010 offense here], or yes, you should start those San Francisco Giants hitters on your bench because they are playing in Colorado in a four-game set and get to miss facing Ubaldo Jimenez.
The matchups and leaderboards can be written weekly, and like I said, I am hopeful we can do a weekly mailbag as well, but some feedback on these ideas, as well as whatever you may have, would be appreciated, whether it's for the blog or even for the Fantasy Focus column. The floor is yours.
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This goes more to draft prep than in-season content, but is there any chance of getting a Top 250 over the next week, along with ordered 1B and 2B tiers?
Thanks for all you do!
Mailbags are always good.
I kid, I kid. I think all of your proposals are spot-on. One other possibility may be a weekly or fortnightly article highlighting a player at each position that may be a potential fill-in, based on match-ups or recent play/playing time, for those positions where one's lineup may have had injuries or may have a sub-standard player (e.g., my team, where Cristian Guzman is my starting SS). I think throughout the season it could be useful to have a list of those players that won't appear high on a search for year-to-date leaders at a position, but that may be able to help our teams based on recent events/performance.
Thanks, and thanks for all the awesome work.
However, a question of trading player X for player Y can be construed into a discussion of the relative merits of players X and Y. Hopefully, a more general discussion can not only help the person asking the question, but also assist other readers, irrespective of the league format.
I'd love to see an ongoing "down on the fantasy farm" list, showing some of the top prospects in the minors, how they're fairing, and when they might be expected to come up, and/or what event might trigger their callup (who is blocking them, etc.).
Last year I had a sucking vortex of doom in center field (thanks, cameron maybin/dexter fowler!). If I hadn't picked up McCutch the day McL was traded, my season would likely have been a long struggle.
I know Will Carroll runs the UTK, but a running list of ALL (fantasy useful) injured players and their expected return date would be really helpful. It wouldn't have to be anything more than a list thanks to Will's analysis, but there's nothing more frustrating than waiting for UTK only to discover that there's no update on when Jose Reyes is likely to come back. Nothing, of course, except owing Reyes last year...
Can we get 2009 SIERA numbers for relievers too?
Thanks!
It would be cool to see a semi-frequent blog highlighting stars who should sit against certain match ups, waivers fodder who put up great platoon numbers, or highlight certain platoon stat players who have favorable match-ups for the upcoming week.
I don't know if this would appeal to others, but I wanted to throw it out there.
One idea I had in mind when I suggested platoon splits analysis was an article written by Derek Carty at the THT last year. He wrote a piece on the relative value of Rickie Weeks plus replacement level 2B (for when Weeks goes on the DL)versus the other 2B likely to be around when Weeks gets drafted. The conclusion was Weeks plus replacement level 2B is extremely valuable.
Something like his analysis could be applied to platoon splits as well. Here's an imperfect example. J.D. Drew murders RHP, he's pretty much Nick Markakis or better versus RHP. Most people don't value him like Markakis. So perhaps there could be some analysis on Drew v. RHP plus waiver fodder with good platoon splits (to fill in when Drew faces a LH starter) relative to other outfielders valued around J.D. Drew.
But then I'm an oddball that way. And roto in the shark tank, the national challenge games, rather than the weenie local leagues all you guys play in. And have zero chance of getting this request answered anyway. Oh well.
Moreover, the fixed library could also serve as a good introduction to BP as it widens it appeal to a larger audience. For example, I'm sure the BP archive is loaded with articles dispelling much of the lazy, clichéd fantasy advice available on other sites (e.g., age 27 breakouts, enhanced contract year performance, ect.).
Is Player X really enjoying a 90% season or is it an unsustainable fluke?
Perhaps there'd be a way to use that excellent run environment analysis Tim Kniker just published to help with this.
Then how soon into the season would it make sense to look at these year-to-date numbers and "forecast" rest-of-year performances that might not be obvious based on the classic 5x5 stats? After May? After June?
Ummm. What was odd about my comment thread?? Since none of you other doofuses ask for general roto research, it'd be a waste of you guys' valuable time to provide it. Never mind how useful it'd actually be.
Ergo you shouldn't and ergo ergo thus won't. Ergo ergo ergo I do have zero chance of getting my request answered. Understandably.