Pen Names - Atlanta Braves

A look at the closing situation in the ATL.

Pen Names - Atlanta Braves

A look at the closing situation in the ATL.

Pen Names - a look at closing situations

I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to dedicate to this blog. Here are my three columns that I've posted for Creativesports this month and last:



Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Florida Marlins
Baltimore Orioles

BATTING BUYERS GUIDE: Non-roster invitees

Baseball HQ has a free article looking at some spring training NRIs that could have some fantasy value this year.

Pen Names

My first article for the 2006 season is posted at CS: Pen Names > Baltimore Orioles - a look at the closing situation.

BaseballDoctors.com

Another site that I've never used for projections but they are free.

The Baseball Injury Report

I stumbled upon this site today. Not sure if it will be of any value to fantasy leaguers but there is a free newsletter that you can sign up for which should give a good indication of what value this site might have to offer.

Rotospin.com Projections

Rotospin has launched their 2006 dollar value calculator and it is free. I've never used their projections so I can't speak to the quality of them but they are free.

Baseball Notebook Top 100 Prospects

The Baseball Notebook Top 100 Prospects, a prospect list like no other you'll find on the internet. David Luciani's lists will always stray away from those you'll find at other prominent sites because of the type of analysis he does. In fact, I can guarentee you that no other site will have Hunter Pence ranked as the #3 overall prospect in baseball. Does that mean Luciani is wrong? No. Does it mean he is right? No. Does it mean there is a chance for you to find sweet value at the end of your prospect draft by taking a chance on Pence when hardly anyone else will consider him? Yes.

In the end it is all about finding value in fantasy leagues. If you can unearth a gem no one else has heard of and you can get him on the cheap then you have to cash in on that opportunity. Consider the Baseball Notebook prospect list as your chance to cash in. Not all of the prospects will pan out but no list can predict every future star.

Fangraphs

I ran across this site a while back: www.fangraphs.com. I recommend checking it out. Here's a little blurb about what they do:

At Fangraphs we have 17 graphs for every player that played in the Major Leagues since 2002. That comes to about 30,000 baseball graphs. Every graph is updated every single day of the season with the most current stats. Not only do we graph ordinary stats such as batting average but we also provide graphs of various sabermetrics.

Diamond Draft Free Customizable $ Values

Hi everyone. It's been a nice break but the offseason doesn't last long when you write for fantasy websites. I've been working on my submissions for three different mags/draft kits and have started to notice some free resources popping up already.

First off, check out Diamond Draft for free, customizable dollar values. I've never used their projections so I can't speak to the quality but it is a free resource.

Second, David Luciani at Baseball Notebook has posted a sneak peak at his projections for 2006. The finished product won't be free however.

More to come this offseason!

FANALYTICS: Quint-Inning, The Official Rules

Ron Shandler has come up with a way to play fantasy baseball for only one game. It's an interesting concept. Ron is trying to find away to connect with the attention deficit crowd who likes fantasy sports and baseball but is not able to make the long-term commitment to a full season of fantasy baseball.

BULLPEN BUYERS GUIDE: Relief roles mean opportunities

A good example of how to analyze relief roles to determine which relievers can help you down the stretch.

The Road From Bristol

Side tracking from Fantasy Baseball...

Vote for your most hated ESPN talking head on The Road From Bristol. If you hate what ESPN has become like I do then you'll love this competition.

John Lackey (SP), LA Angels

Sorry for the lack of posts - been busy with my column and other stuff. Hopefully you've all checked out the new CS site.

Anyway, I decided to take a look at John Lackey this week as he's been quite impressive this season (again, I had to do this on another webpage as my blog formatting gets screwed up from these charts). If you need definitions for any of the terms click here.

Dan Wheeler (RP), Houston

Ok, I tried and tried to get this post to work on my blog but it kept messing up the blog columns and puching all my links to the bottom of the page. Since I am an HTML novice when it comes to fixing this stuff I decided to move this post to another site so it can be read with my chart:

Click here to read my analysis on Dan Wheeler and why he might be a good pickup in your league, mixed or NL only.

Ask David Luciani: Volume 6, Number 20

Another good installment of the Ask David column.

Strike Zone - NL Closers of the Future

The other half of the closers of the future article I linked to last week.

Strike Zone - AL Closers of the Future

A nice look at closers around the AL by Matthew Pouliot.

Also, if anyone on the list is joining a mid-season league there will be a mid-season draft kit available from Creativesports.

Remember to sign up for the Fantasy Sports Daily as well so you can get my weekly AL or Nothing column.

Ask David Luciani, Volume 6, Number 19

Thought this was a pretty good issue of Ask David at Baseball Notebook.