How do we get Taylor Swift into fantasy baseball? Your 2024 ILX Fantasy Thread! (also, there is an opening for a new manger!)

So very shortly all you lucky, lucky people will have received an email letting you know the league has been renewed.
I'll set the draft date for Sunday, March 24, at 4pm EST. If this time is a calamity for anyone, let me know here and we can all bicker about a new time.
So please have your keep picks in by the 17th.
I will take a look if any new stats are available (i'm still lukewarm on doubles); but i am not hopeful.
Will should be along with a link to his awesome spreadsheet at some point. And speaking of Will, he is the man to beat this year after whooping us all last season. But free agency is a bitch and the league is wide open!

We also have a manager departing; so if we have any aspiring managers lurking, ✖'s old team - Votto No Get Enemy (I never got the reference) - has some decent keepers just waiting for a big spending owner to swoop in.

w/r/t thread title:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_VNbWB41AI (44m22s)

w/r/t x's reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQBC5URoF0s

w/r/t doubles: dumb cat imho

here i am with that link!

as always, look there, see who's available for you to keep, and their age. if anything seems off lmk and i'll fix it!

i might as well post my keepers now, subject to change but unlikely:

1B - Pete Alonso (29)
1B - Nathaniel Lowe (28)
OF - Ronald Acuna (26)
RP - Jhoan Duran (26)
RP - David Bednar (29)

with trea aged out, nola aged out, REDACTED out, and shane bieber sucking now... look, i won last year, ok? they can't all be multi-year dynasties. back to the ol' "drafting for the future" mode!

i'll have a team name eventually too

i was just looking at the keepers today. i'm 95% sure i know who my five are - of the seven eligible keepers i have, one is a pitcher who has been bad recently and is about to age out and the other is wander franco (lol). but i'll hold off until closer to the deadline in case lucas giolito gets bit by a radioactive spider or another one of my players turns out to be a horrible pedophile.

tentative keepers for Corbin Burnesen (maybe the last year I'll have that name...)

Corbin Carroll (23)
Fernando Tatis Jr (25)
Yordan Alvarez (26)
Freddy Peralta (27)
Corbin Burnes (29)

guns of buxton, prospective keepers...

bobby witt jr
esteury ruiz
luis arraez
jazz chisholm
pablo lopez

probable keepers for probable second-to-last finisher "the weimer republic"

hunter brown
josh jung
jeremy pena
devin williams
alexis diaz

i remember this time last year i was wondering if i had a curse on my pitchers; and then the Alek Manoah debacle did not help that feeling. RIP to him after one year of being a keeper.
so here's this years likely picks for (the soon to be renamed) Newcombes On de Blok:

Gunnar Henderson (22)
Shane McClanahan (26)
Jesus Luzardo (26)
Ozzie Albies (27)
Bryan Reynolds (29)

likely keepers for Giolito Shuffle (also due for a name change - i almost talked myself into keeping Giolito and hoping he could at least be playable in Boston but then remembered he's about to age out of keeper status anyways)

Adley Rutschmann (26)
Emmanual Clase (26)
Luis Robert (26)
Ke’Bryan Hayes (27)
TJ Friedl (28)

I’m already having second thoughts about McClanahan, since he’ll be out for most of the season. I don’t have the best options tho, aside from hoping Manoah can return to form (but holy shit his 2023 was a disaster). Munoz is the only non disaster option, but kind of a waste using a pick on a reliever.

i will be jettisoning jeremy pena back into the universe and keeping sal frelick instead.

Ok. I’ll probably remember this one since I had frelick on my short list to target later in the draft

my picks for Send Nootbaar. feel like Lawlar has a high ceiling for stupid puns.

Jordan Lawlar 21
Logan Gilbert 26
Austin Riley 26
Ian Happ 29
Josh Hader 29

Ohtani Dancer in My Hand:

Michael Harris II (23)
(Future Red Sox Superstar) Triston Casas (24)
Bo Bichette (26)
Logan Webb (27)
Shohei Ohtani (batter) (29)

Def playing the long game, drafting Lawlar last year!

giolito injury news has made this lineup for giolito shuffle a lock:

Adley Rutschmann (26)
Emmanual Clase (26)
Luis Robert (26)
Ke’Bryan Hayes (27)
TJ Friedl (28)

have we forgotten about the opening series in Korea on March 20th? seems like we might want to conduct the draft earlier.

i had, yes. ugh. the sunday 17th is not doable for me. would have to be Sat 16th, or in the evening Mon/Tuesday. i don't want to push it too far up incase someone doesn't see the date change in time.

looking at the probable starters, Yamamoto and Glasnow(?) vs Darvish and Musgrove probably? I'd feel bad about anyone missing a start with one of their SP keepers, but that doesn't look likely. for the hitters it's not so bad to miss two games out of 162, but maybe some LA/SD owners can weigh in on preference

Literally any weekday evening works way better for me than the proposed draft day in the OP.

looks like i can make the games count retroactively (tho i cannot find how to do this in my commish tools right now):
https://ca.help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN6317.html

xpost. noted.

Also I'm still finalizing my last 2 keepers. Need to monitor some spring training data before I make that call tho...

i'm completely ok with the 16th, it would just feel weird to me to conduct the draft with a couple of games already in the can, even if we can retroactively count the stats. idk how much it matters to anyone else obv.

This happened before (maybe when I was commish?) and there was a mid-tier player who went off in an exhib game played internationally played before the draft and they ended up going a couple rounds earlier than anticipated. Seeing as this is rotisserie (ie, not points or H2H), I don't think those games are enough to move the needle.

I’m fine with the retroactive stats solution, but if it gets moved my preference is Saturday > Monday > Tuesday. I’m pretty open that week.

lets see if this works...

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JPSW77D

i only just now noticed the spelling mistake in the thread title

(and now do you finally get my youtube ref?)

also more importantly are you replacing 2B with another offensive stat?

as much as i would like to, nothing else looks all that great to use in it's place; and i'd like to keep the amount of stats the way they are for balance between pitching and hitting

What was the argument for 2Bs instead of XBHs? Overvalues HRs but undervalues 3Bs?

Or a negative OFF stat? Ks is a nice equalizer.

(I think I used GIDPs one year as well lol)

more or less. i think a few people thought home runs were just too overpowered with xbh

xpost

GIDP was kiboshed because it punished cleanup type hitters with lead foots hitting a head of them

Yeah my rationale was that guys who hit with runners on get more RBI chances so GIDPs a nice way to balance that out for guys who play on weaker teams who do not have the luxury of RBI opps.

I also remember a year where we drafted after Opening Day in Japan one of those years, and it didn't really make a difference? But I'm fine with moving up the draft by a week.

sorry i've been not as attentive as i should be! i am in full on winging it mode, but i need to get my list of keepers. also i submitted to surveymonkey (bow down to the one you serve) for the draft dates, i'll do my best to make whichever date so i don't get autodrafted!

we're at 9 answers so far and it's weirdly very interesting lol

baseball fans, tell me what to do. i am faced with an agonizing choice for my 27+ keepers.

one of them is cody bellinger, who is definitely going to be MVP in 2024, chance of regression = 0.0000000001%
the other? JACK FLAHERTY OR AMED ROSARIO
goddammit

on the other side, i will obviously keep Eury Perez. then, i must pick 2 of francisco alvarez, lars nootbaar, hunter greene, and everybody's favorite little big guy who runs fast, alejandro kirk. i'm going with lars nootbaar just because i like to root for the home team, and i've seen him do some very athletic things so i believer in his potential. so
FRANCISCO ALVAREZ OR HUNTER GREENE

speaking from experience, get off of Jack Flaherty's wild ride asap

I’m smelling a comeback player of the year award for amed rosario!

smell the rosarios!

formerly A Moon-Shaped Pujols, now obviously:

Honey Nut Chouri◎s
20 CHOURIO
26 LODOLO
26 HOERNER
29 AROZARENA
29 HELSLEY

ok - 11 respondents. think it's safe to call this one...

9 vs 2 in terms of picking a new date.
Most preferred date was a tie between the Sat 16th and Tues 18th; and a tie between Tues 18th and the OG date for what most people found workable.
Highest rage score, after the "none" option: Sat 16th.

So looks like our new date will be Tuesday the 18th starting at 7:30 est. apologies to the two managers that had that date as their least favourite option.

I will change the league setting shortly; and anyone with outstanding picks, please get them in my mid week next week.
i should prolly get a mod to edit the initial post as well.

Tues the 19th?

FFS. yes. Tuesday the 19th. sorry about that.

trying to do too much this morning.

apologies to the two managers that had that date as their least favourite option.

if i finish in last again this season i'm going to blame it on this!! ;) ;)

no worries, and there's a chance i could join for at least part of it (aka do the draft in the background of a band practice lol)

could always do a little pre-ranking (esp if there are young guys you'd like to target) and then join in part way to fix whatever mess the auto draft left you with.

Huh. I remember doing it earlier - but maybe it was my other league?! I’ll have to go through the settings I guess.

If it is something i can switch on, would we want that for our league, or would it feel too “easy mode” for us?!

Also how mad would everyone get if I suggested LF, CF, RF positions instead of 3x OF next season?!

hm, would definitely switch OF positions to "advanced". not sure

Also how mad would everyone get if I suggested LF, CF, RF positions instead of 3x OF next season?!

I would be mad because NYY is using Soto in RF instead of LF, giving me 2x legacy RF keepers (w/ Kyle Tucker).

That said, if we could find a way to grandfather in (this would take *MOD/COMMISH POWERS*) those of us who established keepers based on the rules at the time, I would be game?

yes, i had to check bc i have 2 likely OF keepers, and they are LF/CF, and wouldn't be ok if they were the same position.

it appears i had to clear a spot on my active roster for Manoah (IL) to be added there before going on my IL, which maybe makes sense anyway?

Seemingly at this point I have three outfield keepers but it looks like I would be okay within the new rules, though maybe it would be a moot point if Corbin Carroll keeps hitting like Larry Bowa... 😵‍💫

My team crapped the bed this week and I've fallen from first to seventh (32 points back) in only three days!

and i seemed to have climbed a few spots despite half my pitching staff being dead.

hmmm. what about having CF, OF, OF then? shoving a CF to a corner spot or moving a guy from one corner OF spot to the other happens often enough in baseball that there's less of a need to make a distinction for LF/RF as long as you have at least one guy capable of playing CF.

Remember like a month-ish ago I was bragging about my unstoppable 7-man rotation?

JFC, I'm going through it.

May change my team name to ElAttrache's Pulled Pork Sliders.

yeah, my team is verrrrrrrry injured. the replacements for the injuries get injured

Some mornings I wake up convinced I'll be in last place because I know I had at least two unfilled spots the day before; those days I move up. Other days I get at least two good games from my starting pitchers, and I think I'll move up to fourth or fifth; those days I drop down.

it's hard to predict how your team's performance will impact your ranking day-to-day because the scoring is relative to the other players, so your ranking is also based on how the other teams did that day

also having unfilled spots may be bad for the counting stats but can be helpful for your average-based stats if your active players do well

my injuries are out of control too. IL is full, have dropped two guys already due to being injured, and have two IL guys on my bench

Is it a common strategy to make sure both your catchers are on the same team? I've got Jansen from the Jays and Moreno from the D-Backs right now (while I wait for Sean Murphy to return). There are so many days when they're both sitting.

And honestly, is Jansen that fragile that Schneider has to sit him down when he's so hot? I assume he's 100% mended by now.

i was about to offer some advice, but then remembered i am in 12th place and called Barf Sandwich

Advise away, please. My bouncing-between-9th-and-5th-place ego is under control.

Fyi clemenza Bello was activated off the IL today and pitched five innings with 2 ER

Backup catchers don't produce much at the plate (plenty of first string catchers don't either), I usually don't even bother with a second catcher, let alone worry about whether they play for the same team.

(xpost) Thanks--saw that and reactivated him this morning.

I'll give that some thought. When Murphy returns, maybe I'll just go with him.

Now if I had the Ernie/Buck 1985 platoon, I'd want one of them in there every day.

I'd rather keep Moreno and hope he figures it out than spend a roster spot on a few handy at-bats from Kirk. If the backup guy was significantly better than Kirk is, like when William Contreras was a backup but still raking, that's another story.

i prefer to just find a decent catcher and forget about the off days, i assume if they're good enough i'll get 130-140 starts from them and if the raw numbers are good and the OBP and slugging are solid, i prefer to not waste ABs on what is likely a lesser player who will bring down the latter stats. i also usually assume (unless i draft a star) i might have to find a catcher in the free agent pile anyway, considering the volatility of the position. i rarely carry two catchers except in the case of injury, or if there's a guy who's really solid in the free agent pile and my catcher is a good enough hitter to stick in the utility slot or another position they're eligible for (such as Honey Nut Chourios playing Salvy Perez at 1B right now.)

I'm wondering if I've been playing the whole time under a fundamentally false assumption--that counting numbers matter as much (if not more) than rate stats. That's why I worry about days with an unfilled position. When I look at categories like runs, 2B, HR, etc., are we talking total or on a percentage basis?

include me on the injury train; i've got 7 players on the IL as well as one who's DTD and another on bereavement leave. i'm trying to hold tight because it looks like some of them could be coming off the IL later this week, but it's really hampering my flexibility

Dumped Sal Frelick finally and changed my team name to Celebrity Skenes.

xp those are counting stats, whoever has the most HRs wins the category

On one hand we have more counting stats than rate stats, on the other hand, counting stats are cumulative but rate stats can go up or down. I always worry about starting a third string player because if he goes 5-35 for the week with 2 RBI and a run scored, then my rate stats will certainly go down, and that will hurt my team more than the extra two ribbies will help. At least that's my feeling, am I wrong about this?

To make up for that 5-35, another player would need to go 15-35 and have a monster week, which is not something you can count on. Whereas picking up an extra run scored and two RBIs from a decent starting player isn't much of an ask.

What are the settings in this league? Is it head-to-head weekly matchups? How many transactions and bench spots are there?

didn't you used to be in it?! still a points league with no transaction limit, 6 bench spots and since covid we've been running with 4 IL spots

Yeah it's been a long time though! I didn't remember how it was set up.

You should come back! You won back-to-back years like forever ago, right?

Hmm, I don't recall. Could be. I've been playing since the '90s so there's been a lot of leagues haha.

I thought about playing this year but it's cooler to me seeing people who haven't played before get involved. Plus it's not for money. ;)

didn't you used to be in it?! still a points league with no transaction limit, 6 bench spots and since covid we've been running with 4 IL spots

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, May 13, 2024 12:48 PM (two hours ago)

Correction: it's a roto league.

Ya thank you. Weird brain fart there. It’s not head to head. That’s the important thing.
We hate h2h.

sorry to ask again but is there a new spreadsheet this season? i need to see which of my players are keeper-eligible before i can decide who to drop :(

now that i've got eight players on the IL, including three of my SPs

bookmark or ctrl-f "sheet":

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hpsG8k76efjA3bMamBZbU_RRa9Wf99KXzrFZHbsKdeI/edit#gid=1545943393

Trying to find a historical IRL analogue for my team... who was one of the great offensively stacked teams but had terrible pitching?

maybe the 2007 or 2009 Rockies?

thanks - i swear i searched the thread

Dumped Sal Frelick finally and changed my team name to Celebrity Skenes.

Immediately Sal hits his first and then second home runs of the season. He just needed me to set him free!

I loved looking at the team compositions and names, impossible to say which one I like best but damn, some of you have been hit hard with injuries. I’ll have to play this next year.

i was worried i'd get hit with a rash of injuries after Royce Lewis went 2 for 2 with a HR and promptly injured himself AGAIN***, but my team has been shockingly healthy. and yet aside from a couple SPs everyone i drafted is really underperforming.

***https://memeguy.com/photos/images/well-ok-then-283717.jpg

♪♫ For ACL or torn hammy, call Jacob Emrani. Call Jacob! ♫

^ this rules, I would also submit a modified version as:


♪♫ For broken wrist or John that’s Tommy, call Jacob deGrommy . Call Jacob! ♫

Lol very good. I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to experience one of LA's finest ear worms, that omar so thoughtfully reinserted in my ear.

i use "charming" in the relative sense but Jacob is probably the most charming of the billboard lawyers (a million miles better than Sweet James)

he recruited LeBron to come to L.A.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rPmwPMof3hs/maxresdefault.jpg

Jacob is the great guy who helped us through our collective trauma after the bitter Cellino & Barnes divorce. He's family.

(sorry for crashing fantasy thread)

I went to check who had Paul Skenes, and I see he has his own team now!