Roto Baseball Guru

As the baseball season and subsequently the fantasy baseball season is coming to an end, this also marks the time for the start of the other sports leagues.  Football season has already started and hockey and basketball are just weeks away.  In fact, the draft date for the head-to-head hockey league that I am a part of is less than a week away.  This brings up a very good debate regarding drafting.  In most fantasy game providers there is an auto-draft option that are available to you.  For neophytes that are new to this arena, the auto-draft is a tool that will use tuned algorithms to pick the players for your team based on statistics and your positional needs.

Now many fantasy generals will frown and even mock the use of the auto-draft tool, as it takes away the whole skills and research of building your team, not to mention putting your own personal touch.  The draft is arguably the single most important managerial task that you need to perform as the general manager of your fantasy team, any screw-up here can severely hamper your team’s performance for the rest of the season.  All of these are great points, and are points that I also subscribe to.  However, it is also for these reasons that sometimes the auto-draft option just makes sense.  It all comes down to two main factors: time and emotion.

Time - For the hard-core fantasy sports fanatic, this is not an issue - they will spend the hours required to dig through stats, read up on prospects and sleepers, and have a list of possible hidden gems come draft day.  However, for the rest of us, this isn’t an option.  As much as we do love fantasy sports, the time and effort to get a substantial return for our research is just not plausible.  Given that, instead of making informed selections based on knowledge and stats, we use our gut and the “celebrity factor” such as how well we know or heard of the player.

Emotion - In any type of investment when emotion is put into the mix, it can really screw up your decision-making and ultimately your returns.  This is no different when drafting players for your fantasy team.  Your players or picks are your investments and when made soundly with the proper research and evaluation, you can generally expect decent returns.  However, if all of your picks were based on emotion - how well known the player is, does he play for your favorite team, etc, you will most likely dread the returns you’ll see at the end of the season.

The beauty of the auto-draft is that it takes these two elements out of the equation.  Most auto-drafts are quite sophisticated and along with applying the algorithms of the best player based on stats and need, you can also add your own rankings and player preferences to the mix.  In my opinion, this combination gives you the ultimate tool to succeed when draft day comes.  On a personal level, I have used the auto-draft option for my past couple of leagues and have been satisfied with the results.  Where was the extra time that I saved from all the hours doing research used?  Watching the game, of course.  Time well spent, indeed.

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The much anticipated Canadian debut of the iPhone occurred today, and there were people lining up overnight to be one of the firsts to pick one up.  Although I’m a big fan of cool electronic gadgets, I’m not a fan of following all of the hype, let alone wasting precious hours of my life waiting in line just to be able to be one of the “first” people to get my hands on one.  Heck, it’s not even in short supply … it’s not like you won’t be able to pick one up a few days later when all of the crowds and chaos has subsided.

Now that I’ve gotten that rant off, let’s focus on the topic at hand.  The iPhone is a very cool gadget, and at a price tag of $199 US/CAD for the cheapest model, it’s become more reasonable in terms of affordability.  So what does this have to do with baseball?  Plenty I tell you, and the key is with some of the apps that are available with the iPhone.  One of the coolest ones that I’ve seen is the one provided by Major League Baseball.  There is a video here that features the MLB At Bat application on the iPhone which is quite revolutionary.  In fact, I’ll be close to calling it the baseball fan dream device.  The highlights include:

- real time stats and inning by inning score card
- full around the league scoreboard
- mini-video highlights of the game, viewable within minutes

The coolest part is the mini-video highlights, which is happening in real-time and available to you within minutes of it happen.  When you watch the video of the MLB At Bat application, you will see how crisp and detailed these highlight videos are on the iPhone.  It would make any baseball fan drool.  This is the next best thing to having the actual game streaming into your phone, which honestly isn’t that far away if either XM Satellite Radio or SIRIUS Satellite Radio decides to go down that path. But until then, I now have a valid excuse to buy an iPhone … as if I really needed one in the first place.

Watch the MLB At Bat application video here: www.rotobaseballguru.com

One of the more exciting stories that has been developing this year in Major League Baseball is Chipper Jones’ ongoing chase of .400.  Not since Boston Red Sox legend, Ted Williams, who hit .406 in 1941, has there been another hitter able to repeat this incredible feat in a full season.  There have been a few players that have come close, the closest would have been George Brett in 1980 when he ended up the year hitting .390.  In more recent years, we have seen other great hitters flirt with this baseball landmark, including Ichiro Suzuki who hit .372 in 2004, and Joe Mauer who kept the .400 pace up to the all-star break in 2006 until he cooled off in the second half and ended the year with a .347 batting average.  As a Blue Jays fan, I also remember good old John Olerud flirting with that mystical .400 mark in the magical season of 1993 when the Jays repeated as World Series champs (oh the good ole days!).  Johnny “O” ended up batting .363 that year, and if my memory serves me correctly, I believe he was still above the .400 mark in August of that year.  It just shows how difficult the feat is … which also probably explains why it hasn’t been accomplished in over 65 years!

Which goes back to the developing story of this year, Chipper Jones’ ongoing quest to inscribe himself into the history books, and with that most likely securing his place into baseball’s hall of fame.  As of July 6th, Chipper is batting at .390 and has recently cooled down a bit since his torrid pace he was having in May and early June.  In fact, the last time he was hitting over .400 was on June 18th, and since then he has dipped as low as .389.  However, he’s just another hot streak from getting over .400 and I’m sure that will get all the talk started again about the likelihood of whether or not this will be the year it actually happens. 

But regardless of whether or not Chipper makes history this year, has the 15 year legacy of his career and arguably the best player to ever put on an Atlanta Braves uniform, qualified him for Baseball’s Hall of Fame?  Speak your mind or forever hold your peace!

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