Artichoke league ruminations

[sebastian_tombs]

Last year, I had great hopes for my main fantasy baseball team, the Worcester Brown Stockings ( see here for details).

How did that work out for me? Abysmally. [yes, I realize that at most, 2 of you might be interested. Maybe]

I ended up finishing last place. Why? Well, lots of reasons, really.

• Injuries. Lots of them:
  Derek Lee, one of my two best players, missed most of the year
  John Patterson, starting pitcher, missed most of the year
  Eric Gagne ended up pitching in, what, 4 games?
  As expected, Chipper Jones and Ken Griffey Jr. missed a time
  Josh Johnson, a midseason pickup, missed the last month or so
  See the note on Liriano two bullets down
  I had more injuries - at one point, I had 7 guys on the DL at one time
  
• Slow starts to those not injured, including Jon Lieber, Carlos Silva, and Brad Radke
  
• After giving up on the year, I traded John Smoltz and Chen Ming Wang for Francisco Liriano. He was injured, but expected back. Unfornately, Liriano was hurt soon after he came back, and will miss the entire 2007 season too. It was an expensive trade before the second injury, and became a crippling blow.
  
• I chose not to keep Justin Morneau after last year's disappointing season, and he blossomed into a MVP contender.
  
• Not keeping Jimmy Rollins two years ago

What (little) went right?

• I made a couple of good reserve picks:
  Chen Ming Wang, who went on to win 17 games with the Yankees.
  Ray Durham, who had a good year, much better than my poorly chosen keeper, Clint Barmes
  Curtis Granderson, who had a very nice year as Detroits CF
  Mike Jacobs, who made some progress, but didn't explode into stardom
  
• I drafted Ryan Zimmerman, who made nice progress, and may be an important part of my team for a good decade, if the league lasts that long (and it should)
  
• Midseason picks of Josh Johnson, Adrian Gonzalez, and Wilson Betemit were all of interest
  
• ummm...I finished last? That got me some money back and the first picks in both the pitchers' and hitters' draft

Planning for this year:

If I keep more than 8 people, I will lose one of my first picks, so the 9th player has to be particularly interesting (or the extra players as a whole)

My first 8 keepers are, as of now:

• Manny Ramirez (OF)
  
• Jose Reyes (SS)
  
• Derek Lee (1B)
  
• Ryan Zimmerman (3B)
  
• Josh Johnson (SP)
  
• AJ Burnett (SP)
  
• Mariano Rivera (RP)
  
• Francisco Liriano (SP - but injured, out for the year)

Other options are:
Curtis Granderson (CF) - of interest particularly due to age and CF qualification
Ken Griffey Jr. (CF) - last year was disappointing - when healthy, the numbers were still less than I want, even for a CF
John Patterson (SP) - too much of an injury risk after last year. I'd draft him, but probably wouldn't keep him
Adrian Gonzalez and Mike Jacobs (1B) - both very interesting, but neither worth keeping as my last CI slot.
Eric Gagne (RP) - now closing for Texas, this is a very interesting gamble, after the last two years injury history. Huge risk, huge upside.

I've spoken with some of the teams about trades

I've been offered either Richie Weeks or Josh Barfield (2B) for either my #1 round pitching pick or for Ryan Zimmerman.

I've been offered the #3 pitching pick and a minor hitting draft upgrade (or Chipper Jones) for AJ Burnett.

I don't like the first trade because adding a keeper would cost me the other #1 pick, and I don't want to trade Zimmerman, even for Richie Weeks. However, if I traded Burnett (freeing up a keeper) for the #3 pick, and if I could trade that #3 pick for Weeks, I think that would improve my chances.

I don't know if there is anything else I might be able to do before the draft.