Choose My Fantasy Baseball Team Names

"Super Baseball 2020 is a futuristic baseball video game... The game follows the basic rules of baseball, but there are several upgrades since the game takes place in the year 2020. The most obvious difference from real baseball is that some of the characters in this game are robots. All the human characters are equipped with powerful armor, computer sensors, and jet-packs for improved offense and defensive skills." -- Wikipedia

I decided to choose a theme for my fantasy baseball teams in 2012: Super Baseball 2020. This decision caused me to dust off my Super Nintendo and ProPad controller, connect them to our television, blow out the old cartridge, and play a couple games last night. No emulators for me!

Oh, sweet childhood nostalgia. I sincerely hope mentioning this game causes a stroll down one's memory lane. Here's a little background info courtesy of Steve from RVGFANATIC:

When Super Baseball 2020 came out nearly 20 years ago in 1991, 2020 seemed like it would never come. It's a bit of a trip to think we're only a short decade from seeing our favorite Major League ball players all replaced with robots who can leap in the air 50 feet to rob potential game winning home runs. 10 more years...


In the year 2020, baseball rules and regulations have drastically changed. Now the emphasis is on a large fair playing field, making action quicker and more exciting. The foul zone has now been reduced to strictly behind the catcher. One can score hits all over the field!


Also new in 2020 is the usage of money to upgrade your robot players into super soldier robots of destruction. Earn or lose money on positive and negative plays alike. Adds a bit of depth and strategy to the ol' baseball formula.


One of the coolest things about Super Baseball 2020 for me as a kid was NO DOUBT about it those futuristic looking blue glass plates that cover the audience. Not just used to cosmetic purposes, in the year 2020 balls that are hit on the glass plates are in play! This leads to what I like to call "Wall Ball" and balls potentially rolling down several planes of glass for miles and miles, allowing you to stretch singles into doubles or even triples! No other baseball game offers this, so it made SB 2020 very unique and fun to play.


Instead of a lame 7th inning stretch, in 2020 the 7th inning means the WILD CARD INNING where both teams receive a major dosage of added power. You can call "time out" and replace your pitcher, fielders, base runners or hitter with a robot off the bench, or upgrade if you have the cash. Throughout the course of a game, robots will lose energy and give warning signs before completely breaking down. Be sure to replace them as once they start to leak, so to speak, they become close to ineffective (hit/power/speed all drastically dip).

Perhaps there are some teams you remember whenever you played this game yourself. I recall always choosing the Mechanical Brains or Korea Dragoon while growing up, though last night I played as the Battle Heroes and Tokyo Samurais.

I intend to draft at least four teams this season and as many as six, so more votes will help me. As an additional challenge for myself, I will attempt to draft my teams toward an equivalent statistical goal as the teams chosen. (i.e. American Dreams. Hitting:10/10, Pitching:5/10)

Without further ado, here is the poll:

Fantasy Baseball Team Names: Which team names should be chosen from Super Baseball 2020?   American Dreams Tokyo Samurais Naples Seagulls Taiwan Megapowers Korea Dragoon Battle Angels Battle Heroes Ninja Blacksox Aussie Battlers Mechanical Brains Metal Slashers Tropical Girls    pollcode.com free polls

I've thought about this before, but how cool would it be to see a modern day version of Super Baseball 2020 using today's players from Major League Baseball? How awesome would it be to see the guys wearing cybernetic suits and jet packs? Justin Verlander could hurl the ball upwards to 300 miles per hour, Jose Bautista would launch the ball into the stratosphere, and Yadier Molina would be a fielding abomination behind the plate. Would Albert Pujols still be "The Machine" or would the robot? I'll keep dreaming.

Thanks for your participation and walking down memory lane with me.

2012 Fantasy Baseball Average Rankings

Note: If you are looking for my updated list, then please click the tab above entitled "2012 Overall Ranks."


Welcome to 2012. It's time to really get focused on fantasy baseball since it's officially the new year and there are less than two months until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Everyone has their own opinions regarding where a baseball player should be ranked during a fantasy baseball draft. These opinions are ever evolving, especially during the offseason while some men are still seeking a new home. How can you trust one resource?

I don't know about you but I can't, so here is an average of several websites.


I've compiled the data from the following five websites to create the average rank for nearly 400 players.

• BleacherGM -- (BGM)
• CBS Sports -- (CBS)
• Fantasy Baseball Crackerjacks -- (FBCJ)
• Mock Draft Central via KFFL -- (MDC)
• Roto Summit -- (RS)

A portion of these lists are actually dated, which is why you can't rely on only one website and makes the analysis fun. For example, BleacherGM's lists were compiled by Jeffrey and Jeremy before and after the alleged Ryan Braun PED accusation, respectively. Jeffrey ranked Braun second on December 1st, while Jeremy chose to not rank him at all on December 15th.

Scott White from CBS Sports released his article on December 13th, Jesse Sakstrup from RotoSummit released his list on November 4th, and the list from Mock Draft Central is continuously compiled. As I write this article, 143 drafts were recorded and extracted today on January 1st. The guys from Fantasy Baseball Crackerjacks were gracious enough to forward me an early copy of their rankings. In addition to these, Fantasy GameDay will also be included next month after their list is released.

You may have noticed the table is labeled as the "Unweighted Average." If a player was skipped in one website's draft, then I provided that individual a standard value of one higher than their maximum. For example, CBS Sports ranked 300 players, so an unranked player received a value of 301 (300+1). These unweighted values are fine, though I think it's a tad unfair given the amount of input provided by some of these websites. That said, I will release the weighted average rankings later this week.

No analysis tonight. Enjoy the pretty list for now. Happy New Year, everyone.

(Updated @ 10:36pm CST)
Oops. I referenced the incorrect data from RotoSummit and must have crossed my wires when I was sorting the spreadsheet on top of that. Everything should check out now. Sorry about that, Jesse.

Offseason Christmas Wishlist

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

Neal Huntington may be asleep as well. Just take a look at some of Pittsburgh's questionable situations and their answers for them thus far.

Pittsburgh's last major league transaction sent Jose Veras to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for McGehee on December 12th. Pirates Prospects now estimates their 40-man payroll at approximately $46 million, which is at least $4 million less than their originally announced budget. I am satisfied with the way they answered most of their questions, but first base still leaves me wanting more. I would not be against them targeting an additional starting pitcher as well.

   Catcher
x Ryan Doumit contract option declined.
x Chris Snyder contract option declined.
o Rod Barajas signed for $4MM over 1 year.

   First Base
x Derrek Lee becomes a free agent and declines arbitration.
o Garrett Jones offered arbitration.
o Lee, Carlos Pena.

   Third Base
x Pedro Alvarez may have another dismal season.
o Casey McGehee acquired from Milwaukee.

   Shortstop
x Ronny Cedeno contract option declined.
o Clint Barmes signed for $10.5MM over 2 years.

   Starting Pitcher
x Paul Maholm contract option declined.
x Ross Ohlendorf non-tendered and released.
o Erik Bedard signed for $4.5MM over 1 year.
o Wei-Yin Chen, Jeff Francis, Rich Harden, Edwin Jackson, Hiroki Kuroda, Joe Saunders.

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John Mozeliak and the St. Louis Cardinals have my permission to have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The Cards may have lost Albert Pujols, but signing Carlos Beltran and Adam Wainwright's return should recover any wins they may have lost without him while maintaining their $110 million payroll. Fantastic.

   First Base
x Pujols becomes a free agent and signs with Los Angeles Angels.
o Lance Berkman shifts from right field to play first base.

   Second Base
x Nick Punto becomes a free agent and signs with Boston Red Sox.
x Ryan Theriot non-tendered and released.
o Skip Schumaker resigned for $3MM over 2 years.
o Daniel Descalso, Tyler Greene, and Allen Craig are under team control through 2013.

   Shortstop
x Rafael Furcal becomes a free agent.
o Furcal is resigned for $14MM over 2 years.

   Center Field
x Jon Jay is under team control through 2013, but should not play every day.
o Beltran could cover center field on rare occasions to allow Craig playing time in right field.

   Right Field
x Berkman shifts to first base.
x Craig will begin the season on the disabled list.
o Beltran signed for $26MM over 2 years.

   Starting Pitcher
x Edwin Jackson becomes a free agent.
o Wainwright returns from Tommy John surgery.

   Relief Pitcher
x Octavio Dotel becomes a free agent and signs with Detroit Tigers.
o J.C. Romero signed for $750K over 1 year.

Key
Team Losses: x
Questionable: o
Acceptable: o

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What more could I ask for Christmas?

Contract extensions for Andrew McCutchen, Yadier Molina, and Wainwright.

Thanks for listening, Santa.

2012 Mock Draft, Review & Recap

So there you have it. My first ever fantasy baseball mock draft before the 2012 Major League Baseball season. It was a privilege to perform this exercise with some of the most intelligent guys in this department.

BleacherGM made a list of everyone's draft pick and sorted them by round and team. I suggest checking them out to see how each team turned out. I am not sure if he plans to determine a champion of this draft, but I had my own theory. I decided to compile everyone's draft picks into an Excel spreadsheet and use Bill James' 2012 projections from FanGraphs.

There were two players whose projections were missing (Chris Young, Matt Moore), so I used the FanGraphs fan projections in their stead. I did not adjust several other players who may miss significant playing time (Ryan Howard, Ryan Braun, Allen Craig), could be demoted (Mark Trumbo, Mike Trout, Juan Oviedo, Mark Melancon, Francisco Rodriguez) or may have been promoted (Daniel Bard, Matt Capps, Chris Sale, Matt Thornton). There are still several months before spring training and opening day, which is why I chose not to adjust statistics based upon incomplete data and swirling rumors.





I'm not here to toot my own horn... Okay, maybe once. *honk*

My team ranked highly in all categories except home runs and saves. Abandoning those categories may have allowed me to win the batting and pitching crowns, though I wish my team had a more defined source of power. David Ortiz is usually great, but I would have preferred someone younger. I regret not drafting a second closer earlier, but several teams decided to draft more than just two to ensure they won the saves category. I gave up on saves after realizing this and chose to draft more quality starters instead to preserve the other four categories.

I know a lot of the guys were accrediting askROTObaseball with the best team as we chatted during the draft. He made some pretty strong choices, which explains why he is ranked second on my projected list. He won the runs and stolen bases categories by a landslide, which is why he could have afforded swapping one or two of his offense picks for more homers and runs batted in.

TribeBball was right behind him even though he placed quite a few absentee ballots. The power is definitely there, but at the expense of his batting average and quite a few stolen bases. He was also tied for the most saves due to drafting four relief pitchers and K-Rod's projection as a closer, even though he is currently setting up for Brewers in front of John Axford. These choices were detrimental to his win and strikeout rankings.

We may do this again sometime before spring training, so stay tuned if you'd like to see more fantasy baseball mock drafting.

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I did receive one critique from an anonymous commenter on Wednesday (don't be shy next time!) who approved of three of my nine offense choices and only one of my seven pitchers. They left their preferences had they been in my shoes, so let's see if their team is an improvement over mine.


These changes would cause my rotisserie league score to slide down to 95 and I slip to a five point lead. BleacherGM would take over as the dominant offense, while RepLevel would assume control of pitching. These altered choices would provide more home runs, wins, and strikeouts at the expense of runs, batting average, ERA, and WHIP.

I probably would still favor my team compared to this even without the statistical comparison. Their reasoning makes sense, though I would not have drafted Howard due to his questionable season start due to his injury. In addition, I am just not the type to draft so many pitchers in the earlier rounds, especially since there are so many quality pitchers available in the later rounds.

Don't forget, blog reader! Choosing one player in favor of another does not necessarily mean everything will work out for your aforementioned team. Altering my draft picks would certainly cause repercussions throughout the draft which would cause the other managers to change their approach. For example, if I chose Carl Crawford instead of Jered Weaver, then rytwin would be forced to make a different selection and Weaver would land on a different team.

Time travelers should be careful when they alter the past, otherwise your best friend could be your dad.
(The Terminator)

2012 Mock Draft, Rounds 13-16

As I stated previously, I am participating in a fantasy baseball slow mock draft being coordinated by Jeffrey from BleacherGM, which can be followed on Couch Managers. There are 14 teams and there will be a total of 16 rounds. The draft began on Tuesday, December 13th and was originally anticipated to last until sometime in February.

I took a short trip with my girlfriend, so I was out of town for about two days and had to rely on my queue a little bit. We returned Wednesday night where I saw there were only two picks remaining in the draft. It is now Thursday morning and there is no solid indicator, but it looks like the draft ended around 7:00am CST. We had the potential to finish last night, but I accept this ending as it means four of my five projections were accurate and it was still over a month quicker than expected.

224 picks / 213 hours = 0.95 hours per pick or 25.24 picks per day.

Round #13, Pick #178 - Clay Buchholz
I should have guessed the rest of the guys would begin scrambling for closers. I had quite a few starters ranked on top of my queue and Buchholz was drafted as a result of my being auto queued. If I had the opportunity to make a human intervention, then I would have selected one of the three closers drafted after me (Jordan Walden, Sergio Santos, Andrew Bailey). Buchholz missed a lot of 2011, but I still like him in my rotation even though he was a mistake.

Round #14, Pick #187 - Jaime Garcia
Garcia was a human decision, though fan-weighted. I preferred taking the young lefty from the defending world champions and attempt to scrape the bottom of the barrel for my last two picks.

Round #15, Pick #206 - Torii Hunter
You can criticize Hunter all you want. It's probably justified, especially considering the Angels' lineup is still up in the air. There are only two slots I consider set in stone: Albert Pujols at first base, batting third and Hunter in right field batting behind him. He should collect at least 20 homers, but perhaps his batting average will be rejuvenated due to Pujols' presence. Wishful thinking.

Round #16, Pick #215 - Frank Francisco
I had several bottom dweller closer options in my final round including Matt Capps, Jonathan Broxton, Francisco Rodriguez, Daniel Bard, and "Leo Nunez." I decided upon Francisco who was recently traded from the Blue Jays to the Mets. Earlier reports from New York show he is the most likely candidate to receive the team closer role, which makes sense given his great career strikeout rates (9.9 K/9, 2.5 K/BB).

*FanGraphs fans projection

Rounds 1 & 2
Rounds 3 & 4
Rounds 5 & 6
Rounds 7 & 8
Rounds 9 & 10
Rounds 11 & 12
Rounds 13 - 16

Critiques are welcomed!