In what I hope to be a regular weekly feature, I am reviewing the seven leagues I particpate in. This will allow you to see what I did during the week and give me a way to stay on top of "X" too many leagues. Additionally, I will offer my assessment of why I am standing where I am.
The smaller the sample size, the more likely I am to ascribe my standings to luck - good or bad. Right now, I see Travis Buck's 0-21 start as bad luck, but , at some point, I will need to conclude something more defintive.
Let's get started.
Yahoo! Public League, 5th of 12:
Like most fantasy teams that find themsleves in the middle of the pack after the first week, some things went right and some things went wrong. On the right side, Ryan Zimmerman, Justin Morneau, Aaron Harang.
On the wrong side was Michael Bourn and Carlos gomez on the bench with Hunter Pence and Delmon Young starting. Alfonso Soriano's 2-26 start hurt, too. Josh Beckett's bad start ruined an otherwise good pitching week.
An additional plus was landing Johnny Cueto off waivers at the price of Diamondbacks' "closer" Brandon Lyon.
Fake Teams H2H, Tie 5-5:
Tying five categories is neither good nor bad. I ran into a 7 Win pitching juggarnaut and lost 4 of the five pitching categories. Despite losing CF Dave DeJesus at the start of the week, I did manage to win 4 of 5 hitting categories, though.
The one I lost? Runs.
This week I have replaced DeJesus with Carlos Gomez.
Fake Teams NL-Only 4x4, 1st of 12:
With my pitching lead by Kyle Lohse' 12 shutout innings, Arizona's OF combo of Chris B Young and Justin Upton combined for 6 HRs went a long way to carrying my hitting..
Fantasy Bloggers Expert League, 1st of 12:
Another league in which Justin Upton made a big difference. Having HR leaders after Week one does that. He was also joined by Ricke Weeks (7 Runs), Michael Bourn (4 SB) and Alex Gordon (2 HR and 6 RBI).
In mixed leagues, the pitching needs to cooperate, too. Here Jake Peavy and Chien-Ming Wang led the staff with two victories each and excellent ratios. Toss in Brian Bannister's seven shutout innings and W against the hapless Tigers, and one can easily see how this team can be atop the standings.
I did move Jason Giambi to the bench after he tweaked his groin on Saturday and replaced him with Nick Johnson. Given the news this AM that Giradri won't play Giambi at DH because he'd have to sit one of his OF, I have Giambi slated for the free agent pool the next time I need to dip in there.
Mixed League, 3rd of 12 :
The decision to start Justin Upton over Lastings Milledge and Hunter Pence paid off as did the presence of Chris B Young. None of my pitchers turned in a poor start either, and that is what it takes to be at the top of the mixed league standings after one week.
AL-Only 4x4 Keeper , 9th of 12:
I used $5 of FAAB to pick-up Mariners' OF/1B Mike Morse and waived Rays' 2B Elliot Johnson. Mostly meaningless, I needed to improve the power from that spot. The fact that Brad Wilkerson can't hit for AVG led me to think he could lose a couple games a week worth of playing time.
Why so poor a start? Travis Buck 0-21, Dave Ortiz 3-26, Jose Guillen 3-24 with Jason Grilli and Eric O'Flaherty taking my pitching down.
NL-Only 4x4 Keeper , 1st of 12 :
I bought a good draft as I have been in 1st for the two days worth of stats since the rosters were inputted.