Bengals Board Fantasy Baseball (The Show)

[coachmcneil71]

Alright guys! We have 12! Our 12th member is the cousin of Lucas Dunn of the SD Fathers. Most folks seem to be good with sometime next Sunday. No set time yet, but that's the scuttlebutt. As always we will do our best so that all can attend the live draft. Official announcement should go out sometime tomorrow.
Oh yeah! Play Ball!!

[TecmoBengals]

(03-09-2025, 04:28 AM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: Alright guys! We have 12! Our 12th member is the cousin of Lucas Dunn of the SD Fathers. Most folks seem to be good with sometime next Sunday. No set time yet, but that's the scuttlebutt. As always we will do our best so that all can attend the live draft. Official announcement should go out sometime tomorrow.
Oh yeah! Play Ball!!

Sunday draft works for me.

[TecmoBengals]

I locked in my keep this morning. I'm not overthinking it and sticking with my highest rated hitter and pitcher: Corbin Carroll, OF and Paul Skenes, SP.

[kevin]

(03-09-2025, 12:38 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I locked in my keep this morning. I'm not overthinking it and sticking with my highest rated hitter and pitcher: Corbin Carroll, OF and Paul Skenes, SP.

Good move, you could lose them in a draft.  I know I could lose Judge in a draft and maybe De La Cruz with a few Reds fans in here, so I have to keep them.  I have had years where I didn't have much to keep, and having 1st and 2nd round picks was better.  However Carroll and Skenes would go by round 3, and so might Judge and De La Cruz, so you and me are playing the percentages keeping guys back from good 2024 seasons. 

[TecmoBengals]

(03-09-2025, 02:25 PM)kevin Wrote: Good move, you could lose them in a draft.  I know I could lose Judge in a draft and maybe De La Cruz with a few Reds fans in here, so I have to keep them.  I have had years where I didn't have much to keep, and having 1st and 2nd round picks was better.  However Carroll and Skenes would go by round 3, and so might Judge and De La Cruz, so you and me are playing the percentages keeping guys back from good 2024 seasons. 

De La Cruz absolutely would go quickly if free. I'd def lock him in if he was on my squad.

[kevin]

(03-09-2025, 02:43 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: De La Cruz absolutely would go quickly if free. I'd def lock him in if he was on my squad.

I'll talk strategy.  There is one or two teams that refuse to use pitchers,  They feel no pitchers, no pitching negative points.  However those teams always finish last.  No guts, no glory.  One team in the old league use to win with Relief Pitcher points.  So you need Hitter points, Starting pitcher points and Relief Pitcher points and those could be Saves or Holds.  A good Holds guy is better than a bad Saves guy.  I went a few years avoiding Relief Pitchers, but when I saw the team winning due to Relief Pitching, I copied him a little and started adding Relief Pitchers to my team.  One year I had Pitching and drafted Hitting later, that was a long hard season.  I did OK, but awful hitting takes a lot of work to manage wins out of.  So it takes a good mix.  You  want a couple Hitters and a couple Pitchers the you can count on as your leaders.  Not all the team will be Superstars, but if you draft a few Superstar Hitters and a Few Superstar Pitchers, you can build around that.  Home Runs are Huge in out league.  Our League gives more points for hitting Home Runs and really gives minus points to pitchers when they give up a Homer, maybe too much, but that's the way it is.  A Pitcher can get a Win, but if he gave up some Homers in his win, you almost think he lost on the final points.  So our League is always Home Run Heavy in points or minus points, more than regular ESPN Leagues.  Maybe that is why some are chicken to use Pitchers, but at end of season the teams with few pitching innings are in Last Place.   To finish near the top, it takes a blend of Hitting and Pitching.   Hunter Greene has been hard to carry in our League due to leading MLB in giving up Homers, but last year I think he cut down on the Homers.  Pitchers that give up a ton of Homers kill you in our League, no matter how many K's or Wins or Saves.  The Homer Points and Pitching Negative Homer Points are huge points in our league.  I'm more like Ty Cobb that a run is a run, but our league is Huge on Homer Points, positive and negative.  It does not scare me from using Pitchers, you would be in Last Place too afraid to have Pitching Innings....It makes it interesting. You can have a Pitcher with many points and a Win, but if a manager leaves him in getting tired and he gives up homer before manger pulls him, there goes much of all those Pitching points.  Sometimes if Pitcher has all the points I need, I'm rooting for manager to get him out of the game.  If a Reliever has pitched 2 days in a row, I will bench him, because managers who pitch a reliever 3 days in a row, he is often out of gas and gets rocked. 

[TecmoBengals]

(03-10-2025, 09:06 AM)kevin Wrote: I'll talk strategy.  There is one or two teams that refuse to use pitchers,  They feel no pitchers, no pitching negative points.  However those teams always finish last.  No guts, no glory.  One team in the old league use to win with Relief Pitcher points.  So you need Hitter points, Starting pitcher points and Relief Pitcher points and those could be Saves or Holds.  A good Holds guy is better than a bad Saves guy.  I went a few years avoiding Relief Pitchers, but when I saw the team winning due to Relief Pitching, I copied him a little and started adding Relief Pitchers to my team.  One year I had Pitching and drafted Hitting later, that was a long hard season.  I did OK, but awful hitting takes a lot of work to manage wins out of.  So it takes a good mix.  You  want a couple Hitters and a couple Pitchers the you can count on as your leaders.  Not all the team will be Superstars, but if you draft a few Superstar Hitters and a Few Superstar Pitchers, you can build around that.  Home Runs are Huge in out league.  Our League gives more points for hitting Home Runs and really gives minus points to pitchers when they give up a Homer, maybe too much, but that's the way it is.  A Pitcher can get a Win, but if he gave up some Homers in his win, you almost think he lost on the final points.  So our League is always Home Run Heavy in points or minus points, more than regular ESPN Leagues.  Maybe that is why some are chicken to use Pitchers, but at end of season the teams with few pitching innings are in Last Place.   To finish near the top, it takes a blend of Hitting and Pitching.   Hunter Greene has been hard to carry in our League due to leading MLB in giving up Homers, but last year I think he cut down on the Homers.  Pitchers that give up a ton of Homers kill you in our League, no matter how many K's or Wins or Saves.  The Homer Points and Pitching Negative Homer Points are huge points in our league.  I'm more like Ty Cobb that a run is a run, but our league is Huge on Homer Points, positive and negative.  It does not scare me from using Pitchers, you would be in Last Place too afraid to have Pitching Innings....It makes it interesting. You can have a Pitcher with many points and a Win, but if a manager leaves him in getting tired and he gives up homer before manger pulls him, there goes much of all those Pitching points.  Sometimes if Pitcher has all the points I need, I'm rooting for manager to get him out of the game.  If a Reliever has pitched 2 days in a row, I will bench him, because managers who pitch a reliever 3 days in a row, he is often out of gas and gets rocked. 

I've thought through my draft strategy for this year and hope it works out compared to last year's debacle. 

[kevin]

(03-10-2025, 09:29 AM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I've thought through my draft strategy for this year and hope it works out compared to last year's debacle. 

Your first year the LM made a mistake and too many Pitching Points.  He hit 10 points an inning instead of 1 point per inning.  Last year Pitching points back to normal, meaning Pitchers could go negative more often.   What hurt you Tecmo was injuries.  Well, that happens.  Luck plays into Fantasy Baseball and Fantasy Football on few injuries or too many injuries.   Like Luis Tiant once said, "  I'D RATHER BE LUCKY ". 

You've been tough in Football.  I had my first healthy year in football and made play-offs.  You know how it works Tecmo, it was rough on you in Baseball last year with so many injuries.  Baseball is very much injuries due to long season, you just hope they are not season ending or out most of the year. Football even more so on injuries because a short season, so losses count more. 

[coachmcneil71]

Charleigh is my cousin Bryan's (current league champ) daughter. She's a travelling vet tech for large rescues and farms in the mid-west. Ts. her schedule is wonky. She's also a monster softball player. She should receive her schedule for the coming week today. She's adamant about wanting to be present for the draft. I like that in a fbb manager.

So, I should know shortly what's shaking with her so we can set a time.

[kevin]

(03-11-2025, 02:56 PM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: Charleigh is my cousin Bryan's (current league champ) daughter. She's a travelling vet tech for large rescues and farms in the mid-west. Ts. her schedule is wonky. She's also a monster softball player. She should receive her schedule for the coming week today. She's adamant about wanting to be present for the draft. I like that in a fbb manager.

So, I should know shortly what's shaking with her so we can set a time.

[kevin]

I see the Draft is set for this Sunday at 6PM...12 teams

I did the practice of our system since it is more players than an ESPN regular mock.  It picks our keepers for us, but after that we are on our own.  Makes you think fast with no other humans picking.  The real draft will give us a little more time as people pick.  It's worth practicing, because it's not easy.  Now if the board room opens an hour before at 5 PM, I wouldn't mind setting up players in draft que list that are hard to find once draft gets going.  I don't want to get thrown in auto-pick and have ESPN pick somebody over a player I'm trying to get.

" You Can't Always Get What You Want.  But if you try sometime, you just might find, You Get What You Need "---Rolling Stones

How injured are injured players.  I'm guessing the worse their draft position, the more season injured they already are.  I thought I saw Cole as injured and draft pick 1115, so that looks pretty injured.  

I don't think all teams have their keepers set.  Of course the 2 new teams wouldn't have keepers, but getting picks in rounds 1 and 2 they will get top notch players.  Practice kept De La Cruz in One and Judge in Two, had me worried about Judge that first practice.  Does keepers in strange order sometimes, I guess. 

PLAY BALL

[kevin]

I'm a little worried about todays Draft. I've practiced and thought I did OK, and other times thought I did lousy.

[TecmoBengals]

I'm probably going to have to auto-draft which sucks, but I have a commitment to attend an event for my son.

[coachmcneil71]

(03-16-2025, 02:06 AM)kevin Wrote: I'm a little worried about todays Draft.  I've practiced and thought I did OK, and other times thought I did lousy.

I'm right there with you! It's definitely going to be interesting. I think having 12 teams with a deep bench is going to be challenging but fun.

(03-16-2025, 12:11 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I'm probably going to have to auto-draft which sucks, but I have a commitment to attend an event for my son.

Apologies, I thought that we had found a day and time that worked for everyone. I've done a couple of practice drafts where I let the computer do most of the drafting. I like to see how the AI breaks it down compared to my thoughts on the matter. Tbh, it done a pretty good job. 

Just make sure that you set your player list to the best of your ability, if you can. You don't want to look after the draft and have an entire bench made up of just sticks! That will make for a long season. 

[TecmoBengals]

(03-16-2025, 01:33 PM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: I'm right there with you! It's definitely going to be interesting. I think having 12 teams with a deep bench is going to be challenging but fun.


Apologies, I thought that we had found a day and time that worked for everyone. I've done a couple of practice drafts where I let the computer do most of the drafting. I like to see how the AI breaks it down compared to my thoughts on the matter. Tbh, it done a pretty good job. 

Just make sure that you set your player list to the best of your ability, if you can. You don't want to look after the draft and have an entire bench made up of just sticks! That will make for a long season. 

I should be good to attend live, although the computer might be better than me. 

[coachmcneil71]

(03-16-2025, 05:53 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I should be good to attend live, although the computer might be better than me. 

I 'm feeling that! Except on my end  

[TecmoBengals]

Pick 7? I thought I sucked more than that.

[TecmoBengals]

I had to go early and missed my bench picks. Resulting, I auto drafted only position players and have no pitching.

[kevin]

I got my pick 3 closer in Cleveland's Clase. I got 1st, 2nd and 3rd that I wanted, but somebody jumped up and took the best catchers including Perez who I wanted around pick 7. So I looked for Hunter Greene and he was gone also. So I quickly decided catcher for me end of draft. I took my Outfielders, Starting Pitchers best I could. I think I did OK on 2nd/SS, 1st /3rd and Util DH.....My main focus after getting some hitters was Starting Pitching. I thought I saw a lot in Mock Drafts very deep into draft. I thought Tampa had under rated pitchers in Mocks. So late in draft, I got McClannahan, Baz, Rassmussen who if healthy could be Tough. I also added Tampa's Kevin Kelly for my Kevin Kelly All-Stars. Why not, I can afford a spot for a player with my name. The Reds went fast as I thought, but not that many into Tampa Rays. I don't mind getting some Rays Pitchers late in draft. Again, if they are healthy, they could be tough. I got a catcher late. I can watch Free Agency and see if a Catcher gets Hot.

So it kind of went how I hoped. I got much of what I wanted. You can't get all you want. There will be players putting up good seasons that none of us drafted. The Draft is Key, but not everything like Fantasy Football. Baseball is a long season, and players nobody drafted will have Huge seasons, we just don't know who they are yet.

PLAY BALL

[coachmcneil71]

(03-16-2025, 06:50 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: Pick 7? I thought I sucked more than that.

It randomly picks draft order each year. Since it is a keeper/perennial type of league we may be able to change that moving forward. We will look into it moving forward.