2012-366 Day 103 – Allergic to Hitting

My fantasy team started its life as the Chatsworth Knights, but I changed the name today to Allergic to Hitting, because, apparently, they are. Let me back up a bit. I was invited to play in my first serious fantasy baseball league this year after having played in casual leagues for the past five or so years. I’ve always done fairly well in these things and they add some excitement to all the non-Dodger games everyday, so, in all, it’s just fun to participate. That being said, I’d like to win. At this rate (thankfully it’s still extremely early), that is not going to happen unless my hitters can get over a severe allergy to hitting.

Things started inauspiciously as, on draft day nearly a month ago we had a comedy of errors that nearly made me miss the whole thing. The settings were incorrect so the commissioner cancelled the draft and I logged off. Well, he was able to get them fixed but had no way to reach me other than email, and I was going to go back to my regularly scheduled day. He got my phone number off my boss and managed to call me right as the draft was starting, but by the time I got online I had missed my first pick. I had been waffling between two players with my first pick (Ellsbury and Longoria) and wound up with Ellsbury, but I probably would have picked Longoria had I had the chance (easy to say in hindsight right now, as Ellsbury is hitting .130 with 0 HRs and Longoria is hitting .471 with 1 HR). Here’s how I ended up drafting and a little commentary on each:

Round
1 Jacoby Ellsbury – Hopefully will start hitting soon. Like his team, a major disappointment so far.
2 Adrian Gonzalez – Decent, but capable of so much more. Should be my anchor.
3 Adrian Beltre – Stats pretty much mirror Gonzalez at this point, hope they both trend up.
4 Michael Bourn – My speedster, has stolen one base so far since he hasn’t gotten on (.125 batting average).
5 Elvis Andrus – Another speedster, has stolen zero bases but at least hit one home run (same .125 batting average).
6 Nelson Cruz – .190 with one home run, should be a slugger
7 Matt Cain – I know, I had to pick a Giant (I actually have no Dodgers). I blamed the commissioner as he’s just as big a Dodger fan as I am, but picked Lincecum before I picked Cain.
8 Michael Morse – And here’s where the horror show begins, as the problem with drafting a few weeks before the season rears its ugly head, injuries. I have, by far, had the worst luck with injuries. Morse here is out indefinitely and has been dropped from the team.
9 Jeremy Hellickson – My pitching has done very well (I currently lead in ERA and WHIP), and Hellickson had an excellent first start.
10 Corey Hart – My MVP so far, .429 with 3 HRs.
11 Kevin Youkilis – Counting on a bounce back year, have so far gotten a major splat (hitting .100).
12 Chris Carpenter – Nerve injury with an indefinite time table to even start rehabbing. Dropped.
13 Matt Garza – Decent first start, excellent second start.
14 Neil Walker – One hit so far this year (.059).
15 Neftali Feliz – Traded for bullpen help after both closers I drafted went down with injuries.
16 Andrew Bailey – First closer I drafted, out until after the All Star break at least.
17 Doug Fister – Injured three innings into his first start, on DL (in real life and on my team).
18 Yadier Molina – My MVP runner up, hitting .304 with two HRs.
19 Brandon McCarthy – Solid pitcher, already has three starts due to early Tokyo games.
20 Jeff Francoeur – Doing well for a late round pick up, hitting .333 so far.
21 Marco Scutaro – Dropped before the season even started, haven’t really regretted it (someone else picked him up and just dropped him again this week). I’ve always felt that’s key to doing well in fantasy sports, don’t get attached to anyone.
22 Kyle Farnsworth – Second closer drafted, out for a couple months. Dropped.
23 Aroldis Chapman – Traded to the commissioner (who really wanted him) for the Indians 3B of the future.
24 Adam Dunn – A prime bounce back candidate and a good deal this late. Average isn’t great (.222) but has a HR already.
25 Jose Altuve – I like him a lot and definitely felt he was a bit of a steal with my last pick (according to ESPN about 36% of people agree with me), he’s hitting .368 for me so far, so I’m happy.

My team is sitting in 8th place as of this writing, leading two categories (Earned Run Average and Walks Hits per Innings Pitched) and dead last in two categories (Batting Average and Stolen Bases). Seeing as my hitters aren’t hitting, my Runs and Runs Batted In are towards the bottom of the league (hard to score if you’re not on base or hit people in if you’re not, you know, hitting), although I’m in the middle of the pack in Home Runs which is a good sign when my hitters start picking it up again. My pitching, on the other hand, is doing great so far, although I still haven’t recorded a Save (so last in that category) after having to patch up my bullpen. Wins have been a bit hard to come by so far, despite the good performances, and my strikeouts are a bit north of average for the league.

Again, I’m enjoying the experience, if just a bit frustrated by the day to day performance. I’m sure I’ll bring it up again, and if you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed. If you want to check in on the league, you can go here.

Weight: 231 Loss: 9 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 98.2 miles (+2.5 miles)
Fitocracy Level: 18 (36725 points, 3125 to next level) – ID: disciplev1
Soccer – Last Game: L, 6-9 (Record: 1-4) Next Game: 4/15 – 5:50 pm