Lazy day with NFL Draft and MLB.tv

I work with sports every day, but sometimes it’s nice to have a lazy Saturday, and spend some weekend time with sports. Today, the 2007 NFL Draft and a full slate of baseball games are doing the job.

The Eagles took Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb about a round too early, but they did well to move down from the 26th overall pick, even if it helped the Cowboys a bit. As the ESPN analysts noted, the Eagles don’t have many weaknesses, so anything that comes from today is gravy.

The Cleveland Browns were the day’s big winners, netting their quarterback of the future (Brady Quinn from Notre Dame), and an offensive lineman to protect him (Joe Thomas from Wisconsin). Personally, I think Charlie Frye will be fine, but you can’t complain about Quinn, especially as late as he went. It was interesting looking at teams picking after Miami (who passed on Quinn) and seeing already-set QB situations. Cleveland did well trading up, and did well choosing the spot to do it.

Meanwhile, there was a full slate of baseball today, which I watched on MLB.tv. The Yankees finally won a game (after having lost seven in a row), beating the Red Sox. My fantasy teams were all pretty lousy today, and Chris Burke didn’t even play, sitting for newly minted Hunter Pence. It’ll be a struggle to replace Burke, who has a low batting average, but his on-base percentage was 100 points higher and he’d stolen five bases. I’d think the occasionally-smart management in Houston will let Burke play often enough.

It’s time to go out for the night, and Matt Cain just gave up his first hit. It’s the fifth inning. Cain has been a great find for my fantasy team.

Yahoo MLB Player Ranker

I just noticed Yahoo’s MLB Player Ranker linked off my fantasy clubhouse. Basically, it shows you two players, chosen and random, and you choose the better fantasy player. Then they aggregate the totals and you can view them. Excellent use of “user-created” content. Incidentally, I drew Oliver Perez and Chris Carpenter just now. Guess who I picked?

Opening Day is here!

Baseball is in full swing, and all of my fantasy teams are already in trouble. It was nice to see Adam Dunn swat two dingers for Cincinnati; is this the year he puts it all together? My best team is one that autodrafted: I had nice performances from Hanley Ramirez, Brad Hawpe, and of course, Felix Hernandez (9 IP, 0 ER, 12 K; wow!). Bob Wickman also did something good: earned a win against my Phillies. I guess if they’re going to lose in extra innings, one of my fantasy guys should get the win.

Interesting note: in the Pirates/Astros game, Brad Lidge blew a save and Salomon Torres earned one. Wonder who went first in your draft?

ESPN’s Fantasy Rock Opera

Here’s a great commercial for ESPN’s Free Fantasy Baseball, a product which I heartily endorse. Though I didn’t draft Carlos Lee on any teams this year, I can certainly relate. And here is a link to the extended version.

The Troy Glaus situation

Troy Glaus, third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, is quite an athlete. In fact, Glaus is such a good athlete that the Jays stick him at shortstop once in a while. They did that eight times in 2006. According to Yahoo Fantasy Baseball’s quite-lenient rules, Glaus is eligible to play in the shortstop slot in 2007. Since a power-hitting shortstop is rare, that increases his value significantly.

I ask you: in what way is Troy Glaus 41 picks worse than Miguel Tejada? That’s how it played out in the RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge. Glaus went with the 2nd pick in the 5th round (16 teams), 11 picks after I took his teammate, Vernon Wells. That’s one I wish I could take back. Wells is on the verge of free agency, so I expect big things this season. But I expect things just as big from Glaus, at a position where Yuniesky Betancourt is a regular, rather than in the outfield, where I can always pick up David Dellucci or Matt Kemp.

Fortunately, the guy who took Glaus also took Brian Roberts four picks earlier, so he’s got other issues.

RotoGuru Winter Mock Draft

The 13-team RotoGuru Winter Mock Baseball Draft is now complete. The 325 picks averaged just over an hour per pick and lasted about two weeks. Naturally, I have the best team. Here are the first two rounds (my picks bolded):

1.01 Albert Pujols 1B STL clv
1.02 Jose Reyes SS NYM barilko6
1.03 Alex Rodriguez 3B NYY davelipman
1.04 Johan Santana P MIN PermDude
1.05 Ryan Howard 1B PHI smallwhirled
1.06 Miguel Cabrera 3B FLA I hate Philadelphia
1.07 David Ortiz UTIL BOS Rob Thayer
1.08 Alfonso Soriano OF CHC wiggs
1.09 Chase Utley 2B PHI bjclinton0
1.10 Carlos Beltran OF NYM Khahan
1.11 Carl Crawford OF TAM airallnite
1.12 David Wright 3B NYM mjd33333
1.13 Derek Jeter SS NYY mybadteam
2.01 Lance Berkman 1B HOU mybadteam
2.02 Vladimir Guerrero OF LAA mjd33333
2.03 Chris Carpenter P STL airallnite
2.04 Mark Teixeira 1B TEX Khahan
2.05 Manny Ramirez OF BOS bjclinton0
2.06 Roy Oswalt P HOU wiggs
2.07 Matt Holliday OF COL Rob Thayer
2.08 Travis Hafner UTIL CLE I hate Philadelphia
2.09 Jimmy Rollins SS PHI smallwhirled
2.10 Ichiro Suzuki OF SEA PermDude
2.11 Jake Peavy P SDG davelipman
2.12 Grady Sizemore OF CLE barilko6
2.13 Jason Bay OF PIT clv

And here are my picks:

1.03 Alex Rodriguez 3B NYY davelipman
2.11 Jake Peavy P SDG davelipman
3.03 Miguel Tejada SS BAL davelipman
4.11 Billy Wagner P NYM davelipman
5.03 Carlos Delgado 1B NYM davelipman
6.11 Felix Hernandez P SEA davelipman
7.03 Jason Giambi CI NYY davelipman
8.11 Felipe Lopez MI WAS davelipman
9.03 JD Drew OF BOS davelipman
10.11 Mike Cameron OF SDG davelipman
11.03 Morgan Ensberg UTIL HOU davelipman
12.11 Scott Podsednik OF CWS davelipman
13.03 Jason Isringhausen P STL davelipman
14.11 Ryan Dempster P CHC davelipman
15.03 Jorge Posada C NYY davelipman
16.11 Chris Capuano P MIL davelipman
17.03 Ray Durham 2B SFO davelipman
18.11 Jim Edmonds OF STL davelipman
19.03 David Weathers P CIN davelipman
20.11 Jonathan Broxton P LAD davelipman
21.03 Jason Jennings P HOU davelipman
22.11 David Dellucci OF CLE davelipman
23.03 Brad Penny P LAD davelipman
24.11 Luis Gonzalez OF LAD davelipman
25.03 Nick Punto MI MIN davelipman

My best pick was Morgan Ensberg and my worst pick was Scott Podsednik. I should win in a landslide, especially if Chris Capuano can maintain his recent levels of ability and if Jim Edmonds is healthy and productive.

Kafenatid.net: Slow draft paradise

In the fantasy sports world, one of the most intriguing events is the Slow Draft. Basically, managers draft whenever they are paying attention and it is their turn. Even with a four hour time-limit, this can get a bit tedious. Even when someone is slow enough to be skipped, the league does not always agree on such action. The main upside is that you can place bets on the round in which the first already-drafted player will be selected.

Enter Kafenatid.net (full disclosure: Fred, the creator of the site, is an acquaintance), a site built specifically to run slow drafts. In addition to providing a pool of players from which to draft, Kafenatid’s On The Clock Fantasy Draft Manager has a full slate of queue management tools. For example, you can set up the next five or ten players you wish to draft, and set up other managers as Designated Pickers. Kafenatid also runs the clock, automatically skipping players when the deadline passes. You can even stop the clock overnight or on weekends.

I just finished the RotoGuru Winter Mock Draft (more later, of course) on Kafenatid, and every time I am amazed at how well the site helps run smoother drafts. While I would recommend a few small upgrades (mobile interaction, a workbench for your queue, better layout for the draft grid), I definitely think Kafenatid is the place to go when you’re running a Slow Draft. Or even a fast one.

So long, Winter Dave: First 2007 fantasy draft

Here it is, January 12th, and my first Fantasy Baseball draft of the year is underway. This year, it’s a 13-manager slow draft being held on Kafenatid.net, easily the best slow-drafting site I have ever used. So far, we have made 19 picks in about 24 hours. Man, this draft is really flying. I took Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez with the third overall pick, ecstatic that someone took Jose Reyes one pick before. I am up in five picks and I think I have a decent chance to get the player I want.

Oh yeah, I forgot one important detail about this draft. We aren’t even playing it out! That’s right, when this draft concludes, it will go right back into the scrap heap. The only benefit we will gain is the knowledge that will prepare us for the rest of our drafts this season, including the RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge, in which I will participate for the fourth consecutive year. In the 2004 RIBC, my team tanked all the way to 14th place (out of 16), and I was banished to Triple-A (that’s right, the RIBC has a farm system with six 16 team leagues). After a fine 2005 in the minors, I was promoted back to the actual RIBC, finishing 7th and hanging onto an RIBC spot.

So this draft doesn’t really count. I’ll post follow-ups as it progresses.

Facing the harsh reality of Fantasy Football

I have played a lot of fantasy sports in my life. Every season, I play baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and some other fringe sports. But I have never seen something like what I saw this weekend in my Fantasy Football league championship. I lost 208-207, but the score is just the beginning of the oddity.

First of all, my league has a couple strange rules. We play a two-week championship, including Week 17, when strange things tend to happen since many teams have already locked in their playoff seed. Also, the scoring rules are a little skewed. Quarterbacks, for example, get a point for every 10 yards, instead of the traditional 25. And we have a coach slot, where a team can get up to 10 points for a win AND lose 10 points for a loss.

Also, remember that Sunday was New Years Eve, so I had to follow the late action on my phone from Times Square amidst a large and raucous crowd. This including several of the 4:00 PM games and the Bears/Packers season finale at 8:30.

Two games really sum up the day. The Bengals, who needed a win along with a Denver loss (in a late game) to clinch the playoffs, were playing against the Steelers. Late in the 4th quarter, with the game tied, Carson Palmer (my quarterback), hit Chris Henry for a 47 yard pass. Excellent! With our rules, this gets me 4 points closer to victory. Except now the Bengals are on the Steelers’ 20 yard line and will kick a field goal instead of letting Palmer air it out. So after cheering for the Bengals all game, I am suddenly praying that the Bengals miss the kick so Palmer can get more chances in overtime.

Last week, the Bengals lost on a botched extra point. That was the long snapper’s fault. This week, it was the kicker’s fault: Shayne Graham missed the field goal try, sending the game into overtime. Sweet! But it was not to be. The Steelers won the coin toss and Santonio Holmes scored on the first drive. Palmer never touched the ball in overtime. A small opportunity cost for me, but it left Cincinnati out of the playoffs.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, even more interesting things were afoot. My opponent had Tony Romo as his quarterback, but I had Cowboys’ coach Bill Parcells on my squad. I had counted on the easy win, but the lowly Lions were beating Dallas. With 16 seconds to play, Romo scrambled for a touchdown that would have put the Cowboys a 2-point conversion away from the tie… but he was stopped at the 2-yard line. Awesome; I saved six points by Romo not getting a touchdown… but it was 4th and goal, and it sealed the win for the Lions. Parcells loses 8 points.

Clearly, the potential 16 point swing for Parcells could have been the difference maker, except the Dallas loss had some other effects. In Philadelphia, the game was underway, but the Cowboys now no longer had a chance to catch the Eagles for the division. Brian Westbrook, who happened to be on my opponents’ team, was removed from the game after scoring only two fantasy points. And I guessed that the Eagle defense, who I opposed, would not try as hard in the meaningless game. For the first time I can remember, I cheered against the Eagles. That must have been bad karma, as they played well and earned my opponent 12 points.

All told, I went into the night game with a slim lead, and only Donald Driver left to play for my opponent. But the first touchdown pass of the game went to Driver, and he performed just well enough for my opponent to sneak off with that 208-207 win. I checked the next morning to make sure there were no miscalculations – the Jets Defense actually tipped a field goal that didn’t earn me “blocked kick” points.

In the end, I am disheartened by the loss. But it is definitely a great story to tell.

Dave’s Team: Week 16
SLOT STARTERS OPP STATUS PTS
QB Carson Palmer, Cin QB P @Den 23-24 F 30
RB Larry Johnson, KC RB @Oak 20-9 F 19
RB/WR Cedric Benson, Chi RB @Det 26-21 F 4
WR Andre Johnson, Hou WR Ind 27-24 F 4
WR Derrick Mason, Bal WR P @Pit 31-7 F 1
TE Desmond Clark, Chi TE @Det 26-21 F 3
D/ST Chiefs D/ST, KC D/ST @Oak 20-9 F 19
K Neil Rackers, Ari K @SF 26-20 F 6
HC Saints Coach, NO HC @NYG 30-7 F 10
TOTAL POINTS: 96

Opponents: Week 16
SLOT STARTERS OPP STATUS PTS
QB Tony Romo, Dal QB Phi 7-23 F 22
RB Tiki Barber, NYG RB NO 7-30 F 8
RB/WR Brian Westbrook, Phi RB P @Dal 23-7 F 12
WR Donald Driver, GB WR P Min 9-7 F 9
WR Plaxico Burress, NYG WR NO 7-30 F 11
TE Heath Miller, Pit TE Bal 7-31 F 7
D/ST Bills D/ST, Buf D/ST Ten 29-30 F -3
K John Kasay, Car K @Atl 10-3 F 3
HC Ravens Coach, Bal HC @Pit 31-7 F 10
TOTAL POINTS: 79

Dave’s Team: Week 17
SLOT STARTERS OPP STATUS PTS
QB Carson Palmer, Cin QB P Pit 17-23 F 37
RB Larry Johnson, KC RB Jac 35-30 F 33
RB/WR Brandon Jones, Ten WR NE 23-40 F 5
WR Andre Johnson, Hou WR Cle 14-6 F 1
WR Ronald Curry, Oak WR @NYJ 3-23 F 4
TE Tony Scheffler, Den TE SF 23-26 F 11
D/ST Jets D/ST, NYJ D/ST Oak 23-3 F 19
K Neil Rackers, Ari K @SD 20-27 F 4
HC Cowboys Coach, Dal HC Det 31-39 F -8
TOTAL POINTS: 106
ROUND 2 TOTAL: 207

Opponents: Week 17
SLOT STARTERS OPP STATUS PTS
QB Tony Romo, Dal QB Det 31-39 F 42
RB Tiki Barber, NYG RB @Was 34-28 F 43
RB/WR Brian Westbrook, Phi RB P Atl 24-17 F 2
WR Donald Driver, GB WR P @Chi 26-7 F 8
WR Plaxico Burress, NYG WR @Was 34-28 F 2
TE Heath Miller, Pit TE @Cin 23-17 F 0
D/ST Eagles D/ST, Phi D/ST Atl 24-17 F 8
K John Kasay, Car K @NO 31-21 F 5
HC Ravens Coach, Bal HC Buf 19-7 F 9
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: 5
TOTAL POINTS: 124
ROUND 2 TOTAL: 208