It's Not a Trick, It's a Collusion – 2018 In Love Baseball Fantasy League

TBF Kershaw, Kluber, Scherzer & Votto were the only four guy I was going to target above a young SP.

and guess i should have made extra sure the rules/settings were understood by the new teams before we got to the draft.
when we first went to a keeper format (which i love), i didn't like that someone might be able to keep a Trout or Kershaw for their entire career. didn't seem fair to keep so many elite players out of reach. and since irl most players hit free agency by the time they've hit 30, i thought the age cut-off was a good way to go. and also 30 is a nice, round, easy to remember number. as far as the age brackets go, i like it because it A) prevents people from bunching up a crew of similar aged guys and B) it forces teams to plan for the career progression of it's younger picks – i wanted more thought to go into team than just having a bucket of under-30 guys you can hang onto. almost like when a guy hits 27, you have to decide if that he's good enough to extend. an interesting side effects as well, seems to be that it has inspired some incredibly interesting trades over the years.
the only thing i'm not crazy about is when we calculate someone's age. we go by our leagues draft date, which can be a moving target. iirc only one guy has been effected by the phenomenon of their official age shifting due to this, so it hasn't really been a major problem.

Yeah, please don't mind me, I'm just trolling mostly.

I also have no idea who all the hot young prospects are so it's almost better I luckily backed into a few under 30 guys rather than intentionally chased a flash in the pan with an upper round pick.

if i'm in the running for first place, we can talk in a few months... i have at least two too many *young* young guys. and i probably am not the only one.

Lincecumlords are now CorrosionOfConforto

^ a reference I get!

It's the draft date? Oops. I thought it was MLB opening day. Probably doesn't make a big difference...

oh - you know what, it is. Ignore me. I don't know the rules of my own league.

Just peeked in on my team and one of my starters had just given up 3 homeruns in a half-inning...

dammit, i was just about to add Martinez!

https://media.giphy.com/media/12PMxjnRn4Hynu/giphy.gif

(i was pretty "lucky" that Conforto went to the 10-day DL)

Someone in my other league has 6 home runs today. So far.

So are we gonna introduce our teams?
Here is Vorped Mind 2018's most formidable contender (complete with ILX-friendly name change, as strongly suggested at the draft):

Hallojoeygallo, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Gallo's Pole
https://i.imgur.com/j7A5WnR.jpg

C Sal PEREZ, Evan GATTIS
1B Justin SMOAK
2B Brian DOZIER
3B Josh DONALDSON, Manny MACHADO
SS Marcus SEMIEN
OF GALLO and his Pole
OF Marcell OZUNA
OF Adam JONES
OF Avisaíl GARCÍA
NA Eloy JIMÉNEZ
-
SP Chris SALE
SP Lucas GIOLITO
SP Charlie MORTON
SP Jeff SAMARDZIJA
RP Craig KIMBREL
RP Aroldis CHAPMAN
RP Sean DOOLITTLE
RP Archie BRADLEY
RP Anthony SWARZAK

Inquiries about trades welcome.
Trading Block:
3B: Machado
Youth: Jimenez, Giolito
C: Gattis, Perez

ISO: a future 27-29yo
1B/OF combo
SP

oh FUCK, that photoshop is boss

i'll do mine in a minute

Applying pop-Marxism to Sabermetrics, owning libs who still believe in RBIs, and seemingly obsessed with WWI-era Detroit Tigers pitcher Bernie Boland, this is your VOTTO TRAP HOUSE for the season.

https://i.imgur.com/tgma1HH.jpg

C - LUCROY, Jonathan
1B - HOSMER, Eric
2B - ODOR, Rougned
3B - ARENADO, Nolan
SS - COZART, Zack
OF - JUDGE, Aaron
OF - MARTE, Starling
OF - BETTS, Mookie

1B - MYERS, Wil
OF - PUIG, Yasiel
SS - BECKHAM, Tim
NA - ROBLES, Victor

SP - OHTANI, Shohei
SP - PRICE, David
SP - TAILLON, Jameson
SP - TEHERAN, Julio
SP - WEAVER, Luke
DL - SALAZAR, Danny
DL - REYES, Alex

RP - GILES, Ken
RP - RIVERO, Felipe
RP - MADSON, Ryan
RP - MUSGROVE, Joe
DL - MELANCON, Mark

No reasonable trade offer denied without reason

haha amazing. Can Ohtani be employed as offense and defense?

nope, he is in the system as two players. i have the "pitcher" version. the "hitter" version is available on the waiver wire!

CORROSIONOFCONFORTO

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/4f/80/314f809940dc85218f603ef2095deaf8.jpg

C - Yadier Molina
1B - Jay Bruce
1B - Jose Martinez
2B - Robinson Cano
2B - Ian Happ
3B - Adrian Beltre
3B - Matt Davidson
SS - Xander Bogaerts
SS - Paul DeJong
OF - Manuel Margot
OF - Andrew Benintendi
OF - Michael Taylor
OF - Michael Conforto
UTIL - Ryan McMahon

SP - Max Scherzer
SP - Zack Greinke
SP - Carlos Martinez
SP - Felix Hernandez
SP - Jacob DeGrom
SP - Drew Pomeranz
RP - Raisel Iglesias
RP - Arodys Vizcaino
RP - Corey Knebel
RP - Brad Peacock

I don't compete now, I make money moves
Say I don't gotta compete, I make money move

The expansion team shopping for keepers BODAK YELLICH

https://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/gty_670347988_90348650.jpg?w=1000&h=636

C - Wilson Ramos
1B - Rhys Hoskins
2B - Yoan Moncada
3B- Anthony Rendon
SS - Orlando Arcia
SS - J.P Crawford
SS - Bo Bichette
OF - Byron Buxton
OF - Ronald Acuna
OF - Josh Reddick
OF - Aaron Hicks
OF - Adam Eaton
UTIL - Ian Kinsler

SP - Aaron Sanchez
SP - Cole Hamels
SP - Rich Hill
SP - Zach Davies
SP - Sean Manaea
SP - Michael Kopech
SP - Carson Fulmer
RP - Brendon Morrow
RP - Dave Robertson

lol at jpgs.

One thing about yfb that bugs is that games that lineups where players in games that have been PPD are not available to be subbed.

sorry that made no sense, let's try again: If a game has been PPD, you should be able to edit that player from the PPD game out of your lineup.

hey, how about some more bellyaching from me!

there's some obvious lag/glitch between the actual lineup page and the StatTracker, here's what my actual lineup is (Gardner benched/Frazier starting):

https://i.imgur.com/IN7bai9.png

and here's what the StatTracker is showing (with Frazier on the bench & Gardner starting... and more importantly, Frazier's stats aren't being calculated on the StatTracker):

https://i.imgur.com/gXMvVVP.png

Van Horn: FYI you can move a couple guys into DL slots and one of your minor league dudes into the NA slot. that'll open up three roster spots for you.

I guess you guys inspired me – did up a quick spoof logo to go with the name:
https://imgur.com/a/M1rYR

C – J.T. Realmuto
backup / DL replacement C – Brian McCann
1B – Jose Abreu
2B – Ozzie Albies (shame on you people for letting him fall to me)
3B – Kris Bryant
back-up 3B – Matt Chapman
SS – Carlos Correa
OF – Andrew McCutchen
OF – Nomar Mazara
OF – Ryan Braun
OF and DL mainstay – Michael Btantly
OF / NA stash: David Dahl
2B/OF/rebound candidate – Jason Kipnis
super-mega utility dude – Eduardo Nunez

SP – Lius Severino
SP – Jose Quintana
SP – James Paxton
SP – Jake Arrieta
SP – Garrett Richards
SP – Jake Faria
RP – Edwin Diaz
RP – Addison Reed
RP – Kyle Barraclough

27-29 Keepers for 2019:
Bryant (27), Realmuto (28)

< 27 keepers (in order of the odds I'll be hanging on to them):
Correa (24), Severino (25), Albies (22), Mazara (23), Dahl (25), Faria (25), Chapman (25), Diaz (25)

my team's standing every year since we starting keeping players in 2011:
10/15, 7/15, 7/14, 1/13, 4/12, 2/11, 2/12

looking to end that three year dry spell, especially after two misses and losing Jose Fernandez.
will probably start looking to move Mazara/Dahl/Faria/Chapman for an upgrade a little into the season once we have a better look at them/the standings.

hmmm, try that image one more time:
https://i.imgur.com/rsBH5uB.jpg

whoops that's big.

Just realized I never said my team name (Incase people don’t recognize the logo)
PORNO FOR SHAPIROS

http://flipflopflyin.com/flipflopflyball/misc-miketrout.jpg

Offense
C - Welington Castillo CWS
1B - Chris Davis BAL
2B - Starlin Castro MIA
3B - Mike Moustakas KC
SS - Elvis Andrus TEX
OF - Mitch Haniger SEA
OF - Billy Hamilton CIN
OF - Nelson Cruz SEA
Util - Ryan Zimmerman Was - 1B

Bench:
OF - Max Kepler MIN
3B - Travis Shaw MIL
1B - Logan Morrison MIN
2B - Daniel Murphy WAS (DL)

6-man Rotation:
Corey Kluber Cle - SP
Alex Wood LAD - SP
Danny Duffy KC - SP
J.A. Happ Tor - SP
Jake Odorizzi Min - SP
Chase Anderson Mil - SP

Relief:
Kenley Jansen LAD - RP
Jeurys Familia NYM - RP
Brad Boxberger Ari - RP
Carl Edwards Jr. ChC - RP
Pat Neshek Phi - RP (DL)

My goal is to win the league without really paying attention to keepers.

Some may remember me as the original commish of ILBB fantasy (why hello Balks, HBP, Cycle) as well as orginal moderator of ILBB but that was like 15 years ago so probably a lot of you do not!

Is it cool if I start referring to you as “the ghost of fantasy past”?
Also: why have you come to haunt us, spirit??

my team is garbage

protoschwarber

https://imgur.com/a/4VF9V

willson contreras - C
paul goldschmidt - 1b
javier baez - 2b, ss
jake lamb - 3b
marwin gonzalez - everywhere
ender inciarte - of
christian yelich - of
aj pollock - of
rafeal devers - util

tim anderson - ss
jeimer candelario - 3b
josh bell - 1b
ian desmond - of (though he'll be replaced by josh harrison tomorrow)
scott kingery - 2b
gleyber torres - ss (NA)

yu darvish - sp
jon gray - sp
mike clevinger - sp
tyler chatwood - sp
alex cobb - sp (NA)
marco gonzalez - sp
blake treinen - rp
kelvin herrera - rp

i love trades

i see you did the same linking thing i did originally.

eh you aren't missing much

i dont fuck w photoshop but imagine cc's giant head/face on https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51xr2811V3L._SX339_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

o & my team ~ currently obp'ing/slg'ing .471/.677 get @ me

c- d'arnaud
1b- fred freeman
2b- altuve
ss- c seager
3b- castellanos
of - bryce harper
of - blackmon
of- cain

util/bench
k. seager
t. frazier
d. peralta
dl g. bird

pitchers
keuchel
verlander
jordan montgomery
sonny grey
chris archer
erv santana
cody allen
devenski
wade davis
alex colome
adam ottovino
dl - d. lamet

Damn your team is monstrous.

i got u, Johnny...

https://i.imgur.com/zp51Gu7.jpg

also: your team is indeed disgusting.

haha thank u

For a brief moment a few minutes ago, I was 1st in Quality Starts & last in Wins.

I wanna see the team that can pull off the opposite.

Get me Jack Morris and David Wells, stat

LuvWilTeheranUsApart (character limits ruin the team name somewhat)

After three straight podium finishes, my team has been in a Blue Jays-like state of not exactly rebuilding and not exactly ready to contend. Yuck!

C - Buster Posey
1B - Edwin Encarnacion
2B - Anthony Rizzo (a very useful position eligibility quirk!) (K)
3B - Alex Bregman (K)
SS - Addison Russell
OF - Matt Olson, Kyle Schwarber, Jackie Bradley Jr
Util - Carlos Santana

bench: Eddie Rosario, Evan Longoria, Willie Calhoun (currently NA), Justin Turner (currently DL), Vlad Guerrero Jr (currently NA, future face of the team?)

SP - Gio Gonzalez, Robbie Ray (K), Marcus Stroman (K), Michael Wacha, Trevor Bauer (K), Steven Matz
RP - Dellin Betances, Brad Hand, Brad Brach, Nate Jones

you're really going the long haul for Vlad, huh?

I picked him towards the end of the draft, so it was low risk. I figured I might as well stick him in the NA spot and see if they bring him up this year.

Years ago I drafted Strasburg before his debut, hung onto him all season long until he was called up, then kept him all throughout the year he was recovering from TJ surgery. If you've got the roster spot to burn (and NA isn't an active roster spot) and if the upside is high enough then why not?

in my case, because i lack the required patience.

sometimes i get the existential fear, like knowing how Ian Happ will age out of being a keeper just before i turn 50.

i think about how old my daughter will be when Albies gets there. (almost high school age) :`(

Last place! I have never been in last place in this league (14 seasons!), even for a day.