Tagged: Tim Hudson

Can the Braves ‘Chop’ through the competition?

Growing up I always loved the Atlanta Braves. With pitchers like Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux, they arguably had one of the best pitching rotations of all time. Under former manager Bobby Cox, they even managed to be the NL East division champions for 14 consecutive years. But now all those players are now gone, and Bobby Cox is no longer managing the team. Do the Braves have what it takes to once again be the team to beat in the East?

The Braves spent much of 2011 in the mix of contention, but despite finishing with a record of 89-73, it wasn’t enough for them to make it to the playoffs. Thanks to having strong pitching and defense, the Braves were able to make up for the fact that they didn’t score a lot of runs last year. In fact, there were only six teams in the NL that scored less runs than Atlanta and off those six teams, only one finished with a winning record.

As much as I’d like to be optimistic about the Braves having a chance to compete for the division title, it’s hard to envision them having a great chance. The biggest factor in me saying that, is really they did nothing to improve their team during the offseason. Sure, you can argue the fact that Jason Heyward will likely improve on his 2011 numbers and I’d probably agree with you. There’s just so much depth in the NL East, that it’s going to be difficult for the Braves to ‘Tomahawk Chop’ their way through the competition.

I still do love the Braves rotation, but having Tim Hudson starting the year on the disabled list doesn’t exactly help Atlanta’s ability to get off to a fast start, but they still have quality pitchers in Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens and Brandon Beachy. If the Braves rotation can keep other teams in their division in check, then there’s certainly a chance that the Braves could be competing for one of the two wild card spots this year. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’ll be able to win the division, though.

Fun fact: If you’re a Boston Red Sox fan, you should probably root for the Braves, too. Why? The Atlanta Braves were originated from one of the two original National League franchises, and were originally called the Boston Red Stockings. They were and are in no way affiliated with the Red Sox, but it certainly is a bizarre coincidence.

Votto, you got to go

I always try to treat my fantasy baseball teams similarly to how I would if I was a general manager for a baseball team.  Of course, that doesn’t include payroll, staffing, corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, promotions…well, you get the idea.

What I can do however, is find ways to improve my team.  So when I lost one of my two closers for the year (Ryan Madson), I immediately tried to find a replacement.  Unfortunately, free agency left me only with Jonathon Broxton as a somewhat viable option.  My next idea was to find a trade to bolster my roster.  

When I looked at my team, I noticed that I have a very dominant pitching core.  My biggest weakness is going to be home runs, and slugging percentage, and I’m okay with that.  When playing a head to head league, I always suggest trying to build your team to be dominant in at least half the categories, while giving yourself a chance to win a few of the others.

Ultimately, I was offered a trade of David Price and Billy Butler for Joey Votto.  After a bit of deliberation, I decided it was definitely going to make my team better in the long run.  There’s no doubt that I’m losing a bit of value at first base, but a lot of people aren’t aware of how good Billy Butler is, and will be for quite a while.  Throw in the fact I got a dominant starting pitcher in Price, I felt like there was no way I could turn this offer down.

Sure, Butler probably won’t hit as many home runs, or have as many RBIs as Votto, but the falloff isn’t that significant.  I was already convinced my roster wasn’t going to be dominant in those categories, which I still will be competitive in, especially since no player on my team hit less than 10 home runs (David Freese in 333 at bats) last year.  

I even did some number crunching, and if swap Votto’s offensive numbers with that of Billy Butler (and using all the 2011 statistics of all 14 of my position players), it comes out to: .282 batting average,  72 runs, 19 home runs, and 71 RBIs.  If I can get a similar offensive production from all the players in 2012, I’ll consider myself to be in fine shape.  Not to mention the fact having pitchers that include: Roy Halladay, Doug Fister, Rick Porcello, David Price, Max Scherzer, Tim Hudson and Jose Valverde certainly won’t hurt much, either.

Sorry Votto, but you got to go.

Breaking it down: Fantasy baseball auction draft

Earlier today, I completed my first ever fantasy baseball auction draft for a 12 team head to head league.  I heavily suggest you and your friends giving it a try sometime, as it adds a fun and competitive dynamic not found in a traditional draft.  The concept is quite simple, even for first time participants.  You start out with a certain amount of “dollars” to spend on your team (for us, it was 260 dollars).  Instead of going in order to draft players, you rotate nominating players, in which all teams have the option of bidding on said player.  The catch is you must be able to bid at least one dollar on every single player, and you cannot spend over your bankroll on your entire draft.  This creates a challenge when you big top dollar on players early in the draft, but find yourself too low on funds to bid on players in the later rounds.

Here’s my team, and how much I bid on each player.

Catcher: Alex Avila-$13
First baseman: Joey Votto-$47
Second baseman: Ryan Raburn-$1
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy-$6
Third baseman: Placido Polanco-$5
Outfield: Curtis Granderson-$32
Outfield: Brennan Boesch-$7
Outfield: Drew Stubbs-$7
Utility: Corey Hart-$7
Utility: Carlos Beltran-$5
Bench: Jhonny Peralta-$1
Bench: Yadier Molina-$3
Bench: David Freese-$4
Bench: Neil Walker-$3

Starting pitcher: Roy Halladay-$42
Starting pitcher: Doug Fister-$15
Relief pitcher: Jose Valverde-$14
Relief pitcher: Phil Coke-$3
Pitcher: Rick Porcello-$6
Pitcher: Mat Latos-$12
Pitcher: Ryan Madson-$6
Bench: Max Scherzer-$4
Bench: Tim Hudson-$2

Overall, I really feel like my team is very solid all around, with enough star players to make a difference.  My strategy going into the draft was to not spend more than 20 percent of my budget on any one player, and to not have more than three people combine to cost more than 60 percent of salary cap.  I was able to get my three most expensive players for 46.5% of my budget.  By doing this, I had plenty of money available in the later parts of the auction to outbid people who spent foolishly early on.  If you do find yourself in an auction draft, I suggest using a similar strategy, as I thought it worked quite well.