The Post-Draft In-Season Strategy Guide
April 20, 2004
Written by Trav The Ump

(Read archived articles here)

So you're on your way home from the grueling auction or snake draft of your favorite fantasy baseball league. Your roster sheet sitting proudly on the passenger seat has a mixture of stars, forgotten veterans, and up-and-comers that you're sure will break out this year. You sit through those circus games in Tokyo and get down to the real nitty gritty. The Moose seems solid, a likely anchor of the staff. How can one not like A-rod? And Mark Prior, well that was just a steal…

Fast forward, its two weeks into the season and Joe Mauer has crumpled like a hot dog wrapper on two-dollar Tuesday. Your ERA is well over five, your WHIP…well its hard to calculate that anyways. I'm not going to write that you need to be patient or tell you to relax because the season is still early. There are many writers out there who preach this and enough sites to beat this into you that there is absolutely no reason for me to repeat it. Here's what my years of experience have taught me, now is the time to begin building a rapport with the rest of your owners in your league. You don't have to trade; you don't even actually have to talk specific names. Simply drop your local Mussina owner an e-mail or voice mail and mention that if his pitching is still struggling in a couple of weeks you'd be more than willing to help. Find the owner who is already struggling in steals, mention that your looking for help in another category…if his team isn't coming around by mid-May maybe you can work something out. It doesn't take much, but realize when owners start to get itchy trigger fingers and the unavoidable season ending injuries begin to pile up that he or she will remember that "Oh yeah, he mentioned he could help me out." A little love at the start of the season can go a long way in building a championship. Remember that is what were here for, championships. And don't kid yourself every team is going to need some tweaking before October rolls around to get into the Yoo-hoo shower.

A couple of other things I've noticed early in the season…
* HDTV is pretty cool, even if you don't have an HD set the sharpness is brought up. I was watching a game on WGN (expressvu satellite up here in Canada) and they zoomed in on the first base bag to get a look at the opening day logo and you could make it out clearly. Amazing. The wide angles provide a new perspective from home as well.

* Artur Moreno is crazy and I love it. Don't go rushing to your waiver wires if you're not familiar with the name. He's the Angels owner, he of lowered beer prices, food prices, and ticket prices. And get this! More people come to the park now because of it! Makes watching a baseball game easier on the eyes when the stadium is 95% full.

* The Cubs look good, if the pitching settles down and Prior comes back lookout.

* Barry Bonds is a monster and let no one tell you different.

(Side hockey note: Go Canadiens Go, and Mike Danton hires a killer…the NHL wonders why they can't get ratings in the states. They need to play this up! This is almost NFL-esque!)

Until next time folks…

Trav The Ump
Trav_9@hotmail.com