August 12, 2019: Hard Decisions

We’re coming down the stretch of the fantasy baseball season.  My team has been one of the hottest in the league, as I’ve cemented a playoff spot over the past few weeks.  Unfortunately, the top 2 seeds are a long shot; that means no bye week.  I’ve planned out my number of moves perfectly, and now have enough to use the maximum 3 per week from here on out, through the week of the finals.  Now it’s time to make hard decisions.

Fact is, it doesn’t matter what guys have done so far this year; it’s all about what they’re going to do in the playoffs.  That doesn’t mean I’m going to cut Freeman, Alonso, or Dozier…  it would be pretty stupid (and impossible) to recycle your whole roster.  Yet, I definitely will be looking for the hot hand.  All the players on my team, especially the ones that have been marginal the last 30 days, are in jeopardy of being cut.  I can’t have any emotional ties to these guys, even if they’ve had some great moments on my team.  I still won’t pick up any Cardinals, Brewers, or Dodgers… sorry, principles guys.  Other than that, anything goes as we march down the stretch.

The one position that really sucks is Catcher… and we play in a 2 catcher league.  I’ve circled through a bunch, including one of the guys I drafted, Danny Jansen.  He was horrible, so I cut him.  Then he got hot, so I picked him up.  Over the last 30 days, his average has been poor again.  Looking at the wire, I decided to take a shot at a guy that’s been heating up lately.  After missing most of the season, he’s back, and has been doing decent… especially for a catcher.  I chose Tucker Barnhart; the other guy on my radar was Mejia from the Padres.  By looking at their schedules, Tucker appeared to have an easier one, so I made the call.  Of course Danny hits a home run on his last day on my roster, but I think we’re good, especially when it’s been announced he’ll be in a timeshare from here on out.  That wasn’t so hard of a decision.

You can never have enough pitching.  Currently, I was running with one extra hitter; I usually max out my pitching.  Griffith Canning was a guy I had my eye on this year.  I missed out on the initial pickup, but since then he’s been cut… since then he hasn’t been that good either.  Still, the waiver wire isn’t strong for pitching, and I still wanted to give this kid a chance, who was just coming off the injured list.  That meant I had to drop a hitter if I wanted to have the maximum number of pitchers on my roster, without leaving any starting positions open of course (this could be an extreme idea if need be in the playoffs, especially in my 2 catcher league).  I chose to drop Dan Vogelbach.  I shopped him earlier in the year with no bites… so I kept him.  He’s been really good, hitting a bunch of bombs for me.  Yet lately, he’s slumped…  Even though he was an ex-Cub prospect, and put up a number of points for me fantasy wise this year, he had to go; that was a harder decision.

From here on out, everybody on my roster is on notice.  Like we expect the Cubs to go with the best 9 regardless, I need to ride those hot hands through the homestretch, and hopefully multiple rounds of the playoffs.  It has begun.