The Expert League Challenge

I have had the privilege of participating in several fantasy baseball and football expert leagues. I have done well in a few of them but unfortunately have yet to actually win one. I plan to change that this season. Whether you participate in Fantasy Baseball or another type of sports betting the goal is always to win. Sometimes you want to win for recognition (as in Expert leagues) and other times you want to bring home the fantasy league pot. In either case the method is pretty much the same – develop a winning strategy and implement it to the best of your ability. 

On Sunday I drafted in two Fantasy Sports Invitational Challenge Expert Leagues run by Fantasy Sports R Us. One league was an NL-only with 11 teams and the other a nine team AL-only.  My Strategy in both leagues was fairly simple. Draft at least 200 homeruns, 120 stolen bases, two closers and strikeout starters. You can judge the execution of that strategy for yourself. I was more happy with the AL team than the NL team. I was not nearly as obsessed with the Reds and Yankees as the rosters may make it appear. I failed to acquire the quality of pitching I was hoping for but think I have a solid core in both leagues.

The NL-Only Team

C Rob Brantley, Miami Marlins – showed new on-base skills after joining the Marlins

1B Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers – hopefully over his shoulder problems

3B Todd Frazier, Cincinnati Reds – a talented player in a great lineup

CI Allen Craig, St. Louis Cardinals – an underrated power source

2B Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds – a top second basemen

SS Alex Gonzalez, Milwaukee Brewers – should see time all over the field and serve as Segura insurance

MI Steve Lombardozzi, Washington Nationals – betting on Espinosa’s shoulder problems

OF Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves – my bet to be a 2014 first round pick

OF Carlos Beltran, St. Louis Cardinals – his endurance should be better this season

OF Starling Marte, Pittsburgh Pirates – a youngster with power and speed

OF Carlos Quentin, San Diego Padres – a powerful hitter who is presently healthy

OF Tony Campana, Arizona Diamondbacks – just for the stolen bases

Utl Jedd Gyorko, San Diego Padres – my rookie of the year pick

SP Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati Reds – I think he’s an ace starter

SP Trevor Cahill, Arizona Diamondbacks – trending very well, improved skills

SP Edwin Jackson, Chicago Cubs – an underrated starting pitcher

SP Ross Detwiler, Washington Nationals – him too

SP Kyle Kendrick, Philadelphia Phillies – put it together in the second half of the 2012 season

MR Heath Bell, Arizona Diamondbacks – betting he finds his way to saves somehow

MR Brandon Lyon, New York Mets – next in line for saves in New York

CL Rafael Soriano, Washington Nationals – A top five closer

CL Rafael Betancourt, Colorado Rockies – a top skilled closer

R Billy Hamilton, SS, Cincinnati Reds – If he comes up early he’ll save my horrid middle infield

R Jerry Hairston, 2B, 3B, OF Los Angeles Dodgers – love having reserves that play all over

R Erik Kratz, C, Philadelphia Phillies – should be very productive while Ruiz sits

R Gerrit Cole, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates – an ace as soon as he gets the call

R Cory Luebke, SP, San Diego Padres – help down the stretch

The AL-Only Team

C Mike Napoli, Boston Red Sox – should see more at-bats in a park built for him

1B Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays – he may not repeat but 30 homers is a cinch

3B Josh Donaldson, Oakland Athletics – a sleeper pick after getting caught looking elsewhere

CI Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees – the power is not going anywhere

2B Robinson Cano, New York Yankees – worthy of the number one pick in any league

SS Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland Indians – a top shortstop

MI Omar Infante, Detroit Tigers – a quality late round middle infielder

OF Dayan Viciedo, Chicago White Sox – big power potential

OF Nick Swisher, Cleveland Indians – a solid player in a very improved lineup

OF Coco Crisp, Oakland Athletics – the stolen base master of the present

OF Leonys Martin, Texas Rangers – a better hitter than most understand

OF Peter Bourjos, Los Angeles Angels – if he hits he should also steal bases

Utl Darin Mastroianni, Minnesota Twins – knows how to get on base and the speed skills for 70 SBs

SP Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers – better than he looked last season

SP Jake Peavy, Chicago White Sox – flashed his former stuff last season, finally healthy

SP Mark Buehrle, Toronto Blue Jays – a solid pitcher on a great team

SP Vance Worley, Minnesota Twins – a pitcher I like more than you

SP Dan Straily, Oakland Athletics – a minor league strikeout leader with a rotation spot

SP Joe Saunders, Seattle Mariners – the park should make him look better than his skills

SP Wade Davis, Kansas City Royals – one of my bets to step up big time in 2013

MR Sean Doolittle, Oakland Athletics – my favorite relief sleeper

CL Brant Balfour, Oakland Athletics – the only closer left on the board

R Ryan Flaherty, 2B, 3B, OF, Baltimore Orioles – versatile and behind a brittle starter

R Matt Dominguez, 3B, Houston Astros – improved his bat skills last season, starting 3B

R Mike Aviles, Cleveland Indians – versatile reserve on a team with many potential holes

R Eduardo Nunez, New York Yankees – a young and versatile player on an aging team

R Roberto Hernandez (the former Fausto Carmona), SP Tampa Bay Rays – the Rays are miracle workers

Expert Leagues: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

NOTE: Apologies to those that received the incomplete version of this in their feeds. My big fat fingers struck the wrong keys.

In the last week I've had two expert league drafts - The Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League - a 12 team, mixed, 5x5 (OBA/Strikeouts), Head-to-Head league, and The Fantasy Sports Invitational Challenge - a fairly standard AL-only draft league. The two drafts could not have gone more differently.

The Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League

This draft took place on Mock Draft Central. It went quickly and smoothly. I was pretty much able to follow my very simple plan. The plan - draft a balanced offense but with an emphasis on power and pad the reserve list with lots of cheap steals and saves.

C Jorge Posada, New York Yankees

1B Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
3B Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
CI Lance Berkman, Houston Astros

2B Brian Roberts, Baltimore Orioles
SS Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
MI Jose Lopez, Seattle Mariners

OF Johnny Damon, New York Yankees
OF Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
OF Brett Gardner, New York Yankees

U Mark DeRosa, Cleveland Indians

SP Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
SP Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
SP Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins
SP Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
SP Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
SP Justin Duchscherer, Oakland Athletics
SP Anibal Sanchez, Florida Marlins

RP Kevin Gregg, Chicago Cubs
RP Joey Devine, Oakland Athletics

Res C John Baker, Florida Marlins
Res 1B Jason Giambi, Oakland Athletics
Res 3B Edwin Encarnacion, Cincinnati Reds
Res OF Kendry Morales, Los Angeles Angels
Res OF Juan Pierre, Los Angeles Dodgers
Res SP David Huff, Cleveland Indians

Fantasy Sports Invitational Challenge - American League

This draft did not go so well for a variety of reasons. I spent two days inserting my draft lists into the CBSportsline.com system. I had another relatively simple plan - Draft an amazing offense and a low cost LIMA style pitching staff. I signed in 30 minutes early to queue up all of my sleeper picks and the pitchers I liked best. The draft began okay but then I and other noticed that the DH's were not listed under DH's. the draft was stopped to correct this problem. Then with the problem fixed autodraft took over and starting picking formy team and others. This required us to once again stop the draft. For some reason which I don't understand, we were unable to back out to the point the draft was originally stopped. It was decided that we would start the draft over an hour later and rebuild the draft thus far.

When we returned the draft was not rebuilt and owners who had previously been on auto-draft were now present. We attempted several times to rebuild the draft but it proved impossible. In addition the re-boot deleted my pre-ranks and all of the players I had put in my queue which meant I was going to have to wing it. The result was a pretty good offense and a bullpen dominated pitching staff.

This is not really intended as an excuse for my sorta lousy draft but just a description of the chaos of the draft itself. I should have been better prepared with a paper list but I was not. As a result I will probably be spending the first half of the season scrambling for innings.

C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Texas Rangers

1B Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
3B Chris Davis, Texas Rangers
CI Mike Jacobs, Kansas City Royals

2B Mark DeRosa, Cleveland Indians
SS Bobby Crosby, Oakland Athletics
MI Ronny Cedeno, Seattle Mariners

OF B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay Rays
OF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
OF Xavier Nady, New York Yankees
OF Delmon Young, Minnesota Twins
OF Justin Ruggiano, Tampa Bay Rays

U Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox

P David Aardsma, Seattle Mariners
P Grant Balfour, Tampa Bay Rays
P Dallas Braden, Oakland Athletics
P Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays
P Scott Downs, Toronto Blue Jays
P Chris Ray, Baltimore Orioles
P George Sherrill, Baltimore Orioles
P Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles
P Joel Zumaya, Detroit Tigers

Res Max Ramirez, Texas Rangers
Res Brett Anderson, Oakland Athletics
Res Derek Holland, Texas Rangers
Res David Huff, Cleveland Indians
Res Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels

Okay, lets hear your thoughts...