2009 Fantasy Factor Baseball Results

The first ever Fantasy Factor Baseball league concluded and it was a tight race all the way to the end with the top four teams all having a chance to win entering the final month.  Ultimately, the Guam Boonie Dogs walked away with the title this year.  His lineup of hitters were incredible.  He has 6 hitters with over 30 HRs (Prince Fielder, Michael Cuddyer, Aaron Hill, Ryan Braun, Carlos Pena, Russell Branyan) and his pitching, led by surprise ace Zack Greinke, was solid all season.  Thank you to everyone that participated, it was a very fun league to play in and once again, Congratulations to the Guam Boonie Dogs!

Here are the final standings:

1st - Guam Boonie Dogs - 10508.83 pts
2nd - Xtreme Machine - 10419.00 pts
3rd - Kevin Zuk - 10309.00 pts
4th - erieburgher - 10234.17 pts
5th - Buc Fever - 9581.83 pts
6th - Barry's Juice - 9510.83 pts
7th - arepooandastaken2 - 9032.67 pts
8th - The Winning Team - 8946.17 pts

It was a roller coaster season for me.  I had some players have big breakout seasons (Jayson Werth and Adam Lind), while established stars got injured (Josh Hamilton and Johan Santana), suspended (Manny Ramirez) or fell into horrible slumps in the second half (Raul Ibanez and Brad Hawpe).   

Team MVP: Javier Vazquez
Despite being loaded with pitching stars like Roy Halladay, Johan Santana and Brandon Webb on draft day, the best pitcher on my team was a guy that went undrafted in our league.  Vazquez was consistent and strong all season.  He finished with 238 K's in 219.1 IP, compiled 15 wins while finishing with an ERA under 3 (2.87). 

Biggest Surprise:  Jayson Werth
I picked him up just to fill in when Raul Ibanez got injured and I didn't expect him to be around for long but in his first game with the Xtreme Machine he went 4-4 with 2 HRs.  He was a streaky hitter throughout the year and at times I considered dropping him, but I knew that if he was in a slump, big numbers were right around the corner and he always delivered.  Werth finished with 36 HR, 99 RBI, 98 runs and 20 SB. 

Biggest Disappointment: Josh Hamilton
There is no doubt about this one.  My first round pick played in only 89 games this year, most of those he played injured, hit just 10 HR and only knocked in 54 runs.  A far cry from the guy that looked like he was going to challenge Hack Wilson's RBI record or the guy that hit the most homers in the HR derby in Yankee Stadium last year.  I haven't soured on him, I think playing in Texas, if he can stay healthy, he'll be one of the best OF in the AL once again, but I'm pretty sure he won't be a first rounder for me next year.

Since everyone that participated in this league reads this blog, what are your thoughts on the season?  What went right?  What went wrong?  Who was your best and worst players?  Who was your biggest surprise?

Posted Oct 06 2009, 09:49 AM by Nick Fruscello
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Comments

GuamBoonieDogs wrote re: 2009 Fantasy Factor Baseball Results
on Tue, Oct 6 2009 11:37 AM

Thanks for doing the league. It was fun. The point system was new to me, so some of my draft picks were pretty bad (Ichiro). To be honest, I didn't pay enough attention to the rules when I drafted him. I thought we got 1 point, not .5 points, for every hit.

My strategy was not care to much about pitching in the draft  and just go for bombers, and it worked out. The majority of my pitching staff was picked up off waivers and Carlos Pena was my last pick.

Biggest bust was Dice-K. Biggest surprise was how bad Ichiro was in the league's format. Team savior was Michael Cuddyer. Michael Young, Carlos Pena and Alfonso Soriano all went down in the last month. I picked up Cuddyer and he made everything OK.

KevinZuk wrote re: 2009 Fantasy Factor Baseball Results
on Tue, Oct 6 2009 2:48 PM

This was my first time doing fantasy baseball, so it was a big adjustment for me. Lots of ups and downs for me.

The draft should have been good, anchored by Ryan Howard, Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez. And I got a bargain on Mauer (albeit accidentally). My pitching staff was pretty poor, with only Cliff Lee (Indians version) and Jon Lester to help the staff.

A bunch of trades and luck helped to turn my season around (acquiring Hanley Ramirez and Ichiro, then flipping them for other help elsewhere) but it turned out that I just didn't realize the talent I had. Trading A-Rod and Oswalt for Brandon Webb and McLouth REALLY hurt in the end, as well as the Justin Upton for Mauer trade, which didn't work out for me either (dropping Upton when he got sent down was a huge mistake and when Russell Martin failed Mauer would have been a nice replacement.

Biggest Disappointment: Cliff Lee (very few wins and strikeouts, tons of innings and I traded him before he got traded to Philly. Or Russell Martin. Manny Ramirez (not especially great after I picked him up over a month before his return. OR it could have been my own management skills... they were awful.

Team MVP: Ryan Howard. Everything a first-round pick should be. Especially the last pick in the first round. Finished second only to Pujols in fantasy points.

Biggest Surprise: How little I knew about baseball. But my goal from the beginning was to learn more about players from teams other than the Pirates, and in that I definitely succeeded. Third Place is just fine with me!