Yahoo's Big Noise Challenge Update: "Blessed are the Cheese Makers"

An update on Brad Evans' Yahoo blog league is in order, no? As you may know, I'm participating in Evans' wacky and wonky 16-team H2H points league, which is on the surface, quite skewed toward pitching. Like I mentioned in the H2HWS blog, it has been a mixed fantasy baseball year for me, even in my beloved H2H. It's quite odd to know that the best I've fared in H2H, is the league I've learned to dislike most: the Evans league. It's been something of a trainwreck in the league: a proposed rule change by a number of the managers, the league isn't publicly published to outsiders as originally promised, and the two Yahoo guys have been relatively inactive. Again, no public viewing of this blog league and so, you'll have to lean on my opinion.....

K-Stand Barmy Army is my team...and top 8 make the playoffs...

Standings (through Week 19)

The Season So Far...

I got off to quite a rocky start. Despite scoring 473 points the first week, my boys were still bested, 539.91 to 473. I happened to run into a team that smacked 19 HR and 60 RBI, all thanks to Troy Tulowitzki, Adam Lind, and Brandon Inge going bonkers. Several weeks later, I lost to the same team (standing in 7th). Fell 0-2 to begin the year, but I got a scalp of the division's top team, Kavemen (a Cafe leaguer) and beat the winless team by a very comfortable margin. Then, came the 2 of the top 3 teams, who like Kavemen, eventually punted hitters in their starting spots. I went on to lose 5 of the first 8 weeks of the season and suddenly, my strategy to load up on hitting wasn't smelling like the brightest idea.

I barely won the next two games against Cafe leaguers and in one of them, my boys edged the others by less than a point (0.92 difference to be exact). The first game against "Big Noise" Brad Evans' team went smoothly. A loss by sheer margins cut off a 3-game winning streak. However, my lads have won 7 in a row to make it 10 of the last 11, but that's not quite as impressive as two teams having won 11 in a row at one time. At any rate, I'm glad my 3rd round pick on Matt Holliday wasn't in vain, just as he's mashing the baseball.

The Team

C	Ryan Doumit (Pit - C)	C Util BN	^ Mil	4:05 pm	65%	35/153	16	19	10	0	6	22	2	4	0	1	112.00
C	--empty--				0%	-/-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.00
1B	Hank Blalock (Tex - 1B,3B)	1B 3B CI Util BN	Min	5:05 pm	63%	91/378	52	47	18	3	23	56	2	16	-	-	304.00
2B	Chase Utley (Phi - 2B)	2B MI Util BN			86%	121/412	82	74	22	1	24	76	13	70	-	-	436.00
3B	Ryan Zimmerman (Was - 3B)	3B CI Util BN			77%	138/453	86	87	26	1	24	78	1	49	-	-	428.50
SS	Stephen Drew (Ari - SS)	SS	^ @Atl	Top 8, 4-9	70%	97/370	53	56	24	8	9	48	3	38	-	-	290.00
CI	Billy Butler (KC - 1B)	1B CI Util BN	@CWS	5:11 pm	56%	129/435	52	77	38	0	14	61	0	38	-	-	341.00
MI	Ryan Theriot (ChC - SS)	SS MI Util BN	@SD	7:05 pm	77%	135/448	63	104	19	5	7	47	15	33	0	1	346.50
OF	Jacoby Ellsbury (Bos - OF)	OF Util BN			72%	134/451	64	103	20	5	6	37	53	31	-	-	404.50
OF	Ryan Braun (Mil - OF)	OF Util BN	^ @Pit	4:05 pm	98%	143/453	84	85	26	6	26	86	10	42	0	1	475.00
OF	Matt Holliday (StL - OF)	OF Util BN	@LAD	7:10 pm	98%	138/431	69	87	33	2	16	76	14	53	0	1	427.50
OF	Mark DeRosa (StL - 1B,2B,3B,OF)	1B 2B 3B CI MI OF Util BN	@LAD	7:10 pm	87%	101/388	65	64	16	0	21	65	1	36	0	1	335.00
OF	J.D. Drew (Bos - OF)	OF Util BN			16%	87/342	62	48	23	3	13	45	2	62	-	-	297.00
Util	Jim Thome (CWS - Util)	Util BN	KC	5:11 pm	45%	77/308	51	43	12	0	22	71	0	66	0	1	315.00
BN	Ian Stewart (Col - 2B,3B)	2B 3B CI MI Util BN			29%	73/314	59	35	18	2	18	54	7	39	0	1	300.50

					Trends	Pitching
Pos	Pitchers	Edit	Opp	Status	% Started	IP	W	CG	SHO	SV	H	ER	BB	K	NH	PG	Fan Pts
SP	Félix Hernández (Sea - SP)	SP BN			55%	165.1	12	1	1	0	145	50	53	158	0	0	497.17
SP	Adam Wainwright (StL - SP)	SP BN	@LAD	7:10 pm	64%	172.0	14	1	0	0	165	50	53	149	0	0	502.50
SP	Junichi Tazawa (Bos - SP)	SP BN			5%	6.2	1	0	0	0	8	3	2	8	0	0	23.83
SP	Aaron Harang (Cin - SP)	SP BN			39%	155.1	6	2	1	0	180	75	41	138	0	0	380.42
SP	Joel Piñeiro (StL - SP)	SP BN	@LAD	7:10 pm	56%	155.0	11	3	2	0	158	56	16	72	0	0	396.50
SP	Kyle Lohse (StL - SP)	SP BN	@LAD	7:10 pm	26%	87.0	5	1	1	0	86	42	27	54	0	0	209.75
RP	Mike González (Atl - RP)	RP	Ari	Top 8, 9-4	63%	55.0	3	0	0	9	43	16	24	71	0	0	244.25
RP	Matt Capps (Pit - RP)	RP BN	Mil	4:05 pm	79%	38.1	2	0	0	21	55	28	15	35	0	0	250.17
RP	Claudio Vargas (Mil - SP,RP)	SP RP BN	@Pit	4:05 pm	1%	18.0	0	0	0	0	13	5	5	14	0	0	40.50
BN	Kenshin Kawakami (Atl - SP)	BN	Ari	Top 8, 9-4	13%	124.1	5	0	0	0	119	57	49	85	0	0	274.67
BN	Pedro Martínez (Phi - SP)	SP BN			17%	5.0	1	0	0	0	7	3	1	5	-	-	18.00
BN	Justin Masterson (Cle - SP,RP)	SP RP BN			12%	82.1	3	0	0	0	84	43	32	78	0	0	194.67
BN	Mat Latos (SD - SP)	SP BN	ChC	7:05 pm	29%	33.2	4	0	0	0	27	15	12	24	0	0	98.58
BN	John Smoltz (Bos - SP)NA	SP BN			3%	40.0	2	0	0	0	59	37	9	33	-	-	75.00
DL	Scott Downs (Tor - RP)DL	RP BN DL			6%	34.1	1	0	0	9	33	13	10	36	0	0	160.92

Pretty much unchanged since Day One (there has been no trading in the league to speak of). I have two aces as Yahoo's top overall scoring pitchers (Felix Hernandez and Adam Wainwright). If you're wondering, Tim Lincecum is the no-doubter MVP of the lot, followed by a distant second in Justin Verlander and then, Greinke, Haren, Halladay, Wainwright, Beckett, King Felix, Vazquez, Sabathia, and Cliff Lee in that order. This basically means that the poor sap who took Sabathia #1 overall should've paid less attention to the 8 points per win bit and gone with Lincecum.

Joel Pineiro has been my diamond in the rough and Aaron Harang has been so-so although he's about 32 points shy of matching Ryan Zimmerman, who's on pace for a career-setting year himself. Spot starters are snatched up like nobody's business here, which gives value to the likes of Jason Hammel and Clayton Richard. This is why I snapped up Kyle Lohse and Pedro Martinez while on the DL, as well as Junichi Tazawa when he was called up to replace John Smoltz (who I'm hoping will find a new home as a starter). In retrospect, I should have passed up Matt Capps for a starter although that guy's name would have been Brett Myers at the time, bleh.

As for my hitters, well, they haven't produced the way I thought they would. Albert Pujols is heads and shoulders above the rest, more so in terms of points, which puts him equal to Lincecum just about. Mark Reynolds is a distant second (80 points behind Pujols), followed by Crawford, Hanley, and Fielder. I still have four top 15 bats (Braun 6th, Utley 11th, Zimmerman 13th, Holliday 14th). The thing I learned over the past few weeks - in line with my preseason thinking - is that if you have a few hitters go bonkers simultaneously, that's still like a double-dip out of Justin Verlander.

Would I do this league again?

Short answer: no. Maybe, if they change a few things.

My #1 beef with this league is a few managers getting away with punting starting hitter spots for crappy pitchers. Mind you, these are still useful hitters. Lads like Howie Kendrick have hit the wire, for example. My dropping of Rod Barajas in my 2nd catcher spot for Justin Masterson is just a slap on the wrist compared to some are doing. Two teams, Dodgers and Alchemist, in particular, have actually opened up holes in their hitting to get any two-start pitcher. By any, I mean ANY. A four-adds-a-week limit isn't enough and the proposed two adds a week limit in midseason wouldn't really do anything. I don't mind with what those managers doing because they're playing the game. However, it should be on Evans and his lackey, Pankau, to outlaw such an upper hand for any manager.

#2 is the add system. If I dropped a player for a pitcher, I can't do it because the transactions are to be made on the day of, not for the next day. I've had a couple of problems with this, as usually I try to make the move at night when I have a chance to edit my rosters, which happens to take place after everyone else is playing, only to get a Yahoo error saying something to the effect "said player can't be dropped, played already, not editable". This further favors the people who wake up earlier (ahem, East Coast, maybe even UK) than those who actually have a life at 2am in taking an 8 hour snooze.

So, there you go. Sorry for not updating sooner, but better late than never. Alright, sleep tight, and keep your clothes on...

-Ray

P.S. If you don't know about where I got that witty title, here it is...