The 5x5 Corner: Introduction

February 22, 2007
The atmosphere of Opening Day is unbeatable. Whether it’s the sight of recently signed players, the scent of those sizzling ballpark hotdogs, or simply the anticipation of your team’s fortune soon to be played out, there’s always something special in the air at the beginning of April.

Subtract a month and half from that holy day and substitute those juicy ballpark hot dogs with some microwave-heated “They plump when you cook ‘em!’ Ballpark Franks, and you’ve got Opening Day fantasy style, as from the comfort of their own homes fantasy owners sign-up in mid-February to partake in their first baseball draft of the season.

Anticipation in the air and yesteryear’s shortcomings gone with the wind, the 2007 fantasy season is soon to be played out.

But not so fast, my anonymous friend. I know it’s tough to hold back and not register for a league once you see that drafts are open through all major providers, but it’s best to be prepared, and prepared I guarantee you shall be this season as I walk you through the fantasy season with a weekly column and an evolving top 50 draft board (the first edition of which is to come out on March 1).

Before I continue, first a quick preface to those who are reading this who use those wacky (albeit often more telling) categories such as contact ratios instead of the more common statistics such as runs and RBIs: I’ll be talking strictly 5x5 this season, as that’s the common league type.

Appealing to the masses, I suppose you could call it. But just because your league may not be of the basic 5x5 scoring doesn’t mean that all of the dazzling, unparalleled advice I will be giving to my 5x5 readers this season will not be useful to you, so stayed tuned.

I insure you that I have more than just a handful of fantasy championships to my credit, and what you see here you can take to the bank as you would with any other so-called “expert.”

With all that out of the way, let us begin with my first piece of advice that goes for every owner in any format:

DO NOT FALL VICTIM TO SERVER PRE-RANKINGS

My goodness, people. I’ve done two fantasy drafts in the last four days, one on CBS and the other on Yahoo! — the two most popular fantasy baseball providers on the Internet. The draft pre-rankings greatly differ between the two servers, and it’s shameful how apparent it is in the way that owners draft. I’ll use server-provided average draft positions to present my case.

Take a look at the average draft position for Angels reliever Francisco Rodriguez in comparison to Twins reliever Joe Nathan.

In Yahoo! public leagues, Nathan is the No. 1 pre-ranked closer and Rodriguez is the No. 2. Nathan is pre-ranked 45th overall and goes at 42.2 while Rodriguez is pre-ranked 47th overall and goes at 45.8

But in CBS public rotisserie leagues, K-Rod—not Nathan—is the No. 1 closer while Nathan is the No.2. Rodriguez is pre-ranked 24th overall and goes at 29.8 while Nathan is pre-ranked 35th overall and goes nearly a round later at 39.2.

Just because Nathan is CBS’s No. 2 closer doesn’t mean that he should be yours. Show some independence. Be bold. Stray from the rest of the pack if that means taking the best player available. But be sure to do so while remembering the greatest rule of thumb in any fantasy draft: Always take the player whom you feel is the best for your team who you know won’t be there when the serpentine swings around next.

Oh, there’s also a small little thing called “research” that makes all of these aforementioned efforts much more successful. Rank your players and compare them to the alleged experts’ rankings, and try to figure out where the discrepancies lie. Then redo your rankings, repeat the process a couple times by moving from trusted expert to trusted expert, then enter your draft, and finally watch the lazy, non-researching bums with whom you’re drafting make a late third round stretch for K-Rod while you confidently draft who you are sure is the better player almost one round later.

And that is all for now. Check out my top 50, March 1st, and be prepared to learn which projected early first rounder is carrying my ‘overpriced’ tag this off-season.

Contact Michael Gehlken with a question or comment that may be used in a future column or draft board at michael.gehlken@gmail.com