Fantasy Baseball Manager of the Year

Week 4: Hot and Not Players

April 29, 2008 — Time flies when you’re having fun, eh? Four weeks in the books already. And still a long, long way to go, but the adage in real baseball certainly applies in the fantasy — you can’t win the title in April … but you can certainly lose it.

We’re at the point now that if you haven’t made some moves to fill the holes in your lineup … Andruw Jones, Robinson Cano, Justin Verlander, Phillip Hughes,Mike Lowell, Francisco Liriano, Kenji Johjima, Alfonso Soriano, J.J. Putz, Troy Tulowitzki … you could be putting your entire season in its own, giant hole. One you can’t dig your way out of.

Granted, we’re not saying you should drop all of these guys out right. Some, maybe. But let’s not get rash. Hopefully, though, you’ve been benching them and picking up and/or trading for guys who’ve started the season hot — and can help your lineup till the Canos and Verlanders of the league right their respective ships.

Good news is there are plenty of guys out there who can help you out.

Who’da thunk that the #4 outfielder, after 4 weeks, would be … Nate McLouth. Not Andruw Jones, that’s for damn sure. And, honestly, raise your hand if you drafted Cliff Lee. Thank you for making our point — no one picks a guy with 2007 numbers like Lee’s, except for a very few people who punted pitching till Round 18 in very deep AL-only leagues.

Good. Let’s take a look at other fantasy baseball players who are earning the chance to make your roster (or land on the bench/curb) based on their Week 4 stats and how they’ve affected their MOTY#s … up and down.

This week, though, we’re doing something a little different — the Week 4 Hot and Not lists emulate old school ESPN rosters: c, 1b, 2b, 3b, ss, 5 of, 2b/ss, 1b/3b, util. For pitchers, we include 5 sp, 1 mr and 1 cl/ciw.

Keep in mind, too, that for batters we used an “at least 15 at bats” filter — so we’re talking about guys who are getting regular playing time, not pinch hitters who cracked a dinger in their 1 ab last week.

American League — Hot

Like every week, players appear in this list for 2 reasons — they’re the guys who’ve both risen to the top in the Last Week (LW) MOTY rankings AND, more than likely, are available in your league.

American League — Not

Key to the “Not” list is that these guys are almost certainly on a roster in your league, possibly yours. And based on sluggish or declining Last Week (LW) MOTY#s, may be down trending … toward the bench for a while, (maybe) as trade bait or (gulp) dropped to the wire.

These guys aren’t necessarily the biggest “season-long” disappointments. They’re the ones who had a disappointing Week 4 … which may be a sign of down times to come. Or, like A.J. Pierzynsk (who started the season on red-hot fire) are simply correcting back to their normal level of production. For 2008’s biggest busts to date — what is going on with Robinson Cano?! — log on and scan the YTD rankings (click “MOTY#” to reverse the best-to-worse order).

National League — Hot

Like the guys highlighted in the AL list, these players are pulled from the masses because of the up tick in their Last Week MOTY#s.

National League — Not

When the “Last Week” MOTY# goes down, the player’s name goes up … on this list. Adjust accordingly.

Questions, thoughts, cool stories of how the MOTY System has helped your fantasy baseball team? Drop us an email. Your comments might show up here in a future MOTY Talk.

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