Fantasy Baseball: The Moonlight Gram

I also want to draw quick attention over to my list of other baseball blogs, as there is a new addition - The Moonlight Gram. They're good at updating their site, contributing regularly and having fun at the same time (all three things I could take a lesson from). So when you faithfully come here to No Pepper Games, are disappointed that I've failed once again to provide you with the funny, click on over to these guys - they aren't nearly as disappointing as I am.

Fantasy Baseball: Daily Prospect Updates

Keeping up with the daily happenings in Major League Baseball is a tall order for a fantasy owner. And for those who are in deeper keeper leagues, you may be called upon to peer into the strange occurrences in that place known as "minor league baseball". It can be incredibly hard to even keep track of a few names, and remember where to look to find out information about them (unless you subscribe to Baseball America - and even then it's hard).

However, I just received an e-mail from Ben Lipson of TopProspectAlert.com, informing me that he is now providing a free, daily update of all notable performances in the minors. I have no idea how he has the time to do this, nor any clue as to how much he spends annually on energy drinks. Regardless, his sleepless nights are our benefit. You can find his DAILY updated article here: http://www.topprospectalert.com/prospectstats.htm.

Fantasy Baseball: Why We Watch

I will admit that I don't watch nearly as many games that I can. But I do make it a point to pay attention to ESPN's ticker, I have Yahoo scores at the top of my homepage, and obsess fairly regularly like a good fantasy owner should. I also don't have a huge case of Dice-K fever.

But I did tune in last night to the Seattle-Boston game to see Felix Hernandez dominate the Boston lineup, as well as watch Daisuke Matsuzaka in his first home start. What an incredible game. The media this morning kept using language that would suggest that Dice-K's performance was somehow disappointing, but someone is going to have to speak pretty slowly to get me to understand how giving up 3 runs and 9 baserunners over 7 innings is disappointing. Dice-K had absolutely no control over how feebly Boston's lineup fared against King Felix's 1-hit shutout.

My biggest disappointment is that in none of my leagues was I in a position to draft Hernandez. One of my leaguemates was nice enough to draft him just a few slots before my pick and say, "Yeah, I've been reading your blog." You know who you are.

Fantasy Baseball: Play Ball!

The long winter is over, and spring has begun.

The 2007 Major League Baseball season began with Jose Reyes grounding out to first, and the first hit was grittily recorded by a tenaciously hustling David Eckstein as the Mets went on to pound Chris Carpenter for the win last night.

I can't tell you how excited about this season I am. I've drastically reduced the number of leagues I'm in this year, and I feel good about all of them. (Last year I was drawn entirely too thin, and suffered a bit of burnout by August.)

I've also become a bit of a stock-watcher over at RotoHog. The prices are fascinating to me. Who would have thought that Albert Pujols would have skyrocketed that much overnight? Why haven't people caught on to the fact that SP-eligible Jonathon Papelbon is the most valuable player in the league (it's a points league, folks - you want to maximize the number of points per inning pitched, and with the scoring setup, closers dominate from the mound. You want as many relief innings pitched as you can possibly get, and Papelbon gets you an extra arm to do so. This is why I creamed the opposition back when Danny Graves was an SP-eligible closer.).