Isn't it true that we are always learning? No matter how much you know -- or how much you think you know -- there is always something new to learn every day.
So today, in honor of Mr. Schoemer's 5th- and 6th-grade classes at Brown School in Schenectady, N.Y., I'm going to be your Fantasy Baseball tutor.
Mr. Schoemer gets his kids to play Fantasy Baseball during the spring to help them learn several things that will help them later in life. It teaches them:
- Addition (Alex Rodriguez + John Lackey = A Week 1 loss by my opponent)
- Subtraction (Brad Lidge - closer's job = Fantasy waiver wire)
- Long division (Jorge Julio (5 ER*9)/2.67 IP = 16.88 ERA + Much laughter in Arizona)
- Trash talk ("Your players stink worse than Dirty Billy's socks.")
- Stock market (It's a bullish market on the stock of BLP (Braden Looper).)
- Trading for fair value ("I'll give you Grady Sizemore and a banana for Hanley Ramirez and a Snak-Pak pudding -- CHOCOLATE!"
- Good sportsmanship ("Monkeybars. 3 p.m. Be there for your knuckle-sandwich. I'll show you 12th place.")
What can you learn, you say? Well, in this weekly column, I usually note a number of players' whose value is rising or falling and I give you compelling reasons why I think so (The Dartboard Effect). But I want to help you even more.
They say, "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day, but if you teach that man that you can squeeze six meals out of a six-pack of Ramen noodles, then that man can spend more money on candy." -- Or something like that.
Today, I'm going to teach you how to fish.
There are so many different tools that you can use on CBS SportsLine, along with this column, that you'll be able to foresee who I'm going to tell you to pick up or drop. After all, the other members of your league also have the chance to read this column.
Player profile pages
The best place for the most information is right on every player's profile page. Pick a player, any player. Not only do you get the obvious stuff you should find on a profile page (season stats, career stats, bio info and his upcoming schedule), but you'll also find stats from his past seven games, his averages against other players at his position and his owned/started numbers across all SportsLine leagues.
For instance, Gerald Laird might only be hitting .235 right now, but it's still .030 points higher than the average catcher (.205) and he has reached base in the past five games. He has been owned in 47 percent of SportsLine's leagues this year, but 32 percent of all leagues have him in the starting lineup, which leads me to believe mixed league owners are using him as a No. 2 backstop.
You can also read our advice under his "Latest news", along with that of Rotoworld's if our help isn't enough. By clicking on "More SportsLine News," you can read every player update we've ever written on a player -- dating back to 2002! That's five years of scouting! If you did this, you would know that we once called David Ortiz a "solid power hitter in AL-only leagues." Little did anyone know what he'd eventually become. In our defense, we also stuck by Chase Utley when many were bailing. "Utley! Utley! Utley!"
Users can also look back at a player's minor-league stats to see how a slugger is developing. Like Garret Atkins for example, who hit 43 doubles for Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2004. Of course, those doubles turned into homers at the major-league level (29 last season) once he matured.
From the player profile page, you can check out the "Last Six" link, to get totals on this player's last six games. And you can look at the "Game Log" link to see what this player has done in every game dating all the way back to 2003. (Roger Clemens gave up 8 ER to his old Boston team while pitching for the Yankees on May 26, 2003. Ouch.)
One of my favorite links off the Player Profile page is the "Situational Stats" page. I can go here to see that Todd Helton hit 72 points better at Coors Field (.338) last year than he did on the road (.266). It also informs me that Rocco Baldelli hit nine homers, with 19 RBI in September/October of last year.
Setting your lineups
The only thing more important than making great picks on Draft Day is making the right decisions for your weekly lineups.
As you go to set up your lineup on the "Set Lineup" page, you'll notice a handful of things right off the bat (pun intended). First, you'll see if any of your players have a red cross next to their name, which would indicate some type of injury. By mousing over that red cross, you'll see if your player is questionable for the next series only -- or if he's going to be out until May. By mousing over the little yellow marks next to your player's name, you can read the headline of his latest news. If that headline marker is blue, he's ice cold -- but if it's orange, he's hot ... and that's a good thing. There's nothing quite as satisfying as seeing your lineup page riddled with orange icons.
The schedule ahead is shown for your player, as well as which games your pitcher will start -- and if he has two starts in the coming week.
On the right side of the lineups page, you can click several tabs, including his year-to-date stats, his "Last 7 days" and "Last 14 days" stats. My favorite item? Click on the "Matchups" link to see which pitchers your hitters will be facing each week and how they have fared against them in the past. Again, any red numbers indicates that he fares very well against a certain hurler, whereas a blue number notes his failures. Andruw Jones, for instance, is hitting under .200 against Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Oliver Perez -- three pitchers he'll see next week.
This also works for pitchers. By looking at the matchups section, you'll notice items like Roy Oswalt's 17-1 career record against the Cincinnati Reds, whom he faces in Week 3. This is one of the best tools that I use when I write up the Hitting Planner every Saturday.
Scouting Free agents
Any good Fantasy manager knows that you have to check out the stats page weekly, if not daily, to get a large-scale view of what's happening in your league -- and the players that aren't yet owned in said league.
I like to sort by at-bats (for hitters) and innings (for pitchers) for whichever time period I'm perusing. This gives me a great idea of who is playing well enough to get extended playing time, and who is taking advantage of it. Then, I'll also sort by hits (for hitters) and strikeouts (for pitchers) to see who is dominating in their playing time. Free agents will stick out like a sore thumb. Is Orlando Hudson really leading all Head-to-Head second basemen in scoring by a large margin?
You can also create your own customizable stat page, to keep track of K/9 IP averages or OPS. You can even create a list to show you all of the games played per position for all players!
Don't forget to check on different players and their position-eligibility status. B.J. Upton, for instance, has now played five games at second base, which should be enough to make him eligible there in your Fantasy league this year.
My fellow writer, Eric Mack, goes through painstaking care to make sure our Fantasy depth charts are correct and up to date. He has been known to end a date before the dessert comes just to move Jason Tyner ahead of Rondell White in the Twins' outfield because the latter went on the 15-day disabled list. (I didn't say Emack was a romantic -- but he is committed ... or should be committed.)
You can find the "Depth Charts" pages under the "Players" link on the top row of your league links. Another nice addition to this page is the number next to each player's name, indicating what their average batting lineup position is over the past seven games.
Dictionaries don't have this much info! At least not the ones I buy at garage sales, with pages torn out of them.
Don't overlook all the news you can get from reading the SportsLine Team Reports off of the MLB section of our site. If you read this Tuesday, you'd see that Ryan Franklin has established himself as the main setup man for Jason Isringhausen in the St. Louis bullpen. That means he could be only a hip twinge away from closing games for the Cardinals ... interesting!
Two-start pitchers
Under the stats tab, you can find Probable Pitchers, as well as Two-Start Pitchers -- both are invaluable when looking for a free-agent starter to pick up for one week's worth of stats. Under Probable Pitchers, you'll see what this guy has done in his past three starts as well as what he has accomplished over the course of his career against his upcoming opponent.
Under the Two-Start Pitchers, you'll see which players have two games in the coming scoring period, who they face, where the game is played, who their opposing pitcher is expected to be, as well as their owned/started percentages. It also shows you which pitchers are free agents, allowing you to do a quick scan for a possible pickup. An orange tag next to the name of a player with two starts and a "Free Agent" listing is golden.
Asking for advice
You always have our columns and Fantasy content pieces for you to utilize as well. Yours truly writes a column on Tuesdays, Michael Hurcomb writes his Dear Mr. Fantasy advice column on Thursdays and Emack writes a Prospects Report on Fridays. Then, on the weekend, we stay up 25 hours a day! It just seems like it at least. I provide the Hitting Planner on Saturday while Emack delivers the Pitching Planner Sunday afternoon.
The Hitting Planner gives you news and notes along with the best and worst hitting matchups each week, along with 16 hitters that are streaking -- good or bad.
The Pitching Planner shows you which matchups you should consider taking advantage of and Emack breaks down the rotation for every team for the coming week.
We also post our Player Rankings on Friday to help give you something to look at when making a big trade decision or if you are trying to figure out whether or not to pick up a free agent and drop a slumping player.
Listen to yourselves!
Take a look at the "Roster Trends" pages under the "Stats" tab. Here you'll see which players are being added and dropped at alarming rates. These stats are culled from thousands of SportsLine leagues and tens of thousands of users.
Don't leave this page without checking out the "Most Scouted Players" link either. This gives you instant feedback on which players are being looked at the most in all leagues. If this many people are looking at a player, you have to figure he'll likely find himself in the "Most Added" or "Most Dropped" list soon enough.
Keep your tools honed
Without question, we are in the "Information Age." Don't neglect all of the tools provided for you in your quest for Fantasy Baseball dominance.
You better learn quick because Talia, 11, is not taking any prisoners in Mr. Schoemer's Fantasy league and she's coming for YOU!
Hit me with an e-mail! I can take it! ... But be gentle. Send your comments, hate mail, credit card numbers and suggestions to me by clicking on my Columnist page and sending a note through the feedback form.
