The first Draftbug Blogger Invitational was almost a success for me.  I finished in second place by two measly points.  I’d like to say thank you to Jayson Werth who put up a -3 on that day.  The HUGE reward of $1 for winning is not the reason each blogger desires to win this contest (at least I hope not).  Rather, the Draftbug Blogger Invitational’s are generally about showcasing your skills to fellow bloggers, while learning about some sites you never knew existed.


*Alex – Daily Baseball Data

*Sean – 27 Pitches

*Dave H. – Roto Guru

Dave R. – Dinks and Dunks

Charlie – Fantasy Baseball 365

*Josh – Future of Fantasy

Jay – Cardinals Front Office

Ryan – Lester’s Legends

*Mark – Poker Bank Roll Blog

Tim – Roto Rob

Kraig – At The Old Ball Game

Carl – Five Tool Fantasy Baseball


* Participated in the first Draftbug Blogger Invitational.


Now let’s take a look at my though process while selecting my team…


1. Pick my Starting Pitcher. This is the most important piece to the winning puzzle.  From first glance I’ve narrowed it down to King Felix vs. Cleveland, Timmy Lincecum vs. Pittsburgh, Cole Hamels vs. Florida and Chad Billingsley vs. Houston.  King Felix is very appealing considering his dominance over the past two months (25.4 Average Draft Bug Points per Start).  However, you never know if the M’s bats will show up to support.  Although a small sample size of 18 at-bats, the Pirates hit Lincecum pretty well (.450 OBP), plus he looked awful at the All-Star Game, I’ll pass.  Hamels looks like a great start vs the Marlins as he’s shut them down, other than Hanley the Manley of course.  However, he’s been too much of a toss-up this year to rely on, pass.  Finally, Mr. Hundred Dollar Billingsley.  Historically, Chad has owned the Astros hitters, with a 94 at-bat sample size.  He’s been a little shaky over the past month, but an easy start vs. the Astros will put him right back on track. Throw in the solid bullpen, and run support and I got my pitcher.


2. Analyze the Catchers. I like to scour through the catcher matchups and find any bargains or good matchups.  I don’t see any cheap bargains that I like for Friday, so I’ll go with my bread and butter, Brian McCann.  Scratch that, with 60% chance of Thunderstorms during game time, I’ll have to take my second choice, Iannetta.


3. Take a look at the forecasted weather. If there is a decent chance of rain or thunderstorms, I generally try to remove those teams from my selection process.  Forecasts can be a little sketchy until gameday so I may have to make some last minute changes tomorrow.


4. Find the weak pitchers to expose. I generally like to find the worst pitchers going for the day and pile up on opposing hitters.  For Friday the worst pitchers appear to be Lucas French, Jason Berken, Josh Geer, Vicente Padilla, Jeff Suppan and Tomo Ohka. I’ll try to target opposing hitters as much as possible.


5. Pick the remaining open slots. Joey Votto, Felipe Lopez, David Wright, Orlando Cabrera, Franklin Gutierrez, Michael Cuddyer and Kyle Blanks.  I’m not too confident in these picks so they may change before game time.  Confident or not, let’s hope I can earn some bragging rights after I win this contest.



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