April Rankings

My April Rankings will be posted next by weekend-promise. Sorry I haven't posted for a while again, but I have been very busy lately during the week and I only have had limited time on the weekend, so to make rankings for each position in that limited time is hard. However, after May, I should be posting advice, tidbits, player highlights, and rankings daily. So keeping checking my blog and I hope its useful to your fantasy team.

Yahoo! Article

I wrote about my feelings towards the A's/Angels rivalry, but Tim Brown from Yahoo! Sports wrote his feelings too. Here's the link...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-angelsas040607&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

What's in Disco's Ball(s)?

Is it just me or are Los Angeles Angels/Oakland Athletics series the best to watch in all of MLB. I mean, New York Yankees versus the Red Sox is probably the better series since they are the greatest rivalries in all of sport and they usually are the top two teams in the AL. However, as an eastcoaster it is so much fun to enjoy a west coast game between the A's and Angels. Those teams are usually fighting all year for the AL West crown and the pitching is magnificent. Low scoring, pitching duels in series that can decide who wins the division, played amongst two rivals can make for great, fun baseball. On any given series you can have Harden face Lackey, Haren face Santana, and Blanton face Colon with people such as Ducherser (I think thats the spelling), Street, Shields, and K-Rod pitching. Plus, all that great pitching has to face hitters such as Vlad and Swisher. I mean, outside NYY/Boston, can you name one rivalry that is more fun to watch? NYM/Philly? LAD/San Fran? Cards/Cubs? The latter two rivalries were once good but have faded compared to the fun and enjoyable rivalry that is LAA/Oakland.

And what is up with my Yanks? They are doing everything they can to lose games. On Thursday they were beating Tampa until our pitchers decided to hold the 2007 NY City Walkathon and Jeter made his 2nd and 3rd errors of the season. Hopefully we can turn this around, because these early losses can hurt when you miss out on the playoffs by a game or two.

In other news, the Mets seem like they are the team to beat in the NL and I think it isn't too bold to predict a 100 win season for them and a trip to the World Series. Also, nice victory by Perez on Friday. I think he can put up a decent season in New York.

Patience is a Virtue

The first week of the fantasy season is nearing an end and I'm sure you or other managers in the league are adding and dropping players like crazy. Your sleeper pick may be stumbling or your closer may have a blown a game already (thanks Jorge Julio), while a back of the rotation FA pitcher may have had a great day. Well don't get sucked into the opening week transaction frenzy. Sure, if someone drops Jered Weaver, such as someone from http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/58791, you can go grab, but don't impulse buy just because someone gets out of the gate slow. For the average batter, such as Shea Hillenbrand, wait a month or so to see if they have come out of their funk. If they haven't, start looking for FA's that you know for sure will be playing and producing in September and not a flameout like Chris Shelton in '06. For the star batter that is struggling, like Teixeira last year, you need to hold out on them until they start producing again, at which point you could even trade them so you get more value in return then you would have when the player was struggling. When it comes to SP, you need to be extra patient. There will always be some hot pitcher out there, who in April may outpitch a Carlos Zambrano, but then fall apart. Don't go grabbing Joe Smoe who is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA just because Haren got pounded the other day. For example, last year Carlos Zambrano struggled horribly in April last year and a manager in my league managed to drop him. I scooped him right up and he happened to almost win the Cy Young. As for RP, there are so many that you can afford to add/drop them more early and often then any other position because RP more than anyone else have ups and downs. For a month they might be hot, but then blow 4 saves in a week (look at Turnbow). That advice goes for RP on the hot seat especially. If Jorge Julio is struggling early, dump him for his replacement or a guy who looks like he will be a closer replacement on another team.

So heed this fantasy advice and don't fall into the trap that is first week add/dropping. It could ruin your season.

Player Highlights: Matt Murton

1.Matt Murton

Background:
Age-25
Position-LF
Playing Experience-3rd season
B/T-R/R
Current Spot in Batting Order-2 hole

Batting and Power: Matt is a solid contact/line-drive hitter who posseses strong gap power. He is also developing HR power and projects to hit 20-30 HR's in the near future. Matt also is exceptional at walking and taking pitches which makes him the perfect two hole hitter in a free swinging lineup. Murton is a strong hitter who makes contact, has growing power, and plate discipline.

Baserunning and Speed: Matt is an inteligent baserunner, however, he lacks ideal speed and plays in a lineup that already is getting its stolen base production from the batter in front of him. Expect about only 5 steals.

Biggest Asset: Plate Discipline
Biggest Weakness:Average HR power for a left fielder

2007 Fantasy Outlook: Matt is great 3rd OF play in some of the deeper fantasy baseball leagues. He is bound to get a good AVG with his great ability to put the bat on the ball. Also, hitting in front of A-Ram and Derek Lee should mean we should see an increase of runs scored from the 70 he got last year. Plus, growing power and hitting with Soriano in front of him, should let Matt reach the 20 HR and 80+ RBI plateau. For a guy who is not even being drafted in 14 team leagues, he is a steal in the late rounds of drafts.

What's to Come to Discoball

Throughout the 2007 MLB and fantasy season, the main spot for rankings on FBE (Discoball) will be releasing updated rankings of each position every 2 weeks or so.

I will also continue to let you know what's in my discoball and write some articles for your enjoyment (some pertaining to fantasy and some pertaining to reality).

Also, I will keep you updated on my FBE Writers League team and you can e-mail suggestions on who to start/bench or add/drop.

Plus, I will answer your questions or respond to your thoughts that you e-mail and I will highlight a certain player daily and tell you my analysis of their fantasy value.

Here's to you for a good 2007 fantasy season!