What You Are Looking At - A Reminder

As we have some new folks that have joined us lately, and you are much appreciated, I want to take a few minutes to remind everyone what all of these numbers mean to me, and possibly you. I realize, but sometimes forget, that there are alot of numbers here and, if you don't know exactly what they all are, it can be quite confusing. This blog is simply an overview of how I pick my team every day.

Before doing anything else, I have to get out my trusty notebook. On a new sheet, I list out the following:

weather
lefty starters
rookie starters
load-ups
poor bvsp matchups
good starters
each position (for bvsp)

From there, I go to weather.com and see which cities have possible weather issues. Then, I click on to espn.com, go to baseball, then to schedule and begin clicking on each starter for the next day. If they are a lefty, rook, good option (generally lower than a 4.00 ERA), etc. I write them down. I look at their splits to see how they have done lately, at home, etc., and write the numbers down in the proper spaces. Then I go to BVSP (batter vs. starting pitcher). If I see a batter that applies to one of the forementioned categories, I write it down in the proper slot, along with the stats.

This is what you see on the blog. Bats that have not faced the opposing starters are not listed. Hot and cold bats are not listed. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, I want to keep this relatively simple and readable. Overflooding it with stats makes that hard to accomplish. Secondly, from my office, which is where I do this 5 days a week, I am blocked from Baseball Challenge and the BBC-relative stats are not available to me.

When I get home and get the kids down at night, I log into BBC. Keep in mind that this is the first time I have done this all day, aside from checking my rank in the morning for blog updating. At this point, I am ready to pick my team. I go to the pitcher slot first and then review my blog notes. I use the numbers I have listed and my gut feeling to pick a staff. If I have no sure pick, I usually go with what I think the majority will do, as to prevent the possible disaster of being the only one to take a bad staff.

From here, I go position by position, starting at first and ending with the catcher slot. At first, I review my blog notes, which again give me not much more than a starting point. If the guys I have listed as having good matchups have less than a 3.5 PP7 (points per last 7 games on BBC), I usually scratch them out. I am more often than not left with one or two options at this point. Next, I look again at who they are facing, righty vs. lefty and click on their stats to see who they hit well against. I do this to narrow it down to one pick. Finally, I compare my one pick to the other batters I have not reviewed yet who have a PP7 better than 3.5. Are there any other good options facing poor pitching or in hitters parks? If so, I adjust. If not, I have my man.

Then I proceed by doing this for each position, paying no attention at all to the salaries. After my team is selected, if I am under the cap, I am done. If I am over (which is almost impossible right now), I drop the guy I have the least faith in for a cheaper option. End of story.

Ultimately, it takes me 5-10 minutes to select my team once I enter BBC. As I am deciding, I put my feelings in italics under each position as well as why I took who I did. Sometimes, there is simply not a real reason, and other times there are many reasons, as you have seen.

So please don't be surprised if I don't include everyone, this is simply how I do it and not much more. I hope this helps you and that this article clears things up a little for those of you that are new. If you have any questions any time, please feel free to ask and I assure you that I will respond.

Thanks again.