Fantasy on Focus

In this entry, I try and take a look at the appropriate time when you should jump all over a hot player and use your waiver wire pick. For most of us the waiver wire is like a line at the Haircut store; It seems like only a couple of people are in front of you while you wait but that wait and line always end up taking forever. For those of us in the barber's chair we can take however long we need to pick our style, color and fashion for our hair. This same rule applies to you when you have the #1 waiver wire priority. There always seems to be some temptation to make an impulse decision on a frosted tip spike but we need to stick to our game plan and go with the most traditional player or step-cut for our roster needs. No matter how good a Chris Shelton, Lastings Milledge or Cliff Lee might look we always need to address the concerns of our team before we waste a waiver wire priority. You don't need 3 catchers just because a reluctant Jorge Posada owner dropped him; you need to wait for a player whose position you are weak in opens up. For instance, if you are an owner with a weak 2b you should wait until someone gets anxious and drops a Robinson Cano type player. Fill your needs first before grabbing the player everyone is talking about. if this player's position or category strength has no value for your team then he is useless. Another concern is being able to pick the right guy that stays hot and not the guy that cools down the instant he hits your lineup. This is obviously a hard thing to do or else there would be nobody wasting waiver wire picks. Everyone will use the same picks on the same guys much like it is in football. When a new RB hits the FA list everyone scrambles to grab that guy because they feel they should and if they don’t everyone else will. I would say try and check out their career AVG’s or trends. If a guy hasn’t produced the last nine seasons at the pace he is going now, the odds are he won't keep it up. But a young phenom who you haven’t heard much about, comes out blazing, the odds are that it is his real talent and not a hot streak. Because we all don't want to be the guy cussing at work the next day for all the wrong reasons (http://youtube.com/watch?v=7HFBNyA0diA).

Staying Put!

You know I once considered going with the frosted tip look after seeing the 'bye bye bye' video, but then cool hand Norris was there to talk me back down from the ledge. There are going to be players who get hot every week, but hey even a blind nut finds a squirrel here and there. I completely agree with the notion that you have to check out how someone has done over an extended period of time. Somebody like Youkilis might not be a 'sexy' pick for your 1b or 3b, but he has proven to be consistent in many fantasy formats...On the other hand, those guys who picked up Gordon or Longoria continue to bait them, hoping somebody out there is stupid enough to overpay for a player who has yet to prove themselves. The waivers can be a tricky situation, but every now and then a Mclouth will come up who can help you ride a team to success. Great insight and keep those videos coming!

minkus1010

Staying Put!

Staying Put!

Staying Put!