As surprising as it may seem, I don’t spend all of my time thinking about fantasy baseball. I am a man of Isla Vista, and as such, many subjects occupy my thoughts, from sports to politics to what I should have for dinner (tonight feels like cheeseburgers).
In my pondering, I tend to make predictions. More often than not, I end up being right. Today, I’d like to recap some of the things I’ve gotten right and wrong this year, both baseball-related and otherwise.
I was wrong that pitching was far more important than hitting in fantasy baseball. Quality pitching is scarcer than quality hitting, but it is important to have top-tier hitters. My new strategy is to stock up on pitching, but to take hitters if I think a run is starting.
I was right that my pitching was going to be awesome. Josh Johnson, Jon Lester and Roy Halladay have been knocking down fools like bowling pins all season. And since my hitters can’t find their swings, they are the reason my fantasy team is still doing well.
I was right about a few lesser-known players. Kyle McClellan, though he has started to come back down to earth, is still 5-1 with a 3.62 ERA, making him a great option. Josh Tomlin is also 5-1. He won’t strike out many, but he has yet to let off more than three runs in a start and has given up that many in just two of his eight starts so far.
I was right about the Red Sox being able to recover from their awful start. Jon Lester and Josh Beckett held that team together through the force of their combined will until the hitting came around. Now that it has, I can confidently return to my Red Sox division title prediction.
I was right about the San Francisco Giants. To my friends who are Giants fans: try not to get mad, but the Giants suck. Last season’s World Series win was a fluke. True, the Giants are in first place, but seriously, the NL West is a joke.
I was wrong that drafting fast was the best strategy in fantasy drafts. Yes, it cuts down on draft time and therefore increases the chance that you’ll leave with your sanity intact, but it also increases the chances that you’ll miss out on that one player that could catapult you to the top of your league. If you’re going to take the time to sit through a draft, you might as well do a thorough job of drafting.
I was wrong about Justin Bieber. I used to think that he was the worst thing to happen to music, but Rebecca Black has proved me wrong. She has convinced me that music is officially dead, and every time I hear her song, which I refuse to mention by name, I die a little bit on the inside.
I was, unfortunately, right about the NFL labor situation. The lockout is still in effect and there are no signs that it is going to lift anytime soon. I would not be at all surprised if there was no football next season and honestly, that might be good for the NFL. Those rich bastards will learn that their fans aren’t so loyal that they will put up with this nonsense and maybe, just maybe, football will once again become about the fans instead of the money. But probably not.
Finally, I was wrong that I wouldn’t resort to shameless self-promotion. If you check out my twitter (@jgreenbergnexus) you’ll get a preview of what I’m going to talk about in my column each week, as well as a number of other things you definitely need to know.
We still aren’t convinced Daily Nexus columnist Joshua Greenberg thinks about anything other than fantasy baseball.