Rebuilding For Success: Benchwarmer Baseball Week 3 & 4

The tough run continued for the Savin Hill Sox in week 3 as they dropped five out of the six games played that week. Starting pitching continued to be an issue, but the offense wasn’t lighting it up either. Having a great bullpen doesn’t do you any good if you can’t get a lead to turn over to them.

Lineup: Murphy 3B – Reimold OF – Iannetta C – Votto 1B – Markakis OF – Kipnis 2B – Aybar SS – Crisp OF – Carroll DH
Bench: Lowrie – Venable – Morel – Revere – Nunez

Jason Kipnis had a huge week at the plate (.417 – 1 3B – 1 HR – 6 RBI – 1 SB) and was joined by Coco Crisp (.308 – 2 SB in 4 games) and Joey Votto (.286 – 1 HR – 6 RBI – 4 R – 1 SB). Other than that, there wasn’t much as far as offensive highlights go and the team only batted .219 for the week.

Rotation: Lester – Dickey – McCarthy – Norris – Karstens
Spot: Paulino – Parker

R.A. Dickey turned in the only strong outing and got the only win of the week (7 IP – 1 ER – 3 H – 7 K – 1 BB). Brandon McCarthy had one quality start, but just barely (6 IP – 2 ER) and picked up two losses for the week. The team’s ERA for the week was 5.03.

Bullpen: Papelbon – Myers – Adams – Bryan Shaw – Robbie Ross

Jonathan Papelbon had a Benchwarmer week for the ages. Now is probably a good time to mention that the bullpen stats given here, unlike the batting and starting stats, aren’t the actual stats put up by these relief pitchers. Here’s the description from the Benchwarmer website:

Bullpen statistics are derived averages, since 11 major league games are used for a 6-game BWB week. Per-game and per-inning averages are multiplied by the number of times his slot was needed in BWB games. The numbers themselves may appear unrealistic, but they attempt to more accurately measure how the pitcher is affecting your outcome.

For the week, Papelbon had stats of 6 IP – 6 Sv – 0 ER – 0 H – 7 K – 1 BB. That was good enough to earn him the Reliever of the Week award. Mike Adams contributed 3 scoreless innings with 3 Ks and Robbie Ross added an inning and two third of scoreless relief. The bullpen ERA for 17.3 innings of work was a tiny 1.04.

Week 1: 3-3
Week 2: 2-4
Week 3: 1-5
Season: 6-12

Week 3 brought on more roster tinkering. I released Kevin Gregg whose ERA at the time was almost 8. I also released Greg Dobbs who was the unfortunate victim of the Jose Reyes signing by the Marlins. Hanley Ramirez moved over the third base and Dobbs lost his starting job. I released Ben Revere when he was struggling and had been sent down to the minors. He’s now back up again and batting .291, but hasn’t done much else so he’s probably not worth a second look. My final release for the week was Brent Morel. Morel was batting under .200 and on the DL so he definitely wasn’t worth a roster spot.

To replace those players, I signed Alex Liddi who was red hot at the time, but has now cooled off a little (.250 – 3 HR – 9 RBI). I also picked up Baltimore starter Jason Hammel who was 3-0 with a sub 2 ERA at the time. He’s now 6-1 with a 2.78 ERA and 1.13 WHIP with 53 K and 17 BB in 55 IP. Hammel is a big reason why the Orioles have spent the majority of the season in first place. Another pickup, since I really needed a backup catcher, was Nick Hundley (.173 – 3 HR – 16 RBI). The final new addition to the team was Gerardo Parra who is a bit of a speed demon for the Diamondbacks (.267 – 2 HR – 14 RBI – 24 R – 10 SB).

One thing that I’ve been more conscientious of this season is the value that I’m getting for the salary paid. If I’m paying a high salary for a guy to hit .250, I can probably drop him to pick up a guy doing the same for the league minimum. From the start of the season, I’ve gone from 27 players with a salary over $250,000 to just 25. I’ve also reduced some salaries that have remained over that $250,000 threshold. It’s important to have that cash on hand to sign free agents and extend the contracts of rookies and players having career years.

Week 4 was the exact opposite of the previous week for the Sox. They started the week with a 5 game winning streak before losing the final game 4-2.

Lineup: Kipnis 2B – Parra OF – Reimold OF – Votto 1B – Liddi DH – Murphy 3B – Markakis OF – Lowrie SS – Iannetta C
Bench: Nunez – Bryce Harper – Venable – Carroll – Hundley

This week marked the much hyped call-up of phenom Bryce Harper. I decided to play it safe and just give him a bench spot for this week. Hopefully he’ll have played his way into the starting lineup by the end of the season.

The offense turned things around this week with a team average of .270. Due to the Reimold injury, Harper ended up playing in all 6 games batting .333 with 5 doubles and a steal of home. Jed Lowrie led the way offensively though. He batted .400 with an .800 slugging percentage. (2 HR – 5 RBI – 6 R) Dan Murphy batted .381 for the week and Votto hit .350 with 4 doubles and 6 walks.

Rotation: Lester – Dickey – McCarthy – Hammel – Parker
Spot: Paulino – Norris

Some new blood in the rotation seems to have turned things around. The starting staff turned in six quality starts and got 5 wins with a bullpen loss in Hammel’s second start. The team’s starting ERA was 2.31 with 35 K in 39 IP. Lester led the way with 7 innings of shutout ball and 7 Ks, but Jarrod Parker was right behind him with six and a third and only one run allowed.

Bullpen: Papelbon – Myers – Adams – Shaw – Ross

It’s another solid week for the bullpen who only needed to pitch 14.1 innings in 6 games. Papelbon and Myers were bother credit with 6 saves for the week and neither one gave up a run. Myers gave up two hits and Pap gave up two walks  The bullpen’s ERA for the week was 1.28.

Week 1: 3-3
Week 2: 2-4
Week 3: 1-5
Week 4: 5-1
Season: 11-13

Week 4’s releases included: Erick Aybar (.215), Coco Crisp (.165 and trip to DL), Karstens (0-1 4.50 DL) and Venable (.250 average at the time, upgraded to Cody Ross)

Week 4 signings: Tony Campana (.299 – 13 SB), Joe Saunders (3-3 3.79 ERA – 1.30 WHIP), and Cody Ross (.271 – 8 HR – 28 RBI – 24 R and currently on the DL). More salary reduction and more upgrading. Campana was a huge signing and Ross was red hot right before he broke his foot.

Rebuilding For Success: Benchwarmer Baseball Week 1 & 2

The Savin Hill Sox got off to a hot start for the 2012 season with a three game sweep of the Georgetown Canal Mules. Jon Lester, R.A. Dickey, and Brandon McCarthy got the wins with strong pitching performances. The second half of the week didn’t go so well as the Sox got swept by the Generation of Heroes. Jon Lester picked up a loss to go to 1-1 while the other two losses were credited to the bullpen.

Week 1 Lineup: Coco Crisp OF – Ben Revere OF – Jamey Carroll DH – Joey Votto 1B – Nick Markakis OF – Jason Kipnis 2B – Erick Aybar SS – Brent Morel 3B – Crhis Iannetta C
Bench: Dan Murphy – Will Venable – Jed Lowrie – Nolan Reimold – Eduardo Nunez

The offense was led by Joey Votto (.364 - 3 RBI - 3 2B), Jason Kipnis (.250 - 6 RBI - 5 R - 2 HR – 1 3B), and Chris Iannetta (.176 – 5RBI - 2 HR).

Rotation: Jon Lester – R.A. Dickey – Brandon McCarthy – Bud Norris – Jeffrey Karstens
Spot: Andrew Miller – Felipe Paulino

The starting pitchers had a 2.20 ERA for the week in 6 quality starts and a 3-1 record. Jon Lester was the pitcher of the week with two quality starts including a one-run complete game to kick things off. For the week, he had a record of 1-1 with an ERA of 2.40 and WHIP of 0.933. Lester struck out 10 in 15 innings while walking 5.

Bullpen: Jonathan Papelbon – Brett Myers – Mike Adams – Kevin Gregg – Fernando Salas

Bullpen losses occur in Benchwarmer when your team loses, but your starting pitcher has good numbers. So, the two losses that the bullpen picked up for the week don’t reflect bad real world performances on their part. In fact, only three pitchers were needed out of the bullpen and their combined ERA for the week was 1.38. Brett Myers had 5 saves for the week with an ERA of 0.00 and WHIP of 1.00. Myers struck out an impressive 8 batters in 5 innings proving that Houston was correct in giving the closer job to him (especially with how bad Melancon has been, bet the Red Sox want Lowrie back). Papelbon had 3 saves with an ERA of 2.50. Mike Adams also pitched effectively for this strong bullpen.

Week 1: 3-3
Season: 3-3

Week 2 was a little rougher for the Sox as they were only able to tally two wins. R.A. Dickey picked up his second win of the season with another strong outing. Bud Norris went to 2-0 as well as he pitched just well enough for the offense to power the team to victory as they pounded out 15 hits and scored 7 runs.

Week 2 Lineup: Murphy 3B – Reimold OF – Iannetta C – Votto 1B – Markakis OF – Kipnis 2B – Aybar SS – Crisp OF – Carroll DH
Bench: Lowrie – Venable – Morel – Revere - Nunez

Nolan Reimold only played two games during the week, but he batted .444 with a home run which was the only one that the team hit all week. Dan Murphy, Erick Aybar, and Jason Kipnis all batted over .400 for the week while playing all six games. Kipnis had 3 stolen bases, hit a triple, and scored 5 runs to pace the team in those categories.

Rotation: Lester – Dickey – McCarthy – Norris – Karstens
Spot: Miller – Paulino

In a complete turn-around from the previous week, the team’s ERA for week 2 was 7.36 and the only quality start was turned in by R.A. Dickey in his first start of two on the week. Lester’s 7 runs in 2 innings was the worst of a bad week.

Bullpen: Papelbon – Myers – Adams – Franklin Morales – Salas

The front end of the bullpen had a strong week. Papelbon, Myers and Adams combined for 17 scoreless innings. Papelbon put up 5 saves in six games while striking out 6 in 6 IP. Myers picked up 2 saves in six games while striking out 8 in 6 IP and a WHIP of 0.00. Even with bad performances by Salas and Morales, the bullpen’s combined ERA for the week was 2.57.

Week 2 was the first week where I made any adjustments to my roster. I release Andrew Miller who was injured and down in Pawtucket and Fernando Salas who is a completely different pitcher than last year (currently 0-3 6.32 ERA – 2.04 WHIP and in the minors). To replace them, I picked up some bullpen help in Bryan Shaw (0-2 3.32 ERA – 5 Holds – 1.05 WHIP currently) and Robbie Ross (5-0 1.99 ERA – 0.88 WHIP – Can you say vulture?). The rebuilding continues.

Week 1: 3-3
Week 2: 2-4
Season: 5-7

Rebuilding For Success: Pre-season

Since I haven’t been as interested in sports cards lately, I thought that I might try a little writing about something else sports related that I have benn enjoying lately: fantasy baseball. To be more specific, I’m going to write a little bit about my Benchwarmer Baseball keeper team that is now going into its third season.

Last year, my team had mixed results. While I did finish in first place in my division by 14 games, I did so with a losing record (71-79). I was the best in a division of bad teams. Not only do I want to repeat this season, but I want to do so with a much better record. Last season, I was swept out of the first round of the playoffs and I want to win at least one round this season.

One thing about having a bad team is that you end up with the earliest picks during the year. Due to having a .500 team for my first two seasons, I’ve ended up with some decent draft picks. I entered this season with the last two #1 picks in my minor league roster. Bryce Harper stood poised to make his major league debut this season while Gerrit Cole was a long shot at a possible September call-up.

During the regular season, teams get to maintain a roster of 40 players. You only get to carry over 28 of those player to the next season, so you’ve got to put a lot of thought into who you keep around. Here’s a list of the players who I released from my roster:

• Mike Adams (high salary)
• Wade Davis (moved from rotation to bullpen – salary too high)
• Kevin Correia (1-5 4.50 ERA 16K 15BB so far in 2012)
• Hideki Matsui (Recently signed minor league deal with Tampa Bay)
• Tony Sipp (0-2 5.40 ERA 1.53 WHIP)
• John Buck (.173 4 HR)
• Roger Bernadina (.224 2 HR – not a starter)
• Grady Sizemore (Hurt AGAIN)
• Eric Hinske (.271 1 HR – not a starter)
• Jordan Lyles (0-1 5.29 ERA 1.53 WHIP in three spot starts)
• Kaleb Cowart (declining prospect)
• Luis Exposito (declining, blocked (at the time) prospect – has since been traded to Baltimore, hit .059 sent back to minors)
• Tony Sanchez (declining prospect)

Who did I pick up in the redistribution draft? You’ll find a list below along with their performance so far this year. Did I improve the team?

• Chris Iannetta (In desperate need of catchers after Victor Martinez injury - .197 3 HR now on DL)
• Brandon McCarthy (3-3 2.95 ERA 40K 16BB 1.34 WHIP – now on DL)
• Erick Aybar (.222)
• Ben Revere (.244)
• Felipe Paulino (started season on DL – 2-1 1.42 ERA 29K 7BB 1.14 WHIP since coming off of DL)
• Nolan Reimold (started off season red hot - .313 5HR 10 RBI 10 R in 16 games, but hasn’t played since April 30)
• R.A. Dickey (6-1 3.45 51K 16BB 1.17 WHIP)
• Brent Morel (.177 14 R – now on DL)
• Mike Adams (0-2 2.20 ERA 13K 2BB .98 WHIP)

Four of these guys are no longer on my roster, but there were some big additions to the team here. I’ll need McCarthy and Reimold to contribute once they come off of the DL. Dickey has been huge and Paulino has been red hot lately.

You can continue to tweak your roster in the weeks leading up to the start of the season. There are trades to be made and free agents to be signed.

In week –6, I signed Franklin Morales (0-1 4.40 ERA 1.67 WHIP 7 Holds)

In week –5, I traded away Ryan Roberts (.238 3 HR 19 RBI 12 R) for Jarrod Parker (1-2 3.37 ERA 1.36 WHIP)

In week –4, I signed away newly released Jose Iglesias (I’m a sucker for Red Sox prospects) along with Tyler Greene (.239 4 HR 6 SB and plays three positions) and Brett Myers (0-1 1.69 ERA 11 SV .81 WHIP)

In week –3, I finalized my roster by signing Will Venable (.273 3 HR 18 R 5 SB) and releasing Sam Fuld (60-day DL and a crowded Rays outfield)

Here’s my opening day roster for the 2012 Savin Hill Sox (keepers in bold):

L1: Coco Crisp
L2: Ben Revere
L3: Jamey Carroll
L4: Joey Votto
L5: Nick Markakis
L6: Jason Kipnis
L7: Erick Aybar
L8: Brent Morel
L9: Chris Iannetta

B1: Dan Murphy – 1B, 2B, 3B
B2: Will Venable – OF
B3: Jed Lowrie – 3B, SS
B4: Nolan Reimold – OF
B5: Eduardo Nunez – 3B, SS, 2B

P1: Jon Lester
P2: R.A. Dickey
P3: Brnadon McCarthy
P4: Bus Norris
P5: Jeffrey Karstens

S1: Andrew Miller
S2: Felipe Paulino

R1: Jonathan Papelbon
R2: Brett Myers
R3: Mike Adams
R4: Kevin Gregg
R5: Fernando Salas

Taxi: Greg Dobbs
T: Franklin Morales

Minors: Alex Cobb
M: Domonic Brown
M: Tyler Greene
M: Yonder Alonso
M: Blake Swihart
M: Zack Wheeler
M: Gerrit Cole
M: Ryan Lavarnway
M: Jose Iglesias
M: Kolbrin Vitek
M: Jarrod Parker
M: Bryce Harper

IR: Victor Martinez

Next up, the first couple of weeks and results. The league is 6 weeks and 7 weeks of transactions old. I just pulled off a big trade where I gave up a lot to improve the one position where I really needed help. What do you think of my off-season moves and Opening Day roster? Should this team improve on the 71-79 record that I had last season? Stay tuned to see how the Sox do.

Fantasy Baseball: Keeper Time – Outfield

My outfield is a little crowded at the moment due to some late season signings.  Since I was out of the running, I started looking at players who had been injured to see if I could find any potential bargains for 2011.  Here’s who I have on the roster:

• Bobby Abreu
• Nick Markakis
• Grady Sizemore
• Coco Crisp
• Felix Pie
• Domonic Brown
• Chevez Clarke
• Bryce Harper
• A.J. Pollock

Abreu was actually the last outfielder that I signed before last season started.  I’m not a huge fan, but he ended up being my best outfielder last season.  His salary dropped from 4786 to 3797 and I could see his production dropping yet again as he gets older.  I’m not sure if I want to spend a keeper pick on him.

My outfield was full of underachievers last season.  Nick Markakis saw his salary drop from 4634 to 3750.  After drops is both homers and RBIs, hopefully Markakis can rebound in 2011 and be a little bit of a bargain.

Right now, Grady Sizemore is set to return to action during spring training.  If he can put up anything close to his 2008 numbers then he’s going to be a huge steal at his 2011 salary of 1120.  Hopefully he hasn’t lost any of his speed when he returns.

Coco Crisp was another late season addition, but he saw some playing time late last season when he was red hot and stealing bases right and left.  If he can stay healthy and put up numbers like he did when healthy in 2010 then he’s going to be a steal at a salary of 749.

Felix Pie seemed like he might actually be putting it all together in Baltimore late last season so I took a chance and added him to my roster.  His salary of 570 isn’t much so he can start the season as a fourth outfielder with potential to move into the starting lineup.

I’ve got some very nice outfield prospects that will be earning 100 this season: Domonic Brown, Chevez Clarke, Bryce Harper and A.J. Pollock.  I’m curious as to how quickly the Nationals will call up Harper especially now that Strasburg is injured.  They’ve got to sell tickets somehow.

So, which outfielders do you bring back to start the season?  Is Abreu in decline?  Will Markakis rebound?  Should I be excited about Sizemore?  What kind of deal would it take to pry Harper away from you?

Technorati Tags: Fantasy Baseball,Benchwarmer Baseball,Robot Baseball

Fantasy Baseball: Keeper Time – Catcher

The catcher position is a little crowded for me.  When Victor Martinez went down with an injury last season, I ended up grabbing John Buck who ended up being one of last season’s nice surprises.  He signed a nice deal with the Marlins and may see his numbers increase with more games played.  Here’s the current catching situation:

• Victor Martinez
• John Buck
• Taylor Teagarden
• Jesus Flores
• Tony Sanchez

Victor Martinez is another player whose salary is lower this season due to an injury.  His numbers also dropped a little bit in 2010 and so his 2011 salary is 2525 after earning 3519 for his 2009 season.  Unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll end up sticking around in Boston, but I will definitely keep Martinez around here.  Having first base eligibility is also a big plus.

I may try to shop Buck around since he’s a little pricey to keep around as a backup catcher.  His 2011 salary will be 1113.  If I’m not able to trade him then I think I have to keep him since I don’t really want another team snatching him up.  It all comes down to what I’ve got available for salary.

I think that Taylor Teagarden is currently penciled in as the opening day catcher for the Rangers, but right now I think that I’d rather have Max Ramirez on my roster.  Not that either one of them did anything of note last season.  Teagarden’s 2011 salary is 146.

Jesus Flores might end up being healthy for the 2011 season, but I’m not sure if there will even be a roster spot for him with the Nationals if he is.  If healthy, he could end up being a nice bargain with a salary of 158 if he sees a decent amount of playing time.  There’s no guarantee that will be the case though.

Tony Sanchez is the Pirates super prospect.  For 100 there’s no way he’s going anywhere.

What do you think I should try and do with Buck?  Any thoughts on Teagarden or Flores?  What would you do with these five players?

Technorati Tags: Fantasy Baseball,Benchwarmer Baseball,Robot Baseball

Fantasy Baseball: Keeper Time – Third Base

What’s up next?  I don’t know… third base.  Here who was manning the hot corner for my team when the season ended:

• Chase Headley
• Kevin Kouzmanoff
• Alberto Callaspo
• Kaleb Cowart

Last season, I was able to slot Chase Headley into the outfield, but he isn’t eligible there this season.  Right now, he’s the favorite to win the position.  His 2011 salary will be 2446.

Last year’s starter, Kevin Kouzmanoff had a very disappointing 2010 season and saw his salary drop from 2076 to 1891.  Right now, there’s no guarantee that I keep Kouz around.  He is eligible to play both second and third which is a bonus, but even if he bounces back it isn’t to a stat line to get excited about.

Callaspo actually ended up outperforming Kouzmanoff and saw some time at third base later in the season.  Both Callaspo and Kouzmanoff suffer from low averages, not a lot of power and no speed.  Even though they are both eligible for both second and third, there isn’t much of a reason to keep them around.

Kaleb Cowert is another prospect and will stick around for 100.

So, what moves do you make here?  I like opening the season with Headley.  Anyone out there think that Kouzmanoff or Callaspo are worth keeping around?

Technorati Tags: Fantasy Baseball,Benchwarmer Baseball,Robot Baseball

Fantasy Baseball: Keeper Time – Second Base

Next up in the fantasy baseball discussion is second base.  Here are the players currently on my roster:

• Brian Roberts
• Kolbrin Vitek
• Willy Aybar
• Jamey Carroll

After suffering through Brian Roberts’ injury plagued season in 2010, I have to keep him around this year.  I’ll be getting him at a huge discount this season at 1682 down from 4293.  If Roberts puts up his usual numbers then that’s going to be a huge bargain for me.

Kolbrin Vitek is last year’s first round pick by the Red Sox so he’s sticking around at a salary of 100.

Willy Aybar is interesting only because he qualifies for three positions: 2B, 3B and 1B.  His salary next season will be 536.

Jamey Carroll also qualifies for three positions: 2B, SS, and 3B.  If I keep these two guys on my bench then I’ve got my whole infield covered as long as they’re playing.  Carroll’s salary will be 799.  I’m not sure if a couple of utility infielders are worthy of keeper picks though.

What are your thoughts?  Do I roll the dice and see what’s out there for utility players in the redistribution draft?  Should I feel secure going into the season with Roberts as my starting second sacker?

Technorati Tags: Fantasy Baseball,Benchwarmer Baseball,Robot Baseball

Fantasy Baseball: Keeper Time – First Base

Those of you who have been reading the blog for a while have probably seen previous mentions of my Benchwarmer Baseball fantasy team.  They’ve just released preliminary salary information for the upcoming season and so it is time to decide on keepers and maybe do some early trading.  My team’s coffers currently contain $45738 (in millions) and I can keep up to 28 players (on a roster that can consist of up to 40 players).  I’m going to go through my team position by position to get some feedback on what all of you think that I should do.

Here are the first basemen that are currently on my roster:

• Joey Votto
• James Loney
• Yonder Alonso
• Lars Anderson

Votto is a no-brainer.  For one, he’s easily the best hitter on my team.  In fact, he won the MVP award for the league.  I also don’t have to pay anything to Votto this season since I extended his contract for two more years during last season.  Votto’s salary would have been 4133 up from 2200 last season so I saved a big chunk of cash with that move.

I’m leaning towards keeping James Loney around as my DH.  The only problem that I have with that is he puts up solid, but not spectacular numbers.  I’d like a little more out of the DH position.  I don’t want to just let Loney walk though so maybe I’ll shop him around a little bit.  Loney’s salary for 2011 will be 3039.

Alonso and Anderson are prospects that will be on my minor league roster.  I may look to shop some of my prospects since I’ll be opening the season with a full minor league roster and you don’t want to have to release any of those guys if you can help it.  The salary for both of these guys will be the league minimum of 100.

So, what do you do in this position?  I’m loaded at the C and OF positions so a DH might come out of those positions if I don’t retain Loney.

Technorati Tags: Fantasy Baseball,Benchwarmer Baseball,Robot Baseball

Anyone interested in Benchwarmer Baseball?

Back in April, I wrote a post about a fantasy baseball league I had joined which was a lot different than anything out there.  The reason that I joined was that it was almost identical to a league that I used to be a member of through the mail in high school.  I just read a tweet from @benchwarmerBB stating that there would be an August special coming up that would allow new owners to play in 2011 for free.  It’s a great way to test the waters and see if this is something that you’d be interested in.  I’ll keep people up to date and depending on the details of the promotion, maybe we can get all of the bloggers in a league together.  I’d be willing to draft a second team to participate.  Check out the league’s site, check out my original post and if you think this might satisfy the baseball guru in you then let me know.

Technorati Tags: Benchwarmer Baseball,Robot Baseball

Robot Baseball

I’ve been collecting baseball cards for a long time now and I’ve also been playing fantasy baseball for a long time.  I started playing fantasy baseball in the early 90s through a company called Robot Baseball.  Robot Baseball started pre-Internet and required the filling out of a Scantron sheet in order to set your lineup.  You also had to wait until results arrived in your mailbox to find out how your team did.  At one point there was a 900 number that could be called for results, but it gave teams that used it a bit of an advantage because you could find out roster moves a week earlier than teams who waited for results through the mail.

What I really liked about Robot Baseball was that it involved real baseball strategy.  You had a salary cap and had to put together a team that resembled an actual baseball team in order to be successful.  Runs counted a little bit more if they came from the first three guys in your lineup as did RBIs from batters four through six.  Teams had a minor league roster where you could keep rookies and other players whose salaries were under a certain amount.  For example, my team was struggling the year that A-Rod was called up and I was able to draft him the week that he first became available and had him on my minor league roster.

Another thing that I loved about Robot Baseball was that it was a keeper league.  You built your team from year to year and had to think about which players you wanted to keep and which you wanted to let go.  You also had the ability to sign players to extensions at their current salary to save yourself some money if you think that it is going to go up the following season.

I stopped playing Robot Baseball around 1994 and started playing fantasy baseball online on Yahoo and Sandbox.  Those were fun and easy, but many of those leagues declined in fun starting the day after the draft.  I saw too many bad trades involving teams out of the running who didn’t care about their teams anymore, team giving up when they were out of the running and other things that kept these fantasy leagues from being as fun as they could be.

This year, while searching online for Robot Baseball in the hopes that someone had revived it online, I came across Benchwarmer Baseball.  This site was run by someone else who had played Robot Baseball and who used a lot of the game as the groundwork for this one.  I quickly signed up and have been in the process of drafting my new team.

The draft process is an interesting one.  For the initial dispersal draft, you have to submit a list of players that would constitute a legal roster if you were to get every player that you requested.  That means filling all of the positions and remaining under the salary cap.  Any player that is only requested by one team goes to that team.  Players that were requested by more than one team are awarded through a dispersal process.  I missed out on some players due to forgetting to rank my picks, but I’m fairly happy with how I did.  The only players that I missed out on were some of my sleeper picks and players that I was drafting for the minor league roster.

In the first part of the draft, I acquired Victor Martinez ($3519), Joey Votto (2200), Kevin Kouzmanoff (2076), Everth Cabrera (672), Nick Markakis (4634), Jon Lester (4869), Brett Anderson (2378), Wade Davis (202), Hideki Okajima (1444) and Dustin Nippert (610).

From there, there are up to three more rounds to get teams up to legal rosters.  The first part of the second round draft, I was able to add the following players to my roster: Brian Roberts (4293), Chase Headley (1793), James Loney (2997), Willy Aybar (685), John Danks (3889), Mike Adams (1750) and Justin Masterson (1078).

With two more rounds to go, I still need a starting OF, 4 bench players, a pitcher for my starting rotation, two spot starters and a relief pitcher.  From there, you can also have 2 DL/taxi squad spots for players with any amount of salary and 12 minor league slots for players with salaries under 250,000.

For those spots, I picked up Bobby Abreu (4786), Brendan Harris (1104), Kosuke Fukudome (1586), Taylor Teagarden (238), Max Ramirez (100) Kevin Correia (2860), and Papelbon (6110).

So, my lineup before Brian Roberts got injured looked like this:

1) Brian Roberts – 2B
2) Kevin Kouzmanoff – 3B
3) Everth Cabrera – SS
4) Joey Votto – 1B
5) Nick Markakis – OF
6) Victor Martinez – C
7) Bobby Abreu – OF
8) James Loney – DH
9) Chase Headley – OF

My starting rotation is:

Jon Lester
Brett Anderson
John Danks
Kevin Correia
Wade Davis

The best part of Robot Baseball and now Benchwarmer Baseball as well is that each regular season game corresponds to a league game.  Things don’t start until game 6 of the regular season for hitters which allows starting pitchers to all get a start in before the season begins.  This is mostly done because the week that you have a pitcher scheduled to start twice in a week in BWB may not be the same week he’s going to pitch twice in real life.  So, starts are saved up and then served up in order when it is that player’s turn to pitch.

So far, the results have only been run for the first game of the season which I lost.  Brian Roberts didn’t play and neither did any of his backups which gives you a pretty bad penalty.  Combine that with a shaky start from Lester and I ended up losing 6-5 in extra innings.

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