Vent Session

Alright, I've had enough! I can't take all these people who care more about their brackets than they do about the tournament or their own team! Call me old school, but I don't care about how I did in a $10 office pool when my team is in the Final Four! UCONN HUSKIES!

It's becoming a trend in fantasy sports too. As I've said, I'm a fantasy football addict. I can't get enough information in the pre-season and then throughout the season. Fantasy baseball, I'm a little less into it. During football season, I'm a Jets fan. Call me fair weather or whatever you want, but I don't live and die with them. The Jet outcome Sunday does not effect my Monday. The Yankees and Dale Earnhardt Jr., well that's another story. I still get queezy when someone says the word 'midges' and it irks the hell out of me when I think about Dale Jr's missed opportunities on Sundays over the last four seasons.

With either of my scenario's I will never put my fantasy interests above my personal favorites. It doesn't mean I go draft all Jets, Yankees or Jr., but it does mean that if I have John Lester as one of my starting pitchers, I hope the Yankees light him up like a Christmas tree during his starts against them. What is my reaction when he pitches a gem? I'm pissed off! I don't care that he helped my ERA, WHIP, and K's for that week. The Red Sox just beat my team, there is no positive fallback! The same should go for this NCAA tournament. Some of my fellow Huskies are guilty parties too. I have seen way to many facebook status updates reading something along the lines of 'Well, my bracket is shot, only one thing left to do, GO HUSKIES!' I despise this.

Thanks for letting me vent...

Somehow, even with all the preseason hype, the MLB season always sneaks up on me. Maybe it's because the coverage is now never ending. Spring Training starts and it seems to go on forever and then it's like 'hey, we are drafting this week'. I won't lie, I've been so tied up in other things going on in my life, that I got that email this weekend, my draft is Wednesday and I am not prepared. I have the 10th pick in a 12 team draft. I have very limited time over the next three days to spend on it, so I have to use the time I do have wisely. Here is my plan. I have found that rankings are all pretty generic. Most players aren't that different from one to the next, so I won't spend a lot of time reading everyone out there. I'll find one that I like, print it and base a lot of my picks off that, obviously varying somewhat. Three things I am going to focus on 1) Sleepers- who is out there that I don't know about that I can grab with a late pick? Ryan Braun two years ago, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Chris Davis and Edinson Volquez last year are perfect examples of this. 2) Value picks- guys I think could have a bounce back year or the guys that always put up solid numbers and are at a position that I don't want to spend a high draft pick on. Fred Lewis of SF is an example. ESPNs take: a player who will steal 20 bases with a decent BA and scores some runs who can be found late. 3) Injuries - You should have seen this coming with my site affiliation. Who is coming off an injury and what are the chances of a healthy, full season? Can you say Liriano? Also, what to do with guys like ARod? I have picks 10 and 15 which both might have a chance at him. No way he makes it back to me in round 3. I have a choice to make and since some of the people in the league read this blog, I can't post much more here. Obviously, anyone in this type of situation is a huge risk and you have to handcuff another 3B with him, but a guy who has the upside ARod does at pick 15? Gotta think about it...

Next weekend is huge for me; Dale Jr. is at the site of his first win and is usually strong at the track in Texas, the Huskies are in the final four (is there a coach in sports who is as underrated as Tom Izzo?), and of course CC takes the mound for the first time in pinstripes at beautiful Camden Yards on Monday.

Have a great week, enjoy the nice weather if you have it, and support your team, not your bracket!

Draft Results for Injury League

Ok, here are the draft results from our first ever Fantasy Injury League (FIL). There is not a lot of money a stake, but there is a TON on pride on the line. My team is called Miceli Medical Center and my opponent is Dr. Fantasy.

Format:

One C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B

Three OF's

One Utility (can be hitter or pitcher)

Two Starting Pitchers

One Refief Pitcher

One Jinx Pick (We are trying to jinx one of each other's favorite players)

Scoring:

+1 Point for the 15 Day DL

+3 Points for the 60 Day DL

+5 Points if announced "Out for the season"

-1 Point if player you draft avoids DL

-3 Points if a player you draft plays 160+ games, has 200 IP for a SP, or has 60+ games for RP.

Miceli Medical Center:

C- Joe Mauer

1B- Carlos Pena

2B- Howie Kendrick

SS- J.J. Hardy

3B- Chipper Jones

OF-Vlad Guerrero

OF- Jonny Damon

OF- J.D. Drew

SP- Felix Hernandez

SP- Carl Pavano

RP- Francisco Rodriguez

Util- Rich Harden

Jinx- Nick Markakis

Dr. Fantasy:

C- Jorge Posada

1B- Nick Johnson

2B- Rickie Weeks

SS- Bobby Crosby

3B- Eric Chavez

OF- Ken Griffey Jr.

OF- Magglio Ordonez

OF- Garrett Anderson

SP- Chris Carpenter

SP- A.J. Burnett

RP- Kerry Wood

Util- Nomar Garciaparra

Jinx- Mark Teixeira

Let the games begin...

Fantasy Baseball Injury Draft

Dear Fantasy Community,

I have the distinct pleasure, to bring to you, the first ever Fantasy Baseball Injury Draft. Yes, you are right, I have way too much time on my hands to think of this stuff. But once I told my nameless nemesis about it, he thought it was cool and we decided to try it out this year. Maybe one day it will take off and there will be people everywhere in side pot Injury leagues. We have a lot of injury prone players to choose from, so this format should be fun.

Format:

The two teams will draft 11 players that remain on your team and active every day for the course of the season. There are no roster adjustments.
2 SP
1 RP
1 each of 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, C

3 OF
1 Utility (Could be a pitcher)

Scoring:

+1 Point for the 15 Day DL
+3 Points for the 60 Day DL
+5 Points if announced "Out for the season"

-1 Point if player you draft avoids DL
-3 Points if a player you draft plays 160+ games, has 200 IP for a SP, or has 60+ games for RP.

We will announce the draft results and two teams on March 23rd. Please stay tuned!

* I would like to make it clear that we do not wish for injuries to occur to the players we draft on our teams. But year after year, I say to myself, "I knew that guy would get hurt," and I at least wanted to make money on those predictions this year.

Who is John Miceli?

About John Miceli
Fantasy Analyst
My name is John Miceli. I have been playing fantasy football and fantasy baseball for many years and I am the BEST fantasy owner never to win the championship in my #1 money league. I play, as I'm sure most of you do, in several leagues each season and have had great success elsewhere, yet the title in the league I spend the most money, time and effort, has elluded me. If awards were given out to the best fantasy football teams on paper, I would have a garage full of them! However, I cannot seem to catch the lucky break. I cannot seem to keep my key players healthy. I cannot seem to keep mistakes (we all make them each year) from being ridiculously costly. And I cannot seem to beat one person in particular. The worst part is, that person is a very good friend of mine. I was even in his wedding party (he however was not in mine). This person has become my biggest fantasy sports nemesis. Consider this blog a form of therapy with the readers filling the role of therapist as I attempt to finally break through.

I have partnered up with a website, launching sometime this year, to write some Fantasy Sports Blogs. The website is devoted to fantasy sports injuries. It is comprised of a team of medical experts and fantasy sports enthusiasts determined to make our lives as fantasy owners easier. Pretty cool concept. We are going to be providing an enormous amount of injury analysis as well as immediate injury updates. It might not be for everyone, but a large percentage of people out there will find the content very interesting and entertaining. While the main focus will be fantasy sports, I have many other interests that I plan on bringing into my blogs. The blog will be called Miceli Monday. I will do my best to have something written each Monday.

I have been married to a hottie named Alison for almost five years and together we have a one year old daughter who goes crazy dancing when I play "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. I have been to 27 Daytona 500's in a row (Take that Cal Ripken!) I love the Yankees, Jets, and UConn Huskies.

Thanks for taking the time to read this bio. I look forward to using this medium to serve as cost effective therapy sessions, which I will utilize often throughout the fantasy seasons...