Knock Steve Smith down your draft board a couple of notches, he will be missing the first two games of the season due to a team issued suspension for punching teammate Ken Lucas and breaking his nose.
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Gather-round my loyal fantasy baseballers; we have much news to discuss…
As you may have already heard by now, Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson pulled up lame at practice on Saturday, forcing the two-time Pro Bowl selection to miss the remainder of the day’s workouts. I know, an Andre Johnson injury is hardly newsworthy. I’ll tell you what is newsworthy…Carolina Panthers wide-out Steve Smith was suspended for two games after a training camp incident (fight) with teammate Ken Lucas resulted in Lucas’ nose being bloodied and broken. Lucas was not suspended and has been listed as day-to-day. The suspension for Smith will take effect on the first two regular season games versus San Diego and Chicago respectively. That’s big news if you had Steve Smith toward the top end of your WR draft board. You’ll surely want to drop him down at least a notch or two, seeing as how Smith will now be missing these two games—probably in addition to the two he was already looking at missing due to injury or ineffectiveness.
What does Steve Smith have to do with fantasy baseball you ask? Good question. The answer is EVERYTHING. In the wake of the Smith suspension, if you spent the vast majority of your time fretting over what to do at wide receiver, you probably did so at the expense of your fantasy baseball team, or most likely, teams--plural. Such is the case every year. We’re approaching the onset of the football season, preparing for drafts, ranking players, scouring the internet for any and all advice we can garner in an effort to gain even the slightest draft-day advantage over our fantasy-footballing cohorts, and, viola, we’ve suddenly slipped from second to fourth in our 14 team, mixed, H-2-H baseball league. We’re left shaking our heads and asking “What happened”?
The short answer is fantasy football happened. The majority of fantasy sports participants play multiple teams in multiple leagues in multiple sports. Sometimes all this involvement means that our attention and focus can be stretched to its limits—to say nothing of the needs of family and loved ones. Case in point, I was [a-hem] “forced” to miss my cousin’s wedding this past March due to prior commitments that I was unable to reschedule (i.e. the live draft for my “main” league).
Now, I’m not suggesting, even for a moment, that you ignore your football draft preparation; you would be derelict in your duties by doing so. Nor am I suggesting that you miss the birth of your first child, though, in fairness, you could have more kids. I’m just gently reminding everyone that this is a frantic time of year. Many of our fantasy baseball leagues have trade deadlines right about now, to say nothing of the daily changes we should still be keeping up with. We also have the obligatory fantasy football draft(s) to prepare for. The truly dedicated are already looking ahead to basketball and hockey seasons. And the hardest of the hardcore are in the throws of heated fantasy WNBA leagues…“this one’s for the girls.” Wait, did I forget to pick little Timmy up from summer camp? I…don’t…
For someone like me (no little ones to provide for), it’s a bit easier to rearrange my schedule to meet my fantasy needs. Think about it, I have to find the time in my otherwise busy schedule to write this, and that time (as little as it might be) has to come from somewhere. On top of that, I have my other contributions to SportsGrumblings.com, namely “Pen Names” (look for it every Saturday at a computer near you). How do I do it? Well, I can’t remember the last time I went to the gym. Not that I was ever going to be Mr. Olympia, but I once thoroughly enjoyed being in pretty good shape…you know, in my younger years. At this time of the year, vanity and even such basic needs as health and hygiene tend to fall by the wayside.
I’m not openly advocating that anyone stop brushing their teeth or applying deodorant. After all, we may share the same subway car on the way to work one morning. I am suggesting that anyone feeling the fantasy time crunch might want to look at rearranging their schedule to accommodate their ever-increasing fantasy responsibilities. This may require (I know) waking up a bit earlier, if only to ensure you have your optimal lineups set in daily-change leagues. If possible, take some extra time during lunch to check in on any player news that may have developed during the day’s first half. Doing just this little bit will ensure that you’re not starting someone with a scheduled off-day, or worse, starting someone with a DL or NA designation.
Not only do you owe it to yourself / your team, but you really owe it to your league(s). We’ve all been forced to deal with dead-beat managers that stop paying attention to their teams at some point during the season. Well, in life generally, I try to live by one rule—and no, it’s not the golden rule. My rule: Don’t be that guy. That’s it. Don’t be the guy that tries to turn left from the right-hand lane. Don’t be that guy that goes through the express lane with 70 items and a screaming baby. And don’t EVER be the guy who quits on a fantasy baseball season.
As for doing what you can to still find time for the rest of the fantasy sports universe, try taking your time (if and when you have it). We’ve all heard the words of wisdom, “Many fantasy leagues are lost on draft day”. While this may indeed be true, I have yet to see anyone WIN a league on draft day… aside from last year when my wife somehow managed to nab Adrian Peterson in the 7th round after realizing that some schlep drafted the other Adrian Peterson in the 4th round (he was a Bears fan, BTW). Preparedness is certainly important, especially on draft day, but being diligent over the course of an entire season is what really pays dividends.
The same is true of baseball, and there’s a lot of season yet to be played. Even if you’re well back in the standings, you owe it to everyone else to stay as competitive as possible right up to the end. Fail to do so, and you’re that guy before you know it. There are still a number of prized prospects that may still get the call and have a significant impact on the fantasy season (see: David Price). For those AL or NL-only players out there, we might yet see a post-deadline trade that brings new talent and hope into a league. Or, maybe the first place team is beset with insurmountable injuries. Your dedication might make the difference between finishing in 6th and finishing “in the money”, if you play in a “money” league.
Besides, with all the helpful tools at SportsGrumblings.com…Cheat-O-Matic, Trend-O-Matic, Compare-O-Matic, and even the lesser known Be-Rich -And-Better-Looking-O-Matic, it’s obvious to even the most casual of observers that the tools are right here at your disposal to make your fantasy life as streamlined and uncomplicated as you need it to be. Or, you could go on lying to your wife, kids and ailing mother-in-law about just what is that you’ve been doing on the computer all this time.
The point is…find the time. Is your job really so important that you can’t slack off and surf the internet like every other American? And, with the U.S. divorce rate over 50%, my cousin will probably have another shot at marital bliss. I tell myself this because I know I’ll never get another chance at a 2008 fantasy baseball championship. Marriages come and go, but flags fly forever!
