Crooked Necks

Archive for the ‘Fantasy Sports’ Category

This is the fifth report in the series of our 2010 fantasy baseball rankings looking at the position of third base. Third base appears to have the shallowest depth of all the positions this season with a solid top tier of players and few players with any upside later in the draft.

The following players offer additional flexibility by qualifying at two or more positions. Guys like Pablo Sandoval, Jorge Cantu, Mark DeRosa, Chase Headley, Jhonny Peralta, Mark Teahen, Garrett Atkins and Jake Fox are worth considering if you have them ranked closely with another player on your draft board. If I have two players that are rated close together, I will usually give the nod to the player that qualifies at two positions to make it easier to manage my lineup during the season.

Fantasy basketball continues, and the All-Star Game is nearing, which means we’re at the halfway point of the NBA season. It also means you should have a good gauge on the players you believe in as you attempt to win your fantasy basketball league. But if you’re still looking for further analysis, we’re here with our forecast to help guide you to the top.

(Note: All stats through 1/28)

Player 1 (5 Games)
Monta Ellis, LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, Dirk Nowitzki, Zach Randolph

James is the do-everything player in this group, obviously, but he is second to last in the group in rebounds per contest, and every player in it averages at least 21.0 points per game. Ellis is one of just three NBA players averaging at least 2.0 steals per game. Randolph leads the league in offensive boards per game and is one of just three players averaging at least 4.0 per contest.

Player 2 (6 Games)
Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Joe Johnson, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade

I’ve come up with a few theories regarding auction strategies that I think might make sense. In general, it’s obviously a good thing to have a plan(s) going into an auction; are you going to go Studs & Duds or a more balanced approach?

You want to have a plan laid out of certain guys you like and dislike and try to generally stick to your plan. I’m not suggesting that you’re so rigid you don’t make adjustments on the fly and react to the market, but a general outline of how you want your auction to go is huge. If you have the time, it is probably wise to have some sort of plan for both strategies so that if you know you need to go Studs & Duds or Balanced, you can be flexible. I think early on in an auction you can get a feel for how it is going to flow; are people holding their cash or splurging? Normally I would say, “Do the opposite of what you think people are doing”. If people are coming in hot, blowing all their cash on the top tier guys, there are going to be good deals to be had later in the auction and you might be able to clean up if there are guys that you like still left. On the other hand, and this is the trickier one because you might not realize it until too late, if people are holding their money, you should be spending your money on the big name players and let people who hold their cash and get into bidding wars on 3rd and 4th tier players because they have the money to do so.

The end of the football season has arrived, and with it, one final chance to bask in the glory of a fantasy football championship. To help you navigate your team to the title, here is a look at the players involved.

Player 1
- Drew Brees: Brees has thrown six touchdowns without an interception in the postseason, and has averaged 222 passing yards per game. He faces a Colts defense that was 14th in the league against the pass, and 10th in passing scores allowed.

- Peyton Manning: Manning has been his usual highly impressive self in the playoffs, throwing for an average of 311.5 yards per game, with five touchdowns and one interception, numbers that are even more remarkable when you consider the fact that he faced the Jets and Ravens, who were first and seventh, respectively, in the league in pass defense this season. During the regular season, New Orleans was just 26th in the NFL in pass defense, though it should be noted they were third in the league in interceptions.