Fantasy Forecast: 'Fantasy Source Guide'

Friday, February 3, 2006

One of the most important factors in being a successful fantasy team owner is being the most prepared at your league's draft/auction.

Flipping through a magazine, reading up on players between draft-picks while the other owners make their choices does not qualify as preparation. Many people think that February is a little early to be thinking about the upcoming baseball season, but I beg to differ.

You should know who went where during the hot-stove season and then know who is supposed to fill the void left by the players that moved on. Will it be a high-profile prospect? Will the big-league club make a mid-

season move via trade? These are things that any fantasy owner should consider long before draft day. Should you be expected to memorize player's numbers or stat lines? Should you be prepared to draft a team without aid from a magazine, list, cheat sheet or notes?

Absolutely not!

Being prepared for draft day is easier now than it has ever been before. Our goal this week is to give you a few sources to use which will help you to be more prepared than the other owners in your league. I will list a few magazines as well as some websites that I use in preparing for all of my baseball drafts.

First of all, let me state the obvious--We now live in the age of the Internet. There are very few things in this world that you can not find on the Internet. Fantasy information is no exception. Below are a few websites that I visit on a daily basis along with a brief description of what makes that particular site valuable.

http://fantasysource.sportingnews.com/baseball -- The Sporting News offers a great source of fantasy information, including player rankings, cheat sheets, player profiles and "Top 300" lists for both keeper and annual draft leagues. There is a fee; annual and monthly subscriptions are available.

www.sportsblurb.com - "The Blurb" is a useful source for any reader to visit. Instead of stats, stats, and more stats, you will find useful articles written by their stable of 30 writers addressing common problems that pop up throughout the fantasy baseball season.

During the off-season they offer yearly wrap-ups, hot-stove reports, and reader-friendly articles that can assist the beginning fantasy-leaguer as well as shrewd roto-vets.

www.baseballamerica.com- Baseball America is the ultimate source for owners craving the latest information on all of the top prospects in baseball. Their website, as well as their bi-weekly magazine, lists every organization's top-10 prospects prior to every upcoming season. They also publish an annual "Prospect Handbook" which goes on to list, in addition to the top-10, every organization's top 30 prospects.

I may be called a homer for doing this, but I must make mention of the fact that Sikeston native, Blake DeWitt, was just recently ranked the seventh best prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, which was ranked the No. 1 minor league organization in all of baseball. That's not too shabby there, Blake!

Alright, back to topic--

If you "google" the phrase "fantasy baseball" you will find over 21 million results. There is an infinite wealth of information for you to find and use in preparation for your league's draft.

A few other websites that I commonly surf are www.baseballnotebook.com (player projections), www.milb.com (MLB's official minor league website), www.rotoworld.com (General Fantasy info), and www.ondeckprospects.com (information on all of the up-and-comers).

For those of you that fear the internet, are not fortunate enough to have a computer at home, or just feel a lot more comfortable gathering your information from a magazine instead of from a computer monitor, most of the websites mentioned (The Sporting News, The Sports Blurb, etc.) publish a draft-day issue to assist you in preparing for and while participating in your draft.

Another source I use is "Lindy's- Fantasy Baseball" magazine. Although I recommend the Sports Blurb Magazine and the Sporting News Draft Guide above all others, I find that Lindy's prospects section is a good read, chock full of minor league stats and predictions.

Other publications that are useful, but not necessarily produced with fantasy owners in mind are Sports Weekly and the aforementioned Baseball America. Bill James Handbook is another source which is published annually. Bill James, one of the inspirations of Billy Beane's "Moneyball" theory, offers more information that any fantasy owner could ever expect.

In addition to career numbers for every batter who is currently on a major league roster, he also goes the next step in offering 2006 "forecasts" for every major league pitcher and hitter. Bill James Handbook offers statistics, analysis, and insight for today's fantasy owners.

As you can see, there is a lot of information available to you, the typical fantasy owner. Knowing this-- There are only have 13 days until pitchers and catchers report to camp. Once upon a time, fantasy baseball had something that was referred to as an off-season. That is no longer the case. Use this time to use the sources you have been given to prepare and guarantee that you are the most prepared owner come draft day.

Remember, if you know more than everyone else at the table on draft day, you will be the front-runner and everyone in the league will know deep down that your team is the team to beat.

If you have any questions concerning keeper leagues, point leagues, auction leagues, prospects, sleepers, come-back players, etc, fire me an email and I will try to address your question in print.

I appreciate and look forward to hearing from each of you. Feel free to send any suggestions or comments you may have to John Ginther at cardfan_yak@yahoo.com.

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