Coronavirus didn’t stop this terrible fantasy baseball owner from drafting for 2020
Here’s a secret. Please don’t tell anyone:
The Star-Telegram’s Texas Rangers beat man is terrible — and I mean terrible — at fantasy baseball.
After 22 seasons, it’s now clear that Larry Swindell, in his final years at the Star-Telegram and a distinguished journalism career, found the weakest member of the herd.
He must have easily sold me to Jim Reeves and Simon Gonzalez, the columnist and the baseball writer, and Tony DeMarco, who had left the Star-Telegram a few years earlier to cover the Colorado Rockies for The Denver Post.
Those three regularly joust for league titles. My team, the Rock Ridge Johnsons, has finished in the money only twice since 1998.
Twice!
So, maybe that’s why the draft is my favorite part of the fantasy season. I’m almost always in the top half of the 12-team Mark Murphy Memorial League, named for another Star-Telegram ex.
We’re a dedicated lot. We take our rules seriously and make adjustments as needed. Some owners spend lavishly, especially Swindell. Yes, he’s still going strong at nearly 91, but now in Moraga, Calif.
Everyone was present online at 9 a.m. Sunday for the 2020 draft after voting unanimously to charge ahead even though no one has any clue, including the Rangers beat man, when the MLB season will begin.
But we know how to social distance amid this coronavirus outbreak.
We protect 12, so the draft is fairly watered down for the first round, and draft until everyone has 36 players.
Rosters have 24 active players (two catchers; a first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, middle infielder, corner infielder and utility player; five outfielders; six starting pitchers; and four relievers) and 12 reserves.
Roster changes can be made daily, including to the starting rotation. That has been our most radical rule change in two decades, and it was made only a few seasons ago. We dumped batting average last season.
Our five offensive categories: home runs, on-base percentage, runs, RBIs and stolen bases.
Our five pitching categories: ERA, strikeouts, saves, wins and WHIP.
Starting pitchers are eligible as relievers with 10 appearances the previous season or five in the current one, and relievers are eligible as starters with five starts the previous season or five in the current one.
Position players are eligible at positions where they played 20 games the previous season or five in the current one.
So, that helps explain why my first-round pick was Houston Astros infielder Yuli Gurriel.
The Astros are going to score even if they are no longer banging trash cans or wearing buzzers under their jerseys. Gurriel will have opportunities to pile up RBIs, one of our five offensive categories, and he is eligible at both infield corners.
The Johnsons needed corner infielders after protecting only one, Chicago White Sox young star Yoan Moncada.
Having protected Minnesota Twins catcher Mitch Garver, I selected Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez for what I hope is a distinct advantage at a very thin position.
Next up was a shortstop, another need at a thin position, and I went with a familiar face — Elvis Andrus. Then came Detroit Tigers left-hander Matthew Boyd and another Rangers player, Shin-Soo Choo.
Remember that OBP is one of the five offensive categories.
Choo is the fourth and final Rangers player on the Johnsons’ roster. Joey Gallo and Mike Minor were two of the 12 protected players.
Speaking of Gallo, the Johnsons are pretty strong in the outfield with Christian Yelich and Aaron Judge, if he can find a way to stay healthy. Gallo, too.
The rest of the draft wasn’t a blur necessarily, but a scramble to fill holes with the best available players while also sprinkling in a few prospects who might hit.
Right-hander Dustin May of the Los Angeles Dodgers and catcher Joey Bart of the San Francisco Giants were my eighth- and 10th-round picks. Royce Lewis, the Twins’ young shortstop prospect, was the Johnsons’ final pick in Round 23.
I like the versatility of the roster overall, with players and pitchers who are eligible in multiple roles, but I’m worried I have too many Seattle Mariners.
Here are the 2020 Rock Ridge Johnsons, primed for yet another season out of the money:
Catcher (4): Mitch Garver*, Salvador Perez, Pedro Severino, Joey Bart
First base (2): Yuli Gurriel, Yandy Diaz
Second base (2): Yoan Moncada*, Dee Gordon
Shortstop (2): Elvis Andrus, Kevin Newman, Nick Ahmed, Royce Lewis
Third base (1): Kyle Seager
Outfield (7): Joey Gallo*, Christian Yelich*, Aaron Judge*, Shin-Soo Choo, Andrew Benintendi*, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Teoscar Hernandez
Utility (2): Shohei Ohtani*, Miguel Andujar
Starting pitchers (7): Jose Berrios*, Matthew Boyd, Jesus Luzardo*, Miles Mikolas*, Mike Minor*, Blake Snell*, Julio Terehan.
Relief pitchers (6): Wade Davis, Nathan Eovaldi, Kevin Gausman, Raisel Iglesias, Joe Jimenez, Dustin May
* Protected from 2019
