OBSESSED BALLERS FANTASY BASEBALL LEAGUE

Written by Jason Cheese, Owner of the London Tribe

An email thread started a few weeks back called Angel Pagan the worst keeper ever in the OBFBL. This got me thinking… is it true? Of course we will have to wait until the end of this season to know the answer. However, it does bring up a good point. Who is the worst keeper ever in OBFBL history?

I went back over the past eight seasons to look at some of the greatest flops in fantasy history. There were a lot of them. To cut down the number of busts, I eliminated players who were lost to injury for the majority of a season, and we have had a few of those. Joe Nathan and Brandon Webb most recently, but that list could be a completely different article.

The following is a list of kept players, and their stats for the following year. In 2006 the task became a lot easier as the keeper pool went from six to eight, and we started taking a few more long shots. The reasons behind why the players were kept could have been many, but in the end only one thing matters. The stats.

To get things rolling, we go back to 2002, when the London Tribe (then in Timmins) took a chance on a second baseman from the Chicago White Sox, and what a mistake it was:

Ray Durham 61R, 8HR, 33RBI, 7SB, .285AVG

Thankfully the Tribe didn’t go back to back, in 2003 it was the Nomads’ (now Blue Balls) choice of….

Mike Piazza 47R, 21HR, 54RBI, 0SB, .266AVG

For a catcher not awful numbers, but considering the drop from the year previous when Piazza was a first round pick in the inaugural draft, it was a huge disappointment.

2004 brings us our first hitter (Crackheads) and pitcher (Poo Dogs) combination year.

Bret Boone 33R, 7HR, 37RBI, 4SB, .221AVG
Oliver Perez 7R, 5.85ERA, 97K, 1.67WHIP

Boone was one of those guys that get held onto one year too many, and at the end of the steroid era. Perez is just a mystery. The guy can be lights out, but usually and more recently just terrible. In 2005 we have two more teams enter the mix, the Muffdivers (now Motorboats) and the Supersods.

Jorge Cantu 40R, 14HR, 62RBI, 1SB, .249AVG
Zach Duke 10W, 4.47ERA, 117K, 1.50WHIP

Cantu gets credit for not only being a bust, but taking over the championship belt from Otis Nixon as the ugliest player in the MLB.

2006 brought the Gash and Legacy into our little party with two monster seasons from…

Nomar Garciaparra 39R, 7HR, 59RBI 3SB, .283AVG
Dontrelle Willis 10W, 5.17ERA, 146K, 1.60WHIP

Nomar was a perennial keeper, but 06 was just that year too long, and Willis forgot how to pitch.

Another year, another two teams make appearances. 2007 brings us the Dynasty and Asshats choice selections.

Juan Pierre 44R, 1HR, 28RBI, 40SB, .283AVG
Fausto Carmona 8W, 5.44ERA, 58K, 1.62WHIP

Definitely value from Pierre with SB’s, but so few runs and anything else is tough. Carmona was awesome in his second season, but had some injuries and unfortunately for Indians fans (and Paul) he didn’t return to form.

2008 has two teams making second appearances to compete for worst ever. The Tribe and Supersods with….

Carlos Guillen 36R, 11HR, 41RBI, 1SB, .242AVG
Ervin Santana 8W, 5.03ERA, 107K, 1.47WHIP

Guillen, another in a long line of one year too many and Santana was another pitcher unable to battle the injury bug.

The 2009 Season brought us a couple of doozies, one player didn’t even stay in the majors for the full season. The Muffdivers (now Motorboats) and Asshats each add a couple more contributors.

Chris Davis 7R, 1HR, 4RBI, 3SB, .192AVG
Scott Kazmir 9W, 5.94ERA, 97K, 1.58WHIP

Davis had one great September to remember, and Kazmir another one of those great arms that stays a .500 pitcher. Could be worse, his name could be AJ.

For Angel Pagan to become the worst keeper ever, he’d have to beat some seriously awful years. Until the 2010 season, this definitely was a possibility, but I believe Chris Davis is the reigning champ as worst keeper ever, in any league, any sport, anything. Even if you kept someone who died, you would have at least replaced that hole with some value immediately from the waiver wire. With an under-performing player you wait it out, or try to trade for value. In this case, there isn’t any. Just a gaping hole on your roster.

It was fun to look at these guys from the past, remembering the good early days of the OBFBL and seeing names of guys I forgot even played the game. How about a Ryan Klesko, Preston Wilson, John Patterson, Wade Miller, Kaz Sasaki, Kevin Millwood, Marcus Giles. And yes, all of them were kept at one time or another, and most had better stats than those listed above.