OBSESSED BALLERS FANTASY BASEBALL LEAGUE

This week was an exciting one for our league.  On Wednesday it was announced that the OBFBL Hall of Fame will open its doors to kick off our 10th anniversary season.  Owners were given the task of voting for their top players during each on the past nine season.  These votes combined with bonus keeper votes will determine weather or not a player is worthy of being an OBFBL HOFer!

During the process the questions was asked,  “Who are the only players who have been kept in every single season?”

I had to think about it for a while.  The first two are easy –  Alex Rodriguez (drafted #1 in ’02) and Albert Pujols (drafted #39 in ’02) have been, and continue to be Fantasy baseball powerhouses.  But the rest of the pack was much tougher.  Roy Halladay (drafted #129 in ’02) is the only pitcher to hold this honour.  The last 2 are both outfielders and could be in danger of continuing the keeper streak in 2011; Ichiro Suzuki (drafted #6 in ’02) and Carlos Beltran (drafted #82 in ’02).

Will these 5 players top of the Hall of Fame ballot this March?  Maybe….Maybe not.  The OBFBL HOF is as much about dominance and winning as it is sustained keepability.  Food for thought: Shooter Cup Championships amongst this group = 5 (Pujols-2, Halladay/Ichrio/Beltran-1, A-Rod-0).

Welcome to season 10 of the OBFBL.  We have come a long way and I am so excited for our 10th anniversary season.  Later this week we will be unveiling the OBFBL Hall of Fame and having each owner help determine our first members….stay tuned.  Its going to be an amazing season!!!

If you have not already confirmed your team please do so ASAP!!  http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com

Let the trash talk begin!!!

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.

On the Navigation Side Bar you will see my latest Photoshop creation of Pepsi holding 2 Shooter Cups. How Sweet is that?!?! If you click that photo you will be taken to the OBFBL page in Flickr. I have always HATED websites that have 3rd party photo galleries that don’t look like or link back to the main site, but sometimes you do this you hate in order to make your life easier. Flickr is extremely simple to navigate and allows us an easy place to upload and organize our event photos. Win-Win. Check it out today!

Here is a sneak peek into some ESPN Insider information as we mock the 2011 OBFBL Rookie Keeper Draft using Keith Law’s prospect rankings that are now live on ESPN.  It is very interesting to see that outside of the top 2 Law and Mayo are extremely different in their evaluations.

#1 Aurora Asshats                                               #7 Pickering Dynasty
Mike Trout, Angels                                                Shelby Miller, Cardinals

#2 Ajax Super Sods                                             #8 Aurora Asshats
Bryce Harper, Nationals                                         Aaron Hicks, Twins

#3 Whitby Poo Dogs                                            #9 Brampton Blue Balls
Domonic Brown, Phillies                                         Zach Britton , Orioles

#4 Frankford Fury                                                #10 Pickering Dynasty
Eric Hosmer, Royals                                               Manny Banuelos, Yankees

#5 Brampton Blue Balls                                      #11 Whitby Poo Dogs
Julio Teheran, Braves                                            Kyle Drabek, Blue Jays

#6 Toronto Motorboats                                       #12 Pickering Dynasty
Wil Myers, Royals                                                  Jeremy Hellickson, Rays

The fantasy experts over at ESPN have just posted their first Mock Draft for 2011.  See where your Keepers rank.  To save Baller the trouble I can let you know that Angel Pagan is #116 (12th round, pick 6).  Check out the entire draft HERE.

Jonathan Mayo from MLB.com is considered one of the top talent evaluators in the media.  His top 50 lists each year are not only used by fantasy and dynasty leagues but Major League front offices as well.  Based on this season’s list that was unveiled last night here is how our 2011 Rookie Keeper Draft would go.  (Obviously team need is not taken into consideration). Lets hear your comments!

#1 Aurora Asshats                                               #7 Pickering Dynasty
Mike Trout, Angels                                                Eric Hosmer, Royals

#2 Ajax Super Sods                                             #8 Aurora Asshats
Jeremy Hellickson, Rays                                        Julio Teheran, Braves

#3 Whitby Poo Dogs                                            #9 Brampton Blue Balls
Bryce Harper, Nationals                                          Kyle Drabek, Blue Jays

#4 Frankford Fury                                                #10 Pickering Dynasty
Domonic Brown, Phillies                                         Michael Pineda, Mariners

#5 Brampton Blue Balls                                      #11 Whitby Poo Dogs
Aroldis Chapman, Reds                                          Mike Montgomery, Royals

#6 Toronto Motorboats                                       #12 Pickering Dynasty
Mike Moustakas, Royals                                         Jacob Turner, Tigers

Who do you think will win the 2011 Shooter Cup?

MLB Network to air countdown, with MLB.com streaming show live.

In 2010, Braves outfielder Jason Heyward topped the charts before erupting onto the Major League scene out of Spring Training. A year before, Rays left-hander David Price led the way at No. 1 before establishing himself as a front-of-the-rotation starter. Who will be next? It’s almost time to learn who projects as 2011’s biggest and brightest young talent with the unveiling of the annual MLB.com Top 50 prospect list.  This year’s edition will be revealed on MLB Network at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday during a special Top 50 Countdown program.

With the Rookie Keeper Draft coming up Next month many OBFBL Owners should be tuning in HERE.

After a painful year of battling broken code OBFBL.com has laid dormant since the end of the 2009 season.  A sad fate for the once prominent showcase of our amazing league.  Our new site may not have some of the flash, but it is easy to update, allows multiple authors and will be a perfect vault for our league history in the years to come.  Welcome to the new OBFBL.com. Enjoy!