The NFBC Way

[DOUGHBOYS]

I don't really care what your fantasy team looks like. Oh, there was a time when I tried to get EVERYBODY's fantasy team.
Experts, writers, any NFBC player's, the butcher, even the fella messing around with my wife.
EVERYBODY.
I've turned full circle.
For some reason, I thought I needed verification that I wasn't taking a player too soon or too late.
Screw that!

Let's take a leading writer in fantasy baseball and an NFBC member.
Todd Zola.
I consider Todd to be one of the brightest, smartest, and pithiest people I know.
Believe me, if I were back in high school, I would try to get through my test within viewing distance of the top of Todd's desk.
BUT, if we were at Fantasy Camp, I wouldn't care where my desk was located.

Hobbies are mostly about the future.
Coin and stamp hobbyist foresee what items will be worth more in the future.
Gardeners try to plant seeds so they can have the prettiest of flowers in the future.
High school, mostly about the past.
Math, English, and science are what they are and were.
A guy like Todd can study and know the past. He's ahead of a dumbass like me who is trying to cheat off the work of Todd's time of study.
Todd takes that same prowess towards fantasy baseball. He digs into stats, whether they be quantifying, sabermetric, or any other means to come up with a prognosis for each player.
I don't care about sabremetrics. It has caused me more problems in the past than it has helped me.
I believe there is an underlying reason for each player striking out, taking bases on balls, or reaching base in other ways.
Sabermetrics just looks at the facts, Ma'am.

We all rely on stats, but whether you want to admit it or not, we take players from the eyeballs.
Even Todd cannot escape eyeballs. He has a hometown interest in the Boston Red Sox.
He sees more of Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi.
We are all swayed by hometown mentality or a love for a player.
This past year, I saw Andrew Moore throw a game for Seattle looking brilliant.
I HAD to have him for every faab team.
I didn't bid way too much in thinking that others hadn't seen what I saw.
I was delighted to find out that Moore landed on three of my four teams.
Mine eyes had seen the glory of Andrew Moore and I was sure that I had found a diamond in the rough.
Little did I know that I was more like a golfer finding the rough.
Moore turned out to be terribly inadequate.
I dropped him within three weeks.
When a player does this to me, I accuse him of 'bait and switch'. And it is.
This is where the eyes fail us. I had seen Moore all of one appearance.
I would have been better off if I had drafted Mary Tyler Moore.

Despite all that, Moore was MY player. I didn't look and see if others liked him before I dropped money to get him from faab.
If I had done that, I probably would have missed out on others like Jose Pirela, who was poo-poo'ed by most until he wasn't.
The long and short of it is that it is YOUR TEAM.
If you believe in Sabermetrics, then draft that way.
If you believe in three or four players seen, draft them.
If you believe in local players, draft them.
ADP is a general opinion. It comes from smart fellas like Todd, average Joe's, and dumbasses like me.
It should only effect WHERE you'll draft a player, not WHO you take.
DO NOT fall into the value trap.
Jonathon Villar was no better pick in the third round than second round last year. Yet many drafters took him in the third round without even liking him, because he was of 'value'.
Remember, 'value' is just an overused draft season word. Nothing else, nothing more.

Draft YOUR team.
Draft a team you like.
No matter what others say.
Just a note.....
I was looking at some comments from non-NFBC drafters looking at an NFBC draft, last November.
They were astonished that Trea Turner was being taken in the second round.
Even more amazed that Gary Sanchez went in the third.
And went completely bonkers that a fella with the history of Jose Bautista was not taken till the double digit rounds.
I felt these comments were what sets the NFBC apart from other drafters.
We're bold.
And even though they swore to themselves that they could never do such a thing when their drafts came around in March, I bet they did.
We are trend setters in our hobby.
We don't get that from copying off other's papers.
We're trend setters because we don't need to copy.
Even a dumbass like me is smart enough to know that.
And whether you are well-educated such as Todd, a dumbass like me, or somewhere in between, we are all on the same level when it comes to the NFBC.
And any of us can win or lose.
We know it'll be OUR team that produces those results.

[Edwards Kings]

The butcher is messing with your wife?

[DOUGHBOYS]

The butcher is messing with your wife?

I haven't figured out if it's the butcher, the milk man, or the vacuum salesman.
She knows that if I caught her with the butcher or milk man that we'd just discuss fantasy baseball.
I don't know that to be true for the vacuum guy. I'm dubious.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Three long posts.
Two drafts going.
One wonders if I need a life.