BOYCOTT Blog Talk Radio's Fantasy Sports Channel & Here's Why

Here we go again, more complaining from Todd Farino right? How about more abuse from Paul Greco and his gang. I had a rough year in the industry last season due to my relationship with Paul Greco. Anyone who reads our blogs or listens to our shows clearly knows most if not all of the details. However, now things have gotten worse and again it's Paul Greco and his new found ally Tony Cincotta who are trying to silence The True Guru further.

The latest assault on me was them keeping me out of the Fantasy Sports Channel on Blog Talk Radio. They told Blog Talk Radio that if Todd "The True Guru" Farino was on the Channel that they ALL would not be and they would split. I was as shocked as you probably are to hear that grown men would actually lower themselves to tactics that can compromise another person's business just because of personal arguments. Especially in an industry that requires everyone to work together and my track record of running web sites that for 4 years solely did just that, work together. Helping young, old, and new sites get exposure was my main goal and still is. I even helped Paul Greco get discovered. I found his blog site after it first launched in 2007 and I invited him to have a link on the home page of http://www.fantasybaseballsearch.com/ and to become our site's official blog. He accepted and within weeks he went from a zero Google page rank to a 4 and according to him my impact was huge in bringing in new visitors to a site that was only months old. Our relationship turned into a friendship and in April of 2007 I started appearing on Greco's radio show every week with the great Lenny Melnick. I was on nearly every show and even guest hosted a few times before I left the show in October. I only left because I had football to focus on and fantasy baseball was over. We even did football shows together later that year and I met Paul when he came to Vegas that summer of '07.

So what went wrong? I hate to rehash old garbage, but basically Paul was not happy when I decided in 2008 to launch The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show, which I informed him in January, 2008. He then invited me to the now over discussed and tiresome Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft.

Here is a breakdown of what has happened since and then I'll give you the reasons for the boycott. Footnotes for sources are present at the bottom and marked with an asterisk in the article.

1. February 25, 2008 - Paul trashed me badly at the Mock Draft*. I requested an apology, he refused. Maybe he did it cause I was the least known expert in the drat, maybe cause I left his show. He bashed no one but me.



2. Early March, 2008 - I went on Paul's show** to defend my picks and Paul and Lenny teamed up on me further attacking me and asking me flat out false questions about Ryan Braun, like, "Do I still think he will steal allot of bases NOW that he is batting in front of Prince Fielder now?" Well, in 2007 he stole 18 of his 19 bases while batting in front of Fielder*. Apparently Greco didn't do his homework to know that.



3. We did move on as Paul was part of my Fantasy Baseball Search expert league and I thought we had buried the hatchet since he sorta apologized in private.



4. April 29th, 2008 - After listening to Talking Baseball and hearing Lenny Melnick say, "you were stupid to draft closers in the 4 or 5 rounds" (not verbatim) and feeling that comment was directed at me, I posted my thoughts on the value of closers in a blog post titled, "Closer Wars Heat Up: Us Vs. Them"***. This post heavily upset both Paul and Lenny because I challenged their theories and they felt I was not in the position as a lowly industry analysis to dare match wits with the great Melnick and Greco. LOL.


5. In June I had a phone conversation with Paul and in part of the conversation I asked him why he keeps inviting mu co host on his show, but not me or RC. His answer, "Patrick is published. We consider him an expert. We do not consider you an expert." Wow, I was an expert when I did his show and when we were going to run expert leagues together, but now I'm not an expert? This is coming from a man who's claim to fame is scrounging off of Lenny Melnick's reputation and losing in Gillette's Rookie Reporter contest. I thought Paul was a veteran reporter, not a rookie! Talk about a step backwards!



6. July 1, 2008 - Patrick DiCaprio leaves my show after Paul Greco asked him to work on their new web site launching in January 2009. Part of the deal was Patrick must leave my show ASAP. Why would Patrick not be able to stay on till September with the site not launching till January? I do not know, but I can guess Paul's immaturity and 4th grade tactics were involved.



7. During the All-Star break Paul Greco quits my expert league posting about it with the hopes more would follow. It was more like the scene out of Jerry McGuire, but not even his secretary Patrick DiCaprio went with him. Nobody else quit. After I told him off, he posted taped messages I left on Patrick's voice mail after we got in a heated argument. Paul ALSO had attacked me several times in the expert league on the message board and accused my of all sorts of improper actions. All proven false of course and all ended up being very embarrassing for Paul. In fact, who takes a recorded message and posts it on his site and solicits people in the industry to listen to it. How childish and 4th grade level is that! Really?



8. August 6th, 2008 After we went back and forth, I agreed to stop it at the request of my co hosts cause the fight was childish and a waste of my time. Patrick DiCaprio didn't think so and he put up a harsh post in his blog titled, "The Fall Of Jacoby Ellsbury"****. This article was posted while Jacoby Ellsbury was in a slump and also begged the question, "Did I qualify as an expert or should I even be called that anymore?" Well, Ellsbury got hot after that and ceased Patrick's worthless post and argument. I did not retaliate, trying to stop this BS and move on like an adult.



9. In August my good friend Johnny Archive and I were viciously attacked on our show rating comments and chat rooms by a listener called R.A. Dickey, who we later found out through IP address chasing and other sources was Tony Cincotta. Tony is the man with a thousand aliases and at the time he was not getting along with either of us, so of course it was him. Tony also attacked my radio shows by giving them 1 star ratings on Fantasy Baseball Search, and after I banned his Yahoo! IM account from contacting me, he asked to join my friend list under the alias edorfred38, saying he was a iTunes listener named Ed H. He asked me baseball related questions and never said he was Tony. Why would he do that?



10. In September the Fantasy Sports Channel launched on Blog Talk Radio and Johnny Archive and I were never invited. After several conversation with BTR customer relations and Tony Cincotta I found out that Paul was friends with Alan Levy (CEO Blog Talk Radio) and was put in charge of getting the shows for the channel. Him and Tony waged a campaign to keep Johnny and my shows out of the channel basing it on our relationship and saying I would cause problems. They even said that if I were allowed in tehy would leave the Fantasy Sports Channel. That's right me. I'd cause the problems, Not Paul and the man with a thousand alias'! I hadn't done anything in months, and if I did it was normally in response, not an attack. I had absorbed attacks by Tony and Patrick without doing anything. Hmmm. Those actiosn clearly showed that they care more about themselves and their own egos than they do the listeners or Blog Talk Radio. Even without the channel, my show is still one of the highest rated.

I left allot of details out cause I don't want this post to be a book, but you get the idea. I am asking for a boycott of Blog Talk Radio's Fantasy Sports Channel until they let us in and cease control of it from Paul and Tony. We deserve to be in there. I've been broadcasting on BTR since April of 2007 and they launched in January of 2007. I helped build the fantasy sports audience on the web site creating 4 shows and making guest appearances on countless others. My shows constantly remain in the top 20 shows (podcasts) in the sports section on Blog Talk Radio out of over 13,000+ shows! It is an injustice that I was kept out. With over 64,000 total listeners, 1.5 years in service, and 4 seasons of broadcasting I deserve to be in the Fantasy Sports Channel I helped build. Email BTR at service@blogtalkradio.com and tell them you are boycotting the Fantasy Sports Channel until The True Guru and others are let in. Blog Talk Radio is a great company and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them and what they are doing. However, they dropped the ball on this one and letting bad people like Paul Greco and Tony Cincotta make the decisions they did is just bad business. Especially when they base their decisions on prejudices and not what is right.

Check out our radio shows on Blog Talk Radio that are not in the Fantasy Sports Channel for all you Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball needs:

The Fantasy Football Gurus Show - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Fantasy-Gurus

The Fantasy Football Scouting Report - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Football-Scout

The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru

The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Fantasy-Gurus-Networ

Footnotes and Sources:

* Mock Draft Central's Expert Draft February 25, 2008 hosted by Paul Greco

** Talking Baseball Live March 5, 2008 - hosted by Paul Greco

*** Closer Wars Heat Up: Us Vs. Them April 29th, 2008 written by Todd Farino

**** The Fall of Jacoby Ellsbury August 6, 2008, written by Patrick DiCaprio

The Mike Vick Leagacy

You ever see the show Dexter on Showtime? Well, I’ve been rather obsessed with it of late and I thought I might nominate a particular target for everyone’s favorite serial killer. Now, maybe a little back story: Dexter Morgan is an “orphaned” child who is raised by a noble Miami Police Officer. Early in Dexter’s life, Harry, Dexter’s foster father, realizes that Dexter has an uncontrollable psychological urge to kill, one that cannot be cured with things like therapy. So Harry, feeling attached to this boy, begins to find ways to channel his “son’s” urges toward good. He teaches him to be a perfect, uncatchable murderer, but the only condition is, he can only kill those who take innocent lives and manage to escape justice.

Did he really just say that?

Did he really just say that?

It’s not uncommon for a professional athlete or coach to give the media a sound clip that will be played for years to come.

How many times have we heard Jim Mora’s rant about the Colts making the playoffs?

How many times have we heard Allen Iverson downplay the importance of practice?

Terrell Owens, Randy Moss or Chad Johnson can usually be counted on to say something that we can talk about all week, but we have a newcomer to the group.

Donovan McNabb didn’t know that there were ties in the NFL???

"I've never been a part of a tie. I never even knew that was in the rule book," he said after Sunday’s game. "It's part of the rules, and we have to go with it. I was looking forward to getting the opportunity to get out there and try to drive to win the game. But unfortunately, with the rules, we settled with a tie."

Are you kidding me? He’s been in the league for 10 years and the last tie was in 2002. You could argue that players don’t pay attention to the outcome of other games, but McNabb and the Eagles actually played the Falcons that season after Atlanta had taken part in that tie.

Andy Reid tried to defend his signal caller by saying that there are rules that players don’t know about, but I’m not buying that excuse. We’re not talking about some obscure rule about laterals or if there is a 10 second runoff on a false start in the last 2 minutes of a game. Just because ties don’t happen often, doesn’t excuse McNabb on this one.

One thing is for sure…Donovan won’t forget that ties are possible because he’ll hear his sound bit well after he’s done playing in the NFL.

Your Fantasy Football Season Is Not Over...It's Just Begun!

What's up fantasy football fanatics & welcome to SPACEBALL FOOTBALL.......
The Game Is Simple:
*Pick 5 NFL players (1 QB, 1RB, 2WR's & a Kicker) from our players pool
*The contestant's team that scores the highest amount of points that week wins $500.00
It's that simple...No catches, no gimmicks!
Go to www.funtasyfootball.com on November 5th, 2009 to pick your roster and take a shot at winning $500.00 a week!
Oh, did we mention that it's only a lousy $5.00 per entry to play?
Who is Spaceball?
Hi there and welcome to Spaceball Football. This year you can hear me on a variety of radio stations all over the country!
Who am I? I'm the expert with an attitude. I'm the expert with a sense of humor. But then again, nobody said experts had to be boring.
In addition to my show and guest appearances on Morning and Afternoon drive shows during the week, I was also tapped by the Chicago Sun Times to write a weekly column. At my 1st ever Fantasy Football convention, over 500 men came out to talk about their upcoming drafts. (For the record - this was as Peyton Manning was coming off his 28 interception rookie season.and I told everyone to keep him as he was going to be bigger than huge). By the time I took over ESPN Radio in Chicago, Fantasy Football was a mainstay in the city.When it comes to Fantasy Football, that list of experts only goes one name deep. Millions play, hundreds are self-proclaimed 'experts,' but only one is a Fantasy Football legend. It's been my dream and now, it's your reality.
In much the same manner that Batman never revealed who he was in real life, I cannot either, however in my real life identity - I was the one who introduced the game to the general sports public some 20 years ago when I was running the Chicago sports radio station WSCR-AM (The Score) by hosting a Sunday morning Fantasy Football show. Fans would call as early as 5:30a and hold up to 45 minutes for the chance to ask my opinion on whom they should play that day.
Today, I show up on a regular basis on a number of stations throughout the country as well as make occasional appearances on a variety of other radio shows such as Steve Dahl (WJMK-FM / Chicago ), Mike North (WSCR-AM / Chicago), and Kevin Matthews (WLAV-FM / Grand Rapids ).
Give it a try. Tune in one day, talk some fantasy and let's have some fun.

www.funtasyfootball.com

The Most Underappreciated NFL Stars

The Fantasy Sports Forum.com



This past Sunday, the 49ers honored Steve Young with a halftime ceremony retiring his number. I always thought that despite his numerous accomplishments, Young was never appreciated as much as he should have been. It got us thinking here at The Fantasy Sports Forum about some excellent NFL players who never quite received the credit they probably should have. Here is our top ten list:



10. Phil Simms, QB, New York Giants: Not the strongest arm or the fastest runner, but an excellent leader who got the job done and had one of the greatest Super Bowl games of any quarterback. Could play for my team anytime.

9. Art Monk, WR, Washington Redskins: Yeah I know he was just elected to the Hall of Fame, but it took about 15 years for him to get there - even though when he retired he was the NFL leader in receptions. Wasn't flashy, didn't call attention to himself, just caught the football and kept the chains moving.

8. Jeff Garcia, QB, San Francisco 49ers: Had the impossible job of making 49er fans forget Joe Montana and Steve Young - good luck. His arm is nothing special, but all he does is win. I'm not sure anyone knows why, but he just has that something special.

7. John Taylor, WR, San Francisco 49ers: Maybe he was able to put up all those numbers because opposing defenses were worried about Jerry Rice, but he was a highlight machine himself, regularly turning five yard slants into 60 yard touchdowns. The perfect complement to Rice in that he didn't need the spotlight to shine on himself.

6. Drew Pearson, WR, Dallas: One of the best receivers of the 70s and a leader of the Cowboys. Best known for the Hail Mary completion against Minnesota in the playoffs. Has very similar numbers to Hall of Famer Lynn Swann and should probably be there himself.

5. Warren Moon, QB, Houston Oilers: Moon was a prolific offensive machine during the Oilers Run and Shoot era. And while he never won a Super Bowl, he was a multiple champion in the CFL, if that counts for anything.

4. Doug Flutie, QB, Buffalo Bills: Yes, Flutie was another quarterback who excelled in the CFL, but was never given a fair chance in the NFL, mostly due to being the anti-prototype size for an NFL quarterback. But anywhere he played, he managed to win. He should never have been passed over in Buffalo for an inferior and subpar talent like Rob Johnson. Wade Phillips would have lasted longer in Buffalo if he had picked the right man to lead his team.
3. Danny White, QB, Dallas: Took over for Roger Staubach andcontinued to lead the Cowboys as one of the top teams in the NFL, but could never quite lead them to the Super Bowl, losing three straight NFC Championship games in the 80s. If he had won even one of those, his legacy might be different. Was also a succesful punter for Dallas while being the backup to Staubach and then took over as full time QB. You don't see that anymore.

2. Terrell Davis, RB, Denver Broncos: His career was shortened after seven seasons at age 29 by a chronic knee problems after blowing it out in his fifth season and he was never the same after that. But he did put together three consecutive tremendous seasons in '96, '97 and '98, when he topped 2,000 rushing yards. Davis was also the missing component for Denver and John Elway in their two Super Bowl wins. He should get more Hall of Fame consideration.

1. Jim Plunkett, QB, Oakland/LA Raiders: Drafted by New England first overall in 1971, Plunkett was a bust for them through his first five seasons, never leading them to a winning record as their starting quarterback. He did no better in his next two seasons in San Francisco and then was picked up off the scrap heap by the Oakland Raiders at the end of the 1979 season. He then led the Raiders to a 9-2 record in 1980, getting the team into the playoffs with the wildcard. All he did after that was win all three playoff games on the road and win the Super Bowl and the MVP honor for that game. Three years later, he led the Los Angeles Raiders to a Super Bowl victory. Plunkett's career post-season record was a stellar 8-2. He fits the definition of an underappreciated star, especially when it looked like his career was on it's way to being labeled as another college star who failed in the NFL.

The True Guru Wins The Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League

Todd "The True Guru" Farino defeated radio co-host and good friend RC "The Numbers Don't Lie" Rizza 6-4 in the championship match of the 1st annual 2008 Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League. It capped off an amazing season where Todd (I) finished with a league best regular season record of 138-74-13, and compiled an expert vs. expert record of 17-5-1 and 2-0 in the playoffs. That included my hot start of 6-0 until I lost to Roto Authority in week 7.

For the readers I'd like to discuss how I was able to win in such a competitive league with so many brilliant managers. Over the course of the season I stuck to my strategy of maintaining a well-balanced team and made some great free agent pick ups along the way. A major strategy going into this roto 5x5 H2H league was to build a strong bullpen. I felt I could take pressure of my team and shorten the matchups if I dominated the SAVES category. I finished 21-2-3 overall for the season in the saves category. I also felt that batting average was critical as well and built my offense around that. The strategy being, if your guys are getting hits then they can steal bases, score runs, and collect RBIs. For power and speed I simply tried to balance it out so I can get both, but overall I did terrible in steals.

On the pitching side I firmly believed in having a strong starting rotation. Mine was built around CC Sabathia, John Lackey, Rich Harden, Fautista Carmona, Gavin Floyd, and Todd Wellemeyer. I believed with the guys I drafted (I did draft and cut Joe Saunders & Oliver Perez) that I could win strikeouts, wins, ERA, and even WHIP would be possible. So by looking at my over all strategy I was looking to win 4/5 pitching categories and up to 3/5 hitting categories each week.

I'd like to give some praise to the players that won it for me. Here are a few top 5 lists for fun.

TOP 5 DRAFT PICKS

1. Kevin Youkilis #21 - 29 HRs, 115 RBI, and a .312 batting average. Who says you can't find power late in the draft


2. CC Sabathia #4 - Started rough, but clearly the most dominating pitcher. Single handedly won the championship week for me.


3. Jose Valverde #7 - Went against the industry by taking a powerhouse closer early. 44 saves.
   
4. Kerry Wood #18 - Many in the industry considered Marmol the closer in spring training. Marmol was drafted in the 12th round. Rounded out my bullpen with 34 saves.


5. Bengie Molina #22- Never draft a catcher early. I waited till round 22 and got a gem. .292 batting average, 16 HRs, and 95 RBI. He even batted cleanup in San Francisco.
   

TOP FIVE WORST DRAFT PICKS

1. Andruw Jones #9 - Never again will I make this mistake.


2. Robinson Cano #3 - Wow, was he not a bust for everyone!


3. Manny Corpas #10 - I did pick up Brian Fuentes, so the loss was minimal.


4. Matt Diaz #25 - I was high on this guy, and I must have been high. :)


5. James Loney #11 - Took him instead of Ellsbury and regretted it.

TOP FIVE FREE AGENT PICKUPS

1. Gavin Floyd - What a find for my 5th starter. 17-8, 3.84 ERA, and 1.26 WHIP. Outstanding.


2. Brian Fuentes - Saved my Corpas loss. 30 saves.


3. Xavier Nady - Outstanding season. .305. 25 HRs, and 97 RBI.


4. Akinori Iwamura - His numbers weren't the most exciting, but he played 2B/3B and scattered his hits very well. One of my best fill-ins and bench guys.


5. Ben Francisco/Luis Ayala - Ben was great most of the season, but slumped near the end. Tied with him was Ayala who I got late and powered up my bullpen to matchup against much bigger ones.

I made only one trade the entire season, trading Robinson Cano for Bobby Jenks. You can checkout the draft and final numbers at http://www.fantasybaseballsearch.com/FBSEL/fantasy_baseball_search_expert_league.asp

The True Guru's 2008 Season Review: Top 10 Myths of 2008

Let’s face it, 2008 was a very exciting year with a number of predictions that came true and a number that never materialized. Many of us made bold strategic and managerial predictions that simply never came about. It is important to consider the information you take in before and during spring training. At best all of us experts are giving you are best educated guesses, but none of us are Nostradamus. So choose your fantasy baseball information wisely or it could cost you the season.

Here are the top 10 myths for 2008:

1. Outfield Power Scarcity - I'd like to know who came up with this theory. When the idea was first proposed to me I considered it as realistic, but after a few days I backed off and said that it is ridiculous. Every year hitters come out of the wood works, have breakouts years, or others come off injured seasons. Here are some numbers from the 2008 season. There were 13 outfielders who hit 30 or more home runs. Only 28 players hit 30 or more homeruns. That's 46% of the over 30 crowd outfielders by trade. If you look at the number of outfielders who it 25+ homeruns the number jumps to 26/50 for a whopping 52% of the hitters. Tons more hit over 20 dingers, so the assumption can be made that outfield power scarcity was in fact a myth.

2. Albert Pujols Surgery - This was the hottest topic in spring training. Albert Pujols' ailing elbow took center stage and allot of experts seized on it so viciously that this once #1 draft pick 1st basemen dropped in average draft position to 9.5 by the start of the season. What a bargain for the 9th overall pick. We know this; Pujols never had surgery on his elbow and he played 148 games and his stats were amazing; .357 avg, 37 HRs, 116 RBI, 100 runs, and 7 stolen bases. He is the likely NL MVP and we can consider his elbow surgery a myth.

3. Drafting closers in the high rounds - All season I fought this battle and continued the revolution for the closer. By most respected experts in the industry it is considered taboo to draft a closer in the early rounds like 4-7. You are crazy if you do by many people's standards. The primary school of thought is you can get saves later in the draft or free agency, so focus on hitting early. I thought that was hogwash.
You can find lots of hitting later in the draft or free agency (look up Carlos Quentin, Kevin Youkilis, Nate McClouth), so the value of the hitters has the same reach. My thoughts on this mini-controversy was simple. I'd rather not draft junk like Todd Jones or Joe Borowski because they could fall into 40 saves by accident. I told my readers and listeners to get a bonifided closer early that will not only stay closer through thick and thin, but one that if he is traded he will remain a closer. My best recommendations for early picks were Francisco Rodriguez, Jonathon Papelbon, Jose Valverde, and JJ Putz. Francisco Rodriguez finished with a record 62 saves, 18 more than the next closest closer Valverde at 44. That is an amazing statistic and without a doubt worth a 4th round pick if not a 3rd round pick. However people out there still say closers are only 1 category guys. My answer to that and further proof that their draft status should be higher is they carry so much more strategic value than just one category.
In both rotisserie and H2H leagues having powerhouse closers and a supporting staff will easily get you to the top in one category giving you an easy advantage throughout the year as you battle for the other 9 categories in a H2H or rotisserie while your opponents battle for 10 categories.
Getting a top notch closer like Francisco Rodriguez is the equivalent to getting Jose Reyes. Both absolutely dominate 1 category. Both provide great support for the other 4 categories respectfully. Also, once you get past the first 4 or even 5 picks closers look very good as the offensive players start to slip. There was plenty of late offense to make up for getting a powerhouse closers.
Regardless of what is said they simply aren't just one category pitchers. In a rotisserie league where a team can compile 1200 strikeouts, operating with at least 3 closers that bring 275 K's to the match up provided the team with 23% of its strikeouts. Every strikeout counts in rotisserie. Their ERA also helps and in a league where you can throw 2000 innings, just having 3 closers provides 11% of those.
I fully admit there are closers that will get you lots of saves like Soria in the later rounds, but they are rare. However they come with risks like low strikeouts, high ERA, getting benched or traded. Those are not concerns of a Jonathon Papelbon owner.
One final note. In my Fantasy Baseball Search points league, Francisco Rodriguez had 978 points compared to the offensive leader Jose Reyes at 998.
Only 3 closers new to the full time job had 30+ saves, Sherill, Soria, and Wilson. From the top 10 drafted closers only 2 failed to get 30saves, Wagner and Putz. Both injury related. Overall, a myth.

4. Justin Verlander -I think Justin Verlander burned every expert in the world. We all thought this young man was on his way to another 100 MPH hour fantasy baseball season, but things blew up all around him and his Tiger teammates and he ended up being one of the biggest disappointments of 2008. Why? How about a record of 11-17 and an ERA 4.84 to start. Nothing really changed for Verlander except he added a changeup to the mix. He started 33 games (32 in 2007) and pitched nearly identical innings (201.2/201). Whatever happened to him injury, personal problems, just awful luck this we know; his strikeouts decreased by 11%, his walks jumped 30% and his WHIP leaped to 1.40 (24%). Justin Verlander's preseason value was certainly a myth.

5. Pitchers in the first round - No more pitchers in the 1st round. I've always been a big supporter of pitchers in the first round, while most experts do not agree. Most experts are right. Only 2 pitchers were considered in the first round, Johan Santana and Jake Peavy. Grant Santana finished the season 16-7 with 206 K's, and 2.53 ERA he just didn't carry the same value as many of his fellow players picked in the first round. Peavy was much worst, dealing with injuries and only getting 10 wins and 166 K's. He didn't even have a winning record. If the strategy of taking a 1st round pitcher was brought up to you, consider it a myth.

6. Ryan Braun - This one has some heat on it. Ryan Braun was not respected by the Sabermetric guys and many experts were afraid he'd have a sophomore slump. Well, he didn't. Besides qualifying for the outfield along with third base, Braun hit 37 home runs, and 106 RBI, and still managed to steal 14 bases. His average did suffer with 160 more at bats then last season, but many didn't expect .324. His .285 was 39 points off, but his performance and value earned him a 2nd round draft pick and a myth indeed.

7. Stolen Base Scarcity - For years there has been a philosophy that big stolen base guys are a scarcity. For several years that was true, but in 2008 it no longer held up as a relative theory and it became a myth. The key number for a stolen base guy is 20. If you can get 20 you are solid, but hopefully the player can support that with 20+ home runs. Either way chasing the elusive SB was not as hard this year with a emergence of base stealers. Guys who grabbed base stealers early in the draft paid a heavy price with other managers getting stolen bases much later and competing all year for that category. In 2008 there were 37 players with 20 or more stole bases, 16 with 30+, and dozens more with 10-20 stolen bases. With more teams like the Red Sox, Phillies, and Dodgers running allot more, stolen bases are easier to find and when drafting for them easier to get. If you decide to wait on stolen bases you will find some treasures late in the draft proving stolen bases are plentiful and the scarcity question a myth.

8. Lack Of Offense In The Later Rounds - This one is easy. It is one of the most widely accepted myths in the fantasy baseball. Almost everyone preaches drafting offense early and often. Here is a list of players you could have gotten in your drafting round 15 and beyond or free agency:
Kevin Youkilis, 29/115/.312
Ryan Ludwick 37/116/.299
Carlos Quentin 36/100/.288
Carlos Delgado 38/115/.271
Dustin Pedroia 17/83/.326
Nate McLouth 26/94/.276
Aubrey Huff 32/108/.304
Jorge Cantu 29/95/.277
Xavier Nady 25/97/.305
Joey Votto 24/84/.297
Jose Guillen 20/97/.264
Evan Longoria 27/85/.272
There are lots more like Luke Scott, Jhonny Peralta, and Kevin Kouzmanoff. All these guys provided plenty of offensive power from the lower end of the draft or free agency. Nearly every one of the players listed above ranked in the top 60 offensive players in 2008.

9. Carlos Marmol - In the start of the season all eyes turned to Carlos Marmol as the Cubs closer. The talented young 6-2 flamethrower has all the talent in the world to be a closer, but got bumped for veteran Kerry Wood. We were all over this and even drafted Kerry Wood in the expert league in the late rounds. Marmol was the consensus favorite for the job, and we admit Wood was a long shot. However are analysis came up with factors that pointed towards Wood getting the job. He can't start, he's an fan favorite, he's being paid allot of money, he's a veteran, he has closer stuff, and he has to be limited in appearances and innings. The main factor was that Pinella liked having the younger guy as the setup man, so he can throw more innings and used his crafty veteran less as a closer. Respectively Marmol through 87.1 to Wood's 66.1. Since Wood ended up with 34 saves we can call this one a myth.

10. The New York Yankee Fantasy Value - The much heralded an vaunted New York Yankees offense and pitching was a puke this season. The team has a payroll that rivals the national debt, yet produced only the 10th best team in total runs at 789 and the 15th in ERA at 4.28. At one point a few years back this team was considered a fantasy team, but now its a garage sale of junk that maybe can get turned into treasure. At the start of the season there was high value players like Derek Jeter, AROD, Chamberlain, Damon, Abreau, Cano, Posada, Hughes, Kennedy, and Wang to name a few. Here are some facts about the 2008 team to sum up this season. The team high in batting average was .303, home runs 35, and RBIs a paltry 103. Only one pitcher broke 15 wins and that was Mussina, and bright spot on a dim team with 20 wins. Some major disappointments for this team were Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Andy Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang, and Jorge Posada. The Yankees didn't have the fabulous of a 2007, and 2008 showed further decline. Team batting average was down 8%, runs were down 15%, home runs down 10%, and RBI production down 22%. For the guys expecting a powerful fantasy punch from the Yankee offense you got a myth.


Todd "The True Guru" Farino