2008 HRL: TC Fantasy Wiffles Preview

Fantasy wiffles are back and even better in 2008!  We have a new fantasy commish this year, our own Zach "Seuss" Eustis.  The rules will be pretty much the same except there will be reserve spots on each team, which can be used to rotate players in and out of a fantasy roster on a weekly basis!

The 2008 draft will be happening this week and the rosters will be posted soon thereafter for you to follow your favorite players and team owners!

Check back soon...

2007 Results

link

2008 Draft Preview

Looking for the insider info to help draft that killer fantasy team? The Fantasy Commish has put together the following draft packet to help you.

DISCLAIMER!!!  This is not a ranking of who the best wiffleball players in the league are, or who this prognosticator thinks are the best player in the league (for example, things like OPS, fielding, etc are ignored, which we all know are fairly important parts of the game.)  Have fun looking through the rankings!

Batters
Individual Pitchers
Overall Player Fantasy Rankings
Team Pitching

Batters

Overall Rankings

Runs

1.   Chops (Braves) - Batting leadoff for the league’s most prolific offense, the league’s reigning Runs champion has increased his run total by nearly 10 runs per season over the past four years.If Runs is your category, there’s no safer bet than Chops.
2. Sanchez (Braves)
3.   Two Bat (White Sox) - The youngest brother O’Doyle somewhat quietly put up an excellent season (both in real life and in fantasy.)  Sporting a patient eye and powerful stroke, Two Bat is a run scoring machine and should still cross the plate with the best of them, even as the team switches from having three players to four.
4. Edgar (Braves)
5. Doc (Tigers)
6. Spaz (White Sox)
7. Spoon (Reds)
8. Hendi (Brewers)
9.   Tugboat (Red Sox) - The greatest show on gravel of ’06 slowed down a bit last year, as the Red Sox scored 118 fewer runs in ‘07 as they did in their championship season.Don’t let 2006’s most frequent run scorer slip too far though, as the Sox are motivated and will be looking to rack up some runs in ‘08.
10. J-Ski (X)

SLEEPER:BenBox (Braves)
BOUNCEBACK:CX (X)

AVG

1.   J-Ski (X) - When your supposed “down” year leaves you hitting .361 with a career average of .411 (highest in league history,) you are a Fantasy Wiffler’s dream for batting average. Take a good look at his sub-.400 average cause it’s the last time, and snap him up if he falls to the end of the first round.
2. Sanchez (Braves)
3. Chops (Braves)
4.   DJ (Colts .45's) - Setting the bar at .362 for his rookie campaign is remarkable, but anyone who has seen DJ swing the plastic in person knows it’s for real.Even if he doesn’t reach the upper half of the .300’s again, this All-Star Colt will be a fine asset to your team’s average (not to mention runs, homeruns and ribbies.)With improved pitching, DJ could be atop the Fantasy Wiffler Rater at the end of the season.
5. Doc (Tigers)
6. Tubby (Tigers)
7.   Hendi (Brewers) - Hen-D-P doesn’t get as much love as the reigning batting champion/steal of the draft should, though his previous two years of sub-.220 hitting is a tad alarming.That said, something seemed to click for this Brewer last season and if it’s stuck, he’ll again be one of the most helpful hitters in the average category all season.
8. Edgar (Braves)
9. Spoon (Reds)
10. Marcus (X)

SLEEPER: Silver (Padres)
BOUNCEBACK:The Man (Red Sox)

RBIs

1.   Sanchez (Braves) - Quite simply, there is no safer bet for hitters than the one they call Sanchez.  His 93 RBIs last season were fifteen more than his next closest competitor and forty (sic) more than the J-Ski, who finished tenth in ribbies last year.Throw in a record setting 40 homeruns and you’ve got a first rounder who will carry your hitting categories all season.
2. J-Ski (X)
3.   Spaz (White Sox) - The only question about Spaz is not his ability, but rather his availability.  It sounds like he will only miss two or three weeks of the regular season, and once he returns he will, yet again be an RBI machine.If other owners shy away because of his early season absence, consider it your lucky day and let the offensive production roll in.
4. Chops (Braves)
5. DJ (Colt .45's)
6. Edgar (Braves)
7. Two Bat (White Sox)
8. Yo (Mets)
9. Hendi (Brewers)
10. Doc (Tigers)

SLEEPER:
   H8R (Brewers) - H8R knows how to handle the stick, and will step into a potent lineup where he will certainly see more RBI chances than he did as a D’Back.
BOUNCEBACK:Teen Wolf (Angels)

HRs

1. Sanchez (Braves)
2. Spaz (White Sox)
3. J-Ski (X)
4. DJ (Colt .45s)
5.   Yo (Mets) - The leader of the Mets posted a nearly identical stat line to his rookie campaign, while managing to improve his power numbers along the way. Especially in team pitching, Yo will be a fine anchor in homeruns in RBI’s while providing some help in average and runs as well.
6. Doc (Tigers)
7. Molgs (Indians)
8.   T-Bag (Indians) - One of the most feared hitters in the league, T-Bag is a threat to take one out of the yard every time he steps in the box.Look for a return to 20+ dingers for this Indian and snap him up before the end of the second round in team pitching leagues.
9. Two-Bat (White Sox)
10. Edgar (Braves)

SLEEPER:
 Truck (Royals)-Between some off-season conditioning, high motivation, and raw wiffle skills, look for the Commish to have a big season at the dish.

BOUNCEBACK: Balls (Twins)



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Individual Pitchers

Wins

1. Two Bat (White Sox)
2. Tugboat (Red Sox)
3. Chops (Braves)
4. Palpatine (Reds)
5. Dr. Seuss (Reds)
6.   The Kid (Padres) - The Padres pitching situation is interesting, as former Cy Wiffler, Shirls, seems to be switching to a closer role.  While it’s hard to imagine no starts from one of the league’s best pitchers, it seems like The Kid is entrenched in his spot in the rotation.  Combine that with the team hungry for a return to the play-offs and The Kid should end up right around 10 wins, if not more.
7.   Rondell (Tigers) - The Tegroes already had one of the most complex pitching rotations before it was announced the All-Star pitcher Seibs would miss the entire season due to injury.  Rondell won 9 games in his rookie year, despite frequently being pulled in the middle innings for a reliever.  While it’s unknown how the Tigers will handle their pitching staff going into the season, Rondell is a very safe bet to at least match his win total from last year if not exceed it.
8. CJ (Indians)
9. Hendi (Brewers)
10. Hal (Royals) / K-MArt (Twins)

SLEEPER: Nelly (Tigers)
BOUNCEBACK: J-Ski (X)

Ks

1. Hendi (Brewers)
2. The Kid (Padres)
3. K-Mart (Twins)
4. CJ (Indians) - A question that will leave fantasy wiffle owners lying awake in bed the night before the draft is how the Indians will handle the embarrassment of riches that is the team’s pitching staff.Odds are they will find a way to get all 27 roster members some innings, but look for CJ, the league’s ERA champ and K/6 leader in ’06 to reclaim his role as team ace, provided his shoulder is healthy.While he may not get as many starts as some pitchers, he’ll strikeout enough to keep you competitive in Ks all year.
5. Dr. Seuss (Reds)
6. Spoon (Reds)
7. Tugboat (Red Sox)
8. Palpatine (Reds)
9.   Nine (Padres) - Nine has quietly struck out 130+ batters in each of the last two seasons.  The acquisition of The Kid had many assuming that Nine would be the odd man out of a stellar three man rotation, but rumor has it that Shirls will be coming out of the pen and that Nine will be starting for the Fathers more often that not.If your team misses out on the earlier strikeout guys, snap up Nine and feel lucky to have him.
10. DJ (Colt .45s)

SLEEPER: Hobbs (Giants)
BOUNCEBACK: Steve 2 (Cardinals)

ERA

1. Doc (Tigers)
2. Dr. Seuss (Reds)
3. CJ (Indians)
4.   Spoon (Reds) - If you want consistency, Eagan’s reigning Cy Wiffle is your man.Sporting a 1.40 ERA in ’06, the metal thingy you use to… dig… food with, lowered his ERA to 1.39 in his sophomore campaign.While he’s sure to fall off the draft board within the first five picks, the younger Payne will keep your team’s ERA among the best all season.
5. Tugboat (Red Sox)
6. Palpatine (Reds)
7. Rondell (Tigers)
8. Molgs (Indians)
9. Hal (Royals)
10. CX (X) - In five fewer starts, CX dropped his ERA by a full run in ’07 and continued his success with a dominant run in the post-season, proving that his filthy stuff is here to stay.With HartSki off to defend our right to play wiffles, CX could see even more starts making his sub 2.00 ERA all the more valuable.

SLEEPER: Wole (Colt .45s)
BOUNCEBACK: T-Bag (Indians)

WHIP

1. Doc (Tigers)
2.   Palpatine (Reds) - The elder Payne was one of the best bargains in Fantasy last season, sporting a WHIP of 0.746, second only to Doc, en route to winning the somewhat unknown Most Valuable Fantasy Pitcher award in ’07.  With 11-12 starts coming his way again in ’08, look for similar numbers and another microscopic WHIP.
3. CJ (Indians)
4. Dr. Seuss (Reds)
5. Tugboat (Red Sox)
6. Spoon (Reds)
7. The Kid (Padres)
8. Molgs (Indians)
9.   Rocket (Royals) - Something clicked for the Rocket man in 2007 as his WHIP dropped a full half point from his 2006 performance. He gave up fewer hits and half as many walks despite throwing only 14 fewer innings than the previous season, while actually improving his K rate.  Don’t expect any kind of regression as better control will have Rocket keeping your team’s WHIP tinier than pixie dust.
10. The Man (Red Sox)

SLEEPER: Edgar (Braves)
BOUNCEBACK: Shirls (Padres)

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Overall Player Fantasy Rankings

The following table consists of the top 30 Fantasy Wifflers from 2007.  A wiffler’s score was computed by taking his rank at each of the 8 fantasy categories and averaging them out.  For example, Hendi had the best batting average in the league, so he receives one point for Avg.  Add that one point to his rank for each of the other seven categories, then divide that number by eight and you have his Fantasy Wiffle Score (FWS) of 10.75.  Obviously the lower a player’s FWS the better.  Another way of looking at it is Hendi had an average rank in those 8 categories of 10.75, good for fourth overall in Fantasy. 

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Team Pitching

In ranking the teams for pitching, only the top 12 staffs were ranked against each other.  They’ve been rated separately from the hitters because judging the value of a fantasy pitching staff versus fantasy hitters for this league proved exceedingly difficult to do.  However, as I’m sure the defending champion would attest, it is very important to get a top staff early so as not to be left out in the cold for four of the 8 categories. 

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