You can touch a Hot Stove, just not for very long (Baseball thread)

[davy]

And now I've got him and Cano on my fantasy team!

[El_Josharino]

Whoa, you got them both? I thought you were trying to trade away Cano to get Votto.
What does the other side of your infield look like?

[Thermofusion]

Good for the Reds for extending Votto. Hopefully it'll prevent them from inking any more high-end deals for a while (cough Brandon Phillips cough)

Testing out the mlb.tv app for Xbox. Very nice! Good picture quality on my 50", split screen works good, as does the mini-guide. Watching Rockies/Mariners Cactus League action: Escalano beaned Jesus Montero square in the head on a getaway breaking ball and they spent the next few minutes holding Montero back, eerily similar to the Ubaldo thing. Also, Jamie Moyer is 2nd in the Rockies' rotation. Wow.

[davy]

Whoa, you got them both? I thought you were trying to trade away Cano to get Votto.
What does the other side of your infield look like?

I was prepared to trade Cano for Votto, and that's the trade I put out there. It was Cano + Werth for Votto + Prado.

Dude rejected that offer and came back with Votto + Prado for Reyes + Carlos Santana. I was happy to take that deal. I'd already been thinking that Santana seemed a bit overrated. Not crazy about losing Reyes, but I've got Tulowitski at SS, so my heart's not broken.

Jesus, Cano and Votto?! Prado's just a bonus, really.

My starting line-up looks like this, now:

C Avila
1B Votto
2B Cano
SS Tulowitzki
3B Beltre
OF D. Jennings
OF A. Gordon
OF M. Bourn
Util Prado
Util Uggla

And I guess I could throw Werth in there somewhere, but I have an irrational dislike of the guy and will probably try to trade him. I guess my OFs are my weakness. My infield fucking slays.

My other benchers are Bonifacio, Duda, Francoeur, and Lawrie.

SP: Sabathia, Shields / Cain, Gallardo, Bumgarner, Wainwright
RP: Walden, Betancourt

[El_Josharino]

Haha, holy shit that's a classic shallow league team, but incredibly good. Yeah, I wouldn't be bummed at all about losing the 3rd best offensive shortstop in the majors when I still have the first best lying around. Jesus, that infield is goddamn insane. I'd probably stick Lawrie in that first Util spot over Prado. That dude has .290/25HR/25SB potential, he's gonna be huge. Love Jennings, Gordon seems to have figured it out, and I think Duda's gonna be actually pretty good. Have him in one of my dynasties.

[El_Josharino]

Good for the Reds for extending Votto. Hopefully it'll prevent them from inking any more high-end deals for a while (cough Brandon Phillips cough)

Yeah, a LOOOONG while. Holy crap. They've got him locked up until he turns 40.
And yeah, Brandon Phillips will probably be hitting the market next year after this deal.

[davy]

Haha, holy shit that's a classic shallow league team, but incredibly good. Yeah, I wouldn't be bummed at all about losing the 3rd best offensive shortstop in the majors when I still have the first best lying around. Jesus, that infield is goddamn insane. I'd probably stick Lawrie in that first Util spot over Prado. That dude has .290/25HR/25SB potential, he's gonna be huge. Love Jennings, Gordon seems to have figured it out, and I think Duda's gonna be actually pretty good. Have him in one of my dynasties.

Yeah, I'm excited about Duda and Lawrie! They were both waiver pick-ups.

[Thermofusion]

Brian Wilson-themed Virgin America jet, part of some marketing deal with the Giants. Apparently not an April Fool's joke.

[davy]

Can I ask a dumb fantasy question? It's so hard to find the really basic information on what to do with your team on a normal day-to-day basis that I find myself formulating questions that feel dumb, despite the fact that I don't know the answers to them.

So, here: are you supposed to shuffle your line-up around everyday so that every position is filled by a player who has a game that day? Are points tallied every day? Should I have all my Marlins and Cardinals somewhere in my starting line-up tomorrow, whether or not they're my best players?

[davy]

And what about pitchers? What if you've got nobody pitching that day...do you pick someone up on waivers or just eat the point-loss?

Do I need a third RP for this reason?

[El_Josharino]

It depends on the league! If your league allows you to shuffle your players daily, you probably should try to shuffle in your offensive guys as much as possible so you can rake in those counting stats. So yes, if you've got some Fish and Cards, get them in tomorrow, and then if you have better options for Thursday then you can switch them out.
As you get late into the year, you'll want to keep an eye on a total games limit (if your league even has one). For example, if you have a 162 game limit on each position, and Cano plays 160 games, and you plug in Uggla on each one of Cano's off days (which can be games that he doesn't play, or days where the Yankees don't play and the Braves do) you could have more than 162 games played. Probably, you won't go over because of injury or common days off or whatever.

Pitchers are a slightly different story. You probably want to have your RPs in most of the time, since you never know if they'll pitch or not. With SPs, you could, in theory, grab different guys every day, but then you risk someone else grabbing one of your original guys. The way to go here is if you have SPs on your bench (which you probably should), then just rotate them in on the days they start. Again, if you have an inning pitched limit keep an eye on that.

[El_Josharino]

Brian Wilson-themed Virgin America jet, part of some marketing deal with the Giants. Apparently not an April Fool's joke.

Seems like the beard would cause some serious turbulence...

[davy]

Pitchers are a slightly different story. You probably want to have your RPs in most of the time, since you never know if they'll pitch or not. With SPs, you could, in theory, grab different guys every day, but then you risk someone else grabbing one of your original guys. The way to go here is if you have SPs on your bench (which you probably should), then just rotate them in on the days they start. Again, if you have an inning pitched limit keep an eye on that.

Cool, thanks!

How many RPs do you keep on board?

[El_Josharino]

Enough to fill all of my allowed RP spots, and maybe one more on the bench so I can play matchups a bit. Most leagues have a couple SP spots, a couple RP spots, and a couple spots that can be either SP or RP, so if I need to catch up on Saves I can throw them all in. In a points league like yours, if there are flex spots for pitchers it's probably best to fill them with Starters who should get more points.

[Thermofusion]

New food items at PNC Park this season include Bucco Nachos: lime tortilla chips with nacho cheese, smoked jalapeno peach salsa, cilantro creme fraiche and ground beef.

Also on the menu this season are a Reuben dog (with thousand-island dressing, swiss cheese and sauerkraut); a smokehouse dog (with pulled pork, onion straws and Kansas City-style barbecue sauce; the Polish Hill dog (with slaw, mini potato pierogies and onion straws); and jumbo Cajun fries.

Just4U, a new healthy options stand, will offer gluten-free hot dogs and nachos, grilled brie-and-fruit-compote sandwiches, vegan sweet potato chips, salads and fruit.

Oh shit I am going to eat all of it

[El_Josharino]

Dang. Looks like I really should hit up that season-finale series against the Braves.

[Thermofusion]

Man we could do a culinary symposium in Pittsburgh thing (with baseball on the side). Sucks that it's a weekday series!

[Thermofusion]

guys

GUYS

JUST OVER AN HOUR UNTIL BASEBALL STARTS

NO THAT JAPANESE SHIT DOESN'T COUNT

[El_Josharino]

IT'S ON NOW! IT'S ON RIGHT NOW!

[El_Josharino]

I SEE THE HOME RUN STATUE MONSTER! (The one that's built into the Marlins new ballpark, not Giancarlo Stanton, although I saw him too.) I WANT IT TO GO OFF SO BAD.

[El_Josharino]

HanRam 3B experiment LOLcount: 1

[El_Josharino]

OH SHIT Giancarlo just missed a homer by 4 feet.

[Thermofusion]

goddammit I was fucking READY to see that shit too!!!!!

[Thermofusion]

Also I think it's officially a bear market on the Marlins infield. sellsellsell

[Thermofusion]

getting fucking restless here...c'mon marlins offense