How do we get Taylor Swift into fantasy baseball? Your 2024 ILX Fantasy Thread! (also, there is an opening for a new manger!)

Sorry, francis, didn't see that till now.

Real-talk question:

If a ~seasoned~ manager doesn't even recognize the name of one of his players, that player should automatically be traded (y/n)

lol my bad, for some reason i thought you thought i had jared jones. i think i can be forgiven for forgetting about nolan jones, given his impact so far this season

Bro, he's like the 3rd or 4th best "Nolan" to ever play the game!

~33% of the season status report:

I am almost trailing the league in Wins with 24. My IRL MLB team equivalent would be the Cincinnati Reds, owners of last place in the dismal NL Central.

Offensively my 289 runs scored puts me ahead of LAD yet behind the mighty PHI out of all MLB teams.

I feel out of the running but my foolish optimism think I'm close enough to harbor a top 3 finish?

Not ready for a fire-sale but could be open to SELL-MODE by the ASB.

I remember when I used to remember he names of every mediocre set up guy I ever had on my teams. Now I’m constantly forgetting the names of my current middle relievers. Nolan Jones tho was a gem for me last season, will always be in my heart.

i entered this season feeling thoroughly set at OF and decided to go all-in on pitching, and while my pitching has been vv solid, my best hitters are two free agent pickups, the completely decent Christian Walker, and the poor man's Corbin Carroll in Jarren Duran (Corbin Carroll for me being the destitute man's Jarren Duran this season.)

Yordan and Tatis = extremely mid!

The Autodraft bungled my SP (by not bothering to draft anybody who wasn't injured or NA). That's been the story of my season. My offense should continue to be good if most guys are healthy, but grabbing Ranger Suarez off the scrap heap the day after the draft basically saved my ass. A few more decent SP pickups here and there have kept in contention, but I don't suppose anyone wants to trade me a front line SP?

Have kept *me* in contention . .

just noticed you have the top two hitters and the top SP!

the top SP rankings is a really weird mix

Blockbuster trade in the offing.

(I'm so low in the standings, I won't vote.)

Ah yes, the best player in the league for a guy who just got absolutely manhandled by *checks notes* the worst team in the league and who will probably be shut down/workload limited by the ASB...

I just noticed that Sale start this morning, when I was checking into Reynaldo Lopez...think I'll write a book called Baseball Is a Funny Game.

Def quite the haul for sale.

Sale was NL pitcher of the month for May. Is there anyone clearly better?

The start vs Oakland is just one start (hopefully).

There is always a higher injury risk with pitchers (and Sale missed most of two years due to injury) but Judge has had his share of injuries too.

The main point is that I don't have the pitching to win this year. If Sale can give me 100 dominant innings then I have a chance. On offense I have some options to offset the loss of Judge. But my pitching is a clusterf***.

Wondering what I could get for Imanaga now…

a great comparison, given that he also has an innings limit this season and had a very bad start last time up. but i would still be happy to have him on my team, personally.

i'm not going to weigh in on what i thought was a reasonably fair trade offer, except to say that i think a lot of times people look at the trades by comparing the individual players, but without looking at the needs of each team involved in the trade (as NTBT alluded to). when i'm looking to set up a trade, i look for what i can offer and then i look at which owner NEEDS what i can offer and is in a position where the trade would make a difference to their success. then i look at what they have that i want.

Not sure of the etiquette, I tried to jump in with my own offer for Judge this morning. As the rest of you know, can't do that while the trade's on the table.

The replacement level for pitchers is so much lower. Crochet and Reynaldo Lopez have a higher fWAR than Sale, and I picked them off the scrap heap. Far less likely that I sign someone who beats out a healthy Judge this year.

well, when we see the trade, it's already been accepted and done - and generally they always go through (you're only supposed to vote against trades if you think something is amiss, but since our league is a little weird sometimes managers will vote against one sided trades). if you really want Judge you'll have to try and get it from Naked Ragans after the trade, but good luck with that!

xpost

I can throw in some cash, though, right?

cumulative bWAR/fWAR 2020-2024

Chris Sale: 4.2/5.0
Aaron Judge: 26.1/26.4

As of today, Judge's fantasy value in our league this season is 160% of Sale's (who isn't as valuable as even someone like Skubal who is keeper-eligible and will be pitching in Aug/Sep).

Will bookmark this post for a ~mind-bending~ post-season analysis.

But seriously I really do believe we need to add a negative stat for offensive players (Ks instead of 2Bs?) to make the equity of batters vs. pitchers a bit more even. Right now there are only 2 pitchers in the our league's top 10 players (Suarez & Skubal)...

(...Sale is currently rated #20 overall)

whoops wrong league, in ours Sale is rated #14th overall

If it were me, I would trade Judge for ~minimum~ a top 30 <26yo player if I thought I was in contention.

And FULL DISCLOSURE, I was offered Sale for the very lukewarm (31yo) Teoscar Hernandez a couple weeks ago and passed on him because I'd prefer a player that's gonna be playing after the ASB (god willing)...

The fact that NTBT landed Judge is a showcase for his sales techniques and ability to close the deal. Kudos!

who is a top 30 <26 player who would have dramatically improved NTBT's pitching numbers (ie what he needs to improve to contend)? paul skenes, who likely also has an innings limit and whose arm will probably explode in the next six months?

Obvs most of us feel Sale is too much of a health risk, but I hope notime doesn’t feel over dunked on here. I also hope he’ll enjoy all the trade offers he’s about to get!

As noted in my earlier post, I'd have tried to land Skubal:

26yo, #2 pitcher overall in our league (will probably be #1 by Sunday), #7 player overall.

skubal is 27, turning 28 this year
also the team with skubal is only four points behind NTBT in the rankings, so you'd have to really think about the value in aiding close competition. fair enough though.

i'm trying to be chill about this, but this is at least the second time that Steve Shasta has claimed that a trade i made was dramatically uneven in my favor, and at a certain point it starts to feel like i'm being accused of something and/or other players are being dissuaded from trading with me, which i don't love

~just a bit of fun, so lets be cool~

I'm heading out of town for ~3 weeks with sporadic internet access so feel free to enjoy a Steve-Shasta-free board in my absence, alas I will not be available to Judge any fire-Sale trades.

Also apologies for my multiple inaccuracies today, a natural by-product of wrapping up work projects and packing. ✌️✌️

I quote Ball Four way too often, I know, but this is all reminding me (will have to reconstruct from memory) of Bouton asking someone for the latest gossip, and the response is something like "Just the usual Norm-Miller-for-anybody-in-the-league rumours."

ok i will be cool

I'm last in saves and have (I think) a surplus of starting pitching...open to a trade!

(saves + holds)

Those too, yes...I'm also good in HR/RBI/OBP but last in doubles (which doesn't really make sense to me--doubles and HR often go together) and SB; open to something there, too.

No offense taken Shasta! I know I'm assuming a larger risk in this deal. It's not a real-life trade (obviously it doesn't happen in real life). It's a fantasy trade that attempts to fix the most obvious weakness of my team -- starting pitching. I didn't need a keeper in return, I need to win now. And if it doesn't work out, I haven't mortgaged my future, Judge isn't a keeper.

I'm usually risk-averse with trades and since people understandably value their keepers a lot in our league, complicated trades involving keepers usually don't happen. And if I waited too long, I'll be too far behind in the key pitching stats for it to matter.

The last big trade I made in our league was in 2021 -- Vlad Jr for Freddie Freeman, Hyun Jin Ryu, and Kendall Graveman. Vlad had seven more years of keeper eligibility ... but, I won the league. From the time the trade was made until the end of the season, he and Freeman had almost the same level of (MVP-level) production. Ryu and Graveman gave me the pitching depth I didn't have at the time (subtract Ryu's wins and QS's and Graveman's holds and I don't win) and Vlad hasn't turned out to be a generational player. Can't say I regret that trade either.

it's a landmark day, i actually have an open IL slot

that will not last. trust me.

i did intend to bump the IL spots down to three post covid, but wow are injuries ever high right now.

Ready to do what my hometown team is hedging on: turn the page and move on. If you're a contender looking for starting pitching, I'd trade Berrios and/or Kikuchi for a decent keeper.

Sent you a message via the league chat 👀

now that's a trade.

I hope I haven't overrated Royce Lewis. He's just back from an injury, but he looks to be a good bet for the next few seasons. I remember him killing the Jays in the ALDS last year. Obviously, I've given up on this year.

it's fair for both teams

keep Clemenza, that's a solid transaction for both parties

keep it up* i should say

both Sale and Judge performing well post-trade for their new teams as well!

I think there's a chance that Royce Lewis winds up being pretty damn valuable the rest of the season, so it could be an even swap, but I like him more long-term as a great star keeper than I do him remaining off the IL this year and being fully reliable.