Fantasy Baseball Keeper League

Fantasy baseball is back!

My wife and I continue our tradition of punny league names:

2009: The Apostles' Crede
2008: Six Pence and a Schilling
2007: Lidge Over Troubled Water
2006: Buehrle Bird Gets the Worm

All of these are awesome, and I owe all the credit to my wife, Val. Prior to 2006 I really struggled to come up with good league names. I had a few "fun" names (Jeff Kent is an 80s Porn Star comes to mind) but nothing with quite the same wit.

Now, I should note -- getting singled out by our league is not a good thing. In fact we have set high standards for how much it sucks the life out of you.

Consider:

Buehlre was an all-star in 2005 and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting. So we honored him with the league title in 2006. What transpired next? Buehrle's ERA ballooned almost two full runs.

2005: 3.12
2006: 4.99

Of course, it subsequently returned to normal in 2007:

2007: 3.63

That in itself wouldn't be so bad. But when we honored Brad Lidge in 2007, he went straight from fantasy baseball all-star to the fantasy baseball waiver wire, losing the closer's job halfway through the season to Dan Wheeler, I believe. Of course, one year later Lidge returned to normal, won back the closer's role and didn't blow a single save. Hmm.

Last year we honored two players, Hunter Pence and Curt Schilling. Pence hit .322 in 2007. When we honored him in 2008, he ran through a glass door and hit .269.

Curt Schilling was coming off a great year as well. He won all four postseason starts (and a World Series) in 2007. When we honored him in 2008, he injured himself and didn't throw a single major league pitch. And the Red Sox missed out on the World Series.

So Mr. Crede, wherever you land this year, we apologize in advance for the pain and suffering this might cause. And Mr. Langerhans (our would-be runner up victim, subject of Langerhansel and Gretel), you are one lucky man.

And furthermore, if you have your eye on Hunter Pence or Curt Schilling this year, my advice is simple: bid with confidence!