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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Draft Bug Blogger Freeroll

DRAFT BUG

First and foremost, for those of you who do not know what Draft Bug is, let's explain what the site is all about.

A few months ago, Alex Zelvin (DB owner) got a hold of FANdemonium Sports. After talking to him for a while on Twitter and through email, we agreed on an affiliation with my site and Draft Bug. At the time, I did not know what Draft Bug was, but I am thrilled at the fact that I checked it out. If you like fantasy sports, then you have to click on one of the Draft Bug banners I have throughout this site. It is fantasy sports meets online poker. Here is the exact explanation Draft Bug offers its users on the actual DB site...

Draft Bug is a Fantasy Sports site that features shorter season lengths. We run daily, and weekly fantasy leagues instead of the traditional full season leagues you have seen for years. There are no season long commitments at Draft Bug. You can assemble a new fantasy team every day or every week, as many as you'd like. Our leagues have no free agency, no waivers, and no trades so you do not have to be constantly rearranging your roster. You draft a team, then sit back and watch them perform.

Our games operate very similar to "Sit+Go" tournaments found on online poker sites. Once a game is populated, it begins and off you go to draft your team. After that, all you have to do is root your team on to victory.

Being an affiliate has many benefits, but one of the best is being able to get involved with the different specials that Alex runs for all of the affiliates on Draft Bug. For example, this latest one (the one I am writing about) was the "Blogger Freeroll". A freeroll is simply a 100-man contest that DB hold every single night. You put in $0.00 (freeroll) and, if you do well, you have the opportunity to win $4.00. Even if you get second, you win a dollar. Maybe you think it sounds to good to be true, but you would be pleasantly surprised.

This Blogger Freeroll is a contest Alex put together only for his affiliate bloggers. I am one of them, so I played in the contest tonight. The only catch with Alex doing this was that he required all affiliates that joined the contest tonight, had to write a post telling everybody about it, how you did, who you selected for your lineup, and list who was all involved. The winner of the entire thing tonight gets their own post written for them on Draft Bug's blog.

This specific freeroll has 13 participants, and had a cap of 1400. The game is salary-cap based. Meaning, players cost a certain amount of money to have them on your team. You can't just select Pujols, Utley, Braun, Lincecum, etc, etc. You have to keep it under the 1400 cap; the good players are worth up to 300.

I have been playing every day for a couple weeks and have already collected $6.00 in pocket cash. So, I know a little bit on how to succeed on this type of thing. I will show you a in-depth view into my picks. Here's my lineup that has be sitting at 4th place right now:

C- Yadier Molina, 72 points
Yadi has had a great offensive season so far. I wanted a guy that has been consistent all season. Molina has batted in the mid-.300s all season so far. He is also a Cardinal, which means I get to watch him live. The best part about this pick is he is only 72 points. According to Draft Bug's salary point system, Molina isn't as good of an offensive catcher as AJ Pierzynski... he's a steal at 72 points.
Season: .322, 3 homers, 13 RBIs
Tonight: Molina drew a walk, but that was about it when it comes to offensive production. He got me 1 point.

1B- Jorge Cantu, 144 points
Cantu has been on a flat out tear lately. He has been one of the hottest hitters in the MLB. When I pick my guys, I like to find who is hot. Cantu defines hot right now. In the past ten days, Jorge has 15 RBIs. He has been playing at a high clip all season and has been my 1B for most of this past week.
Season: .310, 7 homers, 25 RBIs
Tonight: Cantu slugged two doubles and one home run, he drove in five RBIs, and scored twice. I could not ask anything more of him. Even while hot, he exceeded expectations. He got me 15 points.

2B- Mike Fontenot, 78 points
Fontenot was a risky pick. Outside of being a Cub, I'm not a huge fan of the guy. I do not know much about him other than he went to LSU where he won a College World Series with Theriot. I don't know a ton about him when it comes to fantasy. I have never had him on my team, but in the past week he has .316. There are not many hot 2Bs out there that are cheap.
Season: .256, 5 homers, 15 RBIs
Tonight: Fontenot did not play tonight. Apparently he was a game time scratch. I deserved that though. I was not comfortable with him in there and it proved a bad idea. He got me no points.

3B- Evan Longoria, 210 points
He was one of the studs on my team that I have to count on. Count on him all you want because he is going to produce. In the beginning of the season I predicted Longoria would be the MVP. Right now, he is playing at that caliber. The dude has 16 RBIs in the previous seven days! How is that possible? Almost two RBIs per game? I'll take him.
Season: .365, 8 homers, 34 RBIs
Tonight: Longoria continued to dominate with a double, an RBI, one stolen base, but also one strikeout. This guy is quietly becoming the second best hitter in the game. He got me 4 points.

SS- Ryan Theriot, 126 points
This was a ballsy pick with Theriot out of the lineup on Tuesday, but I felt he was the best guy I could get at the point range I was willing to pick at. Even if he didn't play, I would not lose points (which is possible: 2 Ks = -2 points). So, I took Theriot again today with the expectations of him rolling like he has been.
Season: .320, 3 homers, 15 RBIs
Tonight: Theriot did exactly what us Draft Buggers dread. He struck out. A strikeout = negative points, and that is what kills our night. He got me -1 points.

OF- Nick Markakis, 192 points
There is no going wrong with him right now. He is crushing the ball, along with the rest of the Orioles OFers. On Tuesday, Markakis was the difference in me finishing first or second. Sadly, he was on the other guys team, and I got second. With that in mind, I felt comfortable picking him even though he was worth almost 200 points. With that many points, you have to be certain he will get you 5+ points.
Season: .356, 4 homers, 28 RBIs
Tonight: Markakis did exactly what I needed him to do with a single, a home run, a run scored, and two RBIs. The last thing I wanted to happen was a near 200-pointer to suck. He got me 8 points.

OF- Carl Crawford, 222 points
I went against my entire fantasy philosophy with this pick, but I was hoping for a 3+ SB night. When I take a player as my top guy, I want him to be a hitter. I am talking 35+ homeruns, 110+ RBIs. I have never, ever, ever took Rollins, Reyes, or this guy in the first round of my regular fantasy league. Again, I do not understand the logic of taking a guy that will just get you average and SBs. Nonetheless, I felt the juice would be worth the squeeze if Crawford stole a few bags again.
Season: .306, 0 homers, 12 RBIs (*cough* 19 SBs)
Tonight: Crawford did do what I wanted him to do with steal a base. He also had a single, but struck out. Crawford was a bad choice, a rookie mistake, and I was a little embarrassed about taking him if you see where I am coming from. He got me 1 point.

OF- Colby Rasmus, 6 points
When picking these teams, you have to pick a diamond in the rough. Rasmus is my diamond. He is so low because he doesn't always start. However, I knew with Ankiel's injury that Raz would be in CF. Rasmus can hit the ball, too. If you think about it, getting a fast guy that can steal hit 25 homeruns with only six points is a crime. Again, like Molina, I benefit by him being a Cardinal. I'll be honest, if I have two guys that I have to decide from.. if one of them is a Cardinal, he is mine.
Season: .269, 1 homer, 6 RBIs
Tonight: Rasmus disappointed me tonight by striking out. He started, he played the entire game, but just had to strike out. There was a risk-factor with taking him. He has struck out quite a few times this season, and he did it again.

SP- A.J. Burnett, 209 points
This was my pride-and-joy pick when I selected my lineup last night. I was really expecting Burnett to throw an absolute gem. He has been okay so far this season, and I was hoping for the breakout performance that will come at some point soon. With only a few good pitchers pitching, there are not a ton of choices. I wanted to go with Santana, but did not have the cap space. Burnett did pitch against Tampa already this season and went eight innings, only allowing three runs. He has had an excellent career against Tampa, so I was comfortable with him in there.
Season: 5.40 ERA, 2 wins, 25 Ks
Tonight: Burnett did better than what he has done so far this season with six innings, allowed three runs, but did strike out eight. His eight Ks saved me. He got me 15 points.

RP- Jonathan Broxton, 138 points
Like I said, when doing this you have to look for steals. Right now, Broxton is the best closer in the game and he is listed as the 10th. That is nuts, so I took him. The Dodgers are on fire right now, and so is this guy. I have always loved Broxton, and just waited for him to move into the closing role where I knew he would succeed. He has been lights out. With the Dodgers, they have the lead in the 9th more often than not.
Season: 0.64 ERA, 8 saves, 25 Ks
Tonight: Broxton will likely not see action this evening. The Dodgers are up 10-3 right now in the 8th inning, so I doubt if Broxton will get the call. If he does not come in, he will of course, get me no points.

I liked my team going into tonight, but I had some mistakes.
1) Carl Crawford was a stupid pick. He can't hit as good as the other sluggers.
2) Fontenot did not even play. I caught wind of that too late. Only so much I could have done though.
3) I did not have the HR potential I wanted in there. I ended up with two homers. HRs are worth four points, so they are crucial.

Let's not forget the great picks though either! Markakis, Cantu, and Longoria combined for one single, three doubles, two homeruns, three runs, EIGHT RBIs, and a stolen base. Now those were some good picks, but it doesn't look like they were good enough. I have 42 overall points right now, and am in 4th place.

TheInsidePitch (www.theinsidepitch.com) and Future Of Fantasy (www.futureoffantasy.com) are battling it out for the win. There are two late games going on right now so this isn't a final, but TIP has 61 overall points with FOF with a nearby 59. Both of these guys are pretty damn good when it comes to this stuff, as you can tell.

Morale of the story:
Draft Bug is a crazy cool site. Click on one of the two Draft Bug banners I have throughout the site to check it out for yourself!

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