FantasySportsZone  

As I sat and watched the All Star Game on Tuesday I think I had more fun watching the Hall of Famers come out to great applause before the game than I did watching the actual contest.  Seeing one of my favorite pitchers, Bob Gibson, brought back a wave of nostalgia when players stayed with a team their entire careers meaning he is a forever Cardinal.  Seeing Mr October, Reggie Jackson, reminded me of great players in great situations rise to the great occasions.  Watching the graceful and dignified Hank Aaron brought back thoughts to when I saw him hit a home run in Busch Stadium and how important it was for me to be there.

Most importantly I thought about Yankee Stadium itself.  The House That Ruth Built and the field that Joe Pepitone tried to burn up!  Never a greater moment happened in baseball or sports when Lou Gehrig stood on that very field and told us how lucky he was.  The graceful Joe DiMaggio and the flamboyant Mickey Mantle, the quiet Roger Maris, who still holds the single season home run record in my book, Don Larson's perfect game.  Yankee Stadium IS baseball, since 1923, and now it is being torn down for some new ball yard across the street....what's next, Citgo Field in Boston while Fenway is torn down and  the Green Monster is being sold off in pieces on Ebay!

To me Fantasy Baseball captures that youthful enthusiasm of going to your first game if only for a moment each day.  To be that 6 year old kid sitting in the bleachers, 600 feet from home plate with my little league glove, waiting for Ted Simmons or Joe Torre to hit one to me and really believing they could.  Having my Aunt Trula teach me how to keep score and helping me with my pork chop sandwich that my Mom made for me before we left.  Standing in line on Bat Night with my Dad so I could watch Roberto Clemente roam right field and try to throw out Lou Brock going from first to third.  Man, that is fantasy baseball.

But fantasy baseball continues to defy actual baseball and owners throw it in our face when they tear down Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Comiskey Park in Chicago, or Sportsman's Park in St Louis.  These places can be rehabbed and saved so that owners can have there luxury boxes and allow us to cherish our memories.  But everyone wants new and new means better they say. 

I could see bulldozing the Vet in Philly, that place was ugly from the start and so was Riverfront in Cincy but I bet if you asked the fans of those cities they would tell you they loved those cookie cutters.  Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski hammering long balls and the Big Red Machine that had one Hall of Famer after another made those places special.  The cookie cutter in St Louis is special to me, I was at Bob Forsch's no hitter and  I witnessed greatness in Whiteyball in the 80's.

Yankee Stadium will go down and I guess the same will happen to Wrigley eventually.  Doris Kearns Goodwin writes about the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and the Polo Grounds and Willie Mayswhat it meant to her.   It is a distance memory to most or for me, only something to read about as something in history but it should never happen. 

Fantasy baseball is a great pastime that gives us the opportunity to make new memories and cherish pennant races, if anybody even buys pennants anymore.  It allows us to maintain friendships and cultivate new ones.  It allows us to connect with the new players as the owners tear down the actual structures of our childhood.  Pretty soon the "Field of Dreams" will only be something that can be seen on VHS, wait DVD.

FantasySportsZone is pleased to announce that Brett Greenfield and Jason Sarney of FantasyPhenoms.com will be guest hosts on our show. Great website and full of information and a must look for any fantasy league player.

On the True Guru show last week, Mike Podhorzer from the Fantasy Baseball Generals asked me about "Buy Low" candidates and if there is such a thing anymore.  So many websites and articles talk about players who were drafted high and now are underperforming are prime candidates.  That is great advice until you actually try to trade for them and find out everyone else knows who the buy low players are as well, making your trade strategy worthless. As a result, how do you acquire those players without having to totally overpay for them...there is a way.

Most articles I have read about Buy Low Players infer that you can acquire a preseason Top 100 player for 3 players on your reserve slots and a bag of balls.  The owners of these top 9 rounds players will be so happy to unload these players that they will take anything for them is the insinuation.  We all know in practice that just doesn't happen. 

If we have one of those players we continue to hang on to them, hoping against hope, that they will catch fire and award our preseason belief that they are really an upper tier player.  If that player continues to underperform most owners are too prideful and too stubborn to admit to our colossal mistake. 

Most owners are also smart enough to realize that when a trade offer comes over that has no name players who have started off moderately well for my 5th round pick that it is a Buy Low offer.  On most occasions that trade offer will not only be rejected but the insulted owner will be wary of any offer that you send him in the future.  So how do we acquire that player for the price we want without insulting the owner who has him?  That is the $64,000 question.

I find the best way to pluck that underperforming star off your rivals roster is make him the second player in the deal, not the focal point.  Let me give you an example:

 

    Team A need a closer and has depth at Third Base to trade.  Team A also could use a 5th OF and sees that Alex Rios is on Team B's squad. Team A makes an inital  trade offer of Aramis Ramirez for Joe Nathan and Alex Rios.  Team B see this offer and may believe that is too much to give up but is intrigued at the prospect of making a significant upgrade at 3B.  If Team B does not take the offer he may counter with a different offer that requires you to even up the offer with a fast start OF in the mode of Xavier Nady.  Team A may not want to give up that much but you now have dialogue with Team B for a Buy Low candidate without making it an obvious move that is insulting.

The key to the transaction is to make the Buy Low player the "Add On" or "The Throw In" and not the main player.  By diverting the attention away from the underperforming player the owner does not feel you are trying to take advantage of his player's poor start and you are getting a player who you think will perform closer to standards after you acquire him.  Everybody wins!

Astute owners can still acquire the Buy Low candidate but have to learn the art of subtle negotation to make it happen.  By using this technique you can make it happen.

 

FantasySportsZone is pleased to announce that Todd Farino from FantasyGuruRadio and FantasyBaseballSearch will be on our show this week. We are also extremely excited to have Mike Podhorzer-Associate Editor of The Fantasy Baseball Generals and The Fantasy Baseball Rountable Show. This week's show will feature "The Power of the Veto"