Nostalgia has no place in fantasy sports. Yet, thousands of fantasy sports players fall victim to it every year. If there is one thing no one can predict, it is the career arc of a player in any sport. Some guys falter before their time and others just seem to go on and on and on. When I was growing up, Don Mattingly was the best baseball player that ever lived. At least it seemed that way for a kid coming of age in the mid 1980s.
When the decade rolled over to the 1990s something happened and it wasn’t that pretty. For millions of baseball fans, the same thing is happening right before their eyes with Albert Pujols. Coming into the season, he was still rated number two among first basemen. It was almost as if 2012 never happened. It must have been an aberration. The best player of this generation couldn’t be getting old. It just wasn’t possible.
Not only was it possible, but you could take it to the bank. Father time is undefeated. You can cheat Father Time as over a dozen guys tried to do with Biogenesis, but no one has ever conquered him. First base is a position of longevity, so it makes perfect sense that the top names at the position will be established stars. Funny, but only Joey Votto, Paul Goldschmidt, Edwin Encarnacion, and Allen Craig have approached their positions within the preseason top ten.
Again, nostalgia has no place in the business of fantasy sports. Admittedly, some of those come as a surprise. Sports would be no fun if we had all the answers. Yet, we couldn’t help but think those that tabbed Albert Pujols before the season were running on empty. He’s not a bad baseball player. Take him off the shelf and give him 600 plate appearances and he’d probably reach 30 home runs again. That’s the seduction. You can see glimpses of the old Pujols just like the 1973 Mets saw from Willie Mays and the 1935 Boston Braves saw from Babe Ruth. You can’t win fantasy championships on glimpses though.
Naturally, Chris Davis stands as the mirror image on Albert Pujols. At the plate, he looks like the Pujols of five seasons ago. Seemingly every day he is hitting a home run or driving in someone. He has already reached 100 RBIs on the season and probably will get to 130 without breaking too much of a sweat. Who knows, maybe he’ll make everyone forget Brady Anderson.
If there were a runner up to the disappointment category it would be Prince Fielder. Again, it’s not like he’s completely fallen off the radar. He is still on pace to drive in more than 100 runs and could reach 30 home runs with a nice streak in August and September. Yet, we are looking at career lows in a number of important categories. The most important of which is probably isolated power.
It never ceases to amaze me how teams are so willing to run out there and dole out eight, nine, and ten year contracts. It’s a fool’s errand. Even if a player could stay healthy over that time, there is no way he will remain productive. Yet, the Red Sox continued that trend by giving an eight year extension to Dustin Pedroia.
If you are looking to take anything away from the position it would be to forget about what has happened in the distant past. You will likely see more and more up and coming first baseman come forward, so you should pay attention to those guys and less attention to the guys of yore.
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When the decade rolled over to the 1990s something happened and it wasn’t that pretty. For millions of baseball fans, the same thing is happening right before their eyes with Albert Pujols. Coming into the season, he was still rated number two among first basemen. It was almost as if 2012 never happened. It must have been an aberration. The best player of this generation couldn’t be getting old. It just wasn’t possible.
Not only was it possible, but you could take it to the bank. Father time is undefeated. You can cheat Father Time as over a dozen guys tried to do with Biogenesis, but no one has ever conquered him. First base is a position of longevity, so it makes perfect sense that the top names at the position will be established stars. Funny, but only Joey Votto, Paul Goldschmidt, Edwin Encarnacion, and Allen Craig have approached their positions within the preseason top ten.
Again, nostalgia has no place in the business of fantasy sports. Admittedly, some of those come as a surprise. Sports would be no fun if we had all the answers. Yet, we couldn’t help but think those that tabbed Albert Pujols before the season were running on empty. He’s not a bad baseball player. Take him off the shelf and give him 600 plate appearances and he’d probably reach 30 home runs again. That’s the seduction. You can see glimpses of the old Pujols just like the 1973 Mets saw from Willie Mays and the 1935 Boston Braves saw from Babe Ruth. You can’t win fantasy championships on glimpses though.
| PRE | RC | BR | TOT | |
| Chris Davis | 16 | 96 | 1 | 97 |
| Joey Votto | 1 | 85 | 2 | 87 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 5 | 79 | 4 | 83 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | 4 | 76 | 1 | 77 |
| David Ortiz | 17 | 72 | -3 | 69 |
| Freddie Freeman | 10 | 66 | 3 | 69 |
| Anthony Rizzo | 9 | 62 | 62 | |
| Allen Craig | 7 | 66 | -5 | 61 |
| Prince Fielder | 3 | 60 | 60 | |
| Mark Trumbo | 15 | 59 | 1 | 60 |
| James Loney | 37 | 57 | 3 | 60 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 8 | 62 | -3 | 59 |
| Kendrys Morales | 22 | 61 | -2 | 59 |
| Eric Hosmer | 14 | 55 | 1 | 56 |
| Billy Butler | 6 | 56 | -3 | 53 |
| Adam Dunn | 19 | 53 | -1 | 52 |
| Adam Lind | 29 | 51 | 51 | |
| Albert Pujols | 2 | 52 | -3 | 49 |
| Justin Morneau | 21 | 49 | -2 | 47 |
| Brandon Belt | 2o | 45 | 1 | 46 |
If there were a runner up to the disappointment category it would be Prince Fielder. Again, it’s not like he’s completely fallen off the radar. He is still on pace to drive in more than 100 runs and could reach 30 home runs with a nice streak in August and September. Yet, we are looking at career lows in a number of important categories. The most important of which is probably isolated power.
It never ceases to amaze me how teams are so willing to run out there and dole out eight, nine, and ten year contracts. It’s a fool’s errand. Even if a player could stay healthy over that time, there is no way he will remain productive. Yet, the Red Sox continued that trend by giving an eight year extension to Dustin Pedroia.
If you are looking to take anything away from the position it would be to forget about what has happened in the distant past. You will likely see more and more up and coming first baseman come forward, so you should pay attention to those guys and less attention to the guys of yore.
More...
