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Yesterday, I was asked a question about what advice I
have for newbies.  One of my tips was
“never chase wins” and today, I bring you direct evidence of why doing so is a
really bad idea.  Like greenlighting “The
Adventures of Pluto Nash” bad.  (If Eddie
Murphy is funny on earth, he must be twice as funny on the moon!  Comedy is affected by gravity, right?  Let’s spend $100 million to find out!)

 

In the Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League, which features
a 5X5 H2H format with daily roster moves, I began the week with a plan.  Since Peavy, Myers, and Harang would all take
the ball twice over the season’s first seven days, I would combine those six
starts with one apiece from Joba and Burnett to give me eight quality options
for the week.  Since all five guys
feature excellent strikeout potential, employing this strategy should give me a
chance to sweep all four starting pitching categories.  But of course, limiting your starts increases
your vulnerability if one guys blows up, as you won’t
accumulate enough innings to counteract a poor effort.

 

If you’ve been following baseball or this blog or are just a
really sharp reader, I’m sure you can see where this is going.  Myers takes the hill to open the season on
Sunday and is greeted with an old-fashioned shellacking.  Just like that, I’m faced with a choice — stick with the plan (the sensible, non-reactionary thing to do) or panic!!!!!

 

Of course, I do the latter and freak out faster than Christian Bale (Myers and I may be done professionally).  This leads to me basically conceding the WHIP
and ERA category an hour into the matchup and deciding I’m going to run every one of my pitchers out there in an
effort to win Ks and wins for the week. 
Whoops.  Here are the outings that
followed:

 

Aaron Cook – 2.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 2 Ks, 1 BB, 23.14 ERA, 3.48
WHIP

Scott Olsen – 3.0 IP, 8 ER, 8 H, 2 Ks, 3 BB, 24.00 ERA, 3.67
WHIP

Ian Snell – 4.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 2 Ks, 3 BB, 13.50 ERA, 3.00
WHIP

Trevor Cahill – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 K, 5 BB, 3.60 ERA, 2.00
WHIP

 

So what did I get for my effort? Seven strikeouts and zero
wins.  I would rather have watched “A
Chorus Line” than seen these pitching lines. 
Heck, I would have rather been in
a local production of “A Chorus Line” if that’s what it took.

 

So this brings me back to the original point — don’t chase
wins.  The strategy rarely works and
frequently backfires. 

Ironically, my
opponent has seen his starting pitching staff implode as well, so if I’d just
kept my cool I’d be on the other side of this beatdown.  Instead, I’m losing 3-6-1 and will probably
end up in a hole of my own digging. 
Learn from me (or laugh at me, I deserve it).