5 Trends From 2009

Five Trends From the

2009 Fantasy Baseball Season

1. Injuries. Injuries. Injuries. The 2009 season saw many of the stars spend large amounts of time on the disable list. It seemed as if no one was immune. First round players like Jose Reyes and Grady Sizemore as well as three of the top pitchers in baseball (Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, and Johan Santana) all missed a significant amount of the season. Then if this wasn't bad enough, when the calendar turned to August, just when most fantasy managers are making a run at a title, we saw players like Justin Morneau and Josh Hamilton get shut down for the season. Hopefully, in terms of fantasy baseball, these player's injuries are in the rearview mirror and they are healthy for the 2010 season.

2. The stolen base is cool again. For much of the decade most Major League teams relied on the home run to score runs. This was reflected in fantasy in that it was difficult to find players that would contribute in the stolen base category and those few players that actually did steal bases saw their values inflated. But with Major League baseball implementing more drug testing, home runs are magically down, and teams are searching for ways to manufacture runs. This has lead to more players stealing bases. There are the obvious names like Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford, but players like Michael Bourn, Nyjer Morgan and Elvis Andrus have also emerged. Even the once driven Moneyball Oakland A's have Rajai Davis stealing over forty bags this season. As if I had to prove my point any further, even lumbering Ryan Howard has a ******** eight stolen bases.

3. The Rockies learned how to pitch. Prior to the 2009 season, most Rockies pitchers were thought as very unreliable when it comes to fantasy baseball. But this season, the Colorado staff has turned into one of the best in the National League. The quintet of Ubaldo Jimenez, Jorge De La Rosa, Jason Hammel, Jason Marquis, and Aaron Cook has all provided an excellent source of wins and strikeouts for fantasy managers. It will be interesting to see if this trend can continue into the 2010 season.

4. That Albert Pujols guy is pretty good. Coming into the season, there was some injury concern about Phat Albert. But he quickly put those concerns to rest early as he went on a first half tear with an OPS of 1.179. It is pretty clear that we are witnessing one of the great players not of just our generation, but of all time. Also, even when most people thought that Pujols couldn't get any better, he went out and stole sixteen bases this season. Those unexpected stolen bases are gold for fantasy owners.

5. The monster that is Citi Field. It is always difficult to predict how a new stadium will affect will play. This was never more true than with the two new stadiums in New York this season. The new Yankee Stadium played like a bandbox while the Mets' Citi Field played like the Grand Canyon. Even when the Mets' offense was healthy, they struggled mightily to score runs on a consistent basis. Third baseman David Wright had a strong batting average, but his power numbers plummeted. This translated into the Mets having one their worst seasons of the decade. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how the Mets rebuild their line up and if they are able to attract premium free agents to play in their offensive oppressive stadium.

Final Words. As another fantasy baseball season comes to an end, I can't help but think about how far this game has come. Whether it is Roto style or Head to Head, more people continue to find the joy of the game each year. Web sites like Blogtalk Radio and Fangraph.com not only supplement the other mainstream sites, but offer valuable information that extends the public's knowledge of the game. Fantasy football might still be king in terms of the number of players, but fantasy baseball continues to close the gap and brings in newcomers every year. I am looking forward to a bigger and better 2010 baseball season.