According to Mick Jagger: “I Can’t Get No BATisfaction!”
There have been 12 days of baseball since the Major League Baseball opened on April 7th and fantasy owners now have not just a drafted fantasy team but also had their team placed into league standings. Even though it’s exciting to see the standings in real-time, the 705 NFBC Main Event owners, like many fantasy baseball players, are likely disappointed with their team’s hitting production to date. To borrow from (noted fantasy baseball enthusiast) Mick Jagger, they are likely to be less than fully satisfied with the batting production thus far.
I can’t get no BATisfaction
I can’t get no BATisfaction
‘Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no…
To illustrate this point, through Sunday 4/18, MLB has played 5.3% of the season and despite hitters “trying and trying,” they have been MUCH less productive than pitchers in the early going. Runs per game were already sharply down in 2021 to 4.53, but in the first few days of 2022 scoring has slumped another 8.2% to 4.16 even from that reduced baseline. What are the contributing factors to this reduction in offense?
- Batting average is down 4.5% to .233 (from .244 last season).
- More importantly, homers are off a remarkable 18.1% from 2021 – from 1.22 per game to 1.00 per game (and the 1.22 level was already much lower than the 2019 high-water mark of 1.39 per game).
Could this be an outgrowth of pitchers ahead of hitters without the normal length of spring training? It doesn’t seem likely, as usually the pitchers to take more time to ramp up. A more likely culprit could be the expanded rosters and the ability of managers to use multiple relievers until that shifts back in a couple of weeks. Or it could be that MLB Is messing with the baseball again or even that the humidors, now installed in all 30 ballparks, are causing the balls to stay in the yard much more frequently.
In any case, until and unless this changes, we may have to think in terms of reaching for a lower bar for our hitting targets this season. And on the other side of the coin, you might think that your pitching stats are great, but they may not be good enough in this new environment. We’ll follow along to see if this changes and report back, but for the time being, try to – “no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey; that’s what I say; get some BATisfaction” in this new .233 batting average era!
| MLB STATS | RUNS/GAME | HOME RUNS | BATTING AVERAGE | ||
| 2022 YTD | 4.16 | 1.00 | 0.233 | ||
| 2021 | 4.53 | 1.22 | 0.244 | ||
| 2020 | 4.65 | 1.28 | 0.245 | ||
| 2019 | 4.83 | 1.39 | 0.252 | ||
| 2018 | 4.65 | 1.15 | 0.248 | ||
| 2017 | 4.65 | 1.26 | 0.255 |
Ward of the State
In the third FAAB period held on Sunday, April 18th, ten players were picked up in 31 or more leagues (see below) with Taylor Ward targeted in all 47 leagues as he appears to be a regular Angel In The Outfield. Paul Blackburn and Owen Miller were both added in 46 leagues, as Blackburn is showcasing improved skills and Miller seems to be firmly entrenched as a Guardian In The Infield (see what I did there? He’s not an Angel in the Outfield, he’s a Guardian…oh never mind…).
Others in the top ten widest pickups that also attracted at least one winning bid over $100 were Santiago Espinal, Jake Diekman, and Josh Staumont – with the latter two adds aimed at providing assistance in the elusive save category.
| ADDED IN MOST MAIN EVENT LEAGUES | Leagues Added | Reason | Highest Winning Bid | Lowest Winning Bid | ||
| Taylor Ward | 47 | Joe Maddens says he’s a regular | 219 | 23 | ||
| Paul Blackburn | 46 | Throwing well for OAK | 224 | 3 | ||
| Owen Miller | 46 | Regular PT for CLE | 137 | 27 | ||
| Santiago Espinal | 37 | Regular TOR 2B | 101 | 5 | ||
| Maikel Franco | 37 | Regular PT for WAS | 67 | 1 | ||
| Jake Diekman | 33 | Possible BOS Closer | 185 | 1 | ||
| David Peterson | 33 | In NYM Rotation | 99 | 1 | ||
| Josh Staumont | 32 | In KC Save Mix | 143 | 1 | ||
| Oscar Mercado | 31 | Regular PT for CLE | 81 | 3 | ||
| Jonah Heim | 31 | 2 HR last 3 games | 77 | 1 | ||
The Wow Bid of the Week
One of our favorite features – the Main Event Wow Bid of the Week – is back and goes to the largest bid of each FAAB period. This week that honor goes to a $475 bid for Detroit pitcher Matt Manning. Wait a minute! Manning was lifted early from his last start with a shoulder issue. Even though he claims he is OK, $475 still seems dicey. The runner-up bid in this case was um – there WAS no other bid in this league. So let’s just presume this was an overbid by our winner. In his defense, Manning was added in 6 other leagues, with winning bids ranging from $79 to $5, so other owners did see the value – just not $475 worth of value…
The Century Club Has 27 Members This Week
There were 27 players that attracted SUCCESSFUL bids over $100 during this FAAB run (and 74 individual bids), and 8 of those players had at least one winning bid over $200 (with 10 total bids over $200) – Matt Manning, Camilo Doval, Grayson Rodriguez, MacKenzie Gore, Hansel Robles, Paul Blackburn, Taylor Ward, and Jack Flaherty. Players attracting the most bids over $100 were Hector Neris with 12 and Taylor Ward with 10.
| TEAM | BIDS OVER $100 – MAIN EVENT | Winning Bids over $100 | Winning Bids over $200 | Highest Winning Bid (FAAB $) | ||
| DET | Matt Manning | 1 | 1 | 475 | ||
| SF | Camilo Doval | 1 | 1 | 287 | ||
| BAL | Grayson Rodriguez | 1 | 1 | 251 | ||
| SD | MacKenzie Gore | 6 | 1 | 250 | ||
| BOS | Hansel Robles | 3 | 2 | 225 | ||
| OAK | Paul Blackburn | 3 | 1 | 224 | ||
| LAA | Taylor Ward | 10 | 2 | 219 | ||
| STL | Jack Flaherty | 1 | 1 | 213 | ||
| BOA | Jake Diekman | 1 | 0 | 185 | ||
| LAA | Michael Lorenzen | 6 | 0 | 177 | ||
| MIN | Jhoan Duran | 2 | 0 | 177 | ||
| HOU | Hector Neris | 12 | 0 | 173 | ||
| CHC | Jonathan Villar | 1 | 0 | 170 | ||
| SF | Joc Pederson | 3 | 0 | 158 | ||
| MIN | Emilio Pagan | 1 | 0 | 149 | ||
| KC | Josh Staumont | 5 | 0 | 143 | ||
| NYY | Aaron Hicks | 2 | 0 | 142 | ||
| CLE | Owen Miller | 3 | 0 | 137 | ||
| OAK | Cole Irvin | 2 | 0 | 134 | ||
| SD | Eric Hosmer | 1 | 0 | 126 | ||
| CHC | Nick Madrigal | 1 | 0 | 121 | ||
| PHI | Alec Bohm | 1 | 0 | 119 | ||
| WAS | Erick Fedde | 1 | 0 | 112 | ||
| AZ | Josh Rojas | 1 | 0 | 111 | ||
| CIN | Lucas Sims | 1 | 0 | 109 | ||
| BAL | Jorge Lopez | 2 | 0 | 103 | ||
| TOR | Santiago Espinal | 2 | 0 | 101 | ||
| 74 | 10 | |||||
For the three FAAB runs thus far, the average Main Event team has won 4.1 bids this season (roughly 1.4 per week) and spent $127.82 per team. This is lower than last year when about $183 was spent per team in the first three FAAB runs. This means that in 2022, the average team still has $872 of FAAB left, so there is a lot of firepower available for future key free agents.
| 2022 | TOTAL NUMBER OF MAIN EVENT WINNING BIDS | TOTAL FAAB DOLLARS SPENT MAIN EVENT | AVERAGE WINNING BID MAIN EVENT | AVERAGE AMOUNTS SPENT PER ME TEAM | |
| 1 | 403 | $7,962 | $19.76 | $11.29 | |
| 2 | 1035 | $36,124 | $34.90 | $51.24 | |
| 3 | 1445 | $46,026 | $31.85 | $65.29 |
| TOTAL | 2883 | $90,112 | $31.26 | $127.82 | ||
We’ll be following the Main Event chase all season in this space, and showing the overall leader board as it shifts throughout the season. First, here are the top 20 in the overall standings after on the morning of April 12th.
| Overall Rank: Thru 4/17 | Fantasy Owner | Overall Points | Points Behind | NFBC League Number # | ||
| 1 | Scott Fleming | 6031.5 | 0.0 | 1511 | ||
| 2 | Beau Reid | 5877.5 | 154.0 | 1511 | ||
| 3 | Douglas Gruber | 5856.5 | 175.0 | 1244 | ||
| 4 | Chris Fessler | 5777.0 | 254.5 | 1292 | ||
| 5 | Chris Read | 5752.5 | 279.0 | 1332 | ||
| 6 | Richard Briskin | 5688.0 | 343.5 | 1297 | ||
| 7 | Brian Slack | 5559.5 | 472.0 | 1371 | ||
| 8 | Mike Massotto | 5498.5 | 533.0 | 1226 | ||
| 9 | Gary Allen | 5490.5 | 541.0 | 1320 | ||
| 10 | Tyler Jung | 5446.0 | 585.5 | 1265 | ||
| 11 | Christopher Cosley | 5423.5 | 608.0 | 1260 | ||
| 12 | Jason Gill | 5387.5 | 644.0 | 1027 | ||
| 13 | Doug Moe | 5385.0 | 646.5 | 934 | ||
| 14 | William McAleer | 5368.0 | 663.5 | 1331 | ||
| 15 | Vince Clemente | 5300.5 | 731.0 | 1260 | ||
| 16 | Bradley Beckman | 5278.5 | 753.0 | 1321 | ||
| 17 | Keith Tonsager | 5263.0 | 768.5 | 1032 | ||
| 18 | Jason Aberli | 5258.0 | 773.5 | 1260 | ||
| 19 | Chris Uram | 5254.5 | 777.0 | 1263 | ||
| 20 | Greg Lathrop | 5250.0 | 781.5 | 1143 | ||
| Average Top 20 Overall Score | 5507.3 | |||||
The Flemish Region
Congratulations to Scott Fleming for securing the overall lead! Not only that, but Scott has just three Main Event entries, and apparently that’s more than enough! Kudos also go out to Beau Reid (who is in the same league as Scott Fleming), Douglas Gruber, Chris Fessler and Chris Read for their top five early season positions. Certainly none of the top 20 can feel secure about their position after just four days, but it is also true that it’s much more preferable to get off to a fast start than to stumble out of the gate. All of these 20 can feel good about posting a nice solid beginning.
OMG: Philippe Dussault in 32nd Place
Uh oh, just when I thought it was safe to give Phil a hard time, he’s climbing out of the depths of the standings and seems primed to re-assume his normal spot at the top of the leader board. This couldn’t happen two years in a row, could it? I mean, there are 705 teams and some of them REALLY seem to know what they’re doing. Let’s just remind ourselves that even Phil has limits to his powers, even he has injuries that affect his team, and maybe – just maybe – he won’t be in first place overall next week (gulp).
League of Legends
In addition, we’ll follow the individual league races this season. It is no small feat to win a league championship in the Main Event regardless of a fantasy owner’s overall place, and the top three in each league earn a cash prize and deserve recognition. You can see the 47 leagues listed in the chart below – along with the top three in the standings as of Monday morning.
| NFBC League Number | LEADER | League Points | 2nd PLACE | League Points | 3rd PLACE | League Points | ||
| #934 | Doug Moe | 118.5 | Matthew Shepherd | 98.0 | Jason Anthony | 97.0 | ||
| #935 | Marc Winokur | 100.0 | Scott Waggener | 98.0 | Mark Srebro | 97.0 | ||
| #943 | Eric Heberlig | 108.5 | Curt Hills | 100.5 | Alan Mitchell | 93.0 | ||
| #1026 | Jeff Erickson & Tim Schuler | 108.5 | Jody Ryan | 99.5 | John Pausma | 96.5 | ||
| #1027 | Jason Gill | 113.5 | Michael Govier | 106.5 | Scott Jenstad | 98.5 | ||
| #1028 | Jacob Halusker | 106.0 | James Milkowski | 105.0 | Zachary Waxman | 103.0 | ||
| #1029 | Ken Magner | 105.5 | Donald Warner | 102.0 | Matt Modica | 96.5 | ||
| #1030 | Zach Bettencourt | 99.0 | Douglas Roth | 98.5 | Ryan Faye | 96.5 | ||
| #1031 | Jon Stadtmueller | 100.0 | Tim Lilly | 99.0 | Daniel Prepas | 98.5 | ||
| #1032 | Keith Tonsager | 115.0 | Don Benson | 103.5 | Dave McDonald & Tony DiVincenzo | 102.0 | ||
| #1034 | Andrew Geller | 117.0 | Rian Lange | 108.0 | Robert Cramutola | 94.0 | ||
| #1132 | Eric Heberlig | 115.5 | TIE: Jin Chun | 100.5 | TIE: Marc Fleisher | 100.5 | ||
| #1143 | Greg Lathrop | 116.5 | James Anderson & Todd Whitestone | 102.0 | Curtis Jones | 97.0 | ||
| #1192 | Erik Schmollinger | 105.0 | Douglas Gruber | 101.5 | Christopher Vaccaro | 99.0 | ||
| #1221 | Mike Duggan | 114.0 | Marc Fleisher | 111.5 | Eric Heberlig | 102.0 | ||
| #1226 | Mike Massotto | 123.5 | Michael Garcia | 110.0 | Doug Cassidy | 92.5 | ||
| #1228 | John Pausma | 107.0 | TIE: William Perry | 94.0 | TIE:Charles Sommer | 94.0 | ||
| #1233 | Jon Stadtmueller | 101.0 | Steve Brunn | 95.0 | Steve Heisman | 93.5 | ||
| #1236 | Russell Withers | 107.5 | Bradley Libros | 101.5 | Thomas Warner | 94.5 | ||
| #1244 | Douglas Gruber | 130.5 | Scott Sakiyama | 94.0 | Ryan Welborn | 93.5 | ||
| #1260 | Vince Clemente | 117.5 | Jason Aberli | 116.0 | Christopher Cosley | 115.0 | ||
| #1263 | Chris Uram | 119.0 | Ryan Welborn | 102.0 | Eric Heberlig | 101.0 | ||
| #1264 | Ryan Rufe | 107.5 | Vlad Sedler | 106.0 | Brian Edwards | 100.0 | ||
| #1265 | Tyler Jung | 119.5 | Wayne Edwards | 101.5 | Aaron Jones | 99.5 | ||
| #1287 | Eric Price | 115.5 | Bob Catsiroumpas | 96.0 | Aaron Lawson | 91.5 | ||
| #1292 | Chris Fessler | 125.5 | Uttam Rath | 106.5 | Griffin Benger | 102.5 | ||
| #1294 | Carl Kunda | 111.0 | Stephen Fiore | 101.5 | Eric Karlovic | 93.5 | ||
| #1297 | Richard Briskin | 123.0 | Kevin Kirves | 101.5 | TIE: Zach Bettencourt & Beau Reid | 96.0 | ||
| #1304 | Herb Eroh | 108.5 | Bryan Fitzgerald | 106.5 | Jeff Campbell | 105.5 | ||
| #1306 | KC Cha | 111.5 | Eric Heberlig | 101.0 | Jeff Mitseff | 97.5 | ||
| #1318 | Emmett Ruland | 102.5 | David Lightfoot | 97.5 | TIE: Alan Mitchell & Abdulaziz Madani | 96.5 | ||
| #1319 | Scott Feschuk | 100.5 | Bob Casale | 100.0 | Abdulaziz Madani | 92.5 | ||
| #1320 | Gary Allen | 116.0 | Philippe Dussault | 109.5 | Eric Heberlig | 102.5 | ||
| #1321 | Bradley Beckman | 119.5 | Gary Allen | 107.0 | Andrew Sullivan | 103.0 | ||
| #1322 | Vlad Sedler | 109.0 | Jeff Mitseff | 106.0 | John Lymberis | 98.0 | ||
| #1331 | William McAleer | 118.0 | Robert DiPietro | 113.5 | Bradley Libros | 103.5 | ||
| #1332 | Chris Read | 126.0 | Leonard Ringle | 108.0 | Mike Gumbel | 87.0 | ||
| #1363 | Matthew McDonough | 101.5 | Paul Hong | 98.0 | TIE: Scott Davis & Bradley Libros | 94.5 | ||
| #1364 | Chris Fessler | 104.0 | Stephen Jupinka | 99.5 | Geoffrey Stein | 98.5 | ||
| #1365 | Craig Clarke | 102.5 | Scott Waggener | 100.0 | Scott Jenstad | 99.5 | ||
| #1366 | Jeff Mitseff | 105.0 | Danny Bronski | 97.0 | Les Travis | 96.5 | ||
| #1371 | Brian Slack | 121.0 | Hunter Dorbandt | 108.5 | P McD | 105.5 | ||
| #1402 | Abdulaziz Madani | 111.5 | Joe Kruk | 102.0 | Shawn Childs | 100.0 | ||
| #1405 | Michael Secor | 113.0 | Matt Modica | 103.0 | William McAleer | 95.5 | ||
| #1408 | Ronny Mor | 103.0 | Eric Heberlig | 94.5 | Charles Kieta | 93.0 | ||
| #1511 | Scott Fleming | 129.5 | Beau Reid | 126.0 | Mike Ballscmiede | 104.0 | ||
| #1524 | Chet Kresge | 114.5 | Marc Perlmutter | 103.0 | TIE: Alan Gellin & Kareem Yostos | 94.0 | ||
| Average 1st Place Score | 112.1 | Average 2nd Place Score | 103.0 | Average 3rd Place Score | 98.0 | |||
I’m offering special shout-outs to some of the league leaders – basketball legend Doug Moe; Famed Colorado Native Marc WInokur; general “all-over-the-leaderboard” Eric Heberlig;, Rotowire tag-team members Jeff Erickson and Tim Schuler; star fantasy owners Zach Bettencourt, Jon Stadtmueller and Andrew Geller; Rotowire writer extraordinaire Ryan Rufe; outstanding players Tyler Jung, Chris Fessler, and Greg Lathrop; Fantasy Legends KC Cha, Vlad Sedler, Emmett Ruland, Abdulaziz Madani and Jeff Mitseff; and my favorite target for this article Brian Slack! But ALL of the fantasy owners leading their league or in the top three positions are doing well – congratulations to them – but they must remember that it’s only April 18th – a lot can and will happen in the next 5 1/2 months to be sure.
And as Mick would tell any of them who asked – it’s really tough to achieve BATisfaction!
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