FANTASY BOYZ WEEK 3 TOP FREE AGENT PICKUPS

Still some talent out there in the free agent pool

With our weekly look at who might still be out there in your league the Fantasy Boyz give you some appealing options that will add depth to your roster as the season progresses.  You cannot have too much talent. 

Quarterbacks -

Jason Campbell - Looked very serviceable Sunday topping 300 yards and 3 TDs. 

Worth a look in 12 man leagues

Andy Dalton - The young ginger QB is really making the Fantasy Boyz eat our words.  Playing like a seasoned Vet

Continue to monitor

Running Back -

Dexter McCluster - Will Split carries with Thomas Jones in the wake of Jamaal Charles's knee tear.

Should be owned in all leagues

John Kuhn - Bruising runner has scored in 2 straight weeks. 

Worth a look in TD leagues only

Wide Receiver -

David Nelson - Not only did he catch the game winner in Buffalo but he also appears to be locking down the #2 WR spot.  This is two straight weeks with a Buffalo pass catcher on this list

Should be owned in all leagues

Denarius Moore - This speedster was making acrobatic catches all over the field Sunday.  With the Raiders thin at WR Moore might be a top target.

Worth a look in all leagues

Denario Alexander - Had only 3 grabs but made them count going for 122 yards and a TD Monday night.  Talented as hell but very injury prone.  Spagnola advised he would receive a bigger workload

Worth a look in all leagues

Jerome Simpson - Working well with Dalton.  Is looking to be clear #2 behind Green

Should be owned in larger leagues

Eric Decker -  More of a special team player but did have solid game this week when pressed into action

Continue to monitor

Tight End -

Ed Dickson - Has been targeted 11 times in 2 games and has 84 yards and a TD

Worth a look in larger leagues

FANTASY BOYZ WEEK 2 MATCHUPS......

FANTASY BOYZ TALK HOCKEY......

So the 2011-2012 NHL season is finally here! Camps are opening up across North America with plenty of new faces in new places. But before I put out the same old crap everyone else does with player rankings and such, I think it’s important to go into building the right team

Today I’m going to discuss how to build a winning team. I’ve won my last 7 leagues I’ve entered, and want to share my secrets….. Or brag… OK- a little of both. Sure a little bit of luck and intuition goes into a good team- but it’s building a solid foundation that creates a winner. Most fantasy leagues are head to head weekly leagues, but many still play the “Rotisserie” style. Either way, the structure for building the team remains basically the same.

First- you need to understand how your team wins each week. Most leagues have between 11 and 15 categories in which players get scored on. Sure there is the easy ones- Goals/ Assists/ Power Play Points / Game Winning Goals. But many leagues also toss in a number of statistical categories dominated by guys you rarely hear from in the sports pages – and those guys win you championships. Many leagues use some if not all of the following stats in their league too- Penalty (PIMs), Plus/minus, shots on goal, Short handed points, and faceoffs won.

These stats also translate to goaltending- which usually make up 35-40% of all head to head points. Goaltending is critical, and I’ll address that later.

Here are my top ten secrets to winning the championship. Some of these secrets come straight from Captain Obvious – but it’s amazing how many people forget these points-


Quantity over Quality-

Guys fall in love with the superstars. Who doesn’t? But stockpiling guys who score a lot can actually kill your team. It’s about balance. You only have to win the goal scoring and assist categories by one each week to get the point. Scoring 20 goals more than the other guy is useless if he smoked you in plus /minus, PIMs, and Shorties. If you are running away in a category, trade that one dimensional player to a desperate team to bolster weak areas.


Get the top guys at that statistic/ maybe not the best at that position


Sounds so simple yet people don't do it. Sidney Crosby and the Sedin Twins might look awesome on your team, but it takes one concussion to put Sid the Kid into clown college for 5 months and your team in last place. On draft day I sort the stats on guys on the oddball stats. PIMs/ plus/ Minus/ and shots on goal.


Take Zenon Konopka. Who? This guy had 100 more penalty minutes than anyone else in the league. Dress him once or twice, hegets into 3 fights and you win the PIMs for the week. He wins faceoffs to boot! Guys like Brent Seabrook and Dustin Byflugien dominated plus/minus and shots on goal for my team last year and they were major contributors. More important than Ilya Kovalchuck, Danny Heatly, and Marion Gaborik.


Goaltending! Goaltending! Goaltending!


More important than Running Backs in football leagues. Again, depending on your league, the best Goalie might not be your guy. Some teams spend high draft picks and grab Ryan Miller or Martin Brodeur who will play more games in the year than the actual puck and ride them out.  If you have 2 60-70+ start goalies and ride them all year, it might work in your favor- as it creates an additional roster spot for a skater. However, I like to concentrate my efforts on getting those 2^nd tier guys on teams that just go out and win each week. It’s amazing how many of these guys I’ve plucked off waivers or drafted late. Guys like Evengi Nabokov, Jimmy Howard of Detroit, and Tim Thomas & Corey Crawford last year… none of them people had their eyes on during the draft. Hell, not even I had my eyes on them in the draft. I usually look for 3 Goalies who each give me 30 wins a year. Their save % isn’t anything to write home about, but with all those starts and all those wins, quantity takes over quality and I’m good for grabbing 4 of 5 goalier categories for the week.

Just don’t over do it. It’s useless to have a 3^rd or 4^th goalie who never has an opportunity to get in. Also, you can blow your week by putting in a guy if you are already ahead in most categories by a narrow margin just to see him choke on a Sunday and F%$#@ you over.


Over exposure at defense


Just because he’s the #1 blue liner on his team and averages 25 minutes a night, it doesn’t mean he’s a valuable fantasy commodity. Sure he might have 30 assists on the year- but if he’s on the ice all that time he’s going to drive down your plus/minus rating. There are a rare few ho pull those minutes and manager to stay well on the positive side of goal differential. Your top offensive weapons for the most part will most likely have a negative plus/minus as it is, so if you have the offensive firepower, get defensive defensemen. Guys like Kevin Bieska might not generate much scratch on offense, but their plus/minus and PIMs more than make up for it.


Preseason draft rankings suck – don’t use them

Most people putting these together take last year’s stats and just rank them for the following year. Hot rookies like Logan Couture and Jeff Skinner get completely overlooked. Great bargains can be found deep in the rankings because someone missed 30 games due to injury. Danny Briere was hurt most of 2008, and in 2009 I grabbed him deep in a draft. He was fantasy gold- until he got hurt again during my playoff run….Bastard!



Don’t fall in love in keeper leagues

Just because you can keep 2-3-4 players doesn’t mean you have too. Is your best player a #1 draft pick? If not toss him back. The #1 pick you get in return could be someone better, or at worst you have a shot at picking him back up.


Your best players won’t be drafted in the top 5 rounds



Guys that make or break your success are acquired via trades and via the waiver wire. I picked up guys like Tim Thomas, Chris Stewart, Logan Couture. I’m Kicking myself for not grabbing Anze Kopitar 2 years ago after he went undrafted. Waiver wire pickups made up of 1/3^{rd t} to ½ of my winning rosters over the years.



Maximize your roster

I look at teams that play a lot of Sunday nights and also get a lot of those odd Versus games on Wednesday night. Teams like Anaheim and the NY Rangers get a lot of those dates during the year due to local arena conflicts with the NBA and other area teams. The advantage? The NHL loves to stack some nights in the schedule with 12-14 games a night and then have nights with only 2-3 games. What good is it if you have to sit 5 players every Saturday night because you have no roster spots? A benched player is a useless player.


Also- I just love getting players who play more than one position. The best is Anaheim's Bobby Ryan who was listed as a LW/RW/C on ESPN last year. .

Be careful not to overload your team at one position. I've seen drafts where teams get 6-7 players at one position, and they are handcuffed. Quantity only works when everybody plays the maximum amount of games in a week.



Hiding guys on IR

I always have a guy on my IR. If my team is healthy enough, I’ll stash a big name guy on my IR even though he’s out of action for a month. You can always cut him if he gets healthy but disappoints. But you can always find late season gold with some guys who come back after 3-4 months off. But keep an eye on them- if it looks like they are too slow to heal, toss ‘em back and find another guy to bury.

Riding the hot hand

I always have the bottom 2-3 spots on my team available to “churn” for free agent pick ups. Why hang on to a Chris Versteeg when a guy like Michael Grabner becomes Wayne Gretzky over the course of a month. Last year I picked up Clarke MacAurthur thinking he was a hot hand for a week or two. I expected to get 5-6 games out of him and toss him back- but he became harder to throw away than that 2 week old chineese food in the fridge. I kept him for 3 months because he kept chipping in.



Grab the "Stat Stuffers"

Guys Like Alexander Burrows, Dave Backes, Steve Downie, Steve Ott, and everyone's favorite sloppy seconds- Sean Avery. - I love them because they do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and still let you dominate PIMs. Gordie Howe Hat Tricks are juast as valuable as the real ones. These guys will get it done.


Well- I hope I this was some use to you. I’ll get my player rankings out shortly- stay tuned!

Just like Running Backs Goalies win Fantasy Hockey Championships....

FANTASY BOYZ Week 2 Top Pickups

by Corey Bugenhagen, Fantasy Boyz Editor in Chief

The draft is over but a fantasy GM's work is never done

Quarterback:

Can Newton – Sure yesterday prior to kickoff people in your league where laughing at  you for having him on your roster, let alone in your starting lineup… WHO IS LAUGHING NOW???

Should be owned in all leagues

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick – The Amish Pistol fired 4 TDs and looked sharp all game long as the Bills routed a hapless KC squad.

Should be owned in all leagues

 

Rex Grossman – Grossman didn’t make Shanahan look like an idiot for starting him over John Beck.  He looked poised in the pocket.  Won’t do this every week but if the matchup is right is worth a look.

Should be owned in 14-16 leagues

 

Running Back:

 

Ben Tate/Derrick Ward – This running back tandem made the loss of Arian Foster much easier to swallow.  It is assumed that Tate is not available in most leagues as he was the buzz worth pickup of the preseason but both should be owned in all leagues, especially if .

Tate - Should be owned in all leagues.

Ward – Worth a look in larger leagues especially for Foster owners

 

Cadillac Williams – Caddy looked like he visited a car wash prior to the game.  He was running hard and with purpose after S Jax went down.  With word today that Jackson is unlikely to play in week two Caddy will be a hot pickup.

Should be owned in all leagues

 

Jerome Harrison – Harrison emerged as Best’s top backup and received 8 carries.   With RB pickings already slim in most leagues getting a guy that gets any carries at all is a plus

Worth a look in larger leagues

 

Deji Karim – Karim received 17 touches and totaled 72 yards Sunday even with a healthy MJD.   He is most certainly someone that deserves a spot on most rosters especially for MJD owners.

Should be owned in larger leagues

 

Wide Receiver:

Brandon Gibson – Already on the Fantasy Boyz radar prior to Sunday but with Amendola going down for an extended period of time it is Gibson’s time to shine

Should be owned in larger leagues

Devery Henderson – Seems like this guy is always on lists like these.  He isn’t going to be targeted 9 times every week but he has it in him to put up games like this now and  again.  If you are thin at WR you could do much worse

Should be owned in larger leagues.

 

Earley Doucet – Doucet only received 3 targets but made the most of them totaling 105 yards on 3 catches.  Don’t expect this each week but monitor his production.  Could emerge as consistent #2 option in the desert

Worth a look in larger leagues

 

Mohamed Massaquoi – Tied for team lead in targets.  If you were looking for a receiver to emerge in Cleveland you may have found him. 

Worth a look in larger leagues

 

Donald Jones – Is the #2 WR on a team that looks to have something going in the passing game early on. 

Worth a look in larger leagues

 

Tight End:

Fred Davis – Fred Davis looked phenomenal Sunday.  He has rapport with Grossman and was making circus catches all over the field.  He is a must add at the TE position and could be a starter if you are weak at the position if Cooley falters

Should be owned in all leagues

Scott Chandler – Scott who?  I am in Buffalo and I didn’t know much about Scott Chandler going into the game Sunday.  He made me take notice, with 5 grabs for 63 yards and 2 Tds.  It is highly unlikely he will produce 50+ yards and Tds every game but I can foresee Fitzpatrick looking the way of this 6’7” giant quite often going forward.

Worth a look in larger leagues

 

            

Kicker:

David Akers – Solid veteran could replace Kaeding quite nicely

Worth a look in larger leagues

 

John Kasey – Keeping the seat warm until Hartley’s hip heals

Worth a look in larger leagues.

FANTASY BOYZ WEEK 1 MATCHUPS..........

ENJOY!