The Godfather has returned from his pilgrimmage to the homeland, in this case Las Vegas.  Having spent 9 of 11 days in the city that never sleeps, it takes a couple days for me to catch up.  My daughter, Heather, was married in the Graceland Chapel while I was there, and new son-in-law, Dave, is a welcome addition to the family.  I haven’t gotten him into the family business yet, but a fantasy draft is in his future!

I have had quite a few drafts lately, 4 in the last week, so players are starting to become blurred.  I’m trying my best not to fall into a pattern of taking the same players, but a couple seem to keep falling my way.  If Chris Carpenter returns to form for the Cardinals this year, he’ll help my pitching staff on multiple teams.

I drafted for the third year in the NFBC, part of the fun of going to Vegas.

I really enjoy meeting and talking with a lot of our customers, and this year was especially fun.  I engaged in many conversations and discussed the strategy of the NFBC event (a 15-team draft) with Rich Thomas and Ken Norred the night before the draft.  I had the  number 4 pick in the draft, so my first pick was pretty well decided, to take who was left from the big 4; Hanley, Albert, Wright or Reyes.  The question was who to take on the return pick, the 26th player in the draft.  As I pondered, it needed to be a speed guy if I had Albert, or a power guy if I had Reyes, or a combo (like Matt
Kemp) if I had Wright, Rick Thomas suggested the player should be Tim Lincecum if he was still available.  I questioned the move, as I’m not accustomed to taking pitchers early, and remarked that most Cy Young winners do not have great years the year following the award.  Rick commented that Mighty Tim might be more of the Randy Johnson/Pedro Martinez mold, one of those rare pitchers despite his size and youthful appearance, that could be the real deal.

Lincecum was one of only two pitchers, the other being Roy Halladay, that I trusted enough this year to make an early pick.  As we discussed the benefits of having an ace on my staff with an early pick, I started to like the idea.  Someone to anchor the staff, put up a lot of innings with a low WHIP and ERA, and someone to get a lot of strikeouts, would make it easier latter in draft to come away with a acceptable pitching staff.  Rick had sold me on the idea, now I needed the rest of the people in my draft to cooperate.

Draft day came, and the 6 of us from the Fanball staff participating had a pre-draft breakfast gathering to share last minute strategies. Rick Hawes had agreed to help me, keeping track of the ADP list, as I crossed out players from my projections list.  I had been told I had my work cut out for me, as my league was deemed one of the toughest in the NFBC.  The dreaded Shawn Childs, who works with the WCOFF guys, was in it, and I had a side bet with Jesse Herron about who would do better.   Perry Van Hook was next to him, and on my right was Ken Norred and Dan Semsel, Ken a former DC winner.

As I sat down, I noticed the guy to my left, Robert Zidonik, who would be picking in front of me (at least half of the time) had a copy of the Fanball Baseball Annual opened to the Godfather Of Fantasy Sports story, and he proceeded to tell me I would not be getting any of the players I had written about as good sleeper picks this year.

Brady Ticker, an industry cohort,  was facilitating our draft, and called for the first pick.  Hanley went first, then Albert, then Wright.  I took Jose Reyes and the draft sped through the first round and back with the second.  It was all Rick and I could do to keep up crossing off names!  As the second round reached Ken and Dan, I realized Mighty Tim was still available, one pick away. They wanted him, but the lure of Evan Longoria was too much and they took him instead.  So I pounced on Mighty Tim and hoped Rick Thomas was right.  As the draft quickly made it’s turn, I was up again.

I needed someone to balance Reyes’ speed with some power, and Manny Ramirez seemed like the perfect pick.  By the time the first break came, Rick and I needed to catch our breath, as our draft was flying along at breakneck pace.

The rest of draft continued at that speed, and ours was the first one finished…by a good 10 minutes over the next.  I came away feeling good about my team, but I did last year only to finish near the bottom.

Hopefully, the Mighty Tim in the second will turn out to be a wise move, and my Italian Restaurant/Pizzeria owner friend Rick taught the Godfather a good lesson.  After the draft, I wondered around the room and looked at the other 11 drafts.  I realized I was fortunate with my first two picks, as our draft is the only one where Reyes fell to 4 and Lincecum was still available with the 26th pick.  The Godfather had gotten an offer he couldn’t refuse, now let’s hope it plays out well!

Can someone who made $10 million last year, made an out 3/4ths of the time he came to bat, and was not at the top of his game most of the season ask for an 80% raise. And his employer offered a 40% raise!

That’s what happened when arbitration numbers were released Wednesday and Ryan Howard submitted his demand for $18 million, and the Phillies countered with $14 million. Poor ole Ryan will have to settle for only $14 million if he loses his case. That’s only $4 million more than he made last year, imagine having to settle for that?

Hopefully for his earnings he will be hitting more than the .220 he was hitting on July 3rd last year.

Only in baseball!!!

As Mark Teixeira settles into his New York pinstripes, I find this signing to be an interesting maneuver by the Yankees. And as much as you hate what the Yankees are doing, spending over $424 million dollars on free agents, the latest signing comes as a bit of a surprise, and probably more for the Red Sox than anyone else! Scott Boras’s game of chicken with Boston turned out to real. The media reported Boston offered more money, but when Boras told them he had a better offer, they backed off, and acted like they did not believe the World best agent. Through this whole ordeal, the Yankees were in the background lurking, waiting to make their strike. And it one swift swirl, they got the prize, not only helping their team, but hurting their main nemesis in the process. Congrats to the Yankees for the way they played this one!

The other deal that happened in New York leaves a really bad taste in fantasy players’ mouths; the trading of JJ Putz to the Mets. From a fantasy player standpoint, this deal really sucks. It takes one of the top closers off the list of closers, as Putz will be a setup man in New York. The same could happen with Brian Fuentes, so the ‘09 draft will be filled with a lot of guesswork on whom the closers will be. Do your homework, and you can use this to your advantage. And while you’re at it, don’t forget about Putz. Our fantasy injury guru Rick Wilton has been predicting KRod is going down with an arm injury for the last three years. Having signed the big contract, Frankie might try a little too hard to impress the New York fans, and Mr. Wilton’s prophecy might come true. A late round or reserve pick of Putz could reap big rewards.

As the $180 million dollar man takes hold of first base in New York, another door opens in southern California. Here’s your Christmas present fantasy baseball readers, take a chance on Kendry Morales, who you should be able to get in the late rounds of your draft. The Cuban prospect is primed for a breakout year. He’s tearing the cover off the ball in the Caribbean league right now, and with 500-plus at-bats for the Angels next year, he’ll produce 25-30 home runs, over 100 RBI’s and hit close to .300. Great numbers for a late round pick who can start by filling an outfield spot, and fill your corner infield or first base position by May.

Have a safe and happy holiday season. The Fanball Fantasy Baseball Annual is being shipped to newsstands next week, but if you’d like one in your mail box the first week of January, just go to the Estore at Fanball.com and order today. I’ll even make you an offer you can’t refuse. Order by December 31st, and you’ll get Free shipping.

Order the magazine now: http://www.fanball.com/store/ 

Ball State finished an undefeated season and will probably join undefeated Boise State on the outside of the BCS. We’ve been coping for years with the injustice of the NCAA national football championship, and the ridiculous idea that computer rankings and media polls get to decide which team plays for the national champion. While I don’t always agree with our soon to be president, and he has a lot more important things to worry about than the way the NCAA determines the National football champion, he is right on with his comments and I welcome his involvement. Nobody else can seem to make the NCAA realize what they are doing does not cut it with Americans, and “It’s Time For Change!”

For those of us that believe the outcome should be settled on the field of play, it’s time for Obama’s message to be heard. We like to root for the underdog, and undefeated teams at least need the chance to prove they belong. Plus it could help the recruiting efforts of the less powerful football program, having to the share the wealth attitude Obama is preaching. What is more unfair than the wealthiest and highest earning American paying the least amount of taxes, is the USC’s, Florida’s and Alabama’s getting all the best recruits. How can any of the other programs hope to compete if they can’t offer highly sought talent the chance to play for the gold ring?

How could a playoff system work? Here’s my idea. Currently we have 34 bowl games between December 20th and January 8th, involving 68 teams. Most of them could stay the same and offer some lame teams and their fans one last game for a dismal. Start a weekend earlier, the weekend of December 13th, and take the top 16 ranked teams according the BCS point system, with a provision that if an undefeated team is not part of the top 16, they would replace the 16th (15, 14th, etc.) ranked team. Top 8 seeded teams would get a “home” game and play the bottom 8 in the field.

Based on current rankings, here’s how the games would look this year.
Cincinnati at Alabama, Ball State at Texas, TCU at Oklahoma, Mizzou at Florida, Olk St at USC, Georgia at Utah, Ohio St at Texas Tech and Boise St at Penn St. Looks like one of the great days of watching college football to me. Do you think the networks and ESPN wouldn’t like to have part of that line-up? Do you think the NCAA might be able to add a few shackles to their coffers?
Then the next weekend, December 20th, the Eagle, New Mexico, St. Pete and Pioneer Bowls could host the winners. Yeah, like the NCAA would give them those games, but it would be the biggest college bowl games ever played in Washington, Albuquerque, St. Petersburg and Las Vegas! Even if the fans and Alumni didn’t fill their stadiums, local fans would! They could rotate the teams each year, so once every 4 years one of the cities would have the number 1 (assuming they were not upset by the number 16 team the week before) playing in their city. Actually, if you think about it, cities would compete for these games like ncaa regional basketball games, and 7 cities could host the games. Sorry Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton and Orange bowls, but if you want one of these games, you’ll have to buck up more to the NCAA.

Moving to the 2 games with the four teams left, play them the first weekend of January, giving the teams an extra week to prepare, and play the National Championship game the 3rd weekend of January (or the weekend without NFL playoff games) with an extra week to prepare. Would there be some excitement created?

The biggest downside I see to this idea is the traveling for the fans, which could require 4 weekends of travel over 6 weekends, but the basketball tournament requires close to the same. So what do you think, would this be a better way to determine our national football championship than what we currently use? If so, please write your congressman and encourage him to have President Elect Obama add the Godfather of Fantasy Sports to his sports advisory board, to work for Change!

It’s hard not to get lost in the media hype sometimes, so when we were led to believe Albert Pujols might have been challenged by Ryan Howard for the NL MVP, it was cause for concern.

Last March, ESPN touter Matt Berry (and some other fantasy gurus) scared the fantasy world from selecting Albert, at least not in the first round, based on some injury concerns they thought might be in the near future. They underestimated El Hombre’s fortitude and passion for playing the game, and treated him like any other player…a mistake I’m sure they now regret.

It’s tough enough in the fantasy world predicting what kind of numbers someone will put up, but knowing what’s inside a player should ease some concerns. None of us would ever draft J.D. Drew if we knew we couldn’t replace him when he decided his body wasn’t in performance mode, which for him seems to be quite often. And there’s a multitude of other injury-prone players, but King Albert is not one of them. He is one of those rare breed of players who will play through injuries, and still perform at a high level. Last year’s MVP season should put the entire media backlash to rest. The soon-to-be 29-year-old Gold Glove first baseman had 626 at-bats in ‘08, with a career high of 104 walks. That makes eight consecutive seasons reaching that number of at-bats, a very impressive start to a career that has Hall Of Fame written all over it!

I’m confused why the media does not embrace the best player, and why they don’t jump on the bandwagon and give him the credit he deserves. Why are they always looking for someone else to promote or win some award he has earned? As he enters his ninth year on a big league roster, he has proved he belongs in an elite class. He might be the best baseball player many of the media will ever see in their lifetime, so I wish they could enjoy the opportunity to watch him.

With his elbow problems now behind him, ‘09 could be his best year yet. The Cardinals are seeking a bat in the lineup to provide him better protection, and hopefully encourage more NL pitchers to challenge him more this season. If that happens, he can be the guy to lead your team to a fantasy baseball championship in ‘09. Learn the lesson from last year; do not get caught up in the media hype. Draft Albert with your number one pick, and he won’t disappoint you.

The only good thing about the baseball season ending is a new season is coming!

I moped for a short period of time, and wore a black arm band, for all of my fantasy baseball teams had died. This had to be my most frustrating of 25 years of play. My results were dreadful, and for the first time in 25 years, I did not have one team win a league. And I only had two that were close. As I try to analyze what happened, I realized my expectations for Travis Hafner were a big part of it, and he was on too many of my teams.

While it’s good to learn from your mistakes, I realize I’m really a big fantasy baseball junkie. I’d rather just forget about this year, and I’m ready to get going on next year! The season isn’t really over yet, the World Series hasn’t even started. But I’m already enthralled about next year.

I was invited to play in a CBS Sportsline Fantasy Baseball League Of Champions, and we started the draft last week. Here we are in the middle of fantasy football, and I’m spending more time in a baseball draft than it takes to manage my football teams. And with the draft comes the decisions. The selections are real, so the talk of “I like this guy and that guy” ends real quick. When you make the pick, it’s not talk anymore. You’re putting your money where your mouth is!

So with the #4 pick in the draft (the first three were Reyes, A-Rod & Hanley), my first pick was none other than Albert Pujols. The guy last year ESPN tried to scare everybody from taking, who should be the NL MVP. I wasn’t going to get caught up in the Matt Berry hype again.

Plus it’s a bit of a homer pick, I would rather be rooting for him than against him. We’re seven rounds into the draft, and I haven’t taken a pitcher yet…so it’s about time. 22 have been taken, so I realize a “stud” will not be available. Then came some outside help.

It is said, “timing is everything”. In my email comes an offer for a sneak preview of Bill James’ 2009 hitter and pitcher projections. I filled the request out as quick as I could, and like magic, one of the foremost fantasy baseball gurus’ projections were there for me to study. I forwarded a copy to a couple colleagues, and the debate on which pitcher to take started. The old adage, “two minds are better than one”, proved to be true, as Seth Trachtman, who is busily writing player capsules for our fantasy baseball magazines, pointed out the remarkable Brad Lidge. For those of us watching the playoffs, we all know he’s had a perfect year. 41 saves in 41 chances during the season, and perfect in the playoffs so far. But the stat Seth points out that’s impressive is the 92 strikeouts in 69 innings. Mr. James projects him for 96 in 70 innings in ‘09, which qualifies him for fantasy stud status. That’s more strikeouts than a lot of starters will get…and a valuable lesson you should be thinking of when you’re drafting next year!

So I wait as the next few picks go by, hoping no one will take him, and they don’t. I take Lidge, and now hope he does not have the same meltdown in the World Series as he did a few years ago when Albert crushed him and the Astros out of the playoffs. I already feel as though next year’s baseball season has started, and I’m off to a better start than I had last year. Maybe the tide has turned and my player picking skills have returned. And I now find myself with someone to root for in the World Series. Go you Phillies, and may Brad Lidge get four saves in four chances!

Click here for more info about the Bill James Handbook.

Sorry for the long delay in between posts!

This has to be a sports fan’s favorite time of year. Baseball is winding down, football is rolling along, hockey is around the corner, and basketball is down the street.

For the fantasy sports player, we’re going into overload! There is just way too much information to process, and not enough time to do it. I sacrifice hockey, and tend to wait too long to catch up on basketball. There’s that daily excitement of watching my fantasy baseball teams, as a couple have a chance to win it all. And the weekly excitement of managing my fantasy football teams, as some are off to good starts, and those that aren’t, I still think can be fixed.

Unfortunately for St. Louis sports fans, the real teams we follow will leave a lot to be desired. My beloved Cardinals will not make the playoffs this year, but I admire the work Tony La Russa did this year. Myself and most baseball people did not have big expectations for them this year. It was one of those “rebuilding” years. But they teased us and Tony was pushing all the right buttons that kept them in contention longer than anyone hoped for. If Tony was a fantasy baseball owner, I would not like to be in the same league with him (alright, I really would!), and he found a way to get a lot more than most people thought was possible. And if (there’s always that if) they could have found a way to close games (30 blown saves, plus numerous late inning failures), we would have at least made it as the wild card. And as the ivy dies in Wrigley just like the Cubs every September, it could have been a division championship

The real hard pill to swallow is our Rams. They could be the worst team in pro football!  As Trent Green takes over for Marc Bulger, I thank my lucky stars for fantasy football. I would have lost all interest in the NFL by now if I didn’t have my fantasy teams to root for. I have very few Rams on my teams, which might be why they are doing alright. And no, I won’t be picking up Trent Green….and you shouldn’t either.

Have a great week!

At the recent Fantasy Sports Trade conference in Chicago July 8-9, over 120 attendees should have left with the same conclusion I had…Fantasy Sports Are Alive And Well!

The conference started with a special Industry Contribution Award presented to CDM Fantasy Sports, in grateful appreciation for our outstanding contributions and steadfast dedication to the protection of the rights of the Fantasy Sports Industry. I was honored to accept this award on behalf of my partners and myself.

The most valid sample for any research conducted by Ipsos Reid Public affairs was presented by Aaron Amic, and it had the audience in a buzz. The new research validates that the market size of people playing fantasy sports has reached 29.9 million, with a consumer spending impact of $800 million. The total impact of our industry has reached $4.48 billion. Big numbers!

11% of the US 248 million population is playing, 10% of all adults and 13% of all teens. In the 18-34 age range, 22% are playing. The average player has 3.1 teams, so if you know someone playing fantasy sports, they are probably playing a couple teams, and a couple sports. The average person spends over $25.

One of the things that have had a large impact on the growth numbers is Social Networking sites, such as facebook. They attract a younger audience, and a download of a fantasy sports application will attract over one million players.

The highlight of every conference is the “experts” league drafts, and this year was no exception. We had three leagues (with 12 players in each) battling for the best rosters. When the rosters of all the teams are loaded into their leagues on Fanball Commissioner NFL, I’ll provide a link (and there will be one from the FSTA), and you can muse over the selections.

But I’ll show you the best team now…which happens to be mine… QB Roethisberger, RB Westbrook, RB Maroney, WR A. Johnson, WR C. Johnson, WR Galloway, TE Miller, Flex RB Forte, Def Chicago, K J Brown, 5 bench… RB A Green, RB D Williams, QB Schaub, WR Bennett, WR Ginn. The nice folks at Jostens will be providing a ring to the winner; do you think I should get sized now?

Have a great week!

I was asked by Maury Brown to contribute an article for his The Biz of Baseball website on the State Of Major League Baseball, 2008.  Below is my contribution.  If you would like to view the entire story and articles from 30 authors, here’s a link… http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2279&Itemid=1 The State Of MLB
from Charlie Wiegert
VP of CDM Fantasy Sports Corp
dba Fanball.com My world is Fantasy Baseball, so I look at the State of the MLB from a fantasy perspective. It could not be any better! With the United States Supreme Court denying the appeal of our lawsuit with MLBAM/MLBPA, the world of fantasy baseball (and all fantasy sports games) was given a green light to charge full speed ahead. The second most popular to fantasy football, fantasy baseball is responsible for a major portion of the $2 billion industry. In fact, the average fantasy baseball player will spend more money than the average fantasy football player, in research provided by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.
Over the next few years, I expect the revenue from fantasy baseball will grow at a larger percentage increase than fantasy football, or any of the sports.Baseball has never been more popular with the viewing public. Attendance at games, DirecTV ’s Extra Innings package, MLBTV and regular viewing of games on TV are at record paces. Innovations and technology have made the way we watch games more interesting, and have provided the fantasy player with more than enough to feed their addiction. New fantasy games, such as Fanball.com’s Pick Em 64 Superstar Baseball, will attract more casual baseball and fantasy baseball fans, and will provide groundwork for these fans to become more avid fantasy players. In the coming years, I see more fantasy baseball games from existing companies and new companies.Major media will embrace the game more than ever before. They realize fantasy baseball is good for business, something it took the leagues more than a few years understand. The fantasy player is the most loyal of all their customers, and willing to spend their hard earned dollars for the entertainment the game provides. Advertisers have seen great results from their promotions within the fantasy industry, and view the demographics of the fantasy players as one of the best audiences they can find. This all adds to growth. As fantasy baseball, and fantasy sports in general, become even more mainstream, the revenue that this industry generates will continue to rise at a rapid pace.The biggest enemy baseball has is itself. Baseball fans do not want to be hearing about steroid controversies, or want congress to be holding hearings about how baseball conducts it’s business. They don’t want to hear about baseball filing lawsuits against little league teams for using “their” names. They don’t want to hear about lawsuits over who owns the statistics. They don’t want to hear about a possible strike because they can’t decide how to share the billions of dollars the industry generates. Americans are very tolerant, and they choose not to think about how outrageous the player salaries have become. They continue to support the game with their hard earned dollars because they enjoy baseball. They enjoy the challenges the game provides, they enjoy analyzing about what will happen, and they enjoy discussing what did happen. The fascination with baseball is part of the American framework, and if they can find more ways to allow the fans to enjoy it, and give less ways for fans to criticize it, the state of MLB will be blissful!

Appearance on FOX Business Channel’s “The Glick Report” (6/3/08)