Rounding the Bases: The Phenom Checks In

Posted by Howard Bender on 05/11/2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: fantasy baseball, MLB, Stephen Strasburg, CC Sabathia

They say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and that phrase became a reality for me after yesterday’s post here at Rounding the Bases.  For those that didn’t check in or just have serious short-term memory issues, you can either click here and read for yourself or I can sum it up for you right now.  I expressed my disappointment with Wednesday’s games, discussing the fact that there was no performance that stood above the rest and made for an exciting fantasy day and certainly was not going to give anyone the Fantasy Beast of the Day honors.  Well, I got this email later that day and I thought I would share it with you here…

Dear Mr. Bender,

     I am an avid reader of your Rounding the Bases column on Fantasy Alarm and never miss an article.  Great stuff, indeed!  I understand your disappointment with the performances on Wednesday night and would very much like to make it up to you as well as grab a bit of accolades from your readers as well as some free publicity for myself, not that I really need it.  Please accept my pitching line from tonight’s game as a possible submission for your Fantasy Beast of the Day Award.  We’re playing the Pirates, so I think it’s gonna be a doozy!

Sincerely,

Stephen Strasburg

Interesting, huh?  I flagged the email so that I could refer back to it at some point late last night and decided to sit down and watch my #1 fan take on the Pirates.  I do own Clint Barmes in a real deep NL-only league, so I was still hoping for a good show from him, but I was anxious to see how little Stephen came through on his promise for something worthy of the Fantasy Beast title.

His pitching line was as follows:

And my response to him was this…

Dear Mr. Strasburg,

     Thank you so much for the kind words. It makes me very happy to hear that you have enjoyed the work so far.  Keep reading, as it’s only going to get better as the year goes on.  With regard to your earlier submission, I must decline your request for Fantasy Beast of the Day.  While a 13 strikeout performance is impressive and a dream for most fantasy owners, I must take issue with the fact that you only went six innings in the contest, allowed two runs (one earned) to score, and with five hits and three walks allowed, you’re not really helping anybody’s WHIP now, are you?  Seriously?  103 pitches to make it through six frames and you call that “beast-like”?  Terribly sorry, my friend, but I must accept a submission I received from BigBoyCC@hotmail.com that, not only was beast-like in its own right, but was much more helpful to me personally, as I own him in a few different leagues.  I do not own you in a single league.  Please don’t let this get you down.  There are plenty more opportunities for you and I would prefer that you see this moment as motivation and not a slight on your abilities.  Good luck in your future endeavors.

All the best,

Howard Bender

And for anyone else reading the column, if you would like to throw your hat into the ring for Fantasy Beast of the Day honors, feel free to shoot me an email whenever you like.  It doesn’t have to be you personally; you can nominate someone else if you deem them worthy.

Looking forward to some great baseball all weekend!  Get your lineups set and we’ll be back later!

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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a variety of web sites including his own, The Fantasy Baseball Buzz.  You can follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.