The True Guru Wins The Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League

Todd "The True Guru" Farino defeated radio co-host and good friend RC "The Numbers Don't Lie" Rizza 6-4 in the championship match of the 1st annual 2008 Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League. It capped off an amazing season where Todd (I) finished with a league best regular season record of 138-74-13, and compiled an expert vs. expert record of 17-5-1 and 2-0 in the playoffs. That included my hot start of 6-0 until I lost to Roto Authority in week 7.

For the readers I'd like to discuss how I was able to win in such a competitive league with so many brilliant managers. Over the course of the season I stuck to my strategy of maintaining a well-balanced team and made some great free agent pick ups along the way. A major strategy going into this roto 5x5 H2H league was to build a strong bullpen. I felt I could take pressure of my team and shorten the matchups if I dominated the SAVES category. I finished 21-2-3 overall for the season in the saves category. I also felt that batting average was critical as well and built my offense around that. The strategy being, if your guys are getting hits then they can steal bases, score runs, and collect RBIs. For power and speed I simply tried to balance it out so I can get both, but overall I did terrible in steals.

On the pitching side I firmly believed in having a strong starting rotation. Mine was built around CC Sabathia, John Lackey, Rich Harden, Fautista Carmona, Gavin Floyd, and Todd Wellemeyer. I believed with the guys I drafted (I did draft and cut Joe Saunders & Oliver Perez) that I could win strikeouts, wins, ERA, and even WHIP would be possible. So by looking at my over all strategy I was looking to win 4/5 pitching categories and up to 3/5 hitting categories each week.

I'd like to give some praise to the players that won it for me. Here are a few top 5 lists for fun.

TOP 5 DRAFT PICKS

1. Kevin Youkilis #21 - 29 HRs, 115 RBI, and a .312 batting average. Who says you can't find power late in the draft


2. CC Sabathia #4 - Started rough, but clearly the most dominating pitcher. Single handedly won the championship week for me.


3. Jose Valverde #7 - Went against the industry by taking a powerhouse closer early. 44 saves.
   
4. Kerry Wood #18 - Many in the industry considered Marmol the closer in spring training. Marmol was drafted in the 12th round. Rounded out my bullpen with 34 saves.


5. Bengie Molina #22- Never draft a catcher early. I waited till round 22 and got a gem. .292 batting average, 16 HRs, and 95 RBI. He even batted cleanup in San Francisco.
   

TOP FIVE WORST DRAFT PICKS

1. Andruw Jones #9 - Never again will I make this mistake.


2. Robinson Cano #3 - Wow, was he not a bust for everyone!


3. Manny Corpas #10 - I did pick up Brian Fuentes, so the loss was minimal.


4. Matt Diaz #25 - I was high on this guy, and I must have been high. :)


5. James Loney #11 - Took him instead of Ellsbury and regretted it.

TOP FIVE FREE AGENT PICKUPS

1. Gavin Floyd - What a find for my 5th starter. 17-8, 3.84 ERA, and 1.26 WHIP. Outstanding.


2. Brian Fuentes - Saved my Corpas loss. 30 saves.


3. Xavier Nady - Outstanding season. .305. 25 HRs, and 97 RBI.


4. Akinori Iwamura - His numbers weren't the most exciting, but he played 2B/3B and scattered his hits very well. One of my best fill-ins and bench guys.


5. Ben Francisco/Luis Ayala - Ben was great most of the season, but slumped near the end. Tied with him was Ayala who I got late and powered up my bullpen to matchup against much bigger ones.

I made only one trade the entire season, trading Robinson Cano for Bobby Jenks. You can checkout the draft and final numbers at http://www.fantasybaseballsearch.com/FBSEL/fantasy_baseball_search_expert_league.asp