My Bearded Thesis

My Bearded Thesis
April 2, 2010

By Bret Sayre

My name is Bret and I love fantasy baseball.  I prefer rotisserie leagues because there are more things in my control.  I prefer auction leagues because none of my favorite strategies work in a snake draft.  I wish the MLB At Bat application on my iPhone worked better.  I have an enormous man-crush on Ryan Braun.  I despise taking players who only steal bases – I’m looking at you, Juan Pierre – even though I know they’re valuable and even sometimes necessary.  I don’t do this for a living, despite what my wife may think.  I take great pride in coming up with analogies that interest me.  I understand that sometimes these analogies only interest me.  I watch a lot of baseball and a lot of it has nothing to do with any leagues I’m in.  I love reading Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America.  I would want to know someone’s leanings and tendencies in the leagues they play in so I could put their advice in context.  I am going to devote the next paragraph to just that.

I don’t keep many major league batters on my bench.  I’m not the type of owner who fidgets with my lineup unless I’m trying to platoon a particular player.  I don’t think I started Jason Kubel once against a left-hander last season in a daily transaction league.  I prefer to fill my bench spots with potential high-impact position players or pitchers who can have a positive impact with the right matchups.  I have Brett Wallace on a lot of my teams because I think he’ll hit right away when he comes up.  I have Andy Pettitte on a lot of my teams because I think he’s almost an automatic start in non-Fenway road games.  I stream pitchers from my bench, not from waivers – and I still need to be cognizant of inning limits in August and September.  I have a full blown man-crush on Ryan Braun.  I may have mentioned that already.  I don’t throw a lot of high draft picks or auction dollars at pitchers, the burn rate is too high.  I like to own as many middle relievers as I can play at once and work my starters into the lineup when they are pitching.

I am the creator of Fantasy Beards, and yes I have a beard.  I plan on having daily content here to help your quest for a championship.  I am also planning on having multimedia content as well for those who prefer that format.  I can be reached by e-mail at fantasybeards@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter (@fantasybeards).  I will answer any fantasy question you’ve got.

My name is Bret and I love fantasy baseball.  Now, let’s have some fun.