The Baseball Bloggers Alliance is proud to announce the inaugural season of BLOGZKRIEG!, in which fantasy bloggers and self-styled experts square off in a traditional 5 X 5 mixed roto league with the aim of bamboozling each other for your entertainment…and a nifty e-trophy.
This season we’ve got a nice balance of established fantasy analysts (a few of them even belong to that rare breed who do this for a living) and cocksure parvenus eager to dispel the “hobbyist” label. In early March they’ll assemble for the auction after which they’ll really start giving each other the business.
For now, let’s meet our contestants:
Nando Di Fino, Wall Street Journal
Nando’s meteoric rise to fantasy baseball “celebrity” began with a feature role in Sam Walker’s 2006 bestseller, Fantasyland. Walker characterized Nando, who was the primary research assistant on his 2005 AL Tout Wars championship team, as a kind of “fantasy baseball savant” and Di Fino parlayed it into a number of fantasy-related gigs, including, most recently, manning the fantasy desk at the Wall Street Journal (yes, there is such a thing). Though no longer a baseball blogger (his short-lived site, Nandovia, aided his transition into print journalism), Nando is a friend of the BBA and hopes to use his brand new custom-fitted establishment boots to crush the dreams of upstarts who might think themselves capable of piggy-backing on his rise to fantasy stardom. Man, it must be good to be “the man”!
Jon Williams, Advanced Fantasy Baseball
Fantasy writer extraordinaire, Jon Williams’ work appears all over the internet and in a good many of those annuals that are piling up on your bathroom floor. Advanced Fantasy Baseball has been a great source of analysis since 2005. His advice is “like hot butter on breakfast toast.” His predictions are bold. His prose is ice-cold. And he always has a carefully-constructed rationale for his player endorsements, except for Miguel Cabrera. He just doesn’t like Miguel Cabrera.
Scott Swanay, Fantasy Baseball Sherpa
The Fantasy Sherpa is a Harvard-educated mathematician and a former actuary who has dedicated himself to fantasy sports full-time since 2004. His site offers fantasy projection services, as well as an award-winning fantasy blog. He also contributes to Forbes.com and has a long resume of radio, podcast, and television appearances. Recently, in an NL-only Experts Mock Draft at CBS Sportsline, he promoted an unconventional strategy by spending 32% of his bankroll, including his two highest bids, on seven members of the Houston Astros. Beware, he will not let you get Kaz Matsui on the cheap!!!
Jon Lewin, The Faster Times
Mr. Lewin is currently the fantasy correspondent for The Faster Times and has written for a number of internet and print publications. He’s also known as the Mets half of the diablogue, Subway Squawkers, which he shares with Lisa Swan. He moonlights as a screenwriter. Naturally, as a native New Yorker and Yale graduate, he’s proven twice over that he’s better than you.
Mike Kuchera, The Fantasy Man
The Fantasy Man oversees a small fantasy empire consisting of half a dozen blogs/websites and his flagship, the Fantasy Man Show Podcast, available wherever you download. He’s running his own experts league in 2010, as well as participating in ours. I wonder where he finds the time to make those Spartan-esque Under Armour commercials that make me question my manhood.
Eric Stashin, Roto Professor
The Roto Professor has been in business since 2008. For the past two seasons he’s done his own comprehensive projections and recently published a 2010 Draft Guide. He contributes to and collaborates with a number of other fantasy guru sites, several of which he’ll now be competing against. He’s a Mets fan. Pity.
Tim Lawrence, Dynasty Mine
Tim Lawrence is committed to the deep league. He would probably answer your Prince Fielder vs. Ryan Howard question, but begrudgingly. He would much rather you ask him about the relative merits of J.P. Arencibia and Lou Marson, or Chia-Jen Lo and Sammy Gervacio. “WHO?!?”, you say. Well, that’s what makes him an expert.
Mark Schruender, Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove
You need to check out Mark’s brainchild, Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove, which features an extraordinarily in-depth player projection each and every day. Mark also contributes H2H coverage at Fantasy Baseball 365. He really likes Derek Jeter, who, in the wake of the Roger Federer’s tears, Thierry Henry’s cheating hand-ball, and Tiger Woods’ “daliances,” is the only untainted spokesman for Gillette. His comeuppance must be imminent.
Jonathan Gangi, Roto Rebel
The Roto Rebel blog focuses on fantasy baseball and basketball. Jonathan also contributes to a number of online sports sites, including Rotoworld. He’s was a divisional champion in the FSWA Industry Insider League in 2009. He proudly led the league by a large margin in player name punning.
Ryan Lester, Lester’s Legends
Mr. Lester has a particular strong standing in fantasy football circles, but that means jack squat here. He’s no slouch when it comes to baseball, which he’s been covering since 2008.
Max Gallner, Digital Sports Daily
Last august, FantasyMAX took over as fantasy editor and columnist at Digital Sports. He is more infamous amongst baseball bloggers for the phunny Phillies phansite known as Fire Eric Bruntlett. One can only speculate as to whether he was in any way responsible for the eventual “firing” of Eric Bruntlett, but considering the extent to which his campaign against Bruntlett (a.k.a. “Beardo”) promoted the site, I think we can assume it was a mixed blessing. Max contributes to a number of Philadelphia sports outlets, including High Hopes.
Jeff Furtah, Bleacher GM
New to blogging, but not to fantasy baseball. Furtah has had success in numerous ‘experts’ leagues over the years and in September of 2009 decided it was time to start bragging about it on the internet. His blog is equipped with rankings, prospect updates, etc. In the RotoAuthority Silver League last season he outsmarted himself by taking David Wright with the #1 pick. Wright finished only about 30 HR short of what Jeff expected. We can expect his priorities to suffer this year, as he is a proud new father.
Hippeaux Seybold, The Sporting Hippeaux
Hippeaux is a graduate student. He should be writing his dissertation right now. For three seasons, his blog has single-handedly kept him from committing the writer’s hari-kari implicit in turning oneself over fully to the rigors of academia. In 2009, his fantasy baseball winnings paid for his divorce. The irony was not lost on him. In the summer of 1996, with two men on in a one run game, he took a called third strike which ended his high school baseball season. The pitch was thrown by Eric Bruntlett.
