You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Ron Shandler, Fantasy Reconstructed 2/19/26 Chat
powered byJotCast
Prev Page View Full Chat
Ron Shandler
8:40
There will be a First Pitch Online the weekend of March 6-8. The Florida event started strong but was hurt by COVID and we were not able to recover. I'd like to try it again at some point.
Rich Maxedon
8:40
Crow-Armstrong, should we expect 1st half or 2nd half stats?
Ron Shandler
8:42
His underlying skills were not that different, half to half, but there are clues. The cop-out answer is somewhere in between, but I think that’s a realistic expectation. There is power growth, but pitchers adjusted so 25 HR is most likely. Speed is more green light than skill, so also 20-25 SB. .240 may be the BA ceiling.
Goldy
8:42
I have pick 2 in reserve draft (NL only).  I assume Connor Griffin will go 1. My choice between Benge (NYM), Crawford (Phi), and Jett Williams (Mil).   Your thoughts?  Hoping for most AB 2026 and best talent.  I know you have a Mets lean, so you probably know two of these guys pretty well. I’m thinking Crawford is a pretty sure roster spot.  But I think Benge is the better player?  Is he ready?  Will the Mets start him with a good camp (or not start the clock)?  Or Jett?  Thanks in advance.
Ron Shandler
8:44
Go with Crawford. The Mets have a lot of moving pieces and they don’t know what the heck they’re doing yet. Or ever. Being a disgruntled Mets fan is a chronic illness. Jett is probably not a meaningful contributor for 2026 either. But what do I know? We were the team that traded away Nolan Ryan.
Guest
8:44
I copied and use the first print of the positional market analysis.  Will there be a significant difference between that and the final print the week of 3/16?  Printer ink is expensive!
Ron Shandler
8:46
Haha. There are usually very few significant differences across the BABS updates. Moving to a new team only matters if it changes a player’s role or he’s moving to an extreme ballpark. Any other changes will be health-related. Everything else usually stays the same. That said, this recent update included a ton of new marginal players and that had an impact on the league’s skills benchmarks; I had to do a bunch of ratings overrides. But I don’t see that happening again.
Rich Maxedon
8:46
Who would you pay more for Jose Ramirez or Vlad?
Ron Shandler
8:47
Ramirez, for 2026. Consistent $30 value year after year after year after year. Ya gotta pay for that type of consistency. Vlad is more variable. As JRam gets older, that answer could be different in 2027 or 2028, whichever comes first.
8:48
Okay, the queue is empty but there are still a few dozen of you lurking. Let me ask YOU a question... What is the one rule on your league that you'd like to change?
Goldy
8:49
Dump trades. Outlaw
Ron Shandler
8:49
Yes - there are rules to handle those.
John
8:49
Go to innings pitched and drop wins
Ron Shandler
8:50
As I said, it's a good idea.
Goldy
8:50
We just outlawed trading draft picks, in season, which is good
Ron Shandler
8:50
Interesting. We allow trading of draft picks in the XFL but I've found that owners tend to give them far more value than they are worth.
Scott
8:50
Weekly Waivers in reverse order of standings , instead I would like to use FAAB money.
Ron Shandler
8:52
I like to say, "reverse order rewards losing". "FAAB rewards luck." That's an oversimplification but FAAB is not a cure all - there are variations on FAAB worth exploring.
DrDave
8:52
We have tightened the screws on trading to where we can only trade 2 for 2 with a team once during a season and a player can not be traded back to his original team for a period of 1 year.  I miss the "open" trading and if I could I'd untighten the trading.
Ron Shandler
8:53
I assume those rules were implemented to cure a problem that either was chronic or there was fear of it becoming chronic. Or because of one rogue owner? Rules like that tend to overstep.
Dave
8:53
Counter proposal: Dump trades - we all should accept them in keeper leagues.  They are exciting.  In a league that trades a lot, it is part of the path to win.
Ron Shandler
8:55
There are dump trades and there are DUMP TRADES obscuring potential collusion. My attitude is that we're all adults, but then I was tested. There is a story in the book about a Clarke Schmidt for Spencer Strider trade.
Fred
8:55
Reduce the number of keepers
Ron Shandler
8:56
I agree with this. Puts more emphasis on the current season and helps avoid dump deals.
Goldy
8:56
We only allow 25% of our original budget to be traded per season, to one team.  You can trade another 25% to a second team, etc but only 25% of budget to same team.
Ron Shandler
8:57
Yeah, there are a few of those types of ideas in the book. They are another effort intended to fix issues that may or may not be real. Depends on the league.
Sidd
8:57
We're an NL only league, and we've never found a good solution to interleague trades.  Someone is always annoyed that someone else gets more than they deserve, or less than they deserve.
Ron Shandler
8:58
"Out of pool trades" is on p. 120. Five options, none of them perfect. It's always been a tough issue.
Sidd
8:59
Re: dump trades - in our league, they are part of the culture, because people have only two goals: (a) winning the league this year and (b) winning the league next year.  We learned long ago that collusion is much less common than people genuinely having bad ideas about how to value players.  Then again, we play for very low stakes, which may have something to do with it.
Ron Shandler
8:59
Thanks for sharing.
Rich Maxedon
8:59
When counting Assets in Babs. Does P+ count to and PW and p count 1?
Ron Shandler
8:59
All assets count as 1. The Plus assets count as 2.
Guest
8:59
what is your expectation for nick kurtz this year?
Ron Shandler
9:00
He won't earn back his market price. Guaranteed.
9:01
Okay, that'a a wrap. Drop me a note if you'd like to do another one next Thursday. I have the room reserved. Until then, a reminder:  FANTASY, RECONSTRUCTED: The Innovator’s Playbook for Fantasy Sports. It is available on Bookbaby, Amazon, and a few other spots. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list for future updates, that’s here. THANK YOU!
Connecting…