Lengths and levels
While not cut-throat, the battle to gain inside information on players during a fantasy baseball draft can be a bit...daunting? No. Not exactly daunting. But the good owner always needs to keep up with reports from around the league offices, as well as from Florida and Arizona. Here is an example of one such scoop, unearthed in the wee hours of a morning searching for a leg up on the competition. Background information included.
Jean LaFleur was a civil servant with the federal government of Canada, serving in some low-level post in Montreal. I never even bothered to learn what post it was. Just a post. There really was no future in it for him as far as career advancement was concerned. But he did love his work. Or more accurately where his work was located. You see Dear Reader, Jean was a huge fan of the Montreal Expos. Probably the only one. His job allowed him ample opportunity to get out to the ballpark. Generally about 75 games a year. Now that is dedication to a losing proposition.
When the Expos franchise was relocated to Washington, DC and re-christened the Washington Nationals, Jean was heart-broken. His love for the franchise never wavered though and he bore no grudge. He knew what he had to do.
Jean plunged into the Byzantine world of the federal bureaucracy and applied for a transfer into the foreign service. His eye was on the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Both eyes. He studied, took tests, applied, studied some more, re-applied, and finally, in the second year of baseball back in the U.S. capital city, was rewarded with a posting to DC.
Even before he had unpacked his belongings in his new apartment, Jean purchased season tickets to the Nationals' games. He had maintained contacts with some of the front-office people who had made the move from Montreal and found that he was back where he loved to be: a virtual insider in the day-to-day operations of a Major League Baseball franchise. His franchise.
Jean started a blog about Nationals baseball. There were never many visitors, which was fine with Jean. He didn't want casual guests. He wanted only truly devoted fans. Both of them.
I stumbled across his blog, benignly titled "DC Nationals" while I was researching for my fantasy baseball draft. I was just trying to glean some bits about pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg. I knew he'd begin the season in the minors, but for how long would he be kept there?
It seems that Mr. LaFleur had it on good authority that Strasburg would make no more than three starts at AAA before getting the call up to the bigs. Ownership need to put butts in seats, and Strasburg was the best way of selling tickets.
And so I drafted the kid to be a starting pitcher on my fantasy team, Screwballs.
The best part of this whole story is that there is not a single iota of truth to it. Except that I did draft Strasburg. Oh the levels to which a fantasy baseball owner will go to psych out other owners!
Jean LaFleur was a civil servant with the federal government of Canada, serving in some low-level post in Montreal. I never even bothered to learn what post it was. Just a post. There really was no future in it for him as far as career advancement was concerned. But he did love his work. Or more accurately where his work was located. You see Dear Reader, Jean was a huge fan of the Montreal Expos. Probably the only one. His job allowed him ample opportunity to get out to the ballpark. Generally about 75 games a year. Now that is dedication to a losing proposition.
When the Expos franchise was relocated to Washington, DC and re-christened the Washington Nationals, Jean was heart-broken. His love for the franchise never wavered though and he bore no grudge. He knew what he had to do.
Jean plunged into the Byzantine world of the federal bureaucracy and applied for a transfer into the foreign service. His eye was on the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Both eyes. He studied, took tests, applied, studied some more, re-applied, and finally, in the second year of baseball back in the U.S. capital city, was rewarded with a posting to DC.
Even before he had unpacked his belongings in his new apartment, Jean purchased season tickets to the Nationals' games. He had maintained contacts with some of the front-office people who had made the move from Montreal and found that he was back where he loved to be: a virtual insider in the day-to-day operations of a Major League Baseball franchise. His franchise.
Jean started a blog about Nationals baseball. There were never many visitors, which was fine with Jean. He didn't want casual guests. He wanted only truly devoted fans. Both of them.
I stumbled across his blog, benignly titled "DC Nationals" while I was researching for my fantasy baseball draft. I was just trying to glean some bits about pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg. I knew he'd begin the season in the minors, but for how long would he be kept there?
It seems that Mr. LaFleur had it on good authority that Strasburg would make no more than three starts at AAA before getting the call up to the bigs. Ownership need to put butts in seats, and Strasburg was the best way of selling tickets.
And so I drafted the kid to be a starting pitcher on my fantasy team, Screwballs.
The best part of this whole story is that there is not a single iota of truth to it. Except that I did draft Strasburg. Oh the levels to which a fantasy baseball owner will go to psych out other owners!
posted by Paul at 5:35 AM
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