From many other websites, you'll surely find lineup planners for Week 1 in fantasy baseball. I have no problem with that, but it's a week where each team is going to play six or seven games. Just as we do every year, we're entering a season where we really don't know how each player is going to fare. Sure, we have an idea, and we can speculate on all kinds of tendencies. But did anyone see Cliff Lee going 22-2 last season? The basic premise for Week 1 in fantasy baseball is to just play your guys. You drafted the team and you know who you drafted as your starters. Play them. Doing anything otherwise is just getting too cute, and that's a good way to start off the season on the wrong foot.
Do I care how certain guys have performed the last two weeks of Spring Training? For the most part, no. Not in the least. Spring Training is not the regular season. Last season, Robinson Cano was on fire in the spring, and he parlayed that into a nightmarish first month and a half. Obviously, it's possible for the spring to be a precursor to the regular season, but there's not a direct correlation. Doing all kinds of research on the weather for the week and who has had a poor spring is just overthinking things. The season hasn't yet begun, so why are we dissecting things like it has?
The things that really matter are two-start pitchers (we've got those coming), who won starting jobs (Austin Kearns over Elijah Dukes, for example), and who benefits from injury (Brad Ziegler is the sole closer in Oakland, for example, due to Joey Devine's injury).
Within your personal lineup, though, there's a reason you picked Delmon Young before Hideki Matsui, and now is no reason to start changing things when there hasn't been any real on-field evidence to change your mind. Next week at this time we'll have seen real games, and we'll have trends to evaluate. We'll know who's off to a hot start, and who is already in danger of disappointing. For now, though, we really don't.
It's Week 1, don't get cute.
