sirsean.posterous

The goal of a manager is to put the best possible team on the field every day. Sometimes guys need rest, and sometimes a guy has a hot bat and you want to get him in the lineup at all costs.
 
A manager has to be in tune with those things, and has the benefit of being around the players 24/7 to get a gauge on their physical and emotional state.
 
In fantasy baseball, you need to do the same thing, except you're not around the players. You don't know if their asses are dragging and they're not going to play well today. You don't know if the manager is going to give them a day off and you won't get anything from them that day.
 
And you also don't know if they're looking good and are about to have a good game. And this gets me to the crux of why it's more heartbreaking for a fantasy manager.
 
If a manager keeps a guy out when he shouldn't have, he doesn't necessarily know that it was the wrong decision. The player's stats that day are all zeroes. The manager can go to bed at least thinking that be did an adequate job of putting the best team on the field, even if he lost that day.
 
But a fantasy manager knows what players did on his bench. He knows what they would have done if only he'd slotted them into the lineup that day.
 
Aubrey Huff hit two homers yesterday, and was sitting on my bench. I need those numbers in my current matchup, lest I continue to fall behind. If I didn't know Huff would have gotten 2 homers if he'd played instead of Carlos Pena, I wouldn't be kicking myself right now.
 
Also, I hear the money's better if you manage a real baseball team.