Announcing THT’s “Compete Against the Experts” League

Want to play fantasy baseball with writers from the Hardball Times? Think you can beat our experts? This is your chance to prove it!

The writers at THT Fantasy Focus want to see what you bring to the table. We will be holding a contest open to all readers, with the winner invited to join the inaugural Hardball Times Fantasy League (for 2011) to compete against some THT’s best fantasy minds: Brad Johnson, Brian Cartwright, David Wade, Jeffrey Gross, Joe Dimino, Jonathan Halket, Josh Shepardson, Mike Silver, Paul Singman, Steven Booth and Vince Caramela.

What’s more, you will get to compete for a $190 top prize at no expense (at least not to you)!

How do you enter, you ask?

In addition to providing us with your name, phone number, email address and a hilarious and original fantasy baseball team name (e.g. “The Good The Vlad and The Uggla” or “Good Morneau America”), draft up a fantasy analysis article on a topic of your choosing and submit it, with the subject line “submission,” to
by Dec. 1. We will announce a winner in January. Email us any procedural questions you may have about the competition to this email address as well (but please label emails “questions” so they do not accidentally get sorted in to the submissions pile).

The analysis can truly be anything, but please keep it PG. Think Jose Bautista is a toxic asset in 2011? Write how you came to that conclusion. Do you have a special strategy to using starters and relievers? Tell us. THT is known for its analytical approach, but your submission doesn’t need to invent a new stat or entirely redefine the way fantasy players are evaluated. It just needs to be insightful, well written, and interesting to a wide audience. Bonus points for parsimony. Double bonus points for organically using words like “embiggen.”

The best entry will win a bevy of prizes that Mastercard could only call “priceless.” In addition to being invited to the league, you will also receive a FREE one-year subscription to Brian Cartwright’s Oliver projection system. Furthermore, your analysis will be published on the Fantasy Focus page of THT for the whole world to see! Who can say what other opportunities will arise if you actually manage to beat us all?

Unfortunately, we can only take ONE winner, but exceptional analysis pieces that miss the cut may still be considered for publication on THT, with full credit, so great work will not go unnoticed!

While we still have your attention, let us encourage everyone to order a copy of the Hardball Times Annual 2011. The material is insightful, helpful and original. Purchase is not required to enter the competition, but the Annual will be an invaluable asset to all fantasy players looking for a goldmine of statistical data, graphs and others sabermetric voodoo in the quest for first place.

Best of luck to everyone. We greatly look forward to reading your submissions and and the opportunity to compete against one lucky fan next year!

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League Parameters: 12-Team, 5×5 standard Roto auction format on Yahoo. 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, 1 CI, 1 MI, 5 OF, 2 UTIL, 3 SP, 2 RP, 4 P, 6 BN, 1550 IP limit, 162 games played cap, no transaction limits April-August then a one-transaction per day limit come September (to prevent streaming to bypass the soft innings cap).