Welcome to the Team, Mr. Jones

A few months ago during my fantasy baseball league draft I was down to my very last pick and had two players I wanted to draft. One of them was Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez and the other was Atlanta Braves legend Chipper Jones.

Being a lifelong Braves and Chipper Jones fan I really wanted to select Chipper to have on my team (I know how nerdy that sounds), but at the time he was injured and it honestly wasn’t looking like he’d play very much in his final season and like everybody else that plays fantasy baseball I want to win my league. So, I drafted Ramirez. I don’t remember exactly how long Ramirez actually remained on my team, but I don’t think he ever played a single game for me as he was a part of a trade that I can’t even remember at this point.

Somebody else took Chipper Jones, either late in the draft or as a free agent (I can’t remember), and I knew that I had missed my chance.

I contemplated attempting to trade for Chipper a few times during the early part of the season, but never actually went through with it because I knew it wouldn’t be beneficial to my team (which at the time was one of the best in the league) and would just be a move based on my fandom. It’s never a good idea to play favorites in fantasy baseball, because you’ll probably lose every time. I’m always amazed by just how many players play the game that way though.

Now my team is barely hanging on to a playoff spot midway through the fantasy season and Chipper Jones is in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak.

So, I figured I might try to attempt to trade for Chipper, despite knowing I probably couldn’t work anything out that wouldn’t hurt my team.

However, much to my surprise when looking up which of my competitors had Chipper I realized that he was listed as a free agent. Somehow whichever manager in the league had him before managed to drop him without me noticing. I have no clue how long Chipper has been available, but late Tuesday night there he was ripe for the picking. I just needed to find a spot for him.

Luckily it wasn’t really hard to find a possible roster move. I had picked up New York Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda earlier in the week for just a spot start and really had no intention of keeping him on my roster anyway. So, I cut Kuroda and picked up Jones.

Hopefully Jones will benefit my fantasy team and won’t be dead weight (I hate saying that about Chip, but if he doesn’t perform or play much that’d essentially be what he is). Right now in the middle of an 11-game hitting streak and coming off of a five-for-five game on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs he’s just what my team could use. I just wish I had noticed he was available before his five hit, four RBI game.

I know it’s just fantasy baseball and it’s not really ‘real’, but it’ll be an honor having Chipper Jones on my team for the second half of the season. Hopefully he’ll help lead my squad to a much-needed fantasy baseball championship, because it’s certainly been awhile.