A Misplaced Moniker (One Sixty-Two: Day 126)

Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Six: Homer Bailey, Cincinnati Reds

I have written in the past about the temptations of fantasy baseball, and the ways in which I’ve fought the urge to spend hours on make-believe lineups of baseball players. I find it fun spending a few minutes each day on a diversion such as this, and to let my mind escape for a bit. But fantasy baseball only benefits me when I give it a little drawer in my life, rather than a walk-in closet.

This week, I probably leaned a little more toward the closet metaphor than the drawer. Maybe it was all that rain, or maybe it was just my desire to elude two young girls who really need to go back to school. Whatever it was, I spent more time tinkering with this virtual lineup than I have at any point this year. And when I tinker, I tend to overthink the whole thing, and make player moves that don’t really make sense. Then I get frustrated.

Now if you’re looking for a new pitcher for your fantasy baseball team, one universal rule should be that you never select a pitcher whose name is Homer. It just doesn’t compute that you’d get help from a pitcher whose name bespeaks the very thing you least want him to produce while on the mound. So really, who would pick up a guy with that name?

I would, for one. It’s been six years since the Cincinnati Reds selected David “Homer” Bailey with the seventh pick of the amateur draft. In his four years as a big-leaguer, Bailey has shown flashes of brilliance followed by significant struggles. He’s walked a lot of batters, given up loads of runs, and won just 15 games against 15 losses. These are not the results the Reds were hoping for when they drafted the young man out of high school.

But in August 2010, Homer Bailey is still only 24 years old. And in his first two starts since returning from the disabled list this month, Bailey gave up just one run over 13 innings. He won twice and helped the Reds maintain their lead in the National League Central division. So, with the offensively inconsistent San Francisco Giants playing the Reds yesterday, I went ahead and added Bailey to my team.

At some point in the afternoon, I looked at my computer and noticed that ol’ Homer was winning 11-3. Sounds like a good pick, I thought, then went on with my day. When I checked my e-mail during the evening, I stole a glance at the baseball scores. The fact that the Reds still won didn’t mean anything to me. The final score of 12-11 did.

About the only thing Homer Bailey didn’t give up yesterday was a home run. But there were plenty of hits and walks, enough to let the Giants back into the game. After Bailey left with an 11-5 lead, his teammates promptly gave up six more runs and left him unable to earn a win. It was back to the drawing board for Homer. His odyssey toward greatness continues, very much unfinished.

As for me, I dropped Bailey from my fantasy baseball team as soon as I saw the score. I didn’t pick up anyone else to replace him, because I realized that I’d been spending too much time thinking about teams that don’t really exist. So I sat down to write, and read my book, and talked with my parents.

Homer Bailey has a lot of talent, and I hope he can navigate his way to stardom someday. But the next time I find myself overthinking the fantasy baseball stuff, I’m going to pick a pitcher with a nickname like Big Train or Rocket. Something that denotes speed, efficiency and dominance. I’ll leave Homer to the hitters. And the epic journeys.