So here we are at the unofficial midway point of the baseball season and my fantasy team sits at the bottom. I have since changed my team name from Logjammin to Turd Sandwich. This is because it has been shitty. I am currently something like 35 games behind. The one ray of sunshine is that the next 4 or 5 teams ahead of me aren't doing much better. A major rebound in the 2nd half can possibly cause me to sneak in the playoffs. All I would need for that to happen is that I will have to have a complete reversal in luck and everyone on my team will become healthy and dominate. Sounds likely, right?
So my team stands as follows:
C-I am currently rocking Geovany Soto at catcher. At first I was extremely bitter about cutting Napoli only to see him go on and start hitting but Soto has really worked out so far. He's not exactly dominating but he posts a solid average and a fantastic OBP while occasionally chipping in runs, RBIs, and HRs every now and then. He doesn't hurt the team and sometimes that's all you can ask from your catcher. ESPN ranks him 10th among catchers for the 2nd half but my rankings (which include OBP and Ks where ESPN doesn't) have him at 6.
1B- About a month ago I traded away Jon Lester to get Mark Teixiera and it is finally starting to pay dividends. After a painfully slow start he is now picking up his average and hitting dingers so I am pretty happy with that. I also recently dealt away Paul Konerko (my 1st half MVP) for Dan Uggla. This leaves me with Lance Berkman as a backup. His days of dominance appear to be over but he also seems to be picking up the pace having gone through a couple hot streaks and he is no longer useless. I may move him to one of the couple of teams that lack a viable 1B but trying to trade this year has been impossible. Teixeira 4th/5th. Berkman 21st/19th.
2B- Well, this has been my most difficult position to fill ever since Gordon Beckham decided he was going to be the bust of the year (had to finally cut his ass, as much as it hurt). For a time I filled the void with Orlando Hudson. Then it was Neil Walker. Finally it was Carlos Guillen. None of them were very good. So, finding myself with extra 1Bs I tried like crazy to find someone who would trade and finally the aforementioned Konerko-Uggle deal was completed. So now I have Dan Uggla. I've owned him in the past and he can be one of the most frustrating players to own. He can also single handedly carry a team on one of his hot streaks. He has a little extra appeal right as it appears that Colorado is talking to Florida about trading for him and all I can say is that a slugger like Uggla batting up there in them mountains could be awesome. I also currently have Brian Roberts and Asdrubal Cabrera stashed away waiting for them to come back from injury. If I can wait out the DL time then I might have myself with some excellent trade bait on my hands with the absolute lack of decent middle infield options available this year. We'll see how that goes. Uggla 6th/6th. Roberts 24th/45th. Cabrera -/53rd
3B- So ARod is showing some signs of life lately but he is still serving as a disappointment. His BABIP is low right now so I'd have to think that he will bounce back. Not like there's really anything I can do about it, right? ARod 3rd/10th
SS- Same as with ARod. Jeter 2nd/10th. Cabrera -/43rd
OF- This is perhaps my most frustrating position as all 3 of my main picks have not contributed much. Ellsbury still resides on the DL and is now arguing with Red Sox Management about the way his injury was handled. Span has decided that he loves the new ballpark in Minnesota so much that he's just going to suck on the road. Abreu is... not sure what's wrong with Abreu. Both Span and Abreu were starting to heat up a bit before the break so there's positive signs. Abreu also has a big career split in his pre/post all star numbers so I expect him to be a new man. Luckily I was able to strike gold by picking up Corey Hart and he has been reborn this year as a great slugger topping 20 dingers at the break. I've also picked up a very temporary hot streak from Andre Torres though I believe he will quickly fall back to earth soon. To round out the squad of underachievers I also grabbed a recently dropped Adam Lind who looks like he might be turning things around. All told I now have 6 OFs of which I'd only really like to have 4 at most. I figure that Torres is an easy drop once he cools off but then I will have to find a way to deal away another unless Lind continues to suck. If I could find a willing trade partner to take Berkman and an OF off my hands that would be fantastic. Hart 24th/14th. Abreu 18th/36th . Span 26th/35th . Torres 75th/15th . Ellsbury 43rd/114th . Lind 41st/112th .
SP- Well the state of this lineup has changed so many times this year that it's a little hard for me to assess.
Liriano was my stud for most of the year. In the last month, however, he has started getting lit up. I have full confidence that he will right the ship again but I won't start him again until he pitches well. 14th/77th
Haren seems to be settling down a bit after probably his worst 1st half ever. He's giving up less home runs and is still showing the great streakout and control ability that he is known for. If he gets traded to a contender it would be good for me. 17th/100th
Nolasco can be very frustrating to own. Much like his teammate Dan Uggle. For a while he was pitching well, then he struggled and couldn't strike anyone out, and now he is back to dominating. 26th/43th
Vazquez is finally giving me a reason to feel good about trading for him. It will take some time for his ERA to come down but it has been in a free fall for a couple months now. 36th/37th
Beckett is still injured but should be coming back in a week or two. 40th/111th
Floyd is pitching like a Cy Young candidate right now. He seems to go through this every year where he starts off completely useless and then is lights out for the rest of the year. Another trade I am starting to feel good about. 43rd/24th
Lilly has been awful the last couple starts. He was the beneficiary of some great luck in his first few starts to I have to believe that he was due for some regression. I'm sure he will straighten it out soon. He better. 45th/110th
As for my relievers... they've been ok. Bailey,Franklin, and Axford haven't been getting a ton of save oppurtunities but they tend to get it done when I need them to. There is the occasional bump in the road they're ok. I just need to keep my eyes open as the trade deadline approaches to see if I can snag some guys about to get the job.
So that's my team. My main issue is that I have been saddled with so many underachieving stars that I have no room to make moves to pick up the surprise guys like Scott Rolen, Trevor Cahill, Carl Pavano, etc.
If these turds can pick it up in the second half I will be a very happy guy. Hopefully it all works out.
Showing posts with label Fantasy Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fantasy Sports. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Crying over spilled oil
Politics is hilarious. Can I just say that? There has been a ton of absolutely hysterical behavior lately so it's been kind of difficult for me to choose any particular issue to dive in to on this here blog. However, this whole oil thing has just been a joke. Before I delve in to that, though, I'll hit up a few other topics.
There's been a little bit of new musics lately. I last blogged about STP's new album and over time it has really just struck me as mediocre. It just appears to be more blah blah blah like the last couple albums with nothing particularly pleasing to get excited about. It's always disappointing when the lead single is the high point of the album. At this point I have to admit that my affection for STP is nothing more than a fading memory of the mid 90s. There is nothing in their current works that bears any resemblance to Core or Purple.
Coming out at about the same time as STP was the new one by the Deftones. This cd isn't too shabby but, like STP, I am remembering the band more for one of my all time favorite albums (White Pony). Anyway, the reviews likened the new joint to White Pony and raved about it saying it was a return to that style but I just am not seeing it. I actually see their last three (post-White Pony) albums as kind of similar. There's nothing amazing going on in this particular era but I also don't hate it.
Another cd for me to get excited about would have to be the recent release by Sarah McLachlan. I love me some Sarah. She's awesome. I can't quite explain why my usually hard rock music taste is infiltrated by this sweet singing Canadian but the fact is that I love it. She sings great, there's usually some sweet ass bass lines going on, she's got commercials trying to make you adopt animals... what's not to like? Keep bringing it Sarah. Don't change a thing.
- Musics
There's been a little bit of new musics lately. I last blogged about STP's new album and over time it has really just struck me as mediocre. It just appears to be more blah blah blah like the last couple albums with nothing particularly pleasing to get excited about. It's always disappointing when the lead single is the high point of the album. At this point I have to admit that my affection for STP is nothing more than a fading memory of the mid 90s. There is nothing in their current works that bears any resemblance to Core or Purple.
Coming out at about the same time as STP was the new one by the Deftones. This cd isn't too shabby but, like STP, I am remembering the band more for one of my all time favorite albums (White Pony). Anyway, the reviews likened the new joint to White Pony and raved about it saying it was a return to that style but I just am not seeing it. I actually see their last three (post-White Pony) albums as kind of similar. There's nothing amazing going on in this particular era but I also don't hate it.
Another cd for me to get excited about would have to be the recent release by Sarah McLachlan. I love me some Sarah. She's awesome. I can't quite explain why my usually hard rock music taste is infiltrated by this sweet singing Canadian but the fact is that I love it. She sings great, there's usually some sweet ass bass lines going on, she's got commercials trying to make you adopt animals... what's not to like? Keep bringing it Sarah. Don't change a thing.
- Body movin'
So with the upcoming wedding thing the Hot Mary and myself have recently taken a couple dance lessons. Quite frankly I don't think we learned enough to actually hold our own anywhere but the surprising thing was that it was actually kind of fun. We had these cats teaching us some foxtrot steps and speaking to us in accents I could barely make out but I kind of dug it. Of course it's all sorts of expensive and will require practice that we don't necessarily have time to do but it might be something that we'll have to revisit in the future. Don't knock it till you've tried it.
- Eh... the fantasy baseballs
Wow. This season has been a bust. Let me give a brief summary. Doumit is ok at catcher but the guy I cut, Napoli, has since blown up. Konerko is one of the league leaders in dingers but the guy I drafted, Berkman, still has yet to do some damage. Beckham still can't put some distance between his average and the mendoza line. A-Rod is hitting well but is only on track for 20 HRs. Jeter is also hitting well but is mysteriously lacking the patience he once had (OBP of around .350). Abreu and Span are no where near the .300 AVE and .400 OBP they normally hit and Ellsbury is still not back from cracked ribs. Lester and Liriano are fine but Nolasco and Beckett are not contributing much. Finally, my closers are ok but Bailey and Franklin never get save opportunities.
That is my season thus far and, again, it is a miracle that I am not in last place.
Alright, so, the oil spill.
First of all, I suppose it's not even correct to refer to it as a "spill". That was an accurate description of what happened with Exxon up near Alaska but this situation in the Gulf of Mexico is more of an oil gusher. Not good news. The worst part (that's not actually true but it makes for a better phrase) of it is that it isn't a singular incident for which the news cycle will come and go and become yesterdays news. Nope, in this situation, as long as the oil continues to gush, so do all of the friggin experts.
This whole incident was labeled incorrectly right from the get-go as certain morons deemed it "Obama's Katrina". How does one single natural event resulting in thousands dead that was forecasted to occur have any similarity to a surprise man made event killing a dozen? I don't really know. Both of them involved water and Louisiana. Great job connecting the dots.
What it comes down to, and this is no surprise, is that there is a certain segment of the population flirting with blatant treason/sedition in the hopes of pushing Obama out of office. Most of these people like to come up with justification in their feelings despite the fact that they decided on this course before Obama was elected and even had a chance to unleash "TEH ZOMG EVIL SOCIALIST AGENDA".
The conservative criticism is two-headed and quite contradictory. On one side you have oil lover conservative head. These people are motivated by shouts of "Drill, Baby! Drill!" and, not surprisingly, is led by intellectual genius on all matters, Sarah Palin. She blames the crisis on environmentalists. This makes sense because environmentalists would prefer that there was no drilling at all. This causes drilling to occur in deep water which causes safety lapse induced explosions. In actuality I have no idea what Palin is talking about and I rarely do. I tried just now to connect the dots on her logic but I forget that pretty much everything says is some sort of Tea Party slogan which doesn't really translate well to actual thought. Fuck that bitch.
The other two prominent conservative minds claiming the oil gusher ain't no thang are Brit Hume and Rush Limbaugh. Just with the fact that Rush's name is attached to this is enough reason to already know that this stance is full of shit. Rush says that the ocean is used to absorbing oil all the time, so what's the big deal? You know what else isn't a big deal? Getting a little sun, having a glass of wine and eating a little bacon. However, just as dumping tons upon tons of crude oil in to the water isn't the same as a little oil naturally escaping in to the water it's also a whole different story to tan 5 hours of day, drink gallons of wine and eat a shit ton of bacon. Rush is a friggin moron. By the way, rush also spends his day criticizing Obama for his handling of this "non" crisis. Again, Rush is a friggin moron and so are the people who believe him.
As for Hume, it absolutely blew my mind when he asked a couple weeks ago on that idiot-fest known as Fox Sunday Morning or something like that: "Where's the oil?". What the fuck?!? At this point I had been douched with images of the following: oil slicks visible on the surface of the gulf, oil washed up on shores, oil slicks on fire in controlled burns in the water, unidentifiable oil covered avian creatures, dead turtles and other animals covered in that shit and satellite images of the mess in a big-picture view. And Hume asks where the oil is? Listen, Brit, the only reason you had no idea where the oil was is either because you are willingly ignorant on these images or your employer has chosen not to run any of the images and that's where you get all of your "news". Either one is inexcusable.
This brings us to the next bunch of critics. These are the people who think that Obama is personally responsible for everything that has ever gone wrong in this country. I really don't even know where to begin on this one as the criticisms have been coming from all directions and for any number of reasons. I'll try to round them up as I remember them.
One of the bigger complaints during this crisis is that Obama hasn't appeared to be upset enough and is detached from the situation. That criticism is entirely based on each individual. Some people want to see their leader get worked up and angry at those who have wronged us. Other people want someone who keeps emotion out of it. Regardless of your own preferences there are those that didn't like that Obama did not appear to care. Obama then made the mistake of saying that he needed to kick some ass in this whole ordeal and also gave a speech about it. All of a sudden now he is acting like a "street thug" and being rude. I also heard that he was acting like a child throwing a tantrum. These criticisms in many cases were coming from the same people who didn't like his then emotionless response. The obvious conclusions: these people wouldn't be happy no matter how Obama responded.
Next up we have the people who complained that Obama was not being hard enough on BP. This of course leads to allegations of collusion. Maybe Obama wanted this to occur hmmmm? Fast forward to this week and BP has been hit with the $20 billion bill for the damages. Now of course we hear these morons upset that Obama would dare force BP to pay for this. It's an absolute joke. The conclusion drawn in the previous paragraph is also applicable here.
The other criticism which I have personally repeated on Hannity as well as Fox is that Obama is not accepting any foreign assistance in this. This is an absolute lie and yet it gets repeated every single fucking day. There are no less than 15 nations with a ship in the gulf right now helping out in the process. All you have to do is a simple internet search. Why is that beyond the capabilities of these "professionals"?
All told I really don't know what the critics expected of Obama. I honestly don't believe that any department in the Federal Government is knowledgeable or equipped to handle an oil leak miles beneath the surface. Obama certainly made a large number of campaign promises but no where in those speeches did he say anything about being able to swim down there and take care of shit like this.
The list of outright lies and smearing that is being placed on the administration right now is so ridiculous that it really takes away from the actual tragedy. There has even been the lie spread that Obama was just fucking around for a month without visiting the scene despite the fact that Obama made an appearance right at the beginning of May. Again, it's all information that could be easily obtained should one want to know the truth rather than just tune in to sources that will tell you what you want to hear.
What the fuck would it really matter if Obama showed up on the Louisiana shores anyway? Perhaps he could stand on the beach and give the oil slick a stony stare that would send it scurrying back to the depths from whence it came. That's exactly what Reagan would have done.
As for Obama, he clearly has justification to give a hearty "fuck you" to those conservatives who find fault in everything he does. Simple as that. Why give a shit about people who hate for the sake of hating. All they want is a Republican in power. When you are the type of person to put the party above the country you have clearly fallen outside of reality. The ironic part is that these are the first people to declare themselves "patriots".
Stop getting your information from Sarah Palin facebook updates and wake up. It's either that or remain an idiot. Your choice.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Fantasy baseball 1st quarter in review
Ugh...
It has not been pretty. So we have about 1/4 of the games out of the way and Logjammin is tied for 10th out of 12. My roster reads like an all-star list of what players are mysteriously slumping hardcore. People in my league are not biting on any but the most marginal trades. To add insult to injury I am saddled with three Red Sox.
Not good.
So here's the rundown...
My catchers thus far have been a disaster. My original draft pick of Mike Napoli has not worked out at all and he has since been dropped in favor of the Pirates Ryan Doumit... who is also slumping. I have no idea what happened here. Napoli has shown 20 homer power over the past couple seasons and absolutely mashed in spring training. The Angels promptly sat him down as soon as the season started and played defensive catcher Jeff Mathis instead. Mathis eventually was injured giving Napoli the full time at bats he needed. Napoli took advantage of that by batting about .230 and may lose the job again as soon as Mathis comes back.
At first my plan was to draft a DLed Berkman and use Konerko to fill in. That actually has been something of a success as Paul went on to be the early home run leader. He has since stopped mashing but is still hitting. It's nothing more than a stat correction as he was extremely lucky in his HR/FB ratio and unlucky in his BABIP. Yeah, I'm a stats nerd. And despite a slow start from Berkman he appears to be hitting his stride.
Second base was a complete failure. Rookie phenom Gordon Beckham appears to be experiencing something of a sophomore slump as he hasn't even sniffed .200 in some time despite a lot of patience from Ozzie Guillen. I recently gave in and benched him in favor for Orlando Hudson who was about the only decent available 2B on the waiver wire. It could work out as Hudson is a good AVE/OBP guy who bats in front of Morneau and Mauer. If Beckham is still this awful I may have to consider cutting him altogether.
Third has been ok with A-Rod. He isn't mashing taters the way I expected but he is hitting well and piling up the RBIs. Yet another slugger who's power dropped off in the wake of steroid scandal? hmmmm...
Short has been a mixed bag with dreamy Derek Jeter. He started off the season on fire but has since cooled off. I'm not looking for a replacement as there really isn't one and I expect that Jeter will heat up again soon.
The outfield oddly enough has been the strongest part of my team. Unfortunately this isn't saying much. First of all fucking Jacoby Ellsbury has been DLed most of the season but should be returning soon... possibly tonight. So there goes my assumed source of Rs, SBs, and AVE. Abreu and Span are doing what I wanted them to do by scoring runs, stealing a couple bases, and hitting the occasional dinger. However, they too, like every single other friggin guy on my team is hitting horribly. I recently picked up hot rookie Boesch of the Tigers to fill in for Ellsbury but he will most likely be cut as soon as the Jacoby comes off the DL. I also grabbed Luke Scott for his super streakiness although, with the way the rest of the season has gone, he will probably cool off now that I have him.
Again I must remind you that my team was built around getting on base and scoring runs. The fact that almost every single guy that I drafted is at least 20-40 points below their career batting averages is unbelievable. I have never dealt with this level of suck in all my team playing this silly game.
My pitchers are not much better, if not worse. My two "aces" Beckett and Haren have both started off extremely poorly. It kind of makes me want to punch myself. Nolasco and Liriano have been solid, probably my best two at this point. Gavin Floyd and Ted Lilly are kind of chancy and each time I throw them out there I'm basically rolling the dice. I got a bit lucky early on by picking up Brad Penny and Jaime Garcia but I immediately traded them off, along with Tim Hudson, for Jon Lester and Javier Vazquez. Those three are great pitchers and I may have gotten fleeced but there was little strikeout potential like I have with Lester/Vazquez and I needed to clear out some roster space. Lester is up there with Nolasco and Liriano to give me a solid core but Vazquez is a train wreck. If he can finally get himself settled down then he could also help out big time with Ws and Ks.
My closers are shit. Bailey, Franklin, and Qualls have been much less than I expected. I have to lay the blame of two of my losing weeks squarely at their feet. This past week all three of them finished with ERAs over 5, no saves, and 3 losses. The other guy beat my three closers with only Leo Nunez. Awesome.
I recently sent a twitter message of my roster to FOX analyst John Halpin asking if he had any suggestions on what I should do. All he said was "Cry, and hang on. Gotta get better."
That's really encouraging.
It's really all I can do, however. People in my league are not trading and there's no quick fix as a free agent. All I can do is think of last year, when I was in last place around the mid way point and managed to come in first place (pre-playoffs of course). Unfortunately, I had a lot more to work with then. Now, not so much.
Maybe I should pay more attention to wedding plans instead...
It has not been pretty. So we have about 1/4 of the games out of the way and Logjammin is tied for 10th out of 12. My roster reads like an all-star list of what players are mysteriously slumping hardcore. People in my league are not biting on any but the most marginal trades. To add insult to injury I am saddled with three Red Sox.
Not good.
So here's the rundown...
My catchers thus far have been a disaster. My original draft pick of Mike Napoli has not worked out at all and he has since been dropped in favor of the Pirates Ryan Doumit... who is also slumping. I have no idea what happened here. Napoli has shown 20 homer power over the past couple seasons and absolutely mashed in spring training. The Angels promptly sat him down as soon as the season started and played defensive catcher Jeff Mathis instead. Mathis eventually was injured giving Napoli the full time at bats he needed. Napoli took advantage of that by batting about .230 and may lose the job again as soon as Mathis comes back.
At first my plan was to draft a DLed Berkman and use Konerko to fill in. That actually has been something of a success as Paul went on to be the early home run leader. He has since stopped mashing but is still hitting. It's nothing more than a stat correction as he was extremely lucky in his HR/FB ratio and unlucky in his BABIP. Yeah, I'm a stats nerd. And despite a slow start from Berkman he appears to be hitting his stride.
Second base was a complete failure. Rookie phenom Gordon Beckham appears to be experiencing something of a sophomore slump as he hasn't even sniffed .200 in some time despite a lot of patience from Ozzie Guillen. I recently gave in and benched him in favor for Orlando Hudson who was about the only decent available 2B on the waiver wire. It could work out as Hudson is a good AVE/OBP guy who bats in front of Morneau and Mauer. If Beckham is still this awful I may have to consider cutting him altogether.
Third has been ok with A-Rod. He isn't mashing taters the way I expected but he is hitting well and piling up the RBIs. Yet another slugger who's power dropped off in the wake of steroid scandal? hmmmm...
Short has been a mixed bag with dreamy Derek Jeter. He started off the season on fire but has since cooled off. I'm not looking for a replacement as there really isn't one and I expect that Jeter will heat up again soon.
The outfield oddly enough has been the strongest part of my team. Unfortunately this isn't saying much. First of all fucking Jacoby Ellsbury has been DLed most of the season but should be returning soon... possibly tonight. So there goes my assumed source of Rs, SBs, and AVE. Abreu and Span are doing what I wanted them to do by scoring runs, stealing a couple bases, and hitting the occasional dinger. However, they too, like every single other friggin guy on my team is hitting horribly. I recently picked up hot rookie Boesch of the Tigers to fill in for Ellsbury but he will most likely be cut as soon as the Jacoby comes off the DL. I also grabbed Luke Scott for his super streakiness although, with the way the rest of the season has gone, he will probably cool off now that I have him.
Again I must remind you that my team was built around getting on base and scoring runs. The fact that almost every single guy that I drafted is at least 20-40 points below their career batting averages is unbelievable. I have never dealt with this level of suck in all my team playing this silly game.
My pitchers are not much better, if not worse. My two "aces" Beckett and Haren have both started off extremely poorly. It kind of makes me want to punch myself. Nolasco and Liriano have been solid, probably my best two at this point. Gavin Floyd and Ted Lilly are kind of chancy and each time I throw them out there I'm basically rolling the dice. I got a bit lucky early on by picking up Brad Penny and Jaime Garcia but I immediately traded them off, along with Tim Hudson, for Jon Lester and Javier Vazquez. Those three are great pitchers and I may have gotten fleeced but there was little strikeout potential like I have with Lester/Vazquez and I needed to clear out some roster space. Lester is up there with Nolasco and Liriano to give me a solid core but Vazquez is a train wreck. If he can finally get himself settled down then he could also help out big time with Ws and Ks.
My closers are shit. Bailey, Franklin, and Qualls have been much less than I expected. I have to lay the blame of two of my losing weeks squarely at their feet. This past week all three of them finished with ERAs over 5, no saves, and 3 losses. The other guy beat my three closers with only Leo Nunez. Awesome.
I recently sent a twitter message of my roster to FOX analyst John Halpin asking if he had any suggestions on what I should do. All he said was "Cry, and hang on. Gotta get better."
That's really encouraging.
It's really all I can do, however. People in my league are not trading and there's no quick fix as a free agent. All I can do is think of last year, when I was in last place around the mid way point and managed to come in first place (pre-playoffs of course). Unfortunately, I had a lot more to work with then. Now, not so much.
Maybe I should pay more attention to wedding plans instead...
Friday, April 23, 2010
I'm a homo...
...wner
Homeowner. That's what I meant to say. Stop being immature.
So yes, at 2:00 today Hot Mary and I will commence signing paperwork that will ensure that we will be in debt for the next couple decades. We may not have money to eat or throw at strippers but we will have a roof over our heads that we can call our own. Looks like someone needs to get himself a lawnmower and a couple illegal immigrants.
By the way, my interneting has been reduced lately as I try to make myself a much more efficient employee. That leaves little time for blogging and other useless garbage like that so I'll do a quick roundup on some of the other events going.
-I am quickly making myself become "Scotch guy". Not quite sure when this happened but there are a few liquors out there that I've never tried and scotch is the first one that I've delved in to. When I was in college my liquor intake was limited to vodka, whiskey, whatever it is they dump in a long island iced tea, and a couple stints with tequila. So i really wanted to give scotch and brandy a try. Scotch is good, i like it. The buzz it gives you comes with a lot of fuzzy warmth. Now my intake for the most part has been limited to super cheap brands like Old Smuggler, but good buddy Matt recently bought me some good stuff for my birthday and I can't wait to give it a try. The first step in my efforts to become just like Ron Burgundy is now complete. I must now go about acquiring many leather bound books.
-Next up, the NFL draft was last night, and I was pleased with what the Skins did with their #1 pick by selecting Oklahoma Offensive Tackle, Trent Williams. The only thing that would have been better would have been if they somehow managed to trade down and get some more picks as well as trading both Albert Haynesworth and Jason Campbell for picks. I definitely had my concerns that the Redskins would pull some crazy shenanigans and draft Tebow or something but this is good. The team that takes the field this year will definitely be different that what I am used to seeing. That has to be a good thing, right?
By the way, the draft coverage today has been awful. You'd think that Tim Tebow was the only selection last night. There is literally no talk of anything else. Tim Tebow Tim Tebow Tim Tebow... and what it means for Brady Quinn. Awesome. I'm not at all tired of hearing about Tebow. Keep it coming. Asses. All of you.
What else...
-My fantasy team is playing like garbage. No thanks to awful performances from my closers. Every time that my starting pitchers manage to put together a somewhat respectable job one of the closers comes along and allows 3 runs in an inning, thus ruining my ratios, taking a loss, and not giving me a save. Dan Haren and Josh Beckett are doing the exact opposite of what you expect from an ace. Granted, we're not even 3 weeks in to the season but it still sucks. Meh.
-So have you heard of this new sandwich from KFC called the Double Down? It's two pieces of fried chicken as the bread with cheese and bacon in the middle. I have to admit that I did go and try it and let me just say this: all hype. What could be better right? I love chicken. I love bacon. I love cheese. Sounds like a slam dunk. Wrong. It was ok, but it cost something like 6 bucks and all I could taste was sodium. KFC also had some secret sauce on that thing that was kind of nasty. I don't know what I expected but I figured I should try it as soon as it came out because otherwise I'd be wondering about it all the time. Now I got it out of the way and I can live happily ever after.
-Lost is an awesome show and I'll miss it when it's gone.
That's all for now I think. My heart isn't really in to the blogging this morning since all I can think of is what needs to be done with the house. So have a good weekend people. And lets get this shit done Red Wings!
Homeowner. That's what I meant to say. Stop being immature.
So yes, at 2:00 today Hot Mary and I will commence signing paperwork that will ensure that we will be in debt for the next couple decades. We may not have money to eat or throw at strippers but we will have a roof over our heads that we can call our own. Looks like someone needs to get himself a lawnmower and a couple illegal immigrants.
By the way, my interneting has been reduced lately as I try to make myself a much more efficient employee. That leaves little time for blogging and other useless garbage like that so I'll do a quick roundup on some of the other events going.
-I am quickly making myself become "Scotch guy". Not quite sure when this happened but there are a few liquors out there that I've never tried and scotch is the first one that I've delved in to. When I was in college my liquor intake was limited to vodka, whiskey, whatever it is they dump in a long island iced tea, and a couple stints with tequila. So i really wanted to give scotch and brandy a try. Scotch is good, i like it. The buzz it gives you comes with a lot of fuzzy warmth. Now my intake for the most part has been limited to super cheap brands like Old Smuggler, but good buddy Matt recently bought me some good stuff for my birthday and I can't wait to give it a try. The first step in my efforts to become just like Ron Burgundy is now complete. I must now go about acquiring many leather bound books.
-Next up, the NFL draft was last night, and I was pleased with what the Skins did with their #1 pick by selecting Oklahoma Offensive Tackle, Trent Williams. The only thing that would have been better would have been if they somehow managed to trade down and get some more picks as well as trading both Albert Haynesworth and Jason Campbell for picks. I definitely had my concerns that the Redskins would pull some crazy shenanigans and draft Tebow or something but this is good. The team that takes the field this year will definitely be different that what I am used to seeing. That has to be a good thing, right?
By the way, the draft coverage today has been awful. You'd think that Tim Tebow was the only selection last night. There is literally no talk of anything else. Tim Tebow Tim Tebow Tim Tebow... and what it means for Brady Quinn. Awesome. I'm not at all tired of hearing about Tebow. Keep it coming. Asses. All of you.
What else...
-My fantasy team is playing like garbage. No thanks to awful performances from my closers. Every time that my starting pitchers manage to put together a somewhat respectable job one of the closers comes along and allows 3 runs in an inning, thus ruining my ratios, taking a loss, and not giving me a save. Dan Haren and Josh Beckett are doing the exact opposite of what you expect from an ace. Granted, we're not even 3 weeks in to the season but it still sucks. Meh.
-So have you heard of this new sandwich from KFC called the Double Down? It's two pieces of fried chicken as the bread with cheese and bacon in the middle. I have to admit that I did go and try it and let me just say this: all hype. What could be better right? I love chicken. I love bacon. I love cheese. Sounds like a slam dunk. Wrong. It was ok, but it cost something like 6 bucks and all I could taste was sodium. KFC also had some secret sauce on that thing that was kind of nasty. I don't know what I expected but I figured I should try it as soon as it came out because otherwise I'd be wondering about it all the time. Now I got it out of the way and I can live happily ever after.
-Lost is an awesome show and I'll miss it when it's gone.
That's all for now I think. My heart isn't really in to the blogging this morning since all I can think of is what needs to be done with the house. So have a good weekend people. And lets get this shit done Red Wings!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Overreactions for Opening Day
My team is off to a mediocre start. I was sitting on a fine batting average last night but I woke up to find out that Denard Span and Bobby Abreu combined to go 0/9 with 3 Ks. That was less than impressive. Panic mode!
Anyway, at catcher I may have a situation. I already knew that Napoli would lose playing time to Jeff Mathis but I didn't think Mathis would get the first start. On top of that the guy went yard. Luckily, I may have unearthed a gem as I am drawing on the strategy that got me Sandoval as a catcher last year by playing Pittsburgh first baseman Jeff Clement. I guess Yahoo is basing is position eligibility on two years ago (last time he played in the majors) when he was a back up catcher in Seattle. I'm not saying that Clement is Sandoval by any means but getting a full time position player to play in your catcher slot is a definite advantage. However, Clement's success in the minors hasn't quite stuck in the majors so far. There's a reason why I was able to pick him up since I realized I wouldn't have to waste a draft pick on him: No one else wanted him. We'll see how this experiment goes.
My temporary fill-in until Berkman returns from the DL may end up staying on the team. I grabbed Konerko and he immediately responded with a home run and two walks. Not too shabby. He most likely won't touch 30 homers ever again but he isn't a bad temp at all. As a matter of fact, he's currently on pace for about 160 dingers. I'm going to ride that out and see what happens.
My second base job temporarily belongs to Scott Sizemore who went hitless last night but did pick up a walk and a run. He is getting some early predictions for AL ROTY but I'm most likely going to cut him as soon as Gorden Beckham gets 2B eligibility which should happen by the end of the week. Beckham had a decent debut as the White Sox second baseman by picking up a couple hits.
The Yankee combo of third and short did ok in the shootout against Boston. A-Rod didn't do to much but Jeter did get me a steal.
My outfield... ugh. Hitless. All three of them. Ellsbury, Abreu, and Span. That's two lead off guys and a guy who bats second. 0/14. I should cut them all.
Pitching was... ugly. Beckett got beat up by the Yanks Sunday night but he also signed a flashy new contract. Haren put in a solid performance yesterday, but my numbers for the day were awful thanks to three of my five closers getting roughed up. Jason Frasor responded to getting named as the Toronto closer by getting absolutely destroyed and Franklin allowed a couple runs himself in a non-save situation.
What does all this mean? Well, it's opening day... so... nothing. The fantasy gurus are all invoking the name of Tuffy Rhodes as a means of reminding fantasy players not to get all worked up over opening day statistics. Rhodes is a a guy who, back in 1994, hit 3 homers off of Dwight Gooden on opening day. He then proceeded to hit 5 more for his career.
Good lesson to learn. However I am still trying to trade away my pitching staff so it apparently hasn't sunk in to my think skull yet. If you aren't overreacting then you aren't trying. That's my motto.
Anyway, at catcher I may have a situation. I already knew that Napoli would lose playing time to Jeff Mathis but I didn't think Mathis would get the first start. On top of that the guy went yard. Luckily, I may have unearthed a gem as I am drawing on the strategy that got me Sandoval as a catcher last year by playing Pittsburgh first baseman Jeff Clement. I guess Yahoo is basing is position eligibility on two years ago (last time he played in the majors) when he was a back up catcher in Seattle. I'm not saying that Clement is Sandoval by any means but getting a full time position player to play in your catcher slot is a definite advantage. However, Clement's success in the minors hasn't quite stuck in the majors so far. There's a reason why I was able to pick him up since I realized I wouldn't have to waste a draft pick on him: No one else wanted him. We'll see how this experiment goes.
My temporary fill-in until Berkman returns from the DL may end up staying on the team. I grabbed Konerko and he immediately responded with a home run and two walks. Not too shabby. He most likely won't touch 30 homers ever again but he isn't a bad temp at all. As a matter of fact, he's currently on pace for about 160 dingers. I'm going to ride that out and see what happens.
My second base job temporarily belongs to Scott Sizemore who went hitless last night but did pick up a walk and a run. He is getting some early predictions for AL ROTY but I'm most likely going to cut him as soon as Gorden Beckham gets 2B eligibility which should happen by the end of the week. Beckham had a decent debut as the White Sox second baseman by picking up a couple hits.
The Yankee combo of third and short did ok in the shootout against Boston. A-Rod didn't do to much but Jeter did get me a steal.
My outfield... ugh. Hitless. All three of them. Ellsbury, Abreu, and Span. That's two lead off guys and a guy who bats second. 0/14. I should cut them all.
Pitching was... ugly. Beckett got beat up by the Yanks Sunday night but he also signed a flashy new contract. Haren put in a solid performance yesterday, but my numbers for the day were awful thanks to three of my five closers getting roughed up. Jason Frasor responded to getting named as the Toronto closer by getting absolutely destroyed and Franklin allowed a couple runs himself in a non-save situation.
What does all this mean? Well, it's opening day... so... nothing. The fantasy gurus are all invoking the name of Tuffy Rhodes as a means of reminding fantasy players not to get all worked up over opening day statistics. Rhodes is a a guy who, back in 1994, hit 3 homers off of Dwight Gooden on opening day. He then proceeded to hit 5 more for his career.
Good lesson to learn. However I am still trying to trade away my pitching staff so it apparently hasn't sunk in to my think skull yet. If you aren't overreacting then you aren't trying. That's my motto.
Monday, March 29, 2010
2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Recap
Last night was the draft for the baseball league that I pay the most attention to. I suppose I can't really get in to it too well considering that fantasy stuff is blocked at work but I certainly want to go over it. So, with a delicious six pack of Saranac Irish Red Ale by my side and Q-Tip keeping me company on iTunes, I jumped in to the draft.
Despite the absolute awesomeness of my team last year I managed to make an early exit in the playoffs so I thought that I really needed a strategy this year. Unfortunately, I couldn't friggin come up with one. That all changed, however, when the commish made an adjustment to the scoring system by dropping a category for both hitters and pitchers: Extra Base Hits and Home Runs Given Up.
Once I made that adjustment to my spreadsheet something really weird jumped out at me: Instead of seeing power hitters dominating the rankings I saw guys with no power shoot up in value.
I thought I had fucked up a formula or something until I thought about it. By having your usual 5 categories (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVE) and including OBP and Ks, the league now favors your prototypical leadoff hitter rather than your heart-of-the-order slugger. A good leadoff guy will get you about five and a half of those categories easily. He'll score a pile of runs. He'll steal bases. He should hit for a decent average and get on base at a good clip. He shouldn't strike out much. And just with the amount of At Bats that a guy in the one spot should get, about 60-70 RBIs should be within reach. Of course home runs will be kind of scarce, which isn't sexy, but that's one category. Within that strategy I feel that I did really well considering that I have about five guys who lead off for their team and a couple more who bat second.
Here's how I ended up:
C-Mike Napoli-This was a catcher that I was targeting. He has performed great in spring training and provides a little bit of power in what you will see is a rather weak hitting line up. The only concerns I have would be that Napoli has gotten injured in the past and he will be splitting time with defensive catcher Jeff Mathis.
1B-Lance Berkman-I had determined that first base would be very deep this year and so I was determined to wait and was able to get Berkman deep in to the draft. Unfortunately the Big Puma is dealing with some injuries and may start the year on the DL but if he can deliver even the same numbers that he had last year I'll be happy. Also, the waiver wire still has guys like LaRoche, Garrett Jones, Konerko, and Gaby Sanchez so a replacement is well within reach.
2B-Gordon Beckham-Another target of mine. I had to reach a little bit to get him so this one may come back to kick me in the pants but the potential is just too good to ignore. There is a real possibility that he will deliver a 90/20/90/15 season. Despite the fact that he is starting a second for the White Sox he doesn't yet have eligibility so I had to draft Detroit rookie Scott Sizemore to fill in for the first five games. And if Sizemore takes off you won't hear any complaints from me.
3B-Alex Rodriguez-I hate the selection at third this year, so I knew that I had to get one early or take a chance on someone much later in the draft. So with the 4th pick of the draft A-Rod was still on the board and I rolled with it. My hope is that his numbers last year were the real deal and that he doesn't deal with anymore lingering injuries. If he doesn't stay healthy this year then I will have literally no power to work with.
SS-Derek Jeter-I never really had Yankees on my fantasy teams before so to end up with two high profile guys was kind of surprising. I can even honestly say that I did not reach for either of them. Anyway, like 3rd, SS was another position that I thought that I would have to go for early or be stuck with turds later. In retrospect that may have been wrong. There are guys like Alcides Escobar and Everth Cabrera still hanging out there. However, Jeter was my third ranked SS and he fits the profile for my strategy so what the hell? I am well aware that repeating last years numbers will be very difficult for Jeter but with that lineup and in that ballpark it was still a good choice.
OF-Jacoby Ellsbury-Drafting Ellsbury hurt me on the inside. The fact that he is the exact blueprint of my strategy (shitload of runs, some RBIs, piles of SBs, NEVER strikes out) and he was my highest ranked outfielder could not be denied. Who knows, the idea of having to root for the Sawx may push me to get him off my team. But at that point can I ever get rid of the taint?
OF-Bobby Abreu-Another guy to fit in my strategy. The power seems to be quickly leaving and I believe the 30 SBs were a fluke but Abreu is the definition of a patient hitter. Hopefully I am not getting him at the beginning of a quick slide into old age.
OF-Denard Span-Yup. Another lead off guy. Span has the privilege of batting in front of guys like Morneau, Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel, and Thome. The fact that his OBP is close to .400 means that Span will be crossing the plate ALOT.
Util-Conor Jackson-I like Jackson a couple years ago but, at the time, he was playing first and he doesn't exactly have corner infielder power. Then he disappeared off the map last year due to a bout with Valley Fever and was quickly forgotten. However, everything I've heard about him this spring made me want to take a chance on him. He's now a starter in the outfield and word is that he will get the lead off spot. Considering Jackson's excellent plate discipline and his little bit of speed and power, this could be a huge sleeper for me.
Bench-Juan Pierre-You know the drill. He's leading off again in Chicago and word is that Ozzie is going to have him run, run, and run some more. I have never set myself up to be this competitive in stolen bases as much as I have this year. Wouldn't be surprised if I was getting 10 a week.
So there's the batters. There's no way in hell I will ever win the home run category unless it's a week where Napoli, Beckham, and A-Rod all happen to get hot but I should be pretty solid in every other spot. Only time will tell.
On to the pitching. I'm not sure how I feel about the squad I set myself up with. My original goal was to go strong on offense for the first ten rounds and ignore pitching but the way the draft went caused me to change that up. I really just took what was given to me and went with the flow. It surprised the crap out of me that people ignored closers. I ended up with five friggin closers on my staff and I think there's another 50 saves still sitting on the waiver wire. Weird.
1-Dan Haren-I tried to ignore taking a top-tier pitcher for as long as I could but eventually I couldn't ignore Haren any longer. At that point he was the second guy left in the tier and there were no batters that I was eager to draft, so why not?
2-Josh Beckett-...and then Beckett was the last guy left in that top tier for me. Again, I couldn't ignore it anymore. Didn't I say that I hated both of these guys in a post not too long ago?
3-Ricky Nolasco-Ricky has looked electric in spring training and coming out like he has something to prove. That 5.00 ERA he had might have something to do with it. If he can keep up the second half he had I will be very happy.
4-Tim Hudson-About time to start taking on some injury risks eh? Hudson has been exhibiting some pin point control so far in the spring. He's also only a year removed from being a great starting pitcher. High risk/ high reward.
5-Ted Lilly-More injury risk! Lilly's a good pitcher if he can stay healthy. Like I said earlier, home runs allowed was dropped as a category which can only help Lilly out.
6-Francisco Liriano-I was really surprised to see he was still available in the 2oth round of the draft with all of the Dominican League/Spring Training hype but maybe not everyone is as obsessive about that as I am. If really has recaptured his old form from a few years ago this will end up being a steal. If not, it's not like I really gave much up to get him.
Closers-Andrew Bailey, Chad Qualls, Mike Gonzalez, Jason Frasor, and Ryan Franklin. Holy crap that's alot of closers. Hopefully it doesn't come out to bite me in the ass.
So like I said, by conventional means my team looks weak in the batting department. The more I think about the strategy I am trying to employ, however, the stronger it seems. Pitching seems pretty tight as long as at least one or two of those guys don't have their arms fall off in the middle of the season. On top of that, only one of my batters shows a consistent track record of batting worse in September.
Regardless of what happens, I'm friggin excited for the season to start. Only about a week until opening day. WOOO!
Despite the absolute awesomeness of my team last year I managed to make an early exit in the playoffs so I thought that I really needed a strategy this year. Unfortunately, I couldn't friggin come up with one. That all changed, however, when the commish made an adjustment to the scoring system by dropping a category for both hitters and pitchers: Extra Base Hits and Home Runs Given Up.
Once I made that adjustment to my spreadsheet something really weird jumped out at me: Instead of seeing power hitters dominating the rankings I saw guys with no power shoot up in value.
I thought I had fucked up a formula or something until I thought about it. By having your usual 5 categories (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVE) and including OBP and Ks, the league now favors your prototypical leadoff hitter rather than your heart-of-the-order slugger. A good leadoff guy will get you about five and a half of those categories easily. He'll score a pile of runs. He'll steal bases. He should hit for a decent average and get on base at a good clip. He shouldn't strike out much. And just with the amount of At Bats that a guy in the one spot should get, about 60-70 RBIs should be within reach. Of course home runs will be kind of scarce, which isn't sexy, but that's one category. Within that strategy I feel that I did really well considering that I have about five guys who lead off for their team and a couple more who bat second.
Here's how I ended up:
C-Mike Napoli-This was a catcher that I was targeting. He has performed great in spring training and provides a little bit of power in what you will see is a rather weak hitting line up. The only concerns I have would be that Napoli has gotten injured in the past and he will be splitting time with defensive catcher Jeff Mathis.
1B-Lance Berkman-I had determined that first base would be very deep this year and so I was determined to wait and was able to get Berkman deep in to the draft. Unfortunately the Big Puma is dealing with some injuries and may start the year on the DL but if he can deliver even the same numbers that he had last year I'll be happy. Also, the waiver wire still has guys like LaRoche, Garrett Jones, Konerko, and Gaby Sanchez so a replacement is well within reach.
2B-Gordon Beckham-Another target of mine. I had to reach a little bit to get him so this one may come back to kick me in the pants but the potential is just too good to ignore. There is a real possibility that he will deliver a 90/20/90/15 season. Despite the fact that he is starting a second for the White Sox he doesn't yet have eligibility so I had to draft Detroit rookie Scott Sizemore to fill in for the first five games. And if Sizemore takes off you won't hear any complaints from me.
3B-Alex Rodriguez-I hate the selection at third this year, so I knew that I had to get one early or take a chance on someone much later in the draft. So with the 4th pick of the draft A-Rod was still on the board and I rolled with it. My hope is that his numbers last year were the real deal and that he doesn't deal with anymore lingering injuries. If he doesn't stay healthy this year then I will have literally no power to work with.
SS-Derek Jeter-I never really had Yankees on my fantasy teams before so to end up with two high profile guys was kind of surprising. I can even honestly say that I did not reach for either of them. Anyway, like 3rd, SS was another position that I thought that I would have to go for early or be stuck with turds later. In retrospect that may have been wrong. There are guys like Alcides Escobar and Everth Cabrera still hanging out there. However, Jeter was my third ranked SS and he fits the profile for my strategy so what the hell? I am well aware that repeating last years numbers will be very difficult for Jeter but with that lineup and in that ballpark it was still a good choice.
OF-Jacoby Ellsbury-Drafting Ellsbury hurt me on the inside. The fact that he is the exact blueprint of my strategy (shitload of runs, some RBIs, piles of SBs, NEVER strikes out) and he was my highest ranked outfielder could not be denied. Who knows, the idea of having to root for the Sawx may push me to get him off my team. But at that point can I ever get rid of the taint?
OF-Bobby Abreu-Another guy to fit in my strategy. The power seems to be quickly leaving and I believe the 30 SBs were a fluke but Abreu is the definition of a patient hitter. Hopefully I am not getting him at the beginning of a quick slide into old age.
OF-Denard Span-Yup. Another lead off guy. Span has the privilege of batting in front of guys like Morneau, Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel, and Thome. The fact that his OBP is close to .400 means that Span will be crossing the plate ALOT.
Util-Conor Jackson-I like Jackson a couple years ago but, at the time, he was playing first and he doesn't exactly have corner infielder power. Then he disappeared off the map last year due to a bout with Valley Fever and was quickly forgotten. However, everything I've heard about him this spring made me want to take a chance on him. He's now a starter in the outfield and word is that he will get the lead off spot. Considering Jackson's excellent plate discipline and his little bit of speed and power, this could be a huge sleeper for me.
Bench-Juan Pierre-You know the drill. He's leading off again in Chicago and word is that Ozzie is going to have him run, run, and run some more. I have never set myself up to be this competitive in stolen bases as much as I have this year. Wouldn't be surprised if I was getting 10 a week.
So there's the batters. There's no way in hell I will ever win the home run category unless it's a week where Napoli, Beckham, and A-Rod all happen to get hot but I should be pretty solid in every other spot. Only time will tell.
On to the pitching. I'm not sure how I feel about the squad I set myself up with. My original goal was to go strong on offense for the first ten rounds and ignore pitching but the way the draft went caused me to change that up. I really just took what was given to me and went with the flow. It surprised the crap out of me that people ignored closers. I ended up with five friggin closers on my staff and I think there's another 50 saves still sitting on the waiver wire. Weird.
1-Dan Haren-I tried to ignore taking a top-tier pitcher for as long as I could but eventually I couldn't ignore Haren any longer. At that point he was the second guy left in the tier and there were no batters that I was eager to draft, so why not?
2-Josh Beckett-...and then Beckett was the last guy left in that top tier for me. Again, I couldn't ignore it anymore. Didn't I say that I hated both of these guys in a post not too long ago?
3-Ricky Nolasco-Ricky has looked electric in spring training and coming out like he has something to prove. That 5.00 ERA he had might have something to do with it. If he can keep up the second half he had I will be very happy.
4-Tim Hudson-About time to start taking on some injury risks eh? Hudson has been exhibiting some pin point control so far in the spring. He's also only a year removed from being a great starting pitcher. High risk/ high reward.
5-Ted Lilly-More injury risk! Lilly's a good pitcher if he can stay healthy. Like I said earlier, home runs allowed was dropped as a category which can only help Lilly out.
6-Francisco Liriano-I was really surprised to see he was still available in the 2oth round of the draft with all of the Dominican League/Spring Training hype but maybe not everyone is as obsessive about that as I am. If really has recaptured his old form from a few years ago this will end up being a steal. If not, it's not like I really gave much up to get him.
Closers-Andrew Bailey, Chad Qualls, Mike Gonzalez, Jason Frasor, and Ryan Franklin. Holy crap that's alot of closers. Hopefully it doesn't come out to bite me in the ass.
So like I said, by conventional means my team looks weak in the batting department. The more I think about the strategy I am trying to employ, however, the stronger it seems. Pitching seems pretty tight as long as at least one or two of those guys don't have their arms fall off in the middle of the season. On top of that, only one of my batters shows a consistent track record of batting worse in September.
Regardless of what happens, I'm friggin excited for the season to start. Only about a week until opening day. WOOO!
Monday, March 1, 2010
You gotta love sports! (USA! USA! USA! Edition)
Happy Monday! Meh, no such thing. Especially when it isn't football season. Anyway, the Olympics are over and that makes me happy as the NHL gets back in to the groove and I no longer have to come to terms with the fact that I treated curling as a reasonable sporting alternative for two whole weeks.
First off, congrats to Canada for pulling out a big win to take the gold in hockey. If it weren't for Ryan Miller I can guarantee that USA would not have sniffed the gold medal game. Simply put, he was amazing. In the end, however, it simply seemed like the Canadian team was constantly working with a man advantage. They straight up out-played us and if it weren't for a last second goal by Parise, the game wouldn't have been nearly as big as it now seems. I'm kind of pissed that the phenomenon known as Crosby-over-adulation reared its ugly head again. Crosby was, for the most part, invisible for most of the tournament. Just like with the Stanley Cup, though, one play suddenly makes him a freakin' hero. Blow me, Crosby. On a side note that is in no way related to my Red Wing fandom, I have to give a ton of credit to Brian Rafalski. It seemed like he was on the ice at all times and leading just about every offensive surge. Hopefully he can carry that spunk back in to the regular season because he was playing like a turd prior to the Olympic break.
Secondly, yeah f'in USA! It's practically a given that we yanks will show up and just dominate the field. Just give us all the medals. We takes them!
Thirdly, it has come to my attention that I have reason once again to tune in to the YES network this week. That's right, baseball is back! Sure it's only spring training. Whatever, it's still sports.
Fourth, with baseball being back, it looks like it's time for me to finalize the fantasy baseball tiers. I participated in a public league draft last week for practice and I think I did alright. The very frustrating thing was the fact that Yahoo's draft program was constantly disconnecting. If it happens to be your turn to pick and you have some guys loaded in to your queue and you disconnect at the same time, the comp automatically selects the first guy in the list for you. This was to my detriment at least twice. But my offense is loaded. My pitching, not so much.
So there you have it sports fans.
Wait, I forgot something.
Fifthly, SU brought the lumber against 'nova this past Saturday. Being the fair weather SU fan that I am, I've decided it is now safe for me to get on the bandwagon. Rankings come out this afternoon and if SU doesn't get #1 then I am calling shenanigans.
First off, congrats to Canada for pulling out a big win to take the gold in hockey. If it weren't for Ryan Miller I can guarantee that USA would not have sniffed the gold medal game. Simply put, he was amazing. In the end, however, it simply seemed like the Canadian team was constantly working with a man advantage. They straight up out-played us and if it weren't for a last second goal by Parise, the game wouldn't have been nearly as big as it now seems. I'm kind of pissed that the phenomenon known as Crosby-over-adulation reared its ugly head again. Crosby was, for the most part, invisible for most of the tournament. Just like with the Stanley Cup, though, one play suddenly makes him a freakin' hero. Blow me, Crosby. On a side note that is in no way related to my Red Wing fandom, I have to give a ton of credit to Brian Rafalski. It seemed like he was on the ice at all times and leading just about every offensive surge. Hopefully he can carry that spunk back in to the regular season because he was playing like a turd prior to the Olympic break.
Secondly, yeah f'in USA! It's practically a given that we yanks will show up and just dominate the field. Just give us all the medals. We takes them!
Thirdly, it has come to my attention that I have reason once again to tune in to the YES network this week. That's right, baseball is back! Sure it's only spring training. Whatever, it's still sports.
Fourth, with baseball being back, it looks like it's time for me to finalize the fantasy baseball tiers. I participated in a public league draft last week for practice and I think I did alright. The very frustrating thing was the fact that Yahoo's draft program was constantly disconnecting. If it happens to be your turn to pick and you have some guys loaded in to your queue and you disconnect at the same time, the comp automatically selects the first guy in the list for you. This was to my detriment at least twice. But my offense is loaded. My pitching, not so much.
So there you have it sports fans.
Wait, I forgot something.
Fifthly, SU brought the lumber against 'nova this past Saturday. Being the fair weather SU fan that I am, I've decided it is now safe for me to get on the bandwagon. Rankings come out this afternoon and if SU doesn't get #1 then I am calling shenanigans.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
2010 Fantasy Baseball Preview
As you can probably tell, fantasy baseball has been on my mind lately. I'm constantly looking for news of who's going where and who's recovering from off-season surgery and who's winning the position battles and all that junk. So, with spring training on the horizon it's time to do an early preview.
Now, the main league that I play in is a little different from others. The traditional scoring is 5x5 (Hitters: R,HR,RBI,SB,AVE/ Pitchers: W,SV,K,EAR,WHIP). The scoring in this league is 8x8 (includes K,OBP,XBH for hitters and L,HR,CG for pitchers).
Because most of your traditional rankings from sites and magazines aren't set up for our scoring system, I've made it my mission to construct the perfect Excel spreadsheet that could do all of these rankings right. Letting this be done by nothing but pure numbers and a couple of adjustments from me (who's on the rise, declining, streaky, contract year, etc.) let's me get a good look at everything without being swayed by names and teams. I use nothing but the last 3 years of stats with the weight being .5 for last year, .3 for 2 years ago, and .2 for 2 years ago. When I list a statistic it will be that weighted average.
So, without further ado, here are my top ten hitters and pitchers:
1-Albert Pujols, 1B, STL, Score:100
No surprise here. Pujols has been the stud of studs for a few years in a row now. He's dominant in 7 of those 8 categories and was actually solid in the 8th (stolen bases) last year, as well. In 5x5 he is a beast enough, but with our 3 added categories his dominance is enhanced in that the guy never strikes out (59 weighted ave) is an OBP machine (.455!!!), and leads in XBH (84). It's not even a question that Pujols should be the first guy off the board. First base is perhaps the deepest position this year but giving up this much production for the sake of position scarcity is silly. The next closest guy is an 86. That shows how ahead of the pack Prince Albert is.
2-Hanley Ramirez, SS, FLA, Score:86
As I said, The drop-off from Pujols to everyone else is pretty significant. But just as Pujols is a no-brainer for #1, HanRam is great at #2. The distance between Albert and Hanley is kind of what the distance is from Hanley to the next best shortstop (Rollins, if you can believe that). There is no category that Ramirez is weak in. He does strike out a bit much (18%) and he could hit a few more XBH, but you're still getting a young stud capable of going 30/30 who posts an OBP of close to .400. He's also at the magical age of 27. The top 2 picks are easy, after this it gets difficult.
3-Prince Fielder, 1B, MIL, Score:83
Fielder was a beast last year, and actually a steal in the second round for me. He had a down year in 2008 but bounced back with a vengeance and has managed to hit 130 dingers in the past 3 years. That's alot. He also is a lock for about 100 runs per game and last year tied Ryan Howard for first in RBIs at 141. He's no drag on the batting average either at .290. Fielder is still young and, although I think 2009 is his ceiling, may not have reached his ceiling yet. His down year makes me hesitant to take him this early in a draft, but the numbers don't lie.
4-Ryan Braun, OF, MIL, Score:83
Quite a 1-2 punch they have in Milwaukee, eh? Braun burst in to the bigs in 2007 and hasn't stopped mashing since then. He's hit at least 30 HRs each year and is also averaging a little more than 15 SBs as well. There's really nothing bad to say about this kid. He'll help you in every category and still has room to grow. Nice.
5-Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, MIL, Score:82
What?!?! This one surprised me more than anything on the list. Ellsbury will give you speed, speed, and more speed (65 SBs). He'll also score a whole pile of runs (100 Rs) and even knock in a few to boot (59 RBIs). The one thing you won't be able to count on too much would be power, although he could still manage close to 10 HRs. Considering this is his peak year he could get 15 but that might be a wishing a bit much. I'm guessing that one of the reasons Ellsbury gets so high a score is that 625 ABs would only get you about 65 Ks, which is fantastic. So in this guy you have a kid playing for a great team who can carry at least 2 of your categories without hurting you anywhere at all. The new Carl Crawford perhaps? Nope, I say he's even better. On a side note, I hate the fackin Sawx.
6-Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYY, Score:80
A-Rod makes a rise back up the ranks after showing himself to be pretty well recovered from the surgery he had last year. He missed a big chunk of the season and managed to come back and have one of his most productive and, more importantly, his most clutch season to date. He shrugged off alot of the criticism he received for not performing in September and October and just went out and played ball. Rodriguez gives you across the board production and should be higher except for the fact that his ABs over the last years have been decreasing (583-510-444). There's also this matter to consider but it should be no surprise to anyone that this guy is a fruitcake. If I ended up with the #3 pick there's a good chance that I may go with Rodriguez simply because I am concerned about the depth at 3rd this year.
7-Ryan Howard, 1B, PHI, Score:80
I do not like Howard. Perhaps I should give him a shot some day, but those Ks scare me. In a 5x5 league he's a great pick, but in this league anyone who averages close to 200 strikeouts better have a "SP" next to his name. That being said, you know that with Howard you are going to get 40 HRs and 130+ RBIs in the bank. He isn't even that big of a drain on the average at .269. Another thing going in his favor is that he is a monster when it counts (1.060 OPS in September). So you can snag Howard feeling safe in the power numbers, but you might need an Ichiro or two to make up for his deficiencies.
8-Dustin Pedroia, 2b, BOS, Score:80
Seemingly overhyped after his 2008 MVP season, Pedroia quietly posted an almost identical year in 2009. He won't knock your socks off in the power department but he will keep you afloat in every single category. My weighted averages have him at 112 R, 14 HR, 72 RBI, 47 K, 18 SB, .309 AVE, .372 OBP, 65 XBH. It is said that doubles can often translate in to HRs as a player reaches the peak ages of 27-28, and Pedroia has been hitting as many doubles as guys like Hanley, Teixeira, Miggy, and Holliday. I don't see Pedroia having a 30 HR power outburst, but it's quite possible that he could put together a 20/20 season this year. If not, you still have a guy who contributes everywhere and never strikes out. Pay for the safety and consistency, hope for the breakout.
9-Mark Teixeira, 1B, NYY, Score:80
Two Red Sox and now two Yankees, and thus the balance is restored. Teixeira is a man beast and the move to NY has definitely agreed with him. He started off the year extremely slowly, as did just about all the Yankees, but once A-Rod joined the lineup, Tex exploded. The only thing not to like about him is having to hear Sterling yell "A text message!!! from Teixeira!!!" every time he goes deep. Anyway, snag Teixeira and pencil in 100/35/110/.300. Not too shabby. He doesn't even strike out a ton for a slugger and his OBP is close to .400.
10-Miguel Cabrera, 1B, DET, Score:79
As I said, 1B is deep this year with 5 in the top ten. There's also 3 more in the top 20 (Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, and Joey Votto). Cabrera's numbers are nearly identical to Teixeira. You get a little better average and a little less power so you can basically decide what you need more and go from there. Cabrera should have better numbers but he has shown a lack of maturity and Detroit was awful last year and provided him with no help. Their next best guy on the list is a tie between Ryan Raburn and Magglio Ordonez. Not good. Still, they may still have some surprises (watch for Raburn and Sizemore) and Miggy is turning 27 this year. He came under a lot of criticism for some drinkings issues last year so it's possible he may come out with something to prove. Hitting has just been so easy for him, perhaps he is getting lazy. Still, if the numbers he has been posting have been due to lazy, then I can't wait to see what he does when he gets motivated.
Now for the pitchers
1-Roy Halladay, PHI, Score:100
Toss up here between Halladay and Lincecum but Roy gets the nod due to a superior track record in September. After years of looking dominant every damn day while facing teams the beasts of the AL East you now get to see him face such juggernauts as the Braves, the Nationals, and the suddenly punchless Mets. Halladay has an amazing K/BB ratio of about 5.0 and keeps the ball in the park pretty well which will come in handy in Philly's little stadium. He also was averaging a record of 17-9 with the awful offense of Toronto backing him. So now we'll see if that gets better with Utley, Howard, Rollins, Victorino, Werth, and Ibanez for support. Halladay also gets extra credit for being a complete game machine.
2-Tim Lincecum, SF, Score:99
The new hotness is this guy. He'll get you close to 250 Ks and outstanding ratios. Also, he's most likely still improving. If he was playing for any other team the Wins would be 20+ but SFs lineup is so bad that DeRosa and Huff are considered improvements. It's possible that this guy could soon get hit with the inevitable trip to see Dr James Andrews with how hard he throws but that same story could be applied to every pitcher in baseball.
3-Zack Greinke, KC, Score:95
Greinke has always shown promise but just couldn't get his shit together until he finally did last year. Prior to that he was faced with erratic performances and anxiety disorders. I drafted this guy about 3 years ago. Where the hell was the good stuff then? Anyway, he emerged in a big way last year and absolutely dominated the league for the first half of the season. There was a little bit of returning to the mean in the second half but he was still an unquestioned ace. He's good for 200 Ks, an ERA around 3, and a WHIP under 1.20. I doubt he will be as good as last year, but anything close would be fantastic. The Win potential, like with Lincecum, will be hampered by a team that just signed Ankiel to start in their outfield. It's like they're trying to be awful.
4-CC Sabathia, NYY, Score:94
Sabathia is the definition of a workhorse. I keep thinking he's going to fall to pieces after all the overworking he has been put through but he keeps on trucking through. If any pitcher has a chance at 20 wins it's this guy with that Yankee lineup behind him, not to mention Hughes and Rivera to close out the game. The 200 K potential is there, as well as a good ability to keep the ball in the park which is especially handy considering the home run tendencies being shown in the new park.
5-Dan Haren, ARI, Score:92
I am not a big fan of Haren. The experts keep scoffing at his track record but it doesn't make it less true. Haren is a guy you draft, for sure. He strikes guys out, he doesn't walk anyone or give up home runs, and his command ratio is amazing (5.04 K/BB). However, if you draft this guy, you need to sell sell sell at the All Star Break. His ERA consistently gets worse by a whole run in his 1st half/ 2nd half splits. I'm sure the one year that I end up with Haren on my roster and trade him he'll end up going apeshit in the second half. That's just the way it works.
6-Cliff Lee, SEA, Score:90
Great pickup by Seattle who now gets to boast one of the best pitching duo in baseball. Lee's recent success is somewhat surprising. He doesn't exactly have a great strikeout rate (6.9 K/9) but he does have good control and doesn't seem to be prone to the "one bad inning" that gets guys like AJ Burnett. His move to the NL with the Phillies caused his stock to skyrocket. He now moves back to the AL, which could be a concern. He does have the spacious Seattle outfield to work with and a couple of the best outfielders as well. Also, LAA appears to have lost some of its' punch so the teams he will be facing may not be any worse than what he dealt with in the East. We'll see, but nothing scares me enough to keep him out of my top 10.
7-Adam Wainwright, STL, Score:90
I've always liked Wainwright. He's similar to Lee with a little more heat and a little less control. He also gets the benefit of working with Dave Duncan and an offense that now has Pujols and Holliday. It seemed at one point that Wainwright was going to get to the 20 win benchmark last year but he came up one short. For the last couple years you used to be able to get Wainwright late in drafts or off the waiver wire. His breakout season and Cy Young nomination of 2009 has changed all that. He's now catapulted himself in to the spotlight. I'll probably avoid him from now on as I would want to get a guy who gets more Ks if I am going to have to give up a as high a pick as I probably will now that he is getting the recognition, but it was a good run while it lasted.
8-Felix Hernandez, SEA, Score:87
Here's another guy with which I have a long history, having drafted him a couple times. Turns out I missed out on his breakout year in 2009. Can you believe this dude is only 23? He was born the same year as my fiance for christ's sake! Where he once exhibited some flashes of wildness and a control problem, he now has his walk rate down to 2.9 BB/9. He'll also get you to that 200 K range and a 3.00/1.20 ERA/WHIP. There isn't anything not to like about King Felix at this stage. Is it possible that, at only 23, he could get even better?
9-Javier Vazquez, NYY, Score87
Call me skeptical but I don't believe that Javier will be ranked this high next year. He has always exhibited superior control and skills (9.25 K/9, 2.10 BB/9, 4.41 K/BB) but he never could completely translate that all in to a solid ERA. The one skill he has lacked is keeping the ball in the park. Combine that tendency with his new home in NY and you might be asking for trouble. He has also shown that the AL gives him a much greater degree of difficulty. There's no question that this was a great pickup for the Yanks in which they gave up almost nothing (sorry Melky), but make no mistake that 2009 was a career year. You can still count on a pile of Ks and a great WHIP. You might even see 18 wins or so. But the ERA will probably be around 4. Good, but maybe not good enough for top 10.
10-Josh Beckett, BOS, Score:86
We're getting a lot of guys that I don't like at this point. Beckett is a frustrating pitcher. You know that at any moment he can throw a no hitter, but you could also end up with 5 runs and an early exit. He has a similar HR problem like Vazquez. In fact, he and Vazquez are very much alike, playing for two power house AL East teams. They're both going to strike out a lot of guys and get you alot of wins, but they both will be inconsistent for no rhyme or reason. They're also both in a contract year. Maybe that will squeeze a little extra effort out of them. As for me, I'd rather wait a bit and grab Verlander or Tommy Hanson.
So there's the lists. There's still a lot of room for tweaking and who knows what will happen in spring training. I'm fuckin ready for it though.
Now, the main league that I play in is a little different from others. The traditional scoring is 5x5 (Hitters: R,HR,RBI,SB,AVE/ Pitchers: W,SV,K,EAR,WHIP). The scoring in this league is 8x8 (includes K,OBP,XBH for hitters and L,HR,CG for pitchers).
Because most of your traditional rankings from sites and magazines aren't set up for our scoring system, I've made it my mission to construct the perfect Excel spreadsheet that could do all of these rankings right. Letting this be done by nothing but pure numbers and a couple of adjustments from me (who's on the rise, declining, streaky, contract year, etc.) let's me get a good look at everything without being swayed by names and teams. I use nothing but the last 3 years of stats with the weight being .5 for last year, .3 for 2 years ago, and .2 for 2 years ago. When I list a statistic it will be that weighted average.
So, without further ado, here are my top ten hitters and pitchers:
1-Albert Pujols, 1B, STL, Score:100
No surprise here. Pujols has been the stud of studs for a few years in a row now. He's dominant in 7 of those 8 categories and was actually solid in the 8th (stolen bases) last year, as well. In 5x5 he is a beast enough, but with our 3 added categories his dominance is enhanced in that the guy never strikes out (59 weighted ave) is an OBP machine (.455!!!), and leads in XBH (84). It's not even a question that Pujols should be the first guy off the board. First base is perhaps the deepest position this year but giving up this much production for the sake of position scarcity is silly. The next closest guy is an 86. That shows how ahead of the pack Prince Albert is.
2-Hanley Ramirez, SS, FLA, Score:86
As I said, The drop-off from Pujols to everyone else is pretty significant. But just as Pujols is a no-brainer for #1, HanRam is great at #2. The distance between Albert and Hanley is kind of what the distance is from Hanley to the next best shortstop (Rollins, if you can believe that). There is no category that Ramirez is weak in. He does strike out a bit much (18%) and he could hit a few more XBH, but you're still getting a young stud capable of going 30/30 who posts an OBP of close to .400. He's also at the magical age of 27. The top 2 picks are easy, after this it gets difficult.
3-Prince Fielder, 1B, MIL, Score:83
Fielder was a beast last year, and actually a steal in the second round for me. He had a down year in 2008 but bounced back with a vengeance and has managed to hit 130 dingers in the past 3 years. That's alot. He also is a lock for about 100 runs per game and last year tied Ryan Howard for first in RBIs at 141. He's no drag on the batting average either at .290. Fielder is still young and, although I think 2009 is his ceiling, may not have reached his ceiling yet. His down year makes me hesitant to take him this early in a draft, but the numbers don't lie.
4-Ryan Braun, OF, MIL, Score:83
Quite a 1-2 punch they have in Milwaukee, eh? Braun burst in to the bigs in 2007 and hasn't stopped mashing since then. He's hit at least 30 HRs each year and is also averaging a little more than 15 SBs as well. There's really nothing bad to say about this kid. He'll help you in every category and still has room to grow. Nice.
5-Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, MIL, Score:82
What?!?! This one surprised me more than anything on the list. Ellsbury will give you speed, speed, and more speed (65 SBs). He'll also score a whole pile of runs (100 Rs) and even knock in a few to boot (59 RBIs). The one thing you won't be able to count on too much would be power, although he could still manage close to 10 HRs. Considering this is his peak year he could get 15 but that might be a wishing a bit much. I'm guessing that one of the reasons Ellsbury gets so high a score is that 625 ABs would only get you about 65 Ks, which is fantastic. So in this guy you have a kid playing for a great team who can carry at least 2 of your categories without hurting you anywhere at all. The new Carl Crawford perhaps? Nope, I say he's even better. On a side note, I hate the fackin Sawx.
6-Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYY, Score:80
A-Rod makes a rise back up the ranks after showing himself to be pretty well recovered from the surgery he had last year. He missed a big chunk of the season and managed to come back and have one of his most productive and, more importantly, his most clutch season to date. He shrugged off alot of the criticism he received for not performing in September and October and just went out and played ball. Rodriguez gives you across the board production and should be higher except for the fact that his ABs over the last years have been decreasing (583-510-444). There's also this matter to consider but it should be no surprise to anyone that this guy is a fruitcake. If I ended up with the #3 pick there's a good chance that I may go with Rodriguez simply because I am concerned about the depth at 3rd this year.
7-Ryan Howard, 1B, PHI, Score:80
I do not like Howard. Perhaps I should give him a shot some day, but those Ks scare me. In a 5x5 league he's a great pick, but in this league anyone who averages close to 200 strikeouts better have a "SP" next to his name. That being said, you know that with Howard you are going to get 40 HRs and 130+ RBIs in the bank. He isn't even that big of a drain on the average at .269. Another thing going in his favor is that he is a monster when it counts (1.060 OPS in September). So you can snag Howard feeling safe in the power numbers, but you might need an Ichiro or two to make up for his deficiencies.
8-Dustin Pedroia, 2b, BOS, Score:80
Seemingly overhyped after his 2008 MVP season, Pedroia quietly posted an almost identical year in 2009. He won't knock your socks off in the power department but he will keep you afloat in every single category. My weighted averages have him at 112 R, 14 HR, 72 RBI, 47 K, 18 SB, .309 AVE, .372 OBP, 65 XBH. It is said that doubles can often translate in to HRs as a player reaches the peak ages of 27-28, and Pedroia has been hitting as many doubles as guys like Hanley, Teixeira, Miggy, and Holliday. I don't see Pedroia having a 30 HR power outburst, but it's quite possible that he could put together a 20/20 season this year. If not, you still have a guy who contributes everywhere and never strikes out. Pay for the safety and consistency, hope for the breakout.
9-Mark Teixeira, 1B, NYY, Score:80
Two Red Sox and now two Yankees, and thus the balance is restored. Teixeira is a man beast and the move to NY has definitely agreed with him. He started off the year extremely slowly, as did just about all the Yankees, but once A-Rod joined the lineup, Tex exploded. The only thing not to like about him is having to hear Sterling yell "A text message!!! from Teixeira!!!" every time he goes deep. Anyway, snag Teixeira and pencil in 100/35/110/.300. Not too shabby. He doesn't even strike out a ton for a slugger and his OBP is close to .400.
10-Miguel Cabrera, 1B, DET, Score:79
As I said, 1B is deep this year with 5 in the top ten. There's also 3 more in the top 20 (Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, and Joey Votto). Cabrera's numbers are nearly identical to Teixeira. You get a little better average and a little less power so you can basically decide what you need more and go from there. Cabrera should have better numbers but he has shown a lack of maturity and Detroit was awful last year and provided him with no help. Their next best guy on the list is a tie between Ryan Raburn and Magglio Ordonez. Not good. Still, they may still have some surprises (watch for Raburn and Sizemore) and Miggy is turning 27 this year. He came under a lot of criticism for some drinkings issues last year so it's possible he may come out with something to prove. Hitting has just been so easy for him, perhaps he is getting lazy. Still, if the numbers he has been posting have been due to lazy, then I can't wait to see what he does when he gets motivated.
Now for the pitchers
1-Roy Halladay, PHI, Score:100
Toss up here between Halladay and Lincecum but Roy gets the nod due to a superior track record in September. After years of looking dominant every damn day while facing teams the beasts of the AL East you now get to see him face such juggernauts as the Braves, the Nationals, and the suddenly punchless Mets. Halladay has an amazing K/BB ratio of about 5.0 and keeps the ball in the park pretty well which will come in handy in Philly's little stadium. He also was averaging a record of 17-9 with the awful offense of Toronto backing him. So now we'll see if that gets better with Utley, Howard, Rollins, Victorino, Werth, and Ibanez for support. Halladay also gets extra credit for being a complete game machine.
2-Tim Lincecum, SF, Score:99
The new hotness is this guy. He'll get you close to 250 Ks and outstanding ratios. Also, he's most likely still improving. If he was playing for any other team the Wins would be 20+ but SFs lineup is so bad that DeRosa and Huff are considered improvements. It's possible that this guy could soon get hit with the inevitable trip to see Dr James Andrews with how hard he throws but that same story could be applied to every pitcher in baseball.
3-Zack Greinke, KC, Score:95
Greinke has always shown promise but just couldn't get his shit together until he finally did last year. Prior to that he was faced with erratic performances and anxiety disorders. I drafted this guy about 3 years ago. Where the hell was the good stuff then? Anyway, he emerged in a big way last year and absolutely dominated the league for the first half of the season. There was a little bit of returning to the mean in the second half but he was still an unquestioned ace. He's good for 200 Ks, an ERA around 3, and a WHIP under 1.20. I doubt he will be as good as last year, but anything close would be fantastic. The Win potential, like with Lincecum, will be hampered by a team that just signed Ankiel to start in their outfield. It's like they're trying to be awful.
4-CC Sabathia, NYY, Score:94
Sabathia is the definition of a workhorse. I keep thinking he's going to fall to pieces after all the overworking he has been put through but he keeps on trucking through. If any pitcher has a chance at 20 wins it's this guy with that Yankee lineup behind him, not to mention Hughes and Rivera to close out the game. The 200 K potential is there, as well as a good ability to keep the ball in the park which is especially handy considering the home run tendencies being shown in the new park.
5-Dan Haren, ARI, Score:92
I am not a big fan of Haren. The experts keep scoffing at his track record but it doesn't make it less true. Haren is a guy you draft, for sure. He strikes guys out, he doesn't walk anyone or give up home runs, and his command ratio is amazing (5.04 K/BB). However, if you draft this guy, you need to sell sell sell at the All Star Break. His ERA consistently gets worse by a whole run in his 1st half/ 2nd half splits. I'm sure the one year that I end up with Haren on my roster and trade him he'll end up going apeshit in the second half. That's just the way it works.
6-Cliff Lee, SEA, Score:90
Great pickup by Seattle who now gets to boast one of the best pitching duo in baseball. Lee's recent success is somewhat surprising. He doesn't exactly have a great strikeout rate (6.9 K/9) but he does have good control and doesn't seem to be prone to the "one bad inning" that gets guys like AJ Burnett. His move to the NL with the Phillies caused his stock to skyrocket. He now moves back to the AL, which could be a concern. He does have the spacious Seattle outfield to work with and a couple of the best outfielders as well. Also, LAA appears to have lost some of its' punch so the teams he will be facing may not be any worse than what he dealt with in the East. We'll see, but nothing scares me enough to keep him out of my top 10.
7-Adam Wainwright, STL, Score:90
I've always liked Wainwright. He's similar to Lee with a little more heat and a little less control. He also gets the benefit of working with Dave Duncan and an offense that now has Pujols and Holliday. It seemed at one point that Wainwright was going to get to the 20 win benchmark last year but he came up one short. For the last couple years you used to be able to get Wainwright late in drafts or off the waiver wire. His breakout season and Cy Young nomination of 2009 has changed all that. He's now catapulted himself in to the spotlight. I'll probably avoid him from now on as I would want to get a guy who gets more Ks if I am going to have to give up a as high a pick as I probably will now that he is getting the recognition, but it was a good run while it lasted.
8-Felix Hernandez, SEA, Score:87
Here's another guy with which I have a long history, having drafted him a couple times. Turns out I missed out on his breakout year in 2009. Can you believe this dude is only 23? He was born the same year as my fiance for christ's sake! Where he once exhibited some flashes of wildness and a control problem, he now has his walk rate down to 2.9 BB/9. He'll also get you to that 200 K range and a 3.00/1.20 ERA/WHIP. There isn't anything not to like about King Felix at this stage. Is it possible that, at only 23, he could get even better?
9-Javier Vazquez, NYY, Score87
Call me skeptical but I don't believe that Javier will be ranked this high next year. He has always exhibited superior control and skills (9.25 K/9, 2.10 BB/9, 4.41 K/BB) but he never could completely translate that all in to a solid ERA. The one skill he has lacked is keeping the ball in the park. Combine that tendency with his new home in NY and you might be asking for trouble. He has also shown that the AL gives him a much greater degree of difficulty. There's no question that this was a great pickup for the Yanks in which they gave up almost nothing (sorry Melky), but make no mistake that 2009 was a career year. You can still count on a pile of Ks and a great WHIP. You might even see 18 wins or so. But the ERA will probably be around 4. Good, but maybe not good enough for top 10.
10-Josh Beckett, BOS, Score:86
We're getting a lot of guys that I don't like at this point. Beckett is a frustrating pitcher. You know that at any moment he can throw a no hitter, but you could also end up with 5 runs and an early exit. He has a similar HR problem like Vazquez. In fact, he and Vazquez are very much alike, playing for two power house AL East teams. They're both going to strike out a lot of guys and get you alot of wins, but they both will be inconsistent for no rhyme or reason. They're also both in a contract year. Maybe that will squeeze a little extra effort out of them. As for me, I'd rather wait a bit and grab Verlander or Tommy Hanson.
So there's the lists. There's still a lot of room for tweaking and who knows what will happen in spring training. I'm fuckin ready for it though.
Monday, February 1, 2010
2009 Logjammin: A complete waste of a perfect alignment of the stars
A couple posts ago I was complaining about not winning in fantasy sports. It still completely baffles me that I could not win the league last year in baseball. This is a subject I fear that I will never be able to let go.
Purely for my own indulgence, I'd like to talk about my roster.
C-Pablo Sandoval-572 AB/79 R/25 HR/90 RBI/5 SB/ .330 AVE
I saw Kung Fu Panda as a huge sleeper last year. He finished 2008 with big numbers and a great average after being called up by the Giants at the end of the year. Sure, he might have been a fluke, but what I loved was that he was getting the full time gig at third base while still being eligible for catcher under Yahoo rules. A full time player that you can slot in at the C spot is a dream come true. My plan was to draft Pablo and Matt Wieters, the rookie sensation, and trade whichever one had the most value later on. Well, Pablo was awesome, having a great breakout year. Wieters ended up not being worth the hype, and I dealt him at some point.
1B-Prince Fielder-591 AB/103 R/46 HR/141 RBI/2 SB/ .299 AVE
Nothing like getting top 5 production from your second round draft pick. Fielder was, by far, the MVP of the team. Huge year, and consistent to boot. Other guys on the team had cold spells and hot streaks, but it was Fielder who was consistently ape shit every week. He was coming off a down year in which his transition to a vegetarian lifestyle was criticized, but he was still a monster bat at the position where power is needed. Good move there. I highly doubt he'll be available in the 2nd round this year.
2B-Chase Utley-571 AB/112 R/31 HR/93 RBI/23 SB/.282 AVE
Look at those numbers. Nice, right? How often will you find a 30/20 guy at 2B? I was able to snag Utley in the 3rd round due to concerns that his offseason surgery would cause him some problems. Even at that point in the draft I thought I was taking a gamble. It helped that Pedroia was coming off an MVP season and half the guys I play with are Sawx fans. Utley ended up being awesome. He's a bit streaky, but it was alright... until September, that is. As soon as the playoffs began, Utley went stone cold. On September 1st, Utley had an average of .304. He finished at .282. Over that last, most crucial month Utley went 22/108 (.204). And THAT is why I will not be drafting Utley this year, unless he falls, again, to the 3rd round.
3B-Miguel Cabrera-611 AB/96 R/34 HR/103 RBI/6 SB/.324 AVE
For the second year in a row I made Miggy my first round pick. There's something about him that is very un-exciting. I think it's his consistency that does it. He never has a huge week. Not much to say about him except he keeps almost every category afloat while the various other parts of the roster can blow up and suck at their own discretion. He ran it to some trouble this off season with a drinking problem. It's easy to forget that Miggy is very young. Hopefully he cleans up his act and takes things to the next level.
SS-Gordon Beckham-378 AB/58 R/14 HR/63 RBI/7 SB/.270 AVE
The biggest source of drama in 2009 was definitely my SS situation. I drafted Theriot, included him in a trade for Reyes, lost Reyes to a season ending injury, went through an assortment of Alcides Escobar/Erick Aybar/ Maicer Izturis/Jhonny Peralta/Everth Cabrera/and Elvis Andrus, and finally settled on Beckham who had a very good debut in the majors. Beckham started slow, got really hot in July, went cold in August, and finished nicely in September. If you take his numbers at 600 ABs you get a line of: 92/22/100/11. Not bad at all at SS. I'll take it, and Beckham will definitely be on my radar next year, even though he loses shortstop eligibility.
OF-Matt Holliday-581 AB/94 R/24 HR/ 109 RBI/14 SB/.313 AVE
I didn't draft Holliday but I did get him on a sweet buy-low situation. My OF was garbage at the beginning of the season but I was able to build something nice from nothing. I had Magglio Ordonez (big time slump), Ankiel (garbage), Snider (bust), and Maybin (still waiting for that breakout) to begin the year, but I ended up with a great squad at the end. Holliday was awesome. I got him near the time he was traded to St Louis where he really seemed to enjoy batting behind Pujols. He suffered a power outage and stopped running in September, so, like Utley, I am kind of pissed at him, but he was still batting .326 so I can't complain too much.
OF-Nick Markakis-642 AB/94 R/ 18 HR/ 101 RBI/6 SB/.293 AVE
I've had a man crush on Markakis for a few years and I was bummed when I couldn't get him in the draft. I was able to trade him off on another buy low where he started playing a little better. However, Markakis is now in the same doghouse as Utley as my 2009 fantasy killers. You think Utley was bad with his .204 September average? Well Marakis was even worse with a .198. He, also like Utley, came in to September with a .304 average. It was all downhill from there. I was especially surprised with this production as Markakis was starting to get a reputation for second half explosions. Well, you win some you lose some.
OF-Shin Soo Choo-583 AB/87 R/20 HR/86 RBI/21 SB/.300 AVE
Choo was another proud drafting moment for me as he was a guy I was definitely targeting. I got him in the 17th round and he was definitely worth it. His one bugaboo was injuries and he managed to stay healthy. He was a little heavy on the K's (our league counts strikeouts) but he was solid in every single other category. He also hit a bird one time on a shallow outfield bloop.
Util-Denard Span-578 AB/97 R/8 HR/68 RBI/23 SB/.311 AVE
Span was another guy I wanted to grab as a sleeper but he went before I could get him, where I settled on Maybin. However, he was part of the ill-fated preseason trade where I sent away my pitching staff for Jose Reyes. Span was perfect in this OBP/K league. He gave me a solid OBP, stole a few bases, and scored a bunch of runs. Not bad at all at the utility spot.
SP-Adam Wainwright-233 IP/19-8/212 K/2.63 ERA/1.21 WHIP
Wainwright has been on my team for 4 years now. I love this guy, he's been a sleeper every year while offering at least SP2 production. Unfortunately, his Cy votes finally put him on the map and I'll probably never see him again.
SP-Cliff Lee-231IP/14-13/181 K/3.22 ERA/1.24 WHIP
Another buy low steal. He was slumping at the time of acquisition, but shortly after he was traded to Philly and he exploded. I cant recall what I gave up for him but it was definitely worth it. Once he got out of Cleveland he reduced his walks (33vs10) and shaved a half a run off of his ERA. Nice.
SP-Ricky Nolasco-185 IP/13-9/195 K/5.06 ERA/1.25 WHIP
What can I say about Ricky? By every indication there is no way his era should have been as awful as it was. He started awful. His April ERA was 6.92. His May was even worse at 12.23. He still showed great control and had no problem striking guys out, but he was just plain too damn hittable. His BABIP was absurd at the time, around .350 if I recall correctly. I hung on to him though, as his numbers looked fine. He was sent down for a little while, and when he came back it appeared that he corrected his issues. His second go around showed significant improvement and was striking out 10/9 IP, which is great. So, I'll give Nolasco a pass on 2009 as he didn't really hurt me too much, and stuck around when it really counted.
SP-Tommy Hanson-127 IP/11-4/116 K/2.89 ERA/1.18 WHIP
I hate to wait forever for Hanson to get the call, but it was well worth it. He experienced some good luck, but I wasn't complaining. His debut went so well that a number of 2010 rankings have him among the top 25 SPs for the year. Apparently I'm kind of a sucker for these hot new rookies as I was also the guy who held on to Wieters forever. And a couple years ago I managed to get both Tim Lincecum and Yovani Gallardo as soon as they were promoted. However, I'm also the guy who drafted Alex Gordon, and look how that turned out. Sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes it does.
SP-Arroyo/Slowey/Baker/Kuroda/Kawakami
My other pitchers were hit and miss, for the most part. Arroyo, as it turns out, is absolutely money in the second half. He's the pitcher version of Adam Laroche. Slowey was a target of mine as he walks nobody. Unfortunately he had a season ending injury kind of early on. Baker I took a chance on when someone else cast him off. He's like Slowey, another Minnesota product. These guys have great control. Kuroda is a solid pitcher. Nothing fantastic. The downside is that he rarely gives you more than 6 innings. Kawakami... meh.
Closers-Bell 42 SV/Soria 30 SV/MacDougal 20 SV/ Gutierrez 10 SV
I learned a lesson about closers last year. Not going to share it, but I learned something. Anyway, I traded away a number of closers throughout the year in a number of those buy low deals. I'm the a-hole who picks up the closer-in-waiting the second that the grumblings begin on trade rumors. In review my end of year closers were either solid or garbage. Bell had a breakout year and I expect that he will be overrated this year and Soria had another great year despite an injury. MacDougal, on the other hand, is a WHIP killer and never deserved the job. Gutierrez didn't deserve the job either, and he no longer has the job.
So, in review, I had career years out of Sandoval, Fielder, Utley, Holliday, Span, Choo, Wainwright, Lee, and Bell. It was all kittens and rainbows for 95% of the year. When the playoffs came, however, it was like a completely different squad.
The guy who beat me had a number of spare parts, and it is especially painful in that I traded them to him:
C-Miguel Montero-this guy is actually really good, but he was a part-timer
1-Cuddyer-he had a career year, but no where as good as Fielder
2-Cano-solid, and unlike Utley, he didn't completely disappear in the playoffs
3-Reynolds-had a monster year, but he only batted 260 and set the record for Ks (223)
S-Alberto Callaspo-Who? Exactly. This dude went nuts in September with an ops of .970. In the week of our matchup Callaspo had 1/8 of his RBIs
O-Rajai Davis-another nobody known for stealing bases and nothing else. In that week he had 1/7 of his RBIs
O-Ludwick-he sucked last year
O-Matsui-I traded Matsui to him, hoping to cash in on the name and team. He thanks me by smacking a couple of dingers
Util-Jose Lopez-another guy I sent to him. At least he didn't screw me over.
Other than that he had no decent pitching other than Sabathia. His closers were nice though.
What it all came down to was that everything that could go wrong for me, did, and whatever could go right for him, did.
What are the chances of me ever assembling a team like this again, especially in a 14 team league? Zilch. Nada. It was a learning experience, at the least. It definitely forced me to pay attention to the September track record for players.
Pitchers and catchers report this week, so it's time to finalize my prep, and stop bitching about the past. But god damn that sucked.
Purely for my own indulgence, I'd like to talk about my roster.
C-Pablo Sandoval-572 AB/79 R/25 HR/90 RBI/5 SB/ .330 AVE
I saw Kung Fu Panda as a huge sleeper last year. He finished 2008 with big numbers and a great average after being called up by the Giants at the end of the year. Sure, he might have been a fluke, but what I loved was that he was getting the full time gig at third base while still being eligible for catcher under Yahoo rules. A full time player that you can slot in at the C spot is a dream come true. My plan was to draft Pablo and Matt Wieters, the rookie sensation, and trade whichever one had the most value later on. Well, Pablo was awesome, having a great breakout year. Wieters ended up not being worth the hype, and I dealt him at some point.
1B-Prince Fielder-591 AB/103 R/46 HR/141 RBI/2 SB/ .299 AVE
Nothing like getting top 5 production from your second round draft pick. Fielder was, by far, the MVP of the team. Huge year, and consistent to boot. Other guys on the team had cold spells and hot streaks, but it was Fielder who was consistently ape shit every week. He was coming off a down year in which his transition to a vegetarian lifestyle was criticized, but he was still a monster bat at the position where power is needed. Good move there. I highly doubt he'll be available in the 2nd round this year.
2B-Chase Utley-571 AB/112 R/31 HR/93 RBI/23 SB/.282 AVE
Look at those numbers. Nice, right? How often will you find a 30/20 guy at 2B? I was able to snag Utley in the 3rd round due to concerns that his offseason surgery would cause him some problems. Even at that point in the draft I thought I was taking a gamble. It helped that Pedroia was coming off an MVP season and half the guys I play with are Sawx fans. Utley ended up being awesome. He's a bit streaky, but it was alright... until September, that is. As soon as the playoffs began, Utley went stone cold. On September 1st, Utley had an average of .304. He finished at .282. Over that last, most crucial month Utley went 22/108 (.204). And THAT is why I will not be drafting Utley this year, unless he falls, again, to the 3rd round.
3B-Miguel Cabrera-611 AB/96 R/34 HR/103 RBI/6 SB/.324 AVE
For the second year in a row I made Miggy my first round pick. There's something about him that is very un-exciting. I think it's his consistency that does it. He never has a huge week. Not much to say about him except he keeps almost every category afloat while the various other parts of the roster can blow up and suck at their own discretion. He ran it to some trouble this off season with a drinking problem. It's easy to forget that Miggy is very young. Hopefully he cleans up his act and takes things to the next level.
SS-Gordon Beckham-378 AB/58 R/14 HR/63 RBI/7 SB/.270 AVE
The biggest source of drama in 2009 was definitely my SS situation. I drafted Theriot, included him in a trade for Reyes, lost Reyes to a season ending injury, went through an assortment of Alcides Escobar/Erick Aybar/ Maicer Izturis/Jhonny Peralta/Everth Cabrera/and Elvis Andrus, and finally settled on Beckham who had a very good debut in the majors. Beckham started slow, got really hot in July, went cold in August, and finished nicely in September. If you take his numbers at 600 ABs you get a line of: 92/22/100/11. Not bad at all at SS. I'll take it, and Beckham will definitely be on my radar next year, even though he loses shortstop eligibility.
OF-Matt Holliday-581 AB/94 R/24 HR/ 109 RBI/14 SB/.313 AVE
I didn't draft Holliday but I did get him on a sweet buy-low situation. My OF was garbage at the beginning of the season but I was able to build something nice from nothing. I had Magglio Ordonez (big time slump), Ankiel (garbage), Snider (bust), and Maybin (still waiting for that breakout) to begin the year, but I ended up with a great squad at the end. Holliday was awesome. I got him near the time he was traded to St Louis where he really seemed to enjoy batting behind Pujols. He suffered a power outage and stopped running in September, so, like Utley, I am kind of pissed at him, but he was still batting .326 so I can't complain too much.
OF-Nick Markakis-642 AB/94 R/ 18 HR/ 101 RBI/6 SB/.293 AVE
I've had a man crush on Markakis for a few years and I was bummed when I couldn't get him in the draft. I was able to trade him off on another buy low where he started playing a little better. However, Markakis is now in the same doghouse as Utley as my 2009 fantasy killers. You think Utley was bad with his .204 September average? Well Marakis was even worse with a .198. He, also like Utley, came in to September with a .304 average. It was all downhill from there. I was especially surprised with this production as Markakis was starting to get a reputation for second half explosions. Well, you win some you lose some.
OF-Shin Soo Choo-583 AB/87 R/20 HR/86 RBI/21 SB/.300 AVE
Choo was another proud drafting moment for me as he was a guy I was definitely targeting. I got him in the 17th round and he was definitely worth it. His one bugaboo was injuries and he managed to stay healthy. He was a little heavy on the K's (our league counts strikeouts) but he was solid in every single other category. He also hit a bird one time on a shallow outfield bloop.
Util-Denard Span-578 AB/97 R/8 HR/68 RBI/23 SB/.311 AVE
Span was another guy I wanted to grab as a sleeper but he went before I could get him, where I settled on Maybin. However, he was part of the ill-fated preseason trade where I sent away my pitching staff for Jose Reyes. Span was perfect in this OBP/K league. He gave me a solid OBP, stole a few bases, and scored a bunch of runs. Not bad at all at the utility spot.
SP-Adam Wainwright-233 IP/19-8/212 K/2.63 ERA/1.21 WHIP
Wainwright has been on my team for 4 years now. I love this guy, he's been a sleeper every year while offering at least SP2 production. Unfortunately, his Cy votes finally put him on the map and I'll probably never see him again.
SP-Cliff Lee-231IP/14-13/181 K/3.22 ERA/1.24 WHIP
Another buy low steal. He was slumping at the time of acquisition, but shortly after he was traded to Philly and he exploded. I cant recall what I gave up for him but it was definitely worth it. Once he got out of Cleveland he reduced his walks (33vs10) and shaved a half a run off of his ERA. Nice.
SP-Ricky Nolasco-185 IP/13-9/195 K/5.06 ERA/1.25 WHIP
What can I say about Ricky? By every indication there is no way his era should have been as awful as it was. He started awful. His April ERA was 6.92. His May was even worse at 12.23. He still showed great control and had no problem striking guys out, but he was just plain too damn hittable. His BABIP was absurd at the time, around .350 if I recall correctly. I hung on to him though, as his numbers looked fine. He was sent down for a little while, and when he came back it appeared that he corrected his issues. His second go around showed significant improvement and was striking out 10/9 IP, which is great. So, I'll give Nolasco a pass on 2009 as he didn't really hurt me too much, and stuck around when it really counted.
SP-Tommy Hanson-127 IP/11-4/116 K/2.89 ERA/1.18 WHIP
I hate to wait forever for Hanson to get the call, but it was well worth it. He experienced some good luck, but I wasn't complaining. His debut went so well that a number of 2010 rankings have him among the top 25 SPs for the year. Apparently I'm kind of a sucker for these hot new rookies as I was also the guy who held on to Wieters forever. And a couple years ago I managed to get both Tim Lincecum and Yovani Gallardo as soon as they were promoted. However, I'm also the guy who drafted Alex Gordon, and look how that turned out. Sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes it does.
SP-Arroyo/Slowey/Baker/Kuroda/Kawakami
My other pitchers were hit and miss, for the most part. Arroyo, as it turns out, is absolutely money in the second half. He's the pitcher version of Adam Laroche. Slowey was a target of mine as he walks nobody. Unfortunately he had a season ending injury kind of early on. Baker I took a chance on when someone else cast him off. He's like Slowey, another Minnesota product. These guys have great control. Kuroda is a solid pitcher. Nothing fantastic. The downside is that he rarely gives you more than 6 innings. Kawakami... meh.
Closers-Bell 42 SV/Soria 30 SV/MacDougal 20 SV/ Gutierrez 10 SV
I learned a lesson about closers last year. Not going to share it, but I learned something. Anyway, I traded away a number of closers throughout the year in a number of those buy low deals. I'm the a-hole who picks up the closer-in-waiting the second that the grumblings begin on trade rumors. In review my end of year closers were either solid or garbage. Bell had a breakout year and I expect that he will be overrated this year and Soria had another great year despite an injury. MacDougal, on the other hand, is a WHIP killer and never deserved the job. Gutierrez didn't deserve the job either, and he no longer has the job.
So, in review, I had career years out of Sandoval, Fielder, Utley, Holliday, Span, Choo, Wainwright, Lee, and Bell. It was all kittens and rainbows for 95% of the year. When the playoffs came, however, it was like a completely different squad.
The guy who beat me had a number of spare parts, and it is especially painful in that I traded them to him:
C-Miguel Montero-this guy is actually really good, but he was a part-timer
1-Cuddyer-he had a career year, but no where as good as Fielder
2-Cano-solid, and unlike Utley, he didn't completely disappear in the playoffs
3-Reynolds-had a monster year, but he only batted 260 and set the record for Ks (223)
S-Alberto Callaspo-Who? Exactly. This dude went nuts in September with an ops of .970. In the week of our matchup Callaspo had 1/8 of his RBIs
O-Rajai Davis-another nobody known for stealing bases and nothing else. In that week he had 1/7 of his RBIs
O-Ludwick-he sucked last year
O-Matsui-I traded Matsui to him, hoping to cash in on the name and team. He thanks me by smacking a couple of dingers
Util-Jose Lopez-another guy I sent to him. At least he didn't screw me over.
Other than that he had no decent pitching other than Sabathia. His closers were nice though.
What it all came down to was that everything that could go wrong for me, did, and whatever could go right for him, did.
What are the chances of me ever assembling a team like this again, especially in a 14 team league? Zilch. Nada. It was a learning experience, at the least. It definitely forced me to pay attention to the September track record for players.
Pitchers and catchers report this week, so it's time to finalize my prep, and stop bitching about the past. But god damn that sucked.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
My Personal Curse
What it is, jive turkey!!! I've got a problem. Actually, I have 3 problems:
First of all, I've been cursed with incredible good looks.
Second of all, I spend too much time on fantasy sports.
And third, I can't seem to buy a friggin championship in said fantasy sports.
Early playoff exits are my thing. I've managed to win one football championship a few years ago, and I believe I took another in hockey two years ago. My recent past, however, leaves something to be desired. If I recall correctly, my most recent performances go a little something like this:
Hockey
2006-Finished 9 out of 10, most likely because of the incredibly gay team name of "Hockey Town Hussies"
2007-Team name change to "Le Chuck" results in CHAMPIONSHIP!!! Suck it!
2008-Trip to Colombia and not setting line up results in 2nd place out of 12.
2009-Not finished but currently climbing the charts.
Football
2006-"Sexy Time Explosion" isn't so sexy at all and finishes 8 out of 8
2007-"Hot Beef Injection" gets the silver
2008-"Mandalorian Merc's" finishes with the 1st seed and then is immediately eliminated in the 1st round. End result: 7th out of 16
2009-"SherrifGonnaGetcha" again finishes with the 1st seed. I roll my way in to the semi's where I eliminated. End result: 3rd out of 12
Baseball
2006-My fightin' "Underpants Gnomes" can only manage an 8th place finish out of 10th.
2007-"Tater Chips" is a little better, getting 5th out of 12.
2008-"Logjammin" scores the 2nd seed. After the 1st round bye I immediately lose in the playoffs. End result: 3rd out of 14.
2009-"Logjammin" finishes with the 1st seed with perhaps the best roster ever in the history of fantasy baseball where I then again LOSE IN THE GOD DAMN SEMI'S!!! End result: Fucking 3rd.
So my average finish is:
2006-8th
2007-3rd
2008-4th (Despite 1st and 2nd place finish)
2009-3rd (Despite 2 first place finishes)
So what the hell is this shit??? What is the issue? I have no fucking idea. All I know is that is getting really friggin annoying to have my team eliminated in the playoffs by the dude who autodrafts and checks his team twice a month.
Across the last 4 fantasy seasons I have finished either 1st or 2nd in the regular season and I have nothing to show for it.
Am I cursed? Am I destined to never get a hold of the gold in the two sports with money on the line (hockey doesn't pay)? If not it is certainly not for lack of trying.
Football I can certainly understand because it's a complete crapshoot. You never know who's going to get TDs. It's the most popular fantasy sport because it is, undoubtedly, the easiest to play. However, I'm obviously doing something right if I've managed to finish 1st two years in a row.
It's baseball that really bothers me. Baseball is the nerdy extra complicated cousin to Football. Baseball guys love stats. I love stats. I have designed, and am always making improvements on, my own personal excel spreadsheet designed to properly rank and tier almost 500 players which I check almost every single damn day. Excessive? You bet your ass. Do I love indulging in to that deep level of nerdery. Absolutely.
It makes me wonder what the hell it is for when I have nothing to show for it, however. I keep telling myself, "Fuck it. Next year I'm going autodraft", but I never do.
So, I'm all prepped for the 2010 baseball season. And while just about everyone else in the league will, at best, by a magazine the day before the draft and wing it, I'm going to be the numbnuts still debating at the last second if Felix Pie belongs in the same tier as Jason Heyward, despite the fact that neither may even get a single at-bat this year.
Whatever, fuck everyone else. This year I'm going to win. If not, well, just like following the Redskins, the failure gets a little easier each time.
First of all, I've been cursed with incredible good looks.
Second of all, I spend too much time on fantasy sports.
And third, I can't seem to buy a friggin championship in said fantasy sports.
Early playoff exits are my thing. I've managed to win one football championship a few years ago, and I believe I took another in hockey two years ago. My recent past, however, leaves something to be desired. If I recall correctly, my most recent performances go a little something like this:
Hockey
2006-Finished 9 out of 10, most likely because of the incredibly gay team name of "Hockey Town Hussies"
2007-Team name change to "Le Chuck" results in CHAMPIONSHIP!!! Suck it!
2008-Trip to Colombia and not setting line up results in 2nd place out of 12.
2009-Not finished but currently climbing the charts.
Football
2006-"Sexy Time Explosion" isn't so sexy at all and finishes 8 out of 8
2007-"Hot Beef Injection" gets the silver
2008-"Mandalorian Merc's" finishes with the 1st seed and then is immediately eliminated in the 1st round. End result: 7th out of 16
2009-"SherrifGonnaGetcha" again finishes with the 1st seed. I roll my way in to the semi's where I eliminated. End result: 3rd out of 12
Baseball
2006-My fightin' "Underpants Gnomes" can only manage an 8th place finish out of 10th.
2007-"Tater Chips" is a little better, getting 5th out of 12.
2008-"Logjammin" scores the 2nd seed. After the 1st round bye I immediately lose in the playoffs. End result: 3rd out of 14.
2009-"Logjammin" finishes with the 1st seed with perhaps the best roster ever in the history of fantasy baseball where I then again LOSE IN THE GOD DAMN SEMI'S!!! End result: Fucking 3rd.
So my average finish is:
2006-8th
2007-3rd
2008-4th (Despite 1st and 2nd place finish)
2009-3rd (Despite 2 first place finishes)
So what the hell is this shit??? What is the issue? I have no fucking idea. All I know is that is getting really friggin annoying to have my team eliminated in the playoffs by the dude who autodrafts and checks his team twice a month.
Across the last 4 fantasy seasons I have finished either 1st or 2nd in the regular season and I have nothing to show for it.
Am I cursed? Am I destined to never get a hold of the gold in the two sports with money on the line (hockey doesn't pay)? If not it is certainly not for lack of trying.
Football I can certainly understand because it's a complete crapshoot. You never know who's going to get TDs. It's the most popular fantasy sport because it is, undoubtedly, the easiest to play. However, I'm obviously doing something right if I've managed to finish 1st two years in a row.
It's baseball that really bothers me. Baseball is the nerdy extra complicated cousin to Football. Baseball guys love stats. I love stats. I have designed, and am always making improvements on, my own personal excel spreadsheet designed to properly rank and tier almost 500 players which I check almost every single damn day. Excessive? You bet your ass. Do I love indulging in to that deep level of nerdery. Absolutely.
It makes me wonder what the hell it is for when I have nothing to show for it, however. I keep telling myself, "Fuck it. Next year I'm going autodraft", but I never do.
So, I'm all prepped for the 2010 baseball season. And while just about everyone else in the league will, at best, by a magazine the day before the draft and wing it, I'm going to be the numbnuts still debating at the last second if Felix Pie belongs in the same tier as Jason Heyward, despite the fact that neither may even get a single at-bat this year.
Whatever, fuck everyone else. This year I'm going to win. If not, well, just like following the Redskins, the failure gets a little easier each time.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Should I be sharing this???
Yes I should. Because it's my fucking blog.
Fantasy baseball. Either you dig it or you don't. I happen to dig it. I put together the perfect draft strategy this year. I had all my positions tiered and all that jazz and I came in to the draft full of piss and vinegar. It went a little something like this.
1. (4) Miguel Cabrera 1B,3B - success!
2. (25) Prince Fielder 1B - success!
3. (32) Chase Utley 2B - success!
4. (53) Magglio Ordóñez OF - fail...
5. (60) John Lackey SP - traded for Reyes - fail...
6. (81) James Shields SP - traded for Reyes - fail...
7. (88) Joakim Soria RP - success!
8. (109) Matt Wieters C - traded... for somebody - success!
9. (116) Pablo Sandoval C,1B,3B - success!
10. (137) Adam Wainwright SP - success!
11. (144) Ricky Nolasco SP - first couple months fail... - since then success!
12. (165) Kevin Slowey SP - DL'd fail...
13. (172) Heath Bell RP - success!
14. (193) Ryan Theriot SS - traded for Reyes - fail...
15. (200) Chad Qualls RP - traded for somebody - success!
16. (221) Rick Ankiel OF - fail...
17. (228) Shin-Soo Choo OF - sleeper success!
18. (249) Cameron Maybin OF - fail...
19. (256) Hiroki Kuroda SP - success!
20. (277) Travis Snider OF - fail...
21. (284) Kenshin Kawakami SP - eh...!
22. (305) Skip Schumaker 2B,OF - success! but didn't need him
Sleepers, studs, and cheap closers were all part of the strategy. Then, with the idea that I didn't really like Lackey or Shields, and that I didn't really like Theriot, I pulled a preseason trade.
Mar 24 9:12pm
José ReyesDL (NYM - SS)
Denard Span (Min - OF)
Mar 24 9:12pm
Ryan Theriot (ChC - SS)
John Lackey (LAA - SP)
James Shields (TB - SP)
An infield of Fielder, Utley, Cabrera, and Reyes?? That's sick! Well, Reyes ended up being lost for the year and Theriot has hit a career number of home runs... whatever.
Also, most of my pitchers started the year playing like shit and my one OF i trusted, Ordonez, suspiciously lost all power around the time that players are starting to get scared off of PEDs. I cried about everything on the message board and was going to quit, much to my fiance's delight.
Then I decided I was going to get back in the game. I traded off excess talent and picked up new talent off the wire and traded those guys as well. Long story short, in Week 10 I was last out of 14 teams. Then, 10 weeks later, I'm half a game out of first... having gone 9-1, with every one of those wins being an ass whippin.
My return to glory goes a little something like this:
1 Smell the Glove Win 10 - 4
2 The Four Train Loss 6 - 8
3 Serenity Now Loss 3 - 13
4 Communist Kickboxers Loss 3 - 12
5 ChroniclesOf Reddick Loss 2 - 14
6 bases loaded Win 10 - 4
7 The Chinese Bandits Loss 7 - 8
8 Bars Of Clay Tie 6 - 6
9 Bulletproof Tigers Loss 5 - 10
10 0 Loss 5 - 10
11 Clemens Cell Mates Win 12 - 3
12 Spanish Pantalones Win 12 - 3
13 Happy Hour Heroes Win 14 - 1
14 Smell the Glove Win 11 - 4
15 The Four Train Loss 4 - 9
16 Serenity Now Win 8 - 7
17 Communist Kickboxers Win 13 - 3
18 ChroniclesOf Reddick Win 14 - 1
19 bases loaded Win 11 - 5
20 The Chinese Bandits Win 15 - 1
21 Bars Of Clay
22 Bulletproof Tigers
My team is currently pissing excellence scoring a dominating 114-37-9 since week 10. Woo!
Fantasy baseball. Either you dig it or you don't. I happen to dig it. I put together the perfect draft strategy this year. I had all my positions tiered and all that jazz and I came in to the draft full of piss and vinegar. It went a little something like this.
1. (4) Miguel Cabrera 1B,3B - success!
2. (25) Prince Fielder 1B - success!
3. (32) Chase Utley 2B - success!
4. (53) Magglio Ordóñez OF - fail...
5. (60) John Lackey SP - traded for Reyes - fail...
6. (81) James Shields SP - traded for Reyes - fail...
7. (88) Joakim Soria RP - success!
8. (109) Matt Wieters C - traded... for somebody - success!
9. (116) Pablo Sandoval C,1B,3B - success!
10. (137) Adam Wainwright SP - success!
11. (144) Ricky Nolasco SP - first couple months fail... - since then success!
12. (165) Kevin Slowey SP - DL'd fail...
13. (172) Heath Bell RP - success!
14. (193) Ryan Theriot SS - traded for Reyes - fail...
15. (200) Chad Qualls RP - traded for somebody - success!
16. (221) Rick Ankiel OF - fail...
17. (228) Shin-Soo Choo OF - sleeper success!
18. (249) Cameron Maybin OF - fail...
19. (256) Hiroki Kuroda SP - success!
20. (277) Travis Snider OF - fail...
21. (284) Kenshin Kawakami SP - eh...!
22. (305) Skip Schumaker 2B,OF - success! but didn't need him
Sleepers, studs, and cheap closers were all part of the strategy. Then, with the idea that I didn't really like Lackey or Shields, and that I didn't really like Theriot, I pulled a preseason trade.
Mar 24 9:12pm
José ReyesDL (NYM - SS)
Denard Span (Min - OF)
Mar 24 9:12pm
Ryan Theriot (ChC - SS)
John Lackey (LAA - SP)
James Shields (TB - SP)
An infield of Fielder, Utley, Cabrera, and Reyes?? That's sick! Well, Reyes ended up being lost for the year and Theriot has hit a career number of home runs... whatever.
Also, most of my pitchers started the year playing like shit and my one OF i trusted, Ordonez, suspiciously lost all power around the time that players are starting to get scared off of PEDs. I cried about everything on the message board and was going to quit, much to my fiance's delight.
Then I decided I was going to get back in the game. I traded off excess talent and picked up new talent off the wire and traded those guys as well. Long story short, in Week 10 I was last out of 14 teams. Then, 10 weeks later, I'm half a game out of first... having gone 9-1, with every one of those wins being an ass whippin.
My return to glory goes a little something like this:
1 Smell the Glove Win 10 - 4
2 The Four Train Loss 6 - 8
3 Serenity Now Loss 3 - 13
4 Communist Kickboxers Loss 3 - 12
5 ChroniclesOf Reddick Loss 2 - 14
6 bases loaded Win 10 - 4
7 The Chinese Bandits Loss 7 - 8
8 Bars Of Clay Tie 6 - 6
9 Bulletproof Tigers Loss 5 - 10
10 0 Loss 5 - 10
11 Clemens Cell Mates Win 12 - 3
12 Spanish Pantalones Win 12 - 3
13 Happy Hour Heroes Win 14 - 1
14 Smell the Glove Win 11 - 4
15 The Four Train Loss 4 - 9
16 Serenity Now Win 8 - 7
17 Communist Kickboxers Win 13 - 3
18 ChroniclesOf Reddick Win 14 - 1
19 bases loaded Win 11 - 5
20 The Chinese Bandits Win 15 - 1
21 Bars Of Clay
22 Bulletproof Tigers
My team is currently pissing excellence scoring a dominating 114-37-9 since week 10. Woo!
Friday, June 12, 2009
One For the Birds
Shin-Soo Choo got a lucky bounce last night to help his Indians against the Royals. I wonder how they scored that one...
I won't lie, seeing as how Choo is on my fantasy team, Logjammin', it was a good one for me too. I have to include this clip, just cause.
Anyway, the shot by Choo in no way compares to this classic...
I won't lie, seeing as how Choo is on my fantasy team, Logjammin', it was a good one for me too. I have to include this clip, just cause.
The Big Lebowski - Logjammin' from alekos on Vimeo.
Anyway, the shot by Choo in no way compares to this classic...
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