Trade Deadline Disaster ?

You don't come in last place in two consecutive years because you are the unluckiest player in the league. Roster management is the reason, and this is why Stonehenge will end up in the basement again this season. There is no doubt Marv is a fantasy baseball veteran playing back when they lifted box scores from the newspaper and tallied it up the old fashion way, but clearly the dynasty aspect has threw him for a curve ball he just can't seem to hit.

Lets take a look at his end of the year projected keepers in no particular order.

1. Dan Uggla - actually having a very good year.
2. Jimmy Rollins - older and playing like shit, but have to keep for 2011
3. Nick Markakis - solid OF, not spectacular
4. Marlon Byrd - his #2 OF
5. Ike Davis - really like him
6. Aramis Ramirez - see Rollins
7. Kurt Suzuki - young catcher
8. Adam Laroche - good numbers
9. Shin Soo-Choo - his #1 OF

10. Justin Verlander - obviously his ace
11. Fransisco Cordero - obviously his only closer with value
12. Dice K - almost have to
13. Brandon Webb - will he ever pitch again?
14. Bronson Arroyo - not flashy but decent
15. Joe Saunders - in NL now
16. Ryan Franklin - hope he back as STL closer

Now sure you can argue some of these guys for others including Marvs man crush Cody Ross, but this is still an about list of what 2011 team is looking at.

Trade deadline deals he should have made.

1. Bye-Bye closers. Jon Rauch & Ryan Franklin both should have been traded weeks ago. Saves are at a premium this year and could of netted some solid young pitching which he needs more then anything. Rauch was never going to stick as Minnesota closer in 2011. If Nathan gets healthy, the job is his. Not trading Rauch throughout the year was a mistake. Same really with Franklin although with Franklin he does have a shot that he returns to closer in 2011, but with so much closer turn around and the fact that not everyone is going to keep their closers means he could have loaded up on closer in next year draft. Lets say for argument sakes, drop Ryan Franklin from keeper list and add Madison Bumgarner.

2. Jimmy Rollins - Bill & I both were hot for Rollins. Don't really tell me why considering he has been awful and hurt all year. Not sure if anyone else made him offers for Rollins, but a couple of mine that I did, I am glad they were not accepted looking back at it now. Marvs main beef was not having a quality SS in return for him. Kind of a lame excuse if you ask me. So you don't have a great SS in return who cares, draft one next year.

3. Russell Martin - Not sure if others had offered him anything for him after his hot start in the beginning of the year, but I know I did. Should have jumped all over that one with having Suzuki locked in. Now Martin is garbage and might not even be drafted next year. (this really not deadline disaster, but move he should have made)

4. RA Dickey - Dude is 35, and yes he is a knuckle baller so he may be able to stick around until he is 50 like Tim Wakefield, but he should have been on the market. 2.36 ERA 1.18 WHIP is pretty solid, and I know there was a market for him because plenty of teams up top could have used Dickey for playoff run.

5. Verlander - HUGE difference to me in a team like Marv who is in weak in pitching to a team like J-Fraud who has a few good pitching keepers. Verlander & Cordero are the only 2 pitchers on this entire roster that would warrant a roster spot from the playoff teams as a keeper. maybe someone takes a flier on Webb, who knows. Generally I don't like to be the guy who loses out on the best player in a deal, but sometimes you have to do it if you are in a bad position like this. Bumgarner,Wood & Richard would instantly become 3 keepers, or Gio/Kennedy/SLowey or something like that. I know i would have jumped on a chance to get Verlander because i am deep enough to do so, Jamie being the same way. Don't sell him off short since he is your #1 pitcher, but make a bidding war. The deals never went through last year, but Marc posted he was taking offers for hanley and jamie and I bombarded him with offers. each one getting increasingly better. Obviously they didn't work, but Marc wasn't really in a need position to do it either.

Maybe Marv will be back strong in 2011 and be a contender, maybe he will surpass Haller in the standings and not finish in last. Playing spoiler is sometimes almost as fun as winning, and Marv has the opportunity to do just that down the stretch. Either way, was another fun season and glad you were a lot more active then in years past when you just gave up after the all-star break. with an exceptional draft you could be a contender for the playoffs next season.

Quentin is in

let the fun begin...

It has been a while since my team had a great week offensively, and I hope it continues after the all-star break and give the KungFu Pandas a run for the money this year. I honestly think I have a chance this year to win it all.

My team had a bunch of slow starters most notably Mark Teixeira who was awful the first month of the season. Victor Martinez and Carlos Quentin were also some of my slow starting offensive players.

My achilles heel last season was injuries, and I currently find myself with 5 DL guys. I really don't count John Maine because if he wasn't on the DL I would drop him. After the all-star break is over, I am finally getting a payoff hopefully with the return from TJS Edinson Volquez. He has looked good & bad at times in his rehab starts, but this has pretty much always been the case with Volquez at least last season before his injury. He has the stuff to fan 10 at any given night.

The other big injury I have coming back is Carlos Beltran. Don't count Beltran out on the base paths either. Jason Bay has 10 SB's & Jeff Francouer has 7, two guys not really known for their base stealing. I could realistically see Beltran swiping 10 bags in the second half. I think Beltran could be very valuable. .280/.370, 10hr/10 sb, 40r,40 rbi second half while getting routine rest.

One of the other guys I have coming back in the second half include Jason Heyward whose .181 avg in June was due to a nagging thumb injury that he played through, at least this is what a lot of people have said. Obviously rookies are going to go through funks, but I think it did play a big part. I think Heyward will bounce back strong in the 2nd half.

Victor Martinez is a little more away then I was hoping so I am going to have to stick with Ryan Doumit a little longer or just play minus one roster spot in the 2nd half. Hopefully V-Mart is back soon because even with being out the last couple weeks he is still the 4th highest rated catcher, and I would take V-Mart over any other catcher when healthy in the league, this includes Joe Mauer whose 2009 power numbers seem to be a fluke so far. People forget that V-Mart is pretty much a career .300 hitter, and playing in a good hitters park.

Ryan Ludwick isn't the flashiest of players, but at the time of his injury he was actually out producing all-star Matt Holliday. Holliday has caught fire since, but when Ludwick gets off the DL after the all-star break I expect full steam ahead especially if he moves back to the cleanup role where he was thriving.

My biggest surprise this season has to be Aubrey Huff. Huff was pretty much left for dead in the draft this year, and I grabbed him late because I needed a backup 1b to Tex. Huff is actually the 5th best first basemen in the league this year to Teixeira's 14th. Cabrera, Pujols, Votto, Morneau, Huff. Are you serious ? Pretty crazy. I'm not sure if he keeps up this pace, but if he does 30/100/100 .295 out of guy in one of the last rounds would be a great steal.

Speaking of steals, I definitely have the best steals team in the league in my opinion. Marc just trading Bourn, but even with Bourn I still think I have a team that wins it on most weeks. Chone Figgins (24), David Wright(15), Scott Podsednik (25), Jose Reyes (19) & Carl Crawford (31) Out of all of the trades I have made in this league to improve my team I think the Crawford one takes the cake. I love me some Brett Anderson, and I actually am still high on Travis Snider, but when you have a chance to get one of the best OF's in baseball you do it. Carl Crawford has serious MVP like numbers this year.

This leads me to the title of the blog, Carlos Quentin. I was shopping around Quentin like it was my job a few weeks ago. I didn't want to part with him cheaply, because I knew the talent was there, but I could never expect what he has down so far in July. .409, 6 HR 12 RBI so far this month. Quentin isn't going to bat .300, but he could possibly hit in the high 30's in HR's & finish with well over 100 RBI.

The rest of my offense is rounded out by a pair of Reds who have enjoyed great seasons, OF Jonny Gomes 11/60 at the break, and Scott Rolen 17/57 at the break.
They have been a big part of the Reds success this year, and mine as well.

My pitching staff is definitely my weakness, but I think I have enough to win it all with this current staff. My team is led by Josh Johnson who should win the NL Cy Young award this year. He has been absolutely filthy this year. Johsnon's 3 losses this year, opening day vs the Mets which he was recovering from the flu, Halladay's no hitter & a 8 IP, 2ER, 9K performance against the Padres.

My second ace is Cole Hamels. Hamels looks ten times better then he was in 2009. The Phillies have only scored a combined 11 runs in his 7 losses this year, so luck definitely has a little thing to do with it when it comes to W/L. I expect the Phillies to make a strong push in the 2nd half this year, shoot Ryan Howard is probably good for 80 RBI's after the all-star break so Hamels luck should change.

Next comes my NL West bunch, of Chad Billingsely, Jonathan Sanchez & Ian Kennedy. I kind of like them in that order. I like Billingsley the best out of all of them, but I might be keeping all of these guys next year. I am still up in the air on my keepers.

My pair of Twins starters has disappointed this season, Carl Pavano & Fransisco Liriano have been the best Twins pitchers going into this year, and most would have taken Baker & Slowey over them. I like both for future still, they may not be keepers for me, but I will try pretty hard to draft them next year.

My middle relievers have been very strong this year led by all-star Matt Thornton. Thornton is a couple Bobby Jenks blowups from potentially grabbing that closer role in Chicago, and if it wasn't for a hot start from the Padres, Mike Adams might be looking at the closer job there with Heath Bell on the market at the beginning of the season. Sean Marshall of the Cubs has also pitched great since I acquired him in a trade from Bill. Still there low ERA/WHIP & high K/9 will help me push for the playoffs.

One of my early season middle relievers has turned into a starter. Kris Medlen who actually got the call up into the majors last year before Tommy Hanson did is actually pitching better then Hanson is this year. Go figure.

I was happy to get Brian Wilson in the trade from Marv, but I really really like Ike Davis. I guess for this season, it is a no brainer that Wilson holds more value especially on my team, but being a mets fan it is tough to let him go. Kerry Wood was pitching well until this past sunday where he picked up the loss, and Jose Valverde might be one of the best closers in the AL.

I have made a bunch of mistakes this year, a lot to do with strategy which I am not going to go over, and some to do with roster management. Protecting Russell Martin over Martin Prado was a huge mistake, and then trading Martin & my 1st round pick to move up and draft Jose Lopez. Yikes, by the way Lopez is currently a FA in this league. There were a ton of pretty mediocre picks in the 1st round this year. Having a multi position player like Prado would benefit my team a lot more than a catcher who I was hoping would have a bounce back year. I should have also kept Gavin Floyd over Kevin Slowey, it was a coin flip for me, but I went with Slowey who I thought would get more wins playing for a better team.

I like my chances, and I am hoping to break out that milk carton again at the end of the year.

Luck of the Draw ?

You can't argue against the Pandas being the best team in the league. If this were a roto league, he would be winning the league as well, what I find interesting is I am getting shallacked each week against teams who just decide to have their best weeks of the year verus me. Pretty funny. Jamie belongs at the top of the leader board, but I should be in contention as well, just a lot of bad breaks IMO with matchups.

Xtreme Dynasty Avg opponent stats

40.7 runs
7.2 HR
125.5 TB
39.2 RBI
52.8 K's
6.2 SB
.293 AVG
.359 OBP

6 of 10 weeks opponents hit over .300 against me, 7 of 11 after this week. : (

Kung Fu Pandas opponent stats

39.4 runs
7.2 HR
114.9 TB
34.5 RBI
49 K's
5.6 SB
.272 AVG
.349 OBP

1 of 10 weeks opponents hit over .300 against him.

(note averages/obp are not 100% accurate, just added total averages & divided by 10, not looking at AB's, you get good idea though)

Midseason Report Card - Pandas

After games conclude this Sunday we will be at the mid point in the season. I think I have done a fairly good job in predicting how teams would be this year, of course there has been some surprises like Josh's team. I'm going to go through and do a team by team breakdown, and of course spend more time on mine. : ) Lets start from the top.

Kung Fu Pandas A

It is not a shock to see the Pandas a top the leaderboard. I thought going into the season he had the best team on paper, and I still think he arguably does, although I wouldn't trade my whole team for his. The most surprising thing to me about the Pandas is you can make an argument that 3 of his 4 top hitters have been disappointments this year. Prince Fielder .259, 26 RBI much lower then expected. Pablo Sandoval is only batting .282, and only has 6 HR, 27 RBI. Matt Kemp is hitting a measily .263, has whiffed 74 times and has been caught stealing almost half of the time. (10 SB, 9 CS) Just imagine what his team will be like in the 2nd half when these guys get going.

The success this year for Jamie has been in his next bunch of players. Robinson Cano in my opinion is the AL MVP and its not even close. Will he hit .372 for the season? Probably not, but even if he ends up at .330 30/100/100, that is damn good enough to crush all other 2b in the league. Adrian Beltre was another great grab who has been on fire so far. I doubt he continues at a .330 pace all year, but it is a contract year for him, so you never know. A couple of Rangers round out this list Michael Young & Elvis Andrus. Young isn't that flashy kind of guy, doesn't have a ton of power, but he is a hitter for sure and should be close to 100 runs & 100 rbi this year. Andrus has had a great 1st half as well with 19 SB & a respectable .286 AVG, but like Kemp he has been caught stealing a few times and they may put the brakes on him a little bit this summer.

Trades have always been one of the Panda's biggest strength, especially with the Baby Pandas CT Crush. Had to throw in at least one quick jab haha. I think the Greinke for McCutchen trade was genius especially in a league where losses come into play. I would have made the deal too if I were Josh considering the lack of pitching he had, but even better for Jamie. I always want to be on the end where I get a hitter as I value them more in this league.

Pitching wise, Jamie's team leads the league in ERA. Wainwright has been great and so has Gallardo. It will be interesting to see if he has enough down the stretch to win it. Gallardo had a pretty bad 2nd half last year after an all-star caliber 1st half.

The Pandas have no weakness pretty much, and the only way I see them falling out of first is if he gets hit with the injury bug, something he has yet to experience in this leagues short history.

Taking a look at the veterans this season

We are almost at the half way point this year, and there definitely have been some shocking stories, and of course there is some not so shocking news, jamie in first place & marv in last. I think Marv is content on his quantity over quality approach when it comes to his starting pitching.

One lesson I learned from this draft is to never count out the old guys, these guys won't crack most teams top 16 keepers, so why not take a chance. I personally passed on too many of them thinking oh its dynasty, i need youth. I whiffed big time in the first round, I am praying Aroldis Chapman is a bust. I dropped Jose Lopez when Chone Figgins became available. Figgins gives me higher avg/obp, runs, sbs, Lopez would have given me HR/RBI/TB, but comes with a pretty low OBP as he never walks. He could be a very solid add for stretch time for the pandas though.
So I passed on the young and went with a vet, lets take a look at some hot and not vets this year, and view some pics of my favorite 80's movies, movies that these players grew up watching.


1.21 gigawatts

1. Vladimir Guerrero - Vlad (35) can hit, that isn't a question but he had a very disappointing 2009 season finishing with only 15 hrs & 50 rbi. Many thought he was done, but moving Texas has rejuvenated his career. Vlad is currently 2nd in the majors with 47 RBI. Just imagine what these numbers will look like if he stays healthy in Arlington this summer.

2. Scott Rolen - Another 35 year old player enjoying a great season. Rolen currently leads the National league with 14 Hrs & is 9th in RBI. Rolen like Guerrero plays on a pretty solid offensive team. Anyone who gets to hit behind Joey Votto will have a ton of RBI opportunities.

3. Troy Glaus - Glaus is only 33, but I consider him in this tier of older players. Glaus currently leads the NL in RBI with 44, and has 11 HR which puts him in 7th in that category. Glaus,Heyward & Martin Prado have carried the Braves offensively this year.

4. Rod Barajas - Not too many people were happy with the Mets front office when they failed to sign Benjie Molina this year, but the combination of Barajas (34) & Blanco has been great for them. Barajas leads all major league catchers in HR/RBI this year. Take that Mauer & V-mart !

5. Magglio Ordonez - Ordonez (36) had a similar season to Vlad last year in terms of GP,HR & RBI, and like Scott Rolen with Votto, you have Cabrera for Ordonez in Detroit, plus Johnny Damon now in the top of the lineup.

There are some other surprises this year that just don't fit into this age bracket like Adrian Beltre & Vernon Wells who are having great years.


These guys blow

1. Raul Ibanez - Ibanez has been probably the biggest disappointment to me. He was in MVP considerations in my opinion with the numbers he was putting up last year in the 1st half, then he got hurt and hasn't been the same. .220 3hr 22rbi in dangerous phillies lineup is pretty bad.

2. Derrek Lee - Another guy who had a MVP type season last year. .306, 35hr, 111rbi are you kidding me. This year his numbers have been awful. Andy actual traded K-rod for him straight up. That hasn't worked out to good for him.

3. Bengie Molina - Molina was 2nd in the NL in RBI's & 3rd in HR's last year among catchers. I think the Buster Posey call up rumors have effected him a little this year. He isn't even on a roster anymore he has been so brutal.

4. Brandon Inge - Inge was actually 3rd in HR among AL 3rd basemen last year. I think he is done. He was not a great fantasy player last year but he at least he had that pop to help in the power categories. I see under 20 hrs this season and that isn't worth a roster spot considering his avg is so bad.

5. Randy Wolf - Wolf statistically was the Dodgers best pitcher last year. 6th in NL in WHIP, 10th in IP, 15th in ERA he was signed by the Brewers to be there #2 guy behind Gallardo and he has failed so far.


We aint found shit

So what do you do with these vets is the big question. You won't get equal trade value for these guys right now if you trade the hot bats. Is anybody really going to give up a semi good young prospect for Rod Barajas? Doubtful, so if you have one of these 5 strong old players you need to hold on to them at least to the trade deadline and then move them for whatever you can if not in the playoff race.

With these other players it is still too early to dump one of them, but if I am out of the playoff race in a couple of weeks I am getting rid of them. Is a 35 year old under performing Derrek Lee a keeper next year? I think the teams who know that don't have a shot this year are doing it right for next year. Right now is Brett Anderson, Starlin Castro & Travis Snider worth Carl Crawford who was a 1st rounder in many peoples mock drafts this year? Definitely not, but Brett Anderson enjoyed a good rookie season and both Snider & Castro were top prospects so if 1 of those guys pan out then the deal was successful. That is why it is so hard to judge trades. I commend both brian h & marv for making moves for the future and getting players they like. In a couple of weeks, others should do the same.

It is going to be a fun next couple of weeks for sure, i think i am a buyer but you never know in this league. i went from 9th to 5th this past week, and could end up back in 9th next week.

Get em a body bag!

Week 1 Review - 20 thoughts

Thank god week 1 is over.

Some interesting thoughts from week 1...

1. Not having internet access throughout the week sucks. I left a couple big games on the bench, and was not able to make a couple of roster moves I would have liked. It ended up costing me two stats.

2. Two teams did not record a save (Beantown & Pandas). The 4 teams who have the closers battled it out. 17 saves in one matchup & 13 saves in the other. The other 8 teams combined for only 15 saves.

3. Croatia actually had the best ERA in week 1. So much for the expansion teams not being able to compete in pitching.

4. Speaking of pitching, two teams that preseason had some of the best pitching in the league (Pandas & Wagners) had miserable weeks. 5.72 ERA for Marc & 5.13 ERA for Jamie.

5. J-Fraud in first place, and with a second best 12 HR's. I didn't expect the power from his team this year.



6. Might as well give Jason Heyward NL ROY right now. He definitely impressed this week. On a side note, it is nice to see everyone utilizing their minor leaguers this year. I have seen that video like 20 times. Isn't it great? Heyward-Heyward-Heyward. BOMB!

7. A couple of trades went down this week. Charlie Morton for David Robertson. It was nice to see that one fall right back into Jamie's face, although it did serve its purpose with IP & K's. The other deal Derrick Lee for Francisco Rodriguez was a great even deal. Closers are at a premium this year. NCU needed some more bats, and Josh needs pitching.

8. If Ryan Howard is hitting this good in the spring, just imagine how good he will be this summer?

9. Milton Bradley off to a fantastic start. 1-21 & 9 K's. That 1 hit was a HR.

10. Denard Span over Nelson Cruz, OUCH. Cruz has struck out twice, Span three times. (reasoning for Bill passing on Cruz)

11. Chan Ho Park was just claimed from waiver wire. Yep

12. Casey Jannsen leads the majors in wins with 3, and is available !!! I bet ya only half of the league knows what team he plays for.

13. It has been only 1 week, and three closers may be possibly out. Jason Frasor in Toronto looks like he is out. Frank Francisco will be relieved by Netfali Feliz this week, and Mike Gonzalez has blown 2 saves this week for the O's and will probably be on a short leash.

14. Some veterans played great this week. Edgar Renteria, Magglio Ordonez & Vladimir Guerrero. All were over-looked basically on draft day.

15. My quest for HR/RBI/TB team backfired big time this week. 2nd least amount of HR's, 4th worst in RBI & 3rd worst in TB. Thank you Jose Lopez.

16. Julio Borbon yikes. Talk about a disappointment thus far.

17. I am glad I didn't make the mistake in taking Vincente Padilla in the draft. Two start pitcher in week 1. 11 ER.

18. Team Croatia had Brad Lidge (DL) and Rick Vandenhurk (minors) on his active squad all week. Those 2 roster spots could have resulted in another win or two in a category. Rookie mistake I guess.

19. Jimmy Rollins off to a hot start which is good news for Marv. Maybe he stays interested all year and makes a good playoff push?

20. I was searching for a team to route for this year. It couldn't be either the Yanks or Sox, so I went with the Mets. Good lord am I in for a rough season.

Season Preview - Odds to win it all

Will Andrew repeat this year? Will Marc receive 100 offers for Hanley Ramirez? Will either expansion team make the playoffs? Will Josh make more bad trades? Will Bill complain about those trades? Will Marv actually make a pick? The odds on some of these are good, and some not so good. Below are odds on who I think has the best chance of winning it all.

3-1
Kung Fu Pandas are the favorite to win it all this season. It was obvious that Jamie had a plan come draft day, and that was to draft best player available who will help out this season regardless of the players age. That was a small shocker considering this is the same guy who was infatuated with date of birth's last year. Jamie has the best lineup on paper, I don't think this can be argued.

Strength
I am not going to go over position or player strengths here, I am going to go over Jamie's #1 strength and that is trading. Jamie knows when to make a move, and more importantly what owners to target in a trade. Let's just say with all of the trading that Jamie made last year, I did not receive 1 offer from him. Jamie has already started off 2010 with a bang going back to old trading buddy Josh and grabbing Matt Wieters who many say will be a top 3 fantasy catcher for the next 10+ years. Dustin Ackley is one of the top prospects in baseball, and Wandy Rodriguez definitely helps Josh's inept pitching staff, but if he shopped Wieters around, I am 100% positive he could have received a better deal. I set the over/under at 6 for deals with Josh & Bruce this year. If it goes over, I think Jamie will have an even better chance to win it all. The Jones for Reynolds deal was a great one too. I am not a Reynolds fan at all.

Weakness
There really is no glaring weakness. Jamie's draft strategy could come back and bite him in the ass. Raul Ibanez, Adrian Beltre & Andy Pettitte are all pretty old and could break down this season. Also as noted in previous blog 55% of the top 20 starting pitchers didn't live up to expectations either through poor performance or because of injury. I think Jamie failed to try and grab the next Adam Wainwright or Zack Greinke in this draft, electing to go with proven vets instead. It was definitely a safe approach.

9-2
I think I (Xtreme Dynasty) have the second best chance to win it all this year. If you look at some of the other contending teams, you don't see a lot of balance. I think I did a fairly good job in building my team this offseason. My team is full of question marks, but isn't everyones really?

Strength
I think my strength is within my depth and my young players. Jason Heyward & Alcides Escobar were two huge minor league pickups I made last year and I think they will be battling it out this year for NL ROY honors. Everyone knows about Heyward but Escobar if he can get in the #1 or #2 slot in the Brewers offense this season, he could score a ton of runs. My pitching staff I think is going to have a breakout season. My pair of Twins pitchers Kevin Slowey & Scott Baker (minus last start) have looked great this spring. I think Cole Hamels & Chad Billingsley both have rebound years.

Weakness
My achilles heel last year was injuries, and it looks like 2010 is starting out the same way with 5 guys slated for the DL to open up the year. I think if I stay healthy I can challenge anyone this season. My other problem I had last year was not having enough patience with people. I dropped Miguel Tejada early on in the season and he ended up having a great year. I also dropped Kendry Morales as well, and this was because of my #1 weakness and that was my strategy. Spamming innings are great against the right opponent, the one that you have a distinct disadvantage against, but is there any need to spam against a team who you have far better players then? It doesn't make sense, and that is how I ended up missing out on some players like Morales.





5-1
Little Honus Wagners comes in third here. I really liked Marc's draft this year as he drafted a bunch of players right when I was ready to draft them like Justin Masterson, Nick Swisher (dual-eligibilty)& Scott Sizemore.

Strength
Marc's strength is definitely his pitching staff. He is kind of the opposite of Kevin. Marc's lineup is solid, but nowhere near as dangerous as it was last year in my opinion. 4 solid veteran closers who shouldn't lose their job unless injured is very nice. I like Kershaw & Jimenez alot in dynasty setting.

Weakness
I think Marc's weakness was not being more active on the WW and through trading last year. I know there was like 10 guys that were all pretty much the same on the wire last year, but take a shot on one of them, Also if Jamie was telling the truth, then it definitely would have been tough to turn down a Fielder/Greinke/Reynolds for Hanley/Gonzo/whoever deal. It was something like that, remember talking about it last year.

11-2
If we could actually place a wager on someone for real, I would put some cash on Team Hanson. Kevin was definitely hit hard with the injury bug last year, probably even harder then I was. He probably would have struggled with the 45 inning minimum last year.

Strength
There is no doubt Kevin's strength is with his lineup. I think he has one of the best lineups in the game. He has 3 players who would be in the top 10 of a new dynasty draft. (Upton,Braun & Cabrera) A-rod is going to put up MVP numbers until he retires. Joey Votto is one of my favorite up and comers, and I think he could break into that top 5 area for first basemen this year. I was targeting Colby Rasmus this year, and Kevin nabbed him from me. He could surplant Ludwick and move into the 5th spot in lineup this year. This lineup is just nasty.

Weakness
Kevin's weakness is not his pitching, although it was last year. Peavy, and hopefully Liriano pull through for him this year. Kevin's weakness last year besides the injury bug was that he just didn't seem to make enough moves during the year, maybe it had something to do with the 100 websites he has, or maybe just too many leagues, and just lost interest when his team was getting hurt. If Kevin is active this year, I think he could be the dark horse to win it all. Just judging from other leagues though that we are in together, he is more of a stand by your draft kind of guy then a go out and make a move guy.

6-1
Seems like pretty high odds for the defending champs North Country United. Pitching definitely won Andrew the championship last year, but pitching can only get you so far.

Strength
This is pretty clear cut with Andrew. His strength is his pitching. He has 3 great top notch starters in Sabathia, Santana & Lester. His bullpen is very deep, and he has a few young pitchers who could be sleepers this year.

Weakness
The weakness is definitely the bats. His top 4 keepers of Jayson Werth, Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Hill & Jason Bay aren't exactly Pujols,Fielder,KFP & Kemp. Ellsbury is the only player of the bunch i would rank in my top 20 position players. I loved the picks of Big Papi & Todd Helton in the draft this year, but I don't think it is enough to compete with some of the top teams. Andrew will need to have a lights out pitching week to be successful in the playoffs again this year.




10-1
The Beantown Brawlers come in at 10-1. I see a top 5, and then I see a race for the 6th seed. I was not a big fan of some of the moves Bill made this offseason. His expansion keepers, Granderson over Zobrist, Span over Cruz, and some of the draft choices he made.

Strength
Bill doesn't think he can compete, but looking at his team it is very good. Lincecum, Beckett & Hanson are 3 great top of the line starters. Jonathan Broxton is one of the best young closers in baseball. His lineup is filled with some young budding stars like Gordon Beckham & Billy Butler. If Bill can fix his weakness this year, he could be a contender.

Weakness
Bill's weakness last year was definitely holding on to players too long, and waiting too long for guys on the waiver wire. Bill missed out on a ton of players last year because he was waiting for someone to break out of a funk. I think also he wasn't used to this type of scoring, and was familiar with a certain style of owners which this league clearly didn't have. This league was filled with mostly new fantasy baseball players and those guys jumped more often on players then Bill was used to.
I also think he over values some of his players. I fall victim to this sometimes in football, and really makes other owners think if you really like someone this much and think of him that much, why would you shop him?

21-2
I actually like both of the expansion teams next, but rate Montreal Expos a tad higher then Croatia. I think Brian H. had a very solid draft. He has a lot of young talent, but also a lot of vets who will give him a shot at the playoffs this year.

Strength
It is tough to judge a new owner on strengths without being in a league with them before, but from what I have seen from Brian in expansion draft and regular draft I think he will be a tough owner for years to come. Top to bottom Brian's lineup is pretty good. He has speed, power and a fairly decent average. I think Carl Crawford is going to put up MVP type numbers this year.

Weakness
It is not as weak as some others pitching staff, but when Brian struggles this year it will be with his pitching. Ricky Nolasco is really his only true ace. What is nice about the team is that he has a lot of breakout candidate type players like Romero, Buchholz, Sherzer & Sanchez...not to mention Aroldis Chapman who will probably be up this summer. Leo Nunez is his only true closer, and yikes.




11-1
This one was a little tough to figure out. I like Croatia's roster a bit more then Expos, but I am not sure what type of owner Brian B. is going to be. This is his first go at fantasy baseball I guess in a while.

Strength
I think Brian's lineup is actually his strength. 7 players projected at double digit steals, and 11 players projected over 20 HR's. compare that to KFP who has only 10 players projected over 20 HR's or Kevin's team who only has 8 players projected over 20 HR's.

Weakness
The lack of good starting pitching really hurts Brian's chances this year. He has some very good relievers that he could potentially move and get some good starting pitchers, but until then I don't think he has enough to really compete. Also, the new factor might hurt him this year, he might be victim to getting burned in a couple of deals.

16-1
J-Fraud clearly lost his identity. Last year his offense put up some huge numbers. This year I think it will struggle.

Strength
There are solid building blocks in place, but I think J-Fraud definitely needs to make some moves this year. Roy Halladay is my pick for NL Cy Young. John Lackey, Cliff Lee & AJ Burnett round out a pretty strong top 4. I think Halladay will be a good trade piece come deadline time if J-Fraud finds himself out of it. He definitely isn't afraid to deal which can be a good thing.

Weakness
It is definitely the identity thing. He went from HR/RBI/TB team to pretty much just strong at SB's. He has a crazy amount of stolen bases on his team and only 6 players who project for more than 20 hrs. That really isn't going to cut it on most weeks. If you need steals, look no further as there are plenty of players on this team who should be made available.

20-1
CT Crush falls in here at 15-1. I like bits and pieces of Bruce's team but as a whole don't think he has enough this season to compete. Plenty of young players in pipeline though which is nice.

Strength
LOL, one strength Bruce has is his buddy Jamie. Jamie really pitched in and gave Bruce some solid advice on some players last year down the stretch, some advice that some of the other owners Marv should have taken as well. I liked Bruce's draft a lot this year despite all the Rays he drafted. Solid team, needs to keep building for future.

Weakness
This is a pretty easy one for me, and that is way too many Rays on his team. There is one thing to be a fan and have players on your team that you like, but he has gone overboard here. 5 Ray pitchers going against the best division of bats in baseball hands down. That isn't a recipe for success.

40-1
Are you shocked that I don't have Stonehenge last? Marv definitely had his share of injuries and bad luck last year, hopefully it won't bite him in the ass again this year.

Strength
Unfortunately I really don't see too many strengths with his lineup. I just think Duffs weakness outweighs Marv's hence the rating. I like Markakis a lot. I think he will develop a little more power this year. I think Rollins is underrated going into this year. Shin-Soo Choo is one of those guys who people forget about, but I like him this year.

Weakness
Marv's big weakness last year was that he basically gave up and quit paying attention to his team. Instead of taking constructive criticism and good suggestions from one owner, he elected to ignore it and not build for the future. I think Marv got caught up in seasonal league mentality and not dynasty league. How active will Marv be this year is the big question. If the draft is the blue print then I don't expect Marv to be a contender this year. I hope he proves me and everyone else wrong though.

Any O's fan shouldn't be too happy with this pic. LOL

50-1
The Duffs have the worst odds to win it all this year in my opinion, and not because of the talent.

Strength
Duffs actually has a lot of talent on his team. The #1 catcher Joe Mauer, the #1 2nd basemen Chase Utley. He has some young talent like Andrew McCutchen & Carlos Gonzalez. If this were a roto league and we couldn't make roster moves, I think Josh would have a middle of the pack team, unfortunately this isn't.

Weakness
The main weakness with Josh, and the same issue J-Fraud will have this year is not having a clear identity. The trades he made last year were absolutely horrible if you look at it from a whole. Lets look at some of the players Josh had on his team last year that he currently doesn't have now. Grady Sizemore traded for Corey Hart & Melky Cabrera. Absolutely brutal deal. Cole Hamels, he received Javier Vazquez in a trade for him, but then traded Vazquez later. Joakim Soria was drafted by Duffs. I forgot about this deal. Wish I remember the details on this one, but I remember at the time it wasn't great. Ricky Nolasco might have also been involved in that deal with Soria, because Jamie got them both in trade last year. Nolasco of course was pretty bad at times last year, but a case of giving up on a player too soon, just like he did with Hamels & Sizemore. Adam Wainwright was on Duffs team as well. Josh wanted to help his ERA out, so he traded him for Zach Duke who at the time was pitching real well, then after the deal was made, he decided he wanted more strikeout guys weird. Michael Young, another guy sent over to KFP in trade. Huston Street, was released by Josh, and then I picked him up. Look at all that talent that left Duffs team, and look at the current state of his team now. He then just lost Matt Wieters this year who I mentioned above by many will be top catcher in baseball for next 10+ years. Just how valuable Matt Wieters was last year? He was drafted with the 2nd pick in the 7th round, and that is with no big league experience. This year in a new dynasty league, i bet ya he is taken before the 5th round. Shopping around before making a deal is definitely a good idea, not just for Josh, but for anyone who is making a deal. Josh's draft minus the trade this year was pretty good, and he does have a good nucleus of young players, but until he gets those trades in check, I can't seriously consider him a player in this league. Maybe he will get lucky on a few this year, who knows. I do gotta give him some credit for at least trying though.

A look back at the 2009 draft - Part 1

How much does the draft play into a teams success? What were the biggest blunders/steals in our draft last year? Lets take a look.

1st round
Worst Pick
The biggest surprise to me was Jimmy Rollins 5th overall in a dynasty league. Rollins was a year removed from his 30/40 MVP season. Rollins was also over 30 years old. Definite reach for Marv there.

Best Pick
In my opinion, it was Hanley Ramirez. Awfully tough to pass on Albert Pujols, but Hanley puts up numbers at SS that no one else in the league comes close to. Pujols is a beast, but 1b is the deepest position.

Closing Thought
Xtreme Dynasty ended up with 3 of the top 9 players drafted in the first round last year, only one of them Mark Texeira is 1st round material this year.

2nd round
Worst Pick
Alfonso Soriano was by far the worst pick in this round, possibly the entire draft. He did just come off a 30/20 season, but at the age of 33 in a dynasty setting he should have been taken much later.

Best Pick
It is tough to overlook Tim Lincecum, but Ryan Braun gets the nod here. 18th overall pretty crazy. Alfonso Soriano, BJ Upton (surprise surprise to Bruce) were both taking ahead of Braun.

Closing Thought
Two injury busts in this round were Josh Hamilton drafted by the KungFu Pandas & Brandon Webb drafted by Marv.

Round 3
Worst Pick
There really wasn't any bad players taking in this round, but Carlos Lee with the 1st pick in the 3rd round over A-rod & Prince Fielder. Crazy.

Best Pick
Best value goes to A-rod, but for dynasty Prince Fielder was the better pick. Fielder has 10 years on A-rod left in the tank.

Closing Thought
J-Fraud clearly missed the mark with "dynasty" taking Brian Roberts. Howard/Soriano/Roberts top 3 picks.




Round 4
Worst Pick
It is beat up on Marv day, because Dan Uggla definitely disappointed in 2009. Marv definitely had some bad luck with some guys last year. Even his golden boy Nick Markakis in round 3 didnt live up to the hype.

Best Pick
This is how unprepared I was last year. When Matt Kemp was drafted by KFP, I was like who the hell is Matt Kemp? It was my first year doing fantasy baseball, granted I know a lot more now, but still funny looking back at it.

Closing Thought
This round was pretty solid top to bottom, and Bruce had 3 Rays out of 4 when he got Carl Crawford. Would the trend continue?

Round 5
Worst Pick
Vladimir Guerrero was on the decline, and I think it was a reach grabbing him at the end of round 5. Chad Billingsley didnt live up to 5th round potential either, but at least in dynasty he could rebound.

Best Pick
Kind of obvious one with Felix Hernandez. Kudos for Jamie for solid prep and pulling the trigger at the right time with these picks.

Closing Thought
Aramis Ramirez to Marv in round 5. Another guy who missed most of the year. The fantasy gods were clearly not with him in '09.

Round 6
Worst Pick
Fransisco Liriano. Maybe he pulls it together this year, but man has he been a disappointment the last few years.

Best Pick
Joe Mauer by the Duffs was a great pick. Imagine Joe Mauer in the 6th round this year. Josh ended up with the best C/2B in the draft. Great pick

Closing Thought
Chris Davis was a stretch as well, but it seems that Jamie's "misses" all ended up getting traded. Good work by him.

Round 7
Worst Pick
Geovany Soto did not live up to his ROY season. Lucky Bill gives Soto another chance in 2010.

Best Pick
Derek Jeter might be old, but great value and he had one of his best years ever last year. Good pick by J-Fraud.

Closing Thought
Matt Wieters was drafted in this round by KFP who then traded him to Duffs at end of last year, who then got him back from Duffs this pre-season.



Round 8
Worst Pick
There were a lot of picks that didn't pan out this round, but BJ Ryan by J-Fraud was by far the worst. Ouch, just looking at it now.

Best Pick
Joey Votto by Kevin. I love Votto going forward. He missed a lot of time last year but I think he could crack top 5 in production for 1b this year.

Closing Thought
Jamie missed on the Jay Bruce pick last year, but was able to package him in a deal to Bruce for Carl Crawford. Good value trade.

Round 9
Worst Pick
Rich Harden by Beantown is my choice. Harden is a DL trip waiting to happen. He actually had the 2nd most innings pitched ever last year though. Not a fan, and his ERA/WHIP were bot great either.

Best Pick
Jon Lester by NCU is the best pick in this round. Young, strikeout guy pitching for a winner. Great pickup.

Closing Thought
Joba Chamberlain the hype was drafted in this round. Don't think he goes in top 15 rounds in new drafts.

Round 10
Worst Pick
Garrett Atkins was absolutely horrible last year. Duffs clearly missed on this one. He didn't last long on his roster either.

Best Pick
Troy Tulowitzki by Kevin was the best pick. Tulo started off slow, but he was on fire for the rest of the year. Clear choice for 2nd best SS in the game.

Closing Thought
There were some other guys that didn't pan out in this round too. The Marv curse with Dice K, and the Pandas with Corey Hart.

Round 11
Worst Pick
Aubrey Huff was a severe let down for me last year. I was actually rolling with him as my starting 1b for a while last year. YIKES !

Best Pick
There were a lot of good pitchers taking this round, but Marv struck gold with Justin Verlander. Verlander was one of the few guys who actually panned out in the early goings for Marv.

Closing Thought
Carlos Marmol was drafted this round. Marmol for Scutaro !! Man, was Bill not happy about that one. I thought it worked out well for Marc though.



Round 12
Worst Pick
JJ Hardy was so bad last year he was called down to the minors. The Brewers who were shopping him because Alcides Escobar was their future SS had no takers.

Best Pick
Two great NL West pitchers were drafted in this round, and No, not Max Scherzer although he was taken by Bill here. Clayton Kershaw is my top pick for long term by Little Honus Wagners. Honorable mention to Kevin for Matt Cain

Closing Thought
I thought Scherzer was a top 5 pitcher? LOL

Round 13
Worst Pick
Almost a tie between Matt Capps & Vernon Wells, but I'm giving it to Josh for taking Vernon Wells. I was even dumb enough to trade for Wells after the break waiting for him to get out of his funk. It never happened.

Best Pick
Josh Johnson was taking by Bill, Ryan Zimmerman by J-Fraud, but the best pick was Zack Greinke by Jamie. We all know how nasty Greinke was last year.

Closing Thought
Fantasy inexperience cost me on Greinke as I had him in my draft queue. I valued closers too much and took Valverde the round before. Ugggg

Round 14
Worst Pick
Chien-Ming Wang by J-Fraud ended up being the worst pick here. Wang was absolutely brutal last year.

Best Pick
This might be the best pick in the entire draft. Kevin drafted Justin Upton in the 14th round. Great value.

Closing Thought
Jayson Werth was also drafted this round. Funny how some players were drafted by a team, and then traded away during the year, and ended up back on their roster at the end of the year.

Round 15
Worst Pick
Gonna beat up on Cocco a little more as Lastings Milledge was definitely the worst of this group here.

Best Pick
Although Robbie Cano was a great steal in Round 15, Adam Wainwright was one of the best pitchers in baseball last year. I give the nod to Duffs with Wainwright

Closing Thought
Marv had a nice pick this late with Shin-Soo Choo

Round 16
Worst Pick
Goes to Duffs with Ben Sheets. Sheets was clearly picked to stash for 2010, but Josh ended up dropping him, so the pick made zero sense in the long run.

Best Pick
There were 4 great picks this round. Chris Carpenter to Marc, I drafted Tommy Hanson, Marv drafted Adam Jones but the best was probably Pablo Sandoval to the KungFu Pandas.

Closing Thoughts
This round even produced all-star Brad Hawpe, and Johnny Queto (as bill calls him) was one of the top pitchers in baseball in the early goings.




Round 17
Worst Pick
I get the worst pick in this round taking Willie Taveras. Taveras was projected by many to be the top steals getter in all of baseball, boy did he disappoint. He was terrible last year.

Best Pick
Derrek Lee by Beantown was a great pick. He was batting under .200 after the first month of the year and I believe Bill ended up cutting him. Boy was that a terrible move.

Closing Thoughts
Speaking of terrible, Jorge Cantu was drafted in this round by J-Fraud. Cocco flipped Cantu for John Lackey & Edwin Jackson. Great move

Round 18
Worst Pick
Marv drafted Derrick Turnbow according to draft log, but im pretty sure that was to take a minor leaguer that wasnt in yahoo universe, so Mike Aviles to Duffs is my worst pick.

Best Pick
I think Gavin Floyd was the best pick in this round by me. I am so high on Floyd. I will do my best to get him back this year.

Closing Thought
Johhny Damon was great value for Marc this late in the draft.

Round 19
Worst Pick
Nate Robertson by CT Crush was the worst pick of this round.

Best Pick
A couple of nice picks in this round. I drafted Miguel Tejada and then cut him like a dope after a slow start only to hit .313 last year, Duffs drafted Huston Street, but NCU draftin Jair Jurrjens was clearly the best pick.

Closing Thoughts
Billy Butler also was drafted as well, great pick by Bill this late.

Round 20
Worst Pick
Does All count? This was one of the worst rounds in the draft by far. If I had to choose one it would be Bill with Carlos Silva.

Best Pick
Bruce gets the nod with Netfali Feliz. This isn't even close.

Closing Thoughts
This was just a miserable round, Kevin did draft Erik Bedard here. Not a bad pick if he stayed healthy.

Round 21
Best Pick
Jered Weaver by Duffs narrowly beats out James Loney by Marc as top pick.

Round 22
Best Pick
Heath Bell was a great pick this late by Kevin. One of the top closers in baseball last year.

Round 23
Best Pick
Jose Lopez by NCU was the best pick, too bad he cut him after a shitty start. He ended up with more RBI's last year then Chase Utley.

Round 24
Best Pick
This rivals the Justin Upton pick just because of how late in the draft it came, but wow Adam Lind here was a steal. Great pick by Marc.

Round 25
Best Pick
Marc again gets top pick with getting Trevor Hoffman.

Round 26
Best Pick
I think Bengie Molina was top guy here. 20/80 out of a catcher this late good value pick by me.

Round 27
Best Pick
Ubaldo Jimenez by Marc is a close close 2nd to Wandy Rodriguez drafted by me.


So lets tally it up

Best Drafts by Round
Kevin,Jamie 5
Marc 4
Andrew,Josh & Sean 3
Cocco,Marv & Bill 1
Bruce 0

Worst Drafts by Round
Josh 6
Bill & Cocco 3
Sean & Marv 2
Marc,Kevin & Bruce 1
Jamie 0

Fantasy Baseball All Luck?

So Bill brought up a good point on the message board today.

I think I read something somewhere that the experts picks preaseason (this one in particular anyway) are only right on about 42% of their picks over the last 5 years or something like that. So even the people that get paid to do this are right less than 1/2 the time on players being at, or outperforming their preseason value. I thought that was interesting.

This got me thinking, and I went ahead and googled a 2009 pre-season ranked list of players. What I found was definitely pretty interesting.

Lets take a look at Starting Pitchers.

Look at all of these players that didn't live up to their ranking.

1. Johan Santana - Santana was good last year, but no where near #1 overall, wasn't even a top 5 pitcher in the NL league last year.

4. Brandon Webb - Season ended early due to injury

6. Jake Peavy - Another pitcher plagued with injuries.

8. Cole Hamels - Mediocre, up and down season. really good or really bad

9. Roy Oswalt - WBC & age caught up with him

13. Ervin Santana - was horrible

15. Edinson Volquez - TJS ended season

16. Dice-K - Injury, and just sucked

17. Carlos Zambrano - Pretty average #'s

18. Scott Kazmir - Injuries, and poor #'s

19. Chad Billingsley - 1st half good, 2nd half injuries and was awful

You could argue some of these guys, but that is 11/20 that didn't live up to their expectations. Pretty crazy. 55%




Then have guys ranked much lower, and I would have taken any one of these guys over above guys for last season...

24. Felix
25. Verlander
26. Wainwright
35. Josh Johnson
39. Vazquez
40. Greinke
41. Cain
54. Jurrjens
67. Kershaw
78. Carpenter
83. Wandy

There is definitely a lot more luck involved in baseball then there is in football. If you lose a Larry Johnson, a replacement like Jamaal Charles can step right in and produce same/similar #'s. Of course in Charles case he trumped LJ. In baseball, if you lose Brandon Webb for the year, you have no where else to turn.

Will 2010 be any different then 2009? My money is on no. You can't predict injuries obviously, but just because the KungFu Pandas has 4 pitchers in ESPN's top 15 does not mean that they will end there this year. Chances are that 2 of the 4 will either be injured or not live up to the hype.

The winner this year is going to be the guy who realizes that pre-season hype is just hype. Projections are just projections. The team that finds the most Wandy Rodriguez's will end up winning this year, as the waiver pool is so much less with the addition of the two teams.

So who is this years Wandy?

Through 6 rounds - Draft grades

I for one think this email draft is the way to go. Live drafts are fun, but this adds a new element with trades. Trading up to grab a guy, trading down to grab extra picks. You can't accomplish this in a standard live draft when you have 90 seconds to make a pick. Everyone is on board now and the picks are running very smoothly.

So through 6 rounds, Here are my draft grades.

In honor of the #1 team on my list, name this Sox player above....

A-
Croatia Lebowski gets a solid B+ so far in my opinion. Steven Strauburg in the first was a no brainer. I am a big of James Loney. He may not have 25 HR power, but he is a great avg hitter, and very young. He draws comparisons to Mark Grace which is a huge honor as he was one of the most underrated players of all time. Grace is also one hell of a smack talker. Loney is a safe fall back if Chris Davis doesn't pan out in Texas. Nolan Reimold is a great young OF in Baltimore. Baltimore has a pretty nice young lineup. He has pretty good power. Great value in the 3rd round. Nick Johnson in the 4th was a solid pick. It might have been a little early, but Johnson's .OBP was like 20 pts higher then anyone else available, plus now playing in NY in that lineup. Johnson could be a very dangerous player this year. Mike Napoli was more of a need pick. Scioscia doesn't like Napoli's defense so Jeff Mathis will get a lot of run to, but Vlad is gone and maybe Napoli's big bat will get some run at DH if new DH Hideki Matsui breaks down. I'm not a fan of this pick though. Great draft so far for this team.


Little Honus Wagners gets a good A- in my book. Miguel Montero was a great pickup in the 2nd round. It was a need pick and a pick of value. The scraps were thin at catcher after him. Two guys I was targeting and missed out on were Scott Sizemore & Justin Masterson. Masterson was the guy I really wanted but waited too long. Great potential. Speaking of potential Marc lined up his minor leaguers nicely with Brown & Storen. Marc added another closer with Chad Qualls as well. Pretty good draft thus far, not only building for the future, but to win it this year as well.

B
The Montreal Expos get a nice solid B in my book. The Michael Taylor pick was not great, but Brian made up for it with Aroldis Chapman in the 2nd round who I tried to trade up for and get. We probably won't see Chapman this year, but great pick for future. You have to love those lefties ! Another player I was targeting was Milwaukees 2B Rickie Weeks. Weeks does have a history of injuries so he is a gamble, but when he is healthy he could be a legit 25/20, 100 run type player in that lineup. Will be interesting to see how Milwaukee sets their lineup for sure. Kyle Blanks & Drew Stubbs are both nice young OF. Blanks K's a lot but has a ton of raw power. Stubbs hopefully gives the Reds a lead off hitter that they lacked last year with the Willie Taveras bomb. Leo Nunez wasn't a bad pick, but I would have let someone else gamble on him. Can always find saves.

I give the mighty Pandas a solid B. It is clear that the Pandas want to taste fantasy glory this year with the picks of Raul Ibanez, Andy Pettitte & Adrian Beltre. Beltre I like the most of the 3 this year. He could have a "monster" year. All are old and could potentially break down so there are some concerns. I am not a big Franklin Guitterez guy. He is a solid player, but not spectacular in my opinion. Ted Lilly also a gamble, but one KFP can take a shot on with his great rotation. The only great move KFP made for the future IMO was getting Wieters from Duffs which was a great move.





B-
I hated the Matt Wieters trade for the Duffs, but it was a fair trade on paper and filled a huge need for him. Ackley is nothing but a prospect right now, a highly regarded prospect, but just a prospect. He was arguably the top offensive prospect on the board at pick #10. The #4 overall pick was great with JA Happ. My ranking for the Duffs might have been low after round 1, but his draft rounds 2-5 was great. Yunel Escobar was a great pick up in round 2, and Placido Polanco who may be hitting in the 2 slot this year in Philly is going to be one of those players that just comes out of no where and has a great season. Rajai Davis gives him some much needed speed. With Joe Nathan done for the year, I think Josh scrambled well and got 2 decents relievers in Mike Gonzalez & Octavio Dotel.

Xtreme Dynasty gets a B- I liked trading up to get Lopez a position of need, and am very happy that the HR/RBI/TB of Ryan Ludwick fell into my lap. I might have reached a bit for John Maine in the 6th round. I was still pissed off I missed on Masterson. Ian Stewart will not hit .220 again and he could be this seasons big breakout player. Great risk/reward there. Joe Blanton is solid, but not lights out front line starter material. He was my pick mainly because of pitching for Philly and liked W-L opportunities. Kerry Wood gives me my 2nd AL Central closer. On the older side, but don't see any way besides injury or trade he loses that job in Cleveland. I am happy with my draft, just a couple of failed opportunities, like not taking Greinke last year.

C+
Team Berkley hates Jamie had a great start of the draft adding Russell Martin via trade and drafting 20/20 100 run potential Nate McLouth, since then it has gone down hill. I really didn't like the Michael Brantley or Cody Ross selection. I am fine with taking a gamble on Alex Gordon this late in the draft. Marv will be able to stash him on his DL for the beginning of the year. He has obvious talent being drafted 2nd overall in 2005 draft. Ryan Franklin was a good pick giving Marv a 3rd closer, but Jon Rauch in the 6th was pretty weak in my opinion. He is the projected closer to replace Nathan, but nothing is set in stone. It is not a bad gamble, but with so much other talent out there, the last place team in the league could have filled a hole elsewhere.

The defending champ North Country United also gets a C+ Shawn Marcum & Tim Hudson were two guys I was targeting that I missed out on. I didn't like the Jason Frasor pick that much. Big Papi like others who have taken veteran players on their last legs was a great pick up for this season. There is a ton of value with Papi. I am not a Howie Kendrick guy because he just doesn't fit the two type of middle infield types. You got the power hitting guys, and the speed guys. Kendrick is neither. He is kind of average in everything.



CT Crush's future ace.....

C
The over/under is set at round 10 for when CT Crush selects Rays OF Matt Joyce. To be successful in fantasy sports, you need to separate real life and fantasy. I wouldn't draft the Titans WR corp because I am a Titans fan. It's not like I am not drafting a Colt because I hate them. Jeremy Hellickson is a good young pitcher, by some a top 10 prospect, so I am not faulting the pick. I had Drabek/Chapman higher on my board is all. When you have a stacked team like the Pandas did, you can afford to take a favorite player like Pablo Sandoval. It is important in fantasy sports to have a team full of players you like to route for, but overboard is overboard. Have the two new teams offered Zobrist / Garza & Jennings yet? I loved the Martin Prado pick, good average and eligible in 3 positions. It is definitely nice having a player like that on your team. Chipper Jones, why not? Good pick there. He may only have a year left in the tank, but we are only keeping 16 players next year, and since the Crush has 16 Rays on his team, Chipper will be shown the door. Sean Rodriguez would have been on the board later in my opinion. Tampa obviously likes him enough to trade Kazmir away. I dont like Alberto Collaspo, but I do like Paul Konerko. Konerko = Consistency.


C
I'm giving Team Hanson a C- which is a pretty good rebound from the big fat F from the 1st round with Rich Harden. Kevin needed pitching, but another injury gamble with Erik Bedard? I guess if you combine Harden & Bedard's numbers you get a solid pitcher, but it takes up two roster spots. I will refer to this duo from now on as Bedarden. I loved the Oswalt pick. He clearly isn't the Oswalt of old, but i don't think he ever recovered from the WBC last year. Great value, and possible trade to contender down stretch helps value. I also liked the Colby Rasmus pick. Rasmus was a top 10 prospect heading into last year, has a ton of talent for sure. Chris Iannetta was more of a need pick, but he clearly was best catcher available at time of pick. I still can't get over that 1st rounder though.



D+
J-Fraud started out pretty well with the Drabek pick. I think he has the talent to be a frontline starter in the majors, but like a young high schooler who had his penis touched for the first time, he blew his load. J-Fraud already had a lineup full of speed guys like Nyjer Morgan & Julio Borbon. Why draft Juan Pierre? I hope it was to move one of these guys later to a team that needs speed. Complete overkill. Then the draft selections of Vernon Wells & Juan Rivera were even more puzzling. As of right now, he has a total of 10 outfielders on his roster with a max of 7 spots to start (4 Of, 3 Util) Heisey will be in minors or cut for other prospect, but still no depth in the infield. I liked Napoli over Posada. Both will probably play the same amount of games, but Napoli has more upside. Ben Sheets is definitely worth the gamble though.

D-
I guess we will see how the draft finishes, but man has the Beantown Brawlers made a few odd selections. Dexter Fowler in the first was an average pick. Steals could have been found later, and Fowler might have been around in the 2nd round as well. Ryan Doumit to me was a oh crap Napoli got picked I better draft a catcher. He got caught up in position run. I am not 100% sure, but I think every team has a starting catcher on their squad, and most teams last year did not carry two catchers on their team. Garret Jones? No thank you. The Ian Desmond pick was brutal. Waaaaaaaay too early for a player who is not even guaranteed a roster spot. The only pick I liked was Brandon Morrow. Morrow is a good strikeout guy, and maybe he can turn his career around. It was a risk I would have been willing to take. Go Pirates !!!

Grading the 1st round - Dynasty League

Well thanks to one fantasy owner whose dog wants to eat the bones off the commish the first round of the 2010 Dynasty League Draft felt like the 2007 NFL Draft, but like any die hard fan you sat through it and watched it all. Here is hoping that the rest of the draft runs smoothly. Good boy Berkley, bite that commish.


A+
Team Wood with their selection of Steven Strasburg. He was the clear cut #1 choice in this draft. Any other selection in my opinion would have been a F. In the past 20 years a pitcher has gone #1 overall in the MLB draft seven times. They were all pretty much busts. Twenty years from now looking back at it, I will still remember one of those guys mainly because of his lunatic wife. I still remember Anna Benson to this day on the Stern show saying that she would sleep with the entire Mets organization if she ever found out if her husband Kris cheated her. I wonder if the bat boys or Mr.Met would be included in that.



Matt Wieters in the 17th round is incredible value even though it cost the Pandas Wandy Rodriguez & his first rounder. Might I add that Wandy Rodriguez was a final round selection in last years draft by yours truly. Jamie basically gets a catcher who could be in the top 5 this year and every year for the next 10+ years. I like Wieters a lot and if I were Duffs I would have shopped him around a little more as I think he could have gotten more for Wieters then he did.

B+
I am giving myself Xtreme Dynasty a B+ for the first round of the draft. Looking at needs before the draft started it was clear to me that I needed to focus on HR/TB/RBI. I struggled with them a lot last year. My team is pretty solid coming into the year at every position, but I lacked a 2b. Jose Lopez was not only one of the top players available in HR/RBI/TB, he filled a glaring need at the 2b position since I lost Brandon Phillips. Lopez was waiver wire material after the first two months of the season last year, but after the slump he finished very strong. Safeco definitely is a pitchers park which is great if you have King Felix or Cliff Lee, but not if you have a hitter from that park. Lopez home splits were pretty dreadful, but away from Safeco he hit .313 last season. If Seattle is out of it come trade deadline time, Lopez could be shopped to make room for prospect Dustin Ackley. If a trade happens, Lopez potentially could be a top 5 2b.



I am also giving the other team in this trade a B+. Stonehenge clearly needed help, and picking McLouth 3rd overall in this draft would have been a decent 1st round for him. Stonehenge got McLouth who should be a lock for another 20-20 campaign, and have a high run amount as well. In the trade he also got Russell Martin. Martin was a top 5 catcher going into last year. I am not ready to disregard Martin in the fantasy world yet. I don't think we will see any more 20 SB seasons out of him, but he does have a great OBP for a catcher, and should score a good amount of runs in explosive Dodgers lineup.

B-
I am giving the Beantown Brawlers & Little Honus Wagners both a B-. Fowler helps Beantown out in steals, but he K's a little too much for my liking. If you are going to draft a guy who K's a lot why not just keep Nelson Cruz who will also hit you 35 HR's and steal a good amount of bases? Fowler has potential though. Montero busted out last year, and I definitely like the fact that Arizona's lineup is filled with young talent like Upton,Reynolds & Drew. He was my top catcher on my board. Both of these picks were good solid picks, but both with questions.

C+
J-Fraud has a veteran pitching staff that includes Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, AJ Burnett & John Lackey. Getting a young pitching prospect who many say can be as good as Roy Halladay some day I think was a great move. Drabek was one of the top SP prospects available, plus he is well known as he was mentioned endless times around the trade deadline.

Todd Helton is not the prototypical dynasty league draftee at age 36, but if NCU can squeeze another .310/.400 75/75 season out of him, then he would be well worth the pick here. Great value for one season, but when will the wheels fall off ?

C-
Michael Taylor drafted 2nd overall by the Expos was a tad bit high in my opinion. There were plenty of young players that could help win now. Taylor would have been on the board most likely to start round 2. OF is pretty deep, and most of the other teams protected 2-3 OF's at least. I would have gambled and waited knowing I already have Jennings & Montero on my minor league squad.



When will CT Crush's man love for the Rays end? Jeremy Hellickson is Ray #9 on his team. I like Hellickson but not as much as Drabek who has that pitching pedigree. The over/under is set at 12 for the amount of Rays on Bruces final roster. I like the pick even though he is a Ray, but I think it was a round too early.

D+
I think this is where Duffs belongs after round 1. The picks he made JA Happ & Dustin Ackley were fantastic. The big question is though, does Wandy Rodriguez & Dustin Ackley = Matt Wieters. In my opinion it doesn't. Not enough for one of the best hitting catcher prospects to come our way since Mike Piazza. I do give credit to Josh however for making the move. His current pitching staff was filled with question marks. If Ackley who is a top 10 prospect by many going into this year pans out, then this trade is well worth it. I would have wanted a front line starter someone like Wainwright to move Wieters.

F
One team gets the big fat F in my book, and that is Team Hanson. Rich Harden was a terrible pick in my opinion. #1 He now pitches in Texas where balls fly out all summer long. #2 This guy is a trip to the DL waiting to happen. Harden had his second best season in the bigs in his seven year career in innings pitched with 141. Harden has only topped 100 IP three times. Harden is a very good pitcher when healthy, but I don't want to start the playoffs seeing DL next to his name. Too much of a gamble for me.


Im ready for round 2! Lets get going.

Dynasty League- Pitching Preview

Pitching wins championships right? Well, at least in this leagues short history that is the case. Let's take a look to see who has the advantage going in this year.

Lets start with the champ. North Country United showed us all that you don't need to have the best hitting team to win it all. Can he repeat this year? He definitely has the arms for it at the top of his rotation led by CC Sabathia, Johan Santana & Jon Lester. All have 20 win potential IMO, and are good strikeout starters. In the bullpen NCU has 2 top notch closers in Jonathan Papelbon & Fransisco Rodriguez. I expect the Mets to be a lot better this year with a healthy offense, so K-rod should have a few more opportunities. Andrew made a great move in the playoffs and picked up Rafael Soriano. Soriano blew up against the Phillies on 9/19 which led to his release from the Pandas. Soriano will be the Rays closer to start the year, and I really don't see any competition there. I am not sure why Kuroda was not protected in the 2nd wave of pitchers. Jason Marquis of the Nationals was, and then Joel Pineiro as his final pick. Both pitchers have very low K/9 and will hurt Andrew's overall number this year. Definite head scratching moves to me.

To go with his pretty awesome lineup, KungFuPandas has a pretty nasty pitching staff as well.
Kudos to Jamie for scouting these younger guys last year and drafting them a few rounds before others were looking at them. I kept waiting for Zack Greinke to fall back down to earth last year....never happened. Same thing with Felix Hernandez, I knew he had the stuff to be an ace, but in his young career never showed it. Last year he was great. He beat his career best in ERA by almost 1 full point. Yovani Gallardo was one of the best pitchers in the NL in the first half last year, had a down second half, but think he will return to that 1st half form this season. If Bills Jackson/Lackey for Cantu deal was bad, Jamie & Josh's Wainwright for Zack Duke deal was just as bad. There were other players involved, but the jist of it when comparing A to B was Wainwright for Duke. Imagine where Duffs team would be with Wainwright this year. Great example of buy/sell high by Jamie. Andrew Bailey was filthy last year, and he should be just as good for this season. Jamie's bottom line starters are good, but I am not sold on all of them especially Javier Vazquez.
Ask any Yankees fan their opinion/projection about Vazquez this year. It will probably not be that great. Vazquez leaves one of the best pitching parks in the bigs in Turner Field, and goes to NY where people were calling it the Coors of the AL at one point last year. Vazquez now has to deal with the most deadly lineups in baseball, the AL East. I see 3.90 ERA, 1.25 WHIP in Vazquez future, a far stretch from his brilliant season last year.

The Beantown Brawlers have a great staff as well led by Tim Lincecum. Lincecum is no doubt the best pitcher in the game today.
Josh Beckett is hit or miss for me. Not a big fan of the AL East pitchers as noted above. To prove this theory, look at Beckett's numbers vs the AL East last year. 5.43 ERA/1.40 WHIP. Considering he finished with 3.86 ERA/1.19 WHIP that is a pretty big jump in stats. In the leagues biggest blockbuster deal Bill received Tommy Hanson from me, and he should continue to prove that he is an ace in the making this year. Jonathan Broxton is one of the best young closers in the game, and should net Beantown a ton of saves. Jorge De La Rosa is a great strikeout pitcher as well, should average again close to 1 k per inning. He actually pitched well for the Rockies down the stretch last year in their 2nd half comeback. Latos is a nice young arm, and Johnny Cueto is a gamble. Cueto was one of the best pitchers in baseball after the first 2 months of the season. Still laughing over that 2/3 IP, 9 Run line vs the Phillies last summer that pushed Bills ERA to like 400 for the week. If Cueto can find that early season magic again, then Beantowns pitching will once again be one of the best in the league.



Xtreme Dynasty had a lot of question marks when it came to his hitting, well the same is for his pitching staff as well. There is no questions though in regards to his ace Josh Johnson. Johnson had NL CY Young type numbers last year, and I think he will put up similar numbers this season. I passed over Brett Anderson in the draft last year for fellow teammate Trevor Cahill, but picked up Anderson at the right time. This lefty has power and should be one of the best pitchers for the A's this year. Only problem is run support. The questions come with the next couple of guys starting with Cole Hamels. Will Hamels ever regain his ace status? When Hamels was on last year, he was very good. 16 of his 33 starts netted him 2 or less runs. When Hamels was off, he was pretty bad though. Which Hamels will we get in 2010? Another pitcher with questions is Chad Billingsley. Billingsley was great in the 1st half last year, but a mess in the 2nd half. One good thing about him this year is the pressure is now on Clayton Kershaw as the new ace of the staff. Kevin Slowey has two permanent screws in his throwing wrist. You never know how that will play out. I was very high on Slowey last year. Edinson Volquez had TJS last year and will not be back until late summer at the earliest. Will Volquez return strong? Jose Valverde for me was a no brainer especially coming to Detroit where he will have a lot more opportunities then he did pitching in Houston.

Trading Places was the theme for J-Fraud's top pitchers in the offseason. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee & John Lackey all have new homes to start the year. Halladay should challenge Lincecum in the NL for the CY Young award. He could be close to a 20 game winner this year in Philly. His strikeout totals should increase as well pitching in the NL. Cliff Lee should fare well in the AL West as it is the weakest of all AL divisions when it comes to hitting. I am not a huge Lackey or Burnett fan. Its the division. Burnett got lit up by the Red Sox last year, which killed his ERA. Both pitchers should be near 15 wins though. J-Frauds top 4 pitchers are as good as any when they are on. I like John Danks, good young pitcher but closing his games are Bobby Jenks who was awful for me last year. I think in Jenks 6 blown saves, i think my boy Gavin Floyd was victim of at least half of those. Fuentes should still be in the line for saves in LA, but ERA/WHIP numbers aren't great for a closer.

CT Crush has the entire Rays starting rotation on his team. LOL. I think this is a make or break year for David Price. He definitely has been a disappointment thus far. I'd like to see him pitch well this year. A couple of guys I like a lot from this team is Wade Davis who is on CT Crush's minor league roster. This kid shows that he has the resolve to be a pitcher in the bigs. After getting blown up for 8 runs in less then 3 innings vs the Red Sox, he comes back and pitches a CG 4H, 10K shutout in his very next start. I think he will be the Rays best pitcher this year. In fact minus those 8 runs vs Boston, we only gave up 7 runs in his other 5 starts
last year. Pretty impressive. Netfali Feliz has one of the best arms in all of baseball. Jordan Zimmerman is also a guy I like. He had TJS last year, and will miss most of this year, but he was very impressive for the Nationals last year. My main gripe was the first round keeper of Jeff Niemann over Joakim Soria. When you have Mariano Rivera calling you one of the best closers in the game, you know he is special. Niemann over fellow teammate James Shields would have been weird too. Bruce has no closers on roster currently. Some people call closers the kickers off fantasy baseball, but I think Soria would have helped this team more then Niemann would have.

The Montreal Expos drafted Ricky Nolasco #1 overall in the expansion draft. It was a great move looking back at it. I think Nolasco can pitch like he did in 2008. The other choices would have been Javy or Wandy, so I think he got the pitcher with the most upside. When you think of upside Brian grabbed two players from bitter rivals, Phil Hughes & Clay Buchholz. Hughes might be in line for the 5th starter spot in NY, if not he was a very effective setup man for the Yanks. As a reliever his K/9 was well over 9. Boston fans have been waiting for Clay Buchholz, and he pitched pretty well last year. He could be a 15 win pitcher this year. Max Scherzer nice young arm, don't like him as much in the AL as I did in the NL West. Randy Wolf is nice solid vet who should pitch well for Milwaukee this year.

Relief pitchers seemed to be the theme when it came to Team Wood's draft. He nabbed Joakim Soria from Bruce to anchor his team. He then added Carlos Marmol who has the Cubs closer job right now. Daniel Bard is a high strikeout reliever and is one Papelbon injury or blow up for moving in and being a closer for a 90+ win team. Brad Lidge was horrendous last year, but where he was drafted and the choices from Marv's team, I think it was a good gamble. There was a slight scare with Team Wood's ace Jair Jair Jurrjens when he had a MRI on his shoulder, but he appears fine. Jurrjens might not be elite when it comes to K's but he is very underrated. The White Sox might have the best pitching rotation in baseball. Gavin Floyd is a great young pitcher. His curve is probably one of the best in the league. Dan has some young prospects as well with Rick Vandenhurk and Bud Norris, both have good strikeout potential.



If Team Hanson struggles this year, it is going to be because of his pitching. Kevin has two aces in Matt Cain & Jake Peavy. Peavy I especially like, and will finally get some run support. He is a dark horse for AL Cy Young honors. I love NL west pitchers mainly because of the weak lineups they face so I expect similar numbers for Cain this year as well. The question marks come after these two. Fransisco Liriano has been so disappointing that I think they should make a t-shirt about him. Fransisco Liriano disappointing fantasy owners since 2007. Just like Phil Hughes, questions about where Joba will be in the yanks pitching scheme make me worried. Kevin has 3 closers currently so he should have a jump start in saves on many, but I worry that Aardsma & Fransisco may only have the job short term. Mike Pelfrey is someone who is borderline waiver material. Man, do the Mets have starting pitching problems.

When it comes to mediocre pitching staffs look no further then the Duffs. Plenty of question marks when it comes to this team starting with his ace Scott Kazmir. Kazmir is everyones sleeper pitcher this year, so much so he is being over drafted in leagues. Easy choice for Josh to keep him though. Joe Nathan will have another great season closing for the Twins. Homer Bailey pitched well down the stretch. Good young prospect. Marc Rzepczynski is among like 10 pitchers fighting for a job in the Blue Jays rotation. It will come down to who pitches best this spring. Brian Matusz who is on Josh's minor league squad should be a nice add as well. Duffs got a little unlucky on the trade market last year. Hopefully this year, his luck turns around.

To be succesful this year, Brandon Webb must come back strong. A healthy Webb & Justin Verlander give Marv a pretty nice 1-2 punch. Rick Porcello is only 21 years old. He has a lot of talent and could be poised for a breakout season. Marv has two solid closers in Fransisco Cordero and Brian Wilson. The big gamble comes with Dice K, Matsuzaka will never pitch like he did two years ago, but he could be a nice sleeper this year. Bronson Arroyo had a 2.24 ERA after the all-star break last year, hopefully that momentum continues into the start of this season. I probably would have taken a gamble with Lidge on 2nd wave of keepers.