Fantasy Baseball

So i am in 2 keeper fantasy baseball leagues, 1 with Elliott that is in its 2nd year and my other league is in the 4th year. I will be updating you with my teams progress probably bi-weekly this year but so far i really like my squads. this post ill deal with my law school keeper league (its made up of mostly guys from law school). This is the 4th year of doing this league and this year 3 guys dropped out and 3 new guys entered. Its an auction league which is different and makes things very interesting.

You have $260 to spend to fill 17 positions (your normal 8 positions plus 2 util & 7 pitching spots)in the auction. There is then a draft of 10 rds after the auction where you fill out your bench and can pick rookies or guys in the minors (they cant be auctioned). These drafted guys are valued at a $1 for keeper purposes and anyone you pick up during the season is valued at $0. So, you are allowed to keep 4 guys from the previous year. If it is the 1st yr you have keep the guy it costs you +$3 bucks from what you paid for him last year, +5 if you are keeping him for the 2nd yr, and +7 for the 3rd yr.

I decided to keep adam lind for $3, kendry morales for $4, ellsbury for $21 and greinke for $11. I had some other options but these seemed like the best cost/value choices plus this league has traditionally undervalued pitching so i didnt want keep more than 1 pitcher.

So i went into the draft looking to try & nab a solid middle infield and fill in the OF with some cheap power. As to my staff i wanted to get another ace to team with greinke and fill in with cheap SPs who would get some wins at the end of the auction. With that said here's how my team ended up.

c - victor martinez - $27 - I was willing to pay for a top flight catcher (mauer, wieters, victor or mccann) cause i thought there was a huge drop off after them. I happy with this b/c mccann went for 29 and wieters 28.

1b - morales (keeper)

2b - placido polanco - $3 -Alright so here my draft strategy went a rye. I said i wanted to have a solid middle infield and this is what i ended up with. At 2b, i was in the bidding for the bunch of guys and almost won brian roberts but he went for 19 and utley went for 50 i didnt think they were worth that. So, i waited till the end of the draft and just picked up polanco off the scrap heap. Maybe i can find someone off the waiver wire in season or maybe polanco scores a ton of runs in a powerful phillies lineup.

ss - elvis andrus - $11 - i knew ss was gonna be bare because the big ones (tulowiski, hanley, rollins, zobrist were kept). i made a run at reyes just because i thought i might be able to get value but he went for 35. i was out after 15. with andrus & ellsbury i pretty much should have a lock on SBs and maybe andrus can continue his development. He could be a possible keeper next year.

3b - adrian beltre - $5 - yep, this rounds out a power inflied for me. I dont know what happened. a-rod, sandoval, youkolis, reynolds were all kept. wright went for 40 and there was no way i was paying that for him. so i tried to get chipper but i wasnt paying 20 for a guy who probably wont play half the season. i followed my polanco trend and took a guy who has performed in the past in beltre and is in a run scoring lineup. fingers crossed.

OF - Ellsbury - keeper

OF - Lind - keeper

OF - Matt Kemp - $50. yep i paid 50 for matt kemp. it was tied with utley for the most of any player. do i like matt kemp? yes! can i believe i paid 50 for him? no. i think i got caught up in a bidding war and didnt want to lose. but with that said he does contribute in all categories and pi expect nothing less than 30 hrs, 100 rbis, 300 avg and 30 stls. not many players in the game do that. And by adding him, andrus, & ellsbury i should have 150+ stls easy. thats wrapped up.

Util - Torii Hunter - OF - $15 - I think this was a great value pick. Torii is old but he should be inked for a 20/20 season and atleast 80 rbis.

Util - Billy Butler - 1B - $14 - If there was one guy i was leaving with on my team it was butler. I think he will hit atleast 30 hrs this year and will be a deal at $14. yes he is a royal but i think he has the most upside on my team.

So i in no way stuck to my pre-draft plan. I have maybe the best OF in the league but my infield is maybe solid? or maybe very questionable??? here's hoping i can have some luck with in season pickups at IF positions.

Pitching Staff:

SP - Grienke - keeper

SP - Gallardo - $25 - here is the 2nd ace i was looking for and other similar pitchers went for 30+

RP - Jonathan Broxton - closer - $22

RP - Johnathan Papelbon - closer - $21

P - Carlos marmol - closer - $12 - So that old adage, "you dont pay for saves", i told that to fuck off. First, i got papelbon for 21 and was very happy with that price and figured it would drive up the cost of other closers. but then the bidding on broxton was low and so i jumped in snagged him for 22. At that point, i figured i would grab marmol for 12 b/c barring an injury i should win saves and i thought it was a great value. Could this strategy backfire? yep. but the way i look at it is that broxton, papelbon, marmol are proven RPs that throw 70+ innings, low whips, tons of Ks and tons of saves. These RPs wont get wins but with their other numbers i should be able to pair them with some decent SPs and finish high in pitching categories.

P- Brett Anderson - $12

P - Johnathan Sanchez - $4 - These last picks were young SPs with a lot of strikeout potential. At this point, my staff is still light on wins though.

In the draft i took these 10 players -

Jason Kubel - OF

Jorge Cantu - 1B/3B

Rickie Weeks - 2B

Cameron Maybin - OF

Nick Johnson -1B

Brandon Wood - 3B

Neftali Felix - RP

Randy Wolf - SP

Jon Rauch - RP

Wade Davis - SP

I think i found some great proven value and some potential in the draft. Kubel, Cantu & Johnson give me 3 guys that should hit 20 hrs & 80 rbis with some decent OBP. Weeks is great when healthy which isnt often so i'll use him when i can. Maybin and Wood have big upside. Both have been prospects for a while and havent done broken out yet. The managers in this league put a premium on young up & coming prospects but i think its guys who have some major league experience like wood & maybin who have a better chance of breaking out.

Rauch could close some games for the twins and is only on my squad for that reason. Wolf is guaranteed 10+ wins. Felix should be pitching in the 7th & 8th innings and should rack up the K's w/o a lot of innings. Our innings are capped at 1250 innings so you dont have room for a lot of starting pitching. Davis is a prospect for TB that i took a flier on.

I'm a little short on power and rbis but i think my strength in pitching can make up for it. I'll keep you updated throughout the year.

2010 Cubs Preview Coming Soon!

HOLY COW!

Do we want the bulls to win?

The bulls are battling for a playoff spot. I just cant decide if i want them to get in. And its not for the reasons you would think. Getting a higher draft pick doesnt help because the bucks can swap picks with the bulls so long as the bulls arent in the top 10 which seems very unlikely. It is always good to get playoff experience right? Plus it will look good to free agents, right?

First off i dont think it matters to Free agents if the bulls make the playoffs. they know rose-noah-deng are good. i dont think the bulls being a 8th seed as opposed to just out of the playoffs changes anyone's decision about signing with the bulls.

More than anything im worried about injuries and wear on our players. These days who isnt hurt on the bulls? Rose is banged up. We know about Noah and Taj with plantar whatever. Deng and James Johnson say they want to try and come back and play which is great attitude to have as a player. but i would rather have these guys healthy for next season when they have a chance to win something than play hurt for the right to a 1st rd exit. Can you just shut down a team? I'll just pray to the injuries gods till the end of the season, i guess.

Bears, I'm about to lose all hope

Sorry for the time off from posting but had some school stuff that was taking up all my time.

Why am i about to abandon my hope for the bears after they had what i consider a very good free agency period? (i still want a safety). But now they are talking about trading alex brown. Not only is alex pretty much my favorite player on defense but besides briggs & urlacher, he has been the most consistent performer. Now alex isnt great. Im the first to admit that but he is consistent and a decent pass rusher and always seems to be in the right place. To make it even worse they are talking about trading alex so that mark anderson and israel idonje can get more time at end. Hasn't lovie always preached that his defense must have pass rushers??? And now he wants to trade a proven pass rusher for 2 guys who have been nice bit players in their careers. DOES THIS SOUND INSANE TO ANYONE ELSE????? Peppers can only make Brown better because offenses will now game plan against peppers and it will leave brown with one-on-ones. Plus, i know Brown is a leader of this team and is a professional. Lovie, lets think back to the last time you tried to replace brown with anderson in 2008. Oh, it was disaster and after five games anderson found his ass back on the bench. Why would you want to trade away a good pass rusher????

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-0326-bears-chicago--20100325,0,2111914.story

Hey monopoly man, shut the hell up!

Does Milton Bradley realize he is making himself look like a bigger joke of a human everyday? I mean does anyone actually believe this guy for 1 second. I'm fed up with his lies and now it appears the cubs brass and players are too.

Quotes from Hendry today:

"That's absolutely ridiculous," Hendry said. "That couldn't be farther from the truth. I think it's time maybe Milton looked at himself in the mirror. It is what it is. He didn't swing the bat; he didn't get the job done. His production was the only negative, or lack of."

Cubs players:

Soriano

"We don't have to think about that," Soriano said. "It's 2010. He played one year here. Now he's in Seattle, so he has to be happy and focus about Seattle, and we have to focus about our season. We can't win anything if we're paying attention to Milton and what he says. Everybody's happy now, and there's no pressure. It's nice."

Dempster hinting that Milton didnt play his hardest

" I think if you give 100 percent and you prepare as hard as you can and take pride in what you do, that seems to work for no matter where you are playing or who you are," he said. "I care a lot about winning and doing things the right way. I don't always do things the right way, and I'm not perfect.

"But they're fans, and they have every right to boo if they feel you're not giving 100 percent or not giving you best effort. But at the same time, I've always said about Chicago, they love their Cubs and they're very forgiving people and just want you to do well."

and Steve Rosenbloom from the Trib seems to sum it all up:

The more Milton Bradley talks, the more irresponsible, if not delusional, he sounds. He’s reiterating that he felt like a prisoner in his own home in Chicago, the home he reportedly skipped out while owing rent, and felt Piniella should apologize to him in front of the whole team for calling him a “piece of (naughty word).’’ Bradley has never taken responsibility for his failures. It has never been the fault of any of his multi-polar personalities. He’s crazy, but we all knew that, and whatever he says will be no surprise

Cubs play at Seattle June 22nd. I've already circled that game. For some reason, I think there will be some cubs fans who make that trip and have some special words for milt

the wheels have started to fall off

it moments like this that remind me that i am a cubs fan. the cubs top right-handed setup man, Angel Guzman, not only has a season threatening but a career threatening. This blows. The cubs already had a young bullpen with good arms but little experience. Well now they dont have an experienced righthander as a setup guy. Sorry, Smarj looks like you will not be starting but be the main setup guy unless there is a deal made. Damnit, its only the 4th day of camp................

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/03/cubs-guzman-suffers-career-threatening-injury.html

Most guaranteed money ever!!!!

Yep, the bears did it. They put their names in the record book. They just gave out the most guaranteed money ever in an NFL contract. 42 million. Julius Peppers, I expect to see you in the backfield on every play!!! Look Peppers isnt the best DE in the league. Top 5 definitely. and certainly not the best defensive player in the nfl. but he is getting paid like one. This is a move by the bears to try and win and not worry that they had to overpay to get a player. He will be good and hopefully great.

The bears also signed Chester Taylor which think is a hell of a move and maybe better than peppers. they get him for 4 yrs at 3 mill/yr. Thats a very good contract for a guy who i have no question could be a 1000 yard rusher. Plus you take him away from the vikes. another bonus.

The big TE will hopefully help the run game. And that is pretty much the only time i want to see him on the field.

But really this signals a last gasp by the bear's management team. Does anyone doubt now that Angelo, Lovie and the rest were told that they have a year to make the playoffs or they would be canned. Angelo & Lovie have never spent big in free agency until now. Until their jobs were really on the line. They have added some good pieces and overpaid to do so. so the question is will they be around to see the results of these big contracts............

http://espn.go.com/blog/ChicagoBears/post/_/id/4664449/peppers-overtakes-staffords-contract

Who are these guys?

the bears are the biggest FA players? espn is reporting that he expects the bears to sign peppers and chester taylor by the end of the day. i really am speechless. if these deals happen the bears have drastically improved their team with playmakers and they are looking at still signing a safety. i wont get of the fire angelo horse but i may stop beating it bloody if this happens. watch the video cause i really am speechless.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/video/clip?id=4967779&categoryid=4967779

Peppers the highest paid DE in the league???

Julius how does a 15 mill a year check from the bears sound??

yep thats what they are saying peppers will sign for. thats a ton of money for a guy who isnt the best at his position. i know the bears need a pass rusher and i have no doubt that they will sign a DE but 15 mill??? Can the bears still sign a OL man and a safety if you pay peppers 15 mill? The bears where actually 6th in the nfl in payroll last year. yeah surprised the hell out of me too. So, maybe they will spend the money this offseason but peppers, while good, isnt a jared allen. he doesnt magically make their defense a top 5 defense. He doesnt put the bears over the top. the other teams that are talking about bidding for him, like the pats and eagles, he just might put them in the superbowl. yes i would like peppers but at a reasonable cost. get me a good DE (kampman or van busch), a safety and a guard as free agents. i think improves your team more than just peppers.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/columns/story?columnist=greenberg_jon&id=4960602