Comments on: 2009 Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Top 20 Starters

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:26:21 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: El Toro (aka, Sir Osis of Liver) really likes those high strikeout guys doesn’t he?

He’ll pay a premium on Davis, Reynolds, et al, whilst I’ll stick with the Loney’s of the world and find my power elsewhere.

FYI: Your Jobba, Gallardo, Volquez will never equal my Hamels, Bills, Shields of the last 2 years. And if you haven’t noticed, yours cost 34 this year, mine cost 35, and mine are already seasoned vets.

Roll that up in your Dominican http://www.smokerings.com/ and smoke it!

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:43:04 +0000

hippo i have jabbathe hut and gallardo,volquez,phillips,davis,kemp and hamilton,might let davis go so torro will pay 35 bucks for him

By: Team Ram Rod

Team Ram Rod — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:48:22 +0000

Still can’t decide btw Ziggy, price or F. Lopez. I need to stop thinking about this and go get drunk, yeah Whiskey!

By: Shogun

Shogun — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 05:44:30 +0000

@Grey: Bummer. I thought I'd finally made the glossary.

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:03:29 +0000

@Grey: Assuming one of these guys is underperforming in 09 that is. Otherwise noone will trade any of them.

By: Grey

Grey — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:50:56 +0000

@BigFatHippo: If you can pull it off, probably.

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:48:09 +0000

@Grey: So I should look to trade a $27 Halladay late in the year for a $5 Jobacum and keep dominating pitching stats for years.

By: Grey

Grey — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:42:12 +0000

@BigFatHippo: When you remove some schmohawks like Verlander, it becomes easier.

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:33:05 +0000

@Grey: Wow, already? I would think they'd be a year away.

By: Grey

Grey — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:28:09 +0000

@BigFatHippo: Joba, Gallardo, Scherzer and Price are all in the top 40. Kershaw's just outside of it.

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:21:38 +0000

@Grey: Nice work Grey, this is excellent.

Just curious, since these guys I assume won’t be in your top 40 yet. How would you rank these young hotshot pitchers in terms of earliest to break out and be a top 20 pitcher.

Joba
Gallardo
Scherzer
Price
Kershaw
Any guy I’m missing

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:34:07 +0000

@sean: That video was new to me (though not to over 22 million other people apparently). Nice! @cockyphoenix: I like Slowey but he needs to be teamed with a strikeout staff. His K/BB is great, but that's because he doesn't BB anyone or K anyone, for that matter. He's a 4 ERA, 1.20, 130 K guy.

By: cockyphoenix

cockyphoenix — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:27:49 +0000

hahaha Mr. Glass–I just called him that last week arguing with a Cubs fan.

It’s good to see someone else esteem Peavy above CC. What do you think about Kevin Slowey? He’s one who’s looking like a bargain in the mocks I’ve done. I guess he’ll probably show up in the top 40 after posting a K/BB over 5 last year

By: BaronVonVulturewins

BaronVonVulturewins — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:15:14 +0000

@Grey: I do not want Cliff Lee later today or at any point in 2009. I do look forward to reading the post, though.

By: sean

sean — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:26:19 +0000

I just read CBill’s peripheral stats and I…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

By: sean

sean — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:23:12 +0000

@grey: re: oswalt: the guy can only pitch max-effort for so long before he breaks down. He’s started 32 or more games for the last five seasons and has thrown over 1600 innings in his career. Normally this would be a sign of durability, but it just makes me wonder how much gas the little guy has left in the tank.

The one good thing from an injury standpoint, though, is that he throws the big overhand curve instead of dropping down to throw his breaking pitches. Still, I tend to avoid him because I feel like he’s one uncle charlie away from the DL every time he pitches…

All told, he’s a guy I’d love to have on my real team but a guy I try to avoid in fantasy

By: sean

sean — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:12:08 +0000

Oswalt scares me. A guy his size can only throw max-effort for so long before he’s on the shelf. That said, I’d gladly take 25 starts of top-stuff Oswalt and a waiver-wire guy for ten starts, but watching the guy pitch I feel like he’s always one uncle charlie away from being done for the season. The good news is that the big overhand hammer doesn’t cause as much arm strain as dropping down to throw the breaking stuff does; it just gets to a point where you wonder how much the guy has left in the tank…

I just looked at CBill’s peripheral stats and I… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:03:43 +0000

@Shogun: Rudy and I tried to figure out mantasy's root, use in a sentence and part of speech and it ended up not working for us. Feel free to continue to use it to try to convince us otherwise. @BaronVonVulturewins: You're getting Cliff Lee later today (at noon my time) and 21-40 later tonight for tomorrow morning. Glad to hear your enthusiasm is building.

By: BaronVonVulturewins

BaronVonVulturewins — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:57:05 +0000

@IowaCubs: "Please rate my grey junk" is the one I'd least like to hear spoken in my presence. @Grey: Maybe it's the Super Bowl ending (Blitzburgh!), or the fact that it's like 55 degrees in NYC today, or the fact that LATER TODAY we can read about pitchers 21-40 aka Me Bread 'N' Butter, me darlings, me wee ones, but my fantasy interest for '09 has increased fourfold. The hibernation is officially over.

By: Shogun

Shogun — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:42:10 +0000

@Grey: I definitely intended to write "mantasy" there--it's when you've got such a man-crush on a player that you have to have him on your fantasy team, even if you know he probably can't live up to the hype right away (like Bruce, Jay last year). @Fman99: Thanks for the info on Hughes. What a disappointment he's been.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:41:06 +0000

@Grey: i was thinking the same thing grey, 15-21 are scary, voltron is my only one i'd gamble on, and if i have to gamble in the 9th round? I don't think he'll be on my team.

By: Fman99

Fman99 — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:39:18 +0000

@Shogun: I don’t see how Hughes makes the rotation… he’s got Wang (heh), CC, AJ, Pettitte and Joba ahead of him. They could put Joba back in the pen but I suspect Hughes starts the year in the rotation in AAA, until AJ Burnett breaks his vagina again.

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:35:04 +0000

@Shogun: Not sure if you intended to write “mantasy” but I think there’s a Glossary definition in there somewhere.

I skip the 15 through 20 starters and begin to draft guys again at #21, which will be coming later today or tomorrow.

All signs suggest Hughes isn’t going to be in the rotation in 2009.

By: IowaCubs

IowaCubs — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:32:03 +0000

@Baron Von Vulturewins: other combinations…

Please rate my Grey junk.
Rate junk my Grey please.
Please Junk my Grey rate.

By: Shogun

Shogun — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:31:45 +0000

Grey: Around the Kazmir tier, do you start passing on these guys and hoping to steal a Joba/Jobacum/Price/Kershaw/Gallardo in the slightly later rounds?

Also, do you think Phil Hughes can put together a decent year? Does he even have a chance at making the rotation (sorry, I haven’t been following the Yankees’ moves this off-season)? He’s right up there with Alex Gordon in terms of mantasy disappointments.

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:23:25 +0000

@IowaCubs: Ha! Okay, you win. I'll try to work that into the post.

By: IowaCubs

IowaCubs — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:18:57 +0000

@Grey: Thanks, man. I love doing mock drafts and posing the same question about Lee. The responses I get from guys there are great…

IowaCubs: “Why is Cliff Lee falling to the 9th round”
Pie’s Mixed Nuts: “b/c he sucks.”
RedSUKSballs: “Yeah… totally gonna suck this year”
IowaCubs: “Why does he suck?”
Pie’s Mixed Nuts: “b/c he can’t repeat, okay jerk?”
Scuffed Balls: “I only drafted him cuz it was on auto.”
Brett’s Illegal KY’d Bat: “I heard he had a gd year bc of yer mom.”
Twisted Testicles: “LOL!!!!!!!!”
Pie’s Mixed Nuts: “LOL… GO AHEAD AND DRAFT HIM JERK”
IowaCubs: “Can’t he repeat like 90% of last year and still be ok?”
Scuffed Balls: “LOL”
Pie’s Mixed Nuts: “lol… you should be in my league…lol”
Brett’s Illegal KY’d Bat: “LOL”
RedSUCKballs: “that’s funny”

By: Freak

Freak — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:08:56 +0000

Something’s coming, something good, if I can wait!
Something’s coming, I don’t know what it is,
But it is gonna be great!

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:02:56 +0000

@big o: Upside is he's 24 going on 25 in 2009, so he's still peaking. My projections are conservative (unless noted). Billingsley has those numbers in the bag and make do better on them whereas someone like Oswalt can reach his projections or do worse. @jeff: Lester will be in the top 40 starters coming later today or tomorrow. @Fman99: Hehe... @Ian: In one word, no. In more words... Rather than seeing his health last year as him turning the corner, I see it as he was healthy last year, so chances are he's not going to be healthy this year. @IowaCubs: There's a post coming later today about Cliff Lee. @T Edge: I like him a lot for this year, and he's #21 that's coming later today or tomorrow. @Baron Von Vulturewins: Later today or tomorrow. Ergo, it's coming.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:01:27 +0000

@T Edge: “king” Felix is tough to own, he’s on a crap team, maybe this is his “break out break out year” but after taking him last year and suffering thru him pitching stellar games for 5 innings then having total meltdowns i won’t be owning him.

I think what most people are saying/thinking about Cliff Lee is he won’t get you value back for where you have to take him. Personally He should have a better offense behind him this year (being from ohio and a huge cleveland fan) but him repeating that season? Not likely…. dont know how to back it up Cubs, but its just a hunch