Yesterday, Cliff Lee gave the line 8 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 10 Ks to move his record to 6-7 in 190 innings. That’s to go with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. If you had 7 wins as his over/under for the year with a full season of starts and without him being traded midseason to the Astros, you might win yourself a lot of money. If you doubled down with the bet, Roy Halladay’s ERA would be above 4. You’re buying drinks for him and Norm. This year, Lee’s Ks are a little off, but still well above 8 per nine and his xFIP is near 3. The only thing he’s missing this year is just the slightest bit of luck with wins and his ratios. For next year, he’s probably going to be drafted lower because of the lack of wins, but he’s every bit the fantasy ace. So I’m Cliff cravin’? Yes, and it’s a little known fact that the normal human height a thousand years ago was five-foot two and the most popular name on the planet was Bob. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Domonic Brown - 2-for-4 with his 4th homer. Quick, Phils, bench him, trade for a veteran, do something! You have to stunt his growth! If they don’t figure out a way to get him out of the lineup, he does have two homers in the last four games and 3 in the last ten.
Evan Longoria – Sat out yesterday to rest because his legs felt heavy. I just had an idea. What’s the most helium a person can suck in? I bet Victoria Jackson knows.
Alex Cobb – 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 baserunners, 4 Ks vs. the Po’ Sawx. He was undone by an error, his bullpen and actually pitching to one of only two hitters in the Sawx lineup. C’mon, man, pitch around Pedroia and Ellsbury! Am I being obtuse?
Aaron Cook – 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 1 K. In 87 2/3 IP, guess how many Ks Cook has? If you get it within 10 Ks, I’d be impressed. C’mon, anyone can look it up. Seriously, guess. Okay, take that number and divide it in half. Okay, take that number and subtract 30. Now take that number and subtract the number of siblings you have. Now take the number of candles that were on your birthday cake when you turned 19 years old and subtract the one for good luck. He has 19 strikeouts! Wow, that’s egregious.
Doug Fister – 4 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 2 Ks. Better get your stuff together, Fister, otherwise when you join Charlie Furbush and Rusty Kuntz for dinner, they’re gonna have no respectable name to give to the hostess.
Delmon Young – 2-for-3, 3 RBIs. He has 17 homers and a .273 average with zero steals. For his career, he’s averaging 56/13/67/.285/4 a season. That is the definition of yawnstipating. Will be fun when the Red Sox sign him this offseason and people get Sons of Sam Hornswoggled into excitement.
Dewayne Wise – 3-for-5, 2 RBIs. Hey, you don’t have to finish last Wise guys! For some reason, that was in my head in Annoying Orange’s voice.
Wade LeBlanc – 4 IP, 6 ER vs. Atlanta. TBS had scheduled Friends repeats during this game. Kill two birds, I guess.
Giancarlo Stanton – He might miss a few days due to soreness in his side. Side? Can’t you be more specific? Sounds pretty oblique. It’s all a little strange because this weekend when I was dressed as shrubbery and flanking Giancarlo from exactly 150 feet away, he looked fine.
Gorkys Hernandez – 3-for-5 with an RBI. Too bad he’s hitting .178 and he hasn’t stolen a base since mid-August. Will have to wait for next year for the release of Gorky’s Revenge!
Rob Brantly – 3-for-4, run and RBI and now has an 8-game hitting streak and is batting .343 in his 21 games played. Fresh out of the microwave, a catcher hot schmotato.
Tim Hudson – 5 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 0 Ks and the conshellation prize. Here’s a real baseball question for you, Tim Hudson — Hall of Famer? He’ll finish his career with 200+ wins and probably has a “This guy has more wins during this very limited timeframe” case to be made. Now he just needs to throw a 10-inning shutout this postseason.
Dan Uggla – 2-for-3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 19th homer. He’s certainly going to come at a discount next year. Or soitenly if Curly’s reading. The catch will be whether we can expect a bounce back. Looking at his stats, I’d say 27 homers is doable again, but I’m not sure if he’s ever going to hit .220.
Martin Prado – 4-for-4, 1 run, 2 RBIs. If only the Braves could morph Uggla and Prado together to make one .275, 30 homer guy. Dartin Uggdo would have all the fantasy baseballers swooning.
Brian McCann - Out a few more days with tendinitis in his hamstring. Yesterday, Cortisone held a surprise retirement press conference. Cortisone said, “I’ve managed to fix everyone, even Ryan Zimmerman, but McCann… Well, I’ve decided to hang ‘em up.”
Marco Scutaro – 2-for-4. ESPN had this player news for Scutaro, “He is absolutely unconscious right now.” Sweet, my middle infield slot is filled, but I have one slot for a somnambulist. He is hitting over .340 on the Giants and near .450 in the last week.
Sergio Romo – Got the one out save after Bochy pitched three relievers in the 9th inning. Okay, so Bochy is pitching every game like it’s the All-Star Game or a Little League game where everyone has to get in. Romo’s mom obviously complains more than the other moms about how many saves he gets.
Matt Capps – Will begin to face hitters and could be ready to return for the Twins final series. Whether the Twins lose 97 or 98 games this year is resting on your shoulders, Capps! Don’t let the good fans of Minneapolis down! Or the fans in its sister city, Eldoret, Kenya. BTW, there should be a sister city exchange program where all the residents of a city are switched into their sister city. I’m not exactly sure yet how to accomplish this, but it’s my offseason project. That and watching Breaking Bad.
Danny Espinosa – Getting an MRI on his shoulder and we won’t know the results until today. I was just thinking, they should give MRI results on the back of a Eric Stoltz headshot and call them the re-Stoltz. Just a thought.
Michael Saunders – 1-for-4 with his 2nd homer in the last 4 games. Eh, the M’s are also home until next week. You can probably do better. Look at me having faith in you!
Clayton Kershaw – On Tuesday, we find out if Kershaw needs hip surgery. If he does require the surgery, he won’t be back until mid-May of next year. All of the people that own Kershaw in keeper leagues will be meeting in the gymnasium. Coffee and cigarettes will be provided.
Hector Noesi – 1 1/3 IP, 7 ER. Mariners should have Beltran pay to remove their Noesi.
Chris Tillman – 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners, 4 Ks. Hello, two start pitcher loveliness. Now take it to the Po’ Sox on Sunday and me love you long time.
Nate McLouth – 3-for-5, 2 runs and a solo homer. He now has 2 homers in the last three games. Nate The (kinda in the last three games) Great!
Matt Wieters – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his third homer in two games, now has his average up to .252 and 22 homers. That thing flying out your window is Ven’s Project Runway dress that looked like a used maxi pad. The thing in front of it was Wieters’s 2013 draft value that you can no longer afford.
Carlos Gonzalez – Didn’t start yesterday due to a sore left hamstring. Supposedly, the Rockies aren’t too concerned. I wouldn’t either if my other star just missed five months. What’s the worst that happens to CarGo? Two weeks missed? Big whoop.
Jorge de la Rosa – In what should’ve been a 12 to 14 month recovery from Tommy John surgery, dlR will return on Thursday more than 15 months later after dealing with forearm tightness in his rehab. A pitch count will limit his start and fantasy value. In keepers, you gotta weigh the pros and cons with dlR. A big pro is a plus-sized girl at a brothel. A big pro for Rosa is he strikes out a lot of guys. A big con is this stupid 4-man rotation the Rockies said they might even use next year.
Jhoulys Chacin – 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks. On a serious note, no matter who’s pitching for the Rockies, they’re gonna be unownable next year if they’re limiting everyone to 75 pitches. I like Chacin, not when the Rockies are 5 inning chasin’… I sang that on The Voice and Blake turned around his chair. Oh, and you gotta love a guy that’s like “I want to break away from this stupid line dance song that I’m famous for so I’m gonna sing that same stupid line dance song.” I wish when the judges told him to sing something else, he sang The Hokey Pokey.
Yunel Escobar – Being investigated by the commissioner’s office for writing “You Are A Faggot” in eye black under his eyes. Either he’s shamelessly prejudiced or he needs to find someone else to apply his eye makeup.
Dartin uggdo, i laughed out loud. Its funny, cuz its true! Anywho.. chris johnson @ coors Fri-Sun. I smell a weekend homer binge…
@Prezii, Ha, thanks… Chase isn’t a bad place to play his home games, and Johnson still hasn’t hit a home run there…
@Grey, yeah, you are probably right…
In a keeper league, how would you rank the following pitchers for next season and beyond?
Mark Rogers
Zach Britton
Jorge de la Rosa
James McDonald
@buzzdainer, Britton, McDonald, dlR…
As great as SoN is I need advice from a live human person right now…stream Wei Yin Chen @ SEA or Lance Lynn vs. HOU? First week of H2H finals and I don’t have a starter going until Thurs! Meanwhile my opponent managed 3 wins last night #fmfbbl
@blairtch, I like both starts, but I’d go with Chen…
Cliff Lee is the perfect example of how imperfect of a fantasy stat wins can be. This is our second season of QS, and we are never going back. For every potential injustice QS offers I can name 3 for wins. Evolve!
@malacoda, Ha… Yup… I just can’t imagine anyone ever getting excited about a QS as much as a Win…
Who would you start between Erasmo vs BAL tonight and Anderson @ DET tomorrow? SON prefers Erasmo but for both pitchers we’re going off a pretty SSS…
@Jon, Erasmo
Just wanted to give a huge shout out to martin prado, guy ranks second on my team in hits this year with 174, to think I picked him up to be a third outfielder in april, and havnt had a reason to take him out of my lineup in a daily points league. Never thought I’d be talking about prado been a rock on one of my teams ever, but I like it.
@Justin, Yeah, he’s had a solid year, especially in a points league…
@gray: Dartin Uggdo sounds like either (1) a rebel Orc warrior from the lands of Mordor who has forsaken the reign of Sauron and chosen the path of righteousness, or (2) a lesser knight of Westeros whose putrid visage is his one curse… his glass ceiling, as it were.
Anyway, I finally gave up on the bastard this week and he goes and hits a tater. Ugg…la. Or maybe, “Ugglaw”: the immutable truth that when you bench a guy who you want to trust because he’s been sucking for weeks starts he’ll start hitting bombs. Ex: “Oh, shit! Krispie had a 2HR night? I just dropped his ass… Ugglaw!”
@ivebeenupthreedaysstraight, HA! I like 2 and Ugglaw… It’s a sonavabench written up as a formal law for the land…
@Grey, indeed: Section 1 of the Code of Grey and Hammurudy, Archons of Razzballeros.
I just blew an inch of dust off of it so I could read it to a young Fred Savage…
@Grey, bah! Ugglaw IS The Never-Ending Story. This joke is getting so deep we’re almost in Japan. Unless Jersey comes out somewhere else… like Barbados. I hope Neil Patrick Harris is waiting there, that way we we’ll have an extra former-teen-superstar in case one gets Ugglawst.
Jersey’s a portal directly John Malkovich’s brain… Only Dan Uggla is playing the part of John Malkovich…
@Grey, and a circa ’91 Emma Watson as Maxine… instead of spells she casts Chipotle burritos and Dan Uggla swats at them with a marionette of Roger Maris, swearing profusely through a heroic wad of Redman.
A 1991 Emma Watson? She’s like a 1 year old then… Maybe she’s wrapped in the Chipotle burrito and sent up the Mississippi where Uggla finds her…
@Grey, Uggla embarks on a quest to return baby Emma Watson to her rightful owners, the Warner Brothers. With the help of two cynical losers from Razzballeros, Uggla leads them back to Earth and Emma Watson fulfils her destiny as a action-fantasy starlet. That evening, Uggla goes 0-4 with 3Ks. I <3 EW… and sweet, sweet bEWrittos.
Spurred by Jessica Shaw’s What’s Hot, What’s Not and What’s 5 Minutes Ago? Baby Watson teethes a lightning rod into Uggla’s bat and he hits a homer that ricochets off the upper deck, rolls into the sewer near the stadium and floats to Hollywood where it’s used to bounce off the wall as Sorkin comes up with Newsroom…
@Grey, “It was wonderbat!” croons Robert Redford from behind the anchor desk at Atlantis Cable News HQ. “We’ll return after the break joined by Emmy award winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to talk about his new groudbreaking television drama…”
“Baby Watson sighs, it could’ve been different if the Tea Party didn’t corrupt the Republican party,” as written by Sorkin as he drops Uggla from his fantasy team the day before he homers.
@Grey, Later that week on the Razzball Baseball Podcast, special guest Aaron Sorkin reads sections from his newest book on fantasy sports, the duality of Emma Watson, and Ugglaw: “Moonlighting With Grey For Three Days Straight.”
“For this opening salvo, I’d like explain to you how Uggla and Baby Emma Watson are both shrill and need more grandstanding about our current political state, which I have no opinion on other than saying I know what’s best for everyone. I’m a mouthpiece, people.”
@Grey, “And these Fantasy Baseballers have been gracious enough to bring me and my awards to the tubes… the tubes of this great big giant huge trombone. And who do you think’s gonna play that enormous piece of brass but that there 75-foot Mexican Jesus* and his friend there the Statue of Liberty!** This is the biggest grandstanding any of you will ever hear… but it aint nuthin’ without the mouthpiece. And that’s ME! Take THAT Dan Uggla! Take THAT Baby Emma Watson! I was right MUHther, see how great I am!!!??? Now let’s get on with the show…”
*: http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg18/scaled.php?server=18&filename=25435125241654763511461.jpg&res=landing
**: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Statue_of_Liberty_7.jpg/250px-Statue_of_Liberty_7.jpg
“Did I mention that I wrote Moneyball while Baby Emma Watson was still in her baby womb? I didn’t mention it because Dan Uggla wrote that entire movie. He was gracious enough to strike out a few extra times so he could rush back to the writer’s room I set up for him in the under-stadium cages.”
@Grey, “and by gracious I mean wise–movies sell, and books do not. If Dan Uggla didn’t keep writing I’d have had him whipped right back into Malcovich where we first met, and there he would stay. Just Dan Uggla, marionette Roger Maris, and remnants of those musty old debris-tos that he bashed all over Malcovoich’s cerebral cortex–god only knows how long they’ve been there, rotten cream cheese and slimy brown guacamole… and Baby Emma Watson mine, all mine! Gives me the chills just thinking about it.”
“I will now write under the pseudonym, Ivebeenupfourdaysstraight. It’s meant to invoke a place in your memory when you forgot what sleep is after taking 4 days to give birth to Baby Emma Watson. I will ask the Braves equipment manager to put it on the back of my jersey. I am speaking through the body of Dan Uggla, I’ve inhabited his body, I am no longer using Sorkin’s skin.”
@Grey, If you’re going to inhabit the body of a ballplayer, I’d find one with better t-shirts.
It’s my master plan to have him change his wardrobe.
@Grey, @Steve, perhaps a new website is in order: Fantasy Wardrobes at Razzboudoir.com. First lede: Damn, Dan, where’d you get that Uggla jersey? The body of Sorkin approves while lightly patting the enormous ass of Uggla. Neither is sure which one of them is the “real” one, but both secretly suspect the other.
Did you see what Kemp was wearing to the ESPYs? He’s a baller, and I’m not just saying that because his pants were tight… Razzboudoir!
@Grey, A better outfit than he wore for his contract signing
Yes, he was wearing that to keep his value low in the Razzboudoir draft…
@Grey, yeah, except he missed the Razzboutonniere (4pts for the suit, 2pts for the ladies, -1 for the accoutrement failure. 5 total Razzboudoir points). Second lede: Where we Kemping all the bitches up in here?
My league has a Floating Fish In The Heel Category… It’s rare, but it’s huge points when it happens… It’s why I grabbed Jamie Moyer late…
@Grey, Ha! Gotta be black for formal wear IMHO. I suppose that’s the equivalent of the mythical guy who goes 30/100/.300 every year.
It’s the old stand by… Pujols is a formal wear guy… Miggy is too, until the open bar starts…
@Grey, Yo mamma’s got a glass eye with a fish in it.
Yo momma’s got a wooden leg with a kick stand!
@Grey, A long black tie (as opposed to a bow tie) if you chip in 10 steals.
@Steve, trading stats for style? interesting…
If he doesn’t get to .300, his shoes are scoffed…
@Grey, These long comment threads look cool if you scroll up and down quickly.
My man Steve is smoking drugs! Ha… I don’t see them, I’m typing on my phone…
@Grey, with the one shelf down there from my out-of-position comment it could be the sphinx (viewed from overhead) if you put a cat head on top here…
It looks like a very skinny Pac-Man from my vantage point… Pac-Man lost weight!
Yeah, I see what you mean when I look at the site…
@Grey, epic commentary… Uggla!
I think we’ve finally figured him out!
@Grey, undoubtedly. same time, same place tomorrow? ha!
Ill be here all week!
@ivebeenupthreedaysstraight, shit, my “insert between the dinger and Sorkin’s thought process” tags were omitted… pwned.
Ciao Grey — In my 16-team roto league (no keepers) I’ve got under-performing Jon Jay, Michael Bourne and Alejandro De Aza stinking up my bench. My biggest offensive needs are AVE, followed by R and SB. Would you trade any of those guys for Nate McLouth, Brandon Belt, Lorenzo Cain, Domonic Brown, Starling Marte, or EvCab?
And in my 14-team roto league I’ve got McCann, which is obviously not helping much. Doumit and Grandal are on waivers but my biggest needs are HR, followed by SB and RBI and it seems like those guys aren’t helping much along those lines. Also, an added wrinkle: this league allows two keepers from the fifth round or later with a one-round penalty, and McCann was a fifth round pick. So I could keep McCann for a fourth-round selection.
Any advice?
Thanks!
@Enrique, I’d lose Jay and De Aza for McLouth and Belt… McCann’s not a keeper…. Lose him for Grandal… In fact, Grandal’s more of a keeper…
@Grey, Thanks, Grey!
No problem…
1. I have Griffin and Scherzer. Start both against eachother??
2. SON likes Huff. Stream him?
3. SON doesn’t like Wei Yin Chen, but betting odds favor him as do other rankings. Stream him?
Thanks
@Deadwoods, 1. Yup 2. Eh 3. Sure
Foolish to start Griffin @Detroit? I think I know that answer already. One bad start can screw up an entire week.
@Randy BoBandy, I’d bench him if the matchup is close…
Watchin my ratios. Should I start Weaver today against Texas?
Yeah, I would…
Seriously Yunel? Usually they just have to wear a backpack and carry a lunchbox. Maybe get a chewing gum bubble on top of their cap. A small fire on their stirrups. Carry the equipment bags. Shaving cream pie. My guess is something got lost in the Canadian to Spanish translation of the classic baseball gag. If he were a Cub, Bill Murray could have explained this…
Yunel is a tolerant man who hated Cox and Johnson and got a bad translator…
@Grey, Maybe he should hire Scarlett Johansson, strictly to avoid future mix ups/translation losses…she was able to help Benicio, in Spanish…
-and I still enjoy the opening scene, domo arigato Ms. Coppola…
Ms. Coppola directing Nick Cage as… Yunel Escobar! In the locker room, Yunel downs a bottle of liquor and screams for someone to do his eye black… Then up walks the little old lady from Poltergeist (if she’s still alive, god willing)…
@Grey, That’s awesome! It knows what scares you Yunel, it knows what scares you.
If only Elisabeth Shue would have finished up with her showering in time, she could have gotten there in time to save him. Classic “maricon with a heart of gold” story…
“I thought it said marigold! I’m a fan of the flower… I’ve been framed!”
@Grey, In Great Britain, a marigold is simply a bundle of sticks…a unit of measure, like a cubit, “I thought I told you two cubits to stay the hell off of this Ark. It’s Adam and Eve, not A damn evening with Andy Cohen!”
HA! Bravo… Yunel is protesting Andy’s interview with the guy from Flipping Out… He wasn’t Flipping but he was Out….
Please rank, chick with the guitar and tamboreen at the feet, 16 year old black kid with the great voice or the white bearded guy doin stand by me?
I think you did rank them… I wasn’t that blown away by the 16 year old kid… I thought he was perfectly good but nothing chills worthy… I like the gap-toothed girl the best… White bearded soul guy was kinda cool but not a real contender…
@Grey, gap toothed was awesome doing brittany
the beard guy was fun though, doesnt stand a chance, but fun.
Yeah, he was fun… But it looked like he was still wearing his fat guy clothes… Oh, and how was the female half of that duo only 28 years old? C’mon! They said they met 12 years ago, and she looked like she was pushing 40…
@Grey, You could see that Xtina immediately realized that she had made a mistake.
Yeah, but they have such big teams this year they need fodder to get rid of for the first two months until it gets interesting… That team is dead man (men? man and woman?) walking…
@Jack Full of Hate, it was nice to hear Toxic without having to picture a bald head and a not-so-bald crab roll…
Trying to juggle my lineup…so…
1. Is Tillman worth hanging onto for his Sunday match against Boston?
2. To clarify above, bench Griffin tonight, right?
1. Yes 2. Yes
Grey,
Which of these guys should be benched today?
Ellsbury v. Hellickson 2-for-14 with 1 BB, 2 SO
Pence v. Francis 3-for-16 with 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 3 SO
N.Cruz v. Weaver 12-for-56 1 HR, 5 RBIs, 18 SO
In order of SON, Francis (114), Weaver (108), Hellickson (96)
Cruz…
@Grey
Well I’m in the finals in the one league I care about and the one with real money on the line. Thanks again for all your advise and laughs every morning. I don’t know how I’m going to survive in the offseason.
Anywho…with no move limits, last week got a little out of hand with streaming. My opponent and I made a gentlemans agreement on a 3 streamer limit in the finals.
I started the week with Cobb and can still hold onto him for his next start at home versus Toronto. The final stat line may not have been pretty against the sox, but in all fairness he was looking dominant until the Ellsbury Homer and then fell apart. Would you hold Cobb and my 3 streamers or drop Cobb now and burn one of my streamers. Otherwise I would be dropping Estrada anyways after his start Tuesday.
Streamers for tomorrow: Lynn v. HOU, Lannan v. LAD, Archer v. TB
Thanks as always!
No problem… Yeah, agreed with Cobb… Hold him… Wait on a streamer…
Is Archer a good start tomorrow night vs. the Blowsox?
I’m not crazy about it for most leagues…
Drop Britton for Chris Nelson? With Longo/CarGo in doubt each day, I could use the extra depth… Or I could add an extra OF in case CarGo sits. I currently have Machado as a back-up option at 3B, but zero extra OF’ers. Decisions, decisions…
Basically, the question is: Do I drop Britton, or wait to see how he does against the Paw Sox w/ special guest Dustin Pedroia on Friday?
That’s two questions from me in two days for the first time all year. Must be the playoffs.
Yeah, go with Nelson and lose Britton…
@Grey, thanks!
One last question:
A-Rod is hitting .182 (2 for 11) against Romero since last year. Scutaro is on a tear. Which one should I bench today?
Yeah, go with Scutaro…
@Deadwoods, man, anyone could hit romero at this point tho..Cust Kayin..
Prezii makes a good point…
Rank keepers for next season: Lance Lynn, Mike Fiers, Jamie Garcia
Lynn, Fiers
Grey,
Any chance Rudy can be pinged for the Friday SON? Only Volstad and Carpenter are up there for Friday. Thank you!
Need to stream one here for a QS roto league:
Maholm @ Mia
Chen @ Sea
Bailey@ ChC
or
Floyd@ KC
Thanks for the help!
Chen
Also, I just spent 10 minutes analyzing whether I want to start Hefner tomorrow night v. PHI. SON had him at 110. I went as far to check whether Polanco or B.Schneider, the two guys who had HR off him, were still playing. I looked at my opponent’s pitchers, see if it was worth the risk.
Finally dropped Harvey since today was his last start for Hefner.
15 minutes later, Harvey scratched because of weather(?) and Hefner is starting tonight. Lose two SP with one pick up, sweet!
Ouch, that’s not easy to do…
I have a pretty good team in my keeper league (in the H2H finals this week), but I’m looking to next year, too. You’ve helped me a ton this year so I’d love some advice as I think ahead.
Cano, Tulo and Stanton are my keeper locks. Posey, Desmond and Rasmus are all cheap so I’ll be keeping them, as well. That leaves 1B, 3B, CI, 2 OF spots and DH open.
Fortunately I also have Zimmerman, Lawrie, Hosmer, AGon, Jennings and Victorino who should all cost about the same. If I can keep 3 of those guys, who do you hold on to?
(There’s also a slight chance I’ll be able to afford Frazier for cheap. And if it makes any difference, my minor leaguers are Marte, Brett Jackson and Olt who I can call up as soon as June – so maybe a keeper hole or two gets plugged there, as well.)
Thanks for your thoughts! I’m pretty sure you’ll say AGon, Hosmer and Lawrie since I’ve asked you bits and pieces before, but there’s the bigger picture.
Lawrie, Hosmer, A-Gon… Case could be made for Zimmerman over A-Gon…
@Grey, any case at all for Jennings or is that just wishful thinking?
Sure, but I’d prefer corner men than another OF…
@Jon, The case for Jennings is that you’re light on speed, and if he’s cheap enough the potential rebound is worth it. But speed is easy to acquire, and up until a month or so ago Jennings was pretty worthless. Is there any way you can shoehorn him in over Rasmus? Otherwise I think Grey’s spot-on, with the only additional wrinkle that it may change depending on how many years you can keep guys at reasonable prices. Just for next year, you might want to keep Zimm and A-Gon and let Hosmer go and hope to draft him cheaply if you really like him.
@Steve Stevenson, thanks for your thoughts! Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to afford Jennings in place of Rasmus. Kind of a complicated system but that’s the way it’ll work out. Appreciate it.
Severe thunderstorm warnings across the NE this afternoon/evening. A lot of folks may not get 2 starts they counted on from all those pitchers.
You couldn’t have foresaw that on Sunday on your index card?
@Grey, Like so many other things, I saved those cards on Instapaper and forgot to go back and look.
Is that at all like Instagram?
Sorry, accidentally posted this to yesterday’s roundup:
Generally speaking, if you’re streaming SP in a limited moves league (5/wk), do you load up early to build a cushion and force your opponent into rash decisions, or save your moves for late in the week in case you need them?
Concrete example: 3 moves left this week, and I already have a pitching lead thanks to a couple nice starts yesterday. I kinda like Archer v BOS (Dice-K) Wednesday (SON 103, though I see above that you’re not crazy about him) and Zito v COL (de la Rosa) Thursday (SON 110), but are either of them worth going into the weekend with only 1 or 2 pickups left?
Based on current probables, the best weekend guys I’m seeing are Guthrie v CLE, both sides of the M. Perez-Iwakuma Safeco duel, Cashner @ SF, Cobb v TOR, W. Peralta @ WAS. But the other guys in the playoffs stream too, so it pays to be a day or two ahead of the curve.
Those two SPs aren’t worth streaming… I’d hold my moves…
Holy cow. Games getting PPD all over the place.
Yeah, my Mom back east says it’s a mess… Tornado warnings even… They don’t do that on the east coast…
@Grey, Airlines invoke an “act of god” provision so they don’t have to put you up in a hotel room when a flight is cancelled due to weather.
After losing a ton of bats and pitchers to PPDs during this playoff week, I’m going to invoke the same provision when commissioners ask for my dues.
As I said the other day with Braun, just tell them you sent it FedEx, knowing saying when it’ll get there…
You liking Erasmo Ramirez vs. Balt? Or is he too much risk for being in playoffs?
Also Rizzo vs. Bailey or Goldy vs. Stults?
Too much risk… Rizzo…
@Grey, Not to question your awesomeness but does it change your mind knowing Goldy is 1/4 with a HR and 2 BB career vs. Stults and a .346/.422/.674 slash vs. LH on the season?
Not really, but it’s a toss up, so go for Goldy if you’re feeling him… It’s not a slam dunk for either…
@Grey, Gangnam style!
Oppan!
Scherzer out after 2 innings – no explanation yet.
That sucks… I mean, that he’s out, not that there’s no explanation…
@Grey, Right shoulder fatigue
That’s not so good…
@Grey, Nope. I was worrying about managing my pitching staff as my innings ran out, but losing Kershaw and Scherzer will make that less important.
Hello, Streamers!
Had both Scherzer and Griffin going in that game….FML
Damn…
Oh well. At least I’m not the only person to be thoroughly pissed off by Miggy in the fantasy playoffs.
I’d sure like to own him one year… Might have to do more snake drafts… My only chance for him…
@Grey, could have traded for him? I gave morrow, sale and mauer.. guys probably pissed!
Damn, nice trade… What part of the year did you pull it off? Have you had Miggy all year?
@Grey, it was the very start before morrow got hurt, i know that. We did the trade and that next start he got hurt. So whenever that was, it was pretty early..
Wow, great timing too… Did I okay that trade? Cause that’s looking prescient!
@Grey, you did.. there was someone else who posted about how much he had to give for miggy and it was steep… But morrow was way above his head, sale was on an inning limit(i guess not) and mauer is just a namer. Perez has shit all over mauers stats and i grabbed him off the wire. You definitely got me off morrow though! I just happened to milk it til the last drop..
Very nice!
@Grey, thanks, but you are the saddle to my imaginary horse! figuratively, not literally. That wouldn’t be very sanitary..
Ha! Thanks! Hey, this ride is fun… Oppan!
@Grey, it’s fun to be the saddle if the rider is winning! Wait, did i just find my new life motto?
That’s a motto, a bumper sticker, a t-shirt… People have run for president on less…
@Grey, well, hope you enjoy first class seats to D.C. then.. i’ll change my name to Pedro From Pittsburgh and that’ll be my slogan!
We’re a ticket? Let’s do this!
@Grey, puttin Razzball on the map!! You see Erasmo? Folded in the ninth… 2-0 now its 2-2!
Still a good outing regardless. Dap Triangle!!
Yeah, I watched the fold… Wilhelmsen did him wrong…
@Grey, agreed.. i CGS woulda been brilliant for me man.. but lincecum pitched well too. I was debating activating carp but now, screw it. Im goin for it..
@Steve, sorry steve. Not trying to rub it in..
@Prezii, Heh, no worries.
I’m over it.
Almost.
Did you ever get Aoki?
@Grey, Nah – my opponent last week grabbed him and still has him.
Ah… Oh well…
@Steve, thats baseball for ya… He was so cold the last like month. Him and fielder…
I love my A’s… But damn those days from prince and swiggy just sky rocketed me in this matchup!!
How’s the matchup looking? What’s the score at?
@Grey, killin this guy and i havent even had lincecum and erasmo go! points league so cant really show catergory leads.. Lookin VERY good though, very good!
Jesus, Longo has been terrible with RISP lately. And equally bad with no one aboard.
That’s a miserable combination.
Just a lost season from him at this point… Not winning the MVP, that’s for sure…
@Grey, I suppose when I consider that in the first five rounds I went Longo, CarGo, Bruce, Konerko and Youk (not to mention Kendrick in the 7th), I was lucky to even make the damn playoffs.
Those first and last ones aren’t good obviously, but CarGo, Bruce and Konerko wouldn’t have been bad in roto, in H2H, yeah, they had some miserable stretches…
Loving this outing from Erasmo. Just a pity I’m only using him in my dead-to-me-now H2H league…
@Steve, Jinxer!
Wow, you worked that jinx fast…
@Grey, Jesus Christ.
@Steve, i was you! Shoulda known, steve… Shoulda known..
Ha… Yeah, he’s only been touched by McLouth (mouth…uncouth…?)
@Grey, Well, I own him too, so as long as we get a double play, we’re all good.
@Grey, Oops. Pulled with two on and none out in the 9th…
I hope that I have a son as my first child. But even when I do, I think I’ll SON over my son.
Thank you, Orgasmic Ramirez.
HA! You can watch him during the offseason… He likes to eat out a lot…
@Eddy, I’ll love* SON
Old news, I know, but holds are ridiculous. I haven’t tried to compete for them in my h2h all year, partially because a closer’s implosion could always lead to a hold. Case in point: Cishek’s line for the night- .1 IP, 81.00 ERA, 9.00 WHIP…and the hold! He totally meant to do that!
Yeah, he crapped all over my YoGa start too…
@Grey, I have a bad back and my wife’s always been trying to convince me to try yoga…I’ve never gone, partially because I worry that I will crap all over my yoga start, too.
Ha… No, not crapped on my Yoga mat, on my Yoga start… In all seriousness, I went once, worst hour of my life…
@Grey, I tried a yoga video once and just got angry. I might just need therapy…I can’t stand massages either because they’re boring.
Yeah, I go to the chiro… My mom’s one so been doing it my whole life…
@royce!, Tried acupuncture?
@Steve, Same concern…
@Steve, JK, I have not. Chiro works; I went for a long time, stopped, and was basically pain free for the last 7-8 months, but screwed it up again recently so now I’m back, albeit at another chiro’s (my last one tried to convince me that The Secret really works, so I couldn’t go back to him).
@royce!, Yup. That is the glaring weakness of the Hold stat.
You could also have the situation whereby a MR guy gets a quick out in a one-run game, then loads the bases and is pulled.
The next batter then knocks them all in. The MR hasn’t ‘held’ his side’s lead at all…
@Steve, It’s like they condensed the problems involved in the wins rules into one out intervals
Can you please rank for tomorrow?
Lynn vs. Hou
Estrada @ Pitt
Harvey vs. Phi
Archer vs. Bos
Estrada, Lynn, Harvey