LOGIN

I sit in a circle of a overweight men.  One guy’s nervously tapping his foot, waiting to go for a cigarette break.  Another guy is downing doughnuts like there’s no “ugh” in them.  We all, obviously, have mustaches.  Everyone but me wears a Mets hat.  The guy next to me finishes his story about how K-Rod’s father-in-law used to come into his pupuseria and hook him up with free tickets.  He breaks down rambling about how he can’t drive past a Howard Johnson without sobbing.  It’s my turn to speak.  Getting out from under that cloud of Minayal is a good start for the Mets, but — and here I try to be gentle — I tell them I’m not a Mets fan.  One of the guys interjects, “I have an idear, let me smash you in your melon, you fargin’ icehole.”  Before one the “sanitation” guys can move in on me, I tell them about how much I like Jose Reyes for 2011 fantasy baseball.

Sure, it wasn’t all peaches ‘n cream last year.  Reyes’ walk rate fell off the map like the Earth was flat.  At 5.1%, it was his lowest walk rate since 2005, i.e., his first full season.  He wasn’t just rusty either, his walk rate didn’t get better as the year progressed.  The health questions are real too.  He started the year with thyroid issues and that turned to back and oblique problems.  So maybe he doesn’t approach 700 ABs like he used to.  He still had 563 ABs last year.  And he’s never been a guy that walks 100 times a season.  He’ll be only 27-years-old entering the 2011 season.  Last year, Jose Reyes’ ADP in ESPN was 74, which alone would have me more than happy to keep him for next year.  He’s a top option at an extremely shallow position.  Conservatively, I’ll give him the line of 110/12/60/.290/40.  If you get a bounce back year health-wise, you’ll have a top 20 fantasy hitter.  Or maybe I’m a fargin’ icehole.