Kyle Drabek, the Blue Jays top pitching prospect, was called up to start on Wednesday vs. the O’s. Kyle Drabek is 24th on the top 50 prospects for fantasy baseball. He has top of the rotation stuff and a good pedigree with his dad being the former Cy Young winner, Doug. Or Guod if you’re dyslexic. Or “Hey, look a bird,” if you have ADHD. Well… Kyle Drabek had top of the rotation stuff. Now he looks closer to a number 2 or 3. His strikeout rate went from 10+ K/9 in A to 7+ in Double-A. Word on the street is his velocity is down. He’s obviously too young to write off. Velocity could return with the gaudy Ks. In keepers, I’d grab him in AL-Only, obviously. In mixed league keepers, it needs to be deep for him to have any real value. For this year, I’d be very cautious about starting him anywhere. In his first two starts, he gets the M’s and O’s, or the Mo’s. Not bad matchups, but starting rookie pitchers in the final weeks of the season is asking for trouble. You just have no idea what he’s going to do in his cup of coffee, he may or may not get creamed. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Adam Lind – 1-for-2 with 22nd homer. I’m sorry, I will like him again next year. I’ll love him if he can train with the guy who trained Zobrist in the winter of 2009 and Bautista last winter.
Desmond Jennings – 2-for-4 with his 1st steal in his 2nd start. Unfortunately, it’s taken two weeks to get two starts. If there’s any sorta keeper league where he’s available, you must own him. Or my name isn’t Grey Posdnuos Albright.
Jay Gibbons – 1-for-4 with his 2nd homer in the last 3 days. Crazy as this is, he’s the hottest Dodger hitter. They should show him jumping around on the Jumbotron and call him, The Rally Honkey.
Casey Coleman – 6 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks. That’s nice, he’s still unownable.
Brennan Boesch – 0-for-1 with 2 steals. What the– Oh, Jake Fox was catching for the O’s. Unathletic like a Fox!
Brandon Inge – 2-for-4 with his 2nd homer in the last week. In that time, he has a hit in all but one game and a steal. Wouldn’t say he’s the most exciting pickup, but what’s Pablo Sandoval doing right now? Yup.
Brayan Pena – 2-for-3 with a homer. Now hitting near-.400 in the last week as he plays every day with Kendall’s shoulder mercifully letting the Royals go younger. Pena has little power, but he’s never hit below .300 in 4 seasons of the minors.
Paul Konerko – 3-for-4, 5 RBIs with his 35th and 36th homers. He’s also hitting .322. Tomorrow… lassoing the moon!
Andres Torres – Going to miss about two weeks with an appendectomy. When doctors said Torres is going to have something useless removed from his body, everyone in the Giants’ clubhouse thought the same thing, “What is Aaron Rowand doing in Torres’ body?”
Mat Latos – 4 IP, 5 ER, 9 baserunners, 4 Ks. Not sure who’s madder, his H2H owners for him picking the worst time to be terrible or the Padres fans… Actually, I’ve only heard Padre fans existed, I’ve never met any.
Chris Young – Threw 5 2/3 IP in rehab. He K’d Lindsay Lohan twice. The Padres will be happy to get Young back. Someone put the Tinactin on the top shelf and no one can reach it. Also, the Padres could use an innings eater. If Young gets starts, which I think he will, he’ll be worth using depending on the matchup.
Ian Kennedy – 6 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks. He now has a month of quality starts under his belt (and shot an elephant in his pajamas). Kennedy gets the Pirates next. That’s a “Yes,” and “Please.”
Justin Upton – Diamondbacks are shooting for an early this week return for J-Upside. Keep in mind that if one setback occurs, they’re not going to risk Upton’s future.
Milton Bradley – Shutdown for the season. Backdate that to March.
Josh Johnson – Didn’t need to be Nancy Reagan’s astrologer to see this one coming. Johnson’s not coming back this year.
Emilio Bonifacio – 3-for-4 with a steal. He’s now batting around .500 in the last week with three steals in the last three games. Bonifacio’s capable of about a two week hot streak. I’d get aboard in all leagues for the next week.
Mike Stanton – 3-for-4 with 2 more homers to bring his season total to 20 in 291 ABs. Bill James’ 2011 projection for him will be… 40 homers? 42? 45?
Clay Hensley – Three games, three saves. Should you pick him up? Do your pits smell like onions?
Cliff Lee – 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks vs. the Yankees. Nice audition, but Yankee rotation casting callbacks won’t happen until December.
Elvis Andrus – 1-for-3 with his 3rd steal in the last week. Borbon has 2 steals in the last ten games. Maybe Washington finally cut the brake line.
Josh Hamilton – MRI showed he has bruised ribs. Yeah, no shizz. Still no word when he’ll return, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not until the final week of the season. Baby’s black balloon deflates.
Jordan Zimmermann – 3 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 1 K vs. the Marlins. That’s so bad I wouldn’t start him anywhere the rest of the year unless your shituation was dire. I mean, c’mon, Charlie Hough wearing a Wolverine Mechanical Claw from Toys R Us could strike out more Marlins.
Raul Ibanez - Hit a homer yesterday and is batting over .400 in the last week. Giraffe’s gestation period is shorter than it took Ibanez to get hot, but he’s there now.
Jimmy Rollins – Went for an MRI on his hammy while his owners feel like they got a yearlong whammy.
Johan Santana – No disrespect to our Al-Qaeda readers, but you had to be in a cave if you didn’t hear Johan’s headed for shoulder surgery. He may not even be able to make it back for the beginning of next season. Sounds a lot like Brandon Webb from this past preseason. Knowing the Mets, it’ll be announced that Johan will return by April 15th then he won’t pitch until July. I’m sure January Grey will have his take in the 2011 rankings. January Grey, “Stop with all the pressure!”
Coco Crisp – Has 7 steals in the last 4 games (6 steals against the Red Sox in the last three). Hello, V-Mart. Goodbye, 1st base.
Josh Beckett – 6 IP, 3 ER, 10 baserunners, 7 Ks. Now has a 5.38 ERA on the year. His FIP is over a run under his ERA and his K-rate is over 8. It may not be glamorous to say, but I could see Red State Jeter having a bounce back next year.
Dan Haren – 7 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks. Has a 3.04 ERA with the Angels. Looks like he’s finally figured how to combat the 2nd half swoon. Just pitch terribly in the 1st half. Okay, close your eyes for a second. Don’t worry, I won’t pickpocket you. Now imagine Haren has a good 1st and 2nd half. Ahh…
Hideki Matsui – 1-for-3 yesterday, hitting near-.450 over the last week with pop. He then wrote a thought bubble above his wife that read, “Godzilla is so dreamy!”
Morning Grey! Would you drop Espinosa for Bonifacio? I also have Manny and Quentin fighting it out to see who can be the least productive OF on my team. Bono has OF eligibility too. Also would you start the Hudson kid at Cincy or is that too much for the yungun (young gun). Thanks!
12 tm roto. Need a power fix. Pick 2:
Ibanez
Stanton
Matsui
Morrison
“Threw 5 2/3 IP in rehab. He K’d Lindsay Lohan twice.”
Ha.
@Grey – Facing the #1 seed on the way to a title shot. Nervous about my pitching options today, despite them all being home starts. Should I sit Price/Garcia? Thanks.
D Price vs NYY
B Myers vs. MIL
J Garcia vs. CHC
Paul Konerko 2010 is the reason fantasy baseball drives me nuts. It’s like trying to play chess and your opponent says, “See this pawn? It’s actually a queen.” Or playing poker, and after you’ve laid down your hands, someone says, “Oh by the way, 8s are wild. Did I mention that?”
Which is to say, for all the planning and razztastic advice, there is an element of dumb luck that is irritating.
/rant
12-team 6×6 (OBP, QS) H2H league
Would you start Maya @ATL? I need help in K, QS, and W…I am also losing ERA by .7 and winning WHIP by .1
Ugh…who should I start at Util. this week?
Runs, HRs, SBs, Avg., and OPS are all up for grabs, thanks!
Weeks, D. Young, A-Ram (if healthy), or Quentin?
Do I start Narveson tonight against the stros?
Crisp, bonifacio or tabata?
Drop Chacin for Daniel Hudson? Chacin looks like he might be getting Dodgers this week, whereas Hudson is gonna be on the road to Cincy tomorrow.
I’ll echo what VinWins and BvW have said and ask for the third time (I’ll ask at least seven more before Spring Training): Stanton or Werth in a keeper?
In need of some pop in the playoffs. These are the top FA guys available based on last weeks performance
Inge
McLouth
Gibbons
Also do you like B.Pena over Napoli for the playoff run? I hate seeing Napoli miss games when I need his stats big time.
@Grey: Thought on the pitching rotation for this week:
Wainwright, Wandy, Bucholz, Gio, Maya, H.Bell, Street. Would you throw Cueto in over any of those guys? Or cough* Barry Enright *cough…
I know I’ve asked this before, but are they going to DL JJ? My two lone teams still fighting in the playoffs currently have his useless corpse on their rosters.
One league is a keeper, so at worst, he’s decent off season trade bait, and the other one is a redraft but he’s on the damn no-cut list, so I can’t drop him anywhere. Right when I need him most, he’s letting me down…at least if they DL him I can get a little action from someone else…
Nice name check on De La (Soul, that is, not Rosa)!
Grey : Would you lose sore elbow Lidge for Clay Hensley?
Konerko = “dumb luck”? This is a guy, still young-ish at 34, who not all that long ago bopped 40 and 41 home runs. Yes, he’s having a career year but that’s not the same as “dumb luck.” (And maybe while the rest of us were inside last winter playing on the internet, he was outside cutting down trees and moving boulders and running marathons in his army boots.)
That said, I concur there is luck in fantasy baseball. But there is luck in real life. And if baseball (fantasy or otherwise) were to lose its luck ratio it would also lose much of its drama.
The fantasy baseballer who doesn’t anticipate some amount of “dumb luck,” including injuries to normally healthy players, bad slumps, the possibility of other teams being better than predicted because they drafted players like Konerko, etc., is probably going to have an unlucky career.
The Godzilla press conference might be an all timer.
@Fanthead: If it wasn’t for luck, we could just draft our teams and then ask Grey who wins.
crip of bonifacio for this week (and maybe next) if i need steals and avg?
Crisp or Bonifacio for this week (and maybe next) for speed and average?
Sorry for the double post…
Time to lose Delmon Young for the H2H playoffs? He forgot to keep bringing it.
I have a 3 save lead heading into the second week of a 2 week long matchup. My question: replace Felix w/ Kuroda, Scherzer, or Wandy to chase wins? ERA and WHIP are in play. I’ve already locked up Ks. Thanks.
@Black Beard: Edit: That should be Neftali Feliz, not Felix.
I need to leave one on the bench, weekly points league, thanks a bunch
Cueto – @ Houston (Wandy)
Dempster – @ Florida (Sanchez)
Haren – @ Tampa (Davis)
Duensing = @ ChiSox (Floyd)
Looking for a SP to get me a win and not overkill my ratios.
Dickey vs Pit
Travis Wood vs Ari
Jason Hammel vs SD
Bud Norris vs Mil
Kazmir @ Cle
@Baron Von Vulturewins:
I definitely agree (and laughed at your analogies). The funny thing is that earlier in the season I suggested my friend pick up Konerko when he was at about a league leading 12 HR simply so no good manager would grab him. My problem is not having the balls to drop someone and pick up the hot player in the start of a season because I always have the choir preaching “It’s just a fluke they’ll die out” in the back of my head. Especially if they’re rookies (Matt Wieters stunk up my team until about August). That’s probably the biggest think I can take away from 2010, don’t be afraid to ride the hot hand.
@Fanthead:
I agree you gotta anticipate it, you just gotta be smart about what you do when it happens. I wasn’t too smart this year ( I guess Wandy’s 2nd half, about a month’s worth of Torres, and Jaime were my only real “jackpots”). The hardest part now is determining how a player will play the following season.
Let’s play you pick ‘em for the week:
Pick two: Lyon, Rodney, Takahashi, Hensley, Uehara, Hanrahan.
Pick two: Lilly, Scherzer, Guthrie, Duensing, Kennedy, Cueto, Big Z, MadBum.
Thanks for playing.
Which 2 out of these 4: Stanton, Ibanez, Alfonso Soriano, Infante? thanks
Hi Grey — Would you drop Carlos Lee or Quentin for the hot bat du jour?
This is in a 20-team 6×5 redraft roto league, where my weakest offensive categories are AVE and OPS. Waivers are pretty thin: I’d be talking about dropping a Carlos for Don Kelly or Rhymes or Bernadina or Ryan Kalish, someone like that. As it is, I’ve been playing matchups with both of them with a little success and haven’t seen a waiver option strong enough to convince me to drop these guys.
Weeks, Phillips, Kemp and Werth are killing me in the first round of my H2H (10-Teams, 5×5) playoffs. Wouldn’t mind grabbing Bonifacio while the heat is on, but I can’t really drop any of them for him… right?
Yesterday I went to see the Freak v. Latos, who I’m calling Big Baby Bully (he has baby face and looks like a bully, so…). Anyhow, just wanted you to know that some Padres fans exist out there. They just happen to be outnumbered IN THEIR OWN STADIUM. I wasn’t in my seat yet when Posey hit a HR. Crowd cheered so loud I thought I was gonna be treated to replays of an amazing catch. Nope.
who would you rather have next year: Jeter or Alexei Ramirez?
Thanks
grey,keeper auction league,all 3 would cost the $5 min,to keep,so jennings,brown or hellickson,rank them please
@Howard: Yes on both counts….
@Kazmere: Stanton and Ibanez….
@VinWins: Hehe
@I-man: Sure…
@Baron Von Vulturewins: Ha… It’s the human/luck variable that makes it interesting, right? Can’t hand out championships in April based on the projections alone.
@Child Please: Nope
@Black Beard: Young
@MrHappyTime: I am in one league.
@Parks: Crisp
@Eric C.: Eh
@Anonymous: Werth
@timSTi: Inge… Stay with Napoli…
@sal: Cueto over Maya…
@Wilsonian: Maybe not…
@mc serch: Pas-ta-noos…
@Mr2Bits: Yup
@cws05nuts: He had a drawing! It’s crazy.
@nick m.: Crisp
@Paul Wilson: Sure
@Black Beard: Kuroda over Feliz.
@Chad: Duensing
@Eddy: Hammel
@Wilsonian: Lyon, Takahashi… Lilly, Kennedy…
@anon: Stanton, Infante…
@Enrique: Quentin
@Awesomus Maximus: Id’ drop Weeks in a non-keeper.
@royce!: Yeah, watched some of the game. I thought they were playing in SF from the crowd noise.
@d-rot: Jeter
@AL KOHOLIC: Brown, Jennings…
I’ve got to vent a little because while my wife is supportive, she just doesn’t understand…
H2H 10 cat, playoff semis last week against my rival. A jerk I knew in high school. His team was terrible after the draft…but he’s been riding the likes of bautista, ortiz, and pagan. add one stupid trade where he sent jeter, pedroia and pettite for hanley and felix…and he’s a championship-calliber team.
Anyway, going into Sunday, we’re tied 4-4. He’s got R, HR, RBI on lockdown. I’ve got avg, saves, K and ERA relatively safe. Tied in SB and W, WHIP was close. He got 2 steals early in the day to put that away. I got a W from streaming Slowey (moving Lester and Kershaw’s starts back a day killed me), but he got a weasel win from Gregg. WHIP went back and forth all day (he streamed 4 guys). Finally we were tied and he only had Jason Vargas left who had thrown 101 pitches thru 6. For some reason, Seattle sends him out for one more inning, he only gives up one hit and moves ahead in WHIP by 0.01. I’ll never forgive Howie Kendrick for getting the last out of that inning.
So I’m down 4-5 (tied in W) with little hope. But, I had just picked up Crisp the day before due to the tie in SB and he got me 2 in the 11th hour to take the score back to 4-4!!!
Now any Yahoo fantasy baseballer who’s been around a few years knows that the tie-break is ERA, so I had it in the bag. I had Lohse on back-up just in case but didn’t want him to lay a 10 ER turd on my ERA and lose it for me so I just coasted to victory.
This morning I log in to Yahoo and his team is on the Championship line. WTF. I check the tiebreak rules and Yahoo has changed them so season record is the first tiebreak! He had beaten me 6-4 the first matchup, I beat him 5-4 in the second…So I lose. If I had just double-checked the rules and put in Lohse last night I’d have won.
I might be done with fantasy baseball forever…don’t know how you come back from something like that. It’s like the time I lost my fantasy football superbowl by 1 point because my opponent got 50 points from DeAngelo Williams and my kicker had the go-ahead FG blocked on the last play of Monday Night Football.
God I love this game.
Thanks for listening.
16-team, H2H-5X5
Standard cats except: (W+QS) and (2xSaves + Holds)
I’m in the championship, but lost Josh Johnson and Jose Valverde.
Pick ONE starter:
Cecil @BOS (Lackey)
Holland vsDET (Bonderman)
Luebke @COL (Francis), @STL (Garcia)
Pick ONE RP:
B. League (vsBOS, vsTEX)
R. Perry (@TEX, @CHW)
Kerry Wood (@TB, @BAL)
Thanks.
start rollins or espinosa for the week?
j-up or util x?
mini-donkey or morse?
a-rod or bonifacio?
my entire team is DTD, which is a real pain in the ass in H2H.
playoffs! 5×5 weekly h2h 1-win
Odd man out?: Gio @ KC (Greinke), J Sanchez vs LA (Lilly), Lilly @ SF (J Sanchez)
PLAYOFFS – HELP
With Rollins out most likely – I need an emergency shortstop to win for me this week. Waiver wires is a sad place.
Best options in my opinion:
Bonifacio – but tough matchups with Hamels and Halladay.
Lowrie – not guaranteed to play every day
Hardy – is a clown
@Grey: Thanks Grey.
If I drop Quentin for one of the meager waiver options, who do you like most of the ones I mentioned? The top needs are AVE and OPS.
(Don Kelly, Rhymes, Bernadina, Ryan Kalish, or maybe Gibbons)
@Grey: that’s what I was afraid of with JJ…damn rotting corpses on my roster trying to keep me out of the money.
Thanks for the head’s up. I was really liking Kennedy’s next outing and Scherzer has looked like some of his luster has worn off.
Who’s the better bat pickup for the week: Stanton, Bourn, Huff, Thome, Tabata, Lind, Ibañez?
@Nick from Madison: Yeah, record vs. opponent. Damn, that’s tough. “This is my outlet!”
@Commish Cauda: Holland, Perry…
@brad: Espinosa, Upton, Reynolds, A-Rod… Why not Bonifacio over Espinosa?
@Matt B: Sanchez
@ProBeez4: Ha…. Bonifacio
@Enrique: Kalish
@Wilsonian8: What’s with the 8? Ibanez or Bourn, depends on needs.
Jeff Samardzija starting for the Cubs tonight instead of Silva. In 35 games with Iowa, including 15 starts, he was 11-3 with a 4.37 ERA. 102 Ks in 111.1 IP.
“No disrespect to our Al-Qaeda readers, but you had to be in a cave if you didn’t hear Johan’s headed for shoulder surgery.”
EDIT: No disrespect to our Al-Qaeda readers, but you had to be in a cave if you didn’t hear Johan be headed for shoulder surgery.
@Grey: hana sorry…logged in on my phone and that’s an email ID set up with my phone so it must have changed it automatically. Damn technology. Fixed that shizz now. Thanks again for the help.
@Wilsonian: apparently I can’t type either, that should be “haha” not “hana”, I don’t know who she is and I swear I’ve never touched her.
@Grey: Yeah? I guess that makes sense. I just need to get over my guilt, since Weeks has come up huge for me during the season… but this is the playoffs and I need some results (especially SBs… tied in that cat and only up 6-3-1 overall right now).
By the way, are you guys holding off on promoting ‘that site’ (you know the one I mean) here until it’s more populated with content? I was going to post a link to my movies article, but don’t want to mess with any plans you’ve got.
@Grey: only espinosa over bonifacio because i overlooked his ss elig. you’re right.
thanks,yeah im already streaming young ,crisp and bonafacio trying to catch steve,our money keeper league has 3 of us at 107-106.5-106
@Grey: I mean he is more open about his porn collection than his wife? Odd socialization going on there.
crazy to consider getting two starts out of maya (@atl,@phi) instead of 1 start from garza (nyy).
points league, so no ratios to eff up.
should be a question mark in there somewhere.
@Grey: I made it to the championship this week and I am in a league with 2 moves/week. His bats are most lilkely going to destroy mine so I want to stream pitchers to dominate those categories. These are my choices for the early part of the week:
9/15 Brian Duensing @CWS
9/14 Bud Norris VS. Mil
9/14 Chris Capuano @Mil
Who would you go with? Or do I wait for better matchups/pitchers later in the week? Any suggestions for later in the week streamers?
@VinWins: Thanks for the heads up!
@Shmorgie S. Board: Ha!
@Wilsonian: No worries, was just wondering if that was like your Clark Kent glasses. I’m not Wilsonian, I have an 8!
@Awesomus Maximus: I think Rudy’s promoting it today or tomorrow.
@brad: Cool
@AL KOHOLIC: Nice
@cws05nuts: Even if he didn’t have a porn collection, a drawing of his wife is a little weird.
@brad: Not crazy.
@Chicago Mike: Wait for better.
@Grey: haha, I love it!
@Grey: Aye aye, Cap’n. How are your H2H playoffs going?
@Chad: Duensing
@Wilsonian: Hehe
@Awesomus Maximus: Terrible, you?
@Grey: I’m only concerned with my main one… which I’m up 6-3-1 right now. Tied in SBs, down by only one W, he’s killing me in Ks, I’m killing him in Saves… every other cat is close. Annoying, since I’m matched up against a guy I played three times in the regular season and beat 22-5-3 combined. Friggin’ H2H…
Would you lose Krispie for any of the following:
Bourn, Stanton, Lind? It is a keeper, but I highly doubt I’m going to keep Krispie, and he’s on a nice 3 for 22 tear at present.
Just looking at the stats from the guy I’m playing in the first round this week, it looks like I’ll need some HRs, RBIs and steals. Just picked up Ibanez and Bonifacio to help out with a little offense, but a few of my guys are slacking big time when I need them most (Mr. Wright, I’m speaking to you), so I’m looking for the hot hand or hands (man that sounds dirty). I’ve dominated this league from the word “go” and I don’t want to lose now. Plus if I can win the playoffs, a nice little $250 is coming my way, or at least get 2nd and snag $100.
Anythewho…I’m leaning towards Krispie for Bourn supremacy…
@Awesomus Maximus: I’m love/hate on H2H. BTW, the announcement’s coming this afternoon, I’m told.
@Wilsonian: You’re not keeping Krispie? He must be cheap, no? Go with Bourn if you need steals. Stanton for power.
In a vacuum, who would you start for the week:
EY Jr or Phillips at 2B
Jh Peralta or Elvis at SS
Thanks for the great work!
@Norbs: Phillips, Andrus…No problem.
What comes of Brett Cecil with Drabek pitching on Wednesday? Is he just getting bumped a day? In h2h playoffs, I’m thinking of dropping Cecil for spot start(s) this week – especially if his next start is against Boston.
@Grey: Oh, okay… cool. I was gonna’ get another article written up for tomorrow, but I’ll see if I can’t bust it out while the baby (she just turned one last Thursday, so is she still a baby?) takes a nap… maybe have it up by tonight.
H2H just bugs the crap out of me. I think I’ve talked most of my league mates into going roto next year. Plus I will definitely join an RCL roto league for a bit more competition… but that’s it! I’m not managing 9 leagues again next season. I wouldn’t mind so much if 7 of them (all roto) weren’t completely abandoned, leaving me annoyed at the ones I’m in 2nd place in and joyless about the ones I’m in 1st place in.
Grey, re Pence, you were totally dead on about this guy. Early on, i must admit that i was this close to dropping his ass, but man has he been tearing it up lately! my thanks to you as i move to my H2H semis. seems 30HR and 100rbi isn’t totally out of the question, which is even more amazing considering how slowly he started.
@peter: Cecil’s moving to Friday, sorry should’ve mentioned that in the post. Yeah, drop him.
@Awesomus Maximus: 20 more years until she can drink. Yeah, it’s little fun to be in leagues where no one else is paying attention.
@grey, is johan going to hit the DL anytime soon? WOuld you drop him in a keeper league for spot starts? he would count as a 6th rd keeper next yr for me.
“Or “Hey, look a bird,” if you have ADHD. ”
LOL!! Grey, please buy me a coffee. I just spit mine everywhere.
@Awesomus Maximus: Agreed, h2h makes my head explode sometimes. But I do like that it keeps much of the league involved. Also, it adds a nice touch of anarchy to the gameplay. To keep my head from hitting the desk too much, I prefer to play in h2h leagues that recognize the regular season champion. For next year, I’m thinking of trying to implement some sort of award to the team that leads in the most roto categories, too.
@Grey: F-that… 16 more years until she’s the designated driver!
@Grey: in a battle for wins. have both cueto and wandy going head to head this week. which one do you like better to come away with the W?
thanks.
@Back to Minors: Cool…
@JAW: I’d lose him unless someone else can pick him up for a last round pick.
@and1mcgee: Hehe
@Awesomus Maximus: Ha, very true.
@herschel: It’s a coin flip… Cueto
@Grey: Did Volquez trick me with his last start? Am I playing with fire to drop Cecil for him? I have to keep add/drops to a minimum, because the league (insanely) limits moves. I like his final 3 starts: vs Arizona, @ Mil, vs Hou.
But I can try to look elsewhere, but the alternatives start looking like Guthrie (NYY and Bos), Blanton, Westbrook or Drabek.
@peter: I’d go with Blanton. Just a bit safer. Unless you really need Ks…
mini donkey still not back and leaving a 3b hole in my lineup at the start of the playoffs. Can move Beckham over to 3b if needed, so which 2b/3b should I grab off the wire to fill the hole for now?
Bonifacio
Valencia
Chris Johnson(when he clears waivers on 15th)
Inge
Wallace
Espinosa
kinda leaning toward Valencia for this week with all the lefties he faces(assuming he can stay healthy) although maybe I’m selling Bonifacio short. Only got 2 adds so need to get it right.
Also do you think Thome stays hot this week or sits because of the sinister pitchers the twins face?
thanks
@Grey: Since I wouldn’t get today’s start against Fla, I have the “luxury” of seeing how Bla fares before I pick him up for the stretch. Thanks.
@Grey: explanation of our keepers: we keep 5, there aren’t any limitations, no draft implications, no time limit on how long you can keep them, etc., only caveat is, if you make an off season trade and acquire a player, they have to be one of your keepers. So basically our keepers are just the first 5 rounds of the draft, regardless of whether you kept them last season or picked them up off the WW. This is also an 8 Team league, so he would probably be the 7th or 8th option behind CarGo, Longo, Wright, Fielder, Holliday, JJ and Lincecum. I have Kemp too, who’s just pissed me off all season that I doubt I’ll even consider keeping him.
@Grey:
Desperately need SB and AVG. Vizquel or Sean-Rod at MI?
And Scotty Pods is basically a backup/spot starter for the Dodgers now? Droppable, right?
Thanks
Mike D.
@Bad Bob: Thome has tough matchups this week. I’d go with Inge or Bonifacio for speed.
@peter: No problem.
@Wilsonian: Gotcha
@Mike D.: You desperately need steals and you’re dropping Pods? Don’t get that. Sean-Rod…
@Grey:
thanks. also, madbum vs mil or sanchez vs lad for wins only….
much appreciated.
@Grey: Good morning sir. I’m enjoying the day off after a long week and a few brews last nite to celebrate my crazy comeback in my h2h playoff. I was getting spanked during the week (16-4) because Garza, Jaime, and Bills killed my pitching cats. So, having pretty much having accepted defeat, I decided to stream to try to get the win in W, IP, K. I was beat in L, ER, ERA, BB, HR allowed, W %. Also didn’t help that guys like Butler, Beckham and Bruce were hurting so my hitting cats were getting hit also. Thanks to you oh Grey(t) one, I picked up LoMo, Raburn, EY2 who helped me win most of the hitting cats. I also streamed Anibal, Chacin and Zimmermann per your advice. I ended up winning the matchup 12-11, with the closest cat being K’s where I edged the guy out 40-39. Craziest comeback ever for me, thanks for all the help Grey. I’m in the semis now, with a tough match-up. Picked up Narveson and James McD for todays starts. Cross your fingers.
@herschel: Bumgarner…
@ThE sHiT: Morning! Nice comeback! Fingers crossed.
@Grey: BTW, in a crazy way, I was hoping we would end up tied. I would have still won because I crushed this guy 22-3 during the season. I know it would have felt worse for him since he dominated ERA throughout the matchup. Same way the earlier guy who posted how he lost his matchup. Yes, I’m an asshole…
@Grey:
Well, Pods was benched all weekend – do you/anyone know why?
@ThE sHiT: Ha, nice.
@Mike D.: Cause Torre’s a Sciosciapath. Just saying that if you need steals, Pods may only play 3 games this week and steal 3 bases. Steals are steals.
hey grey, logan morrison or ike davis for the next 2 weeks, i like logan only cause he can sub for an OF too. but doesnt hit hrs, this is a pts league. thanks
@tommy: Davis
@Grey:
Yeah, you’re right on Pods. He’s in. Thanks.
I’m Red Sox Nation, so maybe I’m biased, but why do people think Torre is such a good manager? He yanks position players around and burns out his entire pitching staff every year. Broxton may be fat, but he’s good… unless you let him throw 40+ pitches multiple times, like Torre did this year.
I think his early success and “likable” story (to some) give him a massive free pass. He’s just not a great manager by any stretch, IMHO.
Mike D.
Who do you like at short this week only. Brendan Ryan, Rafael Furcal, or Elvis Andrus? I looking for a little pop and speed.
@Grey:
Ahh, one more, please – Is Derek Holland an OK start vs. DET? Meaning, he won’t likely kill me in ERA/WHIP?
Thanks Grey
Mike D.
@Grey: I didnt clarify that its H2H points. You qwoul still throw Cueto over Maya? Im teetering as I dont really need the two start. Quick snapshot of my pitchers vs his…
My: Wainwright (2x), Gio, Wandy, Buchholz, Bell, Street, Cueto or Maya
His: Halladay, Beckett, Hanson, Garza, Clayton Richard, Happ, Narveson (2x).
@Grey:
I think I can answer my own question on Holland – for anyone interested, Tigers are 3rd in the AL in OPS vs. LHP. Not loving that.
Mike D.
last question from me, davis or lind in pts league
@Mike D.: He wasn’t much of a manager until the Yanks threw $100 million at him. Think he was at the right place at the right time.
@MrHappyTime: Furcal
@Mike D.: I’d hold off on him.
@sal: Cueto has low-3 ERA on the year, Maya’s completely unreliable right now.
@tommy: Davis
Last week final round, H2H:
Drop Barajas for Mike Napoli or Brayan Pena? Pena is hot but might share time with Lucas May.
1B Howard, 2nd Raburn, 3rd Bonifacio, SS S.Castro, OF Heyward, Crawford, Tabata, Morrison, BN C. Johnson and B. Phillips (Phillips has been putrid).
Stanton, McLouth, EYJ, D. Young are available.
Thanks!
@1st Season Manager: Napoli…Stanton over Morrison.
@Grey: Someone just dropped Rollins in my league. Is he worth grabbing over Furcal or Infante?
@Grey: Bourn or BJ Upton?
Gallardo or Chacin?
@Fletch: No on Rollins. Upton… Gallardo…
JJ officially done for the season…
Here’s to hoping they DL him, or may be tempted to drop him even in my keeper…I want some cash, dammit!
@Wilsonian: Rawr!
@Grey: I think you mean “This IS my ******* outlet!”, don’t you?
I didn;t get round to grabbing McDonald for today in my H2H playoff matchup, so no starters for me.
Just have to hope his four get killed – but then, I own a couple of them in other leagues. Looking like a fraught week…
@Steve: Yeah, that’s what I meant. I think you’re gonna be fine without McDonald.
@Grey: Hope so. Looks like there’s going to be plenty of streaming, which always makes me a bit jittery, although it’s my pitching that’s been the best part of this team.
Just hope Garza, Hudson, Latos, Minor and Hammel got the bad starts out of their system last week…
On the fence with Lester’s start tonight. @SEA seems like a no brainer, but he has a terrible history against the M’s, 5+ ERA… 12 tm roto, over my innings by +30. A bad ERA/WHIP outing could drop me from a close 2nd to 3rd or 4th. It’s that tight. Go for it or is now the time to be conservative since I was able to make up ground the last week?
@Steve: Yeah, hopefully. Worried about Garza, Hudson and Minor though.
@Kazmere: Gotta start him there.
With Mark Reynolds ailing I need 1st base help in my head to head playoffs. Which of these guys do you think is best for this week. Brett Wallace, Daric Barton, Gaby Sanchez, Michael Morse or Lyle Overbay? Thanks in advance.
@MrHappyTime: Sanchez
@Grey: just to play Devil’s advocate here, back on the JJ shizz…on your tentative keeper chart, would you put him ahead of Kershaw or Lincecum for 2011? I’m seriously considering kicking him to the curb.
The A’s are lucky that baseball is not played on paper.
Because on paper that team is awful.
Iwamura!
@Steve: Ha! Very nice. I remember the birth of “This is my &#$^@*^& outlet!” Couple years back… have we been here that long?
@peter: Time flies when you’re having fun.
@Wilsonian: He will be around Kershaw and Lincecum, but you can’t drop him because then someone else will get him.
@Steve: Not sure they’re that great between the lines either.
Something to kill time before baseball starts. The Padres aren’t the only cool thing in SD right now:
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/
@Steve: One of them gave me the finger.
@Grey: Heh. But seriously, nothing beats seeing Sandoval in his natural habitat.
We should get royce! to go and hold up a Razzball sign in the background.
Prince is not in the starting lineup. Rumour has it he’s chewing bamboo in a cage in San Diego…
@Steve: Yeah, flippin em off with one hand and holding up a razzball sign with the other! F.U., panda! http://www.fupenguin.com/2008/11/panda-accomplices-fully-liable.html
Jake McGee got called up. 127 K in 105.2 IP. Too bad they’ll just be using him out of the pen. Such a great time to be a Rays fan. Too bad I’m not one.
@Steve: Btw, it’s pretty awesome that I hadn’t checked the site all day because of work and when I checked back in you had a job for me. Will the workday never end??!!
@royce!: Nah, put your feet up.
That pandacam is turing into a real timewaster though.
@Grey: damn you and your wise advice. That is the only thing holding me up, but I am an attorney, so am quite fond of making money, especially when it happens to be that of some of my closest friends…
Matusz pitching arm hit by line drive in first. Seemed OK, finished the inning, but did not come out for 2nd.
@Grey What do think about picking up Mclouth for the playoffs? Looking for a hot bat…
@Steve: That would be awesome!
@Steve: Ha
@royce!: Thanks for the heads up!
@Wilsonian: Ha
@VinWins: Thanks for the heads up!
@Howard: Sure…
@Grey: How does Maya look tonight? Still throwing junk? What do you think about him as a cheap keeper for next year?
Uh…do they not have a rule against balks in Cuba?
@Grey: That panda has been eating non-stop for the last two hours.
Just realised that Montero is available in my H2H league. I have Soto.
WE count OBP – Soto over Montero?
would you drop Pena for Bruce or JUp?
@GopherDay: That’s what he throws, but he’s had success with it. Could be a cheap keeper, not in an 8 team league though.
@royce!: Ha!
@Steve: The panda’s put a 3 minute loop of themselves on eating on there while they robbed a bank. Oldest trick in the book! Montero…
@Carl Spackler: Bruce
@Grey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRM2ho2qHrU
@Steve: Hehe… On a different note, I’m really liking a group that’s popular down in your part of the world, Mumford & Sons. Catchy SOBs.
Sabathia looks like he’s gained a few pounds this season. Hopefully he’ll be able to get more exercise in the offseason.
This slugfest in Cincy is working out nicely. Although I myself have Arroyo on a couple of teams (as well as Votto and Montero), my H2H opponent has both starters going today…
@peter: Him and Sandoval should go on The Biggest Loser.
@Steve: Balls are flying out at Cincy. Hasn’t even been that great of wood on any of these HRs.
@Grey: I take that back, Bruce just hit a bomb.
@Grey: Good news. That’s 7 earned for my opponent already.
@Grey: Looks like Bruce is back. Drop LoMo or Raburn to pick him up?
Is there any other oft used baseball phrase more annoying than, “He didn’t try to do too much with it” (or any of its permutations)? I mean, a batter goes up to the plate with the job of getting a hit, he then gets a hit, and your professional comment is that he didn’t try to do anything more than what his job is? WTF would be “trying to do too much”, exactly… swinging with the barrel of the bat instead of the handle? Poking at the pitch billiards style? Swinging with your head turned while trying to get the number of the hot chick in the second row?
@Steve: Nice… So you don’t know Mumford & Sons?
@ThE sHiT: Morrison
@Awesomus Maximus: Ha… Hitting a ball so it causes a Rube Goldberg chain reaction that ends with a giant crane carrying down a box of nachos is trying to do too much.
@Grey: Bet they can still both run faster than Cano.
Bucs manager says that he’ll give Meek a few save opps. If he can believed, is it worth dropping Hanrahan for Takahashi – or is it still pretty close between the two? (there’s a limit on moves)
@Grey: Oh sorry – yeah, I do know them. They are pretty cool.
@Grey: Cross your fingers that he clears waivers tomorrow morning. I dropped him a couple days ago when I thought I was dead in the water and was just trying to get a healthy player into the lineup.
@peter: I’d go with Takahashi.
@Steve: Yeah, that Lion song is crazy catchy.
@ThE sHiT: Fingers are still crossed from before.
@Grey: Good, glad you remembered. I have now employed my toes in the crossing marathon.
*BTW, I didn’t know I couldn’t put a waiver claim on a player I dropped who hadn’t cleared waivers yet in Yahoo.
@ThE sHiT: Yeah, can’t do it in Yahoo. Think you can in ESPN.
@Grey: New wrinkle in my brain. Makes sense though.
@Grey: Morrison!
@Steve: Yeah!
Revisiting my question about dropping Krispie from earlier today…drop him for Bruce who looks like he picked up right where he left off? I couldn’t justify Stanton yet because he’s facing Hamels and Halladay, and after a couple of early homeruns tonight from Utley and Montero, I moved Ibanez to try for some steals from Bourn, so now I’m wondering if Bruce for Krispie is the way to go.
Christ… does Hi Me not understand how the H2H playoffs work? Can someone translate?
@Steve: Break on through!
@Wilsonian: Grab Bruce.
@Awesomus Maximus: Ha… Yeah, bad time to dump.
@Grey: I saw what you did there.
@Grey: This is now two #2s he’s dumped on my first round matchup. He needs a pep talk from Pujols.
Bah. I need this Luebke character to get clobbered by the Rockies.
@Steve: I’m Grey Punzarek.
@Awesomus Maximus: Pujols knows about number twos.
Trying to figure out my matchups going forward. From what I see, Ike Davis is a left who can’t hit righties and Mike Stanton is a rightie who can’t hit lefties. Do you guys actually platoon them this way or do you stick with the typical rightie on leftie matchup.
@Grey: You’re pistol!
Pointless trivia item of the day – when Ray Manzarek was trying to put the doors back together, he asked a New Zealander – guy called Graham Brazier – to be the lead singer. Never happened, though.
Related trivia item – Brazier’s mother runs a second-hand bookshop near where I live.
@Grey: thanks. Bruce better not get a sore vag again and screw me over. Kind of regretting dropping Infante for Bonifacio already, hopefully it doesn’t bite me in the ass. Still keeping my fingers crossed that for some reason the Fish DL JJ. I mean, they just DL’d Nolasco, so why not JJ?
@knighttown: Davis has power vs. righties. I wouldn’t platoon them that way.
@Steve: That’s pretty cool. Is Brazier a big singer down there?
@Wilsonian: Yeah, hopefully it works out.
Man, having depth is an issue! Trying to start the right guys tomorrow night. Five star rating from Yahoo attached:
Alexei (Liriano) ****or Desmond (Jurrjens)****
Pick three:
Murphy***** vs. Bonderman
Kemp**** vs. Zito
Ike*** vs. Duke
Stanton** vs. Hamels
A. Jones**** vs. Hill
G. jones?? vs. Dickey
Liriano @ CWS
and/or
Kershaw at SF
Friggin’ Logan Morrison’s another one. Lefty hitting damn near .400 against leftys. I can’t figure this shit out.
@Grey: Not really anymore. Back in the day, he fronted a band called Hello Sailor who were pretty big in these parts. A bar band as much as anything, but very popular. Drank lots of booze, took lots of drugs etc:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Sailor_%28band%29
BTW, Harry is no relation…
Bruce is back to beast mode. Nice!
With only two of Hi Me’s runs being earned, I’m having a fantastic ratio night from him, Gee, Price and Narveson. Too bad I won’t get a single W from any of them. Poor me…
@knighttown: Alexei… Kemp, Murphy, Davis… LIriano and Kershaw…
@Steve: Yeah, never heard of them.
@Awesomus Maximus: I have a 3.00 ERA in one league which is a 13 out of 14 and I have a 6 in Wins.
@Grey: Damn… sounds like we’re on the same cruise ship. I’m at 2.802 and 7 Ws for this H2H matchup… opponent has 3.555 and 9 Ws. I’ll meet you by the rock climbing wall and we’ll hop in the pool and grab some tequila shooters at the swim up bar.
@Awesomus Maximus: I like the ones that are poured into my mouth by fake breasted women. Is that the ones you mean? If so, deal.
@Grey: They may be fake, but the skin is real!
@Grey: You’re too humble. You are scoring 14 in ERA in that Yahoo league. Pretty impressive ERAs in that league. Obviously some people know what they are doing.
@ThE sHiT: Ha!
@VinWins: Oh, it’s 14… Right, forgot. Whatever it is, it’s not going to be enough if I can’t get some cheap wins.
@Grey: There’s another kind?
@Grey: James McD and Narveson stats combined: 14 IP, 1 ER, 11K, 4 BB, 0.64 ERA. Narveson will probably end up with the loss but it’s ok. Great streaming stats from these two guys. Good call, Grey…
Damn that Mumford and Sons song is catchy. Almost like Decemberists minus the fake speech impediments. (I’m assuming they’re fake- if Colin Meloy reads Razzball comments and it is fake, sorry buddy!). It might just be that the “I really f***ed it up this time” line reminds me of Apology Song, though.
Speaking of NZ bands, I’ve been enjoying Some Enchanted Evening by The Verlaines- got it on tape! Also The Clean’s Anthology, but not on tape- I think it’d be impossible to find. I think that a lot of early Flying Nun Records releases are great, jangly pop, which I probably am digging now because I am too tired to listen to angry music anymore.
@royce!: mean “and it’s not fake.” I gotta start giving these posts a once over BEFORE posting them.
@Grey: How about a Takahashi win? It’s a start.
@Awesomus Maximus: So true.
@ThE sHiT: Nice!
@royce!: Ha! He’s totally a reader. I’ll have to see if I can check out The Verlaines.
@VinWins: That is nice, I think I have him in that league too.
@royce!: That’s pretty much enough to get you NZ citizenship. Not a big Flying Nun fan myself, but they’ve got a pretty dedicated following.
@Grey: Check your inbox.
@Steve: Aw, thanks, man! Appreciate it!
@Grey: No worries.
What do you reckon to Bailey on Wednesday v Arizona? It’s H2H and it depends how my 5 guys go tomorrow of course, but your thoughts, all things being equal?
Anyone else notice that Lindstrom got the save tonight? Just a night off for Lyon, er what?
@Steve: Diamondbacks scare me and so does Bailey. Could be a great start for Ks, but risky.
@Wilsonian: Lyon pitched four days in a row, I believe.
@Grey: You like Stauffer @ St Lou on Thursday better?
@Grey: ok, that’s what I thought, but had to check.
Who to start tomorrow (how I currently have them in the lineup):
OF: Victorino v. Mendez(?)
UTIL: Wright v. Duke
UTIL: Bourn v. Capuano
BN: Bruce v. Hudson
BN: Kemp v. Zito
I’m debating on sitting Wright for Bruce, being that Bruce has more homeruns today than Wright has in the past 3 weeks. Kemp is steering clear from my lineup…he’s just a black hole and I’m not risking it during the playoffs. Much obliged for all the help. If I end up winning some cash, I’m sure there’s gotta be a few daiquiris in it for ya.
Yes, Padre fans do exist. Even in LA county. Go Pads!
@Steve: Nah…
@Wilsonian: Bruce over Bourn unless you need steals, then him over Wright.
@Robert: There ya go.
@royce!: Nice! Weren’t the Bats also from NZ and more specifically Flying Nun? Speaking of The Clean, Dave Kilgour is now solo, right? And then there used to be a band called the 3Ds, right? I’m just name-dropping, cause I only really know the Bats, but I kept reading about the other bands in various hip magazines back when I tried to be hip myself. The Bats played some nice jangly pop, need to check out the rest.