Comments on: Larry King’s Fantasy News & Views (Vol. 8)

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:23:53 +0000

@Billy: Espinosa and Beckham are fairly close in value. Montero is only useful in a 2 catcher league. I don't love either CJ Wilson (beware the year after a pitcher has converted from reliever to starter) or Delmon Young but they are of equal value. So sounds like this helps your team....go for it.

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:21:50 +0000

@Elijah: You may come into my house and have some wine. But then please leave.

By: toolagio

toolagio — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 10:06:51 +0000

I’m from overseas… so I never knew Larry King wrote on baseball. More reasons to wish I was inside the North American bubble…

Any article that causes the milk from my cheerios to stream out my nose is a good one!

By: Doug Ault

Doug Ault — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:15:53 +0000

Somewhere Juan Pierre has a brother named Deux, and he hits for power

Always a pleasue to read Larry!

By: Elijah

Elijah — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:36:29 +0000

@Rudy Gamble: Whats all this about blunts?

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:53:27 +0000

@Steve: Hmm, There's no blunt way to do it. I'd probably just multiply all the #s by 300/260.

By: Billy

Billy — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:10:58 +0000

trade help, h2h 14 team league, am i’m crazy not yet jumping on this deal…

i trade CJ Wilson and Espinosa for Beckham, Delmon Young and Jesus Montero

Beckham would be my starting 2b i do have Lawrie in my Minors slot, and Young would also help me at OF as I’m weak there…

By: The Situation

The Situation — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:56:15 +0000

@Rudy: Not really many options at SS… Available SS’s include Asdrubal, Hardy, Uribe, Tejada, Peralta, A-Gon, Scutaro, Brignac and the like. Not sure I like anyone in that group better than Alcides and I think I still need his steals, despite already rostering Wright, Span and Tabata.

Is a trade in order for a Reyes or Andrus? Do I trade some pitching to make that happen?

By: cubbies299

cubbies299 — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:41:55 +0000

Hey y’all, what happened to the Disabled List Informer? He always gave great info on injuries and expert perspective. Is there anyone else that deserves to breath his air? I want to get a real perspective on the Utley injury

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:57:57 +0000

@jason: get hanley….. bautista for cruz then deal cruz/andrus for hanley? NO BRAINER.

seriously you just moved a bunch of overrateds, injury prones and one trick type guys for the best SS in baseball…. good luck because it sounds like a triangle, Bermuda….

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:43:37 +0000

@Rudy Gamble: Is there a blunt-instrument method of adjusting your 10-team Point Shares auction values for an 8-teamer with a $300 cap?

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:41:54 +0000

I wonder if anyone is still around.

Two trades kinda on the mend here in a 14-team H2H, 6×6 (OPS, QS) Yahoo! league. My team:

Iannetta, Miggy Cabs, Raburn, A-Rod, Andrus, Kemp, BJ, Bautista, with Gardner/Manny in the Utils and Fowler/Espinosa on the bench.

Pitchers go: Ubaldo, Hanson, Lilly, Kuroda, Kennedy, Dickey, Carrasco, Stauffer.

1. I’m planning on acquiring Cruz for Bautista, would you then do a Cruz/Andrus for Hanley trade.

2. How about Phillips for Kuroda and Raburn and? guy legit has no SP.

By: mr baseball

mr baseball — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:41:40 +0000

Did my leagues draft last night 16 teams Auction Draft
All these players went for $50 or more in the bidding

Hanley Ramírez (Fla – SS) $69 Born This Way
Adrián González (Bos – 1B) $62 Doc.Lee.Os.Cole.Huff
Evan Longoria (TB – 3B) $61 Bruklyn BushLeaguhz®
Miguel Cabrera (Det – 1B) $61 BLAZE
Albert Pujols (StL – 1B) $60 Born This Way
David Wright (NYM – 3B) $52 the Hart Foundation
Carlos González (Col – OF) $52 Danks+Swisher=Smoak
Joey Votto (Cin – 1B) $51 Bruklyn BushLeaguhz®
Ryan Zimmerman (Was – 3B) $51 LeBraun James
Troy Tulowitzki (Col – SS) $50 THE BENEVOLENT ONES
Ryan Howard (Phi – 1B) $50 _ MOZZYE’S_6-TOOLER$_
Robinson Canó (NYY – 2B) $50 Born This Way
Kevin Youkilis (Bos – 1B) $50 the Hart Foundation

By: LMack

LMack — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:06:48 +0000

Bailey officially heading to Dr. Freeze.

By: MAC DADDY

MAC DADDY — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:59:19 +0000

@ Tony and Lmack I agree with Tony and a downward trend with Arod and would pick Zimm before. I wonder if Cameron will have a positive effect……
@Rudy and whoever. Prado did me right last year but I got him cheap and plugged him in as a backup so it may be different this year as a starter.

By: Rabbit

Rabbit — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:38:11 +0000

Rotoworld is reporting that Bailey is going to see Dr. Freeze tomorrow.

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:17:52 +0000

@Lmack: i’d take zimm anyday over arod. I like the idea arod could put up another monster year, i dont think the guys done by any means, but I also dont like his age, he just had a hip surgery, and he’s an ex-roider. Zimm’s trending up, Arod’s trending down…. you can hope for one more good arod year or 4 or you can go with a younger proven guy who you can hopefully depend on to be healthy.

Valid question tho, i’d like to see rudy or greys response.

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:14:04 +0000

@rudy: uggla a higher avg than HILL? idk…. i honestly think hill bounces back and uggla falls back in that dept., relative to where they’re drafted i’d take hill. I think people are enamored with Ugglas 2010 stats, and they’re going to get solid production, just not a .287 average, more like the .243-.260 he batted in the prior 3 years….. but hey .250 and 30HRs probably 100 rbi’s 100 runs from 2B, thats solid, still feels like overpaying, H2H i’d beware…. ya never know tho, being on a contender? He might bat .300 and hit 40 HR’s this year!

@the situation: you’ve been too busy doing laundry, hitting the gym and tanning…. stick around, best site ON EARTH.

By: LMack

LMack — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:03:17 +0000

For Rudy, Grey, anyone: A Ryan Zimmerman vs. Alex Rodriguez question.

Can Zimmerman hold his gains in BB%? He’s young and could be developing his MLB eye. On the other hand, hat do you make of A-Rod’s decline in walk rate last year? Are his skills deteriorating or will you see a regression closer to his former ~.390 OBP?

What my question boils down to is, in a rotisserie league with OBP instead of AVG as the 5th category, which 3B would you rather have?

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:12:34 +0000

@jim: With two catchers, I’d look for a catcher who comes at least a 2 round (24 picks) discount vs. 12 Team Point Shares – http://razzball.com/2011-razzball-point-shares-12-team-mlb/. I’d say 3 round if it was just one catcher. I would probably punt the second catcher though vs. go with two big catchers.

@The Situation: Agreed that you don’t need Tabata, Span, and Alcides. There must be a better SS than Alcides Escobar that you can get in a 12 team league without MI, right?

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:04:45 +0000

@Smell The Golve: Ha! Thanks for the heads-up. Yeah, Grey hates MIs with moderate power, no speed, and high average. I think he had a bad experience one year with Polanco. That said, I think Berry and ESPN ADP for Prado is still out of line – he’s being picked about 3 rounds too early in ESPN for my tastes….http://razzball.com/2011-bestworst-values-by-draft-position/

By: The Situation

The Situation — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:00:47 +0000

@Rudy: Great stuff. Love the blog. I’ve been playing for a long time and can’t believe I didn’t find you guys until this year.

Anyways, I had my first 12 team, 5×5 keeper league draft (with 2 starting UTIL) the other day and below are the results. Do you think any categories need work and/or any trades/FA pickups are in order?

C: Napoli
1B: Miggy (k)
2B: Cano (k)
SS: Alcides
3B: Wright (k)
OF1: Braun (k)
OF2: Span
OF3: Bay
Util1: Lind
Util2: Tabata
Bench: Man-Ram

SP1: J. Johnson
SP2: Hamels
SP3: Oswalt
SP4: Lilly
SP5: De La Rosa
SP6: Vazquez
SP7: Minor

CL1: Putz
CL2: Axford
CL3: Thornton

Offensively, I worry about my depth behind my stud keepers. Napoli/Lind/Bay all make me feel a little uneasy as my secondary line of power production. Also, Alcides/Span/Tabata are a pretty big power drain, even though I like them all.

I love the staff. WHIP is usually very competitive in my league, so I made an effort to focus on it as well as K’s (which should be OK despite the fact that I don’t have a 200+ K guy).

Any and all advice welcomed by Rudy and all. Thanks in advance guys. This site is definitely my secret weapon!

By: jim

jim — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:57:54 +0000

Need some Help

In a 5×5 12 team roto league. We start 2 catchers. Wondering what is the best strategy to deal with this.

1st 4 top catchers go in rd 3-4
next 7 top catchers go in round 10-13
then the rest will all go in the 20′s rds.

Do I want to try to get a stud, or a couple midland catchers in rds 10-13, or just punt both catchers and take 2 at the end.

Thanks in advance

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:52:41 +0000

@OaktownSteve: Definite shame on Bailey. No one benefits having to watch Fuentes or Balfour close games....

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:48:49 +0000

@OaktownSteve: Shocker on Lidge. You have to handcuff him with Madson...

By: OaktownSteve

OaktownSteve — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:46:51 +0000

@Rudy: I agree with you. Plus biggest problem with Fuentes is fly ball rates, so there’s a chance the big parks in the AL West keep him in the closer role for awhile, but I really don’t trust that guy.

Saw a little more coverage of the Bailey injury here and it sounds very not good. Shame.

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:40:57 +0000

@OaktownSteve: I'd pick up Balfour too if you had roster space but I think, if you can only fit one, it's Fuentes.

By: OaktownSteve

OaktownSteve — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:30:46 +0000

@Rudy: also, speaking of sore armed closers, Lidge held out. Pick up Ryan Madson like his name is…uh…Ryan Madson.

By: OaktownSteve

OaktownSteve — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:25:19 +0000

@Rudy: I wouldn’t be surprised if Balfour ends up closing for them if Bailey goes down. Fuentes will get first shot, but I think Balfour is actually just a better long term option. I hope it’s nothing. Bailey is really a top notch closer.

By: Smell The Golve

Smell The Golve — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:16:16 +0000

By the way, not sure if this was noticed or brought up by anyone last week, if so, sorry, but did you see the “mention” Razzball got in Matthew Berry’s latest Love and Hate column?

“Martin Prado, 2B/3B, Braves (75.6): Someone sent me a note recently asking if I had seen a blog that ripped me for my Martin Prado ranking. Both the sheer volume of e-mails I get and blogs that rip me are too numerous to reply to, but I will say this one took me a bit by surprise. Really? Why the Prado hate? Last year, there were only 17 players in major league baseball (including Prado) who scored at least 100 runs. Seventeen. Nate makes this point on our podcast all the time and he’s right: No one ever pays attention to runs scored but they count just as much as the other four categories.

Now, not only was Prado 14th overall in runs in the majors, but he was 15th in batting average as well. So you’re getting “elite” production in two cats. From a middle infielder. How many middle infielders were top-15 in the majors in more than one 5×5 category last season? Two: Robinson Cano (AVG, R, RBI) and Dan Uggla (HR, R, RBI), who, by the way, should help Prado score even more runs this season.

Add to that Prado’s 15-20 homer potential, a handful of steals and, after two weeks into the season, that he’ll qualify at three different and reasonably scarce positions, and yeah, that’s why I have Prado in my top 60.”