Fantasy Baseball Advice

Back in late March, when the season was just about to get underway, Rudy and I decided to hold a contest where you, the Razzball reader, were given an opportunity to challenge the mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-everything ‘perts, Rudy and Grey. The contest was simple in its design. Choose the winners of the postseason awards, the pennants and the World Series. The chads have been checked and the votes tallied. The results show you won, quite easily I might add. All of you. Rudy and I got none right out of all of our picks. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Less than 1. To be honest, I’m not even sure how one goes about not getting one single one correct. Actually, I think that’s a feat in itself. Now only if we tried to get them all wrong… But then we prolly would’ve got them all right.

The Padres did not win the World Series as I predicted. They finished with the third worst record in baseball. The lowly Nats and Mariners were the only ones to best worst them.

Verlander did not win the AL Cy Young as Rudy predicted. If there was an award for the opposite of the Cy Young, Verlander had a shot at that.  My Bedard pick doesn’t look much better in retrospect.

You, the Razzball reader, were not immune to ludicrous selections either. Someone foresaw a Mariners/Padres series and an AL MVP of Adrian Beltre. Presumably, they are (were?) a Mariners fan.  Someone else thought Peavy would win the AL Cy Young. If Peavy were traded in the middle of 2008 and this came true, I would’ve shaved my mustache.  Finally, someone thought Andruw Jones would win the NL MVP. Again, we got none right, so who am I to judge?

So who did the best at beating us out of all of youse? Drumroll…

Out of twenty-two possible questions….

With a whopping three correct answers….

Bob!

Woot-woot, Bobster! Woot-woot, Bobster! Woot– Okay, before you get too full of yourself, you also put an ineligible Edinson Volquez down for NL ROY… Then again, some members of the BBWAA did the same. (BTW, don’t look at that BBWAA Geocities-ish site too long. It’ll burn your computer screen and retinas.)

Congratulations, Bob. I’ll be contacting you about where I should send the $50 Amazon gift certificate. Or comment below, you big winner you.

Grey’s picks are in red.  Rudy’s are in blue.

AL Pennant Winner – The Indians, balanced offense, Pronk staying healthy and a Sabathia/Carmona 1-2 punch gets them to the Series.

AL Pennant Winner -  The Yankees.  Feel like Girardi, the young pitchers, and being an underdog for the first time in more than a decade will revive this team.

NL Pennant Winner – San Diego Padres, strong pitching and just enough offense get them through October.
NL Pennant Winner -  Milwaukee Brewers.  Feel like the Mets, Phillies, and Cubs will find a way to lose.  The Brewers have the hitting and pitching pieces (well, except a closer) - this is the year they put it together.

2008 World Series Champion – Padres’s pitching/Petco holds the Indians’s offense in check.

2008 World Series Champion -  Yankees.  It won’t be pretty but they’ll find a way.

AL MVP – Grady Sizemore, he goes 35/30, but it’s only a no-brainer when he ignites the division winner.

AL MVP -  Alex Rodriguez.  I know.  Boring.

NL MVP – Chase Utley, giving the Phillies the MVP trifecta.

NL MVP -  Prince Fielder.  He’ll hit his weight.

AL Cy Young – Erik Bedard, barely edging out Sabathia.
AL Cy Young -  Justin Verlander.  Offense gives him 21 Wins.

NL Cy Young – Cole Hamels, edges out Santana and Peavy because of the wins.

NL Cy Young -  Johan Santana.  I’ve got too much invested in him not to think this.

AL Rookie of the Year – Daric Barton, only because the Rays are a bunch of cheap bastards.

AL Rookie of the Year -  Adam Jones.   He’ll get 400+ ABs which can’t be guaranteed for other rookies.

NL Rookie of the Year – Manny Parra, he doesn’t look good this spring, but the Brewers are committed to him. The Rays should take some notes from the Brewers on how to manage rookies.
NL Rookie of the Year - Joey Votto.  Dusty will mold him.

AL Comeback Player of the Year – Zach Greinke, a 25 year old comeback player and he fizzles out again in 2009. Catch the excitement!

AL Comeback Player of the Year - Johnny Damon.  He’s got one very good year left in him.  I’m seeing .295/110/20/75/30

NL Comeback Player of the Year – Pedro Martinez, showing stretches of vintageness (is that a word?).

NL Comeback Player of the Year - Rafael Furcal, two good ankles and a contract year.

One winner will receive:- $50 Amazon Gift Certificate.

To enter, type your picks for each of the 11 categories in the comment section below by 11:59 PST Wednesday, April 3o, 2008. The winner will be the one that beats the experts’ choices. So if you get 8 out of 11, and Grey gets 4 and Rudy gets 7, you win. Ain’t that swell? (In case of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random from all winning entries.) If you want to make an educated guess, try this link. Or this link. After that, I can’t help you, cause that would be cheating.

You must be 18+

One comment per person. Duplicate or additional comments will be ignored (per usual). If you have never posted a comment before, your comment must be approved. Winners will be notified by e-mail, so a correct email address is probably the way to go.

Good luck! And go (whatever team you like)!