I really don’t want to spend much time on Endy Chavez. Which means basically two things. 1) I don’t think to much of the guy. 2) The Mariners outfield situation is bad. Really bad. Boy, wouldn’t it be nice if they still had a fourth outfielder that could play center and have some pop? Granted, they could have claimed Casper Wells, after the either previous DFA’s this past week, but pride goeth before a fall, or so they say. Well, now that I’m thinking about it, if I’m going to talk about Shelley Duncan and Don Kelly in previous iterations of this series, might as well make Chavez feel right at home. Hitting 269/308/367 for his career, that’s basically who he is. But he’s getting at-bats, so he’s filler if you need it. And if you need filler like that, bless your heart.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Taylor Teagarden
The Braves should totally give Derrek Lee the number 01 and paint him orange. Too bad Waylon Jennings isn’t around anymore to announce him when he comes up to bat. Lee-haw! The Cubs received back Tyrelle Harris, who I believe is a male model, Robinson Lopez, who dispenses candy from his neck, and Jeffrey Lorick, who owns the Marlins. Derrek Lee has hit 4 homers in his last four games and his numbers should only continue to trend upwards as we head into the home stretch. I could see him getting to 24 homers on the year; he’s at 16. Do the math! The real LUZR in this is Troy Glaus, who the Braves put on the DL with a severe case of We-Don’t-Want-To-Play-You-Anymore-itis. It’s curable, but you usually need a new team. Kelly Johnson had a similar malady when he played for the Braves. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Xavier Nady – 1-for-3 as he played 1st base yesterday, but Micah Hoffpauir was recalled. Hip-hip-Hoffpauir! Not really. I wouldn’t pick him up in any league until I saw him start hitting.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Inspired by Seattle’s Doug Fister-Adam Moore battery, we’ve compiled a list of pitcher-batter combinations that, at their worst, make us wincingly smile like a corny Jay Leno weddings segment and, at their best, make us laugh like Jay Leno’s audience does at the aforementioned segment.
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The Rangers bullpen costing C.J. Wilson the win is like ten thousand spoons and all you need is a knife. Maybe Frank-Frank didn’t like Wilson cutting into his save chances last year. I was skeptical of Wilson moving into the rotation. I said to myself, “Grey, you’re handsome.” Wait, wrong conversation. I remember it now. “Grey, why not start Neftali Feliz? Why they fussing with C.J.
Please, blog, may I have some more?David Wright was released from the hospital yesterday after tests showed that he was okay from Saturday’s beaning. When he first went down, the Mets had some serious concerns when Wright couldn’t answer straightforward questions like, “Who’s our starting shortstop?” “Who plays 1st?” “Who’s the shirtless guy hiding in Jerry Manual’s locker?” Wright might be out for the season. Probably be the best thing that could happen to his fantasy owners. The wait for his power to return can finally end. Though I wouldn’t drop him in one year leagues until it’s official he’s not returning, unless room on your DL is spare. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Nick Johnson – Left with a hamstring injury. He seemed to be in good spirits after the game, smiling in locker room pictures.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Much like a newly married female, the Blue Jays have dropped BJ from the active roster. Imagine this scenario. You walk into your fro-yo distribution job, say what’s up to your TCBY manager who’s twelve years younger than you, open up the jimmies container and proceed to flip them, one at a time, at your manager’s head. Timothy asks you politely to stop. You politely give him a wedgie. Naturally, he fires you. Then you collect your salary for the next year. Man, the life of a terrible baseball player may be better than the life of a marginal one who has to play every day. B.J.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Back in early November, I said, “Gregg, Cubs Closer?” Well, remove the question mark and call me Nostradumbass. It’s not surprising at all to me that Marmol’s not going to be the closer to start the season. There’s no reason in debating whether Piniella made the right decision. Of course he didn’t. Joking. There’s points for both sides. As I said the other day, do you wanna lose the game in the 8th or the 9th? Either way, all you should concern yourself with is who is getting the saves. The pickle here is Marmol is actually worth owning even if he only gets 5-10 saves all year. So if you drafted Marmol, I’d hold him just to pad your pitching stats. If you have Gregg, nice late pick in your draft. You probably just fell into 35 saves. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in spring training for fantasy baseball:
Brandon Morrow – Says he’s the closer. And so it is. You know what? Every single one of you sitting around reading this blog for the last month could’ve stepped up and said you’d be the closer for the Mariners. But what did you do? You watered down the ketchup, made sure everyone’s coffee was hot and passive-aggressively stuck broken glass under your eighteen-year-old boss’s car tires. You had to know with the top option being Miguel Batista that the job could’ve been yours. Now march into your job and tell them you’re the new fry cook. You got hot oil skillz! Morrow’ll be fine as the closer if he can get/stay healthy. Not sure what they’re going to do with Chad Cordero. Maybe they can turn him into the starter Morrow should’ve been.
Please, blog, may I have some more?This was, as they say in Italy, an Experto Callaspo AL-Only draft. What AL-Only means to me? Thanks for asking, random italicized voice. It means I probably won’t have one pitcher that I would usually have in a mixed league. I contemplated about how I wanted to go about this draft. It’s good to have a game plan, ya know? So I decided, since I don’t really like AL pitchers, I would get solid pitchers anyway. Zoinks! I figured that solid pitchers would be at a premium and if I got my share, I’d be in good shape. Also, from my knowledge of other ‘pert drafts, no one drafts starters early, so while they’re zigging, I decided to zag. “Knowing your opponents’ weaknesses is half the duel,” Aaron Burr. When you see my pitchers, you’ll see I didn’t really get that many great ones, but for AL-Only I have a top three pitching staff going into the season. Then there’s the strategy I employed for hitters. I decided to punt catchers, of course, and up the middle. Punting the MIs was because I knew who I wanted late and I knew guys like Alexei Ramirez would go way early (He went in the 2nd round.) Okay, before I get to my thoughts I jotted down during the AL-Only draft, here’s my co-conspirators:
Fantasy Baseball Dugout
The Fantasy Man
Fantasy Sports Commissioner Training Institute
Rotohelp
Sporting News
ProFantasy Baseball
Roto Central
Advanced Fantasy Baseball
Fantasy Sports R Us
Fantasy Baseball Sherpa
Fanball
Here’s my team:
C: Taylor Teagarden (19)
1B: Carlos Pena (3)
2B: Asdrubal Cabrera (15)
SS: Jed Lowrie (11)
3B: Brandon Wood (12)
MI: Wilson Betemit (23)
CI: Jason Giambi (10)
OF: Carlos Quentin (1)
OF: Carl Crawford (2)
OF: Vernon Wells (5)
OF: Franklin Gutierrez (14)
OF: Brett Gardner (16)
UT: DeWayne Wise (25)
P: James Shields (4)
P: Joba Chamberlain (6)
P: John Danks (7)
P: Brad Ziegler (8)
P: Brandon Lyon (9)
P: Anthony Reyes (13)
P: Dan Wheeler (17)
P: Kevin Millwood (18)
P: Rafael Betancourt (22)
Bench: Melky Cabrera (20), Wladimir Balentien (21), Matt Thornton (24), Jeremy Sowers (26), Damaso Marte (27)
Notes I jotted down during the draft:
ROUND 1 & 2 – I get Carlos N Carl with my first two picks. Yuck. Seriously, I hate AL-Only. I have no idea where all the good players have gone, but I think it’s into the NL.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I’m not going to point out Brian McCann or Mauer or any other catchers you or your leaguemates will be looking at in the first 10 rounds. Here are some catchers that I will be targeting at my 2009 fantasy drafts after the top options are gone. I’m also not going to get into the strategy of punting catchers. Been there, half-drunkenly wrote that. Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2009 projections. This is a supplement to the top 20 catchers of 2009 fantasy baseball. Anyway, here’s some catchers to target for 2009 fantasy baseball:
Pablo Sandoval – I have his 2009 projections as 60/14/65/.300. I think he can get to 17+ home runs without losing anything on the average side. He’s not as appealing to me as a 3rd baseman or a swimsuit model.
Please, blog, may I have some more?All of these rookies are worth grabbing at the right spot, but I wouldn’t reach for any of them. Sorry if that sounds boring, but sometimes Grey needs to instill some right-wing fantasy baseball conservatism into the equation. Longoria, Soto, Tulowitzki, Braun, Michael J.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
