The Chicago White Sox started a three game series with the Yankees last night and came up with a huge win. Jose Quintana pitched 6.0 innings, gave up 8 hits, 6 ER, 5 Ks, and got the win. As far as starts at Yankee Stadium go, this one could have been a lot worse.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Torii Hunter
Yankee pitchers haven’t been hit this hard since Ed Whitson ran into a Billy Martin drinking jag. You know, Yogi’s always the one quoted from the Yankee archives, but Billy had some good ones too. Here’s my favorite, “I’d like to mouth f*** that bottle of whiskey.” Before the Yankees game, CC Sabathia hit the DL with an abductor strain in his groin. Someone’s got clams! CC is supposed to be fine to go right after the All-Star break, as long as no one else tries to shuck his groin. Then, once the game got going, Andy Pettitte was hit in the ankle with a comebacker. Pettitte is supposed to be out for 6-8 weeks. At least he didn’t pull a Zumaya during his retirement and hurt himself playing Guitar Hero (or, more likely, Guitar Praise). The Yankees’ rotation now has plenty of room for anyone the Cubs, Astros, Padres or Brewers want to give trade them. I did the crossed out text thing, I’m a jerkoff! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Daniel Hudson – Torn UCL.
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We have a new leader atop the Master standings! Pig Charmer (Grunge Ball — RCL 16) completed the march to the top that began in 29th place 3 weeks ago. Beardcrabs (The Gaylords — Conshellation Prize) moved up 5 spots while Gobias Industries (Cust Kayin’) gained 11 positions to sit tied in 2nd, 1 back with 107 points.
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Kendrys returns (or is the verb singular there?) this year, but can’t play every day, and when he does, he needs to DH. So, since Mark Trumbo fields about as well as Dalton Trumbo fielded commie accusations, it seemed like Trumbo (Mark) would be benched a lot. In years past, Scioscia would’ve went with some variation of a light-hitting middle infielder with a good glove — “You can’t teach moxie! Moxie’s innate! Chone Figgins had so much moxie. He could’ve played 3rd base, 2nd base and waitressed at a diner from midnight to 8 AM.” That’s a direct quote from Scioscia’s autobiography, “Crouching Angel, Hidden Drag Bunt.” But maybe Scioscia learned himself something because Trumbo is playing every day, and hitting well. Yesterday, he went 2-for-3, 2 runs, 6 RBIs and his 13th and 14th homers. Right now, Trumbo’s hitting .326. That’s probably through his ceiling for average, through the ceiling above it and out the roof. He could hit 50 to 60 points below that. There’s still plenty of value here. He’s on his way to 30-plus homers, solid counting stats and 10-plus steals. Basically, what you hope you get from Pujols at this point. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Scott Downs – And just when you think The Sciosciapath has his harsh mellowed over the closer sitch, he goes and flips the script. Colvin and CarGo, two lefties, were due up in the ninth, so I’m guessing he went with Downs there for that reason. I’d continue to hold Frieri, but obviously Downs isn’t out of the picture completely. He’s kinda photobombing the closer picture, actually.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Fenway Park hosted the Washington Nationals for the first time in six years last night, and after being swept in a 3-game series in 2006, Washington was eager to show off their new National Treasures. Those treasures I speak of are, of course, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg and Nicholas Cage.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Ernesto Frieri got the save yesterday in the 11th inning, but Downs came on in the 9th in a tie game. On one hand, teams hold back their closer in a tie game in away games, in case they get the lead. On the other hand, sometimes whoever pitches the ninth is the closer. On a third lesser known hand that is actually a mitten on a doorknob, maybe Downs just came in to face two lefties and stayed in for Gomes. On a fourth lesser known hand that is actually a hand spraypainted onto a dolphin, there is no fourth lesser known hand spraypainted onto a dolphin; c’mon, man, that’s just cruel. On a fifth lesser known hand that is actually a giant hand-shaped pinata, The Sciosciapath is managing all of this, so if he sees Frieri get the save, Frieri could be the man. If Frieri is out there, I’d grab him. I still think Downs is in the mix. Walden’s droppable outside of deep leagues. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Marco Estrada – To the DL with a right hip flexor injury. Chubby Checker just shuddered.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The Royals physician diagnosed Danny Duffy with a torn UCL, which would mean Tommy John surgery. In related news, Dr. James Andrews is filing a trademark lawsuit, saying he’s the only doctor that can shut down pitchers for longer than 60 days. In sorta related news, Francisco Liriano is still waiting to come back. In unrelated news, when Dr.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Evan Longoria is out for 6 to 8 weeks. Let’s look on the bright side. According to our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater, Longoria has been less valuable than Encarnacion and Aviles at 3rd base. On the less bright side, those guys have been really, really good. Okay, that bright side argument didn’t play out so well. Let’s try again. On the bright side, I told everyone to draft Longoria and drafted him myself, so you can point at me and say how screwed I am. On the less bright side, if you’re reading this, there’s a chance you listened to me and drafted Longoria too. Okay, last try. In the 6 weeks he will miss, Longoria would’ve gave you around 8 homers and 30 RBIs with a .300 average. You can get that off waivers from Pedro Alvarez or Chris Davis (if all those coins I just dumped into a wishing well mean anything). Did I just try to convince myself that Pedro Alvarez was going to give me the same stats as Longoria? Wow, glad I haven’t convinced myself anything dangerous like I can fly or I can heal Longoria’s torn hammy by kidnapping him and taking him to St.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Okay, so it’s not the best 2012 fantasy baseball team, but, man, that title sings, right? This is the best 2012 fantasy baseball team that I can put together when drafting from my top 100 for 2012 fantasy baseball and top 300 for 2012 fantasy baseball. Honestly, I could draft another 25 teams from those lists, and they’d all be different. If I took Longoria in the 1st round, everything after it would change. For this exercise, I’m taking Swiggy first, because, well, I have him first overall. Then once I take him at number one, I can’t take another player until the 24th pick, then choose two players within the next 24 picks, then 2 players in the next 24 picks and so on until the end of the top 100. Just like a snake draft. It would be nice if I was in a league where someone drafted Halladay, Verlander and Kershaw in the first round and I was able to take Longoria in the 2nd round, but since Miggy and him are in my first 10 picks, according to the rules I’ve set up for myself, I can’t take them both. Then, as we all know, once you get into the 100′s, there’s wide gaps between ADP and where players are actually taken. People tend to look at team need over value. So for this exercise, once I get to pick #101, I’m going to pick two players every twenty picks, rather than every 24 picks. That’s to account for the wide margin between ADP and where players are drafted. Finally, because there is so much latitude in the last 100, I gave myself free reign to fill up my team. Throughout the draft, I also gave myself the ability to reach to a lower draft pick, but not reach forward. It should still be my ideal team… Or not. Let’s see, shall we? Bee tee dubya, this team is 5×5, one catcher, 5 OFs, MI, CI, 1 UT, 9 P, 3 Bench, just like the Razzball Commenter Leagues that are signing up still. Anyway, here’s the best 2012 fantasy baseball team:
C: Joe Mauer (10)
1B: Miggy Cabrera (1)
2B: Chase Utley (5)
3B: David Wright (2)
SS: Dee Gordon (15)
MI: Zack Cozart (16)
CI: Adam Lind (7)
OF: Jay Bruce (3)
OF: Drew Stubbs (6)
OF: Andre Ethier (8)
OF: Torii Hunter (12)
OF: Lorenzo Cain (17)
UTIL: Chris Heisey (25)
P: Madison Bumgarner (4)
P: Anibal Sanchez (9)
P: Matt Moore (11)
P: Jhoulys Chacin (13)
P: Ryan Madson (14)
P: Mike Minor (18)
P: Jordan Walden (19)
P: Kyle Farnsworth (20)
P: Brad Peacock (21)
BENCH:
P: Ted Lilly (22)
P: Jim Johnson (23)
P: Aroldis Chapman (24)
So what do we learn from that in the most general sense? You don’t have to draft pitchers early. For those looking at my staff and thinking it won’t compete, my last year’s staff when I did this dream team post was:
P: Jon Lester (5)
P: Dan Haren (8)
P: John Axford (13)
P: Daniel Hudson (12)
P: Jhoulys Chacin (14)
P: Chris Perez (15)
P: Craig Kimbrel (17)
P: Mike Minor (18)
P: Jordan Zimmermann (19)
BENCH:
P: Ryan Madson (20)
P: Jason Motte (21)
P: Rafael Soriano (22)
You can switch Mike Minor out of there for Beachy too, because once he was in the rotation I switched the two of them on all of my teams. As I’ve said in the past, I may not know a damn thing, but I can pick a pitching staff. Seriously, Lester, Haren, Hudson and Chacin were all you needed. Then you throw in Beachy, Madson, Kimbrel and Axford and you have 12′s in every pitching category. And that’s not considering you could’ve dropped Soriano and picked up a great waiver wire guy. This shows you that you need to really load up on hitters early, because, as much as you like that late-round-flyer man in the 18th round to be your corner guy, it’s probably not gonna work out for you. Make sure you have at least two outfielders, a 2nd baseman, 3rd baseman and 1st baseman in the first ten rounds. In my team above, I even reached way down for Ethier in the 8th round because I wanted to make sure I had an extra bat. Also, I find myself grabbing Mauer this year to offset Stubbs and other average drains. No one’s getting anything from catcher, so may as well get some average there if he comes at the right price. I am not reaching for him. If he’s there in the 9th to 10th rounds, great. In the end, this really is just an exercise. It’s fun though! For me. So what do you think of my fantasy fantasy team? Don’t like it? Go to the top 300 and make up your own fantasy fantasy team and post it in the comments. Or not. Decisions, decisions!
Please, blog, may I have some more?With more outfielders than random hairs growing from my grandfather’s ear, we take it to the top 60 outfielders for 2012 fantasy baseball. And, just like your grandfather’s ear hair, a lot of these guys are gross. I don’t know what happened to the outfielders, they just went and got ugly. You look at Ryan Braun like he ruined your childhood by taking a performance-enhancing drug, but at least he’s trying to put some offense back into the modern-era of baseball. Now someone start manufacturing aluminum bats painted to look like a wooden bat. Thank you. As with the other 2012 fantasy baseball rankings, where tiers start and stop are mentioned and my projections. Anyway, here’s the top 60 outfielders for 2012 fantasy baseball:
41.
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