RCL Update: July 23

It was a short week, but A Hill O’Beans (My Mustache Has a Mustache – Greys a Biter, says Garner) used those three days to take over first place, dropping That’s a Shame (Bold Predictions) down to second.  Baseball Cougar (Night of the Living Zombinos) moved up 10 spots to third.

My Mustache has been moving up steadily since June 24th, when they were in 22nd place. They were fortunate to get Miguel Cabrera with the second overall pick (Braun went first). Their 4th round choice, Allen Craig has combined with Miggy for 173 RBI. They did have to overcome sub-par seasons from their #2 Josh Hamilton  and #5 R.A. Dickey. Before the season, they traded their #3 Jason Heyward, along with Alex Cobb for Giancarlo Stanton. Monday, they completed their sixth trade, sending Hamilton and Joaquin Benoit for Stephen Strasburg. Other deals have brought Albert Pujols, Aaron Hill, Desmond Jennings (11 HR/15 SB) and Starling Marte (13 SB).  Key pickups include Manny Machado and Yasiel Puig.

Check out the Master Standings (you can also access them via the Leagues menu up top) to see where your team ranks in comparison to the other 767 teams through Sunday. The page now includes sortable stats.

Rudy must now overcome the loss of his top pick, Ryan Braun. March 22: “Braun was an easy pick here but there is a slight pit in my stomach about the Biogenesis investigation.” Of course, he hasn’t really been getting the expected production from him up to now, either. Eighth round pick Nelson Cruz has provided good value, giving Mr. Gamble 43 runs, 23 home runs, 70 RBI, and 5 steals while hitting .275. Fourth and fifth picks Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez have combined for 21 wins and 278 strikeouts with an ERA of 2.74 and 1.05 WHIP.

Grey is getting most of his points on the hitting side this season, as his first 3 picks (Robinson Cano, Paul Goldschmidt, Adam Jones) have combined for 184 runs, 62 home runs, 217 RBI, 25 stolen bases, and an average of .303.  Adrian Beltre, acquired in a trade in May, has added 16 homers and 41 RBI while hitting .339. His first two pitchers were Zack Greinke (6th) and Yovani Gallardo (8th), who have given Grey 11 wins and 110 Ks with an ERA of 3.25 and 1.22 WHIP. David Price has contributed 24 strikeouts in 34.1 innings with ratios of 2.88 and 0.96 after he was added in another May trade.

Free Agents:Christian Yelich was snapped up in 41 leagues as his callup appeared imminent. Pedro Strop went from being owned in 3 leagues to 30 with the announcement he could be the closer if Kevin Gregg was traded.

Trades: After 15 trades during All-Star week, 1030 players have been moved in 330 deals as we near the deadline. Trades must be completed by noon ET, Friday, August 2nd. The Carolina Bedwetters (RCL on PEDs), with 51 more saves than the second place team, dealt Jonathan Papelbon for Michael Bourn. Needing an ace, Jack Full of Hate traded Chris Davis and Patrick Corbin for Billy Butler and Clayton Kershaw. Corbin was also traded for Jayson Werth. Jordan Zimmermann (for Yoenis Cespedes), Madison Bumgarner (for Anthony Rendon and Carlos Beltran), Chris Sale (for Michael Cuddyer), and Gio Gonzalez (with Nick Franklin for Brandon Phillips and Mike Leake) were other big name pitchers to change teams. David Price was also packaged with Austin Jackson for the phenom Puig. A 5-player deal saw Hanley Ramirez and Kenley Jansen traded for Manny Machado, Wilin Rosario, and Jason Heyward. You can check out all the trades in the Fantasy Baseball Forums. Look for the RCL under the heading “Everything Else.” Also, be sure to check the player rater for “Rest of Season” projections when you’re considering a trade.

Records: With 10 weeks to go, it appears several RCL offensive records will fall. Tehol Beddict has hit 218 home runs, putting him on pace to break the record of 342 with about 360. Donkeycorn Apocalypse (Sultans of Swat) leads all RCL teams with 737 RBI, putting the record of 1147 in jeopardy. The runs scored record (1219) held by Royce! appears safe right now as Your face ain’t got no saves (One More RCL) leads with 710, on pace for under 1200. Claycord Ding (Double Platinum Haters), with 161 stolen bases, could be very close to the record of 249. It’s tougher to judge with pitching records, since a lot depends on how many of the 180 starts allowed have been used. 2 in the pinky 1 inthe Greinke (BOOM) leads with 1156 strikeouts, but have used 167 starts, meaning the record of 1586 is likely out of reach. Steve Lyons’ Pants (Real fake sports) is next with 1076 Ks, but they are already up to 177 starts. The record of 115 wins will also be tough to break. The Bedwetters could reach the RCL record of 229 saves, but it is unlikely they will sustain their current pace. There are currently 6 teams under the record ERA of 2.86, led by Draft Dodgers (No Go Romo) at 2.51. There are also several teams bettering the WHIP record of 1.11, once again topped by the Draft Dodgers with 1.02.

Remember, there’s still time to move up in the standings. 18 teams came from behind at the all star break to win their league in 2012. 10 were in 2nd, 3 were in 3rd, 3 in 4th, 1 in 5th, and Aqua Velva Men came back from 7th place to win RCL 24. They had 64.5 points at the break, but finished with 97. Hopefully, everyone will keep battling to the end for the best finish possible.

GOOD LUCK!