Karma Kameleons 08 Summary

Blog regrets the delay in getting the season reviews up in a consistent manner. (Blog apologizes for nothing). Thankfully, we’ll be able to bump down that hideous picture on the last post quickly in the next week. ick. Without further ado…

Last year’s runner up found it tough sledding in their attempt to repeat or expand on their 2007 success. Generally, when a team changes their name mid term to “Slump Chumps”, you know that things may not be clicking on all cylinders. Despite those early struggles, mostly brought about by a pretty brutal draft, KK was able to finish fairly strong and had a brief chance to make the tournament in the end. Alas, 7th place and winner of the NIT is the best they could end up with. They are to be commended for making several moves, whatever the reasons for them, and they did get arguably the steal of the draft in Dustin Pedroia during the 8th round (Blog predicted this pick during the draft). DP ended up the 16th overall player and AL MVP. The fact that he’s a MI is real gravy for the production he gave at that pick. Now that is value.

- Best Move: So many moves involving big players… Blog did like the trade that brought Jose Reyes and Jenks on board (from Snot for Cano & Peavy), but both were flipped away shortly after. Blog thinks that getting Pedroia, a 2nd base keeper in the 8th round is still the best move of the year for KK.

- Worst Move: Very biased, but trading Nolasco and Valverde for Ankiel and Bush worked out very, very nicely for Regs, not so much for KK. Oh, and drafting mediocre setup man David Weathers in the 12th round and out-for-the-year Chris Ray in the 19th round were also really bad moves. In fact, probably worse than trade Blog picked, but hey, it’s Blog’s blog. You don’t like it, get your own.

- Biggest Surprise: Johnny Damon finishing 44th overall is a pretty big surprise. His 2007 was pretty darn bad, but his 2008 was high quality. Seeing as he was drafted in the 14th round, Damon actually ended up ‘more valuable’ than Pedroia. Cliff Lee was a pretty big surprise too, but he was already well into his Cy-Young season by the time KK acquired him.

- Biggest Disappointment: Fausto Carmona was really bad this year. Since he can’t even strike Jason Varitek out, he didn’t have huge fantasy value anyway, but KK saw something there to take him in the 2nd round, 12th overall, and he was thoroughly disappointed.

- Blog Would Have…: Not drafted Weathers or Ray, and kept Jose Reyes instead of trading him for Webb, Valverde and OC.

- KK Should Keep: Fielder, Pedroia, Pena, Webb, McLouth/Lee – flip a coin. Blog finds it quite an injustice for the Commish to leave Carlos Pena (33rd overall) off his potential keeper list. Shame…

- Final Draft Grade: 8 value picks, 6 top 100, 3 top 50 is good quality. Of course, some of that was negated by 7 non-value picks over 500 (see draft review), one of which for some bizarre reason was not Chris Ray. Carmona and Johjima in the first 6 rounds stings, but it was offset by Pedroia and Damon later. Overall C.

- Final Season Grade: Finished strong, but still 11 games under .500. Winning the NIT is good enough for a C.


- 2009 Outlook: KK should be very strong at 1B, CI and 2B. They’ve had a knack to get solid starting pitchers the past 2 years, so they need to hope that continues. If they can avoid drafting worthless players and put together a draft that at least includes players expecting to play in 2009, they could be a threat to finish 6th, maybe even 5th in 2009.

Snog Discusses the Karma Kams

Snog! has been very busy of late, but Snog! does not apologize. Snog! feels that you are lucky to have Snog!, so you'll take what Snog! gives you and like it!

There are certain necessities in life. Air. Water. Nourishment. Karma. No, not the belief that some cosmic force will dope slap you for staring a little too long at the backside of some hottie strolling down the street. The Karma Kamelons have offered up more entertainment value in the CPL than all other teams combined. From the day 1 (literally) drafting of Rheal Cormier ("I need a lefty reliever") to the absolute inability to say no to any trade, KK can be pointed to for some of the "classic" fantasy moments. Of course, under normal circumstances this would result in, well, BOBZ BOYZ, but this franchise has Karma on its side! How else can Snog! possibly explain the "success" of this franchise? Those cosmic, karmic fantasy gods must have a thing for teams that provide comic value. Snog! digresses. KK has lacked the ability to stick to a plan for the past 2 seasons. One week he'll trade FOR an allstar OF, and the next week he'll trade AWAY a different star for a draft pick. Huh?!? But Snog! is making the assumption that KK's ultimate goal is winning, and we all know what happens when we make an assumption. We become an Ass and the Ump will Shun us (thank you Fresh Prince of Bel Air). Apparently, KK's goal is to have fun. Snog! cannot complain about this as Snog! enjoys covering KK almost as much as that model franchise that won the league this season. Snog! believes that KK does have some good keeper options for the '09 season, though Snog! fully expects KK to ignore those options in favor of a late-inning defensive replacement with multiple position eligibility. Were KK to heed Snog!'s wisdom, he would most likely choose to keep Dustin Pedroia, Prince Fielder, Brandon Webb and Nate McClouth. The fifth choice should be traded for a draft pick, as the remaining options are huge injury risks (Chipper, Harden) or are not quite keeper quality (Hunter, Drew, Damon, Cliff Lee).

Karma Kamelons 08 Final Draft Review

Oof... Dave Weathers in the 12th round? ouch. Chris Ray was out for the season at the time of the draft as well. Blog does wonder how Ray, who pitched not at all in 2008, finished as the 378th ranked player. Was Ray 718 rankings better than Fausto Carmona? I mean, Carmons was awful, but he at least contributed something, didn't he? A win? A strikeout? Would it have been better if Carmona just went out for the year (you know... probably...). Great pick with Pedroia. Solid picks with Damon, Lidge, Marmol, Theriot and Loney. Kendrick should have been a better pick, but you can see here why KK struggled for power so much. When you're relying on Richie Sexson and Jack Cust, you're in some trouble.

Karma Kamelons 08 Weekly Stats

Some interesting things here... Note week 15. KK set the record for ERA and WHIP with 2 very solid numbers, yet they could only split the week 5-5 vs. the Regs. No saves for this roster for the final 9 weeks. Nice. Very solid on the year in Wins, ERA and WHIP, but minimal offensive production.

Karma Kamelons 08 Schedule

Blog is busy at work so these might be few and far between until the new year, but here's KK's schedule! They struggled against the top teams, but tore up the lesser teams. Pretty standard stuff. Also, as the winner of the consolation tourney, KK was the only team besides Snot to go undefeated in the playoffs, so they have that going for them this Christmas season... sweet.

Karma Kamelons 08 Pitching Tracker

Several quality starters found their way on KK's roster in 08. Peavy, Lester, Duchsererereer, Harden, Webb, Johan, Nolasco, Ervin Santana, Lee and Lowe. All but Lester ended up in the top 77 overall. All the relief help was shipped out, and that will be very apparant with the weekly stats. Hard to see how this roster finished out of the playoffs, but, well, it did.

Karma Kamelons 08 Offensive Tracker

Who would have thought, that Dustin Pedroia, all 5'6" of him, would end up as the 16th overall ranked player. Crazy. The top ranked 2B in 2008 (Utley was 17th). Some rough picks in the middle of the draft (Johjima in the 11th? ouch). But decent value late. Not a lot of waiver activity, but certainly a high frequency of trades. Blog is a big fan of the Ankiel/Bush for Valverde and Nolasco trade, but not for KK. Blog probably would have kept Jose Reyes, or at least gotten more back than Webb, Valverde, Cabrera. Not a bad trade, but it just seems lacking, especially when we see where KK struggled. If Reyes could have brought power back to KK, that could have translated to playoffs.

Thanksgiving Review

Thursday, November 27th, 2008, Blog celebrated Thanksgiving, along with probably most of the rest of America, coincidentally enough. Blog was fortunate enough to spend parts of the day with several members of the CPL: BOB’Z BOYZ, Swine Nine, Snot on the Ball and Papi’s Space Cadets all joined in the fun. Blog also happened to keep a running diary of the holiday, which you will now be subjected to because, well, it’s my blog. Now, without further ado…

6:15 – Blog wakes up this early on a holiday thanks to the 3 precious children in the other room who can’t tell time, don’t discern holidays and are allergic to sleep. We forgot to give them their midnight Benadryl doses… nuts.

7:15 – Blog gets a call from BOB’Z BOYZ confirming that there shall be golf on this beautiful, yet blustery day. Blog is pleased. Swine Nine and Snot will be joining us.

8:37 – Blog leaves his house with 3 ‘energized’ girls running circles around their mother. After all these years, Blog just can’t figure out why his wife dislikes golf so much…

8:44 – Blog is cut off in traffic by Swine and Snot. Blog looks closely and can see the new Taylor Made Burner hovering in the front seat.

9:03 – Blog pulls into RiverBend County Club and sees absolutely no other cars on the parking lot. Just to make sure that they are open for business, Snot and Blog head into the clubhouse to find that yes, they are open. Blog pays for his round, and then Snot proceeds to pay for the other 3. Blog is furious that he stepped up to the counter first.

9:06 – Blog and Snot are threatened with severe bodily harm and the forfeiture of our carts if we do not keep our carts on the cart path. ‘The Warden’ is on the prowl… and he sees all…

9:08 – Snot informs Blog of the ‘word of the day’. It is not a very Thanksgivingy word…

9:19 – Blog starts off the day with a drive down the right side of the fairway… than the rough… than a tree… but gets a nice bounce right back onto the fairway.

9:20 – Snot punishes his drive right into the 7th fairway. However, since there is NO ONE on the course, we end up just picking it up as we come down #7 a few hours later.

9:26 – Blog buries a 15 foot birdie putt, set up by a beautiful approach from Snot (as we are playing team skins). This quickly puts Blog/Snot up by 1 point and seemingly sets up Swine and BOB for a long morning.

9:38 – Blog and Snot take hole #2 as well, putting them up 2-0. The youngsters begin to feel supremely confident.

10:42 – At the 5th hole tee-box (holes 3-5 were tied), BOB begins a desperate internal struggle with his coffee and breakfast. This battle will rage until the 7th.

10:59 – Blog has officially lost all ability to hit a decent golf shot by now, and cannot get a long putt close to win 4 skins at the 6th hole. Grrrrr… The tension begins to mount as the skins pile up and it become apparent that the next team to win a hole will win the match.

11:04 – Snot follows Blog left on the 7th tee, but even in the open space, his ball cannot be found until Blog digs his 7 iron into about 18 inches of standing water to pull it out. Gotta love winter golf!

11:15 – Swine and BOB’Z each have a shot at a 5 foot putt to clinch the match. Swine misses first, than BOB’Z lips out, extending the drama. (2 5 footers?? Ouch…)

11:25 – BOB’Z internal struggle is finally resolved in the clubhouse. Onto the 8th!

11:35 – Blog puts his drive over RTE 106. ooops. Fortunately, Snot’s drive is playable from about 35 yards off the green.

11:42 – Blog somehow lucks his way into an approach that lands within 12 feet.

11:47 – Snot and Blog take the 8th hole, and the title of First Annual Turkey Golf Skins Match winners. The victory cigar is lit. Of course, Snot only brought one, so Blog gets to waft in the aroma of someone else’s symbol of their victory.

11:52 – Snot plays a pink ball on the 9th. No seriously.

12:06 – Golf is over, but Blog now finds himself in a desperate search for Ginger Snaps.

12:12 – Blog find gingerbread man cookies at Tedeschi and says good enough.

12:13-2:15 – there’s a lot of bathing, dressing, and corralling of children, and eventually, we all end up at Swine Nine’s house.

2:40 – 3:15 – there is much eating.

4:30 – Papi’s Space Cadets arrive, and the cards and chips are broken out.

5:14 (I’m guessing now) – shuffle up and deal!

5:18 – Snot is essentially done after playing 2 very bad early hands. thanks for coming!

5:22 – Cousin Emily first gives the appearance of being a serious card shark. Right up until the moment when she giggles uncontrollably once an ace is flopped. Everyone folds except Blog, who is an idiot, and loses.

7:00 – Snot has managed to make a bit of a comeback, and is now head to head vs Papi. Snot ends up all in, and is convinced that his 3 queens are good, and they are… right up until Papi shows his 3 Kings… which are better.

7:20 – Emily’s luck runs out, but the giggles will be memorable.

8:05 – Swine ends up going all in with a good hand, which he subsequently loses to Papi’s better hand. Yes… there is a theme here.

8:20 – Blog gets a set of 5’s on the turn, but instead of going all in now, he decides to wait and hope to bleed Papi a bit more. This is really stupid considering Papi will always get better cards. So of course, a 10 comes on the River, giving Papi the straight that will give him the poker crown. The winning pot is then ceded to Mrs. Papi, where is was rumored to become a purse the next day.

Happy Thanksgiving and Blog will return at some point with more baseball reviews.

Bounty Hunters 2008 Summary

(Blog was out ill last week, and will take the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving. Blog will be back 12/2 with KK's review. Happy Thanksgiving! Blog is thankful for Blog's awsomeness).

Blog is going to give Bounty Hunters the same benefit of the doubt that it gave BOB’Z BOYZ. Not much, but enough to understand that rarely do rookies (especially those not already steeped in baseball statistics) step right in and excel. The BOY’Z had some additional leeway allowed them as 2008 was their first involvement in a competitive fantasy league (football pick ‘em’s don’t count). Bounty Hunters won’t get that same consideration, since they’ve participated in a competitive fantasy football league for quite some time. In fact, if Blog’s memory suffices, Blog remembers beating the Bounty Hunters twice in fantasy Super Bowls way back in the day… good times… But Blog digresses:

BH’s 2008 fantasy season started off with a lot of hope, and then just spiraled out of control, with the owner either unable, or unwilling to shake things up. The offense really lacked firepower from any elite position, and the pitching was banged up and mediocre. Soriano and Ichiro were their best offensive players, but with Soriano traded by 6/11, and with Ichiro providing only 3 of the 5 offensive categories, BH’s need for offensive production plagued until the end. Their roster really is a who’s who of over-rated fantasy names: Konerko was terrible. Beltre finished as the 17th ranked 3B in the league, right behind free-agent Troy Glaus. Encarnacion was the 20th. All 3 players would probably have been cut by 90% of the other teams in the league by June, but for what it’s worth, BH trusted his draft. Even the aging Derek Jeter was a fantasy let-down this year 88/11/69/11/.300. Not bad, but not what you’re looking for from your #1 pick.

- Side note, those numbers made Jeter the 7th ranked SS this year. Bring back the juicing era!

Pitching… Aarong Harang went 6/0/4.78/1.38/7.47, was the 940th ranked player, and the 45,532th ranked pitcher (don’t check it, it’s true). This warranted a roster spot all… year… long… Thus concludes our pitching summary.

BH is going to have some tough decisions to make keeper-wise in the off-season, and they should do some real soul searching regarding their in season philosophy, but hey, Blog is only pawn… in game of fantasy baseball…

- Best Move: Um… Keeping Papelbon maybe? I guess snagging Peavy and Volquez on the last day has to be the tops. BOB’Z BOYZ is still irked that BH was paying attention…

- Worst Move: Besides keeping 11 players from his draft, the worst move was probably cutting Milton Bradley before the season started. Had Bradley been kept, than maybe BH wouldn’t have sent Soriano to Swine to get Bradley back with Joe Nathan and Kosuko Fukudome (Japanese for ‘Damon Buford’). Put Soriano, Ichiro and Milton Bradley in BH’s OF all season long, and maybe they end up 7th instead of 8th.

- Biggest Surprise: The fact that 3 of the top 5 closers in the game don’t guarantee even a winning record in saves. Now we know. Thanks BH!

- Biggest Disappointment: The 4,302 trade requests sent from Snot on the Ball, only to be given the cold shoulder. No, actually, this should be Konerko. The 37th ranked 1B (read that again). He went 59/22/62/2/.240, and 5 of those HR’s were after 9/21! He was really bad, and he was on a roster all… year… long…

- Blog Would Have: Turned over this roster 6 times trying to catch lightning in a bottle, and accumulate 2009 picks.

- BH Should Keep: Peavy (what a gift), Ichiro (with the intent to Sell! Sell! Sell!), Papelbon (would love to stay offense here), McCann, and flip a coin between Atkins and Nathan. That is, unless Atkins is traded to Oakland, than keep Nathan.

- Final Draft Grade: D. 4 value picks, none in the first 8 picks. Bradley and Rivera were great picks. The bottom 4 are really killer picks. Those picks should be high risk, high reward picks. Players like Carlos Quentin, Billy Butler, Nate McLouth or Saltalamacchia should be taken here. Some might work out, some might not, but Tom Glavine? Freddy Sanchez? You know what you’re getting with those guys, and it’s not much.

- Final Season Grade: D+: It’s easy to forget that until week 7, BH was right there with Snot as one of the 2 division leaders. So that’s where they get the + from.

- 2009 Outlook: There is work to be done. BH needs to younger and elite-r. Maybe they are another candidate for 2010 prep? They have high value trade commodities (elite closers, catcher, speed) and if they draft with an eye to moving everyone necessary to prepare for 2010, they could be a real force at that time. If not, they’ll need to get really lucky in drafting power and average, ironically the 2 things that going to mostly be kept by the players who have them.

Snog! Discusses The Bounty Hunters

Blog's cousin Snog! here with a review of The Bounty Hunters. This is a tough review for Snog!. TBH's inaugural season was about as uneventful as an FLB season can be. Any success this team may have found this season has to be credited to the previous ownership, because the current ownership group-of-one did not seem to have much of a plan. Any review of this team's 2008 season has to include the odd choices made in the closer position. Paplebon, Rivera and Nathan were 3 of the best closers in the game this season, and all they could muster was a .500 record in Saves. Now Snog! is certainly no expert, but that just ain't right. If you are going to invest keeper positions in MULTIPLE closers, you darn-well better win Saves every week. You should probably limit your SP roles and go for ERA, WHIP and K/9 as well, but that's a seperate debate. What's your point Snog!? Well, value is Snog!'s point. TBH could very well be heading into the '09 season with 3 additional high-round picks, or at the very least some upgraded keepers. Instead, the only offensive players likely to stick around will be Brian McCann, Garrett Atkins and a declining 35-year-old Ichiro (Snog! loves people with one name!). Only the last-day-of-the-season gift pick-ups of Jake Peavy and Edison Volquez to go along with J-Paps (Snog! likes fun nicknames!) and Carlos Zambrano give TBH some decent keeper options. Snog! is of the opinion, for those who care, that TBH will end up keeping Peavy, Atkins, McCann, Ichiro and Paps. If this is the case, Snog! believes that TBH has some serious work ahead.

Bounty Hunters 08 Final Draft Review

A fairly, well, boring draft usually equals a fairly, well, boring season.

Bounty Hunters 08 Weekly Stats

Of note, Bounty Hunters holds at least a share of the weekly futility record in 4 seperate categories (R, W,SV,ERA). Also, that is just a huge cluster of red on the offensive side after week 10. Finally, BH had 3 elite closers for the first half of the year, but only won save 4 of the first 11 weeks. It's not just quality that gets the blue in the saves category...

Bounty Hunters 08 Schedule

Including playoffs, only 3 wins since week 8. If the season were 5 weeks longer, BH may have been caught by BOB'Z BOYZ. No... Seriously... One other thing, look at the only 2 teams BH had a winning record against.

Bounty Hunters 08 Pitching Tracker

Only 23 pitchers used all year. 11 were drafted. There weren't better pitchers out there than Any Pettitte (875)? Aaron Harang (940)? Wanger (674)? Finished strong by somehow paying enough attention to grab Peavy and Volquez (right commish?), but the lack of imagination and aggression really hurt BH down the stretch of the season.

Bounty Hunters 08 Offensive Tracker

Bounty Hunters takes the prize for the fewest number of offensive players to grace a roster in 2008 with 30. Considering that 14 of them were drafted, that means that there were only 16 offensive player transactions for BH this year. This means:

A. BH had just a killer draft and barely had to lift a finger all year as he surged towards the playoffs.

B. BH shied away from moving any of his drafted players out of a debilitating fear of being taken advantage of by more experienced players.

C. BH channeled his inner Longball and just totally had no flippin clue that there was a waiver wire.

Questions:

1. Were Michael Bourn's steals worth it? 57/5/29/41/.229 for a whole season??

2. Was there a worse first baseman than Paul Konerko 59/22/62/2/.240 to not get cut this year?

The Commish on BOB'Z BOYZ '08

BOBZ BOYZ's first year in the CPL was certainly a rollercoaster ride. Of course, the coaster would have been built on the top of a hill because there were far more downs than ups. Or something like that. The BOYZ showed his very limited FLB knowledge with some of the more questionable transactions this season (see Blogs! wonderful charts), but towards the end of the season was able to acquire some valuable chips for the 2009 season. Keeper-wise, there are only 3 options to choose from. Lance Berkman, Carlos Quentin and Scott Kazmir are the only players on this roster that MIGHT be first round draft picks were they not kept. BOBZ GIRLY MEN (sorry, force of habit) would be wise to try and move a few keeper spots for draft picks, especially considering the strength of '09's first round. Of course, trading keeper spots to other teams will only diminish the strength of said first round. Kinda messes with your head. Anyway, the Commish will be interested in the sophomore campaign of the league's elder statesman. A few shrewd moves and a solid draft could very quickly erase the memories of 2008. Of course, when Lance Berkman goes 0 for 4 on opening day, Mr. What-Have-You-Done-For-Me-Lately will try and trade him for some 2 for 3 scrub on the Pirates. And so the world turns...

BOB'Z BOYZ 2008 Summary

Rookie seasons can be judged by any number of criteria. There are often rookies who step right in and excel (Bird, Pedroia, Mayo) but those are often the exception to the rule. Many times rookies come in and have to pay their dues. They have to show up at meetings early. They have to stay late after practice and put extra time in. They have to carry pink backpacks to the bullpen or stand up in the cafeteria and sing their college fight song. There are dues to be paid, and the toll for dues taken from BOB’Z BOYZ this year was high. The brightest moment for this team came before the draft even took place. Blessed with at least 4 quality keepers and 2 top 2 players at their position (Wright and Phillips) as well as the #2 pick in the draft, there really was a lot of potential for the BOYZ to make waves in their inaugural season. Then… the draft took place. To be kind, the BOYZ had a brutal draft, both in terms of luck and execution. Their #2 pick, Troy Tulowitzki, after being talked up by the Regs for his position and his great rookie year, was awful. Just-plain-awful. By the all-star break, only one player was ranked in the top 100 (JD Drew) and he didn’t play long for the Boyz. By the end of the season, only 2 players finished in the top 100 (Ibanez and Shields) and that’s just not good enough. They were hit hard by injuries (Tulo, Sheffield, Lowell, Cuddyer, Percival) slow starts (Ibanez, Vazquez, Garza, Lugo, RJ) and just plain bad picks (Maybin, Buchholz, Colon, Francis). Add to that the slow starts of his keepers, and one can almost understand the frustration and anxiety that led to the dooming trades that were to come… almost. This rookie season will forever be known for the now infamous Wright (and to a lesser extent Phillips) trade. Swine Nine stole Wright from the inexperienced BOYZ with no regard for the human wreckage left scattered about. Wright, who has always been a top 2nd half player, which was often communicated to BB, ended up as the #2 over-all ranked player in fantasy, and may have over-taken A-rod as the top 3rd baseman in the game. We won’t revisit the whole deal, but we will emphasize the complete lack of appropriate value received in this (and other) deals. Even in the trade that brought the BOY’Z Berkman, one has to ask, couldn’t more have been received for the best pitcher this year (Sabathia) and top ranked OF (Beltran)? Blog believes had the BOYZ been patient, but methodically aggressive, they could be sitting in a similar position to Swine Nine: primed for an enormous 2009. Perhaps the lessons will be learned. Perhaps patience will be practiced this year, and perhaps luck will smile on the BOYZ in 09. Or, maybe Swine will get Berkman, Quentin and the BOY’Z first 2 picks for a few more Rays pitchers. You never know.

> Best Move: Trading Joe Mauer for essentially 3rd and 4th round picks was a solid move for the future. Trading Winn and Blake for late round picks were also good moves, but the Mauer move showed that the BOYZ had started to plan for 09, and now they’re positioned to be a prime mover leading up to the draft.

> Worst Move: Let’s just move on, shall we?

> Biggest Surprise: Again:… Blog has posted more words about that trade than it cares to remember…

> Biggest Disappointment: Hafner or Tulowitzki… flip a coin.

> Blog would have: Started moving players for keepers and picks sooner, and more aggressively. The BOYZ should have at least 4 quality keepers, instead of 2 automatics and a lot of questions.

> BOB’Z BOYZ should keep: Berkman, Quentin… um… well… ok… Pence, Bruce and Werth. There… I said it. Now send the BOYZ your offers for those keepers slots.

> Final Draft Grade: F. Just a brutal draft. Lugo, Colon, Maybin, Buchholz, Francis, Cuddyer, Butler, Sheffield... no potential keepers drafted… not much in trade bait either. Hope for 09, it can’t be any worse…

> Final Season Grade: D. They did finish strong, and they do have more early picks than any other team, including Swine. This was their first year in fantasy baseball, so Blog will grade on a curve and keep the D- off the shelf, but there can never be another Wright trade in the BOYZ future. EVER.

> 2009 Outlook: No more excuses. The BOYZ have the picks to build a playoff team in 09, or if they can be patient and disciplined, to build up keepers and picks for the 2010 season. The potential is there for the BOYZ to really be a player in 09, either on the field or off, the choice is up to them.

BOB'Z BOYZ 2008 Final Draft Review

Carlos Guillen makes it to the finish line, and that's it. Looking at the draft, that's not a bad thing... Cameron Maybin and Clay Buchholz back to back with picks 100 and 101? ouch... You want to know who pick 102 was? AL Rookie of the Year and keeper Evan Longoria. Josh Hamilton went 107. Top 5 closer Joakim Soria went 108, never mind the late round gold like Youkilis, McLouth, Quentin, Lester and Harden. Based on the numbers, Raul Ibanez was the best pick in this draft, with RJ and Shields taking Silver and Bronze, but in realilty, the best pick was probably Mauer, who BB was able to flip for some decent picks in the 09 draft.

BOB'Z BOYZ 2008 Weekly Tracker

Um... a lot of Red here. BB won RBI, and despite their no-name pitching staff, they did have a winning record in ERA and WHIP. The lack of top 3 batter in the order is evident as BB had a tough time winning R, SB and AVG.

BOB'Z BOYZ 2008 Schedule

3-1-1 down the stretch! Never mind the 3-13-1 before that...

BOB'Z BOYZ 2008 Pitching Tracker

Here's a game we can all play with BB's pitchers. It's called: 'How many Rays?' Ready for the answer? All of them! Kazmir, Shields, Garza, Sonnanstine, Jackson (2x), Howell (2x), and Percival. Despite making the world series with this rotation, this wasn't a dominant pitching staff for fantasy (note BB's 9th place finish). Shields finished the year ranked 99th, leading the group, but guess who's next? Kazmir? nope. Red Sox killer Garza? not close... Closer Percival? Ha! the answer is J.P. Howell, who somehow ended up as the 103rd ranked overall player in fantasy. Um... ok... Outside of Sabathia (7), there aren't even a lot of quality names, nevermind elite pitchers on this list. Only 3 closers were ever on this roster (K-Rod, Percival, Hanrahan), and they all had flaws: K-Rod cost WAY too much, Percival couldn't stay healthy, and Hanrahan was acquired too late to matter. There are plenty of 5th (or 6th) staters (Buchholz, Francis, Colon, Glavine, Redding, Jackson, Marquis, Miller, Davis, Bush, Lohse, Washburn) and plenty of set up guys (Howell, Masterson, Rowland-Smith, Sarfate, Moehler, Benoit, Cruz, Neshek). Only 3 pitchers who ended up the top 100 and 9 who ended up in the top 200 ended up on this roster. That's just not enough quality.

BOB'Z BOYZ 2008 Offensive Tracker

One of many teams to own, then cut the 64th ranked player overall Mark DeRosa. In my unscientific observations, it looks like DeRosa was the most unwanted top 70 player this season. I'd say in the top 100, but wait until you see how much Joey Votto (98) bounced around. geesh. The ugliest part of this is the top, where Wright (2), Beltran (13) and Phillips (107) are gone for, well, not much, but the bottom has to be encouraging with Berkman (6) and Quentin (36) sitting there. The lost years from Hafner and Tulowitzki really put BB behind the 8-ball early, and the fact that Raul Ibanez ended the season ranked 59th just adds to the pain of that trade in May. This could be an elite 2010 roster with Pence, Bruce, Werth, Reynolds and Gomez, but it's good for only 9th place in 08.

The Commish on Swine Nine 08

The Swine Nine has followed the absolutely brilliant path of our current league champion, Snot on the Ball, by loading up on top-of-the-line keepers and "hogging" all the best draft picks (i'll be here all week). There should be little debate in Swiney's mind come keeper-selection time. Grady Sizemore, Carlos Lee, Johan Santana, Hanley Ramirez and Brandon Phillips will be headlining the '09 version of '08's cellar-dwellar. We could, however, see a few pre-draft deals come out of the Pig Trough. Rumor has it that deal may already be brewing that sees next year's early favorite acquiring a (VERY) speedy SS to complete an infield unmatched since Snot on the Ball produced the exact same infield in '08. And of course we should never rule out the possibility that BOBZ BOYZ will trade one of his 1st round selections to Swiney in exchange for a 3rd or 4th round pick. That Swiney can sure be persuasive!

Swine Nine 2008 Summary

The Swine Nine sure don’t feel like they finished 10th now that 2009 is on the horizon. They played 2008 with 2009 in view, and now… ALL THE PRESSURE IN THE WORLD is on the procrastinating pigs. It’s one thing to own a ton of picks, it’s another thing to turn those picks into a title. It sure makes a mistake or 2 easier to overlook with a number of high picks, but having the bullets doesn’t automatically mean the targets will be hit. Here’s a look back at part one of Swine’s 2-season plan:


> Best Move: This may end up being the best move of all time. Swine acquired a franchise cornerstone, David Wright, along with Raul Ibanez and Edwin Jackson, for Scott Kazmir, Francisco Rodriguez and Yunel Escobar. Blog has covered this deal enough in the past, but needless to say, if BOB’Z BOYZ has a ½ way decent draft, they’re certain to get hundreds of trade offers…

> Worst Move: Drafting Andruw Jones is close, but the May 1st trade with Regulators worked out pretty badly for Swine. Swine received Victor Martinez, who was awful in 08, and Delmon Young for Rich Hill, Micah Owings, A.J. Pierzynski, and the 31st ranked player in 2008, Bobby Abreu. Blog’s guessing Abreu would have at least brought Swine a 2nd round pick had he waited.

> Biggest Surprise: The blockbuster with Snot on 8/12 where Snot received David Wright, Jose Reyes and Mike Mussina for Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Lee and Hong-Chih Kuo. We will know 10/09 whether this was a good deal for Swine or not, but Blog has a hunch that Swine may regret this one down the line. Needless to say, the caliber of players involved made this the biggest deal of the season. Cliff Lee’s success finished a close 2nd.

> Biggest Disappointment: It’s tough to come up with a disappointment when the final results for the season would come for another year, but we’ll go with Victor Martinez’s season. He ended up on the DL shortly after the trade, and on the waiver wire 43 days after that.

> Blog would have: Kept Wright and Reyes.

> Swine should keep: Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, Johan Santana.

> Final Draft Grade: B-. Drafting 3 top 50 players and 5 top 100 players puts you right where you expect to be. McLouth was a gem in the 18th round, and he turned into Grady Sizemore. Jones, Josh Fields, and Ryan Freel were big disappointments, but overall, Swine was able to take his positive draft picks (Lincecum, Abreu, Pence, McLouth and a bunch of closers were turned into 5 quality keepers and a bunch of picks.

> Final Season Grade: Incomplete. What else can it be? Swine get's an A- for plan execution. There were lower round picks left on the table throughout the season, but there was a goal: to have pole position in the 2009 race, and that was achieved.

> 2009 Outlook: Here is where the 2008 grade will be fleshed out. Swine played 08 for 09 from the beginning, and now all eyes are on the pre-season favorite. How will the draft? Will they go for balance? Value? Youth? Pitching? Power? Speed? Will they sacrifice 2010 for 09 as well? They have 5 quality keepers, but is the Hanley Ramirez/Carlos Lee combo better than David Wright/Jose Reyes? They will be the most watched team through the trade deadline in 09 which should really boost season ticket sales, but will they be able to collect on their big gamble? Time will tell.

Swine Nine 2008 Final Draft Review

Swine Nine 2008 Weekly Stats

The key to this chart is right on top. Blue means the category was won for that week. Red means it was lost, and Gray is a tie. if the font is white, that was a 2008 record low. If the font is yellow, that was a 2008 record high. Alas, there are no record highs here on Swine's, but there are record lows, as you can see. I think it's interesting that Swine had a better than .500 record for the season in only 2 stats: Steals and ERA. Granted, if he hadn't been trading away all his B-level talent and closers, the numbers could be different, but they are what they are, and they point to a 10th place finish in 2008.

Swine Nine 2008 Schedule

Swine Nine 2008 Pitching Player Tracker Revised

Swine Nine 2008 Offensive Player Tracker (Revised)

Here is the first visual aid. If you click on it, you'll be able to see it a lot better. The pitchers will follow very soon, but this is how it works:

Every player who spent time on a roster this year is listed. I think the column headers speak for themselves. DL stints are included, as well as CPL transactions. Some players were involved in multiple transactions throughout the year, so there are multiple transaction columns. The colors are as follows:

Black - currently on roster as of 'Date Added'

Black Bold - currently on roster, but spent time on DL

Red - player was cut as of 'Date Removed'

Red Bold - player was cut but spent time on DL, or was received in a trade (see transaction column)

Blue - player was TRADED AWAY as of 'Date Removed'

Orange - player was RECEIVED IN A TRADE as of 'Date Added'

Green - player is currently on DL

Light Blue Fill Color - player was originally drafted

Players with (#) next to their name have been on this roster previously.

Got it?

I also have the final ranking of the key players, mostly those who were drafted, and those who were on the final roster. Any questions? Let me know. Anyone other than me find this interesting? Blog Out.

The Off Season

Starting later today, and continuing every Tuesday and Friday throughout the off season (or whenever I feel like it), there will be detailed, thorough, and completely subjective reviews of each teams season, both for the good and for the bad. I have several visual aids that will blow your flippin minds, both in terms of the abundance of detail, and for the complete worthlessness of them. We'll be working our way from bottom to top in terms of the final standings, so sadly, Snot will have to wait until probably after Christmas for his team to be feted again. (Longball, here's the definition of 'feted'). Swine Nine will be first, and Blog will take into account the fact that they believed that 2008-2009 was one combined season. The rest of the list is already posted below. By the way, this is a picture from the Peasant Olympics in China. No... relevance... whatsoever... Just a reminder of where we're headed once our wealth gets spread around... oh yes... Blog went there.

PS... Does anyone know a good way to post excel to blogs? thanks...

The Finals

Ladies and Gentlemen: the 2008 Champion of the California Penal League… Snot on the Ball. And it’s a good thing for him too. Snot started making plans for this season back in July 07 (Blog don’t know if the date’s accurate, Blog doesn’t care, so don’t bother correcting it if it’s wrong Snot). He started accumulating draft picks and upgrading his keepers, all with the hopes that it would lead to this, and, much to the chagrin of the rest of the league (especially the author), it worked. Granted there were a lot of moves (281!!) and luck (Mr. Carlos Quentin), but Snot pretty much went wire-to-wire this year, and well, this is Snot’s moment. Excuse Blog while he throws up in his mouth.

Snot on the Ball DEF Legends 7-3

Blog doesn’t remember much of the specifics from this matchup. This is what happens when you celebrate your own 3rd place finish a bit too much, then wait 2 weeks to write the review. But we’ll at least try to make some good ones up. Blog seems to remember this being fairly close most of the way. Steals and Saves were both in play late, and since Legends had secured ERA fairly early, they needed both to get to a 5-5 score. (It ended up meaning nothing, but Blog would like to point out to Legends that Blog did recommend picking up Brett Gardner. Instead, Snot grabbed him and the 2 steals he provided. The lesson for 2009? Grab Brett Gardner early people!! K/9 was also as close as could be: 9.00 vs. 8.98. Blog also advised Legends to sit Edison Volquez just before he went out and struck out everybody in sight. This would have given Legends the win in K/9. So to review, 2 moves (Gardner/Volquez) would have given Legends a 5-4 loss instead of a 7-3 loss. The point? There isn’t one. Blog’s just noting that even though some categories were close, Snot rolled through the playoffs. They finished each playoff series in nuclear fashion, using the closing weekends to secure all the categories that could have potentially swung the balance.

Legends did have a great season. They’ve graduated to the ‘CAN’ Division and ruled the ‘CAN’T’ division comfortably for most of the 2nd half. Legend has become a force at getting the to fantasy finals these past few years, first in football, now in baseball, but that championship bobblehead (like the one sitting on Blog’s bookshelf) has been elusive. Legends got to the finals using almost the exact opposite strategy that Snot used. They lost absolutely none of their 2009 value to get this far, so they should still be a legit contender in 09. They utilized the 3AM waiver wire to their full advantage, until finally forcing Snot to go to insane lengths in the early hours to out-grab key free agents.

One humorous side note that ended up being irrelevant was the performance of Jacoby Ellsbury. Owned by Snot but absolutely doing nothing, he was cut on 9/12 for Joey Votto (who had a great finals for Snot, actually). Once cut by Snot, Ellsbury embarked on a 16 game hitting streak, raising his average from .262 to .280 with 5SB, and 2 homers. He was then picked up by Legends and went: 13/2/3/2/.415 in the finals. Potential MVP #’s if the final result wasn’t so one-sided.

Five Finals Studs:

- Jose Reyes won SB for Snot: 12/2/11/6/.267
- Adrian Gonzalez: 12/4/14/0/.319
- Chase Utley: 12/2/10/2/.310
- Brad Lidge: 0/5/1.5/1.67/16.50
- Manny Ramirez: 8/3/12/0/.436

Five Finals Duds:

- A-Rod really killed Legends offense. One would think that since there was nothing to play for, that A-Rod would go off, but apparently Madonna is a big distraction: 3/1/3/1/.229
- Justin Morneau: 5/0/5/0/.189
- Randy Winn: 1/0/1/0/.238
- Salomon Torres: 1/1/1350/2.50/3.00 – may have cost Legends saves AND K/9.
- Ryan Franklin: Didn’t pitch much and did get a W, but the other numbers are SOOO bad: 1/0/27.00/4.50/0.00

So finally, Congrats to Snot. The 2008 California Penal League Champions. Bring on the 09 Draft!!! Here is the final 2008 Results:

10. The Swine Nine – Wrested last place from the jaws of…
9. BOB’Z BOYZ – Over the last 5 weeks and 2 playoff weeks, BB was 38-26-6. No, Seriously…
8. Bounty Hunters – Um, let’s pretend the season ended on week 7.
7. Karma Kameleons – Couldn’t duplicate 07 magic, but will look to rebound in CAN’T division.
6. Jobu’s Hats For Bats – a tough, tough last 8 weeks of the season.
5. Papi’s Space Cadets – Solid year, but injuries sapped the pitching and power down the stretch.
4. L.L. Longball – Just imagine if Longball knew about the minimum IP and about Stat Tracker… well, they’d still be in 4th.
3. Regulators – finished regular season strong, but not quite as strong as…
2. Legends – Legends will be paving their driveway in silver soon, because this gold belongs to…
1. Snot on the Ball - 281 moves. 132-80-8. Didn’t lose after week 16. 10 keeper lever players. Hands Down 2008 Champion.

Blog Note:
Throughout the winter, Blog will be posting team reviews, 2008 Awards, and 2009 Previews. Even though Blog took the last 3 weeks off, there will be fantasy baseball in the winter!! Tell all your friends! The fun starts after the World Series. GO SOX!!!

It's a bird!

This is just super cool. I gotta get me one of these.

Semi-Final Review

Well… it is time…

Blog has been fairly silent these past 10 or so days, as the 2 of you who read it may have noticed. Blog apologizes for letting personal feelings get in the way of Blog’s duty of reporting on the CPL. Blog has been grief stricken over the end of the Regulators fantasy season (not just the end of the season, not just the fact that Regs couldn’t go back-to-back, but the fact that in the finals are the Regulators two primary rivals… the two franchises that make Blog want to drink 2 month old strawberry milk that’s been resting comfortably and warmly under my daughters bed rather than see them win a trophy… Blog needs a minute…) Ok. Let’s get this over with:

Week 24 Review (Semi-Finals)

Legends DEF Regulators 6-3-1

Legends continued to get stellar outing from his offense and got just enough from the pitchers to knock off the defending champs in a matchup that was a bit closer than the score would indicate (but not much). Regs had a significant edge in ERA early in the week, but watched helplessly as crappy closers and a terrible last minute decision to start Nick Blackburn pushed his ERA closer and closer to 5. Regs also got NOTHING out of BJ Upton due to an injury, and had the entire infield of the Regs hit under .270. Ultimately though, this matchup was determined by who had the better crappy closers. Legends crappy closers Brad Zeigler… (seriously??? Zeigler??? COME ON!! Sorry… I’m ok…) Matt Lindstrom…. (AARRHGGHSD:@#(#%YQ@P@Q>#...), Jensen Lewis… (Lewis??? What is wrong here!!!) Salomon Torres and Mike Gonzalez were better than Mariano Rivera, K-Rod, Jose Valverde, Chris Perez, the awful Fernando Rodney, and the awful Luis “INF INF” Ayala. Just a fun bit of trivia… how many of these closers were drafted back in March? How many of those drafted closers does Legends own? Grrrrr… Anyway, good luck in the finals Legends, we know you can’t win a football title, maybe this is where your luck turns. Poophead.

> Stud of the Week: Jimmy Rollins had 4 steals by Monday, and figured heavily in Legends winning runs and average: 7/1/5/4/.462

> Dud of the Week: Armando Galarraga: 0/0/11.25/2.25/9.00. This crummy start put Regs in a hole his pitchers couldn’t dig him out of.


Snot on the Ball DEF L.L. Longball 8-2

Before Blog reviews this matchup, Blog must ask it’s readers to inform the owner of L.L. Longball of Blog’s existence. Blog feels that Mr. Longball may have benefited greatly from the persistent abuse Blog heaped upon Longball for twice this season failing to meet the IP requirement. Perhaps in reading Blog’s ramblings about Longball, some questions may have popped into his mind such as:
- There’s an IP requirement?
- Is the IP requirement waived if I own all the Phillies starters?
- Juan Pierre is still on my roster?
- I can cut him?
- I can then pick up any number of better players in his place?
- Really?
Perhaps Longball may have even been led to discover something that has been in place for BOTH YEARS that he has participated in the CPL. Something that he has paid for twice. Something called a Stat-Tracker. Now, you may be thinking, “Blog, what on earth does a stat-tracker do?” Bizarrely enough, a Stat-Tracker (occasionally… get it more consistent Yahoo) TRACKS STATS! Like, as they happen and stuff! Anyway, Blog just hopes that Longball can discover how helpful Blog can be before it’s too late and someone has to explain to him that the goal is get the HIGHER K/9, but the LOWER ERA and WHIP. It can be confusing…

Anyway this matchup was a lot closer than 8-2. Snot took all 5 offensive categories, but only average had any kind of cushion. ERA and Wins were both in play late too, but Snot came through at the end. David Wright and Tim Lincecum came through like the top 10 performers they’ve been all year, and Longball just didn’t have the offensive fire-power to match up. Of course they could have cut Juan Pierre or Marcus Thames for Andre Ethier, or any other bag of dirt for that matter, but Blog’s been there done that.

> Co-Studs of the Week: Wright 7/4/9/1/.632 and Lincecum 2/0/0.52/0.92/10.90.

> Dud of the Week: Miguel Cabrera: 5/1/3/0/.235… when you gotta have it, you need your #2 stud to bring it.

FINAL FOUR

Blog does acknowledge that there is a Consolation Tourney, and a 5th place match, and Blog may mention them at some point, but Blog will only PREVIEW the 2 Semi-Final matchups, and they should be doozies...

#1 Snot on the Ball VS. #5 L.L. Longball

Snot was dealt a significant blow as AL MVP Candidate and Snot's best player... wait, Snot's 2nd best... no... 3rd best? no... best OF? still no... ok, ok... They lost Carlos Quentin because he couldn't keep from slapping his own bat, but Blog doesn't think the loss will be too painful as the white hot Andre Ethier should step in and keep the ball rolling. Longball will be kicking himself for keeping Marcus No Fantasy Value Whatsoever Thames on his team instead of grabbing Ethier last week. Juan Bench Lump Pierre? Pedro Feliz? Oh well. Blog sees the Longball playoff run ending pretty abruptly this week. They should take steals, but will need HUGE weeks from Burrell, DLee, Uggla and Vernon Wells to compete in the other 4 offensive categories. Blog doesn't see that happening. Here is a position by position comparison.

C Mauer VERSUS I-Rod - Edge: Big Snot
1B Morneau VERSUS Howard - Edge: Even (Howard has a big edge in HR, but Morneau has a big edge in avg.
2B Utley VERSUS Uggla - Edge: Big Snot
3B Wright VERSUS Cabrera - Edge: Even (but Wright can steal 3 bases)
SS Reyes VERSUS Young - Edge: Big Snot
CI Gonzalez VERSUS Lee - Edge: Even
OF Hamilton VERSUS Burrell - Edge: BIG Snot
OF Granderson VERSUS Victorino - Edge: Little Snot
OF Ethier VERSUS Wells - Edge: Even

You get the picture. There is not one offensive advantage that Longball has over Snot besides Willy Taveras's legs and Ryan Howard's power. Pitching could be closer, but Snot will have saves clinched today, and K/9 by Wednesday. Blog says that'll be enough.

The Pick (get it?) Snot DEF Longball 7-2


#2 Legends VS. #3 Regulators

These two franchises are very evenly matched up. The only category that should be an easy win is SB for Regs. Legends has had some closer issues creep up, but their starters, though not quite as dominant lately, can certainly put up a 5 win, 2era, 1whip, 9 K/9 week. Regs is going to need a big week from Matt Holliday, who has struggled recently, as well as continued support from Rios, Abreu and Soriano. Legends will expect Carlos Delgado to continue his resurgence, and it's $$ in the bank that A-rod will put up videogame numbers now that the Yankees are toast. The X factors for each team offensively will be JJ Hardy for Regs and Jason Bay for Legends. Legends has lost ERA and WHIP for 6 weeks in a row. If they are going to advance, that streak will have to stop now. Justin Verlander needs to come up BIG for Legends, and so does Javier Vazquez for Regs.

The Pick: Well, Blog never promised to be un-biased: Regulators DEF Legends 5-4

First Round Playoff Review (AKA Death to Bernard Pollard!!)

Blog is going to produce this update with a heavy heart, and an aching ACL. Tom Terrific, or as he's known here in NE, The Greatest Football Player Ever, was viciously and maliciously struck down by Bernard Anti-Christ Pollard. Please keep that in mind as you read this tear-stained review, and please pause for a moment of silence in memory of the 2008 NFL season, because despite what Cowboy or Eagle fans may think, this season is NOT HAPPENING.

#3 Regulators DEF #6 Papi's Space Cadets 8-2

OK, Blog's feeling better already. There was a brief moment on Saturday afternoon, after Fernando Heart Attack Rodney put 3 runners on in 1/3 of an inning, when Papi tied the score 5-5 and held a lead in ERA. Rodney was then able to strike out Joe Ever-Overrated Mauer and then he threw a meatball to Justin the Canadian Hammer Morneau, who hit a ball as hard as a Canadian can hit it, only to have Air Polanco snare it out of the air. This brought the score back down to 5-4 Regs, and it was all downhill from there. Regs took Average (by .001) and ERA on Sunday to make the score worse than the week actually was, but the real story here may be what is being called possibly the WORST FANTASY WEEKEND IN THE HISTORY OF FAKE SPORTS. PSC lost in the first round of the playoffs to a life-long rival, and then watched in horror as his fantasy QB went down in a heap 20 minutes into the Season That's Not Happening. Just a miserable 48 hours for PSC, but at least he gets one more week to compete for 5th place.

> Stud of the Week: Rios and Soriano carried the offense for Regs, but the stud of the week was Ben Sheets. 14 innings, no runs, and a .64 WHIP ensured that Regs took ERA and WHIP and the week: 1/0/.0.00/0.64/4.50

> Dud of the Week: You knew the magic that was the 2008 season of Fernando Tatis just couldn't last: 0/0/1/0/.083. Could PSC have used Andre 'Better than Fernando Tatis' Ethier instead of Tatis this week? Yes. Yes he could have.

#5 L.L. Longball DEF Jobu's Hats for Bats 5-4

In a pretty big upset (but one predicted by Blog), Longball shut down Jobu's high-octane offense and earned a showdown with Snot on the Ball with a dramatic 5-4 victory. Jobu had given up ERA early on, and heading into Sunday, trailed RBI by 4. Jobu ended up losing RBI by 3, as they only posted 33 for the week. Just to rub it in, here are the players who posted 1 or 0 RBI for the week: Soto, Roberts, Braun, Drew, Kemp, Young, Lowell, Thome. Granted, some may have been on Jobu's bench when they drove in a run or 2, but still: those names should be able to come up with 4 extra RBI in a week. It's good to see Jobu's still managing the roster, gunning for 5th place, but there has to be some disappointment there after such a strong summer. Longball got some serious pitching from his Phillie Starters Not Named Blanton, and needed every single one of Willy Taveras' 4 steals. Longball also benefited from big weeks from his big bats: Howard and Cabrera. There was also a slight Dan Uggla sighting...

> Stud of the Week: Miggy Cabrera and his 9 RBI are a big reason for this upset: 4/3/9/0/.348

> Dud of the Week: Jobu called out Brian Roberts, who was awful, but Blog blames the loss on Jim Thome, who is supposed to be a Run Driver Inner: 2/0/0/0/.154. Not so much...

Individual Battles

Jorge Campillo, who was added this morning by Jobu, just struck out Dan Uggla and Mike Jacobs, both of whom are in Longball's lineup. You gotta love the one-on-one battles that directly impact both teams involved in a playoff matchup. The 12:05-1:43 block of time definitely belonged to Jobu over Longball.

Holy Winstrol!!

Victor Martinez has done it! He has finally gone yard, on 9/2/08!! Congratulations to him and his new pharmacist!!

Victor Martinez now leaves Chone Figgins as the only keeper yet to hit a home run. These are the players who were drafted who have yet to go yard:

Juan Pierre
Kenny Lofton (he he)
Reggie Willits
Cameron Maybin
Josh Fields
Ryan Freel

Blog bets that Fields will get one in September, but that's about it. Long live the lightweights!

There's Only One September!!

And that’s a wrap. The regular season is over and the real season has begun. Two teams will be done by Sunday night, and then Semi-Finals of both the Championship and Consolation tourney’s will begin, but first, we have these match ups:

#3 Regulators vs. #6 Papi’s Space Cadets

It’s not a surprise that these two teams are facing each other in the first round, but the seeds are. For the past 6 weeks, this looked like the certain 4-5 match up. Regs finished strong, Papi did not, and here they sit. Papi has a tall order to knock off the defending champs since saves and SB’s are almost automatics for Regs, but if Papi can get some quality starts out of his pitchers, it could be tough for Regs to take any other pitching categories. Papi NEEDS Lester, Perez and Lackey to be awesome. Regs needs Greinke, Nolasco and Vazquez to be better.

Blog’s pick: Regs 6-4

#4 Jobu’s Hats for Bats vs. #5 L.L. Longball

Jobu sat in 2nd place in the CAN division forever, but slipped in the last week and dropped to #4 by a half game in the last week. Still, they’ve already started very strong in their playoff matchup with upstart Longball. If Jobu can get some fortunate streamed starters, this could be a blowout, but if some spot starters get hit, Longball could take the 3 pitching % categories. Give them steals and maybe one other category (average, runs?) and we could have an upset in the making.

Blog’s pick: Longball 5-5 (ERA tiebreaker)

Week 22 Review

Regulators DEF Jobu’s Hats for Bats 7-3
Season Series: Regs 18-12

Regs needed to win by 4 to take the #3 seed, and that’s just what they did in the last week to pass Jobu for the first time since spring. This also marked the first week all season that Jobu lost saves. 21 straight weeks Jobu either won or tied saves, and all that stood in their way of history was the team that didn’t even have a closer until week 13. Jose Valverde and K-Rod threw up 7 saves between them and secured the category upset for Regs. Jobu had an off week by Jobu-standards and Regs took advantage. Now, Jobu gets Longball and then Snot in the Semi’s, while Regs gets Papi and Legends in the semi’s. Only time will tell which path will be smoother, if the paths continue at all.

> Stud of the Week: A closer getting Stud? For Regs? Oh yeah: Jose Valverde: 0/4/0.00/0.50/18.00.

> Dud of the Week: Blog is officially dubbing Nick Swisher over-rated: 1/1/2/0/.083


L.L. Longball DEF Bounty Hunters 5-3-2
Season Series: Longball – 15-12-3

Longball controlled their own destiny this last week, and not only secured their spot in the post-season, but they leap-frogged Papi to take the #5 seed. Blog does have some advice for Longball’s roster, but that will have to wait until Longball’s eliminated. Bounty Hunters must be sorely disappointed with how the season ended, especially after lasting 7 weeks in the beginning of the season without a loss. They only saw 2 wins in the remaining 15 weeks though, and finished in 8th place. The outlook for 2009 isn’t the rosiest of pictures either, with only 2 players ranked in the top 50 (Ichiro 49, Papelbon 41), and not a full assortment of draft picks. Blog just wants everyone to know that Blog is here for them, and anytime any team needs advice, Blog is here, just waiting to be asked.

> Stud of the Week: Bret Myers has been very good since coming back from the minors. Too bad, since he’s a schmuck: 2/0/1.29/1.64/10.29

> Dud of the Week: Michael Bourn is a really bad baseball player: 0/0/0/1/.083


BOB’Z BOYZ DEF Papi’s Space Cadets 8-2
Season Series: BOYZ – 14-12-4

The painful thing about this score for Papi is not the fact that BB has been the worst team all year, not the fact that BB tried to trade away all of their good players for picks, but the fact that BOB did not have internet access for most of the week! BB had a great weekend, and all Papi could do was watch the categories, and the #5 seed slip away. Luckily, neither Karma or BH could mount any kind of challenge for the last playoff spot, so here Papi sits at #6, about to begin the quest to dethrone the defending champs. BB will just be left to wonder if Ty Wiggington is now a keeper. The Dude just had a MONSTER August.

> Stud of the Week: Ty was great, but man… Jayson Werth (former Papi property) was totally tubular: 8/4/9/1/.500

> Dud of the Week: Joe Saunders only pitched 1.1 innings, but man… were they bad: 0/0/40.50/6.75/6.75

Karma Kameleons DEF Legends 5-4-1
Season Series: Legends – 10-9-1

This could have meant something IF Longball had been smoked and KK could have done more, but as it turns out, this was really just a nice pride effort from KK. Legends must be thrilled that Beckett is coming back this week (supposedly), and maybe the fantasy week off will help Justin Verlander (doubtful), but there was nothing on the line for them in this matchup. The 2007 runner-up, KK will have some very interesting keeper decisions to make this off-season (Webb, Cliff Lee?, Harden, Chipper, McLouth?, Pedroia?, Prince, Pena?). They had some real chips that they could have moved to really load up on picks, but Blog has to admire their desire to make the post-season. They have to be the favorite for the consolation tourney.

> Stud of the Week: Last weeks Dud is this weeks Stud: Jimmy Rollins: 3/1/7/7/.483 (barely eeking out Manny’s monster week).

> Dud of the Week: A.J. Pierzynski was pretty bad: 1/0/1/0/.125

Snot on the Ball DEF Swine Nine 9-1
Season Series: Snot – 20-9-1

Meaningless from the get go. Snot did have everybody but 2 hitters over .300 this week, and one was .294. Snot blew away the best regular season record set by the Regs last year, finishing 132-80-8, 18 games ahead of the Regs in their division. It’s been an impressive season for Snot, beginning last year with the trades for picks, and of course, finding Josh Hamilton in the middle of the draft and Mr. Carlos Quentin Sir on waivers sure doesn’t hurt. Swine managed to move every player his opening day roster save one: JJ Putz. Good times. See you next year.

> Stud of the Week: Jose Reyes went back and forth between these 2 teams a few times. Apparently he likes the instability: 7/0/3/6/.429

> Dud of the Week: Conor Jackson was pretty lousy: 1/0/0/1/.167


Manager of the Week: Longball – took care of business.

Player of the Week: Jayson Werth

Pitcher of the Week: Jose Valverde (Myers could thrown 7 perfect games, stricking out everyone he faced: He’ll never get this award).

The Week in Review will return in 2009!! On to the Playoffs!!

Day 4 of Week 22

Well, Regs couldn't have had a better day Thursday. 2 saves and a win from 3 pitchers, 2 home runs and 3 steals from 1/2 his roster, and Jobu threw up a 1/15 day, which is .067, which is not good. It's not over yet by any means, but 3 of the 4 days so far this week, Regs has been in 3rd place. Papi has a slim lead over Longball, but it looks like they've locked up the playoff spots. BH has a stellar 9.51 era so far. Very nice. 3 days to go!!

Day 3 of Week 22

It seems that the playoff teams are pretty secure, barring a miracle or complete meltdown, but the order of the bottom 4 is still very much in doubt. As of right now, Regs has the #3 seed over Jobu, and Longball has taken the 5th seed over Papi. Will Luis Ayala actually continue to close games for the Mets and Regs? Will Anibal Sanchez and Joey Votto be the answer for Jobu? Will standing pat and doing nothing work wonders for Longball and Papi? 4 days left until the season begins for real...

Day 2 of Week 22

Todays Playoff Order:

Snot on the Ball
Legends
Jobu... nuts...
Regulators
Papi
Longball

BH had 3 starters get lit up (Pettitte, Zambrano, Ai Uens) and they're now looking at an 11.30 era and a 2.30 whip. Bounty Hunters needs Longball to have some starters get lit up as well (Oswalt would be first in line), or he needs Longball to doze off and end up with 39IP for the week. Then he needs, NEEDS some power out of guys like McCann, Bradley and Griffey. Longball already has 4 bombs to BH's one, but BH still has some shots at the other offensive categories. Jimmy Rollins had a heck of a week yesterday for Legends, and he's helped put Karma in a pretty deep hole, down 7-3. Swine is also down 7-3 to Snot. Papi took the lead 4-2 against the BOY'Z, but they're not out of the woods yet, as the pitching and most offensive categories are pretty close. Regs has a 6-3 lead over Jobu, but needs a 7-3 win to take #3... grrr...

Day 1 of Week 22

Granted, it's only been one day of a long week of days, but my goodness it sure does look nice to see 'Regulators' in between Snot on the Ball and Jobu's Hats for Bats in the Stat-Tracker standings. Longball sprinted out to a big lead over Bounty Hunters, getting two great starts from Myers and Weaver, and have leap-frogged Papi's Space Cadets, who must be about ready to throttle Gil Meche. Blog's not sure who's in 6th place right now: Papi is 98-106-16, Karma Kameleons is 99-113-8. Karma has 1 more win, but 7 more losses. Blog thinks that Papi's win % is .48039215682745098039215686, and Karma's is .466981132075471698113207547ish. So I guess that give it to Papi for today, but Blog's not entirely sure that Yahoo uses the formula (wins/wins+losses), because sometimes, Blog can't figure Yahoo's math out. Oh well. Until tomorrow! Come on Sheets & Greinke! Let's go Phillies and Jays! Pound out those hits!

Week 21 Review

Regulators DEF Karma Kameleons 7-3

For the 2nd week in a row, Regs cost himself a win by trying to be cute with his roster. Regs sat most his pitchers with an 8-2 lead and a .05 lead in whip. KK’s 2 starters on Sunday were very effective, but so were all of Regs' pitchers on his bench, and KK took whip 1.04-1.05. Doh. But, all that would affect is Reg’s ability to catch Jobu. Jobu has a 3.5 games lead over the Regs for the #3 seed, and well what do ya know… Regs faces Jobu this week. The #3 seed will face the #6 seed in round one, and Legends in round 2, as opposed to facing the #5 seed and Snot in round 2. Karma fell out of the #6 spot and they now trail Longball by 1.5 games (Blog thinks. It could be 2). They face Legends to save their season this week. The defending champs did secure the fourth playoff spot clinced so far (joining Snot from last week and Legends & Jobu this week). Regs made several moves this week, shoring up their bullpen, rotation and team speed. Karma flipped Curtis Granderson for Nate “1st half” McLouth and Jorge Cantu in an effort to try to get a few more homers, as they are 7th over-all in total dingers. Karma has also set some sort of record, going 6 straight weeks without a save. It’s been a tough stretch since Karma Kleansed the roster of closers, as they’ve gone 2-3-1 since week 15, and one of those wins came against Swine, when there wasn’t a save to be found in the entire week. Going into a matchup down 0-1 before the first pitch of the week is thrown is a disadvantage. You won’t find wisdom like that anywhere else in cyberspace.

> Stud of the Week: Rich Harden was awesome last week. 2 dominant starts. He sure would have netted Karma a nice bounty of picks had Karma been willing to part with him before the deadline: 2/0/0.64/0.29/13.50. A .29 WHIP in 2 starts!?!?! Man…

> Dud of the Week: Torii Hunter was pretty invisible last week, and will be the dud: 1/0/1/0/.241, but at least he played. Right JD?


Snot on the Ball DEF Legends 6-3-1

Snot certainly got his wish to have a lively trade deadline. 9 deals happened since 8/21, with 28 players swapping teams. 8 teams made at least one deal in the frenzy. The two teams who didn’t? L.L. Longball and Legends. Let this be a lesson to everyone: before you close on a new home, make sure you square away your internet access FIRST. Snot could sit his entire roster this week to prevent injury and he’ll still have homefield throughout the playoffs. Legends has also clinched the #2 spot by winning the ‘THOSE WHO CAN’T’ division, so the drama from this matchup wasn’t quite what Blog hoped for 10 weeks ago. Blog’s not sure, but Blog would bet that Legends would have rather won this week, rather than lose. However, just the fact that the 9-1 lead that Snot had deep into the week did not hold up should encourage Legends, or something. If Blog were to ask Legends, though, I’m sure he’d rather see Mister Rollins and Mister Beckett actually perform as expected. Snot is now very excited to welcome fantasy stalwarts Randy Winn and Raul Ibanez to his OF. Who needs Carlos Lee?!? The season starts again for these two teams on 9/8.

> Stud of the Week: J-Bay has filled in admirably for Manny in Left for the Sawx, but how about waiver wire wonder Alexei Ramirex? 4/3/11/0/.333

> Dud of the Week: In the classic words of Broadway Joe, Jimmy Rollins is St-ru-gg-l-ing: 2/0/0/0/.080


L.L. Longball DEF BOB’Z BOYZ 6-3-1

Longball put themselves in the driver seat for the right to lose to Jobu or Regs in week one of the playoffs with a solid win over the rebuilding boyz. Longball isn’t even out of the running for the #5 spot, although Papi does have a 3.5 game hold, and, well, Papi plays the BOY’Z this week, so… Longball will need to handle business with Bounty Hunters this week, and have Karma NOT destroy Legends to become the flyest poet ever in the CPL playoffs. Some very interesting stats in this matchup. BB won average with a devastating .232 average, just squeaking out the win over Longball’s .231. Blog was positive that this must have been the lowest winning average for a week, but Blog was shocked to find that .232 was a winner once before! Longball threw up a winning .232 against the Swine Nine in week 5, and the Swine Nine won average with a .233 against Jobu in week 11. Crazy. Longball lost RBI by 1, 34-33. Longball won SB 8-3. On Sunday, Longball’s roster had 0 RBI. Not a single one. But… the Longball bench had 7 RBI. Longball had SB only players like Juan Pierre and Willy Tavares in his OF despite his large SB lead, and he had RBI potentials like Vernon Wells and Pedro Feliz on his bench. In fact, had Wells played all week, he may have been the stud, but he didn’t see one game in the lineup. Fascinating.

> Stud of the Week: yuck. Just yuck. Blog will hold his nose and pick Francisco Rodriguez: 0/3/0.00/1.00/11.25. K-Rod’s reward? Shipped out of town to a contender.

> Dud of the Week: Take your pick: Marcum, Sheffield, Jacobs, Delmon Young, Werth, I-Rod, Reynolds, Howard, Renteria… Let’s give it to Mike Jacobs: 1/0/1/0/.077


Jobu’s Hats for Bats DEF Bounty Hunters 6-3-1

Bounty Hunters saw their playoff hopes take a huge hit with this loss and Longball’s win. The Hunters are actually sitting in NINTH PLACE right now, as the Swine Nine leapt them in the standings. It’s been a very disappointing 2nd half for the first year manager, as they’ve only won 2 weeks since week 7. The hunters will need to throttle Longball this week, and get help from Legends AND Snot to make sure they handle KK and Swine respectively. Blog’s prognosis is that Longball will manage to hold on to the spot, but we shall see. Jobu had a huge offensive week, putting only the 4th 20 HR week this year, and the 9th 60+ RBI week (Jobu has 3). Add CC Sabathia and James Shields to that firepower and you see why Jobu may have had the most productive weekend trade wise. Here’s hoping that Sabathia’s arm falls off after the Brewers throw him for 14 innings against the Pirates this week.

> Stud of the Week: Albert Pujols is still Albert Pujols: 3/2/10/0/.579

> Dud of the Week: Adrian Beltre once hit 40 homers. Once: 2/0/0/0/.200

Swine Nine DEF Papi’s Space Cadets 7-3

Papi missed a great chance to all but secure the 5th playoff spot last week, getting spanked by the 09 Swine. Papi should still be able to stay at 5, as they face the depleted REBUILDING BOY’Z this week, but nothing’s over ‘til the fat lady’s counted her chickens. Swine has staved off elimination until the last week, but they face a tough task to make the playoffs, as they would have to knock the snot out of Snot, and then get other help, which Blog has already discussed above. Blog can’t wait for this week to get started, and Blog just doesn’t have much else to say about this matchup, besides Papi needs his sluggers to start slugging. Hear that Maggs, Vlad, Papi??

> Stud of the Week: Mark DeRosa was very close, but Grady Sizemore filled all 5 categories: 6/2/10/4/.333

> Dud of the Week: Joe Saunders was pretty awful: 0/0/10.13/1.69/0.00

Manager of the Week: Regs is the hottest team wins-wise in the league, and at the right time.

Player of the Week: Sizemore

Pitcher of the Week: Harden

Next week, we’ll have a week 22 review, and then some playoff previews. You know you can’t wait…

34 Facts from 2008 Fantasy Baseball

1. Closers are over-rated.
2. Sports Hernia’s are of Satan.
3. Carla Queentin is now Mr. Carlos Quentin, Sir.
4. Ryan Ludwick is the surprise of the year.
5. Cliff Lee is a close second.
6. Aubrey Huff is third.
7. Lance Berkman is a beast.
8. Players need more nicknames. (Blog will accommodate).
9. Besides Lee, the Indians have been the biggest fantasy disappointment.
10. If you took away the J’s and R’s, the Braves best pitcher would be named Ai Uens.
11. Josh Beckett does not belong on the Can’t Cut List anymore.
12. Neither does Carlos Beltran.
13. There are 10 players as of 8/21 that have at least 5 saves who were not drafted.
14. There will be at least 7 more by the end of the year.
15. Seriously, closers are over-rated.
16. Andruw Jones may be the biggest disappointment of all time.
17. The All-Star game destroyed Dan Uggla.
18. Victor Martinez still doesn’t have a Home Run.
19. Jake Peavy should be chained and locked inside Petco Park
20. There are only 4 players who are 20/20 as of 8/21. No one is 30/30 yet.
21. Eric Hinske is still comparable to Chris B. Young.
22. 3 2009 Breakout Years: Hunter Pence, Chase Headley, Matt LaPorta.
23. David Pryce is very close.
24. One month of great play does not a superstar make. Melvin Mora is not a top 50 player.
25. Neither is Raul Ibanez.
26. Alex Gordon is NOT the next George Brett. He’s not even the next Mike Lowell.
27. Jody Gerut and Fernando Tatis deserve mad props.
28. Erik Bedard is a Canadian Woman.
29. Tim Lincecum is on the brink of a Pedro/Koufax-like 6 year span.
30. Roy Oswalt, Tim Hudson, and Brad Penny are fantasy toast.
31. Dontrelle Willis and Rich Hill are really depressing and deserve our pity.
32. Swine Nine is the clear favorite entering 2009. Only 3 days for someone to make a move for next year.
33. Matt Holliday should sign a 10 year contract with Colorado today.
34. Closers are still over-rated.

Week 20 Review

Snot on the Ball DEF Jobu’s Hats for Bats 5-3-2

The drama Blog was hoping for with this matchup was pretty much gone with Jobu’s mini-skid over the past few weeks. With the win, Snot became the first team to clinch a playoff spot officially, since unofficially they clinched after they started the year with 9 straight wins. Jobu took the 3 prime offensive stats, but dropped all 3 pitching % stats for the 4th time in the past 6 weeks. Since week 15, Jobu has won 3 of the 18 possible pitching % stats. Jobu’s team era has gone from 3.403 after week 15 to 3.793 today. Blog’s not sure how bad that really is, but it’s not great. Due to Jobu’s mini-skid (one win, one tie in the past 5 weeks), they have opened the door to 3rd place, as they only sit 4 games up on the Regs. Jobu and Regs will meet in week 22, and all Regs wants… is a chance…

> Stud of the Week: First there was Jorge Cantu, than there was Melvin Mora. Snot is now the 3B Whisperer. Did you know Melvin Mora has 42 kids or something? 9/3/13/0/.563

> Dud of the Week: Jobu’s manhood, as it’s been skewered by a wedding ring this week. Blog would like to know just one thing: who schedules a wedding just before FBL playoffs? There are only 5 weeks when a wedding should be scheduled: The Monday after the Super Bowl until the 2nd week of March. That’s it. Now, Aaron Heilman’s 11.57 era isn’t pretty, but the 11.57 K/9 is very nice, and the save makes it tough to pick him over Adrian Gonzalez: 0/0/0/0/.190.

Karma Kameleons DEF Bounty Hunters 7-3

The most drama right now in the CPL is the 3 way battle to squeak into the playoffs between KK, BH and Longball. With KK’s big win, they now sit in the driver seat with a 2 game lead over the other 2. If KK claims the playoff spot, they can look at their 15-4-1 record against Bounty Hunters as the key to their… (Blog doesn’t want to call it success… um, their un-failure? Yeah, that works.). Karma put up very good ERA and WHIP, but there must have been a lot of ground balls because their K/9 was only 5.73. Karma didn’t hit the ball terribly well, but BH put up 38/5/31 for the week, so it was good enough. The next 2 weeks will be very interesting. Longball has the easiest schedule, and KK has the toughest, but Longball and BH will square off against each other next week. 2 of these teams are going to wish they had sold some players for picks come August 31.

> Stud of the Week: Dustin Pedroia’s been really good all year: 10/2/5/0/.414

> Dud of the Week: BH will need more production from Brian McCann to make any noise these next weeks: 1/0/0/0/.250.

Legends DEF L.L. Longball 6-4

Longball, despite their sweet team photo, has now dropped 4 weeks in a row and as noted above, needs to get in gear to sneak into the playoffs. They finish the season with the RED HOT BOB’Z BOYZ and Bounty Hunters, so they should have the clearest path to the post season, but stranger things have happened, like keeping Pedro Feliz on the Bench even though each team has 2 DL slots… Did you know Pedro Feliz is on the Phillies? Apparantly, it’s a disgrace for a Phillie to sit on the DL. Phillies don’t get injured, they just get ‘respites’. Legends tied their own record with 64 RBI. They’ve also seen their vaunted rotation get smacked around pretty good the past 4 weeks. They’ve lost ERA and WHIP for 4 weeks in a row, and now Josh Beckett’s numb… not good. and… didn’t you used to be Felix Hernandez? How long before Seattle shuts down their ace…

> Stud of the Week: Manny being Manny was pretty good, but Willy Taveras won SB all by his lonesome 7-4: 2/0/1/7/.435

> Dud of the Week: Ryan Howard apparently drives in runs just by the power of his swings and misses. He hit .083, but did get 6 rbi, so that saves the dud spot for Mike Jacobs: 0/0/3/0/.107

Regulators DEF Swine Nine 6-3-1

First of all, this should have been 7-2-1. Regulators had WHIP won before the Sunday night game, but got greedy and left Grant Balfour in the lineup on the chance he could vulture a win and take wins for Regs. Of course, Balfour finished the game with a 9.00 whip, and Regs whip went up .05 pts, giving the category to swine. To summarize: Regs was leading 7-2-1, wanted to win 8-1-1, but only won 6-3-1. Let that be a lesson to you all: The Fantasy voodoo will get you if you get greedy. Nuts. Regs is still the hottest franchise in the league right now. they haven’t lost since week 11, but they were dealt brutal news for the 2nd week in row. MVP candidate Ian Kinsler was reported to have a sports hernia, which, if you think of it, is the worst thing in the world. There’s a chance he could be back, but losing Crawford and Kinsler in back to back weeks is very, very sad. Swine pulled off the biggest trade of the year in their preparations for next year. Yippee.

> Stud of the Week: Alex Rios FINALLY had a decent week: 8/1/5/2/.423

> Dud of the Week: Jeremy Hermida did not: 1/0/0/0/.056


BOB’Z BOY’Z TIED Papi’s Space Cadets 4-4-2

For the first time this season, BB has gone 3 weeks without a loss. It’s been quite the learning experience for the rookie, and that’s all Blog has to say about that. Papi pretty much has the #5 seed locked down, and if they miss the playoffs, it will be the biggest collapse in the history of life. They finish the season against Swine Nine and BOB’Z BOYZ. Rough. One category they won’t win is saves, that is, unless Matt Capps can save 6 games a week. Blog has a homework assignment for the league this week. That assignment is to just admire Aubrey Huff. As of 8/20, he’s ranked 23rd, and is 81/27/87/2/.302. He’s the 7th ranked CI in the league. Ahead of guys like Morneau, Teixeira, Chipper and Miggy Cabrera. Unreal. In 2003 and 2004, Huff was relevant, but he’s been brutal the past 3 years. Huff fantasy owners just hope that whatever supplement is fueling this resurgence is not detected until he retires.

> Stud of the Week: Javier Vazquez was dealing: 2/0/0.56/0.63/10.13

> Dud of the Week: The Jose Lopez magic has ended: 1/0/1/0/.050.
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Team of the Week: Karma Kameleons gets props for their un-failure.

Player of the Week: Melvin Mora. If Mora’s last name was Jones or Smith, Melvin would sound a whole lot lamer.

Pitcher of the Week: BB needs to trade Javier Vazquez!!!