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.