Snot on the Ball (Champ) Final Review

Well, sometime in the middle of 2007, Snot on the Ball decided to scrap the remainder of that season and focus all his efforts on a 2008 title. Here’s to having a plan and following through on it. Snot on the Ball was the 2008 Champion pretty much from week one. They sprinted out to a 9 week winning streak and never looked back. They were never really threatened for the #1 seed, and they rolled through the playoffs, but there was certainly a lot of work and sacrifice to get there. Not only did Snot sacrifice 2007 to win, but also sacrificed 2009. Snot moved a LOT of 09 picks to get what he needed. It worked, he won, and now the strategy is in full bloom. 2009 will be a rebuilding year for Snot. He’ll try to draft not to win, but to trade. He’ll grab solid players who he knows he can move for 2010 picks this year. It makes sense provided he wins in 2010, because if an even year comes around, and Snot doesn’t win, than that’s 2 years lost, not just one.

- Best Move: There were a few that fit here: Grabbing Hamilton late, Getting Wright and Reyes for Hanley and an injured Lee, Sizemore+ for Lincecum/McLouth+, Quentin on waivers in March… Blog really liked the Wright/Reyes move. 2 top 10 players at elite positions for 2 other players, but one who’s out for the year, was a steal.

- Worst Move: Cliff Lee, Huff and Ludwick were all cut before they began to post all-star numbers, but the worst move has to be the 7/29 trade with Bobz boyz. Snot gave up Kurt Suzuki, Erik Bedard (hurt), 3rd/4th round picks for Joe Mauer. This was by far BB’s best trade of the season, and Snot probably could have had Mauer for the 3rd straight up. The players were throw-ins, but Snot would really like that 4th rounder come next Saturday…

- Biggest Surprise: Hamilton becoming the drug-addicted, tattoo-covered, Jesus discovering Bambino was a pretty big surprise, but having Alexei Ramirez make 4 trips to Snot’s roster and then watching him become a top 5 second baseman was certainly not expected.

- Biggest Disappointment: Between the injuries and ineffectiveness, Erik Bedard was a huge bummer for Snot this year. Snot thought he had the top 2 lefties in the league to start the year.

- Blog Would Have…: Besides not over-pay for Mauer, Blog can’t find much to complain about with a title.

- Snot Should Keep: Nathan, Lidge, Mauer, Granderson, Alfredo Amezaga. Saves, Speed and average baby!!

- Final Draft Grade: B-. Hamilton, Harden and the closers all were big positives, but there were some real disappointments taken here. Swisher, Matsui, Posada, Cano, Snell, Young and Gallardo were all pretty much irrelevant to Snot’s successes.

- Final Season Grade: A. Blog just can’t give an A+ because of how Snot’s 09 was so severely hampered, but this is the only A of 2008. Crap.

- 2009 Outlook: Snot knows 2009 equals 2010 off-season. Snot doesn’t draft until round 8. He’ll have to really draft shrewdly if he expects to get the high 2010 picks that he’ll be targeting. 2009 will have many more obstacles to 2010 success than 2007 had to 2008’s success. Or something like that…

And that completes the 2008 season! From here on out, Blog is all 2009 all the time!