JD Fantasy Baseball 2006

[Dressel Rebel]

Good topic.

Zod, I'd say Alex Rios has been pretty good for you as well.

I'd say I've had 3 super pickups: 2 from the free agency pool and 1 from the waiver wire:

1.  Tom Gordon (waivers) - Has posted a 1.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP, complete with 16 saves, 2 wins, and 31 K's in 24 IP, which translates to 11.25 K's/9.  Given that Gagne went down, and Lidge and Turnbow have struggled, Tom Gordon has been my rock in the bullpen along with BJ Ryan.

2.  Nick Swisher (free agency) - Currently at .294 with 16 HRs, 42 RBI, and 47 Runs.  You can't ask for better than that from an outfielder 1/3rd through the season.

3.  Jonny Gomes (free agency) - Hitting .267, 15 HRs and 41 RBIs, and he's actually in a bit of a slump right now.  He did show a little speed as well last year with 9 swipes in 1/2 season, but has been caught stealing 5 out of 6 times so far this year.  Still and all, not bad production for free.



And, as always, time for the Dressel's Rebels injury report.  Yesterday I was only able to field 5 batters.  Here's the latest:

Jim Thome (1B) - Has missed the last 2 games with a strained groin, and will be out until mid-next week.

Jorge Cantu (2B/3B) - Out since April with a broken foot, projected to return sometime this week.

Gary Sheffield (OF) - Torn wrist ligament, no timetable for return.

Carlos Beltran (OF) - Right knee bone bruise, missed 3 straight games, day to day.

Carl Crawford (OF) - This one really gets all my dogs barking.  Basically injured his knee during a temper tantrum.  Missed the last 2, day to day.

Mark Prior (SP) - Out all year with a pulled shoulder muscle, looks good in rehab, needs 1-2 more rehab starts.  Mid June return likely.

Rich Harden (SP) - Out since April 27th with a pulled back muscle, is slated be activated from the DL and return today! 

Ben Sheets (SP) - Right shoulder tendinitis since May 3rd, stint on the DL before that, no timetable for return.  Wouldn't be shocked if he didn't.

Justin Verlander (SP) - throwing hand blisters, may miss next start.

[Rob]

Rios has been quite good, I'm now trying to juggle him and Dye and am not sure who's the right one to go with on any given day...


Any moves you want do-overs on?  Or are you just the supreme diety of fantasy baseball who has no regrets?

[Dressel Rebel]

Any moves you want do-overs on?  Or are you just the supreme diety of fantasy baseball who has no regrets?

Hmphh.  I'm not totally sure that was called for, but if you're asking me if the sum of my moves will result in my being in first place on the last day of the season, then the answer is "yes".  I'm confident I'm going to win.

[Rob]

I didn't mean anything by it.  I was being friendly.  I was just wondering if you'd dropped any players that you wished you hadn't, or drafted any that you wished you hadn't.

[Dressel Rebel]

I didn't mean anything by it.  I was being friendly. 

I know.  I'm a W+P survivor 

I was just wondering if you'd dropped any players that you wished you hadn't, or drafted any that you wished you hadn't.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything I'd like to have done differently.  Other than having 9 players licking wounds.  But that will change.

[Rob]

The day probably won't end like this, but the bi-polars have swung the pendulum back up to first place!

I'm expecting to be in 6th by the end of the week.   

[Morgbug]

How about you guys?  Which ones do you want to do-over and what steals do you think you landed?

I think my biggest wish is that I'd stop overmanaging my guys and just let them play.  I'm guessing at who's hot-not and missing badly on occasion.  If I left well enough alone for the most part, I'd be doing better. 

As for your question though:

Pettitte continues to frustrate, though Dressel was gracious enough to explain a general trend that I hope we see this year as well. 

Coco Crisp and Huston Street have been difficult to evaluate.  They started well and then both got hurt.  They're starting to come around, but it's tough to call on both of them at this point.  Varitek was largely a wasted pick, at that point in the draft. 

Carlos Lee and Matt Holliday have been very nice additions to the roster, coming in rounds 13/15.  Capuano has carried on from last year nicely (I had him then as well) and Contreras prior to being injured was a great pick from round 21. 

Pick-up wise I've had a good luck with lots of temporary fill in guys.  I just finished riding Prince Fielder for the spring and he was quite helpful.  Hanley Ramirez has been a great fill in for Jimmy Rollins during his slump, but they're both playing around the same right now.  Still, Rollins' slump was pretty bad and I didn't really skip a beat there. 

Pitching I've been all over the place after thinking I had a pretty good lineup to start with.  Guess not.  SP-wise picking up Liriano (thanks Scott) and Wood have or should be quite helpful.  RP-wise I've sort of cycled through some guys as they get hot or not.  Wagner was a draft pick and is alright but I've had to snag Jones and Coffey off the wire.  Not steals, but helpful.  If Street comes around to last year's performance, I'd be happy.  I've a big staff and what should be a good one as well, they just need to get going. 

No major 'steals' for me though, just some solid guys.  Now if I can get Carlos Lee hitting again like he did in the first month, that would help. 

[Famine]

Drafting 180 First Basemen.

Kevin

[Rob]

Yeah but looks like you at least drafted good first basemen... who'd have thought Teixieria would be so worthless this far into the season... meanwhile, Giambi and ortiz have been great for you and you have another All Start 1B on the DL.
 

[Dressel Rebel]

Well today was another stellar day.  Gary Sheffield out for 3 months, Rich Harden on the DL with no timetable for return.

I've never seen anything like this. 

[Morgbug]

Pretty amazing to see, that's for sure.


Actually watched a game tonight, Braves-Astros.  Bases loaded, no outs and Pettitte got out of it.  Yeesh, my heart.

[Dressel Rebel]

Pretty amazing to see, that's for sure.

You're not kidding.  At the 1/3rd point of this season, I've had more players go down with injuries than my previous 5 years of fantasy baseball combined.  And every one of them is a key fantasy player/all star.

(And yes, this is the point in the season where Pettitte begins to turn it around  ) 

[Dressel Rebel]

Just to elaborate on Pettitte, here's a look at his first half of the season results vs. second half results:

Year        Pre-All Star Break        Post All-Star Break

2002                4.74 ERA                         2.70 ERA

2003                4.63                                3.24

2004                4.14                                3.45

2005                3.09                                1.69

2006                5.85                                   ?


It doesn't get much clearer than that.

[Rob]

I see you're done with Randy Johnson?  I was one pick ahead of you trying to decide between Halladay and Johnson.  When I took Halladay, you took Johnson so fast that I was assuming that you were valuing R.Johnson as the better of the two and were thrilled that I didn't take him.  Made me worry that I'd made a mistake for quite awhile.

On paper it was really a good pick - but your luck has been so absurdly bad so far that this probably just falls into that category.

[Dressel Rebel]

I see you're done with Randy Johnson?  I was one pick ahead of you trying to decide between Halladay and Johnson.  When I took Halladay, you took Johnson so fast that I was assuming that you were valuing R.Johnson as the better of the two and were thrilled that I didn't take him.  Made me worry that I'd made a mistake for quite awhile.

Yeah dude, I couldn't take him anymore.  He is done, washed up, over the hill....whatever phrase you choose.  He's one of the worst pitchers in baseball at the moment, and it ain't gonna get any prettier.  His 43rd birthday is upon us, he's been in a steady decline since '03, and he's basically been a 90 mph batting practice machine the whole season.  His ERA isn't going to drop much under 5.00 and his WHIP under 1.30, and I am not going to win if I keep throwing him. 


The situation I was in with the Big Unit was like hunting a wild bear.  After shooting it a couple times the wild, powerful animal drops to the ground and is flailing around, could still be dangerous, but easy now to take advantage of.  Johnson still has K power at times, but he is so wild, and has lost so much off that once-overpowering fastball due to the 43 years.  Up until last year, batters used to swing and miss at 13% off the pitches released from Unit's left arm.  This year, 6%.


My ERA and WHIP are spiraling out of control, and it's not going to change over night.  I'm also -83 IP from my starters.  I need to throw 6, hard-throwing, low ERA, low WHIP K-machines for the next 4 months in order to flip the script in the ERA and WHIP standings.  I think I have that in Peavy, Prior, (Josh) Johnson, Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver, and Dan Haren.  If one of them falters hopefully Sheets or Harden will come off the DL to step into a slot in the rotation.  1 month from now I will be the leader in both wins and strikeouts, and my ERA and WHIP should start to drop to competitive levels again.

Now, I've been wanting to pick up Chris Young or Josh Johnson, but could not drop anyone.  We're in June and Randy Johnson got hammered silly again by the A's who had exactly one offensive player in the lineup - Nick Swisher that day.  He got taken deep 3 times, walked 5, couldn't strike out anybody as usual.  That was it for me.  Then when you picked up Chris Young, I couldn't take a chance at Josh Johnson being scoffed up too, with the Chris Young buffer gone.  Josh Johnson's numbers jump off the page among starting pitchers, he's a beast.

On paper it was really a good pick - but your luck has been so absurdly bad so far that this probably just falls into that category.

Yup, 9 serious injuries (disabled list or season ending), a bunch more minor ones (people who missed 5 games or more),  and of the remainder among the healthy, a few who totally disappointed.


I think this may help right the ship.


worthless adj : lacking in excellence or value.  Example: