Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Baseball Meeting...Tonight!

Tonight is our big fantasy baseball meeting, and I must say, it has been a long time coming. I was joking around at work over the last week that I was going to arrive in style, in a limo. I'm pretty sure that most people thought I was serious, well I sure don't have money to blow like that. The issues that I'm really pulling for in this league are the following: (1) A minimum of 10 starting pitching starts. (2) No keepers. (3) Minimum must start at least three pitchers a week (to avoid mangers just using relief pitching). (4) Only Five (5) pickups per match, per week. (5) More bench slots. (6) Cutting Hits and IP from the scoring.

I've already talked with most of the league members and it's pretty much 85% that most of this stuff is going to get passed, which I'm glad about. It adds more skill to the matches, but also adds more fun, instead of people just streaming the pitching and winning in quantity.

I'm also going to find out my draft position tonight. I had the 1st pick last year, but something tells me I might get that again. In either case, it does not make a big different to me, but I would love to get anywhere from 2-5.

I'm also official ticked off at ESPN for saying the Nick Markakis is the most "overrated" fantasy baseball player, and Matthew Berry said too many people drink the kool-aid on him. Bull. I love drafting Nick because I know what I'm getting. 300 AVG, 15 + HRs, 80 + RBIs, etc. He always brings the same numbers to the table, and I respect, and enjoy that a lot on my team. Haters hate on!!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

My Title Is Going Up for Grabs...

Last season in my fantasy baseball league (with my co-workers - my legit/serious league) I won the title, and the prize money. My team featured strong pitching (Roy Halladay, Jon Lester, Justin Verlander, Derek Lowe, Edwin Jackson, Mariano Rivera, etc), at the same time though I had a pretty balanced offense (David Wright, Nick Markakis, Jason Bay, Troy Tulowitzki, Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence).

I didn't have that pure power hitter who hit forty homers, but I had enough to get by. Much of that success was due to the fact that I knew more about teams like the Orioles and Nationals then my co-workers. Pleanty of times last year I depended on guys like Markakis, Adam Jones, Sherrill, Brian Matusz, Nolan Reimold, Nyger Morgan, Ian Desmond, John Lannon, etc. This will NOT be this case this year. People in my league have scouted the Orioles hard and I know they will be gunning for most of the team just to spite me. Hopefully I can still get back most of the guys I had last year but we shall see. My favorite O's fantasy sleeper player this year is Brian Matusz. I really think that kid is special, and ESPN thinks so as well.

"Though there were some bumps in the road, by the time Matusz was shut down at the big league level last year, he did not look overmatched at all. On the contrary, the polished southpaw with command of four pitches, including a curveball that's a swing-and-miss offering, needed 20 minor league starts to ascend to the majors, and he's not headed back. He struck out almost eight batters per nine innings over his eight starts, and his .343 batting average on balls in play illustrated he was a little bit unlucky and pitched better than the surface numbers would indicate. The AL East is an unforgiving environment (pitchers had a 4.83 ERA against AL East clubs versus a 4.22 ERA against all other teams), but it would not surprise us at all to see Matusz take a big step forward this year. He's a sleeper you want to target later in the draft."

I'm not taking for granted that people in my league will know about him, so I'm pulling that trigger early, and that is the course of action I'm taking.

Another O's player I love to have this year is Brad Bergesen. Here's his Season Projection VIA ESPN.

"The 24-year-old Bergesen more than held his own over 19 big league starts in his rookie season until he missed the final two months with a severe shin injury. He's expected to be ready for spring training, and will have to pitch his way out of the rotation. He struck out less than five batters per nine, but got a ton of grounders. He also commands the ball well down in the zone to help keep it in the park. There are a lot worse skills sets to have and a lot worse pitchers to own. He could be a quietly effective starter once again in AL-only play."

I didn't like that projection, it reminded me of the Adam Jones one last year where they said don't buy high and avoid. They were way wrong, and I think they will be wrong with Bergesen. He is not afraid to pitch to hitters and he has good commander, I like the fact they are undervaluing him because he doesn't strike out a lot of guys, but strike outs aren't everything.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

The Season Ticket Dude

Well today despite all the snow, and all the windy conditions that will be known as the "Blizzard of 2010", I finally manage to get my Phillies 2010 partial season tickets!! It's a partial plan (seventeen games) and I can't wait to attend my first game this year (4/15 against the Nats - NL ring ceremony). In the past I have always done the Six Pack Plans but with the raise in ticket prices, I decided it would be cheaper to just buy the seventeen game plan. This way I get more games, and possible post-season tickets (if we do well again this year). Here's a list of all the teams that I will be seeing at the park this year...

Nationals (2), Mets (2), Cardinals, Pirates, Red Sox, Padres, Marlins (2), Indians, Braves (2), Reds, D-Backs, Astros & Brewers.

I'm pumped at getting the Roy Halladay bobble head game because I heard that game is already sold out to the general public. I'm such a huge Doc fan, he bailed me out some many times through the years VIA fantasy baseball. It's still surreal that he will be pitching in the NL East, and for the Phils this season. The only game in my plan that I will not be going to is the Red Sox game because I don't like most of the Sox's fans attitude. I went to two O's vs. Sox games last year, and they were really rude, and were acting like they owned the place. Lucky for me, one of the games was the comeback game with the hour 1/2 rain delay.

The only other thing I'm waiting on now is when the Orioles announce their Six Pack Plan. Baltimore is too far away to buy a season ticket plan, but I like what they offered last year with the Six Pack Plan. With that I could chose all the games I wanted and work around my summer plans, and other games. Hopefully they bring back that plan, I e-mailed the O's about it, but they didn't respond. And the folks at Fan fest were not sure either! Either way in the beginning of the year, they had the Opening Day Four Pack, so if worst comes to worst, maybe they will offer some other type of package plan. One can only hope!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Baseball Card - Prospects

I recently have been buying a lot of baseball cards because, I've been getting into the habbit of collecting again. For the longest I can remember, I would always buy cards and my collection ran pretty strong from 1992-2000. Around the early 2000s, I stopped buying regularly, but recently I have been buying again.



I've been buying Bowman packs right and left from Target, K-mart, and Wal-mart. Recently I've gotten some great rookies like Nolan Reimold, Dexter Fowler, Phillippe Aumont, Andrew McCutchen, and many many others. I got several Phillies and Orioles prospects as well. Tyson Brummett, Adam Buschini, and Michael Cisco were the Phillies. I got these nice detailed reports of them from one of the posters on the Phils message board, he told me the following:



"Brummett will be a career minorleaguer. Cisco on the other hand could actually be a really good major league pitcher. He doesn't get great publicity bc he's not one of our high ceiling HS prospects that throw in the high 90s but he probably has the best control of any of our prospects. De Fratus is the only pitcher that could compete with him. I personally am a big fan of cisco. He throws a full arsenal of pitches with amazing control. he walks nobody and doesn't give up many hits.


If cisco pitches well at reading he will be promoted to LHV pretty soon. Look at the clearwater stats. Sorry to say but he outperformed drabek. He can hit 92-93 but his pitches have enough movement that he can be a good pitcher especially with his control. A carlos silva is a decent comparison. Except that he's not a head hunter. "



I know not all prospects make the big leagues, but it was cool that Cisco might land with the club in the future. I've also heard good things about him from my buds in Reading and LV. So hopefully he turns out well for the Phils. Next, was Adam Buschini, and I got another great report for him as well. The guy from the Phils message board put the following:



"Buschini was drafted in the 4th round this year. I thought he would just be an organizational guy originally or just an eventual trade chip if he performed well. I still believe this because his only position is 2B. He hit pretty poorly this year at Williamsport .228, but his walk rate wasn't bad at 12.7%. He is kinda old at this point, 22, because he went to college. It is tough to rate college batters because the offensive stats are usually really good. This is especially true for Buschini but my goodness did he put up some outrageous stats. In 49 games at Cal Poly he posted a .422/.484./.730 line with 11 homers and 61 rbis.



Once he adjusts to the wood bat I believe he could develop into a decent contact hitter. I understand that not everybody has the ability to make it to the majors. I also understand that nobody aspires to be Eric Bruntlett. That being said, if he adjusts to the wood bat I could see him as an Eric Bruntlett type player. He is 6'2" so I could see him developing some power for a second basemen off the bench. Maybe he will become our next Donald, lets hope so since we don't have much in our farm in terms of infielders. So to this point there isnt much to report on Buschini. Since he was drafted pretty high I am just going to take it that the Phils think he will hit. I tend to trust the Phils scouting department. Except in recent first round talent. HAHA. the last few years have been quite embarassing."



So it looks pretty decent!!

Can't forget about the O's prospects cards either! They were Joseph Mahoney and Anthony Martinez. I didn't hear much about these guys, but some of my O's buddies told me that Mahoney looks like a beast in person. So that's cool. I don't think these guys will reach the main club though because the O's have a lot of players lined up at first base, but we shall see what happens down the road.



Well that about does it for my first entry. Under eight days till pitchers and catchers, and I didn't even start the fantasy talk! I better get rolling soon!