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Ready for launch on the 2011 season

Posted in MLB, National League, Spring Training on March 25, 2025 | 2 Comments »

With spring training winding down, teams are scrambling to finalize their rosters to “Go North” for the upcoming season. Likewise, fantasy owners have to make decisions on keepers, and who to target based on what has taken place in the Grapefruit and Cactus league action.

This brings me to the annual “who are these guys” list of players from the spring who have performed well in camp and are not really household names:

  • Jeremy Reed 391OBP .525SLG .377AVG
  • Ryan Roberts 621OBP .674SLG .512AVG
  • Nick Evans 388OBP .435SLG .339AVG
  • Chris Denorfia 451OBP ,600SLG .422AVG
  • Wilson Valdez 426OBP ,500SLG .380AVG
  • Jonathan Herrera 436OBP ,592SLG .367AVG
  • Albert Gonzalez 392OBP ,396SLG .354AVG
  • John Mayberry 355OBP ,625SLG .286AVG
  • Aaron Cunningham 373OBP ,565SLG .326AVG
  • Brandon Boggs 322OBP ,434SLG .264AVG
  • Daniel Descalso362OBP ,455SLG .318AVG
  • Zack Cozart417OBP ,576SLG .394AVG

Roster depth charts and spreadsheet from mlbdepthcharts.com

Here is Astros projected lienup.

This post great sampling on the best box scores .

Relief pitching tiers. [more]

 

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I used the Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton auction draft model

Posted in fantasy, Hitting, LABR, MLB, National League, Pitching, Rotisserie, Rotoworld on March 16, 2025 | Leave a Comment »

The League of Alternate Baseball Reality (LABR) includes experts from the fantasy sports industry. The Rick Wolf and Glenn Colton ownership team has 3 championships in ten years in the NL only league. I looked at the Wolf/Colton roster composition , and decided to use their model as I approached the Carolina Baseball League (CBL) Auction draft (03/13/2011). Based on their roster, it seems the strategy was not paying a lot for pitching, and using most of their money around five high end batters who provide multiple categories.

The Wolf/Cotton team spent $148 on five high end bats that included:

  1. $39 Joey Votto
  2. $32 Andrew McCutchen
  3. $30 Matt Holliday
  4. $29 Hunter Pence
  5. $18 Aramis Ramirez

For our draft, Hunter Pence and Andrew McCutchen were not available. I spent $145 for six primary bats:

  1. $39 Joey Votto
  2. $37 Justin Upton
  3. $39 Matt Holliday
  4. $10 Pedro Alvarez
  5. $10 Cody Ross
  6. $10 Logan Morrison

Like Wolf/Colton, I have both Votto and Holliday. For their Aramis Ramirez selection, I already had Pedro Alvarez for that slot. I considered Cory Hart for the Hunter Pence slot, but decided with his injury to move the money else where. Instead, I combined Cody Ross and Logan Morrison for $20.

On pitching, Wolf/Colton went with three good starters who were nicely priced, and a high end closer:

  1. $20 Brian Wilson
  2. $16 Jonathan Sanchez
  3. $13 Matt Garza
  4. $13 Ricky Nolasco

For my pitching, I had a similar makeup but I went with two closers:

  1. $20 J.J. Putz
  2. $11 Matt Latos
  3. $13 Tommy Hanson
  4. $10 Kyle McClellan
  5. $10 Travis Wood
  6. $6 Craig Kimbrel

Here is my roster for opening day:

Pos Edit Active Batters Salary

C Hernandez, Ramon(C) CIN

4 C Thole, Josh(C) NYM 6

1B Votto, Joey(1B) CIN 39

2B Young, Eric(2B) COL 10

3B Alvarez, Pedro(3B) PIT 10

SS Renteria, Edgar(SS) CIN 2

MI DeWitt, Blake(2B) CHC 2

CI Overbay, Lyle(1B) PIT 9

OF Holliday, Matt(OF) STL 39

OF Morrison, Logan(OF) FLA

10 OF Ross, Cody(OF) SF

10 OF Upton, Justin(OF) ARI 37

OF Venable, Will(OF) SD 4

U Hairston, Scott(OF) NYM 5

Bench

Bench (3B) Baker, Jeff(2B,3B) CHC 3

Bench (SS) Emaus, Brad(SS) NYM 10

Bench (OF) Jackson, Brett(OF) CHC 10

Bench (U) Gibbons, Jay(OF) LA 2

Pos Edit Active Pitchers Salary

P Hammel, Jason(P) COL 7

P Hanson, Tommy(P) ATL 11

P Kimbrel, Craig(P) ATL 6

P Latos, Mat(P) SD 11

P Marquis, Jason(P) WAS 1

P McClellan, Kyle(P) STL 10

P Putz, J.J.(P) ARI 20

P Wood, Travis(P) CIN 10

P Young, Chris(P) NYM 1

Bench (P) Luebke, Cory(P) SD 6

Bench (P) Mejia, Jenrry(P) NYM 7

Bench (P) Rodriguez, Henry(P) WAS 5

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XM Baseball Sport Radio

Posted in American League, Around the Web, fantasy, Minors, MLB, National League, Rookies, Rotisserie on March 8, 2025 | 5 Comments »

After being on Sirius a few years ago, I finally made it back to Satellite radio. This time on the XM wing of the company.

XM 175:

http://www.facebook.com/MLBNetworkRadio

http://www.Twitter.com/MLBNetworkRadio

First Pitch
Weekdays 7 am - 10 am ET
Jim Memolo and Rob Dibble

Power Alley Jim Duquette and Kevin Kennedy
Weekdays 10 am - 2 pm ET

Inside Pitch Casey Stern and Jim Bowden
Weekdays 2 pm - 6 pm ET, Saturdays 10 am - 1 pm ET

MLB Tonight (MLB Network Staff)
Weekdays 6 pm - 8 pm ET

MLB Roundtrip
Weekdays 8 pm - 12 am ET

Minors and Majors Grant Paulsen
Sundays 8 am - 10 am ET

Remember When Ed Randall and Rico Petrocelli
Saturdays 8 am - 10 am ET

MLB Roundtrip Saturday Grant Paulsen
Saturdays 1 pm - 4 pm ET

Baseball Today Holden Kushner & Jim Duquette
Sundays 10 am - 1 pm ET

MLB Roundtrip Sunday
Sundays 1 pm - 4 pm ET
Talk about the news of the day and get insight on your team’s roster moves from former GM Jim Bowden.

Home Plate Jeff Joyce & Jeff Nelson
Weekends 4 pm - 7 pm ET

XM 147:

http://Twitter.com/siriusxmfantasy

http://www.facebook.com/siriusxmfantasysportsradio

7 am ET - RotoExperts w/ Scott Engel & Adam Ronis
10 am ET - SiriusXM Fantasy Basketball w/ Dennis Scott
11 am ET - RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today w/ Jeff Erickson & Derek Van Riper
2 pm ET - SiriusXM Fantasy Baseball w/ Steve Phillips & Jeff Rickard
5 pm ET - SiriusXM Fantasy Drive w/ Kyle Elfrink, Kay Adams & Ray Flowers
8 pm ET - Fantasy Baseball Tonight w/ Craig Mish

Ray Flowers on his web site is offering free fantasy information

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Prospect Grand Prix 2011

Posted in Around the Web, Minors, MLB, Opening Day, Prospects, Rookie Of Year, Rookies on March 2, 2025 | Leave a Comment »

Unless your name is John Orelud, each baseball player has to go down to the minor leagues, and work his way up the food chain. It is not an easy journey for a player trying to force his way onto a major league roster. Every step along the way, the minor league players performance is analyzed and scrutinized. The players results are compared to the their peers in the current season, and historically to any player who has come through a similar path.

The game of projecting a player’s career based on minor league numbers is not an easy one. For every success case such as an Evan Longoria, there is another player on the other side of the spectrum that fools the critics. Anyone remember when third baseman Andy Marte was rated as a better prospect than David Wright? There are tons of examples out their of players who lived up to the hype, and those who were utter failures:

Jesse Foppert, Joel Guzman, Andy Marte, Sean Burroughs, Greg Miller

Todd Van Poppel, Brien Taylor, Darren Driefort

However, each year we pay attention to these players known as a prospects, phenom, young talent, the future, what ever name you want to give these guys. Some of these players make it, some do not. Another factor in all of this is opportunity. There are some players who did not shows up on the big time prospect lists and go on to have wonderful careers as late bloomers. Matt Holiday is one guy in this mold. Jason Bay is another. How can we forget Big Papi started his career out as with Twins? Johan Santana certainly didn’t start with the Twins organization either.

Now, one last thing that you can’t put a number to (at least yet) is a player make up. The player who has a good head on his shoulders and can get over the failures from previous day, and move on and get past the bad day is better equipped to be successful. The game of baseball is one of always making adjustments and dealing with failure.

With this mind, when you think prospects, think about the combination of talent, opportunity, and makeup. These three together give you an indication of what kind a player you have.

CBS Sports Top 100

BP Future Shock 2011

Baseball Digest Prospect Sandwich

Call To Pen

Braves Top

MLB Prospects

Prospect Watch Starters

Top Prospect Alert (by team)

Baseball America

Rays Prospect Guide

Jim Bowden Top 50

Project Prospect

Keith Law’s rankings

MLB Prospects

Prospect Junkies

Scoutingbook.com Prospect Matrix

Prospect Portal

Top NL Only Prospects

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Logic Restored For Mets

Posted in Mets, MLB on October 31, 2025 | Leave a Comment »

The Mets didn’t just make a regime change on Friday with the hiring of Sandy Alderson as their new general manager. The Wilpon’s have brought on board what will amount to a installing a complete new blueprint on how the organization moves forward. It will consist of a team of a thinkers led by Alderson who will use sound decision making and consider long term impact when making decisions. One with a methodology and a plan. If you can build a successful franchise on a strict budget, you can do magic with some payroll flexibility. Gone are the days of building the core of the franchise via free agency and handing out bad contracts as far as number of years and dollar amounts. Back are the days when the organization builds the franchise from the bottom up.

Going back the past 20 years, this franchise has not really been run with sound thinking. In the glory years the organization was built around youth and pitching with GM Frank Cashen. Moreover, Cashen always had the ideal that you never sign a pitcher for more than 3 years contract. Now, the game as surely changed with that way of thinking in the market place. However, it shows you that back in the day that there was some thought given out how you hand out the money to key resources in your organization. Over the past few years with Omar, it always seemed they went for the headlines rather than an organizational fit. They overpaid in the dollar figures and number of years given to contracts. It seems they never performed due diligence either.

I am excited for the N.Y Mets organization, and am proud they have finally realized that important changes needed to be made. Better late than never. Hooray for the Fans!

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Deep League NL Prospects 2010

Posted in Minors, MLB, Prospects on April 10, 2025 | Leave a Comment »

Each year I read all the minor league resources I can get a hold of. A comprehensive list of web sites on the minor league players to know is sure to include Prospect Junkies, MLB Fantasy Prospects , Prospect Insider , Project Prospect , Rays Prospects ,Mets Minors , Braves Minors ,Scouting Book and Johns Sickels Minor League Ball . Many of the selections are players that won’t neccesarily make an impact in 2010, but could be big contributors in future years. Without further adieu, here are my 2010 selctions:

Josh Thole

Logan Morrison

Chris Dominguez

Jaff Decker

Evan Frey

Jay Jackson

Craig Kimbrel

Josh Lindblom

__

Ian Desmond watch

projection example nut and bolts

A closer look

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Opening Day Cheers and Jeers

Posted in American League, MLB, National League, Opening Day on April 6, 2025 | Leave a Comment »

It was opening day for the 2010 season for a handful of teams. Let’s not get carried away with success with one day of statistics, as we all remember the “Emilio Bonifacio” on the highlight reel last opening day. He brought back memories of Tuffy Rhodes with his offensive outburst, only to be a footnote as the year progressed.

Here is a look at how some of my fantasy players performed on opening day. Lets start with the Cheers.These players started the season off on a high note:

  • Carlos Gonzalez 4-5
  • Brian McCann 2-3 HR 3R
  • Todd Helton 2-5
  • Brandon Phillips 1-4 2RBI SB
  • Hanley Ramirez 2-4 SB
  • Johnny Damon 2-4 2R 2RBI
  • Mark DeRosa 1-3 HR
  • Ubaldo Jimenez 6IP 6K W 1.5 ERA
  • David Wright 1-3 HR 2RBI
  • Placido Polanco 3-5 HR 6 RBI
  • Juan Fransisco 1-1 RBI (MLB debut)

Jeers

  • Jacob Ellsbury 0-5
  • Josh Johnson 5IP 7.2 ERA
  • Derek Lee 0-3 R
  • Aki Awamura 0-4
  • Mike Jacobs 0-4
  • Wil Venable 0-4
  • Dan Uggla 0-3
  • Ian Desmond 0-2
  • Ryan Franklin 1IP, 2ER
  • Clay Hensley .1IP 2HA 1ER
  • John Garland 6R, 2ER
  • Evereth Cabrera 0-3
  • Adam LaRoche 0-5
  • Melky Cabrera 0-5

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Projected NL Central 25 Man Rosters

Posted in Albert Pujols, Astros, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, MLB, National League, Pirates, Reds on April 2, 2025 | Leave a Comment »

The final rosters do not have to be finalized until Sunday afternoon, but looking at what we know today, here’s how I see it in the NL Central:

Pos Cards Astros Pirates Cubs Brewers Reds
C Molina Towles Doumit Soto Zaun Hernandez
1B Pujols Blum Clement Lee Fielder Votto
2B Schumaker Matsui Imamura Fontenot Weeks Phillips
SS Ryan Manzella Cedeno Theriot Escobar Cabrera
3B Freese Feliz LaRoche Ramirez McGehee Rolen
LF Holliday Lee Milledge Soriano Braun Gomes
CF Rasmus Bourn McCutchen
 Byrd Gomez Stubbs
RF Ludwick Pence Jones Fukodome Hart Bruce
OF Craig Sullivan Raynor Nady Edmonds Dickerson
OF Stavinoha
 Michaels Church Colvin Gerut Nix
IF Mather Keppinger Young
 Tracy Counsel Fransisco
IF Lopez Johnson Crosby Baker Inglett Balentien
C LaRue Quintero Jaramillo Hill Kottaras Hanigan
SP Carpenter Oswalt Duke Zambrano Gallardo Harang
SP Wainright Rodriguez Ohlendorf Dempster Wolfe Cueto
SP Penny Meyers Maholm Wells Davis Arroyo
SP Lohse Norris
 Morton
 Gorzelany Bush Bailey
SP Garcia Paulino McCutchen Silva Parra Leake
RP Franklin Lindstrom Dotel Marmol Hoffman Cordero
RP McClellan Lyon Donelly Grabow Hawkins Masset
RP Motte Gervacio Meek Marshall Stetter Herrera
RP Miller Byrdak Taschner Caridad Vargas Owings
RP Boggs Sampson Penn Samerdzija Coffey Lincoln
RP Hawksworth Moehler Carrasco
 Berg Villenuava Rhodes
25th Reyes Fuclhino Lopez
 Russell Hopper Ondrusek
  • Cards: Pagnozzi, Greene, Jay, Robinson, P.J. Walters, Hill
  • Astros : Berkman, Barzado, Arias, Shelton, Cash, Borguios, Bogesivic, Banks, Switzer
  • Pirates: Pearce, Hanrahan, Ascancio, Hart, Pearce, Vazquez, Jones, Ford, Tabata, Sanchez, Jakubauskas, Yates, Lincoln
  • Cubs: Lilly, Guzman, Castro, Hoffpauir, Scales, Fuld, Gray, Vitters, Jackson
  • Brewers: Suppan, Riske, Butler, Naverson, Gamel, Lucroy, Salome
  • Reds: Volquez, Chapman, Wells, Janish, Miles, Castillo, Burke, Cairo, Sutton, Wood, Lehr, Maloney, Miller, Dorn, Heisey, Anderson, Valaika

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Spring Numbers Kick In

Posted in Around the Web, MLB on March 4, 2025 | Leave a Comment »

Heyward turning heads but will Braves learn from 2009 with Jordan Schafer?

Wren: “It’s not how he performs, necessarily, here that’s going to determine whether he’s on this club or not. It’s, if at the end of spring training, collectively, we all feel like it’s the best thing for him and the organization. And if it is, he will. And if we think there’s something to be gained for him to go in the minor leagues, we’ll send him down.”

Miguel Cabrera dealing with his demons but should we forgive?

Persons who desecrate our hallowed pastime receive the unmitigated ire of ardent followers. Persons who imbibe obscene amounts of alcohol with the opposition the night and into the morning before a critical game are asking to be tarred and feathered and then defeathered by a hungry African tiger from the Detroit Zoo.

Matt Antonelli has a blog and writes about his first call up to the big leagues.

Two days before the season ended I was playing a game in Tacoma, Washington when I was called into our manager’s office and told to sit down. I knew that usually when this happens you have either gotten called up or released, and I didn’t think at 23 years old I was getting the “ax”. Our manager told me that I would be flying out the next morning to make my Major League debut in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. I honestly didn’t believe him when he told me. I thought it was actually a joke to see if I was stupid enough to think a guy that just hit .213 in Triple-A would get a call-up. It wasn’t a joke, and I was going up the next day.

Bumgarner deals with tragic death of his sister:

“I wanted to be with my family, of course, but I was anxious to get back to work,” he said. “Because when I’m on the mound, I don’t think about anything else but the game.”

Victor Rojas leaves MLB network for play by play with Angels.

Those spring numbers:

S Rodriguez ph-dh 2  1  1  1
F Martinez lf     3  1  2  1
J Heyward rf      2  1  1  1

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Get Your Baseball Publication Here

Posted in Around the Web, MLB, Projections, Rays, Sabermetrics on March 3, 2025 | 1 Comment »

Those of you who have been following my site for a while know I am big time into fantasy baseball. In past years, my favorite resource for getting ready for the draft and the baseball season is USA Today’s must see LABR draft issue. The LABR issue comes out in late March. Until then, there is a wide variety of publications to choose from at reasonable costs.

Leading off is another edition of the DRAYS BAY Annual. This is by far the best one yet, with a bunch of talented writers contributing. I never imagined that the DRB franchise would evolve into such am intelligent community.

Next on the new ticket, is an introductory sabermetrics book just published last week by Lee Panas that is titled Beyond Batting Average. This book introduces fans to sabermetrics with easy to understand explanations and examples. My site was even referenced in the book:

Both the BA/OBP/SLG and BA/EOBP/ISO combinations are limited, due to the fact that they fail to take playing time into account. For example, a hitter with a .300 BA/.360 OBP/.500 SLG in 600 PA would contribute more to his team than a hitter with the same line in 300 PA. David Bloom, of BaseballHappenings.com, suggests using OBP/SLG/TOB/TB because it combines both rate measures (OBP, SLG) and playing time statistics (TOB, TB). However, BA/OBP/SLG is still the most common combination in the sabermetric community.

Next,on tap for fantasy baseball is the Rotoprofessor 2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide. This is a supplement for just $5 to the Rotoprofessor site which is a great resource for your fantasy help throughout the year. See the Rotoprofessor Interview

Another nicely priced resource is Charlie Saponara Fantasy Baseball 365 Draft guide which can be obtained via a donation. If you don’t check out the guide, fantasybaseball365.com is where you can find good tips throughout the year. I played in a few expert leagues with Charlie over the years. He knows his stuff.

Other Good Resources:

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