...as in his stuff is from another planet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pVyw2JlloM
Check out this 23 strikeout game. Guys throwin wiffleballs out there. He's only being regarded as the best pitching prospect of the last 10 years, if not all time (though Mark Prior, Brien Taylor, David Clyde, Todd Van Poppel et. al say hello), no big deal.
And if that ain't enough, check out some of these stats:
So far this season he has 74 K's in 34 1/3 innings. For those bad at math that would be roughly 2.15 K/inning or just under 20 K's per 9 innings.........wow.
Batting average against - .172
WHIP - .82
ERA - 1.57 (almost seems a little high don't it?)
Anyway, you get the idea. The kid's barely started his junior year and he's already being lauded as the best college pitcher of alltime.....just sick. And if my brothers could chime in, they'd say "Coulda been you!!! Best arm Scrivani has ever seen!!!" Thanks a lot guys.
More to come...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Legends of Fantasy
The second fantasy baseball league I joined is JP's Legends of Fantasy Baseball. This is also a 5x5 roto league, but with 14 teams instead of 12. It's also a redraft league, meaning no keepers. This league is in its second year, and boy was the first year a roller coaster. I was coasting my way to a dominant 1st place finish when everything fell apart. During the middle 4 months (approx.) of the season I was anywhere from 15-20 points in 1st place which is pretty sick. But, alas, the best laid plans of mice and men...
A couple of my trades didn't work out so great the most notable being Lincecum for Fielder, and to a lesser degree Vlad for Lackey. But what really did me in was the combination of absurd (IIRC) trades that bolstered the teams chasing me PLUS my apparent inability to make any strong moves of my own (my big pick up was Garrett Atkins....gag) PLUS my job which was taking up a LOT of my time towards the end of the summer. Yes, it was a swift fall from grace over the final month or so of the season, falling from 1st to 3rd (the last money spot) and finally, thanks due in large part to one of the most UNGODLY pitching days I've ever seen by JP's team.....somehow I had squandered my lead and finished one half point OUT of the money (though an epic game by John Danks in game 163 almost put me right back in). Sigh.
Onto this year.
We had the draft online Sunday night, and most of the prep work I'd done for the People's League draft served well enough for this draft. The big difference being everyone was up for grabs in this one. The Raleigh Bladerunners were randomly given the 5th pick overall, and since this is a snake format, my picks would alternate between the 5th in one round and the 10th in the next. Off we go.
Rd 1 - Since Arod is hurt, I knew the first 4 picks would be Hanley, Wright, Reyes, and Pujols in some order, and they were. So it was between Miggy Cabrera, Grady Sizemore, and Ryan Braun. I LOVE Braun, hes the cornerstone of my People's League team. I am also very big on Miggy. He's a stud, but 1B is a deeeeep position and those numbers can be made up. I went with Grady Sizemore because he's pretty much a lock for 30-30 (I'm a sucker for power/speed guys), a shit ton of runs, and serviceable rbi and avg. He's the top OF and a stud. Ship it.
Rd 2 - I was feening for Carlos Beltran who whos basically another Grady, but of course he was taken right before me. I took the best player on the board, imo, in Carlos Lee. El Caballo is a monster, and is one of the most consistent sluggers in the game. 30-100-100, .300 10sb's. Pencil it it. Scratch that......you can use ink.
Rd 3 - Was eyeing Soriano, he went two picks before. I really thought about Kemp, who I'm huge on, but he's still not a sure thing. I then realized that Jason Bay was a stud, and he happens to be playing for a new contract, and he happens to have had a huge 2nd half in Boston last year.
Rd 4 - It's a 4 OF league and I already have 3. So who did I take? Well I had the need for speed. And Shane Victorino had my fix. 15 hr/35 sb's.....I'll take it.
Rd 5 - When I took Shane only two pitchers had been taken. Timmy and Johan. I thought about taking CC Sabathia in Rd 4 but since pitchers weren't going I thought CC had a better shot of falling while Victorino definitely wouldn't. My suspicions were confirmed when Magglio, Hart, Granderson, and Torii Hunter all went before my next pick. (Shane def would have went). To my astonishment sitting there at overall pick number 61 was arguably the best pitcher in the game (at least top 3 by all measures), CC Sabathia. He's a stud and a horse. Great bargain at 61 overall.
Rd 6 - My CC pick started the run on aces as Webb, Hamels, Halladay, Haren, CBills, Volquez, and Lackey all went before my next pick. Seeing the aces disappear I decided to take the best pitcher on the board, imo. Josh Beckett is a stud, and an easy top 10 pitcher. Big year coming from him.
Rd 7 - I have 4 OF's and 2 pitchers.....think its time for an infielder? I was looking for a 1B or a 3B and as it turns out Aubrey Huff is both. Guy was awesome last year, and while I don't think he'll quite repeat those numbers, 80% of them would still be super. I'll take it.
Rd 8 - When I took Beckett I was looking for Stephen Drew, but he went before me. The SS well was drying up and there were two guys left who were deserving to be my SS. JJ Hardy and Jhonny Peralta (yes its Jhonny, not a typo). They're interchangeable, imo. I'd take either, but I had to sweat out 18 picks first. The dropoff after these two were steep so I was gonna be scuffling if I missed out. First 16 picks, so far so good. 2 picks to go. JP takes Peralta. NOOOOOOO. "One Tiiiiiiiiime" I write in the chat box......Andre Ethier is the next pick. I high-five the monitor and select JJ Hardy.
Rd 9 - With no hitter standing out to me, its time for a pitcher. Gallardo went so I go with my boy "Tricky" Ricky Nolasco. I covered Ricky in the People's League post.....he's a STUD.
Rd 10 - I'm lookin to fill infield spots now. Some guys I like that went: Jose Lopez, Zimmerman, DeRosa, Cantu. Hmmm, Delgado still on the board, but so is James Loney. I'm feeling youthful so I go with the smooth swing of the Dodgers 1B. He'll hit for better avg anyway.
Rd 11 - Was looking at Alex Gordon (which Jared knew....he knows all), but with Loney at 1B I can slot Huff at 3B, meaning it wasn't a necessity though he could play DH (theres two DH spots). The 2B's were getting weaker and weaker, and so I took Kelly Johnson who could be a nice sleeper pick. Jared said this was a mistake, and that I should have taken Gordon.....we'll see.
Rd 12 - At this point I have three starting pitchers but no closers, and since about 20 closers have come off the board I decide it's time to take one. I'm big on Frank Francisco who had a huge second half last year. He racks up the guys and should hold the job all year. Sweet.
Rd 13 - On the return I wanted Hanrahan but he went right after Francisco. So I took who I perceived to be the last closer with a definite job. And even though he's hurt right now, Trevor Hoffman still gets the job done at his ripe old age of 80.
Rd 14 - I dont know what I'm looking for here. Carpenter goes, J. Upton goes, Cueto goes, Jurrjens goes, Weeks goes, Slowey goes.....sigh I would have LOVED to get Slowey here. Once again, with no batter standing out to me, I took, imo, the best pitcher on the board in Jered Weaver. I've never really liked him, but he's got the pedigree and the numbers that say he could step it up a notch this year.
Rd 15 - Was eying Edwin Encarnacion, but he was taken. Well lookie here? Who's STILL on the board 200 picks in? Superstar prospect Matt Wieters. Unbelievable. I know hes starting in the minors, but according to just about EVERYBODY, he'll be up soon. And apparently, he's the real deal. Think, Piazza, with a good arm. (Commence drooling). In a league like this where hyped guys usually go early, this was a shocker and a huge coup. Could be the pick of the draft.
Rd 16 - Was lookin Ubaldo, Maine, Frenchy, Meche ( who went right before me). I took a guy I'm very big on this year in the Prophet. Elijah Dukes should go 20-20. That would be sweet.
Rd 17 - On the return I wanted Wandy Rodriguez, but he was snagged. Ditto, Parra. But what do we have here? Who's still on the board at pick #229? Chris R. Young, who if it weren't for a vicious Pujols liner that almost killed him (incidentally, Young is about 6'10'' and had he been a normal sized person the ball would have soared right over his head.....oh well) would have had a very nice year and would likely have been one of the top 20 pitchers taken. How quickly we forget. Tsk. Tsk. Well, thats why I play the game. My #5 pitcher has shown the ability to pitch like a #2 at least. I am good.
Rd 18 - Was eyeing Corpas, A. Reyes. Was thinking about Jonathan Sanchez, but eh. I took Chris Perez who should have the closer job in St. Louis. (comment from Jared, "nice pick")
Rd 19 - With my position players almost locked up, I'm looking for a pitcher. Took Sean Marshall. Sure, why not?
Rd 20 - Took hotshot Jordan Zimmerman who's been awesome this spring for Washington. We'll see.
Rd 21 - Dan Murphy is batting 2nd for the Mets.....100 runs?
Rd 22 - Smoltz, Arredondo, Snell and Polanco went. I took a favorite of mine in Brandon Wood.
Rd 23 - Took super prospect Colby Rasmus on the return. If he gets PT this year...watch out.
Rd 24 - Was gonna take Bourn for some cheap steals, but he was plucked. I took Orlando Cabrera who provides some pretty solid MI numbers.
Rd 25 - I took Jorge De La Rosa with my last pick. He'll get K's at least.
So there it is. Looking at my team, I like what I see. I see solid power, and decent SB's though I could stand to add some more. My OF is my strength both in starters Grady, Lee, Bay, and Victorino, and in Dukes, Murphy and Rasmus. I'll probably be dealing from there later on. I also really like my staff. CC, Beckett, and Ricky at the top make a top 3 that would rival any. Weaver and Young round out my top 5....very nice. Between Francisco, Hoffman, Perez and whoever I end up getting off the wire should keep me competitive in saves. Hopefully I can stick it to Jared this year.
More to come...
A couple of my trades didn't work out so great the most notable being Lincecum for Fielder, and to a lesser degree Vlad for Lackey. But what really did me in was the combination of absurd (IIRC) trades that bolstered the teams chasing me PLUS my apparent inability to make any strong moves of my own (my big pick up was Garrett Atkins....gag) PLUS my job which was taking up a LOT of my time towards the end of the summer. Yes, it was a swift fall from grace over the final month or so of the season, falling from 1st to 3rd (the last money spot) and finally, thanks due in large part to one of the most UNGODLY pitching days I've ever seen by JP's team.....somehow I had squandered my lead and finished one half point OUT of the money (though an epic game by John Danks in game 163 almost put me right back in). Sigh.
Onto this year.
We had the draft online Sunday night, and most of the prep work I'd done for the People's League draft served well enough for this draft. The big difference being everyone was up for grabs in this one. The Raleigh Bladerunners were randomly given the 5th pick overall, and since this is a snake format, my picks would alternate between the 5th in one round and the 10th in the next. Off we go.
Rd 1 - Since Arod is hurt, I knew the first 4 picks would be Hanley, Wright, Reyes, and Pujols in some order, and they were. So it was between Miggy Cabrera, Grady Sizemore, and Ryan Braun. I LOVE Braun, hes the cornerstone of my People's League team. I am also very big on Miggy. He's a stud, but 1B is a deeeeep position and those numbers can be made up. I went with Grady Sizemore because he's pretty much a lock for 30-30 (I'm a sucker for power/speed guys), a shit ton of runs, and serviceable rbi and avg. He's the top OF and a stud. Ship it.
Rd 2 - I was feening for Carlos Beltran who whos basically another Grady, but of course he was taken right before me. I took the best player on the board, imo, in Carlos Lee. El Caballo is a monster, and is one of the most consistent sluggers in the game. 30-100-100, .300 10sb's. Pencil it it. Scratch that......you can use ink.
Rd 3 - Was eyeing Soriano, he went two picks before. I really thought about Kemp, who I'm huge on, but he's still not a sure thing. I then realized that Jason Bay was a stud, and he happens to be playing for a new contract, and he happens to have had a huge 2nd half in Boston last year.
Rd 4 - It's a 4 OF league and I already have 3. So who did I take? Well I had the need for speed. And Shane Victorino had my fix. 15 hr/35 sb's.....I'll take it.
Rd 5 - When I took Shane only two pitchers had been taken. Timmy and Johan. I thought about taking CC Sabathia in Rd 4 but since pitchers weren't going I thought CC had a better shot of falling while Victorino definitely wouldn't. My suspicions were confirmed when Magglio, Hart, Granderson, and Torii Hunter all went before my next pick. (Shane def would have went). To my astonishment sitting there at overall pick number 61 was arguably the best pitcher in the game (at least top 3 by all measures), CC Sabathia. He's a stud and a horse. Great bargain at 61 overall.
Rd 6 - My CC pick started the run on aces as Webb, Hamels, Halladay, Haren, CBills, Volquez, and Lackey all went before my next pick. Seeing the aces disappear I decided to take the best pitcher on the board, imo. Josh Beckett is a stud, and an easy top 10 pitcher. Big year coming from him.
Rd 7 - I have 4 OF's and 2 pitchers.....think its time for an infielder? I was looking for a 1B or a 3B and as it turns out Aubrey Huff is both. Guy was awesome last year, and while I don't think he'll quite repeat those numbers, 80% of them would still be super. I'll take it.
Rd 8 - When I took Beckett I was looking for Stephen Drew, but he went before me. The SS well was drying up and there were two guys left who were deserving to be my SS. JJ Hardy and Jhonny Peralta (yes its Jhonny, not a typo). They're interchangeable, imo. I'd take either, but I had to sweat out 18 picks first. The dropoff after these two were steep so I was gonna be scuffling if I missed out. First 16 picks, so far so good. 2 picks to go. JP takes Peralta. NOOOOOOO. "One Tiiiiiiiiime" I write in the chat box......Andre Ethier is the next pick. I high-five the monitor and select JJ Hardy.
Rd 9 - With no hitter standing out to me, its time for a pitcher. Gallardo went so I go with my boy "Tricky" Ricky Nolasco. I covered Ricky in the People's League post.....he's a STUD.
Rd 10 - I'm lookin to fill infield spots now. Some guys I like that went: Jose Lopez, Zimmerman, DeRosa, Cantu. Hmmm, Delgado still on the board, but so is James Loney. I'm feeling youthful so I go with the smooth swing of the Dodgers 1B. He'll hit for better avg anyway.
Rd 11 - Was looking at Alex Gordon (which Jared knew....he knows all), but with Loney at 1B I can slot Huff at 3B, meaning it wasn't a necessity though he could play DH (theres two DH spots). The 2B's were getting weaker and weaker, and so I took Kelly Johnson who could be a nice sleeper pick. Jared said this was a mistake, and that I should have taken Gordon.....we'll see.
Rd 12 - At this point I have three starting pitchers but no closers, and since about 20 closers have come off the board I decide it's time to take one. I'm big on Frank Francisco who had a huge second half last year. He racks up the guys and should hold the job all year. Sweet.
Rd 13 - On the return I wanted Hanrahan but he went right after Francisco. So I took who I perceived to be the last closer with a definite job. And even though he's hurt right now, Trevor Hoffman still gets the job done at his ripe old age of 80.
Rd 14 - I dont know what I'm looking for here. Carpenter goes, J. Upton goes, Cueto goes, Jurrjens goes, Weeks goes, Slowey goes.....sigh I would have LOVED to get Slowey here. Once again, with no batter standing out to me, I took, imo, the best pitcher on the board in Jered Weaver. I've never really liked him, but he's got the pedigree and the numbers that say he could step it up a notch this year.
Rd 15 - Was eying Edwin Encarnacion, but he was taken. Well lookie here? Who's STILL on the board 200 picks in? Superstar prospect Matt Wieters. Unbelievable. I know hes starting in the minors, but according to just about EVERYBODY, he'll be up soon. And apparently, he's the real deal. Think, Piazza, with a good arm. (Commence drooling). In a league like this where hyped guys usually go early, this was a shocker and a huge coup. Could be the pick of the draft.
Rd 16 - Was lookin Ubaldo, Maine, Frenchy, Meche ( who went right before me). I took a guy I'm very big on this year in the Prophet. Elijah Dukes should go 20-20. That would be sweet.
Rd 17 - On the return I wanted Wandy Rodriguez, but he was snagged. Ditto, Parra. But what do we have here? Who's still on the board at pick #229? Chris R. Young, who if it weren't for a vicious Pujols liner that almost killed him (incidentally, Young is about 6'10'' and had he been a normal sized person the ball would have soared right over his head.....oh well) would have had a very nice year and would likely have been one of the top 20 pitchers taken. How quickly we forget. Tsk. Tsk. Well, thats why I play the game. My #5 pitcher has shown the ability to pitch like a #2 at least. I am good.
Rd 18 - Was eyeing Corpas, A. Reyes. Was thinking about Jonathan Sanchez, but eh. I took Chris Perez who should have the closer job in St. Louis. (comment from Jared, "nice pick")
Rd 19 - With my position players almost locked up, I'm looking for a pitcher. Took Sean Marshall. Sure, why not?
Rd 20 - Took hotshot Jordan Zimmerman who's been awesome this spring for Washington. We'll see.
Rd 21 - Dan Murphy is batting 2nd for the Mets.....100 runs?
Rd 22 - Smoltz, Arredondo, Snell and Polanco went. I took a favorite of mine in Brandon Wood.
Rd 23 - Took super prospect Colby Rasmus on the return. If he gets PT this year...watch out.
Rd 24 - Was gonna take Bourn for some cheap steals, but he was plucked. I took Orlando Cabrera who provides some pretty solid MI numbers.
Rd 25 - I took Jorge De La Rosa with my last pick. He'll get K's at least.
So there it is. Looking at my team, I like what I see. I see solid power, and decent SB's though I could stand to add some more. My OF is my strength both in starters Grady, Lee, Bay, and Victorino, and in Dukes, Murphy and Rasmus. I'll probably be dealing from there later on. I also really like my staff. CC, Beckett, and Ricky at the top make a top 3 that would rival any. Weaver and Young round out my top 5....very nice. Between Francisco, Hoffman, Perez and whoever I end up getting off the wire should keep me competitive in saves. Hopefully I can stick it to Jared this year.
More to come...
OPEC and BUMPS
It's 4 in the morning and I can't sleep. What better time than to go into the meanings of OPEC and BUMPS. I tell ya, family is a funny thing. We've got some weird symmetry/coincidences in our family. My grandfather has 3 sons, my father has 3 sons. My father is the oldest; I'm the oldest. My grandfather, father and myself have 3 birthdays in 4 days with my father's and mine being back to back. Cool, huh? Anyway, families are a great birthing place for inside jokes cause you spend so much damn time together. Anywho, let's dig in.
OPEC. Well, surely you mean the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries right? Well, yes. But, no. The details are a bit hazy, and perhaps I can fill them in at a later point in time, but here goes. When my father and his brothers were growing up they were as any other brothers would be. Competitive, annoying, and always coming up with stupid shit. Well, much like my brothers and I do, they would often ask each trivia questions to see who could top who and whatnot. Well, I don't know where you're from, but where I'm from being asked a trivia question is a challenge to my knowledge. The immediate assumption is that the person asking the questions is ASSUMING that I don't know what the answer is, i.e. it isn't common knowledge. Well, who the hell wants to be shown up like that?
Now, being boys in their teenage years, one can assume that my father and my uncles were big sports fans (they were/are) and hence, sports trivia questions were abundant. Now, there's nothing wrong with asking a good tough question, some obscure trivia, i.e. "Who are the only 3 MLB pitchers all time with over 2,000 K's and an ERA over 4.00?*" (my brother asked me this a couple weeks ago.....I nailed it in about 6 guesses too). This question takes thought, and is not obvious, not common knowledge. But let's say the question is (for the sake of my father and uncles) how many homers did Maris hit in '61*. Well, to any proper baseball fan, the answer to this is obvious, and as such, maybe a boy or man would not want to dignify such an absurdly easy question with a response. Here's the response:
OPEC
OPEC. I know the answer. You should know I know the answer, and so instead I say OPEC. (again, why OPEC was chosen I can't remember, but my best guess is that OPEC itself was the answer to a trivia question). Upon hearing the OPEC, the asker of the question acknowledges that the askee knows the answer and just like that there is an understanding. And for obvious stuff, this is open and shut. You're at the bar (at any point in time up until two years ago) and your friend asks you who the all time homerun king is*......OPEC. Come on buddy. Your friend says haha, yea, too easy.
This is basically the modern day equivalent of "my word is my bond". Back in the day, a man was only as good as his name. If he gave you his word, that was good enough.
OPEC. What a powerful tool. What a weapon. Think of the ethics involved here. What if you get a question thrown at you which you know you should know the answer to.....but you don't?!? Do you break out the OPEC? They gotta take that at face value. But then does the OPEC stand for what it's supposed to? Does it not lose all meaning? What if you think you know the answer, but you don't? Then you're not purposefully using the OPEC falsely, but is it not just as criminal? Hell, you could just go on OPECing for the rest of your life! Never having to answer another question as long as you live. Oh, yes. Quite the powerful creation my father and uncles came up with. They've been using it for years. My brothers and I use it. But we understand the OPEC; We understand its power and use it responsibly......will you?
BUMPS. Ha, this one is very interesting indeed. In fact, I've recently learned that the word my brothers and I got this from is actually "bunks" (I think). Sounded like bumps to us. Anyway, here I give all due credit to the movie Above the Rim. Great, great basketball/thug movie. Haha. Great soundtrack too. Anyway, in the movie they play plenty of pickup basketball. As was common in these pickup games, the players would bet on the outcome. So you'd think they'd bet money or something of value.....well, a lot of these guys don't have much to bet with. So what do they do? They play for BUMPS (or bunks). So what's BUMPS. Well, its not an acronym this time. Basically, if you lose you get up against the schoolyard fence or wall like you're gettin patted down by the five-O and you get a basketball pegged at your ass repeatedly. Yup, thats BUMPS.
Ok, weird. So whats the point? My brothers and I found this quite hilarious and as any brothers or sisters or friends do, we make bets with each all the time. As everyone knows the most common bet between siblings is exactly a million dollars. Unfortunately for nearly all of the world, no siblings can really afford to be betting sums in the millions (save the Olsens, Hiltons, Baldwins? haha). And you can't bet chores if you don't have strict chores (or can't enforce it in the case of unruly brothers). So what do you bet? BUMPS. Now, this sounds bad. I make a bet with my brother and when he loses (yes, I'm, assuming I win the bet. I always win) I peg his ass with a b-ball over and over. Yea, this really doesn't happen either. What this turned into, was me (since I'm older and did so whether I won or lost usually) beating or slapping them around for a minute or so until I lost interest. Unfair, I know, but thats what brothers do. We pound on each other.
But even that was a little too much, and so BUMPS just kinda turned into the equivalent of betting a million dollars (anti-climatic, I know). However, we DID establish levels of BUMPS based on the importance of the question/bet and/or your level of confidence in your side of it. For example, my brother Jay bets me BUMPS he'll beat me in Kobe (Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside for N64, greatest b-ball game of all time). I agree and we play. We're pretty even, it could turn out either way. Now Jay and I are arguing about a specific line in a movie (in this case say its a certain line about gila monsters in Nothing To Lose) and I KNOW I know what the line is......you bet your ass I'm betting MEGA BUMPS, or even MEGA ULTRA BUMPS. That's right. Hell, there's even a pecking order of sorts:
BUMPS
SUPER BUMPS
MEGA BUMPS
ULTRA BUMPS
MEGA ULTRA BUMPS
SUPER INFINITY BUMPS
....um, yea that sounds about right (probably not). Anyway, BUMPS is a great bet because it's totally meaningless, but gives the impression there's a lot on the line as opposed to betting a million bucks which you have no chance of winning.
So there you have it. OPEC and BUMPS. And hopefully it wasn't lost on you that these two concepts go hand in hand: trivia questions and betting. Hell, I dunno about you, but that was half my childhood, lol.
* Answers to those trivia questions:
1)Javier Vazquez, David Wells, Jamie Moyer
2)61
3)Hank Aaron
More to come...
OPEC. Well, surely you mean the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries right? Well, yes. But, no. The details are a bit hazy, and perhaps I can fill them in at a later point in time, but here goes. When my father and his brothers were growing up they were as any other brothers would be. Competitive, annoying, and always coming up with stupid shit. Well, much like my brothers and I do, they would often ask each trivia questions to see who could top who and whatnot. Well, I don't know where you're from, but where I'm from being asked a trivia question is a challenge to my knowledge. The immediate assumption is that the person asking the questions is ASSUMING that I don't know what the answer is, i.e. it isn't common knowledge. Well, who the hell wants to be shown up like that?
Now, being boys in their teenage years, one can assume that my father and my uncles were big sports fans (they were/are) and hence, sports trivia questions were abundant. Now, there's nothing wrong with asking a good tough question, some obscure trivia, i.e. "Who are the only 3 MLB pitchers all time with over 2,000 K's and an ERA over 4.00?*" (my brother asked me this a couple weeks ago.....I nailed it in about 6 guesses too). This question takes thought, and is not obvious, not common knowledge. But let's say the question is (for the sake of my father and uncles) how many homers did Maris hit in '61*. Well, to any proper baseball fan, the answer to this is obvious, and as such, maybe a boy or man would not want to dignify such an absurdly easy question with a response. Here's the response:
OPEC
OPEC. I know the answer. You should know I know the answer, and so instead I say OPEC. (again, why OPEC was chosen I can't remember, but my best guess is that OPEC itself was the answer to a trivia question). Upon hearing the OPEC, the asker of the question acknowledges that the askee knows the answer and just like that there is an understanding. And for obvious stuff, this is open and shut. You're at the bar (at any point in time up until two years ago) and your friend asks you who the all time homerun king is*......OPEC. Come on buddy. Your friend says haha, yea, too easy.
This is basically the modern day equivalent of "my word is my bond". Back in the day, a man was only as good as his name. If he gave you his word, that was good enough.
OPEC. What a powerful tool. What a weapon. Think of the ethics involved here. What if you get a question thrown at you which you know you should know the answer to.....but you don't?!? Do you break out the OPEC? They gotta take that at face value. But then does the OPEC stand for what it's supposed to? Does it not lose all meaning? What if you think you know the answer, but you don't? Then you're not purposefully using the OPEC falsely, but is it not just as criminal? Hell, you could just go on OPECing for the rest of your life! Never having to answer another question as long as you live. Oh, yes. Quite the powerful creation my father and uncles came up with. They've been using it for years. My brothers and I use it. But we understand the OPEC; We understand its power and use it responsibly......will you?
BUMPS. Ha, this one is very interesting indeed. In fact, I've recently learned that the word my brothers and I got this from is actually "bunks" (I think). Sounded like bumps to us. Anyway, here I give all due credit to the movie Above the Rim. Great, great basketball/thug movie. Haha. Great soundtrack too. Anyway, in the movie they play plenty of pickup basketball. As was common in these pickup games, the players would bet on the outcome. So you'd think they'd bet money or something of value.....well, a lot of these guys don't have much to bet with. So what do they do? They play for BUMPS (or bunks). So what's BUMPS. Well, its not an acronym this time. Basically, if you lose you get up against the schoolyard fence or wall like you're gettin patted down by the five-O and you get a basketball pegged at your ass repeatedly. Yup, thats BUMPS.
Ok, weird. So whats the point? My brothers and I found this quite hilarious and as any brothers or sisters or friends do, we make bets with each all the time. As everyone knows the most common bet between siblings is exactly a million dollars. Unfortunately for nearly all of the world, no siblings can really afford to be betting sums in the millions (save the Olsens, Hiltons, Baldwins? haha). And you can't bet chores if you don't have strict chores (or can't enforce it in the case of unruly brothers). So what do you bet? BUMPS. Now, this sounds bad. I make a bet with my brother and when he loses (yes, I'm, assuming I win the bet. I always win) I peg his ass with a b-ball over and over. Yea, this really doesn't happen either. What this turned into, was me (since I'm older and did so whether I won or lost usually) beating or slapping them around for a minute or so until I lost interest. Unfair, I know, but thats what brothers do. We pound on each other.
But even that was a little too much, and so BUMPS just kinda turned into the equivalent of betting a million dollars (anti-climatic, I know). However, we DID establish levels of BUMPS based on the importance of the question/bet and/or your level of confidence in your side of it. For example, my brother Jay bets me BUMPS he'll beat me in Kobe (Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside for N64, greatest b-ball game of all time). I agree and we play. We're pretty even, it could turn out either way. Now Jay and I are arguing about a specific line in a movie (in this case say its a certain line about gila monsters in Nothing To Lose) and I KNOW I know what the line is......you bet your ass I'm betting MEGA BUMPS, or even MEGA ULTRA BUMPS. That's right. Hell, there's even a pecking order of sorts:
BUMPS
SUPER BUMPS
MEGA BUMPS
ULTRA BUMPS
MEGA ULTRA BUMPS
SUPER INFINITY BUMPS
....um, yea that sounds about right (probably not). Anyway, BUMPS is a great bet because it's totally meaningless, but gives the impression there's a lot on the line as opposed to betting a million bucks which you have no chance of winning.
So there you have it. OPEC and BUMPS. And hopefully it wasn't lost on you that these two concepts go hand in hand: trivia questions and betting. Hell, I dunno about you, but that was half my childhood, lol.
* Answers to those trivia questions:
1)Javier Vazquez, David Wells, Jamie Moyer
2)61
3)Hank Aaron
More to come...
Monday, March 23, 2009
FML
For the uninitiated, FML stands for Fuck My Life. It's become a pretty popular phrase lately. As such, a website has popped up. www.fmylife.com I have read many of the posts on there. If even half these things are true stories......just wow. What a bleak world we are living in. What a sad state of humanity. Read through some of these. No doubt you'll laugh your ass off for a while. Maybe for the first 30 or 40 if you get that far. Keep going. Keep reading. My laughs became shorter and more abrupt. The laughs soon turned to silence. It quickly becomes quite depressing. Person after person getting shit on and fucked over....That's people for ya. Can't trust a soul. Sigh. More to come...
Musical Influences
Before touching on individual albums and/or artists in depth, I wanted to talk (type, blog?) about my musical influences. Music is a HUGE part of my life. HUGE. I'm sure there are many of you who feel the same way. It's hard to describe exactly. If somehow I were not able to listen to music anymore, i.e. it was all taken away or if I went deaf or something.....I might do something terrible to myself. I almost always have some music playing, even while watching tv or doing other things. I have two ipods (got one for free), and take one everywhere. I take my music in the car because the radio just isn't cutting it nowadays. But, I digress....
For me, there was a defining moment when music entered my life. I dunno, I guess some people are big on music as very little kids, but it was something that never hooked me. I'm not surprised either. The late 80's/early 90's will never be confused with the golden age of music. Anywho, I was probably in 4th grade making me about 9. The year was 1994, and it was really quite simple. One day, after school, I came home and turned on MTV (which was AWESOME back then.....man, what a fall from grace). So what music video is on? (Yes, they played videos back then) Basketcase by Green Day......I was hooked. I guess it just spoke to me, and nothing ever had before. Little did I know the grunge/alternative era was in its prime and I got swept up bigtime. Green Day was immediately my favorite band, and looking back, I think it was a hell of a choice. Billie Joe (lead singer) sang about everything that I was dealing with/ going through. (Ok, not so much at age 9, but certainly through my teenage years). Depression, angst, unrequited love, youth, inexperience, anxiety, frustration, hell even masturbation, haha. The lyrics and vocals were so raw and unbridled early on. I could go on and on about how amazing Green Day's early stuff was (so much better than anything on American Idiot).
I was pretty much a grunge head/alt rock guy in my teenage years. Among my chief favorites were the aforementioned Green Day, The Offspring (HUGE Offpsring fan back in the day though I don't know where they went wrong), Metallica (how can you not?), Bush (yea, yea, but Sixteen Stone was an epic albums....5 singles!!!), Live (ditto, Throwing Copper had 6 singles I think), Nirvana (obviously. and ya know most grungers would cite seeing the Smells Like Teen Spirit Video as their musical ephiphany/coming out party but that's just so cliche, ya know?), Foo Fighters (bastard child of Nirvana. First album was phenomenal.....all downhill from there. They went from a grunge rock band to I dont know what), Pearl Jam (Ten. Need I say more?), Soundgarden (still an alltime fave), Stone Temple Pilots (early stuff was great, fell off....seeing a theme here?), and Tool (phenomenal musicianship and haunting lyrics and vocals by Maynard). I'm racking my brain for more bands I was as big on, but I'm coming up short (That's what she said). I also enjoyed, the Beasties, Everclear, Smashing Pumpkins, and Beck among others.
I wanna make two special mentions here....maybe 3. While I certainly knew of Alice in Chains and knew their big songs back then (Man in the Box, Would?, Down in A Hole), I never truly realized until a couple years ago just how big a fan I am of them.....kinda snuck up on me. Possibly the greatest grunge band of all time, imo. Them or Soundgarden.
Mention number two: Radiohead. My uncle gave me OK Computer as a gift one year. It sat around for months. I finally gave it a couple listens, and wow. Anyone who knows anything about music knows how great this album (and the band) is. So I won't belabor it. I'll cover Radiohead more another time, but another band I never realized until just recently how much I loved them.
Number 3: RHCP. I know some people prefer their earlier stuff which is more raw and funky, but I've LOVED their last couple of albums, while I merely liked them back in the day. I gotta throw props to my brother for really getting me back into the Peppers, but I figure he owes me because he got most of his musical influences from me.
The next block of time/period of my life, AKA the late nineties/early 00's were quite strange musically. There were very few bands I picked up in those years, but some were notable. Or were they? Hmmm. Maybe only A New Found Glory perhaps. This was the height of the boy band craze....sigh.
2002-2006. Ah, college. Before everybody was getting sued for downloading music college was a haven for building ones music library. itunes, mytunes, man life was sweet! Anywho, I picked up some biggies in these years. Bad Religion (wins my vote for most consistent band of all time. The guys have like 15 albums and if I played you their 3rd one and their last one back to back you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Plus they're political, which is cool, though I abhor politics. AND, their lyrics are ridiculously awesome, i.e. their vocabulary is easily the most advanced of any band....ever. Period. Check out some of their lyrics. They use phrases like "arid torpor", and use words like "proliferation" and "austere" and "autonomy". They also reference philosophers and shit. Cool dudes). A New Found Glory (every song is about a girl.....literally every song, so it kinda gets old. But some good stuff there). The Strokes (got off to a fabulous start with Is This It? Have had spots of brilliance since, but I want a sequel to that album). The White Stripes (I've really only listened to Elephant, but fuck is it good). Weezer (from the grunge/alt era but this is when i got into them....first two albums are spectacular. After that, not so much). Dream Theater (My first real taste of progressive rock, though I really didn't get into them until later). Thursday (Solid band, great sound, good lyrics. My favorite indie/emo type band).
I dedicate this next passage to one band. When asked what my favorite band is, these guys were at the top for a while and are still comfortably in my top 5. They are none other than progressive metal superstars Coheed & Cambria. Life is funny. Just a year or two earlier I delivered chinese food at home in Staten Island, and so I would listen to the radio all night while I worked. One day a song popped into my head that was on the radio in those days. I didn't know the band or the name of the song, but I kinda remembered the words "Bye Bye Beautiful". So I hit up google and the song was "A Favor House Atlantic". The rest, as they say, is history. Got a hold of their existing two albums and fell in love. It became the soundtrack to my summer (which happened to be the greatest summer of my life), and well there it is. They're amazing.
To the present, the state of music is weak, imo. As a result of this, in the past couple of years I've dug back into the golden years of music to pluck out some ripe bands. Without going on too much more. I will list them and highlight the epic bands:
The Beatles - nuff said
Boston - for the self titlted album alone. amazing.
The Cars - self titled album is epic
David Bowie - just wow. a recent obsession of mine. EPIC stuff
The Doors - phenomenal
Iron Maiden - all time metal band
Meatloaf - for Bat Out of Hell alone
MJ - before he liked little boys
Neil Young - I need to get my hands on more of his stuff but After the Gold Rush is awesome
Queen - in the mix for favorite band
Rush - prog rock at its finest
The Smiths - also a recent obsession and top fiver.
Well this is going on and on, but one more list of random bands I neglected.
Audioslave - bastard child of Soundgarden and Rage. not bad.
Avenged Sevenfold - solid nu-metal
Eminem - Love him. Funny ass lyrics, good beats.
Linkin Park - yea. I like them.
Kanye West - really great rapper.
The Killers - First two albums are awesome. Currently addicted to Sam's Town
Maroon 5 - Second album is poppy funky fresh.
Neutral Milk Hotel - If you haven't heard them.....check em out.
Biggie - nuff said
Outkast - really great, original hip hop group
Shinedown - good rock.
Sublime - ever present, how can you not like Sublime. I can't listen to them without being nostalgic about my youth.
Phew. Bout it. I'm beat. I could go on for hours....but I won't.
There you have it. The majority of my musical influences. If you like rock, do yourself a favor and check out some if not most of these bands. More to come...
For me, there was a defining moment when music entered my life. I dunno, I guess some people are big on music as very little kids, but it was something that never hooked me. I'm not surprised either. The late 80's/early 90's will never be confused with the golden age of music. Anywho, I was probably in 4th grade making me about 9. The year was 1994, and it was really quite simple. One day, after school, I came home and turned on MTV (which was AWESOME back then.....man, what a fall from grace). So what music video is on? (Yes, they played videos back then) Basketcase by Green Day......I was hooked. I guess it just spoke to me, and nothing ever had before. Little did I know the grunge/alternative era was in its prime and I got swept up bigtime. Green Day was immediately my favorite band, and looking back, I think it was a hell of a choice. Billie Joe (lead singer) sang about everything that I was dealing with/ going through. (Ok, not so much at age 9, but certainly through my teenage years). Depression, angst, unrequited love, youth, inexperience, anxiety, frustration, hell even masturbation, haha. The lyrics and vocals were so raw and unbridled early on. I could go on and on about how amazing Green Day's early stuff was (so much better than anything on American Idiot).
I was pretty much a grunge head/alt rock guy in my teenage years. Among my chief favorites were the aforementioned Green Day, The Offspring (HUGE Offpsring fan back in the day though I don't know where they went wrong), Metallica (how can you not?), Bush (yea, yea, but Sixteen Stone was an epic albums....5 singles!!!), Live (ditto, Throwing Copper had 6 singles I think), Nirvana (obviously. and ya know most grungers would cite seeing the Smells Like Teen Spirit Video as their musical ephiphany/coming out party but that's just so cliche, ya know?), Foo Fighters (bastard child of Nirvana. First album was phenomenal.....all downhill from there. They went from a grunge rock band to I dont know what), Pearl Jam (Ten. Need I say more?), Soundgarden (still an alltime fave), Stone Temple Pilots (early stuff was great, fell off....seeing a theme here?), and Tool (phenomenal musicianship and haunting lyrics and vocals by Maynard). I'm racking my brain for more bands I was as big on, but I'm coming up short (That's what she said). I also enjoyed, the Beasties, Everclear, Smashing Pumpkins, and Beck among others.
I wanna make two special mentions here....maybe 3. While I certainly knew of Alice in Chains and knew their big songs back then (Man in the Box, Would?, Down in A Hole), I never truly realized until a couple years ago just how big a fan I am of them.....kinda snuck up on me. Possibly the greatest grunge band of all time, imo. Them or Soundgarden.
Mention number two: Radiohead. My uncle gave me OK Computer as a gift one year. It sat around for months. I finally gave it a couple listens, and wow. Anyone who knows anything about music knows how great this album (and the band) is. So I won't belabor it. I'll cover Radiohead more another time, but another band I never realized until just recently how much I loved them.
Number 3: RHCP. I know some people prefer their earlier stuff which is more raw and funky, but I've LOVED their last couple of albums, while I merely liked them back in the day. I gotta throw props to my brother for really getting me back into the Peppers, but I figure he owes me because he got most of his musical influences from me.
The next block of time/period of my life, AKA the late nineties/early 00's were quite strange musically. There were very few bands I picked up in those years, but some were notable. Or were they? Hmmm. Maybe only A New Found Glory perhaps. This was the height of the boy band craze....sigh.
2002-2006. Ah, college. Before everybody was getting sued for downloading music college was a haven for building ones music library. itunes, mytunes, man life was sweet! Anywho, I picked up some biggies in these years. Bad Religion (wins my vote for most consistent band of all time. The guys have like 15 albums and if I played you their 3rd one and their last one back to back you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Plus they're political, which is cool, though I abhor politics. AND, their lyrics are ridiculously awesome, i.e. their vocabulary is easily the most advanced of any band....ever. Period. Check out some of their lyrics. They use phrases like "arid torpor", and use words like "proliferation" and "austere" and "autonomy". They also reference philosophers and shit. Cool dudes). A New Found Glory (every song is about a girl.....literally every song, so it kinda gets old. But some good stuff there). The Strokes (got off to a fabulous start with Is This It? Have had spots of brilliance since, but I want a sequel to that album). The White Stripes (I've really only listened to Elephant, but fuck is it good). Weezer (from the grunge/alt era but this is when i got into them....first two albums are spectacular. After that, not so much). Dream Theater (My first real taste of progressive rock, though I really didn't get into them until later). Thursday (Solid band, great sound, good lyrics. My favorite indie/emo type band).
I dedicate this next passage to one band. When asked what my favorite band is, these guys were at the top for a while and are still comfortably in my top 5. They are none other than progressive metal superstars Coheed & Cambria. Life is funny. Just a year or two earlier I delivered chinese food at home in Staten Island, and so I would listen to the radio all night while I worked. One day a song popped into my head that was on the radio in those days. I didn't know the band or the name of the song, but I kinda remembered the words "Bye Bye Beautiful". So I hit up google and the song was "A Favor House Atlantic". The rest, as they say, is history. Got a hold of their existing two albums and fell in love. It became the soundtrack to my summer (which happened to be the greatest summer of my life), and well there it is. They're amazing.
To the present, the state of music is weak, imo. As a result of this, in the past couple of years I've dug back into the golden years of music to pluck out some ripe bands. Without going on too much more. I will list them and highlight the epic bands:
The Beatles - nuff said
Boston - for the self titlted album alone. amazing.
The Cars - self titled album is epic
David Bowie - just wow. a recent obsession of mine. EPIC stuff
The Doors - phenomenal
Iron Maiden - all time metal band
Meatloaf - for Bat Out of Hell alone
MJ - before he liked little boys
Neil Young - I need to get my hands on more of his stuff but After the Gold Rush is awesome
Queen - in the mix for favorite band
Rush - prog rock at its finest
The Smiths - also a recent obsession and top fiver.
Well this is going on and on, but one more list of random bands I neglected.
Audioslave - bastard child of Soundgarden and Rage. not bad.
Avenged Sevenfold - solid nu-metal
Eminem - Love him. Funny ass lyrics, good beats.
Linkin Park - yea. I like them.
Kanye West - really great rapper.
The Killers - First two albums are awesome. Currently addicted to Sam's Town
Maroon 5 - Second album is poppy funky fresh.
Neutral Milk Hotel - If you haven't heard them.....check em out.
Biggie - nuff said
Outkast - really great, original hip hop group
Shinedown - good rock.
Sublime - ever present, how can you not like Sublime. I can't listen to them without being nostalgic about my youth.
Phew. Bout it. I'm beat. I could go on for hours....but I won't.
There you have it. The majority of my musical influences. If you like rock, do yourself a favor and check out some if not most of these bands. More to come...
The People's League
The People's League is a 5x5 roto fantasy baseball keeper league. It consists of a bunch of people I've known for nearly all my life plus some other decent guys. The Deutschs and the Eagles dominate this league with 5 out of 12 teams....though only two are perennial contenders: myself (of course) and THE CHAMP, and commish Jared. Jared is a force, but hes goin down this year. After my record setting 1st place finish in 2007 with 111 points out of a possible 120, and a 2nd place finish last year The Minnesota Smackdown and I are ready to reclaim our trophy!!!
The draft was two weeks ago, and I thought it went well for my team. Each team was allowed 8 keepers. My keepers were Prince Fielder, Stephen Drew, Nate McLouth, Ryan Braun, Scott Kazmir*, CC Sabathia, Josh Beckett, and Roy Oswalt. Studly...I know. Anyway, Kaz gets the asterisk because I shipped his ass to Halifax for AAAAAAAY BoBBAAAAAAAAAY, Bobby Abreu. Simply put, Kazmir is always an injury risk, and throws WAY too many pitches. By the 5th inning of every game the guy is always closing in on 100 pitches....can't have that from a top pitcher. Meanwhile, despite getting up in years, Abreu has been a model of consistency, and is a solid 5 category contributor......Moving on.
With a pretty solid core in place my goals going in to the draft were pretty simple. Get a stud OF in the 1st rd. Target a top pitcher in the 2nd, then just go for value and upside from there.
After some absurd 1st round hype and drama, I found myself trading up from 11 overall to 10 overall to get Carlos Beltran who imo was the top OF in the draft (over Soriano, C Lee, Markakis, and Rios who ALL went before carlos). I had to give up a 3rd rd pick (Bedard was taken in that spot.....hmmm) but I picked up an extra pick in the 5th. So far, so good.
2nd round. For me it was between "Tricky" Ricky Nolasco, and Yovanni Gallardo. Tough, tough choice for me. I also briefly considered the King, Felix Hernandez, but decided not to. For one thing, hes in the AL.....almost always NL over AL. No DH. Two, there is some injury concern. Three, I've been huge on the King for years. I was the first to draft him in this league and have been talking him up for years......but he still hasn't lived up to his TRUE potential. Perhaps he will one day, but that day has not come yet. Meanwhile, I took a flier on Nolasco middle of last year and boy did I cash in. Guy is a stud. Immaculate K/BB and K/9 ratios which are the best indicators of future success. And most of this dominance was in teh 2nd half alone. A full year of 2nd half Nolasco??? Where do I sign? Oh, yea. I did. Welcome back Rick. Gallardo will be a top guy, but gimme the guy whos actually done it already.
Rd 4 - With nobody jumping off the page, I grabbed the last "upper tier" closer in Brian Fuentes. Eh. I hate drafting closers, but you gotta grab a guy or two, and he was pretty damn good last year....I just gotta hope he keeps the job most of the year.
Round 5 - Two picks here: tough to resist a guy who hit 38 bombs last year. He wouldn't still be here if he wasn't so old, but taking a guy who seems a lock for 30-100 in the middle of the Mets potent offense seemed like a good idea. And with that, welcome Mr. Delgado.
Round 5, pt.2 - I'm never quite sure about these middle rounds. Was eyeing Jered Weaver, but he went the pick before. I went with who I felt was the best (re: most upside) pitcher on the board in Johnny "Vive" Cueto. Had him last year too. (Notice I have a thing for my guys) Cueto is a future stud, but hes not quite there yet. I watched him in frustration many times last year. He needs to learn how to pitch, but his fastball is popping and his slider is nasty. Has 200K potential right now, the rest will come. He could quite possibly put up a 2008 C-Bills type year, 200k's 1.30ish whip, and era in the 3's. I'll take that anyday.
sixth round - I took Mark Derosa planning to put him at 2B though the guys is eligible damn near everywhere. I was thinking Alex Gordon, who could be huge this year. Sigh, he went very next pick to Jared (shocker).....I shoulda taken Gordon. Instead....
7th round - good ole reliable Adrian Beltre. I'll say this, he's not spectacular, but hes damn solid and consistent. 25 jacks, handful of steals, decent run and rbi totals. Poor avg, oh well can't win em all. But, just remember.....CONTRACT YEAR. Beltre's last contract year? Oh, he only went about 48-130 with a .330 avg or so. Haha, in my wildest dreams, right? Well, one can dream.
In round 8, I went for another guy who could take another huge step this year. WAY-Rod as I believe Matt Berry calls him, or Wandy Rodriguez to the rest of us could be a really nice pitcher this year. I never liked the guy, but his numbers were VERY solid last yea,r. Almost a K per inning (superb), low walk totals (sound familiar?). If nothing else, historically, he's been fabulous at home at Enron, or is it Minute Maid, well whatever they're calling the Astros homefield. So welcome to the club.
Round 9 and I'm still holding out on pulling the trigger on my deep sleepers (who could be huge studs). I go with my second closer in Joel Hanrahan, who happens to be the last closer on the board who definitively has the job to start the year, and given little competition in Washington should hold down the fort all year. Great K numbers, mediocre control. Can't win em all.
Rounds 10 & 11 I take Elijah "The Prophet" Dukes, and Frenchy, AKA Jeff Franceur. With a full year of AB's Dukes could be a stud in the making. 20-20 potential with upside to boot. Avg might not be spectacular but thats a common theme to my teams. Meanwhile, Frenchy had two very very good seasons for a youngster in 2006 and 2007 before falling off the face of the baseball map in 2008. Just a setback, imo. Youngsters just don't lose their skills at random. He could be back in a HUGE way.
rds 12, 13, 14 - I finally snag my catcher in Mike Napoli, a guy who I had high up on my catcher list. Napoli had one of the highest slugging and OPS in baseball in the second half last year. Slugged about 20 bombs in half a years ab's.....HUGE POWER. Ian Snell was on his way to stardom until a really, really, really bad 2008. He's young, he's got huge strikeout potential, and hey, with a late rd pick you can't go wrong. And in the last regular draft round I take Aaron Hill. I really liked Hill last year, but was snagged by JP in one of I think 3 middle round picks....the bastard. Anyway, Hill became concussed at some point and his season was lost (Pujols did the same thing to Chris Young who I hope comes back strong this year....have him in another league). Good late middle infield sleeper.
Now, 6 rounds of reserves. I love this part. The guys I took: Tommy Hanson, Adam Lind, Brandon Wood, Anthony Reyes, Troy Percival and Clay Buchholz. There were lots of guys I wanted. Perhaps I shoulda went with Carpenter over Hanson seeing as how Carpenter looks to be in 2005 form right now, but oh well.
So there it is. Phew, lots of typing. I'm sure I'll need to make some crafty trades and pickups to take it down, but I'm up for the challenge. More to come...
The draft was two weeks ago, and I thought it went well for my team. Each team was allowed 8 keepers. My keepers were Prince Fielder, Stephen Drew, Nate McLouth, Ryan Braun, Scott Kazmir*, CC Sabathia, Josh Beckett, and Roy Oswalt. Studly...I know. Anyway, Kaz gets the asterisk because I shipped his ass to Halifax for AAAAAAAY BoBBAAAAAAAAAY, Bobby Abreu. Simply put, Kazmir is always an injury risk, and throws WAY too many pitches. By the 5th inning of every game the guy is always closing in on 100 pitches....can't have that from a top pitcher. Meanwhile, despite getting up in years, Abreu has been a model of consistency, and is a solid 5 category contributor......Moving on.
With a pretty solid core in place my goals going in to the draft were pretty simple. Get a stud OF in the 1st rd. Target a top pitcher in the 2nd, then just go for value and upside from there.
After some absurd 1st round hype and drama, I found myself trading up from 11 overall to 10 overall to get Carlos Beltran who imo was the top OF in the draft (over Soriano, C Lee, Markakis, and Rios who ALL went before carlos). I had to give up a 3rd rd pick (Bedard was taken in that spot.....hmmm) but I picked up an extra pick in the 5th. So far, so good.
2nd round. For me it was between "Tricky" Ricky Nolasco, and Yovanni Gallardo. Tough, tough choice for me. I also briefly considered the King, Felix Hernandez, but decided not to. For one thing, hes in the AL.....almost always NL over AL. No DH. Two, there is some injury concern. Three, I've been huge on the King for years. I was the first to draft him in this league and have been talking him up for years......but he still hasn't lived up to his TRUE potential. Perhaps he will one day, but that day has not come yet. Meanwhile, I took a flier on Nolasco middle of last year and boy did I cash in. Guy is a stud. Immaculate K/BB and K/9 ratios which are the best indicators of future success. And most of this dominance was in teh 2nd half alone. A full year of 2nd half Nolasco??? Where do I sign? Oh, yea. I did. Welcome back Rick. Gallardo will be a top guy, but gimme the guy whos actually done it already.
Rd 4 - With nobody jumping off the page, I grabbed the last "upper tier" closer in Brian Fuentes. Eh. I hate drafting closers, but you gotta grab a guy or two, and he was pretty damn good last year....I just gotta hope he keeps the job most of the year.
Round 5 - Two picks here: tough to resist a guy who hit 38 bombs last year. He wouldn't still be here if he wasn't so old, but taking a guy who seems a lock for 30-100 in the middle of the Mets potent offense seemed like a good idea. And with that, welcome Mr. Delgado.
Round 5, pt.2 - I'm never quite sure about these middle rounds. Was eyeing Jered Weaver, but he went the pick before. I went with who I felt was the best (re: most upside) pitcher on the board in Johnny "Vive" Cueto. Had him last year too. (Notice I have a thing for my guys) Cueto is a future stud, but hes not quite there yet. I watched him in frustration many times last year. He needs to learn how to pitch, but his fastball is popping and his slider is nasty. Has 200K potential right now, the rest will come. He could quite possibly put up a 2008 C-Bills type year, 200k's 1.30ish whip, and era in the 3's. I'll take that anyday.
sixth round - I took Mark Derosa planning to put him at 2B though the guys is eligible damn near everywhere. I was thinking Alex Gordon, who could be huge this year. Sigh, he went very next pick to Jared (shocker).....I shoulda taken Gordon. Instead....
7th round - good ole reliable Adrian Beltre. I'll say this, he's not spectacular, but hes damn solid and consistent. 25 jacks, handful of steals, decent run and rbi totals. Poor avg, oh well can't win em all. But, just remember.....CONTRACT YEAR. Beltre's last contract year? Oh, he only went about 48-130 with a .330 avg or so. Haha, in my wildest dreams, right? Well, one can dream.
In round 8, I went for another guy who could take another huge step this year. WAY-Rod as I believe Matt Berry calls him, or Wandy Rodriguez to the rest of us could be a really nice pitcher this year. I never liked the guy, but his numbers were VERY solid last yea,r. Almost a K per inning (superb), low walk totals (sound familiar?). If nothing else, historically, he's been fabulous at home at Enron, or is it Minute Maid, well whatever they're calling the Astros homefield. So welcome to the club.
Round 9 and I'm still holding out on pulling the trigger on my deep sleepers (who could be huge studs). I go with my second closer in Joel Hanrahan, who happens to be the last closer on the board who definitively has the job to start the year, and given little competition in Washington should hold down the fort all year. Great K numbers, mediocre control. Can't win em all.
Rounds 10 & 11 I take Elijah "The Prophet" Dukes, and Frenchy, AKA Jeff Franceur. With a full year of AB's Dukes could be a stud in the making. 20-20 potential with upside to boot. Avg might not be spectacular but thats a common theme to my teams. Meanwhile, Frenchy had two very very good seasons for a youngster in 2006 and 2007 before falling off the face of the baseball map in 2008. Just a setback, imo. Youngsters just don't lose their skills at random. He could be back in a HUGE way.
rds 12, 13, 14 - I finally snag my catcher in Mike Napoli, a guy who I had high up on my catcher list. Napoli had one of the highest slugging and OPS in baseball in the second half last year. Slugged about 20 bombs in half a years ab's.....HUGE POWER. Ian Snell was on his way to stardom until a really, really, really bad 2008. He's young, he's got huge strikeout potential, and hey, with a late rd pick you can't go wrong. And in the last regular draft round I take Aaron Hill. I really liked Hill last year, but was snagged by JP in one of I think 3 middle round picks....the bastard. Anyway, Hill became concussed at some point and his season was lost (Pujols did the same thing to Chris Young who I hope comes back strong this year....have him in another league). Good late middle infield sleeper.
Now, 6 rounds of reserves. I love this part. The guys I took: Tommy Hanson, Adam Lind, Brandon Wood, Anthony Reyes, Troy Percival and Clay Buchholz. There were lots of guys I wanted. Perhaps I shoulda went with Carpenter over Hanson seeing as how Carpenter looks to be in 2005 form right now, but oh well.
So there it is. Phew, lots of typing. I'm sure I'll need to make some crafty trades and pickups to take it down, but I'm up for the challenge. More to come...
Topics
I find this amusing because nobody is reading this yet. So far, its for my own amusement and is serving as my creative outlet. Nonetheless, I figured I'd just mention what kind of topics I'd be writing about. Since I'm an expert in many fields, I'll throw them out in no particular order:
movies - too much to say about movies
music - ditto, music
sports (baseball and basketball in particular)
fantasy baseball (yes, this gets its own line)
wiffeball - ok, there probably won't be much posting on wiffleball, but if anybody wants to play.....I'm down. I'm pretty much a cross between Pedro and Pujols when it comes to wiffleball
television
people - yes, despite never taking a class in sociology or the like, I am an expert in people
relationships - ditto, relationships....EXPERT. Don't doubt it. I've given advice and talked to countless friends about their relationships and other things in general.....I'm almost never wrong.
poker - maybe, maybe not. I don't play as much anymore. And my brothers have had way surpassed my successes in poker which at one time looked quite promising.....sigh, depressing.
stories - you might get some stories. Unfortunately my stories are ALWAYS better in person, because I get very animated and put on quite a show. I'm not sure that carries over quite so well to the written word. We shall see.
This blog will NOT contain anything about politics (ack), and/or world affairs, or whatever. That shit is boring and lame. I will, however cover religion at some point (GASP).
I guess the rest, and probably bulk will be about life in general. Drama seems to always find me, and so do ridiculous circumstances. It dawned on me that I have a fucklot to say and friends have been hearing it for years, but its time to record some of this stuff. My pearls of wisdom, if you will. Every once in a while these things take on cult followings, so who knows? More to come...
movies - too much to say about movies
music - ditto, music
sports (baseball and basketball in particular)
fantasy baseball (yes, this gets its own line)
wiffeball - ok, there probably won't be much posting on wiffleball, but if anybody wants to play.....I'm down. I'm pretty much a cross between Pedro and Pujols when it comes to wiffleball
television
people - yes, despite never taking a class in sociology or the like, I am an expert in people
relationships - ditto, relationships....EXPERT. Don't doubt it. I've given advice and talked to countless friends about their relationships and other things in general.....I'm almost never wrong.
poker - maybe, maybe not. I don't play as much anymore. And my brothers have had way surpassed my successes in poker which at one time looked quite promising.....sigh, depressing.
stories - you might get some stories. Unfortunately my stories are ALWAYS better in person, because I get very animated and put on quite a show. I'm not sure that carries over quite so well to the written word. We shall see.
This blog will NOT contain anything about politics (ack), and/or world affairs, or whatever. That shit is boring and lame. I will, however cover religion at some point (GASP).
I guess the rest, and probably bulk will be about life in general. Drama seems to always find me, and so do ridiculous circumstances. It dawned on me that I have a fucklot to say and friends have been hearing it for years, but its time to record some of this stuff. My pearls of wisdom, if you will. Every once in a while these things take on cult followings, so who knows? More to come...
Matt Parkman Can Fly?
If you watched Heroes tonight, you were probably asking yourself the same thing. I was in the middle of asking my brother Jay when the fuck Parkman got flying abilities when Daphne spilled the beans. He was inducing a false reality in Daphne's head. Of course Parkman can't fly. That would be ridiculous....
Late to the Blog craze
I've decided to start web logging, or blogging as you people call it. If the names and title confuse you, you might not be alone. To the uneducated, my fraternity nickname was the moniker, TheOJD, which stands for The One Jon Dowd. Pretty strange nickname, I know. Well, the story goes like this.
In the frat house, we had an Xbox which we played quite frequently. One of the guys and I would play the MVP '04 baseball game ALL the time.....and we talked a lot of trash too. Well, in the game, theres no Barry Bonds because the selfish bastard owns his own licensing. And wouldn't ya know he woudln't let the MLBPA use his name and likeness. So to replace him, the game created Jon Dowd, white 30-something San Francisco Giants left-fielder.....who also happened to be the best player in the game. Dowd was a beast. Great name too. So we started talking about the great Jon Dowd to everybody we could find. Of course, nobody had any idea what we were talkin about. Well, eventually it caught on, and soon he was TheOneJonDowd-mythical slugger. Roy Hobbs had nothin on this guy. Anyway, the intramural softball season was underway and while my memory isn't perfect, I think I slugged a homerun in my first at bat, and thus I was now TheOneJonDowd....TheOJD. And it stuck, go figure. Only my fraternity brothers use the name, but I always thought it was awesome, so there it is. As for the blog's title: WWJDD? Well......now I think it's kinda self-explanatory.
In the frat house, we had an Xbox which we played quite frequently. One of the guys and I would play the MVP '04 baseball game ALL the time.....and we talked a lot of trash too. Well, in the game, theres no Barry Bonds because the selfish bastard owns his own licensing. And wouldn't ya know he woudln't let the MLBPA use his name and likeness. So to replace him, the game created Jon Dowd, white 30-something San Francisco Giants left-fielder.....who also happened to be the best player in the game. Dowd was a beast. Great name too. So we started talking about the great Jon Dowd to everybody we could find. Of course, nobody had any idea what we were talkin about. Well, eventually it caught on, and soon he was TheOneJonDowd-mythical slugger. Roy Hobbs had nothin on this guy. Anyway, the intramural softball season was underway and while my memory isn't perfect, I think I slugged a homerun in my first at bat, and thus I was now TheOneJonDowd....TheOJD. And it stuck, go figure. Only my fraternity brothers use the name, but I always thought it was awesome, so there it is. As for the blog's title: WWJDD? Well......now I think it's kinda self-explanatory.
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