Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Why July 31 Is the Seventh-Most Magical Night Of The Year
Baseball laid another end-of-July egg yesterday, with none of the big gunz changing hands cept old-man Mad Dog. The Fantasy Realm never disappoints howsoever, and instead of dicking around on our guitars playing Pearl Jam covers all day like Theo Epstein we dug down and did some real fucking work.
Entering yesterday my fantasy was far from perfect. My only closer got Turnblowed out, my pitching staff was a shambles, and my only SS was hitting .227 with no power. I had five dudes asking for Jon Lester and 15 asking for David Wright; all should've realized that the former was unlikely and the latter impossible to acquire. Thankfully I addressed all my needs without dealing either of these fellas.
Here's the breakdown: I traded away Alex Rios, Kenji Johjima, Ricky Nolasco, Mike Jacobs, Kendry Morales, Mark Teahen, Dioner Navarro, Randy Wolf, and Dustin Pedroia. I received Curt Schilling, CC Sabathia, Joe Nathan, Ambiorix Burgos, JJ Putz, Mike Piazza, Orlando Cabrera, and Ivan Rodriguez. That's two above average starters, two great closers, a below average closer on a bad team, two overrated big name catchers, and a mediocre shortstop having a great year, all for one really good outfielder and a bunch of promising kids. I had legitimately considered keeping two of the franchisers, Johjima and Nolasco, but realized they'd have to go if I were to truly contend this season.
This probably looks beyond ridiculous to those not familiar with our league. We don't just have keepers in this league, we also have franchisers and a minor league system. We get one keeper, who could be any player whatsoever, with no restrictions. We have five franchisers, who are players you acquire when they still have rookie eligibility; those guys are yours forever, until you release or trade them. And then we have a six-player minor league system, to replenish our franchiser ranks when dudes start to suck. Good franchisers are really hard to come by, especially pitchers or guys at weak positions, like catcher or third base. That's why I was able to get good but not great players for a bunch of rookies.
The specific deals were as follows:
Ricky Nolasco, Mike Jacobs, Dioner Navarro, and Kendry Morales for JJ Putz, CC Sabathia, and Mike Piazza. Three franchisable players and a minor leaguer for a solid starter, a back-up catcher, and a virgin closer having a great season. This is probably the most equitable of all these deals. Nolasco's having a great year on that young Florida team, and should be a solid number three starter for years to come. Jacobs has 30-HR power and is on pace for 100 RBI this season. Navarro's a solid but unspectacular catcher. Morales, along with Nolasco, was the primary target for the other owner, though. He's still very young and has legitimate superstar potential, and since he was sent back down he's minors-eligible again. Sabathia isn't consistent, and will always be injury prone, but when he's good he's great, and he immediately became my third best starter. JJ Putz has had an amazing season thus far, with 20-odd saves, a ERA in the low 2's, and 66 strike-outs in 50 innings. Mike Piazza's having a nice season, his best in years, with a .300 average and 16 homers; still, he's no longer a guy you can completely rely on.
Kenji Johjima, Mark Teahen, and Randy Wolf for Curt Schilling, Ivan Rodriguez, and Orlando Cabrera. Johjima was the most valuable player I dealt yesterday. Yes, he's 30-years-old, but he's a franchisable catcher having a really good year. Across the board, he's a top-five catcher this year, and his franchisablility made him hard to give up. Mark Teahen, a third baseman, is also a franchiser, and like Johjima he plays a somewhat weak position. Teahen's been on an amazing tear since late June, and has hit 12 homers in 240 at bats this year. Both of these players immediately became one of the new owner's five best franchiser options. Randy Wolf was the player I'd cut. In return I got Curt Schilling, who's having a good year but remains an injury risk. If healthy, he should be my third best starter, pushing Sabathia down a notch. Ivan Rodriguez is a big-name having a mediocre year; all he's got going for him at this point is batting average and RBI. He has little power, never walks, and strikes out a lot. He's still a slightly above average fantasy catcher, due to the position's weakness, but it's a clear step down from Johjima. Orlando Cabrera is one of the most overrated players of the last few years; he had a nice season in Montreal several years ago, and was vital to the Sox down the stretch in '04, but he's a career .269/.318 hitter with little power. He doesn't strike out too much, which is nice, and he'll steal some bases, but he's middle-of-the-road shortstop.
Dustin Pedroia for Ambiorix Burgos: No risk trade for Elliott. Pedroia remains on track to be Boston's second baseman of the future, perhaps as soon as '07. He's having a nice year at triple A, hitting .300-something with 42 walks in 340 at-bats. The guy hardly ever strikes out, and walks a ton; he's like the Youkilis of the middle infield. Burgos is the Kansas City closer, which is kind of like being the quality control director at McDonald's, or something. He was awful the first two months of the season, but has been great since June; if I'm lucky I'll get six saves out of him down the stretch. Still, a big improvement over my old bullpen of Turnbow, Rodney, and Meadows.
Alex Rios for Joe Nathan: And here's my favorite deal of the bunch. No franchisers, no minor leaguers, just straight-up quality for quality. If Rios hadn't missed a month with a staph infection, he'd have 20-some homers and 15 or so steals already. He was well on pace for a 30-30 season, while hitting .324 with a .940 OBP. He's also only 25, and thus a potential keeper-level outfielder on the rise. Still, I had five good-to-great outfielders, along with Aubrey Huff and Chone Figgens, who are both OF-eligible; I can afford to lose Rios. Joe Nathan is one of the top closers in the game, and has been reliably awesome for three seasons now. This year he's at 22 saves with a 1.60 ERA and 66 K in 45 innings. So yes, the man's a stud, and one of the handful of closers that might be worthy of keeping. With the Twins playing as awesomely as they have been the last two months, Nathan should be racking up tons of points for me. I was thrilled with this trade, and it went down right before the deadline.
SO. My team, once-awesome, but recently shitty, is awesome once again. With Schilling and Sabathia I won't have to rely on assholes like Dave Bush and Brad Radke anymore. And although I've hurt my bench, I've improved at short, and didn't lose much at catcher. And now I'm definitely gonna win this league again, for real. Fuckin' Two-Peat!
Baseball laid another end-of-July egg yesterday, with none of the big gunz changing hands cept old-man Mad Dog. The Fantasy Realm never disappoints howsoever, and instead of dicking around on our guitars playing Pearl Jam covers all day like Theo Epstein we dug down and did some real fucking work.
Entering yesterday my fantasy was far from perfect. My only closer got Turnblowed out, my pitching staff was a shambles, and my only SS was hitting .227 with no power. I had five dudes asking for Jon Lester and 15 asking for David Wright; all should've realized that the former was unlikely and the latter impossible to acquire. Thankfully I addressed all my needs without dealing either of these fellas.
Here's the breakdown: I traded away Alex Rios, Kenji Johjima, Ricky Nolasco, Mike Jacobs, Kendry Morales, Mark Teahen, Dioner Navarro, Randy Wolf, and Dustin Pedroia. I received Curt Schilling, CC Sabathia, Joe Nathan, Ambiorix Burgos, JJ Putz, Mike Piazza, Orlando Cabrera, and Ivan Rodriguez. That's two above average starters, two great closers, a below average closer on a bad team, two overrated big name catchers, and a mediocre shortstop having a great year, all for one really good outfielder and a bunch of promising kids. I had legitimately considered keeping two of the franchisers, Johjima and Nolasco, but realized they'd have to go if I were to truly contend this season.
This probably looks beyond ridiculous to those not familiar with our league. We don't just have keepers in this league, we also have franchisers and a minor league system. We get one keeper, who could be any player whatsoever, with no restrictions. We have five franchisers, who are players you acquire when they still have rookie eligibility; those guys are yours forever, until you release or trade them. And then we have a six-player minor league system, to replenish our franchiser ranks when dudes start to suck. Good franchisers are really hard to come by, especially pitchers or guys at weak positions, like catcher or third base. That's why I was able to get good but not great players for a bunch of rookies.
The specific deals were as follows:
Ricky Nolasco, Mike Jacobs, Dioner Navarro, and Kendry Morales for JJ Putz, CC Sabathia, and Mike Piazza. Three franchisable players and a minor leaguer for a solid starter, a back-up catcher, and a virgin closer having a great season. This is probably the most equitable of all these deals. Nolasco's having a great year on that young Florida team, and should be a solid number three starter for years to come. Jacobs has 30-HR power and is on pace for 100 RBI this season. Navarro's a solid but unspectacular catcher. Morales, along with Nolasco, was the primary target for the other owner, though. He's still very young and has legitimate superstar potential, and since he was sent back down he's minors-eligible again. Sabathia isn't consistent, and will always be injury prone, but when he's good he's great, and he immediately became my third best starter. JJ Putz has had an amazing season thus far, with 20-odd saves, a ERA in the low 2's, and 66 strike-outs in 50 innings. Mike Piazza's having a nice season, his best in years, with a .300 average and 16 homers; still, he's no longer a guy you can completely rely on.
Kenji Johjima, Mark Teahen, and Randy Wolf for Curt Schilling, Ivan Rodriguez, and Orlando Cabrera. Johjima was the most valuable player I dealt yesterday. Yes, he's 30-years-old, but he's a franchisable catcher having a really good year. Across the board, he's a top-five catcher this year, and his franchisablility made him hard to give up. Mark Teahen, a third baseman, is also a franchiser, and like Johjima he plays a somewhat weak position. Teahen's been on an amazing tear since late June, and has hit 12 homers in 240 at bats this year. Both of these players immediately became one of the new owner's five best franchiser options. Randy Wolf was the player I'd cut. In return I got Curt Schilling, who's having a good year but remains an injury risk. If healthy, he should be my third best starter, pushing Sabathia down a notch. Ivan Rodriguez is a big-name having a mediocre year; all he's got going for him at this point is batting average and RBI. He has little power, never walks, and strikes out a lot. He's still a slightly above average fantasy catcher, due to the position's weakness, but it's a clear step down from Johjima. Orlando Cabrera is one of the most overrated players of the last few years; he had a nice season in Montreal several years ago, and was vital to the Sox down the stretch in '04, but he's a career .269/.318 hitter with little power. He doesn't strike out too much, which is nice, and he'll steal some bases, but he's middle-of-the-road shortstop.
Dustin Pedroia for Ambiorix Burgos: No risk trade for Elliott. Pedroia remains on track to be Boston's second baseman of the future, perhaps as soon as '07. He's having a nice year at triple A, hitting .300-something with 42 walks in 340 at-bats. The guy hardly ever strikes out, and walks a ton; he's like the Youkilis of the middle infield. Burgos is the Kansas City closer, which is kind of like being the quality control director at McDonald's, or something. He was awful the first two months of the season, but has been great since June; if I'm lucky I'll get six saves out of him down the stretch. Still, a big improvement over my old bullpen of Turnbow, Rodney, and Meadows.
Alex Rios for Joe Nathan: And here's my favorite deal of the bunch. No franchisers, no minor leaguers, just straight-up quality for quality. If Rios hadn't missed a month with a staph infection, he'd have 20-some homers and 15 or so steals already. He was well on pace for a 30-30 season, while hitting .324 with a .940 OBP. He's also only 25, and thus a potential keeper-level outfielder on the rise. Still, I had five good-to-great outfielders, along with Aubrey Huff and Chone Figgens, who are both OF-eligible; I can afford to lose Rios. Joe Nathan is one of the top closers in the game, and has been reliably awesome for three seasons now. This year he's at 22 saves with a 1.60 ERA and 66 K in 45 innings. So yes, the man's a stud, and one of the handful of closers that might be worthy of keeping. With the Twins playing as awesomely as they have been the last two months, Nathan should be racking up tons of points for me. I was thrilled with this trade, and it went down right before the deadline.
SO. My team, once-awesome, but recently shitty, is awesome once again. With Schilling and Sabathia I won't have to rely on assholes like Dave Bush and Brad Radke anymore. And although I've hurt my bench, I've improved at short, and didn't lose much at catcher. And now I'm definitely gonna win this league again, for real. Fuckin' Two-Peat!
