January 26, 2008
New Name; New URL
We have a new name for our blog. Its called The Designated Hitter. The name might eventually change again based on better names but we don't know yet. in the mean time, to check out our blog go to www.thedesignatedhitter.blogspot.com. Thank you and have a wonderful evening.
January 25, 2008
Ups and Downs
So over at Fantasy Baseball Cafe, they have a series of posts entitled "Two Up Two Down" where, for every postion, they take two players who are either unheralded or underrated and bring them to your attention and then two players who are either overrated or are being drafted too early and let you know why they should not be going as high. This is one of my favorite posts of theirs, so I decided to play this little game at work with Dave. Here are my picks for each position; I'm not sure if he'll pick his.
Catcher
Two Up:
J.R. Towles and Geovany Soto
After Towles' last month last year, a lot of hype has been put around him as a solid sleeper candidate. Let's not forget his eight RBI game against Looper and the Cardinals. Obviously you can't base his success this season off that one game, but with a much stronger Astros lineup in front of him, you can defnitely have confidence in Towles as a late round option for your starting catcher.
Soto is an unheralded young catcher with the Cubs who could end up having a huge year. He is facing off against mostly NL Central pitchers(who aren't that great) and has the Cubs pretty solid lineup in front of him. Baseball Think Factory has him projected at hitting 20 homeruns with 73 RBIs, which is pretty good from your catcher position. He's not a Victor, Russell, or Joe, but if you miss out on the big name catchers, you can pick up Soto late instead of reaching for Bengie Molina.
Two Down
Jorge Posada and Russell Martin
Posada, by most sites, is projected to have almost exactly the same stats as Towles. The only differences between the two are 13 years and about twenty rounds. Posada is routinely going in the eighth round or earlier whereas Towles in a lot of cases is undrafted. No justice in the world.
Martin is of course a controversial pick because of his huge year last year. I enjoyed Martin's success as much as the next guy. He was my starting catcher in both leagues last year. My hunch this year though is that his knees catch up to him. He sat out of a couple of games last year because of knee troubles and that could affect his speed on the basepaths. Obviously this is what sets him apart from other catchers as without the 20 stolen bases, he is exactly the same value as Soto or Towles. This is one where you really have to go with your instinct, but I am not completely sold on Martin to put up another 20 bags this year.
Catcher
Two Up:
J.R. Towles and Geovany Soto
After Towles' last month last year, a lot of hype has been put around him as a solid sleeper candidate. Let's not forget his eight RBI game against Looper and the Cardinals. Obviously you can't base his success this season off that one game, but with a much stronger Astros lineup in front of him, you can defnitely have confidence in Towles as a late round option for your starting catcher.
Soto is an unheralded young catcher with the Cubs who could end up having a huge year. He is facing off against mostly NL Central pitchers(who aren't that great) and has the Cubs pretty solid lineup in front of him. Baseball Think Factory has him projected at hitting 20 homeruns with 73 RBIs, which is pretty good from your catcher position. He's not a Victor, Russell, or Joe, but if you miss out on the big name catchers, you can pick up Soto late instead of reaching for Bengie Molina.
Two Down
Jorge Posada and Russell Martin
Posada, by most sites, is projected to have almost exactly the same stats as Towles. The only differences between the two are 13 years and about twenty rounds. Posada is routinely going in the eighth round or earlier whereas Towles in a lot of cases is undrafted. No justice in the world.
Martin is of course a controversial pick because of his huge year last year. I enjoyed Martin's success as much as the next guy. He was my starting catcher in both leagues last year. My hunch this year though is that his knees catch up to him. He sat out of a couple of games last year because of knee troubles and that could affect his speed on the basepaths. Obviously this is what sets him apart from other catchers as without the 20 stolen bases, he is exactly the same value as Soto or Towles. This is one where you really have to go with your instinct, but I am not completely sold on Martin to put up another 20 bags this year.
Pitching As A Priority
As a contrast to my last post, these are the results of using pitching as a priority in your draft. I was going to use my first nine picks as pitchers, but I didn't want to reach too far for guys, making it unrealistic, so I only drafted pitchers when they were within the next 20 probable picks. Four of my first five picks were pitchers. Here is my team:
C J.R. Towles --- C (HOU)
1B Adrian Gonzalez --- 1B (SD)
2B Dan Uggla --- 2B (FL)
3B Adrian Beltre --- 3B (SEA)
SS Jhonny Peralta --- SS (CLE)
OF Eric Byrnes --- OF (ARZ)
OF Chris Young --- OF (ARZ)
OF Raul Ibanez --- OF (SEA)
UTIL David Ortiz --- DH (BOS)
P Johan Santana --- SP (MIN)
P Brandon Webb --- SP (ARZ)
P C.C. Sabathia --- SP (CLE)
P Francisco Rodriguez --- RP (LAA)
P Jonathan Papelbon --- RP (BOS)
Bench Adam Wainwright --- SP (STL)
Bench Rich Hill --- SP (CHC)
Bench Kevin Youkilis --- 1B (BOS)
Bench Josh Willingham --- OF (FL)
To be honest, I'm not as upset with my team as I thought I would be. There is a lot of talent late in the draft this year to make this strrategy actually kind of plausible. This would obviously not be a good idea in roto, but in a head to head, the offense I've assembled could easily win. This is definitely a very sketchy strategy to go with, however, as if you don't know what you are doing, you could end up with Juan Pierre and Doug Mientkiewicz on your starting roster.
C J.R. Towles --- C (HOU)
1B Adrian Gonzalez --- 1B (SD)
2B Dan Uggla --- 2B (FL)
3B Adrian Beltre --- 3B (SEA)
SS Jhonny Peralta --- SS (CLE)
OF Eric Byrnes --- OF (ARZ)
OF Chris Young --- OF (ARZ)
OF Raul Ibanez --- OF (SEA)
UTIL David Ortiz --- DH (BOS)
P Johan Santana --- SP (MIN)
P Brandon Webb --- SP (ARZ)
P C.C. Sabathia --- SP (CLE)
P Francisco Rodriguez --- RP (LAA)
P Jonathan Papelbon --- RP (BOS)
Bench Adam Wainwright --- SP (STL)
Bench Rich Hill --- SP (CHC)
Bench Kevin Youkilis --- 1B (BOS)
Bench Josh Willingham --- OF (FL)
To be honest, I'm not as upset with my team as I thought I would be. There is a lot of talent late in the draft this year to make this strrategy actually kind of plausible. This would obviously not be a good idea in roto, but in a head to head, the offense I've assembled could easily win. This is definitely a very sketchy strategy to go with, however, as if you don't know what you are doing, you could end up with Juan Pierre and Doug Mientkiewicz on your starting roster.
Punting Pitching
So over at Couch Managers, you can do mock drafts to get you some experience on your fantasy draft. I recommend this site to anyone who wants to try out certain strategies before they actually draft their team. I decided to test two strategies out: one in which I draft all of my offensive players before drafting my first pitcher and one vice versa. Here are the results of drafting my offensive players first:
C Victor Martinez
1B Justin Morneau
2B Robinson Cano
3B Miguel Cabrera
SS Carlos Guillen
OF Grady Sizemore
OF Chris Young
OF Andruw Jones
UTIL Jim Thome
P John Smoltz
P Brad Penny
P Adam Wainwright
P Rich Hill
P Huston Street
Bench Joe Blanton
Bench Raul Ibanez
Bench Josh Willingham
Bench Jim Hoey
I'm a little light on saves, but that is a dynamite staff regardless. I'm not saying I would use this strategy in every draft, but food for thought.
C Victor Martinez
1B Justin Morneau
2B Robinson Cano
3B Miguel Cabrera
SS Carlos Guillen
OF Grady Sizemore
OF Chris Young
OF Andruw Jones
UTIL Jim Thome
P John Smoltz
P Brad Penny
P Adam Wainwright
P Rich Hill
P Huston Street
Bench Joe Blanton
Bench Raul Ibanez
Bench Josh Willingham
Bench Jim Hoey
I'm a little light on saves, but that is a dynamite staff regardless. I'm not saying I would use this strategy in every draft, but food for thought.
January 7, 2008
Justin's Divisional Predictions
Well, I got three out of the four games right. New York vs. Tampa, on paper, looked like a battle of who was worse. I didn't get a chance to watch the game but it appeared as though New York won with a surprisingly balanced attack, utilizing 30 running plays to 27 passes. Good strategy. Time for predictions:
NFC
Seattle @ Green Bay
This is a game that is surprisingly very very close to call. Looking at records alone, Green Bay is the far superior, but as long as both teams play to their best, then they are very very even teams. The outcome of this game, in my mind, depends on two factors: the weather and Shaun Alexander. Weather.com has the Saturday high at a chilly 26 degrees. If it dips below that, it may actually favor Seattle as history and the game against Chicago in Week 16 shows that Brett Favre is surprisingly poor in cold weather. The Seattle defense also plays an important role in this game. If they start pressuring Favre early in the game, he will start getting wild with his passes as Week 13 against Dallas showed. Shaun Alexander's role in this game is huge. If he brings his A game and takes the pressure off of Hasselbeck and the passing game, then the game may be Seattle's to win. It's a risky call, but I'm choosing Seattle in what should be a very close game.
New York @ Dallas
Under normal conditions this game would be easy to call. Dallas at full strength is a much better team and matches up well with New York. If Terrell Owens wins, this game is a victory. If Terry Glenn plays also, then it's a blowout. This is a game that is almost impossible to predict due to the mystery of who exactly is going to play for Dallas. I will go out on a limb and say that even if he is at less than 100 percent, TO will not miss this game. Dallas will win, but not by as much as they are fully capable of.
AFC
Jacksonville @ New England
Jacksonville beat a better defense in Pittsburgh by using a balanced attack and a very good running arsenal. It was a close victory, but a victory in which Jacksonville scored 24 points on the league's best defense. I think as long as the Jacksonville defense can keep Tom Brady's receiving corps under close cover then they can win this game. New England's rushing defense is good, but they are going against the second best rushing team in the league. Between Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, and David Garrard, Jacksonville can throw a lot in the Patriots direction. Obviously this is a risky prediction to make, but I think Jacksonville wins this game.
San Diego @ Indianapolis
I'm not going to play the garbage "this team has this team's number" game because with free agency and trades and what not, teams aren't the same year to year. What I will look at is a San Diego team that struggled against Tennessee. San Diego's only chance of winning this game is having LT run the ball at Indy's league average rushing defense. All in all I just don't see San Diego scoring enough to hang with Indy from Week 17, much less an Indy that has Marvin Harrison back. I say Indianapolis wins this one. The big question is whether it is a shootout or a blowout.
If my predictions are correct, then we have a rematch from last year's Wild Card of Dallas against Seattle and a very good matchup of Jacksonville against Indianapolis. My predictions may of course change as injury reports come out.
NFC
Seattle @ Green Bay
This is a game that is surprisingly very very close to call. Looking at records alone, Green Bay is the far superior, but as long as both teams play to their best, then they are very very even teams. The outcome of this game, in my mind, depends on two factors: the weather and Shaun Alexander. Weather.com has the Saturday high at a chilly 26 degrees. If it dips below that, it may actually favor Seattle as history and the game against Chicago in Week 16 shows that Brett Favre is surprisingly poor in cold weather. The Seattle defense also plays an important role in this game. If they start pressuring Favre early in the game, he will start getting wild with his passes as Week 13 against Dallas showed. Shaun Alexander's role in this game is huge. If he brings his A game and takes the pressure off of Hasselbeck and the passing game, then the game may be Seattle's to win. It's a risky call, but I'm choosing Seattle in what should be a very close game.
New York @ Dallas
Under normal conditions this game would be easy to call. Dallas at full strength is a much better team and matches up well with New York. If Terrell Owens wins, this game is a victory. If Terry Glenn plays also, then it's a blowout. This is a game that is almost impossible to predict due to the mystery of who exactly is going to play for Dallas. I will go out on a limb and say that even if he is at less than 100 percent, TO will not miss this game. Dallas will win, but not by as much as they are fully capable of.
AFC
Jacksonville @ New England
Jacksonville beat a better defense in Pittsburgh by using a balanced attack and a very good running arsenal. It was a close victory, but a victory in which Jacksonville scored 24 points on the league's best defense. I think as long as the Jacksonville defense can keep Tom Brady's receiving corps under close cover then they can win this game. New England's rushing defense is good, but they are going against the second best rushing team in the league. Between Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, and David Garrard, Jacksonville can throw a lot in the Patriots direction. Obviously this is a risky prediction to make, but I think Jacksonville wins this game.
San Diego @ Indianapolis
I'm not going to play the garbage "this team has this team's number" game because with free agency and trades and what not, teams aren't the same year to year. What I will look at is a San Diego team that struggled against Tennessee. San Diego's only chance of winning this game is having LT run the ball at Indy's league average rushing defense. All in all I just don't see San Diego scoring enough to hang with Indy from Week 17, much less an Indy that has Marvin Harrison back. I say Indianapolis wins this one. The big question is whether it is a shootout or a blowout.
If my predictions are correct, then we have a rematch from last year's Wild Card of Dallas against Seattle and a very good matchup of Jacksonville against Indianapolis. My predictions may of course change as injury reports come out.
January 6, 2008
My Predictions (David)
Being as how I have no charisma (or very little) a lot of you might not care about my predictions. I will be the bigger man and admit that I was wrong about Washington over Seattle.
Jacksonville defeated Pittsburgh and Seattle defeated Washington. I didn't watch either of those games so I cannot reflect on either of those. I do agree with Justin's picks (other than New York over Tampa Bay) for the second round matchups but I am going to go a little further.
Dallas over Tampa Bay
Same game as Thanksgiving Day two years ago. Jeff Garcia is the new quarter back but the outcome will be the same.
Green Bay over Seattle
It is the same matchup as a few years ago. Lets have no predictions by any visiting quarterbacks in overtime. Brett Favre in the playoffs at Lambeau field. Normally this would be an easy decision but expect this game to be an overtime thriller. Im predicting a 34-31 Green Bay victory.
Jacksonville over New England
I know this is a shocker to everyone but pressure does build up. New England will not win out because (1) Jacksonville plays in the toughest division in the NFL. (2) Jacksonville just has a better chance at winning this game.
San Diego over Indianapolis
San Diego has had Indianapolis's number for years now. They are just a better team. This is the year that we finally don't see Indianapolis or New England in the AFC Championship game.
With all of this (little information) said, the matchups in Championship weekend will look like this:
Jacksonville vs. San Diego
Green Bay vs. Dallas
I hope to give more information on my next prediction, which will be the Super Bowl.
Jacksonville defeated Pittsburgh and Seattle defeated Washington. I didn't watch either of those games so I cannot reflect on either of those. I do agree with Justin's picks (other than New York over Tampa Bay) for the second round matchups but I am going to go a little further.
Dallas over Tampa Bay
Same game as Thanksgiving Day two years ago. Jeff Garcia is the new quarter back but the outcome will be the same.
Green Bay over Seattle
It is the same matchup as a few years ago. Lets have no predictions by any visiting quarterbacks in overtime. Brett Favre in the playoffs at Lambeau field. Normally this would be an easy decision but expect this game to be an overtime thriller. Im predicting a 34-31 Green Bay victory.
Jacksonville over New England
I know this is a shocker to everyone but pressure does build up. New England will not win out because (1) Jacksonville plays in the toughest division in the NFL. (2) Jacksonville just has a better chance at winning this game.
San Diego over Indianapolis
San Diego has had Indianapolis's number for years now. They are just a better team. This is the year that we finally don't see Indianapolis or New England in the AFC Championship game.
With all of this (little information) said, the matchups in Championship weekend will look like this:
Jacksonville vs. San Diego
Green Bay vs. Dallas
I hope to give more information on my next prediction, which will be the Super Bowl.
New guy in town; wild-card predictions
Hello, my name is Justin and I will be posting on Dave's blog because I bring more charisma to the table, which in turn should increase our hits. Dave and I work together and we are going to try to keep our work sports arguments from boiling over into the blog where you, the innocent reader, would have to play spectator. We may work on some new changes such as the layout, color, and title(a name using Dave's initials doesn't work for me.). Tune in and if anyone is reading this, send us some comments with things you would like to see.
Anyhow, I'm ashamed Dave hasn't done this yet, but here are my NFL Wild Card predictions. I'll probably post again tonight or tomorrow with my predictions for next week but here goes:
NFC:
Seattle over Washington
It's a little late to call this one, but I told Dave the Seahawks would prevail. Good job picking Washington. Seattle is a very poor playoff team, but their defense was able to keep Washington's inconsistent and one-dimensional offense in check. With Todd Collins taking the snaps, the team was forced to lean on Clinton Portis and he is far too inconsistent of a back to be relied on like that. Certain weeks he'll break for over 100 yards and then the next week he'll be held to 30. He is an elite back, but he is only one man.
Tampa Bay over New York
It's a shame that New York is only as good as they are. With a better QB, New York could have a perennial Super Bowl favorite, but Eli is not very good at utilizing the tools he is given. They have a very balanced running game with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw and a strong receiving corps of Burress, Shockey, and Toomer. But you have a slightly above average QB taking on the best passing defense in the NFC. New York's only hope is to rely strongly on their running game, but I think Tampa's 3rd ranked scoring defense will keep the Giants out of the end zone.
AFC:
Jacksonville over Pittsburgh
Surprisingly, Jacksonville is my pick as the AFC rep in the Super Bowl so I was glad that they won this game. They have a great running game and realized that they are a running team. This helped them control the tempo of the game and keep the ball out of Roethlisberger's hands. If they can keep this strategy up, I think they could be the ultimate Cinderella story in this year's playoffs.
San Diego over Cle.....Tennessee
This should be the Browns game to win. Tennessee is a very questionable playoff team. They are not strong at either the running game, passing, or defense. They are basically average enough all around to have been fairly successful this year. In this game though, San Diego takes the cake because of two words: Ladainian Tomlinson. I'm calling for a huge game out of him. Not a tough prediction there, though
Soooooo....if my predictions are correct, next week we will see:
Dallas vs. Tampa Bay
Green Bay vs. Seattle(Let's hope for another OT mishap in that one!)
New England vs. Jacksonville
Indianapolis vs. San Diego
Anyhow, I'm ashamed Dave hasn't done this yet, but here are my NFL Wild Card predictions. I'll probably post again tonight or tomorrow with my predictions for next week but here goes:
NFC:
Seattle over Washington
It's a little late to call this one, but I told Dave the Seahawks would prevail. Good job picking Washington. Seattle is a very poor playoff team, but their defense was able to keep Washington's inconsistent and one-dimensional offense in check. With Todd Collins taking the snaps, the team was forced to lean on Clinton Portis and he is far too inconsistent of a back to be relied on like that. Certain weeks he'll break for over 100 yards and then the next week he'll be held to 30. He is an elite back, but he is only one man.
Tampa Bay over New York
It's a shame that New York is only as good as they are. With a better QB, New York could have a perennial Super Bowl favorite, but Eli is not very good at utilizing the tools he is given. They have a very balanced running game with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw and a strong receiving corps of Burress, Shockey, and Toomer. But you have a slightly above average QB taking on the best passing defense in the NFC. New York's only hope is to rely strongly on their running game, but I think Tampa's 3rd ranked scoring defense will keep the Giants out of the end zone.
AFC:
Jacksonville over Pittsburgh
Surprisingly, Jacksonville is my pick as the AFC rep in the Super Bowl so I was glad that they won this game. They have a great running game and realized that they are a running team. This helped them control the tempo of the game and keep the ball out of Roethlisberger's hands. If they can keep this strategy up, I think they could be the ultimate Cinderella story in this year's playoffs.
San Diego over Cle.....Tennessee
This should be the Browns game to win. Tennessee is a very questionable playoff team. They are not strong at either the running game, passing, or defense. They are basically average enough all around to have been fairly successful this year. In this game though, San Diego takes the cake because of two words: Ladainian Tomlinson. I'm calling for a huge game out of him. Not a tough prediction there, though
Soooooo....if my predictions are correct, next week we will see:
Dallas vs. Tampa Bay
Green Bay vs. Seattle(Let's hope for another OT mishap in that one!)
New England vs. Jacksonville
Indianapolis vs. San Diego
January 3, 2008
Cardinals' Starting Rotation
The St. Louis Cardinals just signed veteran right-hander Matt Clement to a one year deal. As of right now their starting rotation looks like this:
1. Adam Wainright
2. Braden Looper
3. Matt Clement
4. Joel Piñeiro
5. Anthony Reyes
This looks like a pretty average rotation to me. Wainright is an ace in the making so he could end the season somewhere around 16 wins. However, Looper is only a second year starter and will probably only win 11. Clement is coming off a major injury and will possibly win 13 games. Piñeiro is not a bad starter but will probably only win 12 at the most. And finally there is Anthony Reyes. Aside from his one amazing start in Game 1 of the 2006 World Series, he has virtually shown no promise for the Cardinals whatsoever, so I will ballpark around 6 wins for him. This leaves the Cardinals' starters with a combined win total of 58. This number of wins is also depending on how the offense produces throughout the year (which doesn't look good at the moment).
1. Adam Wainright
2. Braden Looper
3. Matt Clement
4. Joel Piñeiro
5. Anthony Reyes
This looks like a pretty average rotation to me. Wainright is an ace in the making so he could end the season somewhere around 16 wins. However, Looper is only a second year starter and will probably only win 11. Clement is coming off a major injury and will possibly win 13 games. Piñeiro is not a bad starter but will probably only win 12 at the most. And finally there is Anthony Reyes. Aside from his one amazing start in Game 1 of the 2006 World Series, he has virtually shown no promise for the Cardinals whatsoever, so I will ballpark around 6 wins for him. This leaves the Cardinals' starters with a combined win total of 58. This number of wins is also depending on how the offense produces throughout the year (which doesn't look good at the moment).
January 2, 2008
Baseball for Dummies
So I was in Springfield, Illinois in the White Oaks mall on monday, December 31 when I came across a very interesting book. I didn't read the book or even open a single page of it while I was there. I just saw the cover. For those of you who watch Sunday night baseball on ESPN during the regular season, you will catch Joe Morgan commentating (or attempting to) on every game on sunday nights. I am not a fan of Joe Morgan because I believe that he says some things that are really stupid about baseball. He is not a very bright person. I suppose you all are wondering where I am going with this since I mentioned a book. Because I know about Joe Morgan, seeing this book was priceless for me.
The book says it all. Thank you Joe for doing this. You made my year end in smiles and laughter.
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