VUFSA 2006 Baseball Preview

In a lame and useless attempt to re-energize the VUFSA blog, I present to you an extended look at the 2006 baseball season, with a full recap of preseason poll results. A record 10 owners voted in the poll, crowning Eli Gieryna the pre-season favorite to defend his title. But with vetrans Dakota Brezinski, Madd Skillz and the adoringly-named ELENI KAMETAS! on the trail of Dusty's Lame Ducks, it could be an impressive season indeed.

10. Wily Mo's Wild Ride (18 points)
It is a well-documented struggle for an expansion team to thrive, though draft rules in the baseball league attempted to bridge the competitive balance gap this time around. Owner Baron Brendel cetainly started out on the right foot by taking Jason Bay and Miguel Tejada in the expansion draft, both cornerstone players for his team and BOTH members of the absurdly stacked Dusty's Lame Ducks team last year.

Brendel took potential blossoming youngsters such as Matt Cain, Scott Kazmir and Mike Jacobs to pad his keeper potential and he has plenty of players that will serve vital roles, such as Chone Figgins, Johnny Damon and, assuming a repeat performance of last season, Morgan Ensberg. But there isn't a single superstar on this team besides Bay and Tejada. Employing a non-traditional drafting strategy of taking pitchers late, Brendel smartly took advantage of the deep pitching pool but is nonetheless left with people such as John Lackey, AJ Burnett, Todd Jones ad Brian Fuentes shouldering the bulk of the big time categories. He will struggle this season.

9. ChamPeons (21 points)
The most puzzling aspect of Brent Whitlock's draft was his zealous selection of first basemen, taking Carlos Delgado, Richie Sexson, Lyle Overbay and keeping Mike Sweeney. As a result, he's certainly loaded at the position, but Sexson sits on his bench while players such as Kevin Mench and Jermaine Dye play elsewhere. He will have some dealing power, but he weakened the rest of his team by bulking up at one spot, where only two first basemen can play in the everyday lineup.

His pitching will rely on a lot of players with question marks. Dontrelle Willis and Bobby Jenks have had rough pre-seasons, Eric Gagne is coming off a near fatal arm injury, and Cliff Lee was a marginal keeper at best. He put a lot of stock in Hank Blalock when he traded Overbay and Ichiro for Blalock and Mench, and that's a big risk considering the Texas third baseman hasn't consistently shown he can live up to his potential. If Champ could add another outfielder, I'd feel more comfortable with his lineup.

8. Bondo and the Asians (28 points)
Easily the sleeper pick for the 2006 baseball season, owner Dave Tomke had a near-perfect draft for an expansion team. After he played homer and made an extreme reach in taking Jeremy Bonderman in the expansion draft (where players such as Mark Mulder and Randy Johnson were available), he deftly put together a pitching staff of Pedro, Beckett, Duke, Huston Street and Ervin Santana, meshing current talent with keeper potential. He took a risk with Roger Clemens and could be sweetly rewarded ... if Clemens pitches, this team is the best staff in the league.

His problem was drafting one less outfielder than he needed, but he addressed that by trading his infield depth for Ichiro Suzuki, who becomes the star of an outfield that also has Carlos Beltran and Magglio Ordonez. Craig Biggio as his "utility" player demonstrates that there is plenty of room to grow, and an infield relying on bench player Bill Hall and dwindling Justin Morneau will be tenuous, but I give Tomke lots of credit.

7. Father Abraham (38 points)
Five years ago, this team would have been terrifying. With Albert Pujols (terrifying in any generation), Jeff Kent, Chipper Jones, Edgar Renteria and Ken Griffey, Jr., most of Lincoln Souzek's offensive players are cut from the reliable-if-healthy veteran mold, and he has David Ortiz for added power and stolen bases coming from Randy Winn and Scott Podsednik. It was a smart build, if unspectacular.

His pitching staff will have problems, however. Most critics don't think Jon Garland will do what he did last season, Andy Pettitte had a great year last year but always has arm problems, C.C. Sabathia is an on-again, off-again star, and players such as Doug Davis, Greg Maddux and Brad Radke reflect the offense in its veteran concept. No "aces" on the staff, per se, though Sabathia and Pettitte sometimes pitch as such. Most likely a middle of the pack team.

6. Cellar Dwellars (45 points -- 1 first place vote)
It's hard not to like his pitching staff, which has both time-tested arms (Schmidt, Hudson, Wagner), keeper potential (Haren, Liriano), some potential one-year-wonders but simultaneously potential resume-your-breakout stars (Carpenter, Turnbow) and one completely useless pud (McDougal). There's a lot of wins on the table if the pitching pans out.

It's a mixed bag on offense, but overall the lineup is unspectacular. Aging veterans Todd Helton, Ivan Rodriguez, Lance Berkman and Steroid Bonds will be needed heavily, with temper-tantrum prone Aramis Ramirez as the only young-ish star in the bunch. Julio Lugo might amount to something very positive, and then again he's the only player on this team with double digit steals last year. Aubrey Huff is coming off a down year, Jeff Francouer swings at everything, and Placido Polanco, to everyone's surprise, is still in baseball. Edwin Encarnacion could be a dynamite keeper potential pick.

5. Carl's Moon Men (47 points -- 1 first place vote)
Tadano's Fluffer has changed its name, for the worse if you ask me, but the team remains the same. I thought Andy Viano made a bold reach when he took Joe Mauer in the first round, but on the other hand his catcher position could be shored up for the next forever. If Casey Kotchman pans out, an infield of Utley, Rodriguez and Peralta is stellar and an outfield of Adam Dunn (power), Ryan Freel (speed), Curtis Granderson (keeper potential) and Cliff Floyd (kidney failure) addresses everything a team should want out of an outfield, even if there are no slam dunk superstars of the lot without flaws.

Viano went for quantity on the pitching end, with plenty of arms to supplement aces Rich Harden and Ben Sheets. But there isn't much here aside from numbers. Chris Capuano won 18 games last year but won't do it again, and I'm not sure anyone quite knows what to expect out of Erik Bedard, Freddy Garcia, Javy Vazquez or Gustavio Chacin. Chad Orvella was a strange pick, considering the Devil Rays haven't named him the closer, but K-Rod, Chad Cordero and Wickman will keep Viano near the top in saves.

4. ELENI KAMETAS! (54 points -- 2 first place votes)
Like, oh my god! Drew Wolf caught a break when Gary Sheffield fell to him in the first round of the draft, and he supplements a team that will hit its share of homers across the board without a single superstar in that regard. Bob Abreu had a mild second half last year but is still considered a fantasy stud, Brian Giles has silly on-base numbers, Alfonso Soriano will obtain more flexibility with a move to the outfield, David Wright is amazing and Victor Martinez is perhaps the most prolific catcher available. Throw in a host of stolen bases from Rafael Furcal, Soriano, Abreu, Wright and others, and you have a very well-rounded team that can afford to sit players like Moises Alou and Brad Wilkerson, who will come in handy later.

The pitching is okay...outside of Bartolo Colon, nobody is really striking anyone out, and the staff of Mulder, Schilling, Westbrook and Kenny Rogers won't strike fear into the hearts of too many hitters, although none of those names are bad pitchers exactly. Isringhausen and Foulke are injury question marks on the saves end, though Jose Valverde is blossoming in that regard. It's a good team with good depth.

3. Madd Skillz (65 points)
No first place votes for Ed Schillinger but lots of people picked him for second and third, and he's definitely one of the top three teams in the league. The problem right now is that his team is a hospital with its injury question marks, most notably Willy Taveras, Scott Rolen, Carlos Lee, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

Cubs aces aside, the pitching on this team is very good. Nobody needs to be told what Santana and Zambrano can do, and Joe Nathan might be the best closer in baseball, with Trevor Hoffman as no slouch either. Livan Hernandez is a horse (everyone calls him that), and Joe Blanton has keeper potential.

On the offensive end, Skillz will get a lot of consistent production from dudes like Michael Young, Jorge Cantu, Mark Teixeira, and most likely Rolen, which could be one of the draft's better steals. Grady Sizemore fell into his lap in the first round, probably because nobody ackowledges the sheer fantasy stud-dom he brings to the table by being well better than average in every category. He's baseball's Andrei Kirilenko. Lee and Pat Burrell each drove in more than 100 runs last season, and Taveras swiped 30-odd bases. Not too many holes.

2. Dakota Brezinski (65 points -- 2 first place votes)
By virtue of first place votes, settles tie with Madd Skillz for second place. Was extremely fortunate to thread Randy Johnson through the expansion process, leaving JR Radcliffe with a superb pitching staff that includes Oswalt, Halladay, Smoltz and upstart Noah Lowry, with Brad Lidge (a good value in the third round) and Armando Benitez (an injury question mark) serving as closers.

The RBI totals might be hard to come by, with only four players on the entire roster clearing 100 last year and one of them, Miguel Cabrera, now playing on a team decorated with youth. Derrek Lee will need to duplicate what he did last year in that regard. Went young, taking Jeremy Hermida, Ryan Zimmerman, Rickie Weeks and Johnny Gomes -- the latter probably too early -- to expand his keeper portfolio considerably. With Travis Hafner sliding to him in the first round, his offense is solid and polished, though not poised to blow the league away. That said, plenty of depth, with Barmes, Loretta and Guillen all likely to be starting on other teams in the league.

1. Dusty's Lame Ducks (69 points -- 4 first place votes)
The dawn of expansion has leveled the playing field somewhat...even Eli Gieryna's runaway champ team from last year has holes on the pitching staff that make it beatable. But just look at his outfield -- his godforsaken ohmygod that can't be real outfield -- and you'll see why people were impressed with his team.

Just think, Gieryna didn't have room to keep players like Miguel Tejada, Jason Bay, Chris Carpenter, Jason Isringhausen, Pedro Martinez, Ichrio Suzuki, Joe Mauer and Carlos Delgado. OH MY FUCKING GOD. Instead, he'll have to settle for Manny Ramirez, Vlad Guerrero and Carl Crawford, the perfect fantasy outfield. Hideki Matsui is a nice fourth and Chad Tracy has a heapful of upside. On the infield, Jose Reyes will conspire with Crawford to help Eli win stolen bases, Ryan Howard could emerge into an absolute superstar at first base with Jim Thome as a fine backup (irony), and Melvin Mora is one of the better third basemen in the league, even without the high profile to boot.

The pitching is fine with Jake Peavy as a stud and plenty of solid guys like Webb, Patterson, Lowe and Heilman. Felix Hernandez was kept because most people think he will own the game in two years, but he's still very, very young and MIGHT have a great season this year (his numbers last year would indicate that he's going to be just fine) but he could succumb to the "playing in the Major Leagues before you turn 21" thing. Gordon, Ryan, Ray and Reitsma are an uninspiring set of closers.

Furthermore, Eli Gieryna was chosen fifth in last year's preseason poll, before running away with it all. If that list of players that he had to give back is any indication, he's capable of fielding and cultivating the best team in the league, with a savvy capability to trade and enhance. It's hard to bet against him this time around. Even if he's a bitch.

Oh yes, while you're considering the merits of this preseason glance, check out what was written in the basketball preseason.