Since team names are changing quicker than I can write a preview, teams have been addressed by their owner. Thank you to the two of you who sent back a preseason ballot, a strikingly low number considering how much grumbling there was about the football poll being slightly closed. Quit your whining, start your reading, and enjoy the preview!
1.) Team Wolf
I am awesome. I received both preseason number one picks. Thanks to the both of you for voting. I am not writing all about myself - I'll wait until Baron's preview to do that - but instead just give you the comments of the two of you who bothered to send in comments.
"A team with two perennial MVP candidates and perennial
Cy Young candidates should probably be the favorite."
"Best keepers and good draft"
So there's that. Now go and re-watch the Twins' last win in the Metrodome.
2.) Team Schillinger:
Ed's won the last three stinkin' years and yet when I look at his roster, it's not that old. One would expect that he acquired the best players and sat on them for a few years, winning a few titles in the process. Mark Teixeira, David Wright, Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Braun and Grady Sizemore are all upper echelon players and none are over the age of thirty. The team is well rounded with seven players stealing double digit bases, four players with more than 25 homers and four players with +95 runs.
Dan Haren's WHIP was 1.00 last season. That's just nasty. Ubaldo Jimenez is anchoring Colorado's staff, contributing 198 strikeouts with a sub 3.50 ERA. Joakim Soria is a top flight closer, and Rafael Soriaono and Billy Wagner are set up for big seasons as closers for new teams.
Weak points for Edwin? Son of a bitch doesn't have a single guy with an OBP of over .400. His bench is Martin Prado. David Ortiz took a step back last year, how much of one will he take this year? And he hangs out at Butler University. One comment from the poll e-mail, "I'm just not as fired up about this Ed team as I usually am. I'm sure
David Wright will return to form, though."
The pitching staff is good but not legendary Edwin great. Sure Ubaldo and Haren are nice, but does anyone shake in their boots at Scott Baker, Brett Anderson, and Aaron Harang?
3.) Team Eli:
Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard are power monsters. They eat small children and digest them as home runs (92 HRs and 276 RBIs combined). Eli's fifth round pick hit 31 home runs, quiet Dan Uggla. Ben Zobrist does everything well (except run the bases in games JR and I attended at the Metrodome some three years ago; God that was funny), and is exactly what a VUFSA owner wants out of a first round pick. He had great numbers the year before, he's is young and thereby keepable, and he can play everywhere except catcher. Carlos Gonzalez has tons of potential (a full season projects him over 100 runs and near 30-30 in power and speed), especially playing in Denver. I really really wanted him and waited one round too many for him.
Roy Halladay is going to kill the National League. He recorded a sub 3.00 ERA and 200+ strikeouts playing against the Yankees and Red Sox practically every other start. Throw in pitching against the Nationals, and Halladay should be the best thing Philly has ever acquired. I hate reading about Josh Beckett's contract situation because Jon Lester is the best pitcher on that staff. Tim Hudson is the other guy I waited one round too long on as I think he's going to bounce back nicely in 2010.
Offensive weaknesses are minimal. Every year that Jorge Posada is written off as too old, he emerges as a top five fantasy catcher. At 38, that has to end eventually, doesn't it? Am I the only one skeptical on Mark Reynolds? Just wondering. Finally, I'm a little mad that Jhonny Peralta was drafted at all. Another owner's thoughts on Team Eli, "Great keepers but too young of a draft." Another comment, "His infield doesn't impress me at all (aside from Pujols, of course), but I think the pitching could be dreamy. Also
Justin Upton."
The pitching situation is fairly strong, but the returners from injury do dot the roster. Second round selection Jake Peavy barely made it to 100 innings last year, and tenth round pick Kevin Slowey did not even pitch that much. Throw in a Tim Hudson and there was roughly one good arm between the three of them in 2009. How these three bounce back will tell the tale of Eli's starting rotation.
4.) Team Viano
With the exception of Jay Bruce who had an up and down 2009, all of Viano's position players had OBPs of .370 or higher. Eight players in the line-up had 20 or more home runs. Four players scored 100 or more runs. This is a potent offense with the game's best catcher and second baseman in Mauer and Utley leading the way at tough offensive positions.
The rotation boasts two elite starters in Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander. Both won 19 games last year and combined to strike out as many batters as innings pitched. Brian Wilson is quietly becoming a very nice closer, and the drafting of Jon Rauch in the 16th round paid off when he was just announced to be the Twins' closer.
The biggest weakness on offense is speed. Chone Figgins will steal a bunch of bases, but beyond him there's not much. Chase Utley, Jhonny Damon, and Alex Rios hit double digits in 2009, but none of the above are speed demons. If you want to get picky, there's no infield depth at all with the two bench players keeping to the outfield.
Jews Be Ballin' do have a few holes on the mound with unproven Mat Latos and Brian Matusz as big question marks. The Yahoo fantasy sports writers have an orgasm every time Ricky Nolasco's name is brought up, but the dude was in fact in the minors just last year. I get that he turned it around down the stretch but when you turn it around and finish with +5 ERA, there were serious issues.
5.) Team Baron
I thought Baron made two very nice picks to kick off his draft, grabbing two guys at scarce positions. Victor Martinez is going to be a big time run producer in the Red Sox line-up. Robinson Cano will do the run scoring in the Yankees'. Matt Holliday and Jacoby Ellsbury are a nice mix of speed and power in the outfield. I personally think his best value pick came in round 17 with Marco Scutaro who I'm probably going to acquire in a lopsided trade (for Baron) since I am inexplicably a Scuatro fan.
Zack Greinke was awesome last year (242 strikeouts, 2.16 ERA, 1.07 ERA), and I would have seen his awesomeness in person if not for a freak two hour thunderstorm that instead forced me into a local Kansas City eatery where I then watched Joe Nathan implode (like his elbow ligaments), the Indians implode (lost something like a 7 run lead disappear to Tampa Bay), and Eli shout racial epithet (Asia). But enough about me, more about Baron and his ringers. Yay for Javier Vazquez for having both a "z" and a "q" in his name, and Wandy Rodriguez for nerdily making me think of the next Harry Potter movie coming Thanksgiving 2010.
Problem spots? Can Torii Hunter and Raul Ibanez keep healthy all year? They couldn't last year, which would force Baron into playing Franklin Gutierrez who is more known for his defense than his offense. Like many Cleveland fans, I like Asdrubal Cabrera, but he offers next to nothing in the way of any special fantasy categories.
The bullpen could be bad news. Houston Street is starting the season on the DL. Chris Perez may or may not be a closer in May. Matt Capps closes for the Nationals which is good for like 6 saves. Other owner thoughts, "Pitching is kind of smelly, in my opinion. Maybe I'm underrating Wandy and Javy Vasquez, his Nos. 2 and 3 pitchers. How unsexy."
6.) Team JR:
Orioles in the outfield! Adam Jones and Nick Markakis make up half of JR's outfield. They are both very nice players but it's kind of like trying to win a fantasy league with nothing but Kansas City Royals. Markakis was way down last year (OPS tumbled .897 to .801 which is well below career average), and is in line to be way back up this year. And Adam Jones has his eyes open for his
press photo this year, so there's some progress. Matt Kemp could end up the best player in fantasy baseball, which is certainly nice upside.
Top three of the rotation is tremendous - Cole Hamels, Adam Wainwright, and John Lackey (perhaps his best value pick coming in VUFSA round 5).
Ichiro a career low in steals (26) but still can hit (.352). Kendry Morales had 17 career homers heading into last year and exactly doubled that (34) last season. Entering the all important 27th year of age, was it a fluke or was it the sign of things to come? Stephen Drew, the fifteenth overall pick in 2004's MLB draft - and I find it funny that I have to distinguish between MLB draft and VUFSA draft - is one of those players who just should be better after all the hype and all the defense comes into play. That said, his career OBP is .326, has not stolen more than 10 bases in a season, and has averaged exactly 15 home runs in his three full seasons. Of course all of this is moot if Jose Reyes ever returns to form. If. One owner said on the Chipper Jones drafting, "His team feels old. Doesn't he have chipper again? Time to give that up."
The bottom three of the rotation is questionable at best - David "Walkaplaooza" Price, Scott "Seriously? 17 wins?" Feldman, and Ben "hasn't pitched in a year and a half and got rocked out of spring training" Sheets. I had him all last season and loved him very much for it, but there is no way Trevor Hoffman can put up those numbers (37 saves, 1.83 ERA, 0.91 WHIP) again.
7.) Team Adam:
The offense begins at the corner spots for Funk Factory. Welty's first overall selection of Justin Morneau (30HRs, 100 RBIs in just 508 at bats) provides power that may be amplified in the Twins' new outdoor ballpark. Keeper Ryan Zimmerman finally provided the numbers in 2009 that many of us who drafted him previous to '09 wished he had done sooner. Zimmerman doubled his home runs and runs batted in from '08 to '09, and he may get better yet not that anyone should doubt a 100+ run, 30+ homer, 100+ RBI guy. Derek Jeter, Shane Victorino, and BJ Upton all stole 35 or more bases last season.
My favorite part to this team, though, is the pitching. CC Sabathia is coming off a 19 win season; Chris Carpenter is always in the mix for the Cy Young; Matt Cain had his break through year in '09; Roy Oswalt is made of rubber; and I even like Randy Wells who was taken in the 18th round despite nearly posting a sub 3 ERA in over 160 innings of work.
Ian Stewart and Colby Rasmus strike me as nice guys to have on a big league roster: young and full of potential. The hesitation on them is that they don't necessarily make great fantasy prospects at their positions. They may very well end up being nice players, but dominant, they are not. Is it possible to win a fantasy championship with Jose Lopez at the utility spot?
The bullpen is the weak side of Funk Factory's pitching staff. Heath Bell had a monster season last year, but is that repeatable? Will he even be a closer once San Diego inevitably trades him somewhere else? Matt Lindstrom wasn't supposed to be the closer for Houston, only defaulting his way into the spot after injuries. And just how many games can Mike Gonzalez save pitching for Baltimore?
8.) Team Champ
Price Fielder is a beast (103 runs, 46 HRs, 141 RBIs, and the dude stole 2 bases!). Dustin Pedroia ia good in every category (115 runs, 15 HRs, 72 RBIs, 20 steals, .371 OBP), and Bobby Abreu is another well rounded player (96 runs, 15 HRs, 103 RBIs, 30 steals, and .390 OBP). Jimmy Rollins can't possibly have another sub .300 OBP, which puts him at yet another stupendous, multi-skilled player. And Champ has Denard Span who is still my
ring tone.
Josh Beckett will have a carbon copy of his 17 win, 199 K, 3.86 ERA from 2009. I was so hoping Clayton Kershaw was going to make his way to me in the second round, but Champ wisely snatched him up with the 12th overall selection. Rich Harden is a great value pick, but I'm also one of those guys who still buys into Harden despite never pitching a full season.
Low points on the line-up start with keeping a 16 home run, .355 OBP player. I honestly was in the dark on who Miguel Montero was when I saw the keeper list. Looks like a nice enough player but certainly not yet on a keeper level. Gordon Beckham is another one of those "nice enough" players but not great fantasy talent. The age of the outfield bodes poorly for full health seasons - Abreu, Lee, Soriano, and Manny are all proven talent but proven injury risks.
On the sad side of the pitching, Carlos Zambrano struggled in 2009 after being a VUFSA keeper in years past. Justin Duchscherer may never be the pitcher he was pre-arm replacement surgery. Johnny Cueto has the raw tools but hasn't put it all together yet. Ryan Franklin cannot possibly have a sub-2 ERA two years in a row.
9.) Team Tomke
Tomke STILL has not paid his dues in full. Therefore, he gets no preview other than one other owner's feedback. "To me,
Miguel Cabrera is the only sure bet on the squad, but lots of upside. Sure loves the Rangers. Where the hell are the Asians?"
10.) Team Stem:
The middle infield is Team Stem's strength. With Jason Bartlett having an All-Star season (90 runs, 30 steals, and .389 OBP in 500 at bats) and Brandon Phillips posting his third consecutive 20-20 season, there are no statistical weaknesses here. Curtis Granderson may very well hit 70 home runs in the new Yankee Stadium, and Carlos Pena and his 39 home run season was of tremendous value in round four. Adam Dunn is still my favorite fantasy player I have never had on my team (38 HRs, 105 RBIs, .398 OBP).
Defensively, Worse Than The Pirates will be relying on bounce back years from a couple of pitchers who were undervalued in the VUFSA draft. Ted Lily picked up 12 wins with a 1.06 WHIP, and Chris Young will be better than 5.21 ERA in 76 innings of work. Francisco Cordero is the closer for Cincinnati, finishing off 39 games for the Reds. Cliff Lee was the league's overall number one pick and should boost the pitching department.
In looking at roster holes, one need look no further than the first spot on Stem's line up. He doesn't have a starting catcher with Buster Posey starting the year in AAA. Can Conor Jackson return to any semblance of the player who signed a big contract extension a couple years ago? If Michael Cuddyer posts better numbers than last year, I'll give Stem a dollar. I like Nolan Reimold's potential but is probably a year or two away from significant fantasy relevance.
This pitching staff was awesome in 2008. Brandon Webb was healthy, Cliff Lee was guiding Cleveland's rotation, and AJ Burnett struck out 231 batters. The problem now is that Brandon Webb hasn't thrown a meaningful pitch in a year and a half, Cliff Lee is on the DL, and AJ Burnett's WHIP last season was 1.40. All of these guys need to have seasons more like '08 than '09 for Stem to contend. E-mail replier A said, "Worse Than Pirates. I agree."
