David Freese - World Series and TDZ MVP

Last night the St. Louis Cardinals capped an amazing season by winning the 2011 World Series. They were 8.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for a Wild Card on September 6th, but they managed to crash the playoff party. The heavy favorite Philadelphia Phillies couldn't handle them, nor could the Milwaukee Brewers, and then they left the Rangers crestfallen with a second consecutive World Series defeat after being within one strike of being the champs twice in Game 6. That game will likely go down as one of the top 5 World Series games of all-time, and it's due in large part to World Series MVP/TDZ homeslice David Freese.

I propose his new nickname be Shredder.

Here's a quick look at Mr. Freese's season, and an autopsy of TDZ's sleepers and stinkers from the beginning of the year.



For those living under a rock, Freese is a local boy who grew up in the 'burbs of St. Louis. He's had to overcome quite a few obstacles to reach the bigs, specifically numerous injuries, including a broken hand, concussion, and surgeries on both ankles, and a drinking problem that was likely influenced by those setbacks.

After sticking it out, he entered this year highly touted by yours truly, and he gave one of the most clutch hitting performances in baseball history in Game 6 to keep his team's hopes alive. With 2 outs and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 9th, Freese smacked a 2 run triple to tie the game, and then clobbered a home run to center field in the 11th inning to end it. To discuss his other exploits over the course of the Series would be to beat a dead horse - the guy was great.

Boom baby.

Thinking about how right I was about Freese, I wondered how the rest of my sleepers and stinkers fared this year. Personal accountability is the hallmark of many of the top teams, and it should be no different for whimsical sports blogs. Let's see how I did:

Wins

• David Freese - Obvi. He struggled with injuries again this year, but third base was super thin, and his per at-bat stats still made him one of the best 3B's in the game.
• Michael Morse - Morse is code for "beast." He hit over .300 with 31 homers, ranking him 11th at a position that's loaded with offensive talent. Plus he didn't even have a consistent starting role to start the year.
• Joakim Soria - I told owners to stay away from Soria this year given the state of his starting rotation, and I was right. He had only 28 saves, and he did himself no favors by blowing a career high 7 games thanks to a career-worst 4.03 ERA.
• Jordan Zimmermann - He wasn't as sensational as I had hoped, but he was still the 45th best starting pitcher in fantasy despite missing 9 starts, making him must-draft material in a 12 team league. Also, though his K rate dropped, he produced a career best 3.18 ERA and 1.15 WHIP.

We got some jerks coming up next. Hopefully this guy hurt his nipples at least.

Losses

• Jose Reyes - Hindsight is 20/20 here: why did I ever doubt a player heading into his contract year? Instead of sitting out a lot, Reyes played through some nagging leg injuries and ended the year with the 4th best batting average in the league and 39 steals.
• Mark Reynolds - I said to stay away from Mr. K as well, but he didn't crumble in the AL like I thought he might. He hit a bunch of homers (37), and his batting average rose to .221 due to a reduced K rate. Only 196 this year! I still don't want this guy on my team, but he didn't do as badly as I predicted.
• Ryan Raburn - I expected more out of this guy, but his K rate ballooned and his batting average dropped. After that, a starting gig was about as hard to catch as a greased up deaf guy. 
• Rajai Davis - Had he not struggled with injuries for most of the year, I firmly believe this guy could've been one of my wins, but his infrequent health led to a poor batting average (.238). Despite his OBP woes, however, he still amassed 34 steals in about half a season's worth of ABs.

Well, a .500 season isn't so bad, but as a fantasy baseball blowhard I've got to do better. And I will do better, having learned some important lessons from this past season, such as never betting against the guy playing for his next contract.