 |
| Gaze upon young blood Jody Reed. |
All Studs Team
These are my picks for the top draft picks at each position at this point in the season. No free agents yet (they get their own team).
- C: Buster Posey (Gas House Gorillas) - Best of the rest with catcher production down this year; nice to see him over .300 again.
- 1B: Paul Goldschmidt (Gas House Gorillas) - contributes in every category, a true lineup stabilizer.
- 2B: Jose Altuve (VATECH NATS) - he's been the gold standard at the keystone for a few years now.
- 3B: Jake Lamb (8 Year Old Throwdown) - no Bryant, no Machado, no Arenado. It's wham, bam, thank you Lamb.
- SS: Carlos Correa (VATECH NATS) - starting to fulfill his potential; Astros are freaking spoiled right now.
- OF: Bryce Harper (Nuckin Futz) - having perhaps the quietest MVP-caliber season of his young career.
- OF: George Springer (Rip City) - increase in HR not unexpected, but batting over .300 now? Nasty.
- OF: Charlie Blackmon (AJ's Aces) - I imagine him living in a mountain cave during homestands and emerging into civilization to pack the stat sheet on the reg.
- Util: Joey Votto (AJ's Aces) - Dude does not know the meaning of sub .400 OBPs; best strike zone recognition in the game imo.
 |
| His is a face that says "I've seen bears." |
- SP: Max Scherzer (VATECH NATS) - how does a starter even get a 0.78 WHIP? I believe he's also got a shot at 300 K's.
- SP: Clayton Kershaw (Grand Theft Votto) - in related news, the sky is blue.
- RP: Craig Kimbrel (Sippin on Gin Andrus) - we might be witnessing the greatest season by a RP of all-time: 0.50 WHIP, 16.25 K/9, 13.60 K/BB.
- RP: Kenley Jansen (Saratoga Oldtimers) - and yet Kenley is right there with him: 0.57 WHIP, 13.75 K/9, 28.00 K/BB (not a typo).
- P: Chris Sale (Nickel Blitz) - has elevated his game to another level and is legit in Max and Kershaw's tier now; 300 K's within reach.
- P: Felipe Rivero (Nuckin Futz) - why can't the Nats get RPs like this guy?
- P: Andrew Miller (Gmonie16) - big lefty continuing his dominance after electric postseason.
- P: Chris Devenski (VATECH NATS) - Sure are a lot of Astros on this team... they're player development is on fleek.
 |
| They call that "fromage haut" in Provence. |
All Duds Team
These are the guys we wish we hadn't spent so much money on...
- C: Kyle Schwarber (Hot Garbage) - strikes out a ton and has a ridiculously low BABIP of .199, leading to a brief demotion to AAA.
- 1B: Miguel Cabrera (VATECH NATS) - Is this the first year Miggy bats below .300 since 2008?
- 2B: Jonathan Villar (8 Year Old Throwdown) - with Rip City, his K% was well over 30%, then he got injured, but he has been hitting better with his new owner.
- 3B: Josh Donaldson (Gmonie16) - dealt with injury, and hasn't been back in form since; batting .252, but good BB%.
- SS: Manny Machado (Rip City) - FanGraphs did an expose on how he's overly focused on the long ball and is pulling everything; now he's batting just .228.
- OF: Starling Marte (Rip City) - cast off by Gas House Gorillas ($47 draft price) after a PED suspension, Rip City is hoping the roids haven't worn off for the remaining season.
- OF: Ryan Braun (Grand Theft Votto) - another casualty of injury, now batting only .259.
- OF: A.J. Pollock (AJ's Aces) - dude is an injury-prone beast.
- Util: Carlos Gonzalez (Hot Garbage) - OPS of .632 is his lowest since his rookie year.
 |
| I hope he's back with better juice. |
- SP: Noah Syndergaard (Hughes Drubbers) - 60-day DL, 27.1 IP.
- SP: Madison Bumgarner (AJ's Aces) - 60-day DL, 27.0 IP.
- RP: Aroldis Chapman (VATECH NATS) - injured and an unusually high ERA (3.66) for the flamethrower.
- RP: Zach Britton (Gmonie16) - hit the DL for quite a while with a left forearm strain, but he's back finally.
- P: Justin Verlander (Sippin on Gin Andrus) - he has 51 BB right now; he had 57 BB all of last season.
- P: Julio Teheran (Sippin on Gin Andrus) - a 4.73 ERA ain't gonna cut it; possible (real life) trade candidate.
- P: Rick Porcello (Hot Garbage) - HG is thinking 'this guy won a Cy Young?!'
- P: Felix Hernandez (Gmonie16) - had a shoulder issue, and an ERA over 5, but had a nice start recently so maybe RCR's trash is Gmonie's treasure.
 |
| This is almost a good line for him this year. |
All-Free Agent Team
- C: Alex Avila (VATECH NATS) - a major bounceback that was 6 years in the making evidently.
- 1B: Logan Morrison (8 Year Old Throwdown) - Rays offense is sneaky good with this guy and now Dickerson returning to form.
- 2B: Marwin Gonzalez (VATECH NATS) - utility man has great pop; VATECH won't rest until he has all the Astros.
- 3B: Travis Shaw (Saratoga Oldtimers) - literally the #34 ranked player in Yahoo right now.
- SS: Chris Taylor (Nuckin Futz) - surprising power/speed combo find at premium positions.
- OF: Aaron Judge (Gmonie16) - he's like the Jaws of MLB.
- OF: Cody Bellinger (Hughes Drubbers) - when HD picked him up before me, I had a feeling of dread, and it's been well-founded.
- OF: Steven Souza (Grand Theft Votto) - gotta give him credit for cutting his K% by more than 5 points.
- Util: Mark Reynolds (Hughes Drubbers) - His batting average is a sterling .282 despite all the whiffs - same as last year doe.
 |
| Not even photoshopped. 6'7" Judge and a generously listed 5'8" Ronald Torreyes. |
- SP: Alex Wood (Rip City) - doing his best Kershaw impression; Dodgers are spoiled rotten.
- SP: Jason Vargas (8 Year Old Throwdown) - imo he's the only reason the Royals managed to reach .500.
- RP: Corey Knebel (Gmonie16) - huge contributor for 1st place Brewers, racking up a lot of K's.
- RP: Archie Bradley (Saratoga Oldtimers) - Rip City may regret trading this post-hype prospect; has flourished from 'pen.
- P: Mychal Givens (Saratoga Oldtimers) - another 'Toga reliever doing good work for the O's.
- P: Taylor Rogers (Gmonie16) - I legit hadn't heard of this guy, but saw him ranked highly due to 21 HLDs.
- P: Mike Minor (Rip City) - a sneaky compiler due to above average innings for a RP.
- P: Carl Edwards Jr. (8 Year Old Throwdown) - no one makes their hat look oversized for their head like this guy.
 |
| Am I wrong? That hat is too big for his head! You can see a huge gap between the his head and the hat on both sides of his ears. And to answer your next question, no, I don't mind making this caption obnoxiously long to explain what I'm seeing. |
Obligatory Eric Thames Freak Out Section
Get some!
All-Star Team Leaders:
So I was curious how many all-stars my team had and how it stacked up against other teams in the league. Gmonie16 ended up leading NoJR with 8 all-stars, while Sippin on Gin Andrus brought up the rear with just 1. Here is a listing of the all-stars for each team, sorted by number of all-stars:
- One All-Star
- Sippin on Gin Andrus: Craig Kimbrel
- (Brad Brach was robbed!)
- Two
- None
- Three
- Grand Theft Votto: Zack Cozart, Wade Davis, Clayton Kershaw
- Hot Garbage: Mookie Betts, Robbie Ray, Giancarlo Stanton
- Four
- None
- Five
- Hughes Drubbers: Chris Archer, Michael Brantley, Miguel Sano, Brad Hand, Cody Bellinger
- Nuckin Futz: Salvador Perez, Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg
- St. Louis Browns: Dellin Betances, Nelson Cruz, Zack Greinke, Greg Holland, Corey Seager
- Gas House Gorillas: Michael Fulmer, Lance McCullers Jr., Robinson Cano, Buster Posey, Paul Goldschmidt
- Nickel Blitz: Yu Darvish, Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, Marcell Ozuna, Justin Turner
- Rip City Reavers: Jose Ramirez, George Springer, Luis Severino, Yonder Alonso, Alex Wood
- Six
- VATECH NATS: Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Chris Devenski, Robreto Osuna, Ervin Santana, Max Scherzer
- 8 Year Old Throwdown: Corey Dickerson, Brandon Kintzler, Jason Vargas, D.J. LeMahieu, Jake Lamb, Yadier Molina
- Seven
- AJ's Aces - Mike Moustakas, Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, Carlos Martinez, Ender Inciarte, Joey Votto
- Saratoga Oldtimers: Justin Smoak, Starlin Castro, Justin Upton, Kenley Jansen, Pat Neshek, Michael Conforto, Josh Harrison
- Eight
- Gmonie16: Aaron Judge, Dallas Keuchel, Andrew Miller, Gary Sanchez, Avisail Garcia, Francisco Lindor, Jonathan Schoop, Corey Knebel
 |
| 495 feet! |
Mid-season Power Rankings:
There's been a lot of movement up and down the rankings, and I don't expect that to stop, but here are the power rankings as I see them right now.
- VATECH NATS - Best record in the league, but finally lost his first week recently.
- AJ's Aces - Has been gaining on Gmonie16 in recent weeks; imagine when Trout returns.
- Gmonie16 - Won his first 5 weeks, but since then has been a slightly below .500 team.
- Hughes Drubbers - Great offense, improving pitching; mad that he got Cody Bellinger!
- Grand Theft Votto - All about that Eric Thames lyfe; sneaky good pitching staff.
- Saratoga Oldtimers - Some nice finds off FA pile, but all RP strategy not consistently effective.
- Nuckin Futz - Great roster with a lot of Nats, but his loyalty to Tanner Roark will be his undoing.
- St. Louis Browns - Is going to ride the Seager Bros. as far as they'll take him; won 5 of last 7 weeks and needs to maintain momentum.
- Gas House Gorillas - Would be doing a lot better if he wasn't punting RP stats; hasn't won since Week 6.
- Sippin on Gin Andrus - Up and down year with huge wins and then massive losses.
- 8 Year Old Throwdown - This team has used some chutzpah and elbow grease to return to respectability under new management.
- Hot Garbage - Great offense, but needs pitching help - could swing some deals before the deadline.
- Nickel Blitz - Perennial cellar dweller actually has some good players, but is completely lackadaisical. And he voted for the money league!
- Rip City Reavers - I'm ranking myself last in protest until Yoan Moncada gets called up.
Fantasy baseball is a marathon, meaning we've still got a long way to go and anyone can sneak into the playoffs in the final weeks. Good luck to all and enjoy the All-Star Break!
No comments:
Post a Comment