SB Nation User Blog: DTJchris

Fox should be in the majors

DTJchris — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:10:41 -0000

Rosenthal tidbits

DTJchris — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:26:45 -0000

Rosenthal tidbits

Down at the bottom of the article, in his "Around the Horn" section, Rosenthal has some interesting points. Here are a couple that might be of interest to Cubs fans:

1. "The Cubs expect their bullpen will solidify once right-hander Carlos Zambrano comes off the disabled list, enabling them to move left-hander Sean Marshall or righty Randy Wells to the bullpen.

Bumping Marshall would make sense for two reasons: Neal Cotts currently is the Cubs' only left-handed reliever and Marshall might need an occasional break from starting, having never pitched more than 147 1/3 innings in a season."

2. "The Nationals might be years away from a full recovery. One scout describes their Harrisburg affiliate as the 'worst Double A team maybe in the history of baseball.'

Harrisburg, 8-27, is playing Freddy Bynum, 29, at shortstop. Joel Guzman, 24, is the corner-utility man. The team includes only three members of the Nationals' 40-man roster."

Is anyone really surprised that Freddy "Boom-Boom" Bynum is the starting shortstop for the worst Double-A team in history? No, not really.

Ridiculous: Elijah Dukes Fined, Benched For Doing Charity Work

DTJchris — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:42:52 -0000

Ridiculous: Elijah Dukes Fined, Benched For Doing Charity Work

Came across this article. Though I don't particularly care one way or the other about the Nationals franchise, this article really irritates me. A ball player doing something for the community should be seen as a positive, especially a ball player with a troubled past like Dukes.

To be honest, I hope Acta does get fired after this.

Matt Clement Retires

DTJchris — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:33:36 -0000

Matt Clement Retires

Good bye Clement, you had a good run with the Cubs and I'll always remember that goatee of yours. Happy trails.

(would have linked to the original article, but it was through Twitter and I hate Twitter)

BCB FANTASY BASEBALL REMINDER!!!

DTJchris — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:37:57 -0000

Couple things. First, we are in need of one more owner for the league drafting tomorrow at Noon ET, 11 a.m. Central. Please email me at chrisgreising(at)gmail(dot)com if you want in. Again, its only one spot so first person to email me gets it

Second just wanted to remind everyone that this weekend is the big BCB Fantasy Draft weekend. Here's the leagues and times:

~~BCB Fantasy Baseball II - Sunday, March 29, Noon ET~~

BCB Fantasy Baseball III - Sunday, March 29, 10 p.m. ET

BCB Fantasy Baseball IV - Monday, March 30, 10 p.m. ET

If you signed up, please, show up. Thanks! Again, one more owner is needed!

Cubs really bad at 1st round picks

DTJchris — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:51:09 -0000

There's this article by Jim Callis of Baseball America that I read today (thanks to MLBtraderumors) about the success rate of first round picks, or more accurately, drafting players which go on to significant careers. In his estimation, 42 percent of all first round draft picks since 1965 have gone on to "significant" careers. Callis categorizes significant careers as this:

In terms of significant careers (1,000 at-bats, 300 innings or 100 pitching appearances), 42.1 percent of the first-rounders from 1965-2004 have achieved that distinction. Another 15-30 players from those drafts, such as Josh Hamilton, should reach those milestones, which will move the percentage closer to 44 percent.

Which got me thinking about 1st round draft picks by the Cubs and their success rate. What I found is that the Cubs completely fail when drafting in the first round. Of the 44 first round picks the Cubs have had since 1965, only 10 players (22 percent) have gone on to "significant" careers. Here's the list:

Roger Metzger (1969)

Scott Thompson (1974)

Joe Carter (1981)

Shawon Dunston (1982)

Rafael Palmeiro (1985)

Doug Glanville (1991)

Kerry Wood (1995)

Jon Garland (1997)

Corey Patterson (1998)

Mark Prior (2001)

As you can see, this isn't the most distiguished list of players to ever take the field. And I would say half those players, Joe Carter, Shawon Dunston, Rafael Palmeiro, Doug Glanville, and Kerry Wood, went on to what would be considered "good" careers. I am not sure in Callis' estimation what percentage of players go on to good careers.

Another thing I found funny in this article, in a sad sort of way, was this:

The best draft for producing first-round big leaguers was 1990, which went 22-for-26... The 1993 first round did the best job of producing significant big leaguers, going 17-for-28.

In 1990, the Cubs drafted Lance Dickson. In 1993, the Cubs had two first round draft picks, they drafted Brooks Kieschnick and Jon Ratliff.

Anyway, just wanted to share this tale of woe with my fellow BCB'ers.

EDIT: I didn't include Derrick May on the list, which I should have, so it is closer to 27 or 28 percent probably.

A nice article on Heilman

DTJchris — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:35:01 -0000

A nice article on Heilman

BCB Fantasy Baseball Champions

DTJchris — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:20:35 -0000

Hello All,

Earlier this year I arraigned three fantasy baseball teams for BCB and thought now that the [Cubs] season is officially over with we can give congrats and props to those who won the BCB fantasy leagues and those who placed in the top three.

Neifi Perez Fan Club league: 1st Place: Debaser nee FwP (aka Fairies with Plague) 2nd place: Chicago Beer Nutz 3rd place: Madville Ducks

Jose Macias Fan Club league: 1st Place: Leon Durham Bulls 2nd Place: BruceKimm4HOF 3rd Place: Sactown Maddies Men (aka Josh77)

Ryno's Happy Place league (aka Super Competitive Keeper League) 1st Place: Sacramento Swamp Hawks (aka Josh 77) 2nd Place: The Fuku Toos 3rd Place: Leon Durham Bulls

I apologize to all for not having each person's BCB screen name posted. I have a list but it is back home (about 5,000 miles away). I do know that Al, our fearless leader, did place last in in the Neifi Perez Fan Club, so feel free to give him a hard time for his performance in fantasy baseball ; ) So if anyone wishes to make their team and accomplishments known but are not recognized in parentheses, please do so.

Again, thanks to all the participants, everyone seemed to participate throughout the year and made the leagues very enjoyable. I will try to make the BCB fantasy leagues smaller next year and just have more next year, so sorry to all who felt it was too many teams, and it probably was to be honest, for a casual league.

Also, if people could recommend this post, I would appreciate it as I feel those who placed in the top three in their respective leagues should be recognized. I do not want their accomplishments to get lost in the endless, "give up on the Cubs," and "this is why they suck," fanposts over the last couple days.

Fantasy Hockey Rankings

DTJchris — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:54:41 -0000

Hello Fantasy Sports Fanatics:

I was searching this site and have not been able to locate any Fantasy Hockey Rankings. This is my first year doing Fantasy Hockey (not a big fan, but just love fantasy sports so I said, "why not") and really have no idea about draft strategies or rankings of players.

I was wondering if anyone had any reliable Fantasy Hockey sites or if there is a rankings/discussion here and I perhaps just missed it. Since this is my first year doing it, I want to be the Sabres player and not the Bruin in this picture:

via www.guzer.com

Any help you can give would be great and I appreciate any feedback.

Clemens DNA test: Positive

DTJchris — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:11:54 -0000

"Tests of syringes and other steroid paraphernalia that trainer Brian McNamee submitted to federal agents will test positive for Roger Clemens' DNA, according to a brief filed in court by McNamee's lawyers."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3472451

So, it sounds like Clemens is a big fat liar, surprise, surprise! I never really liked this guy and I am not afraid to admit that I am watching with glee as this guys career and legacy come crumbling apart. I read somewhere that he's had to sell his Bentley to help pay for lawyer fees.

He has been willing to throw his wife, teammates, friends, basically anyone, under the bus in an attempt to save face but you can't argue with the results (though I'm sure his lawyers will firgure something out).

Even until last December, Clemens was a lock for being a first ballot Hall of Famer, now he may not even get in. Besides maybe Palmero, no player has fallen farther, faster, in my opinion.

The question, is Roger Clemens no longer a Hall of Famer?

Poll

Will Roger Clemens be inducted into the Hall of Fame?

Yes

19 votes

No

64 votes

83 votes | Poll has closed