SB Nation User Blog: FunWithHeadlines

The ML Ball Graphic Logo: Steroids?

FunWithHeadlines — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 20:26:24 -0000

OK, so I've seen the graphic logo for this web site for the last year, and when I've stopped to think about it I usually think how un-minor league this guys looks. He looks like a guy in his mid-30s who has bulked up in order to cash in on some DH contract. Then just today it hit me:

Steroids! Yes, the topic of the hour. How else would a batter bulk up to superhuman dimensions? (Memo to self: Drug testing for Superman, look into it)

Either that or he is one of those mashers Bugs Bunny faced off against in that cartoon . . .

Poll

The cause of all those muscles is

Steroids, count on it.

27 votes

Overheated imagination by the illustrator.

10 votes

The batter is actually a super-hero at night.

16 votes

Good, clean living and fresh mountain air.

16 votes

69 votes | Poll has closed

Which next-tier pitching prospect will be best?

FunWithHeadlines — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 18:56:37 -0000

Let's leave aside the superstar prospects like Felix or Billingsley or Verlander or Cain. I want to get a community opinion on the next tier of guys, the ones who might pitch soon but probably won't be up until 2007, and then might not really stick until 2008+. Looking at John's ratings, I see the next big group to be from the five guys I've put in the polls. Discussion of my opinions after the break.

Lester seems to be spoken of as the best of this bunch, but he'll be going to the AL East, and that ain't easy to deal with.

Nippert is now getting more attention, even though he's been on the radar for a couple of years. Will he be part of the next way of Diamondback talent that lifts this franchise? Does his home park hurt his chances?

Pelfrey is a bit unproven, but seems to have the goods and is a big guy. But the Mets have a rough record with prospects. Still, Shea is a nice place to pitch, and the NL East is not as scary as other divisions.

Sanchez is getting really nice press, and the opportunity is going to be there for him. Does he get rushed? Does he reach his full potential?

Volquez has a shot at making the rotation this year, and is certainly not far away. Great prospect, but oh that ballpark!

If you could build your team around one of these five, figuring that you might get the first five or so years before you have to deal with free agency, which one do you think produces the best overall numbers during his first five full-time years?

Poll

Best overall stats for their first 5 years in the majors as full-time starters?

Dustin Nippert, Arizona

19 votes

Mike Pelfrey, Mets

103 votes

Anibal Sanchez, Florida

27 votes

Edison Volquez, Texas

22 votes

Jon Lester, Boston

69 votes

240 votes | Poll has closed

About that new Valentine ad...

FunWithHeadlines — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:15:04 -0000

I love how online advertisers know exactly how to appeal to the male sports fan's mind. So when you go to your fantasy baseball site, chances are you'll see some banner ads for gambling sites. How do you know it's an ad for a gambling site? It has a picture of a barely-dressed woman. What's the connection? Hormonal...

So about that new ad we see on this site, the one with the naked woman "wearing" only a heart-shaped box of chocolates held in a strategic position? I have four thoughts:

1. Boy, do these advertisers know us, or what? :)

2. This is just barely SFW...

3. I wonder if the female readers of this site would like a similar ad, showing some beefcake guy holding up a heart-shaped package in front of his, uh, package?

4. And speaking of female readers, remember when Patsy Dean volunteered to model anything suggested? Looking at this Valentine ad, uh Patsy, I have a suggestion...

How to gain lots of traffic for this site

FunWithHeadlines — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:36:04 -0000

One thing we all want is for this great site of John's to grow and prosper. The more web traffic he gets, the better the ad rates, the more money he can make, the more time he has to research and report and hang out with us.

Well, by noticing the most heavily-trafficked diaries over the past few weeks, I think I have come up with the killer diary. The diary that will drive traffic to this site like no other. The combination of people and ideas that will cause an explosion of interest:

...that's right, Patsy Dean, in a "Yankees suck!" bikini, reporting from the AFL, giving lectures about the differences between evolution and ID.

Why isn't King Felix walking anyone?

FunWithHeadlines — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 01:38:03 -0000

When a pitcher moves up the minor league ranks, you can expect some typical behavior. A flamethrower who mows them down in the A- and AA- level, still gets his strikeouts in AAA and in the majors, but usually at a lower rate. A pitcher's control over his walks can come back to bite a highly thought of pitcher when he reaches the major leagues. Ideally you get a pitcher who gets strikes and doesn't issue many walks. That way when they get to the bigs, he might only strike out 6 or 7 per 9IP, but by not walking many he sets himself up for success.

That's typical. And then there's Felix...

OK, let's take a look at Felix's K rate:

2003 (A), 69 IP: 11.9 K/9
2004 (A/AA), 149 IP: 10.4
2005 (AAA), 88 IP: 10.2
2005 (MLB), 29 IP: 9.3

That looks just about right. He dropped a bit at every level, but continues to be just great. You want to see a pitcher get at least 6 or 7 K/9, and he's doing far more than that.

But now look at his walk rate:

3.5 BB/9
2.8 BB/9
4.9 BB/9

MLB: 1.2 BB/9

Huh? What gives? He went from 3.5 down to 2.8 last year, and that's nice progress. Then he went to AAA this year and balooned up to 4.9, and that's the thing we all wondered about. Would he handle major league pitching, or would the walks cause him problems? But through 29 innings so far, including a second game against the Twins when they were trying to be patient and taking pitches, he has issued only 1.2 BB/9. Basically he's showing phenomenal control.

Why? Is this just a lucky start to his career, and his walk rate will soon rise? Or has he suddenly locked in, or figured something out? Why isn't King Felix walking anyone?

John's Revised Top 50

FunWithHeadlines — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 01:04:49 -0000

I won't post John's revised lists for obvious reasons, but newsletter subscribers got them in the mail over the last few days. All I'm saying is that as a Felix-Verlander-Billingsley owner, I'm as happy as can be.

But I have some questions about some pitchers who did not make the revised list (or the original 2005 list for that matter). I'm curious what the readership here thinks of their progress and chances.

One guy is Chuck Tiffany, LA Dodgers. The southpaw is leading his team with 7 wins so far, and seems to be having a good year. What do you guys know about his underlying numbers, and skill progression? Is he still looking good?

Then there's Greg Miller, also of the Dodgers. I've read that he continues down the rehabilitation path. Any news on him? Think he's worth hanging onto in case that old skill level trumps his injuries?

King Felix sidelined

FunWithHeadlines — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 00:01:21 -0000

Seattle paper story

Is there a doctor in the house? How serious is this for Felix Hernandez? He'll miss his next start and then...?

The story says he has been diagnosed with mild bursitis in his right shoulder. That's all it says.

Is this from overuse? Doesn't seem like it as the M's have been real careful with Felix. Just normal growing pains? Slept on his shoulder? I have no clue, and I'm not a doctor. Anyone in the Seattle area know anything more?

Which of these MLers is not like the other?

FunWithHeadlines — Sun, 03 Apr 2005 00:00:23 -0000

I play in a few leagues, but my main one is a H2H points-based league where the scoring rules so favor the pitchers that any fool who can hurl a ball can help you. That means the competition for top pitchers is huge. So this is the one league, and I mean the ONLY league, where I emphasize pitching in my minor league draft. 15-man ML rosters, so you can speculate deep. What I do is take what John says and only go for B, B+, A-, or A players. I look for top of the rotation starters, and guys who dominate. If only every fourth guy comes through, I'm set.

Well, my draft is done, and here is who I have. I like them all, but maybe you can point out one or two who is not quite as good as the rest. I need trade bait, after all, so your opinions will help!

So which of these guys would you trade, and which ones would you hang onto for dear life? In batters, and I do have some, I have:

Joe Mauer, C -- Yeah, still eligible
Brian McCann, C
Eric Duncan, 3B
Chris Nelson, SS
Stephen Drew, SS
JJ Hardy, SS -- Can you guess what position I speculate on?
Javier Herrera, OF

Then for pitching I have:

Felix Hernandez
Chad Billingsley
Jeff Niemann
Justin Verlander
Denny Bautista
Ervin Santana
Chuck Tiffany
Greg Miller

So which of these is not like the others, as that old Sesame Street song went? Which ones would you willingly trade, and which ones would you keep no matter what?

Poll

Here's who I think is least valuable. What about you?

Chuck Tiffany

8 votes

Greg Miller

6 votes

Justin Verlander

13 votes

Eric Duncan

7 votes

Stephen Drew

12 votes

46 votes | Poll has closed

Adam Miller: Talented enough to take anyway?

FunWithHeadlines — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 04:13:20 -0000

What if you have a bunch of picks in your upcoming keeper league ML draft, and you were really high on Miller before his injury. Do you still take him knowing that you can keep a guy on your ML roster as long as you want? Or will his injuries derail his early career enough to not make it worth bothering?

I have enough picks that I can use one for Miller and not miss it. He would be a 3rd or 5th rounder for me, and thus $5 salary whenever he comes up, and at that price for his first 3 years (counting year one as the year in which he crosses his 50th career IP). So given his type of injury, coupled with his talent level, do you think he would be worth taking a chance on?

Poll

Is Miller's talent enough to take anyway?

Yes, take a chance

50 votes

No, he'll be too slow returning from the injury

16 votes

66 votes | Poll has closed

Do You Reach Deep?

FunWithHeadlines — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:39:32 -0000

When you are in a shallow league, you can skim the cream of the crop for minor leaguers. Nothing but A-rated players for you, thank you very much. But what about those of us in deeper leagues? What do you do when you reach the end of the Top 100 lists, and there's nothing but low-rated players remaining from C to sagging C. (OK, that was a terrible pun) What you do is learn to dig deep.

In one league, we have 16 teams and a 15-man minor league roster. When you are rostering 240 minor leaguers, believe me the talent starts to get thin. There are only so many Japanese players you can speculate on in the end game. So what some of us have started doing is speculating on the deep play, and we've started taking college players of note.

It began with me, I think, and mabye one other owner. I drafted Rickie Weeks once I heard he was going to be the #1 pick in the draft later that year. That got people's attention, and soon other owners began to dig deeper. Last year we drafted Weaver, Verlander, Humber, and Niemann all in early rounds. Before any of them were drafted. We saw what they did in college, knew they would be fast-tracked in the bigs, and took a chance.

Heck, I grabbe Jeff Clement when he was a freshman at USC. Hit that many home runs and I don't care you did it in high school. I'm interested. As luck would have it, there is an Iowa owner in my league who actually knew the kid and was chagrined that I took him. So I traded Clement for a major leaguer!

Those of you in deeper leagues, now's the time to speculate on guys who will be drafted later this year. Your late round picks are ideal for that. Whatever it takes to get an edge, right?