Barry Bonds was found guilty of his Obstruction of Justice charge and there was a hung jury on the other three counts against him.  There appears to be no word on whether the Federal Prosecutors will seek another trial for the mistried counts.  There also appears to be no word yet on how the jury was deadlocked, whether the numbers were 10-2, 6-6, etc.  That may play a role in whether another trial goes forward.  

In a post verdict press release U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag stated in part:

"This case is about upholding one of the most fundamental principles in our system of justice — the obligation of every witness to provide truthful and direct testimony in judicial proceedings. In the United States, taking an oath and promising to testify truthfully is a serious matter." 

That being said, an interesting point arises: what should the Federal Prosecutors do about their own witnesses  whom the jury (or some members of the jury) felt were not credible?  For instance, Barry Bonds' former mistress testified for the Prosecution.  Apparently her testimony was more related to the charges which ended up with a hung jury.  Did the jury feel she did not provide "truthful and direct testimony."   Probably so.  

But don't expect a trial against Bonds' former mistress anytime soon.  There is an age old presumption that the only witnesses ever to receive perjury related charges are those testifying for the defense.  

So there are two outs in the ninth with the Dodgers leading 4-0 with two men on base.  Broxton comes in and walks the first guy.  The second guy hits into a fielders choice (interference call out).  Score ends 4-0 and Broxton gets the save.  How?

I am writing this from what I am reading online, looking at the box score.  I did not watch the game.  So if I am missing something let me know.

In my 4x4 roto, 10 team mixed league I have had a proposal in which I give up Andrew McCutchen for Carl Crawford.  In the big picture of things I see these two as somewhat even, considering the 4x4 scoring.  McCutchen has pretty much been entrenched in the 3 hole this year and I doubt that changes much.  Crawford has been up and down the lineup- hitting in the 2 hole as well as the 3 and 7.  I think the only real concern I have with Crawford is him hitting in the 3 hole in front of LHH Adrian Gonzalez as his sb attempts could take a nose dive if that continues.  Then again, in the 3 hole McCutchen is hitting right in front of LHH Lyle Overbay which could cause fewer stolen base attempts this year as well.

The categories for 4x4 are stolen bases, rbi's, hr's and BA.   I see the categories as this-

Crawford most likely winning the sb batle between him and McCutchen although I could see Crawford in the 30-35 sb range for the year instead of the 40+.  

RBI's- I think this could be almost even but with McCutchen having a few more.  Even if McCutchen stays in the 3 hole I think Crawford playing in the AL in that BoSox line-up will have a lot of rbi's no matter where he hits in the order: 2nd, 3rd or 7th.

HR's: Here McCutchen has the edge.  I think Crawford could hit 20 but McCutchen should be able to nail 25.  Crawford's career numbers in Boston are nothing to get too excited over.  But I think he tops last year's career high of  19.

BA: This is a hard one but I think I have to go with McCutchen on this one.  Sure Crawford has better career numbers and the end result may be pretty close but I think McCutchen has the better chance of hitting .300+ this year between the two.  Maybe they both hit .300...but I think McCutchen hits a tad higher than Crawford.  I'm sure many will disagree with this.

Of course this is all just conjecture on my part, but for the sake of argument, it looks like McCutchen could win 3 of the 4 categories even though they should all be close.  If McCutchen stays in the 3 hole all year I could see him stealing closer to 20 bases as opposed to 30+, especially if he is hitting in front of Overbay all season.  Of course, Crawford could lose sb attempts too.  If this is all true, does the disparity in sb's make up for the categories where McCutchen may have a small chance at coming out ahead?

Any other thoughts or counter arguments?

Thoughts on this trade proposal?

Here are the results of my last draft of the year.  It's a Sportsline 4x4 mixed roto with daily line-ups, 10 teams.  I had the #6 pick and went with Adrian Gonzalez.  It ticks me off that I know I have to take the 3rd best player (or worse) at a position with my first pick.  But David Wright was there on the way back which cooled things off for a little while.  There were some auto picks going so the results were a little screwy and I let the clock get down to the point I had to make a couple last second picks.  I'm a pitcher or two short for now unless Morrow makes a start soon.  So someone may be getting picked off the waiver wire.  Anyway, here's the team-

C- John Buck

C- Jorge Posada

1b- Adrian Gonzalez

2b- Kelly Johnson

3b- David Wright

SS-  Juan Uribe

MI- JJ Hardy

CI- Ryan Howard

OF- Rajai Davis

OF- Jacoby Ellsbury

OF- Curtis Granderson

OF- Andrew McCutchen

OF- Mike Stanton

U- Aramis Ramirez

Bench- Brandon Belt

Bench- Kila Ka'aihue

Bench- Asdrubal Cabrera

Bench- David Ortiz

P- CC Sabathia

P- Jered Weaver

P- Fausto Carmona

P- Ted Lilly

P- Brandon Morrow

P- Wade Davis

P- Jose Contreras

P- Kevin Gregg

P- Jose Valverde

Bench- Zack Greinke

Bench- Frank Francisco

 

I'm not sure what to think about the ARam, Big Papi, Ryan Howard trio as only two of the three can start at a time since David Wright and Adrian Gonzalez will start everyday.  Being a daily league maybe I can work them in some how though.  I guess if any outfielder goes down I will need to make a trip to the waiver wire pretty soon as well.  Maybe I can pull a trade for an outfielder.

Anyone have interest in a last minute Faketeams and/or SB Nation league?  If people would even put in $10 it would help a lot.  I'm not sure who all would be willing to do that though.  Anyway if you are interested in a free league only but are willing to remain involved with a league please state so below.  Also, say which type of league you are interested in-

1.  AL only, NL only or mixed leagues

2. roto or head to head or bizarro

3. best time to draft (or list "auto draft" if that's what you want)

We'll need to have an estimate of the number of players so we can choose the format on yahoo.  If sportsline or espn would be better then just let your thoughts known.  I would rather have a larger league though.

We can see how many want to sign up then maybe do a league on yahoo.  If we have to we can punt the first week unless we have enough time to get a league set up and draft date before the season starts.

Whoever wins can have some sort of prize.  Hell I'll throw in a baseball card worth $50 to the winner.  Others can add a prize if the want.  We could just pay $10 each to Leaguesafe.com or by paypal.  If not enough want a pay league then I guess we'll just have to use the honor system of people staying involved in the league.

email me at rickster at ymail if you are interested or make a post here.  If we get enough feedback I'll set something up and we can go from there.

10 teams, snake draft, NL only 5x5 roto.  I'm sure this team has several needs.  My first picks were at #10 and 11- I went with Ryan Howard and Prince.  After that there was a mish mash of picks.  Any thoughts?

 Pos Player 

C Doumit, Ryan (C PIT) 

C Buck, John (C FLA)  

1B Howard, Ryan (1B PHI)  

2B Theriot, Ryan (2B STL) 

3B Freese, David (3B STL) 

SS Furcal, Rafael (SS LA) 

MI Castillo, Luis (2B PHI)

CI Fielder, Prince (1B MIL) 

OF Hawpe, Brad (OF SD)

OF McLouth, Nate (OF ATL) 

OF Ethier, Andre (OF LA)

OF Bourn, Michael (OF HOU) 

OF Bonifacio, Emilio (OF FLA)

U Hairston, Scott (OF NYM) 

P Carpenter, Chris (P STL)

P Westbrook, Jake (P STL)

P Cordero, Francisco (P CIN) 

P Lohse, Kyle (P STL) 

P Greinke, Zack (P MIL) 

P Motte, Jason (P STL)  

P Volquez, Edinson (P CIN) 

P Cashner, Andrew (P CHC)  

P Axford, John (P MIL) 

RES Garland, Jon (P LA) 

RES Gwynn, Tony (OF LA)  

RES Jansen, Kenley (P LA) 

RES Mayberry, John (OF PHI) 

RES Leake, Mike (P CIN)

RES Barney, Darwin (SS CHC)

I have my draft tomorrow at 4:30 central time in my AL only league.  I was give pick #9 out of a 10 team snake draft.  I'm not sure what to expect but I am certain none of the big names will fall far.  Anyway, does anyone know of any last minute roster moves by AL teams that I could use?  I am going mainly by kffl and mlbdepthcarts.com.  This is my league that is in it's seventh year with some returning players...the league was ranked #1 in the world on Sportsline a few years back, before they stopped ranking leagues.  So it's always nice to win it- I think I have won it twice and made the play-offs 4-5 times.  

PS- this league has no keepers.  It's a points league with standard sportsline rosters and scoring.  Pitching is very shallow in AL only leagues so I may have to do directly to alternating pitchers and hitters with my picks.  Is Youkilis worthy of a #9 pick considering he will be 3b eligible in a couple weeks?  I'm thinking my first two picks may be Youkilis and either Lester or CC.  Thoughts?

My strategy was to punt the catcher position until very late and have my first 3 picks to be power hitting types.  I went with Pujols, Prince and Youkilis as the other 3b's were already off the table by pick 20- and so were the OF players I wanted, even Matt Holliday.  

OK here is the worst team ever in 5x5 mixed roto-

Round · By Team · Pos Player Elig Status

C Torrealba, Yorvit (C TEX) C · U  

C Buck, John (C FLA) C · U

1B Pujols, Albert (1B STL) 1B · CI · U

2B Weeks, Rickie (2B MIL) 2B · MI · U  

3B Ramirez, Aramis (3B CHC) 3B · CI · U  

SS Furcal, Rafael (SS LA) MI · SS · U

MI Figgins, Chone (2B SEA) 2B · MI · U  

CI Fielder, Prince (1B MIL) 1B · CI · U  

OF Bay, Jason (OF NYM) OF · U  

OF Swisher, Nick (OF NYY) OF · U

OF Granderson, Curtis (OF NYY) OF · U  

OF Bruce, Jay (OF CIN) OF · U

OF Gardner, Brett (OF NYY) OF · U  

U Youkilis, Kevin (1B BOS) 1B · CI · U  

P Lowe, Derek (P ATL) P  

P Cordero, Francisco (P CIN) P  

P Gregg, Kevin (P BAL) P

P Oswalt, Roy (P PHI) P

P Bell, Heath (P SD) P

P Francisco, Frank (P TOR) P

P Lester, Jon (P BOS) P ACT

P Romero, Ricky (P TOR) P  

P Gallardo, Yovani (P MIL) P

RES Fuentes, Brian (P OAK) P  

RES Arroyo, Bronson (P CIN) P  

RES Berkman, Lance (1B STL) 1B · CI · U  

RES Westbrook, Jake (P STL) P  

RES Soriano, Alfonso (OF CHC) OF · U

RES Uribe, Juan (SS LA) 2B-3B-SS-MI-CI-U

Saves will be iffy and so will any speed.  There's a few FA's available yet  that could replace some of the guys on this roster.  Any obvious holes that need filled immediately besides the catcher spots?  I'll most likely use Youkilis at Utility until he becomes eligible at 3b.  Then I'll move ARam to the bench unless he is playing well.  Maybe that will clear up the utility spot for a FA player with some sb potential.

Well my draft room on Sportsline shows me as in the #1 position.  I guess the thing to do is just take Pujols without too much deliberating?  I'm assuming the only other potential #1's would either be Hanley or Roy Halladay, depending on draft strategy?  Anyone else even in the picture considering the scoring format?  I don't like to pay a lot for speed - or draft speed too early.

For picks 20 and 21 I'm assuming I'll go my usual route and try to build the other corner (best 3b) and grab a pitcher.  Although a good outfielder would be difficult to pass up (instead of a 3b).  I'm thinking with the waiting time for my picks I should just use my strategy of taking a pitcher and hitter - alternating with each of my picks.  What's anyone's thoughts?

I think this is the first time I have had #1 overall in a long time.  Being a Cards fan it would be impossible to pass on Pujols - unless he steps in front of a bus before draft time.

Barry Enright just threw his fifth strong start of ST.  Although there seems to be hope in the air for a decent 2011 out of Enright, Ron Shandler says to stay far, far away.  Is he right or just full of hogwash?

Here is a recent piece by Shandler regarding Barry Enright:

Enright making progress in ARI rotation quest

Thus far this spring Barry Enright (RHP, ARI) is outdistancing the competition in his quest to claim one of the two openings in the Diamondbacks rotation. Thus far, Enright has allowed 3 earned runs in 12 IP, while Aaron Heilman has allowed 7 earned runs in 12 IP, andArmando Galarraga is in need of a couple of good outings, as he has allowed 10 ER in 11 IP.

 

Enright had a 3.91 ERA in 99 IP for Arizona in 2010, but as analyst Jeffrey Tomich demonstrated a month ago, Enright's skills were a disaster waiting to happen. His 50% fly ball rate, 1.8 hr/9, 13% hr/f, and low 4.5 dominance were all strong warning signs. Enright's spring performance has done little to quell those fears. The three earned runs that he has allowed have all come on solo homers. And his spring Dom is 4.5. Even in a tiny sample size, Enright's warts are showing. Even if he wins a rotation spot, as now appears likely, he's high risk on a fanalytic roster.

Here is Enright's game log from yahoo sports-

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/8755/gamelog;_ylt=AqlFSgRX9.eckTbvYKc5zSCFCLcF

What stands out to me obviously is that Enright was cruising along until he hit his previous innings high for a season (164), then he hit the wall.  He finished the season throwing 192.2 combined innings at the MiLB and MLB level.  He also  made the jump from AA to MLB which is usually not a good thing for someone who has been very hittable pretty much his entire career.  Enright  began his MLB career last season by making 12 nice starts in a row, five on the road and seven at home.  Then disaster fell upon his skills like an axe to a chicken's neck.  

But during his twelve game stretch, Enright parlayed into a flyball pitcher with limited k skills but showed some ability to keep the ball in the park on the road,  giving up 2 homers in some 29 innings in away parks.  Out of 73+ innings total in his first twelve starts he gave up eight homers (six of those were at home in only 44+ innings).  Also during this twelve game stretch Enright had a gb/fb count of 48/59 at home and 37/49 on the road (as per yahoo).

So there you go.  Is Enright someone who should be avoided at all costs or a cheap player who may turn a profit?  There's an argument that his pitch economy is suspect, which also means he's probably due to fall behind in a higher share of counts.  There's also the ever present fear that he'll hit the wall again at 160 innings.   I was surprised to see the D-backs allow that to happen last year and believe it won't happen again.  So Enright fits into the sell high category for 2011, especially if he gets through a decent April.  Then again he could be chucking soft toss for the BayBears by mid-May for all I know.  I don't think anyone is arguing that he'll be the next coming of Greg Maddux.  But maybe somewhere there's an argument that he may not end up as bad as Shandler thinks.  

I have been trying to find some undervalued players for some of the NL and AL 5x5 roto leagues I am in.  So far I think some of the following players intrigue me somewhat as either bargains - maybe they get some unexpected playing time, are flying under the radar a bit lower than they should be or just are better than people are giving them credit, etc.  Anyway, here is the list- let me know your thoughts.  Thanks.

Chris Denorfia,  San Diego Padres: maybe he eventually beats out Cam Maybin for at bats?

Lonnie Chisenhall 3b Indians: could win the Tribe's 3b job out of ST?  If not, what happens in Cleveland at 3b?

Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians: call me crazy but the guy had a decent stretch of starts last September (6/6 QS).

Tony Gwynn, Los Angeles Dodgers: if the D's can get enough offense out of the power hitters of the team I could certainly see Gwynn playing most days in LF.

Chris Dickerson, Milwaukee Brewers: he could eventually unseat Carlos Gomez and the Brewcrew could use an extra LH hitter anyway.

 Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Minnesota Twins: just looking for some info on this guy.  Looks like he's penciled in the #2 hole in the lineup against LH and RH pitching- any thoughts on this?

Josh Outman, Oakland Athletics: if he's healthy enough he could do fairly well.  I know, big "if".   

Sean Rodriguez, Tampa Bay Rays: thoughts on this guy?  Is he tearing up ST like last year?

Michael Morse, Washington Nationals: I see Morse as eventually getting most of the ab's in LF and Benadina replacing Nyger Morgan in CF.  Then again, Bernadina could drop off the radar completely.

Ian Kennedy, Arizona Diamondbacks: had a surprisingly nice 2010 yet had little fanfare to show for it.  He plays for a bad team, but there are a lot of bad teams in the NL.  So winning 14-15 games would not be a total surprise.

Tyler Colvin, Chicago Cubs: still not enough room in Chicago but he's probably their best offensive threat behind a healthy ARam.

Ryan Kalish, Boston Red Sox: not enough room for ab's in Boston but maybe something works out where he can get on the field somewhere.

Brad Hawpe, Padres: I've not given up hope on Hawpe.  If healthy, he can deliver 25 homers still.

Chris Capuano, Mets: The CC Riders will await the return of Sabathia, until then Capuano is probably the Mets best starting pitcher.   He may have a problem with wins and innings may be a problem...then again so could the bullpen blowing some leads and letting inherited runners score.  But if all that is over hyped then Capuano wins 12-14 games. pitches 180 innings and has a 3.5 ERA.

Taylor Buchholz, Mets: my 2 cents worth says this guy could end up in the Mets rotation before all is said and done.  He looked legit coming up with the Astros.  But I don't think he ever figured out if he's a gb or fb pitcher.  With some tutelage, he could get some cheap wins at the tail end of the met rotation.  

Koji Uehara, Baltimore Orioles: I don't think there's any way he is in the bullpen now that the O's have a closer.  There is an inherent shortage of starting pitchers in AL only leagues, so KU could pay off before all is said and done.

Justin Duchscherer, Baltimore Orioles:  I don't put a lot of stock in Jeremie Guthrie repeating 2010.  So Brian Matusz is the O's best pitcher by default.  I see Duchscherer making the O's rotation, along with Uehara.    

Chien-Ming Wang, Nationals: He's just now throwing in simulated games.  So if all goes well he could be in D.C. by May'ish.  Not that he'll win 25 games this year, but he could help in a few roto categories down the stretch.

Ryan Raburn, Detroit Tigers: this guy seems to be such a slow starter that I'm surprised he's penciled in as the everyday in left field.  Is there any chance Brandon Boesch recovers from free-fall enough to win the LF job?

Thoughts on these guys?  Any other dollar bin guys worth talking about?

Title says it all.  I would be interested in a Faketeams league if there is an entry fee (can be $10-20, whatever).  Maybe we could do AL only or NL only or have a large mixed league- h2h or roto is fine, I prefer 5x5 over 4x4 if that makes any difference.  As far as Bizarro, I believe Yahoo has some settings pre-set which are ok.  I tweaked the settings some to add a bit more flavor last night...so adding more is possible.  Let me know what anyone thinks.  Either post your interest here and how much you would be willing to put as a entry fee or send me an email at rick_mo37 at yahoo.

thanks

Bring your BABIP, outliers,  and unsustainable whatever else mumbo jumbo info.  There are two leagues I have on Sportsline that have openings.  Both are pay leagues.  The cost of joining one is the standard $99 while the cost of a second is $79.  The winner of either league gets $600.  There is no runner up money, but Sportsline has always paid without any problems, which can be an issue for some pay league sites.  And besides all that, if the money winner is one of you Saber guys maybe you can invest in a nice Thesaurus to share amongst your group. 

Anyway, here are the league details-

League 1

AL Only, h2h, live online draft March 26 at 5:30 PM Eastern, weekly lineups

The name of the league is the AL Clean League.  This league has some returning players although I expect the normal 5 or so openings.  This league was the #1 ranked league in the world for 2005 on Sportsline.  Rules are standard Sportsline rules.

League 2

Mixed, roto 5x5, live online draft March 17 at 8:30 PM Eastern, daily lineups

The name of the league is The Patriot League and the description above pretty much says it all.

Ok- so the offense starved Royals get a couple banjo hitters in Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar, a low level pitcher and the infamous PTMNL, who turns out to be a player a one-hitter away from a lifetime ban in MLB.  Oh and apparently they get $2 Mil, maybe in Walmart gift cards?  The Royals showed why they are probably the most incompetent bunch in baseball.  BTW- they give away a player who is now probably the best offensive SS in the NL Central.  Maybe that's not saying much, though.  But Yuniesky Betancourt certainly helps the Brewers' cause.  

Maybe Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress turn out well for the Royals?  Nobody knows at this point.  They were both rated pretty high in the Milwaukee organization.  So I like this deal better than any of their prior trades - sending away Jermaine Dye for Neifi Perez; Johnny Damon for AJ Hynch, Angel Berroa and Roberto Hernandez; Carlos Beltran for Mark Teahen, Mike Wood and John Buck.  Hopefully this Greinke deal turns out better than any of those.

I have contacted several online commissioner services about setting up a league that will have two leagues- one of AL only players and one of NL only players.  This league would possibly have some inter-league games but certainly would have the Nl and AL champions meet in a fantasy World Series to end the season.  The cost may be higher than normal as I have been told some extra programming may be involved in setting up this format.  There possibly would be two separate drafts and, so far, only snake drafts are available.  The scoring format would be head to head and most likely the standard 5 hitting and pitching categories although that might be tweaked some- such as OBP instead of BA.

I would like to see who all is interested in joining and whether they would be interested in the AL, NL or either league component.  Also, as for the cost- I am waiting to get a final answer from one of the sites as they are checking with one of their programmers.  I don't like free leagues because I think a lot of people bail right after the draft.  But I would like to hear back from people interested in joining what they think would be a fair entry fee.  Part of the entry fee could go to recoup the cost of the league and the majority could go to prize money.  If people are only interested in paying a small amount to help recoup the commissioner costs that's fine too.  Just let me know.  I'm thinking somewhere in the area of $20 per team with payouts for each league champion and maybe 1st and 2nd in the playoffs.  But I am open to suggestions. 

If we have enough interest we could also phase in a minor league draft and a blog for off season moves.

For now I'm interested in knowing- who would be interested- just let me know NL, AL or either.  And let me know the dollar amount you would be OK with paying.  I would be willing to pay up to half the commissioner fees this first year.

Thanks

So the Nats just signed right fielder Jayson Werth to a seven year, $126 million deal?  This after letting a younger and more accomplished Adam Dunn walk away to a White Sox offer of four years and $56 million?  I just have to ask myself, what do the Nats see in Werth that they did not see in Adam Dunn?  It could not have been the need to fill a defensive position as the Nats had some serviceable players in right field.  Now they seem to have an overload there.  Oddly they still have a gaping hole at first base.  This is the type of deal that will keep the nats buried in the NL East for years to come.

Now the Nats are talking about having to move Josh Willingham via trade which will give them a very average outfield, even with the addition of Werth. 

A look at Jayson Werth shows he has never had a 100+ rbi season and has just one 100+ runs scored season.  I know, those are team dependent- but hell he played for the Phillies!  On the plus side though, Werth hit 36 homers in '09 and led the NL in doubles in 2010.   Still though, Werth is not a franchise type player.  He sure as heck is not worth two Adam Dunns.  

Maybe I'm missing the settings page somewhere, if not then I would like to make some site suggestions.  What led me to make this post is that I remember a week or two ago there was a post about people making fantasy baseball suggestions for off season coverage.  I started to try to find it, wading through pages of history to see if there had been any new replies to the thread.  That's when I asked myself- why can't we subscribe to threads to get email notifications for new replies?  That would be a nice way of being able to keep up on new replies and most blogs offer that feature.  

The other thing I wish was that when a reply to a Fanpost  thread was made that the thread jumped up to the top of the list on the front page.  That way the more active threads could always stay near the top.  How things are now, whether a thread is popular or not doesn't matter as the new ones keep pushing the older ones down.

So, in all- option to subscribe to any new article or Fanpost with email notification for a new reply.  And new Fanpost replies pushes the Fanpost to the top of the page in the Fanpost section. 

Any way to get that done?

Ok so I am in the playoffs of my NL only league and have a few lineup options.  Pitching is not really able to be changed but there is some batting line up issues that can be addressed.  Here's my line up-

C: Doumit

1b- Ike Davis

2. McGehee

3b: Aramis Ramirez

SS: Furcal

OF: Holliday

OF: Soriano

OF: Drew Stubbs

U: Chris Johnson

I have Lance Berkman, Kung Fu Panda and Nate McLouth on the bench.  I chose to site McLouth because he is facing 2 lefties in his 6 games next week and he's been sitting vs LHP.  His RHP includes games against Oswalt and Halladay.  Not a good week of match-ups for Nate.  Berkman and Kung Fu have been fodder the past month.  I can pick up Ryan Ludwick and stick him in the outfield in place of Soriano.  Or I could pick up Ludwick and put him at Utility and have Johnson replace Aramis.  The Cubs are home all week but I'm not sure how many at bats Aramis wil get, or if he will produce.  The Cubs face a slew of difficult pitchers this week but they are at home both series and there's always a chance Soriano and or Aramis could get hot, or just lucky and pop a long one or two.  So my issue is whether to pick up Ludwick and, if so, who to sit- Aramis or Soriano.  Ludwick usually hits his homers in bunches and I think he may have one last run left in him this month.  His games are at LA and home against the Reds.

Then there's Mike Morse who's available.  He's even across the board split-wise : home/away; left/right.  Not sure what sort of playing time he's looking at though although I suspect the Nats are giving him a long look for next year.  He has seven games scheduled next week- all at home, four against Houston followed by Atlanta.  Hell I should dump both Soriano and Aramis and start Ludwick and Morse.  Maybe not.  

Any ideas?

Well the season is winding down and it's time to put a grade on the season for our fantasy teams.  Sure, some head to head leagues have playoffs left but much of the time the results of those are due in large part to luck, two start weeks for pitchers, etc.  So just rate how your season went thus far.  Include what seemed to work this year and what didn't (if you experimented some).  

For me, my AL only h2h team is 13-9 and tied for first in my division.  The Pythagorean win/loss is 11-11.  The team with the best record is 15-7.  I would guess my chances of making the playoffs are about 75% and from there, who knows.  As for a grade on the team I would give it a C+/B- .

My NL only h2h team is 13-9 as well but in second place in my division.  The Pythagorean win/loss is 12-10.   I would guess my chances of making the playoffs is about 75% although I see my team backing in.  I would grade this team as a B/B- because of the better draft picks initially.

In my NL only league I was screwed by CBS Sportsline on draft night as I had auto pick set to OFF but the system picked for me anyway.  That was the #6 pick and Sportline drafted Roy Halladay when I had Ryan Howard cued.  But later on the Auto Draft suddenly decided to initiate itself again and chose Jon Garland late.  I was pretty ticked but that pick actually worked out pretty well.

In my AL only league there were no draft night issues.  I had the #4 pick and took Miguel Cabrera (despite recommendations to take someone different).   I certainly cannot about the results Miggy has provided.  But as in most AL only leagues, position scarcity raised its ugly head, especially for pitching.  And looking at my drafted team I think only about 1/2 or less of my roster is still in tact.

I think what has worked for me is to have a balanced team, hitting and pitching.  I like to get the best 2-3 players available at first and then alternate picks between position players and pitchers.  If it's time to take a pitcher I focus on starters but if they all look alike or I am undecided which to take, that's the cue for me to take a closer.

Then after assembling my team I keep an eye on how all the free agents are doing.  If some FA is doing well, especially at a scarce position, I grab them up.  Of course this means dropping someone I drafted, but that's the way it goes.  I put much more emphasis in having a few solid players at key positions and then grabbing fill ins from the available free agents.  Seriously, I think a person could take free agents in any mixed league formats and have a team that can compete with most any other team.  It ends up that way every year.  The trick is just to be able to pounce on those guys quickly.  Also, the availability of quality FA's in NL or AL only leagues is obviously much less than mixed leagues.  But it's still there.

I think I would give my overall grade a B- but the poll I have doesn't have the +/- options so I'll give my overall grade a B.

Here's what I have always wanted but never got the chance to put together, maybe because the coordination would take so long to get the behemoth off the ground- 

head to head scoring

20 teams total

10 teams AL only and 10 teams NL only

Have a schedule where there could be some interleague play (not a must)

Have a playoff and then a "true" world series

As of a couple years ago there was only one service that could do this and I'm not even sure if they are still around.  So if anyone knows a service that could handle a set up like this please let me know.

I think there would need to be two separate drafts, either snake draft or auction.

If this type of league were put together, who all would be interested in joining? 

If anyone is interested I would propose a $20 entry fee to pay for the league and prize money.

It's hard to believe that we are in the stretch run of the fantasy baseball season but with most leagues having their weeks remaining in the single digits it is time to consider addressing needs, especially in roto baseball categories.  One difficult category is wins.  Expected wins for a pitcher could probably be laid out in some Pythagorean record stat but I have my own theory (more like an educated guess) that a set up pitcher who throws the entire season for a winning team should end up with 6-7 wins.  That total is from skimming the stats over the past several years.  

The first time I checked out the stats of set up pitchers was several years back when I picked up Rudy Seanez late in the year.  He had an unusually low number of wins at the time but by the end of the year the win total was where it should be.  The bright side of all this is he picked up like 3-4 wins in a month's time during this period.

So I checked out this year's set up pitchers,  listed by mlbdepthcharts.com .   And I used a number of criteria to whittle down my list to a final roster of pitchers who could be looking at a high number of wins as we finish this season.  

Here's the criteria-

1.  Must be a set up pitcher (not middle relief) according to mlbdepthcharts.com  ;

2.  Must pitch for a team with a Pythagorean Record of at least .500;

3.  Must have pitched at least 35 innings;

4.  Cannot have more than two wins total thus far this season

5.  Must have an ERA under 4.00 and a WHIP under 1.40.

The reason a pitcher must throw in a set up role is simple for a couple reasons- first, he's normally the second best bullpen arm on the team (if not the best).  And secondly, even though you may need wins, you don't want to get killed in the other categories.  Set up guys come into games in winning situations- either a tied game or his team has a lead.  If the set up guy gets into trouble the manager is going to yank him.  A pitcher who throws in losing situations, ie long relief or when the team is losing, may be left on the mound when they get in trouble.  That can kill your fantasy team's stat line.  About the only situation where you will see a true set up guy in a losing situation is when he has not pitched in several days and the manager is just trying to get him some work in.

The reason a pitcher must throw for a team with a Pythagorean Record of at least .500 is because wins for a reliever are not much different than wins for a starter.  A team that has a lot of wins is more likely to trickle down some of those to the bullpen guys.  And on that note,  a team's Pythagorean Record may be a better overall gauge of how many games a team will win down the stretch to finish the year.

A pitcher has to have at least 35 innings because they have to be "due" wins.  This should be simple enough to explain and understand.  But a set up guy with only a handful of innings and a win or two is really not off the pace he should be on.

A pitcher cannot have more than two wins, otherwise his win total thus far (based on the other factors involved) are not an anomaly.  We are trying to find pitchers who will get an unusually high number of wins down the stretch.  Guys that are due a few extra wins are the target.

 The ERA and WHIP totals are just to insure your pitcher will be, at least, fairly solid.  These stats will be indicative of a set up guy who will be able to remain in that role the remainder of the season.

One caveat is that mlbdepthcharts.com lists all teams with two set up guys.  Unless things have changed since I last watched baseball, there is one set up guy who is the man, not two.  So when you check out the Rays, just remember one of the two listed may be more likely to be the set up guy than the other.  Whether this makes a ton of difference on a team that will win as many games as the Rays is a question I can't answer.  If I needed wins I would grab any guy on this list, although not all will be available in most leagues.  And another caveat- I tweaked the info provided on Kyle McClellan because of Jason Motte going on the DL and I really doubt TLR has two lefties as his set up guys, although mlbdepthcharts.com says differently- believe who you want.  And Matt Guerrier was given the ** treatment because his status may have recently changed with the Jon Rauch injury and demotion from the closer role.

Now let's get started with the list and see who all qualifies based on the above criteria-

National League

Takashi Saito,  1 W, 42 IP Braves Pythagorean Record 63-45

Clay Hensley,  1 W, 49.2 IP, Marlins Pythagorean Record 55-53

Guillermo Mota, 1 W, 40.1 IP, Giants Pythagorean Record 64-45

** Kyle McClellan, 1 W, 51.2 IP,Cardinals Pythagorean Record 62-48, (listed as mid. relief but should be set up guy IMO since Motte's on the DL and the two set up guys listed are both lefties)

American League-

Daniel Bard, 1 W, 50 IP,   Red Sox Pythagorean Record 61-48

Jesse Crain, 1 W, 45.1 IP, Twins Pythagorean Record 64-45

Brad Ziegler, 2 W, 44.1 IP,  A's Pythagorean Record  56-51

Darren Oliver, 0 W, 46 IP, Rangers Pythagorean Record 64-44

Joaquin Benoit, 0 W, 39.1 IP, Rays Pythagorean Record 67-41

Dan Wheeler, 2 W, 35 IP, Rays Pythagorean Record  67-41

** Matt Guerrier,  2 W, 49 IP, Twins Pythagorean Record 64-45 (listed as middle relief, this may have recently changed to set up role)

Now if we take all eleven of the guys above and figure we should have around 60-70 wins by the end of the year, based on my previous belief that set up guys should end the season with 6-7 wins each.  But the eleven guys above have a total of 12 wins with maybe a third of the season to go.  In its purest form that would mean we could expect 50+ wins from these guys to finish out the year.  I don't think we could get that fortunate.  But I definitely think we could see 30-35 wins out of this crew, possibly more- health permitting.  And remember these guys are not going to hurt your  stats in other areas.  Most have very nice stats across the board- the best of which is they will be getting bailed out by the bullpen of any trouble they get themselves into...at least that's what is supposed to happen.

Random NL Central thoughts

Jaime Garcia- he's threw a few rough outings in a row and we'll see whether he comes out of it or continues to digress.  Garcia's last four starts include a gem vs. Milwaukee and three of his worst starts of his career.  The oddity of this is the Brewer game was a 3 hitter over 7 innings and marked the third time Garcia faced Milwaukee this year.  The bad starts came against KC, the Dodgers and Rockies- teams that have not faced Garcia previously.  

Are there any similarities between these teams that lit up Jaime Garcia?  There's really not anything to go on as far as I can tell.  To me, it just looks like JG is getting close to that 100 inning mark and getting tired.  Maybe he can clear things up between starts.  Let's not forget this is a guy who threw 37 innings last year and already has 103 in 2010.  And last year Jaime only had eight starts while this year he already has 18.  

John Jay has looked like a completely different player at the plate since returning from Memphis.  He took 3 walks in 5 plate appearances Sunday and his July line looks like walks will begin to be a factor.  Actually Jay's 5 July bb's are the first of his career as he had none prior to being demoted in June.  Maybe his fate at the plate began to change just before his demotion.  His last two games included his first homer and first multi-hit game of his career.  Jay's July line :  .438/.514/.750/.1.264 . That's in 32 at bats and includes a couple homers and four doubles.  The big questions now are 1. how long can Jay keep it up? and 2. what happens to him once Ryan Ludwick returns?  I suspect one thing that will happen is that the Randy Winn experiment will come to an unceremonious end.   

John Axford- the guy has been pretty solid closing for the Brewcrew.  He's not a top tier closer but has had some good outings and has been able to rebound from some bad ones.  It looks like Trevor Hoffman is beginning to turn the corner so I guess the next question is where does Milwaukee send him in a trade?  Speaking of trades, the Mat Gamel talks have really quieted down lately.  I guess that's partly because he's not exactly tearing up Nashville.

It makes a person wonder what the Brewers will do with Prince Fielder.  So they are sellers now and not buyers.  No more Nelson Cruz give-aways, at least that's what the folks in Milwaukee hope.

Looks like Travis Wood is off to a better start than what Mike Leake was off to earlier this year.  This Reds team worries me as a Cardinal fan.  I think they are legit.  We'll just have to see how the young arms perform around mid-late September.  That includes the rebuilt arm of Edinson  Volquez.  They have a lot of depth though.  Come toward the end of the season the Reds should have Homer Bailey and Aaron Harang back.  That may not sound like a lot but it's probably more than what most teams in baseball are expecting at the tail end of their rotations.  Of course, there may not be a starting spot available for either of them.  But expanded rosters will give the Reds flexibility.

Are the Cubs the worst ran big market club in sports?  I realize their market does not equal the Red Sox or Yankees.  But still, they have the 3rd highest payroll in baseball*.  Anyone can take a look at their screwed up rosters moves and contract and see why they are always (it seems) out of contention by the middle of May.  Here's their payroll via ESPN-

 http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/salaries/_/name/chc/chicago-cubs *

Now off to something else-

Anyone else looking for a big 2nd half from Brandon Inge?  So he's just hit 6 homers thus far and this time last year he had 21.  The extra base hits are about the same 30 to 31 and the hitting line is not that dissimilar .264/ .342/ .411 this season's first half verses last year's first half of .268/.360/ .515 . Sure the SLG was higher last year- he had more homers.  But last season he had 9 doubles and a triple at the break while this year he has 22 doubles and 2 triples.  Inge's hitting vs. RHP is way ahead of last year- about 40 points higher in AVG and OBP.  I'm expecting a pretty decent 2nd half from him. 

So it was last Sunday evening, July 4th.  Word was that Aramis Ramirez was injured with his perpetually ailing thumb.  He didn't even play that day and was suspected of possibly headed back to the DL.  So I do the wise thing and not start him.  Hell why should I start him, even if healthy?  His season to date  line on the 4th was .177/.242/.297.  He had, up to that point, accounted for nothing more than filling up Lou Piniella's sleep with nightmares.  So ARam sits and I start another next to nothing in the Kung Fu Panda...aka Pablo Sandoval, who has a whopping 6 homers just past the season's mid point.

And as expected, Mr. Kung Fu laid an egg this week (again).  What has ARam done?  He's pretty much had a career week already with a day to go.  He's got seven extra base hits, including 4 homers; 9 rbi's and 10 runs scored.  He had 10 rbi's and 12 runs scored in May and June combined. 

I guess I have to put the hot bat in the line up for next week.  So I guess I will go with ARam at 3b next week.  As my extra hitter my choices are Kung Fu, Tyler Colvin  or grabbing someone off the wire.  I wish the Nats would make up their mind and give the RF job to either Morse or Bernadina.  Morse kinda has Ryan Ludwick written all over him if he could just stay healthy.  But we've been complaining about his health for years.  Bernadina, I like.  He's not really readable and possibly has a real high upside.  Or he could flat line as league average.  I don't think either of them will match Colvin though.  He's a stud.  My FA choices are really narrowed down to Pat Burrell, who's in a funk right now.  But then again, so is Colvin, whom I've started at my EH position the past few weeks.  This league is NL only, 10 team, h2h.

OK, so we'll give this a second try.  I was unable to edit the poll title so I had to delete it entirely and start a new one.

So you may have thought you were already sick of hearing all the LeBron James free agent talk?  Well, here's one more blurb to add.  I think the general thoughts are that LeBron re-signs with Cleveland or goes to a new team: either New York, Miami or Chicago.  Most other teams have been ruled out, it seems, mainly because of the inability to add a complimentary max free agent team mate to LeBron.  So for the sake of things I'll keep a few thoughts to each of the teams just listed.  If someone thinks another team has a shot at landing James be sure and state why.  

Cleveland-  What else can LeBron do in Cleveland?  Well,  winning a title would be one thing.  But LeBron has taken the city to heights rarely reached in generations there.  I mean this is the city famous for its Cadavers, the fumble and the"Mistake by the Lake".  Not exactly a pro sports hot bed.   And prior to LeBron's arrival this was one of the worst NBA franchises in league history.  The  Mark Price and Brad Daugherty combo had gotten Cleveland out of the first round of the playoff's twice.  Other than those two times the Cavaliers had made it passed the first round of the playoffs once in team history- that's three times in 35 years in the league.  Now they have a five year run of at least the semi's; and  the they've been to the finals.  

I think Lebron's chances of re-signing with Cleveland is better than either New York or Chicago, even better than Miami.  Loyalty can mean a lot.  And this is not just any team that happened to draft LeBron.  This is a team some 40 minutes from where LeBron grew up.   The chance of moving to a more glamorous team/ city should be discounted.  Take San Antonio, for instance.  Besides the River Walk there's not much there.  And S.A. was not exactly a basketball haven prior to the David Robinson/ Tim Duncan run, Duncan had his chance to leave, too but chose to stay.  But the city is pretty important now that a few titles have been won.  To an extent, the same could be said of the Jordan era Bulls.  I'll say the overall percentage of LeBron re-signing with Cleveland is 45%.

New York-  The entertainment capital of the world?  The Mecca of basketball being MSG?  I don't buy it.  The Knicks are a horrible team and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.  Isiah Thomas started a progressive downward spiral that will take a decade to fix.   And it's not like being a Knick has made any player a marketing sensation recently.  Plus when was the last time the Knicks won a title?  1973? Thirty-seven years ago is just three years longer than Cleveland has been an NBA franchise.  The Knicks have become much more famous in the basketball world for the privileges of being a David Stern favorite, such as being given Patrick Ewing and having the NBA look the other way (or give a slap on the wrist) when the NY franchise does something wrong that would get a small market franchise hammered. 

Besides all the bad past the Knicks have endured, it appears they do not have the cap room to sign two max free agent players.  Correct me if I am wrong on that.  And there are rumors that David Lee will be headed out of town.  I just don't see LeBron calling NY his home team.  Why would he want to become contractually obligated to the biggest mess in the NBA?  Percentage of LeBron signing with the Knicks, 10% tops.

Chicago- I still remember the last time I wrote anything about Chicago.  It was the summer of 2000 when I was doing free lance for Sportsline and they needed an article about NBA free agents.  There were the big fish free agents Tracy McGrady and Tim Duncan and the second tier players Eddie Jones, Grant Hill and even Tim Thomas.  Of course, there was speculation that the Bulls would land one of these guys.  And, of course, they landed none.  Well they signed Ron Mercer who didn't really have anywhere else to go.  And they signed Brad Miller.  Since that time the Bulls have essentially been shut out of the free agent market.  Yes, they signed Ben Wallace a while back.   But what else have the Bulls really done over the past decade? 

Every year we hear about the Bulls being in the free agent market for some big name and pretty much every year the big names sign elsewhere.  Personally, I think the Bulls have been black-balled by the star NBA players for dismantling the Michael Jordan led title teams.  Hell, the entire Bulls team was disbanded once Jordan retired, it seemed it all happened in just a matter of days too.    And it even included coach Phil Jackson.  

I really have no evidence that the Bulls have been black-balled, other than no big name free agent signing with them over the last decade.  I have a hunch that's the deal though.  And because of that I don't see LeBron James signing with Chicago.  You never know how times will change though.  And I guess a pretty nice nucleus of players to surround James can only help the Bulls' chances. I say the chances of LeBron signing with Chicago are 10%, same as with the Knicks. 

Miami-  Except for Cleveland, this has to be the place for LeBron. But that would depend heavily on Dwyane Wade returning.  And, except for Wade returning, there really is nothing Miami offers unless Chris Bosh or some other top tier free agent signs.  Miami has shed a ton of contract money and at the first of next month may only be obligated to some $7+ million.  That leaves a lot of room to sign LeBron, Wade and whomever else is needed to make legit title runs for the next several years.  My estimate at LeBron signing with Miami is 35%.

Why does Cleveland have the inside edge?  For a couple reasons, the first of which is this is the team that LeBron has been with his entire pro career- and it's close to home.  Secondly, and maybe more importantly, is that Cleveland will be shedding a lot of salary over the next two years.  Shaq and his $20 million are off the books.  Zydrunas  Ilqausas' salary of $11+ million will be gone as well.  Should LeBron opt to stay at Cleveland for one more season the salary of the Cavaliers will drop from $84 million this past year to $69 million.  If Cleveland could somehow unload Antawn Jamison and a few others they could potentially find themselves in a position to pursue Carmelo Anthony AND re-signing LeBron James after next season.  Would that be worth LeBron sticking around another year?  Possibly.  And the selling point would be that James could stick it out for a year, let the team shed some contract money and go after some complimentary players- maybe even a big fish like Carmelo.  It would certainly be better than LeBron heading to Miami, New York or Chicago, things not working out, and he being obligated to fulfill his contract for several more years.

Well it's hard to believe we are approaching the halfway point of the MLB season already.  And, with that, we should probably give out the most unofficial of awards- the MSA's (mid season awards).  Here's mine, be sure and add your own.  

American League-

Manager- Cito Gaston, Blue Jays

MVP-  Miguel Cabrera, Tigers

Cy Young-  Mariano Rivera, Yankees

ROY- Brennan Boesch, Tigers

National League-

Manager- Bud Black,  Padres

MVP-  Albert Pujols, Cardinals

Cy Young- Ubaldo Jiminez, Rockies

ROY- Jaime Garcia, Cardinals

I have always been kinda fascinated at the number of quality undrafted fantasy baseball players that emerge over the course of a season.  It seems like most years an entire viable team could be put together from guys completely ignored on draft day.  Here's my proposed challenge (and a bit of a study, as well).  Teams submit a line-up of players they drafted as well as the draft results of their league (AL only, NL only, mixed, doesn't matter) and that teams plays a 5x5 roto format for a week against players undrafted in their league.  Maybe select a different participant each week and do this for 10 weeks.  At the end of the period we tally up the results and see what we have.  We could work out the specifics.  Post if interested.

I realize this board is about fantasy sports, but some people play fantasy college football and basketball, so it could be relevant in that regard.  Is this the craziest week ever for the NCAA or is it just me?  The Big 12 is on the brink of being rationed out the likes of an estate auction on the courthouse steps.  Missouri's fate is up in the air.  Nebraska will be the twelfth team in the  Big 10.  Texas and aTm are headed to the Pac 10, maybe.  Colorado is supposed to announce they are Pac 10 bound today.  OK State and OU are maybe headed to the Pac 10, along with possibly two other schools.  Kansas, K-state, Iowa State and Baylor are supposedly all that's going to be left standing of the already old Big 12 by the end of this week.

So it's possible that if all the above comes to fruition and the Pac 10 gets 6 more schools (Texas, aTm, OU, OK State, T-Tech and Colorado) and the Big 10 gets Nebraska and possibly Missouri (gawd I hope not).  And four schools are either looking for a conference or starting another.  I think Kansas has enough of a basketball following that they may consider just going independent until the right deal comes along.  But who knows how this will fall out.  What does everyone think?

About the only sensible rumblings about all this is that 1. this is simply all about money and a larger tv audience, kinda what some other conferences have been guilty of in the past.  And secondly, the Pac 10 schools have complained in the past about an East coast bias.  That may disappear if a good portion of their conference is east of the Rocky Mountains- and includes the likes of Texas and Oklahoma.  

I have heard all morning on ESPN how adding six teams to the Pac 10 would suddenly result in a "Super Conference".  I think that overstates things somewhat.   I haven't seen the numbers but I am thinking the ACC would still cover a larger tv audience, even if the Pac 10 expanded throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.  And  Big East basketball has 16 teams already.  So such a large number of teams in a conference is not unprecedented.  Maybe too big a deal is being made of all this?  

So the Cards have been throwing Adam Ottavino and PJ Walters as they await the return of Brad Penny and whomever, Loshe is out well into the season.  Ottavino certainly looked better yesterday than in his MLB debut against the Cubs back on May 29.  But the luxury of seven days between starts probably won't happen again.  Anyway AO gave up a lead-off homer to Rickie Weeks, settled down and then was served up some pretty uninspiring relief help from the Big Sweat.  But overall he looked in control of the game, only threw 75 pitches and was yanked after giving up a single to Ryan Braun in the 6th with no outs.  Not a bad rebound game from the Chitown fiasco.

PJ,  I am not quite so optimistic about.  He had the one decent start against the Pads- I say decent because even though he didn't allow a run through five innings, he still labored for 93 pitches, only 56 of those were strikes.  His next start, against the Reds, he was drilled for three homers in four innings, seven earned runs total.  The way the Cards schedule unfolds over the next couple weeks I would speculate that PJ better show some major improvement tomorrow against the Dodgers, otherwise he could be skipped in the rotation.  Then Penny should be close to returning.  So PJ may be on a steamboat headed down to Memphis pretty soon.   Hey I was right about Jon Jay/Aaron Miles.

Not completely a Cardinal issue, although it could become one if Ottavino doesn't pan out, is the availability of some free agent pitchers.  A check of MLBTR shows the following (along with age and arb status)-

Starting pitchers
Brandon Backe (32)
Paul Byrd (39)
Daniel Cabrera (29)
Bartolo Colon (37)
Adam Eaton (32)
Mike Hampton (37)
Braden Looper (35) - Type B, not offered arb
Noah Lowry (29)
Pedro Martinez (38)
Eric Milton (34)
Odalis Perez (33)
Mark Prior (29)
Jason Schmidt (37)
John Smoltz (43)
Josh Towers (33)
Jarrod Washburn (35)

Not exactly first ballot Hall of Famers, but a few interesting pitchers.  Of the group Daniel Cabrera would seem to have the best upside if he could get his walks under control.  I wonder what Dave Duncan could do with that guy?  The Jarrod Washburn noise has quieted a lot since April, not sure who all is interested in him.  And I'm not sure what Odalis Perez is up to these days.  He did not pitch at all last year after being the Opening Day starter for the Nats in '08.  Maybe he's out of baseball entirely.

Jamie Moyer got his 264th win last night, a complete game against the Pads.  Let's consider if Moyer is able to pitch a few more years...he's coming up on the age of 50.  But 300 wins is not entirely out of the question at this point.  A couple years back Julio Franco approached age 50 as a position player.  There was a significant amount of support to have Franco considered for the Hall of Fame should he play at age 50, a very rare feat.  His playing stats don't justify HOF though.  Franco was a nice player: 3 All Star games,  5 Silver Slugger awards, 2586 hits, a batting title in '91.  Maybe the '91 year with the Rangers was his best.  That team featured everyone from Juna Gonzalez (the real Gonzo), to Nolan Ryan and even Goose Gossage.  But back to Moyer- if he reaches 300 wins and pitches in MLB at age 50 should he get into the Hall of Fame?  Poll below.  And on the record watch, Moyer is four homers allowed from tying Robin Roberts as giving up the most in MLB history.  Roberts ended his career giving up 505.

Moyer does not have many awards in his career.  He was in an All Star game in '93.  He's won several off the field awards for community service.  That's something, I suppose!  And most of his wins have come past age 34.  Seattle made the difference, along with their run in the early-mid 90's.  Currently Moyer is 10th in MLB history for wins by a lefty, all those above him are in the HOF.  His next win will move him into a tie for 9th among lefties with Eppa Rixey (yes, THAT Eppa Rixey).  And his total wins are currently just behind Jim Palmer and Bob Feller.  

300 wins are not what they used to be.  Currently every eligible 300 win pitcher is in the HOF.  But there will be a rush of them Hall bound over the next few years- Maddux, Glavine, Randy Johnson, even Clemens?  And PJ will be getting a large number of votes for entry despite not having 300.  In other words there will be a lot of pitchers coming up Hall eligible over the next few years and maybe that will not make 300 wins for a really old pitcher all that important.  Moyers baseball-reference comps are marginal, at best, for HOF induction- Dennis Martinez, Jack Morris, Jerry Reuss, etc. 

Anyway, that's my random thoughts for the day.

This is weird.  A mistake made in front of all of us.  A million replays on ESPN to boot.  The ump says he made a blown call and nobody disagrees, except the official score book that closed Armando Galarraga's stats with 9 innings pitched, a win and one very ugly hit given up.  Does Bud Selig look the other way?  Beats me.  I suppose these sorts of calls cannot be overturned later and that's a shame.  After the call, the game was finished with the next batter hitting into a grounder- so it's not like there would be anything lost by some sort of rule change later.  There clearly was no error on the play- just a routine grounder fielded cleanly by Cabrera who tossed a decent throw to Galartaga, who touched first base on time.  

On the other hand, Cabrera cut off second baseman Carlos Guillen from making the play.  Guillen could have easily fielded the ball and not had to regroup before sending a throw.  Maybe Cabrera should have simply went to first instead of trying to field the grounder.  So if there was an error, maybe it should be called against Cabrera and that would give Galarraga a no hitter.  Then again, there's word that Cabrera juggled the ball a bit before making the throw- I have not seen those replays.  I don't think that really matters all that much as there is one hell of a lot of difference between throwing a one hitter verses a perfect game.  

The blown call really should not be all that big news for Galarraga- he's always seemed to be the one Tiger pitching for his job.  Heck even after his nice rookie year in 2008  he was no given to make the next year rotation.  That's after posting a 13-7 record with a 3.73 ERA in 28 starts for the Tigers.  Evan Longoria won AL ROY as a unanimous selection.- Galarraga finished 9th (9 3rd place votes).   Galarraga came to the Tigers from the Rangers in 2008.  With Texas, he pitched eight years in the minors before getting a September 2007 call up.  Apparently the pitching starved Rangers were not impressed with what they saw.  

Other Thoughts

Let's remember a few things about this perfect game business- you just never know when it will happen.  Galarraga had not had much success pitching for the Tigers this year.  In fact his last start (May 22nd) he posted a dismal line of 5 earned runs given up, 6 runs total.  He also gave up eight hits (including two homers) and a walk.  All this in 4.2 innings.  Then he was bumped from his next scheduled start to Sunday.  That start was again bumped so the Tigers could insert Max Scherzer into the rotation.  So Galarraga gets the Wednesday start and nearly throws a perfect game.  

The two perfect games thrown this year have similar oddities.  Dallas Braden's two previous starts prior to his perfect game consisted of two losses,  19 hits, 3 walks and nine earned runs over eleven innings.   He entered his perfect game with a career record of 17 wins and 23 losses.  Now his record stands at 18-26 after losing three of his last four starts.   Roy Halladay's previous start was one of the worst of his career,  a loss at home against Boston.  His stats that game were 5.2 innings pitched, giving up six runs, five earned.    

So the NBA got exactly what it wanted for the finals, a premier match up of two teams that have a long and hated rivalry between them.  And there's a huge tv audience to boot (beats the hell out of a Milwaukee vs. OKC match up for ratings).  Who wins this thing?

I'm going with the Celtics.  Not that I have any statistical reason, just that I like them better than the Lakers.  The big four lead the Celts- Garnett, Allen, Rondo and Pierce.  I suppose having healthy heads of Glen Davis (concussion) and Kendrick Perkins (psycho) will play a part.  Nate Robinson will see if he can stay hot off the bench as well.  The Lakers will rely on Kobe and his crew of Gasol, Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher and Ron Artest.  In the playoffs the Lakers have averaged more points per game, more 3 point attempts, blocked shots and offensive rebounds than Boston.  The Celtics have averaged about 10 points per game less than LA in the playoffs but more have more steals and have shot a higher percentage from behind the three point line.  Most of the other stats look about even.

So what will be the difference the playoffs?  Well from above the health of Perkins and Davis for the Celts.  LA's advantage on the offensive boards has kinda propelled their offense.  Add to that the new found team shot blocking and the total stats seem to favor LA.  I suppose holding Kobe under 30 a game will be a priority as well.  But that's easier said than done.  Boston has had some recent succes vs. a superstar opposing player.   The Celts held LeBron James to 22 points per game in their four wins against Cleveland.  In their two losses against the Cavs LJ averaged 36.5 points per game.   In the Lakers' two losses against the Suns, one game saw Amar'e Stoudemire drop 42 points, the other game saw the Lakers beaten on the boards to a tune of 36-51.  Kobe had 36 and 38 points, respectively, in each of those games.   So maybe winning the battle of the boards will be more important than holding Kobe under 30 a game.  I guess the final piece of the puzzle will be whether the Celtics try some zone defense ala Phoenix, and whether it is successful at all.  They have a few days to get their plan together, I suppose.

The best I can tell, Boston has five losses in the playoffs, once to Miami and twice to Cleveland and Orlando.  In the loss to the Heat, Boston lost the rebound battle 35-43, although the Celts had more offensive boards.  In the two  losses to the Cavs, Boston was outrebounded 71-96, including one game where they lost on the boards by 15.  Against the Magic, in two losses, the Celts were out rebounded 73-86, including one game being out rebounded by 17.  Let's face it, we are talking about a Boston team that finished next to last in the NBA in total rebounds per game AND ranked very last in offensive boards.  I'm not sure how often a team makes the NBA finals with stats like that.  But anyway, here they are vs. the Lakers come this Thursday.  When Boston won their title back in '08 at least they ranked closer to the middle of the league in rebounding.  So I guess we get back to Davis and Perkins.  Their play,  especially on the boards, will be important.

Tip Off is June 3 at 9:00 PM Eastern in L.A.  If the series goes seven games it'll be drug out over the next two weeks.