SB Nation User Blog: benzalman

Bizarre Fantasy Baseball League Ideas

benzalman — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:08:48 -0000

I'm planning on starting a league with some friends with an odd concept. Im curious if anyone has done something similar or done this specific idea...

The idea is to have an 8 team league and draft letters of the alphabet. Each team will thus have three letters. Say H, P and F. Then there would be an entirely separate player draft The players on your team have to have one of your letters start their first or last name. Here's what this random team could look like (i tried to make it look semi realistic):

C - Jorge Posada

1B - Ryan Howard

2B - Mike Fontenot

3B - Chone Figgins

SS - Rafael Furcal

OF - Hideki Matsui, Josh Hamilton, Matt Holliday

SP - Felix Hernandez, Jake Peavy, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, Hiroki Kuroda,

CL - Frankie Rodriguez, Frank Francisco

You run into some interesting questions like which letter would be the most valueable? J seems like it might be good. Ditto for H

Trades would obviously be difficult, but still possible. Lot of waiver wire action. Might be a better scoresheet type of league with minor leaguers etc.

What do you think?

Aaron Crow

benzalman — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:12:04 -0000

If Aaron Crow were eligible, where would you rank him in the community prospect list?

Also, as a pitcher who was drafted in the top ten last year, most people think we will go in the top ten this year. It'd be a shock if he didn't sign in my opinion. Which team could you see taking him and how will he fit into that teams system?

I'll post my opinion later on.

Poll

Where would Aaron Crow fit into our Community Prospect List?

1-10

6 votes

11-20

11 votes

21-30

24 votes

31-40

28 votes

41-50

22 votes

51-60

15 votes

61-70

15 votes

71-80

9 votes

81-90

4 votes

90-100

11 votes

145 votes | Poll has closed

Down Goes Yost!

benzalman — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:13:24 -0000

He pretty quickly turned himself into one of my least favorite managers in baseball this year. It's not how he puts a lineup together or even his bullpen usage patterns (not that he has many good relievers to use). Did everyone see his rant about the CC Sabathia no hitter fiasco? I thought he came off pretty lame.

These kind of shakeups do work sometimes and have recently (Mets with Jerry Manuel?). Dale Sveum has zero managerial experience that I know of, so it will be interesting to see how he does and what he changes.

Sidenote: I'm certainly too young to remember Dale Sveum's age 23 season, but it's certainly an interesting one. I wonder if he was good defensively. I wonder What people thought of his offensive potential. HE did not hit for average, but could draw a walk and slugged a bit....

What to make of Scott Elbert

benzalman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:54:25 -0000

Scott Elbert has been pretty dominant this year with 46 K's in 41 IP while allowing only 22 hits. His control hasn't been too great with 20 walks in those 41 IP. All of this adds up to a 2.40 ERA and a 1.02 Whip. Generally speaking, these are great numbers.

One obvious problem. In 25 games, he's made one start. Obviously the Dodgers are being careful as Elbert can be a key part of their future and he is coming off of a major surgery.

He's still just 23 years old and his numbers indicate he can still pitch. Only question is: Will he be a reliever long term? Or, will he start?

Anyone hear anything or remember any similar cases? Anyone see his outings thus far?

Adam Dunn Traded

benzalman — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:44:31 -0000

According to espn:

The Arizona Diamondbacks added a big bat Monday in their attempt to hold off the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West race.

Arizona acquired Cincinnati Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, who is tied for the major league lead with 32 home runs, for three prospects.

The trade was first reported by KTAR Radio in Phoenix.

Will be interesting to see who the prospects are. Perhaps Gerardo Parra? Could be a nice CF in time for the Reds...

Myrtle Beach Pelicans VS Lynchburg Hillcats 8/1/2008

benzalman — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:02:09 -0000

Once a year or so I have the pleasure of catching a Myrtle Beach Pelicans game while visiting my folks who have a place in the area. Here is a bit of a recap of last night's action. It was a bit choppy is one game was continued from a rain delay the night before.

Lynchburg Hillcats:

Daniel Moskos: It was my understanding that he would start the second game fresh. He did not and came in as a reliever. To put it simply, he looked bad. He looked to be throwing three pitches a Fastball 86-89, a Slider 81-83 and a change (could have been something else) in the 78 range. When pitching out of the stretch, he seemed to lose a bit of this velocity. He gave up a long home run and was generally putting men on base. He also displayed what seemed to be an incredibly deliberate pickoff move. I was not impressed by it at all. That said, he did catch someone stealing.

Alex Presley: I didn't know much about Alex Presley prior to showing up at the ballpark. He definitely impressed me. To fill you in, he was an 8th round pick for the Pirates in 05 out of the University of Miss. He is pretty small in stature somewhere between 5'9" and 5'11" (ive seen him listed at both). He played pretty well in CF and showed a good amount of pop in his bat pulling a HR to right field and also a triple. I read a write up on him comparing him to pre 2008 Nate McLouth. Could be accurate. Nonetheless, I liked him.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans:

Gorkys Hernandez: He definitely stuck out the most to me. I saw him hit the ball pretty hard four times including an absolute bomb off of Moskos over the left centerfield bleachers. He didn't have a lot of action in CF but looked very smooth when he did. He seemed fast, but didnt exactly blow me away with that part of his game. He did steal a base at a critical point in the eighth inning and wound up scoring the winning run. All in all, I was impressed.

Eric Campbell: I was very high on him coming into 2007 and most of us saw the disaster that was 2007 for him (221/312/406). He has rebounded a bit this year (261/364/494). He hit a HR to left center at the beginning of the second game which turned out to be the game winner. He will be 23 this week and perhaps deserves a shot at AA to see if he can make it.

Tyler Flowers: I was hoping to get a better read on him in the few AB's I saw. He looked good at the plate and not surprisingly worked some deep counts. He had a very wide stance at the plate. Not surprisinigly, he was pretty slow. His arm looked strong and he caught 3 runners trying to steal while two others were successful.

Travis Jones: Ok. I'll come out and say it. I have an unhealthy interest in Travis Jones. He didn't look to be at his best last night getting fooled a bit by off speed stuff. He also seemes to be working on hitting the ball the other way. I haven't seen him play except for one SC game on TV, so perhaps that is a natural stroke for him. He is pretty damn small (think Eric Young/Ray Durham). His line to this point this year is 266/370/476 with 23 doubles and 16 homers.

Poll

Would you take the Braves A (Heyward + Freeman & Rohrbaugh) and A+ Team (Gorkys, Campbell, Flowers & Jones) over the Mets entire farm system?

Yes, I'd take the Braves A & A+ team

60 votes

No, I'd take the entire Mets system over the Braves A & A+ team

11 votes

71 votes | Poll has closed

Bowden to AAA?

benzalman — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:18:09 -0000

According to Boston.com:

Injection for Francona

Francona revealed that upon his return to Boston, he will go to Massachusetts General Hospital for an injection in his neck today. Francona said he has had little feeling in his left arm for the last couple of months, and that last week he dropped his pen because he was unable to grip it properly. The condition, Francona said, is a consequence of an old disk problem that required surgery . . . The Sox promoted hot pitching prospect Michael Bowden to Triple A Pawtucket . . . There was speculation that with Julio Lugo out (torn quadriceps), the Sox would have interest in Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel, but a Sox official shot that down, saying the team is content with a combination of rookie Jed Lowrie and veteran Alex Cora . . . The Sox will hold a workout tomorrow night in Anaheim for players who did not participate in the All-Star Game, though Francona said he expected many of the Stars would show up.

MLB TV Broadcasters

benzalman — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:06:21 -0000

I'm sitting at home and watching the Mets/Rockies game and getting the Colorado feed of the game. I believe it's actually their main radio guy doing the play by play today with Jeff Huson doing the color. Huson keeps talking about John Maine's sinker (which I don't really think he has one, does he?). On a whim, I checked out his G/F ratio which is about .9 for his career pretty steadily. I always had an idea that John Maine is more of a Fly Ball pitcher anyway. Where do they get this stuff??

Now, with that said there has been a lot of talk lately about the absolutely idiotic things that some of the announcers say. Joe Morgan gets a lot of this heat. Did anyone hear his comment on the Mets/Yankees game about the top half of his body leaving the bag early while tagging up. It was pretty funny. I get the general feeling that most avid baseball fans dislike the majority of broadcast teams. Then again, I don't think that these people are here to tell us what is happening. It's for the more casual fan.

I'm sure most fans would be thrilled to see the Buck/McCarver team removed from the World Series and certainly Joe Morgan from ESPN. There are plenty of others who can do a fine job. Agree? Disagree?

Not everyone is going to be Vin Scully or Ernie Harwell - but most teams should be able to do better.

That said, I've decided that I love The Hawk and John Sterling (radio), because its just plain funny.

Who do you think has the best and worst baseball broadcasts?

OT Kind of - Expert Fantasy League Openings

benzalman — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:12:39 -0000

Hey there.

There are three remaining spots in an expert NL only league that will be run through Scoresheet. This will be the leagues first year, but the setup is mostly taken from pre-existing, successful leagues. No scoresheet experience is necessary, though definitely a plus.

A bit about the league:

12 teams

three phase and up to 8 round auction over email

realistic 100/110 million dollar salary cap.

contracts with realistic pre-determined paybumps.

monthly supp drafts

40 or 45 man roster maximum, 30 man minimum

There's a bit to it, but the format is fun, realistic and owners will be very active.

if interested, please email me at ben@planetarygroup.com

Thanks!
Ben

Brett Cecil

benzalman — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:54:14 -0000

I was going through last year's draft a bit and came to Brett Cecil, who i only knew as Maryland's closer and that he was the Blue Jays Sup pick.

Everything I've read raves about his slider and notes his fastball. I also see quite a bit about his lack of a change up and thus fears about his ability to get righties out.

Then I looked at his stats from this past year:
1.27 ERA, 49.2 IP, 36H, 10ER, 7R, 1HR, 11BB, 56K 1.99BB/9, 10.15K/9, .197BAA, 0.95WHIP.

Pretty dominant numbers in any league. He was pitching in the NY Penn league so I'd expect to see some dominance.

The real question here is that he made 13 starts. Are the Blue Jays considering making him a starter? are they just trying to get him innings? Has he developed something pitchwise that's enabling him to try this?

Also, turning college closers into starters seems to be a trend of late, do you feel it's been successful?