Misdeals

We had a couple of trades today between teams in the middle and teams near the bottom. The teams in the middle (Bats and Hobo) are getting nervous about finishing 7th, and have moved the chips they feel they can afford.

First, the Falkuhns sent Javier Vazquez, Jon Lieber and Mike Lowell to Bats for Marcus Giles, Ryan Madson and Ryan Wagner. Barry is finally going after the pitching he so desperately needs, giving up a couple of theoretical future pitchers and one nice player with a little of everything in Giles. For that he gets the inconsistent Javy Vazquez with 9 wins and a fine WHIP but with that 4.37 ERA that just doesn’t get any better. He also gets Jon Lieber, also with 9 wins and somewhat uglier numbers. Finally, he takes on the red hot (according to Larry Dot Net) Mike Lowell, who he can afford to bury on his roster with all that moster hitting he’s got. Barry loses a point in steals and probably nothing else in hitting. He’ll pick up 4-7 points in wins, a push in ERA and maybe picks up a couple of points in WHIP, though that’s a pretty tight category. Figure this deal moves Barry up to 65 points. Not bad for him.

The Falkuhns get a reasonably priced Giles for one year, and have options on Madson (doesn’t look like he’s a closer, though Billy Wagner is quite likely gone from Phily next year, so who knows?) and the other Wagner, who is on the DL, has terrible numbers, and has disappointed virtually everyone expecting him to be the closer when Graves was canned. Giles is the only sure keeper (hey, he’s on contract, so it’s required), but he really didn’t give up that much, though Vazquez looks awfully good sometimes. So does Noah Lowry.

The other trade saw the Old Rips send Glaus, Kearns, Tejeda and Ardoin to Hobo for Utley, Relaford, an injured Heath Bell and Ausmus/Molina. For the Hobo, Glaus is the key, plus Kearns who hit well this past week. Tejeda is still a huge risk, though he’s been better than decent. Of course, they gave up the best player in the deal, Utley, a solid keeper at $13 (we should have said $14 – we had the money). It looks like an increase in homers and RBI’s (1 point each), a wash or drop in BA (say nil), and a drop in steals (1 point). Let’s guess a 2 point increase in wins, though that is speculative, and giving the benefit of the doubt, no change in the other pitching categories. Net increase for Hobo: 3 points, to say 62. That’s what they gave up for Utley, who they had been trying to trade for Andruw Jones. Hey, I could be wrong, but they had to try. This is probably where Hobo will quit for this year, as they want to keep a few chips for next season.

Meanwhile Mark got another solid keeper. I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets something for Hee Hee Hee Sop Choi. And it looks like Larry Dot Net lost a potential trading partner, leaving us and the Cappers as the most likely teams to work on that Andruw trade.

Something new for us this week: we actually won a waiver claim. Everyone must have been scared off of Geoff Blum when the Padres picked up Joe Randa and didn’t get rid of Phil Nevin. What we can say about Blum is (1) he doesn’t suck, (2) he’s certainly better than Chen and (3) he qualifies everywhere in the infield, allowing us to move Luis Gonzalez to Utility. We now have a lot of flexibility for whatever deal we will make. Furthermore, we’ve always liked the guy, even if he isn’t Jewish. He now joins David Eckstein as semi-goyim on our team.

Crying Uncle

I made it out to the Giants-Marlins getaway game on Sunday. The best thing I can say was that it was a beautiful day, and I got to sit in a great seat (FC 119, Row H behind the screen) thanks to my buddy Ray. From that vantage point I watched the Giants move to 13 under .500 in a game they never really looked like they would win despite the relatively close score of 4-1.

Correia gave up only five hits in 6-1/3 innings, but 3 of those hits were no-doubter jimmy jacks. The second was the best hit ball of the day, by winning pitcher AJ Burnett, and absolute blast 20 rows deep into the left field bleachers. This was only Burnett’s 4th hit of the season, and I suspect was the best he ever hit a ball in his life. It was a classic Tomko-like, Lowry-like moment, with Correia dominating except for a few isolated moments which just wrecks a team ERA. Of course, it was a much better effort than Hennessey gave us on Saturday (4.1 IP, 9H, 4BB, 8 ER) or renewed starter Rueter gave us following Hennessey on Saturday (3.1IP, 8H, 3BB, 7 ER), so I guess Correia’s kept his spot in the rotation for the moment.

So they are 13 under .500, but they are only 7 games out of 1st. What an ugly division. Despite it all, with the trade deadline bearing down on us, let me make this clear to Brian Sabean (I’m sure he’s a regular here at Sour Grapes): the team sucks. Sell. Sell it all. Alfonso. Durham. Tomko. There are buyers out there for them. Let’s try again next year.

Yes, it’s official. I’m crying uncle. I can’t take it anymore, and I refuse to consider them a legitimate contender, no matter how many more games the Padres lose this week. They can’t hit, they can’t pitch, they can’t run. OK, they’ve got a great fielding shortstop, but when you stick Alex Sanchez out in centerfield, it’s obvious the team doesn’t care much about defense. Keep Schmidt and Alou for next year, and trade anyone else over the age of 27 that any team will take. Bring the kids up from AAA (Cain and Linden) and AA (Valdez, he of the 32 ERA in the majors) and let’s at least get some entertainment (plus let’s make their owners activate them this year, heh, heh.

It’s not all about Barry. What an incredible overestimation of this team. The starting rotation has sucked enough that you’ve got to figure Rags is at big-time risk. Everyone thought that the starters looked so good last September that all focus could be on improving the rest of the team. Didn’t exactly work that way. Remember how Tomko was just mowing them down last fall? The way Lowry was getting called third strikes on his change-up? The way Rueter didn’t give up 7 runs in 3 innings every time out? The way Schmidt’s average fastball was 95 and how he could muscle up to 97? How fast it all changed.

Forget about Benitez’s injury. How many times has Tyler Walker blown a save? Yeah, a few, but would you be surprised to know that he has the 4th best ERA on the team of any pitcher that has pitched for the Giants this year? The reality is Benitez wasn’t pitching all that well, but even if he was, the Giants aren’t putting the ball in the closer’s hand often enough, thanks primarily to the starting staff.

And what a bunch of weenie hitters. Mike Matheny is 2nd on the team in RBI’s. That’s not a good thing. Noah Lowry is 6th in Batting Average. Remember when Felipe showed up and they added Alfonso and Durham and the plan was they were going to load the bases with base runners? We need a little more Earl Weaver.

At the game, I find myself looking to see how the A’s are doing. What a great story. They are now tied for the wild card. Billy Beane, who gave away his secrets, still proves that it’s all about judging talent. Do you think he’d ever have Marquis Grissom (yeah, great clubhouse guy) on his team? Or Michael Tucker? I just wish they didn’t have a DH.

Speaking of DH, I’ve got two things for you. First, what the hell happened to Jason Giambi? Is this turn around for real? Didn’t we all write him off? Didn’t we think it was all due to steroids? Maybe he actually has some talent after all.

And finally, for you reality TV fans out there, Jose Canseco is living in the house on the Surreal Life on VH1. So far he looks to be about the only semi-normal guy in a house of assholes. And I’ve learned that taking steroids has not helped his bowling.

Mo' Goop

The Pickled Pecklers haven't played very well this week. When I check box scores, either on line or in the paper in the morning, and I see ugly outings like Brandon Webb's, or an obvious absence of hitting, I can't bear to look at the BABI standings. I checked them this morning, and it wasn't too bad. We've got to start getting RBI's. Potential trading partners, please note that when you ask for Cabrera.

I see Ken might be set up to pull away from the field. Plus, he's got keepers for the next BABI dynasty. Great managment. I believe if you check my blog for my post draft analysis, I indicated that I thought Ken had the best draft (after us, which was biased as I explained) and I said "Kudos to Any 9 who I sensed throughout were being pretty careful about their values."

Here are some Friday notes that caught my eye:

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Manager Jim Tracy said that hot-hitting Antonio Perez was not playing because he was not proficient at any position. Perez is uncomfortable at third base and too inexperienced to play outfield. Moving Jeff Kent to first base and playing Perez at second isn't an option, either, because Perez has been shaky there as well."

Kinda makes his light hitting .300 average pretty fantasy useless.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News, "Setup man Ugueth Urbina ran his scoreless, hitless innings streak to 8 1/3 innings with a scoreless, hitless eighth."

That’s pretty impressive. I haven’t heard Wagner’s name bandied about lately as trade bait, but this guy is waiting in the wings. He could also be a closer next year for someone. George bought him at a price that would make him keepable if he is.

According to the Rocky Mountain News, "The Rockies are trying to work out a deal that would send Desi Relaford to the San Francisco Giants and open a roster spot, but if that does not get done, they could send out infielder Eddy Garabito or designate Relaford for assignment. Relaford made his second start in a row, breaking an 0-for-33 skid with a single in the eighth inning."

Desi Relaford for nothing. That’s the answer to the Giants’ problems.

The Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News reports that "As it turns out, Cory Lidle's pitching problems might have less to do with his mechanics than his mental state. Lidle left the team yesterday and will be gone for an undetermined amount of time. The team explained Lidle's absence was necessary for "personal reasons." His pitching coach explained the reason for Lidle's last two starts the same way.

Maybe he could get an appointment with Tomko’s shrink.

Ken Griffey Jr. has managed to stay healthy the entire season and has put together an impressive season along the way. Griffey is currently batting .290 with 21 homeruns and 64 runs batted in. That is the most successful season he has been able to put together since the 2001 season when he finished with 22 homeruns and 65 runs batted in. Griffey would be a very large trading chip if he came with some kind of a guarantee. Unfortunately, those only come on cars and it doesn't appear anyone is willing to take on his expensive contract and gamble on his health despite his impressive numbers.

True in real baseball, true in fantasy baseball. We traded for Griffey from Lou a couple of years ago. He hit like crazy for 2 weeks, then went out for the season.

Mo' Mo

I was flipping the dial last night and stopped on a baseball game. The camera switched from play on the field to the announcers in the box, and guess who I saw? It was Mo Vaughn, recently retired, I guess. He had this high squeaky voice.

Wait a second, that wasn't Mo. And it wasn't that first baseman on the Cal girls softball team from a couple of years ago either.

Holey crap, it was Tony Gwynn. Tony looked like the Michelin man. His waist has to be over 50, and his upper arms look like my thighs. And my thighs are fat! Tony, what the hell happened to you?

I'm reminded of the season that the Pickled Pecklers decided to dump steals right from draft night. Our theory was that every steal was some other stat that we could use, so we tried to get none. Our team's leading base stealer that season? Tony "Mo" Gwynn.

You can look it up.

Goop Melange

There was a scene in an episode of The Odd Couple (TV) in which Oscar cooks a disgusting looking dish filled with a little bit of everything in the refrigerator which he called “Goop Melange”. Here is a little bit of everything.

First, I made it out to a Wednesday afternoon game at SBC between the Giants and the Braves. I drove to the parking lot, but got caught in a traffic jam near the 3rd Street bridge and missed the first inning. I was walking through the club to my seat out in left field, and saw Andruw Jones blast one on a TV screen for a 2 run jimmy jack. For all intents and purposes, that was the game. So I saw the only important moment of the game on television. Kind of a waste of $40 for a club seat, though it was a nice day.

Noah pitched today. It reminded me of all of those sorta good starts I saw him make where he looked like a hell of a pitcher except for two or three moments, but those moments would result in a 6 inning 5 run losing result. The Braves had a real pitcher out there, John Smoltz, who just mowed the Giants down inning after inning except for a stupid up and in fastball to Pedro Feliz who blasted it barely out. Smoltz got blown up in his first outing this season, which was before the auction, and everyone pretty much stayed away from him. Good for George for exercising good judgment and buying him on the cheap. He’s put together a hell of a season transitioning back from closing to starting.

Here is one more thing on the Giants today, this from the Chronicle this morning:

Meanwhile, Armando Benitez was on the field in San Francisco practicing the very act that landed him in surgery, covering first base. Standing off the mound, he pretended to pitch then jogged toward first and took underhand throws from Conte. Benitez said he was running at about 60 percent.

Sorry, but isn’t that how the fat slob ran to first the time he got hurt and pretty much every time he has to make that play?

I was taking a look at Derek Lee’s numbers today. BA .376, 30 HR’s, 77 RBI’s, 129 Hits, 76 Runs, first in the NL in all of those categories (maybe in the majors, but I refuse to look at the AL stats). Throw in 11 steals. Slugging is at .738. These are Barry Bonds kinds of numbers, without the walks. I still can’t believe this guy is going to win a triple crown because he’s doing it in a breakout year, but there is no denying he is the man right now. I don’t think everyone would have kept him like Barry did at that price, so a hearty Good for Barry for doing so.

The other night Jay Powell was pitching in the bullpen, which is in front of Ken’s seats. Mark and I were all over the former “Closer of the Future” from about 40 years ago. He’s actually only 33 years old, but it seems he’s been around for ever. He came up in 1995 with the Marlins and was touted just like Ryan Wagner and Mike Gonzalez have been lately. Ten years in the majors, and he’s got a grand total of 22 saves, with no more than 7 in any season. It doesn’t always work out. Speaking of that, when is Ricky Bottalico going to pass John Franco in saves?

Kerry Wood went out after 3 innings last night. I know the Bums have been planning to try and trade him, but it’s a reminder to the buyers that he’s a lot like Griffey, Jr. The moment you trade for him is the moment he turns to peanut brittle.

Finally, Bruce Jenkins wrote an extended article about Rafael Palmiero and his Hall of Fame prospects. Jenkins has always been a gut guy. A player should be in the Hall because he was great and it’s just obvious. When he was playing, he was great. Period. Stats don’t matter. Gaylord Perry’s stats didn’t make him great.

Palmiero has never been great, never even been voted as a starter in an all-star game. No homer crowns, no batting crowns, no MVP’s, no memorable playoff moments. His greatness has been his consistency and longevity. In the end, he’ll probably amass not 500/3000 but 600/3000. The first club only has 4 players, but the second club only has 2 players, 2 really, really great players. Frankly, I’m still of the school that says 500 homers is in and 3000 hits is in. But he’s got to be the quietest player to put together these numbers, and hell, he’s still doing it at 40 (41 in September). Jenkins concludes that he's the exception that proves the rule. Of course he’s in, but it’s a sad statement that he’ll best be remembered for his Viagra commercials.

Boof Sighting

I'm heading out for the Wednesday day game at Pac Bell, but first I wanted to publish this information emailed to me today by the Old Rips:

RotoWire Update Recommendation
Joe Randa (3B) CIN 7/20/2005
The Twins remain interested in trading for Randa, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. One name that has been mentioned as a possibility for Randa is Boof Bonser.

Randa may not turn out to be the keeper that Larry is selling. But more importantly, there is a Boof sighting! Boof may be returning to the NL!

I wonder if he still qualifies as a minor leaguer?

S.F. Bleacher Bums Update

I was thinking about Doug and Frank today, and started wondering about that virtually all Giant team they drafted in the World Series of Fantasy Baseball back in March. From my blog, here is what I listed as their team:

The hitters include Metheny, Snow, Durham, Visquel, Alfonso, D. Cruz, Feliz, Bonds, Alou and Tucker. The only non-Giants are Pratt, Bay, Grieve and Thome.

The pitchers include Tomko and virtually the entire Giants middle relief corps, Brower, Christiansen and Eyre. What, no Herges? They've also got Hudson, Wood, Maddux, Leiter, Capellan (interesting $1 pick) and Kolb.

Holey Moley! That is one ugly team. That could be the ugliest team in the history of fantasy baseball! In addition to all those ugly Giants, look at that mess! Thome! Leiter! Kolb! Brower! Is there any chance they are anywhere BUT last place?

I'd be dying with that team, but I can see Doug out there in Modesto, chuckling, shaking his head, and last week picking up Correia for that fine outing last night.

I love those guys.

Let the Other Games Begin

Last year the Pickled Ones sucked enough that I was able to start studying for my annual Fantasy Football draft early. I’m still up to my ears in BABI this season, which is a great thing, but I’m afraid I may get behind in my football study. I love BABI, but PEFA (P&E Football Association), of which I am the one and only permanent commish, is far more important.

PEFA has history. This September 7 we will be having our 25th annual draft. About half the teams have owners that have been in the league from the beginning. I was 29 when I started that league, drafting in our penthouse office in the old Monadnock Building. I noted last year at the draft there was a hell of a lot more grey hair (for those who still have hair) around the table. 25 years. Quarter of a Century. Now that is a tradition.

We have a trophy that cost us $500, the Sam Barron Trophy, named after my late former partner, who died 19 years ago at the age of 39 right before the 1986 draft. We had won it all in 1985, with a great team. The names of all the winners are on there, covering now 2 sides of the trophy. This year, #25, we move to side 3 with the winner placques.

We all grew up since that draft. The Doc was in grad school at Berkeley, having just graduated from college the year before. Not med school yet, just working on a masters in chemistry. A friend of mine and a friend of my former business partner, who knew a billion people in common and had been at Berkeley together but had never met, met for the first time that night. Today they share Giant seat licenses together and are great, crazy friends. My current business partner was just a buddy at that draft, and we joined together 6 years later. There have been kids and grand kids, tailgate parties and draft parties, just a lifetime of good times.

I learned to use a word processor (Wordstar) and a spreadsheet (Visicalc) on our company’s Apple II+ to manage the league. We covered the walls of my office with sheets for the team names, and I left them up on the walls for a month, getting some strange looks from new clients. And they were all new, because I had just started my business that year.

Today I enjoyed an annual event: the purchase and analysis of Fantasy Football Index. Frankly, the Index sucks, except that everyone buys it, so you need to know what other people are thinking. But in the age of the internet, it is impossibly out of date when you need it.

That said, I enjoy one thing: the analysis of last years predictors. I always keep the prior year’s index, and mark it up in the prediction and mock draft areas, looking for guys who made good picks and bad picks. Peyton Manning really early was a good pick. Ahman Green really early was a bad pick.

Who liked Shawn Alexander before the season? And Edgerrin James? And Derrick Mason and Chad Johnson? And the sleepers: Muhsin Muhammed and Brandon Stokely? Antonio Gates and Jason Whitten? Jake Plummer and Trent Green and Jake Delhomme? And the Jones boys – Kevin, Julius and Thomas?

Then again, who liked (or didn’t like) the stinkers? Mike Vick, Clinton Portis, Kevan Barlow, William Green, Koren Robinson, Peerless Price, Eddie George, and a personal favorite, Jeff Garcia? The guys that got these guys right need to get paid. The guys that got them wrong need to go out of business.

So I analyze last year’s picks and decide who I’m going to subscribe to this year. Last year I subscribed to Draftsharks and Football Injuries. This year…well ask me after the season. And Doc…I am not writing a football blog to publish my thoughts for you to search for and find on the internet.

Or am I?

Transaction Tuesday

I was at the Giants’ game last night with Ken and Mark and Kevin and the Doc, and for those who know him, the Colonel, where we saw Andruw Jones rake a couple off Correia, who is undoubtedly headed back to Fresno today. Prediction: Rueter starts in this slot next week.

Chipper slapped one out to Barry-land, and hit two more to the track in his reappearance from the DL. He still looked hurt when he runs, but it looks like he can still swing, which Kevin, his owner, is happy to see.

And then there was Pedro Feliz, he of the “almost 60” (well, 52) RBI’s. The Giants should have knocked Jorge Sosa out of there early, but Feliz was able to push his LOB count for the night to an even half dozen, leaving the bases jammed in the 1st and 3rd. So Ken got a crappy little win out of Sosa, the Giants looked like the stinkers we’ve been watching all season, any my season record at SBC evened out at 5-5.

Rueter only gave up 1 hit and no walks in 5 innings. Come on, Sabes, this is going nowhere fast, just recycling the SOS in the starting rotation. And Michael Tucker leading off, and JT Snow batting third and Ray Durham batting 5th, what a sad little team. Who needs tickets?

It’s another transaction Tuesday in BABI today, with the Bums ending their FAAB holdout with the purchase of crossover Eric Byrnes for $47. We were sure the Lickers were going to get him, but the Bums are setting themselves up for some late July trading with Byrnes and Wagner and Schmidt and Wood and whoever else comes over from the AL this month (they’ve still got a league leading $103 in FAAB money).

We got dinged again, losing by a buck to Ken on the insanely hot John Rodriguez, who St. Louis called up to fill Reggie Sanders’ spot. We also missed on Abraham Nunez (saved $30 bucks in transaction fees, though) who was on the waiver wire but was claimed in front of us by the Rips. Mark: like Belisle, if we got him without giving up a player, we were interested. Don’t bother pitching him to us. Wasn’t that the same Abraham Nunez that the Bums traded for last year right before BABI cut down day who had that torrid spring training? A $2 Nunez with no starting position for a minor league draft slot, I believe. I have to admit it – I was interested too.

And speaking of Belisle, where are those saves for the Reds? Mark got Barmes, who has approximately equivalent stats to Belisle, and he also got Michael Tucker, who had a big series against the Dodgers. Mark’s answer to that question is “The Reds are shopping Weathers, and when they’ve moved him , he’ll be the closer. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” Mark kept trying to sell him to us when we also bid $15 on him, but we figured he was worth money but not a keeper. Mark got an awfully good keeper for Belisle. Good for him.

Ken did bid the last of his FAAB money on Byrnes, to no avail. And we did make a point of bidding more than his $22 (now $8, thanks to his 2 pickups this week). And I see the Rips are down to 1 FAAB pick ($5) plus waiver claims. At the other end of the FAAB spectrum are the Bums and Cappers at $103 apiece, then we’re at $97, the Cartel is at $90 and HOBO at $83. What is interesting is that the trade talks all seem to have players going from the NL to the AL, with no significant rumors coming this way.

And since it’s Tuesday, we logged onto Larry Dot Net for a few minutes before 11am. We’re getting closer on a deal, but frankly, it’s tough to give up Cabrera, because his .337 BA is virtually impossible for us to replace. We are in desperate need of BA (and RBI’s). What we need is another Cabrera. So another week goes by, but Larry wants me to state categorically and on the record that he’s ok to deal with. Actually, as I told him, he’s almost impossible to deal with, but almost all of the trades he eventually makes are pretty reasonable. And kudos to the Falkuhns for not trading too much with any one team, though if Larry would just throw Andruw into our mix as well, we won’t complain.

Hey, maybe we’re the ones that are impossible to deal with, I don’t know. But our hesitation is if we’re going to give up a guy who helps us in 3 categories, we’ve got to get back those stats, plus some more stats for the contract. We’ll keep trying.

Hobo lost Reggie Sanders this week, so undoubtedly the Andruw talks will be revived. This is a close race, and injuries are going to make the difference. That’s why it hurt so badly to lose JD Drew just as he was really heating up. RBI’s, baby. That’s the category.

At the game last night the big question was “Will the Leaguers dump Pujols?” It’s not looking so good right now, with Mr. Leaguer sitting in 8th place, behind the surging (well, inching) Pounders. We predict he won’t be a seller, but he might not be a big buyer, either. It’s fun to be looking down at him in the standings, which a majority of the league can currently say on July 19. Will someone in the race bite and give him a couple of keepers for next year? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Milton Bradley will be back soon, maybe by the end of the week. We still like him.

Irrational Rationalizations

Getting the midseason BABI Talk from Kevin (posted below) has inspired me to hit the keyboard today. I spent the weekend playing tennis round the clock to the point of extreme tennis elbow, and other assorted muscle pulls, though apparently I can still swing a racquet better than Milton Bradley. In the course of it all, I turned one year older, and the various aches and pains confirm it. But despite it all, and the aches and pains of several of our Pickled Players, we stand at the all-star break in second place, if unrespected.

I’d like to go on record as being one of the teams that has NOT asked Kevin if he is selling. We never presume. We hate dumping, and don’t wish it on anyone. So if anyone decides to change their minds, we’re here, but we respect you enough not to assume you think your team stinks.

We also want to go on record as saying we think Jason Werth has some, and he sure appeared to have a lot of it two weeks ago when he smacked 4 homers in a week for us. We were lucky…we found someone who also thinks he could be an awfully good player for a minimal investment. Let’s see how those Dodgers look next season with Werth and Bradley playing, presumably, healthy all season.

Kevin missed one important amazing fact in reporting on that nice Capper team: George spent $31 on Barry Bonds. So far, zippo. I guess he’s not worth much less than our Kaz $22 Matsui, but it’s a testament to the rest of that team that you could contend despite a complete zero for 31.

Mark looks like he’s finally out of chips (man, it hurt us to miss Belisle by a buck on the tie breaker), and with the Bums staying quiet, Larry’s got the only game in town right now. Thank God I’ve got a fully paid for subscription to Larry Dot Net.

I’m going on record…the Busch Leaguers won’t win it. I don’t think he’ll sell Pujols and play for next year, but I don’t think he’s got the horses, despite picking up exactly what he needed in Oswalt. He needs to do what the Pecklers did…go into the 4 corners. He’ll never get those pitching numbers quite down to what he would like.

Finally, I saw the Giants win last week, with our personal favorite, Brett Tomko, avoiding blowing up against the Reds. Tyler Walker came in for a somewhat exciting ninth, finishing off a save. I got to sit with my buddy Geoff in his Section 215 seats, right behind the plate. That was my ninth game of the season, with the Giants now 5-4.

P.S. – Kevin, I’ve got your rationalizations right here.

Kevin's Midseason BABI Talk

Now this is what fantasy baseball is supposed to be like. Eight teams still in the money chase, transactions galore, good-natured trash talking, dissing each other’s trades, and Busch Leaguers in seventh place. Can it get any better? Well, yes, I could be in first instead of eighth, hanging on by my fingernails. But that’s a quibble. We have become the NFL: parity rules.

Has there ever been a year when so many veteran stars have underachieved, and so many marginal players overachieved? Here are some interesting midyear comparisons:

Combined home runs by Todd Helton, Mike Lowell and Jim Thome: 20
Combined home runs by Tony Clark, Joe Randa and Bill Hall: 38

Cost of each home run by Clark: 7 cents.
Cost of each home run by Helton: $6.50

Players with more stolen bases than Carlos Beltran: 31

Players on Opening Day BABI rosters who cost more than the Iowa Cubs’ Corey Patterson: 2

Closers who aren’t:
Danny Graves, Dan Kolb, Armando Benitez, Eric Gagne, Guillermo Mota

Closers you could have had for $1 on Draft Day, including one who went for that amount before being waived*:
Tyler Walker, Mike Belisle, Todd Jones, Brian Fuentes*

It’s a crazy game. Now on to the teams:

Any 9
Ken is like the Japanese in World War II—just keep throwing people into battle and eventually the other side will run out of bullets. He has already made 76 or so transactions, mortgaged his house, and sold his own blood. Last week I saw him on the corner of Bryant and 4th with one of those sandwich boards that read: “will work for waiver claims.”

It seems to be working. If you want evidence that a strong couple of weeks can lead to big moves by a team, here you go. On June 14, Any 9 was in seventh place with 46 points. Now they look like the team to beat. You need a little karma to win the league, and things have been turning up golden for Ken. For example, after chewing up the NL for three months, Dontrelle Willis totally tanked in his first outing after Ken traded him, allowing eight runs in four innings. Naturally, Ken sees this as evidence that this is His Year, and he may be right. His one apparent weakness is depth in starting pitching, but he probably will solve that soon. He just needs time to get a little money together.

Pecklers
Sour Grapes has been a welcome slice of BABI navel-gazing this season, and this was the perfect season to introduce it. But as any journalist knows, documenting your thoughts for public consumption means living with what you said long after you’ve said it. As somebody who makes his living writing and editing, I admire Josh’s efforts so far. He’s honest about his own foibles most of the time, but you can occasionally see the rationalization shining through. My favorite so far is this gem, no doubt intended to assuage fellow owners after swiping $15 Miguel Cabrera from the Cartel: “we suspect Cabrera is pretty tradable besides being pretty keepable.” I suspect that is a pretty big understatement.

The Pecklers have been up and down, rising on the exploits of Pedro and Cliff Floyd, falling on the wings of Brett Tomko and Noah Lowry, who were summarily dismissed. Josh and Seth may have acted a bit rashly there, especially in Lowry’s case. But how about that Tyler Walker? The Pecklers wouldn’t have had him except for a bonehead move on my part. I had bid $5 on Walker the week before he became a closer as a contingency pick in case I didn’t get the guy I really wanted, Randy Flores. I’m not in eighth place by accident, you know. I work at it.

Lickers
Who does Lou know at BALCO? Clearly, he has been giving his pitchers banned substances. How else do you explain all of them having career years simultaneously? Doug Davis and Chris Capuano have combined for 19 wins. Ryan Dempster has been lights out as closer. Loaiza, Patterson and Marquis all have exceeded expectations. Meanwhile, Livan keeps rolling along. I’d like to say the Lickers had a brilliant plan, but nobody is smart enough to have predicted this. Enjoy the ride cuz it probably won’t last. Any team built on overachievers in the first half must be considered a candidate for a second-half swoon. What happens if a couple of these guys falter? Hitting is thin, with only eight everyday players. The Lickers may end up winning the steals category, but are likely to sink in both HRs and RBI unless Thome comes back big and they make some deals. I suggest they trade Patterson immediately before he wakes up and realizes those injections have shrunk his nuts to the size of peas.

Bat Out of Hell
The modern day Murderer’s Row. Derrek Lee, Morgan Ensberg, Aramis Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Brian Giles, that other Giles. (And I didn’t even include Victor Diaz.) Barry has 48 points on offense at the break. If only there were prizes for winning half the categories. Unfortunately for the Elder, pitching still counts. To be fair, losing Hudson and Prior for significant stretches really hurt. But he’s so far back in some categories now, you wonder where in the Hell this team is going. He is trying—adding Belisle with Fuentes (one of the better moves Barry has ever made) probably gets him 3 or 4 points in saves. Looks like that Ryan Wagner experiment didn’t work out so well.
Can Bat win it all? If Hudson comes back strong and Prior is Prior, well, you never know. Bummer about Todd Linden, though. Uh, you knew he played for the Giants, right? Just checking.


Hobo
Noel and Hank are excellent commissioners. Just the facts, no editorializing, no added drama. And no whining, which is laudable considering the luck, mostly bad, they’ve had this year. Who could anticipate Helton tanking? Or Corey Patterson ending up in the minors? Throw in an injured Phil Nevin and you can see why they needed to go out and get offense, even if it meant giving Busch one of the best ERA eaters in the league. Frankly, though, I don’t think Hobo’s starting pitching is good enough to give up Oswalt. There’s a lot of baseball to play, and while he and Carpenter together could thwart bad outings by other guys, that cushion is gone now and the younger pitchers will be exposed.

The decision to keep Latroy Hawkins at $14 looks worse all the time. (Although who am I to talk. I traded a perfectly good player for Danny Graves.) And now they have Brett Tomko, too. I hope you guys have a good therapist.

Cappers
George’s team is like the Mike Matheny of BABI. Quiet, unassuming, unflashy, and handles pitchers well. If George wrote a blog, what would he say? I’m not sure, but I’d probably read it. Every season, he manages to find a sleeper or two who comes up big. Last year, it was Vinny Castilla. This year, it’s Clark (13 HR, 47 RBI, .324 BA). I guess the formula is currently underappreciated corner men who aren’t quite as old as Julio Franco. (No, Mark, Jeff Cirillo doesn’t qualify.) George also made an astute trade, capitalizing on great early season numbers from Felipe Lopez and Jason Lane to extract Rolen and Klesko from the Rips.
This is a team to watch in the second half. It’s only a matter of time before Cappers takes over first in saves--despite having lost Brandon Lyon--and his starting pitchers are solid. When they get Freel healthy, they’ll likely move to first in steals; and they’re close enough in HRs and RBI to make big moves. They could finish with 70 points without breaking a sweat. And nobody will hear them coming.

Busch Leaguers
The mystique is beginning to look a little worn. For the first time in a long while, injuries and plain old bad luck are conspiring against the perennial powerhouse. Sheets, Gagne, Lidge and Holliday all went down with injuries. Oliver Perez has looked more like the clueless Padres rookie he was rather than the alleged Pirates ace he is. And now he’s out, too. Beltran’s numbers resemble that other highly coveted franchise-maker: Rob Mackowiak. And in an uncharacteristic blunder, Jeff waived Fuentes, who subsequently became the Rockies closer. However, Jeff deserves special mention for pointing out that Barry, not himself, should be awarded Fuentes in the subsequent waiver war, preserving his integrity if not his title hopes. But this just in: the Oswalt trade may have saved the day for Jeff’s team. Busch’s first attempt to bolster his pitching actually made things worse. Maddux, despite a good outing Sunday, is being regularly pounded, and Derek Lowe throws too many pitches Highe. On the other hand, he also got Bobby Abreu, so let’s not get all weepy for Jeff. I imagine who ever is in first place is going to be looking over their shoulder at Busch. Old habits, like old champions, die hard.


Pounders
For weeks I’ve been getting emails from other owners wondering the same thing: “Are you ready to dump?” No, thank you, I’m going to wait a while longer. I may be delusional, but I like my team. I survived a series of career-defying, epically bad outings in the early going. I mean, you can only absorb so many 2-inning, 8 ER lines and still have a pulse this late. But my staff is sound--I’ll take Zambrano, Mulder and Weaver against any threesome in the league. I should get a boost when John Thomson and Chipper return. I only need 10 points to finish among the leaders, and that’s very doable. Don’t I sound convincing? Isn’t life grand? The only problem with this cheerful scenario is that it assumes Cory Lidle and David Williams stay solid. It will only take a couple of more Graves-like meltdowns to doom my chances. If that happens, you may see a fire sale. What do I hear for Carlos Lee?

Falkuhns
Larry shared with me a headline that ran in the Chicago Tribune the day after the Cubs star shortstop was injured. It read: “No More Garciaparra.” That more or less sums up the Falkuhns season. Not that Nomar would have elevated the team to contender status—it would have taken more than that—but because very early on it was clear that the Kuhns would be looking toward next season. So Larry’s management has centered on getting the best possible return on his blue chippers. The league’s title hopefuls haven’t exactly lined up to get Andrew Jones, but Larry already has unloaded Shawn Green, Chipper Jones, Billy Wagner and Yhency Brazoban, the latter to Any 9. And just to spice up the deal, who did Larry throw in? Garciaparra. He’s mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it, Nomar.

Old Rips
Mark made a nice little run there for a while, rising within shouting distance of the contenders. But I think he realized he was maxed out, and wisely played for next year. That decision also allowed him ample opportunity to entertain trade offers, which is like an intravenous drug for Mark. There was some head scratching on the Abreu deal but Mark was absolutely determined to extract Lidge from Busch’s roster, and he did it. And he parlayed a couple of unproven pickups—Antonio Perez and Mike Belisle--into a good keeper, Clint Barmes. He’s done a lot with a little. My only question is what Mark will do to fill his days after the trading deadline. Can you say fantasy football?

Bleacher Bums
Have Doug and Frank moved far away? Were they kidnapped? Are they trapped beneath a large object? The Bums made one trade, and a pretty good one, getting Billy Wagner for Guillen. But unless I’m missing something, that’s the only transaction they’ve made all season. Perhaps they became so accustomed to letting injured players ride along unreserved that they have forgotten how FAAB bidding works. Guys, it goes something like this. If you have a really shitty player, there are other players who from time to time are called up from the minors or play themselves into the lineup and become useful substitutions. In these cases, the typical procedure would be to take a few dollars and “bid” on those players, hoping to acquire them and replace said shitty player. Or maybe you just really like Roger Cedeno. Hey, we all have our favorites.

Doyle Cartel
I just want to go on record to say that had I known Cabrera was available for an injured outfielder and an overhyped $1 Dodger of questionable Werth, I would have happily participated in such a trade. But based on Greg’s trading strategy last season, I assumed that no less than my best two players and at least one testicle would be required to even discuss Cabrera. I really like Greg, but this trade perplexed me. Am I missing something? Aren’t dump deals supposed to feature guys you aren’t planning to keep next season? On the other hand, Burke and David Wright were good gets. Weeks looks for real. If Cabrera were still on this team, I’d be looking at Cartel as a contender for next season. Instead, I’m forced to make jokes about genitalia.

Which seems like an appropriate place to stop and say, good luck all. This is a great season and already has been loads of fun. See you in October.

Hawkin' a Loogie

The Giants ended a 4-game losing streak with a decent game against a mediocre Reds team last night. Win two, lose 4, win 1…that’s the Giants this year. I’m sure if I search back in the February entries of this blog, I’ll find one of my statements that suggested we were over-confident in the Giant’s starting pitching staff. Does anyone have an ERA under 5? Tonight the Hobos will find out if picking up Brett Tomko from the waiver wire was a good idea.

I was watching the game last night off and on. I got a chance to see Latroy Hawkins. He looked absolutely overpowering at first, striking out the first two batters. He threw a 98 mile an hour fastball at the knees and on the black which started outside and tailed back over the outside corner to a right hander that was just impossible to hit. It was reminiscent of that pitch Mariano Rivera throws. But then the pitches flattened out, avoiding a run when a gapper bounced over the fence for a ground rule double. He snuck out of the inning.

Despite his bad record when a save is not on the line, Tyler Walker came in for the 9th with a 5 run lead. He looked pretty good until he threw a 95 mph fastball in to Adam Dunn, who crushed it into McCovey Cove about 10 feet foul. Man, when that guy connects, he just mashes it, like Mickey, or maybe a little more like Dave Kingman.

Here are some quotes from a service we subscribe to that caught my eye:

As the Contra Costa Times reports, "Reliever Armando Benitez (right hamstring) began jogging, although trainer Stan Conte called it "sort of a fast-walk/jog." Benitez, who has been throwing on flat ground during much of the 91/2 weeks since his surgery, could begin pitching off a mound this week."

A sort of fast-walk job? Isn’t that sprinting for Benitez? Kind of like his sprint to first when he tore the hammy in the first place?

The Miami Herald reports that "Reliever John Riedling, who was optioned to Albuquerque on June 30, got off to a rough start with the Isotopes, surrendering five earned runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings Tuesday. It was Riedling's first outing for Albuquerque."

I don’t care about former Pickled Peckler $1 pitcher Riedling. What caught my eye was the Albuquerque Isotopes. What’s next, the Area 51 Aliens?

According to the Contra Costa Times, "Center fielder Marquis Grissom (left hamstring) is working with a physical therapist in Las Vegas and is expected back Friday."

That’s a shame. All you Grissom fans can get excited now.

There was a reference to Colorado’s experimental plan to use six starters. That’s lot’s more quality starting pitchers for those of you in need of wins.

As the Houston Chronicle reports, "Third baseman Morgan Ensberg, hasn't given up hope of earning a spot on the All-Star team. With three All-Star position players on the disabled list or nursing injuries, there is a chance that Ensberg will join teammates Roy Oswalt, Roger Clemens and Brad Lidge for the All-Star game Tuesday at Detroit's Comerica Park."

How can Ensberg NOT be on the All-Star team. You can go back and check it – I wrote on March 8 that Barry should extend him. If Ensberg had a 8-06X contract, do you think he’d be able to trade him for that pitching he needs?

According to the Miami Herald, "Marlins first baseman Carlos Delgado said he would accept a chance to play in the All-Star Game if the offer was extended to him, but it appears unlikely he'll receive that opportunity."

I would accept a chance to play in the All-Star Game too, but it appears unlikely I’ll receive that opportunity.

Antonio Perez filled in for Jeff Kent (hamstring) superbly Wednesday. Perez went 3 for 5 with a homer and 5 RBI. Perez has been playing in a super utility role, but has been making starts at third base for injured Jose Valentin. He is batting .316 on the year. His other numbers are nothing to brag about (3 HR 16 RBI), but are otherwise solid. You should be aiming higher if you want to win your league, he should not be on your fantasy radar.

I put this here because Mark is marketing him like he’s the next A-Rod. Speaking of Mark, expert in all things Seinfeldian, I saw the episode last night in which a Kenny Rogers chicken franchise opens up across the street from Kramer’s apartment. “The Red Menace”. It also featured Elaine buying on the Peterman company tab an $8,000 sable hat for George. Jerry – “Why didn’t you get the big one?” Hilarious.

You've Got to Get Rich

The deals have begun in earnest. As in Earnest T. Bilko (my hero).

Hobo and the Leaguers have completed the trade that I discussed yesterday: essentially Oswalt for Sanders and Burnitz. I haven’t figured out how much batting loss the Leaguers will be giving up, though they recently bolstered their hitting. I do know that the deal is worth at least 10 pitching points to the Busch Leaguers. And although Hobo will pick up some hitting points (assuming Sanders has a rare good second half), they’re excellent pitching numbers are going to take a hit, particularly with the pickup of Brett Tomko off the waiver wire.

Ophelia Butts made a couple of deals today. Any 9 got their closer, and they got Nomar, who isn’t all that far away from playing again. It cost Dontrelle, but I don’t think they’ll lose much if anything in their pitching points. Ken is in the 4 corner offense regarding his ERA and WHIP. Plus, sorry, I don’t think Dontrelle is quite THIS good. A reasonable deal for both teams, and one that locks Any 9 into a 70+ point season with plenty to play with next year.

Ms. Butts also turned a trick with the Pounders, sending Shawn Green and Chipper Jones to them for Clark (like him) and Randa (eh…). The Pounders are obviously making a last ditch effort to get back in the race. This will help, but not all that much. I figure it will lock them into 8th place, which used to be a good thing.

It still leaves the Falkuhns with Andruw Jones and Jose Guillen as potential trading chips. More to come, Larry?

As for us, we’re quite disappointed we missed getting Belisle. We tied with the Rips at 15, not getting him because of being higher in the standings. I don’t know if he’s really the closer, but if he is, he would have made a big difference to us, eliminating the need to trade for another closer. We don’t exactly trust that 6 save week we had last week. Meanwhile, we had to reserve JD Drew (10 bucks) in case he does come back this season. We’re probably going to know that in a few hours, but we really had no choice. Meanwhile, no one else bid on Chen? The Dodgers are desperate for outfielders, and he used to be a monster prospect. You’ve got to figure he’s going to get his chance to play now.

I just wish we had said $16 on Belisle. Mark Bilko'd us.

Let's Make a Deal

Sitting on the BABI’s main page at TQStats in the main message box is the following commercial advertisement:

At 11:06 on 6/25/2005, All Tease Falkuhns wrote:

Those who don't want major dump deals better get on the phone. There are only two teams talking to us, so all our players could go to them.

And make some decent offers, for gosh sakes.

Ophelia Butts, General Manager of the Falkuhns

Ophelia’s having trouble moving players for keepers. They have the major league home run leader, a perennial all-star power hitter who qualifies at both 1B and OF, an injured perennial all-star power hitter who qualifies at both 3B and OF, and a couple of current closers. And yet, they Falkuhns don’t seem to be able to close a deal.

It may be because they’ve wrapped up all their hopes in working out a deal with Hobo. Word is most of their pieces have been offered in a single deal for a premier starter and an excellent closer. Of course, we’re limited in our sources, so it’s quite possible that not all of these pieces have actually been offered. It could just be grousing that the deal making isn’t going too well.

Apparently the hang up is that Hobo has been talking to the Busch Leaguers. The rumor is that they may send Roy Oswalt to the Leaguers for some hitting. Both teams are trying to be economical with their 2006 material, and do not want to start next season with nothing in the tank. So the dumpers aren’t getting the business that a close 7 team race should inspire. After all, it’s just supply and demand, and there isn’t much supply.

In the end, though, prices require a willing buyer and a willing seller to agree. So far, they’re not agreeing. It may be, of course, that Hobo thinks they are the only players in town with the Falkuhns, and we’re here to testify that they may be right. We’ve had lots of connections with Larry Dot Net, but we haven’t even had any kind of a trade proposal made. It’s our opinion that we aren’t on the Falkuhns’ radar, but they’re stringing us along in case everything breaks down completely and also to be phantom competition for their real target. Hey, we need BA, HR and RBI’s and saves. We’re here, we’ve been here all season. Stop whining to us that you’re not getting what you want if you don’t want to deal with us.

Meanwhile, we have to admit we’re concerned about the Leaguers getting Oswalt. We hope that Hank and Noel know better than to make a deal like that. Oswalt could be worth a dozen points to the Leaguers. If you trade Oswalt, you’ve traded to Jeff one of maybe 5 pitchers in the NL that can make the difference for his team. That could mean big jumps in ERA, WHIP and Wins. Even if Hobo improves their team, they have to be conscious of how much they help a very dangerous competitor. And, although Reggie Sanders is having a career year, he’s going to be 38 this year and he’s always been a first half player. Always. As Sgt. Esterhaus used to say on Hill Street Blues, “be careful out there.”

I’m not exactly sure what the hell Any 9 did yesterday to jump to 69.5 points yesterday, but it must be an accumulation of several days activity. They did pick up 3 wins, 2 of which were pristine. This is the team that should scare everyone. They’ve got everything. They could use another closer, but this looks like a team that’s going down to the wire with good keepers for next year.

We jumped to 66 points yesterday despite Hector Carrasco blowing an easy chance at what would have been his second save this week. We’ve got 15 homers this week, but we got some ugly news: JD Drew, out 6-8 weeks with a broken wrist. This is the second Dodger outfielder broken wrist we’ve suffered this season (Jayson Werth), and 3rd Dodger outfielder wrist/hand injury (Milton Bradley). Drew, after a stunningly bad start, had really started to hit. He was up to 15 homers and .286, though he was fighting daily pains all over his body. I guess it’s good that we didn’t extend him, but this is a bad bit of news for the Pecklers. It means we’re going to have to clear the cupboards if we want to have a shot at this. What the hell, as I said before, we’re here.

It's All in the Timing

Tuesday morning we waived our two Giants’ starters, Lowry and Tomko. Apparently Felipe is reading this blog, because he immediately announced that he was moving Tomko to the bullpen, and according to the papers, God knows where else.

The two guys were absolutely killing us in June, brutal outing after brutal outing. Both Ken and Mark asked why we waited so long. The reason was that we kept seeing them pitch. They both have good stuff. In virtually every game, they would get on a roll, only to blow up somewhere along the way.

If they had been pitching for the Nationals, who are never on TV, all I would ever have seen would have been their stats in the morning paper. They would have been much easier to waive. But every time I saw Tomko rear back on a 97 mph fast ball, or see Lowry buzz through a couple of innings, I’d think, they’re coming around. And until 3 weeks ago, Tomko actually looked like the Giants’ all-star, sporting a 3.86 ERA. But man, June was just ug-u-ly.

So Thursday night Lowry threw his first decent game in a month. And then to top it off, Tomko came in to start the seventh and picked up a 3 inning save. A would be win and a save. Did we screw up? Maybe. But Carrasco got back the save for us last night. We’re a little light on starters right now, but despite an ugly outing by Suppan this week, our ERA and WHIP are pretty well protected. Hampton says he’s coming back this month, and hey, trades are still to be made. We’re not going anywhere without those pitching categories.

We got 3 saves last night – Looper, Walker and Carrasco. That’s a pretty cool stat. We suddenly jumped into 6th place in saves, only 1 behind the Busch Leaguers who only have 1 closer in Todd Jones. I’m surprised no one had already grabbed Carrasco, who is now the set up man in DC. That Nationals team is pretty good, and his numbers have been pristine. For a team trying to protect its ERA and WHIP, he was a nice addition. And, if anything happens to Cordero, he’s the closer.

What an incredible race we have going. We have 7 teams within 4.5 points. I noticed that ever since Jeff’s email on the day he was in first place announcing that once again all was right with the world, his Leaguers have inched down to be that 7th place team today. And I notice we’ve got an 8th team, the long forgotten Pounders, not all that far back at 53 points. I think that team is sort of on auto pilot, because Kevin’s auto-email indicated he was out of town. Hey, Kevin, you’re having a good week – maybe you ought to stay out of town. And don’t change your socks.

Mark thinks Ken’s Any 9 is the favorite. He’s got good points in every category and lots of tradable pitching. I think he’s right. Nobody should trade with him. And don’t trade with the Busch Leaguers either, on general principle. In fact, don’t trade with anyone but us.

So the Giants might be only 6 back on Sunday. And Bruce Jenkins thinks the Warriors are heading to the playoffs. So who is going to stand up and predict a Niner Super Bowl this year? Hope springs eternal. Meanwhile, I’d like to place a bet on the Cal Rugby Team, but that’s a tough one to find a taker for. Roll on, you Bears.

PS: We’re 6 for 16 on Saturday at 1:52 with 4 homers already. But as has been our wont, we’ve only got 6 RBI’s. That RBI category is going to be a big one in this race, mark my words.