Dem Bums

We can’t leave 2007 without giving props to our BABI champion Bleacher Bums for their dominating performance this season. EIGHTY SIX POINTS, eighteen ahead of second place! This is an experienced league, so it is amazing that not only can a team dominate so thoroughly, but they have it all back for next season as well.

How the hell did they do it?

It wasn’t their keeper list, believe it or not. Here is what we wrote about them last October, with current notes in parentheses:

BLEACHER BUMS:They made their point by not dumping like most other teams. Still has good starting point with 7 Keepers for $96 and could add 2 for $13 if Valverde and Hart are in the right situations. Has good power. Will need other stats.

1) Nick Johnson 1B - $15/07 – another great year .290, 23 HR – 10 SB. Probably goes to $20/08C (Dropped, bought back for $10 and traded for Kaz Matsui.)
2) Ray Durham 2B - $12/08 – where will he land? He’s certainly worth keeping after 26 HR, even if his #’s drop, which they will. (They kept him and he stunk.)
3) Jason Bay OF - $29/07C –.286, 35 HR, only 11 SB, 109 RBI. Worth the extention from last year. (Underperformed, hitting only .247.)
4) Jeff Francoeur OF – $5/07F. BA had to drop from .325, but 29 HR-103 RBI are well worth extending to $15 at least. (Extended to 15. Had a nice season - .293-19-105-5, but didn’t generate huge profits.)
5) Lastings Milledge OF $5/08F – disappointing starting 166 AB’s, but he’s got huge upside. Should be a future star. (Kept. Didn’t suck, no big deal.)
6) Chris Young OF $5/08F – He will be starting in 2007, and has 15-15 potential, maybe a lot more. (Kept. Great season despite sub-.240 BA.)
7) Brad Penny SP $15/07 – 16 wins with average #’s 4.33-1.376. Has upside to improve all the stats and is on a good hitting team.(Dropped, bought back for $13. Excellent season at that price.)

Other possibles:

1) Jose Valverde P 4-07 – was always an injury waiting to happen, but the #’s sucked. Still he regained his closer role at end of season. Got to keep if he’s the closer, and probably would have to extend. That could be ugly. (Kept, but did not extend. Had a spectacular season for $4.)
2) Corey Hart OF $9/08 – 9 HR – 5 SB in 237 AB’s. Worth keeping if starting or looks like true #4. (Kept. He exploded into the star everyone was waiting for - .295-24-81-23.)
3) Juan Pierre OF - $40/08 – He did have 58 SB’s, so he would get bid up in the auction. But he’s unlikely to go for more the $40, especially with Jose Reyes also out there. (Dropped.)

Of course, also hiding on their farm keeper list was Ryan Braun. He worked out pretty well for a guy who cost them nothing in the auction.

So how did they do it? It was brilliant drafting, particularly in starting pitching. Now there’s a great template for you all.

Drafting starting pitching!

Rich Hill - $13.
Ted Lilly - $9.
John Maine - $10.
Brad Penny - $13.

Wow!

Even the mistakes didn’t hurt all that much:

Randy Johnson - $17. OK, he only won 4 games, but his numbers were good.

Noah Lowry - $4. He got 14 wins on a last place Giants team. And his ERA was 3.92. The only bad thing here was his 1.55 WHIP, which didn’t keep the Bums from finishing first in the category.

Mike Hampton - $1. A complete waste, but he did have an ERA and a WHIP of ZERO. And they never reserved him.

Brett Tomko - $1. Their last pick was their worst, but they dumped his 6.28 ERA after only 43 innings.

So the Bums bought eight starting pitchers for a total of $68. They finished first in both ERA and WHIP, plus third in wins. Throw in a monster first place finish in saves (they bought Saito for $28 and kept Valverde at $4), and they had 46 of the 48 possible pitching points, with only 1 pitcher kept. Unbelievable.

They picked up 40 hitting points with only three special keepers - Braun, Hart and Young. Oh yeah, they also kept a guy we might not have kept – JJ Hardy at $4. That worked out pretty well, as Hardy hit 26 homers.

They didn’t buy anyone over $30. They went for a couple of old guys that nobody really wants anymore – Helton at 27 and Chipper at 29. Those guys felt fully priced, but they can still hit if they stay off the DL. Helton was .320-17-91, and Chipper was .337-29-102. Damned fine years, if not career power years.

They were so good that they waived a keepable $1 Cody Ross, hitting .302 at the time, in order to activate Braun. The Pecklers picked him up off waivers and in 80 AB’s he hit .375 with 7 homers and 17 RBI’s. At a buck, he wouldn’t even make the Bums’ possible keeper list for 2008.

So the question for the Bums in 2008 is: “Can they manage a team with a great keeper list?” They haven’t proved they can. And we all know that great starting pitching can turn to shit in an instant.

If you ask them, they’ll tell you they are a couple of country hicks who don’t know what they are doing. We know they don’t like fancy city food. But MAN, that was some team they put together last April. We wouldn't be surprised if Lou and Rick change the name of their team to “Iwannalickabum”.