Week 10

An ugly week. For the scoring period I finished in 9th place. I was strong in Steals and Saves and mediocre to bad in the other 8 categories. Despite the awful week, I maintained 2nd Place in the overall standings and in fact I managed to gain 1 overall point. Several categories have tightened though. Here is a look at the top of the current standings.

1 ~ Fantasy Tools 83.0
2 ~ Antelope Crusaders 77.0
3 ~ Wheats N Raisins 71.5
4 ~ Lynnwood Legacy 67.5
5 ~ Balls Deep 64.0

Got a little closer to 1st, and a little closer to 3rd. Eventually one of the 3 or 4 teams below me is going to make a serious run and 2nd... and my team is going to need to play a lot better to hold them off.

Now a closer look at Week 10...


Hitting (80 for 322, .248ba, 8hr, 37rbi, 27rs, 9sb)
It was a bad week, but I'm going to start with the positive. My team has caught fire in Stolen Bases. 21 in the last two weeks. This despite the fact that Nyjer Morgan has lost his leadoff spot... and largely doesn't run... and gets caught when he does. Wait, this is supposed to be POSITIVE!

Roger Bernadina (7 for 17, 1hr, 3rbi, 3r, 1sb) was a big positive and has been for most of the year. He has a 798ops in 117ab on the year with 4 steals and excellent defensive play. Despite his success though, he's not getting any starts vs LHP and he is still losing some ABs to RHP. 17 ABs in a week isn't enough. He is doing well with his 17ab a week though (positive!)

Hanley Ramirez (6-20, 1hr, 4rbi, 3r, 3sb) had a solid week and he indeed is running more. He's back to hitting third too. Would be great to see him pick up the pace in HR/RBI... since, you know... I paid $50 for him! He is stealing bases though (positive!). Bengie Molina (6-19, 1hr, 5rbi) had a good week. Finally had a good week after well over a month of hitting like a fat slug. Maybe fatso can cling to his starting job (positive!). Omar Infante (6 for 17) was solid again and did indeed get starts in LF. Of course, he got hurt and that's going to cost him 5 or so games, many of which would have been starts (keep it positive!).

One player that has been a true positive is Troy Glaus (11 for 27, 2hr, 5rbi, 5r). After a slow April, he has been my best player. Said it before, but the guy hits the ball hard... and he does so as consistently as any player I see. A 30hr/125rbi season is easily within his grasp.

On the negative side... there is plenty not going right. George Kottaras (0 for 10) is on the verge of losing his starting job. He's gone 6 for 41 for me and looks like a total bust. Ryan Braun (3 for 23) has been even worse. His stats for my team have basically been the same as Ryan Spilborghs were... and Spilborghs was bad enough that I dumped him (and he was a $1 player... not a legit MVP candidate).

Justin Upton (4 for 23) has been even worse than Braun. He is 10 for 57 since I picked him up... and he has been dropped to 7th in the Dbacks order. He's bad enough that his starting job could be threatened. UGLY. Rod Barajas (2 for 14) has started to lose playing time. After a fast 10hr start... he's hit 1 for me and turned into a liability. David Eckstein has stunk too. All these players were picked up in trades.

Meanwhile, a couple of throw-ins that I traded away... Tony Gwynn and Ryan Spilborghs... have gone a combined 30 for 75, 5hr, 10rbi, 13r, 1sb. You have to figure that Ryan Braun and Justin Upton are better than Gwynn and Spilborghs... and they were by MASSIVE amounts up until I traded for them. I guess the "positive!" here is it ~has~ to turn around... right?

The bad play doesn't end with players I traded for though. Nyjer Morgan (3 for 20) is looking like a should-be bench player. He has a .312 on-base percentage and is 12 for 22 in steal attempts. Matt Kemp (2 for 20) looks like no more than an above average player. And Albert Pujols (3 for 22) is the worst of them all though. He's the goat of the week... and is well-well on his way to the worst season of his career.

It is amazing that my team is doing as well as it is given all these players having off years. MVP candidates are performing like all-stars... all-stars like good players... good players like mediocre players... mediocre players like AAA players. Troy Glaus is the only established player that is doing better than I expected. It boils down to the fact that I have thrown SO MUCH hitting at the wall, that even though it is vastly under-performing... I still have enough to post the best hitting team in the league.

That's not going to last is some of the worst of the under-performers... Upton, Braun, Morgan... don't start to pick up the pace though.


Pitching (65.1ip, 4.41era, 1.50ratio, 41k, 3w, 3s)
While the ERA doesn't look scary... and it wasn't... this was a bad pitching week. Will again start with the positive though. Matt Capps and Tyler Clippard pitched 5.2 combined shutout innings with 2on, 6k and 3 saves. And, let's see... Chris Narveson (7ip, 2er, 8on, 4k, 1w) was likely pitching for his spot in rotation and posted a solid effort. He gets the pitcher of the week.

Most of my other pictures were below average. Didn't give up a ton of runs, but lots of men on and not a lot of Ks.

The only pitcher that was really bad was Nick Masset (3.2ip, 4er, 10on, 1k). He now has a 7.07era. Not bad for a jet... not so good for the so-called set-up man. He has a 2.04 ratio now too, ~double~ what it was last season. The Reds have a good looking team and one that would provide value to a quality set-up man. Masset is a long ways from quality though.

He's no longer the setup man... he's been pitching a lot more meaningless innings lately. The Red fans are loudly booing him... and... he's not getting the Ks he was (1 in 3.2 this week). If I need to open up a spot, I have to seriously look at Masset going.

The big pitching news for me this week comes from Arizona. It looks like the D-Backs have finally given up on Chad Qualls. He has a 8.46era and 2.10ratio so "finally" is the operative word. I viewed him as a suspect closer from the start, which is why I drafted Juan Gutierrez. He looked like a the best bet to move from set-up role to closer. Well, I read the Qualls thing right... but... Gutierrez turned out to be even worse. I was forced to dump him (and he is now a really-really bad mop up man).

A couple of weeks ago though, I picked up free agent Aaron Heilman. While he is a mediocre pitcher with average stuff... he was the only Arizona reliever with decent stats. He's also is veteran pitcher (8 major league seasons). He seemed like the best bet to get a chance to close when Qualls finally had the plug pulled.

Looks like that's what has happened too. So, VERY good news.

Not that I expect Heilman to thrive and rack up lots of saves. It's possible he blows a chance or two early on and someone else steps up. He's 10 for 34 in career save chances and has a career 4.15era and 1.33ratio (550ip). So again, he's nothing more than a mediocre pitcher.

But, I had another mediocre D-Backs pitcher back in 2008... Brandon Lyon. He posted a 4.72era and 1.49 ratio. 44 Ks in 59ip... mediocre would actually be generous. But, he picked up 26 saves. Fact is, even a poor closer is going to be able to protect a one run lead half the time... and 2 and 3 run leads far more often than that. It really is about getting ~the chances~. As bad as Qualls has been... and he's been the worst RP in the NL... he still has 12 saves.

Heilman is going to get those chances for now (at least it certainly looks that way). If he can get off to a decent start... he has a chance to save 15 or so games for me. This is going to be a big week for him.


Other News
No moves this week. Vicente Padilla could be activated mid-week... which would release Luis Atilano back to the free agent pool. I could keep Atilano... who is in the starting rotation of a decent team... by getting rid of someone else. Nick Masset, Chad Durbin or even Zack Duke. Could even cut Padilla. He was terrible before he got hurt... he got hammered in his last rehab start... and he is scheduled to face the Red Sox in Boston.

Or, I could just let Atilano go. He has 5 wins and a 4.33era which aren't bad totals. But, just 24 Ks in 56ip and a 1.48ratio are bad signs. He's no lock to hold his rotation spot for the year either. Boils down to a lot of bad pitchers and I have to try and pick the worst of the bunch. I am used to decisions like this though... lol.