Hello all. So things with COSFBA weren't working out. So I'm going to try and write on this blog at least once a week. I know only 12 of you will read it, but I don't really care. It's all about love of the game...
With that being said, enjoy.
This week, I have "The Knurve to say..."
"...The Giants will repeat as World Series Champs."
I know it's early in the season, but I am feeling very confident about this one. Many baseball writers seemed to write the Red Sox into the title, but after seeing them in person last weekend, I'm ready to say that the Giants will beat them in the World Series for a few solid reasons.
The first thing is the Red Sox lack of a right-handed bat. Take a look at the splits and you won't see much of a dip in terms of batting average. But the thing that does stick out is the Red Sox inability to hit for power against lefties. They've hit almost 3 times more homers against righties than they have against lefties. I think this will be a problem in October if Madison Bumgarner and Jonathan Sanchez both pitch well. Sanchez is slated to return to the bigs soon, and if he hits his stride in September that solidifies that rotation. Lefties are only hitting .222 off Lincecum so far this year. And believe it or not, righty Matt Cain is incrementally better against lefties than against righties.
The Giants pitching staff hurls .203 versus lefties with a slugging percentage south of .300. Couple that with the fact that the Giants bullpen has allowed the fewest runs in the majors this year and we have a delicious recipie for Giants success against the lefty bats on the Red Sox: Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, Josh Reddick and J.D. Drew.
I haven't even talked about the ballparks either. Lest we not forget that the Giants would have homefield advantage should they make it to the tasty tango, so the fact that San Fran plays as a strong pitchers park could mean more trouble for the lefty-heavy Red Sox.
Thoughts from the week that was...
-I'll start by answering the comments that were posted on my last article. The fan criticized my Jays wildcard pick, and that's completely warranted. I just feel like there's so much offensive potential and an improved bullpen would really make this team a contender, but Drabek has been a disappointment and the starting pitching has underperformed. I'll be interested to see what the Jays, Red Sox and Yankees all do at the deadline, but I'm not ready to call that pick dead yet. As for Ichiro having a big second half, I'll stand pat by that one. He's had a slow July, but I just can't fathom him digressing this quickly, especially since all the sub-stats say he's getting a little unlucky. I'm also going to stand pat with my Matt Kemp 40/40 prediction. I think he'll be the number 1 player off the board next year in fantasy. The commenter said he'd be lucky to get to 30/30. Considering he's already at 24/27, I'd say he's going to get to at least that.
-Fenway is awesome. Went to my first games there last weekend and it's such a personable ballpark. Saturday night I sat right next to the Mariners bullpen and could smell Brandon League's terrible body odor. I also want to point out that Brandon League looks exactly like Rob McElhenney who plays Mac from Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Miguel Olivo also told me to "Watch the game and shut the f#*k up" which was awesome. I didn't even heckle him that bad, but maybe he's mentally weak. The other highlight was Papelbon's entrance, that was epic and people in Beantown go wild.
-Brett Lawrie is a prospect I'm buying. He seems to be recovering well in AAA Las Vegas and could join the Jays in the next few days. I really see him contributing in a quasi-Braun or Longoria-type way as a rookie. His numbers in AAA are stupendous and he has a solid batting eye. If he's available in your league, go nab him.
-I also want to clarify a point I made about Adrian Gonzalez last week. I said to sell high on him post-HR Derby hype. I am of the school of thought where if you possess the "hottest player in fantasy" who is a widely-regarded elite name, than you should sell him, ideally in a 2-for-1 to plug any holes you may have. When you have a white-hot player who already has name recognition, it's a double-whammy that doesn't happen all the time. I said that I don't think Gonzalez gets to 35 shtoinkers when people thought he was a lock for 40. It's worth noting his shtoinker total from July so far.... 1.
- If you own Michael Pineda, I'm selling now. I don't think the 2nd and 3rd time through the league will be very friendly to him, and it's been a rough 2nd half so far. He's one of those guys who you trade now for a struggling hitter with potential or a reliever that could help your team. His fastball has lost life and his ERA by month: April: 2.01, May: 2.81, June: 3.03, July: 8.31. If you're in a keeper league, definitely hang on, but if you're in a Head-to-Head league, you might want to sell. If you're in a roto league, you may need to keep him for the strikeout potential.
- I'm in on Cameron Maybin. Dude's hitting .422 with 10 steals since the All-Star break. Before we call him a failure of a prospect let's remember that he's still only 24 years old. This could be a huge year for him in terms of career development. Hitting in PETCO certainly helped Adrian Gonzalez become a more complete hitter, and I think the same has happened for Maybin. San Diego only has him signed for this year, so if he moves, he could pay dividends for fantasy teams in a hitters park, or anywhere but PETCO.
I'll be quick with the Mike Stanton Mancrush Meter since I'm way over on words already. Last week: 7. This week: 8. Two more bombski's last week. He's the man.
Joke of the week: Banana walks into a bar, bartender says to leave since they don't serve food.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The Evolution of Pitching...
I listen to the ESPN Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast everyday. On Friday's podcast, Nate Ravitz and Tristin Cockcroft had a very interesting conversation about pitching that got me thinking.
Ravitz was talking about how the superiority of pitching in the last two seasons has forced us to redefine how we evaluate a pitchers' success. There are so many strong options toeing the bump these days that in a 10-team mixed league, a guy with a 3.50 ERA might not be helping you as much anymore. Amazing that a 3.50 ERA might be harming your team, but there are so many of those guys these days that you really have to take a stronger look at a pitchers' peripherals and K numbers to determine if he's worth rostering.
For example, Astro's starter Bud Norris, who they discussed on the podcast yesterday, holds an ERA just under 4 after a rough outing. Now if you compare his ERA now with many of the 67 starters in the majors with a lower ERA, he's still got tremendous value because of his K rate which is 2nd best in the bigs at 10.5 K's per 9. There are so many replacement level pitchers with empty sub-3.5 ERA's who don't help you at all.
I'm trying to get at several things here. There are so many pitchers with great ERA's that can trap you up. Josh Tomlin may be sexy now because of his ERA, but the fact that he doesn't strike anybody out (nor will) forces him to be merely supplemental to a guy like Norris who will combine with Tomlin to give a good ERA and a good amount of K's. As you search to improve pitching, I implore you to keep these things in mind. Aside from Norris, guys like Brandon Morrow, Edinson Volquez, Scott Baker, Bartolo Colon and Erik Bedard are the guys you should target. Don't get scared by a sub-par ERA because, whether you'd like to admit it or not, these guys are your inexpensive horses. Make sure you use them wisely. It's easy for the average fantasy player to get caught up in having a low ERA and WHIP, but given the nature of the game, you need to look for that little bit extra and take advantage of these low-ERA guys as supplemental to strikeout horses.
Follow me on Twitter @TheKnurve
Ravitz was talking about how the superiority of pitching in the last two seasons has forced us to redefine how we evaluate a pitchers' success. There are so many strong options toeing the bump these days that in a 10-team mixed league, a guy with a 3.50 ERA might not be helping you as much anymore. Amazing that a 3.50 ERA might be harming your team, but there are so many of those guys these days that you really have to take a stronger look at a pitchers' peripherals and K numbers to determine if he's worth rostering.
For example, Astro's starter Bud Norris, who they discussed on the podcast yesterday, holds an ERA just under 4 after a rough outing. Now if you compare his ERA now with many of the 67 starters in the majors with a lower ERA, he's still got tremendous value because of his K rate which is 2nd best in the bigs at 10.5 K's per 9. There are so many replacement level pitchers with empty sub-3.5 ERA's who don't help you at all.
I'm trying to get at several things here. There are so many pitchers with great ERA's that can trap you up. Josh Tomlin may be sexy now because of his ERA, but the fact that he doesn't strike anybody out (nor will) forces him to be merely supplemental to a guy like Norris who will combine with Tomlin to give a good ERA and a good amount of K's. As you search to improve pitching, I implore you to keep these things in mind. Aside from Norris, guys like Brandon Morrow, Edinson Volquez, Scott Baker, Bartolo Colon and Erik Bedard are the guys you should target. Don't get scared by a sub-par ERA because, whether you'd like to admit it or not, these guys are your inexpensive horses. Make sure you use them wisely. It's easy for the average fantasy player to get caught up in having a low ERA and WHIP, but given the nature of the game, you need to look for that little bit extra and take advantage of these low-ERA guys as supplemental to strikeout horses.
Follow me on Twitter @TheKnurve
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I'm Back Baby!!!
This is a letter to the 18 or so people who actually read my blog:
Dear Readers:
I cannot apologize enough. I have been both extremely busy and extremely lazy to give you the fantastic baseball knowledge from my convoluted little brain that you so eagerly crave and desire. I’ve watched several exciting and interesting things, but have resulted to the simplicity of the tweet instead of the extravagant and well worded blog-post.
Do you all desire more?
Probably not.
Do I give it to you anyways?
Not lately.
Will you want it in the future?
Probably not.
Will I still do it anyways?
Probably.
For those of you who do or don’t know a lot about Roanoke, Virginia, there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on here. In fact, that’s exactly how this blog started. About a year ago I was sitting on my couch watching baseball and I realized I should just start writing about it. One year later, The Knurve has built an empire of dedicated followers (mostly family friends and relatives) and is a lot of fun for me.
So without further due, I will actually begin talking about baseball and hopefully will be blogging semi-regularly, so follow me on twitter @TheKnurve to be in touch with new posts and special promotions (I’ll call you to say hello).
In looking at the season thus far there are several baseball and fantasy baseball storylines that are pretty astounding in order of significance to me:
1. The Cleveland Indians: Frankly, I’m sick of hearing about every reputable baseball analyst and blog talk about these guys. They have to because it’s a great story, but this is not a good baseball team. This is an extremely lucky baseball team. They only seem to give up solo home runs, they have played a terrible schedule, and they have too many guys that are over-performing. That being said, they are playing in the weakest division in baseball BY FAR (See: Number 3), so winning this division could be possible because of this start.
2. The Minnesota Twins: When I made my preseason predictions, I knew the Twins would be a little weaker, but I didn’t expect to see this. Mauer didn’t look like Mauer from the get-go, and to be honest, I think he is extremely overrated as a fantasy player. I wasn’t going to touch him preseason and I advised the dedicated followers not to touch him. I think the Twins may have gotten ahead of themselves when they traded away solid catching prospect Wilson Ramos to the Nationals for Matt Capps. Sure, Capps has been valuable to the Twins thus far, but their offense is absolutely atrocious with no signs of getting better. Delmon Young has been awful, Span is pretty bad, and Morneau may never get back to 50% of the MVP numbers he used to put up before his concussion. Ramos has been hitting a little bit for the Nats and any offense is good offense for the Twins.
I bring up Ramos because it’s looking more and more like Mauer’s body is already breaking down as a catcher. Bilateral Leg Weakness is not something you want a guy who has to squat for a living to have. I’m really worried that Mauer will be nothing more than a DH for the rest of his career, making the Capps for Ramos deal a steal for the Nationals.
3. The AL Central as a whole: I think the demise of the Twins is slightly more shocking, but how bad is this division? None of these teams scare me compared to any of the teams in the AL East. I’d literally take the O’s over the Indians at this point of the season. I was really high on the White Sox coming into the season, and to see them perform like this has been nauseating. The Royals have a lot to look forward to, but they are still one year away. The Tigers don’t do anything sexy, and you know what I think about the Twins. The White Sox have the most talent in this division by far, but literally everybody on this team is underperforming. At this point, I think this division is wide open, but at this point I can’t see any team in this division making any noise in October.
4. Jose Bautista: I thought last year was a fluke. I didn’t think he’d be able to do this again. But after watching a few of his at bats from his 3HR game on Sunday, I’m a believer. He has such a good batters eye, and knows how to take walks as evidenced by his .500+ OBP. He’s one of those guys that every time he steps to the plate, he earns the fastball he crushes. Great power hitters force the pitchers they face to throw them strikes, and Bautista knows how to work himself into counts by being patient when he’s thrown breaking pitches. He’s only on pace to strike out 75 times. I think we’re watching a special transformation and I would throw the town at the guy who’s got him to nab him for the rest of the season.
5. Curtis Granderson: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Granderson immediately after Bautista. It’s amazing that baseball is a game of inches, and it’s amazing what happens when you make a few small adjustments and what it can do. Move your hands a few inches back and close your stance a few inches and you’ve got Curtis Granderson. He’s one of the only guys hitting on this Yankee offense and if it weren’t for him, they’d be in trouble. This guy is quickly turning into one of the most dynamic hitters in the AL. He’s also 4-5 in steal attempts and I think he’s going to run a little more here soon, especially if Jeter continues to perform as poorly as he is. You can’t hate on any lefty in Yankee Stadium, and I think as the summer comes that offense will be fine (even though the pitching is a whole other story). I’m a believer in Granderson. He won’t hit more than .275, but I think this power stroke is real.
6. Young AL Arms: I was originally going to write this little blurb about Pineda, but I realized it would be unfair if I didn’t mention Britton, Tomlin, Masterson, Humber and McCarthy. Many of the best starters in the league reside in the NL, but these guys are carrying big loads for their teams and it’s been impressive. They all have ERA’s under 4 and have given big lifts to their squads, specifically Pineda, Masterson and Tomlin. I think Tomlin and Masterson’s luck will run out a little bit, but I can see all these guys maintaining these performances the rest of the way.
7. The Unhealthy ManCrush I’m developing on Mike Stanton: Look, I’m 2 months older than the guy, but boy do I love him. He never looks like he swings hard, and he just crushes the ball. I am reluctant to trade him because I feel like whenever he hits a home run I get two for my fantasy team. I couldn’t write a blog post without telling the blogosphere how much I truly love Mike Stanton.
That’s it for today. Check Twitter @TheKnurve to be in touch with when I write, but I’ll be upping my game here soon. Much love.
Dear Readers:
I cannot apologize enough. I have been both extremely busy and extremely lazy to give you the fantastic baseball knowledge from my convoluted little brain that you so eagerly crave and desire. I’ve watched several exciting and interesting things, but have resulted to the simplicity of the tweet instead of the extravagant and well worded blog-post.
Do you all desire more?
Probably not.
Do I give it to you anyways?
Not lately.
Will you want it in the future?
Probably not.
Will I still do it anyways?
Probably.
For those of you who do or don’t know a lot about Roanoke, Virginia, there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on here. In fact, that’s exactly how this blog started. About a year ago I was sitting on my couch watching baseball and I realized I should just start writing about it. One year later, The Knurve has built an empire of dedicated followers (mostly family friends and relatives) and is a lot of fun for me.
So without further due, I will actually begin talking about baseball and hopefully will be blogging semi-regularly, so follow me on twitter @TheKnurve to be in touch with new posts and special promotions (I’ll call you to say hello).
In looking at the season thus far there are several baseball and fantasy baseball storylines that are pretty astounding in order of significance to me:
1. The Cleveland Indians: Frankly, I’m sick of hearing about every reputable baseball analyst and blog talk about these guys. They have to because it’s a great story, but this is not a good baseball team. This is an extremely lucky baseball team. They only seem to give up solo home runs, they have played a terrible schedule, and they have too many guys that are over-performing. That being said, they are playing in the weakest division in baseball BY FAR (See: Number 3), so winning this division could be possible because of this start.
2. The Minnesota Twins: When I made my preseason predictions, I knew the Twins would be a little weaker, but I didn’t expect to see this. Mauer didn’t look like Mauer from the get-go, and to be honest, I think he is extremely overrated as a fantasy player. I wasn’t going to touch him preseason and I advised the dedicated followers not to touch him. I think the Twins may have gotten ahead of themselves when they traded away solid catching prospect Wilson Ramos to the Nationals for Matt Capps. Sure, Capps has been valuable to the Twins thus far, but their offense is absolutely atrocious with no signs of getting better. Delmon Young has been awful, Span is pretty bad, and Morneau may never get back to 50% of the MVP numbers he used to put up before his concussion. Ramos has been hitting a little bit for the Nats and any offense is good offense for the Twins.
I bring up Ramos because it’s looking more and more like Mauer’s body is already breaking down as a catcher. Bilateral Leg Weakness is not something you want a guy who has to squat for a living to have. I’m really worried that Mauer will be nothing more than a DH for the rest of his career, making the Capps for Ramos deal a steal for the Nationals.
3. The AL Central as a whole: I think the demise of the Twins is slightly more shocking, but how bad is this division? None of these teams scare me compared to any of the teams in the AL East. I’d literally take the O’s over the Indians at this point of the season. I was really high on the White Sox coming into the season, and to see them perform like this has been nauseating. The Royals have a lot to look forward to, but they are still one year away. The Tigers don’t do anything sexy, and you know what I think about the Twins. The White Sox have the most talent in this division by far, but literally everybody on this team is underperforming. At this point, I think this division is wide open, but at this point I can’t see any team in this division making any noise in October.
4. Jose Bautista: I thought last year was a fluke. I didn’t think he’d be able to do this again. But after watching a few of his at bats from his 3HR game on Sunday, I’m a believer. He has such a good batters eye, and knows how to take walks as evidenced by his .500+ OBP. He’s one of those guys that every time he steps to the plate, he earns the fastball he crushes. Great power hitters force the pitchers they face to throw them strikes, and Bautista knows how to work himself into counts by being patient when he’s thrown breaking pitches. He’s only on pace to strike out 75 times. I think we’re watching a special transformation and I would throw the town at the guy who’s got him to nab him for the rest of the season.
5. Curtis Granderson: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Granderson immediately after Bautista. It’s amazing that baseball is a game of inches, and it’s amazing what happens when you make a few small adjustments and what it can do. Move your hands a few inches back and close your stance a few inches and you’ve got Curtis Granderson. He’s one of the only guys hitting on this Yankee offense and if it weren’t for him, they’d be in trouble. This guy is quickly turning into one of the most dynamic hitters in the AL. He’s also 4-5 in steal attempts and I think he’s going to run a little more here soon, especially if Jeter continues to perform as poorly as he is. You can’t hate on any lefty in Yankee Stadium, and I think as the summer comes that offense will be fine (even though the pitching is a whole other story). I’m a believer in Granderson. He won’t hit more than .275, but I think this power stroke is real.
6. Young AL Arms: I was originally going to write this little blurb about Pineda, but I realized it would be unfair if I didn’t mention Britton, Tomlin, Masterson, Humber and McCarthy. Many of the best starters in the league reside in the NL, but these guys are carrying big loads for their teams and it’s been impressive. They all have ERA’s under 4 and have given big lifts to their squads, specifically Pineda, Masterson and Tomlin. I think Tomlin and Masterson’s luck will run out a little bit, but I can see all these guys maintaining these performances the rest of the way.
7. The Unhealthy ManCrush I’m developing on Mike Stanton: Look, I’m 2 months older than the guy, but boy do I love him. He never looks like he swings hard, and he just crushes the ball. I am reluctant to trade him because I feel like whenever he hits a home run I get two for my fantasy team. I couldn’t write a blog post without telling the blogosphere how much I truly love Mike Stanton.
That’s it for today. Check Twitter @TheKnurve to be in touch with when I write, but I’ll be upping my game here soon. Much love.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thoughts about Thoughts....
So what's going on?
What's going on with the Red Sox? What's going on with Prince Fielder? What's going on with Albert Pujols? What's going on with the Pirates? Rangers? Reds? Alfonso Soriano?
There's certainly been some shockers so far. But I caution everybody that it's such a long season. So many people want to emphasize bad starts and good starts as if they're going to be trends throughout the whole season, but let's be realistic.
Red Sox
The Red Sox are not going to be a losing ball club. They haven't gotten a quality start from a pitcher yet this season, and things just haven't gone their way. I don't know if there's just a crazy amount of pressure on Crawford, or this team just needs more time to click. Their pitching has certainly been a huge disappointment, but am confident they will be fine and run away with the AL East. They HAVE to win today. There's no such thing as a must-win before May 1, but Lester against the Indians is pretty big.
Fielder and Pujols
They're going to get it together. Baseball is clearly a game of streaks, and some teams just have losing streaks at the beginning of the season. Some players just get off to slow starts. Pujols and Fielder are two of the best hitters in baseball, and that will come to fruition throughout this season. I'm not worried about these two, just as I'm not worried about the Brewers as a whole. Their bullpen hasn't done what they've needed to do, but this offense has been very good. Once Greinke gets back and Marcum hits stride, they'll be fine.
Pirates, Rangers, Reds
Trivia: Which of these teams is perennially bad?
The correct answer is the Pirates.
My good friend and big Bucs fan Harry Barron texted me today saying that 12 more victories on the Road by the Pirates would eclipse their season total for road wins last year (Yes, the Pirates went 17-64 on the road last year). I did pick the Pirates to finish last this season, and I'll say they still do. But I'm keeping an eye on these guys. I said in that preview to watch out for their 1-4, and even though Alvarez has been hitting 5th, you still know what I meant. Neil Walker has come out hot, Tabata is filthy, McCutchen hasn't even been healthy and he's still a stud, and Alvarez has been solid. I said this team wouldn't lose 100, but I can see them getting that elusive .500 season, and I'm pulling for them.
The Rangers and Reds look like the real deal. I'm interested to see how Volquez pitches today since he didn't look great against the Brew Crew, but this offense has been fantastic. The Rangers are looking like they could field a AAA pitching roster and they'd still win their division since this offense is so good. They beat Felix today, they beat Lester on opening day, they're just filthy. This offense, led by everybody, has it all, and I hope they can stay healthy to show off their talent. We all know what happens with Kinsler, Cruz, and Hamilton each year, so let's keep a cautious eye out for them. I think Ron Washington will be very cautious with these guys as the season wears on.
Soriano
Why do I bring up Soriano? Because he was the very last player taken in my main fantasy baseball league. I want to emphasize how terrible he is on defense, and how he won't come close to stealing 30, but he's so much fun to watch. His swing is just a huge coil waiting to unleash. The Cubs have the rotation and the bullpen to be marginally successful in the league. If Soriano continues to play well, with Castro, Soto, Colvin, Aramis and Pena who all have solid bats then this may be a team to look out for. Watch out for these Cubbies.
Follow The Knurve on twitter @TheKnurve, tell your friends if you like the blog. Good night.
What's going on with the Red Sox? What's going on with Prince Fielder? What's going on with Albert Pujols? What's going on with the Pirates? Rangers? Reds? Alfonso Soriano?
There's certainly been some shockers so far. But I caution everybody that it's such a long season. So many people want to emphasize bad starts and good starts as if they're going to be trends throughout the whole season, but let's be realistic.
Red Sox
The Red Sox are not going to be a losing ball club. They haven't gotten a quality start from a pitcher yet this season, and things just haven't gone their way. I don't know if there's just a crazy amount of pressure on Crawford, or this team just needs more time to click. Their pitching has certainly been a huge disappointment, but am confident they will be fine and run away with the AL East. They HAVE to win today. There's no such thing as a must-win before May 1, but Lester against the Indians is pretty big.
Fielder and Pujols
They're going to get it together. Baseball is clearly a game of streaks, and some teams just have losing streaks at the beginning of the season. Some players just get off to slow starts. Pujols and Fielder are two of the best hitters in baseball, and that will come to fruition throughout this season. I'm not worried about these two, just as I'm not worried about the Brewers as a whole. Their bullpen hasn't done what they've needed to do, but this offense has been very good. Once Greinke gets back and Marcum hits stride, they'll be fine.
Pirates, Rangers, Reds
Trivia: Which of these teams is perennially bad?
The correct answer is the Pirates.
My good friend and big Bucs fan Harry Barron texted me today saying that 12 more victories on the Road by the Pirates would eclipse their season total for road wins last year (Yes, the Pirates went 17-64 on the road last year). I did pick the Pirates to finish last this season, and I'll say they still do. But I'm keeping an eye on these guys. I said in that preview to watch out for their 1-4, and even though Alvarez has been hitting 5th, you still know what I meant. Neil Walker has come out hot, Tabata is filthy, McCutchen hasn't even been healthy and he's still a stud, and Alvarez has been solid. I said this team wouldn't lose 100, but I can see them getting that elusive .500 season, and I'm pulling for them.
The Rangers and Reds look like the real deal. I'm interested to see how Volquez pitches today since he didn't look great against the Brew Crew, but this offense has been fantastic. The Rangers are looking like they could field a AAA pitching roster and they'd still win their division since this offense is so good. They beat Felix today, they beat Lester on opening day, they're just filthy. This offense, led by everybody, has it all, and I hope they can stay healthy to show off their talent. We all know what happens with Kinsler, Cruz, and Hamilton each year, so let's keep a cautious eye out for them. I think Ron Washington will be very cautious with these guys as the season wears on.
Soriano
Why do I bring up Soriano? Because he was the very last player taken in my main fantasy baseball league. I want to emphasize how terrible he is on defense, and how he won't come close to stealing 30, but he's so much fun to watch. His swing is just a huge coil waiting to unleash. The Cubs have the rotation and the bullpen to be marginally successful in the league. If Soriano continues to play well, with Castro, Soto, Colvin, Aramis and Pena who all have solid bats then this may be a team to look out for. Watch out for these Cubbies.
Follow The Knurve on twitter @TheKnurve, tell your friends if you like the blog. Good night.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
America's Favorite Game...
Some may argue that baseball is America's favorite game. I might tend to agree, but there's one other game that might be even more fun to play: Is it real? Is it real is probably one of the greatest games of all time because it attempts to answer extremely difficult questions based off of extremely small sample-sizes.
Today I will be going through some of the notable performces both by teams and players to see if their performance thus far is real, it can be continued, or fake, they can't keep this up.
So without further due and in the wise words of Mos Def in his album Black on Both Sides here....we.....go....
Albert Pujols-- FAKE:: This is the one that I figured we should just get out of the way. He's struggled out of the gate thus far, and Matt Holliday being out for a bit won't help his matters too much. In my NL Central preview I had the audacity to have the Cards finish 4th in the division, and I still stand by that. But it won't be becuase Pujols is underperforming.
Brewers-- FAKE:: Conversely to the Cardinals, I picked the Brew Crew to win this division. I'm not concerned at all about their 0-4 start. I'd like to see their bullpen pitch a little better as Axford and Saito have both taken some pretty heart-breaking losses this season. Their offense is also a little slow going, but I won't take back my prediction for them to win the Central.
Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler-- REAL:: Obviously these two aren't going to combine to hit 300 Homers for the Rangers this season. But they are still extremely potent. I'm partial to Kinsler because he's Jewish, but he also happens to be a very good baseball player. I like Kinsler leading off a little bit in the first couple games to keep Elvis Andrus fresh. This offense is pretty electric and pretty dynamic. Cruz and Kinsler are the guys who can carry this offense, and they haven't even started running yet.
Minnesota-- REAL:: I think what they've done so far this year could be what we see from this team the whole season. I don't trust this pitching staff, I don't think Mauer and Morneau are healthy, and I don't think this team is capable of winning this division, especially after what the White Sox offense has done this season.
Tampa Bay -- REAL:: Just like the Twins, I just think this is a sub-par baseball team. Look at all that they lost and you will see that this team cannot compete in this division. At this point I don't see them turning it around unless they make some addition. Their pitching hasn't been great and their offense was simply embarrassing against the Orioles.
Brian Roberts-- REAL:: If this dude is healthy, he is still a great fantasy player. I think the fantasy owner who took him in double digit rounds or for low teens dollars will be extremely happy they got Roberts. He seems to be healthy and that offense around him is not too shabby at all. It's going to be exciting to see what this offenese does, and Roberts could score 100+ runs.
Jorge Posada-- REAL:: I honestly think that he was made to DH at this point. Yankee Stadium is such a bandbox and I think it'll be awesome to see what an old gonker like himself will do with this offense in front of him.
Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins-- FAKE:: They are 1 and 2, respectively in batting average in the NL, but I caution fantasy owners who are going bonkers over their performance thus far. Lest we not forget that they were playing the Astros who have one of the worst bullpens in the majors and most of those Phils games were won late. If I were to pick one, I would say Jimmy Rollins will have a better season, but I'm not too optimistic about him.
That's it for now... If you want to know if a team or somebody is real or fake, either comment on the site or tweet @theknurve and I will answer your question.
Thanks for reading! Tell your friends!
Today I will be going through some of the notable performces both by teams and players to see if their performance thus far is real, it can be continued, or fake, they can't keep this up.
So without further due and in the wise words of Mos Def in his album Black on Both Sides here....we.....go....
Albert Pujols-- FAKE:: This is the one that I figured we should just get out of the way. He's struggled out of the gate thus far, and Matt Holliday being out for a bit won't help his matters too much. In my NL Central preview I had the audacity to have the Cards finish 4th in the division, and I still stand by that. But it won't be becuase Pujols is underperforming.
Brewers-- FAKE:: Conversely to the Cardinals, I picked the Brew Crew to win this division. I'm not concerned at all about their 0-4 start. I'd like to see their bullpen pitch a little better as Axford and Saito have both taken some pretty heart-breaking losses this season. Their offense is also a little slow going, but I won't take back my prediction for them to win the Central.
Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler-- REAL:: Obviously these two aren't going to combine to hit 300 Homers for the Rangers this season. But they are still extremely potent. I'm partial to Kinsler because he's Jewish, but he also happens to be a very good baseball player. I like Kinsler leading off a little bit in the first couple games to keep Elvis Andrus fresh. This offense is pretty electric and pretty dynamic. Cruz and Kinsler are the guys who can carry this offense, and they haven't even started running yet.
Minnesota-- REAL:: I think what they've done so far this year could be what we see from this team the whole season. I don't trust this pitching staff, I don't think Mauer and Morneau are healthy, and I don't think this team is capable of winning this division, especially after what the White Sox offense has done this season.
Tampa Bay -- REAL:: Just like the Twins, I just think this is a sub-par baseball team. Look at all that they lost and you will see that this team cannot compete in this division. At this point I don't see them turning it around unless they make some addition. Their pitching hasn't been great and their offense was simply embarrassing against the Orioles.
Brian Roberts-- REAL:: If this dude is healthy, he is still a great fantasy player. I think the fantasy owner who took him in double digit rounds or for low teens dollars will be extremely happy they got Roberts. He seems to be healthy and that offense around him is not too shabby at all. It's going to be exciting to see what this offenese does, and Roberts could score 100+ runs.
Jorge Posada-- REAL:: I honestly think that he was made to DH at this point. Yankee Stadium is such a bandbox and I think it'll be awesome to see what an old gonker like himself will do with this offense in front of him.
Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins-- FAKE:: They are 1 and 2, respectively in batting average in the NL, but I caution fantasy owners who are going bonkers over their performance thus far. Lest we not forget that they were playing the Astros who have one of the worst bullpens in the majors and most of those Phils games were won late. If I were to pick one, I would say Jimmy Rollins will have a better season, but I'm not too optimistic about him.
That's it for now... If you want to know if a team or somebody is real or fake, either comment on the site or tweet @theknurve and I will answer your question.
Thanks for reading! Tell your friends!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
0.00617
You may be thinking to yourself, "Self, what the heck does the title of David Kaplan's article even mean? I didn't know he could do math?"
Well I, David Kaplan, will tell you what it means. .00617 is the number you get when you divide 1 by 162. One day, one game, out of 162. And what a day it was.
The game that sticks out to me is obviously the one with the walk-off home run. That loss for the Brewers is obviously not the way you want to start a season, but what you saw from the Brewers in innings 1 thru 8 is what you can expect to see the whole season. Axford blew the game, but I think he's going to be fine. I posted earlier today that I was worried about Volquez today, and he didn't perform too well. If Axford doesn't blow this save, Volquez looks like even more of a fool than he does right now. While Edinson looked like he may be able to exercise some control, I still worry that his changeup isn't developed enough to get out the plethora of stud hitters on the Brew Crew.
Staying in the NL Central, I picked the Pads and the Cards to finish at the bottom of their respective divisions. Pujols obviously had an off game and he'll be completely fine, but Ryan Franklin might just be one year too old to be successful in this league, and I worry that he struggles this season. If you read my preseason preview you know that I don't worry near as much about the Cards bullpen as I do their rotation, and if they can't win Carpenter's starts, then this team might be in trouble. I don't view Cameron Maybin as any sort of fantasy sleeper this year, he just got a good pitch and he hit it well.
Gotta love Heyward going yard again this season. If Derek Lowe pitches like that the whole season, the Braves could win this game by 3+ games. I will be watching close to see what happens with the Phils offense tomorrow, but needless to say, I'm extremely concerned.
The last thing is Kershaw. I posted on twitter @TheKnurve that Kershaw was looking a lot like Koufax. Granted, I never saw Koufax, but Kershaw was just dominant. I said last year many times that the NL West comes down to bullpens in games like these, and the Dodgers were just a little better tonight. Great pitching is plethoric out West.
That Yankees offense got the timely hits they needed when they needed them. Tomorrow is the big day, to see how Burnett does on Saturday as these two squads have the day off tomorrow. I posted on Twitter that if Teixeira has a solid April, this team will be all the more scary for the rest of the season. Burnett had a solid spring, but I don't think Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia scare people at all, and Burnett and Hughes have both shown they are extremely hittable.
Beautiful Opening Day. Follow me on Twitter @TheKnurve and don't be afraid to ask questions, I'd love to hear from the readers.
Well I, David Kaplan, will tell you what it means. .00617 is the number you get when you divide 1 by 162. One day, one game, out of 162. And what a day it was.
The game that sticks out to me is obviously the one with the walk-off home run. That loss for the Brewers is obviously not the way you want to start a season, but what you saw from the Brewers in innings 1 thru 8 is what you can expect to see the whole season. Axford blew the game, but I think he's going to be fine. I posted earlier today that I was worried about Volquez today, and he didn't perform too well. If Axford doesn't blow this save, Volquez looks like even more of a fool than he does right now. While Edinson looked like he may be able to exercise some control, I still worry that his changeup isn't developed enough to get out the plethora of stud hitters on the Brew Crew.
Staying in the NL Central, I picked the Pads and the Cards to finish at the bottom of their respective divisions. Pujols obviously had an off game and he'll be completely fine, but Ryan Franklin might just be one year too old to be successful in this league, and I worry that he struggles this season. If you read my preseason preview you know that I don't worry near as much about the Cards bullpen as I do their rotation, and if they can't win Carpenter's starts, then this team might be in trouble. I don't view Cameron Maybin as any sort of fantasy sleeper this year, he just got a good pitch and he hit it well.
Gotta love Heyward going yard again this season. If Derek Lowe pitches like that the whole season, the Braves could win this game by 3+ games. I will be watching close to see what happens with the Phils offense tomorrow, but needless to say, I'm extremely concerned.
The last thing is Kershaw. I posted on twitter @TheKnurve that Kershaw was looking a lot like Koufax. Granted, I never saw Koufax, but Kershaw was just dominant. I said last year many times that the NL West comes down to bullpens in games like these, and the Dodgers were just a little better tonight. Great pitching is plethoric out West.
That Yankees offense got the timely hits they needed when they needed them. Tomorrow is the big day, to see how Burnett does on Saturday as these two squads have the day off tomorrow. I posted on Twitter that if Teixeira has a solid April, this team will be all the more scary for the rest of the season. Burnett had a solid spring, but I don't think Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia scare people at all, and Burnett and Hughes have both shown they are extremely hittable.
Beautiful Opening Day. Follow me on Twitter @TheKnurve and don't be afraid to ask questions, I'd love to hear from the readers.
Opening Day!!!
I have said that my 2nd favorite day of the year is opening day. I have also said that my favorite day of the year was when Duke wins the National Championship. Sure it's a terrible joke, but today is going to be beautiful. Last year's opening day was marked by some great performances.
Albert Pujols hit 2 homers against the Reds, and everybody thought, "Here goes Albert again." What did Pujols do the rest of the season? Not much, just almost won a triple crown and would have won an MVP if it weren't for that Votto guy.
But Pirates stud Garrett Jones also hit two home runs, and then a few more in the following week. Needless to say, Jones was not an MVP or triple crown candidate the rest of the year. Jones wasn't even close.
So with opening day here, let's remember to enjoy the game, let the players play, and get pumped for a fantastic baseball season.
The game to watch today is going to be Cincy and Milwaukee. If you read my season preview, I picked the Brew Crew to finish first and the Reds to finish behind them. The Reds success will certainly be predicated on their starting pitching, so I am looking at Volquez's performance very closely today to see how he looks, especially against one of the best left-handed hitters in the league; The Prince.
Time to get back to class, but follow me on twitter @TheKnurve as I'll be tweeting thoughts on games throughout the day.
Happy Baseball!!!
Albert Pujols hit 2 homers against the Reds, and everybody thought, "Here goes Albert again." What did Pujols do the rest of the season? Not much, just almost won a triple crown and would have won an MVP if it weren't for that Votto guy.
But Pirates stud Garrett Jones also hit two home runs, and then a few more in the following week. Needless to say, Jones was not an MVP or triple crown candidate the rest of the year. Jones wasn't even close.
So with opening day here, let's remember to enjoy the game, let the players play, and get pumped for a fantastic baseball season.
The game to watch today is going to be Cincy and Milwaukee. If you read my season preview, I picked the Brew Crew to finish first and the Reds to finish behind them. The Reds success will certainly be predicated on their starting pitching, so I am looking at Volquez's performance very closely today to see how he looks, especially against one of the best left-handed hitters in the league; The Prince.
Time to get back to class, but follow me on twitter @TheKnurve as I'll be tweeting thoughts on games throughout the day.
Happy Baseball!!!
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