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.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
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!
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