Category: External Sports (Page 408 of 821)

      Defensive Team By Waiver Wire (DTBWW): Week 12

      November 23, 2010 /
      NEW ORLEANS - OCTOBER 24: Marques Colston of the New Orleans Saints is tackled by Joe Haden , Scott Fujita and Eric Barton of the Cleveland Browns at the Louisiana Superdome on October 24, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Browns defeated the Saints 30-17. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

      The strategy behind DTBWW is that each week you pick up a defense that is playing against a bad offense (preferably at home). And each week you get pretty good numbers out of your DT position.

      Last season, my top pick averaged 9.8 fantasy points per game. My second pick averaged 9.1 and my third pick averaged 7.3. On the whole, DTBWW averaged 9.3 fantasy points per game, which equate to DT5 numbers — all for the price of a few waiver wire pickups. In 2008, my top two picks averaged DT6-type numbers. (Note: To calculate fantasy points, I use this scoring system.)

      Unlike Defensive Team By Committee (DTBC), which is for those owners who prefer low maintenance teams, DTBWW strategy allows fantasy owners to virtually ignore DTs on draft day and focus on picking up an extra RB/WR flier instead.

      To be eligible, defenses have to be available on the waiver wire in at least 40% of ESPN fantasy leagues.

      Let’s see how my Week 11 picks fared:

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL

      Strength of Schedule: Week 12

      November 23, 2010 /

      What am I looking at?

      Below you’ll see a table for each position with a list of team names on the left. If a square is pink, it means that the matchup is tough. If it’s green, it means it’s a favorable matchup. On the far right, the column “R16” shows the average SOS for the remaining weeks.

      It’s important to note that this is NOT straight fantasy points allowed. I removed the bias of schedule by looking at the opponents of each defense and how they fared in their other games. For example, if a particular defense faced a series of great QBs, then that is taken into account in these tables.

      How do I use these tables?

      Generally speaking, I use strength of schedule as a tiebraker between two similarly ranked players. Let’s say I’m trying to decide between starting Fred Jackson and Ronnie Brown. All else being equal, these two players are very close in my mind. But if Jackson has a great matchup and Brown has a bad matchup, the choice is clear. In fact, if Jackson just has a mediocre matchup while Brown has a bad matchup, I’d probably go with Jackson.

      Be careful not to read too much into these tables. You aren’t going to bench Chris Johnson in a bad matchup unless you somehow have Arian Foster waiting in the wings.

      Note: I apologize for the size of the text, but there really is no other way for me to present this data, at least not at this point.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL

      Yankees offer Cliff Lee six-years, $140 million?

      November 23, 2010 /
      Texas Rangers' pitcher Cliff Lee pitches against the San Francisco Giants during the eighth inning of game one of the World Series in San Francisco on October 27, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch Photo via Newscom

      Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Yankees have offered free agent Cliff Lee a six-year deal worth around $140 million. If C.C. Sabathia’s contract in December of 2008 can be used in comparison, then Brown’s figures sound right.

      The Yankees signed Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million contract in ’08. While Sabathia had two more years added onto his contract, he was also four years younger than Lee at the time of the deal. If Lee signs with the Bombers, that would mean the Yankees would be paying their top two pitchers roughly $46 million per year.

      Wowzers.

      That said, the Rangers are expected to match the Yankees’ offers, at least initially. But it’s hard to imagine that a team that had to be saved by Major League Baseball (financially, that is) would be able to come up with that kind of money for one player. At some point, the Rangers will have to bow out and hope that Lee bypasses more money for the opportunity to return to Texas.

      The Nationals are also reportedly interested in Lee and there are sure to be other suitors as well. But as I’ve written for the past couple of months, no team will be able to match what the Yankees offer. Thus, one would think that it’ll be between the Yankees and Rangers in the end. Why would he go anywhere else? He can either cash in a big payday and have an opportunity to win a ring every year, or take less and hope that the Rangers’ run in 2010 was no fluke.

      External Sports, MLB

      2010 NFL Week 12 Power Rankings

      November 23, 2010 /

      For about the 19th week in a row, we have a new No. 1.

      How is that possible when there have only been 11 weeks? I don’t know. Just check out the damn rankings, wise guy.

      Check out Week 11’s Power Rankings.

      1. New England Patriots
      Previous Week: 2
      I would have felt much, much better about this ranking had the Patriots not allowed Peyton Manning and the Colts to come back in the fourth quarter. But nevertheless, they still won and now their loss to the Browns seems nothing like a fluketastic fading memory.

      2. Pittsburgh Steelers
      Previous Week: 3
      Nice bounce back win for the Steelers over the Raiders last week. It still doesn’t erase the painful memory of what Tom Brady and the Patriots did to them two weeks ago, but Pittsburgh needed one of those this-is-going-to-hurt games and they delivered.

      3. Philadelphia Eagles
      Previous Week: 5
      The Falcons may have a better record but the Eagles beat them handily earlier in the season and that was when Kevin Kolb was starting for an injured Michael Vick. This is the team to beat in the NFC right now.

      4. New York Jets
      Previous Week: 4
      Lucky or good? Probably a little bit of both.

      5. Atlanta Falcons
      Previous week: 6
      It would be easy to brush off the Falcons’ win over the Rams last week because it was a game they should have won. But after beating the Ravens two weeks ago, Atlanta could have fallen into a trap against a competitive St. Louis team that has played well at home this year. But the Falcons didn’t, and they still maintain the best record in the NFC.

      6. Green Bay Packers
      Previous Week: 8
      What a matchup we have in the Georgia Dome this Sunday. The Falcons can be had through the air, but Green Bay’s offensive line better figure out a way to protect Aaron Rodgers because Atlanta’s pass rush is vastly underrated. It’ll be interesting to see what Dom Capers’ stout defense has in store for Matt Ryan and Co.

      7. Indianapolis Colts
      Previous Week: 7
      It’s rare to see Peyton Manning put his team in a hole, rally them back and then throw an interception to lose the game. But he’s afforded a mulligan every now and again.

      8. New Orleans Saints
      Previous Week: 10
      Nobody is talking about this team right now, which is pretty freaking scary. They’re starting to get healthy and their schedule is a cakewalk for the next three weeks (Cowboys, Bengals, Rams). That said, Dallas did smack Sean Payton’s team around last year so it’ll be interesting to see how New Orleans’ responds on Thanksgiving Day.

      9. Baltimore Ravens
      Previous Week: 9
      The Ravens scooped up an easy win against the Panthers last Sunday but reports state that Joe Flacco and Derrick Mason got into on the sidelines. It wasn’t the first time the two of them argued during a game this year, so the situation is something worth keeping an eye on.

      10. New York Giants
      Previous Week: 1
      That annual New York Giants funk is right on time this year.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, NFL

      Did Boras’ firm loan money to prospects in the Dominican Republic?

      November 23, 2010 /
      Aug 31, 2010; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Scott Boras attends the MLB game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Photo via Newscom

      According to a report by ESPN.com, baseball agent Scott Boras’ company supplied “tens of thousands of dollars in loans and payments” to the families of needy prospects in the Dominican Republic.

      The report cited people with ties to Boras. The Times said the loans and payments raise questions about whether his company broke Major League Baseball Players Association rules governing the conduct of agents.

      Domingo Ramos, a former big league player who works for Boras’ company, told The Times that the company typically represented a few top Dominican prospects each year and made loans to a majority of them. The money was usually used for food, housing and other needs, he said.

      “Sometimes we get it back, sometimes we don’t,” Ramos told The Times. “Sometimes, it’s tough to get it back. It’s as simple as that.”

      The Times said Boras’ company loaned teenage client Edward Salcedo and his family about $70,000 from 2007-09, according to the shortstop’s brother, Thommy, and Martiris Hanley, a former Boras employee. They said the money was to be repaid out of Salcedo’s future earnings.

      In a way, it’s nice to see that Boras’ company provided money for food, clothing and shelter. But the only reason they dished out money was so that these players would sign with Boras, so it’s not like he’s Mother Teresa here.

      If the report is true, this is just another example of how far agents will go to secure a client.

      External Sports, MLB

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