Category: Fantasy Baseball (Page 35 of 48)

      MLB’s top flops, failures, fiascoes and firsts

      September 3, 2008 /

      UATGSPORTS.CA compiled an interesting list of baseball’s top flops, failures, fiascoes and firsts of the 2008 MLB Season.

      Alex Rodriguez

      “Failures”
      If there was ever an unfitting send off for the house that Ruth built, a season and era that ends without a World Series championship would be it.

      New York Yankees
      … The Yankees have been unable to string together enough wins to make up ground on the Red Sox or Rays. Much of the Yankees misfortunes can be credited to the meteoric rise of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays’ rise has knocked Boston back into the wildcard race with the Twins and thus left the Yankees on the outside looking in. Depending on how the Red Sox and Twins finish down the stretch we could be witness to a post season without the Yankees and Red Sox.

      “Flops”
      It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

      Cleveland Indians
      … Considering CC looks like a completely different pitcher with Milwaukee and the Indians are squandering a 30/30 season from Grady Sizemore, this season is an utter disappointment for Chief Wahoo and the Indians. The Indians have not won a World Series since 1949 and suddenly their collapse in the bottom of the 9th inning during the 1997 World Series with two outs doesn’t seem so bad.

      “Firsts”
      A changing of the guard (also the New York Yankees’ worst nightmare).

      Tampa Bay Rays
      The Rays are guaranteed to finish north of .500 for the first time in franchise history, but arguably more important is the fact that this team will likely unseat the Red Sox and Yankees in the AL East.

      “Fiascoes”
      Saying the franchise is in “rebuilding mode” is an understatement.

      Seattle Mariners
      Seattle brought in Erik Bedard (now on the DL) and Carlos Silva and JJ Putz was expected to step-up in the closing role. Big contracts were also handed out to Kenji Johjima and Adrian Beltre over the years which pretty much sealed the fate of Bill Bavasi, the Mariners GM who was fired back in June. Suddenly this team is rebuilding and the one reason to go see this team play is for the Mariner Moose. The memories of a 116-win season are long gone in the state of Washington.

      Very cool list. The Yankees’ failures this season goes to show you that without pitching, it doesn’t matter if a team has an All-Star lineup. And the same can be said for the Tigers, who were also mentioned by UATGSPORTS.CA. As for the Tribe, injuries completely dismantled an otherwise potentially great year. But the Indians loaded up again in the Sabathia trade and should again be a contender next year if Carmona can stay completely healthy.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Is Jeff Kent’s career over?

      August 31, 2008 /

      The Los Angeles Daily News is reporting that the Dodgers’ second basemen Jeff Kent’s career might be over because of torn cartilage in one of his knees.

      Jeff KentKent was sent back to Los Angeles for an MRI exam after leaving Friday night’s game at Arizona with pain in his left knee. Although that exam hadn’t taken place as of game time Saturday night, club officials had a strong suspicion as to what it likely would show.

      Kent, 40, has been playing through pain from slightly torn cartilage in his knee for about a month, fully aware that the continued grind of playing baseball on an everyday basis meant there was a strong risk of additional, more painful tearing.

      That additional tearing is believed to be what took place during Friday’s game. Kent was said to be in “excruciating pain” after leaving the game, and club officials were holding out slim hope of getting him back in what is widely expected to be his final season.

      Kent has yet to announce his plans following this final season of his two-year, $18 million contract with the Dodgers. But even without the injury, it would have seemed like the perfect time to walk away. Given the injury is of the “wear-and-tear” variety and not unexpected for a man of Kent’s age playing such a demanding sport, it is difficult to imagine him playing another year.

      The guy has proved to be an asshole during his career, but there’s no doubt Kent has been one of the best hitters over the last decade. He’s never won a ring, but he’s accomplished a lot with the bat. (Of course, some will note that Kent greatly benefited from having Barry Bonds protect him in the lineup for so many seasons.)

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Top 10 Active Pitching Win Percentage

      August 30, 2008 /

      Show me a pitcher who wins games at a two to one ratio, and I’ll show you a guy I want at the front of my rotation. That, along with a low ERA and a high strikeout to walk ratio, are good indicators of excellence in pitching. It also helps if you have a guy who isn’t afraid to brush a hitter off the plate, like, ahem, the first guy on this list of all-time Top 10 in winning percentage for active pitchers…..

      1. Pedro Martinez, New York Mets (.689)—Like I said, Pedro isn’t afraid to throw inside. He also is one of the baddest badasses ever to take the mound, and for about a decade he had the nastiest stuff in the game. In 1999, his best season, Pedro went 23-4 for Boston, with a 2.07 ERA (in the American League!) and 313 strikeouts. That’s just sick.

      2. Johan Santana, New York Mets (.673)—Santana does not have overpowering stuff, but he throws all of his pitches for strikes and just knows how to get hitters out. His percentage would be even higher if it weren’t for the Mets bullpen blowing five or six games for him this season.

      3. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (.665)—With 127 wins against 64 losses for a mostly mediocre Toronto team, you could say Roy Halladay is awesome and you’d be telling the truth.

      4. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros (.663)—Oswalt has 124 wins in less than eight seasons. I say this guy is one of the few young pitchers who have a shot to win 300.

      5. Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians (.658)—Everyone wants to know where Cliff Lee came from, but did go 18-5 in 2005. Still, at 19-2 on a team that has 65 wins, that’s almost 30% of his team’s wins. Let’s hope the Tribe can hold on to Mr. Lee.

      6. Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves (.655)—When he’s not battling injury, Tim Hudson is a pretty dominant pitcher. I know I always cringe when he faces my Mets.

      7. Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks (.649)—When you strike out 4,764 batters over your career, you’re going to win many more games than you lose. The Big Unit is 294-159, and is inching closer to that magic number of 300.

      8. Mike Mussina, New York Yankees (.638)—He won a lot of games in Baltimore and he’s won a lot in New York. This guy doesn’t blow hitters away, but he has great stuff and a nose for winning.

      9. Andy Pettite, New York Yankees (.635)—When you’re always in the 15-20 win range, you’re going to wind up on this list. Andy Petitte has been winning since he broke into the league in 1995.

      10. Mark Mulder, St. Louis Cardinals (.632)—Wait, this guy is still pitching? Sadly, he only lasted 1.7 innings this season and may be done for his career, but Mulder’s 103-60 record is still pretty impressive.

      Source: Baseball Reference

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Boss says Yankees to target Sabathia, Burnett in the offseason

      August 29, 2008 /

      With his club fading fast, Hank Steinbrenner decided to turn his attention to offseason spending. Steinbrenner recently told Newsday that the Yankees will target pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett in the offseason.

      CC Sabathia“Everybody’s looking at Sabathia and Burnett, not just us,” Steinbrenner said during Thursday’s game against the Red Sox. “We’ll see. The main concern is, are their arms going to be OK after this season?”

      Once again, Steinbrenner predicted a flurry of offseason activity to make improvements to a Yankees team that may miss the postseason for the first time in other than strike years since 1993.

      “It’s very frustrating. We haven’t given up on this year, but we’re definitely going to be better next year,” Steinbrenner said. “That I can promise.”

      I doubt Sabathia will return to the AL. He’s mopping up in the NL and has already stated that he likes to hit. But money talks, so it’ll be interesting to see how much the Yanks throw at the Brewers’ ace.

      It’s funny how teams would have rather burned their stadiums down than trade for Burnett at the deadline, but now (according to Steinbrenner at least) everybody is interested.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Hey! Nielsen Ask A Blogger: The Scores Report

      August 19, 2008 /

      John Paulsen and I were recently interviewed for Hey! Nielsen’s “Ask A Blogger” feature. If you care to read our opinions (and really, why wouldn’t you care to read our opinions?) on this year’s Olympics, Manny Ramirez’s haircut fiasco and what we would do to add or change current sports network programming, then click on the link below.

      Read Hey! Nielsen’s “Ask A Blogger” feature on The Scores Report.

      College Football, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Football, General Sports, Golf, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Super Bowl, Television, The Olympics

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