2010 Recap & 2011 Changes

It's been a while since I have posted on the blog, but it is something I want to give more attention to in 2011. This will be the place for the league archive (past results, past rosters etc...), but I would also like you guys to be able to contribute to the content as well, as I don't always have the time to post.

2010 Recap

2010 was a year that saw a new champ crowned, a bunch of trades, and Billy Chapel only coming one loss away from setting the all-time worst regular season record. Somehow, someway, Moose was able to bring home the title. I would look at his roster every week and just scratch my head as to how he was doing so well, but what the hell do I know, my team didn't even make the playoffs. Russ Stutskey and his CC's Black Mamba squad had a 2nd consecutive successful season, but he just couldn't put it together during the championship round.

Kyle Baker and Angry Pirates took the rebuilding year of 2009 where he traded all of his good players to Jason, and parlayed that in to a 40 game win improvement in 2010. The biggest one year turnaround in league history!

Dagan had another successful year, while he and Casten are the only players in league history to have at least 100 wins in every season (not counting Moose who has only been in the league 3 years).

I have updated the all-time standings, and as you can see, Dagan is still at the top of the leaderboard with a 57% winning percentage, but Adam and Montezuma's Revenge are nipping at his heals. Moose made th biggest jump in the all-time standings with his chamiponship season, moving up from 8th to 4th spot overall. Casten and Jason both dropped one spot respectively, while your truly moved up a spot from 11th to 10th (look out bitches!).

I have also updated last years draft results and last year's season-ending rosters for easy access when looking to make off-season trades. Let me know if there is anything else that you guys would like to see included within the blog/site. I am going to start a record book this year and keep it updated throughout the season. Any ideas for records to keep track of will be welcomed.

Conclusion to the Billy Chapel saga

In 2010 there were numerous managers who expressed their displeasure with Billy Chapel not setting his lineup during crucial points in the year. The questionable trades he executes are one thing, and that is something we have to look beyond, but the lack of effort in setting his lineup is unacceptable.

There was a pretty heated exchange of emails and phone calls after I sent Billy Chapel (Troy) an email telling him that it is time for him to hang up his spikes and move on. Troy is a vicious competitor and he was not going down without a fight. After listening to his pleas and thinking about the situation a little harder, it didn't make sense to throw him out of a fantasy league that we all suppose to have fun with. It is my decision to leave Troy in the league for the upcoming season and monitor his setting of lineups throughout the season. Let's call it a probationary period. If the effort isn't there in 2011, then we will look to make ownership changes for the 2012 season, but I am confident that Troy will keep up with everything and hopefully improve his team.


2011 Changes

In 2011 we will be implementing a few changes that will hopefully benefit the league in the long run.

- $5 Deadbeat Fine: Any owner who does not set their pitching roster daily, without reasonable justification, will be fined $5 that will be added to the overall prize pool. This will be policed by the league. Any owner that catches another owner being a deadbeat should notify me immeadietly and I will take a look at the situation and speak with the offending owner to see if there was justification in not setting his pitching lineup.

- Your Team Sucks Fine: If your team finishes in last or 2nd to last place at the end of the regular season, you will be subjected to the Your Team Sucks Fine. The last place team will pay a $30 fine, and the 2nd to last place team will pay a $15 fine. This will hopefully keep those shitty teams still interested in setting their lineup, picking up free agents, and making deals.

- Best 2nd Half Record Bonus: The team with the best 2nd half record will receive a free one year subscription to ESPN Insider ($40 value). The 2nd half will most likely run from weeks 12 - 22, depending on the schedule for next year.

- Automatic Trade Approval: We will be removing the trade review period which typically caused a trade to be delayed by 2 or 3 days. I think as a league, we are all beyond the vetoing of trades. We are all good enough owners to make trades based on the needs of our respective teams, and another owner should not have a say in a deal that you made with someone else.

- Championship plaque: I am going to order a Championship plaque that will be passed on to each season's winner. I will have the former winner's names engraved and have it sent to Moose to hold on to for the year.


With these changes I am hoping that we will improve the league by keeping everyone interested throughout the season, even if you aren't in the playoff hunt.


Other thoughts

I will be sending out the formal league vote as the season grows closer, but I wanted to get a discussion started about some other things I was tossing around.

- Expanding the league to 14 teams: This may be a tough task to undertake, as we have keepers involved, but expanding the league to 14 is something that interests me. Obviously the owners would need to be of the highest quality, or it wouldn't make sense, but my thought is the deeper the league, the more competitive and challenging it is. This would obviously thin the free agent pool, and make you reach for some players that you normally wouldn't. Thoughts on expanding the league to 14 teams?

- Waiver wire process: Yahoo has the ability to use a FAAB process for waivers now, opposed to our current process of a waiver wire priority. The FAAB would essentially give each owner a specific number of dollars for the year to bid on free agents. This would require that each owner use his dollars wisely in who he acquires. This would add another level of complexity, and would incorporate some skill into choosing who you go after on the free agent market.

Let me know of anything else that you would like to bring up for discussion and possibly include it in the 2011 league vote.


All-in-all, a successful year for the league. We are contiuously improving year over year, and this is what makes this league so great. We have a bunch of owners who take this league very seriously, but have a great time competing. This truly is the best fantasy league that I have ever played in, and I hope to keep it going for a while. I can't believe that 2011 will be our 7th season! Running the league can be daunting at times, and this is why I need your help to keep this blog going and to help make sure that the league is run as smooth as possible.

Now for a little Camel Toe action that should bring a smile to your face.

Camel Toe

2010 High & Tight Draft Review

Round 7
Best Player: Pablo Sandoval, Keepin – Easily the best player. Even without C eligibility. This is a keeper league and he’s gonna keep getting better.
Best Value: Adam Dunn, Grumpy – As if Casten’s team needed more help (on paper), he got one of the most underrated players in (OBP league) fantasy baseball to go with Hanley, A-Rod, Braun and Pujols.
Worst Player: Stephen Strasburg, CC – At least with Jason’s Heyward pick, he’s in the majors now. Strasburg probably won’t be up til June, maybe. Then he has to produce at a high level. Odds that he outproduces Josh Johnson, Ubaldo, Beckett, Nolasco (I can keep going) are not good.
Worst Value: Strasburg – Clayton Kershaw was born in May 1988, Stasburg in July 1988. Clayton had a 2.79 era and nearly 10 K/9. Strasburg was playing in college. Nuf said.

Round 8
Best Player: Josh Beckett, Montezuma – Should’ve been taken in top 8.
Best Value: Clayton Kershaw, CC – Makes amends for Strasburg pick.
Worst Player: Mark DeRosa – Pretty easily the choice here. I know he’s your guy Brownie, but he’s just not really that good.
Worst Value: DeRosa – Yeah, probably would’ve been there in round 18.

Round 9
Best Player: Brian Roberts, One Nut – Could’ve gone in the first, somehow dropped. Not terribly concerned about spring injury.
Best Value: Roberts – Worthy of being a keeper, so nice for Jason to find one much later.
Worst Player: Alexei Ramirez, Cowhide – His rookie year gave hope for improvement, since then he’s just been average. Would much rather have Yunel Escobar in 13.
Worst Value: Carlos Beltran, CC – Back in June, maybe? Then will he be the same? Is that even that great? Too many questions for Round 9, maybe 12.

Round 10
Best Player: Chad Billingsley, Donkey – A lot of pitchers with question marks in this round, but Billingsley has the most upside. Still just 25.
Best Value: Carlos Gonzalez, CC – I beat Russ up, then I hug him. It’s my thing. Love CarGo. Could be a five category producer this year.
Worst Player: Andrew Bailey, Cowhide – Hate relievers this early, really don’t like ones without a track record, who also have some injury concerns.
Worst Value: Asdrubal Cabrera, Montezuma – Considering the next shortstops – Bartlett in the 12th and Yunel in the 13th and Drew in 15th – are all basically the same, didn’t go for three rounds, not very good “value” here.

Round 11
Best Player: Scott Baker, Angry – Better than a bunch of pitchers that went before him. Could break out this year.
Best Value: Jose Valverde, CC – Of the seven relievers that went in this round, JV is the best, but was taken sixth.
Worst Player: Russell Martin, Cowhide – Catcher was a tough one to judge this year, but Martin, especially considering his injuries, was not the fifth best catcher.
Worst Value: Martin – Taken second in the round. Next catcher was Montero in 13th, Suzuki in the 14th.

Round 12
Best Player: Jason Bartlett, Ring – If he produces the same as last year, easily the best player taken in this round. The question is whether he will.
Best Value: Raul Ibanez, Billy – Age probably caused him to drop, but even at 36 last year he was a top 5 player most the year before a hammy injury. Nice get here.
Worst Player: Howie Kendrick, Keepin it Real – We’ve heard about this guy winning a batting title for five years, yet he’s never proven durable enough. But even when you project past stats over a full season, he is not exceptional in any category. Oh and even if he is a batting champion, we don’t count AVG.
Worst Value: Rick Porcello, Moose – Just not the pitcher to take here. Another guy who didn’t do anything great last year other than perform well for a 21 year old. But he’s not keeper worthy and I’d be surprised if he improves significantly on last year’s numbers.

Round 13
Best Player: AJ Burnett, Cowhide – Not really sure why he fell. One of a handful of guys who can get 200 Ks. Sure Yankee Stadium and the division is scary, but he can be dominant.
Best Value: Brad Hawpe, Prestige – A guy who annually is undervalued, likely due to his propensity to have bad slumps. Nice get here.
Worst Player: Hiroki Kuroda, Donkey – Not much contest here. Over Oswalt, Lowe, Kazmir, Lilly or Zambrano? No, no, no.
Worst Value: Kuroda.

Round 14
Best Player: Roy Oswalt, Donkey – The shimmer has sort of faded on this one-time stud, but he still brings it consistently, has some big games and good rates.
Best Value: Kurt Suzuki, Angry – His OBP leaves much to be desired but he’s consistent, always plays and young. As I said, lots of question marks at catcher this year. Suzuki is not one.
Worst Player: Mark Buerhle, Billy – Tough choice here in a solid round, but the ChiSox ace is only OK.
Worst Value: Frank Fransisco, One Nut – Just wasn’t one of the top closers available. Hoffman, Qualls, Jenks, Franklin are all better.

Round 15
Best Player: Trevor Hoffman, Montezuma – Better than many closers off the board.
Best Value: Kyle Blanks, Ring – Perfect time to take this high-upside youngster.
Worst Player: Kevin Corriea, Billy – I will be shocked if he doesn’t end up on the waiver wire at some point. Yahoo overvalued and so did Brownie.
Worst Value: Corriea – Pretty solid round otherwise.

Round 16
Best Player: Michael Bourn, Moose – Amazing he lasted this long, especially since Casten once had him as a keeper.
Best Value: Nick Swisher, Billy – Undervalued in OBP leagues. Had a great season and will produce similar numbers. Maybe better.
Worst Player: Leo Nunez, Donkey – I know why you took him. There aren’t many closers left with jobs at this point, but this guy is probably the most likely reliever to not be a closer by the end of the year.
Worst Value: Nunez.

Round 17
Best Player: James Loney, Keepin – His homers are weak, but everything else is good and he’s young. Power could jump, then he’s a Round 10 player.
Best Value: Ryan Franklin, Moose – Aardsma goes in the 12th and Franklin last five more rounds? Doesn’t make much sense to me.
Worst Player: Josh Whillingham, Angry – Just one of those guys who always appears on the waiver wire at some point. Pierre, Rivera, Soriano, Guitterez, McLouth, Ludwick, Rajai… Yeah there’s more.
Worst Value: Matt Lindstrom, One Nut – Has a job, but he’s wild and prone to injury. Other more solid guys were there.

Round 18
Best Player: TIE: Paul Konerko, Grumpy/ Ryan Ludwick, Billy – Couple guys who don’t excite, but won’t disappoint. Perfect UTILs.
Best Value: Nate McLouth, Cowhid – I know he had a tough spring, but this drop was pretty dramatic.
Worst Player: Franklin Morales, CC – No clue why he went before Street. Street will be back in May and Morales will be back in the 7th inning and the waiver wire.
Worst Value: Morales.

Round 19
Best Player: Juan Pierre, Moose – Still relatively young and Ozzie said he’ll be let loose. 70 SB is not out of the realm of possibility, which would make him a top 25 player.
Best Value: Vladmir Guerrero, Donkey – He’s not as old as you think and the combination of being a DH and hitting in Texas make him very valuable this late.
Worst Player: Chris Young (OF), One Nut – It’s funny. Last year I declared this guy the best pick of the draft. This year he’s the worst, in large part because Jason didn’t mean to pick THAT Chris Young. Big blunder.
Worst Value (besides Young): Scott Feldman, Angry – I know others wanted him and certainly most mags had him ranked this high, but I just don’t think he is going to be worth this draft spot. Only reason he was last year was the Ws.

Round 20
Best Player: Martin Prado, CC – Sort of speculative choice here, but position eligibility is a very underrated part of fantasy baseball. Flexibility is important and allows other roster spots to open up and Prado play three well, with a strong OBP. Solid choice.
Best Value: Mat Latos, Angry – This is a good round to take a chance and Latos – a high K, young pitcher in a big ballpark – is a solid risk.
Worst Player: Aroldis Chapman, Grumpy – Maybe I just have something against drafting minor leaguers. In our league, it rarely works out. Maybe this guy is that special, but I really don’t want to wait to find out.
Worst Value: Chapman – Latos has a rotation spot, Chapman doesn’t. In a league with no minor league slots, it makes all the difference in the world.

Round 21
Best Player: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Keepin – Another pick that could pay off big. Capable of 180 Ks. If he wasn’t injured, would’ve gone higher.
Best Value: Brad Lidge, Montezuma – Will be back in April and will get his job back. Madson is not that good. Hoffman was similarly valuable last year. Rauch also ends up being a good pick here for One Nut.
Worst Player: Kevin Gregg, Moose – The problem with Gregg is his only value is if he’s closing. Otherwise he’s just a mediocre, no K middle reliever with no value. He’s not the closer, thus no value.
Worst Value: Kenshin Kawakami, Donkey – Just a low-upside guy who will no doubt hit the waiver wire at some point.

Round 22
Best Player: Miguel Tejeda, One Nut – Proved last year he can contribute even without the roids. The upcoming 3B eligibility is an added bonus.
Best Value: Everth Cabrera, Angry – Really like this pick because the guy could easily steal 40 or more, is young and will get playing time.
Worst Player: Dexter Fowler, Montezuma – In my defense, he wasn’t on the wrong side of a platoon when he was drafted.
Worst Value: Ross Ohlendorf, Prestige – Pirates pitchers make me vomit. They’re just all have the same unappealing potential for 180 IP, 110K, 4.25 ERA, 1.40 WHIP (insert vomit sound here).

Round 23
Best Player: Hideki Matsui, Keepin – Like Guerrero-lite this year. If he’s healthy Pierce found a gem very late.
Best Value: Erik Bedard, Moose – There’s a lot of players you could say “When he’s healthy he’s good.” But few are very good, when healthy. Bedard is one of those guys, he’s working on a 1-year contract and should be on the mound soon. Nice pick.
Worst Player: Alex Gordon, One Nut – Oh how the mighty have fallen. Just hasn’t shown anything and is injured again. Not worth a spot.
Worst Value: Gordon.

Round 24
Best Player: Vernon Wells, Cowhide – Wish I got this up sooner, because I really felt this was a great pick by Dave when it happened -- even though it may have been Auto-drafted. Four homers in first three games has proven that to be true.
Best Value: Andy Pettite, Montezuma – Solid pitcher late in the draft.
Worst Player: Clint Barmes, Billy – Tough to criticize anyone in the last round but Barmes, yeah, he had some homers and position eligibility, but OBP was horrid and likely will have to share time.
Worst Value: Desmond Jennings, CC – Yet another minor leaguer. Probably won’t get full time gig until Crawford is gone in 2011 so kind of a worthless pick.

2010 Draft Lottery

2010 High & Tight Keepers

WIth spring training upon us it is time to select your keepers for the 2010 season. Below is the list of keepers submitted to me so far. I will continue to update this list as keepers are submitted to me.

The Angry Pirates - Kyle Baker

1. Elvis Andrus
2. Justin Verlander
3. Nelson Cruz
4. Chone Figgins
5. Brandon Phillips
6. Lance Berkman

Billy Chapel - Troy Brown

1. Felix Hernandez
2. Justin Upton
3. Aaron Hill
4. Shane Victorino
5. Fransisco Rodriguez
6. Cliff Lee
   

CC's Black Mamba - Russ Stutskey

1. Tim Lincecum
2. Tommy Hanson
3. CC Sabathia
4. Matt Holliday
5. Robinson Cano
6. Curtis Granderson

Cowhide Joyride - Dave Fox

1. Ryan Zimmerman
2. Dustin Pedroia
3. Jason Bay
4. Carlos Lee
5. Jonathan Broxton
6. Chris Carpenter

Donkey Punchers - Chris Shannon

1. Adam Jones
2. Ian Kinsler
3. Carl Crawford
4. Jacoby Ellsbury
5. Prince Fielder
6. Zack Greinke

The Grumpy Munchkins - Brandon Casten

1. Albert Pujols
2. Alex Rodriguez
3. Hanley Ramirez
4. Ryan Braun
5. Matt Wieters
6. Michael Bourn

Keepin' It Real - Pierce Cole

1. David Wright
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Andre Eithier
4. Carlos Quentin
5. Jon Lester
6. Dan Haren

Montezuma's Revenge - Adam Leech

1. Gordon Beckham
2. Adam Lind
3. Ryan Howard
4. Mark Reynolds
5. Roy Halladay
6. Yovani Gallardo

Moose is Loose - Brian Bishop

1. Brian McCann
2. Kendry Morales
3. Justin Morneau
4. Ichiro Suzuki
5. Troy Tulowitzki
6. Adam Wainwright

One Nut Wonders - Jason Ouellette

1. Mark Tiexiera
2. Chase Utley
3. Jose Reyes
4. Grady Sizemore
5. Josh Hamilton
6. Aramis Ramirez

Prestige Worldwide - Lars Borssen

1. Evan Longoria
2. Jimmy Rollins
3. Adrian Gonzalez
4. Victor Martinez
5. Jason Werth
6. Andrew McCutchen

Ring of Fire - Dagan Loisel

1. Joe Mauer
2. Matt Kemp
3. Kevin Youkilis
4. Johan Santana
5. Ben Zobrist
6. Joey Votto

Reporter Goes Crazy - watch more funny videos

Updated Overall Standings

I have finally gotten around to updating the overall standings with the 2009 season included. Check it out here.

Dagan has leap frogged Adam and taken over the all time lead, but not by much. Chris Shannon and the Donkey Punchers also jumped in the standings up to 3rd overall. Yours truly continues to dominated the bottom of the standings, and our newest member, Kyle Baker and the Angry Pirates are fully involved in a hard ass pounding with a winning percentage of 33%. Keep it up.

Make sure that you are visiting our sponsors on the side of the page. This will help keep the league running and also will increase the prize pool.