Baseball Geeks: MLB News with a Fantasy Baseball spin

PlayerTrack Report for 5/15/07

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Thu, 17 May 2007 21:50:55 +0000

Well, we are approximately a quarter through the season, and using PlayerTrack.com,I will be providing our faithful listeners/readers with some "under the
radar" and "sell high-buy low" picks in hitting and pitching each time
I do a PlayerTrack update.

Under the Radar

Torii
Hunter: sure, he is no sleeper, but would you be surprised to learn
that he currently ranks #2 of ALL players in 5×5, just behind Arod as
of 5/15?

Edgar Renteria: continues his excellent fantasy play with a 2 HR game yesterday

B.J. Upton: drops 4 spots from the end of April, but he still looks fantastic, and his value may not be appreciated yet

Adam Dunn: 6 SBs? And a .271 average?

Eric
Byrnes: A Gregg Keer favorite, and he is proving why so far this year,
rising in the rankings 16 spots since the end of April

Mike Lowell: Surprisingly looking like the guy everybody wanted when he was in Florida a few years ago…

Ted Lilly: rises in the rankings 2 spots as the third best 5×5 pitcher in all of baseball so far

Jason Marquis: what the heck are they feeding the Cubs’ pitchers?

Shawn
Hill: rises 4 spots in the rankings since the end of April, and sits in
the top 20, but unfortunately, he has some injury woes and will likely
miss quite a lot of time in the near future

Mark
Hendrickson: Top 20 so far… saw him pitch against the Brewers a few
weeks ago, and I have to tell you he looked very good out there…

Claudio Vargas: the WHIP is of concern, but he is looking very solid as a top 35 pitcher thus far

Heath
Bell: one of those middle relief guys who is proving his mettle so far
in San Diego, although he has allowed 3 ERs in his last two appearances

Gary
Matthews, Jr.: his numbers are improving as is his status in fantasy
this year… a lot of people thought last year was an aberration (and
largely due to playing in a band box). Maybe. But, not yet.

Sell High

Tim
Hudson: still near the top of the heap (but dropped down to #2 since
the end of April, behind Peavy), but I just can’t convince myself that
this guy is for real

Ted
Lilly/Jason Marquis: how can these guys keep it up when notwitshatdning
their great pitching, the Cubs are still sitting sub .500

Tom Gorzellany/Braden Looper: just haven’t bought these guys (both currently in the top 10)

Mark
Hendrickson: can’t imagine you would get much for him unless it was an
NL only league (and, in this case, I might hold onto him)

Buy Low

Dontrelle Willis

Scott Olsen

Carlos Zambrano: may be too late here because of his game yesterday

Ryan
Howard: Prime time right now. I just traded John Lackey and Jermaine
Dye for Ryan Howard, Alex Rios, and Justin Duchscherer. I think this is
a STEAL (I didn’t like giving up Lackey, but I couldn’t resist taking
advantage of an impatient manager)

Adam Eaton: he is better than his 6.42 ERA… so this means decent pitching the rest of the way

Kip
Wells: riskier pick, but the Cards have to start playing better
eventually… and his 1-7 record is bound to improve… I see
improvement here all the way around, and if I could give up little for
the gamble and I was desperate for starting pitching, I might look here

Delmon
Young: his fantasy manager in your league may be impatient with him…
don’t sell too much, though, but I believe his .241 BA is bound to
improve

Robinson
Cano: look, I didn’t expect him to hit .342 this season, but he DID hit
there last year, and he is now hitting around .237 — find that
impatient manager

—

You can draw your own conclusions by joining PlayerTrack.com
for the remainder of the season for $7.99. If you are a current
subscriber, the updates for the season are included in your membership.

BaseballGeeks VodCast#1: PlayerTrack Top 10 Fantasy 1B

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:15:23 +0000

Some interesting names here because it includes pro-rated stats of those who had as few as 1 AB in the MLB. PlayerTrack.com allows you to adjust the ABs with a paid subscription.

Comments, suggestions, feel free to email. Gregg and I are starting Season 2 of the BaseballGeeks podcast this weekend.

On par with Kirk Gibson?

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:48:39 +0000

Last night’s Dodger 11-10 victory over the previously "first place" Padres (shudder… it hurts me to type that!) may go down as one of the top 10 games in Los Angeles Dodger (or the entire franchise, for that matter, back to the Trolley Dodgers) history…

…or, it could just be one of the forgotten. Time will tell.

And, time will tell if it will be remembered if the Dodgers can parlay the momentum from this exciting finish into a playoff entrance.

Da Bums spend their next six games at home against the lowly Pittsburh Pirates and the respectable Diamondbacks. They then go to Coors Field (which seems to be no big deal anymore, what with the humidifiers), and then end off the season against the hated ones, in what will be the most important series of the season (as the Giants would just love to knock the Dodgers out).

Still, it wil be the Diamondbacks that decide the NL West. They play SIX games against the Padres, three at home. The Pads also see Pittsburgh at San Diego for three. Fortunately for the Dodgers, the Padres bigger hurdle will be the Cardinals at St. Louis for 3; unfortunately for the Dodgers, the Cards aren’t likely to play with their best, considering that — barring some sort of tragedy like an Albert Pujols pulled hammy — the Cards should have solidifed the Central by that time.

Grady Little was quoted as saying that the Dodgers need to go 9-4 the rest of the way (before last night’s game)… one game is out of the way. So, Grady thinks the Dodgers need to play .750 ball the rest of the way. I say: .500 ball for the Dodgers the rest of the way is good enough. Time will tell.

Last night’s game deserves to be remembered. It is the type of game that you see in the most classic of World Series win highlight videos.

I know, I know. Wishful thinking. But it HAS been 18 ******* years, believe it or not.

BGeeks Special Edition #1: We interview former Negro Leaguer Johnny “Lefty” Washington and negroleaguelegends.org proprietor Gary Crawford

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:41:37 +0000

Gregg and I had the great fortune to be able to interview former Negro Leaguer Johnny “Lefty” Washington in this week’s podcast. You can listen to Part I in our podcast #36 this week, or you can listen to the interview in its entirety here.
There, unfortunately, is no baseball pension for a number of former Negro Leaguers, which I believe is an absolute shame. As a means to provide these former Negro leaguers with some baseball related revenue, Mr. Crawford designed NegroLeagueLegends.org.

I just bought an autographed baseball from Mr. Washington for only $25 (includes shipping) from that site.

Topics we discuss in our interview include the major league baseball pension issue, information about the site, racism in baseball then and now, and Mr. Washington’s favorite baseball moment (involves one Satchel Paige).

Enjoy…

Interview with Gary Crawford and Johnny “Lefty” Washington

http://www.hipcast.com/playweb?audioid=Pe6d9b17240010cb623d50a8a67bbc8ddYFp%2FRFREYmdz&buffer=5&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&player=ap21

Approximately 30 minutes

BaseballGeeks.com PodCast #36

http://www.hipcast.com/playweb?audioid=Pd81d3204f455cca0facd2b67a015d6a4YFp%2FRFREYmdy&buffer=5&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&player=ap21

Approximately 45 minutes… includes Part I of the interview (Part II next week); or just listen to the whole thing, above…

Mailbag: Certified Hand Therapist has some words on Sheffield

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:09:40 +0000

My name is Chris. I am a Certified Hand Therapist, baseball fan and fantasy participant. In other words, I have some idea regarding Sheffields injury and potential for return this season. Mark this time and date; He is done for fantasy value this year.I had him stashed on my bench until a few weeks ago; if you need room on your roster, let him go. Even if he does come back, he will not help you in fantasy. The cold fall in NYC is no place for an orthopaedic injury.
I enjoy the podcast and would like to offer my services in helping you in any way; I have the background in sports injuries and baseball to shed some light on many, if not all of the Upper Extremity ailments you hear about i.e. Tommy John surgery, broken thumbs, fingers ect.
P.S. I would also write of Matsui, he will be back but not until later Sept. And again, the cold in NYC in the fall will slow him down from back to back games.

My response:

Hey Chris:

I will mark this date down, For now, I’m going to hang on to Sheffield, solely for the last two weeks that he MIGHT play in September. If I did not have Kendry Morales on my farm team, I would have probably dumped Sheffield to get Shin-Soo Choo. But, I must admit that it is hard for me to give up the one player who I spent the most on this year ($35).

I am hanging on to Derrek Lee, not expecting him to come back this season, but I can keep him for $22 for next year.

Thanks for your comments.

We would love to read any writings from you about injuries. You might want to consider starting a free blog at baseballgeeks.com on the subject. We would reference you often, I am sure. If you need help setting a blog up, let me know… but you can find instructions on the site when you sign up (for free).

Thanks again for your comments, and good luck in the rest of the fantasy season,
Rob

—

Your opinions?

My brother, the bandwagonner

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:05:16 +0000

I am sure that many of you diehard Dodger fans have been subjected to family members who turned to the Dark Side of Angel baseball after 2002, with chants that the Dodgers are going nowhere, and that the ownership is destroying the team.

In my case, the Anakin Skywalker is my brother Chris. Within the last few years, he went from bleeding heart Dodger fan (he left a trail of blue, as if he was a Dodger snail covered in blue ink, wherever he went)… to a guy who names himself DodgerRefugee on the baseballgeeks.com website two years ago.

And, after a record Dodger win streak, he all of the sudden wants back…

So, I created a set of rules, which I am conveying to you baseballgeeks listeners and readers who may be in the same situation.

Here is today’s email exchange:

From: Chris Reed
Subject: GO DODGERS!

17 of 18…… Best winning stretch since 1899 when they were the Brooklyn Bridegrooms….

Can this allow me back in? How about the fact that Dyl [nephew, Chris' son] and I are going to our first 51s game Friday night?

My response:

Re: GO DODGERS

I have told you already how you get back into the Dodger fold.

You have consistently refused after my numerous attempts to sway you from the dark side.

So, when you gave inklings of wanting to come back earlier in the year
when the Dodgers were winning (no surprise you weren’t trying to get
back in the fold when they lost 12 of 13 after the allstar break), I
gave you this formula:

1) Dodgers have to win a World Series;

2) You cannot watch any Dodger World Series or Playoff games and most
certainly cannot attend any (51s are acceptable, or any Dodger farm
team that is not named the Dodgers);

3) You cannot wear ANY Dodger paraphenelia (a 51s hat/jersey is
acceptable) until a World Series win — not a game but the SERIES win;

4) The above rules do not apply to any of your progeny until they turn
18 as diehard Angel fans (The D Brothers can wear any Dodger
paraphenlia provided they give an oath that the "Angels [suhck]" — Daniel
is exempt until he can speak, although as he is learning to speak, I
will accept "Dah-dah [suhcks]");

This could be decades, you realize. Potentially centuries. All rules apply in heaven.

So, I present to you a shorter option (and this is new to the formula):

1) you have to wear a specially made (and obvious) t-shirt (with no
coverings or jackets) to a Dodger regular season game that says "I am a
Bandwagonner" on the front and "Angels [suhck]" on the back. This
one act will give you a free pass back in. This act will need to
be performed TWICE if at a 51s game (and photos must be taken with fans
around you while in the crowd).

May the Baseball Gods strike you down should you violate any of the above rules!

It has been awhile, so how about a look into the mailbag?

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 18:55:29 +0000

From Mark: What could the Astros get in return for Preston Wilson in a trade? Also isthere any possibility that they might send him to AAA then bring him back up
in 2 weeks when rosters expand?

Not a heckuva lot. Quite a few teams would be interested in
Wilson, I think, among those in contention… but Wilson is probably
only looking at a backup job, most likely and as Wilson would just be a
potential remedy in case something bad happens, I don’t think any teams
will be willing to give up anything substantial in return.

Off the top of my head, I could see Preston going to the White Sox as a
better OF backup than Rob Mackowiak. If Podsednik, Dye, or Brian
Anderson go down, Wilson is a good option to have.

I am sure Cincy would be interested, as well, for the same
reasons. They just picked up Hollandsworth and, as I intimated on
the last podcast, this shouldn’t make anyone in Cincy
comfortable. Wilson would suitably fill the gap left when Krivsky
traded Kearns.

San Diego is a strong possibility for the same reasons. Ben
Johnson is the backup there, and the older Giles and the perenially
injured Dave Roberts add a lot of risk. Preston still has some
basepath speed (not like Roberts, of course), so he would be very
useful there. In San Diego, though, his power numbers will likely
slip.

In the end, in all cases, I suspect Wilson (if he is taken at all) will
get a backup job, so as it relates to fantasy, he should not be someone
you are looking at unless you are really stacked, sitting high atop in
first place, and you’re looking to have some fun with a gamble.

I imagine that the Astros would have a chance of shoring up a decent middle infielder for Wilson, but probably nothing more.

-Rob

We still maintain our weekly podcast on purist and fantasy baseball, which is available for free subscription on Itunes (see the link on the left side of this page). We welcome all questions and comments regarding baseball, in general, or fantasy.

Where the heck are the updates?

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:46:39 +0000

Yes, exactly. I just noticed that we haven’t updated here in over a month.

First, the latest podcast, # 28…

Direct Download

http://www.hipcast.com/playweb?audioid=P5c700714fef97f82b297c642ebc07cdfYFp%2FRFREYmB9&buffer=5&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&player=ap21

Recent news: We were featured on the front page of the local L.A. newspapers, Studio City Sun, Sherman Oaks Sun, and the Encino Sun.

BaseballGeeks PodCast # Two Dozen

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:25:42 +0000

This Week in Geek includes the Angels and the Weaver Bros, comebacks and latest injuries, latest ballplayer shenanigans, Week 11 summary, fantasy forecast for Week 12, False Rumors

Time: Just over 48 minutes

http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?audioid=P7b1f6c66967801bafaff5a74cecceb55YFp%2FRFREYmB3&buffer=5&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&player=ap21

Direct Download

Skype Us

(818) 574-6912 is our voicemail…

BaseballGeeks Podcast #23 aka Podcast number Michael Jordan

mlblogsbaseballgeeks — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 01:05:49 +0000

This Week in Geek features the grim situation with Grimsley, Bonds on Bonds goes kaput, injuries galore, and more; hot and cold hitters and pitchers from Week 10; fantasy forecast for Week 11, Interleague Play Mach II, including hitter/pitcher ballpark analysis and recommended two start pitchers; False Rumors
Time: 1 hour, 17 mins

http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?audioid=P04e2ba18f3ba60e2905c2a01775af95cYFp%2FRFREYmB0&buffer=5&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&player=ap21

Direct Download

Skype Us

(818) 574-6912 is our voicemail…