Posts belonging to Category fantasy baseball

Last night on The Baseball Show, Clint from Diamond Hoggers and I took part in a long, two-part show. In the first half of the show, we welcomed David Franco from NextLevelBallplayer.com. David (who is Clint’s former teammate) has been writing about his experiences from Spring Training on Diamond Hoggers for the past week. You can follow him on Twitter here. He offers the perspective of a former Division I collegiate player who has had some great experiences.

The first half of the show was a lot of fun, and we talked about the following:

• The idea behind his site, Next Level Ballplayer.
• Why aren’t high school kids better prepared for the mental side of the game?
• David talks about his experiences playing with or against guys like John Ely, Joe Blanton, Dirk Hayhurst, Drew Stubbs, Rice University, University of Texas and many more guys who are now in the big leagues.
• A funny story about him spending 9 innings in the GM’s box with the GM of his favorite team, Ned Coletti
• A tale from Fall Baseball in college, involving fiery John Ely
• Talking Jim Tracy’s influence and management style when he took over in Colorado
• Thoughts on the Dodgers for 2011
• Tales from Spring Training

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Everyone has a vice.  If you’re like me, you have multiple vices.  My favorite vice, fantasy baseball, is right around the corner, so I just couldn’t help but look for some interesting angle to write on in January.  Analysis of off-season moves are done by, well everyone.  Rankings and season previews are more of a spring-training time piece.  Writing about the shittiness of any one of my Houston Astros’ players value (except Mr. Bourn and WayRod, duh) is pointless for so many reasons.  So what does that really leave a guy with in January?  How about a little head-to-head action…by position.  I’m not talking about looking at the top guys at each position, but rather the guys in those second – possibly third if you’re in a deep league – tier guys that can really make or break your draft and season.  Over the next week and a half, I will take a look at a couple of guys from each position and see how they match up versus their higher drafted counterparts.  As per usual, any ideas, thoughts, or beliefs (both supporting and opposing) are welcomed.

First base is a rather deep position this year with Joey Votto emerging as the hitter many have seen coming, Adrian Gonzalez getting to trade Petco for Fenway, Prince Fielder heading into free agency after the season (I’m a sucker for a guy playing for a new, mega-sized contract), as well as your standards like Ryan Howard, Miguel Cabrera, and Mark Teixeira.  If you are not fortunate enough to secure one of those guys, then whom do you take a flier on?

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Everyone has a vice.  If you’re like me, you have multiple vices.  My favorite vice, fantasy baseball, is right around the corner, so I just couldn’t help but look for some interesting angle to write on in January.  Analysis of off-season moves are done by, well everyone.  Rankings and season previews are more of a spring-training time piece.  Writing about the shittiness of any one of my Houston Astros’ players value (except Mr. Bourn and WayRod, duh) is pointless for so many reasons.  So what does that really leave a guy with in January?  How about a little head-to-head action…by position.  I’m not talking about looking at the top guys at each position, but rather the guys in those second – possibly third if you’re in a deep league – tier guys that can really make or break your draft and season.  Over the next week and a half, I will be releasing a new position each day.  I will take a look at a couple of guys from each position and see how they match up versus their higher drafted counterparts.  As per usual, any ideas, thoughts, or beliefs (both supporting and opposing) are welcomed.

First base is a rather deep position this year with Joey Votto emerging as the hitter many have seen coming, Adrian Gonzalez getting to trade Petco for Fenway, Prince Fielder heading into free agency after the season (I’m a sucker for a guy playing for a new, mega-sized contract), as well as your standards like Ryan Howard, Miguel Cabrera, and Mark Teixeira.  If you are not fortunate enough to secure one of those guys, then whom do you take a flier on?

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Yesterday I took a look at Jose Bautista and whether his 2010 season was a fluke. Now, let’s move over to the NL and take a look at a guy that many are hoping regains his 2009 form, and forgets about his pathetic 2010 campaign (especially myself considering that I drafted him last year).  He set a career low in batting average.  He nearly tied his career high in strikeouts.  He hit 50% fewer HR’s than he did in 2009.  He is incredibly likable.  He has an awesome nickname.  He is the Kung-Fu Panda.  He is Pablo Sandoval.  So let’s take a look at things and ask, which year was the fluke, 2009 or 2010?

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On Wednesday night, co-host Clint Evans from Diamond Hoggers and I were back at it with 2011’s first episode of The Baseball Show.

Topics include:

• Our thoughts on Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven’s selection to the Hall of Fame.

• We weigh in on some of the other notable players – Barry Larkin, Fred McGriff, Jeff Bagwell, and Edgar Martinez – who either came up just short in the voting or failed to receive adequate support.

• We talk about the man (kind of), the myth, the legend…Bryce Harper.  Could we see Harper in D.C. in 2011? Probably not, but we entertain the idea and suggest several hypothetical scenarios.

• Who was the winner in the Matt Garza trade? We explore his concerning 2010 performance as well as assess the slew of prospects that were shipped off by the Cubs.

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