Joey Votto | The Golden Sombrero Baseball Blog | MLB, Fantasy, College & High School Baseball News

BBA Stan Musial Award (National League MVP)

How we voted for National League MVP:

Mike: 1) Kemp  2) Braun  3) Upton  4) Votto  5) Halladay

Griff:  1) Kemp  2) Braun  3) Upton  4) Votto  5) Tulowitzki

Dee:   1) Kemp  2) Braun  3) Votto  4) Upton  5) Halladay

Jim:    1) Kershaw  2) Kemp  3) Braun  4) Votto  5) Upton

Towel:  1) Braun  2) Kemp  3) Upton  4) Votto  5) Pujols

 

National League Stan Musial Award Final Vote:

1)    Matt Kemp, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers

2)    Ryan Braun, OF, Milwaukee Brewers

3)    Justin Upton, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

4)    Joey Votto, 1B, Cincinnati Reds

5)    Roy Halladay, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Trade Bait: Volume 1, Issue 5 (Crawford, Beckett, Greinke, Wallace and Norris)

Each season I always manage to make at least one deal where I move a large amount of players, vastly altering the look of my team.  As I have mentioned before, trading players, and acting like a GM, is one of my favorite parts of fantasy baseball.  Thus, it is logical to see that I derive immense amounts of pleasure from trading big name stars.  To get a deal of this magnitude done, it requires extensive negotiations, a willing partner, and usually some adult suds to push the deal through.  (Sounds vaguely familiar to late-night exploits during my freshman year at U of A.)  Fellow writer and Denslow Cup league member, Dee, and I finally swung a deal through last night and if weight is the term I am using to describe it, this deal is heavy.  Let’s take a look and break down the trade.

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Trade Bait: Volume 1, Issue 3 (McCutchen, CarGo, Alexei, Vlad, Roberts and Bay)

Wow, what a week.  We had two no-hitters and a few pitchers come up just short of a no-hitter.  We also saw a couple streaks come to an end.  Unfortunately, Andre Ethier was not able to record a hit for a 31st consecutive game, and Joey Votto’s streak of reaching base safely ended at 33 games.  Thankfully, both of these guys are on my team and helping me hold strong amongst the leaders in the Denslow Cup.  These guys are obviously finding themselves at the top of the charts in fantasy leagues across the globe.  Let’s take a look today at some names that were expected to be big producers, but are nowhere to be found.  Right now is a great time to turn one owner’s regrets into your own small fortune.

Again, I have no new trades to report in the Denslow Cup.  One owner is searching for saves and looking to deal SP to get them.  However, he did this via the Samurai Board (our message board).  He has rejected every trade thrown his way and at least in dealing with me has never even tried to negotiate anything.  This brings me to a point I want to make about trading: don’t just throw up your trade wants on the league message board.  Just looking at the standings and scoring will give owners an idea of what you need or don’t need.  Also, if you do not like a trade, reply with an email about what specifically you don’t like about the proposal.  It is never helpful to just say, “Nope.  This trade sucks.”  It really makes it easier for you and other owners to find out just where you stand on different pieces in different trades.  Now, on to guys I’m getting and getting rid of.

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Trade Bait: Volume 1, Issue 2 (Nolasco, Hamels, Uggla, Werth, and Upton)

Another week and another healthy helping of goodness, baseball is well under way with what can finally be considered a “worth-while” sample size.  By now, you have had enough time to watch baseball games, dissect saber-stats, and formulate a nice feel for your team and league.  It is the primetime to find an unsatisfied owner and score some fine product; the perfect opportunity to pry away some prime real estate at Target prices.

Unfortunately for this week, I have no new trades to report in the Denslow Cup.  I have been in negotiations on a couple deals involving some weight…Jose Bautista, Chipper Jones, Joey Votto, Yovani Gallardo, and C.C. Sabathia.  Not that these are all guys I will be talking about in this article, but I just love negotiating with other owners to find out how their opinions have changed on different guys and see if I can bring back a guy, or two, for under market value.

Speaking of negotiating, I can speak enough on how important it is to love the hunt as much as the kill.  In order to pull off successful trades, it requires many discussions and proposals with different owners in your league.  If your mind has  changed on guys you drafted, be sure that the same has happened all across the league.  Knowing how certain players on the fringe of bust or bounce-back years are being reevaluated is key to hitting pay dirt.  The following is a list of great Trade Bait.

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Poll: National League Player of the Month

Stats through April 27, 2011

Troy Tulowitzki: .326/.416/.674, 7 2B, 3B, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 58 TB, 14 BB, 8 K, 1.4 WAR, .349 ISO

  • 10 multi-hit games
  • April 11 – April 16:  13-for-24, 2 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 8 RBI

Joey Votto: .376/.505/.624, 21 R, 7 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 53 TB, 21 BB, 12 K, 2.1 WAR, .276 ISO

  • 10 multi-hit games
  • Reached base safely in every game
  • vs. left-handers: .579/.600/.842
  • w/ runners in scoring position: 7-for-16, 2 2B, HR, 9 RBI, 9 BB, 2 K

Lance Berkman: .371/.443/.729, 18 R, 7 2B, 6 HR, 16 RBI, 51 TB, 9 BB, 8 K, 1.2 WAR, .321 ISO

  • 10 multi-hit games
  • April 11 – April 15: 10-for-21, 9 R, 6 HR, 12 RBI
  • w/ runners in scoring .412/.500/.647, HR, 10 RBI
  • w/ two outs: .450/.542/.900, 3 HR, 10 RBI

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