BigbadB

If you want an honest opinion, I think you have the makings of a last place team, unless SB's are the only offensive stat and times on the DL is the only pitching stat. Assuming your league is SB, HR, RBI, AVG or OBP, power guys are much more important than SB's. Power dominates more categories of scoring than speed does, and you just don't have much power. In a 10 team league, this is just not a good team. Plain and simple. I'd peddle Pierre if you find someone in need of steals. I'd dump your entire bench except maybe Alou. Alou will likely have a field day hitting behind Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Delgado. He's old, but the Mets give him an ideal situation to put up a ton of RBI. Murton is a part time player, Biggio is probably a part time player as well, with Loretta and Burke on the Houston roster. Part time players really have no value on a fantasy team. I would never carry a back up catcher. The one day your starting catcher is off is the day your back up catcher's team is off. Finding a time to put your back up catcher in is too rare to waste a roster space. You're going to get killed in saves. Borowski and Dempster are probably both on top of the list to get replaced, but you do have Wood as Dempster's back up. Wood still scares me as a potential closer, because he is prone to giving up the walk. SP is so-so. I know you like Marquis, so there really isn't any point in me attempting to convince you to drop him.

I don't think I'd call it awful, but I am gambling on a few guys. Huff, Alou and Drew could all have returns to glory with a change of scenery. Bradley is an injury waiting to happen, but not a bad late round risk. Quentin is going to be a stud. Maybe not this year, but I can always hope. I have tremendous power and good AVG. I'm lacking in SB's, but I've always conceded SB's for power and AVG, since power makes up two of the stat categories, HR and RBI. I also like to dominate in pitching, so my bench is mostly made up with pitching. Rotating pitchers in and out helps me out in W, K and Saves. I might lose in ERA, but once again, my focus on IP helps me in more categories.

I joined a random public league, but most of the managers seem like they know what they are doing. Here is my roster by round (I had the 5th pick): 1. Ryan Howard - 1b 2. Miggy Tejada- SS 3. Carlos Zambrano- SP 4. Aramis Ramirez- 3b 5. Ben Sheets- SP 6. Huston Street- RP 7. CC Sabathia- SP 8. JJ Putz- RP 9. Howie Kendrick- 2b 10. Ervin Santana- SP 11. JD Drew- OF 12. Rich Hill- SP 13. Todd Helton- 1b/U 14. Michael Barrett- C 15. Octavio Dotel- RP 16. Moises Alou- OF 17. Aubrey Huff- OF/3b 18. Milton Bradley- OF 19. Daniel Cabrera- SP 20. Anthony Reyes- SP 21. Carlos Quentin- OF 1b- Ryan Howard 2b- Howie Kendrick 3b- Aramis Ramirez SS- Miguel Tejada OF- JD Drew OF- Moises Alou OF- Milton Bradley/Aubrey Huff/Carlos Quentin U- Todd Helton SP- Carlos Zambrano SP- Ben Sheets SP- CC Sabathia SP- Ervin Santana SP- Rich Hill SP- Anthony Reyes SP- Daniel Cabrera RP- Huston Street RP- JJ Putz RP- Octavio Dotel

And I think Jones gets ridden too hard on his defense. I think we will be pleasantly surprised how well he can play CF. I think Jones' ability to play CF makes Angel Pagan unnecessary.

Might be a good day to stick DeRosa in RF and let Theriot play 2nd.

I see no reason to exclude Coats as an option for the last roster spot simply because he hits lefty. What percentage of relievers are RH? Most. What percentage of lefty relievers are good? Not that many. Granted, with the Cubs dominant right hand hitting attack, the LOOGY will likely be used against a Lefty PH or Jones, but once that team uses their LOOGY, having a fallback option from the left side would be good, IMO. Assuming Floyd is healthy and playing decent, he'll probably start 60+ games, which then gives the Cubs more of a righty presence off the bench with Murton, Theriot and Blanco or Barrett. That would only leave Coats and Ward as the lefty bats. Take Coats out of the picture, and it's probably Tomas Perez, who can't hit from either side of the plate.

Yeah, this is just a conspiracy theory. Whether Prior or any other player has or hasn't taken steroids, the major league contract had zero to do with steroids. Were they even testing for steroids when Prior was drafted? I don't think so. It certainly wasn't the spoken word then like it is now.

Yeah, I'm curious about that too.

Add Rapada, Piggy and Novoa to the bullpen? Speedy team. Not a lot of pop.

Let's see the Royals top that line up. :) Looks like a few guys are in there to impress today, or else. First cuts directly follow today's game?

I believe I read at the time of his signing that it was a straight minor league deal, without an NRI to Spring Training. He may be reporting directly to the minor league camp. Interesting. I'd give Bobby Hill a shot at the 25th roster spot before I'd give Tomas Perez a shot, but oh well.

MLB is swamped with SS's who can't hit, and there really aren't going to be any upgrades available. I'm resigned to the fact that it's Izturis or Cedeno or bust. While I would love to see Theriot win the job, the outlook it not good. But, this team can win with a guy like Izturis hitting 8th. To get someone like A-Rod or Tejada will cost too much in talent, handicapping the team elsewhere. As long as Lou sticks Izturis in the 8th spot everyday, I can live with it. I can also hope Izturis hits better than I think he will. With the power that Soriano provides out of the lead off spot, I think it's important to have a guy hitting 8th that can get on base at a reasonable clip. Imagining Ward or Floyd or Murton hitting in the pitcher's spot late in games, the combination of Izturis finding a way to get on base and the PHer extending the inning for Soriano could give the team a whole new dynamic they haven't seen in awhile.

I hope you're right. But, I'm not convinced. Small sample sizes don't get me all that giddy. You are right that Izturis went on to have one of the most horrific months of all time. His batting average dropped from .349 to .275. 9 hits in the month of June. 24 straight games without a multi-hit game. Ugh.

Izturis in the first half of 2005: .275 .322 .338 That is not better than his 2004 season.

Cedeno has shown fine range. It's the routine plays he's struggled with more than anything, and that too can be rectified with regular playing time. Cedeno has shown more pop in his bat. I can't really define the managing style of Tracy in LA, but we know that Dusty preached aggressiveness, which in my opinion, stunted Cedeno's development at the plate. This may be the case with Izturis as well, but the only year he had more than 40 walks was when he was leading off for the Dodgers in 2004.

I don't. Izturis was leading off the year he had his best OBP. It was a long time ago and he won't be expected to show the patience he did as a lead off hitter. I'll be pleasantly surprised if he gets back to the numbers he put up in 2004. But, I'm not counting on it at all.

You laugh, but Cedeno IS Izturis when Izturis was breaking into the bigs. Izturis at 22: .232 .253 .303 Izturis at 23: .251 .282 .315 Cedeno at 23: .245 .271 .339

How? Don't be deceived by his 0.00 ERA. He has yet to pitch in a game. That is reason enough to not be lock to make the opening day roster. If he's not healthy, then he should be on the DL, and put on the roster when he's healthy. If he's healthy, he should be on the roster, no questions asked. There's no reason for the hodgepodge of Cotts/Cherry/Miller/Novoa to get a bullpen spot while Wuertz goes to AAA. I agree. The only reason Wuertz SHOULDN'T make the 25 man roster is if he isn't healthy.

I think the pitching is pretty much worked out. Dempster, Wood, Eyre, Howry, Cotts and Ohman will likely be the bullpen, with Wuertz, Cherry or Novoa getting the last spot if they go to a 7 man rotation. True, Novoa is nothing special, but there will be games that an effective reliever will not be needed (blow out games). Just someone to finish the game. The bench does have 4 locked spots with Blanco, Ward, Floyd/Murton and Theriot. Jones is the only legit back up in CF at this moment. Theriot is the only back up middle infielder at this moment. Ward or Floyd can play 1b if needed, but the viable replacements at 3b are Theriot and DeRosa. So, I'm guessing that Lou is watching Kinkade, Perez, McGehee, Coats and Pagan quite closely. I would put Bobby Hill in that mix as well, but I haven't seen his name in the game threads once. Is he playing at all? What positions can Kinkade cover? I'm pulling for McGehee to make the squad, but I don't think he will. I like Coats if he can adequately play any and all positions. Maybe Miller can be traded for a respectable veteran middle infielder? A Marlon Anderson type of guy who would be semi-useful with a bat? I have no desire to see Tomas Perez make the squad.

How? Don't be deceived by his 0.00 ERA. He has yet to pitch in a game. That is reason enough to not be lock to make the opening day roster.

He still has to live with the fact that if he never touched the stuff, he'd be a multi-millionaire right now. That's a tough pill to swallow, pun intended.

I had been hearing $179.00 for the regular season price prior to that announcement. But, that was through cable, NOT DirecTV. I was getting discounts for repeat customer and early bird, which I believe knocked it down to $139.00. But, I would pay double that for the package, personally and possibly more. I wonder if the price will go down for DirecTV customers if Dish and Cable pony up the cash.

I think the text would be alright in there, but maybe change the size, font and the color? I'd play around with the text until you come up with something that blends with the picture better. Fine job, though.

Well, I hope you find one. But, bars have to pay a pretty large price to show games on MLB EI in their location. Sunday Ticket works quite well because Sunday afternoon is typically a slow day in a bar anyway and it draws people in. Baseball is played everyday at all times of the day. But, between ESPN, FOX, WGN and TBS (and local channels like YES), bars may feel that they get enough games to satisfy the customers with a basic cable package. The bar owner has to make a business decision on whether purchasing a package like MLB EI would net a profit. We're talking thousands of dollars, by the way, not $179.00. I don't know. There might be bar owners who feel like they could make a profit knowing that all those apartments in NY can't get DirecTV. And all the games shown in a bar now are games most people can get at home on their own cable network and games shown on MLB EI could potentially attract new customers. But, I wouldn't bet on it.

Have you been to bars that carry MLB EI? I have never been in one that has it. Of course, I live in a baseball market, so most bars show the Padres games which they can get on cable.