sneakypower

I don't think you can go wrong with either Putz or Gallardo. I'm a fan of the Yo, but Putz is a dominant closer. Definitely Phillips over Furcal. And most of all, don't pay attention to the Bill James projections. They are notoriously more optimistic than anyone else. It's too easy to grab saves off the waiver wire to waste a keeper selection on any closer. Hell, I grabbed Putz in the 15th round last year. There's always somebody out there... Your league is conspiring to let you win. At any rate, I'd keep Pujols, Arod, Rollins (3 top-6 players??) and Upton. His K rate should drop by a reasonable amount, from 32.5% to like 27%. .275 seems likely, which isn't a problem with BA stalwart Pujols and he'll have 20 hr 30 sb on top of that, maybe more. Hitting in the 3 spot of a dynamic young lineup he should also have healthy run production stats too. The 2nd best 2B in fantasy baseball this year. That'll probably be the best IF ever comprised in fantasy baseball.

He has one of the worst AST:TO ratios in the league for PGs whilst playing in a slow half court offense. He'd be even worse for TOs playing in a fast pace offense, regardless of how good he was in college. Jameer Nelson and Kyle Lowry were good in college and aren't good in the pros. Happier? Good idea, otherwise the astute and perceptive people reading this thread would draw the conclusion I was a self-loathing white guy. :scratch:

That's right, we're keeping 5 players (3+2) this year and henceforth it will be a franchise league. I cooled on the thought of keeping Upton, because while I think he'll be taken incredibly early compared to standard drafts, there are several other options for high upside young players I'll target if I lose out on him: Chris Young, Longoria, Bruce, Pie, Maybin, Gomez, etc. I was floored by his Bill James projection most of all .350/.500 20/15 this season. I'll probably opt for Phillips and Putz over Gallardo and Furcal.

yeah that must be it.

that win might propel them to a playoff birth and another first round loss. its too bad luongo is being wasted on that vancouver team. such a great goalie but has absolutely no talent around him and wont sniff a cup unless major changes are made Major changes? They are 1 high end forward or two good forwards away from being serious contenders. They are set in goal and on D for the next 2 years at least. And they lost in the 2nd round last year. ryan kesler + 1st for sundin. just a guess. I wouldn't do that trade, and it would probably take more to get Sundin. I'd rather wait this year out, let Naslund and Morrisons contract run out and go from there. with that extra money they'd just give the twins and luongo raises.

maybe, if you don't consider defense a part of the game. what about the 30-60 games lofton probably misses?

that win might propel them to a playoff birth and another first round loss. its too bad luongo is being wasted on that vancouver team. such a great goalie but has absolutely no talent around him and wont sniff a cup unless major changes are made Major changes? They are 1 high end forward or two good forwards away from being serious contenders. They are set in goal and on D for the next 2 years at least. And they lost in the 2nd round last year. ryan kesler + 1st for sundin. just a guess.

If you think Hinrich is "lead-footed," you don't know what you're talking about. He orchestrated the best fast-break offense in college basketball for two years. Scouting reports list his quickness, athleticism, and court awareness as strengths. You can argue whether or not the Bulls would be better without him. But to say he's some slow-footed, un-athletic throwback PG suggests you're not very familiar with his skill-set. Noah isn't lead-footed either. both of these guys aren't coordinated enough to play in that style of offense. if hinrich played at that pace he'd lead the league in turnovers. fast paced play doesn't really agree with noah. neither does FT shooting. Seriously, what are you talking about? That's the exact style of offense he excelled at in college. How is he not "coordinated"? Ever heard of the "Carolina break"? It was called the "Kansas Break" when Hinrich was in college. And I'm not joking. I don't know enough about Noah to argue him, but I'm left wondering if you have Aaron Gray and Kirk Hinrich confused here. The level of athleticism he faces in the pros >>>>>> the level of athleticism he faced in ncaa. adam morrison and jj redick were all kinds of great in college.

:shock: Hey, I guess if Derrek Lee can play LF...

a big part of it is that it's a franchise league now, where we'll keep our whole roster from now on. i won the league last year, so i wouldn't be too opposed to making myself less competitive this year if it means i have a terrific core. that's the only reason i'm even considering justin upton, is to get his 30/30 seasons down the road. and the only reason i'd think of keeping gallardo. phillips/furcal and gallardo/putz is what i've narrowed it down to. i'm leaning phillips and putz. i might just target cano, weeks, kendrick in the draft and trade phillips if i get any of them. hardy drew and escobar will be my fallback options at SS i guess. i'll be awful in steals i'm sure but i can pick it up elsewhere.

That comment was from Freel.

as good as crosby, maybe better. people are sorta starting to figure this out since crosby has been out and malkin has pretty much put the team's scoring on his shoulders. I really wonder what Pittsburgh will do for the next few years. Putting Malkin on Crosby's wing makes him a less effective (still great nonetheless) player but putting him on the 2nd line is going to limit the ice time for both great players and then you have Jordan Staal and in a year or two when he fully breaks out they're really not going to have enough ice time to go around, some of these guys' talent will be squandered when they can't get on the ice enough. You have to wonder if Staal gets dealt for a winger.

If you think Hinrich is "lead-footed," you don't know what you're talking about. He orchestrated the best fast-break offense in college basketball for two years. Scouting reports list his quickness, athleticism, and court awareness as strengths. You can argue whether or not the Bulls would be better without him. But to say he's some slow-footed, un-athletic throwback PG suggests you're not very familiar with his skill-set. Noah isn't lead-footed either. both of these guys aren't coordinated enough to play in that style of offense. if hinrich played at that pace he'd lead the league in turnovers. fast paced play doesn't really agree with noah. neither does FT shooting.

i know you were probably dying to mention grit in some manner, but what a bad example. grace would hit sure triples and wait at second while outfielders were still chasing down the ball, just to pad his doubles totals. how was he "gritty"?

Seeing the Bulls play the Warriors, it's clear they'd benefit so much more from playing a much more up-tempo game than the half court crap they've been doing these past years. The real talent on that team- Deng, Thomas, Thabo, Gordon would be much better suited, and you would just dump leadfooted types Hinrich, Joe Smith, Noah. Hell, Duhon looked like an actual basketball player.

with Ryan Freel's knee only 98.6% healthy, a plan B is obviously necessary...

so i've got holliday, pujols for sure i'll keep and furcal, hart, phillips, atkins, aramis, manny, justin upton, abreu i have to choose from for my 3rd offensive keeper in a franchise league. it's 5x5 cats plus K, OBP, SLG as well. rollins, hanley and reyes certainly will be kept, i'm half tempted to keep furcal. i won the league so i pick last, i'd probably guess jeter and/or tulo get picked before i draft. and with so little in the way of decent hitting SS prospects, i don't really want to risk being with a crappy SS for several seasons. right now, i'm torn between phillips and furcal. upton i'd love to have for the next several years, but i can probably take him a few rounds into the draft. johan and one of putz, joba, buccholz, myers, gallardo, wainwright, corpas, valverde to choose for my 2nd keeper pitcher. i might go with putz, haven't thought about it a whole lot.

Evgeni Malkin- great player or greatest player?

??? If you're trying to incite something just be upfront about it. I'm tired. that's hard to say because the situations aren't applicable. the players of today have an incredible advantage because there is the ability to study video, train year round, is such a substantially larger supply of talent to select from. but it's easy to realize players from then would not fare well today. Jimmie Foxx's nickname was "Beast", and this guy was the size of Mark Ellis. Lou Gehrig as well. Hell, anecdotes lead us to believe Babe Ruth was this massive hulk of a person, when in reality he was smaller than Torii Hunter. It's possible that these guys were so cut that they could generate reasonable power from a small frame and enjoy success in any era, but that's just so farfetched it's not even worth entertaining the possibility of it. There's just no parallel for it, other than Soriano perhaps, who is a fantastic athlete and a rare case. 42 ounces, actually (still heavy as god knows). But, do you really think pitchers in the 20's and 30's threw that much slower? When I was playing in high school, the average pitcher we faced was throwing in the low to mid 80's and the good ones could get it into the 90's. These are 16-17 year olds with no real conditioning and no real training. So, a 2008 teenager >>>>>>> 1925 grown man that is a professional athlete? Velocity of the pitches isn't an issue. You could use a tree trunk if you were able to anticipate the speed of the ball coming to the plate everytime. You can't use a bat that heavy today, because you'd be incapable of hitting anything offspeed, or vice versa. I don't dispute this. But I'm not sure the conclusion you're drawing. Is it that Ruth would be elevated to elite level status hitter in todays world if he had the same tools at his disposal? I just don't see it.

Babe Ruth wouldn't have a 2.28 ERA in this era either. I'm not going to anoint him because his contemporaries were talentless. He was great by comparison in his days, he'd be left in the dust if he played with today's players. I don't know how this could be disputed.

with Babe Ruth it isn't so clearly obvious that he'd be an utter failure in the majors if he played today. he'd probably more resemble Matt Stairs than an all-time elite slugger.

most of those guys could barely hack it in the minor leagues if they played today...

Well then the question is dramatically different than what you initially asked. Nobody can really presume to know which team of hitters/fielders had the most pronounced cumulative positive effect on games for a certain year. Using warp3 to try to ascertain this would draw no useful conclusions or produce any reliable results other than to delude yourself with misinformation.

Their bench is too weak to expect they'll break the runs scored record. It's Raburn and scrubs. When they lose any of the several injury prone players they have, there will be a significant dropoff in production. But if it's just the starting lineup, they're definitely on the short list of most talented lineups in recent memory. Isn't this question brought up every year about the Yankees? Much of their team will not put up as good of numbers as last year, specifically Magglio, Polanco, Renteria, Granderson. And why are you listing warp3 when talking about offense??

ugh. in case you've missed it, guys have suffered serious eye injuries from being hit in the face with a puck. i don't fault any player for wearing a visor. it's hard to take your helmet off to fight when you're jumped from behind by someone. if they want to make it even, the player should take off his helmet and the other non-visored player should also take his off. because otherwise you have one player taking blows all over his non-helmeted head, while the other guy leans forward and puts his head down so that the other fighter is raining punches on the hard plastic on top of his head. it's not a fair fight that way either. anyway, downie beating up tyutin and richards beating up dubinsky were the only redeeming things about yesterday's game. jim vandermeer was a disgrace yet again. no i've got no problem with him wearing a visor but it's a punk move to keep it on whilst fighting. the replays didn't really show how the fight was started but i have a hard time believing Tyutin jumped him from behind. that guy is much too docile. nevertheless, if the Rangers meet Philly in the playoffs they should probably just start Valiquette all series long.