CubbieBum

Well I think if Purdue wins they are a 4 seed but my vote on them doesn't count. They are at the least above Xavier.

Another chip in MSU's cap is that both non-conference losses happened without Suton in the lineup. That and Morgan was out for a period. They haven't been fully healthy practically all season.

Yes, but soto is also probably the slowest of that bunch. So putting him at seven keeps him off the basepaths for guys who are more likely to hit gappers. http://www.truveo.com/Sotos-insidethepark-homer/id/895028228

Duke-MSU-UCONN are pretty much all even to me. Duke has the not being upset in tourny, UCONN overall season, and MSU has the 12-2 against top 50 and 4-1 against top 25. I would personally go MSU-UCONN-Duke but I'm fine with any order.

2009 counts against their exempt status so technically you need to reduce those numbers by one. For example, Jon Lester went over the 50 IP mark in 2006. That means he was exempt for the 2007, 2008 & 2009 seasons. He will count against your cap for 2010. Not according to Hosak. I asked him before I took Matzusaka how many years he would have left (whether it was one or two) and he told me two because its the year after you lose rookie status that counts as year one. Lester has lost rookie status one season before Diasuke so he has 1 year left like I said. If I was told wrong than it ruins my whole draft as I took all of them based heavily on how many years they had left. Never have I said that it's the year after you lose rookie status that exemptions begin to count. There might have been a miscommunication in terms of how many seasons you will get to keep guys, but I'm certain I never said that a players clock begins to tick a year after he loses his rookie eligibility. For the record, Matsuzaka will be exempt this offseason, so you won't have to worry about him until following the 2010 season. That means you have him for 2009 and 2010, so that might be the miscommunication. "Last year was his first, making his points exempt for the following offseason. He stil has two more exemptions (two more offseasons tha will not count against a team's point total.)" That is exactly what you sent me in a PM when I asked about Diasuke. I took it as he had two more years of exempt status because you said he had two more left. You must have meant that he had two more left with this one counting as one but why would you not be including this one when we are about a week from it being over? I then based my picks of Lester and Johnson on that. They each played one more season that Diasuke meaning they would have one not two left. Them not being exempt after this season does ruin my draft. I drafted them because they would be exempt. My whole strategy has been to get exempt players who are already producing so that I can keep practically all my starters. Now I have more non-exempt players than exempt players completely ruining my strategy. I still have a team that can compete this year but I'm screwed for the following years unless I get lucky because I could have had others who will still be exempt and only slightly worse players. I wanted to have a team that could win this year but set me up to dominate for the next two or three years. Now I can't do that.

pat tillman padding your post count tonight?

For what it is worth I considered taking him over Josh Johnson. In the end I decided not to due to increased likely hood of a bust and no support on the team to help him. If Gordon was on even a decent team he would probably be a .275 20+ HR guy but he has no protection and no one to learn from.

Wouldn't be one bit surprised if OSU blows them out tomorrow, that every shot dropping has way of suddenly disappearing. Purdue was hot in the first half but ended up shooting 38% in the game. Most of the baskets were either open 3's, layups, or shots that player is known for making (Moore runner in the lane, Johnson turn around hook/jumper ... etc.).

I was wondering that too.

35% isn't bad especially when your best 3-pt shooter has been out or playing hurt for most of the season. They were also much better 3-pt shooters last year showing they can be good shooters. Moore is a full 10% lower than last year and Grant is 9% lower but both started shooting a lot closer to last year's percentages in the last 5 games or so. For real, Robbie Hummell is actually Michael Jordan reborn. Why do you think MJ isn't watching Jeffrey? Cause he's actually Robbie Hummell. When will he be accepting his player of the year trophy? Next year. And Hummel is spelled with one L. Oh well back to the butt whopping. Sure thing, next year. Luckily everyone off the first team is a senior so he won't have much competition. JaJuan Johnson, Kalin Lucas, Evan Turner, Talor Battle and Manny Harris are all sophomores. It starts with the same letter but isn't quite the same as senior.

35% isn't bad especially when your best 3-pt shooter has been out or playing hurt for most of the season. They were also much better 3-pt shooters last year showing they can be good shooters. Moore is a full 10% lower than last year and Grant is 9% lower but both started shooting a lot closer to last year's percentages in the last 5 games or so. For real, Robbie Hummell is actually Michael Jordan reborn. Why do you think MJ isn't watching Jeffrey? Cause he's actually Robbie Hummell. When will he be accepting his player of the year trophy? Next year. And Hummel is spelled with one L. Oh well back to the butt whopping.

35% isn't bad especially when your best 3-pt shooter has been out or playing hurt for most of the season. They were also much better 3-pt shooters last year showing they can be good shooters. Moore is a full 10% lower than last year and Grant is 9% lower but both started shooting a lot closer to last year's percentages in the last 5 games or so.

happy

2009 counts against their exempt status so technically you need to reduce those numbers by one. For example, Jon Lester went over the 50 IP mark in 2006. That means he was exempt for the 2007, 2008 & 2009 seasons. He will count against your cap for 2010. Not according to Hosak. I asked him before I took Matzusaka how many years he would have left (whether it was one or two) and he told me two because its the year after you lose rookie status that counts as year one. Lester has lost rookie status one season before Diasuke so he has 1 year left like I said. If I was told wrong than it ruins my whole draft as I took all of them based heavily on how many years they had left.

I think it is time to start posting about who likes what about there team and what other team you really like so far. As for my team I think I got a team that can compete right now but has a majority of exempt players setting me up for the future. As of now I have Dustin Pedroia (2 years left), Diasuke Matsuzaka (2 years), Jon Lester (1 year), Jay Bruce (3 years), Yovanni Gallardo (2 years), and Josh Johnson (1 year) that are all exempt. This means so far only Albert Pujols (633 projected points), Manny Ramirez (560.2), Brad Hawpe (476.2) will count towards the keeper limit. That's 1669.4 or 169.4 over the limit. This means I have a decent chance of keeping all my currently drafted players next year as the projections are a bit high. None of the three actually scored that many points last year.

I owned both last year. Hawpe is just meh. But Johnson is a guy I was hoping would still be around for my next pick. Now watch Hawpe win Comeback Player of the Year. Comeback Player of the Year? The guy was hurt and blew chunks the first half last year sure but he still ended up hitting 25 HR's and having 85 RBI's (plus a .879 OPS). I had him in a league last year and really like him. He will be a 30 HR guy and gets on base at a ridiculous rate. His big negative for a long time is that he can't hit left handed pitching. However, he seems to have learned to at least be OK against lefties as he hit .282 against them last year. Another thing I like is that with Holliday gone he is likely going to move into a better RBI slot in the lineup. If he stays healthy he is a .290 BA, .370+ OBP with 30+ HR's and 100 RBI player. To get him in essentially the 9th round is a steal. As for Johnson I really like him but there are two others I rate practically at the same spot as him. I'm hoping to get one of those two guys next round.

My new top 20 through Friday's games is ... - () equals change from s-curve - 1. UNC (up 1) 2. Michigan State (up 3) 3. Pittsburgh (down 2) 4. Louisville (up 2) 5. UCONN (down 2) 6. Duke (up 1) 7. Oklahoma (down 3) 8. Memphis (same) 9. Villanova (up 3) 10. Wake Forest (down 1) 11. Kansas (down 1) 12. Missouri (up 1) 13. Washington (down 2) 14. Syracuse (up 6) 15. Florida State (up 1) 16. Gonzaga (up 2) 17. UCLA (down 2) 18. Illinois (up 1) 19. Purdue (up 3) 20. Arizona State (up 3) Just general thoughts on seeds. - No way UCONN can still be a one seed. Pitt beat them in regular season, UNC is better, Mich St won a tourny game and is 12-2 versus top 50, Louisville is regular season champ and advanced farther in conference tourny. - 6 top 10 teams losing in a two day span makes it nearly impossible to come to a general agreement on the seeds. Which of the those teams fall the farthest and which teams that did win get to move in front of them? - The winner of Illinois/Purdue should be a 4 seed and the loser either a 5 or 6. If its a really close game I go 5 seed if its a double digit loss I go 6 seed.

I couldn't be more exited I got Johnson and Hawpe. I rated Hawpe as the best available hitter in the second round and Josh Johnson the next best pitcher after I took Gallardo in the second. I had to get nitpicky to decide between Gallardo and Johnson. So far I like how my draft is going a lot which just means I will finish last.

Round 4: 1 Bronx DSB (from Czar Nikita): Brett Myers, SP, Phi 2 Bronx DSB: Robinson Cano, 2B, NYY 3 New York A-Roids: Orlando Cabrera, SS, Oak 4 White Soxaholics: Ryan Doumit, C, PIT 5 Cubbiebummin: Brad Hawpe, RF, COL 6 Cubbiebummin: Josh Johnson, SP, FLA 7 Nuke's Bombers (from Dawg Pound) ON THE CLOCK 8 Kingsport Copperheads 9 Slainte 10 The Big City Sliders 11 SoCal Cubs 12 Minnesota Masterbatters 13 Czar Nikita 14 Roady 15 Team Bouldin 16 Nuke's Bombers

1. Ohio State (showed they belong by beating Wisconsin) 2. Temple (almost own conference and then beat Xavier in tourny) 3. Maryland (might not be very consistent but they seem to rise in big games and that is what is needed in the tourny) 4. USC (never fully been on but have some good wins and looks like they will upset UCLA) 5. Utah State (I don't care what schedule you play you lose only four games you are worthy unlike Wayne and Garth) 6. Auburn (SEC is awful this year but are 9-1 in last 10 with wins over LSU, Tenn and Florida) 7. SD State (great record and BYU win proves they should be in) 8. Penn State (four wins against Mich St, Purdue and Illinois and an above .500 Big Ten record gets them in) 9. Dayton (great record with a win over Xavier but little else) 10. Minnesota (maybe they should have played someone in non-conference or gone above .500 in conference) 11. New Mexico (loss in tourny hurts but 12-4 conference record could still get them in) 12. South Carolina (in a down year a 10-6 SEC record isn't impressive and got blownout in conference tourny) 13. Florida (are living off of great start; haven't finished like a bubble team should) 14. Virginia Tech (bad finish leaves them out, upset over UNC probably gets them in but alas) 15. St. Mary's (couldn't beat Gonzaga in three tries and no big wins) 16. Creighton (only respectable win was against New Mexico and that was the first game of the season) 17. Arizona (can't be in when you finish 1-5 with first round conference exit)

We obviously can't but with all the upsets this year we should redo the bracket. Wake looking like they will lose, UCONN, Clemson, Pitt, Oklahoma, Kansas, Xavier ...

Man this waiting a week or so between picks is killing me. Especially since the player I tried to trade up for last round is still on the board.

What's worse? The first row or the second one because everyone in the first row will be standing the whole game?

If it isn't with real money I will join. levintblack@gmail.com

1 wake forest 2 villanova 3 kansas 4 washington 5 missouri 6 gonzaga 7 ucla 8 utah 9 marquette 10 xavier 11 clemson 12 syracuse 13 lsu 14 byu 15 arizona state 16 illinois 1 tennessee 2 penn state 3 wisconsin 4 utah state 5 michigan 6 oklahoma state 7 south carolina 8 dayton sorry if this hard to follow. doing it on my phone while traveling back to indiana.