Mar 31, 2009 | 4:58 PM
Category:
Sports
1st league... 8 teams, 20 rounds... C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, OF, OF, OF, Util, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, 4 bench spots... computer wigged out on the last two picks... have since dropped those two players even though both deserve to be on a roster in deeper leagues.
1.
(5)
Manny Ramirez
2.
(12)
Chase Utley
3.
(21)
Johan Santana
4.
(28)
Magglio Ordonez
5.
(37)
Dan Haren
6.
(44)
Jake Peavy
7.
(53)
Jacoby Ellsbury
8.
(60)
Corey Hart
9.
(69)
Brad Lidge
10.
(76)
Felix Hernandez
11.
(85)
Adrian Gonzalez
12.
(92)
Ryan Ludwick
13.
(101)
Brian Fuentes
14.
(108)
John Smoltz
15.
(117)
Ryan Dempster
16.
(124)
Max Scherzer
17.
(133)
Pablo Sandoval
18.
(140)
J.J. Hardy
19.
(149)
Chris Iannetta
20.
(156)
Andre Ethier
2nd draft... 12 teams, 21 rounds... C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, OF, OF, OF, Util, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, 5 bench spots... was a little late entering the draft, but was pretty happy overall because I did pre-rank the players... Smoltz is about to be drizzopped.
1.
(8)
Manny Ramirez
2.
(17)
Carlos Lee
3.
(32)
Magglio Ordonez
4.
(41)
Dan Haren
5.
(56)
Jacoby Ellsbury
6.
(65)
Chad Billingsley
7.
(80)
Mariano Rivera
8.
(89)
Scott Kazmir
9.
(104)
John Smoltz
10.
(113)
Brian Fuentes
11.
(128)
Justin Verlander
12.
(137)
Carlos Delgado
13.
(152)
J.J. Hardy
14.
(161)
Pablo Sandoval
15.
(176)
Gavin Floyd
16.
(185)
Joe Saunders
17.
(200)
Mike Lowell
18.
(209)
Edwin Jackson
19.
(224)
Delmon Young
20.
(233)
Orlando Hudson
21.
(248)
Mike Pelfrey
Mar 23, 2009 | 5:07 PM
Category:
Sports
Feb 20, 2009 | 4:50 PM
Category:
Sports
NBA injuries dominated the sports headlines this afternoon. So a day after fantasy owners scrambled to adjust to trade deadline consequences (picking up Larry Hughes and Aaron Brooks, possibly dangling Johnny Salmons as trade bait), the waiver wire was busy again.
No KG means more opportunity for KP... as in Kendrick Perkins. He'll get the ball more in the low post, he makes a good percentage of his shots, he'll get more rebounds with Garnett no longer battling for rebounds, and with increased playing time, he'll block more shots. Perkins is a no-brainer pick-up right now, no matter how long or short Garnett is out, whether it be 1 week or 4. Another beneficiary, but at a smaller scale, is Leon Powe. He'll get more playing time, and he'll get more rebounds, but Perkins is the serious pick-up when all is said and done. Yes, "Big Baby" Glen Davis and Eddie House will see their respective stocks rise too, but not as much.
The Amare Stoudemire injury is a really hard one to figure out. From my view, considering Alvin Gentry's been running and gunning these last few games, and considering the lack of depth at big man for the Suns, Leandro Barbosa and Grant Hill will get more playing time and will produce more. On the other hand, I have heard that Shaq will get more touches. I tend to disagree with this assessment, because I don't think Gentry's gonna revert to a Terry Porter system that got Porter fired. Sorry Shaq, I still think the Suns are gonna run and gun. However, this is something to keep an eye on. I have been wrong before. Their first game from now will be very telling as far as what'll happen.
I'm also interested in seeing how Luke Ridnour will mesh back in the Bucks' lineup. He'll be back soon enough, but I think Ramon Sessions will still produce monster numbers. Okay, Sessions' assist numbers won't get above 15 quite as regularly, but he'll still score 15-20 points a game, with probably about 5 assists and 2-3 steals per game. Still an improvement from earlier in the year, pre-Michael Redd injury.
Feb 18, 2009 | 2:09 AM
Category:
Sports
First game in the Alvin Gentry for the Suns? They score 140 on the Clippers.
Granted, they're facing the Clippers, but 140 points? That's a lot. Makes me flash back to the D'Antoni days where offense flowed like wine.
Among the VERY noticeable beneficiaries... Leandro Barbosa. Always talented, his fantasy stock had dipped with Terry Porter running things, but his first game with Gentry saw him shoot 9-of-12 with 3 3's, 7 boards, 5 assists, and 24 points. Talk about a late-season boost.
There is a very very slight chance that he's available given his prior "struggles." PICK HIM UP.
In Charlotte, Gerald Wallace struggled in his first game back, but G-dub owners everywhere are looking forward to when he'll come back to his scoring-a-lot, stealing-a-lot self. That'll come soon enough. Nice surprise to see Raymond Felton go double-digit in REBOUNDS. Also saw a crashing down to reality for Vladimir Radmanovic, as predicted in my earlier post, with the return of Wallace and Raja Bell.
Props to Pau Gasol for his triple double, and how about Lamar Odom continuing to be a beast replacing Andrew Bynum. 20 boards, including 7 on the offensive end.
Speaking of beasts, Superman was at it on Tuesday night. Dwight Howard "only" scored 45 with 19 boards. Amazing. Love that guy. Wanted him to take the dunk title because he is truly a dunk artist with a ton of creativity. I know what he was going for on the last dunk, but the NBA crowd these days... they want to see a fresh dunk, not an ode to the past. They see that as rehashed... done already.
Oh well, until next year... LeBron and Dwight in the same dunk contest? I would love to see Gerald Green do it next year too, but that's doubtful. And I wanna see Joe Alexander get a chance too since he said he was getting ready to do some crazy ones.
Hmmmm... this fantasy blog ended up actually going into reality a bit, but I hope y'all don't mind... until next time!
Feb 11, 2009 | 2:56 AM
Category:
Sports
Meant to write this last night, but after finishing surfing box scores at 3am, I was pooped.
Forgive me.
Anyhoo, some quick thoughts on injury replacements.
SUCKS that Al Jefferson is gone. However, Kevin Love will give consistent double-doubles from what I can tell. Owners who had him are thanking their lucky stars right now. Kinda like I was when Lamar Odom's stock went straight up last week.
Philly's Marreese Speights won't be as dynamic statiscally as K-Love, but he'll probably contribute a consistent 15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal or two. What caps it off, is that he's a high-percentage field goal AND free throw shooter.
I love Jose Juan Barea. If you watch this guy play, you KNOW he's a ballaholic. Serious game. He's a 3-point shooter who can penetrate and dish. Love him. As long as JTerry's out, Barea's your man.
Vladimir Radmanovic will be a good pickup over the next few games. First game in Charlotte, and he plays about 30 minutes? Compare to when he was a Laker and his PT had diminished to about ten. 3's, points... he'll be contributing those things this week. After the All-Star break though, the Bobcats get healthier with Gerald Wallace coming back soon, and the same with Raja Bell. See ya, playing time.
And about that Raymond Felton trade that's in the works, if you need assists, you may wanna pick up Jamaal Tinsley. Tinsley doesn't turn the ball over too much. The thing he DOES do too much, is get in off-court trouble. On the court, though, Tinsley's solid. I would think Felton would start for the Pacers, which would mean stock down for Jarret Jack, for sure, but for T. J. Ford, it really depends on who gets those point-guard minutes. Also, until Tinsley gets his game legs under him, stock seriously up on D.J. Augustin.
Hockey-wise, Dan LaCosta is a hot pickup as long as Steve Mason's out (which is only the next few games) because Wade Dublewicz is under the weather, and frankly, Wade really didn't do that well (to be nice) in the games he did appear in. LaCosta, meanwhile, has been stellar.
For Edmonton, Dennis Grebeshkov becomes the 2nd offensive defenseman for the Oilers with the announcement that Lubimir Visnovsky is out for the rest of the season. Guess who had Visnovsky? Yea... me. Guess who has Grebeshkov now? Yea... me.
Jan 29, 2009 | 2:26 PM
Category:
Sports
Tons of injuries in the NBA... which means lots of players gradually coming back, and how about all the duds, huh?
Baron Davis - 1 for 10.
Monta Ellis - not much better.
Marcus Camby - got some rebounds, but not the 12-15 that fantasy owners are used to, and where are the blocks?
That said, Elton Brand had 6 blocks off the bench, and you KNOW Davis, Ellis, and Camby are going to be much better. How this affects things...
Production down for Anthony Morrow when Jamal Crawford returns, Thaddeus Young, and DeAndre Jordan.
I can't seem to shake myself from the statline put up by Boston's Eddie House. 8-of-9 from the land of 3? Dang boy! You earned yourself "pick-up status!" Seriously in two of his previous 3 games, he had 7 3's EACH GAME. Sick. If you need three's, take it to the House. He's probably available.
And holy hat tricks!!! Former Michigan Wolverine Mike Cammalleri did the honors on Wednesday night for Calgary.
Jan 28, 2009 | 1:30 AM
Category:
Sports
First night of games after All-Star weekend, and what happens?
Apparently, players used that time to rest up or sharpen their skills. Whatever they did, it worked.
Buffalo scored 10 goals on Edmonton. Anaheim scored 7 goals. That is not normal.
Kudos to Rick Nash and Drew Stafford for netting hat tricks. Jere Lehtinen started the second half fairly well for Dallas.
NBA... King James scores a triple-double, but Mo Williams outshines him with 43 points and 7 3's.
More on the Cavs... big Z's almost back, which means diminished value for all the other Cleveland bigs, though Anderson Varejao will still have value because he hustles a lot and Ilgauskas will probably get hurt again.
Pick-up guy of the night... Sac-town's Jason Thompson, if he's available. Lots of hustle categories filled, and Mr. Fantasy loves that.
Jan 26, 2009 | 1:00 AM
Category:
Sports
The NBA season seems to be one for the walking wounded... so who steps in for each injury?
Michael Redd's out for the year, and the jury's still out, but my guess is that most of the pressure goes on Richard Jefferson's shoulders, at least to score. Ramon Sessions will get more playing time, but it's hard to replace the clutch shooting that Redd provided.
Interesting observations with Yao Ming out but with Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest back for the Rockets - Von Wafer's production slips, but Luis Scola saw his time amped up. Now Scola's purely temporary, because Yao will be back soon enough, but also notice the 4 3's hit by Shane Battier. Maybe more consistency from "who's-your-daddy-battier?"
Monster game (what's new?) from Al Jefferson... but also how about giving some love to Kevin Love's 19 points and 15 boards off the bench? Impressive. Sebastian Telfair only turned the ball over once to his 5 assists while Randy Foye had 5 turnovers to his 6 asssits.
Props to Joakim Noah's 7 blocks as Drew Gooden continues to recover...
And DeAndre Jordan continues to pine for playing time while subbing for Marcus Camby. 20 BOARDS???!?!?!?!?!?!??!
Jan 22, 2009 | 3:38 AM
Category:
Sports
The star of the night was OBVIOUSLY Andrew Bynum. 25 points and 10 boards in the 1st half? Craziness.
Other efforts stood out though. Kobe Bryant only had 18 points, but he had a triple double. In that same game, DeAndre Jordan was 11-12 from the field, had double-digit rebounds, and blocked 4 shots. Milwaukee's Ramon Sessions had a perfect game (with the exception of a missed FT) that had him at 21 points off the bench.
Now as good as those performances were, Devin Harris was downright horrid. Great year overall, but he goes 1-11 on Wednesday night. Not good. It's one thing for Quentin Richardson to have a bad game, because he has plenty of those, but for Devin? Not expected. I'm thinking maybe his psyche is fragile from his recent benching. However, at least Vince Carter bounced back nicely.
Another nice game from Von Wafer. Gerald Wallace had 9 assists... always nice to see unconvention sources for different categories, kind of like Dwayne Wade's ability to block shots.
Hockey - no more Rick Dipietro, hellooooo Yann Danis. Pick him up.
Gonna keep an eye on Toronto's Lee Stempniak. If he continues on this string, it's time to pick him up. Columbus' Steve Mason struggled again. Hopefully, he gets back in great shape after the All-Star break.
Jan 21, 2009 | 1:08 AM
Category:
Sports
Sebastian Telfair gradually made his way into the starting lineup about 10 days ago. Seeing that he had the majority of assists and that Randy Foye wasn't doing much to threaten this, I picked him up.
Up until now, I was starting to think I must've been bonkers. But these last few nights, my faith has finally been rewarded. 2 straight games with 9 assists, and Telfair's becoming a very poor man's version of Jose Calderon, as in he doesn't turn the ball over much at all.
Others who impressed:
-Chicago's Luol Deng has been impressive on the boards, and Andres Nocioni is having a nice run off the bench.
-I think it's rare that Mike Bibby scores 31, but what I noticed with Atlanta, is that Zaza Pachulia continues to disappoint on the boards without Al Horford.
In hockey, the battle between Rich Peverley and the guy Atlanta scorned after they picked up Peverley, Jason Williams, heats up.
Peverley, again, scored, and he added a bonus by winning 10 faceoffs.
Williams also impressed, with a goal and an assist.
So far, Peverley's winning the overall battle, but the war's from over in comparing the two.
By the way, on a side-note, Brian Elliot was AGAIN outstanding for the Senators. Alex Auld, Martin Gerber, your fantasy statuses are officially minimized a TON.
Jan 20, 2009 | 12:37 AM
Category:
Sports
Stats that stuck out to me from Monday night:
-18 rebounds from Joakim Noah. Huh? What? He's had double-digit rebounds in only 5 games all year, and all of a sudden, he gets 18? Keep in mind this was against the Knicks. In other words, wait 2 more double-digit games before making that move to pick him up.
-DeAndre Jordan, no relation to Michael, on the Clippers. Big man had 10 boards and 6 steals. From past entries, I'm known to love a thief. However, keep in mind that Marcus Camby is due back in a week. Camby owners, I feel your pain. I have Camby on one of my teams, and he's been a beast all year for rebounds and blocks.
-What'd I tell ya about Jerryd Bayless' assist differential with Sergio Rodriguez? To fill in for Steve Blake, assists need to be had, not points, and Sergio provided the passes. SO... Sergio doubled up the rookie Bayless in playing time on Monday night.
In hockey, Vinny Lecavalier pulled off a huge rarity - he scored both a short-handed AND a game-winning goal. 2 separate goals, but that's huge for Lecavalier owners in leagues where short-handed goals and game-winning goals are categories. Game winners are rare enough. Short-handed ones are REALLY hard to find.
Jan 18, 2009 | 11:13 PM
Category:
Sports
In the spirit of the inauguration, Mr. Fantasy just HAD to apply one of President Obama's statements for fantasy use.
Not many games were played on Sunday.
Jason Williams scored a power play goal for the Jackets. Rick Nash came back with a bang, with multiple points and some penalty minutes to boot... and Steve Mason actually struggled.
Basketball-wise, I'm gearing up for Monta Ellis' return and how he fits into a lineup that Jamal Crawford has pretty much taken over. For my own selfish purposes, since I HAVE Ellis, I'm hoping he produces somewhat like he did the last 2 years. Realistically, the production will take about a week to stabilize, and even then, should still be somewhat of a drop from his best years.
Next year, things might be different, but this year, Ellis won't be a huge fantasy factor.
Jan 18, 2009 | 12:53 AM
Category:
Sports
Back-2-back 3-point nights? You serious? Rich Peverley? Pick him up.
Nuf said.
Another follow-up from yesterday, notice that Portland's Jerryd Bayless got more minutes than Sergio Rodriguez. And he had another solid game with 14 points off the bench. Good shooting percentage too.
But also notice this stat line from a point guard: 0 assists.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, had 5. So while Bayless is gonna get more playing time than he did before, he's not gonna be stealing too many of Rodriguez's minutes, and his role obviously will be somewhat reduced when Steve Blake returns.
In other words, Bayless is far from being what Derrick Rose is right now. (Rose had 8 assists to no turnovers on Saturday night)
Also saw that the LA Kings have activated former Michigan Wolverine Jack Johnson. He's a former top draft pick, has a ton of potential, but fantasy-wise, considering the rust, and that he hasn't yet proven himself as an offensive force, stay away from a drastic decision. I have Cam Barker as my 5th defenseman, and I'd much rather have Barker than Jack Johnson anyday for this season, at least. Barker, by the way, I do realize he was a top-5 pick as well.
Mathieu Garon trade aftermath: his stock goes up since Marc-Andre Fleury's been inconsistent. Dany Sabourin's stock is zilch. Dwayne Roloson's stock goes way up since he's now DEFINITELY the main man in the Oilers goal.
Jan 17, 2009 | 11:58 AM
Category:
Sports
When Atlanta traded Jason Williams to Columbus, it seemed pretty obvious that the Thrashers weren't satisfied with how Williams was gelling with Ilya Kovalchuk. The trade coincided with the pickup of Rich Peverley off the waiver wire.
Now Williams might get more power play time with the Jackets, and that's great and all, but Peverley has shown a sudden dynamic ability to mesh well with Kovalchuk. Time to act quickly and go to the waiver wire.
Basketball-wise, Nick Young finally came back to earth. He still had a solid game off the bench with 13 points, but that's not the 20 or 30 points that he had been scoring.
On another note, at least for the next 2 games, Charlie Villanueva's gonna be the one benefitting from Andrew Bogut's injury. That much is obvious.
And what a game from Michael Redd, huh?
Jan 16, 2009 | 1:50 AM
Category:
Sports
Coming off Chris Paul's 7-steal performance last night, it got me thinking about how rare it is to find a player who gives consistent steals.
One guy to look to, especially right now, is former Cincinnati Bearcat Kenyon Martin. With Carmelo Anthony out, K-Mart's role increases in all sorts of ways: scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, and yes, he had 7 steals tonight against Phoenix.
Big fan of Kenyon Martin's fantasy value.
Keep an eye on Jerryd Bayless. He has motivation to play hard to get more PT for the Blazers right now after sitting behind Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez all year. Tonight might be the beginning of something special, as in a solid mid-season pick-up.
On that note, keep Washington's Nick Young in mind. The guy has been simply ridiculous lately, but you guys know he's still coming off the bench, and the Wizards do rely on other stars (Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison) for their scoring, but if Young goes over 20 in his next game, that'd be 4 straight games and he'd be impossible to ignore any longer.
Hockey-wise... Jason Blake, say what? Where has this play been all year long? I'm still not totally convinced, given the state of the Maple Leafs, but 3 goals and 2 assists deserve some props. Props now given.
