Ryan Braun, our national league MVP was busted for having a illegal substance in his system. A report also came out later yesterday that stated that Brauns testosterone levels were double of any other player that has taken the test. Braun is going to appeal the suspension, but it doesn't look good for him or owners who wanted to take him in the first round this year. There have been a couple of moves over the weekend that stand out. Aramis Ramirez went to the Brewers, also Trevor Cahill was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks Collin Cowgill and some other prospects. These two deals are good moves for both Cahill and Ramirez. Cahill moving from the American league to the national league always helps and Ramirez is going to a better lineup even if Fielder isn't in it.
One more thing I wanted to say real quick that doesn't involve fantasy baseball really but baseball in general. Being a Chicago White Sox fan i am not to happy with Kenny Williams at the moment. For those of you who don't know that's the White Sox general manager. I understand he wants to rebuild, and to be honest I am OK with that if it happen before last season.. The main reason for that is because we just wasted a lot of money on a player we had no right in getting if rebuilding was looming. Adam Dunn is now stuck here for at least another 3 seasons and putting that with a couple other horrible contracts it will make rebuilding rather hard right now. I am a die hard White Sox fan, but even the most loyal fans are going to struggle to not turn there TVs off early this year with the product we will have on the field when Williams is finally done with his fire sale.
The fantasy baseball season has sometime to go but i know we are all waiting for that time to come. Pitchers and catchers report in two short months and I know all of us will be looking forward to when that happens. Until then we will all have to sit and wait and try to guess where the next big fish will land. My guess is Fielders goes to either the Chicago Cubs or the Seattle Mariners. What do you guys think?
Monday, December 12, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Fantasy Basketball Sleepers
I am going to cover one sleeper at every position for basketball as drafts are coming upon us. At point guard I like rookie Kemba Walker from U Conn. D.J. Augustin is technically the starter right now for the Charlotte Bobcats, but I wouldn't be surprised if Walker took over as a starter early into the season. He should put up solid numbers in assist and points. Shooting guard its hard for me not to go with Jimmer Fredette. His 1nd year in Sacramento could be a great asset to the Kings with his good passing and great shooting. I wouldn't be surprised if he led the team in scoring and possibly even assists. Small forward Corey Maggette from Charlotte is the 2nd Bobcat on this list. With Stephan Jackson and Gerald Wallace out of Charlotte someone needs to score points in Charlotte. With a new home for Maggette he should have a chance to put up big numbers in a lineup that wont have much else to lean on. Carl Landry is a player that has caught our interest before. In 2009-2010 season he had 16 points per game with almost 10 rebounds per game. Now he has found himself in New Orleans with the disgruntled Chris Paul. Landry was originally brought in to be a back up for David West. When West opted out of his deal Landry is now thrown into the starting gig. He could pay dividends if Paul is forced to stay in new Orleans. Finally Greg Monroe is the center for the Detroit Pistons. He had a little playing time last year and after the all star break he averaged a 13 ppg and 10 rpg. He can become someone who will be a focal point in Detroit because that team doesn't have much else to work with to be honest.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The King Has Left the Building!! and Some Hockey
As most of you have heard Albert Pujols has left the Cards for California. Most people thought even last night that Pujols was going to go to the Cardinals and seemed almost like a done deal. As the Angels have done before they came out of left field and sign him to a whopping 10 year 250 million dollar deal. He also got the no trade clause that he wanted as well. They also got maybe the best free agent pitcher out there as well in C.J. Wilson. Now this makes the Angels a fantasy juggernaut with a rotation that challanges the Giants and even the Phillies for best in the league. They also now have obviously an amazing offense, adding pujols makes everyone in the lineup better instantly. Depending on what they do we could see Mark Trumbo go to either 3rd base or possibly even left field like we saw a bit last year. Also Morales moving to DH with all his injury problems becomes a dream job for him. Real quick as well, now in St Louis Berkman will now probably move to 1st base and Allen Craig will more then likely be in right field. I am rather excited to see what Allen Craig can do with a full year of starting without worrying where playing time will come from. Will cover more baseball next week but now I want to get to what I wanted to talk about today.
The NHL has been very interesting this year for fantasy for most of us. If you put a top pick into a big time goalie you have been burned more times then not this year. There were 21 goalies ranked top 100 this year before the season started. 13 of those goalies now fall out of the top 100 and a lot of them are way out of the top 100. That has easily been the position that's burned people the most this year so far (I know its burned me bad). Majority of these guys are obvious buy low guys maybe the biggest one being Roberto Luongo. Other big buy low candidates I would see is Ryan Miller for sure and even Corey Crawford. Still a young guy Crawford has shown flashes of greatness, and the Hawks in front of him have struggle as of late on the defensive side. Things can only go up for that defense over the next couple months and for the rest of the season. Three names stick out at me that maybe will never get back to there higher draft picks that they were preseason. Jonas Hiller, Jaroslav Halak, and Cam Ward are the three guys I can see not getting back to the preseason hype. These three players are all in this situation for different reasons. Jonas Hiller has been dealing with injuries and bad play all year long so far. He got a little lucky that Dan Ellis went down so that helped him keep his job for now, but his time maybe running out with Ellis back and Hiller still playing bad not showing much improvement. Halak has Brian Elliot breathing down his back and taking starts away from him because Elliot is having a great year thus far. Then I get to Cam Ward who I invested a lot into, I am now feeling disgusted with myself for doing so. He has been pretty bad all year long but the fact that he has one of the worst defenses in front of him doesn't help. Cam ward has faced the most shots this year and that going to change through out the rest of this year. If Ward had a defense in front of him maybe he would finally be one of the best goalies in the league like people think. Until that happens only thing he will be doing for his fantasy owners is racking up the saves and sadly the goals against.
The NHL has been very interesting this year for fantasy for most of us. If you put a top pick into a big time goalie you have been burned more times then not this year. There were 21 goalies ranked top 100 this year before the season started. 13 of those goalies now fall out of the top 100 and a lot of them are way out of the top 100. That has easily been the position that's burned people the most this year so far (I know its burned me bad). Majority of these guys are obvious buy low guys maybe the biggest one being Roberto Luongo. Other big buy low candidates I would see is Ryan Miller for sure and even Corey Crawford. Still a young guy Crawford has shown flashes of greatness, and the Hawks in front of him have struggle as of late on the defensive side. Things can only go up for that defense over the next couple months and for the rest of the season. Three names stick out at me that maybe will never get back to there higher draft picks that they were preseason. Jonas Hiller, Jaroslav Halak, and Cam Ward are the three guys I can see not getting back to the preseason hype. These three players are all in this situation for different reasons. Jonas Hiller has been dealing with injuries and bad play all year long so far. He got a little lucky that Dan Ellis went down so that helped him keep his job for now, but his time maybe running out with Ellis back and Hiller still playing bad not showing much improvement. Halak has Brian Elliot breathing down his back and taking starts away from him because Elliot is having a great year thus far. Then I get to Cam Ward who I invested a lot into, I am now feeling disgusted with myself for doing so. He has been pretty bad all year long but the fact that he has one of the worst defenses in front of him doesn't help. Cam ward has faced the most shots this year and that going to change through out the rest of this year. If Ward had a defense in front of him maybe he would finally be one of the best goalies in the league like people think. Until that happens only thing he will be doing for his fantasy owners is racking up the saves and sadly the goals against.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Playoffs are upon us
With playoffs either starting now in some leagues or a week away, the playoff push is upon us. This means only one thing, doing whatever it takes to make it to the playoffs or to advance to the next round of playoffs taking one week at a time is key. Lets focus on the match ups with the teams more then the match ups with individual players themselves. As of right now the top 5 defenses that are worst against the run are: St Louis, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Tampa Bay and Oakland with Carolina just behind them. Now most of the teams they are playing this weeks are obvious starts in any league. If you have Ray Rice, Maurice Jones Drew, Micheal Turner, Marshawn Lynch, or even Rachard Mendenhall then those are easy starts. A sleeper from one of these match ups I will talk about is the Packers running back that isn't seen or heard of from much but recently has been getting more touches in recent weeks. That is Brandon Saine in very deep leagues, he hasn't had much attention until last week he did get a total of 10 touches for over 40 yards. With James Starks not practicing this whole week yet Saine could be the 2nd running back behind a bad Ryan Grant. If you need a flex player for a position and maybe want to take a flyer against a bad rushing team and a team who gives up 6th most total points against running backs in general.
One of the biggest flops of this week could be Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and company in the passing game. Cleveland Browns surprisingly are tops in the league against the passing game. Only giving up 173 yards a game, and tied for second in the league with only 11 touchdowns given up on the year. Look for a heavy dose of run from the Steelers in a game that probably wont be close. Another game that I have a feeling will turn into a passing game is the Chicago Bears against the Denver Broncos. With both teams defenses being stingy against the run, both teams maybe forced to pass the ball even though either one really wants to. If this does happen both Caleb Hanie and Tim Tebow could have top 12 fantasy days from quarterbacks. Or both teams could keep forcing the run and it could turn into a 10 to 7 game for whoever wins. Its a gamble but could pay dividends if it falls the right way.
Playoffs are among us and i wish everyone the best of luck in there march to the championship of everyone's respected leagues. Any comments on a player you think will succeed or fail that I didn't mention let me know in the comments.
One of the biggest flops of this week could be Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and company in the passing game. Cleveland Browns surprisingly are tops in the league against the passing game. Only giving up 173 yards a game, and tied for second in the league with only 11 touchdowns given up on the year. Look for a heavy dose of run from the Steelers in a game that probably wont be close. Another game that I have a feeling will turn into a passing game is the Chicago Bears against the Denver Broncos. With both teams defenses being stingy against the run, both teams maybe forced to pass the ball even though either one really wants to. If this does happen both Caleb Hanie and Tim Tebow could have top 12 fantasy days from quarterbacks. Or both teams could keep forcing the run and it could turn into a 10 to 7 game for whoever wins. Its a gamble but could pay dividends if it falls the right way.
Playoffs are among us and i wish everyone the best of luck in there march to the championship of everyone's respected leagues. Any comments on a player you think will succeed or fail that I didn't mention let me know in the comments.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
basketball will be added and schedule of posts
OK folks after talking to a couple people I have decided I will write about basketball as well. I will also write on a weekly schedule. That schedule will be: Baseball Mondays, Football Tuesdays, Hockey Wednesdays, Basketball Thursdays, and Fridays will be whatever I feel like writing about. Maybe I will cover all fantasy sports or just a few. We shall see on a week to week basis. Quick add for whats going on in baseball, Mets made some moves shipping Angel Pagan to San Fran for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez. With Both Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera now in San Fran they no longer need Carlos Beltran. Also one more deals of interest, the Mets signed both recycled closers from Toronto. Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch will battle for saves in the big apple.(So much for Bobby Parnell as the future closer...)
winter meetings well underway...
On the verge of big names like Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols signing there have already been dealt done and trades done that will shake up the fantasy baseball world next year. From player who normally wouldn't of had any impact at all to now being seen as a flyer pick in late rounds in certain league, to stars changing teams and making a big impact for the teams they left and the teams they have joined. So far since thanksgiving have come and gone we have seen a few meaningful deals that i will break down now.
Jonathan Papelbon- His fantasy impact doesn't change for him as much as it would for the team he left. He is going from a great team to another great team, Phillies starting pitchers maybe get a little boost because he is one of the top closers in the league and if Boston uses Daniel Bard instead of signing a big closer then that is up in the air to what it is going to do for them.
Jose Reyes- This is still up in the air a bit as well to what its going to do for his value, if the marlins go ahead and get another big name player like say cough cough (Albert Pujols) then his value will shoot through the roof being in a lineup with Pujols,Mike Stanton, and Hanley Ramirez among others. Who really gets affected here is about every player in the Mets lineup. I am not sure who will fill that spot in the lineup or st shortstop but players like David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Ike Davis and even who i thought would be a sleeper this year Lucas Duda. All these players get hurt when a player like Reyes leaves your lineup, a player who can hit .340 and get himself into scoring position almost every time he is on base.
Sergio Santos- Doesnt change all that much, he went from a team that wasn't all that great to begin with to a team who is on the rise but still isn't seem as a real contender. The real question here is who do the White Sox use to fill his position. Will is be Chris Sale or Matt Thornton (if he still on team) or one of the other bullpen guys they have on the south side.
David Dejesus- Normally probably wouldn't bring him up at all, but with the move to the north side of Chicago I think it actually sends his value to a high enough level for a little coverage to be said. Never really a power hitter but a solid average guy with decent pop when he was in Kansas City. I can see that pop maybe going to a level where he can be serviceable in 3 or 4 outfield leagues at 12 team or more.
Joe Nathan- Sent to the Rangers dont really know if he will close or not yet, have heard rumbling about Feliz being moved to the rotation but nothing is set in stone down in the lone star state.
Chris Iannetta- Moves from Colorado to the Lo Angeles Angels of Anaheim, take it or leave it, didn't have all that productive career in Colorado and shouldn't be much of a factor in Anaheim.
Heath Bell- Moving to the Marlins from the Padres is a step up so it should help his value some (which was already pretty high) with Leo Nunez leaving because well he isn't Leo Nunez the Marlins had a hole at closer and they filled that rather fast. With Nunez on the restricted list who knows what will happen to him so as of right now he is old news.
That's the players of meaning that have been dealt or signed, but there will be much more coming in the not to distant future. Stay tuned and I will have more updates on a later date.
Jonathan Papelbon- His fantasy impact doesn't change for him as much as it would for the team he left. He is going from a great team to another great team, Phillies starting pitchers maybe get a little boost because he is one of the top closers in the league and if Boston uses Daniel Bard instead of signing a big closer then that is up in the air to what it is going to do for them.
Jose Reyes- This is still up in the air a bit as well to what its going to do for his value, if the marlins go ahead and get another big name player like say cough cough (Albert Pujols) then his value will shoot through the roof being in a lineup with Pujols,Mike Stanton, and Hanley Ramirez among others. Who really gets affected here is about every player in the Mets lineup. I am not sure who will fill that spot in the lineup or st shortstop but players like David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Ike Davis and even who i thought would be a sleeper this year Lucas Duda. All these players get hurt when a player like Reyes leaves your lineup, a player who can hit .340 and get himself into scoring position almost every time he is on base.
Sergio Santos- Doesnt change all that much, he went from a team that wasn't all that great to begin with to a team who is on the rise but still isn't seem as a real contender. The real question here is who do the White Sox use to fill his position. Will is be Chris Sale or Matt Thornton (if he still on team) or one of the other bullpen guys they have on the south side.
David Dejesus- Normally probably wouldn't bring him up at all, but with the move to the north side of Chicago I think it actually sends his value to a high enough level for a little coverage to be said. Never really a power hitter but a solid average guy with decent pop when he was in Kansas City. I can see that pop maybe going to a level where he can be serviceable in 3 or 4 outfield leagues at 12 team or more.
Joe Nathan- Sent to the Rangers dont really know if he will close or not yet, have heard rumbling about Feliz being moved to the rotation but nothing is set in stone down in the lone star state.
Chris Iannetta- Moves from Colorado to the Lo Angeles Angels of Anaheim, take it or leave it, didn't have all that productive career in Colorado and shouldn't be much of a factor in Anaheim.
Heath Bell- Moving to the Marlins from the Padres is a step up so it should help his value some (which was already pretty high) with Leo Nunez leaving because well he isn't Leo Nunez the Marlins had a hole at closer and they filled that rather fast. With Nunez on the restricted list who knows what will happen to him so as of right now he is old news.
That's the players of meaning that have been dealt or signed, but there will be much more coming in the not to distant future. Stay tuned and I will have more updates on a later date.
Getting started.
I am going to try to make this a blog about fantasy sports in general, but mostly focusing on fantasy baseball with a little bit about majority of seasonal fantasy sports mixed in as well. I don't know much about basketball so if you are coming here for that I am sorry but i don't have that information. I have been big in fantasy sports for a very long time and I still am to this day. I will be posting some more stuff in the near future with the winter meetings going on and fantasy football in crunch time. I will also have some tidbits on updates on fantasy hockey players who are rising up in the ranks as I am typing.
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