Finally.....Winter's Over....Here's some baseball games that will count

Well, it's FINALLY time for the 2010 baseball season. No more winter, no more spring training....time to see how this goes down....how my predictions (and everyone elses will stand up over the season).....and also how Chedderhead/My Razzball team and the random Cbssports.com fantasy league i'm in that I haven't talked about does.......

Yankees vs. Red Sox

Sunday (Sabathia vs. Beckett) ESPN 2

Tuesday (Burnett vs. Lester) MLBN

Wednesday (Pettite vs. Lackey) ESPN 2

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 1

Like a bad TBS movie that they "give you 3 chances to watch" you get 3 chances to watch the Yankees take on the Red Sox. The Sunday game stands out because its the first game of the season that actually counts. In the context of this season, this series is fairly insignificant but i'm pretty sure ESPN is hyping it like the ALCS because to them, the other 28 teams might as well be Triple-A teams for all they care.....as evidenced by this 2007 expose by the Onion.

In all seriousness, I don't care who it is...baseball is back. You have ex-Brewer Sabathia taking the hill against Beckett who is currently in negotiations for a massive extension (will this keep him in contract year blow the world away mode?)

On Tuesday, MLB Network gets in on the fun as they show game 2 of this series. MLB Network gets a pass on the Red Sox-Yankees criticism I give ESPN as they are taking the step of showing all 30 teams within the first 30 days of the season.

Wednesday marks the first Red Sox start for John Lackey....does he justify the piles of money thrown at him last summer or not? We begin to find out Wednesday

Cardinals (Carpenter) vs. Reds (Harang) Monday ESPN

On a scale of 1-10, my interest is: 6

A few interesting things here:

1) First look at a couple of NL Central rivals: The first look at a Cardinals team that just about everyone (except myself....and I don't see them missing by much) against a Reds team that is a perpetual sleeper in the NL Central

2) A first look at whether Chris Carpenter can replicate his strong 2009 season. Talent isn't the issue, the ability to stay healthy....well that's a completely different story......also he's one of my starters in the CBS league (Baseball, Beer and Bahkas) so i'll be a bit more interested in the results

3) Day 1 of Jay Bruce's breakout season: With Cliff Lee and Huston Street injured, someone is going to have to carry Cheddarhead on their shoulders, it might as well be Jay Bruce.

Indians (Westbrook) vs. White Sox (Buerhle) Monday ESPN2

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 4

The Indians have lots of potential in 2010.....to be as bad or as worse than the Royals. If the Indians have any hope of making that last sentence sound horribly wrong, they are probably going to need Jake Westbrook to make more than 5 starts.

The White Sox on the other hand, have reasonable playoff expectations. They may not be a great team but then again they aren't in the strongest division either. Despite Joe Nathan being shelved for the season, I still think the Twins will win the division (barely.)

Another fun fact is that this game matches up 2 of the 3 pitchers who tied for the league in Hits Allowed in 2006. (The third player, Jon Garland gets the opening day nod for the Padres).

Cubs (Zambrano) vs. Braves (Lowe) Monday ESPN

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 8

Well, the Cubs are involved so if nothing else I have a team to root against. Also, with Carlos Zambrano pitching you never quite know what your getting although this tends to equal itself out over each season as his ERA+ the last few years have been eerily similar (117,118,119) Usually an interesting and harmless experience unless you happened to be dressed like a Gatorade machine and Zambrano doesn't like the umpiring on a given day.

For the Braves, the have Derek Lowe taking the hill here. Lowe is coming off his worst year as a starter but I see him coming back strong in 2010....i'm confident enough in this assertion that he ended up on Chedderhead.

Giants (Lincecum) vs. Astros (Oswalt) Monday ESPN

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 7

Good pitching match-up. Anytime Lincecum takes the hill, it's worth watching (right now he's my favorite non-Brewers player) because you never know whats going to happen. The Astros are looking to Roy Oswalt to anchor their staff this year.

From '01-'07 this would have been a fairly sound strategy. However, Oswalt's performance and his health have regressed a bit in the last couple years ......pretty much a microcosm of the Astors as a whole.

Twins vs. Angels

Baker vs. Weaver Tuesday MLB Network

Pavano vs. Santana Wednesday ESPN 2

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a : 6

It should be interesting to see how the Twins come out of the gate. Will their saavy winter moves and the momentum of locking up Joe Mauer be the catalyst towards another playoff appearance. Or will the downgrade from Joe Nathan to whoever they have closing games bring them back to the pack.

For the Angels, will they rack up another AL West title or will the Mariners off-season moves allow them to overtake Los Angeles of Anaheim of North America of the Northern Hemisphere and be top of the class. To answer some of these questions but raise more questions than are actually answered, stay tuned to find out.

Brewers vs. Rockies Wednesday MLB Network

See, Brewers-Rockies Series Preview Post

A Retro-Active Diary Of My Razzball Team

Alright, a couple weeks ago I wrote a brief post about my Razzball team where the object of the game is to draft the worst team possible and listed who I drafted but didn't get into too much detail........until now. Today, one of my fellow league members dedicated a post to doing a blow-by-blow account of the team they drafted.

Well, this inspired me to do a blow-by-blow retroactive running diary of the trainwreck that I drafted.

Round 1: Jason Kendall

Being a Brewers fan, I was way too familiar with the sheer ineptitude that is Jason Kendall. It got to the point where any positive thing he did, no matter how insignificant (i.e. NOT hitting into an inning-ending double play, hitting the ball out of the infield) was seen as exceeding expectations. In the early rounds, I was improvising but all I knew was that I was taking Kendall if he was still available. Based on his probable .240 hitting with no power and that he somehow gets to start 130 games a year and he plays for a Royals team where he will probably drive in even less runs than he did in Milwaukee, there is no way this pick can go wrong

Round 2: Bobby Crosby

After getting Kendall, my next thought was to get First Base covered as Razzball-worthy hitters become catchers and middle infielders, not first basemen. Why Crosby? Plays for a terrible team? Pirates, check. Versatility at positions associated with offense? First Base/Third Base, check. Sub-.700 OPS/Sub-.240 Average/no more than 9 homers the last four years? Check.

Round 3: Brendan Harris

Got another corner infield player on accident. I was looking towards drafting some good old fashioned middle infield ineptitude here...I was trying to avoid drafting players from teams that are generally pretty smart (Twins) but anytime you can snag some Sub .700 OPS corner infield eligibility, you have to go for it.

Round 4: Gary Matthews Jr.

Matthews Jr. has answered the ultimate question of how you can catapult one above-average season and one You Tube worthy catch into making $10 million a year and making Jeff Suppan's contract look like a wise investment......even though the Mets weren't the ones that signed the contract (this one is on L.A. of Anaheim of California of America of Earth of Milky Way) it doesn't seem surprising that a player of this caliber ended up on the Mets.

Round 5: Fausto Carmona

After going with hitters in the first four rounds, I noticed that more pitchers were coming off the board around this time and started scrambling around to get my own piece of this pitching ineptitude. And what did I come back with? A pitcher whose WHIP has skyrocketed the last two years (1.76) if i'm lucky maybe he can break the 2 WHIP barrier. 70 Walks in 125 innings, 16 homers and an ERA north of 6. The icing on the cake? Carmona is projected to be the Indians #2 starter, making it unlikely that Carmona will lose said job because of his high ineptitude.

Round 6: Bill Hall

Not sure how many ABs i'll get out of Hall but my experience as a Brewers fan tells me that he's gotten progressively worse since his career year (pretty much the hitting equivalent of Fausto Carmona), the dude swings at just about everything regardless of how close the ball is to the strike zone and assuming he gets playing time, should be a valuable source of strikeouts.

Round 7: Oliver Perez

Got myself two pitchers in a three round period that have seen their WHIP skyrocket in the last few years. An ERA that looks primed to break the 7-barrier, a WHIP that is at 1.9.....oh so close to the 2 WHIP barrier and pitching for a Mets team where he shouldn't lose his job as long as he stays healthy.

Round 8: Willy Taveras

A player who has a chance to be a star.....if they ever make it legal to steal first.

Around this time I noticed a lot of the players I was drafting or was looking to draft either play or at one time played for one of four teams (Royals, Team Formerly Known As The Expos, Pirates and Mets). Around the 7th or 8th round, I shifted to a strategy to draft only players from those four teams unless I stumbled across from a player that was such a trainwreck that I couldn't resist. I would have mentioned this earlier but i'm partially distracted by the multi-OT epic that Xavier and K-State are putting on.

Round 9: Chris Jakubauskas

Had to double-check the draft page to make sure I spelt his name correctly. Don't know too much about him but considering the Pirates deemed him worthy, he should be a good source of losses. A high risk of wasted non-talent here as it looks doubtful that he will break camp with the Pirates.

Round 10: Nelson Figueroa

Time to stock up on some inept middle reliever with a slight chance of starting. He made 10 starts last year and logically could back his way into the rotation if the Mets rotation has injury issues (a matter of when not if). Anytime I can benefit off of the ineptitude of someone who pitched 30 games in the same year that the Brewers hit rock bottom and lost 106 times, there's no way I could pass it up.

Round 11: Yuniesky Betancourt

When in doubt, see who the Royals have available. If they have a .689 career OPS a career sub .300 OPS and on a team hopeless enough that that won't necessarily be a deterrent to starting. Now just as long as those 24-run Royals game only happen in spring training, I should be good.

Round 12: Craig Stammen

Young pitcher with an ERA slightly north of 5. A little concerned about his WHIP only being 1.29 and only walking 24 in 105 innings but c'mon he pitches for the Nationals. Their best pitchers are John Lannan and Jason Marquis, how good can he be?

Round 13: Mike Jacobs

On his second stint on the Mets......played a season for the Royals (which was an epic fail) he strikes out about once every four at bats, hits for a low average and comes to Citi Field.....if it can suppress the power of players that are actually good (David Wright), I can't wait to see what this stadium does to Jacobs' numbers

Round 14: Cristian Guzman

Only in a fantasy league like this, you have to worry about your starters losing time due to incompetency. .....I was feeling better about this pick until seeing that he lost his job to Ian Desmond.....fits the profile of someone that the Mets will trade for.....just a hunch

Round 15: Jeff Karstens

Had a near 1.5 WHIP and a 5+ ERA in '09.......he was so valuable in the Razzball world that he got shipped to minor league camp

Round 16: Jeff Francoeur

Banking on him NOT hitting .311 for the Mets again. Banking on pitchers realizing that he will swing at just about anything, banking on an excellent source of strikeouts.

Round 17: Tim Redding

Another player I was excited about until he got sent to the minors today.

Round 18: Mitch Maier

On the bright side, at least I ain't losing him to the minors. On the not so bright side, he's been tearing it up in the spring and his manager is lauding him for developing really quick this spring. On the bright side, talent evaluation isn't amongst the Royals strengths.

Round 19: Evan Meek

Looking at the numbers, didn't pitch that bad last year.....picked him more to a lack of familiarity and the PIT indicating he pitches for the Pirates next to his name.....if he keeps up his 8 to 1 K To Walk ratio he has this spring, he probably won't be long for this team....however, if he maintains his 5.79 ERA, Meek will be a most valuable asset.

Round 20: Ryan Church

Drafted a few rounds below the player (Francoeur) that he got traded for last summer. I actually wrote a post arguing that the Braves got the better of the deal for getting Church. Here's to both players not playing well this year.

Round 21: Jordan Zimmermann

A case of not doing my homework, getting lured by the fact that he plays for the Nationals and not realizing that he's on the 60-Day DL....oh well.

Round 22: Alex Cora

Mets utility fielder.....fine for opening day........658 career OPS.........welcome to Razzball Mr. Cora.

Round 23: Fernando Tatis

Mediocrity+multi-position eligibility+ Round 23= Jackpot

Round 24: Rod Barajas

Pro: Mediocre Batting Average

Con: He has 20 homer power

Pro: He's playing in citi field that has sapped the power of better, more talented players

Round 25: Colin Balester

5.87 ERA in 22 career starts....now if only he can crack the rotation

Round 26: Nick Punto

Protypical dime a dozen light hitting middle infielder

Round 27: Daniel Cabrera

Another player that is too valuable in the Razzball world to make a major league team....I am holding out hope that someone will give him a few starts this year. He drew 42 walks in 51 innings and showed himself perfectly capable of rocking a 2+ WHIP.

Well that in a nutshell is how I constructed the worst Fantasy baseball team that I could construct. I just have to wait a few more days to see how this goes down.

NL East Preview Part II

Our standings after the first half:

Phillies 17

Braves 22

Nationals 25

Marlins 27

Mets 29

Starting Rotation:

Phillies-4

Braves-8

Marlins-12

Mets-16

Nationals-20

The Phillies by far are best off in the rotation. Halladay ends up in Philly (finally) and it would be shock if he isn't one of the top 5 pitchers in the league. While Hamels didn't exactly light the world on fire in 2009 which was aided more by a high BABIP against and not on him suddenly turning into a mediocre pitcher. Blanton is your protypical mid-rotation pitcher...no better no worse. There's absolutely no way J.A. Happ replicates his breakthrough year but at the same time he's a better #4 option than anyone else has.

The Braves may be weak in the star-power at the top of the rotation but make up for it with depth. There's no way Lowe struggles as much this year as last, Hanson and Jurrjens are likely to come down a little bit from strong 2009 seasons but that doesn't change the fact that both of them are legit pitchers. Hudson pitched well after coming back from injury but 42 innings is too early to tell whether he can stay healthy and whether he can return to his dominant form.

Josh Johnson may not be a household name like Halladay or Santana but if 2009 is any indication, he could be within the discussion for best pitcher in the NL East this year. Nolasco should bounce back after struggles connected more to bad luck than being a bad pitcher. Volstad should hold his own as a #3 but beyond that don't expect much from the Marlins rotation.

For the Mets, its Santana and.....not much else. Maine and Pelfrey are pretty mediocre pitchers, Oliver Perez is an asset to Razzball and anyone that's a fan of pitchers who think the strike zone is a foreign concept.

The Nationals have John Lannan and Jason Marquis as their top two starters......and it gets worse from there......ouch

Bullpen

Mets-4

Braves-8

Phillies-12

Nationals-16

Marlins-20

Not too crazy about what any of these teams have with the game on the line. The Mets do have K-Rod.....while he does make lots of money and racks up lots of saves....i'm not quite sold on him as being elite.....but he has been relatively healthy (Unlike Wagner) and has never racked up blown saves and 7-plus ERAs like they were going out of style (Brad Lidge....cough....cough) so the Mets get this one by default.

Final Rankings

Phillies-33

Braves-38

Mets-49

Marlins-59

Nations-61

No surprises with the top two, no surprise that the Mets are nowhere near the top, not surprising the Nationals are at the bottom....the only difference between conventional thought and the final rankings is how low the Marlins are ranked.

NL East Preview Part I

Last but not least, the NL East:

Catcher:

Brian McCann-1

Carlos Ruiz-2

John Baker-3

Ivan Rodriguez-4

Rod Barajas-5

McCann wins this.....by a lot. The only catcher that you could definitely say is better than McCann is Joe Mauer. Since Joe Mauer plays in the AL Central, McCann is the #1 catcher in both the NL East and on Chedderhead. After McCann, it's the lesser of four evils....Ruiz has some decent upside but if he hasn't broken out already at 31 that's sort of a red light. I-Rod has had a great career and if we were talking about overall bodies of work he would be number 1 but he has seen better days. I could see Rod Barajas working out as a good signing, if he was a left handed hitter playing at Yankee Stadium. However, he ended up on a team that plays their home games at a stadium that suppresses his one strength (hitting home runs) which may explain how he ended up on my Razzball team.

First Base

1-Ryan Howard

2-Adam Dunn

3-Daniel Murphy

4-Troy Glaus

5-Gaby Sanchez

Howard continued to establish himself as one of the elite hitters in the game in 2009. I see no reason why this won't continue into the new decade. Adam Dunn has been and continues to be the Mr. 3TO.......Drawing Walks, Hitting Homers, Striking Out....Dunn has his game down to the basics. On name recognition, Glaus would get the nod over Murphy but a) it's tough to tell whether he will stay healthy all year and b) even if he is healthy, it's unclear whether he will return to form

Second Base

1-Chase Utley

2-Dan Uggla

3-Martin Prado

4-Adam Kennedy

5-Luis Castillo

Another position, another Phillies player amongst the elite of the game. Uggla has established himself as Adam-Dunn lite. Hits for a very pedestrian average, hits plenty of homers (30-ish but not as much as Dunn) he is drawing walks at an increased rate (14% vs. 18% for Dunn) but then again the power standards for second basemen is lower than for first baseman.

Shortstop

1-Hanley Ramirez

2-Jimmy Rollins

3-Yunel Escobar

4-Jose Reyes

5-Ian Desmond

One word.....LOADED. Han-Ram gives you 30-30 potential in any given year and makes a strong case for the best shortstop in the bigs (he even got drafted 1st overall in the league that Cheddarhead plays in). Yes, Jimmy Rollins had a rough season, it still seems odd that he won an MVP and doesn't draw very many walks. However, his struggles look to be linked to low BABIP and he should bounce-back strong in 2010. Escobar is a young talented player and will likely overtake Rollins as a player within a few years, I just don't think it happens this year. Jose Reyes is talented enough to be higher but with the injury problems he is facing/will inevitably face all year and the fact that the Mets fall back plan is Alex Cora, I can't really justify ranking him higher.

Third Base

1-Ryan Zimmerman

2-David Wright

3-Chipper Jones

4-Jorge Cantu

5-Placido Polanco

Seems to be a trend in the NL East where the best player by position is the best by a lot not a little. When that player happens to be the starting third baseman for Chedderhead, even better. Tough to tell what to expect out of David Wright in '10. He's still reliable to hit for a good average but whether his power remains at 2009 levels or returns to historical norms remains to be seen. His hr/fb% dropped last year which also coincided with moving to Citi Field. Too early to tell whether his power drop resulted just bad luck or the stadium. Regardless, this area of doubt is enough to drop him well behind Zimmerman but above Jones whose name recognition has overtaken production, Cantu who had one really good season and many indicators showing that his 2008 level of production is unlikely to replicate himself

Left Field

1-Josh Willingham

2-Raul Ibanez

3-Jason Bay

4-Matt Diaz

5-Chris Coghlan

An overall uninspiring group. I will always associate Josh Willingham as the guy who hit grand slams in consecutive innings off Jeff Suppan (making him single-handedly responsibility for my least favorite Brewers moment of the year). Given a chance to start he has a decent chance to go yard 30-35 times. Ibanez had a nice 2009....his home run totals were inflated by an abnormally high hr/fb ratio and had nothing to do with the weak steroid speculation or the bloggers that Ibanez thinks all live in their mothers basement. Jason Bay is a free agent bust waiting to happen. A combination of decreasing contact percentage (he dropped from 76% to 69% last year......only 3% away from becoming a Bill Hall All-Star) and moving to Citi Field where power goes to die.....a pretty good chance this goes down as another bad Mets contract before all is said and done.....also a generous ranking at 3rd....Also not sold on Coghlan replicating his Rookie of the Year Season.

Center Field

1-Nate McLouth

2-Carlos Beltran

3-Shane Victorino

4-Nyjer Morgan

5-Cameron Maybin

Another less than inspiring crop. McLouth is a decent player but definitely not a superstar. On talent and name-brand recognition Beltran should win this hands down but I have little to no faith in his ability to stay healthy. Victorino (like Bay) is a player i've never been too high on (being the same guy that hit a grand slam off C.C. Sabathia in the 2008 NLDS that made it official that the Brewers playoff appearance was only going to be a cameo don't help either) but get's the #3 spot by default. Not sold on Morgan replicating his strong 2009 season and not sold on Maybin.

Right Field

1-Jayson Werth

2-Cody Ross

3-Melky Cabrera

4-Elijah Dukes

5-Jeff Francoeur

Lost in all the Phillies firepower from players like Ibanez, Howard and Utley the fact that Werth hit 36 homers got lost in the mix. He comes back this year with an epic beard, a contract to play for and secondary numbers that indicate his power spike is legit....could he be dark horse MVP candidate.....not as crazy as it sounds. Cody Ross seems like a slighty improved version of Mike Cameron (at least as a hitter) slighty better average .260 range and 25 homers......but nothing that stands out....(well unless Ross hits 4 of said homers in a game or ever plays drunk and tells the media about it). Speaking of Mike Cameron, the player he almost (and thankfully) didn't get traded straight up for in the winter of 2008-2009 Cabrera gets the #3 spot mostly due to his competition being Dukes who seems determined to not live up to his talent and one of the members of my Razzball team, Jeff Francoeur.

Standings after Part I:

Phillies 17

Braves 22

Nationals 25

Marlins 27

Mets 29

AL East Preview Part II

Our Standings after the First Half:

Red Sox-18

Yankees-21

Rays-31

Orioles-31

Blue Jays-34

Starting Rotation:

Red Sox-4.5

Rays-9

Yankees-13.5

Orioles-18

Blue Jays-22.5

When I started looking at this area, I was debating between placing Boston or New York at #1 but obviously changed my mind. The Red Sox are behind at the ace spot (Lester versus Sabathia) but are stronger at the 2/3 spots (Beckett/Lackey) versus (Burnett/Pettite). The biggest question mark in the Red Sox rotation is Dice-K but I think they get more out of Bucholz than the Yankees will with whatever their 2010 version of the Joba Rules are.

The Rays don't have a full on ace pitcher (which is why they don't get the 1-spot) but they have greater depth in the back of their rotation (Davis/Niemann) who while they may not be as familiar to baseball fans as Javier Vasquez (no way he repeats his 2009 performance) and Joba Chamberlain (not sure what the Yankees will do with him this year but whatever it is is likely to backfire)

Overall, the Blue Jays/Orioles rotations are nothing to write home about. I don't see Millwood repeating his strong 2009 performance....there's no way Guthrie would be the #2 starter for a contender. On the same token, nothing really excites me about the Blue Jays rotation. The Orioles avoid the cellar because the young pitchers they have (Bergesen/Matusz/Tillman) have more talent/potential than the Blue Jays starters and there's a solid chance at least one of them (either Matusz and/or Bergesen) are on the cusp of a breakout season.

Bullpen:

Yankees-4.5

Red Sox-9

Rays-13.5

Orioles-18

Blue Jays-22.5

Who would you rather have with the game on the line.......Rivera or Papelbon? That's a very, very tough question. The Red Sox and Yankees have the back of their bullpen anchored by two of the elite closers in the game, this one is a toss-up. The arbitrary factoid that gives Rivera the nod as tie breaker: He enters the game to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. That also happens to be the ringtone on my cellphone.

Final Standings:

Red Sox-31.5

Yankees-39

Rays-53.5

Orioles-67

Blue Jays-79

AL East Preview: Part I

Time to head East to the American League:

Catcher

1-Matt Wieters

2-Victor Martinez

3-Jorge Posada

4-Kelly Shoppach

5-John Buck

Tough call at this position. Wieters had a nice finish to 2009 and all signs indicate that he'll take some significant steps forward. Victor Martinez had a solid 2009 but couldn't justify him at #1 for a couple of reasons a) His OPS was 161 points lower at Catcher than at First AND the Red Sox have openly stated they plan to use him primarily behind the plate b) Is the Victor Martinez of 2007/2009 that had 13% of his flyballs turn into home runs or are we going to see the Victor Martinez that only saw 3% of his flyballs and 2 of his 266 At Bats turn into home runs.

First Base

1-Mark Teixiera

2-Kevin Youkilis

3-Carlos Pena

4-Lyle Overbay

5-Michael Aubrey

A Toss-Up between Teixiera and Youkilis. Teixiera has the slight power edge and a right field porch more suited for Little League giving him the edge. Both Youkilis and Pena have a penchant for hitting plenty of homers and drawing plenty of walks. Youkilis has a significant edge over Pena as Youkilis is able to draw his walks and hit his homers while still hitting .300 while Pena is usually south of .250

Second Base

1-Dustin Pedroia

2-Robinson Cano

3-Aaron Hill

4-Ben Zobrist

5-Brian Roberts

An very loaded field at Second. You have tier, 1 (Pedroia/Cano) where their performance is established and you know (mostly) what you are going to get. Could see Pedroia going 20-20, I don't see Cano hitting 27 out again. You have your second tier (Hill/Zobrist) of players who had breakout seasons last year but its still unclear how sustainable their level of production is going to be. Look for these two to settle into a rhythm of hitting from .260 to .280 with around 20 homers.

Shortstop

1-Derek Jeter

2-Marco Scutaro

3-Jason Bartlett

4-Alex Gonzales

5- Cesar Izturis

While Derek Jeter is one of the more over-rated players in baseball, he's still considerably better than the rest of the field. There was somewhat of a bidding war for Scutaro over the winter, i'm still trying to figure out why. That's nice that Bartlett had a great season last year. Too bad, that his home run numbers are not sustainable based on Bartlett's past.

Third Base:

1-Alex Rodriguez

2-Evan Longoria

3-Adrian Beltre

4-Garrett Atkins

5-Edwin Encarnacion

A-Rod may be one of the more unlikable players in baseball. He's also still one of the elite hitters in baseball. Evan Longoria has been a hitting machine ever since being called up in 2008. Longoria looks to move himself deeper into the elite echelon of Third Basemen this year. There is an off chance that Beltre could have a big season considering he's playing for a contract and getting away from Safeco field but this is far from a sure thing.

Left Field:

1-Carl Crawford

2-Nolan Reimold

3-Mike Cameron

4-Jose Bautista

5-Brett Gardner

These rankings are based on a couple of hunches 1-Carl Crawford is in his contract year, a solid chance to explode beyond his baseline .300-20 homers- 60 steal baseline. Nolan Reimold had a nice rookie year and looks to be on the cusp of a breakout season.......wouldn't be surprised to see him hit .275 and 25-30 homers. Mike Cameron is still a solid player, at this point what you see is what you get.... .250 average 20-25 homers striking out every 3 to 4 at bats and multiple hot and cold streaks.

Center Field:

1-Curtis Granderson

2-Jacoby Ellsbury

3-Adam Jones

4-Vernon Wells

5-B.J. Upton

Could see these rankings go a few different directions. Moving to Yankee Stadium should be one of the best things to happen to Granderson's career. He's already shown he can hit 30 out per year and with the little league sized porch that Yankee Stadium calls Right Field should inflate his home run totals.....now if only he can figure out hitting lefties. I'm completely unmoved by high stolen base totals which prevents Ellsbury from grabbing the top spot. Not bought or sold on Jones yet he got lucky in the first half, unlucky in the second half.....Vernon Wells had a chance to hit number-1 but then I remembered there were criterion other than contract size.

Right Field

1-J.D. Drew

2-Nick Swisher

3-Nick Markakis

4-Travis Snider

5-Gabe Kapler/Matt Joyce

One through three are fairly interchangeable sources of .270-.280 average (.250 for Swisher) and 20-30 homers. On talent alone, Drew is on top but as always, there are concerns about staying healthy. Swisher has better power than Markakis but hits for a lower average. Swisher's power was too good to pass up......plus Swisher is a cheddarhead member. Travis Snider is the toughest one to figure out.....I could see anything from struggling for a month and being sent to the minors to having a breakout season similar to what I'm expecting out of Jay Bruce and Kyle Blanks.

Designated Hitter:

1-Adam Lind

2-David Ortiz

3-Luke Scott

4-Pat Burrell

5-Nick Johnson

Skeptical on Lind hitting 35 out this year but could see him hitting .280 with 25-30 homers. Ortiz has the pedigree, and more power but the way his numbers have trended the last few years is a bit discouraging. Luke Scott.....another 20 homer hitter.....Pat Burrell, after last years epic fail anything will pass as progress.....

Standings after First Half:

Red Sox-18

Yankees-21

Rays-31

Orioles-31

Blue Jays-34

A few surprises here. The Red Sox grabbed the top spot despite having less players in the 1-spot than the Yankees (2 vs. 4). The Yankees ranking was dragged down due to weaknesses in left (Brett Gardner) and DH (Nick Johnson). A bit surprised of how far back the Rays were. The O's and Blue Jays are ranked about where I thought they would be.

Introducing my Razzball team

So, this is the introduction to the bizarro team. A couple weeks ago, I was scrolling through the multitudes of blogs I subscribe to on Google Reader and came across a Fantasy Baseball league that was unlike the typical Fantasy Baseball league. The league, run through the Fantasy Baseball blog Razzball. Unlike most Fantasy Leagues where drafting players like Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer, Ryan Braun and Chase Utley will help you win, the league that I joined is aimed at purposely assembling the worst team possible. The winner of the Razzball wins a Hot Tub. No word on whether or not this Hot Tub takes you back to the year I turned 3, 1986.

Anyways, here is the line-up I am going with:

Catcher-Jason Kendall

First Base-Bobby Crosby

Second Base-Brendan Harris

Third Base-Bill Hall

Shortstop-Yuniesky Bettencourt

Corner Infield-Mike Jacobs

Middle Infield-Cristian Guzman

Outfield-Gary Matthews Jr.

Outfield-Willy Taveras

Outfield-Jeff Francoeur

Outfield-Mitch Maier

Outfield-Ryan Church

Utility-Alex Cora

Bench-Fernando Tatis

Bench-Rod Barajas

Bench-Nick Punto

Most Commonly Used Hitter (In Reality):

Jeff Francoeur who somehow is starting in 11 percent of leagues.

Number of Starters Starting in 0% of Yahoo leagues:

7

Pitching:

Fausto Carmona

Oliver Perez

Chris Jakubauskas

Nelson Figueroa

Craig Stammen

Jeff Karstens

Tim Redding

Evan Meek

Jordan Zimmermann

Bench:

Colin Balester

Daniel Cabrera

Most Commonly Used Pitchers:

Fausto Carmona/Oliver Perez (1% each)

Pitchers on 0% of Yahoo Leagues:

Everyone else

Apparently, i'm not the only one not high on Carlos Gomez. Carlos Gomez is allegedly the Albert Pujols of the Razzball world as he was the first overall pick. I was also glad to know that i'm not the only one to see through Michael Bourn's 2009 season as he was the 3rd overall pick. Unlike the last couple years, i'll actually be able to enjoy Jason Kendall's mediocrity as a) he's not on the Brewers anymore and b) he was my first round draft choice.

Another thing to note that 21 of the 27 players I drafted play for one of four teams, all of which could make a compelling argument for being the dumbest team in baseball (Pirates, Royals, Nationals and Mets). My thinking was if any of these teams see something in these players to sign them, 90 percent of the time there is something so fundamentally flawed in their game that they have the potential to become superstars in the Razzball world.