Well, with me being not last for a day, figured it was time to throw up some early season discussion.
We've got Caleb and Youuk leading the league right now by a decent margin. Caleb has been strong across the board with very strong hitting and decent pitching. Youuk leads in HR's but is last in RBI's (strange combo) but is really strongest in pitching, where he leads every category but saves (where he is once again last).
So far, Youuk's rotation of King Felix, Halladay, Bannister, Marcum, and Ervin Santana have been absolutely lights out. Meanwhile Carlos Pena and Raul Ibanez are slugging out of their minds. Can Youuk have pulled off an improbable one season turn around?
As for Caleb, he's nicely overcome Ortiz's dismal start, and is benefitting early from Vernon Wells and Alex Gordon quick starts. These strike me as potentially sustainable, and Caleb's pitching numbers should get better as Beckett and Verlander settle in.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the league, Mark is getting any innings at all from his injured staff - he's got Harden, Putz, Slowey, Bedard, and Garza all missing time - pretty incredible. It should be a great staff when healthy, but will injury problems plague them all year long? And how long can MZ hold out before dropping some of the marginal players like Slowey?
On the AAA legacy front, clearly pitching is the problem that everyone saw coming, and the legacy's young pitchers have not disappointed. Not helping are problems from closers Borwoski and Street. To have any hope of winning this year, AAA may need to win every hitting category, and hope for a strong second half from his young staff.
Not quite sure what to make of Andrew's team, which just says mediocre to me through and through. We've got Shields and Carmona on the staff, but then we're pitching Manny del Carmen and Jon Lester. Abreu and Vlad are off to nice starts, and Cabrera will undoubtedly pick it up, but Lugo and Varitek will drag this lineup down. Perhaps a few too many sox on this team?
Berkeley Hoboes, destined to win it all, has seen some stumbling from Sabathia but has enjoyed nice value from Greinke and Sherill. An 0/26 contribution from Travis Buck hasn't helped things, but BJ Upton is looking like he could have a huge year. Looking up and down the Hoboes lineup is pretty scary - there is a lot of potential there, and if a few of them blow up, Bill could run away with a lot of offensive categories. Bill may be in an even better position if Betancourt takes over for Borowski. I'm not even sure if injuries will de-rail this team, there is a lot of depth here.
5 comments:
I can't believe how well my offense has performed to this point, considering the complete absence of help from Ortiz. I don't really think its sustainable, as a decent amount of it has been from AJ Pierzynkski, Gary Matthews, and Mark Ellis. It'd be wonderful is Vernon Wells could keep it up, though. I also assume there will be significant improvements in my starting pitching.
I doubt it will be enough to hold off the Hoboes for very long, though.
Also, don't forget...Andrew and I finished below Luke last year, when it was all said and done.
Mediocre pretty much sums up my team. Very low ERA given a pretty bad WHIP and no Ks on the pitching end, and just not enough hitting. Fourth place here I come!
We'll see how I end up doing. My staff is completely topsy-turvy. The two guys who I was counting on anchoring my staff, Burnett and Sabathia, have been killing my ratios. Greinke, Soria, and McGowan have been the ones keeping it respectable.
My offense is starting to get rolling too, with a few big days in a row I'm picking up ground in HR (though still last), RsBI (just for you Andrew), and runs.
And Matsuzaka too, of course. He's been incredible so far.
High time for me to weigh in on this. Sitting at the bottom gives you a good perspective on things.
The injury problems of my pitching staff are a bit much. I mean, fuck. I realize that I probably should have drafted one more pitcher to replace Harden, but everyone but Bonderman has missed time. My first start from Edwin Jackson went as poorly as expected, so naturally I give him another chance to disappoint this week against the Blue Jays. (Am I really starting Edwin Jackson again?... this is bad).
Putz, Bedard, and Garza should be back this week. Harden and Slowey by early May. That should help with the turn around. It's still way too early to give any weight to the standings and there's enough time to make up the missed innings. If Polanco could starting sucking about 100 percent less, that would help too.
Post a Comment