This is sort of hilarious

Alex Rodriguez went 1 for 6 with a home run and two walks in an extended spring training intrasquad game in Tampa on Thursday.
Observers note that he did not run the bases at near full speed. After his third-inning homer, he jogged to first and then returned to the dugout.


I love the idea of hitting a homer and then running back to the dugout after first so hilarious.

I've always thought if someone catches a game winning TD on the correct side of the field they should catch it in stride, run into the end zone and run straight into the tunnel all without stopping.

Dye on the block

There seems to be a lot of interest in Jermaine Dye, so I'm going put him on the block. I'm looking for either starting pitching or a closer.

Including a mid-tier offensive player to replace him in my lineup wouldn't hurt either (my bench is all upside right now), and I'd be willing to include any middle reliever not named Cruz (the mere prospect of saves are just too previous right now), if anyone is interested.

ERA about to balloon

After finally salvaging some respectability on my ERA yesterday I just looked at my line-up and realized that I am starting Rick Porcello vs. the Yankees and starting Fausto Carmona vs. the Red Sox (and Joba Chamberlain vs. Detroit).

This has disaster day written ALL over it.

Watching the Red Sox is more time consuming than a part time job

The Red Sox/Yankees game last Saturday was 4 hours 21 minutes (8 1/2 innings). Last night's Red Sox / Indians game was 4 hours 19 minutes (9 innings)

Compare this to the White Sox and Mariners double header yesterday. Both games were completed in a combined time of 4 hours and 24 minutes.

These four plus hour games are becoming a bit much. It's only April. Thankfully, the Celtics are providing a series for the ages.

Wheeling and dealing

I'm interested in making some 2-1 or 3-2 trades to clear a little roster space. I'm still looking for pitching help (closers in particular) and am willing to do an OF swap involving Abreu or Dye in a larger deal, or swap some smaller pieces (LaPorta, Wood, middle relief).

Worst Day Ever?

Throughout the year, I think we should post candidates for the worst fantasy day ever. Above is my first (likely of many) entries.

Enjoy, Taylorv2

Carlos Gomez is expected to return to Florida Tuesday for the birth of his first child.
He is slated to rejoin the team on Friday. With just a .195 average through 41 at-bats, he isn't worth a fantasy roster spot anyway.

Nice Pick-Up Bill

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said Sunday that he wants Gordon Beckham to spend the entire 2009 season in the minor leagues.
Some fans in Chicago are clamoring for a call-up with Chris Getz about to hit the disabled list. "This kid should play a full season down there," Guillen said of Beckham. "If you see Beckham in the big league, we are in trouble. I want this kid to be a real big-league player. I don't want him to come here and fill up a spot, and then go back to the minor leagues."

Yowza

Bill had a frickin' monster day yesterday.

FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK.

http://www.rotoworld.com/Content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&filter_teams=A&id=4873

If anyone would like to grab Kyle Farnsworth, I won't fight you for him...

SP for RP

Now that I've gone and traded Saito, I'd like to add another solid RP option to my team. If anyone is looking to add a starter, I'd trade Perkins, Saunders, or Penny for a good middle reliever, and Buchholz or Cliff Lee for someone who'd bring in saves.

SOSH

Are other people having problems getting on?

Maddening times in Kansas City

"Gil Meche was charged with four runs -- three earned -- over 7 1/3 innings Thursday in a loss to the Indians.

Meche entered the eighth inning having retired 16 straight in a game the Royals were leading 2-1, but he gave up a double to start the frame. Ben Francisco then dropped down a great bunt down the third-base line. Meche fielded the ball and threw wide of first, only to be saved by Alberto Callaspo making a tremendous play. The second baseman, who was backing up first, grabbed the ball on one hop and fired a strike home to retire Tony Graffanino, who took off from third once he saw that the ball would get by Billy Butler. Unfortunately, that was were the good news ended. A single followed, and then a soft grounder to second turned into a Callaspo error, though it would have tied the game regardless. Meche was then replaced by Ron Mahay, who immediately gave up a three-run homer to Grady Sizemore. Meche ended up taking the loss even though he was outstanding for much of the contest."

Again, Soria stays on the bench. After Meche gave up the double, putting the tying run on 2nd with no outs, why wouldn't you put Soria in to 'save' the game????? Yes, Meche was pitching well but he had 100+ pitch count at that point. Can Soria not pitch back to back days after sitting for over a week? WTF.

B.J. Ryan

Fuck You.

Jermaine Dye needs to be a better teammate

Doesn't he realize that he and Markakis are in this together?

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-1-109/Video--BBTN-Web-Gems--April-22.html

Where is Soria?

The last time Soria pitched was LAST Monday, April 13th. Since then, the Royals have played 6 games including three 1-run losses. In two of the run run loses, the winning run was scored in the 7th inning or later. Basically, I hate the "save". There is no other statistic to managers play to so much. If the winning run gets on base in the bottom of the 8th, why not go to your best pitcher? If the heart of the order comes up late in the game, wouldn't you want your best hurler up against them? In a one-run game I would certainly rather have a guy like Soria face the 3-4-5 guys in the 8th and then use my setup guy for the 6-7-8 in the 9th. No? I am constantly surprised that this isn't the norm for managing a baseball game.

Signs of life?

With Papi hitting a double and a triple today, and Tek hitting another homerun, are the big question marks in the Red Sox offense turning a corner?

Also, Patriots Day is much more fun on the East Coast, where you don't have to set an alarm to get up in time for baseball.

Do the Angels realize they're not guaranteed a playoff spot?

I just don't get some of the personnel moves the Angels are making. After years and years of overvaluing their prospects, they're not going to play them? To have Juan Rivera in LF, Robb Quinlan in RF, and Abreu DH when you could just as easily call up Brandon Wood and finally see what he could do with regular PT. Their lineup is anemic with Vlad, but without him their best hitter is probably Napoli, whom they don't even play full time. This, coupled with decisions like electing to start Darren Oliver, really make me wonder about the organization. Contrast that with the A's, who are going to live and die by their young pitching, but at least those pitchers have upside.

The AL West is going to suck this year. We may see something along the lines of the Chargers playoff appearance at 8-8.

Yankees bullpen hilarity

Every pitcher that appeared in the 22-4 ass whipping finished the game with an ERA higher than 8. Wang's ERA is up to 34.50, and he has yet to see the FIFTH inning in a game. For all our SP troubles, at least our bullpen has stepped up and kept us in games.

Oh my god.

Brad Penny sucks so bad. So, so bad.

Standings Update

(these are not 100% accurate as a few players will change from the current rosters depending on how we deal with injuries for next week's retroactive stats)

(*updated to include correct IP totals)

Roster solutions

I sent out an email about other possible solutions to our roster issues. I'd like to try to come up with some solution that isn't dropping week 1 stats, so let's try to get a discussion going for ways we can avoid this without hurting people dealing with players that are currently injured or coming off of injuries.

Good News for Taylor's RSS feed

Royals placed third baseman Alex Gordon on the 15-day disabled list with hip surgery.
He is scheduled for surgery on Friday in Colorado. No timetable was given for his return, but a few months on the sidelines is expected.

Hilarious Post in NYY Fans

"The 2009 Yanks 'pen is looking amazing, a far cry from the Farnsworthless pens of recent years. Just wanted to get thoughts on how people would set the pen up, given that we have so many viable options.CL: Rivera (did you know that Mariano posted the HIGHEST ERA+ of his CAREER last year? The man is inhuman)SU: Veras / MarteRP: RobertsonRP: BruneyRP: EdwarRP: Coke (LOVE this guy)Long man: Giese or Aceves, depending on who wins the #5 spot in the rotation.Anyway, we have some BALLERS in relief. They're young, cost-controlled for the most part, and we have some really awesome lefties that don't just throw hard, they throw strikes. Does anyone think another team can compete with this pen? Or, alternately, how would you guys structure the pen if you vision is different than mine?"

"Official" Yahoo Response

Unfortunately, due to your rosters not be available until to Mon April
13th as a result of when you held your draft and your weekly deadline,
the first day that you will be able to run retro stats is April 20th.

WTF.

Standings Tuesday April 15th

Am I reading this right?

"Your commissioner has elected to run retroactive stats for your league. Your league data will be updated on Monday, Apr 20 and all previously accumulated stats will be cleared and rerun from opening day. Please make sure your desired players are in active roster spots by 11:59pm PT on Sunday, Apr 19."

Total Bullshit.

Beckett suspended 6 games.

Need IF or RP

Lowrie's on the DL. I'm looking for any infielder or a closer, so let me know if there's anyone on my team you're interested in.

Standings!

With great fanfare, I present to you the standings after Week 1 plus Monday. Now that I have the spreadsheet set up, I should be able to update the standings each day this week fairly easily. Still no real information from Yahoo. In response to my question they cut/pasted the "retroactive" rules that are found in the help document online, which has nothing to do with our situation. I resubmitted our issue hoping to get a better answer.

Overall*:
1. Andrew: 57.5
2. Mark: 55.5
3. Bill: 53.5
4. Taylor: 46.5
5. Luke: 42.5
6. Kate: 40
7. Caleb: 37
8. Spencer: 27.5


(click on image to enlarge)

*updated from original post to include Oehara

And on the Eighth Day Yahoo Ate All Our Stats...

Seriously, where did all the stats from yesterday go? Maybe I'm up early, but nothing is compiled from yesterday, and when I look at my team none of the information for individual players is listed.

Kate's Team

Kate's team has one partial day of stats, compared to everyone else having six and a half days worth of stats. Despite that fact, she still has twice as many points as Spencer finished the season with. In fact, in today alone, she has gained more points than Spencer finished the season with.

Miguel Cabrera

is ridiculous

Pick up rules?

So we have to wait to add players from the waiver wire until rosters lock on Sunday night/Monday morning, right?

I miss the chat room

Anyway, my team totally blows.

Cesar

Hey guys,

I'm putting Cesar on the trading block. Expect 162 HR's, 162 SB's, and 324 RBI's.

I'm looking for first or second round guys in return.

Thanks.

Remember this special moment

Players already on rosters

Hi everyone,
To avoid confusion, I just thought I'd try and compile players who were already on rosters in the original Yahoo league, but currently aren't, due to DL spots. Basically, don't pick them up. If I've missed anyone, let me know.

Bill
Brett Anderson
Santiago Casilla
Kendry Morales

Mark:
David Aardsma

Caleb:
Fernando Rodney

Kate:
Felix Pie

Spencer:
Marcus Thames
Julio Lugo

Taylor:
Nomar

Andrew, Luke: none

Lineup editing

I might be crazy, but weren't we able to change our line-ups until midnight on Sunday/Monday last year? It won't let me edit anything today. Sends me right to April 12th if I click "edit lineup." I thought our weeks started Monday...

Also, someone poke Kate. Her team's all still on her bench.

Not all the fun reserved for Bill.

The Seattle Mariners have placed star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki on the 15-day disabled list after he suffered from a bleeding ulcer.

He'll miss the first eight games of the season.

Bill Continues to Win the Pre-Season Injury Race

Twins placed RHP Scott Baker on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder stiffness.