Keeper Question

Firstly, I apologize if this has been covered before…

So yesterday I was thinking of how awesome my fantasy baseball keepers were and a horrible scenario crossed my mind:

Let’s say I keep Weaver for a 2 year contract and he gets his arm chopped off by a helicopter in a horrible accident in May 2011. He’s done (or, in a more probable scenario he starts to really suck and gets benched). Because I have him for a two year contract, do I need to keep him on my roaster/dl list or can I drop him, but just lose one of my keepers for 2012?
The same question goes for a player that gets traded to the NL mid or off season. If that happens, do we lose a roaster spot and have the player ghost sit on our bench or just lose a keeper but have the same roaster spots?

I know this is early to be thinking about this but champions never stop planning for their future championship.

Ugh.

Carl Crawford

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to keep him now right? I've been looking for an excuse to keep my favorite $37 player.

Power surge!

Adam Dunn, Adrian Gonzalez, and Mark Reynolds are all coming over from the NL. We could be looking at 100 home runs right there.

Congrats, Spencer

Because I guess somebody has to say it.

New Team Mascott

After pulling within 1 point of the lead on September 15, my pitching staff has turned in a 5.45 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 97 innings with only 1 win in their last 12 starts. Meanwhile, Spencer has posted an impressive 1.62 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in 105 innings, including 4 wins in his last 10 starts. Cue the cliche: pitching wins championships.

One.....more.....week

We've decided. We've committed. Can we succeed?

Turns Out...

That punting saves while keeping a very expensive closer on your payroll might not be the best of strategies.

Too little, much too late

For the first week since the week of May 17, my offense hit .300 and drove in 34 runs.

For the first week since the week of April 19, my offense scored 36 runs.

For the first time all season my offense hit 10 home runs.

For comparison's sake, Spencer's team hit 10+ home runs every since week of May, and followed it up with a 17 home run week. His also topped my run and RBI numbers in nearly every week.

If Mark wins, it's because of me.

Take a look at the stats Konerko, Martinez, Sabathia and Soriano have compiled since I traded them to Mark 5.5 weeks ago (and yes I'm omitting Sabathia's start tonight for the sake of statistical awesomeness):

Konerko and V-Mart:

88/251 H/BB, 38 R, 16 HR, 54 RBI, .351 AVG

Sabathia and Soriano:

63 IP, 42 H, 18 ER, 13 BB, 65 K, 2.57 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 6 W, 10 SV

I

cannot believe how fucking close this league is. This is why we should have a fresh league every year!

Silver Lining

One positive side-effect of the Red Sox's diminishing post-season prospects:

Losses are piling up for scalpers

Last minute blockbuster?

I'm looking to add one solid and preferably cheap keeper before the deadline. I'm willing to empty my team for the right player, salary cap issues aside.

Happy to trade any combo of:

Papi
BJ Upton
Kevin Gregg
Erick Aybar
Curtis Granderson
JD Drew
Adam Lind
Buehrle
Braden
Jackson
Hunter

And Taylor takes the lead!

at least during the day today...

To Buy or to Sell?

I don't know what I'm doing at this point. Might be looking for keepers, or might be looking to trade them away. Feel free to send me offers of either sort between now and the deadline on Sunday.

Keeper Question

Morrow was drafted for $1, dropped, and then picked up. If he's kept is it $10 or $1?

The best trade you didn't make

I thought it might be interesting to see what the best trade that you had turned down in the league. Since I'm pretty active in trade discussions, I've definitely turned down a few that would have been awfully good, but the deal I was discussing with Taylor before last year's draft certainly takes the cake. I would have traded away my 3rd round pick (who ended up being Joakim Soria) and Alexei Ramirez for Taylor's 1st round pick (#1 overall, so it would have been Mark Teixeira) and Zach Greinke. That one would have stung an awful lot if I hadn't won last year. This year I've managed to turn down Rios for Sizemore, as well as a deal centered around Cano for Sizemore and Smoak.

Fun with starting pitching decisions

Lackey nearly throws a no-hitter on my bench last week.

Garza allows 7 runs in 6 innings against BALTIMORE.

So I bench Garza, throw in Lackey....argh.

Not like I needed good pitching anyway. Not at all.

Loose Change for SP

I may be interested in trading some combination of my more mediocre players for a SP. Guys who may be available include:

Alfredo Simon
Kerry Wood (they both suck but they will get you saves)
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jorge Posada (only once V-Mart comes back of course)
Grant Balfour
CJ Wilson
Cliff Pennington
Corey Patterson
Hideki Matsui
Jim Thome
Edwin Encarnacion
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Alberto Callaspo

Most of these guys have some real value in 1 or 2 categories, so they might fit what you're looking for. I'm looking for a starting pitcher with an ERA under 3.8, WHIP under 1.25, and K/9 above 8.

Reduce Reuse Recycle for Sale

Alright, time to get in on any potential trades out there. We are open for business- looking for potential keepers ~ $10.

Keeper Contract Question

I may have misunderstood the system, but if I keep Carlos Santana ($1 in the draft) for 3 years, does he cost $1, $6, $11, or does he cost $11 all 3 years?

Punting (again)

So if Caleb is looking to next season, I probably ought to as well. After a brilliant stretch by my offense, a week of complete and utter sucking has brought my hopes back to Earth. As I mentioned before (when I was punting for the first time), I'm looking for keepers at under $10, although if you have a player I'm keen on, you've probably already heard from me. I do have loads of pitching depth, depth at a few thin positions (1B, 2B, 3B), and a couple top tier closers, so let me know what you're willing to offer.

The standings

I just noticed that coming into today, Spencer was still maxed out on offense (40/40 possible points). The interesting thing was that Andrew was maxed out in the pitching categories, thanks to passing Taylor for the lead in strikeouts. Of course, Andrew had a 14 point lead thanks to an offense, compared to Spencer's 12 point pitching staff.

I guess it shouldn't be such a huge surprise that Andrew is leading the pitching categories, considering how stupefyingly good his pitching has been over the last month.

Ugh, Rotowire...

"Liriano rebounded from a rough outing in his last start to throw seven dominate innings Saturday..."

Confusing dominant and dominate is a major pet peeve of mine...

Officially last, finally...

Don't you hate when you have a decent day and still drop in the standings?

I'm not quite ready to punt - maybe Lind, Beckham, and Granderson will turn their seasons around and I'll get back into this thing. But it's awfully unlikely. So I'm going to start turning my thoughts towards next season, and talking about any trades that might net me a couple solid keepers. Hunter, Napoli, Aybar, Drew, Papi, and everyone else on my team will be up for sale.

Looking to trade OF for any non-OF

If you are looking for OF help, I'd like to trade any one of my outfielders for any non-outfielder.

3B for pitching

Looking to trade Youkilis or Michael Young for top tier pitching.

I'm back, bitches!

Although it is extraordinarily unlikely that I'll actually win, my spectacular pitching over June (2.99 ERA, 1.16 WHIP) has vaulted me back into the league as a potential spoiler. I'm going to ride out this hot streak for the time being to see if the preposterously unlikely can occur. Sorry for those of you who were eying Cliff Lee and his preposterous K:BB ratio of 19. Cliff Lee's K:BB can buy cigarettes and porn! Another start or two and it'll be on to booze!

Steals - to punt or not to punt?

Trying to make deals FOR stolen bases has been nearly impossible. SO I'm strongly considering punting the category. Whether or not I do will depend on the comparative strength of deals involving netting steals vs. me giving them up.

SO if you want Gardner or Ellsbury let me know. I'm pretty much interested in anybody who can help me in the other 9 categories. Hurry before your competitor gets Gardner!

Fourth and long...

I am down to 24 points. I believe this is the low point of the season, although if any of you are well versed in Shadenfreude, feel free to correct me. I'm at 24 points, and even if I go with extremely rosy predictions of the future, I'm still totally fucked. So... you want the pitcher with the best K:BB ratio in MLB? Let me know! My team is officially open to any and all dump trades! I'm eying <$10 keepers, but no reasonable offers will be tossed out. Strike now before your competition scores Cliff Lee!

Just a great story

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2010/06/15/nava_still_rolling_against_all_odds/

Time is on my side, yes it is!

Dear FIFA,

This is what is known to most of the world as a clock:







In some sports, they use an iteration of this device to keep time. This clock is stopped when the play stops (e.g. the ball goes out of bounds, there is a penalty, etc.) and resumes when play resumes.

There are even large scoreboards displaying the clock so fans know how much time remains in the game that look like this:








And guess what? When the clock reaches ZERO , the game is over! Imagine the possibilities this concept can bring to your sport. No more referees arbitrarily deciding how much "extra time" remains and then equally arbitrarily deciding when to actually end extra time. No more meaningless substitutions at the end of extra time to make sure extra time is actually nearing its end.

I know, I know. It's a lot to take in. Just think about it.

How about a backstop

Would like to trade Kurt Suzuki for some pitching. Let me know if you're interested. I'm looking at you, teams starting AJ Pierzynski, John Buck, Matt Wieters, and Joe Mauer (okay, maybe not that last one).

More Proof Connecticut Doesn't Belong in New England

According to the ever scientific ESPN SportsNation poll, The Constitution State is more interested in GROUP PLAY of the World Cup than Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Just Strange and Unrelated

I literally have no way to watch 90% of Orioles games and I live about 50 minutes south of Camden Yards. The local sports channel here, MASN, broadcasts both Orioles and Nationals games. When they are playing at the same time (which is most nights with 7:05 start times), MASN will show the Nationals game (makes sense, considering I'm about 10 miles from Nationals Park). However, under mlb blackout rules, I am considered to be living in both the Nationals and Orioles market. This means through the mlb.tv internet package (or if I bought the mlb extra innings package through cable) I am blacked out of both Nationals and Orioles gamesm, which gives me no avenue to watch the Orioles (and also blacking me out from the 19 Red Sox/O's games each season ).

Apparently this is not an uncommon problem and happens throughout the US with overlapping markets and the tv broadcast not expanding to all of those places.

My question is - in who's interest does it serve to have the current system setup like it is? Why wouldn't MLB want me to be able to watch the O's? I understand giving preference to the local TV station broadcasting the game, but I do not understand not having ANY avenue to view a certain team. Any thoughts?

TROLOLOLOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Just wanted to make sure that everybody noticed that in the last 6 days I have gained a total of 15.5 points to move from 7th to 1st place.

1B needed!

I'd very much like to acquire a first baseman today or early tomorrow, before lineups lock. I will trade any one of my OFers (Lind is the only one I'm reluctant to move, but I could be convinced). To complicate matters, I'm moving to my new apartment this afternoon and internet has not been set up yet. If I can't steal some wifi somewhere, I may have trouble replying to offers. Text me with ideas/offers - 315-651-1025.

My strange season

I'd just like to point out the following about my team right now:

• I am first in 4 out of 5 offensive categories
  
• Despite being first in home runs and average, I am third to last and pretty far behind in RBIs
• I am last or second to last in 4 out of 5 pitching categories
• Despite being last last in ERA, WHIP, and second to last in K's, I am first in wins

Ouch, Spencer

Hardball Times on John Lackey
"Recommendation: Sell him in all formats if you can, cut him if you can't. Forty cents on the dollar seems fair."

The Orioles' Closer Carousel

So far this season the Orioles have cycled through four different closers – Mike Gonzalez, Jim Johnson, Alfredo Simon, and Will Ohman. A total of $11 in the draft was spent on the O’s bullpen, and so far in free agency $39 has been spent. To put this in perspective, $39 is just under 5% of the total free agent budget for the entire league and an incredible 21% of all money spent on free agents. To make matters worse for those scrounging for saves, the price of the Orioles bullpen appears to be increasing.

Closer du jour	$	Type	Team	Saves	Date
F. Mata	2	FA	Luke	?	5/29/2010
W. Ohman	20	FA	Caleb	?	5/29/2010
A. Simon	14	FA	Luke	6	5/1/2010
J. Johnson	3	FA	Spencer	1	4/10/2010
M. Gonzalez	11	Draft	Spencer	1

Let's have some fun with these numbers. Using a logarithmic trend line (meaning the value for the Orioles' closer is approaching a maximum value, rather than a linear trend line, where there is no limit for how much money to throw at the current closer) the value for the closer of the week is still increasing substantially. The logarithmic trend line has just about a perfect fit (R^2>.97) and pegs the value of the next closer (the recently demoted Cla Meredith? the recently bumped from the starting rotation David Hernandez?) should go for $25. Of course, if Mata is next in line, Luke may have saved himself a bundle of free agent money, having only spent $2 on him So, if you're looking to get a great deal, grab those Orioles relievers now!

Wow

Just, wow. I'm not sure if you have seen the replays of the "final" out of the Tigers-Indians game, but do yourself a favor and go watch it. For those who haven't heard, Armando Galarraga had retired the first 26 batters he faced, and got Jason Donald to ground to first. It wasn't an automatic play, and Galarraga had to cover first, but Donald was out by a step. And then Jim Joyce called him safe. Joyce has already admitted he was wrong, but it is too late now, and Armando Galarraga is left out of the history books. I understand some of the arguments against replay (particularly fears of slowing down the game), but isn't it more important to get it right? With the past few weeks, MLB umpires are approaching NBA ref levels of incompetence.

How did Taylor lose 5 points in one day?

Was it sustainable or flukey?

Risk

So I'm still stuck at 30 points or so, and I figure the only way I'm going to have any shot at all of winning this thing is to assume risk and get a wee bit lucky. So, you've got a struggling hitter you want to offload? A guy who can't seem to stay healthy? A pitcher who ought to be good but gets lit up repeatedly? Someone who you think is destined for the NL? Obviously, I'm not going to pay full, pre-season value for these guys, but let me know. No one on my roster is untouchable, but I'll be hard pressed to trade away guys who might be keepers without getting potential keepers in return. I'm certainly not throwing in the towel just yet, but let's be honest here, I'm down in the section of the standings typically reserved for Spencer.

Caleb gets completely hosed

Kendry Morales..wow. What a gut punch. On the walkoff grand slam no less.

Interest in Fantasy Baseball Down 80%

The number of new posts to You Throw Like A Girl has dropped significantly in the 2010 fantasy baseball season. New posts from February to May have totaled just 22 so far in 2010 compared to 110 new posts at the same point in the 2009 season.



I'll let this graph speak for itself. With the exception of Luke and Taylor, everyone is posting less frequently.

Oooooh... Look at the New Colors!

The blog has been a little stale lately. Maybe a new color scheme will do the trick!

Also - notice the links on the right hand side to Mr Bill's Baseball Blog and FanGraphs. Fancy!

My Lineup is Clogged

I've got too many mediocre (or just plain bad but hard to drop) players on my roster and I'm looking to free up some space. If anybody out there is in the opposite position and wants some depth, I'd be happy to trade multiple guys for 1 semi-decent player. Getz, Pennington, Vazquez, Matsuzaka, Zumaya, and Uehara (may pick up a handful of saves in the next few weeks) are all on the block. I'm looking for power or a consistent starting pitcher.

A little speed and average in your OF?

I'm looking to trade one of my speedy OF...Ichiro, Juan Pierre, Austin Jackson, or potentially Alex Rios for some power (any position) and/or some pitching.

Sizemore is on the block

I'm fielding offers for Sizemore and would be looking for a replacement outfielder who can contribute in 4 or 5 categories. Let me know if you'd like to gamble on his 30/30 upside!

More on Prize Money

Okay, so, as far as I know 4 of us are okay with playing for money. I'm going to post one possibility for a payout system (we can do it all through PayPal), but I'm not proposing it as my final recommendation or anything like that. It's just one idea, and ultimately we should probably vote on what our pay scale should be (and if we want to do one at all).

So here's my initial idea. The numbers are just how much each person will get or will pay at the end:

1st - $100
2nd - $25
3rd - $0
4th - $10
5th - $17.50
6th - $25
7th - $32.50
8th - $40

BABIP Bitterness!

Travis Snider is sucking so far this year, but for the life of me I can't figure out why. He's increased his walk rate (10.5% to 14.5%) from last year while simultaneously decreasing his strike out rate (32.4% to 25.4%). He's also hit line drives on 23% of his balls in play, which is very high. The end result? A BABIP of .133, yielding an average of .127.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, Austin Jackson is striking out in 37.2% of his plate appearances while walking in only 9.5% of them. Of course, he's hitting .313 thanks to a sky high BABIP of .491. Give him a still gaudy BABIP of .360 and his average drops all the way down to .233. Hell, Jackson's strikeout rate is so high that he struck out in every single game he had played in, until Tuesday's game against the Twins.

Durham Plays For Money???

Do we want to actually start having monetary prizes in this league? I know we've brought this up many times in the past few years and never followed through with it, but I think it would make things more fun and we could scale things so there is always an incentive to place higher (to solve the dump trades problem). Also, if we're going to do this we should figure it out soon, before we start to get too much of an idea how the standings are going to shake out.

What do you guys think?

BABIP Fun

Right now, I have the player with the highest BABIP on my team as well as the lowest!

Podsednik with .512 and Teixeira with .125

Other batted ball oddities:

Nick Swisher is hitting a measly .208 yet is 5th in the league in line drive percentage (28.6%).

Derek Jeter is hitting .323 yet has the 6th lowest line drive percentage (10.7%)

Speaking of Jeter, he has hit 3 home runs, yet 73% of his balls in play have been grounders.

Juan Pierre has made contact with 97% of the balls he has swung at outside of the strike zone.

Chris Davis has made contact with 36% of the balls he has swung at outside of the strike zone.

J.D. drew is thrown a first pitch for a strike in nearly 3/4 of his plate appearances (74.2%)

Switching DLs

Are you guys able to switch out someone in your DL spot for someone else who is injured? ESPN won't let me which is kind of annoying.

I forget...can you keep FA pick-ups?

Trade

I'm looking to trade away one of my OFs or Matsui (who may end up with OF eligibility) for a 2B and/or 3B. Let me know if you're interested.

A familiar position

already in last place. this must be a new record for my teams.

Today

I really wish I didn't have Sabathia on my team.

Is there a shared google doc with teams and current salaries / salary cap? I thought Bill did one but can't find one.

Monkey Projections

Updated: 3/28/2010


Not much changes with the recent trade between Bill and Luke. Bill loses some steals, but makes it up in RBI. Luke gains a point in the RBI column.


Oh, have the tables turned...

(Click on image to view)

Click here for the googledoc

Marcel uses 3 years of MLB data, with the most recent data weighted heavier. It regresses towards the mean. And it has an age factor. The projections are conservative generally. For example, the AL league leader in HRs is Carlos Pena (32) followed by A-Rod (31).

For the rookies without a Marcel projection, I used the Chone projection (found on Fangraphs).

I eyeballed the lineups and adjusted to maximize playing time and production. Might be some oversight there.

Salary Cap

We should decide this soon, before people trade.

My Thoughts on the Draft

I thought I'd go team by team and offer some thoughts on the draft. It certainly was pretty crazy with bargains at the end, although I do think you could get burned by waiting too long. Overall, I'm not sure who "won" the draft. Unlike the traditional snake draft it is a lot harder to call out reaches, just because the draft had so many different phases. If Torii Hunter had been nominated early on he probably would have gone for $25 instead of $18, and shortstops ended up being bargains because by the time we got around to nominating them no one had any money left.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Best Pick: Chris Perez at $4. Sure closers are volatile, but when you spend $4 on someone who has the Indians job locked down for a couple months, you have to be happy about it. I do think that Kerry Wood will get the job back at some point, if only to increase his value, but when other closers are going in the $14-$19 range, Perez is a steal at $4.

Worst Pick: Brian Roberts at $24. With Zobrist at $20 and Hill at $17, it is hard to pay a top tier premium for Roberts, especially with the back problems he's had recently. If he returns to his basestealing ways Mark could break even on the pick, but stolen base totals have declined 3 consecutive years for Roberts.

Decide. Commit. Succeed.

Best Pick: Marco Scutaro, $3. Spencer nabbed a top half shortstop for peanuts at the end of the draft. Even if Scutaro doesn't match his 2009 production he still should provide excellent value, chipping in a little bit in each of the 5 categories.

Worst Pick: Sticking with the Red Sox, Youkilis looks like an overpay at $27. There is no doubt about his production, but when his salary is the 12th highest overall, you're hard pressed to come out ahead with a guy who doesn't run.

Team T.B.D.

Best Pick: Can I mention just about all of them? Kate's team is pretty spectacular - she spent lots for the studs, but then also managed to find lots of good value. Swisher at $9 is solid, she paid the least for the top tier AL aces ($24 for Verlander), and even has some upside with Price ($10) and Porcello ($5). Porcello is one to keep an eye on here - despite his incredible stuff (mid to upper 90's fastball and a devastating sinker) Porcello struck out very few batters. If he evolves the way Verlander has, watch out.

Worst Pick: Mariano Rivera at $25. Taken towards the beginning of the draft when money was being tossed around, Rivera looks overpaid relative to guys like Soria ($18), Soriano ($17), and Bailey ($14).

Oh. No. Mr Bill.

In a straight draft you have a pretty good shot at feeling OK about all your picks. Maybe you reach a little here or there, but it is really hard to make a pick that will make or break your team. Not quite true in an auction.

Let's start with my worst pick: Grady Sizemore ($29). I don't even know if this is my worst pick, but the downside here is unavoidable. Even Kinsler, who went for the same amount, had a "down" year last year, but still went 30/30. Not so with Sizemore. I'm really putting a lot of faith in Baseball Prospectus here - their projections show a bounce back to 25/25 or so for Sizemore, and Will Carroll wrote that the surgeries Sizemore had shouldn't have any nagging effects. He's been killing the ball in spring training, but just played in back to back games last week. Needless to say, I'm very nervous.

Best Pick: Gavin Floyd ($7) and Brian Matusz ($4). I really needed both of them to fill out my pitching staff and they were both guys I targeted before the draft. Although Floyd's ERA went up between 2008 and 2009, all the underlying numbers said he was a much better pitcher in 2009. I'm hopeful for 200 IP and 170 strikeouts. Matusz has dominated every level of the minors and held his own in the AL East last summer. He's been spectacular in spring training this year (18 K: 2 BB in 14.1 IP) and one scout called Matusz the best pitcher he had seen all spring training.

Consistently Erratic

Best Pick: JJ Hardy at $6. Even though Andrew already had Maicer Izturis, the Hard pick gives him a lot of flexibility. Because of the deals on shortstops, there may not be as much of a market for Hardy himself. However, Izturis' ability to play 2B, SS, and 3B gives Andrew the option to deal other players, such as Cano, to help shore up a pretty weak outfield.

Worst Pick: Robinson Cano at $26. Cano isn't terrible at $26, but when Andrew had already drafted Pedroia, it was a pretty big misallocation of resources. If Andrew can get fair value on Cano with a power/speed outfielder, he may be a lot better off.

Smell the Glove

Best Pick: Although Taylor was cash rich for the second half of the auction, he was still pretty quiet. He still managed to put together the back end of his pitching staff on the cheap (Masterson $4, Lewis $2). Other nice values include 40 steals from Rajai Davis for $12 and the potential to hit the jackpot with Quentin ($12), if he can ever stay healthy.

Worst Pick: If I'm calling out Mariano at $25, I have to call out Papelbon at $23. Joe Mauer at $32 seems awfully high, but if Mauer can put up 28 home runs again, I don't think Taylor will mind.

Moscow Trololos

Best Pick: Scott Downs ($3). Downs hasn't allowed an earned run yet this spring. Although the Jays haven't announced who their closer is, Downs has easily out pitched Frasor, Gregg, and Accardo, who all sport gaudy ERAs.

Worst Pick: Jorge Posada ($10). Either Luke plays V-Mart at 1B, where he isn't nearly as valuable, or he can use Posada in his utility spot. Much like Andrew's Cano pick, this isn't a terrible value, just not a very good use of resources.

Team Murphy

Caleb did a really nice job picking a young team (the only regulars over 30 are Ortiz and Drew), although as he pointed out in the draft, he had to pay for it.

Best Pick: Matt Laporta ($3). With Branyan hurt and Brantley likely headed to AAA, Laporta should definitely get playing time. The average might not be that impressive, but 25 home runs will be a nice return for $3.

Worst Pick: Gordon Beckham ($25). Although it pains me to select a former Bulldog, Beckham at $25 seems awfully high. If he can hit 25 HR at 2B he might match that value, but Caleb is already paying full freight on established 25 HR, .300 hitters such as Cano, and a full $8 more than Aaron Hill, who put up 36 last year. I like the player, just not the price.

Amazing rotoworld updates for my new team

all in today's news...

Wade Davis - blown up today, 7 runs in two innings, may lose 5th starter spot to sonnastine.

Alex Rios - returned to the lineup but hasn't been stealing at all in spring training.

Rich Harden - lit up today, apparently has been awful for all of spring training.

2010 Projected Standings

Slow Down - My Daddy Works Here

Almost set in stone:
ESPN
1 INF (drop CI/MI spots)
Weekly waiver wire w/ FAAB
Minimum bid $0
If you lose a player to the NL, you get his salary back to your FAAB
Keeper system with 1-3 year contracts w/ inflation

Things still under construction:
Salary cap - if yes, what amount. What counts against cap?
Inflation for keepers
Keeper value of free agents
Keeper from '09 season/Topper rights
Size of bench
Adds/drops after bidding period
Start FAAB $

Reconstruction

We still have a while to hash out all the rules, but here are the proposed changes, in one place. If you want to make edits/comments on the working draft of all the rules it can be found here: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ARaSlKoIBgJRZGhndjg4cF8yNzAzNmN2MjVoYg&hl=en

1 - Auction Format
2 - Keeper Format
3 - Weekly waiver wire (i.e. all unrostered players will go on "waivers" at the start of each week and people will bid on them.)
4 - Free Agent Acquisition Budget/ Salary Cap... details need to be worked out a bit more.
5 - Change roster format from 1 CI and 1 MI to 1 INF?

KaBooooom

Changes to the league this season to make it more fun, fair, & competitive

1) We will an auction draft format with some kind of keeper component to it. Like football, each team will have a certain budget to bid with and construct a full roster.
2) Salary Cap (to prevent extreme dump trades)
2) Contract length of keepers (1-3 years), with inflation
3) Bidding system for free agent pickups
4) Keeper rules for players on current rosters or a complete roster reset?