Bill!

The hall of champions must be updated!  And no Shame! for Spencer.

Congratulations, Caleb

Well, somehow Caleb managed to survive major injuries to Bautista, Middlebrooks, and Morrow, as well as monstrous dump trades made by me and Bill, to win his 2nd title in a row. Can we start talking Dynasty yet?

Having finished in 3rd place, I am STILL the only person in this league to appear nowhere in the Hall of Champions (Taylor is not in for baseball, but is in for football).

Yowza

What  a pennant race.  Is Caleb going to hold on?

A pennant race?

After a season where it looked like there was a dominant favorite the entire time (Caleb for awhile, then Luke), we now have three teams fighting it out for first place.  Luke at 62.5, me at 60.5, and Caleb at 59.  I had pretty much written myself off at third, but thanks to Beltre (14 HR in the last month!) I'm right in the thick of it.  Gosh, why can't the Red Sox have players like that?

First place!

Woot.

Upton for sale

Need steals? I'm looking to trade BJ Upton for any hitter with a higher average and who scores more runs. I have 5 outfielders right now, so I can take any position.

Tied for 7th!!!!

Ichiro for sale

Ichiro for sale. In good condition; only looking to sell because the pinstripes clash with my ideology. Batting average is lower than when new, but still provides good speed, and a change of scenery should be salutary. 90 cents on the dollar obo.

Is Bill out of contention?

I thought I was coming...

but I appear to have missed the boat.

Oh, I'm comin'....

Salary Cap Question

I think we've come across a rules issue that we haven't explicitly dealt with before.  I drafted Pineda for $9, cut him, re-added him, and traded him to Kate.  Can I now subtract $9 from my salary, and add $9 to Kate's?  Either way, we're both within the salary limits, so the trade is legal, but I would like to have the extra $9 flexibility for any future trades that might happen.

The way I see it, we have 2 rules that contradict each other here:

1) If you trade a player you drafted, you transfer his salary.

2) If you trade a player you claimed on waivers, your salary is unaffected.

I don't think there's anything explicit in our rules which forces us to choose one way or the other, so we may need a commish ruling or a vote.  My preference would be to lean towards the side of allowing us more salary flexibility, but I'm fine either way.  Thoughts?

Also, did we ever settle on when we would have our trade deadline?

Worst...Day...Ever

I'm sure a lot of people think their team has had the worst day ever, but I think I might actually have it. My batting line: 2/29 (.069 average, dropped season average by .0017), 2 runs, no RBI, no home runs, no stolen bases. My pitching line 4.1 IP 14 hits, 8 walks, 7 earned runs (dodged a bullet there- Tillman had SIX unearned runs in two thirds of an inning), 4Ks. ERA of 16.62 (season average up by 0.086) and a WHIP of 4.85 (season average up by 0.0247). So, I'm afraid that kills my chances of finishing with a respectable point total. At this point, I'm open for business on dump trades. Edit: I've added a "Worst Day Ever" tag to the post. I figure when someone else has a terrible day they can make a post with the same tag and we can see how things look over time.

¡Alcides!

In his major league career, spanning parts of five seasons, 433 games, and 1488 at bats, Alcides Escobar hit 11 home runs, or one home run every 135 at bats.  Tonight, he went 2/4 with two home runs.  Of course, he'll probably go the rest of the season without one now, since he's hit his allotted four to match his total from 2010 and 2011.

Anybody need strikeouts?

After Liriano's 15 K performance tonight, I have a pretty solid lead in strikeouts and I'm looking to see if I can capitalize on it to help me out in other categories.  I'd be happy to trade Lester, Phelps, or Liriano for a pitcher with a lower walk rate to help me out in WHIP, or maybe for a run-scoring, high average hitter.  Let me know if you're interested.

Another wishlist

Everyone seems to be moving in that direction, so here are my trade deadline thoughts. I don't plan on being super active, mostly because I don't have a lot of high value keepers to deal (and will need a few to stick around since all of my contracts expire this season), but also because I'm pretty comfortable with my team going forward. I do think I would like to acquire a solid 2b and SP, possibly a closer, plus maybe filling any holes that open up with departing keepers.  I have a ton of salary space to work with so I can be pretty flexible.

Some of my keeper options include:
Weeks ($5)
Rios ($14)
Revere (FA - $10)
Cain ($4)
Middlebrooks (FA - $10)
Milone ($3)
Harrison ($1)
Aceves ($1)
Morrow ($18)

My best keeper is obviously Mark Trumbo ($4). I'm open to trading him but would be looking for a stud 2b, solid SP, and either a fringe keeper or a closer in exchange.

I'd also be interested in trading one of my two catchers, Mauer ($17) or Salty (FA, keepable for $10), though not necessarily as part of a dump trade.

Starting to think about a dump trade

So if folks are interested in Felix, Teixiera, A-Rod, any of my players that are actually good, let me know!

MLB and replay- it just gets stupider

This just might be the stupidest thing I've seen in awhile. I know the MLB is hopelessly behind the times when it comes to replay, but the fact that they do it "for fear that it might incite the crowd"? Do they think the fans will get out torches and pitch forks and chase the umpires off? The fact that they claim this is insulting to fans for two reasons. First, to think that a blown call would actually have this effect on MLB fans shows a pretty dismal view of their behavior. Second, it's a completely insulting explanation because it is such obvious bullshit. In the end, it all comes down to MLB not wanting people to know just how bad their umpires are, at least until after the fact, which is amazing because it's not like this is a very hard problem to fix. MLB is making money hand over fist right now (just look at the recent TV deals if you have any doubt), and could easily afford a dedicated review umpire for every game. It would be easy to rig up some sort of buzzer system, where the crew chief could send a signal to the review umpire to take a look at a play. Can anyone think of a legitimate reason to not wanting replay, at least in a limited fashion? I understand that the effects of an overturned play won't be ideal, and won't necessarily be able to match what would have happened had the call been made correctly the first time, but isn't it better to have something closer to the truth?

Looking to deal

I'm thinking about making a run, but given the ground I need to make up on Caleb, I'd need to make a deal sooner, rather than later.  Any deal I'd make to give it a go this year, I want to complete it before the games pick up again after the All Star Break.  I'm in the middle of the pack in almost every category, so I'm looking to add just about anything.  Right now, my outfield is my number one priority.  Here are the potential keepers I'm willing to deal:
Santana - $11 (already under contract)
Kipnis - $9
Dunn - $9
Moustakas - $8
Joyce - $6
Escobar - $2
Hughes - $7
Robertson - $2
Colon - $2
B. Anderson - $1

It's July! Ready to punt?

Since I'm in contention but am quite a long ways behind Caleb, I'm looking to try and get an edge by getting an early start on keeper trading, if possible. So, if anybody's ready to pack it in, let me know. I think my main attractions will be Doubront ($1), V-Mart ($1), and De Aza ($5). I think those 3 are pretty tough to beat in terms of value, and I might even be willing to send all 3 in one deal for the right package. Grab them before someone else does!

I also have Hamilton ($23), Price ($25), and Cano ($29) at decent prices in my opinion. I'm willing to part with any of them but obviously would need more 2012 production in return.

Really, anybody I own is on the table, except Mike Trout. Don't worry though, you'll be able to draft him in 2016 :D

Need power? Got speed?

Looking to trade one of my lesser power hitters (Cody Ross or Salty in particular, or Ibanez or Hunter if you want them, would consider Willingham in the right deal) to put a little speed on my team. Would prefer a simple 1 for 1 with minimal fuss. Let me know if anything strikes you.

Maybe it's in the genes...

In the last week and a half I've had Hellickson, Colon, McCarthy, and Sabathia hit the DL with injuries, rivaling Andrew's impressive run.  In that vein, I'm looking for starting pitching.  Adam Dunn is on the block, and I'd ideally be looking for a 2-1, where I'd net a pitcher and receive an infielder to replace Dunn.  Let me know if you think we match up.

REALLY?

Paulino, who was supposed to be coming back Monday from his groin strain, has now been diagnosed with a torn UCL (you know, the ligament that RA Dickey doesn't even have). Sigh.

OK, really?

Beckett is missing a turn due to shoulder soreness and Smyly is hitting the DL thanks to a blister. To those of you not keeping a close eye at home, I have now lost the following pitchers to the DL in the past three weeks: Fister, Feliz (since traded), Paulino, Holland, Smyly, Drew Hutchinson (managed 2/3 of an inning for my team before his elbow exploded), and Beckett might be joining them! So, I guess what this means is that I'm still looking for a pitcher. Let me know if you have some sort of grudge against one on your team. You can trade him to me and just sit back and watch the carnage.

SP help

My SPs are dropping like red shirts in a Star Trek episode and I could really use some help. I'm open to any range of SP, and looking to trade an infielder or an outfielder (any of them, really) for some SP help.

Roster Churn

I was updating the fantasy cap with the latest deals and cut players, and thought it would be interesting to take a look at just how many players have been cut, and who is doing the cutting.  So here are the numbers:

Team	Salary	Player
Spencer	40	5
Andrew	37	7
Bill	24	5
Kate	23	4
Luke	13	3
Caleb	7	3
Taylor	4	3
Mark	4	4
Grand Total	152	34

The players represent a total of 17.7% of the total players drafted, but unsurprisingly, only 7.3% of the total salary.  Spencer leads the way with $40 of salary cut, although $30 of it comes from season ending injuries from Scott Baker (unsurprising) and Mariano Rivera (rather surprising).  Andrew follows up with $37, thanks to some mid-priced disasters in the form of Bourjos and Thornton, who combined for $28 worth of salary.

As far as total players cut, Andrew leads the way, again with underperforming players such as Raburn, as well as players who did not get PT like Giavotella and Lavarnway.  I'm tied for second at 5, with lots of back end roster churn and no non-keeper cut over $3.  Most of my $24 comes from two keeper disasters in Matusz and Snider, for a total of $17.  And I drafted Matusz and cut him again, so that's nice.

Despite cutting an impressive 7 players who were originally drafted (29% of his original roster size), Andrew certainly hasn't been too rash.  Only one of the players he has cut (Luke Hochevar) has been rostered by another team, compared to a whopping 44% for all cut players.  Taylor is definitely the Recycling King, with all three of his cut players (Fuentes, Iwakuma, and Tomlin), primarily due to Fuentes and Iwakuma sniffing saves.  Luke (2/3) also had his trash picked up by the rest of the league.

Two of the three namesakes have been cut so far as well (Figgins and Kendrick Perkins).  I would be shocked if Vernon Wells manages to stay on Spencer's roster, which would make it a solid 3/3.

RP for SP

Suddenly I have a lot of good relievers, and only 4 starters. Anyone interested in trading an SP for an RP? On the table, in order of how much it will take to acquire them: Addison Reed, Jose Valverde, Ernesto Frieri, Casey Janssen, Joaquin Benoit, Mike Adams.

Looking to add a SP

I'm hoping to add a little SP depth. I'd be open to trading almost any one of my hitters for the right guy, but specifically Kendricks, Weeks, Escobar, Ibanez, Rios, or Hunter (being out indefinitely but not DL-eligible is just so tempting, I know). I'd also trade Collins or Alvarez, and would be open to a 2-for-1 including one of them and a hitter. Let me know if you see anything that works for you.

2-1 OF, pitching, or mix and match?

I'm looking to trade 2-1 to upgrade my OF (Cruz, Frenchy, Dirks, Joyce, de Aza), starting pitching (Colon, McCarthy, Drabek, Hughes, and Parker - CC and Shields I don't want to move in a 2-1).  I'm open to dealing 2 OF, 2 SP, or one of each.  Let me know if you're looking to shore up your depth in the outfield or your pitching staff.

How good is Josh Hamilton?

He is currently hitting .406/.458/.840. He raised his slugging from .703 to .840 in last nights game.

In his last 6 at bats, he has 5 home runs and a double. That's 5 times as many home runs as Pujols has all season.

Hamilton is on pace for a 135/76/194/11/.406 fantasy season.

He has hit so many home runs and struck out so little that his average is actually higher than his BABIP. In other words, he's hitting better on balls not in play than in play.

He is #1 on ESPN's player rater with a score of 15.83. Jered Weaver is 2nd with 9.89.

All this for $23 - one dollar less than Carl Crawford - yet somehow I'm still in 7th place!

Rule Change in Order?

I'm in favor of not allowing anyone to pick up a player dropped on Saturday on Sunday. The point of having a Sunday deadline was in case you lost a bid and needed to find another pickup or if a player was injured on Saturday and you needed to quickly find a replacement. It might just be easiest from an admin standpoint to have one waiver deadline (Saturday) and leave it at that. Thoughts?

Help!

Longoria's out 6-8 weeks. I can plug Mike Young in at 3rd, but that leaves me short a first baseman.  So, I need to trade for a corner infielder.  Would like to get something done before the waiver claim deadline on Saturday.  I've got Hafner, some extra outfielders, an extra closer, an extra catcher, and a little bit of starting pitching depth I suppose.  Or, I might be open to trading one of my current infielders for 2 lesser infielders.

Fun fact

Including today, David Ortiz has had 13 games where he homered twice off the same pitcher. Tonight he hit two off of Tom Milone, a left-hander. The first 12 pitchers were all right handed.

Trading pitching?

I'm looking to deal some starting pitching, most likely to try and upgrade my offense or add a closer. Let me know if someone catches your interest.

Whoa

I just noticed that the Red Sox season is .12345679012345678 of the way done.

Well, This Hurts.

Pineda out for 2012.

Take away my trash.

Anybody want to buy low on Liriano and/or Trumbo? I'll trade both of them away for pretty much anybody who gets consistent playing time and isn't completely useless.

Trading in April

Looking to trade one of my SP for a solid OF(s). No one is off the table for the right player - my outfield is gross.

I know my least favorite part of the season

That would have to be watching the Red Sox in the opening series against Detroit. That first loss was understandable, but these last two have been completely fucking awful. At this point they have blown three ties or leads in the 9th inning or later, in spite of only playing three games, one of which was a 10-0 laugher! Now THAT is a bullpen.

Breakfast in bed

Again? Oh Yoenis, you're going to spoil me!

What's your favorite part of the young season?

Happy Opening Day! (sorta)

Assuming you don't count last night's NL opening "night" or the weird 2 game series in Japan like a month ago ... baseball is finally back.

In other words, The Vinnie Pestano/Chris Perez quest for 50 saves needed to salvage my season begins today !

Trading Block

I am pretty eager to trade away the following players:

Jhonny Peralta
Alcides Escobar
Raul Ibanez
Ben Revere
Mike Trout
Josh Hamilton

I'm looking most of all for pitching, preferably starting pitching, but I wouldn't be sorry to have a 3rd closer either. Also looking for better options at OF, IF, and UTIL.

Best and Worst Picks, starring Kendrick Perkins!

I expected, coming in to this exercise, to find plenty of obvious best and worst picks, but it has turned out to be more challenging than I anticipated. The very highest paid players were first basemen, but after inflation adjustments, they all have a decent shot at providing value equal to their draft cost. That’s pretty remarkable, given that you are generally paying for floor more than ceiling for the top players. The following are my best and worst picks for each team, along with a few other players of note. I hope to do more of an overall write up covering team strengths and weaknesses, but that takes a little more work.

Spencer
Best Pick- No tremendous bargains, but plenty of solid picks, especially at pitcher. The best pick is probably Delmon Young at $6, as he could produce similar numbers to guys like Brennan Boesch for a few dollars less.
Worst pick- Carl Crawford, $24. This was before it came out that Crawford is likely to miss all of April, but Crawford was the MOST expensive outfielder drafted, tied with Adam Jones. It’s certainly possible that this pick will work out, but it’s a big risk to take, especially since the injury is to Crawford’s wrist.
Notable players- Glenn Perkins at $2 could be a steal. Capps has some pretty unremarkable numbers, and while most projection systems aren’t too kind to Perkins (Zips has him at a 4.08 ERA and unremarkable K rates), he was lights out last season (K:BB of 3.10 and a WHIP of 1.23 in spite of some bad luck on balls in play). If Minnesota falls out of contention or if Capps struggles out of the gate Perkins is first in line to get the save chances.

Taylor
Best pick-I’m going to take the cop out answer here and say Taylor’s bullpen building. For a total of $13 Taylor has three great ratio guys and four possible closers. Benoit (neatly handcuffing Valverde and his declining numbers), Adams, and Reed should be great for Ks and all are likely next in line to close. He also grabbed Fuentes for a $1. That said, it’s a good thing Taylor has all those relievers, as the only current closer he has is Valverde. It is going to be VERY interesting to see how many saves Taylor gets this season- I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up first or last depending on how things break.
Worst pick- Nick Markakis $17. Not terrible, but unless he starts doing a lot more of something, it looks like an overpay, especially given the relatively high replacement level at outfield.
Notable players- Anthony Gose at $1. Gose could be helpful this season to bolster Taylor’s SB totals, though he might hit 0.230 doing it. If Gose can improve on his contact issues he could be an outstanding keeper, but he’s currently behind Eric Thames, Rajai Davis, and even the demoted Travis Snider.

Bill
Best pick- Bartolo Colon at $2. I’m not entirely sure how this happened, since he was nominated fairly early in the draft, but he’s a steal at that price.. CC Sabathia at $23 gets an honorable mention. Between the innings he provides (230+ each of the past five seasons), plus the solid ERA, WHIP, and K rate make him an excellent addition. He wouldn’t be my pick to be the #1 pitcher, but if I had to pick someone to be in the top 5, it might be Sabathia.
Worst pick- Does Travis Snider count? In all seriousness, Choo at $23 and Adam Jones at $24 were expensive, especially given the money Bill has in Snider and Cruz, but both have pretty solid floors. Bill has since flipped Adam Jones and Austin Jackson to Mark for Billy Butler and Brandon McCarthy, bolstering his pitching staff.
Notable players- There are so many players to list here- it’s almost like we have a similar approach to fantasy baseball! Kipnis at $9 has the upside to be a top 5 2B this season and is a solid keeper. I also have to mention his rotation gambles- Matusz at $2 could end up in the top 30, Hughes at $7 has similar upside, and he made excellent use of the DL to snag Brett Anderson at $1, who could contribute 80 innings or so at the end of the year.

Caleb
Best Pick- Jemile Weeks $5. I had Weeks pretty close to Kelly Johnson in value, and yet he went for $6 less. By waiting on the 2B market, Caleb was able to get a solid starter for cheap, especially if any of Weeks’ spring training power (0.636 slugging, 0.272 ISO) carries over into the regular season. It also gives him the flexibility of moving Kendrick to the OF if he has issues there.
Worst pick- Alex Rios $14/Torii Hunter $17. Caleb had some solid OF picks (Rasums $11, Willingham $11, Cain $4, Cody Ross $1), but Alex Rios in particular looks pretty ugly, especially when Caleb already had Hunter, Rasmus, and Willingham at that point. Then again, Rios might decide to try for a new manager and this pick could work out. Hunter is on the wrong end of the aging curve, and his average has been dropping for the past three seasons
Notable players- At $4, Lorenzo Cain is looking like a bargain. This spring he’s shown some of the power he had in the minors, and he’s certainly a possibility to hit 15 hr and steal 30 bases. His playing time is less certain than a guy like Peter Bourjos (drafted by me, $14) the ceiling is similar and the $10 difference in price is huge. Caleb’s pitching staff is also solid- Morrow ($18) could be this year’s James Shields, and Tommy Milone at $3, while unspectacular, should do a good job keeping Caleb’s WHIP low- a good pairing with a high K, high WHIP guy like Morrow.

Andrew
Best pick- Mike Napoli $20. Considering he could outproduce Mark Teixeira (Napoli very nearly did so in 2011 despite having 200 fewer at bats) went for $4 less, and plays catcher, he seems like a pretty good deal.
Worst pick- Bourjos $14. He’s a lot more than I would have liked, especially given the other players that were still on the board (see Lorenzo Cain). The other issue is the $39 I spent on relievers. Holland, Johnson, and Thornton are all decent picks, but I really didn’t need all three of them. I missed the boat on the early starters and didn’t get anyone other than Hellickson, and by the time I figured this out, all the best starters were off the board, leaving me with money to burn and only closers to spend it on.
Notable players- Fister at $4 might end up being my best pick if he can keep up the higher strikeout rates he had post trade and Humber at $2 is solid if you believe in Don Cooper's magical ability to teach the cutter. Neither is a great pitcher, but they should both be decent starters. Rabun at $4 and Morneau at $3 are also solid lottery tickets.

Mark
Best pick- Avila at $8 looks solid. According to ESPN he was the 3rd best catcher last year and projected to be the fifth best this year. He went for $1 more than Doumit and only $2 more than Arencibia. Brett Gardner at $13 is also a solid pick. He doesn’t have a ton of upside, but he’ll give Mark’s team plenty of runs and SBs, while hopefully not hurting his batting average too much.
Worst pick- Kevin Youkilis $23. There really isn’t anything obvious here, but Beltre went for only two dollars more. 3B was very thin due to keepers, though, so it’s not a terrible pick.
Notable players- Mark, like Taylor, did a good job getting his closer handcuff for a reasonable price with Pestano at $5. Morales at $7 seemed a little risky on draft day, but he’s done nothing much mash since then, and could hit 25 hr and drive in 80+ runs. Rajai Davis at $1 is an excellent gamble, especially with Travis Snider being demoted. Should Thames struggle, Davis could regain a starting role in the outfield.

Kate
Best pick- James Shields $22. Shields is coming off an outstanding year, and while no one should expect him to repeat his 2011 season, with that defense behind him he should have another excellent season.
Worst pick- Kendrick Perkins $1. This might also be the best one, for the sheer amount of mirth it caused. Kate also came up with a plus plus team name based on it. “The Perkins Mistake” just might be the best team name since “The 46ers.” Pedroia at $33 is awfully expensive- the potential 40hr bats went for around $40 (and Fielder only $30), Cano only $29, and there was still value at the backend of the position (Kipnis and Weeks primarily).
Notable players- Sean Rodriguez at $3 could work out very nicely for Kate, especially with Reid Brignac sidelined to start the season. I also like Valencia for $1 and De Aza for $5. Neither is a star, and currently not a fantasy starter, but both could be starters if things pan out.

Luke
Best Pick- Robinson Cano $29. Cano came in $4 cheaper than Pedroia. He might not steal many bases, but Cano is a good bet for 90 runs, 100 RBI, and 25 home runs, all while helping your batting average. Cano is also remarkably durable- he’s played in at least 159 games in every of the past five seasons.
Worst pick- Mike Young $19. Luke drafted Young to be his starting first basemen, since he already has Cano ($29) at 2B and Longoria ($36) at 3B.
Notable players- Luke was the most aggressive team in terms of thinking about next season, snagging Victor Martinez for $1 and Mike Trout for $9. Both could be valuable keepers for next season, especially since Martinez should retain catcher eligibility.

FIRST PLACE

Remember this day gentleman. Remember this day.

ESPN Projected standings

Here are the ESPN projected stats and standings. Taylor, can you lean on the Blogger team to have some sort of easy way to do tables? Html is such a pain in the ass to read/write given that every damn line break in the html code is interpreted as a break.

Team	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	K	W	SV	ERA	WHIP
Caleb	889	208	802	152	0.2779	995	76	77	3.46	1.21
Andrew	870	234	811	165	0.2776	896	71	75	3.63	1.24
Taylor	857	224	793	151	0.2671	999	77	46	3.51	1.19
Spencer	783	219	817	84	0.2689	1050	80	74	3.59	1.21
Luke	773	218	859	94	0.2739	1165	78	57	3.60	1.23
Kate	831	216	778	139	0.27579	1206	91	40	3.56	1.26
Mark	854	203	803	123	0.2730	976	76	73	3.40	1.24
Bill	790	196	795	120	0.2696	1062	77	65	3.59	1.24

Team	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	K	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	Total
Caleb	8	3	4	7	8	3	3	8	7	6	57
Andrew	7	8	6	8	7	1	1	7	1	3	49
Taylor	6	7	2	6	1	4	5	2	6	8	47
Spencer	2	6	7	1	2	5	7	6	3	7	46
Luke	1	5	8	2	5	7	6	3	2	5	44
Kate	4	4	1	5	6	8	8	1	5	1	43
Mark	5	2	5	4	4	2	3	5	8	2	40
Bill	3	1	3	3	3	6	5	4	4	4	36

I love my players...

but I hate my team right now.  I am ready to deal any of my outfielders or infielders to help shore up shortstop, starting pitching, batting average, or high K relievers to bolster my pitching staff.  Let me know if  you're interested.

DRAFT DAY!

Happy Draft Day. And may the odds be ever in your favor!

Link to Hall of Champions?

Can someone set up a link to the hall of champions? Also, has my glorious triumph in football been added yet?

Fun with 2011 values

Out of curiosity, I took some time to try to figure out some of the best and worst values in the draft. Rather than take the time to construct my own valuations, I used the values generated by lastplayerpicked.com using 2011 stats. One thing to note is that this somehow has the average WHIP as 1.12 (!) and ERA as 2.91 (!!), which skews pitcher values downwards for the most part. To account for this I'm splitting pitchers from hitters. Also, since this is based on the very best players for total 2011 stats, players get heavily penalized for any time missed. I'm only looking at the draft, rather than keepers.

That said, here are some highlights:
The "I think I've made a huge mistake" Pitcher award goes to Spencer, for drafting John Lackey for $9. Lackey amassed an amazing $-43 over the course of his remarkably bad season, tanking not only Spencer's chances but the Red Sox playoff hopes as well.
Runner up: Max Scherzer, Spencer, $24 draft, $-12 value. Ouch, Spencer. How's that for a one two punch? $33 in the draft for $-55 in value

The "I think I've made a huge mistake" hitter award predictably goes to Adam Dunn, with his $26 price tag and $-13 value. Simply removing Dunn from Luke's starting lineup would have added five points of batting average! Congrats Luke! Caleb takes home the honorable mention with Justin Morneau at $19 with a $-14 value.

The "There's no there there" award goes to Kendrys Morales, for costing $16 and not accumulating a single plate appearance. On the bright side, Kate, you could have drafted Adam Dunn and had him completely torpedo your batting average. David Aardsma wins the pitching award, though was only $6 (go me!)

For most valuable, it was a trio of outfielders, led by Taylor's post hype sleeper Alex Gordon, taking home a whopping $32 of value at the cost of a single dollar. Power/speed threats Curtis Granderson ($20) and Jacoby Ellsbury ($24) each had $28 of value. Taylor also had Jeff Francoeur (post post post hype sleeper?) who accumulated $24 of value for only $1. Verlander was the most valuable pitcher, with $48 worth of production for only $26.

Other fun things of note- no $5 bin had a positive average value. This was to be expected, though, given the impact of inflation from keepers. The $16-$20 bin came the closest to breaking even, with players like Granderson, Kinsler, Mike Young, and BJ Upton leading the way to an average value of $-1.13.

Sam Fuld, the blogger

Durham native and $7 FAAB mid-season pickup (resulting in a .184 BA in 76 ABs) reminiscences about game 162:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7593528/sam-fuld-tampa-bay-rays-win-new-york-yankees-game-162-2011-regular-season

New Season New Design

Love it or hate it, the blog has a new design for the 2012 season.

Soon we'll all be arguing over keepers, who had the best auction, and who comes out ahead in widely inaccurate projections.

Just some of the things you can look forward to in 2012:

Cold, hard, cash (if you win)

Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Mark Tiexiera, Miguel Cabrera, Evan Longoria,- ALL AVAILABLE!

Spencer Wong going for either an unprecedented fourth Shame title or third Championship title!