In-N-Out Week 4

Rest easy Butch Lemaster the first installment of the 2013 Power Rankings are finally available. Who's the contenders? Who's the pretenders? Don't waste your time looking at the current standings on the league page. You want to know where you stack up in the race for the playoffs take a quick gander at these numbers and reality will hit you. Perhaps I'm overstating it a bit but these numbers do give you a sense of how the 2013 season has been thus far. Have a high ranking yet your at or below .500. Chances are you've had a little bit of bad luck in the scheduling department. Now let me clarify exactly what these Power Rankings are. This ranking has no personal bias whatsoever. I do not rank teams on what they have, what their going to have, or how I like the teams. Teams are ranked based on standard Roto value. For those not familiar with Roto scoring, it's the most common scoring in fantasy baseball and in all truth a better measure of actual goodness compared to the H2H format. Take the stat of SB if among all the teams you have the most SB then you get 12pts for that category, 2nd nets 11, and so on down to 1(ties result in the splitting of points among the applicable teams). You do this process for every stat. So in the case of the 64/60 we play in a 6X6 league, therefore 6 offensive stats and 6 pitching stats are calculated into a total resulting in a final Roto value. The process is rather easy to understand and has been covered a nausea it would seem yet still to this day Ev will cry respect, as if I have a personal bias against his squad, should his Power Ranking be suspect. Ev you may want to look away now because not a lot of respect is given to you in this first installment. Given the H2H format these ranking aren't without faults. Teams may have a particular strategy that will result in skewed numbers you typically wouldn't find in your standard Roto scoring league. For the most part however teams that fare well on this list are high in the standings, while teams that are suffering can be found at or near the bottom. For reason unbeknownst to me it seems each year we have a outlier both ways, with most teams finishing within 2-3 spots on both list as the regular season ends.

Rank. Team/Offense/Pitching/Total

1. Free Hat 60/50.5/110.5
2. Marshall Maniac 58/49/107
3. 9irons 46.5/48.5/95
4. Emanski 38.5/53.5/92
5. Stars 46/39.5/85.5
6. Placebo 40/42/82
7. Mashers 50/24/74
8. PEDophiles 27.5/40/67.5
9. BCFP 21.5/40/61.5
10. Walls 13.5/47
11. Takeover 33.5/17/50.5
12. Blasters 33/17/50


Offense

1. Free Hat 60
2. Maniacs 58
3. Mashers 50
4. 9irons 46.5
5. Stars 46
6. Placebo 40
7. Emanski 38.5
8. Takeover 33.5
9. Blasters 33
10. PEDophiles 27.5
11. BCFP 21.5
12. Walls 13.5

BEST: HR-Maniacs, Runs-Free Hat, RBI- Maniacs, SB- Placebo, AVG- Stars, OPS-Free Hat
WORST: HR- Walls, Runs-Walls, RBI- Takeover, SB-Blasters, AVG-PEDophiles, OPS-PEDophiles


Pitching

1. Emanski 53.5
2. Free Hat 50.5
3. Maniacs 49
4. 9irons 48.5
5. Walls 47
6. Placebo 42
7. PEDophiles 40
7. BCFP 40
9. Stars 39.5
10. Mashers 24
11. Blasters 17
12. Takeover 17

BEST: SV-BCFP, K-Stars, ERA-Placebo, WHIP-PEDophiles, K/9-Walls, QS-Free Hat
WORST: SV-Free Hat, K-Takeover, ERA-Blasters, WHIP-Blasters, K/9-BCFP, QS-PEDophiles



Game Recaps


Fenney 10 vs. Rice 1. No outcome was more suprising than this lopsided affair. Sure Fenney has a respectable rotation yet prior to last week the overall results were mixed at best. Offensively this team has more tape than a Wiffle Ball brand bat back in the day. Outside of the Takeover no team has dealt with more injuries than the Deathsquad. No problem. How bout a 56/16/47/9/.318/.930 slash line on offense to go with a 5/92/2.11/1.04/9.70/9 from the rubber. Though Week 4 wasn't spectacular for Rice and Co. it was respectable enough that he deserved better.

MVP- King Felix 2QS/16K/.64ERA/.86WHIP/10.29Kper9


9irons 9 vs. PEDophiles 3. Always a good week when Bopp fails to claim victory. It's been a titanic struggle offensively for the PED's thus far. Coming into the year Bopp featured McCutchen and Braun, both Top 10 overall type player, as keepers so it was expected this unit would be a force offensively. Anything but up to this point as the entire supporting cast it would seem has struggled. Meanwhile the 9irons have been a suprise in my book. GRC3 has had the occasional bout of abscence more so than in recent history. Despite this the likes of Dexter Fowler and his Top 20 start, Matt Moore becoming Steve Carlton, and a host of a supporting cast has the 9irons hoping to duplicate the magical season of 09.

MVP- A. Sanchez 1QS/17K/0.00/.75/19.13


Maniacs 9 vs. Blasters 3. Things have been mum from the Lemaster camp. The every other day phone call regarding lineup questions or complaints about Bopp have become non-existent. I haven't heard the statement " my rotation will lead me to playoff glory. Admit it! Seriously tell me my pitching is at least Top 3 in the league! How can you not agree?". Truth be told I miss it. The league is better when Ev is up in arms about what is going on league wide it's never a good thing when his sole concern is himself. Ev all I can tell you is I'm right there with you. I have chosen to remain positive and continue to have faith in what I believed just over a month ago. As you tell yourself this continue to send out dozens of trade proposals daily. With each and every trade rejection repeat positive reassurance. 2 claps and a pat on the back for Junior as he continues his magic carpet ride. 112 K's was impressive.

MVP- Cingrani 2/20/1.38/.62/13.85


BCFP 8 vs. The Takeover 3. While I'm certainly glad to get another W under the belt and inch closer to .500 you don't feel good about the W's obtained by a .241 AVG and a OPS of .701. For the life of me I can't imagine it continuing to be this bad for much longer. AVG will be a concern but too much power on the roster to not perform well in the counting stats at least occasionally. For the Takeover it's another loss to put on the shelf and hope to move on to better days. Perhaps nothing epitomizes the 2013 season for the Takeover than Friday Night. The Takeover finally adjusted some of his roster issues Friday evening. Moments later recent roster additon Francisco Cervelli breaks his hand and hits the DL. 7 Players currently feature red letters with 6 being the DL variety. To compound roster issues 4-5 of these players I would consider undroppable at this point.

MVP- Grilli 3SV/4K/3.00/.67/12.00



Scrote Mashers 8 vs. B'Ville Stars 4. While I hate the Pitching options of the Mashers, I must say offensively this team can rake. Not at the level of the Free Hats but I count 12 options, 13 counting the injured Bourn, who are well above replacement level. Tulo may be the lone superstar but as many as 4-5 could crack the Top 40 on offense if everything played out favorably for the Mashers. I'm sure Ward has some angles in mind to improve upon the lone weakness and with Ev quickly falling out of the contention picture he could be the perfect prey. Fear not fellow 64/60ians the events of 07 will not be repeated.

MVP- Encarnacion .308/5/8/8/0/1.264


Free Hat 6 vs. Walls Of Jericho 5. Bowe should be applauded for his fight. Given his early struggles combined with Todd's early season dominance, many of mortal would have given up on Monday. Mr. Bowe however is the reigning 64/60 Champ. Those who's names aren't honored on that wonderful trophy wouldn't know but a certain confidence, never say die attitude, and unwavering will to fight till the end comes with it. Landon showed that will and fight and ended up making this outcome respectable. Though out of the gate slowely this "it" quality has Landon in the Top half of the league despite plenty of early season struggles. The only downside to Landon's unwillingness to backdown, is Todd's 2nd place standing and the more upsetting top spot of the Maniacs.


MVP- Miggy .450/1/5/8/0/1.228


64/60 Owners Of The Week- While this honor isn't given out routinely, in fact this would be a first, this award will be given when a Owner or Owners make the 64/60 a better place to be. I know what your thinking, "Josh, you will receive this award weekly!", I am not eligible nor would I honor myself in any manner. This Week I would like to acknowledge the McClungs. The 64/60 has made many of fine moments based on old 80's type wrestling skits. In 80's wrestling fashion the McClungs sent me a photo via text of Brandon holding my daughter with the message of "We are holding your daughter ransom until you propose and approve a realistic trade." Kudos to the creativity it generated multiple laughs around the 64/60 Headquarters yesterday. For future reference to really play the part don't smile in the pic. In honor of this award you will have your choice of a 64/60 Coozie, 64/60 Pencil, or you can pick your batting spot for the social event of the Summer, the Swing and Swim. (Photo Seen Above)






Pickup Of The Week

Jose Valverde- Walls Of Jericho. I'm still skeptical as to whither or not this will work in real life, it's hard to argue picking up a closer for one of baseballs best teams. The signing of Valverde makes it clear the Tigers don't like any alternative options on their roster so Valverde's leash may have a little bit of slack. For the most part Valverde was serviceable in 2013 it just so happened his bad stretch, which 85% of closers have (not a factual number more pulled out of ass) coincided with a World Series run and in the brightest of spotlights. While his underlying numbers suggest Valverde isn't a top notch closer they haven't for quite sometime yet year after year he was effective. I don't by it but hell I'm battling for the bottom spot in the league so what do I know.


Head Scrathcer Of The Week

Brandon Crawford- Mike McClung. Feels good to get a McClung back in their rightful spot. Like a school boy with Kick Me on his back Mike is always the last one to know. It's hard to argue with a +.280 AVG, 5 HR and a run production total over 30 from a SS but you also need to be informed enough to know it's fool gold. Crawford is a glove first SS who is limited with below average offensive skills. He's a .250 hitter with maybe 12 HR pop and no speed. He'll eventually settle near the bottom of the Giants order limiting any + run production chances. While I don't have a issue picking up a hot player such as Crawford, especailly at a limited offensive position, don't do so using $5 in FAAB money. I have stated this during this honorary period each week it would seem yet people continue to treat it as smut in the Enquirer. Could you go the entire year and spend 0 in FAAB money? Absolutely it happens to many every year. I have just done this enough to know that people make dumb choices each and every year and I have been in plenty of leagues where people rid themselves of players you would love to have. FAAB money allows you to free yourself from minute to minute Waiver Wire/News monitoring and still have a chance to obtain players. Trust me you don't want to live that way. Look at Chris people. FAAB should be reserved for players with sustainability not the week 2 week flash in the pans. Mike feel free to call for advice 24/7 I'm always here to help.