In-N-Out Week 5

Not gonna lie, it's becoming more difficult to get motivated to post each week. I mean here I am critiquing other owners for there rosters and transactions yet theres a very good chance I'm looking North to find them in the standings. I'm nothing more than one of those High School Glory day hanger on's. Quick to remind everyone of my 3 Titles and quick to ignore my .230 AVG on the season or my trade of Justin Upton for a Jose Bautista and his ailing back. So the alarm rings at 3AM, I stare at the ceiling thinking about what to say. The monitors warm glow hits my face at 3:30. Tears flow after looking at my output from the previous night and writers block hits until I realize something has to be posted or the McClungs can't continue with their day. The end result is an incomplete posting and a late Wed cram session to get it finalized. You people deserve better and I'm hoping Week 5 is the turning point in the 2013 season thus the turning point toward the Pulitzer quality writing you've become accustomed to over the years.



Game Recaps

Free Hats 8 vs. BCFP 3. The lone contest that wasn't close. Three weeks ago I stated the Free Hats are the best team in the league. After following his roster over the course of the week I still feel strongly in that statement. No closers and lack of speed are concerning, personally I hate going into contest knowing your losing a stat. Regardless offensively his no worse than 3rd best in every other stat and this is with Beltre starting slowly out of the gate. The addition of Verlander gave him the ace he needed and up to this point his FA pickups have been beyond solid. For me I'm hopeful this will be the final week of my miserable start to the season, and at seasons end I will reflect back to this week as the moment it all came together.

Weekly Highs- Free Hat RBI 58, BCFP SV 7, BCFP K 99, Free Hat ERA 1.79, Free Hat/BCFP QS 9
Weekly Lows- BCFP HR 5, BCFP RBI 19 (no typo), BCFP OPS .673, Free Hat SV 0
MVP- Miguel Cabrera .423/3/8/10/0/1.392


Lemaster Blasters 7 vs. The Takeover 5. While there are no bye weeks in Fantasy Baseball the Takeover has been the closest thing the 64/60 has to offer in 2013. WHile Josh hasn't been the most hands on owner the 64/60 has ever seen this isn't Andy Clark circa 08 were talking about here. His roster has been ravaged by injuries the entire season and for the most part it's not the run of the mill type players. With this in mind Butch Lemaster did what he should have done however should we begin to grade on a curve with the Takeover? Is 7-5 really what your looking for? While I admire Butch's passion and want nothing more than for this man to succed he still must be really concerned about that self analyzed solid rotation. Another week with a ERA north of 4.00 and a WHIP well above the 1.20's you desire. As I've said to myself numerous times the season is still young I just know this league is better when Butch has a contender. As for Holland you have to love his continued tinkering and attempt to fix this potential sinking ship. If your looking to unload Joey Votto for multiple pieces I'm always here to assist.

Weekly Highs- The Takeover WHIP 1.00
Weekly Lows- NA
MVP- Max Scherzer 2QS/18/2.35/.72/10.57


Argumentative 9irons 6 vs. Marshall Maniacs 5. It's always good to see the young whiper snapper JR lose, it's still painful to see his name at the top of the standings. Richard you couldn't have added a SP or two late in the week to earn the edge in QS and put your nephew in his rightful place? It wasn't like you needed to preserve that 7.78 ERA or 1.71 WHIP. You do have to wonder about Richards activity this season. Anyone other than myself notice those Red letters beside Kevin Youklis's name? GRC3's a busy man but the iPhone can do amazing things even if you have limited time to reach your full potential utilize it. Junior enjoy the top spot for another week my friend.

Weekly Highs- NA
Weekly Lows- 9irons Runs 37, Maniacs SB 2, Maniacs AVG .235, 9irons SV 0, 9irons ERA 7.78, 9irons WHIP 1.71
MVP- Manny Machado .333/3/7/5/1/1.108


Scrote Mashers 7 vs. Walls Of Jericho 5. Outside of the Placebo I felt the Mashers had the least amount of offensive firepower returning in the form of keepers. Considering Bourn has been hurt, Ortiz just returned, and Cabrera has been marginal, my initial assesment likely isn't too far off. Yet with the likes of Carlos Gomez and Michael Cuddyer performing as Superstars and the return of Tulo to that threshold this offense can rake. Pitching on the other hand not so much. Yet as is the case in H2H leagues it's all based on the matchups. So while the Mashers were getting slapped around on the rubber Walls were doing their best to better the 9irons posting an ERA of 6.33 and a WHIP of 1.65. Thus I suspect Walls is rather pleased with another narrow loss. Rope a dope seems to be the startegic plan for the Walls this season as victory has been hard to find yet they have avoided the one sided affairs and find themselves right in the middle of the standings.

Weekly Highs- Mashers SB 9
Weekly Lows- Walls QS 1
MVP- Gomez .462/3/8/5/5/1.495


Barboursville Stars 7 vs. Tom Emanski's Deathsquad 5. Two of the elders within the 64/60 squared off this week in the battle over Medicare benefits and verbal smacktalk of AARP verbage. In the end it was the B'Ville Stars offense performing like anything but aging superstars. This squad has the makings for a contender and Mike doesn't have the penchant for making a deal like his offspring. While Senior will certainly entertain offers he's looking for the right deal although what exactly that is he doesn't say. I offered the guy BJ Upton and a closer for Robby Cano last week and he declined it. Not many owners within this league could refuse to pull the trigger under such temptation.

Weekly Highs- Stars Runs 56, Stars HR 23, Stars OPS .903
Weekly Lows- Stars SV 0
MVP- Fielder .333/3/5/10/1.121


PEDophiles 7 vs. Placebo Factory 5. Slow out of the gate, I really thought this was going to be that magical year when Chris isn't a contender. Here we are 5 weeks in I'm one of the leagues worst and Dong is in the middle of the pack without superstar numbers from McCutch or Braun and a host of underperforming B type players on offense. I think it's quite simple Chris Lee is the Teflon Don of the 64/60 in terms of Baseball. Regardless of how many things are going against him he won't miss the playoffs. Like myself Mr. Rice is struggling out of the gate. Unlike me Nate seems to deserve better. His offense has been rather solid minus the abysmal AVG and OPS. While Pitching hasn't been as dominate as one would have thought post draft he's still no worse than league average in any one stat. Of all the teams the Placebo has the highest differential from Roto value in comparison to H2H record. Won't get you much street creed but it's good for a adult beverage at the Headquarters any time Nate.

Weekly Highs- Placebo SB 9, PEDophiles AVG .313
Weekly Lows- Placebo K/9 6.72
MVP- Mark Reynolds .348/2/5/7/0/.993







Power Rankings Offense Pitching Total

1. Free Hats 59.5 55 114.5
2. Marshall Maniacs 48 50 98
3. B'Ville Stars 52 40 92
4. Deathsquad 39.5 52 91.5
5. Scrote Mashers 56.5 28.5 85
6. Argumentative 41.5 39 80.5
7. Placebo 37 40 77
8. PEDophiles 32.5 41 73.5
9. BCFP 13 47 60
10. Walls Of Jericho 19.5 39 58.5
11. Lemaster Blaster 35 19.5 54.5
12. The Takeover 34 17 51




Pickup Of The Week

Dee Gordon- BC PEDophiles (Chris Lee). Sure Dee Gordon has no success at the Major League level to speak of. Sure it's seems to be rather apparent how much his own organization despises him. I mean the path was clear for Gordon to begin the season as the everyday SS but the Dodgers chose to roster the likes of Juan Uribe and Louis Cruz. Yet here they are forced to pencil the fleet-footed SS into the lineup everyday. He's played well in AAA this season but that hasn't been a problem in the past. Last year he simply couldn't get on base enough to warrant a full time position at the ML level. If his improved BB rate in the minors translates Gordon should carry a OBP north of .300 making it a real good chance of swiping 30 plus bags. Hard to find that type of production on the Waiver Wire every week.


Head Scratcher Of The Week

_________ Pitcher- BCFP (Josh Coleman). While it could have been easy for me to target Jesse Ward and his Corey Kluber drop followed by $1 Waiver. It seemed a little to easy. Almost as if the move was made not to improve his team but to be honored with this acknowledgement. I'm going next level with the process this week. Facing the powerhouse Free Hats my goal was to earn a split decision. I felt SV and SB were to areas of advantage so my approach was to load up on SP earning W's in K's and QS and hoping two things fell my way. By end of day Friday it was clear I wasn't going to have the edge in enough stats to earn even a 5-6 loss, yet I found myself Sat morning adding another pitcher and reaching my transaction limit for the week. Later in the day the Dodgers announce Dee Gordon will be there everyday SS yet here I was unable to add a potential solid play for my struggling offense. All because I was hoping to lose 4-8 instead of the 3 stats I ended up with.


Trade Analysis

BCFP send Dan Uggla and Casey Jansen to Marshall Maniacs for Jimmy Rollins. After seemingly hundreds of trade request and text involving trade talks these two degenerates finally agreed on something. The reality at the moment is Uggla and Rollins were a swap of garbage while Jansen's value negates any upside Rollins may have over Uggla. What I'm hoping for moving forward is Rollins returns to some version of the 2012 model with a .250+ AVG double digit pop 30+SB and a respectable OPS for a MI option. For the Maniacs I'm not quite sure on what they are attempting to accomplish. Uggla does have more HR upside but seems to be more of a lock not to turn it around in the hitting department. While Jansen seems more of a want than a need at this point. I've never been one to offer my opinions but the addition of Jansen would allow the Maniacs to go with 5 closers to go with the potential dominance of Darvish and Hamels. Throw in Gallardo, Voglesong, and Cigrani and you would seem to be a lock for K/9, have a good hold on SV, and more often than not have a very good ERA and WHIP. Of course this is what Junior should do but the reality is he'll continue to throw the Barry Zito's and Wandy Rodriguez's of the world out there every 5th day only to ruin the good foundation made by the aces.

Verdict: I'm partial but I prefer the best Rollins could offer over Dan Uggla and part of the surplus of closers on my roster.


****I will send out a email to all 64/60ians for privelages to post on the blog. I realize time can be restricted at times but if anyone would like to have their thoughts and opinions mocked by others this is the place for you.