In-N-Out Week 16

Whither your a playoff caliber team looking for that final piece or a rebuilding team looking for another piece to build around, the trade deadline is an exciting time for a baseball fan. While the 64/60 still has until September 1st, to complete deals, I figured what better day to take a look back at the deal completed thus far, and take a look at how the teams fared in the deal.

Preaseason: BCFP send Justin Upton to Maniacs for Jose Bautista. Anyone recall Justin Upton's scorching start to the season? No. It's understandable having been a league average player over the next 3 mos. I can see how it's been forgotten. JR was quick to the smacktalk boasting robbery and mocking I with calls of idiocy. Typical JR, too quick to the conclusion. While Bautista hasn't been the MVP player I thought he would be, he's been much better than Upton both on the field and in return on investment.

Bautista: .251/24/67/64/7/.842
Upton: .249/16/61/47/6/.779
Early Returns: Burt with the edge


April 5th: HGH+ send Justin Verlander to the Free Hats for Matt Wieters. A jaw dropping transaction at first has Rice with the last laugh, sort of. Nate's point was Verlander would not have the kind of season anyone would expect. To this point that's exactly the case. Problem for Rice however is that neither has Wieters. My issue was never about the point it was always about the return. Verlander would have easily netted a fringe Top 20 hitter but new to the 64/60, Nate hadn't branched his network out beyond Whitley at this point.

Verlander: 13QS/125K/4.14/1.42/8.48
Wieters: .234/13/37/46/1/.699
Verdict: Tough to gage. Nate gets a point on the Verlander call if you will but the addition of a underperforming Wieters negated all the would be value. I'll give the edge to Todd for the principal value added at the start of the deal.

April 15th: Marshall Maniacs send Curtis Granderson to Barboursville Stars for Cole Hamels, Ryan Voglesong, and Barry Zito. A snapshot of how the 2013 season would play out for Senior McClung. Given Grandersons's injuries the Stars are lucky this deal wasn't even more lopsided than it turned out to be. Hamels hasn't been COLE HAMELS, Voglesong was terrible, and Zito offered nothing more than your Waiver Wire spot start. In return a mere 21 AB's is what the Stars have to show for it.

Hamels: 14QS 117K 3.62/1.20/8.47
Granderson: 21 AB's
Verdict: Didn't like the deal to begin with for the Stars luckily it wasn't more lopsided than it could have been had Voglesong or Hamels had matched expectations.


May 7th: Marshall Maniacs send Jimmy Rollins to BCFP for Dan Uggla and Casey Janssen. Wanted a upgrade at SS while at the same time wanted to shed some of my AVG adverse players. Felt that even at the back end of his career Rollins still offered plus speed with plus run potential and would rank amongst the Top 7 SS at seasons end. The Maniacs seemed to be in search of additional closers.

Rollins: .255/4/37/27/9/.654
Uggla: .203/16/34/39/1/.768
Janssen: 9SV 20K 3.38/1.27/8.45
Verdict: It's funny. Had you asked me blind resume, if I liked this deal, my response would have been yes. It wasn't until I looked up the numbers that I realized how ineffective Rollins has been. The OPS is terrible and 9SB isn't the total I had in mind. While Uggla hasn't been great 16HR is a plus skill. Throw in a decent season from Janssen and this is a one sided victory for the Maniacs.


May 27th: BCFP send Grant Balfour and Huston Street to HGH+ for Jason Kipnis. The process of this deal will be used as an example of how a deal should be made for years to come. In all my years within the 64/60 never have I seen a deal work from scratch to complete over the course of 20 minutes. (Attempts to undermine the integrity of the 64/60 by two former allies not withstanding.) Textbook is the only way to explain it.

Kipnis: .337/7/31/38/11/.964
Balfour: 17SV 22K 2.49/.97/9.16
Street: 8SV 10K 3.00/1.00/5.94
Verdict: Saying both teams win is such a cop out. Therefore I'll give myself the edge preferring the Top 20 overall value that Kipnis has been for me. Rice will rightfully claim the move served his goal to the fullest as well.


May 29th: The BC PEDophiles send Desmond Jennings, Wil Myers, Jose Veras, and Travis Wood to the 41129ers for Max Scherzer, Brett Lawrie, and Will Middlebrooks. Likely a deal created over countless cocktails and the threat of Chrissy not being Ev's friend anymore if he didn't accept the deal. Veras and Middlebrooks returned little to no value to either party as both were dropped not long after the deal was concluded.

Jennings: .272/6/33/21/9/.783
Myers: .328/7/22/26/4/.891
Wood: 8QS 51K 2.86/1.14/6.62
Scherzer: 10QS 83K 2.63/.92/9.92
Lawrie: .204/2/7/7/0/.667 (limited time)
Verdict: While Scherzer has predictably been the best player in the deal given the PED's struggles with the stick (sources familiar with the situation have suggested this goes beyond the fantasy baseball world) the added offense would make the PED's better today. You could arguably say the same for the 41129ers pitching with the departure of Scherzer. Simply put Wood softened the blow of losing Scherzer better than Lawrie has for Jennings and Myers.


June 1st: The 41129ers send Craig Kimbrel to HGH+ for Jon Lester. The loss of Scherzer created a void for the 41129ers while the HGH+ was looking to finalize their transition to another approach on pitching.

Lester: 5QS 54K 5.25/1.57/8.10
Kimbrel: 15SV 31K .47/.89/14.68
Verdict: Easily the most one sided deal that didn't include injury. Lester has been well below average while Kimbrel has returned to his status as the best closer in baseball over this stretch.


GAME RECAPS

Scrote Mashers 10 vs. Walls Of Jericho 2. Perhaps it's time I reconsider my stance of the Mashers. If hinted at this for several weeks now but I'm closer and closer to making it official. Teams just don't handle the Walls of Jericho in this manner. Winners of 8 straight the Walls biggest loss this season was a 4-7 setback in Week 2 to the Maniacs. A 18-6 mark over the last two weeks have the Mashers within 4 games of the top spot and the winless four week stretch a distant memory.

Topps: Runs-Mashers 59, HR-Mashers 17, SB-Mashers 14, AVG-Mashers .329, OPS-Mashers .948
O'Pee Chee: HR-Walls 7, SB-Walls 3, K-Walls 37, WHIP-Walls 1.65, QS-3 Walls
MVP: Encarnacion .520/2/5/8/0/1.464


41129ers 9 vs. Takeover 3. While it's not been a magical year for either squad, the 41129ers have managed to rebound nicely here of late. Despite some recent turmoil Ev Lemaster has rallied the troops. Victors of 5 of the last 7 the 41129ers have moved themselves out of the dreaded bottom quadrant and the sea of pending inactivity and right in arms rich of that 6th and final playoff spot. For the takeover the magic number is now 11. 11 games separate you and the next to last mantra.

Topps: RBI-41129ers 57, QS-41129ers 12
O'Pee Chee: NA
MVP: Lester 2QS 16K 1.35/.98/10.80


Free Hats 8 vs. BCFP 4. If the Hats can finish of the season in the top spot or at a minimum first round bye they need look no further than the BCFP for their acknowledgments. A 7-16 mark is what years of mentoring, countless hours babysitting, and aiding and abetting his first shop lifting experience has earned me. For those of you tracking misdemeanors at home, Todd returned the item under his own recognizance.

Topps: K-BCFP 109, Kper9-BCFP 9.71
O'Pee Chee: ERA-BCFP 4.90
MVP: Corbin 2QS 14K 1.29/.93/9.00


Emanski 8 vs. Stars 4. I would like to extend a great big thank you to Bill Fenney. Finally after another lopsided defeat maybe Senior can finally close the book on the 2013 baseball season. One victory over the last 8 contest has Senior likely closing out the season in a one on one on one battle with GRC3 and Holland for the final spot in the standings. I hope Senior can learn from his mistakes as we move into the 2013 Football season and quit this fear of changing the status quo. "If it's not broke don't fix it", only works if it's not broke.

Topps: NA
O'Pee Chee: HR-Emanski 7, RBI-Emanski 27, SV-Stars 0
MVP: Hunter .409/3/7/5/0/1.280


HGH+ 7 vs. PEDophiles 4. Mr. Rice is building quite a reputation within the 64/60. He'll provide the occasional commentary on the league page. Has been very active not only in the day to day roster requirements but also fueling the trade market. He's had on the field success, literally, finishing runner up to some spectacled Harry Potter wannna be at the unofficial 64/60 HR Derby a.k.a failed friendly. And on the computer field as well currently holding down the 6th spot in the standings and coming in at(SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT) #2 in the weekly Power Rankings. But perhaps it was what he was able to accomplish something this past week that countless of members and yours truly have failed to do time and time again. 64/60 SPECIAL REPORT: NATE RICE BREAKS CHRISTOPHER LEE. That's right folks Chris Lee is prepared to call this season a lost one. For the first time ever a 64/60 playoff will not include Chris Lee. Or at least that is the mind set he has taken. I don't know what happened over the course of this 7 day stretch but whatever it was it was I had never seen Chris lower when discussing Fantasy Sports. The BCPEDophiles had been clinging to hope, they died on Diamond Links Golf Course this past Sunday.

Topps: SV-HGH 13, ERA-HGH 1.68, WHIP-HGH .89
O'Pee Chee: NA
MVP: Scherzer 2QS 12 1.29/.36/7.71


Maniacs 7 vs. 9irons 5. Junior has went this whole season without a tie. I don't really know what can be concluded from that, I just find it odd. Winners of two in a row, should Jr. continue to ignore my claims and make the playoffs week 16 could by one of those circle weeks where the Fantasy gods were watching over him. 46/8/31/9/218/640. That offensive stat line won't win you many weeks the best you could reasonably hope for is salvaging 2 stats and losing 2-4. That is of course when your not facing the 9irons who managed to hit .213 with a OPS of .630. I typically don't dissect matchups stat by stat I just found it astonishing that two teams could go toe to toe for 7 days with offensive play as poor as this.

Topps: QS- 9irons 12
O'Pee Chee: Runs-9irons 28, SB-9irons 3, AVG-9irons .213, OPS-9irons .630, K/9-9irons 6.11
MVP: Darvish 2QS 15K .73/.89/10.95




POWER RANKINGS

Team Hitting Pitching Total

1. Free Hats 57 52.5 109.5
2. HGH+ 47 47 94
3. Scrote 71 21 92
4. Walls 41.5 47 88.5
5. BCFP 35 52 87
6. Maniacs 36 43 79
7. Emanski 28.5 48.5 77
8. Stars 40 34.5 74.5
9. 9irons 30 38 68
10. BC PED 24 42 64
11. 4119ers 31 26.5 57.5
12. Takeover 35 16 51

Topps: Runs-Scrote, HR-Hats, RBI-Scrote, SB-Scrote, AVG-Scrote, OPS-Scrote, SV-BCFP, K-Hats, ERA-HGH, WHIP-HGH, K/9-Walls, QS-Hats
O'Pee Chee: Runs-9irons, HR-Takeover, RBI-Takeover, SB-Maniacs, AVG-PED, OPS-BCFP, SV-9irons, K-Takeover, ERA-41129, WHIP-Stars, K/9-Takeover, QS-Walls


Pickup Of The Week

BC PEDophiles add Mark Melancon- For the better part of this season Jason Grilli has been the top fantasy closer. Even after a couple of poor outings and a injury he still ranks among the Top 5 in the game. While Grilli has the better skill set the closer role is all about opportunity. The Pirates struggle offensively and feature not only a good starting rotation but perhaps the best bullpen in all of baseball. Simply put Paula Dean couldn't make a better recipe for Saves. Unless Melancon has suffered emotional scarring from his less than stellar stint last season then Bopp landed himself a Top 7 closer from this point forward.


Head Scratcher Of The Week

BC PEDophiles drop Chris Archer for Jim Henderson. It sure seems as though the transaction honors have had more sweeps than ever before. Perhaps sub-consciously I won't allow someone my praise and approval for their decision making. Whatever the reason may be, I'd like to believe this is a roster composition issue. No issue with wanting to add Henderson. Newly appointed closer who performed well in the role earlier in the season and had pitched effective in a setup role as well. Problem is in order for the closer heavy strategy to be advantageous your starters must be effective and perhaps more importantly consistent. 4-5 effective starts through the week combined with 10 SV and 13IP from a group of closers will net you some solid ratio totals which makes a 4-2 edge in Pitching your target. While Archer isn't this Ace type player he has displayed over the last month but he should make for a very solid back end of a shallow rotation play that Bopp should be targeting. All things considered the distain for the move is more about who was dropped than who was picked up. Ramirez, Kluber, and Workman all would have been better options in my opinion.


Trade Reflections


Soriano returns to the Yankees. The headline would sale added value. Truth be told he's going to a worse hitting park for a right handed hitter and all and all a worse lineup(hard to imagine a Yankee squad can be out raked by this Cubs outfit). With that in mind he's no worse off either. While Soriano has once again been under the radar all season he's once again returned a Top 25 OF season thus far thanks to those newfound legs and 10SB. How often he runs will determine his value increase or decrease from this point forward. I know throughout Girardi's tenure the Yankees have been a running club given their injuries in 2013 I haven't researched to see if that is still the case. All and all look for Soriano to be what he is but don't expect a return to Soraino in his former days wearing the pinstripes.

Veras to Tigers. For the second time in two weeks a closer losses his wings. Veras value reverts to League only at this point but look for him to perhaps vulture an occasional SV from Benoit in a effort to keep him fresh down the stretch. For the Astros early indications pointed to Jose Cisnero but as the day went on it's looking as though a committee will be in play. A committee of closers for the Astros isn't a situation I want to find myself dealing with from day to day yet for the time being it's going to have to do.