Flashback to last Sunday at 8PM. Heading into the Dodgers vs. Reds I was holding a very loose grip on the top spot in the standings. Down 4-7 vs. Bopp all I needed was to preserve this score to earn a .5 game advantage on the Hats. In order to maintain this score I simply had to avoid one HR from Bruce or Hanley. For those of you non-historians in the audience Bruce homered in his first at bat and with that went my top seed. Bruce would tack on another and Hanley would spit in my face for good measure. All combining to take the OPS lead away from me and pushing me down to the three seed. So almost exactly a week later here I am in a 6-6 split with the spectacled boy wonder needing a HR by one of my remaining players specifically Napoli or Pedroia, to end the HR tiebreak and thus claim victory(tiebreaker advantage went to GTV). So as fantasy karma would have it Mike Napoli, in his first at bat, deposited a 2-0 Ivan Nova fastball about 420 to straight away center. It was pure joy at the headquarters filled with congratulatory hugs, high fives, and slaps on the ass. So perhaps I mis-remembered the exact events but I did get a look of disappointment from the wife as I celebrated victory with myself. According to her I showed more excitement in that 30 seconds than I have at any point in our marriage. I don't know how to take that comment but I'm guessing that wasn't a compliment.
Playoffs
BCFP 6 vs. Grand Theft Votto 4. To be so close I could only imagine what pain and regret JR must be feeling today. Why didn't I pick up this person? Why didn't I start that person? Why did I have to face a legend in my first venture into the playoffs? No reason to beat yourself up youngling sometimes things just aren't meant to be. So while the season didn't end with a title, you did make it further than your father and for what it's worth you proved to be a better adversary. Besides given your a McClung you can't reasonably expect to win more than one championship in your lifetime.
Scrote Mashers 10 vs. HGH+ Factory 2. For the first time in several weeks the best the Mashers have to offer decided to show up this week. The offense finally came to play after a month long hiatus and that much maligned pitching performed better than one could reasonably hope. So despite average play, by the new factory on the block, the route was on. Even with the first round exit, it was an excellent debut season for Mr. Rice. Having taking over the former Hendo Colonels franchise and giving their fanbase it's first ever taste of the playoffs.
Saying Goodbye
Grand Theft Votto, Brandon McClung. One should really be happy with the results this season given the overall talent level of the roster. Leaned heavily on the streaky player as Chris Davis 2, Yu Darvish 14, and Josh Donaldson 28(yes Josh Donaldson) ranked among the top 50 players throughout the season. Statistically speaking the offense was above average but not elite, SB was a black hole since draft day and never addressed. Another of the closer heavy squads, Jr. never could find that proper mix. While Darvish's skill set played well with that strategy, rotation mainstays such as Colon didn't given his low K ratios. Even without the perfect mix you still had a rotation slightly better than average. All things considered a very good season and there appears to be enough parts to work with moving forward.
HGH+ Factory, Nate Rice. Nate's decision to select the Hendo Colonels franchise, rather than the M.R.O.T.A, shocked the 64/60 brass. Given the 64/60's lean toward offense bypassing a chance of having Votto and Longoria as your starting point over Kershaw and Verlander seemed like the obvious choice. It was evident early Mr. Rice goes against the grain. As the season would play out the keepers of the HGH+ would outperform those of the Takeover. At seasons end I'll go back and evaluate the draft but I have a pretty good feeling very few had better results than the HGH+. At the start of the season this team had the weakest group of keepers as the season nears it's end he could have the toughest decision of any team on who to keep for next season. Offensively this group was among the Top 3 in the league throughout the majority of the season. David Wright performed at MVP levels and Paul Goldschmidt became a Fantasy Superstar right before our eyes. Another closer heavy squad built in the mode of the Walls. Nate took the quality over quantity approach which worked out very well with Kershaw and Bumgarner as the 1 and 2 options in the rotation.
Pickup Of The Week
Johnny Cueto-Free Hat. While personally I would work Cueto into the bullpen mix these final few weeks the Reds appear to want him in the rotation. Due to a likely innings limit to start off with the first two starts likely won't produce elite level results. However with possibly three starts that 3rd outing could provide a championship game clinching outing for the Free Hat.
Head Scratcher Of The Week
BCFP drop CC Sabathia for Kole Calhoun. CC's been terrible and I needed AB's on the final day. Would do the transaction again without thinking twice. This decision is more based on the reaction a casual baseball fan would likely get if the 64/60 Transaction log would appear in the Daily Independent. Certainly not a transaction I thought about making when I drafted Sabathia to be my 2.
Football
Fowlers Meth Heads 221 vs. Sons of Jim Mora 162. It would appear as though Bopp is wanting to leave the 64/60 on a better note than the baseball season provided him. After posting the third highest total in Week 1 the 221 was good for tops in the league this week. While I'm not sold on the WR corp and have my concerns over the RB position, Rodgers and Vick will be the best QB duo in the league should health remain on the Bopp's side. With a 0-2 mark out of the gate the script hasn't went as written in the early going for Fenney. The QB duo of Bradford and Luck has been marginal and the WR corp seems rather lackluster. At some point Mora will figure it out, you just want that time to be sometime before a O'fer month.
Manscraper United 183 vs. Marshall Maniac 86. Full disclosure, I wasn't a fan of James's squad post draft. I doubted Kaepernick and mocked Rivers as a solid 2. Really liked McCoy but questioned the rest of the RB's. WR collectively was a solid unit yet I doubted if any individual could carry the squad. Here we are 2-0 start, 2nd highest point earner in the league. Kaepernick has been solid, Rivers has been the Rivers of old, McCoy's level of production has masked the lackluster depth behind him, while Welker's production has avoided the drop I had expected and Julius Thomas has been that later round find all succesful teams seem to find. Not quite ready to say I'm wrong but one more week of solid production and prepare to see me recant all my previous comments. As if losing in the first round of the baseball playoffs wasn't misery enough how about a nearly 100 point blowout to go with it. While the misery of baseball will eventually fade away I'm starting to believe this early season struggles in football could be here to stay. It would be hard to design a worse QB tandem than Roethlisberger and Freeman. Peterson will produce but I have my concerns regarding Jones-Drew. Should MJD turn it around I still question the level of consistent production from the WR position in a PPR format. Better days are likely ahead but 50 point defeats could be viewed as little victories.
Johnny Cimpo 181 vs. BCFP 167. For those of you who haven't bothered to look around the 64/60 has become Todd's Playplace over the last year. Last seasons Football Championship was followed by a baseball season which thus far Todd has dominated statistically. Now here we are two weeks in and the Key West Kid is building a legacy that would make Bud Kilmer blush. Should this production keep up look for other owners to attempt different means of drafting next season as the first ever Facebook draft (Baseball) and the first ever Google Chat(Football) has seemed to been a success. As for the Factory it simply wouldn't have been reasonable for me to ask for both a dramatic Playoff victory as well as a 2-0 start in football. No need to be greedy, I'll take the baseball win everyday of the week.
Steady Shockers 158 vs. Argumentative 9irons 150. Another team I failed to give rave draft review that has started fast out of the gates. While James's squad is starting to grow on me, I have yet to turn the page on Mark's squad. While the QB play will be well above average and the WR corp is rather solid it's really hard to win in Fantasy Football earning 3 points from the RB position. Sure every player has a down week but even based on projections the total was only 7. That lack of production essentially means you are relying on a Top 5 player or two at their respective positions. Week one it was Manning, week two it was Bennett, how long can the streak continue? Even though GRC3 suffered his first lost of the season I believe we can all congratulate him for two consecutive weeks of participation. While we may wonder why Issac Redmen was given the nod over Lamar Miller it's just nice to know that a decision was made by Richard himself.
12th Round Kicker 147 vs. Douchebaggery United 130. With each passing week of Brady under performing I can feel the hatred growing inside Hobson's belly. The other night I had a dream in which I woke up and Hobson was smacking my face wearing a Brees Dolphins in hopes of luring Brees to Miami during the Saban era. For those of you who took of early on draft night, Hobson made countless attempts to add Brady to Wards roster and slide Brees over to his. While I nearly fell victim to his charm I ultimately stood my ground. Just think Ward this matchup could have been 150-127. Like the BCFP the fortunes of fantasy simply don't allow for victory in both h2h playoff baseball and football within the same week. Mr. Ward will gladly take his licks in football.
Zero Dark 41129 138 vs. Barboursville Stars 130. It's only fitting that after a stellar baseball week ended in defeat that a subpar football week would end in victory. Consider this W fantasy fortunes giving Mr. Rice a pat on the back for a good baseball season. While 1-1 is better than 2-0 the 41129 should still have concerns over their lackluster play thus far. Ultimately I believe they will be fine however in order for this to happen Bowe has to emerge as a high end #2 at the very least and a more consistent #3 WR will need to emerge. For Senior the curse that is the last name McClung continues. As many struggles as this clan has endured over the last couple of weeks you would expect a reversal in fortunes should be awaiting. While the QB position of the Stars concerns me I like the overall talent elsewhere. I know this would go against everything the Senial one stands for however I'm sure an interesting party out their would be willing to part with a better QB if Mike would be willing to part with a Flacco and a WR or RB piece. If you do one trade Mike I assure you, you will be hooked.
* I highly recommend reading the Weekly and Game Recaps provided by Yahoo. While the breakdown doesn't include the same one-liners over and over again as this post does, the recaps are much more # based and feature much less butchering of the english language.
Pickup Of The Week/Head Scratcher Of The Week
Sons of Jim Mora add Chad Henne $5 FAAB and drop Cordarelle Patterson. This may be unprecedented, the first ever dual winner of the weekly honors all encompassing one transaction. With the average QB duo of Luck and Bradford, I like the addition of Henne who is clearly the better of the Jaguars QB options. Make no mistake Henne isn't a better than average player but he does provide you with another option to consider and should fling the ball around late in games with the Jags down by multiple scores. While I like the addition I'm not a fan of the drop selection. I realize Patterson has yet to see much playing time. I also realize should he find his way onto the field his production level is tied to Christian Ponder not being Christian Ponder like. Having said that here is a guy multiple draft picks were moved to acquire. His role today won't be the same in three weeks and will continue to evolve as the season progresses. Percy Harvin was a Top 15 WR last season when healthy. While Patterson isn't quite the same player he does have the skill set to be used beyond simply lining up outside. Harvin proved a Viking WR could have value at some point this season I believe Patterson will as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment