Sunday, April 20, 2008

Introducing the new '90 Reds...

With nearly three weeks already in the books for this season, it's high time to introduce my fantasy baseball team here on the blog--and discuss how we're doing.

C - J.R. Towles
1B - Prince Fielder
2B - B.J. Upton
SS - Jeff Keppinger
3B - Chipper Jones
OF - Hideki Matsui
OF - Skip Schumaker
OF - Joey Votto
Util - Carlos Pena
Util - Carlos Quentin
Bench - Hunter Pence (will be back in lineup once he's out of slump)
DL - Jack Wilson

SP - Dan Haren
SP - Chris Young
SP - James Shields
SP - Dana Eveland
SP - John Maine
SP - Wandy Rodriguez

RP - Matt Capps
RP - Joakim Soria
RP - Todd Jones
RP - Manny Acosta
RP - Jon Rauch
DL - Joel Zumaya

Here's how my team is doing in each category through Saturday, April 19:

Runs - 94 (9th, 14 behind the category leader)
HR - 30 (T-1st)
RBI - 108 (T-1st)
SB - 9 (10th, 9 behind the category leader)
OBP - .356 (5th, .040 behind the category leader)
SLG - .461 (2nd, .049 behind the category leader)

W - 6 (T-Last, 7 behind the category leader)
L - 6 (T-3rd, 1 behind the category leaders)
SV - 14 (3rd, 8 behind the category leader)
K - 112 (5th, 41 behind the category leader)
ERA -3.68 (2nd, 1.10 behind the category leader)
WHIP - 1.38 (8th, 0.36 behind the category leader)

Here's a snapshot of the UPL's overall standings through Saturday, April 19: Please note: It's early in the season and these point totals are still subject to wide swings daily. Yes, I'm in third place as of this writing, but I could be 7th or even 10th place tomorrow.

Admittedly, I fell asleep at the wheel during the second half of my league's draft. Not only did I mistakenly think that I had already drafted Rafael Soriano, but I forgot to draft Yunel Escobar (instead taking Frank Thomas in the 17th round). As such, I have a journeyman SS in Jeff Keppinger who might be sharing playing time once Alex Gonzalez is healthy again. Also, my outfield isn't anything to write home about, especially with the way Pence started the season.

As it stands now, I'll be the first to admit that my team isn't good enough to win the championship. So as this week's web poll question, what area do you think I need to address first?

edit 4/21: Just an FYI. Due to Wandy ending up on the DL, I've dropped Zumaya and added Erick Aybar.

8 comments:

Chairman said...

Greg - you've been in the UPL long enough to know that your biggest problem isn't internal. It's your competition :-)

Pauly said...

Greg, you need to stop worrying about Alex Gonzalez. He sucks and he is out for a long time. I really doubt he earns anything more than a spot start here and there in a couple months.

The Dayton Daily News reports that an MRI on Reds SS Alex Gonzalez's left knee showed evidence that the compression fracture is still there. While he will be able to take batting practice and ground balls, he has been told he won’t be able to run for at least two to four weeks.
(Updated 04/15/2008).

Greg McConnell said...

Chairman, somehow I didn't expect you to give me any good advice regarding my next move. (Aside from "Give up.") Heheh.

Paul, okay, I'll stop worrying about Alex Gonzalez. (At least until the All-Star break.)

Chairman said...

Well, here's one. You've got some dude named "Dana" on your team. That's gotta change.

Pauly said...

Greg,

It's time to get Pence back in there. You spent way too much on him to bench him, even when he's slumping, which after last nite, he probably isn't....speaking of pence, you gotta love the Astros last nite -- Tejada and Oswalt both cashed in for a lot of points.

Hey...I have Dana Eveland too, and he is a pretty big dude.

Pauly said...

I might as well post my team here too, just so you know which players I'm biased about, haha. (This is my ideally healthy lineup, and my 4th SP always rotates to whoever has the best matchups for the week).

C-IRod
1B-Helton
2B-Upton
3B-Lowell
SS-Tejada
OF-Holiday
OF-Markakis
OF-Hart
DH-Damon
SP-Webb, Bedard, Oswalt, Snell
RP-Capps, Sherrill
Bench hitters: E.Encarnacion, G.Matthews, Ellis, Inge
Bench Pitchers: Owings, Saunders, Eveland, Guthrie, D.Cabrera

I am in first by a wide margin, thanks to a 5-2 win in week one and back-to-back 7-0 sweeps in week 2 and 3. I lead the league by record and by total points scored (sweeeeet!!!)

Greg McConnell said...

Paul, sounds like you're off to a great start. Although, it will be that much more painful when you botch the playoffs. ;-)

BTW, I did pick up Lilly again today (dropped Votto). I guess you know your pitching is in trouble when you're trying to decide among "Lilly," "Dana," and "Wandy"...

Greg McConnell said...

Well, of course, I didn't have Pence in my lineup and he went yard...

However, here's my "thinking" (if you can call it that). I had been patient with Pence, but finally his slump got to the point where I had to put him on the bench. (Note: Fielder had also been in a bad slump but he gets a longer leash and thus was never benched.) In any case, once the decision was made to bench Pence, he has to earn that spot back in the lineup.

Before today's games, when I checked Yahoo's stats over the past week, there was only one player on my team who Pence had been outperforming over the past week and could have replaced... that player was Carlos Pena. So I decided to leave Pena in. Pence hits a 2-run jack; and Pena gets the golden sombrero. Awesome.

I will be finding a spot for Pence in my lineup tomorrow, but I'm still bummed that he's batting sixth (not second).