Farewell loyal readers of Game Of Inches.
Unlike the joke podcast The "Bright" One and I did when Rex Grossman left Chicago to play in Houston when we said Sexy Rexy is leaving, I am actually leaving GOI.
I loved my time working on GOI and I am glad that I got to work on something I love with three great friends of mind, but I feel that this is my time to leave.
I have started a new website entitled The Cover 3 that you can visit at www.thecover3.com in which I will discuss all things sports and pop culture. Please check it out.
Thank you everyone for making my time here at Game Of Inches great and I hope you will continue to read me at my new site.
Sincerely,
Adam Kaplan
aka Sexy Rexy
Showing posts with label sexy rexy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexy rexy. Show all posts
Sexy Rexy Is Dead
I am saddened to report that Sexy Rexy has been found in a ditch someone of the Edens last night...
OK, so I have not died and while this joke didn't work when The 'Bright' One and I did it on a earlier podcast when we said that I (Sexy Rexy) moved to Houston after Grossman left Chicago to become Matt Schaub's back up and it did not work now.
However, I am retiring the pseudonym "Sexy Rexy". As you may have noticed when you look at who write this post, it said "Adam Kaplan" and not "Sexy Rexy". That is because that is my God-given name and that is the name I would prefer to be called by from now on.
When the four of us started this blog a few years back, we did it in the wake of the Fire Joe Morgan blog shutting down. All four of us were huge fans of FJM and we wanted to model this blog after it. Since the FJM guys had pseudonyms, we decided we wanted to have them as well. However, there are two key differences between FJM and GOI (yes, two and only two): the authors of FJM actually had Hollywood jobs so their anonymity was somewhat important and they actually had readers read their blog. But since neither are true for me, I have decided to stop having a pseudonym.
That, and it's kind of embarrassing telling people that your nickname is "Sexy Rexy".
If you look out into the landscape, nobody uses pseudonyms. When I was competing in FantasyPros.com's weekly fantasy rankings contest, I was the only one out of 50 competitors using a pseudonym. Nobody from NFL.com or ESPN.com or Yahoo.com or really anybody else uses a fake name, so why should I?
Therefore, "Sexy Rexy" is gone and Adam Kaplan is here to stay.
For now.
____________________
Also, in case anyway cares, my twitter handle has also changed. It is now @AdamKaplanGOI
OK, so I have not died and while this joke didn't work when The 'Bright' One and I did it on a earlier podcast when we said that I (Sexy Rexy) moved to Houston after Grossman left Chicago to become Matt Schaub's back up and it did not work now.
However, I am retiring the pseudonym "Sexy Rexy". As you may have noticed when you look at who write this post, it said "Adam Kaplan" and not "Sexy Rexy". That is because that is my God-given name and that is the name I would prefer to be called by from now on.
When the four of us started this blog a few years back, we did it in the wake of the Fire Joe Morgan blog shutting down. All four of us were huge fans of FJM and we wanted to model this blog after it. Since the FJM guys had pseudonyms, we decided we wanted to have them as well. However, there are two key differences between FJM and GOI (yes, two and only two): the authors of FJM actually had Hollywood jobs so their anonymity was somewhat important and they actually had readers read their blog. But since neither are true for me, I have decided to stop having a pseudonym.
That, and it's kind of embarrassing telling people that your nickname is "Sexy Rexy".
If you look out into the landscape, nobody uses pseudonyms. When I was competing in FantasyPros.com's weekly fantasy rankings contest, I was the only one out of 50 competitors using a pseudonym. Nobody from NFL.com or ESPN.com or Yahoo.com or really anybody else uses a fake name, so why should I?
Therefore, "Sexy Rexy" is gone and Adam Kaplan is here to stay.
For now.
____________________
Also, in case anyway cares, my twitter handle has also changed. It is now @AdamKaplanGOI
2011 GOI Draft Write Up
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cubsfan4evr1's opinion was not originally in this post but it is currently in it now. I am still waiting on The 'Bright' One's opinion (although I might be waiting for a while)
This is a 14 team, PPR, auction league. The rosters look like this: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF, 6 BN.
SEXY REXY
My goal in the draft was to get a top 3 RB, a top 5 QB, two top 15 WR, a one dollar TE, K, and DEF, and two middle of the pack guys for my RB and flex with a bunch of scrubs and nothings and dollar bids for my bench. Like all my drafts, I have a sheet of how much I wanted to spend per position. But after a half an hour into the draft, after I had not picked up anybody yet, and after the one RB left that I wanted- Philly’s LeSean McCoy- went for WAY too much money (DME and I got into a bidding war where he paid $68 for McCoy and as much as I love McCoy and needed a #1 RB there was in way in hell I was going to spend at least $69 on him, McCoy ended up being the second highest paid player in the draft behind AD). At that point I literally crumpled up my draft prep sheet and threw it out the window (OK, I didn’t throw it out the window but I did throw it behind me and just started paying for talent and value as opposed to my original plan). While I always recommend having a plan going into an auction drafts, this is just a perfect example of how you need to do your homework in order to be able to adapt to your draft.
The running backs I did end up getting were Michael Turner ($51) and Matt Forte ($33). Before I got these two guys I had no backs and Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles, Rashard Mendenhall, Arian Foster, Darren McFadden, Maurice Jones-Drew, and now LeSean McCoy were all off the board. I had both Forte and Turner in my top ten- not necessarily because I think they will end up being top guys but because I think they come with significantly less risk that about half the guys mentioned in the previous sentence. My quarterback, and actually my first pick in this draft was Tom Brady ($23). I think this was the best value in the draft and I have no idea how Brady came to me for this low. Brady came cheaper than both Matt Ryan ($26) and Philip Rivers ($28). I originally allocated $33 for a quarterback and I was targeting my man crush Rivers but I have Brady higher on my draft board and come on, for that price, how could I pass it up? My main wide receivers are Mike Wallace ($34) and Santonio Holmes ($21). I never really had a plan for my wide outs but I love Wallace and I don’t care that this is a PPR league. I was originally targeting Mario Manningham as my second receiver but when Santonio Holmes got thrown out there were plenty of other teams who still needed a second wide out, I knew people liked Manningham, I didn’t want to get into another bidding war and I felt like $21 was a really good price for Holmes. Manningham ended up going for $18 but what are you going to do. My other main starters are Reggie Bush ($8) and Ryan Grant ($16). I really like Bush and I think he’ll be this year’s Darren McFadden (this is based off of nothing but a gut feeling) and I like Grant. Truthfully, I drafted Grant before I realized Green Bay thought he was herpes but this guy had been too good in the league for too long that I refuse he won’t exceed the sixteen bucks I paid for him.
I spent most of my money at this point and that’s fine with me. Out of the 14 teams in this league only four had no money left over (three being GOI authors and one of them was not Cubsfan) and I prefer to use up all my money- that means I spent efficiently. My view of the bench is that you don’t need them until a bye- and even then chances are there’s a better guy that week to play on the waiver wire than the guy on your team. For me, I probably should have cared because three out of my four running backs (Forte, Turner, and Grant) and one of my receivers (Holmes) have a bye on Wee8 but whatever. I’ll lose one week and win every other. The rest of my team that I drafted was Colt McCoy ($2), Stevan Ridley ($1), Randy Moss ($1), Denario Alexander ($1), Alex Hendry ($1), and San Diego Defense ($1). I have already drooped Ridley, Moss, and Alexander for Isaac Redman, Greg Little, and Mark Clayton. The depth for wide receiver was barren and all the trendy sleepers like Emmanuel Sanders and Deion Branch went for more than a dollar because the rest of the league was dumb and didn’t spend their money at the front end of their draft like you should. That’s fine with me. I’ll sacrifice getting good starters than getting trendy sleepers.
Lastly, we get to my tight ends. I drafted Aaron Hernandez ($6) and Dustin Keller ($1). My philosophy was that I was only going to spend a dollar on a TE. I threw out my boy Rob Gronkowski early hoping no one else liked him. A team bid two dollars in him and I stupidly didn’t go three. In hindsight I really should have. Two hours later Aaron Hernandez got thrown out and even though I like Gronk better I started bidding up Hernandez just to price enforce. I also stupidly didn’t realize how little money my price opponent had. The max amount he could have spend was five dollars so once I went six I was stuck with him because he wasn’t able to bid seven. This was my biggest mistake of the draft because after this I was relegated to one dollar players. If I didn’t spend that much on a TE like I wanted maybe I could have gotten my wide out sleepers like Sanders and Branch. Oh well. C’est Le Vie. I still am super pumped at the way my team turned out and if my TE and bench guys are the worst part of my team then so be it.
Here are a few notes I have on this draft as a whole:
- Quarterbacks went severely undervalued. I have no idea why considering this is a 14 team league where having a quarterback is extremely important. Friend-of-the-site D.B. originally bought Matt Ryan early and then spent $21 on Matt Schaub just because he saw Schaub for $20 and couldn’t let that stand. My friend Ted, another person I was drafting with, bought Tony Romo ($14), Kevin Kolb ($7), and Ben Roethlisberger ($17) just because the prices were too good. This means that the top 10 quarterbacks are on eight teams.
- The one quarterback that apparently everyone wanted was Josh Freeman as two owners got in a bidding war for him. He went for $16. One less than Peyton Manning. Two dollars more than Tony Romo.
- Even though I wanted McCoy, the fact that he went for $68, the second highest drafted player, was the worst value in the draft. I’m super pumped I didn’t end up getting him.
- Arian Foster went for $58 and was the second person drafted behind Michael Vick. I was so dumb. I knew he would be a great value and I was willing to spend $65+ on him yet I have no idea why I didn’t. Even knowing what I know now I think that’s the best value in the draft. (Well, behind Tom Brady).
- One team spent $71 on Adrian Peterson and $63 on Jamaal Charles. I’m sure he spent the rest of the draft bored out of his mind. His QB is Sam Bradford and TE is Gronk . That’s a damn fine core. Now his wide receivers are pretty bad (Danny Amendola, Mike Thomas, Davone Bess, Jacoby Jones, and AJ Green) but with Peterson and Charles he might win every week. He also drafted James Starks. Drafting two top 3 running backs is not a strategy I recommend or would ever do, but it’s very interesting.
CUBSFAN4EVR1
Going into the Game of Inches fantasy football draft I had a strategy that I was going to follow to the T; I thought I was going to be golden. It was the same strategy I used last year which would have been dominating if two of my key players would have played the entire season and I didn’t have a really bad week in the first week of the playoffs, which was just really bad luck. So I believed in this strategy as long as I could follow it………………………………
My original plan was to draft a top 5 running back, two mid tier wide receivers (from my target list), two mid tier running backs, and an average quarterback. As you will learn I did not follow this strategy at all and altered my strategy completely during the draft that TBO could see from the frustration on my face. I was not going to give into the over valuing of these elite RB though!
My plan was to draft a marquee running back to anchor my team. My first choice was Jamaal Charles who I think is going to have a monster season and could be the number one running back at the end of the season. I was willing to pay $60 for Charles and he went for $63. I was also willing to pay $60 for Rice and he went for $65. Those were the only top two running backs from the top tier that I liked enough to pay the big bucks for. I obviously like Adrian Peterson and Arian Foster, but did not want to pay $72 for Adrian Peterson.
After missing out on Rice and Charles and passing on the rest of the elite running backs I was targeting LeSean McCoy who is a great PPR player, but so was everyone for that reason. I was hoping to get him for under $40 but there was a bidding war for him and he ended up going at a ridiculous $68. That is more than Rice and as much as Charles who are both better. So I stopped bidding around 40 and turned my attention to Shonn Green who I actually won for won and over paid for at 37 dollar in a PPR league. He doesn’t catch at all, but I needed a good running back, and most of the good ones were going off the board in a hurry at values I didn’t want to pay. Another guy I wanted was LeGarrette Blount but he went for $31 which I thought was way too high in a PPR league. I bought Felix Jones at $24 who is a good PPR player and in a good offense. I also took a gamble on Ingram for $13 who could pay off. My goal was to buy a top RB in the 50 dollar range, but unfortunately this did not happen. Instead I ended up getting value running backs to fit PPR leagues such as Felix Jones, Ingram, and settling on Green if I needed a good running back. If this wasn’t a PPR league LeGarrette Blount is someone I would have paid more for.
Arian Foster ended up only going for $58 so I don’t know what I was thinking, or everyone else was for that matter, and I should have bid up to $60. He wasn’t part of my strategy because I thought he was going to be too expensive, but he turned out to be less that Ray Rice and Jamal Charles which is crazy!
I don’t like paying for a top wide receiver; instead I like to find the value wide receivers. I was targeting Miles Austin who I was willing to pay $34 for and he went for $36 to TBO. If I lost out on Austin I settled for two wide receivers I like a lot in Anquan Boldin for a great price of 20 bucks and Brandon Marshall for 23. I think both will have great seasons and be good PPR players. If you don’t want to pay the price for Roddy White or Andre Johnson, these are two great alternatives who may not be as good, but will be for half the price.
I was going to target a average quarterback like Romo, Freeman, Ryan, but with my strategy changing in the middle of the draft and having more money because I didn’t buy an elite running back I decided to buy a top quarterback. Out of all of the top quarterbacks I really like Phillip Rivers this year so I invested $28 for him to anchor my team. A great QB can carry your team in a deep 14 team league like this; even though Romo went for a great value at 14 dollars and Freeman at 16 dollars.
Typically I don’t invest in defense or kickers, but I had extra money to burn so I may as well buy the Pittsburgh Steelers defense for $4. I also bought Nate Kaeding for $3. I think Jared Cook, a tight end for the Titans, will have a big year so I got him for $5. The biggest regret was not bidding more for Daniel Thomas who is in the doghouse now, but I think will have a good season. Miami loves to run the ball and Reggie Bush can’t stay healthy.
With me changing my strategy on the fly I can’t say I love my team not having any elite players besides Phillip Rivers, but I think I have a solid team with a lot of potential so I like my chances.
DAVID “MVP” ECKSTEIN
My team largely consists of players my two fantasy football expert friends recommended that did not seem overpriced (LeSean McCoy excepted), and players whose name I recognized from the TV show The League. I'd love to give more analysis than that, but there really was none. If I beat Sexy Rexy this year, I'll never let him live it down.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: DME is lucky in the sense that he is fully entrenched in the fantasy community because of fantasy baseball that he magically happen to come across fantasy football experts, like those from KFFL, who gave him a draft cheat sheet. And no way we experts at GOI were going to give him any advice. Also, while I kind of do like the player’s on DME’s team (McCoy, Kenny Britt, Larry Fitzgerald, Mike Tolbert). He did not actually draft players based on The League although his team’s name, The Fear Boners, is from the show. Also, he is not going to beat Sexy Rexy.)
This is a 14 team, PPR, auction league. The rosters look like this: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF, 6 BN.
SEXY REXY
My goal in the draft was to get a top 3 RB, a top 5 QB, two top 15 WR, a one dollar TE, K, and DEF, and two middle of the pack guys for my RB and flex with a bunch of scrubs and nothings and dollar bids for my bench. Like all my drafts, I have a sheet of how much I wanted to spend per position. But after a half an hour into the draft, after I had not picked up anybody yet, and after the one RB left that I wanted- Philly’s LeSean McCoy- went for WAY too much money (DME and I got into a bidding war where he paid $68 for McCoy and as much as I love McCoy and needed a #1 RB there was in way in hell I was going to spend at least $69 on him, McCoy ended up being the second highest paid player in the draft behind AD). At that point I literally crumpled up my draft prep sheet and threw it out the window (OK, I didn’t throw it out the window but I did throw it behind me and just started paying for talent and value as opposed to my original plan). While I always recommend having a plan going into an auction drafts, this is just a perfect example of how you need to do your homework in order to be able to adapt to your draft.
The running backs I did end up getting were Michael Turner ($51) and Matt Forte ($33). Before I got these two guys I had no backs and Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles, Rashard Mendenhall, Arian Foster, Darren McFadden, Maurice Jones-Drew, and now LeSean McCoy were all off the board. I had both Forte and Turner in my top ten- not necessarily because I think they will end up being top guys but because I think they come with significantly less risk that about half the guys mentioned in the previous sentence. My quarterback, and actually my first pick in this draft was Tom Brady ($23). I think this was the best value in the draft and I have no idea how Brady came to me for this low. Brady came cheaper than both Matt Ryan ($26) and Philip Rivers ($28). I originally allocated $33 for a quarterback and I was targeting my man crush Rivers but I have Brady higher on my draft board and come on, for that price, how could I pass it up? My main wide receivers are Mike Wallace ($34) and Santonio Holmes ($21). I never really had a plan for my wide outs but I love Wallace and I don’t care that this is a PPR league. I was originally targeting Mario Manningham as my second receiver but when Santonio Holmes got thrown out there were plenty of other teams who still needed a second wide out, I knew people liked Manningham, I didn’t want to get into another bidding war and I felt like $21 was a really good price for Holmes. Manningham ended up going for $18 but what are you going to do. My other main starters are Reggie Bush ($8) and Ryan Grant ($16). I really like Bush and I think he’ll be this year’s Darren McFadden (this is based off of nothing but a gut feeling) and I like Grant. Truthfully, I drafted Grant before I realized Green Bay thought he was herpes but this guy had been too good in the league for too long that I refuse he won’t exceed the sixteen bucks I paid for him.
I spent most of my money at this point and that’s fine with me. Out of the 14 teams in this league only four had no money left over (three being GOI authors and one of them was not Cubsfan) and I prefer to use up all my money- that means I spent efficiently. My view of the bench is that you don’t need them until a bye- and even then chances are there’s a better guy that week to play on the waiver wire than the guy on your team. For me, I probably should have cared because three out of my four running backs (Forte, Turner, and Grant) and one of my receivers (Holmes) have a bye on Wee8 but whatever. I’ll lose one week and win every other. The rest of my team that I drafted was Colt McCoy ($2), Stevan Ridley ($1), Randy Moss ($1), Denario Alexander ($1), Alex Hendry ($1), and San Diego Defense ($1). I have already drooped Ridley, Moss, and Alexander for Isaac Redman, Greg Little, and Mark Clayton. The depth for wide receiver was barren and all the trendy sleepers like Emmanuel Sanders and Deion Branch went for more than a dollar because the rest of the league was dumb and didn’t spend their money at the front end of their draft like you should. That’s fine with me. I’ll sacrifice getting good starters than getting trendy sleepers.
Lastly, we get to my tight ends. I drafted Aaron Hernandez ($6) and Dustin Keller ($1). My philosophy was that I was only going to spend a dollar on a TE. I threw out my boy Rob Gronkowski early hoping no one else liked him. A team bid two dollars in him and I stupidly didn’t go three. In hindsight I really should have. Two hours later Aaron Hernandez got thrown out and even though I like Gronk better I started bidding up Hernandez just to price enforce. I also stupidly didn’t realize how little money my price opponent had. The max amount he could have spend was five dollars so once I went six I was stuck with him because he wasn’t able to bid seven. This was my biggest mistake of the draft because after this I was relegated to one dollar players. If I didn’t spend that much on a TE like I wanted maybe I could have gotten my wide out sleepers like Sanders and Branch. Oh well. C’est Le Vie. I still am super pumped at the way my team turned out and if my TE and bench guys are the worst part of my team then so be it.
Here are a few notes I have on this draft as a whole:
- Quarterbacks went severely undervalued. I have no idea why considering this is a 14 team league where having a quarterback is extremely important. Friend-of-the-site D.B. originally bought Matt Ryan early and then spent $21 on Matt Schaub just because he saw Schaub for $20 and couldn’t let that stand. My friend Ted, another person I was drafting with, bought Tony Romo ($14), Kevin Kolb ($7), and Ben Roethlisberger ($17) just because the prices were too good. This means that the top 10 quarterbacks are on eight teams.
- The one quarterback that apparently everyone wanted was Josh Freeman as two owners got in a bidding war for him. He went for $16. One less than Peyton Manning. Two dollars more than Tony Romo.
- Even though I wanted McCoy, the fact that he went for $68, the second highest drafted player, was the worst value in the draft. I’m super pumped I didn’t end up getting him.
- Arian Foster went for $58 and was the second person drafted behind Michael Vick. I was so dumb. I knew he would be a great value and I was willing to spend $65+ on him yet I have no idea why I didn’t. Even knowing what I know now I think that’s the best value in the draft. (Well, behind Tom Brady).
- One team spent $71 on Adrian Peterson and $63 on Jamaal Charles. I’m sure he spent the rest of the draft bored out of his mind. His QB is Sam Bradford and TE is Gronk . That’s a damn fine core. Now his wide receivers are pretty bad (Danny Amendola, Mike Thomas, Davone Bess, Jacoby Jones, and AJ Green) but with Peterson and Charles he might win every week. He also drafted James Starks. Drafting two top 3 running backs is not a strategy I recommend or would ever do, but it’s very interesting.
CUBSFAN4EVR1
Going into the Game of Inches fantasy football draft I had a strategy that I was going to follow to the T; I thought I was going to be golden. It was the same strategy I used last year which would have been dominating if two of my key players would have played the entire season and I didn’t have a really bad week in the first week of the playoffs, which was just really bad luck. So I believed in this strategy as long as I could follow it………………………………
My original plan was to draft a top 5 running back, two mid tier wide receivers (from my target list), two mid tier running backs, and an average quarterback. As you will learn I did not follow this strategy at all and altered my strategy completely during the draft that TBO could see from the frustration on my face. I was not going to give into the over valuing of these elite RB though!
My plan was to draft a marquee running back to anchor my team. My first choice was Jamaal Charles who I think is going to have a monster season and could be the number one running back at the end of the season. I was willing to pay $60 for Charles and he went for $63. I was also willing to pay $60 for Rice and he went for $65. Those were the only top two running backs from the top tier that I liked enough to pay the big bucks for. I obviously like Adrian Peterson and Arian Foster, but did not want to pay $72 for Adrian Peterson.
After missing out on Rice and Charles and passing on the rest of the elite running backs I was targeting LeSean McCoy who is a great PPR player, but so was everyone for that reason. I was hoping to get him for under $40 but there was a bidding war for him and he ended up going at a ridiculous $68. That is more than Rice and as much as Charles who are both better. So I stopped bidding around 40 and turned my attention to Shonn Green who I actually won for won and over paid for at 37 dollar in a PPR league. He doesn’t catch at all, but I needed a good running back, and most of the good ones were going off the board in a hurry at values I didn’t want to pay. Another guy I wanted was LeGarrette Blount but he went for $31 which I thought was way too high in a PPR league. I bought Felix Jones at $24 who is a good PPR player and in a good offense. I also took a gamble on Ingram for $13 who could pay off. My goal was to buy a top RB in the 50 dollar range, but unfortunately this did not happen. Instead I ended up getting value running backs to fit PPR leagues such as Felix Jones, Ingram, and settling on Green if I needed a good running back. If this wasn’t a PPR league LeGarrette Blount is someone I would have paid more for.
Arian Foster ended up only going for $58 so I don’t know what I was thinking, or everyone else was for that matter, and I should have bid up to $60. He wasn’t part of my strategy because I thought he was going to be too expensive, but he turned out to be less that Ray Rice and Jamal Charles which is crazy!
I don’t like paying for a top wide receiver; instead I like to find the value wide receivers. I was targeting Miles Austin who I was willing to pay $34 for and he went for $36 to TBO. If I lost out on Austin I settled for two wide receivers I like a lot in Anquan Boldin for a great price of 20 bucks and Brandon Marshall for 23. I think both will have great seasons and be good PPR players. If you don’t want to pay the price for Roddy White or Andre Johnson, these are two great alternatives who may not be as good, but will be for half the price.
I was going to target a average quarterback like Romo, Freeman, Ryan, but with my strategy changing in the middle of the draft and having more money because I didn’t buy an elite running back I decided to buy a top quarterback. Out of all of the top quarterbacks I really like Phillip Rivers this year so I invested $28 for him to anchor my team. A great QB can carry your team in a deep 14 team league like this; even though Romo went for a great value at 14 dollars and Freeman at 16 dollars.
Typically I don’t invest in defense or kickers, but I had extra money to burn so I may as well buy the Pittsburgh Steelers defense for $4. I also bought Nate Kaeding for $3. I think Jared Cook, a tight end for the Titans, will have a big year so I got him for $5. The biggest regret was not bidding more for Daniel Thomas who is in the doghouse now, but I think will have a good season. Miami loves to run the ball and Reggie Bush can’t stay healthy.
With me changing my strategy on the fly I can’t say I love my team not having any elite players besides Phillip Rivers, but I think I have a solid team with a lot of potential so I like my chances.
DAVID “MVP” ECKSTEIN
My team largely consists of players my two fantasy football expert friends recommended that did not seem overpriced (LeSean McCoy excepted), and players whose name I recognized from the TV show The League. I'd love to give more analysis than that, but there really was none. If I beat Sexy Rexy this year, I'll never let him live it down.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: DME is lucky in the sense that he is fully entrenched in the fantasy community because of fantasy baseball that he magically happen to come across fantasy football experts, like those from KFFL, who gave him a draft cheat sheet. And no way we experts at GOI were going to give him any advice. Also, while I kind of do like the player’s on DME’s team (McCoy, Kenny Britt, Larry Fitzgerald, Mike Tolbert). He did not actually draft players based on The League although his team’s name, The Fear Boners, is from the show. Also, he is not going to beat Sexy Rexy.)
TBO and Sexy Rexy Reunite For A Long Awaited Podcast
New podcast on a newish site. Listen here!
____________
SEXY REXY'S EDITOR'S NOTE: If you'd like a mp3 file of the podcast to listen to it on your iPod, email gameofinchesblog@gmail.com. Sorry for the technical difficulties, we're working on putting this momentous podcast to our iTunes account
____________
SEXY REXY'S EDITOR'S NOTE: If you'd like a mp3 file of the podcast to listen to it on your iPod, email gameofinchesblog@gmail.com. Sorry for the technical difficulties, we're working on putting this momentous podcast to our iTunes account
Sexy Rexy as Kenny Powers
For Halloween I dressed up and GOI favorite Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down. Here are some awesome photos from a great great character
And now me with some other people
And now me with some other people
New Podcasts Up with FFSpin
Sexy Rexy and Scott Pashley from FFSpin.com discuss all things fantasy football related like the Arizona QB and WR situation, the Denver WR situation, Pierre Thomas, the Philadelphia Eagles and much much more in this two part podcast.
You can listen to Part One here
You can listen to Part Two here
You can listen to Part One here
You can listen to Part Two here
TBO vs Sexy Rexy vs *Cubsfan* QB Ranking
Only difference is my ranking includes Matt Leinart and Sexy Rexy's does not, oh and the fact that SR's is completely wrong.
Sexy Rexy On Fantasy Focus: Baseball
After YEARS of writing in to ESPN's Fantasy Focus, a quick e-mail I shot them last night for giggles got read by Nate and Matthew. If you listen starting at 25:07 in, they read my question and answer it for the rest of the show (and for the record I did mean Matthew was the weasel, although I did only want Nate's advice anyway). Now I only have 14 minutes and 59 seconds left. Damn.
Go to the iTunes store, download the 4/6/10 version of the Fantasy Focus to keep this precious moment in time. Or you can listen here.
Go to the iTunes store, download the 4/6/10 version of the Fantasy Focus to keep this precious moment in time. Or you can listen here.
A Special Month for GOI!
A year ago we created this blog Game of Inches. Our one year anniversary was two days ago on Tuesday December 8th, 2009. All of our loyal readers should know that from our posts on that day: Call Me Crazy, But Bert Blyleven Deserves To Be In The Hall Of Fame, We're On A Mission...Year 2, and A Special Day.
Even though our Anniversary was two years ago, it doesn't mean that just December 8th is special. This whole month is special for Game Of Inches! So please, this month tell all of your friends about us, have them check us out and please give us your feedback to the blog and to the articles by leaving comments.
Our first Post ever, by David "MVP" Eckstein:
We're on a mission...
Our second post, and first sports related by Sexy Rexy:
Kerry Collins for MVP!!!
We had 64 posts last December and our goal is to surpass that number this December. We currently have 1150 posts for 2009, but we still have a few weeks left. Thanks for reading and tell your friends!
Even though our Anniversary was two years ago, it doesn't mean that just December 8th is special. This whole month is special for Game Of Inches! So please, this month tell all of your friends about us, have them check us out and please give us your feedback to the blog and to the articles by leaving comments.
Our first Post ever, by David "MVP" Eckstein:
We're on a mission...
Our second post, and first sports related by Sexy Rexy:
Kerry Collins for MVP!!!
We had 64 posts last December and our goal is to surpass that number this December. We currently have 1150 posts for 2009, but we still have a few weeks left. Thanks for reading and tell your friends!
A Special Day
As you should know by now (from the two previous posts), this is a very special day for Game Of Inches. That is because a year ago we started this blog! All four of us have had a great time writing and working on this blog over the last year. We hope that all of our readers have enjoyed Game of Inches. Having four writers, we are able to bring you a variety of stories covering different sports. David "MVP" Eckstein and Sexy Rexy have already posted why we created this site and the goal of it. We hope that you enjoy it.
Over the Course of the past year we have already branched out from just being a blog. You can follow us on Twitter and listen to our podcats. We also have a facebook group. We would like to hear from you any feedback you have about the blog and what we do. Please e-mail us at gameofinchesblog@gmail.com.
Thanks for all of your support over the last year! Please tell your friends about us and spread the word!
Over the Course of the past year we have already branched out from just being a blog. You can follow us on Twitter and listen to our podcats. We also have a facebook group. We would like to hear from you any feedback you have about the blog and what we do. Please e-mail us at gameofinchesblog@gmail.com.
Thanks for all of your support over the last year! Please tell your friends about us and spread the word!
We're On A Mission...Year 2
It was just a short year ago that David "MVP" Eckstein uttered these revolutionary words that began the phenomenon that is GameOfInches
With the recent death of FireJoeMorgan.com, and thus all hilarious sports commentary -- unless you count the frequent and unintentionally hilarious, but stupid comments made nightly by Steve Phillips, Steven A. Smith and John Kruk (which we do) -- four bold men embarked on a simple mission: to do sports commentary online...for free (seriously, fuck paying for shit). They began with a simple purpose. A simple, but noble purpose, with a rock-solid plan-of-action to back it up...All we have to say is if you're not first, you're last. So Deadspin, look out cause we're coming for you. Unless we get drunk again in which case this new template will have to do
...but then they got drunk. What resulted was this website. Too lazy and hung over to change things, they said "fuck it" and used this template and host name to forever complain about all things "point-related." The rest is, was, and will be history.
Enjoy.
-December 8, 2008
Me Trying To Kick a Field Goal
So I don't know exactly how to embed a video I have on facebook where I don't have the actual video, but if you want to see try to kick th football from like 2 feet away, click here
Friend of the podcast Keith, trying to kick a FG
Friend of the podcast Keith, trying to kick a FG
In Defense Of My Fantasy Strategy
First of all Journalissimo, when did you become a contributor, I thought we told you "NO!" Anyway, this seriously is a private matter; although via new technology like Twitter and Facebook America's personal privacy has declined, that doesn't mean it went the way of the DoDo bird. But since you have publicized it, I will retort.
1) Right now my Roto teams are currently both in third (although in the pay co-op league we've been first for a long time and it just so happens to unfortunately be 3rd at this exact moment), one of my head-to-head teams is in 2nd place and I won my last fantasy football league. Let's give me some props, establish my ethos if you will, that after a few years of this I've gotten the hang of it. And although this season's not even a month old, I don't think it's unfair to say that a strategy of mine is worth, at minimum, entertaining (and of course at maximum following).
2)Manny Parra sucks! I don't want any player on my team for the sole purpose of having them, Parra included. Although I believe in accumulating pitchers, I believe those pitchers still have to be quality. Guys who I drafted in the later rounds or whom I pick up in free agency all have to meet personal standards of quality. Every single starting pitcher on my team I believe will have a low WHIP and ERA. This must come first. And if for some reason they don't, they need to strike out a shit ton of guys. (Ideally getting a lot of wins helps too and/or if they don't get a lot of Ks they DO get a lot of W's, but that's so hard to predict that I just really stay away). I believe C.C., Jurrgins, W-Rod, Kazmir (although I'm skeptical lately), Liriano, and Slowey will all have low WHIP and low ERAs or have have proven to me that they can realistically do so. Brett Myers is the only exception- although currently he's our team's best K guy.
2) It's necessary. One of the team main benefits of this strategy is that we will more easily be able to accrue W and K. If all of our guys have low WHIPs and ERAs like I predict, then the other to stats are just icing on the cake. And not only that, but there are other teams that have better pitching than us (like David "MVP" Eckstein's team- seriously guys, why are you still trading with him, he's gotten the better end of like the 10 million trades he's made already!). If we want to compete with better teams, then we NEED all the help we can get. And this also gives our team the advantage over the few teams that have absolutely no pitching depth
3) This is a Zero Sum Game. If I were the only owner to have this strategy, then yes maybe I could be blamed for causing inflation. But I am not. If I don't get a lot of pitchers, someone else will. I believe this is an effective strategy so if someone else implements it (which they will), our team will be hurt in some way. This will cause "overvaluing" as you say. But just because I partake in this strategy doesn't mean I am to blame.
4) Who says we can't have awesome hitting all year? This is an assumption you make and I don't think it's necessarily true. I think I drafted extremely well and I think, and I know you agree, it's pretty stacked. In fact right now we're first in R and SB and t-2nd in HRs. I think this offense can consistently produce all year. And if for some reason one player gets injured, we can always ride the wave of someone who's hot and sitting in waivers in the short term. You claim "A suitable replacement might not always be available on the waivers, but perhaps on the bench." "Perhaps"? Perhaps our bench sucks. Perhaps, there IS someone good via waivers. Perhaps DaMonkeys will win that pay league. Perhaps a lot of things COULD happen. But I can almost assure that at least ONE good player will be available via waiver for us.
5) How can you say for sure when a player is in or out of a streak? Recently, I got fed up with Chris Iannetta. The day I benched him he hit a HR with 2 RBI and 2 R and went like 2-4. In the short term, it was a terrible idea to bench him. But who says in the long term our replacement (Suzuki) won't be better? Maybe Iannetta will slump some more or maybe he just got out of it. The point is you can never really say for sure when a player is in or out of a slump. You can never tell if a player will continue his hitting streak or if the next day he goes into one of his flows. In fact, because it's a roto league, we can handle players that go streaky for a bit. We are projecting how a player will perform over the course of an entire 162 game season. If I project a player to hit .300, I can deal with him hitting .100 for a week or so but I can say with confidence he'll rebound. Obviously at some point if a player you think is going too many ABs while slumping you have to bench him- which is what I did with Iannetta. But I'm not going to bench Cristain Guzman when he goes like 6-50 one week-- in fact I know we will do this soon because no way in hell he's going to manage a .400+ BA. In fact, you are the one that will hurt the team long term if you have batting depth that will sub in when a player just because he had a bad few games. Because of the uncertainty of streaks, I will say you are more prone to potentially hurting the team that way.
I believe all players on the team are very good and will positively produce. Which means all the offensive starters will produce and so will every single pitcher I have. So why waste batting on the bench? Even though if I have them on my team so I believe they are good, they do nothing to help my overall team
1) Right now my Roto teams are currently both in third (although in the pay co-op league we've been first for a long time and it just so happens to unfortunately be 3rd at this exact moment), one of my head-to-head teams is in 2nd place and I won my last fantasy football league. Let's give me some props, establish my ethos if you will, that after a few years of this I've gotten the hang of it. And although this season's not even a month old, I don't think it's unfair to say that a strategy of mine is worth, at minimum, entertaining (and of course at maximum following).
2)Manny Parra sucks! I don't want any player on my team for the sole purpose of having them, Parra included. Although I believe in accumulating pitchers, I believe those pitchers still have to be quality. Guys who I drafted in the later rounds or whom I pick up in free agency all have to meet personal standards of quality. Every single starting pitcher on my team I believe will have a low WHIP and ERA. This must come first. And if for some reason they don't, they need to strike out a shit ton of guys. (Ideally getting a lot of wins helps too and/or if they don't get a lot of Ks they DO get a lot of W's, but that's so hard to predict that I just really stay away). I believe C.C., Jurrgins, W-Rod, Kazmir (although I'm skeptical lately), Liriano, and Slowey will all have low WHIP and low ERAs or have have proven to me that they can realistically do so. Brett Myers is the only exception- although currently he's our team's best K guy.
2) It's necessary. One of the team main benefits of this strategy is that we will more easily be able to accrue W and K. If all of our guys have low WHIPs and ERAs like I predict, then the other to stats are just icing on the cake. And not only that, but there are other teams that have better pitching than us (like David "MVP" Eckstein's team- seriously guys, why are you still trading with him, he's gotten the better end of like the 10 million trades he's made already!). If we want to compete with better teams, then we NEED all the help we can get. And this also gives our team the advantage over the few teams that have absolutely no pitching depth
3) This is a Zero Sum Game. If I were the only owner to have this strategy, then yes maybe I could be blamed for causing inflation. But I am not. If I don't get a lot of pitchers, someone else will. I believe this is an effective strategy so if someone else implements it (which they will), our team will be hurt in some way. This will cause "overvaluing" as you say. But just because I partake in this strategy doesn't mean I am to blame.
4) Who says we can't have awesome hitting all year? This is an assumption you make and I don't think it's necessarily true. I think I drafted extremely well and I think, and I know you agree, it's pretty stacked. In fact right now we're first in R and SB and t-2nd in HRs. I think this offense can consistently produce all year. And if for some reason one player gets injured, we can always ride the wave of someone who's hot and sitting in waivers in the short term. You claim "A suitable replacement might not always be available on the waivers, but perhaps on the bench." "Perhaps"? Perhaps our bench sucks. Perhaps, there IS someone good via waivers. Perhaps DaMonkeys will win that pay league. Perhaps a lot of things COULD happen. But I can almost assure that at least ONE good player will be available via waiver for us.
5) How can you say for sure when a player is in or out of a streak? Recently, I got fed up with Chris Iannetta. The day I benched him he hit a HR with 2 RBI and 2 R and went like 2-4. In the short term, it was a terrible idea to bench him. But who says in the long term our replacement (Suzuki) won't be better? Maybe Iannetta will slump some more or maybe he just got out of it. The point is you can never really say for sure when a player is in or out of a slump. You can never tell if a player will continue his hitting streak or if the next day he goes into one of his flows. In fact, because it's a roto league, we can handle players that go streaky for a bit. We are projecting how a player will perform over the course of an entire 162 game season. If I project a player to hit .300, I can deal with him hitting .100 for a week or so but I can say with confidence he'll rebound. Obviously at some point if a player you think is going too many ABs while slumping you have to bench him- which is what I did with Iannetta. But I'm not going to bench Cristain Guzman when he goes like 6-50 one week-- in fact I know we will do this soon because no way in hell he's going to manage a .400+ BA. In fact, you are the one that will hurt the team long term if you have batting depth that will sub in when a player just because he had a bad few games. Because of the uncertainty of streaks, I will say you are more prone to potentially hurting the team that way.
I believe all players on the team are very good and will positively produce. Which means all the offensive starters will produce and so will every single pitcher I have. So why waste batting on the bench? Even though if I have them on my team so I believe they are good, they do nothing to help my overall team
Why I disagree with Sexy Rexy's fantasy strategy.
Sexy Rexy: I Love You. I mean that in a sincere and not homosexual way (not that there's anything wrong with that.) Really just more in a familial way, if you get where I'm coming from. I don't mean this as a personal attack. Just a simple disagreement.
For those of you who don't know, Sexy Rexy and I are co-managers of a team in the paid roto league. I don't know his motivation, but I'm too cheap to pay for one on my own. Seriously Eckstein, why is the entry fee so high? How much money do you think we make? I serve food to ungrateful college students three nights a week for my money. Where is this magical disposable income coming from. But hey, I guess we all don't have degrees yet.
Anyways, I digress. I would have had this disagreement privately, but ever since Twitter, privacy seems as unnecessary as (insert random Bill Simmons movie reference), so screw that. So, if you all haven't figured it out already, Rexy loves accumulating pitching depth. I figured it out very quickly, as I'm also competing against him in three different leagues. All a bit hectic considering my busy high octane work schedule. His theory is that you can rotate starting pitchers in and out based on when they start and have a core of relief pitchers permanently there. Offensive bench players basically only sit there and do nothing most of the time, coming in only for the occasional spot start, thus rendering them useless most of the time.
Now, this is a completely valid and respectable theory. Frankly, it makes perfect sense. However, I have a few problems with it. One, as had happened, other people see this theory. They say to themselves, 'hmm, that makes sense. I'm gonna accumulate pitching depth at the expense of my offensive bench.' All of a sudden, Manny Parra becomes highly touted and teams are vying to pick up Johnny Cueto. When every, or many, teams take up this strategy, demand gets driven up. For those teams that legitimately need pitching help, it is increasingly difficult to find good pitchers on waivers and teams are less likely to trade away pitchers. Let's say a few key pitchers on your team go down midseason. Replacements are going to be hard to find.
This brings me to my second point: injuries and consistency on offense. Sexy Rexy's strategy presupposes that his offense is solid across the board and will stay consistently strong throughout the season. This is not always the case. Players hit rough patches. For example, Dan Uggla might get to a point in the season where he hits for a low average. You wouldn't want to drop the player necessarily, but you would need a solid replacement unless you wanted a significant dip in your stats. A quality replacement player might not be available via waivers or trade, so having a good replacement player on the bench helps. You could trade to get a replacement, but you'd have to give up a pitcher because that's all anyone in the league would want. Having some offensive depth ensures your team is protected should a hitter hit an extended cold streak or get injured for a few weeks. A suitable replacement might not always be available on the waivers, but perhaps on the bench.
In short, Sexy Rexy is potentially hurting himself and the rest of the league. He artifically inflates demand for pitchers within the league and leaves himself open to a world of hurt if a core offensive player gets hurt or goes on a slump.
Personally, I prefer a more balanced approach, with my bench players split between offense and pitching. That way I can sub pitchers in and out when they start so I accumulate enough W, IP, K, etc. and I have enough offensive depth to ensure the long-term success of my team
Then again, considering how my team is doing in Sexy Rexy's free roto league, I'm not sure I'm the most qualified person to be dishing out fantasy advice.
For those of you who don't know, Sexy Rexy and I are co-managers of a team in the paid roto league. I don't know his motivation, but I'm too cheap to pay for one on my own. Seriously Eckstein, why is the entry fee so high? How much money do you think we make? I serve food to ungrateful college students three nights a week for my money. Where is this magical disposable income coming from. But hey, I guess we all don't have degrees yet.
Anyways, I digress. I would have had this disagreement privately, but ever since Twitter, privacy seems as unnecessary as (insert random Bill Simmons movie reference), so screw that. So, if you all haven't figured it out already, Rexy loves accumulating pitching depth. I figured it out very quickly, as I'm also competing against him in three different leagues. All a bit hectic considering my busy high octane work schedule. His theory is that you can rotate starting pitchers in and out based on when they start and have a core of relief pitchers permanently there. Offensive bench players basically only sit there and do nothing most of the time, coming in only for the occasional spot start, thus rendering them useless most of the time.
Now, this is a completely valid and respectable theory. Frankly, it makes perfect sense. However, I have a few problems with it. One, as had happened, other people see this theory. They say to themselves, 'hmm, that makes sense. I'm gonna accumulate pitching depth at the expense of my offensive bench.' All of a sudden, Manny Parra becomes highly touted and teams are vying to pick up Johnny Cueto. When every, or many, teams take up this strategy, demand gets driven up. For those teams that legitimately need pitching help, it is increasingly difficult to find good pitchers on waivers and teams are less likely to trade away pitchers. Let's say a few key pitchers on your team go down midseason. Replacements are going to be hard to find.
This brings me to my second point: injuries and consistency on offense. Sexy Rexy's strategy presupposes that his offense is solid across the board and will stay consistently strong throughout the season. This is not always the case. Players hit rough patches. For example, Dan Uggla might get to a point in the season where he hits for a low average. You wouldn't want to drop the player necessarily, but you would need a solid replacement unless you wanted a significant dip in your stats. A quality replacement player might not be available via waivers or trade, so having a good replacement player on the bench helps. You could trade to get a replacement, but you'd have to give up a pitcher because that's all anyone in the league would want. Having some offensive depth ensures your team is protected should a hitter hit an extended cold streak or get injured for a few weeks. A suitable replacement might not always be available on the waivers, but perhaps on the bench.
In short, Sexy Rexy is potentially hurting himself and the rest of the league. He artifically inflates demand for pitchers within the league and leaves himself open to a world of hurt if a core offensive player gets hurt or goes on a slump.
Personally, I prefer a more balanced approach, with my bench players split between offense and pitching. That way I can sub pitchers in and out when they start so I accumulate enough W, IP, K, etc. and I have enough offensive depth to ensure the long-term success of my team
Then again, considering how my team is doing in Sexy Rexy's free roto league, I'm not sure I'm the most qualified person to be dishing out fantasy advice.
See David "MVP" Eckstein, I Can Do This Too!
Here's a section from a recent Jayson Stark "Rumblings and Grumbling" ESPN.com article:
We don't use words like "collusion" lightly at times like this, in a world like this.
So somewhere in this column, we're going to search for a different word, a more fitting word, to describe what might be the strangest offseason in modern baseball history.
For the moment, we don't know quite what to call it. But let's just say we're convinced what we've been witnessing hasn't been business as usual.
How far from usual has it all been? Well, we interrupt our national obsession with the continued unemployment of Manny Ramirez for this important announcement:
It isn't just Manny.
He has lots of company. Lots and lots and lots.
• There were five free agents this winter who drove in at least 100 runs last season. Three of those five are still unemployed (Manny, Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu).
• There were four free agents who scored 90 runs or more. Three of those four are still putting the "free" back in free agency (Manny, Abreu and Orlando Cabrera).
• There were 10 free agents who had batting averages over .295. Four of those 10 still don't have jobs (Manny, Orlando Hudson, Mark Grudzielanek and Abreu). And the job held by one of the other six (Sean Casey) is "broadcaster" -- a field he decided to enter because no team apparently thought a guy who hit .322 could play anymore.
• There were also 10 free agents who had an on-base percentage of .374 or better. Four of those 10 are still looking for work (Manny, Dunn, Ray Durham and Doug Mientkiewicz). And it would be five if we count Casey.
• There were 13 free agents who hit 20 home runs or more. Five of those 13 are still out there (Dunn, Manny, Abreu, Kevin Millar and Jim Edmonds). And a sixth (Ty Wigginton) didn't sign until two days ago.
• Finally, want to talk pitching?
And do we even need to remind you that it's February?
Yet we count 72 players who logged significant time in the big leagues in 2008 who are still out there, wondering where they're going to play -- or whether they're going to play -- in 2009. Yessir. That number was 72.
That number is closer to 90 if you count all big-league free agents.
Amazingly, eight of those players made at least $10 million last season. But now, with a week to go until spring training, none of them has a job.
So how do we explain that, huh?
When we raised this topic with Bud Selig a couple of weeks ago, he spent the next half hour reminding us that this was "the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression" -- and concluded: "I'm stunned if anybody thinks that there's something [like collusion] going on [and] doesn't understand what the economy is doing. I really am.
He isn't the only one. A high-ranking official of one AL team said: "Out of the 30 teams in the sport, 15 are scared to death by this economy. They're scared about ticket sales. They're scared that sponsorships are going to be cutting back. They're just scared."
Meanwhile, one NL club official had a more basic explanation. Essentially, he said, it's the agents' faults.
"Everybody predicted this," he said. "All the predictions said this market would be difficult, and these guys just misread it. They didn't take jobs that were offered, and now those jobs aren't there anymore. They had jobs. They didn't take them."
There's some truth to every one of those assessments.
There's more to this article, but it's REALLY long and if the rest of the article is like the first part then I'm going to have an aneurysm and die
We don't use words like "collusion" lightly at times like this, in a world like this.
But here we go
So somewhere in this column, we're going to search for a different word, a more fitting word, to describe what might be the strangest offseason in modern baseball history.
But my guess is that we’re actually going to talk about free agents and use useless statistics to wonder why these players are still free agents
For the moment, we don't know quite what to call it. But let's just say we're convinced what we've been witnessing hasn't been business as usual.
I don’t know about Jayson Stark, but my guess, I mean as a rational human being who understand baseball a little bit, is that I’m going to call it GM’s just being smart
How far from usual has it all been? Well, we interrupt our national obsession with the continued unemployment of Manny Ramirez for this important announcement:
I mean ESPN’s obsession because the nation just doesn’t give a fuck at this point
It isn't just Manny.
It's just Manny being 36 years old
He has lots of company. Lots and lots and lots.
Or maybe just Adam Dunn and other guys who used to be good or players who I think are good but actually aren'tWant to know how much? Here are some 100-percent factual tidbits that drive home precisely how widespread this free-agent meltdown has been:
Yes these tibits are technically "facts" but there also screwed stats to prove my point
• There were five free agents this winter who drove in at least 100 runs last season. Three of those five are still unemployed (Manny, Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu).
Yeah, my guess of using useless stats came true!
• There were four free agents who scored 90 runs or more. Three of those four are still putting the "free" back in free agency (Manny, Abreu and Orlando Cabrera).
OMFG, Orlando Cabrera who spent most of the year in the #1 hole was able to score at least 90 runs, sweet! He must be good if he can score at least 90 runs leading off games and being second in the AL last year with 661 ABs!
• There were 10 free agents who had batting averages over .295. Four of those 10 still don't have jobs (Manny, Orlando Hudson, Mark Grudzielanek and Abreu). And the job held by one of the other six (Sean Casey) is "broadcaster" -- a field he decided to enter because no team apparently thought a guy who hit .322 could play anymore.
Yes, more stats that really don't matter! I mean, fuck those things like walks and on base percentage to go along with that .295 BA
• There were also 10 free agents who had an on-base percentage of .374 or better. Four of those 10 are still looking for work (Manny, Dunn, Ray Durham and Doug Mientkiewicz). And it would be five if we count Casey.
OK, now we're getting somewhere. A player with an OBS of .374 is actually worth a look at.
• There were 13 free agents who hit 20 home runs or more. Five of those 13 are still out there (Dunn, Manny, Abreu, Kevin Millar and Jim Edmonds). And a sixth (Ty Wigginton) didn't sign until two days ago.
Yes, 20 HRs is pretty good but let's not look at things like age, defense, and slugging percentage. Not to mention neither Edmonds, Millar, nor Wigginton were on that list of having a .374 OBS or better
• Finally, want to talk pitching?
I guess Jayson StarkFive of the 12 free-agent starting pitchers who won 11 games or more don't have teams (six if you count Mike Mussina). Three of the eight who saved 15 games or more are still out of work. And three of the eight starters who had strikeout rates of better than seven whiffs per nine innings are still team-less.
1) When talking about free agents I'm going to make a specific purpose to mention a guy who retired to make my case look better and 2) I'm going to look at wins and saves, two stats that we "ESPN baseball insiders" like to point out so obviously GMs should too
And do we even need to remind you that it's February?
NOPE! Don't worry Jayson Stark, we can read letters and numbers that is on this new invention called a calendarOr that spring training starts in a week?
But not for everybody
Yet we count 72 players who logged significant time in the big leagues in 2008 who are still out there, wondering where they're going to play -- or whether they're going to play -- in 2009. Yessir. That number was 72.
But really only Adam Dunn and Manny on a short term contract or a long one with little money are TRUELY worth anything
That number is closer to 90 if you count all big-league free agents.
Again, that number is really just two. T-W-O. Ok, you win Jayson Stark, I'll also throw maybe Bobby Abreu in there as well. So three! Not fucking 72 or 90, only fucking 3!And if you count all unemployed free agents (including minor leaguers, players coming back from injuries or Japan, etc.), there are still well over 100 guys out of work. In the first week of February.
Hey, can I be a free agent as well Jayson with a "Y". Can I be free agent 101?
Amazingly, eight of those players made at least $10 million last season. But now, with a week to go until spring training, none of them has a job.
Oh my god, if a player got paid a lot of money he must have performed well, because no one who makes that much money can suck! Like Carl Pavano!
So how do we explain that, huh?
Again, my explanation is that GMs are not like Steve Stone, they're actually smart and rationalWell, depends on whom you ask. Obviously.
It's CLEARLY obvious but I'm going to point it out anyway
When we raised this topic with Bud Selig a couple of weeks ago, he spent the next half hour reminding us that this was "the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression" -- and concluded: "I'm stunned if anybody thinks that there's something [like collusion] going on [and] doesn't understand what the economy is doing. I really am.
And then Bud Selig shat his pants and died. Oh wait, that's just in my dreams
He isn't the only one. A high-ranking official of one AL team said: "Out of the 30 teams in the sport, 15 are scared to death by this economy. They're scared about ticket sales. They're scared that sponsorships are going to be cutting back. They're just scared."
Like the Yankees, they go out and spend 240 million dollars and then ask for money from NYC
Meanwhile, one NL club official had a more basic explanation. Essentially, he said, it's the agents' faults.
Or the players who just aren't good/are old + GM's being retarded on Adam Dunn
"Everybody predicted this," he said. "All the predictions said this market would be difficult, and these guys just misread it. They didn't take jobs that were offered, and now those jobs aren't there anymore. They had jobs. They didn't take them."
There's some truth to every one of those assessments.
Yes, technically everything I said IS true, just not relevantNobody argues that.
But I do want to argue against some of the basis for why you made these true statementsBut is there more going on here than the struggling economy, the fear it's generated and the misjudgments made by individual agents and players?
Or misjudgments made by baseball analysts and those who create media and sports hype. But I'm just guessing
There's more to this article, but it's REALLY long and if the rest of the article is like the first part then I'm going to have an aneurysm and die
Awards Kerry Collins Can Actually Win
Kerry Collins may not be NFL MVP worthy, but there are several fictional awards that do capture his true essence. He can win the "QB of the best team through the first 12 games" award this season but thats truly not the MVP. Sexy Rexy won that award in 2006 and we all know how that turned out. espn's promotion of collins as the MVP was most likely based on the assumption that football is the ultimate team sport, hence winning is more important than individual stats. However, they convientely overlook the fact that collins isnt even the best player on the best team. The only players/coaches less valuable than him are his wide recievers. I'd give the MVP to cortland finnegan 50 times over before collins comes to mind. More fictional awards that collins can win are the "best hand-off to the running back" award or the "i'm more valuable than justine gage" award or the "i'm less suicidal than vince young" award
