No special header for this one folks. In fact, you may not see one for sometime. This blog is completely about the fantasy issue. What if I owned this guy? Would I not come in last for once? What if I owned that guy? Would I have a better team.
     Thats right folks, it's Fantasy Baseball time. With the leagues starting to form, it's only a matter of time before you join one. Lets take a quick glance at who some of the top picks, the no picks and the dark horses should be in this year's fantasy leagues.
     Ok, for top picks, the obvious choices are Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard. These two were monsters last year, and if Howard can find his Pujols groove (of constant numbers each year), then he'll be up for another MVP award. Sure, he will probably never hit 58 homeruns again, because of the walk treatment, but he'll get you numbers. HR, RBI, Runs and the averages: OB, Slugging and OPS. The same for Pujols. It looks like Pujols and Howard will be the numbers 1 and 2 picks in each draft. just who will be 1 and who will be 2?
     Other top players are Chris Carpentar, Roy Oswalt, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Brandon Webb, Johan Santanna, Joe Maur and Justin Morneau. All of whom will be top picks.
     Some don't pick these guys: Barry Bonds, JD Drew, Luis Gonzalez, Russell Martin, Geoff Jenkins and Gary Sheffield. Bonds will be injuried a lot this year, if he doesn't get arrested first. Drew, well, he agreed to terms almost two months ago with the Boston Red Sox and his deal hasn't been finalized yet because of an injury during an exam. Gonzalez is old and probably won't play as much as people think. If you want a lot of bases, you might want to take him but only as a late round pick. Martin will NOT be the Martin of last year: fact. Trust me. If you need a catcher, go for Brian McCann (who would be an iffy choice as well) or Maur. Jenkins and Sheffield probably won't see much playing time and haven't done well for a few years. Late picks if you desperately need outfield help.
     Some dark horses are: Yadier Molina, Anthony Reyes, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Stephen Drew, Carlos Quinten and Sammy Sosa. Molina and Reyes really came into their own during the postseason, most noteably the NLCS (Molina) and the World Series (Reyes). Both should have really good 2007 campaigns. Kouzy is a rookie 3B with a lot of pop. He'll fit into the middle of the young Friar's lineup and should produce 20+ homeruns, a lot of doules and some RBI. the DBack boys, Drew and Quinten, were stellar last year in the MLB debuts. This year looks better. Some starting experience under your belt is very good for young players, and you can bet that these two will have good years. And lastly, Sosa. Sosa was MIA in 2006 and looks to come back in 2007. He'll be playing a lot of DH, so his wear and tear will be low on his body so he MIGHT produce. In a hitter friendly park, his numbers MIGHT be good. See why he's a dark horse candidate? Lots of mights. He's the Frank Thomas of 2007. Injuries hampered him, full time DH. Take a shot if you're willing, but make it late.
     Thats all folks!

     Yes folks, it's true. Albert Pujols was once again screwed over in the Most Valuable Player votings. Ryan Howard has become the new Barry Bonds (except Howard doesn't use steroids, is not a jerk and the world's biggest ass): stealing the MVP away from the real Most Valuable Player. Not getting your team in the playoffs and just having an offense kind of year. What did Albert Pujols do? He led his team to the playoffs while having a career year and winning a gold glove. Don't let me just opinionate you away, let me provide you with some cold hard facts.
     Pujols had an oblique injury in the middle of the season and that prevented his numbers from being better, but that has nothing to do with the voting. I'm just letting everyone know that before I tell you this stat: Howard played in 16 more games than Pujols. In fact, this was the first year Pujols was on the disabled list..and that's in 5+ years. Ok, so here's the breakdown of the numbers:
Howard had 58 homeruns, 149 RBI, 108 walks, 181 strikeouts and had a .313 batting average.
Pujols had 49 homeruns, 137 RBI, 92 walks, 50 strikeouts and had a .331 batting average.
Howard's slugging, on-base and OPS (On-base + slugging) percentages were: .659/.425/1.082.
Pujols numbers for those categories were: .671/.431/1.102.
Howard led his team to a second place finish in both the East division and the Wild Card.
Pujols led his team to a first place finish, ended a possible third eight game losing streak and to a World Series championship (although, the post season doesn't get involved in the voting).
     Now who's valuable? Is Howard more valuable because he didn't carry his team to the playoffs while only leading Pujols in three categories: walks (16), HR (9) and RBI (12)? I mean, those numbers aren't really far apart. Howard also led Pujols in strikeouts with 131 more, whereas Pujols had 42 less strikeouts than walks, and thats hard to do. Just look at these blatent facts folks, Pujols was once screwed out of the MVP. Last year, most Cardinals fans thought he would be screwed out of it again because Jones had over 50 homeruns and Derek Lee had the batting title. He won last year, beating out a 50+ homerun guy. He should have done it this year. Heck, I would have rather seen Lance Berkman get the MVP rather than Howard. At least Berkman led his team on a charge to the central title. What did Howard do? Keep a team that was still in tact together? Everyone says he took over the team when Bobby Abreu was traded. Hate to break it to you folks, Abreu wasn't leading the team BEFORE he was traded, it was Howard all year long. Just remember these numbers. The evidence is clear: nuts and bolts, nuts and bolts, Albert got SCREWED!

***I know MVP voting was a while back, but I have been swamped with homework lately, so I never had time to write this. Enjoy and leave comments***

     Ok, lets me first point this out: I am one of the biggest Cardinal fans ever and I celebrated the World Series victory like a mad man. I bought the World Series Champions hat the very next day. Ok, now that that is set, let me start this blog. The Cardinals are in need of pitching. They only have Chris Carpenter (who should have had won the Cy Young Award for 2006. Brandon Webb winning is bullcrap), Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright. Now, thats pretty good. An ace and two standouts. What is this rotation lacking? A proven starter with great stuff who is young. You think about who that is while I say about the next part.
     The Detroit Tigers like the young guys. They need a first baseman, although Sean Casey coming back isn't a longshot. They are also looking for some pop for that lineup. Their only fire power right now is Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield. They could use a young, left handed bat for the first base role. Someone who is versitle if needed. Now, think about that for a little bit.
     Confused about who I'm talking about? I'm talking about Jeremey Bonderman and Chris Duncan. These two should be involved in a deal with each other. Also involved in the trade would be Ricardo Rincon and Chris Lambert. This trade can fill a lot of needs for both teams. The Cardinals former first round pick, Lambert, isn't going anywhere in the Cardinals organization. The Tigers have been known for developing young talented pitchers, and maybe adding a young arm in Lambert to replace Humberto Sanchez might do the trick.
     Ricardo Rincon is injuried, but I'll tell you right now I have no idea if he is healed or not. I have not seen any reports about him in months, but he needs to go. The Cardinal have no room for him anymore, but the Tigers do. They lost Jamie Walker and Rincon could come as a cheaper price than resigning Walker.
     Chris Duncan is one of my personal favorites on the Cardinals. He has a lot of pop, he can play first base, left field and right field. Sure, his showing in the outfield during the playoffs wasn't great. Lets look at the facts though:
- Duncan was a rookie
- Duncan never played the outfield until Spring Training
That can lead to disastorous results. His natural position is first base, and the Tigers need a first baseman. Like I stated earlier, they need a left handed power hitter too. Plus, playing for Jim Leyland could really help him. La Russa has done everything he can to help Duncan, but I feel like Leyland could take him further. He would be a great addition to the Tigers.
     Bonderman has been rumored for a trade recently. The Tigers have a full rotation with Kenny Rogers, Mike Maroth, Justin Verlander and Nate Robertson. If the Tigers trade Bonderman and finish off the rebuilding of their offense, they can focus on pitching. They can add a number one in Jason Schmidt or Barry Zito. Maybe a middle of the rotation guy like Jeff Suppan or Jeff Weaver. The Tigers have a lot of options by trading Bonderman and they can finish off their offense problems early.
     There you have it. As you can see, this trade benifits both sides a lot. I doubt this trade will be made, but if it is, don't be surprised.

     Are the St. Louis Cardinals still the underdog? They beat the favored San Diego Padres three games to one. Then they beat the heavily favored New York Mets four games to three. Now, they lead the favored Detroit Tigers two games to one in the 2006 World Series. Did you see a pattern? Favored, heavily favored and favored. Thats the pattern. Thats right folks, the Cardinals were not suppose to beat the Padres. They definently weren't suppose to be in the World Series, espically if you listen to Dayn Perry. Heck, you can make a case that they shouldn't be anywhere near the postseason. I mean, this team had three losing streaks that added to 23 games lost. Can this team really be this close to winning their 10th World Series title?
     The Cardinals are, despite what you hear from Perry, real close to winning this year's title. Perry says that the Cardinals aren't good enough to be this good. They can't a series if they tried. He wants you to believe the Cardinals basically suck. Well, suck on this Dayn Perry: Cardinals are almost World Champions.
     After that rip at Perry because his writing this postseason has really irked me, I will leave you with this (espically since I wrote this in the 15 minutes I had before class started) the Cardinals are the best. They have the best manager, the best team and the best closer. Please accept this. Don't be part of the 90% of the world against the Cardinals. If you are part of that 90%, please don't overflow the oceans with your tears when the Cardinals win.
     Just to let you know, this article basically has no information in it. It's just a rip at the Cardinal haters because I'm gloating. That 90% of the world stat is probably not right (more than likely higher), so don't go by that. Made that up. Comment badly if you must, but I think St. Louis Cardinal fans will agree with me. It's been long enough, it's time to gloat because we're up two games to one and we have Jeff Suppan pitching tonight. So eat this article you Cardinal haters, espically the following: Jon Miller, Joe Morgan, Jeff Brantley, Dayn Perry, Steve Phillips, Dayn Perry and Joe Morgan (I don't like Dayn Perry and Joe Morgan is the worst announcer in history, so they get listed twice =P).

     There are five teams in the Major Leagues that have payrolls of $100 million or more. They are the New York Yankees ($198 million), the Boston Red Sox ($120 million), the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ($103 million), the Chicago White Sox ($102 million) and the New York Mets ($100 million). Look at these five teams. What has happened to these teams this year? You have a loss in the first round of the playoffs (Yankees) and a pending loss in the second round of the playoffs (Mets). The other three teams lost their divisions and didn't make the playoffs. Thats pathetic for $100 million plus payroll teams.
     Lets look at who did make the playoffs: Los Angeles Dodgers ($99 million), St. Louis Cardinals ($86 million), San Diego Padres ($68 million), Detroit Tigers ($82 million), Oakland Athletics ($62 million) and the Minnesota Twins ($63 million). Big difference, right? So why don't the teams that do have big payrolls win and the teams that are under $100 million (though the Dodgers are fairly close to $100 million) win? Well, to put it simply, spending. The teams with big checkbooks spend thriftly buying all the best offense they can. The teams with lower payrolls spend wisely and buy up the cheap offense to go along with their personal big bopper creating a balanced lineup and quality pitchers to put in the rotation and the bullpen. What? I didn't say pitching for the big spenders? Maybe for a reason? Yeah, for a reason. Look at the Mets, the Yankees, Red Sox and Angels. They have no pitching staff. Only the White Sox have pitching, and they have a lot of it. The Yankees have two pitchers that collect Social Security after every start (Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson) as do the Mets (Tom Glavine). Then, they fill their bullpen with over priced and washed up pitchers, the same with the back of their rotation. Pedro Martinez was good in 2004 and hasn't been since. Maybe these teams that spend money on offense need to buy some quality pitching.
     I got into an argue with my brother a few months ago. I kept telling him the American League is a pointless league because they buy up all the talent they can and don't care about their spending. He told me the National League does the same. Then I spat into his face with this comment: Name 5 teams, other than the Mets, that have enormus payrolls. He had no answer. Then he came up with this: Take out the top spender and lowest spender in each league and see what the average payroll is (so the number isn't skewed by the Yankees or the Florida Marlins). So, I'll do it now. Here is the average payroll for the American League (excluding the Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays) and the National League (excluding the Mets and Marlins):
American League Average Payroll 2006: $78,056,695 million
National League Average Payroll 2006: $73,708,125 million
     Now, at first look you say, "haha, you were wrong! There is only a $5 million difference!" Well, that may be true. I would respond with, "How many teams are in the AL? The NL?" True baseball fans would know this right away. There are 14 teams in the AL and 16 in the NL. Then, you figure I took off two teams from both leagues, that leaves 12 in the AL and 14 in the NL. Thats right, the AL has a higher average payroll without the Yankees and three other teams.
     Knowing all of this, you can now understand why the NL loses in the All-Star game and in the World Series. You also know that the AL is stacked with teams that want to win so badly, they'll spend as much as they can to do it (and the Marlins were in the Wild Card chase till a late fade with a $15 million payroll. Food for thought there). Enjoy this new found knowledge!
*All numbers for payrolls were rounded up to the nearest million except in figuring the average. The numbers were taken from Espn.com. Thank you ESPN for the information!*