Archive for the ‘Mavericks’ Category

Newer Entries »

Around the League

Sunday, June 24th, 2012

Moonshiners savior R.A. Dickey

We’re only in the last week of June, but I’m ready to declare that we have quite a pennant race brewing.  At no point has any team in the league asserted its dominance, thus leaving us with a situation where seven out of the ten teams are in a very good position to win the championship.  Those seven teams are all within 10 points of first place, with the top five separated by just four points.  Somehow, the Mavericks have managed to hold the top spot most of the year, but it has been by the thinnest of margins at most times, including today when they are just 1/2 point clear of the Jackalope.

As we near the half way point of the season, I’m going to take a quick look at each of the ten teams, highlighting some of the key stories for each team.  I will start with the three teams who are not currently in the thick of the race and then work my way up to the top of the standings.

Darkhorses

Only a year and a half removed from four consecutive championships, it would be fair to say things have gone downhill since then.  While last year was a shocking disappointment for the Darkhorses, this season has been an absolute nightmare.  Injuries have been the story of the league this season, but no team has had their season completely ruined by injuries like the Darkhorses.  They sit in last place with just 18.5 points, so they are in serious jeopardy of breaking the league’s all time low water mark of 20 points since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1998.  If you look at their roster, there is no way they should be this bad.  Besides the injuries, incredibly disappointing seasons from Adrian Gonzalez and Tim Lincecum haven’t helped either.  If those guys can turn it around and Chris Carpenter, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner return soon, maybe they can gain a little momentum and avoid a historically bad season.

Gators

Still a work in progress, and not really a threat this year, but things are looking up for the Gators.  Their ridiculously bad offense from ’11 has improved a bit and their pitching staff is respectable.  But there is still a lot of work to do.  Their huge pre-draft trade with the Mavericks hasn’t really worked out.  Nelson Cruz has been so-so and Mark Reynolds has provided virtually nothing.  They could have used those picks to improve in other areas, but what’s done is done.  The first draft pick they did make, Melky Cabrera in round three, has been a huge surprise, currently third in the league with a .355 average.  The Gators appear to be headed for another high draft slot next season.  With some exciting young players coming into the league again next year, maybe they will have an opportunity to grab one of them.

Demigods

The third team not currently in the title race is the Demigods.  At the beginning of the year, they looked like a team ready to make a run at the championship.  But like the Darkhorses, the Demigods have been sabotaged by injuries.  One in particular:  Matt Kemp.  In April, Kemp appeared to be a shoe-in for his second straight DTBL MVP award and a possible Triple Crown.  But since then, he has missed the better part of the last two months.  Who knows what he will provide when he returns?  But a healthy Kemp and Evan Longoria could get the Demigods back into contention.

Cougars

Although they are only in seventh place, this is the best Cougars team in a long time.  They are just 9.5 points behind the Mavericks and could get even closer if a couple of their pitchers turn things around.  Josh Hamilton has carried the offense, despite slowing down a bit of late.  Jason Kipnis has been one of the biggest steals of the draft, providing big time power and speed at a weak second base position.  Many were surprised when the Cougars passed on Stephen Strasburg with the first pick of the draft.  That may not have been a wise decision, but the Cougars made up for it by grabbing his Nationals teammate Gio Gonzalez in the second round.  Gonzalez’s numbers are pretty similar to Strasburg’s and you have to figure the Cougars would not have taken Gonzalez if they had gone with Strasburg in round one.

Choppers

The transformation of the Choppers has been quite remarkable.  Last year they were all offense with a questionable pitching staff.  This year, it is just the opposite.  They are second in the league with 40 pitching points, but only have 20 batting points.  One player is mostly responsible for the pitching turnaround:  Chris Sale.  Over the years, many teams have benefited from an extra starting pitcher in a relief pitching slot.  But normally, that pitcher doesn’t put up All-Star caliber stats like Sale is doing this year.  He’s keeping together a staff whose starting rotation is bandaged up with a bunch of free agent signings to fill in for other injured starters.  The injuries to the Choppers rotation could be a huge problem in the upcoming weeks/months.  But there is certainly reason to believe the offense will pick it up.  Jose Bautista is heating up, now in a tie for the league lead in home runs.  He could help the Choppers pick up some offensive points to move even closer to first place.

Kings

It is hard to say that a team four points out of first has been a huge disappointment, but to some degree, I think that can be said about the Kings.  The pitching staff has been atrocious as a whole.  They are ninth in the league in ERA and near the bottom in WHIP and wins too.  Justin Verlander needs some help.  Recently, the Kings have done a poor job of rotating their extra starting pitchers into the lineup.  In the last eight days, they missed out on a one hit shutout by Ervin Santana and seven great innings from Edwin Jackson last night.  If they could ever start picking the right five starting pitchers for a given week, they could be on to something.  For the most part, the offense has been great, leading the league in batting points.  But the lack of production from two Nationals, Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse, has been troubling.  The Kings are still in pretty good shape despite being in fifth place though.

Naturals

Much of what I wrote about the Choppers also applies to the Naturals.  They have transformed from an offensive juggernaut with a mediocre pitching staff to a team with a disappointing offense and the best pitching staff in the league.  Matt Cain, Zack Greinke and David Price have been outstanding for the Naturals rotation.  Jordan Zimmermann would be right there too if he would ever get run support and win some games.  The Naturals have to be considered one of the most dangerous teams heading into the second half because you  have to figure their offense will improve.  Having said that, the recent injury to Troy Tulowitzki could be extremely costly.  He’s expected to miss the next 6-8 weeks and they don’t have an obvious candidate to pick up the slack.

Moonshiners

The Moonshiners are perhaps the league’s most intriguing team right now.  They have suffered some very costly injuries to their pitching staff, with the most devastating one coming this past week when Brandon Beachy was lost for the season with a torn UCL.  Beachy was leading the league in ERA and had a sub 1.00 WHIP.  But one free agent signing may have saved their season.  Since joining the Moonshiners a month ago, R.A. Dickey has not allowed an earned run.  Read that again.  Dickey has a 0.00 ERA, 0.495 WHIP, four wins and 42 strike outs in just 34.1 innings with the Moonshiners.  The 37 year old knuckleballer has been the league’s best story this year and may have a huge say in determining if the Moonshiners can win their first DTBL championship.

Jackalope

It really can’t get any tighter at the top of the standings.  As of today, the defending champions sit one half point behind the Mavericks.  Batting points:  35.5 for the Mavericks, 35.0 for the Jackalope.  Pitching points:  both have 33.  So both teams are holding their own in batting and pitching.  The Jackalope got off to a bit of a slow start, but ever since their two biggest stars, Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun, have started to heat up, so has this team.  I think they have to be considered the favorites at this point, especially if they are able to get anything out of Ryan Howard in the second half.  Their dominating rotation from last year hasn’t been quite the same this season.  But Felix Hernandez has been better of late, Cliff Lee will eventually win a game and Roy Halladay should provide he boost when he gets healthy.  As long as they keep it close, I like their chances down the stretch.

Mavericks

This has been a pretty remarkable season for the Mavericks, following two consecutive eighth place finishes.  Despite the incredible tightness of the race, they have managed to hold onto first place most of the year.  Their strategy of stockpiling draft picks is paying off.  Their pre-draft trade with the Gators may alter the course of this league for years to come.  The two players they acquired with the draft picks they received in that trade:  Stephen Strasburg and Mike Trout.  Strasburg leads the league in strike outs and is not far behind in ERA, WHIP and wins too.  What the Nationals decide to do with him when he reaches that magical 160 IP mark could have a dramatic impact on this league.  I’ll probably write about this more when that date gets closer because I have a strong opinion on the matter.  Meanwhile, I’ll be honest, I thought Trout was a bit of a gamble in the early second round because I wasn’t so sure the Angels would be able to make room for him this season.  Boy was I wrong.  He is hitting .351 and will probably be leading the league in stolen bases before June is over.  If Adam Dunn, Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Jones keep hitting home runs at their current rates, the Mavericks are going to be tough to catch, despite all the teams nipping on their heels.

Posted in Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Gators, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

A Crowded Infirmary

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

Choppers relief pitcher Mariano Rivera

Memorial Day is usually a good point in the season to take stock in how the baseball season is going and examine where it may be headed.  As usual, there are hitters and pitchers who are vastly exceeding expectations, and have done so for long enough to make you think it may not be a fluke.  Some of those players are helping to put their DTBL teams at or near the top of the standings.  However, there seems to be a much bigger factor in determining a team’s success (or lack there of) this season:  injuries.

Almost daily, there is another key player going down to an injury, whether it be a minor day-to-day issue, or one that has the player headed to season ending surgery.  We’ve had torn ACLs, torn UCLs, sprained knees, torn hamstrings, broken hands, blurred vision, chronic illness, you name it.  It started in spring training when two closers were lost for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery (Naturals’ Joakim Soria, Jackalope Ryan Madson).  Two DTBL first round draft picks are yet to play a game this season (Kings’ Michael Morse, Choppers’ Michael Pineda).  It is never a good sign when two of the most mentioned names in baseball are Tommy John and Dr. James Andrews.

Even the previously indestructible players are falling victim to this plague.  The surest thing in baseball, Choppers’ Mariano Rivera, tore his ACL while shagging fly balls.  And just yesterday, the always reliable Roy Halladay (Jackalope) was lost for 6-8 weeks due to a lat strain.  Halladay wasn’t the only ace to go down yesterday either.  Jered Weaver (Moonshiners) was pulled from his start in the first inning with a back problem.  Fellow Moonshiner starting pitcher Ted Lilly hit the DL as well, as did red hot Kings catcher Jonathan LuCroy who suffered the freakiest injury of the season, breaking his hand due to a falling suitcase in a hotel room.

In those last two paragraphs, I named nine different players, and that didn’t even begin to scratch the surface.  Every DTBL team has been affected, some more than others.  I probably need to take a closer look at each roster to see if this is still the case, but prior to this most recent string of injuries, there were three teams in particular who had been absolutely decimated:  the Darkhorses, Choppers and Demigods.  All three are around the double digit mark in total number of players who have spent time on the DL, including some very critical losses.  I suspect the Moonshiners are moving close to this list as well after losing 40% of their rotation yesterday.  The Darkhorses injury problems were so bad, for a while they were fielding a major league roster with at least three disabled players.  The Choppers and Demigods minors are/were filled with virtually nothing but injured players.

The Mavericks have been in first place virtually the entire season.  In large part, that is because they had been the healthiest team in the league.  Until about a week ago, their only injured player was 12th round draft pick, and projected bench player, Lorenzo Cain.  But now the Mavericks have joined the rest of the league after having lost Neftali Feliz and Austin Jackson.  Still, they are in better shape than most.  With the exception of two pre-season injuries (Madson and Ryan Howard), the Jackalope had been relatively healthy as well, which helped guide them past the Mavericks for a couple days last week.  But now this Halladay injury could be a major problem for the defending champions.

On a positive note, these injuries have certainly restrained any one team from running out to a huge lead, keeping most of the league very much in the mix.  Half of the league is within 10 points of first place and two others are within 20.  So if any of these teams can get relatively healthy, there are plenty of points to be gained.  But that “healthy” term seems inconceivable for some teams at this point.

It was suggested to me by one league member that we look into adding additional DL slot(s) to our rosters in the future.  I am not necessarily opposed to this idea, but keep in mind that such a change would require a number of other adjustments as well, like the total number of players on the league roster and maybe a change to the free agent signing limit too.  This is a conversation I’m willing to have though if the consensus is that change is needed.  Obviously, no change will be made for this season though.  In the mean time, hopefully some of this madness will come to an end and we’ll be able to determine a champion based on player performance rather than healthy body tallies.

Hopefully my next article will be about player(s) who are actually contributing to their DTBL squads!

Posted in Choppers, Darkhorses, Demigods, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | 4 Comments »

Mavs, Cougars and Gators projected to finish in DTBL cellar

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

The projections systems have the bottom of the DTBL standings in 2012 looking pretty much the same as in 2011. The Mavericks, Cougars and Gators are projected to place eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively

Cougars   – Projected Finish: Ninth                           2011 Finish: Tied-Ninth

AVG: D

HR: D

R: F

RBI: F

SB: F

W: A

ERA: C

WHIP: C

K: A

SV: F

Marc’s favorite draft pick: Brett Lawrie, Round 1 – the top player on my draft board

Kelly’s favorite draft pick: Brett Lawrie, Round 1 – expected to go 20/20 already this season

Overview: After tying for last place in 2011 and collecting just 12 batting points, the Cougars started 2012 by drafting a player in Lawrie who could help in all five offensive categories. The 2011 Cougars’ offense took quite a hit from the disappointing season by Adam Dunn, for whom the Cougars gave up a first-round pick to acquire, and Grady Sizemore finally wore out his welcome six seasons after being the no. 1 overall pick

However, pitching was an even bigger problem area last year, so the Cougars took two SPs and an RP in the next three rounds to go with their core of Madison Bumgarner and Daniel Hudson. The selection of Gio Gonzalez came a round after I expected the Cougars to add a pitcher from D.C. Perhaps the move to the NL and yet another change of scenery will help Gio lower his walk rate. If not, maybe White Sox GM Kenny Williams can trade for him just to trade him away for the third time.

Gators   – Projected Finish: Tenth                             2011 Finish: Tied-Ninth

AVG: F

HR: D

R: F

RBI: F

SB: F

W: F

ERA: B

WHIP: A

K: F

SV: F

Marc’s favorite draft pick: Derek Holland, Round 9 – free fell in the draft. Talented lefty in good position to pile up wins

Greg’s favorite draft pick: N/A

Overview: A year after posting the lowest batting point total in the history of the DTBL as a 10-team league, the Gators spent their first six draft picks attempting to bolster their hitting. The Gators traded the no. 2 and no. 12 picks in the draft to the Mavericks for power hitting Nelson Cruz and Mark Reynolds. Hitting was such a priority for the Gators coming into this season that they added just two pitchers – Greg Holland and Derek Holland – in the entire draft.

The Gators could benefit greatly if Kendrys Morales returns to being the hitter he was three seasons ago when he hit 11 home runs in 193 at-bats for the Gators before beginning a run of injuries upon reaching home plate in that 193rd at bat.

Mavericks   – Projected Finish: Eighth                     2011 Finish: Eighth

AVG: C

HR: F

R: B

RBI: D

SB: A

W: C

ERA: F

WHIP: D

K: B

SV: F

Marc’s favorite draft pick: Adam Dunn, Round 6 – I keep telling myself that 2011 had to be a fluke

Overview: Back-to-back eighth-place finishes prompted the Mavericks to accept a full rebuilding plan that involved trading two of their oldest players in Nelson Cruz and Mark Reynolds for draft picks that became highly touted SP Stephen Strasburg and OF Mike Trout. Drafting Trout 12th overall when it already was pretty much a sure thing he was starting the season in the minors was a clear sign that the Mavs were all in on going young.

The Mavs have six players on their roster who were taken in the first round over the past three drafts. If players such as Matt Wieters (10 Dft #1) and Jayson Heyward (11 Dft #1) can become the players they looked to be heading into their DTBL rookie seasons, the stale Mavs offense of 2011 could see solid improvement.

Posted in Cougars, Draft, Gators, Mavericks, Uncategorized | No Comments »

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Gators outfielder Nelson Cruz

For the third consecutive year, the Mavericks will have multiple first round picks in the DTBL Draft.  And for the second year in a row, they possess two of the first three picks.  The Mavericks made a pair of trades this week, continuing their youth movement.  In the first, they actually traded away a pick, sending their third round selection to the Naturals in exchange for second baseman Rickie Weeks.  They followed that up by acquiring the second and twelfth overall picks in the upcoming draft from the Gators for outfielder Nelson Cruz and third baseman Mark Reynolds.

Assuming they stand pat, when the first round finishes next week, the Mavericks will have made seven first round selections in the three most recent drafts.  The first two years have seen mixed results from this strategy, but it is way too early to write it off as a failure.  With an opportunity to pick two of the top three players available this year, one would think they have a great opportunity to find a superstar in the making this time around.  But of course, there is also an inherent risk in betting on young players.

When I first saw the details of the Mavericks/Gators trade, I thought it was a steal for the Mavericks.  Acquiring two of the first twelve picks in a draft is a pretty solid return, and giving up early picks can be a dangerous strategy for a rebuilding team.  However, I have come around on this after taking a closer look.  A very solid argument could be made that Nelson Cruz is a better player than anyone available in this year’s draft.  In fact, most fantasy player rankings I have seen have Cruz listed ahead of everyone who will be in the draft pool.  He instantly becomes the Gators best offensive player, and along with Reynolds, should immediately improve what was possibly the worst offensive team in league history last season.  The ’11 Gators didn’t have a single player drive in over 85 runs and only Dan Uggla hit more than 25 home runs.  Cruz and Reynolds surpassed those numbers in both categories.  The Gators couldn’t afford to miss on improving their offense and these two players are much safer bets than anyone they could have drafted.  Plus, the Gators have had a string of first round picks that haven’t exactly panned out, so maybe it is just as well not to have to worry about a continuation of that trend this year.

It wouldn’t make much sense for me to predict who the Mavericks will take with all of their early picks, but I think it is safe to assume they will go with more youngsters.  I also feel confident in predicting they will not select a catcher with a top three pick for the third consecutive season.  The re-acquisition of Weeks was an interesting move as well.  When healthy, he is one of the most productive middle infielders, which was a major area of weakness for the Mavericks last  year.  Weeks was a first round pick by the Mavericks back in 2006 and spent three years with the club before he was released in ’08.  His best season came with the Naturals in 2010 when he hit 29 home runs and drove in 83, obliterating his previous career highs.  Last season was cut short due to an injury, but he still hit 19 home runs.  The Mavericks will probably be the hardest team to predict for the upcoming season.  They have the potential to be the league’s most improved team.  They have an interesting situation with two relief pitchers already on the roster who are expected to be starters (Neftali Feliz and Daniel Bard), so they could potentially go with a seven man rotation.  However, if that doesn’t pan out and the early draft picks don’t work out either, it could be another long year.  I don’t think any other team has a wider gap between their potential ceiling and floor.

As for the Naturals, Weeks was expendable because they have two other quality middle infielders in Troy Tulowitzki and Asdrubal Cabrera.  They will have plenty of opportunities to address second base in the draft.  Generally speaking, they don’t have too many holes to fill, so the extra draft pick can be used to build depth at pretty much any position they would like.  The Naturals should be a title contender for the fourth straight year.

My goal is to have the draft pool posted in the next couple days.  I’m looking at one week from tonight, Thursday March 8, as the potential start date of the 2012 DTBL Draft.  It’s hard to believe we have reached another milestone.  This will be the 20th DTBL Draft.

Posted in Gators, Mavericks, Naturals | No Comments »

Good, Bad and Ugly

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Moonshiners first baseman Prince Fielder

You’ve heard all about the champion Jackalope.  Now it’s time to take a look back at the 2011 season for the other nine teams.  I’ve grouped them into three categories:  the good, the bad and the ugly.  These groups don’t necessarily relate to the order of finish, but how competitive the teams were compared to expectations.  The three teams I identified as “good” all finished higher in the standings than they did a year ago and should feel like they are headed in the right direction.  “Bad” isn’t really the right word for the second group, because two of the three teams actually finished near the top of the standings.  Disappointing is a better way to describe them.  Finally, the teams that fall into the “ugly” category would probably like to pretend 2011 never happened.

THE GOOD

Mike’s Moonshiners

The quickest team out of the gate, the Moonshiners led the league for a good part of the first quarter of the season.  They stumbled a bit in early summer and never really recovered, finishing in third place.  However, that was up two spots from a year ago and was their best finish since 2008.  The improvement was almost entirely due to the pitching staff, which received a huge boost from the Jackalope trade which brought them ace pitcher and Cy Young candidate Jared Weaver.  While I already mentioned how beneficial that trade was to the Jackalope, the impact was similar for the Moonshiners.  Weaver turned their average pitching staff into one of the league’s best.  He finished in the top five of the league in ERA, WHIP and wins.  Meanwhile, the offense was carried by slugging first baseman Prince Fielder (38 HR, 120 RBI) and 30/30 man Ian Kinsler (32 HR, 30 SB).  Now that the pitching staff has been fixed, the Moonshiners will look to improve their offense going into 2012.  With the Jackalope winning their first title this year, the Moonshiners are now the longest tenured DTBL team without a title.  They figure to have a good chance to change that next year.

Dom’s Demigods

The biggest jump in the standings was made by the Demigods.  After finishing dead last a year ago, they managed to move into the top half of the standings with a fifth place finish in 2011.  This is despite the fact that they got almost nothing out of their first overall pick (Buster Posey);  same with his catching partner Joe Mauer.  The rest of the offense was surprisingly good though, finishing in the top five in every category and leading the league in batting average.  The indisputable MVP of the team was Matt Kemp, who hit .324 with 39 HR, 126 RBI, 115 R, 40 SB.  He led the league in RBIs and was the only player to appear on the league leaderboard in all five categories.  He even flirted with the NL Triple Crown until the final week of the season.  The pitching staff was a bit of a disappointment, but overall, the Demigods appear to be headed in the right direction.

Charlie’s Thunder Choppers

Although they only wound up finishing one spot higher than a year ago (6th, up from 7th), this was a much better year for the Choppers.  They were a title contender in the second half of the season for the first time in five years.  They wound up finishing 16 1/2 points out of first, cutting almost half the deficit from a year ago (32 points).  As I documented in an article a couple months ago, it was some recent first round draft picks that helped pump some more juice into the Choppers offense.  Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson finished first and second in the league in home runs (43 and 41 respectively).  Both are strong MVP candidates, while Bautista is even eligible for the DTBL Rookie of the Year award.  Granderson led the league with 136 runs scored, the highest total since 2007.  The Choppers boast another strong ROY candidate in closer Craig Kimbrel who saved 46 games in his first full MLB season.  If the Choppers can add one or two more elite starting pitchers, they are another team to watch in 2012.

THE BAD

Nick’s Naturals

Okay, I admit it isn’t really fair to put the Naturals in a category labeled as “bad”, because they were definitely not that.  But a defending champion almost always has its sights set on repeating, and the Naturals weren’t quite able to do that this year, finishing a distant second.  In some ways, this Naturals team was every bit as good as the one that tied for title last year, but the Jackalope were just a little better.  The Naturals were unable to repeat their amazing feat of 50 batting points from a year ago, but still led the league with 45.  They figured they would need to get more out of their pitching staff though.  Unfortunately for them, that didn’t really happen.  Newly acquired Zack Greinke was solid, but he, along with the rest of the staff, didn’t have a truly spectacular season.  Still, the Naturals shouldn’t regret their Greinke/Howard trade, because the pitching would have been worse without Greinke.  Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto led the league’s best offense.  Cabrera won the batting title with a .344 average.  Overall, there is nothing for the Naturals to be ashamed of this year.  They were as close as one half point behind the Jackalope in late August.  They figure to be right back in the title hunt again next year.

Kevin’s Kings

Again, this wasn’t a “bad” season for the Kings.  They finished exactly where they did a year ago, in fourth place.  However, this time fourth place meant 15 points back and not really a serious contender down the stretch.  Last year, they were in the hunt right until the end and finished just five points behind the co-champions.  Other than place of finish, there was virtually nothing in common between the 2010 and 2011 Kings.  This year’s squad had a below average offense and one of the league’s best pitching staffs.  It was just the opposite in ’10.  The main reason for the pitching upswing was one man:  Justin Verlander.  Verlander tied a DTBL single season record with 24 wins.  He also led the league in WHIP (0.920) and strike outs (250).  Really, he’s the only Kings pitcher who sticks out as having an impressive year, yet they managed to garner 40 pitching points.  On offense, it was an underwhelming and injury plagued season for almost all of the Kings stars.  Jose Reyes bounced back to being one of the league’s elite players, but he too couldn’t stay healthy.  It is hard to say where this franchise is headed.  Without Verlander’s monster year, they could have finished near the bottom of the standings this year.  On the other hand, had a few key guys stayed healthy, they may have been in the hunt until the end.

Marc’s Mavericks

Now this is the one team in this group where the “bad” label probably applies.  For the second straight year, the Mavericks finished in eighth place.  But this isn’t a franchise that typically goes through long rebuilding processes.  Last year, they were completely wrecked by injuries and essentially gave up with a couple months to play.  This year, they had some injuries, but that wasn’t the biggest problem.  Disappointing seasons from almost all of their young players gave them little hope of competing.  They have had five first round picks the past two years, and I would call several of them major disappointments at this point.  Carlos Santana and Matt Wieters had decent seasons at a weak offensive position, but the jury is still out on them.  Gordon Beckham and Jayson Heward have been huge busts so far.  The only Maverick who really stood out as having a tremendous 2011 season was Clayton Kershaw.  Kerhsaw led the league in ERA (2.28) and was just behind Verlander in WHIP (0.977), wins (21) and strike outs (248).  It should definitely come down to those two for the Cy Young award.  The Mavericks really need to hit some home runs with their early picks in next year’s draft because the last two years have been rather forgettable.

THE UGLY

David’s Darkhorses

The Darkhorses set a standard of excellence in winning four consecutive DTBL championships from 2006-2010.  This year, not only did they fail to meet that standard, but they wound up with the worst finish in league history for a defending champion, finishing a distant seventh.  They won those four titles by having the most balanced team in the league, usually finishing first or second in both batting and pitching.  This year, they somehow managed to fall to the middle of the pack in both areas.  Injuries were a factor, but not to the extent you would expect for a team that fell apart like this.  Below average seasons for most of the roster is the main explanation.  I suppose it was bound to happen eventually.  On the bright side, Jacoby Ellsbury turned himself into one of the best fantasy players with a 32 HR, 39 SB season while hitting .321.  His Red Sox teammate Adrian Gonzalez had another solid year for the Darkhorses, but dropped off a bit in the second half.  One major problem with the pitching staff was the criminally bad run support Tim Lincecum received.  He only won 13 games despite putting up his usual dominating numbers in the other categories.  James Shields and Chris Carpenter also won fewer games than you would expect from their other numbers.  I’ll chalk this up as a worst-case scenario season for the Darkhorses.  Surely, things will go better next year.

Greg’s Gators

I should point out that until the final day of the season, it appeared the Gators, and possibly the Cougars as well, were going to break the DTBL record for fewest total points in the 10 team era.  Fortunately for them, both teams picked up a point or two in the final day and avoided this place in history.  They wound up tied for ninth place with a putrid 21 total points, one clear of the record low mark of 20 by Tim’s Titans in 1999.

While the Gators did avoid that distinction, they managed to set a different low water mark.  Their six batting points are the fewest ever in the 10 team era (since ’98, batting or pitching).  Only a couple stolen bases prevented them from finishing dead last in all five offensive categories.  Sadly, they were in last by a fairly wide margin in most categories.  They are going to have a tough time finding enough players worthy of keeping.  About the only offensive player who put up keeper-worthy numbers was Dan Uggla, and even he only hit .233.  The pitching staff was a little better, mostly thanks to C.C. Sabathia.  Injuries to Jair Jurrjens and Josh Johnson prevented them from having a pretty respectable staff.  Overall, there is a lot of work to do for this squad.  I think 2011 was clearly the worst season in franchise history.

Kelly’s Cougars

I think Kelly clearly had more important things on her mind this year, which caused her to not put a lot of time and effort into her team.  I’m not sure it would have mattered though.  Much as was the case with the White Sox, Adam Dunn almost single-handedly ruined the Cougars season.  Nobody had a particularly good season either though.  Josh Hamilton fought through injuries, and other key players were simply inconsistent.  The pitching staff was especially poor, though that can be partly blamed on the loss of staff ace Adam Wainwright to Tommy John surgery before the season even started.  This will be chalked up as a forgettable year for the Cougars.  Perhaps with some bounce back years from their key players, 2012 should be better.

Posted in Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Gators, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

2011 DTBL All-Stars

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Jose Bautista highlights a loaded American roster.

Sorry I’m a few days late with this, but I’m finally ready to announce the 2011 DTBL All-Stars.  The 18th annual DTBL All-Star Game is tentatively scheduled for next Friday, July 15 at 10 p.m. EDT, 7 p.m. PDT.  As mentioned a few days ago, the game will be live video-streamed here.

For the second straight year, the American Division will be managed by Nick while Dave will call the shots for the National Division.  Perhaps there will be a little extra drama involved in this matchup as Nick and Dave try to claim final bragging rights from their championship tie a year ago.  They broke all ties in voting and chose the 23rd player for their rosters.  For the first time in  league history, there was a team without any representation on the initial All-Star roster.  Therefore, Nick was forced to use his 23rd player slot to make sure the Gators received a bid.  He chose third baseman Johnny Peralta, who wasn’t even on the All-Star ballot (also a first).  Peralta had fewer at bats than Danny Valencia at the time I created the list, which kept him off the ballot.  Dave was able to use his 23rd slot with a more conventional pick, David Ortiz.

The American Division appears to have the stronger roster, which is not surprising considering they hold four of the top five spots in the standings.  Their rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jered Weaver, Felix Hernandez and Dan Haren is about as good as you can get (all but Haren were Jackalope a year ago).  Meanwhile, the National team is loaded with Kings.  10 of the 23 players are from the Kings roster, which isn’t terribly surprising since they are the division’s lone contender so far this year.

Here are the 2011 DTBL All-Stars:

American Division

Starters:

  • P – Roy Halladay, Jackalope
  • C – Brian McCann, Jackalope
  • 1B – Prince Fielder,  Moonshiners
  • 2B – Rickie Weeks, Naturals
  • 3B – Adrian Beltre, Choppers
  • SS – Asdrubal Cabrera, Naturals
  • OF – Jose Bautista, Choppers
  • OF – Ryan Braun, Jackalope
  • OF – Curtis Granderson, Choppers

Reserves:

  • C – Victor Martinez, Naturals
  • 1B – Paul Konerko, Moonshiners
  • 3B – Johnny Peralta, Gators
  • SS – Troy Tulowitzki, Naturals
  • OF – Hunter Pence, Jackalope
  • OF – Justin Upton, Naturals
  • P – Cliff Lee, Jackalope
  • P – Jered Weaver, Moonshiners
  • P – Felix Hernandez, Jackalope
  • P – Dan Haren, Moonshiners
  • RP – Craig Kimbrel, Choppers
  • RP – Heath Bell, Jackalope
  • RP – Mariano Rivera, Choppers
  • RP – Drew Storen, Moonshiners

National Division

Starters:

  • P – Justin Verlander, Kings
  • C – Miguel Montero,  Kings
  • 1B – Adrian Gonzalez, Darkhorses
  • 2B – Robinson Cano, Kings
  • 3B – Alex Rodriguez, Kings
  • SS – Jose Reyes, Kings
  • OF – Matt Kemp, Demigods
  • OF – Carlos Gonzalez, Kings
  • OF – Jacoby Ellsbury, Darkhorses

Reserves:

  • C – Carlos Santana, Mavericks
  • 1B – Mark Teixeira, Cougars
  • 1B – David Ortiz, Demigods
  • 2B – Brandon Phillips, Cougars
  • OF – Jay Bruce, Kings
  • OF – Matt Holliday, Darkhorses
  • P – Cole Hamels, Demigods
  • P – James Shields, Darkhorses
  • P – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
  • P – Tommy Hanson, Kings
  • RP – Joel Hanrahan, Cougars
  • RP – Francisco Cordero, Kings
  • RP – Brian Wilson, Darkhorses
  • RP – J.J. Putz, Kings

Click here to view the full voting results.

Posted in All-Star Game, Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Gators, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

Rivera Breaks Save Record

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Choppers closer Mariano Rivera

Talk about a long overdue post.  Over a month ago, Choppers relief pitcher Mariano Rivera became the DTBL’s all-time save leader.  His 561st DTBL save moved him ahead of Trevor Hoffman.  He has added another five saves since then and currently sits at 566 for his DTBL career.

Rivera has shown absolutely no sign of slowing down.  In 2011, he has recorded 16 saves, putting him just a few behind the league leaders.  His ERA of 1.90 and 1.056 WHIP are tough to beat.  Even at 41 years old, there is no reason to think Rivera can’t keep pitching for several more years.  Since turning 40, he has continued to rack up the saves with an ERA below 2.00.

Most of Rivera’s 16 DTBL seasons came with the Cougars.  He was their first round pick in the 1997 Draft and remained with the club until a 2009 trade.  Prior to the trade, Rivera appeared to be aging a bit, posting a career high 3.33 ERA.  But almost immediately after he arrived with the Mavericks, he returned to his perch as the best relief pitcher in baseball.  Following a strong year and a half with the rebuilding Mavericks, they traded him to the Choppers this past March for a second round draft pick.  So after spending most of his career with one team, Rivera has now been traded twice in the last three years.

A model in consistency, Rivera has posted an ERA under 3.00 in every season except one (2007) and has had at least 30 saves every year but one (2002).  Incredibly, he has been under a 2.00 ERA in nine seasons and has a career mark of 2.02.  His career ERA and WHIP (0.976) are both the best of any pitcher in league history.  It is virtually indisputable that he is the greatest relief pitcher in league history and possibly the best pitcher overall.

Rivera has been a welcomed addition to the very surprising Choppers squad.  After years of disappointment, they find themselves in title contention.  They are currently tied in fourth place.  Perhaps most surprising is their grip on the league lead in saves after finishing dead last in that category a year ago, 32 saves behind the next worst team.  Obviously, Rivera has played a big part in that resurgence.  The bullpen has helped keep the Choppers pitching staff afloat while the rotation has been decimated by injuries.  The latest coming to Brett Anderson, who may need Tommy John surgery.  But with a powerful offense and a great bullpen, the Choppers figure to remain in contention as the season progresses.

Posted in Choppers, Cougars, Mavericks | No Comments »

A Flurry of Trades

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

The most active trade deadline in DTBL history saw five deals completed in the final two weeks before the August 15 deadline.  From what I heard, many other deals were discussed as well.  Some of the deals were made by the top three teams who are in an extremely tight race for the league championship.  Others were made by teams looking to the future.

The activity began a little more than a week prior to the deadline.  On August 9, the three time defending champion Darkhorses completed a pair of trades.  First, they acquired catcher Ryan Doumit from the Kings for starting pitcher Ervin Santana.  The Darkhorses ran into a bit of a problem right before the deadline as both of their regular catchers suffered injuries (Russell Martin and Geovany Soto).  Martin’s injury was especially problematic because he will miss the remainder of the season.  Doumit took Martin’s spot in the Darkhorses lineup.  The Darkhorses released Martin who was a key member of their three championships.  Doumit has been mostly disappointing following a third round selection by the Kings.  He was recently replaced in the Pirates and Kings lineups by Chris Snyder.  He is getting time at other positions though, so he does have some fantasy value.  Meanwhile, Santana gives the Kings a little more depth to a starting rotation that has been mostly disappointing this season.  For now, Santana is on their bench, but the Kings had little to lose in this deal since Doumit was no longer part of their plans.

The Darkhorses second deal on the 9th was a minor one.  They acquired second baseman Alberto Callaspo and a 10th round pick in exchange for a 9th round pick to the Mavericks.  The Mavericks had little use for Callaspo once Brian Roberts returned from the disabled list. so they were happy to move up a round for next year’s draft.  Callaspo does have value for the Darkhorses though.  Injuries to Martin Prado and Rafael Furcal have left the Darkhorses a little short handed in the middle infield.  In fact, all of the deals made by the Darkhorses were primarily to shore up spots vacated by injuries.  So far, they are still hanging on at the top of the standings, but their lead is tenuous at best.

Three more deals were completed in the final weekend before the deadline.  The first was a pretty significant trade between two teams still in the championship hunt.  The Jackalope made their first trade in years, acquiring second baseman Kelly Johnson from the Kings for starting pitcher Max Scherzer.  The Jackalope have had the best pitching staff in the league all year, but their offense has kept them out of first place.  Johnson has had a very good year for the Kings, but was expendable due to a log jam in their middle infield.  Johnson should give the Jackalope an immediate power boost.  Meanwhile, Scherzer may have been the most talented pitcher sitting on a DTBL bench for most of the season.  He was stuck behind the Jackalope’s five superstar aces.  The Kings have had their eye on him for quite a while.  He provides them with a power arm.  Until earlier this week, the Kings were buried in last place in strike outs.  The Kings have a lot of ground to make up, so this trade may not be enough.  However, Scherzer will probably be part of their future plans.

Perhaps the biggest trade was between two teams near the bottom of the standings.  The Mavericks traded DTBL home run leader Adam Dunn and a fourth round pick to the Cougars for a first round pick in next year’s draft.  So the Mavericks will have two of the first four or five picks in the draft again next year.  Hopefully for their sake, those picks will pan out a little better than they did this year.  On the other hand, the Cougars know exactly what they are getting in Dunn.  One of the most consistent power hitters in the league, Dunn will give the Cougars a huge power boost.  He clearly would have been a top five pick in the draft if he had been eligible next year, so trading the pick made sense for the Cougars.

Finally, the Mavericks weren’t done with their fire sale.  The last trade before the deadline saw the Mavs deal veteran catcher Jorge Posada to the Darkhorses for relief pitcher Daniel Bard.  Posada fills the other injury hole in the Darkhorses catching duo.  Bard is a likely closer of the future, although if the Red Sox don’t make a decision soon on him vs. Papelbon, the Mavericks will have a difficult decision to make when roster cut time comes.  This deal also leaves the Mavericks very shorthanded for the remainder of this season.  They are out of free agent signings, so they will have to go with one catcher the rest of the way.  On top of that, they had to activate Magglio Ordonez to fill Dunn’s spot.  Ordonez probably won’t return until late September.  So the Mavericks are playing two men short at the moment.  Clearly, the Mavericks don’t have any particular desire to move up the standings.

So what do these deals mean as far as this year’s pennant race is concerned?  The Darkhorses made a bunch of moves to cover up for injuries.  They weren’t necessarily big improvement type deals, but filled needs.  They are obviously still the team to beat, although they did lose their first place spot for one day earlier this week.  The Jackalope held first place for that one day.  It was their first taste of the top of the standings since early in the season.  Johnson should give the Jackalope offense a boost, but will it be enough?  The Jackalope pitching is so strong that they should be right in the running until the end.  As of today, they are just two points out.  The third team in serious contention is the Naturals.  Although they did not make any deadline deals, they still have as good a shot as anybody.  They continue to dominate the batting categories, but have some pitching issues.  Essentially, they are the exact opposite of the Jackalope.  Meanwhile, the Darkhorses remain strong in batting and pitching.  The Kings bolstered their starting pitching, but 11 1/2 points will be difficult to make up in a month and a half.  The moves they made were not just about this season though.  They hope to keep their strong offense in tact, while improving the starting pitching.

The other six teams have very little hope of making a run this year, but the Cougars and Mavericks both made moves with an eye to the future.  The Mavericks have suffered through a miserable year full of injuries and disappointments.  With the picks they have acquired, they hope for better results next year.  The Cougars gave up their first round pick for ’11, but picked up a first round caliber player in Dunn.

With three teams within four points of first place, the next month and a half should be very entertaining.

Posted in Cougars, Darkhorses, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks | No Comments »

2010 DTBL All-Stars

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Thanks to everyone for voting for the 2010 DTBL All-Stars.  The 17th annual DTBL All-Star Game is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, July 18 at 9 p.m EDT / 6 p.m. PDT.  Nick will be managing the American Division while Dave will be calling the shots for the National Division.  The two of them were responsible for breaking all ties in the voting and for selecting the 23rd player for each roster.  And now, here are your 2010 DTBL All-Stars.  The final voting results are posted below the rosters.

American Division

Starters:
P – Ubaldo Jimenez, Gators
C – Mike Napoli, Moonshiners
1B – Miguel Cabrera, Naturals
2B – Rickie Weeks, Naturals
3B – David Wright, Moonshiners
SS – Elvis Andrus, Jackalope
OF – Carl Crawford, Naturals
OF – Vladimir Guerrero, Choppers
OF – Ryan Braun, Jackalope

Reserves:
C – Victor Martinez, Naturals
1B – Albert Pujols, Jackalope
1B – Paul Konerko, Moonshiners
2B – Dan Uggla, Gators
OF – Vernon Wells, Jackalope
OF – Shin-Soo Choo, Moonshiners
P – Roy Halladay, Jackalope
P – Josh Johnson, Gators
P – Yovani Gallardo, Moonshiners
P – Jon Lester, Naturals
RP – Rafael Soriano, Moonshiners
RP – Heath Bell, Jackalope
RP – Phil Hughes, Choppers
RP – Billy Wagner, Gators

National Division

Starters:
P – Adam Wainwright, Cougars
C – Joe Mauer, Demigods
1B – Justin Morneau, Kings
2B – Robinson Cano, Kings
3B – Evan Longoria, Demigods
SS – Hanley Ramirez, Darkhorses
OF – Josh Hamilton, Cougars
OF – Carlos Gonzalez, Kings
OF – Alex Rios, Kings

Reserves:
C – Jorge Posada, Mavericks
1B – Kevin Youkilis, Mavericks
2B – Dustin Pedroia, Demigods
2B – Martin Prado, Darkhorses
OF – Torii Hunter, Darkhorses
OF – Adam Dunn, Mavericks
P – Chris Carpenter, Darkhorses
P – Tim Lincecum, Darkhorses
P – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
P – Clay Buchholz, Kings
RP – Neftali Feliz, Mavericks
RP – Jonathan Broxton, Darkhorses
RP – Mariano Rivera, Mavericks
RP – Brian Wilson, Darkhorses

Players by team:
7 – Darkhorses
6 – Jackalope, Mavericks, Moonshiners
5 – Kings, Naturals
4 – Gators
3 – Demigods
2 – Choppers, Cougars

Voting Results

American Division

Catchers

10 – Mike Napoli, Moonshiners
8 – Victor Martinez, Naturals
2 – Kurt Suzuki, Gators

First Basemen/Third Basemen

10 – Miguel Cabrera, Naturals
8 – Albert Pujols, Jackalope
7 – Paul Konerko, Moonshiners
6 – David Wright, Moonshiners
5 – Joey Votto, Naturals
3 – Adrian Beltre, Choppers
1 – Scott Rolen, Naturals

Second Basemen/Shortstops

8 – Dan Uggla, Gators
8 – Rickie Weeks, Naturals
5 – Elvis Andrus, Jackalope
4 – Derek Jeter, Gators
3 – Troy Tulowitzki, Naturals
1 – Howie Kendrick, Naturals
1 – Chase Utley, Choppers

Outfielders

10 – Carl Crawford, Naturals
10 – Vladimir Guerrero, Choppers
9 – Ryan Braun, Jackalope
8 – Vernon Wells, Jackalope
5 – Shin-Soo Choo, Moonshiners
4 – Jayson Werth, Choppers
3 – Andrew McCutchen, Naturals
1 – Justin Upton, Naturals

Starting Pitchers

10 – Ubaldo Jimenez, Gators
8 – Roy Halladay, Jackalope
7 – Josh Johnson, Gators
6 – Yovani Gallardo, Moonshiners
6 – Jon Lester, Naturals
4 – Jered Weaver, Jackalope
3 – Felix Hernandez, Jackalope
3 – David Price, Naturals
2 – Cliff Lee, Jackalope
1 – C.C. Sabathia, Gators

Relief Pitchers

9 – Rafael Soriano, Moonshiners
7 – Heath Bell, Jackalope
6 – Phil Hughes, Choppers
6 – Billy Wagner, Gators
5 – Jose Valverde, Naturals
3 – Francisco Rodriguez, Moonshiners
2 – Carlos Marmol, Choppers
1 – Matt Capps, Jackalope
1 – Joakim Soria, Naturals

National Division

Catchers

9 – Joe Mauer, Demigods
7 – Jorge Posada, Mavericks
2 – John Buck, Cougars
2 – Geovany Soto, Darkhorses

First Basemen/Third Basemen

9 – Evan Longoria, Demigods
9 – Justin Morneau, Kings
7 – Adrian Gonzalez, Darkhorses
7 – Kevin Youkilis, Mavericks
4 – Alex Rodriguez, Kings
4 – Michael Young, Darkhorses

Second Basemen/Shortstops

10 – Robinson Cano, Kings
10 – Hanley Ramirez, Darkhorses
7 – Dustin Pedroia, Demigods
2 – Martin Prado, Darkhorses
1 – Rafael Furcal, Darkhorses

Outfielders

10 – Josh Hamilton, Cougars
9 – Carlos Gonzalez, Kings
9 – Alex Rios, Kings
6 – Torii Hunter, Darkhorses
4 – Adam Dunn, Mavericks
3 – Matt Kemp, Demigods
3 – Ichiro Suzuki, Demigods
2 – Andre Ethier, Darkhorses
2 – Magglio Ordonez, Mavericks
1 – Matt Holliday, Darkhorses
1 – Shane Victorino, Cougars

Starting Pitchers

10 – Chris Carpenter, Darkhorses
10 – Tim Lincecum, Darkhorses
10 – Adam Wainwright, Cougars
9 – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
8 – Clay Buchholz, Kings
2 – Justin Verlander, Kings
1 – Roy Oswalt, Darkhorses

Relief Pitchers

9 – Neftali Feliz, Mavericks
8 – Jonathan Broxton, Darkhorses
8 – Mariano Rivera, Mavericks
6 – Brian Wilson, Darkhorses
5 – Andrew Bailey, Cougars
2 – Francisco Cordero, Darkhorses
1 – Matt Lindstrom, Demigods
1 – Leo Nunez, Kings

Posted in All-Star Game, Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Gators, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

DTBL News Returns!

Monday, May 17th, 2010

After a longer than expected break, DTBL News is back!  I have set up this new WordPress blog to serve as the host for the DTBL News.  Since WordPress is an extremely well supported and highly used blogging software product, I anticipate this will be a great tool for our league.  On the flip side, the old blog software I used on the previous web site was a mod to the phpBB message board system, which had not been supported or updated in several years.  I was hoping to find something similar to use on the new site, which would automatically tie into the existing web site and message board user system.  However, I decided WordPress would be a much better alternative.

There is a tool available that can be used to integrate WordPress with phpBB so we can continue to use a single sign-on for all web site functions.  I have had some issues getting this to work though.  As you may recall from back in March, I temporarily messed up the entire site login/logout functionality when I was trying to get this to work.  I haven’t touched it since, but this is definitely something I want to implement sooner rather than later.  But in the mean time, I will be the only one who is able to post blog entries.  Of course, I will let you know when I have it set up for any user to create new posts.  In the mean time, if you have anything you feel is DTBL News worthy, just send it to me and I’ll post it for you.  Unlike the old site, I don’t plan on setting up unique blogs for each person.  Instead, once this is completely set up, all of you will have the ability to create/edit/reply to all posts in this single blog.

Another blog related task I need to complete is an import of all the entries from the old site.  WordPress has a pretty robust import feature, however the old blogging system didn’t exactly comply to standards necessary to get this to work automatically.  I should be able to work around this and get all the old news over here though.  I doubt anyone really cares about this, but it is nice to have that stuff for historical purposes.

But enough about the blog.  Let’s get to the news since we’re about a quarter of the way into the season already.  First, the latest news is the first trade of the regular season.  The Mavericks and Naturals completed yet another trade between the league’s two most common trade partners.  Some of you may have seen this transaction earlier today and thought the Naturals acquired something for nothing.  That is not the case.  The Mavericks dealt closer Jose Valverde to the Naturals for their second round pick in 2011.  Valverde has already recorded 10 saves with a minuscule 0.51 ERA and 0.792 WHIP.  This trade should help shore up the Naturals bullpen which has been a little bit of a disappointment, but already ranks in the top half of the league in saves.  Meanwhile, this trade could be interpreted as a bit of a surrender for the Mavericks who find themselves in a disappointing eighth place.  Losing one closer isn’t going to have a devastating effect on the team, however, this trade clearly has no upside for the Mavericks in 2010 since they did not receive a player in return.  More about both of these teams in a bit.

Perhaps the two most news worthy stories I missed so far this season is a pair of no-hitters, including a perfect game.  The perfect game was thrown just a week ago by Dallas Braden of the Oakland A’s.  It was the second consecutive perfect game thrown against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Mark Buehrle did the same against the Rays last July.  Braden’s perfect game was the sixth thrown since the DTBL began in 1993, however Braden is not a DTBL player.  In fact, he’s the first player in the DTBL era to throw a perfect game prior to his DTBL debut (assuming he will be in the league in the future).  Kenny Rogers was not in the DTBL when he threw his perfect game in 1994, but he had been in the league the year before and returned in 1995.

The other no-hitter was thrown by a DTBL pitcher.  Ubaldo Jimenez pitched nine hitless innings against the Braves on April 17.  He was the first Colorado Rockies pitcher to throw a no-hitter.  It was just one of many dominating performances by Jimenez this season.  The Gators hurler has already accumulated a league high 7 wins and league best 1.12 ERA.  His sub 1.00 WHIP and 54 strike outs also place him among the league leaders.  Jimenez has been carrying the Gators pitching staff so far and is one of the front runners for the Cy Young Award.

As for team accomplishments so far, the Jackalope have been the lead story.  With the exception of a couple days at the very beginning of the season, the Jackalope have held the top spot in the league standings the entire season.  They have been led by their thoroughly dominating pitching staff.  Roy Halladay pitching in the National League is almost unfair.  Felix Hernandez, Zack Greinke and Jared Weaver have been their usual dominating selves, although they have been a bit unlucky in the wins department.  Meanwhile, Cliff Lee came off the disabled list a few weeks ago to give the Jackalope as good of a starting five as you will ever see.  Even their bullpen has been better than expected with Matt Capps leading the league in saves.  The Jackalope offense has been solid too, although they have slipped a bit in recent weeks to allow the field to close the gap.  What was a double digit lead for a good portion of April is now just four points over the three time defending champion Darkhorses.

The Darkhorses are lurking once again.  While they have not dominated the league quite the same as they have in recent years, they are still right near the top of the league in both batting and pitching.  The Jackalope certainly have to be concerned that their lead may not last long.  The other closest contender is the Kings.  After an absolutely miserable 2009, the Kings have rebounded back into a more familiar position near the top of the standings.  The improvement of their offense from last year is almost unbelievable.  They currently have 48 of the possible 50 batting points.  Unfortunately, their pitching staff has not been very good, which keeps them seven points behind the Jackalope.

The Naturals, Demigods, Gators and Choppers find themselves in the middle of the pack.  All four teams are very much alive and well.  The Naturals figure to get a boost from the Valverde deal.  The Demigods and Gators are in similar positions needing more offense to move up the standings.  The Choppers are only in sixth place, but should be pretty happy with where they stand.  After several years of having one of the worst pitching staffs in the league, they have improved in that area thanks to a couple of relievers who are actually starters.  C.J. Wilson and Phil Hughes have not only provided bonus wins and strike outs, but they are arguably the Choppers best two pitchers.

The Mavericks, Moonshiners and Cougars bring up the rear.  The Mavericks have not had a lot go their way so far this season.  Their three first round picks have been a little disappointing.  Second overall pick Matt Wieters has put up pedestrian numbers thus far,  Gordon Beckham has been brutal and Billy Butler has been solid but could never be considered a great draft pick considering the Mavericks had just released him a few months prior to the draft.  The Moonshiners have also been the victim of some extremely under-performing players, including first round pick Ben Zobrist.  The Cougars offense was about as bad as you could get a few weeks ago.  They have picked up a few points since then though and are on the verge of climbing out of last place for the first time in quite a while.

Now that I have this blog up and running, hopefully I’ll be able to keep it fresh with somewhat regular updates.  My next post will almost certainly be an update on where I stand with new features and a web site re-design that I hinted at during the offseason.  Don’t expect the latter to happen anytime soon, but I’ll share my plan with you soon enough.

Posted in Gators, Mavericks, Naturals | No Comments »

Newer Entries »