{"id":215,"date":"2011-10-10T16:27:37","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T23:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=215"},"modified":"2011-10-10T16:40:42","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T23:40:42","slug":"good-bad-and-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=215","title":{"rendered":"Good, Bad and Ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Moonshiners first baseman Prince Fielder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You’ve heard all about the champion Jackalope.\u00a0 Now it’s time to take a look back at the 2011 season for the other nine teams.\u00a0 I’ve grouped them into three categories:\u00a0 the good, the bad and the ugly.\u00a0 These groups don’t necessarily relate to the order of finish, but how competitive the teams were compared to expectations.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 “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.\u00a0 Disappointing is a better way to describe them.\u00a0 Finally, the teams that fall into the “ugly” category would probably like to pretend 2011 never happened.<\/p>\n

THE GOOD<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mike’s Moonshiners<\/strong><\/p>\n

The quickest team out of the gate, the Moonshiners led the league for a good part of the first quarter of the season.\u00a0 They stumbled a bit in early summer and never really recovered, finishing in third place.\u00a0 However, that was up two spots from a year ago and was their best finish since 2008.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 While I already mentioned how beneficial that trade was to the Jackalope, the impact was similar for the Moonshiners.\u00a0 Weaver turned their average pitching staff into one of the league’s best.\u00a0 He finished in the top five of the league in ERA, WHIP and wins.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Now that the pitching staff has been fixed, the Moonshiners will look to improve their offense going into 2012.\u00a0 With the Jackalope winning their first title this year, the Moonshiners are now the longest tenured DTBL team without a title.\u00a0 They figure to have a good chance to change that next year.<\/p>\n

Dom’s Demigods<\/strong><\/p>\n

The biggest jump in the standings was made by the Demigods.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This is despite the fact that they got almost nothing out of their first overall pick (Buster Posey);\u00a0 same with his catching partner Joe Mauer.\u00a0 The rest of the offense was surprisingly good though, finishing in the top five in every category and leading the league in batting average.\u00a0 The indisputable MVP of the team was Matt Kemp, who hit .324 with 39 HR, 126 RBI, 115 R, 40 SB.\u00a0 He led the league in RBIs and was the only player to appear on the league leaderboard in all five categories.\u00a0 He even flirted with the NL Triple Crown until the final week of the season.\u00a0 The pitching staff was a bit of a disappointment, but overall, the Demigods appear to be headed in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Charlie’s Thunder Choppers<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 They were a title contender in the second half of the season for the first time in five years.\u00a0 They wound up finishing 16 1\/2 points out of first, cutting almost half the deficit from a year ago (32 points).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson finished first and second in the league in home runs (43 and 41 respectively).\u00a0 Both are strong MVP candidates, while Bautista is even eligible for the DTBL Rookie of the Year award.\u00a0 Granderson led the league with 136 runs scored, the highest total since 2007.\u00a0 The Choppers boast another strong ROY candidate in closer Craig Kimbrel who saved 46 games in his first full MLB season.\u00a0 If the Choppers can add one or two more elite starting pitchers, they are another team to watch in 2012.<\/p>\n

THE BAD<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nick’s Naturals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, I admit it isn’t really fair to put the Naturals in a category labeled as “bad”, because they were definitely not that.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The Naturals were unable to repeat their amazing feat of 50 batting points from a year ago, but still led the league with 45.\u00a0 They figured they would need to get more out of their pitching staff though.\u00a0 Unfortunately for them, that didn’t really happen.\u00a0 Newly acquired Zack Greinke was solid, but he, along with the rest of the staff, didn’t have a truly spectacular season.\u00a0 Still, the Naturals shouldn’t regret their Greinke\/Howard trade, because the pitching would have been worse without Greinke.\u00a0 Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto led the league’s best offense.\u00a0 Cabrera won the batting title with a .344 average.\u00a0 Overall, there is nothing for the Naturals to be ashamed of this year.\u00a0 They were as close as one half point behind the Jackalope in late August.\u00a0 They figure to be right back in the title hunt again next year.<\/p>\n

Kevin’s Kings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, this wasn’t a “bad” season for the Kings.\u00a0 They finished exactly where they did a year ago, in fourth place.\u00a0 However, this time fourth place meant 15 points back and not really a serious contender down the stretch.\u00a0 Last year, they were in the hunt right until the end and finished just five points behind the co-champions.\u00a0 Other than place of finish, there was virtually nothing in common between the 2010 and 2011 Kings.\u00a0 This year’s squad had a below average offense and one of the league’s best pitching staffs.\u00a0 It was just the opposite in ’10.\u00a0 The main reason for the pitching upswing was one man:\u00a0 Justin Verlander.\u00a0 Verlander tied a DTBL single season record with 24 wins.\u00a0 He also led the league in WHIP (0.920) and strike outs (250).\u00a0 Really, he’s the only Kings pitcher who sticks out as having an impressive year, yet they managed to garner 40 pitching points.\u00a0 On offense, it was an underwhelming and injury plagued season for almost all of the Kings stars.\u00a0 Jose Reyes bounced back to being one of the league’s elite players, but he too couldn’t stay healthy.\u00a0 It is hard to say where this franchise is headed.\u00a0 Without Verlander’s monster year, they could have finished near the bottom of the standings this year.\u00a0 On the other hand, had a few key guys stayed healthy, they may have been in the hunt until the end.<\/p>\n

Marc’s Mavericks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now this is the one team in this group where the “bad” label probably applies.\u00a0 For the second straight year, the Mavericks finished in eighth place.\u00a0 But this isn’t a franchise that typically goes through long rebuilding processes.\u00a0 Last year, they were completely wrecked by injuries and essentially gave up with a couple months to play.\u00a0 This year, they had some injuries, but that wasn’t the biggest problem.\u00a0 Disappointing seasons from almost all of their young players gave them little hope of competing.\u00a0 They have had five first round picks the past two years, and I would call several of them major disappointments at this point.\u00a0 Carlos Santana and Matt Wieters had decent seasons at a weak offensive position, but the jury is still out on them.\u00a0 Gordon Beckham and Jayson Heward have been huge busts so far.\u00a0 The only Maverick who really stood out as having a tremendous 2011 season was Clayton Kershaw.\u00a0 Kerhsaw led the league in ERA (2.28) and was just behind Verlander in WHIP (0.977), wins (21) and strike outs (248).\u00a0 It should definitely come down to those two for the Cy Young award.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

THE UGLY<\/strong><\/h2>\n

David’s Darkhorses<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Darkhorses set a standard of excellence in winning four consecutive DTBL championships from 2006-2010.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They won those four titles by having the most balanced team in the league, usually finishing first or second in both batting and pitching.\u00a0 This year, they somehow managed to fall to the middle of the pack in both areas.\u00a0 Injuries were a factor, but not to the extent you would expect for a team that fell apart like this.\u00a0 Below average seasons for most of the roster is the main explanation.\u00a0 I suppose it was bound to happen eventually.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 His Red Sox teammate Adrian Gonzalez had another solid year for the Darkhorses, but dropped off a bit in the second half.\u00a0 One major problem with the pitching staff was the criminally bad run support Tim Lincecum received.\u00a0 He only won 13 games despite putting up his usual dominating numbers in the other categories.\u00a0 James Shields and Chris Carpenter also won fewer games than you would expect from their other numbers.\u00a0 I’ll chalk this up as a worst-case scenario season for the Darkhorses.\u00a0 Surely, things will go better next year.<\/p>\n

Greg’s Gators<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Fortunately for them, both teams picked up a point or two in the final day and avoided this place in history.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

While the Gators did avoid that distinction, they managed to set a different low water mark.\u00a0 Their six batting points are the fewest ever in the 10 team era (since ’98, batting or pitching).\u00a0 Only a couple stolen bases prevented them from finishing dead last in all five offensive categories.\u00a0 Sadly, they were in last by a fairly wide margin in most categories.\u00a0 They are going to have a tough time finding enough players worthy of keeping.\u00a0 About the only offensive player who put up keeper-worthy numbers was Dan Uggla, and even he only hit .233.\u00a0 The pitching staff was a little better, mostly thanks to C.C. Sabathia.\u00a0 Injuries to Jair Jurrjens and Josh Johnson prevented them from having a pretty respectable staff.\u00a0 Overall, there is a lot of work to do for this squad.\u00a0 I think 2011 was clearly the worst season in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Kelly’s Cougars<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 I’m not sure it would have mattered though.\u00a0 Much as was the case with the White Sox, Adam Dunn almost single-handedly ruined the Cougars season.\u00a0 Nobody had a particularly good season either though.\u00a0 Josh Hamilton fought through injuries, and other key players were simply inconsistent.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This will be chalked up as a forgettable year for the Cougars.\u00a0 Perhaps with some bounce back years from their key players, 2012 should be better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’ve heard all about the champion Jackalope.\u00a0 Now it’s time to take a look back at the 2011 season for the other nine teams.\u00a0 I’ve grouped them into three categories:\u00a0 the good, the bad and the ugly.\u00a0 These groups don’t necessarily relate to the order of finish, but how competitive the teams were compared to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,11,12,5,9,3,10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-choppers","category-cougars","category-darkhorses","category-demigods","category-gators","category-kings","category-mavericks","category-moonshiners","category-naturals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}