Old League Games

[Coffeeholic]

Another killer day gets me started on this late so I'm going to do an abbreviated version. Feel free to extrapolate if you'd like. 8-)

[b:a90b6ce798]EAST[/b:a90b6ce798]

[b:a90b6ce798]BLUE GEESE[/b:a90b6ce798] Tight race, but slight adavantage to Grossman. Uses the tried and true variation of the "stud SP*/50 cent value starter/super bullpen startegy. Strenghts: Helton; Delgado; Pedro; Trachsel (although there aren't that many lefty/switch hitting laden line-ups in our division for him to be of full value); Smoltz; Soriano; value 50 cent SP's. Weaknesses: Shea teams are usually stronger vs. LH pitching and there are a couple of questionable picks on the pitching staff. Look for Posada to under-perform.

[b:a90b6ce798]MINERS[/b:a90b6ce798] I'm not as sold on all of JKolaks line-up selection as he is. He still should lead the league in runs scored, but I think that he is sacrificing too much in other areas to get a couple of over-priced sluggers. Should play slightly over or at .500%, but will most likely fall out of the playoff picture. Strengths: Obviously the line-up... esp. Thome; Edmonds; Varitek; Manny and Guillen. Weaknesses: Strong line-up, but with an over-kill vs. LH pitching; Not enough pitching to cover in his park. Coupled with less than average "D" means that he'll be giving up too many runs. The performances of Oliver and Dreifort will be key. I love both of these guys, but as "match-up" starters, not every 5th day guys. If they perform as Joe hopes, then I have under-estimated this team, if not.....?

[b:a90b6ce798]BATS[/b:a90b6ce798] A decent team to have to predict for last place, but sorry Pushpin, this is a tough division and someone's gonna end up in the cellar. Strengths: Hudson; Wood; Andruw; the Lopez/Piazza tandem; Cruz; Outstanding defense. Weaknesses: Too much bullpen for such an expensive rotation (this isn't so much a weakness, but rather he could have saved some $ in this area and used it to bolster a rather lackluster offense); There will be at least 4 holes in the line-up when 1 or more of his injury prone starters goes on the DL

[b:a90b6ce798]LEFTOVERS[/b:a90b6ce798] I'll again defer from making a prediction about my own team. Someone else wanna give it a go?

[b:a90b6ce798]CENTRAL[/b:a90b6ce798]

[b:a90b6ce798]GUTTER DWELLERS[/b:a90b6ce798] JD's team looks to be the best of a weak division. Strength's : Schmidt; Loaiza: Abrue; Rolen; Beltran; Good balance between pitching, fielding and hitting. Weaknesses: Bullpen looks a bit weak; A hole or two in his line-up to be on par with the powerhouses from the other divisions.

[b:a90b6ce798]VERAS[/b:a90b6ce798] A very slight edge for second place goes to rzpernick's team. Strengths: Shields; Willis; Oswalt; Gagne; Mueller; some decent mid priced positional players. Weaknesses: Other than a short bullpen, this team is pretty well balanced. However, there's nothing that jumps out at me with this team and says "Here's a very strong team!" One of those instances where I think that Roger's got a lot of second tier options.

[b:a90b6ce798]BLUES[/b:a90b6ce798] Dave's Busch team could easily finish in second... it's that close Strengths: Starting pitching is probably the best in the league with Prior, Zito and Santana. But as in our first two leagues, here's another example of a team that would have been better off going with a straight 4 man rotation. Why have $9.1 mil tied up relatively evenly in 2 SP's when you could go with 1 SP* at $8.6 mil and hide a 50 cent SP that never pitches. Granted, there aren't any super stud SP*'s left, but I still think you could have used this salary allocation more judiciously. Weaknesses: After Kolb, the bullpen is questionable; The line-up is below average at best... not going to score enough runs, even with all that starting pitching.

[b:a90b6ce798]GIFT WRAPPERS[/b:a90b6ce798] I may not be giving Kevin enough credit for his starting pitching, so I could very well be under-estimating this team. And given that none of his divisional foes stands out, just maybe he'll surprise. The most noticeable aspect of this team is that it's playing in the wrong park. After Huff, Nomar and maybe Blalock, I'm having difficulty finding anyone that I'd pick for Great American. On the other hand, Pods, Castillo, almost the entire pitching staff, and a few of the lower priced positional players are perfectly suited for a "small ball" environment.

[b:a90b6ce798]WEST[/b:a90b6ce798]

[b:a90b6ce798]ANGELS[/b:a90b6ce798] There's a lot to like about poser's Fenway team. Since the East is so strong, there is a very good chance that this team will have the best record in the league. Good balance, players nicely attuned to his park and some of the top bargains in the set. Strengths: Mahay; Young; Wells; Feliz; Redman; Cabrerra; Stewart; Mientky. Weaknesses: Nitpicking with this, but Zambrano is out of his environ; Not sure what Gary's idea for a closer is, but it looks weak whatever way he goes.

[b:a90b6ce798]YANKEES[/b:a90b6ce798] Alexx's team seems a solid bet to finish second and could be in the hunt for the wild card. Strengths: Ecellent "D"; AROD, Ichiro, Giambi, Lee and AJP look pretty good at the top of the line-up; Wagner should dominate the late innings. Weaknesses: Starting pitching could be a bit stronger... maybe a match-up option or 2 and a stud SP* to go every 4th day; After Wagner, the bullpen could self-destruct a bit to often, esp. given the non-inspiring rotation; Bottom half of the batting order is pretty lackluster.

[b:a90b6ce798]BALL[/b:a90b6ce798] Bomberny latest effort might eek out a second place finish, but at this point it looks unlikely. Strengths: Giles; Rollins; Pujols; Chipper; Mags; Brown; Vazquez. Weaknesses: After the top 2 SP*'s, pitching looks to take a beating, esp. given the lack of depth in the bullpen; There are loads cheap righty killing and cheap reverse lefty SP's in this set, and Billy can expect to see them all... needs a lefty or two to provide balance, esp since Comerica has a slight lefty advantage.

[b:a90b6ce798]WOLVES[/b:a90b6ce798] Sorry Mike, but it looks like this might be a long season for you. Perhaps I'm not giving Bonds enough credit, but the surrounding talent just isn't strong enough for even him to carry this team. Strengths: Mr. Human Growth Hormone; Halladay; Alvarez. Weaknesses: Even with a decent rotation, Coors demands a deep and solid bullpen and this is not evident with this team; Who's gonna catch the ball? This team could easily compete with the worst of the "Iron Glove" teams; Many second tier options populate this team, and not many seem well suited to Coors.

[GARYCOOK]

While were wating on Coffee's predictions, I was wondering if any of you would be interested in another tournament of just one year. A nice 5 pack of 04 or 05 - save some money. I'd prefer 04. Gary

[Coffeeholic]

LMAO!

This is the second time in a row that I've been swept, on the very night I made my predictions, by a team which I picked to do poorly.

Way to stick it to me Joshua!

[ArtemusRex]

The real life C.C. (Cha-Ching) Sabathia finally relents and signs his 7 year contract with the Yankees and celebrates on my 2003 team by winning for my Yankees 10-0!!!!! What did this have to do with anything. Not much. But I bet you're just glad I'm not here boasting about winning game 5 and confounding yet another of JKolak's predictions. Yes, I bet you are real glad I didn't boast about THAT.

To go mildly political, I'm not just THAT ONE, I am THE ONE!!!

[JKolak]

Even a blind squirrel is lucky to find a nut ever now and then Alexx. :P

Congratulations on winning the semifinal series. Let's see how these finals go. If the steroid connection of Bonds, Sheffield and Sosa gets hot, the ballgame is over for the RexMan. If, on the ohter hand, he can ice me with his pitching and opportunistic offense, this could be short series.

I just don't want to be the victim of Magic Alexx in becoming his first 2001 ring. For the king of 2001, this is one series I would love to win.

As far as 2003 is concerned, it was not a good card set for me. Going with a cheap rotation was the best I could do once the autodraft turned against me with no * SP. As long as I can win enough 10-8 games, my team has a shot.

[ArtemusRex]

[quote:c1cb5f297b="JKolak"]Let's see how these finals go. If the steroid connection of Bonds, Sheffield and Sosa gets hot, the ballgame is over for the RexMan. If, on the ohter hand, he can ice me with his pitching and opportunistic offense, this could be short series.

I just don't want to be the victim of Magic Alexx in becoming his first 2001 ring. For the king of 2001, this is one series I would love to win.

[/quote:c1cb5f297b]

:D It looks like he got it pegged on the latter call. I'm now up two games to none with a little help form my own steroid connection when Jose Conseco staged a huge comeback in the seventh inning of Game 2 by hitting a grand slam. You may have Bonds, Sheff, and Sosa but Jose literally wrote the book on steroids... in fact he wrote two. :P We were able to ice you down from there. Strange thing, Derrick Lowe hasn't even pitched in this series yet. Only matter of concern is Edmonds hasn't done anything since the end of the regular season. Don't worry though, at least you beat me 2 games out of 3 in 2002 tonight.

[Edit: I can't believe I failed to mentioned Pedro Martinez who had a great nine inning post-season performance in Game 1 that justifies a $9mil salary.]

Still a long way to go in this series and I've lost them before after going up 30-love, but it would be fitting winning it from JKolak as not only does he always seem to play when I do (no big shock as he plays like 90% of all 2001 seasons since 2006) but we rarely meet in the finals when I make it to the playoffs as one of us usually gets knocked out early.

[gross54]

If you and Kojak would have left the cheap starters alone I would not have these question marks.

I am hopping that Trachsel pitches well in enough in my home park to make up for some of the 50centers that I did not get and some of the hitting that I did not get. Its a bit of a long shot but if he stinks I am sunk. .

[JKolak]

[quote:f4f4e051c6]It looks like he got it pegged on the latter call. I'm now up two games to none [/quote:f4f4e051c6]

Correction. The series is now tied at 2 games each. :D :P

[ArtemusRex]

[quote:ffbc64c588="JKolak"][quote:ffbc64c588]It looks like he got it pegged on the latter call. I'm now up two games to none [/quote:ffbc64c588]

Correction. The series is now tied at 2 games each. :D :P[/quote:ffbc64c588]

Correction. I'm now up 3-2. It seems Hal like to put Matt Clement as you next pitcher. This is the second time I've seen Hal list Matt as your probable starter in this series. Good thing you took care of it last time.

[gross54]

Just because you picked me to finish first does not mean you have to let me sweep you.