2010 the new game in town

[MtheB]

a few initial observations:

1) NO JUICE: power is scarce, particularly in the non-DH games where Thome/Dunn/Ortiz etc. are not used. Unless you draft effectively, you can end up with nada in a hitters park.

2) NO REAL RIGHTY/LEFTY EXTREME PARKS: almost no extreme lefties/righties park as in previous years. There are few parks that give lefties or righties a particularly strong advantage. There are hitters parks and pitchers parks, but less LH/RH separation.

3) PLATOONS: already seeing a heavy dose of these. Given the lack of power and dominant 5 category hitters, platoons will be de riguer for 2010 game.

4) PITCHING: Starting pitching is strong, albeit not overly abundant, but relief pitching is solid, and it is easy to build a strong pen, particularly for pitchers parks.

5) DRAFTING: Top two draft slots will make or break your team. Obviously Cano Robinson, Votto, AGon, Pujols and Carlos Gonazalez populate many owners top slots. The problem is, if you don't attempt to draft these guys, you don't have a shot. Already seeing owners drafting the 2nd tier group of players with their #1 and #2 picks, and as alot of owners are doing this, owners are already coming up dry with either strategy (as with the Yogi Berra truism--"Nobody goes there anymore, its too crowded")---just partcipated in a draft where King Felix and Pujols both remained on the FA after the initial draft. Owners will have to gamble to have any chance at one of the top 5 or 6 players, the talent falls off dramatically after that.

6) OBP GONE. This is now just a fleeting dream some of us had. Platoons will be key to getting men on base at the top of the order. Its beyond thin.

7) INJURIES: either baseball players are not eating right, and are hypocondriacs, or its something in the water. The number of injured players, particularly top talent, is just plain scary. And Given the high injury rates of Moreau, Pedoria etc., the risks are very high. Am waiting for someone to put together the ALL INJURY TEAM.......

8) CREATIVITY. It will take more effort, and more research, to put together a successful team than in previous years--personally, I think this is alot more fun that previous years where you could just put a huge powerhouse team out there and watch it hit HRs.

Outside of the large number of injury prone players (and the high salaries for those), and the lack of extreme RH/LH Parks (which always make for more fun)--I far prefer this years game to previous years slugfests. It is more interesting and challenging to put a team together, and requires more creativity and planning.

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