Results tagged ‘ Joe Mauer ’
Dream Job / Fantasy Teams
Ok, so, MLBs got the perfect job opening for a guy like me…and it so happens Im in a position that I could use a job like that. Match made in heaven, right? Well, maybe not since the only voice Ive ever aired on this blog is that of “Angry Yankee fan arguing against angry Yankee Haters” hence my name…
Ive attempted to branch out my skill on this blog to that of my fantasy rosters. Ive got 2 teams drafted, 1 to draft this sunday and maybe one more depending on how I feel about it. Thus, it would cause me to not only watch other games besides those played by the Yankees and their rivals, but to really invest myself in them as well…example: Twins vs White Sox games wouldnt exactly thrill me, but my teams contain Young and Cuddyer vs Danks and Alexi Ramirez-all of a sudden Ive got reason to sit through that series.
So…in the hope of getting the dream job that just last month came into existence, but sure enough has been a job Ive secretly wanted for years…I feel I need to show that Im more than an opinionated Yankee fan. Again, here are my fantasy rosters, and the reasons I drafted that way…
The Pretenders:
C-Buster Posey
1B-Aubrey Huff
2B-Dan Uggla
3B-Alex Rodriguez
SS-Alexi Ramirez
OF-Alex Rios
Shane Victorino
Delmon Young
U-Brett Gardner
Vladimir Guerrero
Bench-Colby Rasmus
Neil Walker
Michael Cuddyer
SP-Tim Lincecum
David Price
Josh Johnson
Roy Oswalt
Ryan Dempster
Ricky Romero
RP-Brian Wilson
John Axford
Leo Nunez
I’ve actually been trade requested twice by another owner looking to get Price, Posey and ARod in exchange for Sabathia, Mauer and Zimmerman. Thats a pretty good trade, but the reason I keep turning my friends request down is because Rodriguez is always a lock for 30 home runs and 100 rbis. Price and Sabathia were interchangable last year, so as long as you have one, youre ok for a Cy Young hopeful. Getting Mauer was tempting since he puts up great numbers for a catcher, but for keeping ARod, Im willing to risk Posey in his 1st full season. Its not a very big risk. Maybe if Mauer had another big year last year, but he seems to not hit the same in Target Field like he did in the Metrodome. Be it Mauer isnt the same at home or ARods guarenteed numbers, Ive had 0 regrets in denying the trades.
I tend to be bad at drafting a middle infield, but in this draft I had the #2 pick and Hanley is by and far the best option at short and Dan Uggla kinda fell into my lap. Im not arguing, since hes still one of the best second basemen in the NL.
My outfields tend to be more speed oriented and this year proved to be no different. Any given day I have Brett Gardner, Shane Victorino and Alex Rios in the lineup. In addition to Hanley, Ill have nothing to worry about in the SB department. Im also rolling the dice on Vladimir Guerrero that he still has another quality season in the tank. Hitting in the heart of a Baltimore lineup poised to send shockwaves through the AL east? I like those odds…
My starting pitchers are strait up nasty! Lincecum, Price, Oswalt and Josh Johnson need no justification. Dempster is a 200 inning/200K machine, and Brian Wilson has quietly been one of the most automatic closers in baseball.
The Lozers:
C-Brian McCann
1B-Derrek Lee
2B-Robinson Cano
3B-Miguel Tejada
SS-Alexi Ramirez
OF-Ryan Braun
Nick Swisher
Matt Holliday
U-Michael Bourn
John Buck
Bench-Pablo Sanvoval
Mike Aviles
Magglio Ordonez
SP-Justin Verlander
Yovani Gallardo
Dan Haren
John Danks
Brett Myers
Madison Bumgarner
Bronson Arroyo
Anibal Sanchez
RP-Mariano Rivera
Ryan Franklain
McCann in the best catcher in the NL, Cano is the best 2B in the AL. I could argue that they might be better than Mauer/Utley but thats all speculative. Derrek Lee has the same this going for him the Guerrero does. Bourn is the sole base stealer on this team, but with a track record of stealing 52, 61 and 41 over the last three years, I doubt he needs much help. Braun and Holliday provide some solid hitting each with over a .300 average, 25 homers and 100 rbi campaigns last season.
In the past Ive always used Aviles as a replacment for an injured player and hes always produced nicely as a result. I figured Id just draft him and avoid the rush this year. Good bench middle infielders are impossible to come by these days. Im risking that Pablos dropped weight equals better play…and anyone else remember Ordonez? He dropped mad low in this draft. Hes at a certain age, really wants to win a wolrd series and plays in the AL central. Im banking that hes gonna have a solid year…
My pitchers my not be as high profile as my other team, but they can still put up numbers. Verlander and Gallardo always seem to be int he Cy Young talk. Rivera now has a number to strive for in his quest for the all time saves record, and it so happens to be 42…as in: The last player to ever wear 42 in baseball needs only 42 saves to catch the all time saves record.
Right…better wrap this up…like I said, I got another team to draft on sunday. My aim to to draft a team that has 0 players Ive already drafted. It limits my options, but it does force me to consider what those other players are capable of. Its an interesting experiment and Im hoping it leads to a couple league titles.
History Repeat
Yup…so including last year, Ive accuratly called the last 4 Yankees post season series (Sweep Twins-beat Angels in 6-beat Phillies in 6-Sweep Twins) so I cant wait until the ALCs begins.
History may be repeating for the Twins, but theyre also making history in the process.
They now have a 12 game losing streak in the postseason, thats 2nd all time, behind the biggest postseason losers of all time: the Boston Red Sox (13 strait losses)
They also set a different record, the 8 previous losses against the Yankees were games in which they had led and STILL lost, which is a record…but they finally snapped that streak when the Yankees scored 1st and never looked back tonight.
…I bet Joe Mauer feels real good about being locked into Minnesota for the rest of his life. “Best” catcher in baseball…and leader of the 2nd worst playoff team in history. Too, too bad.
…To be fair, 9 of the 12 strait losses have come against the Yankees…but theres no excuse for the 3 losses against the Oakland Athletics, who before that series had lost 9 strait series clinchable games.
…Not all there is left to do is sit back, relax, and watch the Rays and Rangers beat each other up….hopefully Cliff Lee trows his arm out tomorrow…
3 key and avoidable screwups that cost the AL
The streak is over. The NL finally found a way to win, blah blah blah. The AL didnt help its case much last night, and speculations can be made all day over what Girardi and Manuel did or didnt do. However, the following three things DID happen, and ended up costing the AL.
1-Joe Mauer makes a baserunning mistake they teach you not to do in little league.
5th inning. Robinson Cano just hit a sac fly to put the AL up 1-0. Joe Mauer is on 2nd, 1 out. Carl Crawford hits a groundball to short, and Mauer takes it upon himself to go for 3rd, right in front of Hanley Ramirez! Ramirez easily nails him at 3rd for the 2nd out.
What professional baseball player pulls a stunt like that? You go AFTER Ramirez throws to 1st, then you wouldve scored on the Torii Hunter fly ball.
2-Elvis Andrus stole 2nd, then caught off the bag.
Jeter led off the 6th the only way he could, he got a hit. Then in comes Andrus to run for him. He takes 2nd as Konerko strikes out, but he came in to 2nd too fast and slid himself right off the base. Brandon Phillips catches him a mile off the bag and applies the tag. Josh Hamilton then hits a single that wouldve scored the speedy Andrus. Big Floppi strikes out to end the inning.
(For those counting, thats now at least 2 runs the AL lost out on…but was there a way to prevent the NL runs?)
3-Matt Thornton (how the hell is he an all star?) walks the bases loaded despite being ahead in the count 0-2.
7th inning. Runners on the corners, 2 outs. Marlon Byrd steps up to the plate against Thornton. The count quickly goes to 0-2. One more strike and the AL can breathe easy. Thornton then decides hes gonna get Byrd to chase some high heat.
Ball one.
Ok, so, lets try something new. BUT NO! Thronton trys to get Byrd to chase another high fastball!
Ball two.
Alright. Byrd clearly isnt fooled. Go to a new pitch? Nope! Lets try the same pitch AGAIN!
Ball three. Full count.
Thornton finally decides to try a different location. Down and away, and Byrd isnt swinging.
Ball four. Bases loaded. McCann steps up and the rest is history.
Honerable mentions go out to Joe Girardi for leaving David Ortiz to run the bases in the 9th, Joe Mauer for that terrible throw to 2nd that ended up in center field, and David Wright for not taking 3rd on the beforementioned Mauer throw.
Despite the above, im not that bitter. This just means the Yankees wont need 6/7 games to win the world series at home this year.
Week 12 in review: There should be a dozen Yankees in Anaheim
So Ive got about 12 more online votes to submit for the all star game, and the Yankees have about 12 players deserving of roster spots. Which players deserve it?
Andy Pettitte should be starting the game.
Phil Hughes and CC Sabathia should join Mo Rivera in the bullpen.
Jeter and Cano should win their respective positions.
Mark Teixeira might get a nod. If he doesnt win the vote, then as a 3rd 1st baseman.
Yes, Cervelli. He wont win the vote at catcher, but theres no other deserving catcher in the AL once Mauers off the table.
Longoria’ll win at 3rd….but then theres ARod. Why? Because its Girardis call.
Swishers gotta make the bench for the squad.
Including Girardi that would make….11…….well, factor in a bench coach and that makes 12.
Biggest Yankee Game:
6/27/10: Yankees-8, Dodgers-6, 10 Innings
Come-back-baby! Series-win! Future starting all star Robinson Cano won it with the homer! Way to end 2010 interleague play.
Favorite Picture:
The collapse of the 2010 Tampa Bay Rays? Mayyyyyyyybe?
Fantasy:
All my MLB.com teams lost close games. Its really annoying when your teams all do decent and its all for nothing…
The F*cking Lozers are sittin back in 1st place in the Yahoo league, so it all kinda evens out, especially since the Pretenders are sitting right in the middle of the standings…
This Week:
The Yankees host the Mariners and Blue Jays this week before shipping out west to wrap up the 1st half.
Week 5 in review: Don’t Phaze me, bro!
Lets get the obvious done…
Dallas Braden. The blood still not dried from when he PMSed over what ARod did to his mound, he took to the hill again with a mission. That mission: Make sure no one else walks across his mound.
Well Braden made sure no one would go near his mound yesterday. Hell, he made sure no one would even go near 1st base as he retired all 27 Rays hitters he faced. This is the 2nd strait year those Death Rays tasted the wrong end of perfection.
I dont have a lot to say about the man now, I figure actual Athletics fans can do that. I do however, have something to say about the mans grandmother: Go f*ck yourself. Unless Im mistaken, after the perfect game, she said “Stick it, ARod” as if this was some sort of revenge…oh yeah, pitching a perfect game against someone not named the Yankees-an AL east team no less-yeah, thats perfect revenge for a man who broke an obscure, irrelevent rule…pass…
Like theres even a rivalry there. Braden is still a clown with just a handful of wins to his name, hes just now got a shiny one in there.
Lemme just check the ring count…ARod 1, Braden 0…Awards count?…Braden 0, ARod >0
Either way, just to recap:
Dallas Braden-Congrats
Dallas Bradens Grandmother- Shut up
As for the Yankees last week, they were near perfect, sweeping Baltimore and taking 2/3 from the Red Sox, who I believe are ready to admit that theres a problem with the entire team.
Biggest Yankee Game
5/7/10 Yankees-10, Red Sox-3
Hughes continues kicking butt, Beckett continues giving up bombs to the Yankees. I believe this game officially killed all the hype surrounding the rivalry for a while. Until the Red Sox get their act together, I cant imagine these matchups being interesting…
Favorite Picture
Ah man, getting tazed at a Philly game, thats classic.
I assume this is Bud Seligs way of trying to speed up the games for 2 reasons…1-Tazing subdues the people faster, thus the game can continue sooner…2-Youll think twice about delaying a game if you know security is packing tazers.
I sure hope thats spilled beer on his pants though…
Fantasy
Either my teams did real good, or they took a beating. No middle ground this week.
The F*cking Lozers jumped to within a half game of 1st, just like the Yankees, with yet another 7-4 win.
The Pretenders are now tied for 1st thanks to Teixeira’s yearly May surge.
The other 3 teams all took beatings. I’d rather not get into it.
Quick question: are there any fantasy GMs out there who not only had Dallas Braden on roster yesterday, but happened to start him as well? Any A’s pitcher for that matter?
This Week
Yankees play 4 in Detroit then head home to play the Twins, who are praying to God Joe Mauer will be 100% by then, or else itll be a sweep for the Yanks.
1927 vs 1998
1st of all, heres an funny little piece written by an Indians blog explaining why the Twins dont deserve any pats pats on the back for keeping Mauer. If you’re a fan of Mauer, the Twins, or small market teams in general, then I suggest you skip it…
Elsewhere…thesmoov1 has been doin a 1996 vs 2009 Yankee series. Check it out. Sure it seems like a no contest for the 09 Yanks heading in, but the same was said for the 96 Braves too…
I did my own little batte on whatifsports.com with arguably the 2 best Yankee teams: 1998 and 1927.
How’d it go? For a while it was a pitchers duel between Andy Pettitte and Waite Hoyt. The scorless tie was broken up by O’Neill and Williams in the 6th with back-to-back RBI singles.
Tony Lazzeri led off the 7th with a homer, making it a 2-1 game, and that score held up going into the 9th, where Rivera entered to finish things off. But the greatest closer of all time couldnt contain the 1927 Yankees where Pat Collins launched a 2 run bomb to put 1927 up 3-2.
In the bottom of the 9th, Posada responded with a game tying double and this game was heading for extras.
Mike Stanton got into trouble in the 11th and Jeff Nelson couldnt bail him out in time, giving up a run. 1998 went down quietly and the game ended in favor of the 27 Yankees.
Oddly enough, Babe Ruth was a complete non-factor.
1927 Yankees: 4…1998 Yankees: 3 (11 innings)
W: Joe Girard
L: Mike Stanton
S: Myles Thomas
Lou Gehrig (’27) 1-4, R, BB
Babe Ruth (’27) 0-4, BB
Bernie Williams (’98) 2-4, RBI, R, BB
Andy Pettitte (’98) ND, 8IP, ER, 3BB, 5K
Fantasy Draft #4….and the Twins keep their franchise player, but their season is shot anyway
Fantasy baseball is like a drug. You cant make just one team.
Ive got multiple teams in the works this year. 1 in a money league, 1 for kicks, 1 to test a theory I have, and 1 that I created with some friends to test another theory.
This is the last one I swear. This one I’ll be drafting potential sleepers and taking chances. Anything that pans out will factor into plans and staratagies for my other teams. Ive done this before, and achieved huge success because I took chances on certain individuals who had break out seasons. Such players include: Joe Mauer, Curtis Granderson, Pablo Sandoval and Evan Longoria. Impressive short list, no? I dont usually win with this team, but those players I mentioned before helped my other fantasy teams take it to the playoffs.
Speaking of Mauer. Twins signed him long term and probably worth more than the rest of the teams makes combined. In fact, I think they now need to rename “Target Field” into “Joe Mauer Stadium” because they didnt have enough money leftover to give him…plus he gets a no trade claus, which means he can (and will) milk them bone dry and theres nothing they can do about it….anyway, Nathan will be getting his surgery, meaning unless the Twins have a Ryan Franklin type story waiting for his chance, their season is shot….oh well, Mauer. Youve got 7 additional years to try, and what are the odds youll face the Yankees EVERY time in the ALDS, right?
I know this is old news, but who still remembers the trade rumor between the Cardinals and Phillies which wouldve had Pujols and Howard swap places? That would be sick. I mean, I know its not happening, but still.
As it stands, its possibly the 2nd greatest trade rumor in history, right behind the Yankees/Red Sox Joe DiMaggio for Ted Williams deal.
Alright already, draft field is loaded…and Ive got another motha fukkin middle of the order pick. 7th out of 12. Why God, why? Heres a recap of my draft positions this year:
6 out of 12
6 out of 10
5 out of 12
11 out of 12
7 out of 12
…So my ADP in all this is about a 7. Go figure. What sucks is Ive been stuck with similar 1st round choices. I’ve managed to mix it up every time, drafting ARod, Longoria, Ryan Braun and Miguel Cabrera. Statistically speaking, my average #1 should be Lonoria or Tim Lincecum, depending on what type of league this is. BTW, this league Im doing tonight is an individual pitchers league, like my money league from last week.
Round 1…pick….Tex. When 6 people are dumb enough to let him drop that low, you dont let #8 have Mark Teixeira…
Round 2…Roy freakin Halladay….I should clarify on my “braskout stars” picks….thats in the later rounds.
Round 3….Jeter. Duh…
Round 5…Johan Santana…Bounce back from injury? ‘s what this team was made to find out.
Round 7/8…Took a couple more chances. Bailey and Ramirez. Sophomore slump for Bailey? Will Ramirez avoid getting pregnant this year? Only way to find out is to wait and see…
Round 9…Coghlan too? When dealing with last years impressive rookies, might as well go all in or go home.
Round 12…Chipper Jones. Last year for Bobby Cox? This might also be the last hurah for Jones too.
Round 17…Strasburg…thats right. I pulled the same stunt with Longoria once upon a time and it payed off.
Round 22…Due to recent not-sucking, Hughes looks good for the #5 slot in NY, so Im drafting him.
Final draft finally over…projection:
Pretenders:
C: G. Soto
1B: M. Teixeira
2B: B. Zobrist
3B: C. Jones
SS: D. Jeter
OF: B. Abreu
OF: M. Ramirez
OF: M. Cuddyer
U: J. Cantu
U: J. Rivera
SP: R. Halladay
SP: J. Santana
RP: A. Bailey
RP: F. Cordero
P: C. Qualls
P: P. Hughes
P: S. Kazmir
P: R. Harden
Yeah…a lot of bounce back potential on this team…
Bias…plain and simple…
Just so we’re clear, between this year and 06, Jeter should have gotten at least 1 MVP award. Cut short by a Twinkie AGAIN.
In 06 Jeter was the favorite by far, while 3 different Twins were up for the award against him, heres how those specific 4 did:
Justin Nobody: 320
Derek Jeter: 306
Mauer: 116
Johan Santana: 114
Its pretty clear the fact that 3 Twins on the ballot didnt effect the outcome.
2009? 2 Yankees vs 1 Twin?
Mauer: 387
Texeira: 225
Jeter: 193
You can feed me that BS sabermetrics or “Catcher is the hardest position” till the cows come home, Im not buying any of that. None of that was the case when that lying, cheating, DH, steroid using f*uck Ortiz was on the ballot.
Its pure anti-Yankee bias, plain and simple.
But dont worry, its all cool. The only hardware that ever matters is a ring, no bias can get that but pure talent, and Jeter has FIVE now. Mauer can only dream of winning even one if he stays in that sh!t town in Minny.
World Championships:
Jeter: 5
Texeira: 1
Mauer: 0
Morneau: 0
Santana: 0
Yankee Hater Hater
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