Two baseball deals were set over the weekend, another was finalized and two others were reported.
The Dodgers confirmed that 3B Jose Uribe would return on a 2-year, $15-million deal and the Twins re-upped RHP Mike Pelfrey for 2014 and '15.
The Mets completed their 2-year contract with free-agent RHP Bartolo Colon.
The reported free-agent signings were by the Indians for RHP John Axford -- who could become their closer, at least until he loses the job -- and the Cardinals with 2B Mark Ellis. He could take some pressure off left-handed-hitting 2B Kolten Wong.
* * *
Football. The problem with having more than one fantasy team is that a guy who gives you a win in one league could beat you in another. That appears likely to be the case in my two football leagues.
Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles' 5 touchdowns gave me 30 points in my scoring-only league. That helped me to a 63-20 lead with RB Ray Rice and the Lions' quarterbacks still to play. My opponent's starting lineup has all played already. In a league that has been going since 1987, I haven't scored more than 70. And that was when we got double points for 50-plus-yard scoring plays and I had Jerry Rice on my roster. I'll still be two games out of first place with two to play.
In my scoring-plus-yardage, I'm on the verge of blowing a 25-point lead after the first week of a two-game consolation semifinal playoff. Playing against me, Charles scored 51 points. That helped my opponent pulled within 183-181 with my roster exhausted and Lions RB Reggie Bush still available for him Monday night.
* * *
Hockey. With only one player from my roster actually playing, I dropped a point in ATOI. Valtteri Flippula gave me an assist and plus-1. Fortunately, I didn't make a change to put Flyers G Steve Mason in my lineup. He again gave up four goals, and lost in overtime. But I might have been able to use my two Ducks skaters, Corey Perry and Dustin Penner, each plus-1. I apparently didn't make lineup changes after Saturday night's Bucks-Mavericks game. Got up this morning at 5 to go to Bonham for two church services, took a nap when I returned and didn't wake up until the Packers were scoring to pull within 29-24 of the Cowboys.
Made another move to get more minutes as well as some penalty minutes and shots and a positive plus/minus on my backline. Welcome, Stars D Brenden Dillon to replace the Bruins' Torey Krug.
* * *
Basketball. Late Sunday afternoon, after Gerald Greene made a 3-pointer, I was leading 8-0 as this week's head-to-head matchup neared its end. However, I knew my lead of 1 3-pointer wasn't safe with Stephen Curry still playing for my opponent.
So I wasn't surprised when Curry made 4 treys and no one on my roster had another. However, it was a surprise that my opponents' hustling team made 13 steals and 32 of 35 free throws (while my guys were missing 5 of 17). That left me with a 5-3 win for the week (22-10 over the last 4 weeks after a 5-18-1 start).
I moved up to seventh place, 2 1/2 games out of fifth. I'm also 4 1/2 games behind the third-place team, my opponent for the next week, and 7 1/2 out of first.
Showing posts with label Corey Perry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corey Perry. Show all posts
Monday, December 16, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Player movement slows down:
Apparently preparing for turkey overload, baseball front offices have slowed their off-season player movement. Or possibly there aren't enough interesting, desirable players to move around -- at least for garguantan, headline-grabbing contracts.
Consider the most recent move. The going-nowhere Cubs acquired going-nowhere backup catcher George Kottaras from the possibly-going-somewhere-but-we've-heard-that-before Royals for cash. And probably not very much cash. The left-handed-hitting Kottaras batted .180 last season, and that was with 85 per cent of his plate appearances against righties. His biggest contributions were that 5 of his 18 hits were homers and he walked in about 20 per cent of his PA.
There is an interesting column by Phil Rogers at mlb.com about how Jack Morris belongs in the Hall of Fame. I couldn't agree more. Morris passed the eyeball test. I'm guessing he was one of the pitchers batters of his day least wanted to face. He may be the last pitcher ever to pitch 10 innings -- a shutout, no less -- in a World Series game. The knock is his 3.90 career ERA, but that doesn't say what his ERA was with a game on the line. His 254 wins are discounted in a culture that says it's OK for a starter to put in his six innings and then rest for 4 days, and besides all it takes to get a win is to be in the right place at the right time so wins don't really mean anything. Morris was in the right place at the right time because he was out there gutting it out and imposing his will on batters all the way.
As an aside, I'll be OK with pitch counts and innings limits the day they start taking batters out of games because "He's done his job. He's batted four times today."
I also recently read in Jim O'Brien's "Maz and the '60 Bucs" about how Vernon Law pitched an 18-inning complete game, because his team needed him.
Enough soap-boxing. On to the other sports. More baseball to come, I hope, in the next few days.
* * *
Football. I claimed Falcons WR Harry Douglas on waivers in both of my leagues. In the scoring-plus-yardage league, I was awarded Douglas and put him in my lineup ahead of Steve Smith. I know Smith is more of you-know-what-you're-getting player, but Douglas has a higher upside and I'm going to need every point I can get in a tie-breaker to improve my position for the playoffs beginning next week. Haven't yet heard whether I'll get Douglas in my scoring-only league. Probably not; I'm 10th among 12 teams in the waiver order.
* * *
Hockey. I'm still in third place, but leaking points. I expected that Tuesday, when Corey Perry was the only player on my roster who was scheduled to play. On Wednesday, he's the only Texas Puckin Penguin who isn't playing. I moved Nathan MacKinnon into Perry's spot for now and adjusted some defensemen to get guys with bigger minutes and relatively better plus/minus into the lineup. I also made a precautionary move. I put Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who isn't slated to start until Friday ahead of James Reimer. Neither is likely to play in goal tonight, but I won't run the risk of forgetting to move Giguere into my lineup Friday.
* * *
Basketball. With my entire 13-man roster playing tonight, I made one small move. David West, with three double-doubles in a row, goes back into my 10-man lineup rotation that counts ahead of newly acquired Jared Sullinger. I'm currently tied for the week at 5-5, behind by just three 3-pointers and 5 points. However, my opponent is at 90 per cent from the foul line. If I go 5-3 I would move into a tie for seventh with this week's opponent, but my goal is 6-1-1 to reach .500 for the season. That wouldn't be bad, considering that I was 13 games under .500 2 weeks ago.
Consider the most recent move. The going-nowhere Cubs acquired going-nowhere backup catcher George Kottaras from the possibly-going-somewhere-but-we've-heard-that-before Royals for cash. And probably not very much cash. The left-handed-hitting Kottaras batted .180 last season, and that was with 85 per cent of his plate appearances against righties. His biggest contributions were that 5 of his 18 hits were homers and he walked in about 20 per cent of his PA.
There is an interesting column by Phil Rogers at mlb.com about how Jack Morris belongs in the Hall of Fame. I couldn't agree more. Morris passed the eyeball test. I'm guessing he was one of the pitchers batters of his day least wanted to face. He may be the last pitcher ever to pitch 10 innings -- a shutout, no less -- in a World Series game. The knock is his 3.90 career ERA, but that doesn't say what his ERA was with a game on the line. His 254 wins are discounted in a culture that says it's OK for a starter to put in his six innings and then rest for 4 days, and besides all it takes to get a win is to be in the right place at the right time so wins don't really mean anything. Morris was in the right place at the right time because he was out there gutting it out and imposing his will on batters all the way.
As an aside, I'll be OK with pitch counts and innings limits the day they start taking batters out of games because "He's done his job. He's batted four times today."
I also recently read in Jim O'Brien's "Maz and the '60 Bucs" about how Vernon Law pitched an 18-inning complete game, because his team needed him.
Enough soap-boxing. On to the other sports. More baseball to come, I hope, in the next few days.
* * *
Football. I claimed Falcons WR Harry Douglas on waivers in both of my leagues. In the scoring-plus-yardage league, I was awarded Douglas and put him in my lineup ahead of Steve Smith. I know Smith is more of you-know-what-you're-getting player, but Douglas has a higher upside and I'm going to need every point I can get in a tie-breaker to improve my position for the playoffs beginning next week. Haven't yet heard whether I'll get Douglas in my scoring-only league. Probably not; I'm 10th among 12 teams in the waiver order.
* * *
Hockey. I'm still in third place, but leaking points. I expected that Tuesday, when Corey Perry was the only player on my roster who was scheduled to play. On Wednesday, he's the only Texas Puckin Penguin who isn't playing. I moved Nathan MacKinnon into Perry's spot for now and adjusted some defensemen to get guys with bigger minutes and relatively better plus/minus into the lineup. I also made a precautionary move. I put Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who isn't slated to start until Friday ahead of James Reimer. Neither is likely to play in goal tonight, but I won't run the risk of forgetting to move Giguere into my lineup Friday.
* * *
Basketball. With my entire 13-man roster playing tonight, I made one small move. David West, with three double-doubles in a row, goes back into my 10-man lineup rotation that counts ahead of newly acquired Jared Sullinger. I'm currently tied for the week at 5-5, behind by just three 3-pointers and 5 points. However, my opponent is at 90 per cent from the foul line. If I go 5-3 I would move into a tie for seventh with this week's opponent, but my goal is 6-1-1 to reach .500 for the season. That wouldn't be bad, considering that I was 13 games under .500 2 weeks ago.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Minor moves, but at least it's moving
As baseball leads up to the winter meetings Dec. 9-12 in Orlando, teams have begun to make some trades and other moves.
The latest free-agent signings were RHP Dan Haren to a 1-year contract with the Dodgers and the Cardinals' confirmation that their signing of SS Jhonny Peralta is official.
The Padres made two trades that might not amount to more than rearranging the furniture.
They sent RHP Brad Brach from the middle of their bullpen to the Orioles for RHP Devin Jones, who was 5-7 with a 5.64 ERA mostly in Double-A this year. Brach has appeared in 109 major league games over the last three seasons.
San Diego also traded OF Jaff Decker and RHP Miles Mikolas to the Pirates for Double-A OF Alex Dickerson. I've seen Decker and Mikolas play in Double-A. A former first-round draft pick, Decker has totaled just 71 home runs and a .268 average in the minors. Mikolas, who appears to throw fairly hard, spent some time in the majors in 2012 and recorded 26 saves for Triple-A Tucson this season. Dickerson was the Double-A Eastern League's rookie of the year with a .288 average, 17 homers and 68 RBI at Altoona.
As part of adding two players to its 40-man roster, Pittsburgh designated 1B/OF Garrett Jones for assignment. Another player battling Decker for playing time will be OF Andrew Lambo, who slammed 32 homers between Double-A and Triple-A and also will be tried at first base in 2014.
The Nationals traded LHP Fernando Abad to the Athletics for OF John Wooten. Abad has a 1-14 major league career record, with a 4.56 ERA. Wooten batted .257 with 20 homers at low Class A Beloit.
* * *
Both of my fantasy football teams won by more than doubling my opponents' score. In the scoring plus yardage league, I'm just 5-7 and in a three-way tie for sixth lace two games out of fourth. That league's regular season ends after next week, so I can only move down. In the scoring-only league, I'm 7-5 and tied for third, two games out of first with five to play. Our playoffs coincide with the final three weeks of NFL playoffs.
In the Pittsburgh office pool, I was 7-8, still 16 games off the lead and seven games out of the money. I might need two unbelievable weeks to qualify for one of the top three spots in a year when my performance has been very believable.
* * *
My fantasy hockey team gave up most of the goaltending points I'd picked up over the weekend. I had two goalies playing Monday, but not especially well. Neither James Reimer nor Steve Mason won. My skaters came out plus-1 but didn't do much except for playing enough to build up my ATOI to take over second place in the category. I'm still about 10 points out of second in the 10-team league.
Oh, I also turned down a trade that would have sent Corey Perry from my team to the one in second place for an inferior forward and a goalie not as good as the ones on my current roster.
* * *
In basketball, I did sweep all eight categories last week, which ended Sunday, to move up to eighth in another 10-team league. If I win this week by at least a 5-3 margin, I would improve to seventh. That's where I stand after the first day. Carmelo Anthony had a big scoring day, and George Hill was good in just about everything. One of my centers, Dallas' Samuel Dalembert, is nursing bruised ribs. He didn't start, played just 18 minutes and manged 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. I had to watch him and the Mavericks lose to Denver.
The latest free-agent signings were RHP Dan Haren to a 1-year contract with the Dodgers and the Cardinals' confirmation that their signing of SS Jhonny Peralta is official.
The Padres made two trades that might not amount to more than rearranging the furniture.
They sent RHP Brad Brach from the middle of their bullpen to the Orioles for RHP Devin Jones, who was 5-7 with a 5.64 ERA mostly in Double-A this year. Brach has appeared in 109 major league games over the last three seasons.
San Diego also traded OF Jaff Decker and RHP Miles Mikolas to the Pirates for Double-A OF Alex Dickerson. I've seen Decker and Mikolas play in Double-A. A former first-round draft pick, Decker has totaled just 71 home runs and a .268 average in the minors. Mikolas, who appears to throw fairly hard, spent some time in the majors in 2012 and recorded 26 saves for Triple-A Tucson this season. Dickerson was the Double-A Eastern League's rookie of the year with a .288 average, 17 homers and 68 RBI at Altoona.
As part of adding two players to its 40-man roster, Pittsburgh designated 1B/OF Garrett Jones for assignment. Another player battling Decker for playing time will be OF Andrew Lambo, who slammed 32 homers between Double-A and Triple-A and also will be tried at first base in 2014.
The Nationals traded LHP Fernando Abad to the Athletics for OF John Wooten. Abad has a 1-14 major league career record, with a 4.56 ERA. Wooten batted .257 with 20 homers at low Class A Beloit.
* * *
Both of my fantasy football teams won by more than doubling my opponents' score. In the scoring plus yardage league, I'm just 5-7 and in a three-way tie for sixth lace two games out of fourth. That league's regular season ends after next week, so I can only move down. In the scoring-only league, I'm 7-5 and tied for third, two games out of first with five to play. Our playoffs coincide with the final three weeks of NFL playoffs.
In the Pittsburgh office pool, I was 7-8, still 16 games off the lead and seven games out of the money. I might need two unbelievable weeks to qualify for one of the top three spots in a year when my performance has been very believable.
* * *
My fantasy hockey team gave up most of the goaltending points I'd picked up over the weekend. I had two goalies playing Monday, but not especially well. Neither James Reimer nor Steve Mason won. My skaters came out plus-1 but didn't do much except for playing enough to build up my ATOI to take over second place in the category. I'm still about 10 points out of second in the 10-team league.
Oh, I also turned down a trade that would have sent Corey Perry from my team to the one in second place for an inferior forward and a goalie not as good as the ones on my current roster.
* * *
In basketball, I did sweep all eight categories last week, which ended Sunday, to move up to eighth in another 10-team league. If I win this week by at least a 5-3 margin, I would improve to seventh. That's where I stand after the first day. Carmelo Anthony had a big scoring day, and George Hill was good in just about everything. One of my centers, Dallas' Samuel Dalembert, is nursing bruised ribs. He didn't start, played just 18 minutes and manged 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. I had to watch him and the Mavericks lose to Denver.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)