The Twins apparently are making another move to shore up their rotation.
The latest report is that Minnesota and RHP Phil Hughes have agreed to a 3-year, $24-million contract. That may sound like a lot. But even though Hughes probably isn't as good as the 18-game winner in 2012 (especially pitching for the Twins) but he's way better than the stiff who showed up every 5 or 6 days for the 2013 Yankees. That's assuming he doesn't have fundamental or irreversible arm problems.
It seems almost 100 per cent likely that RHP Ricky Nolasco and Hughes are a big improvement over the bottom-of-the-rotation starters they'll displace in Minnesota. The Twins will go into many series with a good chance to win two of three because they have that pair.
Much of the talk heading into next week's winter meetings is over which potential free agents will be tendered contract offers. In many cases teams are gambling that players they don't really want would decline their offer so that their 2013 team 1) wouldn't have to pay somewhat inflated guaranteed offers and 2) would receive draft-pick compensation for players who don't accept the tender. A third possibility is that teams could re-sign players who aren't tendered for a smaller dollar figure than they'd have to pay tendered players.
It's kind of confusing. Be prepared for many tendered and non-tendered players to sign elsewhere. And be prepared to hear 3 or 4 years from now about young 2014 draft picks who were "steals" because their team picked them as compensation for not signing (insert name of 2017-18 stiff here).
* * *
Good week in my fantasy football leagues. I'm guaranteed a win in both.
I'll go into the playoffs in my 10-team scoring-plus-yardage league with a 6-7 record and in sixth place. That would put me in the middle-division playoffs. I think given breaks I could have contended for the top-division playoff title, but I didn't make that level. I'll be disappointed if I don't win the second-division playoffs to finish fifth.
In my scoring-only league, I'm still third but now only one game behind the teams tied for first lace with four weeks remaining. I hope to be a contender.
* * *
Will just two players starting today, my hockey team appears to have dropped 1 1/2 points today but stayed in third place. I'm about 10 points out of second, but also about 15 ahead of the fourth-place team. The bottom seven teams are separated by about 5 points. Turns out I put the wrong Senator in Sunday's lineup. Clarke MacArthur was minus-1, dropping me down another point in that category. Jason Spezza, whom I didn't start, was plus-1.
Saw the Stars lose their second shootout in three nights, to the lowly Oilers. Edmonton gave starting G Devan Dubnyk the night off, until G Ilya Bryzgalov suffered what might have been a concussion in the second period. Dallas' Ryan Garbutt had his first NHL two-goal game, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot more of those from him.
* * *
With Carmelo Anthony and David West provided 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, my fantasy basketball team finished the week 4-4. Thus, I didn't catch the seventh-place team that split with me, but I did gain ground on two or three teams immediately ahead of that one.
Showing posts with label David West. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David West. Show all posts
Sunday, December 1, 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.
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