Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
For our fantasy baseball players – and really, just plain ol’ baseball fans – we have Dan O’Shea’s weekly installment of Fantasy Fix today (with interesting notes about Matt Garza and Sergio Santos).
The rest of the Beachwood is taking today off to catch up on royal wedding news. Our absence today has nothing to do with this:
Posted on April 27, 2011
By Dan O’Shea
The top three hitters in Yahoo! fantasy baseball right now are Ryan Braun, OF, Milwaukee; Matt Kemp, OF, Los Angeles; and Jose Bautista, 3B/OF, Toronto. This should not come as a complete surprise, given that Braun was anticipated to be a top 10 pick in many leagues, and Kemp and Bautista were not far behind.
Yet, before the season there also was reason to believe that all three were headed for at least a slight decline. Braun saw a drop in HRs, RBIs, SBs and batting average from 2009 to 2010; Kemp saw a 50-point drop in his average from 2009 to 2010, as well as dips in RBIs and SBs; and Bautista came out of nowhere to hit 54 HRs last year – how do you top that?
Trying to figure out which direction players’ stats are headed in is the most difficult thing about fantasy sports. Sometime, all the cues point in one direction, and they still end up being wrong. The difference, of course, is the human factor, something that not even the humans involved can predict. Playing stat trends is a huge part of the fantasy game, but never forget they can surprise you and head in the opposite direction.
Having said all this, if you are looking to read something into the stats of players who are still widely available, here are a few candidates:
Posted on April 27, 2011
The Mighty Blackhawks
Before “Chelsea Dagger” there was this classic Hawks theme song, written by J. Swayzee and produced by the Dick Marx Orchestra and Choir in 1968.
Posted on April 26, 2011
By Jim Coffman
If the Canucks go ahead and complete the historic collapse from a 3-0 series lead with one final first-round loss to the Hawks on Tuesday, do they just shut down the franchise?
Because the Canucks haven’t just lost the last three games to the Hawks. The team from the awesome city just over the border in the Pacific Northwest (it really should be on everyone’s must-visit list) has been utterly demoralized in three different ways.
Posted on April 25, 2011
By Marty Gangler
Another week goes into the books and the Cubs continue to make fans ask:
Um, are these guys good or are they bad?
It’s impossible to say right now.
Are they overachieving? Underachieving? Or just achieving?
I’m kinda thinking that what you have is what you got.
A team that will be around 81-81 at the end of it all.
Posted on April 25, 2011
By Roger Wallenstein
Nothing makes a team look disinterested, dull, and boring as one that isn’t hitting.
I mean, why go to the ball park unless a few guys knock the ball into a gap, off the wall, or up the middle?
You swat the ball around the yard, run the bases, and score some runs.
That description doesn’t come anywhere close to the Sox’ performance last week. Hence, they appear to lack hustle and spirit. Even Ozzie said he was bored.
But it appears that something else might be going on with the team’s manager.
Posted on April 25, 2011
By The Beachwood Blackhawks Bureau
Chicago, Easter
a haiku
By Tim Steil
Two tix to game six
Means your kid Jesus gets nixed
Like, sorry God dude.
Posted on April 22, 2011
By Carl Mohrbacher
When can we expect Fukudome to start batting .245? Spring is almost here.
– Jon, Zion IL
Don’t rush him, he’s still adjusting to being a platoon player. Rudy Jaramillo has him in the cage every other day.
Posted on April 21, 2011
By Dan O’Shea
If going horizontal to make amazing catches somehow could be translated into a fantasy stat, Sam Fuld would be the top-ranked player in fantasy baseball.
Of course, Cubs fans have known this for years, witnessing his defensive heroics as a September call-up and late-inning defensive replacement for Alfonso Soriano.
During those brief glimpses, though, Fuld never showed much more on offense except tenacity – not a bad thing, but the Cubs were looking for fireworks.
That’s why they packaged him up and shipped him to Tampa Bay as part of the Matt Garza trade.
But, wouldn’t you know it, it turns out that Fuld can hit, too, if given enough chance.
Posted on April 20, 2011
By Dmitry Samarov
I didn’t want to write about the team this week; it was that bad. When I ran into Steve yesterday at Flying Saucer, I told him as much. My column will be: “THEY SUCKED. The End,” I said, Maybe I’ll draw the letters large enough to fill up the page. He assured me I’d come up with something. So . . . this will be about disappointment.
The Sox only won one game in the last six and that one was barely snatched from the jaws of defeat. I picked up a fan in Wicker Park who’d been at the game and was happy to relive the extra-inning victory. It was the lone bright spot; when the bullpen wasn’t blowing leads, the outfielders dropped easy fly-balls and the hitters, who’d been so hot, were going dead-cold. Adam Dunn made it back from his appendectomy, but didn’t do much to distinguish himself. Apart from a homer that was a run short of being a decider, he struck out eleven times. He’ll likely whiff about a hundred-ninety more times and hit another thirty-eight dingers if history’s any guide. He’s all-or-nothing and I’m fine with that, but if the rest of ’em are that way we’ve got in for a long summer.
Posted on April 19, 2011
