Flapjacks Power Rankings Week 5

Let's take a quick look at how the teams in my Yahoo H2H keeper league stack up. I'm pretty busy this week, and there's only a couple of teams changing spots, so no commentary right now. We do have a number one and two, so I'll probably have to add in some comments later.

4/22/08 Flapjacks Power Rankings
(Season record and last week's rankings in parentheses. )

1. Dinos (21-17-2) (2)
2. The Balls (27-12-1) (3)
3. Macafeys (23-16-1) (1)
4. Butt Admirals (25-10-5) (4)
5. Screaming Lemurs (18-18-4) (5)
6. Adrian's Revenge (26-14-0) (6)
7. Summer Fox (16-22-2) (7)
8. Tossers (17-20-3) (8)
9. Naterade (13-27-0) (9)
10. Val Kilmer's Asshole (17-20-3) (10)
11. Dissect Yourself (9-27-4) (11)
12. Self Indulgence (14-23-3) (12)

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Flapjacks Power Rankings Week 4

Here we are with another look at the teams in my Yahoo H2H keeper league. This week's power rankings will be somewhat brief. Feel free to provide your bonus commentary in the comments section.



4/22/08 Flapjacks Power Rankings
(Season record and last week's rankings in parentheses. )

1. Macafeys (21-9-0) (1)
Tim's hold on the top spot is starting to look a little tenous. He continues to dominate almost every category, and almost every batter on his roster is hitting over .300 for the past week. Reasons to worry: Jimmy Rollins will miss two weeks with an ankle injury, and the pitching staff has a thin margin of error with Roy Halladay, Carlos Zambrano, and Brett Myers the only established stars. Reasons to be hopeful: Despite hitting a combined .230 over the last week, Carlos Gomez and Michael Bourn are stealing every chance they get, with 10 SB's over the same period.


2. Dinos (18-10-2) (2)
I was this close to moving the Dinos into the top spot based on their incredible offensive performance last week. 18 HR and 67 RBI? I'd like some of that. Chase Utley is trying to complete the MVP-trio in Philly, with 6 HR in the past week. Old man Miguel Tejada is hitting like he's 31, and Joey Votto is really coming alive with 4 HR and 10 RBI in the last seven games. The rotation was almost as incredible, with 5 starters throwing shutouts for 31 innings. Why couldn't I rank the Dinos first? Their offense was amazing, but not as solid from top to bottom as Tim's was. And while the pitching staff has been very good, they share a lot of the same questions about depth with Tim, especially if Ben Sheets' triceps injury lingers throughout the season. Homer Bailey should be called up in a week or two; his arrival could answer those questions.


3. The Balls (20-9-1) (3)
The Balls' pitching staff took a hit when Erik Bedard joined Pedro Martinez on the DL, but Jake Peavy continues to amaze, and Adam Wainwright pitched like an ace in his last two starts with 12 K's in 14.2 innings. The bullpen should be okay, despite Eric Gagne's blowup over the weekend, though age could be catching up to Trevor Hoffman. Both Hanley Ramirez and Garrett Atkins are showing their power, with 3 HR each in the past week, and Carlos Quentin is making the case for more playing time, also hitting 3 HR. Gaining Mike Cameron back from suspension next week should add some much needed speed to the team.


4. Butt Admirals (18-7-5) (6)
With three straight weeks of winning records, the Admirals vault up two spots. Both the offense and the pitching have been solid; Edwin Encarnacion is surging, and Dustin Pedroia is showing some power with 6 extra-base hits and 8 RBI in seven games. Both the rotation and the bullpen continue to be dominant, though Bobby Jenks did blow a save pitching in his third game in a row. The bad news: Prince Fielder is still hitting less than his weight, and Grady Sizemore hasn't homered since Opening Day.


5. Screaming Lemurs (13-14-3) (5)
The Lemurs remain in the fifth spot after tying Adrian's Revenge (my team) 5-5 in last week's matchup. The matchup could have easily been 7-3 in the Lemurs favor, so they move above the Adrian's in the rankings. Even though Ryan Braun and Placido Polanco have performed below expectations, the offense has been productive, though they could use some power. Brandon Webb continues to be the ace of the staff, which is leading the league in overall K's. This team is continuing to punt saves, so they need solid production in WHIP and ERA in order to stay competitive.


6. Adrian's Revenge (20-10-0) (4)
My team underperformed last week, with five regulars hitting .200 or worse. Josh Willingham and Mark Teixeira have been bright spots, and Hunter Pence is finally starting to hit, but Brian Roberts, Ryan Zimmerman and Rick Ankiel have hit a combined .170 over the past week. Encouraging starts from the rotation: Rich Hill pitched well in his last start, Ervin Santana has proven to be a decent pickup, with 8 K's in his last start, and the bullpen hasn't allowed a run in 9.1 innings. Still waiting for Ted Lilly to come around.


7. Summer Fox (10-18-2) (8)
The Fox moves up a spot due to good pitching and a good bullpen. Both Todd Jones and Billy Wagner are perfect in save opportunities so far, and Jason Isringhausen is tied for the lead in saves. The rest of the rotation needs a resurgence, as only Fausto Carmona pitched well last week. Beyond Adrian Beltre and Aaron Rowand, the offense has been struggling, though Ichiro is starting to run, with 2 of his 3 steals coming in the last week.

8. The Tossers (10-18-2) (7)
The Tossers have started to come alive offensively, with good weeks by Conor Jackson and Alex Rodriguez. Brad Hawpe looks to be coming out of his early season slump; since his BA dropped below .200, he's had six hits in the past three games. The bad news: Gary Sheffield is still dealing with shoulder issues, and Travis Hafner has had only 6 extra-base hits all year. The good news: Kaz Matsui is hitting .313 with 5 runs since being activated from the DL. Get that guy in the lineup, Troost.

9. Naterade (9-21-0) (10)
Naterade's continues to get great offensive production from almost everyone on his roster. Russell Martin has started to heat up after a putrid start to the season, hitting 2 HR in the past week. Justin Morneau, Nick Markakis, and Edgar Renteria are hitting a combined .350 with 7 HR and 18 RBI in the last week. The injury to Rafael Soriano leaves Nate a bit shorthanded in the bullpen, but he was able to pick up Manny Acosta, who should see some save opportunities in Soriano's place.

10. Val Kilmer's Asshole (11-18-1) (9)
The Kilmer's offense is staying afloat, despite not being able to field a complete roster due to injuries. Jose Reyes and David Ortiz have finall come alive; Reyes hit his first two homers of the year last week, and Ortiz has 12 RBI in his last six games. Andruw Jones is still struggling, though he did hit his first home run of the year over the weekend. Scott Rolen could be back in a week, so at least Mark will be able to roster a full squad. The pitching staff had a horrible week, with almost everyone getting shelled. The good news is that it looks like B.J. Ryan will get the majority of save opportunitiesfor the Blue Jays as long as he can stay healthy.

11. Dissect Yourself (7-21-2) (11)
Micah's team had a decent last week, though they had the unfortunate task of facing the Macafeys. Manny Ramirez has been tearing it up, Xavier Nady continues to hit, and Juan Pierre is finding a way to steal bases despite limited at bats, but the infield is struggling. Losing Alfsono Soriano last week to a calf injury doesn't help, but the Cubs hope to have him back in a week. Even though he's not closing, Carlos Marmol has been very valuable to Micah's team, striking out nine in five innings with a 1.80 ERA. Trading for Roy Oswalt and Oliver Perez is paying off in dividends so far; they combined for 3 Wins, 17 K's and a 2.20 ERA. Add Yovani Gallardo coming off the DL and picking up where he left off last year, and two solid starts from Brad Penny, and this pitching staff looks like it's turning around.

12. Self Indulgence (10-18-2) (12)
Self Indulgence had a tough matchup against the Admirals that could have gone either way; the offense was very solid, but the team was let down by poor pitching. Chipper Jones has been on a tear, hitting .538 with 4 HR in the past week; hopefully his hot streak won't be hampered by a sore quadriceps. Despite a poor BA, the team is finding ways to score runs and knock guys in. For the most part, the bullpen has struggled recently, and the bullpen may be down a closer if Jeremy Accardo starts losing saves to B.J. Ryan. Chien-Ming Wang had a poor start, but at least Johan Santana is pitching well with 10 K's in seven innings.


Questions, comments, disagreements? Let me know in the commentary.

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Flapjacks Trade - Jim Thome and Clay Buchholz for Roy Oswalt and Oliver Perez

Let's take a look at the latest trade in my Yahoo H2H keeper league.

1. Dinos (Jonathan) trade Roy Oswalt and Oliver Perez to Dissect Yourself (Micah) for Jim Thome and Clay Buchholz.

The Dinos received Roy Oswalt two weeks ago in a 7-player trade with Naterade. Since then, Oswalt has gone 0-3 with an ERA of 9.00 in three starts. There hasn't been any news of injury regarding Oswalt, but has not been the same pitcher that had back-to-back 20-win seasons just a few years ago. Though his control is still elite, with only two walks issued in 16 innings, he's been more prone this year to giving up home runs and his K/9 rate is still little better than average.

Oliver Perez has always given fantasy owners fits with his inconsistency, but at least you know he'll give you lots of strikeouts to accompany a high WHIP. He's pitched well to start the season, but he's probably due for a letdown, as his percentage of runners stranded has been quite high for his normal range. He should be good for double-digit wins and 170 strikeouts with the Mets.

Jim Thome has long been a fantasy beast with nine seasons of 35 HR or more, including 77 HR in his last two seasons. Thome has started the season slow this year, hitting .176 with a .573 OPS through twelve games. He's had trouble hitting lefties the past couple of years, but this year it's the right-handers that have been giving him problems. I think he'll recover once he starts to hit righties again. One hopeful stat is his poor Batting Average on Balls In Play; his BABIP should rise to its historical levels over the course of the season. He has been hitting a greater percentage of groundballs than normal, so he might just need to make some corrections at the plate. I still think he's good for 25 more home runs during the season.

Clay Buchholz has been tantalizing fantasy owners since his no-hitter during his rookie season last year. He has the talent the succeed, but the Red Sox are in no hurry to push him too hard, and it appears that they will be carefull with his pitch count during games. Buchholz has labored in his first two starts, and he might not see that many wins if he can't pitch past the sixth inning. The more he builds his arm strength during the season, the more innings he'll pitch, but he needs to cut down on his walks (4.09 BB/9). Buchholz will struggle some, but his K/9 rate is good enough to give him value even if he has control problems.

On paper, I think Micah's team got the better end of the deal, even though I'm not a Roy Oswalt fan. Micah strengthens his pitching staff by adding Oswalt and Perez; they step in right behind C.C. Sabathia and Brad Penny, giving the rotation some much-needed depth. Oswalt doesn't strike out enough players anymore to be considered an elite pitcher, but he's got more talent than what he's shown so far and he should rebound, as long as his problems are with his mechanics and not injury related. Micah will probably miss Thome's bat later on in the season, but Thome wasn't contributing much of anything to begin with.

I'm not certain that this move helps Jonathan's team very much; his offense was already one of the best in the league and the subtractions of Oswalt and Perez thins out a rotation that has some question marks. I think it's good that he got rid of Oswalt, but I think he might have gotten better value due to Oswalt's reputation as an elite pitcher. If Ben Sheets and John Smoltz get injured and Buchholz struggles, Jonathan will miss Oswalt and Perez. Buchholz could be good all year, but he hasn't shown dominance as a pitcher yet, despite only giving up four runs in two starts. The most favorable projections give him 9 Wins, 124 K's, a 3.53 ERA, and a 1.23 WHIP. Good numbers, but Perez should match the wins and better the strikeouts by quite a few. If Jonathan's looking to buy low on Thome and trade him away later on during the season when he starts hitting, then more power to him, but I don't see how this trade makes his team better.

I'll have a poll up in a couple of days; let me know which team you think got the better end of the deal, or if they both came out looking good.

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Flapjacks Power Rankings Week 3

It's time for to take another look at the power rankings for my Yahoo H2H keeper league. This is probably only interesting for the 12 owners in the league, so feel free to move on to another article if this isn't something you want to read. We have a more movement this week than ever before, so click the link to read more.


4/14/08 Flapjacks Power Rankings
(Season record and last week's rankings in parentheses. )

1. Macafey (12-8-0) (1)
Tim retains the number one spot in the rankings with another strong offensive output this week. His team is leading the league in RBI, SB and Saves. Alex Gordon is really coming along, hitting .409 over the past week, and overall the offense is really clicking, but there are some issues with this team. The bullpen could be in trouble with Brian Wilson struggling and Jeremy Accardo giving up his closer role to a reactivated B.J. Ryan. Losing Rich Harden to injury hurts a pitching staff that lacks experience. Jimmy Rollins has missed a few games due to an injured ankle; hopefully this doesn't adversely affect his stolen base output for the year. Even with those problems, this team matches up well with almost everyone in the league.

2. Dinos (11-7-2) (2)
Another team that stayed put, the Dinos are leading the league in average, due to hot starts by Miguel Tejada, Chone Figgins, and Eric Byrnes. Once Miguel Cabrera and Ryan Howard start to produce like we know they can, this could be the best offense in the league, even with the recent injury to Jorge Posada. For the pitching staff Ben Sheets continues to pitch well, and Tim Lincecum dominated last week with 18 K's in two starts. On a down note, Chad Cordero did not pitch well his first appearance since being reactivated from the DL. And on a bright note, Joey Votto is making the case for more playing time with a .429 average in his last 14 at bats.

3. The Balls (11-8-1) (3)
The Balls' strength is in their pitching staff; they are leading the league in ERA and WHIP, and tied for first in Wins. Though the staff had some trouble last week, specifically the outings of Jake Peavy, Adam Wainwright, and Erik Bedard, they were helped out with strong outings by Greg Maddux and Zack Greinke. At the plate, Albert Pujols is looking like his old self, with three HR last week, and Hanley Ramirez is really hitting well. Losing Shane Victorino to the DL is not comforting, especially if his calf injury limits his ability to run; the Balls are second to last in SB.

4. Adrian's Revenge (15-5-0) (6)
Leading the league in HR and Runs, my team was paced by strong weeks from Raul Ibanez and Peralta. The offense is looking solid in every category but BA. I need better production from Ryan Zimmerman and Hunter Pence if I want to compete, but the pickup of Joe Crede could help a lot if he can stay healthy and produce like he did in 2006. A great pitching week by Javier Vasquez was overshadowed by the injury to Matt Garza (who could be out for a month), the Cubs skipping Rich Hill's next start due to his control issues, and the struggles of Jon Rauch to prove that he is worthy of the closer role. The addition of Ted Lilly could solidify the staff if he can overcome his rough start.

5. Screaming Lemurs (8-9-3) (4)
Other than Billy Butler, Ian Kinsler, and Rafael Furcal, the Lemurs really struggled for offense last week. Adding Mark Reynolds to the squad helps, but a lot of high draft picks are struggling to start the season, and Curtis Granderson has yet to swing a bat since he was injured during spring training. The Lemurs have been carried by their pitching staff, which is leading in K's and tied for the lead in Wins. Brandon Webb and Cole Hamels have anchored a very solid rotation, which is 6-3-1 in pitching categories over the first two weeks.

6. Butt Admirals (13-4-3) (8)
The Admirals' offense struggled a little on at the plate, but dominated on the basepaths last week with 12 SB's; they're second in the league with 20 SB's overall. Vladimir Guerrero is looking good, and Nate McLouth's hot start continues, but Prince Fielder has yet to perform like a first-round pick. The rotation's Big 3 of Josh Beckett, Dan Haren, and Aaron Harang combined for 4 Wins last week, and the pitching staff is 2nd in the league in WHIP.

7. The Tossers (5-13-2) (5)
The Tossers have lost their first two matchups due to a lack of production from some key figures, but none more notable than Alex Rodriguez who has yet to perform like the number-one overall player in fantasy baseball. Brad Hawpe, Michael Young, and Gary Sheffield have all underperformed as well, though Bengie Molina and Casey Kotchman have been bright spots so far. On the pitching side, Chris Young was expected to be an ace, but he was shelled last week by an underwhelming Dodgers' team. The lack of save opportunities for Takashi Saito must be frustrating for The Tossers. If Joe Saunders can continue his success, he could be a nice addition to a staff that is near the bottom of the league in terms of ERA and WHIP.

8. Summer Fox (8-10-2) (10)
Summer Fox had a solid offensive showing, which was aided by the waiver-wire pickup of Jason Kubel right before his 6-RBI game. Jason Bay is starting to show signs of life with 3 HR and 5 RBI in the past week, though the team still needs Kenji Johjima, Ichiro Suzuki, and Jose Guillen to step up. Despite having a decent rotation, the pitching staff is last in the league in K's. Having Randy Johnson back from the DL should help, as long as he can stay healthy.

9. Val Kilmer's Asshole (10-9-1) (7)
Mark's pitching staff was shelled last week, and AJ Burnett, Tom Gorzelanny, and Jeff Francis have not had good starts to the season, leading to a a league-worst ERA.. The staff should be better than it is, and it will help to have Scott Kazmir back in a week or two. Mark's gotten good offensive production, though the team is last in BA. Jeremy Hermida has hit well since comign off the DL.

10. Naterade (6-14-0) (12)
Rising from the league's cellar, Natarade has been sparked by Justin Upton (who Natarade received from me for Hunter Pence in a trade last year), who is hitting .400 for the season with five home runs, though he has yet to steal a base. This team needs Justin Morneau and Russell Martin to produce if they want to make the playoffs, though Andre Ethier has been a bright spot to begin the season. Injuries to Francisco Rodriguez and Dontrelle Willis weaken the rotation, but the addition of Tim Hudson helps a lot, and Johnny Cueto was a great pickup. Natarade will need more outings like the one Chad Billingsley had on Sunday and less outings like the one Francisco Liriano had.

11. Dissect Yourself (6-12-2) (11)
Dissect Yourself showed a lot of power last week with 11 HR, but his squad is second-to-last in BA. Matt Holliday is playing like an MVP, but Troy Tulowitzki appears to have forgotten how to hit. With C.C. Sabathia struggling and J.J. Putz on the DL, Micah's staff is near the bottom in almost every pitching category. Yovani Gallardo's return from the DL can't come quickly enough.

12. Self Indulgence (7-13-0) (9)
Self Indulgence also showed a lot of power, as Carlos Pena bashed four last week, but they have struggled to hit and steal bases. Derek Jeter missed six games due to injury, and Magglio Ordonez and Joe Mauer have both been pitiful at the plate. A lack of playing time for Matt Kemp is frustrating, because he hit .500 last week in 12 at bats. For the pitching staff, the two-headed attack of Chien-Ming Wang and Johan Santana has been lights-out (though Santana had an uncharacteristically bad start last week), but the bullpen hasn't been pretty. This can be a good team, if the offense can get it together.

Agree or disagree, let me hear you.

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Flapjacks Trade - Tim Hudson for Adam Jones/Hiroki Kuroda

As I like to do, let's look at the most recent trade in my Yahoo H2H keeper league.

1. Summer Fox (Rogstad) trades Tim Hudson to Naterade (Nate) for Adam Jones and Hiroki Kuroda.

Adam Jones was part of the haul that Baltimore received from Seattle for Erik Bedard. Jones is a highly-touted prospect who has been compared to Torii Hunter and Mike Cameron, both for his defense and his bat. Last year in AAA at the fairly young age of 21, Jones hit .314 with 25 HR and a .968 OPS. Fantasy projections for his first full year in the big leagues have him hitting any where from .255 to .284, 6 to 22 HR, and 6 to 12 SB. Jones is currently hitting .211 with no HR in eleven games.

Hiroki Kuroda is a groundball pitcher from Japan, playing his first season in the majors. He currently has a 1-1 record with a 2.13 ERA and is holding opponents to a .240 BA over 12.2 innings. He's been doing a good job of keeping the ball on the ground, with a 1.46 GB/FB ratio. Most projections have him finishing the season with an ERA around 4.00 with limited upside for strikeouts.

Tim Hudson was one of the league's better pitchers in his early days with Oakland, though he has had some struggles since coming over to Atlanta. He's more of a control pitcher these days, and with his declining K/9 rate, he's less likely to post solid strikeout numbers any more. He's been dominant in his first three starts this season, with only two walks and an opponents' batting average of .167. Hudson is a reliable pitcher, averaging 32 starts a year since 2000, and he should be a top-30 pitcher for the year.

Rogstad will have a decent pitching staff once John Lackey comes off the DL, anchored by a strong bullpen and by solid starters like Daisuke Matsuzaka and Fausto Carmona. By trading away Hudson, he gets a decent pitcher in Kuroda and a possible future All Star to build his team around in Jones. Though Hudson is the best player in the deal, it is extremely unlikely that Hudson can continue his current success in limiting hits; he has a below-average strikeout rate and his Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) of .203 is unsustainable. BABIP tends to revert to a mean of around .300; Hudson's career BABIP average is .289. Hudson will still finish the year as a top-30 pitcher, but he'll probably struggle a bit once batted balls start to find their way through the defense. For Nate, Tim Hudson helps bolster a pitching staff that could lack depth if young pitchers Francisco Liriano, Johnny Cueto, and Chad Billingsley struggle.

Though not as extreme of a groundball-pitcher as Hudson, Kuroda has been striking out batters at a slightly better rate. The fear with Japanese pitchers is that they will tire over the course of a longer season, such as Kaz Ishii, who had an impressive win streak with the Dodgers over the first half of the 2002 season before imploding over the last three months. Kuroda has limited upside; at his best, he should provide numbers slightly behind Hudson's.

The main appeal of this deal for Rogstad would be the upside of Jones. Most of Rogstad's established stars are starting to enter their declining years, and with Brandon Phillips the only All-Star on Rogstad's squad entering his prime, Rogstad is looking to acquire some young potential All-Stars to build around. Jones will not be that player this year - his walk rate is horribly low and he's been hitting the ball on the ground too often to take advantage of his power - but he could be very good in a couple of years once he learns how to be patient at the plate. Rogstad can afford to stash Jones on the bench for a while until he starts to figure things out.

In a year or two this trade could swing father into Rogstad's favor, but for right now I think it is a pretty fair trade. Both team's get something they want, with Rogstad playing for the future and Nate building pitching depth for this season.

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Flapjacks Power Rankings 4/7

For those playing in our Yahoo H2H league, here is a look at the power rankings as we head into the second week. Not much movement yet since it's only been one week, but we do have a new #1. Click the link to read more.

4/7/08 Flapjacks Power Rankings
(Season record and last week's rankings in parentheses. )


1. The Macafeys (7-3-0) (2)
The Macafeys move into the top spot with a solid offense, sparked by an impressive display of speed, led by Michael Bourn and Carlos Gomez with 4 steals each. Derek Lee provided the power with 3 HR. Rich Harden has helped by staying healthy and striking out 15 in his first two starts. Tim's bullpen is a little shaky, but Jeremy Accardo recorded 3 saves last week, and the rotation should be good enough to career any reliever missteps. Keep an eye on Alex Gordon, as he could be starting to heat up.

2. The Dinos (5-5-0) (3)
Jonathan received a great week from Ben Sheets, who will carry The Dino's pitching staff as long as he stays healthy. Also important to the rotation's success was John Smoltz's first start back from injury, where he struck out 6 in 5 innings, and Joe Nathan's 3 saves. The offense was a bit sluggish last week, batting .264, but the power is there, led by Chase Utley's 3 HR. Watch out once Ryan Howard and Miguel Cabrera start to hit. A bright spot is the early success of J.D. Drew, hitting .375 with 2 HR to start the season.

3. The Balls (6-3-1) (1)
The Balls drop a couple of spots this week, despite the great starts of Jake Peavy and Pat Burrell. Losing Pedro Martinez hurts, and the bullpen imploded a bit the first week, but the strong first start by Edison Volquez give hope for future success. The offense is starting to look weak on the bench, with poor starts by Milton Bradley and Dave Roberts. Brubaker needs players like Robinson Cano and Garrett Atkins to start raking.

4. Screaming Lemurs (6-3-1) (4)
Lemurs remain in the 4th spot for the second week in a row. Strong starts by Ian Kinsler, Ryan Braun, and Rafael Furcal have help offset last week's injury to Victor Martinez, and Carl Crawford's inability to hit so far this season. Lemurs have a strong staff, led by Brandon Webb and Cole Hamels, though it looks like their lack of closers will keep them from winning the saves category each week.

5. The Tossers (3-7-0) (5)
The offense is looking strong, led by Alex Rodriguez, Torii Hunter and Corey Hart, but Troost needs a healthy Gary Sheffield and a productive Brad Hawpe to be able to move up in the rankings. Troost's staff pitched poorly, despite great starts by Chris Young and Derek Lowe. Takashi Saito and Francisco Cordero helped out by both picking up a win and a save last week. Disappointing to see that Jason Bartlett has not stolen a base yet.

6. Adrian's Revenge (5-5-0) (7)
The whole rotation kind of fell on its face last week, but my team gets a boost with the return of Brad Lidge. Despite an early failure, Kerry Wood went on the save 3 games. Ian Snell had a very promising second start, striking out 10 in 6 innings. The offense hasn't looked good at the plate, but they did hit a league high 17 HR last week, led by Rick Ankiel and Chris Young with 3 each. If Mark Teixiera would wake up, this offense could be quite good. The rotation still needs some work, though.

7. Val Kilmer's Asshole (3-6-1) (6)
Mark's team drops a spot because of poor weeks from Justin Verlander, Hustin Street, Lance Berkman and Andruw Jones. Mark adds Michael Cuddyer, out for at least two weeks, to a growing list of injured players. Not much offense here if his stars don't hit. Joe Blanton has been pretty solid to begin the season, and Vernon Wells has been swinging the bat well.

8. Butt Admirals (7-2-1) (10)
The Admirals move up two spots based on his solid, balanced offense, and the solid relief work by Bobby Jenks and Joakim Soria. The strong starts by Kosuke Fukodome and Nate McLouth have really helped this team out. Those two will probably fade after a while, so the Admirals success will depend on whether their infield can heat up and whether Josh Beckett can stay healthy. Aaron Harang has been a bright spot on the pitching staff. The Admirals could use another decent closer if they want to stay competitive.

9. Self Indulgence (7-3-0) (8)
Self Indulgence got good first weeks out of Chipper Jones and Carlos Delgado, but the rest of the offense has been pretty anemic. His rotation has been a bright spot, with great starts by Johan Santana, Chien-Ming Wang and Jered Weaver, but his relief pitching has been less than stellar. This team could move up quickly if their offense can put together a couple solid weeks in a row.

10. Summer Fox (3-6-1) (9)
Summer Fox has been hurt by slow starts by Jason Bay and Ichiro, but he's getting a lot of production from his middle infielders, such as Aaron Hill, Yunel Escobar, and Brandon Phillips. Tim Hudson and Daisuke Matsuzaka have both pitched well in their first couple of starts. Summer Fox is waiting for John Lackey and Randy Johnson to come off the DL, and for Colby Rasmus and Brandon Wood to come up from the minors, but until that happens, this team will be in the lower part of the rankings. Having Billy Wagner and Jason Isringhausen as closers is the team's strength.

11. Dissect Yourself (2-7-1) (11)
Some good offensive production but hot starters like Xavier Nady and Corey Patterson, but this team is going to be hurting until guys like Alfonso Soriano, Matt Holliday and Troy Tulowitzki can hit above the Mendoza Line. Losing J.J. Putz to the DL is a tough break, as C.J. Wilson is the only other pitcher on this team getting save opportunities. Some good starts by Brad Penny and Jon Lester.

12. Naterade (3-7-0) (12)
This team has the potential to move up because of the high upside of its youngsters, but it's going to be hard, as younger players tend to be streaky early on. Howie Kendrick is on fire, hitting .444 with 2 stolen bases, and Justin Upton is showing his power early, with 3 HR. But Justin Morneau, Edgar Renteria, and Russell Martin have all hit poorly so far. Felix Hernadez has been an ace, and rookie pitchers Johnny Cueto and Hiroki Kuroda both had solid debuts. The bullpen is solid, but watch out that Francisco Rodriguez doesn't end up on the DL soon. This team has talent, but it might take a few weeks to put it together.

Thoughts or opinions? Let me know in the comments section.

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Players of the Week

For the Batter of the Week, I'd like to nominate Xavier Nady for the stellar numbers listed below.

Xavier Nady 26AB 6R 10H 1Dbl 3HR 9RBI 1SB .385BA .448OBP .769SLG 1.218OPS


Runners-Up

Nate McLouth 28AB 6R 12H 5Dbl 1HR 7RBI 2SB .429BA .448OBP .714SLG 1.163OPS

Chase Utley 21AB 8R 9H 2Dbl 3HR 6RBI .429BA .519OBP .952SLG 1.471OPS


For Pitcher of the Week, I'd like to nominate Ben Sheets for not giving up a single run the entire week.

Ben Sheets 15.1IP 7H 0ER 2BB 15K 1W 0.00 ERA o.59 WHIP .135 BAA


Runners-Up

Jake Peavy 16.0 IP 5H 1ER 4BB 12K 2W 0.56 ERA 0.56 WHIP .096 BAA

Joakim Soria 4.0 IP 2H 0ER 0BB 7K 3SV 0.00 ERA 0.50 WHIP .154 BAA


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