Tip of the Cap to Order of the Phoenix

Just weeks after I put them last in the latest power rankings, Order of the Phoenix proceeded to kick my ass 9-1 in the last matchup heading into the All-Star break. The only category I beat him in was steals, 5-4. Mark's team put up some incredible stats in that week: 17 HR, 62 RBI, .334 BA, and 9 Saves. Here are some of the his stars for that week:

Ryan Ludwick: .481/6/4/15

Paul Konerko: .391/5/3/10

Pablo Sandoval: .333/4/3/11

Rafael Soriano: 4 Saves (after having 8 the previous 13 weeks).

Lots of amazing performances that week for the Order of the Phoenix, and I tip my cap to them.

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Revisiting the First Round

Since we are halfway through the 2009 season, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the first round of our draft. With such a long season, it can be easy for fantasy owners to forget what their strategies were and the players they had pegged as "can't miss" picks heading into the draft. It's possible that in looking back at our draft moves, we can learn from our successes and mistakes and apply those lessons to future drafts. Let's take a look back at that first round.

For those who aren't in our league and find themselves confused by the lack of fantasy studs such as Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, and David Wright in this round, this is a 12-team H2H keeper league in which we are able to keep seven players each year without any restrictions. I will list each owner's place in the league standings and their pick, along with the player's current stats and Yahoo ranking. (Stats listed in BA/Runs/HR/RBI/SB and Wins/Saves/K's/WHIP/ERA formats.) Click here if you would like to read the original post along with some of the opinions of the other owners in the league.

1. Dissect Yourself (4th)

Chris Davis (1B/3B)

Stats: .203/31/15/33/0

Yahoo Ranking: 466

It's hard not to take a 23-year-old player who hits .285 with 17 HR in 80 games during their major league debut, but Davis has been very disappointing this year. The power is there, but the average is a killer. With Justin Smoak crushing the ball in the minors, there's a possibility that Davis's future playing time may be in question, and Micah may be wishing that he had taken Alexei Ramirez or Kevin Youkilis instead.

2. Orc Mischief (7th)

Alexei Ramirez (2B/SS/OF)

Stats: .272/36/10/39/12

Yahoo Ranking: 113

The Cuban Missile was looking like a bust after a horrendous April, but he's turned things around to hit .282 over the past two months, including 7 HR in June. He's on pace to outdo most of last year's numbers, especially in steals, and he should be one of a handful of second basemen to reach the 20/20 level. Clint should be happy with how this pick has turned out for him.

3. Order of the Phoenix (12th)

Francisco Liriano (SP)

Stats: 4/0/80/5.62/1.52

Yahoo Ranking: 1283

Though Chris Davis hasn't produced at the level that many expected of him, he's not nearly the bust that Francisco Liriano has been. Davis will only hurt you in one category each week, while Liriano has hurt owners in WHIP and ERA all season long. The strikeout numbers are nice, but Liriano has been far worse than I or anyone else expected. Liriano's season did improve in June when he posted a 3.77 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in five starts, a small hook to hang your hopes on for a midseason turnaround, but I'm pretty sure that Mark would rather have had Yovani Gallardo instead.

4. Butt Admirals (6th)

Brad Lidge (RP)

Stats: 0/14/28/7.57/1.94

Yahoo Ranking: 906

Brad Lidge is on pace to get to 28 Saves this year, but he's been anything but lights out and I wouldn't bet on him getting there. He's missed time due to injury but he hasn't been that effective when healthy, and I'm not sure how secure his hold is on the Phillies' closer role. It's possible that they may use his injury woes in order to DL him as a roundabout way of demoting him without the public humiliation if he doesn't turn things around. Kimball was counting on Lidge to anchor his bullpen, but Lidge has been anything but, and I'm sure that Kimball would like to have this pick back.

5. Summer Fox (10th)

Kevin Youkilis (1B/3B)

Stats: .314/49/14/47/4

Yahoo Ranking: 40

Our first player to find themselves ranked in the top 100, Youkilis has been a solid offensive contributor all across the board. A .300/100/30/100 season is within his reach, numbers which look very good compared to the rest of the hitters in our first round. Youkilis slumped in June, hitting .244, but he still managed to produce a .860 OPS. Rogstad should be very pleased with this pick.

6. Tossers (3rd)

Roy Oswalt (SP)

Stats: 4/0/83/4.02/1.30

Yahoo Ranking: 781

Roy Oswalt has not been his usual dominating self this season. If the season ended today, this would be the worst ERA and the second-worst WHIP of his career. Oswalt has been having problems with the long ball and free passes, which can kill any momentum that a pitcher has in a game. Oswalt did have a stellar June with 2 CG, a 3.14 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP, and he has been more of a second-half pitcher the past two years, so there is hope that he can regain his past dominance. Still, I think Troost wishes he could have this pick back.

7. Screaming Lemurs (5th)

Adam Dunn (1B/OF)

Stats: .260/36/20/56/0

Yahoo Ranking: 76

Adam Dunn is Mr. Consistent. He's on pace for his fifth straight season of 40 HR and I bet he gets it. His average is better than it has been in recent years thanks to a hot April, but even if he hits .235 the rest of the way, it's palatable thanks to his power output. Ben P. wanted a power hitter and he got him. I don't think there's any regret with this pick.

8. The $5 Footlongs! (1st)

Rafael Furcal (SS)

Stats: .240/35/3/17/4

Yahoo Ranking: 665

I originally thought that Furcal was the best pick this round, as I thought that he was going to rebound to previous years' numbers of 30 steals and double-digit HR. I was very wrong about that. Furcal has been bad all year and his batting average appears to be in decline. Furcal's poor performance has him ranked behind quite a few shortstops this year, and I'm pretty sure that Jonathan would like a redo on this pick.

9. Naterade (2nd)

Robinson Cano (2B)

Stats: .300/49/12/42/4

Yahoo Ranking: 62

After a very hot start in April, Naterade used Cano as part of a package to get Mark Teixiera. Cano hasn't been quite as hot the past two months, hitting .271, but he is on pace to set career-highs in HR, Runs, and RBI. This isn't any concern of Nate's since he doesn't have Cano anymore, but I think he's fine with that pick since it got him Teixiera.

10. The Balls (11th)

Aubrey Huff (1B/3B)

Stats: .270/33/10/52/0

Yahoo Ranking: 149

Aubrey Huff has been a solid source for RBI this season, but his other offensive totals leave much to be desired. Huff is hitting .270 after hitting .304 and .280 the past two years, and Brubaker probably isn't happy with the 20-HR pace Huff's on right now since he thought he was getting the 30-HR hitter from 2008. Huff raised his average by hitting .291 in June, but his power numbers are on a downward trend. This is a disappointing performance for Brubaker, who was hoping to get a power hitter with his first pick. Huff hasn't been terrible due to his RBI's, but Bru did a lot better with his second pick, Jermaine Dye.

11. Adrian's Revenge (9th)

Magglio Ordonez (OF)

Stats: .260/29/3/24/3

Yahoo Ranking: 592

Magglio Ordonez has been a giant disappointment for me and the Tigers, and he's ridden the bench at times for both our teams. With the second-to-last-pick in the first round, I knew that all of the players with upside would be taken, so I wanted to get a dependable veteran bat. I wavered between picking Ordonez and Dye, but ultimately I went with Ordonez. I knew that he wouldn't hit more than 20 HR this year, but I reasoned that he was a solid hitter who could help my team by hitting .300 and driving in 100 RBI. Ordonez did hit .315 in May, but he also hit .235 in the other two months. In retrospect, I should have picked Dye.

12. Macafey (8th)

Matt Wieters (C)

Stats: .247/8/2/7/0

Yahoo Ranking: 978

I didn't like this pick when Tim made it because he already had a young catcher on his team named Geovany Soto. Tim reasoned that he could always trade one of them. Wieters has only been in the majors for a little over a month, and we can assume that he's still trying to figure out major-league pitching, but so far the returns on this pick have been small and Tim has yet to move one of his catchers. This was a pick towards the future and it's hard to make judgement on it yet with such a small sample size.

In looking back at our first round, most of us did poorly with our picks. Only three are currently ranked in the top 100 fantasy players, and quite a few aren't even ranked in the top 300. It would be interesting to look back at our drafts from previous years and compare them to this one, in order to see if this year was a fluke or if we really aren't good judges of fantasy talent, but I'm too lazy to do that work. One thing I do believe is that things can change from half to half, and we could be looking at this round very differently at the end of the season than from how we view it today. Maybe the first round isn't as important as we believe it to be, and it could be that your best hope is to get a player that won't hurt you as you build your team's strengths from the middle rounds of the draft. Next year I'm going to just throw a dart at a player list and see what comes up.

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Power Rankings

After a long delay, we have our second power ranking of the season. In this post I will be attempting to rank the 12 teams in my Yahoo H2H keeper league based on how I think they will perform the rest of the year. These rankings are purely subjective and I reserve the right to change my mind on a whim. The rankings will show up intermittently throughout the year, depending on how determined I am. I will be including each team's record as it stands at the beginning of this week, and I will be naming a player for each team that hasn't performed well and who, in my opinion, will continue to not do well. So far almost every team is still within striking distance of the playoffs, so the next couple of months should be exciting as we see how everything shakes out.

1. The $5 Footlongs (71-36-3)

The Footlongs retain the number one spot from the previous power rankings, due in no small part to the fact that he is 10 games ahead of anyone else. The Footlongs have been doing well offensively, thanks to fantasy studs such as Albert Pujols, Chase Utley, and Miguel Cabrera. Jonathan's team has been doing especially well in the SB and BA categories. He's had some great pitching lately from Kevin Slowey, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Edwin Jackson. Howie Kendrick and Delmon Young have been disappointing, and it might be time to give up on them. Adam Jones has had a nice breakthrough season this year, though he has slumped this past month. Jonathan will need a healthy Carlos Beltran if he wants to solidify his hold on first place for the rest of the season.

Player to sell: Delmon Young

2. Screaming Lemurs (56-50-4)

The Lemurs are currently in sixth place in the league standins, but they are only 4.5 games out of second and the stats they've put up this season indicate that they are much better than their current record. The Lemurs have a lot of speed and they've benefited from Juan Pierre's strong output during Manny's suspension. I've said it before, but this is a very well-balanced offense. Getting Aramis Ramirez back in a week or two will help a lot, but the Lemurs continue to get a lot of offense from a variety of players. His pitching staff has struggled a little bit, but it's quite a good collection of talent and I believe in their abilities to turn things around. When asked about his team, Posluch said, "I hate Mike Fontenot."

Player to sell: David Price

3. Orc Mischief (52-52-6)

Another team that I feel is better than their current record, Orc Mischief has put up some great offensive numbers this season. They've done a good job at picking up young players such as Nolan Reimold and Andrew McCutcheon throughout the year. Alexei Ramirez is starting to turn things around, Brad Hawpe is continuing to have a career year, and Mark Reynolds has been a nice surprise. The pitching staff doesn't have a lot of depth, but everyone has pitched well this year, and, with this offense, I think there will be a lot of 6-4 or 5-4 games.

Player to sell: Mike Cameron

4. Butt Admirals (56-41-13)

The Admirals have a solid team that is very competitive in the RBI, SB, BA, WHIP and Saves categories. Brad Lidge has struggled this year, but hopefully his time off will help him find last year's success. Ben Zobrist was a great pickup, as was Clint Barmes. Grady Sizemore and Joey Votto are back from their respective DL stints and the Admirals will count on their power production. The pitching staff has talent, but losing Edinson Volquez indefinitely shows this team's lack of pitching depth.

Player to sell: Vladimir Guerrero

5. The Tossers (58-46-6)

The Tossers have a lot of power and a great bullpen, but most of their success has depended on the strong starts by guys like Russell Branyan. Alex Rodriguez has sucked so far, so I guess I can't fault the Tossers for relying on guys like Branyan. Torii Hunter is having a career year, as was Raul Ibanez before he went on the DL. The pitching staff has been decent, but having Roy Oswalt pitch like the Roy Oswalt of years past would be a big addition. I think this team will make the playoffs, but not as a top-three team.

Player to sell: Roy Oswalt

6. Macafey (52-51-7)

After scuffling around in the bottom half of the league standings for most of the season, Macafey has made their way into the top half with some strong performances in the past month. They have a lot of offensive talent, but the team has underperformed for most of the year. Jimmy Rollins, Geovany Soto, and Mike Jacobs have all been disappointments, and David Wright has not hit for the power we expected of him. Derrek Lee and Adam Lind have done surprisingly well this year after underwhelming seasons last year, and Yovani Gallardo has been lights out for the past month. Pitching injuries have hurt this team, though Scott Downs, Roy Halladay, and Erik Bedard should be back in a week or two. This team has the talent to do well in the second half. When asked about his team's peformance this year, Tim replied, "We have not yet begun to fight! I wouldn't trade my team for any other on the road to the playoffs."

Player to sell: Milton Bradley

7. Naterade (56-48-6)

Naterade is currently ranked fourth in the standings, but I feel that they've been a bit lucky as their team hasn't been that good offensively compared to the rest of the league. Russell Martin has really been a disappointment, as was Lastings Milledge. Other than Mark Teixiera, Justin Upton, and Cody Ross, the offense has struggled for the past month. Maybe Andre Ethier will start to hit for a better average when Manny comes back from his suspension. The pitching staff has been very good, and Naterade has a plethora of closers, which will come in handy since Matt Lindstrom just went on the DL. Felix Hernandez has been great this year, and this could be the breakout season that we've come to expect from him. I think this team is a hitter or two away from making a deep run in the playoffs.

Player to sell: Lastings Milledge

8. Dissect Yourself (54-48-8)

Micah's pitching staff has done well so far, but I don't think they can keep it up. C.C. Sabathia has been disappointing, Wandy Rodriguez has been awful lately, Jose Contreras is old, and Gil Meche is inconsistent. At least Carlos Zambrano has pitched well this season. The offense is more talented, but this team has the worst BA in the league, thanks to free-swingers such as Chris Davis and Alfonso Soriano. Adrian Beltre is starting to heat up, and Chris Young has shown signs of life this month, but Jay Bruce and Matt Holliday have not exactly been carrying this team. Troy Tulowitzki is at least showing that he remembers how to be a fantasy stud. Micah had this to say about his team: I view my team this year like a bag of microwavable popcorn. My guys are playing great and you know there are going to be those last little kernels popping as you take the bag out of the microwave (see Bruce, Davis, Soriano, Young). And then I'll add the sweet melted butter (see: Sabathia - always a slow starter). Bon appetit."

Player to sell: Dan Uggla

9. Adrian's Revenge (52-55-3)

My team's driving me nuts. I've had some great performances from guys like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Robinson Cano, and Ryan Zimmerman this year, but it seems like my team can't perform well at the same time. Kosuke Fukudome has been awful since I got him, Cameron Maybin was a bust during his time in the majors, and Magglio Ordonez needs to get in touch with Manny's hormone supplier. Thankfully Colby Rasmus is starting to look comfortable in the big leagues with eleven extra base hits this month, and Jhonny Peralta's power stroke is starting to return. The solid veterans that I thought I was drafting have really let me down this year, though. On the pitching side, Ervin Santana has been a bust and Scott Baker has been inconsistent. I think Ricky Nolasco will continue to improve in the second half, and Jordan Zimmerman will end up having a good year if he can continue his great strikeout rate. Hopefully my closer situation will stabilize and I'll get some more saves each week.

Player to sell: Pick 'em.

10. The Balls (41-63-6)

Here's where we get to the teams that are most likely out of the playoff race already. The Balls have gotten some solid power from Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Howard, but they've lost Carlos Quentin for a month and counting, and most of their outfield is underwhelming. This team should have better stolen base numbers than they've already put up, but they'll need Jason Bartlett to continue his career year. Shin-Soo Choo is looking like a great draft pick. The pitching staff took a big hit with the loss of Jake Peavy, and no other pitcher on this staff is doing well this month. In regards to his team, John said, " The Balls suffered from an acute case of collective social anxiety disorder this year, but they have dealt with the issue and are now ready for a heroic comeback." John also attributes his early season struggles to a lack of "paying attention".

Player to sell: Phil Hughes

11. Summer Fox (44-60-6)

The Fox has been hurt by Carlos Delgado's injury, Manny Ramirez's suspension, and Garrett Atkins poor year, all of which have contributed to them falling near the bottom of every fantasy category in our league. Stephen Drew and Orlando Hudson find themselves heading in the opposite directions as their early season surge/stumble begin to correct themselves. Better performances are needed out of Kevin Youkilis and Brandon Phillips if the Fox has any hope of reaching the playoffs. The pitching staff has been hurt by injury and ineffectiveness and there's not much hope of them rebounding. John Lackey should get better, but I'm not willing to make the same bet for Joba Chamberlain, Daisuke Matsuzaka, or Chien-Ming Wang.

Player to sell: Wang

12. Order of the Phoenix (33-75-2)

Does Mark even check his team anymore? He has four DL-eligible players and three empty DL spots. Injuries to fantasy studs like Jose Reyes, Josh Hamilton, and Scott Kazmir have hurt his team, but he hasn't made any attempt to replace them. David Ortiz has found his power stroke this month, but Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francouer and Vernon Wells have been awful. Justin Verlander and Joe Blanton have been good this year, but Francisco Liriano is the only other starter currently pitching in the majors and he's been terrible.

Player to sell: Too many to list

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Trade Review - Chris B. Young/Gil Meche for Ubaldo Jimenez/Kosuke Fukudome

We have our fourth trade of the season, the third one that I've been involved in and the first for Dissect Yourself. Dissect Yourself had made it clear that Ubaldo Jimenez was available and I had been looking to move Chris B. Young, so we worked out a deal on June 8th that had my team, Adrian's Revenge send Chris B. Young and Gil Meche for Ubaldo Jimenez and Kosuke Fukudome.

I've had Chris B. Young in our keeper league ever since his rookie year in 2007 when he hit 32 HR and stole 27 bases. His numbers dropped a bit last year, but they couldn't prepare me for what he's done this season when I decided to trade him: .178 BA, .233 OBP, .314 SLG, 4 HR, and 8 SB. The Diamondbacks had just called up Gerrardo Parra, who seemed like a threat to his playing time, and though I still believed in Young's speed and power, I wasn't certain that he could get enough playing time if he couldn't hit the ball. Since Micah had said that Jimenez was available, I checked to see if he'd have any interest in Young.

Despite the fact that Jimenez had started off the season with a couple disastrous outings, I'd been intrigued by the numbers that the young pitcher had put up since then. Jimenez puts up solid strikeout totals, and he's cut down on his walk rate from last season. He consistently pitches pitches into the seventh inning, and he induces more groundballs than flyballs, which is a benefit when you pitch half your games at Coors Field. My team needs pitching help, and I felt that Jimenez was the type of underrated pitcher that could be had cheaply.

Micah was willing to trade Jimenez for Young by themselves, but he wanted to find out if I would be willing to include Meche for Fukudome. Meche has had some decent years for the Royals, enough to make him an underrated pitching asset, but he had put up some mediocre numbers in the first two months of the season, and I was worried that his chronic back problems would keep him from ever pitching to his potential. Fukudome had struggled as the season went on last year, but I was hoping that he could turn that trend around this year now that he was familiar with the major league season. My offense needed a consistent 4th or 5th outfielder, and I felt that Fukudome could fill that role if he could avoid tiring as the season progressed.

The day the deal went through, Meche pitched a 7 inning, 11 strikeout gem for his first win in a month. Those stats went to me, but he followed that up with a complete game shutout against the Diamondbacks. Micah may have gotten Meche at just the right time if he can pitch to the potential that he has shown in recent years. Young has also shown a bit more at the plate since the trade, hitting 2 HR and 3 doubles to go along with 2 SB in six games. Fukudome hasn't shown me anything since I've received him and he's 0 for his last 20. Jimenez had his own complete game win in his last start, but the fact that he threw 127 pitches and 4 walks doesn't give me a lot of hope in his next start.

How will this trade be remembered? Hard to say. Early dividends give the trade to Micah, but sometimes trades are not about screwing another team over. Instead, they can be a tool to get players that you believe will help your team. None of these players may be on our rosters next year, but it's all about improving your team's weaknesses.

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Trade Review - Jose Guillen for Jered Weaver

We have our third trade of the season, as Naterade and Orc Mischief deal from their strengths to shore up their weaknesses.  Besides myself, Naterade and Orc Mischief are the only other teams to have completed a trade so far this year, with two trades apiece.  Let's look at the trade's principals.

Naterade has struggled in the HR category this year and adding Jose Guillen will help to strengthen a young and inconsistent outfield.  Naterade doesn't have many sluggers on his team and Guillen will give him a veteran outfielder with 25 HR and 100 RBI upside.  Guillen is a career .273 hitter, so he could hurt Nate's BA, but Guillen did hit .290 in 2007.  Guillen missed a couple of weeks earlier this season, but he has been hot since coming off the DL, hitting .343 with 3 HR and 11 RBI in 10 games.

Orc Mischief has had very poor pitching so far this season, and he's only won two pitching categories other than Saves this year.  Besides Johan Santana and Jon Lester, and Lester hasn't pitched that well yet, Orc Mischief has a lot of soft-tossing pitchers with little major league success.  I'm not a big fan of Jered Weaver, but he should give you double-digit Wins with an okay WHIP and ERA.  He should be a top-40 pitcher, and he will become the Orc's 3rd or 4th best pitcher.  Weaver has started out very hot this year, and he could be a fantasy surprise if he can return his strikeout rate to last year's levels.  

Not every trade has to be a blockbuster deal, and I like how both teams evaluated their own strengths and weaknesses and then dealt accordingly.  Neither team will miss the players they gave up too dearly, and they both will enjoy the services of the players they received.

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Let's Take Stock of the Surroundings

As it is now the third week of the season, I see no reason why I shouldn't be able to make wild speculations and assumptions based upon the events of the previous two weeks in my Yahoo H2H keeper league.

- After two matchups, The $5 Footlongs have taken a close lead over the Screaming Lemurs, Dissect Yourself, and Naterade.  The Footlongs have gone undefeated in every offensive category except for steals, though they have had middling results in the pitching categories.  Their victories over the Lemurs and the Macafeys have been very close, so it might not be time yet to chisel their name on the season trophy.  They've had incredible starts from Miguel Cabrera, Chase Utley and Adam Jones; of the three I feel most confident in Cabrera's and Utley's abilities to maintain a high level of play, but Jones will eventually struggle at some point.  This is a good team (good enough that I put them on top of last week's power rankings), but they could easily be fourth or fifth.

- The Lemurs had a solid 10-0 victory over Summer Fox, but the matchup wasn't as lopsided as it looked.  The Fox came close to beating the Lemurs in Runs and RBI, but having Brandon Phillips and Garrett Atkins combine for 2 Runs and RBI surely didn't help his cause.  Incidentally, with Matsuzaka now on the DL, it seems that Rogstad needs to cut ties with Joey Devine in order to free up a DL spot and add a pitcher that will actually pitch this year.  Devine had surgery on his arm and will be out for the season.

- As far as the teams at the bottom of the standings, I think the Macafeys are most likely to make the playoffs.  They have too much talent to be stuck in the consolation bracket all year.  Order of the Phoenix will need to pitch better if they want to make the playoffs; none of their starters have an ERA under 5.00 to begin the year.  Orc Mischief has had a couple of tough matchups to begin the year, and I don't see them staying in the basement forever, though I don't know if they have the offense to make the playoffs.

- Let's give the Butt Admirals the "Hard Luck Award" for the first two weeks; they have tied in more categories than anyone, including tying in stolen bases each week, despite the fact that they are second in steals overall.  The Admirals would be in 7th if Emilio Bonifacio hadn't started the season so hot, or if Dustin Pedroia had stolen a base last week.

- The Tossers have stolen 6 bases so far this season, last in the league and half the amount that the Admirals and Orc Mischief put up in the first week.  It's possible that they could be the slowest team in the league, but they nearly tied Order of the Phoenix last week.

- Players that are hitting poorly this month that will hit better: Alexei Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Jay Bruce, and Chris Davis.

- Players that are hitting well that will drop off: Nick Swisher, Orlando Hudson, Mike Cameron, and Brandon Inge.

- Free Agents that I'm watching: Kevin Kouzmanoff, Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton, Pedro Feliz, Nick Johnson, Bronson Arroyo, Kyle Davies, David Purcey, Tim Wakefield, Justin Masterson, Anibal Sanchez, and Octavio Dotel.

- Since this is a keeper league, I just wanted to briefly touch on some on some of the rookies performances so far this season.  Since most starters have only made two starts, we'll just look at the hitters.  Cameron Maybin hit his first HR today, but he's still hitting around the Mendoza line.  Colby Rasmus has more walks than strikeouts, which suggests good strike zone judgement on his part, but where's the power?  He only has one extra-base hit so far this year.  Travis Snider is hitting great, but the batting average will probably come down a bit.  The power is legit though, and 25 HR is realistic.  Elvis Andrus is also hitting well, and the stolen bases should come as long as he keeps getting on base.  Dexter Fowler is showing a solid combination of pop and speed.  Jordan Schafer is struggling and striking out way too much; where's his speed?  Based only on these past two weeks, Travis Snider should be the AL Rookie of the Year by a landslide.

- Some prospects that I'm waiting on for this year that no one has on their roster: Matt Gamel, Gordon Beckham, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Carrasco, and Tommy Hanson.    

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Trade Spin

Two trades so far this season and I have been involved in both of them.

After I named a players from each team that I wanted in my power rankings, Naterade responded by offering me Justin Morneau and Robinson Cano for Mark Teixiera and Emmanuel Burriss.  Nate has tried every year to pry Teixiera from me, and this was the deal that finally did it.  I really needed to upgrade at second base, so I was happy to receive Cano.  I felt that the upgrade that Cano represented over Burriss balanced out the downgrade from Teixiera to Morneau.  I think Morneau is a top-five first baseman, and though he doesn't have the power potential of Teixiera, Morneau is not that far off in the other offensive categories.  Cano balances out the slight offensive drop off by giving me one of the top 6 or 7 second baseman in the league.  I think Cano will bounce back from last season's mediocre batting average to hit over .300 again with 15+ HR.  He's a big upgrade for my team over Burriss, who I had picked up for his stolen base potential but had instead been killing my team's BA.

I'm not surprised that Naterade targeted Burriss; he had complimented my pickup of Burriss at the start of the season and Natarade could use the steals.  He gets a star in Teixiera, who was one of the longest tenured players on my team.  I first drafted Teixiera in 2006 and I've dealt with his slow starts every year.  He will pick things up, but it's hard to deal with slow starts from your star players in a H2H league.  Teixiera is a better keeper than Morneau, but I think having Cano will help me more this year.

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