Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2013 20:33:00 GMT -5
Who's Hot?
Chuck Knoblauch Wow. .435 with a 1.194 OPS. A full 55 point batting average lead. 18/20 SB. Enjoy it while it lasts, Spence.
Ichiro Suzuki - The free-agent-to-be is hitting a career-best .380 and has yet to be caught stealing. In fact, he has nine more steals than anyone else in the NL. The change of scenery to San Diego appears to suit him. He's 10 for his last 19. Let's ignore the fact that just six of his 49 hits have come for extra bases.
Corey Patterson- Are we witnessing his breakout year? I'm skeptical, as his talents have regressed in St. Louis, but boy is he raking. Top 10 in average, OBP, and slugging percentage. 13/15 stealing. 21 of his 48 hits have been for extra bases!
Roy Oswalt In the midst of a streak of five consecutive starts in which he's allowed 1 run or fewer. Turned it up in his last outing, allowing just two hits in a complete game shutout of the Dodgers. This looks like the year Oswalt establishes himself as an ace.
Eric Karros-Karros has homered in four of his last five games and just took home Player of the Week honors.
Who's Not?
Brett Tomko- This is mystifying. He has elite ratings and is about as bad as it gets among NL starting pitchers. He mixed in back-to-back dominant outings, yet has a 7.09 ERA. And it dates back to all of last season, so his performance, or lack thereof, isn't a fluke. Just gross.
The Colorado Rockies- Staff ERA of 5.79. Near the bottom of the league in walks and batting average, too. This team isn't ready, and one solid starting pitcher won't change that.
The New York Mets- The NL East is tough, but James' team looked ready to make it a five-team battle. Now they're losers of nine of their last 10. Look no further than their Tired Positions Players section for the answer -- these guys need a dang rest, Jim! I really think this team can be as good as anyone in the East, so the mini-collapse has been a surprise.
Jeff Bagwell- He's hitting .190 with one home run. He had a .969 OPS last season. This one should scare other NL teams, though, because if the Astros can be 10 games over .500 with arguably their best hitter struggling this much, well, you have to think they're legit. Bagwell is still an amazing talent, and the Astros will be a threat if he turns the corner.
Surprises
Livan Hernandez- Last offseason, he was an afterthought who wouldn't have contributed much to the Yankees' staff this year. Now he's allowed just three earned runs in his last 31.2 innings pitched. He plays in a big park and has a great outfield supporting him, but he isn't as good as his 1.72 ERA suggests.
The Expos' Starting Pitching
It's been awful. Take a look at this:
M. Buehrle 23 SP 7 6 6 8 2 A -
G. Meche 23 SP 7 7 6 7 9 C C
W. Alvarez 32 SP 7 7 6 6 7 C -
J. Fogg 25 SP 7 6 7 8 6 C -
E. Milton 26 SP 7 6 7 6 9 D
Just one guy has an ERA below 4.10. Three guys are at 5.71 or higher. Bizarre.
Todd Van Poppel-Coming off a three-year stretch in which he averaged nearly 25 wins a season and never had an ERA above 2.65, Van Poppel was a preseason Cy Young favorite. Seven starts into 2002, he's averaging less than 6 innings a start and has a 4.85 ERA. Plainly, though, he's still an ace, and his return to form should help St. Louis battle for a playoff spot.
Three-sim Sundays- Would you fuckers export for the love of God I need to see if Ichiro will re-sign with me
Blockbusters
JD Drew to Detroit
Play is notoriously stingy in trades. He demands a lot for his stars, and while he got a lot for JD Drew, the move was a major surprise. Play's talked for a long time about being a better GM and having a better team than Spencer, and the Cubs were the clear favorite to win the NL this year. (He also talked about 120 wins, and giving board cash to anyone who picked him to win it all this year if he failed to do so.) Look, Play had Drew on his block for a while, and got two players who will combine to far out-value Drew, but Drew's value wasn't at any risk of declining, and the Cubs let the pack catch up to them with this move. Love the value, question the timing.
Buddy Carlyle to Cincinnati- #facepalm
Torii Hunter to Chicago-Play didn't forget his ML roster, after all. Hunter's a second-tier hitter just a few notches below the first class, but the value is excellent here. He's young, he's locked up, he plays amazing defense, and he's loyal. Could be a superstar in his prime, and while he's not JD Drew, he's a viable middle-of-the-lineup hitter. With Chicago's pitching as good and expensive as it is, a cheap, great defender is a major fit.
Chipper Jones to San Diego for Kelly Johnson and Calixto Valenzuela- This didn't happen?
Ichiro for Delgado
Surprising to see two stars in the prime dealt one for one, but each guy has his advantages over the other. Value wise, it may be a big loss for San Diego -- it's never wise to deal for an expiring contract, a move rendered all the more unwise by the fact that San Diego had a fan interest of 19 at the time. The results, though, have been fantastic for San Diego. Ichiro is 28/28 stealing bases, hitting .380, and playing elite defense.
The Top Five
1. Houston Astros- C-Mike needs to move Mueller to the top of the order and get Bagwell for his offense to be elite, but make no mistake: this is the best offense in the NL Central. Their pitching is almost as good as Chicago's, too.
2. Chicago Cubs- Cruised into San Diego and absolutely shut down the Padres' fearsome offense. They lack power and have had a rough couple of PDs, but they have some excellent hitters and BBSBL's best pitching staff by a wide margin.
3. San Diego Padres- Shaky play due to an atrocious bottom of the order, but the Padres have the league's most home runs and with the addition of Terry Bross, should have excellent pitching. IRIs to a few hitters would be huge.
4. Florida Marlins-Can't rank them any higher because their rotation isn't deep and RJ looks primed to decline. But wow do they exploit opponents on the basepaths, turning an above average offense into an excellent one.
5. San Francisco Giants- Still great, but they've taken a step back. I'd rank them higher, but they aren't gonna get this kind of performance out of Knoblauch all year, and they lack power. I do think they win the division if the Padres don't IRI guys like Rumble, Ellis, and Piatt.
