CANNED NUTS

AL West run down, FINAL

2009-02-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

AL West Predictions
1.Angels
2.Mariners
3.Rangers
4.Athletics

Who'da thought the Texas Rangers would have the offensive explosion they brought forth with the wrath of a hundred suns, a thousand volcanoes, a million little 10 year guaranteed light bulbs. I know none of the experts did, i know none of my pals did. Everyone understood their acquisition of Josh hamilton would mroe than likely pay off, though they gave up their most promising pitching prospects for the guy. But, Ruthian numbers? Roided up Juan Gonzalez or Manny Ramirez with the Dodgers type numbers? Never.

Imagine the number of records he could have broken if he would have stayed out of that home run derby and away from all-star festivities records, people will forget 5 years from now. Who even won the home run derby, does anyone even remember? Exactly. (well i do, but i'm not going to say whom, because i don't think anyone else does)

Josh hamiltons statistics this season are projected around the same for this season, and I think he'll get some of the same assistance as last year despite the loss of Milton Bradley to the Cubs. The rangers are going to score just as many runs this year as last year. They're doing some changing with the diamond to make room for their up and coming, highly touted prospect, Elvis Andrus. I believe it to be a bunch of hoop-la, kind of like what the royals did with their past can't miss short stop Angel Berroa of like 8 years ago. He amounted to pretty much nothing, and I have a feeling the Elvis "the king of nothing" Andrus, will do much of the same. The change of michael young to third for the accomodation of Elvis, i think will work in the rangers favor for now. Young is a gold glove fielder, his range is starting to decrease with his age increasing, and if Elvis has any kind of glove, this move could prove great for their pitching staff. Youngs shift takes the 3rd base responsibility away from the injury prone Hank Blalock, so he may hopefully play an entire season for once in his career, though only as a DH. Their young catcher Salt(his name is too long) should provide his finally developed hitting prowess from either side of the plate and have a big year. Coaches are pleased with what he has been bringing to spring training so far, and it seems they have given him the reigns of the pitching staff and the starting gig. They have a young powerful talent with Chris Davis at first base, and the outfield should be stellar. Nelson Cruz it seems has finally put it together at the age of 29 and finally figured out how to focus in the batters box. Expect Cruz to have a similar year in his first full season as Josh Hamilton did last year, but with a higher batting average.

The pitching staff as they did last year, will struggle. They had the leagues worst ERA, gave up the most runs, and by most runs I mean they gave up more runs than they scored; They scored the most runs in the majors! I believe it to be pretty bad when your staff ace is a healthy 34 year old Kevin Millwood with an ERA over 5! They have a young catcher do the driving behind the plate, who does not have a full season under his belt yet, and a relatively young defense up the middle. Kinsler isn't exactly a gold glove 2nd basemen and they have a rookie starting at short stop. The only thing that could help is the fact they have a gold glove caliber player at 3rd base now; a player who gives them some consistency. Their bullpen shouldn't be terrible, but they need to figure out who is going to close all season. Franky Francisco has been dubbed this years closer, but how long he'll hold on to that position is a wait and see kind of approach. CJ wilson or Eddie Guadardo could take over the role at anytime. And just because they are good enough to be closers, does not mean that they will be good set up men for the season either. The pitching is going to struggle this year like last year, but they will have a marked improvement in team ERA.

The Rangers are going to be either a cellar dweller for most of the season, or they are going to slug the opposition all year. It is going to be worst or wild card for this team. I predict one of the worst.

AL West run down, part 3...

2009-02-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ok. Of the 4 AL West teams, please answer the following questions correctly:

1.Which team scored the least runs in the American League?

2.Which team had the LOWEST team batting average in all of the major league baseball?

3.Which team was in the bottom 5 of the AL in team Home runs?

4.Which team had the AL's worst OBP?

5.Which team had a Major League worst .369 Slugging percentage?

If you answer Oakland for all of the above, you get an "A"...The Oakland A's that is. This was the worst Offensive American league team, and in the bottom 5 in most offensive categories in all of baseball. Yet, they finished only 3 games behind Texas in the standings and 15 games over seattle, who was the American Leagues worst team. How did they maintain a competitive level of baseball throughout the course of the season despite their offensive woes, you ask? Simple, with solid defense(committing fewer than 100 errors throughout the course of the season), and damn good pitching.

Last year, the Oakland Athletics finished in the top 10 in all of major league baseball in pretty much ever significant pitching category. Though they traded away approximately 75 percent of the their known pitching staff in midseason acquisitions last season, the Athletics management and Billy Beane believe they have a solid, young pitching core that can be successful for a few years. At least until they dismantle again hope for the best which is usually the case with small market baseball clubs.

Last seasons starting pitching: Rich Harden, Joe Blanton, Greg Smith, Dana Eveland, Justin Duchscherer, Chad Gaudin (swing man)

This season: Justin Duchscherer, Dana Eveland, Sean Gallagher, Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden

2 of the Starting Pitcher hopefuls: Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Braden, are prospect that have been highly tauted for the last couple of seasons. Though they have both been rather roughed up in their mideason call up duties the last couple of years, Gio looks promising with above average major league stuff and Dallas Braden has been compared to Tom Glavine, he just needs to work on his command. Sean Gallagher was brought over through the midseason trade of Rich Harden and is expected to come through big this season, as he is projected to be in the front half of a starting staff "rich" with talent. There main concern is the teams "ace" Duchscherer, has been having hip problems the last 2 seasons, and cut his breakout season of last year short. He has had offseason surgery to repair his infirmary, and is looking to get that cutter in on the hands of opposing hitters once again to prove last season was no fluke. The overall potential of this pitching staff has some heights it can definitely reach, but until this potential is realized, they have just a mediocre shot at playing any better than they did last season.

The bullpen should perform admirably, though i think it will take a hit from the trade of Huston Street going to colorado through the trade to acquire left field slugger matt holiday in the offseason. With Street out of Oakland, the baton is allegedy getting passed to Joey Devine. The closer gig has not been locked down by devine, due to Brad Zeigler still lurking in the shadows with his 1.06 ERA and 11 saves from last season. Devine by comparison had just 1 save but had an ERA of 0.59 in 45.2 innings pitched, which is pretty damn good by all accounts. Either way you toss it, it seems Billy Beane will have a good back end of the bullpen to close down the 8th and 9th innings of ball games. The production by these 2 pitchers last season is what allowed the A's to trade away Huston Street to try and improve a lack luster offense that was supposedly bursting at the seems with future talent, that talent has been shipped, and their offensive make-up has changed.

The New Look "Out with the new in with OLD" Athletics fans will see this season is another homecoming of sorts in the AL West, with the reintroduction of Jason Giambi this offseason. The signing of Giambi on a 1 year deal and the acquisition of Matt Holiday, make the Athletics seem like they are serious about contending in the AL West this season, at least on paper. The Athletics have brought in a jason Giambi, now at the age of 38, who may have 1 good year left, even after he left for the big bucks with the yankees, the steroid revelations and the obvious decline in his production. Despite his obvious handicaps coming into the season, his presence none-the-less will be a welcome addition to the Athletics line up, as he will make pitchers think more about how to pitch the people hitting in front and behind him this season. One of the players hitting behind him will be Matt Holiday, the Athletics big offseason trade acquisition out of Colorado. What they gave up for him, Greg Smith, Huston Street, and Carlos Gonzalez, are players that not only could have been cornerstones for the next 2-3 season in oakland, but also would have come much more cheaply over a longer period of time. I admit Huston Street would have gotten expensive to keep, but Greg Smith and Carlos Gonzalez, I believe had another year or 2 of arbitration. This could be a make or break year for billy beane, so he may have made this move out of desperation. They are not going to be able to keep Holliday long term and I don't think he is going to produce in Oakland the same way he did in Colorado. He may have similar stats with Hits, average and On base percentage, but his power numbers may decline. He may get pushed further towards the top of the line up simply because he knows how to get the bat on the ball and because he's a "named" player in the league, but even that shouldn't last too long being new to the American League and out of the thin air of Colorado.

The rest of the line up does not impress. Ryan Sweeney hasn't played a full Season, Jack Cust strikes out too much and has serious issues with knocking runs in, Bobby Crosby has majorly underproduced his entire career, Mark Ellis is the Freddy Sanchez of the American League. You have one good season with some solid D and you're put on the almighty baseball pedestal for a couple of seasons, only to hurt yourself repeatedly and disappoint constantly. One more injury plagued star in Oakland, Eric Chavez, claims to be healthy again and management and scouts are expecting a big year out of him, especially with the "help" billy beane has provided for the 2009 season. I think this offense goes as Chavez goes. If he gets hurt again and misses significant time, this team is going to go into proverbial shitter with him.

The Oakland Athletics could surprise a lot of people this year, as long as all their collected pieces slip into the place and Chavez's back doesn't.

Look for a few of the above mentioned players to be dealt by midseason; Holliday to the Yankees or White Sox, Chavez to the Phillies or Boston, and a starting pitcher to the Cardinals, Indians or Dodgers.

Overall for this season the A's get a C+...they'll be looking for a high draft pick and some important pieces of the future come july 31st.

AL West run down, con't...

2009-02-20T10:40:00.000-08:00

I know I started with how I think the Mariners will fair out of the AL West, and now I think about it more, they should probably be further down in the standings, but it is what it is and it's too late for me to change. From now on I am going to try to keep it in alphabetical order while I do my run down of each Division. I started with the mariners because I was giddy with excitement about Ken Griffey returning home...call me sentimental.

AL West predictions:

1.Angels

2.Mariners

3.Rangers

4.Athletics

With the signing of Bobby Abreu, the Angels have finally got some diversity in their outfield. He gives them a good left handed bat to change up the all right handed threats the Angels previously had in the line up before his welcome to that crowded grass area in front of the rubber walls. He will probably end up playing a little more DH than in previous seasons because of the recent speculation of his panzy play in the field. His bat, however still remains hot. Abreu should put up similar stats as he did playing with the Yankees, as the Angels have a similar kind of line up, but in my opinion a better all around lead off hitter, if Chone Figgins is their man. Abreu I believe would be a better number 2 hitter, possibly a fantastic number 3 hitter getting protection from the greatest bad ball hitter of all time in Vladdy "I like my vodka rocky" Guerrero. Abreu matched with that perennial all-star and Torii Hunter alike, along with the former all-star, Gary Matthews Jr. and the newly re-signed Juan Rivera, the Angels have an outfield that could rival just about any team in the Majors.

Their infield could be a bit precarious depending on how healthy a season Howie Kendrick could have, ditto for Chone figgins, and if they could get even half the production out of Kendry Morales that they would have gotten out of Texeira if he had stayed on the west coast. Maicer Izturis and Erik Aybar, though one of these 2 are favored to take over the starting short stop position, I think should be relegated to strictly a utility role on the team and are no better than that. I would not be surprised to see their prospect Brandon Wood take over as the every day short stop, but there are questions about his range at the position more so than the other 2. If the team is looking for an offensive output at the position versus defensive prowess Wood takes over, if they want their defense to be solid up the middle look for Aybar to win out. Mike Napoli showed he could bring out some raw power smaking 20 homeruns and 49 RBIs in only 227 at bats. If he is going to be the every day back stop, he may need to start working on that stamina because there aren't many who think he can maintain that kind of production playing 130+ games. The offense will go as Chone Figgins goes, he is more than likely going to be the lead off man and should be reporting relatively healthy to camp this year. If he stays at it and the Angels can get a productive 120 games out of him, I believe they should be happy. He hits for average, gets on base well and still can run with the best of them. That's more than can be said about most of the lead off men in the AL, and the rest of the teams production with him in the line up will prove that again this season.

Angels pitching looks stellar. They've got cy young candidates in Lackey and Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders is going to win games and Weaver can pitch with the best of them when he wants to. The bullpen turned over nicely from last year, with only losing one main cog, Franky Rodriguez (signing with the mets in the offseason) and replaced him with Fuentes, who I believe can give them great numbers for maybe 2 years, mainly because he's getting up there in age but at the same time he has also gotten out of that thin air in Colorado. Look for Fuentes to be a top 5 closer this year.

Overall the Angels should once again be a favorite to win the world series as they were last year.

Lets get this party started...right

2009-02-19T10:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, I previously mentioned I wanted to start writing down my thoughts of how the teams will individually fair throughout the course of the season, and wanted to start by the time Pitchers and catchers reported. I changed my view of sorts since there were still an infinite amount of quality free agents with track records longer than Scott Weilands arm, yet to be signed. Recently there have been a change in the winds and some previously high grasping free agents have changed their stance to accomodate ball clubs and their own survival through the declining economy.

With the signings of high quality free agents such as Bobby Abreu, Adam Dunn, Erik Hinske(haha), and Ken Griffey Jr., I decided now would be an appropriate time to start my pleasant take on how each team will be rewarded come the end of that grueling 162 game season. Since I have mentioned above the signings of atleast 1 definite hall of famer in ken griffey, and possibly a second in Bobby Abreu once his time on the diamond is spent, I will begin over inflated and under researched opinion of the AL West. Without further Ado, I give you the Seattle Mariners.

I know some of division results will contradict my preseason power rankings, but I don't really care due to the fact I wrote those like 3 weeks ago. NOW without further ado:

AL WEST Division results:
1.Angels
2.Mariners
3.Texas
4.Oakland

Once we get past the teary eyed reunion of one baseballs all time greatest players, it will serve everyone to take a gander at what the rest of the team actually offers for the upcoming season. Will this team offer up Huge amounts of power numbers? About as huge as Jose Canseco's testicles. Will this team have a high On Base Percentage? I don't think we will have seen this many bullets miss bats since the Dark Knight. Will they atleast hit for average? They have ichiro, so his outlier pulls the team average to about .250. Will this team have pitching? Yes!

Pitching is what is going to be the backbone of this mariners team. They are going to have an above average rotation with their superstar in Felix Hernandez if healthy all season is a potential cy young candidate with 200+ strikeout and 15+ victories. Carlos Silva, who i poorly predicted would have a fantastic 2008, will have the bounce back year the Mariners are paying him to contribute. He has lost over 30 pounds in the offseason which he contributes to a much healtheir eating regimen and lots of hard work. Ya, I would say less time spent on head from those bean burritos must be rough. Coaches and scouts alike have noted a vast improvement to Silva's approach, and I believe this could be a positive year for once for the rotund venezuelan. Followed by a hopefully healthy Bedard, who in 2008 showed some flashes of his all-star calliber when healed enough to throw some pitches to competitive bats. The revelation of both pitchers Brandon Morrow and the Aussie Ryan Rowland-Smith are competing for a starting gig, though even if one doesn't make it into the rotation, the loser could possibly wind up being the team closer. Seems like a win-win situation for both players and team to me. Either one would be a decent addition as the staple to the back of the bullpen. Finishing out the 5th spot in the rotation is the always competitive Jarrod Washburn who for some reason or another find himself as a consistent starter in the big leagues. Even now he's going to be depended on to have a good season despite his 5-14 record last year? Baffling. Anyways, the starting pitching doesn't look too shabby on paper, as is most of the sentiment from any management team when assessing their ball club, only time will tell.

The bullpen could be improved depending on the camp their Number 1 pick Josh Fields out of Georgia has. He has shown great control and explosion with his pitches at the college level, but how will it translate to big league hitters? He could come in and take over a set up role right away if good enough and could improve a very hittable bullpen from last year. The bullpen without a doubt will be the downfall of this team this year. Most of the bullpen had ERA's over 5 and their are still questions as to who the closer will be from my understanding. Until they get some roles solidified look for the lack of continuity be their destruction in the 6, 7, 8 and 9th innings.

The offense could be a question mark as well heading into the season. Yes they signed Ken Griffey yesterday. They know he's not the Griffey Jr. from the 90's and they know he had his worst statistical season of his career last year despite playing his most "healthy" games in a season in 5-6 years. So what do they expect to get from the player formerly known as "the kid"? There are claims he wasn't healthy throughout the course of 2008 and offseason surgery corrected any imbalance in his swing. I guess we will see. Anyway, despite his age and the crutch of the DH, I think he will be called upon to play some outfield since seattle does not have a bonefied centerfielder and Seattle has a few lackluster players competing for outfield spots. Besides Ichiro in right, who I think will be shifted over to center to accomodate Griffey, they have Endy(thanks ngewo) Chavez they brought over from the Mets, Franklin Gutierrez who proved to be a moderate major leaguer at best, and Wladimir Balentien who is still a pretty high regarded prospect in their system. The signing of Griffey will hinder his development unless he has a terrific spring and beats out the other 2 for a starting spot.

The infield is so full of question marks and potentials. Will Adrian Beltre finally play to his contracts worth? Jose Lopez still has the POTENTIAL to be a hall of fame second basemen. Will Russell Branyan prove to be a good, cheap, free agent signing? Yuniesky Betancourt has the POTENTIAL for his offensive numbers to match his defensive prowess. Who will be the backstop come the start of the season? A poor hitting Jeff Clement or a poor english speaking Kenji Johjima? The list goes on and on for the collected infield. Despite what offensive questions are answered throughout the course of the season, one thing should be for certain. The defense up the middle should be solid. The middle-D is a pitchers best friend, and it will make or break their pitching staff's season.

No matter what happens with their offensive numbers, the Lopez Betancourt tandem is as good as any and whoever plays center, whether it's ichiro, griffey or otherwise, I'm sure they will be up to the task regardless. This team has good POTENTIAL, and I potentially see them squeaking into 2nd place in their division, but no wild card. A winning season, maybe, but not one for the ages. This is no Tampa Bay Rays team and wakamatsu is no Maddon. Griffey, on the other hand, could be a Griffey of old, but old as in 2 years ago old, not 10 years ago.

This could be a good farewell tour for Griffey or he could kick the tires and find out he still has a couple of seasons left. When its all said and done, he will answer this years questions come the start of the season. Any question marks in spring training will be be statements and all numbers will be tucked away to add to his already hall of fame resume. A resume that says all his potential has been tapped.

Baseball Rankings, predictions soon to come.

2009-01-31T08:40:00.000-08:00

It's about that time again when America's past time starts to heat up and interests builds cross country as the hot stove becomes stifling. Still many questions to be answered until the start of the season, and with spring training starting for pitchers and catchers in less than two weeks, time is running out for perennial all star free agents to find a home.

Now, I realize it has been months since I've actually written in this thing, I've been mostly contributing to the Pancake with some friends and have lost interest in writing. But, with my favorite time of year just around the corner I could not help myself, and since I have a ton of time on my hands until I can find permanent employment, I think I will be updating this much more often in the near future.

These rankings will each be followed by a quick explanation, as to each teams position. I want to add a team by team "analysis" as we come closer to the opening of the season, discussing who they want to sign, who they should sign, where they will finish in their respected division, etc. But, I will save that for later. Here are my MLB power rankings.

1.Boston Red Sox: Had the best offseason in my opinion, but only because of the potential of the free agents. Their pitching is going to be really strong this year, and the re-signing of Varitek was a major boost for them this year as nobody can handle a pitching staff as well as him.

2.Chicago Cubs: Very strong rotation, the best if they can land Peavy, good offense, but I believe their defense is going to struggle this year, especially up the middle.

3.New York Yankees: Only because of their unlimited payroll

4.Philadelphia Phillies: Same pitching staff and loss of burrell+signing of ibanez=big improvement; just as much production with more balls in play and less strike outs.

5.Tampa Bay Rays: Great Pitching, good speed for a young team that is going to get better. A lot of questions from the bullpen especially when it comes to the closer role. I don't think the Burrell signing helped them.

6.Cleveland Indians: Huge bounce back year coming up. They are getting healthy, they improved their bull pen, brought in an all-star closer and have a good 1-2 punch at the head of the rotation. The back end could hurt them.

7.New York Mets: Offense is getting old. Have a much improved bullpen which should help their push for a division title, but their starting pitching will suck besides Johan. They need to sign Oliver Perez.

8.Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Good pitching, aging offense especially in the case of Vlady, but have a young, deep bench.

9.Chicago White Sox: Still a great offense and their getting younger. Pitching could surprise this year.

10.Los Angeles Dodgers: They are going to get a big named offensive player regardless of what happens with Manny this offseason. Basically the exact same team that made the playoffs minus Manny, Lowe and a retired Kent.

11.Detroit Tigers: Bounce back year coming up if pitching gets back on track. Could be a top 5 team.

12.St. Louis Cardinals: They won last year with what was supposed to be a weak pitching staff. Now, imagine if Carpenter comes back healthy, Khalil learns to hit from pujols and they bring in manny? Could end up being the best team in the NL.

13.Texas Rangers: Like my friend J.Offord, I really like the Rangers this year. They need to sign sheets, but besides that, they should improve in the pitching department and have an awesome, exciting offense. Look for Nelson Cruz to be last years Josh Hamilton, but with Hamilton still producing like he did last year.

14.Minnesota Twins: Always surprisingly good, so i decided not to fight it. Pitching is getting healthy (Liriano) and they still have an MVP and Batting Champ in their lineup.

15.Arizona Diamondbacks: Young lineup that is only getting better year by year. Probably have the best rotation in the NL.

16.Cincinnati Reds: Potentially the best pitching in the majors. Potenially great offense; potential.

17.Atlanta Braves: Never count out Bobby Cox. Lowe signing not a big deal, but to have him eat up innings with Vazquez and a healthy bullpen won't hurt. Look for Franceour to have a bounce back season.

18.Baltimore Orioles: Have gotten younger over the last 2 seasons: Pie, Adam Jones, and Markakis playing regularly. Those guys in addition to an already allstar infield should improve, but they need to get some good pitching. I hope they have someone up their sleeves in their minor league system otherwise they are going to struggle big time.

19.San Francisco Giants: Second best pitching in the NL. It could be good enough to make up for its lackluster offense, but we'll have to wait and see.

20.Seattle Mariners: Getting help soon by the sounds of it. Looking at Abreu and possibly Griffey Jr. for a homecoming. They have a potentially great pitching staff, and I'm curious to see how good Wladimir Balentien can be.

21.Houston Astros: Too old of an offense and need starting pitching help.

22.Kansas City Royals: Had a good offseason in acquiring top notch young talent. Could be a top 10 team in 2-3 years.

23.Brewers: Offense yes, Pitching no. Trevor Hoffman doesn't count.

24.Oakland Athletics: Haven't heard of most of their pitching staff, but know they will have a fairly decent bullpen. I don't think Giambi and Holliday help too much.

25.Florida Marlins: Will surprise as always, but I just can't put them in the top 20.

26.Pittsburgh Pirates: They could possibly have better pitching than teams 21-25, depending on their offseason veteran righty acquisition in the hopeful near future. No offense.

27.Toronto Blue Jays: They only have Roy Halladay. Could you imagine this guy in the NL?? Wow would he dominate.

28.Colorado Rockies: Nothing impresses me. Could have great production up the middle though.

29.Washington Nationals: Young team developing well, but won't be any good for atleast another 3 years. They are the team I have my money on to beat the Pirates record for most consecutive losing seasons.

30.San Diego Padres: Especially when they trade Peavy.

Fantasy Football: Week 4

2008-09-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

Alright, time for Week 4 Fantasy Football Power Rankings from the league I am commissioning. If you need updated just take a look at my week 3 postings of every team. It's also the first week I thought to put the power rankings into blog format, so there are no week 1 and week 2. For this week's format it will generally be the same as last week, except the teams previous weeks rankings will be in parentheses.

1.(1) Don't Call Me Jack: Last week's numero uno keeps his title. With the reemergence of Ronnie Brown and Julius Jones coming out of nowhere, he now has the most complete team in the league. If he can get Braylon Edwards and Andre Johnson to start showing some production, he will be untouchable for the rest of the season. His receivers are his weakest part of his team, but it's only because they are underproducing, he can always go with team matchups and pick up a decent week by week reciever to compensate, but with those running back and Kurt Warner, there's no need.

2. (3) Panty Raiders: He's bumped up to number 2, simply because he's the only undefeated team (don't call me jack has a tie) and he leads the league in scoring. I can't see how looking at his team, but for some reason his whole team has delivered consistently. He's getting solid production from what I thought was a relatively weak receivers core at the beginning of the season, and has had some running backs step up with others fell way back or were hurt: maurice jones-drew picked up fast willie. It was impressive, much of it was luck, but people will take luck 75% of the time (i made that up).

3. (4) Saints Day in DaBurg: My team gets moved up one spot, despite the ass-kicking i received from Singers Safeties. The reason for this is because Brian Westbrook got hurt in the first quarter and took away 20 points right there. What puts me up ahead of the others is a recent trade i made with Balls deep. It pretty much was a trade straight up of Donovan McNabb for Brandon Jacobs, since i ended up dropping cassell for o'sullivan. I didn't need McNabb since I have Peyton Manning who will come around after the bye, and now I am way too deep at running back. With the emergence of Steve Slaton getting over the century mark over what many analysts are calling the best and most physical defense in the tennessee titans, i think i found a viable option to take over for westbrook until he's 100% or close to it. It's going to be a rough week not having peyton or westbrook, and i may be pushing my luck with JT O'sullivan at the healm, but I could pull a victory out. It's either that or i fall to 1-3 and even further into obscurity having to kick my own ass out of a top 5 power ranking.

4. (2) Balls Deep: Now has a Solid QB and will put up huge numbers i think the rest of the way, but the trade with myself (see Saints day in Daburgh) left him short at running back for the remainder of the season unless he can find someone to step it up. This week he has Mendenhal stepping in for the injured fast willie parker, but he's not going to have that luxury the whole season. I still stand by my previous assessment of his receivers being too young and inexperienced to put up huge numbers at that position, but who knows, they could step it up and prove me wrong. I get proved wrong daily...at pretty much everything.

5. (6) RECTUMDAMNERKILDEM: Gets a step up with what we saw from Favre finally finding some chemistry with his receivers. He's only going to get better with that team too down the road. It's what saving this team's power ranking, the fact he's got Favre and Cotchery as a 1-2 punch on the same team. The jets have a bye week coming up in week 5, which will only help the Favre and his receivers connection. I still stay with the fact Rectum is betting too much on his receivers turning it around, but if they do you could see this team in the top 3 soon enough.

6. (5) DaPlungers: Ok, it seems he is paying attention slightly since he made a waiver move today, but he's putting way too much trust in Turner from atlanta who has had a really hot start, but also against not so great teams, and even with McGahee coming back from surgery, he may have to start sharing the load with Baltimore having some success with Ray Rice and Le'Ron McClain touches. His WR's seemed to be really stacked, but he's still kind of shaky at QB. He may need to move one of his WR's to imrove at RB or QB if he wants to stay in it, even though he's currently in 3rd.

7. (8) DaFitz: His team is starting to turn it around, but it's not enough right now to get him into the top 5. Addai is getting a much needed bye week with the rest of he Indy offense, and edge is still only going to get moderate touches in arizona. Reggie Bush is turning into the a pleasant surprise here. I really want to see him get 1000yds rushing & receiving that would be sick. Fitz also has a certain T.O., who has become one of my favorite players to watch away from the ball. I can understand why he gets a bad rep outside of the game, but he's a helluva football player, did anyone see the his downfield blocking and the hustle to track someone down 50 yards away?! Awesome! I might have to put him up there as my number 2 favorite receiver behind Hines Ward.

8. (9) Singers Safeties: Ok, he beat me pretty bad last week, but only because of my injuries to key players. This week he's got the bye week for some teams hurting his point eligibility for his matchup, but he could still have a good week, depending on how stephen jackson feels like playing this week.

9. (7) Philadelphia Beers: He's down here despite having Frank gore and Jay Cutler. HE DROPPED RONNIE BROWN TO WAIVER WIRE! Yes! The same Ronnie Brown who tied the NFL record with 4 rushing TD's and 5 total (1 passing). He was first player to do that in a century or something like that, amazing...too bad for Beers. He's got Larry Johnson showing signs of life, but Cutler was also showing signs of slowing down as i predicted, no way he keeps slinging 300 yards and 3 touchdowns a week, not going to happen.

10. (10) Why so Serious?: See previous weeks post, this guy is not paying attention.

Heroes post, a little delayed...

2008-09-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well, by now most of you have seen the new Heroes episode, and I have to say that I was pleased with the season premiere. The only thing that bothered me was it was televised the same time as Two and a Half Men. I don't know why, maybe that sarkastic chubster of a kid just reminds me of me at that age somehow...only funny.

Anyways, back to Heroes. This series premiere had everything! From bits and pieces of Back to the Future and Freaky Friday to special effects from Superman to The fly. Faster than a speeding bullet! Back hairs sharp enough to cut a diamond (but after I sleep with the hot chick)! Remind you of anyone?? Perhaps a certain Mohinder we last left peeling his epidermis away away after contracting some kind of mutated Heroes STD from that black eyed Heroes wench Maya (who in my opinion is the hottest member of the cast). I hope she gets pregnant and gives birth to the biggest antagonist in the 4th season. Someone (or something?) that could drive the story line along to something more dangerous than Sylar. Maybe a Freddy Krueger sausage wrapped type thing.

Speaking of Sylar, his lil confrontation with Claire was by far the coolest part of this episode. We finally got to see exactly how he collects his powers. At first I was a little confused at how he would have been able to get Claires individual power in the first place since she always heals quickly, apparently not quickly enough. That whole scene had every horror movie cliche' in the 10 minutes it seemed it took him to chase her around the house while she holds up a huge steak knife ready to shank the power stealing deuche if she gets a whiff of him, but instead when she gets the chance to be a hero in Heroes, runs and locks herself in a closet, I was pretty sure Sylar had the necessary powers to tear wimpy closet door apart, but that would have killed the dramatic monologue the murderer always has as they weigh their victims predicament and what they could have, should have, or would have done if circumstances could have, should have, or would have been different. The only difference in this is our lovely heroine doesn't kill the killer in the end. Instead, we get to witness the entire careful analysis of what is Sylar, Gabriel the watchmaker's power...He knows how things tick. "oh, there it is" ::points at spot in brain, pulls knife out of chest and heals::, "Voil'a! I am all that is man!" ::he thinks to himself::. He then proceeds to put Claires brain cap back on her head and tells her she is something different, and that it may not be possible for her to die.

This leads me to believe that everyones favorite blondie-pig-tailed-cheerleader is going to be the hero turned villain. Maybe it's the whole her questioning the entire idea of being human, that gets me feeling somethings going to snap in that lovely cerebrum we all got to witness and makes her as mad and bad ass as the future Claire looked. I wonder if it's hard for them to portray accurately an uncle and niece, when in real life they are girl and boy-toy?

Anyways as if that part of the little Heroes family circle wasn't weird enough, we now know that Peter, Nathan AND Sylar are all Brothers...weird. I'm curious how Momma Petrelli is going to utilize Sylar, now that she considers him more gifted than who will probably always be the most powerful hero, Peter. I don't care how soft the present day Peter Petrelli is, you don't mess with someone who's got every power he comes in contact with accessible. I wonder, if Peter comes in contact with Sylar, would Peter absorb all the powers Sylar has collected which he does not have yet?

I read off of Ngewo's blog that Sylar apparently gets teamed up with Mr. B?? I think i read that. If Sylar is being teamed up with Mr. B, 1) how the hell do they get Mr. B to agree without the predictable threatening of his family, and Claire most of all, and 2) is Momma Petrelli only sending Sylar with Mr. B so Sylar can kill them and take their powers? What i'm most curious about from the future of the show, is how's present day Peter going to get out of that murderous hero/villain's body? And where did future Peter get that absurd power from anyways, maybe i missed that from a previous episode, but i don't think i did.

Well, I'm looking forward to next weeks episode when they take a bit off of Austin Powers and let loose the ultimate hero from the past in a cyrogenic state to take down all the villains Sylar fails to slay, and then takes up surfing after he transforms into a werewolf/basketball star from killing the wrong villain and drinking one too many beers a la Teen Wolf. Or maybe we'll see heaven and hell meeting with a pinch of head spinning from either the Exorcist or End of Days? Either way, I'lllll beee back! I just wish I had DVR so I could get in a decent episode of Two and a Half Men. Now that's hilarious!

Fantasy Football: Week 3 Power rankings

2008-09-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

I am going to post the team names and their fantasy football power rankings from my yahoo fantasy league where I am the commissioner as i see fit and people can let me know what they think, mainly the people in the league who view this. My rankings are predictions off of how i believe their team will perform for the upcoming week, how they've performed the first 2 weeks of the season, how their team looks on paper which is just the basis on each players history as a fantasy stud or dud. It is however their fantasy players history that will save or kill each teams power ranking, depending on if that player has been productive in his past career, keeping in mind each players position and if they are a red zone dependant, meaning as their team gets closer to the goal line he become more and more valuable, but isn't really used as a main marcher on each drive.

People should note this is a 10 team league on yahoo, there are 10 starter positions for each team: 1QB, 3WR, 3RB, 1TE, 1K, 1DEF as well as 5 bench players. Since i haven't had any other premise for past rankings as i do with my other league( i'm in like 5 other fantasy leagues, but i post power rankings in only one of the others, mainly out of boredom and I know it pisses off some of the other league members), i'm going to start off with how their team ranks right now and we will never know my immediate opinion of every team after we drafted them like a month ago...it should also be stated that i don't care where their positions are in the standings, i rank them week to week depending on their opponents and how i think they'll finish the season, ok? here we go...

1.Don't Call Me Jack: With the re-emergence of Kurt Warner he starts the first post as the number 1. He's got solid RB's and very good WR's that will only get better as they get reacquainted with their QB's. Braylong Edwards missed 2 weeks with a lacerated heel costing him precious hook time with Derek Anderson (most overrated QB in the league right now) and Brandon Marshall proved he was still number one in Denver with his 18 receptions on sunday, amazing. His starter RB's are pretty solid, but he needs to have LT turn it around and get healthy so he can try to be the old LT. His bench is pretty shaky and could hurt him if any of his starters get put out for any extended length of time.

2.Balls Deep: With the appearance of Darren McFadden this team has the best RB 3-some in the league. McFadden is going to be the number 1 in Oakland especially since Fargas just went down this week with a groin injury and there is a non-existent passing game with the inconsistent JaMarcus Russell at the helm which will leave more touches for McFadden increasing his value more than he proved it was already this past week. He's got some solid receivers, but 2 of his top 3 are still young as a rookie or sophomore in the league, but that may not matter. What keeps him out of the top spot is his QB's he's got Derek Anderson (see above) and matt shaub as his back up, unless his QB position improved which is generally the highest scoring position, his team could suffer down the road.

3.Panty Raiders: He is solid overall, the only thing I see slowing his team down is his fast start from his running backs hitting a brick wall. His WR's are above average, but there are too many question marks at that position such as past injuries and inconsistency from their respected teams offense to warrant a top 2 spot in the rankings. He's got a very solid bench and proven QB's, he could win this entire league, he is in first place at the moment.

4.Saints Day in DaBurg: This is my team. Now I believe I have the best bench in the league, I have very strong back-ups especially with my QB and RB positions. My starters however are just a step above my back ups which I believe is my biggest problem. What keeps me in the top 5 is the fact that i currently have the best fantasy player right now in Brain Westbrook since LT is underperforming and he's getting a decent assist from my aging receivers. Again, my bench is really strong and I've got some great trade bait for later in the season which could help down the stretch.

5.Da Plungers: He's got a rock solid team, especially with steve smith coming back from suspension to bolster his WR's and Willis McGahee is coming back strong in the next couple of weeks after knee surgery. He's got the best TE in the league, but very shaky QB play and a weak bench is going to hurt him. That, and I'm pretty sure he's not really paying attention to the league since there's no money involved. I guess there's no such thing as honor is some people.

6.RECTUMDAMNERKILDEM: This team would be higher if it didn't seem his team was so dependant on his receivers. This is going to hurt him down the road with the bengals looking like the bungals again, and 2 of his starting runners being reduced to either big goal-line back like lendale white and the injury report with justin fargas. His QB play is going to be shaky since Brett Favre is surrounded by a less talented Jets team than he was in GB and his bench could use an improvement.

7.Philadelphia Beers: He's got a top 5 fantasy player in Frank Gore and Jay Cutler is proving his worth early on in the season. His RB's could be better with larry johnson not going to perform as he is expected to and the rest of RB's in running back by committee's doesn't help him either. His WR's needs some work, though torry hold is showing some life again and Reggie Brown should be coming back from inury soon. His bench could use a little work and there's no need to have 2 defenses on anybody's team unless you're in a league that makes you pay for every waiver move you make. For now he'll be down here in the bottom half simply because i don't see Cutler keeping up with numbers pace he's on and he's a philly fan which cuts a big chunk out of my respect for his knowledge of football.

8.DA FITZ: The only big offensive threat he's got on his team right now is T.O. Addai is under performing for a shakey indianapolis offense that's been getting decimated by injuries, Reggie Bush is not an every down RB despite his value receiving out of the backfield and Edge is going to be losing touches in Arizona with the passing offense being so effective and hightower possibly seeing more playing time. He's solid at the TE and QB positions, but the best those players will be is trade bait later on versus big time producers now.

9.Singers Safeties: He's got Romo and a pleasant surprise in Chris Johnson, but other than that i don't see anything to write home about. Steven jackson is still getting back into form from missing the entire preseasn with his contract negotiations and marvin harrison is still trying to get the rust shaken off with Peyton. Lee evans is apart of an inconsistent offense in buffalo and the rest of his team is either hurt or sharing time. He's got some bench players that could get him some decent trades later if he plays his cards right, but thats it. I have a feeling he's going to be near the bottom all season unless his team turns it around like now.

10.Why So Serious?: Another owner who isn't paying attention because there's no money involved. He needs to make moves now to save his season if he pays attention at all anytime soon. He still has Brady has his starting QB and Marques Colston as his number one receiver though he'll be out for another month with his thumb surgery. He's been averagin 54 fantasy points a week from his entire team. He's stuck with rudi johnson and chester taylor as 2 of his 3 starting RB's and Aaron Rodgers on his bench. He needs to pay attention now, or he's done after week 3.

That's that for this weeks power rankings. I'll be proven wrong with many of these predictions, many teams will turn their seasons around and players will start finding that rhythm that can be just out of reach for those first couple of games before a switch is turned on. I right now i think the team that will turn it around real soon is RECTUMDAMNERKILDEM mainly because of the bengals finding themselves on offense sooner or later, otherwise, that's it. Let me know what you think if you read this, and that will do it. This whole post was simply my opinion on my league and it will change every tuesday from here on out me thinks.

In other fantasy news: I am in the finals in 2 of my fantasy baseball leagues, one with Singers Sluggers, yes the same guy as Singers Safeties. I know, I know his originality is astounding and i hope he wins an award some day for best original picture not done by a 2nd grader or best director for an off broadway-off stage-in an alley, play. He also started a Hockey fantasy league where his team is Singers Slappers where i countered with a team name of my own...Slapping Singers.

Deflating Rafts

2008-09-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

This is my first post...I don't know what to write about to be honest with you. I just decided that this would be a reasonable way to pass the time for the rest of the day. I doubt this will become an everyday occurance, but if it does it's because I:

A)Have too much time on my hands
B)Thought that what is bouncing around in my useless head may actually be worth analyzing on technological paper
C)For once, actually cares about other people's opinion, more than likely friends of mine whose opinion may be worth a smidge more than any other suburbian with their nose in the air and heads up someone elses ass
D)The answer is more than likely A, but higher education has a minimum of 4 options to weed out the morons from the mongaloids, the idiots from the prepubescents, the ones that could walk and chew gum at the same time versus the ones who talk and drool at the same time.

I fall in with the moronic prepubescents with a touch of coordination, having a voice that cracks like a nut, a face that can't grow a beard and the physical prowess of a fat ninja. If you're looking for a comparison i would say i am more like a combination of logen ninefingers and chris farley(only i'm not fat, or ever on drugs...unless you count yuengling). Where do you think you fit in? If you want i can give you a lengthy analysis with a bunch of big words and strung out sentences, when my simple opinion of either "you're a deuchebag" or "you're a brown-noser" or "you're a pleasant drunk" would suffice...let me know! You have to be realistic about these things.

If you don't know who logen ninefingers is you need to read the first law trilogy by joe abercrombie. I would post a link to his website, but the only thing i know how to do well on a computer is type. The rest of my computer knowledge is...obtuse to say the least, what you see is what you get, but i am learning and i'll probably get some pointers from Ngewo down the road. That's all, the title was the first thing that popped into my head, strange, huh?