TMTW - JUNE

Diamond Dynasty:  The month that was…

JUNE

News

We had a mini arms race at the end of May as both Richie and Alex stopped by Kurt’s fantasy yard sale to pick off some valuable assets.  Richie added some much needed speed in Rajai Davis, Alex nabbed Gio Gonzalez and Jurickson Profar, and Kurt stocked up with some 2015 draft picks so he can pick more guys I’ve never heard of that end up in the top 100.  The trade market is still simmering, but has cooled off after what seemed to be the beginning of a run.

Standings Analysis

As in previous years, three distinct tiers have started to form.  The difference, though, is that one of the tiers is falling between 6-7, which is making for an uninspiring playoff chase.  Richie has sat atop the standings for eight weeks in a row, with Alex lurking in the second-place shadows.  The second tier is turning into a 4-team dogfight.  Since the last update, Jarrett (34-14-2) and James (30-16-4) have played great ball while Colin and Ben (each 22-23-5) have been treading water.  And the final tier, currently 11 games out of the playoff picture, has TJ, Adrian, Kurt, and Drew all playing sub-.500 over the last month.  Drew is on pace to set DD record worsts in winning percentage and wins.

Shutout Watch

Three teams put up 7 wins in week 9 but the shutouts were out of reach.  The closest was probably Jarrett in a 7-2 victory over Kurt.  Jarrett lost home runs 7-4 and wins 4-3, but pulled even with a 5-5 tie in saves.

History was made in week 10 as James became the first manager to tap the shutout pool with a 10-0 evisceration of Drew (who else).  There were some close categories; James edged Drew by one home run and one save – but Maimonis got the job done.  Drew could have thwarted James’ shutout bid but he left Casey Janssen and his 3 saves on his DL all week (Toronto activated Janssen on May 12, week 10 started on June 2).  So whether that money should have gone toward the next shutout or the end of the year payouts, you can thank Drew for costing you an additional $100.  Entering Saturday, both Richie and James were shutting out their opponents and it looked for a minute like the first ever shutout payout would be shared.  Richie faded with a .177 avg over the weekend but Jarrett came out of nowhere to reapply the pressure.  Jarrett came within .07 WHIP of shutting out second-place Alex but had to settle for the 9-1 upset.  Richie finished with an 8-2 win over Adrian (ERA “tied” at 3.78, I want a recount).

The closest call we had in Week 11 was Alex’s 7-1 victory over Drew.  Alex missed the $10 shutout prize by one stolen base, one win, and less than .10 WHIP…s.   Colin hung a 7 spot on Kurt, but lost Wins by 4.  The most surprising result of the week was James’ 8-1 drubbing of Richie, who captured the strikeouts category by a wide margin.  The result ended Richie’s 9 week win streak.

Week 12 had two shut-out bids that narrowly missed.  It’s debatable which was closer, so I’ll be a gentleman and give Jarrett the nod with his 8-2 win over Drew.  Jarrett was 2 home runs and 2 RBI’s away from tapping the shutout pool.  It’s the fourth time Drew has made it on the Shutout Watch, all for the wrong reasons.  The other close call was Richie’s 9-1 win over Alex.  Gentilli deserved better, as all 10 categories could have gone either way.  Richie fell short of the shutout by 11 strikeouts.

Week 13 was probably our most competitive week yet, with 9 managers failing to win more than 6 categories.  But Alex came so damn close to shutting out Ben, a shocker considering both teams’ success thus far.  Entering Sunday night, Alex needed a Brock Holt HR - something totally in play considering the crazy season that guy is having.  But he could not muscle one out, which left Alex one home run shy of the 10-0 payday.  

Battle for the Belt

Belt holders were much more successful this month, as Alex and Jarrett went a combined 4-1 in defenses.  We’re rapidly approaching the first payday, an $80 bonus for whoever holds the belt entering week 16.  Jarrett plays Richie this week, the only manager yet to play for the belt.  In the All-Star-break-extended week 15, Richie plays Ben and Jarrett plays Adrian.  One of these four managers will take home the first ever WWE Belt payday.

2 Team Spotlight

This week:  2014’s unexpected performances

Richie – Cashing His Chips In

Richie began the 2014 season on May 26, 2013 when he traded Felix Hernandez to Alex for David Wright but more importantly, Alex’s 2014 14th round draft pick.  Richie acquired Jarrett’s and Ben’s 10th round picks in two more trade deadline deals.  And while not all of the extra picks worked out (Jim Johnson), the freedom to take chances and pick some riskier propositions (Masahiro Tanaka) could not have gone better.  He had more wins by week 12 this year than all of last year and now, halfway through the 2014 campaign, has a chance at one of the best seasons in DD history.

Richie has been remarkably healthy on both sides of the ball through the first 13 weeks.  In a season where big names are spending bigger time on DL’s, Richie has only lost one – Prince Fielder – to an extended DL stint.  Despite losing the long-time keeper for the season, Travers leads the league in RBI’s and is second in runs and home runs.  He has 4 of the top 20 ranked hitters, led by 14th-round flex-kept Carlos Gomez (13th).  Richie also has two rookie of the year candidates in Jose Abreu (who covered for Prince’s woeful season just too perfectly) and George Springer, who are 1-2 in rookie HR’s.  Early-season acquisition Brian Dozier (15 HR, 15 SB) has been a top-30 player all season, and the dependable plug in guys like Hunter Pence and Alex Gordon have come as advertised.  All of these players have helped to cover the slightly underperforming Hanley Ramirez and David Wright, the only offensive keepers not yet mentioned.  And believe it or not, this offense is the “bad” side of the ball for the league’s only best blogger.

After James McDonald, Roy Halladay, and the mess that was his 2013 Staaf, Richie put more focus in this year’s attempt and thus far, it’s worked big-time.  The league’s best staff (by Roto measures) is led by yet another rookie of the year candidate, the aforementioned Tanaka (ranked 6th).  His three closers are battling each other for the league-lead in saves.  At one point, Richie lead the league in W, K, ERA, and WHIP and is currently top-3 in each category.  His team record on defense is 46-15-4 (.738).  Before a slight slump in weeks 11-13 (14-15-1), Richie was on pace for a .685 team winning percentage and a projected 145 wins, both of which would best Ben O’Connor’s league-record marks set back in 2005 (.666 and 144 wins).  With the playoffs in clear sight and a bye week within reach, Richie is praying to God, Zeus, Buddha, Durga, and every other spiritual being in the universe that his good fortune and excellent play will continue throughout the season and deep into the postseason so that he can pay rent finally get his name on the Diamond Dynasty Chalice.

Kurt –  BefudDLing Results

By any measure, Kurt is the most consistently successful managers in league history.  He’s the only manager with ten 100-win seasons.  His worst season was a 94-win campaign that landed him in seventh place, one game out of the playoffs (it’s the only season he’s failed to reach the playoffs).  He has more playoff wins than anyone and, most importantly, two DD Chalices in his trophy case.  But when Richie is in first place, you know this isn’t your typical season.  The Commissioner’s 86-win pace would be his lowest total in DD history.  The .427 winning percentage would be a nearly 100 points below his career average.  Let’s take a look at what the hell is going on here.

Offensively, Kurt is no better than 6th in any one category and is bottom two in three of them. The keepers have been a huge disappointment in both quantity and quality of games played.  Joey Votto, Carlos Gonzalez, and Bryce Harper have played in just over half of their teams’ games.  On the flip side, Evan Longoria has started all 84 games for the Rays but has managed only 10 homers and sits outside the top 100 ranked.  Anthony Rendon (22nd round) and Corey Dickerson (FA, June 4) are his only hitters in the top 100, while top 100 O-Rankers like Shin-Soo Choo, Brett Lawrie, and Carlos Santana can’t crack the top 200.  “Whenever someone starts performing well they go on the DL,” Kurt explained.  “But they stay healthy when they suck.  My team is Clay Buchholz.”  He pointed to Brett Lawrie as a microcosm of his season thus far who, after a good stretch of baseball will miss 3-6 weeks with a broken finger after being hit by a pitch.  And the bad news?   Kurt’s offense looks downright competitive compared to his Staaf.

Jered Weaver is Kurt’s best drafted pitcher at 97th.  He grabbed Dallas Keuchel on May 2nd and is his only other formidable arm on the staff.  His only other pitcher inside the top 200 is Mike Leake.  Everything else is uglier than...something really ugly.  He traded Gio Gonzalez to Alex earlier this month, Matt Cain has been an enormous disappointment, Jason Grilli has been lifted as the closer and Joe Nathan doesn’t seem far behind.  Alex Cobb hasn’t been a factor since coming off the DL.  I understand ranks aren’t everything and can sometimes be misleading; for instance, Zack Wheeler is a K per IP guy and Chase Anderson is challenging a sub-3 ERA, but neither have the wins to bump up their numbers.  But at the moment there’s just very little here that scares you as an opponent, and I don’t see who steps up to turn it around.  Frankly, Kurt is way overdue for a clunker season; to reiterate, he missed the playoffs exactly once.  By one game.  He’s already pulled the trigger on a couple trades that look geared to next season.  But if you think he’s waving the white flag, you’re dead wrong.  “Only ever missed the playoffs once,” Kurt said.  “I will still make it this year, you can take that to the bank.”

Roto Power Rankings

Offense

1.  Colin (41)

2.  Alex (36)

2.  Richie (36)

4.  Jarrett (31)

5.  Ben (29)

5.  James (29)

7.  Drew (25)

8.  TJ (21)

9.  Adrian (14)

10.  Kurt (13)

Defense

1.  Richie (45)

2.  Alex (41)

3.  Ben (40)

4.  Jarrett (27)

5.  Colin (26)

6.  TJ (25)

7.  Adrian (22)

8.  James (18)

9.  Drew (17)

10  Kurt (14)

Overall

1.  Richie (81)

2.  Alex (77)

3.  Ben (69)

4.  Colin (67)

5.  Jarrett (58)

6.  James (47)

7.  TJ (46)

8.  Drew (42)

9.  Adrian (36)

10.  Kurt (27)

June’s All-Stars (as of Monday June 30)

C – J. Lucroy (James)

1B – A. Rizzo (Ben)

2B – A. Rendon (Kurt)

3B – T. Frazier (Jarrett)

SS – H. Ramirez (Richie)

CI – J. Abreu (Richie)

MI – J. Altuve (Colin)

OF – B. Hamilton (Jarrett)

OF – A. McCutchen (Alex)

OF – M. Trout (Colin)

OF – Y. Cespedes (Drew)

UTIL – C. Dickerson (Kurt)

SP – C. Kershaw (Jarrett)

SP – F. Hernandez (Alex)

SP – M. Tanaka (Richie)

SP – G. Richards (TJ)

SP – J. Zimmerman (Ben)

RP – S. Doolittle (Jarrett)

RP –K. Uehara (Adrian)

P – J. Arrieta (James)

P – D. Price (Drew)

P – J. Cueto (Adrian)

DD History Lesson

Alright, it's official - I am a full fledged Diamond Dynasty addict.  I don't care what you people think of me, I can't stop myself.  I am aware it's a problem.

I put all of our Yahoo! historical data into a spreadsheet.  Unfortunately it only goes back to 2003 so I don't have the numbers from 2002.  But I'll be throwing lots of these numbers around in later blog posts.  I did my best trying to sort out all the playoff tiebreakers and who actually played who.  Here are just a few highlights:

- We've had 4 managers join Ben in the 1200 career regular season wins club this season (Ben entered this year with 1216).  They are:

     - TJ (week 2) 

     - Kurt (week 3) 

     - Alex (week 6)

     - James (week 10)

- Colin, Adrian, and Richie should join the club later this season.  It will be difficult, but not impossible for Jarrett to join this group this season.

- The #2 seed has finished third or better in the playoffs in every recorded season of the Diamond Dynasty, but has only one first-place finish (Adrian, 2008).

- The #5 seed is the only seed to never win a championship, and is historically the least-lucrative playoff position

- Adrian entered this season 1135-1135-150.  Including this year, his career record has fallen under .500 for the first time since week 2, 2003.

- Alex is 1-3 in championship games, but has never finished worse than 4th in 7 post-season appearances

- Ben has made the playoffs in 8 of the last 9 seasons.  He has made the finals in 5 of those 8 appearances.

- Chuck never made the playoffs

- Colin has finished in 5th place for 3 years in a row.  His only #1 seed was 2004, his championship season.

- Drew has 4 last-place finishes; no other manager has more than 2

- James has the highest playoff winning percentage at 71% (min. 8 games played)

- Jarrett is the only manager who hasn't played in the championship (min. 3 seasons)

- Jason was a manager in 2004

- Kurt has the most career playoffs wins at 13

- Kyle is the only manager to make the playoffs in every season he's managed (1)

- Paul has the lowest career winning percentage (.375)

- Richie has not made or missed the playoffs in consecutive years since making it in 2003-2004.

- TJ holds the record for most consecutive playoff appearances at 7 (2007-present).

TMTW - May

Diamond Dynasty:  The month that was…

MAY

News

With a third of the season in the books, we had enough of a sample size to get a feel on the new roster regulations.  While there are some lingering issues on the table, the adjustments have seemed to go off without a hitch.  Also, Kurt really hates closers.

May also saw the first trade of the season as Richie shipped off then-Mets-closer du-jour Kyle Farnsworth to James for his 2015 22^nd round pick.  A week later, Farnsworth was cut from the roster.  For James, it looked like just another sign that his 2014 campaign may be doomed.  Richie was able to nab a pick while clearing space for Doug Fister, who was coming off the DL.  Click here for more in-depth analysis on the trade.

Finally, the DD has started the ball rolling on a baseball trip later in the summer.  Potential targets are Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and either of the New York teams.  Richie is happy to host any and all who wish to attend.  Richie’s girlfriend is probably less happy, but still willing, to host any and all who wish to attend.

Standings Analysis

As expected, there was more consistency to the standings in the second month of the season.  Richie’s had pole position for 4 of the last 5 weeks (woo hoo!) thanks to a 7 week winning streak.  Richie, Alex, Ben, and Colin have musical-chaired the top four spots since week 4 and have a comfortable 7-game lead on the next tier of competitors.  James, TJ, and Adrian have been fighting over the middle positions nearly all season and May was no different as the 3 men of questionable sexuality are separated by only 1.5 games.  Jarrett and (am I really typing this?) Kurt sit 3 games behind them and are in 8^th and 9^th respectively, and Drew occupies 10^th for the second week in a row.

Shutout Watch

In week 5, Ben narrowly missed cashing in against Drew in a 9-1 drubbing, but fell short by 10 strikeouts.  It was the second time this season Ben posted a 9-1 score (the first was in week 2), and the second week in a row that Drew was almost shut out (1-17-2 record in weeks 4 & 5).  We also had a really funky 4-2 game between Adrian (winner) and Colin.  I’m assuming that ties/sets a record for ties in a week?

Week 6 had one kind-of-sort-of-close shutout bid and one genuinely close shutout bid.  Richie beat Ben 7-3 (in a battle between 1^st and 2^nd) and most of the categories were close across the board.  In the end, Richie fell short of the shutout by 2 saves, less than half a run in ERA, and .19 points in batting average.  Not terribly close, but in the honorable mentions (though I suspect the writer of this article might be a bit biased).  The Gilette ® close shave of the week came from Alex’s 9-1 beat down of TJ.  Despite logging 96.2 innings, Alex could only muster 2 wins from his Staaf and lost the category 3-2.

In week 7, Richie posted a 9-1, wire to wire victory over Kurt.  Richie trailed by just one stolen base entering Sunday, but could not close the deal and lost by 2.  The 9 categories set a season-high for Richie, but the third time he’s lost 1 category or less in just 7 weeks.  He’s totally peaking too early. 

Week 8 had two close calls.  The first Colin’s 7-3 win over Drew – Colin fell short by 3 runs, 6 RBI’s, and 2 SB.  Alex went to work on Adrian and fell 2 RBI’s and 3 SB short of of the 10-0 victory.  With no cashouts in April or May, the pool continues to grow and would reach triple digits by June.

Battle for the Belt

 It looks like all James needed was something to play for!  After starting the year on a three-week losing streak, he had the Belt going into May.  He successfully defended it in week 5 against TJ, but could not stave off defeat for long.  Colin bettered him by .002 in average to take the 6-4 victory and made DD history by being the first person to regain possession of the WWE Belt after losing it earlier in the season.  Colin had it for a whole 7 days before Alex took it away with a 7-3 win.  Alex dominated Adrian last week and will hold the belt when the calendar turns to June.  He has James, Jarrett, Drew, and Richie in the next 4 weeks.  Belt owners are now just 3-5 in belt defenses this season.

2 Team Spotlight

This week:  Don't Judge A Team By Their Draft Picks

TJ – The Tank…is Half-Full

TJ had lots of keeper decisions to make for 2014 following his second-place finish last year, none more difficult than Matt Harvey.  But TJ made the difficult decision and went with the injured New York fireballer while passing on some 2014 standouts like Josh Donaldson, Ian Kinsler, and Albert Pujols.  TJ then shocked the league by trading away his first and second round picks to Drew, effectively raising the white flag on the season before first pitch.  But despite his attempts at tanking, TJ has managed to field a competitive roster thus far.  I denounced the trade when it happened and I’m sticking to it.  Imagine if he had those first two rounds back?  He’d probably be challenging for a top-3 position.  I still think it’s silly to give up on an entire year and $200 just because one keeper is out for the year, but obviously TJ has been able to make it work. 

With 5 of the top 21 home run hitters, TJ has built his team around the long ball.  His 102 team HRs lead the league by a wide margin and is responsible for almost 15 % of the league’s dingers thus far.  Unsurprisingly, he leads the league in RBIs too.  The rest of the offense is downright ugly (last in runs and stolen bases, 9^th in average) which puts him 6^th overall in roto offensively.  His keepers have been excellent – Freedie Freeman, Justin Upton, and Jose Bautista are all top-40 players.  Michael Morse has been damn solid in the CI spot and Nelson Cruz – the 189^th player taken in the draft – is leading the league in home runs.  He’s had his share of injuries; Mark Trumbo, Jay Bruce, an Curtis Granderson have missed roughly 40% of the season. 

The pitching staff is above average, 3^rd in wins and 5^th in ERA and K’s.  His 6^th place roto ranking is skewed due to his lack of closers and thus, lack of saves.  Mark Buehrle, Lester, Jesse Chavez, Garrett Richards, Wily Peralta are all ranked in the top 100.  Jon Lester and Michael Pineda could be keys to a second-half surge.  And if Matt Harvey is allowed to make 4 or 5 starts as the end of the year as he hopes, it could be just enough to spark a run to the playoffs.  On the whole, TJ’s team has its flaws but there should be enough in the tank to get to the playoffs.

Drew – What Difference does a Year Make?

He’s in last place despite holding 5 of the first 21 draft picks.  He’s made one FA pick-up since March 31^st.  He has the least moves in the league.  He left Wilin Rosario in his starting lineup for his entire 15 day DL stint.  He left two healthy contributors in DL spots - Casey Janssen and RYAN BRAUN – for over a week.  He has Josh Johnson (Tommy John) occupying a DL spot.  And forget about managing his starters (As I type this, I’m watching Hyun-jin Ryu no-hit the Reds thruough7 and he’s on Drew’s bench).  Good job, good effort.

Roto Power Rankings

Offense

1. Colin (40)

2. Alex (38)

3. Richie (35)

4. James (33)

5. Jarrett (30)

6. Drew (24)

6. TJ (24)

8. Ben (20)

9. Adrian (18)

10. Kurt (13)

Defense

1. Richie (49)

2. Alex (41)

3. Ben (36)

4. Colin (32)

5. Drew (27)

6. TJ (24)

7. Adrian (19)

8. Kurt (18)

9. James (15)

10. Jarrett (14)

Overall

1. Richie (84)

2. Alex (79)

3. Colin (72)

4. Ben (56)

5. Drew (51)

6. TJ (48)

6. James (48)

8. Jarrett (44)

9. Adrian (37)

10. Kurt (31)

May’s All-Stars (as of Monday 5/26)

C – Y. Gomes (FA)

1B – E. Encarnacion (Ben)

2B – J. Altuve (Colin)

3B – M. Cabrera (Colin)

SS – T. Tulowitzki (James)

CI – V. Martinez (Alex)

MI – D. Gordon (James)

OF – Y. Puig (Alex)

OF – G. Stanton (Alex)

OF – B. Moss (Colin)

OF – N. Cruz (TJ)

UTIL – M. Brantley (Ben)

SP – A. Wainwright (Drew)

SP – D. Keuchel (Kurt)

SP – P. Hughes (TJ)

SP – J. Cueto (Adrian)

SP – R. Vogelsong (James)

RP – S. Romo (Richie)

RP – S. Cishek (Adrian)

P – J. Weaver (Kurt)

P – J. Teheran (Jarrett)

P – M. Tanaka (Richie)

1st trade means first trade analysis!

The first trade of the season is officially in the books. Richie traded Kyle Farnsworth to James late last night straight up for his 22^nd round pick next year. I have taken a couple things from this trade so far…first of all, James is in desperate need of closers and will pretty much take anyone at this point, hence Kyle Farnsworth. Secondly, Richie might be trying to copy his strategy from this year of stocking up on draft picks so he can finally have a good team.  And if so, he’s getting a head start early, in case his team decides to lay an egg mid-season.

With 3 ½ closers already (Romo, Holland, K-Rod and Jim Johnson), Richie was looking to deal Farnsworth, and for good reason. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few weeks he gets booted from the closer’s role, either if Valverde starts pitching well again or if by some miracle Dice-K fits there…or if he just realizes he’s Kyle Farnsworth. And that’s probably why Richie was looking to part ways with the ancient, Mormon (yes he is) Kyle Farnsworth.

All James is looking to get out of him is a little boost in saves to maybe steal a week or two from someone with injured closers, and for a 22^nd pick, he might be able to get that.

Overall, both teams came away winners in this trade, with Richie essentially getting a free draft pick next year in a round that saw steals like Michael Brantly, Corey Kluber and Danny Haren, and James essentially getting a heavily discounted short-term temporary closer.

The Month That Was Series

Diamond Dynasty:  The month that was…

APRIL

News

It takes big news to overshadow the excitement of the start of a season.  But Alex [redacted] managed to do just that, proposing to longtime girlfriend Jillian [redacted].  Alex, I want to personally thank you for giving my girlfriend yet another bullet of marriage ammunition; I think you’re the 10^th or 11^th person we know to be engaged.  But seriously, congratulations man, great stuff.  Glad to have my first fantasy sister-in-law.  By the way, is the Chalice of Fantasy Baseball Excellence now the Alex [redacted] Memorial Cup?

Standings Analysis

As expected, there was plenty of shuffling in the standings over the first month of the season.  Richie moved up from 10^th to 1^st, Adrian slipped all the way down to 8^th after a hot start, and Ben found his way back to 1^st place (and now sits in 2^nd) after starting the year in the bottom half.  Colin has steadily climbed the ranks and finds himself in the top 3, and Alex hasn’t fallen lower than 4^th all season.  TJ and Kurt have been bouncing around the middle of the pack (5^th and 7^th respectively), but Drew is moving in the wrong direction (now 9^th).  James leapfrogged 4 managers following his first win of the season to put him in 6^th, which leaves Jarrett, the only manager who’s failed to crack the top 8 in 2014.  There should be another month of jockeying for position until the standings become just a bit more static.

Shutout watch

In week 1, Adrian beat Richie 8-2 but did not challenge Travers for saves or strikeouts.  The closest we came in week 1 was probably Alex’s 7-2 victory over Jarrett, where Alex missed the shutout by 7 runs and 3 stolen bases.  They tied in homers.

Week 2 also had some close calls as Ben fell 2 saves short of tapping the shutout pool bank.  His consolation prize was a 9-1 win over Adrian.  After being on the wrong end of a near-shutout the previous week, Richie narrowly missed cashing in after an 8-1 win over James.  But by Sunday night, the stolen bases were out of reach and James tacked on a late save to tie saves.

Week 3 had competitive matches across the board and no real shutout threats.

There was a shutout resurgence in week 4.  Richie led 8-0 heading into Sunday Night Baseball and needed a win from Masahito Tanaka and a steal from Brian McCann for the elusive 10-0 victory, but both Yankees failed him.  James was finally able to stop the losing streak at 3 with the same 8-0 tally over Kurt, drawing no blood in wins or saves.  And what good timing it was for Maimonis, who now holds the WWE Championshit Belt!

Battle for the Belt

What a segue!  The WWE Belt can’t seem to find a home after changing hands for 3 of the first 4 weeks in 2014.  Ben barely got his fingerprints on it before handing it off to Colin after a week 1 defeat.  Colin puff puff passed it after week 2 to Kurt, who was finally able to give this poor foster-child of a belt a home to stay after beating Adrian in week 3.  But Kurt grew tired of the little bugger and gave it to Mams in week 4.  TJ will have the next crack at the belt when he faces James in week 5.  You know that website, wheresgeorge.com?  We need to register a domain for this belt. 

Ok, we don’t need to. 

2 Team Spotlight

Ben – The Champ Returns for More

After his second championship run in 2013, Ben clearly had a lot of keeper choices.  While they haven’t been bad, I’m sure Ben was looking for a little more pop out of the bats he kept.  Robbie Cano, Chris Davis, and Edwin Encarnacion each had 24 or more home runs last season**, but have only combined for 4 this year.  Jacoby Ellsbury is still searching for his first home run but has been excellent otherwise, burning up the basepaths and hitting .312.  The infield is pretty weak, with the best-ranked player falling in at 168 (Anthony Rizzo).  The outfield features three players at 61^st or better (Ellsbury, Jayson Werth, and Michael Brantley) but this team is struggling offensively overall, falling to last place in homers and runs.  It all adds up to the worst-performing offense in April, racking up a measly 14 roto points. 

The pitching has been markedly better, led by Scott Kazmir of all people.  After moving to pitcher-friendly Oakland, Kazmir boasts a 1.62 ERA and sub-1 WHIP, to go along with a 3-0 record and almost a strikeout per inning.  Max Scherzer and James Shields have been extremely reliable veterans out of the gate, putting up 40+ K’s each with great ratios.  Younger arms like Yordano Ventura and Andrew Cashner have been almost as good to round out a really strong front 5.  Ben is also a top-5 saves team getting contributions from Glen Perkins, Fernando Rodney, and Joakim Soria, newly-crowned Angels closer Joe Smith (what’s your middle name, America?)  will only help to boost the numbers.  The staff checks in at third place on the roto rankings.

Despite the dragging overall roto numbers (O’Connor is firmly in 6^th), Ben has played above his statistics and sits in second place.  Ben started with the WWE Title Belt but immediately lost it after week 1.  He’s riding a 3 week winning streak and has scored at least 4 points in each match up this year.  Considering his offense is still asleep, I’d say Ben is poised for another playoff run.

James – April's Walking Wounded

After a third-place finish in 2013, James stumbled out of the gate this year.  But after a big victory against Kurt in week 4, he’s right back in the thick of it.  Other than Tulo, his keepers have been largely absent.  Jason Kipnis, Adam Jones, and Starling Marte are all batting under .265, but have managed contributed in other categories.  James has been riding the bats of Adrian Gonzalez and Carlos Beltran, who are responsible for 13 of the club’s home runs.  James is in the middle of the pack offensively with 29 roto points thanks to his league-leading 29 SB’s**.  If he can get guys like Allen Craig and Billy Butler to pick up the slack, his offense should be just fine.

No pitching staff has been hit harder with the injury bug early on than this one.  Mike Minor and Hisashi Iwakuma are on track to join their big league clubs in early May after starting the season on the DL.  Whoever James Paxton is, James has him too and he’s on the DL.  But the biggest blow thus far is the loss of Matt Moore, who is one of the latest to fall victim to the dreaded Tommy John surgery (I think I heard something like 15 pitchers have elected for TJ surgery already this season).  With all those injuries, and an already shaky bullpen (see the pre-season power rankings), Maimonis had one of the worst roto staffs in the league through April. 

After spending the first 3 weeks in the cellar, James almost captured a 10-0 shutout in week 4.  The win bumped him up to 6^th place, but it was especially timely as he now has the WWE Title Belt!  He’s the fourth manager to hold the belt in as many weeks, so it’ll be interesting to see if this sends him onto a prolonged winning streak.  With reinforcements on the horizon, James looks to be headed in the right direction. 

**Educated guesses at these stats

Roto Power Rankings

Offense

1. Colin (41)

2. Alex (34)

3. TJ (31)

4. Jarrett (30)

5. Richie (30)

6. James (29)

7. Drew (28)

8. Kurt (22)

9. Adrian (16)

10. Ben (14)

Defense

1. Richie (41)

2. Alex (40)

3. Ben (36)

4. Drew (35)

5. TJ (26)

6. Colin (26)

7. Adrian (25)

8. Kurt (21)

9. James (15)

10. Jarrett (10)

Overall

1. Alex (74)

2. Richie (71)

3. Colin (67)

4. Drew (63)

5. TJ (57)

6. Ben (50)

7. James (44)

8. Kurt (43)

9. Adrian (41)

10. Jarrett (40)

April’s All-Stars (as of Monday 4/28)

C – D. Mesoraco (FA)

1B – J. Abreu (Richie)

2B – B. Dozier (Richie)

3B – J. Donaldson (Richie)

SS – A. Ramirez (Drew)

CI – A. Gonzalez (James)

MI – T. Tulowitzki (James)

OF – C. Blackmon (Colin)

OF – G. Stanton (Alex)

OF – J. Upton (TJ)

OF – N. Cruz (TJ)

UTIL – A. Pujols (Colin)

SP – A. Wainwright (Drew)

SP – J. Cueto (Adrian)

SP – J. Hammel (FA)

SP – A. Harang (Colin)

SP – F. Hernandez (Alex)

RP – F. Rodriguez (Richie)

RP – A. Wood (James)

P – J. Fernandez (James)

P – M. Perez (Kurt)

P – M. Tanaka (Richie)