FakeTeams: FanPosts

USA Today's Devin Clancy at 11AM.

http://www.mycokerewards.com/beginHTMLRegister.do?id=ffst&locale=en_US

General Baseball:

Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll at 3PM.

General Football:

NFL with ESPN Bloggers at 12-5PM.

Free StatTracker for yahoo! fantasy football

acr — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:49:52 -0000

This is just a heads up that by signing up for MyCoke Rewards you can get free StatTracker on yahoo! fantasy football. Here is the link-

Sign up for MyCokeRewards with the same email address used to create your yahoo fantasy football team. You should get a code within 48 hours. Apparently you need to sign up for your yahoo fantasy football team first then MyCokeRewards. If you have a non-yahoo email for MyCokeRewards already you can change it to a yahoo one, then use that email to sign up for fantasy football.

Saito Injury

raygu — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:51:57 -0000

I had the chance to catch a few innings of the Dodgers game last evening and saw Takashi Saito strike out two batters before his elbow tightened up. It's not a good sign when you hear Vin Sculley say that "Saito had trouble brushing his teeth this morning has he experienced pain when doing so".

Then you get these quotes from Torre via TJ's blog over at the LA Daily News:

Saito will have an MRI tomorrow to determine the extent of his injury. ``It's never good when your closer comes out of a game,'' Torre said. ``I think you have to assume the worst ... (but) let's see what happens. I hope he can just rest it for four or five days and (return).'' ...

Jonathon Broxton should become the LA closer should Saito go on the DL, which I think is possible based on Torre's and Sculley's comments today.

Broxton has the tools to be a very good closer, but has blown more saves than he has saved. It will be interesting to see if LA goes after Huston Street as Buster Olney rumored in his blog today.

If Colletti has any power in LA anymore, he may get a deal done, but I think he should make a move for a power bat as some of the power LA counted on this season, read Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent and Matt Kemp have produced a grand total of 22 homers this season.

But I think LA should give Broxton a shot to close. This will allow Hong Chi Kuo to set up Broxton. Kuo has been one of the more dominant relievers in all of baseball this year with 63/13 k/bb ratio in 53 1/2 innings, allowing 38 hits and a 1.69 ERA and 0.96 WHIP.

Then again, maybe Kuo will get a chance to close. His numbers are better than Broxton's this year.

ESPN, Baseball Prospectus & USA Today Chat Links 07/14/2008

faketeams — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:11:26 -0000

Note the "That's Debatable" link brings you to the MLB page of ESPN because the Disney affiliate does not put it up live until close to 1PM. I don't like it.

Many struggle to find the links to the ESPN chats. Making this one harder to find doesn't jibe with customer friendliness.

Fantasy Sports:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080710&content_id=3106433&vkey=pr_sea&fext=.jsp&c_id=sea&partnerId=rss_sea

General Baseball:

That's Debatable with Jayson Starkat 1PM.

Sexson released!!!!!

thomasps3 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:30:52 -0000

About damn time, just one more bad free agent move by Bavasi that ultimately cost him his job....what a shame for the Mariners fans. Wonder how long before they take a bag of balls and a dozen maple bats for Bedard....ugh, 75 words isa aggravating for just wanting to relay news...I hope everyone has a nice day!

Dodgers-Pirates rumor

raygu — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:55:24 -0000

from the Beaver County Times, via rotoworld:

The Beaver County Times reports that the Dodgers "have zeroed in on" on Jack Wilson as a replacement for Rafael Furcal.
According to the newspaper, the two teams "are in serious talks about a trade" for Wilson, who grew up and currently lives near Los Angeles. Matt Kemp's name is mentioned in connection with the possible deal, but we can't imagine that even Ned Colletti would deal him for a 30-year-old shortstop with a 690 career OPS.

If Kemp is involved, I can only hope Jason Bay is also part of the deal, otherwise, Ned is REALLY off his rocker.

Where would Pittsburgh put Kemp with that all-star outfield-Nady, Bay and McClouth? What would it mean for Andrew McCutchen? He's supposed to take over CF in 2009, no?

Maybe the writer of this article at the Beaver County Times had a bit too many Iron City's on his lunch break.

I hope I wasn't too hard on beaver.

ESPN, BP & USA Today Chat Links 07/07/2008

faketeams — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:14:20 -0000

Here are the various chat links for ESPN.com, Baseball Prospectus and USA Today. If you know of a recurring chat that is open to unregistered users, then leave a comment and I will work it in. Rotoworld has chats, but they do not appear to be open at any time for the general public.

Monday, July 7, 2008:

Fantasy Sports:

General Baseball:

MLB with at noon.

That's Debatable with Jayson Stark at 1PM.

Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein at 1PM.

General Football:

NFL with Keith Seifert at noon.

BP Trade Rumors

raygu — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:21:56 -0000

Perrotto's "Every Given Sunday" column is usually full of interesting rumors, and this one has a doozy for Dodgers fans:

The Dodgers are also said to be willing to move center fielder Matt Kemp in the right deal.

I have to imagine that he would be available in a deal only if the player they get back has more than 1/2 a year of control left. Any other deal involving Kemp would be <insert any negative adjecttive>.

This sentence came after stating that LA is interested in shortstops Jack Wilson and Juan Uribe.

Speculating on who LA would get in return for a deal involving Kemp only one name comes to mind-Matt Holliday. He has another year left in his current deal, has more power than Kemp, and hits for a better average.

Frankly, based on recent comments by Colletti, I would not be surprised if LA dealt Kemp:

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti will be looking for a shortstop among other things before the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline, and the team is willing to adjust its philosophy of keeping their young players off-limits.

"We're more open-minded to who we may have to move," Colletti said.

Asked if he were referring to the young players, Colletti said, "They're not really young kids anymore."

Colletti's comments echoed what owner Frank McCourt told me earlier in the week when asked about the possibility of trading some of the kids. He said the ones they will hold onto are "the ones who are prepared to put in the work, listen to coaches and get better every day." The kids who they would be willing to part with are "the ones that can't do those things."

It can be said that Kemp doesn't listen to coaches as he has had some on field and off field issues this year and last. Another thing is Kemp has not displayed the power many projected of him, does not shorten his swing with two out, and has had issues hitting with RISP. But then again, he is only 23 yrs old. I remember Mike Schmidt hitting .199 in his rookie season, and he turned out ok. I am not saying Kemp is the next Schmidt, just saying players can improve.

Perrotto also mentions the usual rumors of CC Sabathia, Randy Wolf, Greg Maddux, Willy Taveras, Brian Fuentes rumors we all have read about this week.

Why don't the Dodgers try Ivan DeJesus?

djhogness — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:51:44 -0000

The guy has done nothing but get on base since starting him minor league career. Yes, a bit young at 21, but has improved his batting average to over .300 with a .415 OBP clip. Instead of starting the inept HU, Berroa, or Maza, who have no more than 10 RBIs in all the games that they have started for the injured Furcal who's going to out for another two months. The Dodgers need a shot in the arm to get their offense going so why not start this kid?

Fantasy NBA questions

acr — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:21:54 -0000

I was wondering what the state of fantasy NBA is now. I played pretty extensively about 8-10 years ago but have not touched the stuff since then. What are the usual scoring formats? Back when I played we started 5-7 players and took their total points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks for the week. That was about it. I have saw 3 pointers worked in the bunch, especially with rotisserie play. But that's about it.

Back when I played I wrote articles for Fantasy Sports Magazine and CBS Sportsline but pretty much got burned out on the whole thing. Actually I invented a color coded chart which broke down season schedules which worked pretty well for leagues that utilized the scoring format like I mentioned above. I have thought about putting it together again as it would work if the scoring has not moved to "weekly averages" or something like that. But I would need to figure out html or how to create a drop down menu to compare teams easier. Maybe something we could put on here if anyone is interested, plus a tutorial.

Anyway, if anyone could add some info I would appreciate it.

Kershaw sent down/Furcal done for the year??

raygu — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:28:57 -0000

I would have posted sooner, but was at the Thunder game tonight....Austin Jackson gave my daughter a ball as he was walking off the field in the 2nd inning.

This from Tony Jackson's blog-and Kershaw is NOT happy:

I was as surprised as you undoubtedly are, but no one was more surprised that Kershaw himself. Joe Torre stressed, both to Clayton and to the media, that the move was more about needing a roster spot for Hiroki Kuroda, who is coming off the DL and starting tonight, than it was about the way Clayton has pitched. But as Clayton himself said, ``Any way you spin it, I'm getting sent down. They can say they didn't have enough room, but they (brought) me up when they didn't have enough room, because all those (pitchers) were healthy then.'' Haven't gotten a definitive explanation yet of why it's Jacksonville and not Las Vegas, but I'm sure it's because they don't want to subject the kid to the psychological perils of pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. ... Still nothing on Furcal, but Torre admitted he now has to take on the mindset that Furcal isn't coming back until he does. At this point, I'm not convinced he is coming back at all, but Torre was a bit more cautious. ``We have half a season (left),'' he said. ``I would like to think that is going to happen.''

He speaks like a veteran, and handles himself like a vet. I must say, I wonder if Torre let him pitch to Wiggy last night, and he got out of the inning, resulting in his first win of the season, if Torre would be making this move?? I think Torre made some prety bad decisions in last night's game, but for some reason he is keeping Falkenbourg and Troncoso in the bigs??

Honestly though, Kershaw probably needs more seasoning in AA. I have watched him pitch on several occasions, and he relies on his fastball too much, and needs to work on his control. It;s just a matter of time, before he gets that taken care of. I just hope Torre didn't eff him up psychologically.

ESPN, Baseball Prospectus & USA Today Chat Links 06/30/2008

faketeams — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:26:28 -0000

Note that the links to the Taht's Debatable series at ESPN.com bring you to the baseball home page. The topis is decided right before the chat starts and is not available when the other links are posted.

I like the idea but dislike the link not being available until after the others are posted. Do you agree?

Fantasy Sports:

General Baseball:

That's Debatable with Jayson Starkat 1PM.

Economy vs Fantasy Sports

superherodj — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:10:38 -0000

Seeing how the economy sucks and people's jobs on the line,do you still have the same interest in fantasy sports?

Are you gong to be participating in 3 or more fantasy FB drafts coming up for a $100 bucks a pop or are you cutting back?

Do you really care what that guy behind his keyboard is saying, who knows pretty much less then you? Just wondering other people's thoughts on economy vs Fantasy participation.

Poll

Has the crappy economy affected your participation in fantasy sports?

WTF!!! How long has Torre been managing?

raygu — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:47:45 -0000

it appears he is asleep at the switch!!! read on...this from Diamond Leung at the Press Enterprise....

More on this in the morning paper, but it appears that RHP Hiroki Kuroda, on the DL with shoulder tendonitis, has been dealing with the issue for 3 weeks, which not coincidentely is how long he has been struggling.

What makes this a major issue is the fact that he has been seeing the trainers for three weeks to get treatment and get medication but somehow there was a lack of communication to Joe Torre and Ned Colletti that this may have been a serious issue. He hasn't made it out of the third inning twice in three starts and has a 7.71 ERA since this issue popped up.

Torre, who gets daily medical reports, said he should have realized that Kuroda's name was on the list more often lately than it was early in the season and that the blame fell on him. Trainer Stan Conte, who is not allowed to talk to the media, apparently failed to tell Torre that Kuroda had a shoulder issue.

"If I had paid more attention or inquired a little more I would have known sooner," Torre said. "I don't usually pay attention to guys who go in there on a regular basis. That's my wrongdoing in this case. I probably could have asked more questions, not of him, but from the trainers.

"There are a lot of things where I wasn't diligent enough in going to ask more questions. I'm not trying to find a reason why I wasn't. It's my responsibility because the trainers did their job and documented it."

And to make the lack of communication even worse, neither Torre or Colletti told Kuroda he was going on the DL. The player said he heard it from someone else not involved in the decision making process.

ok....who the f%$# is running this organization? my goshh...what a cluster-f$#$!!

Baseball and Football by George Carlin

acr — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:53:14 -0000

Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he's out; sometimes unintentionally, he's out.

Also: in football,basketball, soccer, volleyball, and all sports played with a ball, you score with the ball and in baseball the ball prevents you from scoring.

In most sports the team is run by a coach; in baseball the team is run by a manager. And only in baseball does the manager or coach wear the same clothing the players do. If you'd ever seen John Madden in his Oakland Raiders uniform,you'd know the reason for this custom.

Now, I've mentioned football. Baseball & football are the two most popular spectator sports in this country. And as such, it seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves and our values.

I enjoy comparing baseball and football:

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park.The baseball park!
Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.

Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying.

In football you wear a helmet.
In baseball you wear a cap.

Football is concerned with downs - what down is it?
Baseball is concerned with ups - who's up?

In football you receive a penalty.
In baseball you make an error.

In football the specialist comes in to kick.
In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.

Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.
Baseball has the sacrifice.

Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog...
In baseball, if it rains, we don't go out to play.

Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.
Football has the two minute warning.

Baseball has no time limit: we don't know when it's gonna end - might have extra innings.
Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we've got to go to sudden death.

In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there's kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there's not too much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you're capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.

And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope I'll be safe at home!

ESPN, BP & USA Today Chat Links 06/23/2008

faketeams — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:17:14 -0000

Monday, June 23, 2008:

Fantasy Sports:

USA Today's Devin Clancy at 11AM.

General Baseball:

That's Debatable with Jayson Stark at 1PM.

Baseball Prospectus' John Perrotto at noon.

General Basketball:

NBA Draft with Fran Fraschilla at 4PM.

Cry me a river (bad team blues)

acr — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:14:32 -0000

So my Sportsline AL only h2h team is 3-8 heading into this week. Last week I lost 267.833 to 266.5. Then news came that Colon was placed on the DL and Chien-Ming Wang is essentially lost for the fantasy season. I also have Paul Konerko at 1st and he has not done much for the season. But losing him hurts as only Brad Wilkerson was a somewhat viable option off waivers. These Sportsline leagues do not allow slots for injured players. They either take up an active (but benched) roster spot or you have to drop them.

There are two divisions in my league. Four of the five top scoring teams in the league are in my division (5 teams per division). My team has scored the third most points this year. And currently I am four games out of the final playoff spot with 12 weeks to go, including this week. A few weeks ago I had the worst record in the league yet had scored the second most points. One reason for that is that my team has had the second most points scored against them of all the teams.

As I am looking at the scoreboard I see that my team has scored the second most points this week. Not atypical. A week by week breakdown-

Week 1- I win this week, scoring the second most points in the league and beat the team currently in 1st place in the other division.

Week 2- lost, bad scoring week. But lost to one of the worst teams in the league.

Week 3- lost 315-344, I outscore 5 other teams but cannot expect much, lost to a team in my division who is currently in 2nd place.

Week 4- lost, high scoring teams are 370, 365 and 341. I score 341 and play the guy who scored 365 . Current record 1-3 . Lost to the team now in first place in my division. blah

Week 5- win, scored the most points of any team for the week. Good win but this guy is ahead of me in my division now.

Week 6- lost 260-284. Lots of low scoring teams this week.

Week 7- lose 352-312 to the team in first place in my division. High scores for teams this week are 352, 327, 321, 312. Gues who I played? At this point I have scored the second most points in the league and have had the most points scored against any team. My record is 2-5 and I am in last place in my division.

Week 8- lose horribly, bad scoring week for me. Record is 2-6.

Week 9- lose 283-252. At this point I have slipped to the third most points scored for the season. But I still easily have the most points scored against.

Week 10- rare win and score the most points of any team for this week. Current record is 3-7. The team I beat is also now 3-7. The difference is that I still have the 3rd most points scored for the season at 2939. His points for the year are 2463.

Week 11- lost. This loss hurts as the score is 267.833-266.5. And it is to team that has two wins more than me now, but has scored nearly 600 fewer points on the year.

So if I win this week I'll be 4-8 with the second most points scored on the season. But as everyone knows, in AL only leagues pitching is king. Losing Wang hurts a lot. I dropped him and grabbed Mike Aviles off waivers. Maybe he'll turn into something.

Family Fantasy Sports

doopsmack — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:33:55 -0000

Hi all,

I am just writing a quick post to let you all know about a new site we have launched: http://www.FamilyFantasySports.com.

It is the first fantasy sports site dedicated to family play. Our site/leagues are easy to use, family friendly and designed to help parents and kids spend time together doing something both love.

If you have a moment, check us out at http://www.FamilyFantasySports.com. Sign up for our mailing list to find out more about our upcoming 2008 NFL Fantasy leagues, family-focused prizes, and other great family activities.

Linked below is a press release covering the launch of the site that was recently picked up by Rotonation.com.

http://www.rotonation.com/?p=887

Thanks for your time and feel free to email me at matt@familyfantasysports.com with any questions or feedback.

ESPN, BP & USA Today Chat Links 06/16/2008

faketeams — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:40:06 -0000

Monday, June 16, 2008:

Fantasy Sports: