George Brett 1976 Topps featured

By the way, I need this 1976 card to complete my George Brett Topps series collection. If anyone has it and wants to deal it to me, please let me know.

Triple Crown League: 1st Round Draft Done

My strategy going into the draft was to try for only 1 or 2 highly-competed-after picks like these guys, and then try for players who I thought would go uncontested. Overall, the strategy worked okay. I did not acquire any of the high-consensus picks, but landed Joba. I missed a few lower-consensus picks that I really wanted, but did wind-up with a lot of uncontested players. In fact, I have 24 players already when most teams have about 12-14. This should give me an advantage in the later stage drafts because I can focus on a few areas. My team is fairly strong so far:

Starters:
Chase Utley Phi 2B
Mark Teixeira NYY 1B
Jack Cust Oak OF

Bench:
Adam Jones Bal OF
Mike Aviles KC 2B, SS 3B
Willy Aybar TB 3B 1B, 2B
Ryan Freel Bal OF 2B, 3B

Rotation:
Chien-Ming Wang NYY SP
Andy Sonnanstine TB SP
Joba Chamberlain NYY RP

Spot Starters:
Carl Pavano Cle SP
Gio Gonzalez Oak SP

Bullpen:
Joel Hanrahan Was RP
Jeff Samardzija ChC RP

Minor leagues:
Wade Davis TB SP
Yonder Alonso Cin 1B
Rick Porcello Det SP
Alcides Escobar Mil SS
Jason Heyward Atl OF
Nick Adenhart LAA SP
Ryan Perry Det RP
Christian Friedrich Col SP
Daniel Schlereth Ari RP
Carlos Santana Cle C

So far I have a good power core, flexible bench, middle to back-end of my rotation, not much in the bullpen yet, and a very strong minor league crop containing a few top 50 prospects. With $30 million left to spend, I can go after some high-priced players to round out the roster.

Casey at the Bat

Baseball season is only about a week away, so as tradition has it, it is again time to read Ernest Thayer's epic poem "Casey at the Bat". The Baseball Card Blog has a particularly special take on the time-honored classic. Enjoy.

Free Benchwarmer Baseball Teams for New Players

Alert! Benchwarmer Baseball is offering an extra-ordinary opportunity to join the league at no cost to new players. This is limited, however, to only the 6 teams that were left as orphans after the drafting phase in the Commissioner's League. A quick perusal of the teams finds that perhaps the Hamburg Kaiserkellers (Jay Bruce, Tim Lincecum, Mariano Rivera) and the St. Vincent Fays (C.C. Sabathia, Grady Sizemore, Carlos Beltran) offer the most exciting rosters.

If you like baseball simulation games along the lines of Strat-O-Matic, learning about Benchwarmer Baseball should be worth your while. For a very good description of Benchwarmer Baseball, see FantasyPros911.com contributor Joe Lano's account of his Benchwarmer Baseball draft. Joe is competing in a special Expert's League against other fantasy baseball gurus. Also, check out the BWB Tour.

Benchwarmer Baseball 16 Most Contested Draft Players

There has been 3 drafts so far this off season in Benchwarmer Baseball that have been strictly list-style: Blue and Gray League, Experts League, and Bleed Dodger Blue League. The information contained in the contested picks is quite interesting and valuable when considering the development of one's own draft sheet. Additionally, the information is also value for non-drafters, as it can be viewed as a general ranking of which players are deemed most desirable and valuable. By taking the three lists of contested players, the number of times each player was chosen by a team, and then summing them, we can derive an overall ranking of the 16 most contested players in Benchwarmer Baseball:

1. Francisco Liriano / 751 salary (31 times chosen over 3 drafts)
2. Yovani Gallardo / 508 (29)
3. Cameron Maybin / 100 (26)
4. Matt Wieters / 100 (26)
5. Clayton Kershaw / 719 (23)
6. Alexei Ramirez / 1289 (22)
7. Ian Kinsler / 2276 (22)
8. David Price / 100 (21)
9. Max Scherzer / 609 (21)
10. Francisco Liriano / 751 (20)
11. Cameron Maybin / 100 (19)
12. Chris Davis / 698 (19)
13. Pablo Sandoval / 200 (19)
14. Matt Wieters / 100 (18)
15. Yovani Gallardo / 508 (17)
16. 4 players tied (16)

This differs quite meaningfully from my previous list of the Top 16 Draft Targets for Benchwarmer Baseball primarily because this player list above tends to contain more prospective picks on a relative basis. Both lists, however, are loaded with great talent, with the list above displaying the league's view of most attractive contracts in Benchwarmer.

Bizarro League: Open Slots Available

The bizarro fantasy baseball league "Worst League Ever" -- where poor play is rewarded -- is set to begin its draft in the coming week. If you missed the previous post of this league, you can find it here. Simply put, you seek to roster a team with the weakest everyday players such as Julio Lugo and Jason Varitek (no, the fact that they are both Red Sox is not a coincidence) score the most points. Cheer along as Carlos Silva gives up a homer, Huston Street blows another saves, and Derek Jeter boots a ball,then hits into a double play. (How's that for even-handed blogging?) Let me know if you would like to join this low-stakes, high-fun league.

Kelly Smith Reign of Terror Over

One cannot start to discuss the New Fairfield Neanderthals, one of the Original 12 teams in Benchwarmer Baseball, without first discussing its heritage. Originally known as the Estes Park Jigglypuffs in 2000 and 2001, the franchise won their division in 2001 and competed in the championship series (but lost to Springfield). The team was then taken over by Russ D in 2002 and renamed the Brewster Birdmen. Under Russ' skilled guidance, the franchise took the division title again in 2002, this time by a narrow margin of 1 game. After consecutive 2nd place finishes in 2005 and 2006, in a surprising event, Russ stepped away from Benchwarmer Baseball, leaving the team in the hands of two different owners in 2007 and 2008. (If I were to mention that Kelly Smith was at the helm in 2008 and left the team in utter disrepair, this would not send shock-waves through the greater Benchwarmer community. From 2000 to 2003, Kelly managed to turn the Norwalk franchise into also-rans, posting a .363 winning record in his last season. However, the league had a lot of fun times with Kelly in it, laughing with and at him as he wheeled-and-dealed in order to find that winning combination that could capture the league pennant... he never did.)

Fast forwarding to today, Russ D has returned to the Benchwarmer fold to bring this venerable franchise that went to the Hall of Fame League Championship Series in back-to-back years of 2001 and 2002 back to its previous glory. Assessing the Kelly-damage, the Neanderthals look as follows:

Strengths:

A few star positional players in Russell Martin and Carl Crawford; a strong bullpen featuring Huston Street, Hong-Chih Kuo, Manny Delcarmen, Octavio Dotel, and Joel Zumaya; a starting rotation anchored by Josh Beckett and Carlos Zambrano; and lots of cash: 12475 BW bucks

Weaknesses:

Not a single player in the minors leagues -- obviously scouting and player development was not a primary focus under the Smith administration; Russ has started to address this area already

It's great to have some of the old Benchwarmer Baseball veterans back in the Hall of Fame league (and in my division) and I look forward to some intense rivalries over the coming seasons.