An Experiment in Posting

I emailed robertson1944@fatpablo@blogger.com. In theory, I can thus 'remote post' to the league blog. Also, I've tried to set the blog up so blog post notifications are sent automatically to league members.

Bob Be Damned. I'm Saving All My Best Stuff for the Blog

English: Jesus Christ saving the souls of the damned. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bad copy editing equals sassy headline. Oh boy.

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• Typo time

Team Names, League Thoughts, etc.

Giant Steps                     8.0 6.0 8.0 9.0 5.0 6.0 8.0 7.0 8.5 6.0 71.5
The Spotted Dicks          6.0 5.0 10.0 4.0 9.0 4.0 6.0 9.0 8.5 9.0 70.5
Hot Lunch                      10.0 10.0 9.0 10.0 3.0 9.0 3.0 6.0 4.5 5.0 69.5
Monroeville Zombies 4.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 2.0 10.0 10.0 4.0 10.0 10.0 68.0
Little Chi Chi                7.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 8.0 5.0 7.0 10.0 6.0 7.0 65.0
Lady Mandingo Calling 3.0 8.0 7.0 8.0 6.0 2.0 9.0 3.0 7.0 3.0 56.0
no way out                    1.0 9.0 3.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 2.0 8.0 3.0 2.0 50.0
the corwinators            9.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 10.0 3.0 1.0 5.0 1.0 8.0 42.0
The Aristocrats            5.0 3.0 4.0 3.0 4.0 7.0 5.0 1.0 4.5 4.0 40.5
Fiasco                         2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 4.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 17.0


Here are last year's standings, which are of interest for several reasons:

1) It was a fine tight race with four teams in contention up to the last several days. My recollection is either Brad or I - and perhaps both of us - could have tied Kevin if certain improbable but not impossible things had happened on the field on the last day. So in that way it was all that a season of fantasy baseball could be.

2) It was good to have Bob back. He is an ornament. His team was also a canary in the mine. As the A's faded, so his team faded. Maybe this year will be a mirror image. He'll take his clutch of shivering A's players home and put them under a warm blanket and feed them with an eyedropper and as their eyes open and their teeth come in, they and his team will rise. One hopes.

3) Mark is a performance artist. Kudos. Someday people will look back at Mark's early drafts as one might on the moment Karen Finley discovered that chocolate melts.

4) Team names are a study unto themselves. I change my team's name often, frequently more than once a year. This is both an attempt to be amusing and an act of superstition. Are Berger and Matt the only teams - other than the newbies - who have stuck with original names? I certainly will be coming up with a new name, a winning name.

5) Only Brad and Chris have accepted invitations to this wonderful blog. Accepting means you can post and news of new posts will be emailed to you. Hurrah.

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Those Little Throwaway Articles That Make Your Heart Race

English: A foot on roentgen. The first segment of thumb suffers fractures and dislocation of fragments Српски / Srpski: Рентгенска слика стопала. Први сегмент палца је задобио фрактуре, а настали фрагменти су дислоцирани. Български: Рентген снимка на стопало. Фрактура на нокътна фаланга с вътреставно разпространение и дислокация на фрагментите. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chron says Miguel Cabrera should be ready for opening day

Great Subhead in Chron Today about Beautiful A's

"Be kind to your stomach" - NARA - 513928 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Except for rotation, lineup and bullpen, A's are set. Also, nice picture of Pablo's belly.

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Time for a Little Late April Talking Baseball

Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr

I've been saying it's early days and it's ... really early days. We have only to look at Tola's team. He's wallowing in last place, and you look at his lineup and you find:
T. S. Intellectual - Stats for Players While Active (Year To Date)

Currently Rostered Hitters

Name	Pos	GP	HR	RBI	SB	R	AVG
Cabrera, Asdrubal (CLE)	SS	18	1	3	1	9	.280
Davis, Rajai (OAK)	OF	20	1	8	8	14	.213
Matsui, Hideki (LAA)	DH	20	4	11	0	7	.293
Pedroia, Dustin (BOS)	2B	19	5	13	0	10	.282
Pierzynski, A.J. (CHA)	C	17	0	2	0	2	.140
Swisher, Nick (NYY)	OF	17	2	9	0	6	.224
Teixeira, Mark (NYY)	1B	18	2	8	0	10	.119
Young, Michael (TEX)	3B	18	2	14	1	10	.278
Zobrist, Ben (TAM)	2B	18	0	9	5	8	.264
Batting Totals		165	17	77	15	76	.237

Currently Rostered Pitchers

Name	Pos	IP	L	S	W	K	ERA	W PCT
Buchholz, Clay (BOS)	P	16.7	2	0	1	18	2.70	0.333
Burnett, A.J. (NYY)	P	25.3	0	0	2	16	3.20	1.000
Chamberlain, Joba (NYY)	P	9.3	1	0	0	10	3.86	0.000
Peavy, Jake (CHA)	P	22.3	1	0	0	15	7.66	0.000
Porcello, Rick (DET)	P	19.3	2	0	1	13	7.91	0.333
Rodney, Fernando (LAA)	P	10.0	0	5	2	7	3.60	1.000
Vazquez, Javier (NYY)	P	20.0	3	0	1	18	9.00	0.250
Zumaya, Joel (DET)	P	12.0	0	0	2	13	0.00	1.000
Pitching Totals

Look at Texiera. Wouldn't you trade your first baseman for him straight up right now? With the exception of Cabrera, sure. I'd trade Morneau for Texiera right now, and Morneau is hitting .360. Pierzynski is off to a bad start, but I doubt that lasts. P'ski isn't all that good, but he's very consistent. The only hitter I'd worry about -- were I the noble Tola -- is Rajai Davis. I think of him as the black Eric Byrnes, maddeningly inconsistent and with very little track record to give us confidence that we know what his baseline is. But if he can manage an OBP over .300? Sixty steals.

Pitching I'm less sure about. Porcello is only in his second year, so who knows? But *Vasquez never misses a turn.* Lousy start, but I can't believe he won't be worth the 3 bucks for whatever MT paid for him. Peavy? Don't know. Intrigued by him and would have bought him for a buck or two if I'd needed a pitcher at the moment his name occurred to whoever threw him out. So my conclusion is that Michael's hitting will be better than average because no way his final BA won't be .280 or thereabout, with all the other batting numbers towed behind. His pitching could be anything -- good, bad or in between. So I say he's even money to make money. Next week I'll look at whoever is on top. Memory tells me that being in first at this point doesn't mean much but that at least two of the top four teams will stay there. I'm trying to remember the last wire-to-wire champ. I'm pretty sure there have been some.

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Monday's Child is Full of Questions

Since Coco Crisp was injured before the season started, and Rajai Davis has only played center for the A's, I'm assuming we will place him in CF, not LF. I'm preparing my draft list both ways.

bcl

A Fond Farewell to a League Legend. Come Home, Prodigal Son. Peter Always Has a Little Fatted Calf in the Fridge

The Art House Version on the right

Homer

I just want to buy every Athletic in sight.

Time to Start the Conversation about Draft Day

Image via Wikipedia

Let's use the mighty blog to settle disputes before the actual Great Day itself -- or at least to frame the disputes so we can scream and yell more efficiently. Who qualifies at which positions can be a puzzle. For our "newbies," it's worth pointing out that we assign players to the position they are most likely to occupy this year. Thus, Zobrist -- on whom I was counting as a top second baseman -- has started his first three games in right filed and apparently will continue there.

And, of course, we will need to settle on a field position for DHs, our usual practice.

Looks like it should be a good draft. We've lost Wieder but perhaps on the third day he will rise again -- pardon me, I'm used to drafting on Easter. I have Skyped with Berger, and Peter is ready to put Berger up on his mighty Mac laptop like an outtake from 1984.

Looks good. Questions?

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