Winter is Coming

 That is to say, looms the fantasy baseball draft and its attendant pain and suffering in that if you haven't started preparing, if you don't have at least three dozen Excel spreadsheets crammed line to line with the most trivial of statistics, not to mention a stack of unredacted NSA surveillance and also a reputable source of safe and reliable - though technically illegal - mood sharpening substances, it's too late for you if you entertain any notion of avoiding relegation to some damn bass fishing fantasy league.

So there's no shame in just giving it up without even getting started. Flip a coin, choose based on high school mascot or from which of the Dominican Republic's 31 provincias the player comes - one is as good as the other because it's too late, baby, it's too late. 

One of my favorite baseball cliches is, "Stick a fork in him, he's done." I just counted 'em up. I have nine forks, poised and ready to go.

Putting on My Best Sweats for Draft Day

 These accentuate my buttocks.

Will the Draft Descend into a Sewer of Rage and Sadness?

I suppose this means we'll have to drink a lot. 

 Those who haven't been socializing during the pandemic aren't used to seeing people in person. For example, the experience of managing a group conversation bigger than what a person has experienced over the last year could cause someone to think harder in the moment, and thus take more energy.

 

Draft Prep Off to a SlooooowStart

Very excited about the draft but, sitting down this afternoon to jot some notes about projected starting lineups (as opposed to who actually started games the first week of the season), I discovered I am NOT excited about my usual draft prep, of my usual practice of extensive list making. (Which has always made me think I was a chartered accountant in a previous life, in Great Britain, of course, no such thing as a CPA across the pond as we learned from more than one Monty Python sketch.) Maybe the Covid lockdown, i.e., slowdown, has created an inertia so deep it will take months to overcome. The past year, for so many things why do it today instead of tomorrow. (Mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me.) 

 

Yet the remorseless clock at the bottom of this page....

We Know Nothing. Nothing.

I mean speaking for myself.

Fearless Predictions for this Draft

John the Fearless (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Everything I read suggests King Felix is his old self and then some. I'm guessing he'll go for at least $8.

* Does David Price really have a fifth pitch or is that just Beantown hype? He's still worth $9.50, slurve or not.

* Justin Verlander's beautiful wife is giving him some beautiful trouble according to Buzzfeed. Court action is fine in tennis but baseball not so much. Stop the bidding at $4 and cross your fingers.

Let's Talk Positions

English: Jack O'Brien – Played in Major League Baseball between the 1899 and 1903 seasons (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Time to fire up the old league blog again to deal with that most vexing of recurrent problems: Who is eligible at what position? I'm guessing 95 percent of the time the answers are obvious. He played there last year. He's playing there this year.

Next case.

Manny Machado has spent his career playing 3B, but this year - his final under contract to Baltimore - he wants to play SS and thus (did I mention it's his final year under contract) he's playing SS. We are not one of those leagues that places guys at multiple positions! Deal with it.

But some situations are more opaque. Some DHs only DH, but MLB depth charts solve those problems - most of them. Mariners DH Nelson Cruz is number three RF on the Seattle depth chart. He also played five whole games there last year. Thanks to my link you can look it up!

And, of course, there's Marwin Gonzalez, who was all over the place last year. He played 47 games in LF and 38 at SS. This year the CBS depth chart has him as backup not in LF but in *all four infield positions.* I say tally the first two weeks of the season and go with that. But do not forget the bottom line, this league's Iron Rule which the BCL has adamantly applied. Majority vote rules! Anything a majority of the league says must be so *is* so. We have occasionally tweaked reality to shore up a weak position.

There you go. The floor is open for discussion. Comments?

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Draft Countdown is Underway

Pose your questions, lads. Since we are going to draft with ten this year, placement of marginal players at thin positions is important. Since I am old school and take a "paper" paper, I am here perusing the box scores, looking for anomalies and portents. You may recall I said Mr. Carlos Santana (the baller) will be drafted as a ....

I've forgotten if I said RF or 1B. As of this morning, he's played at 1B five times and RF three times. A strict constructionist - is that you, Clarence Thomas? - would place him at 1B, but I say let's put him at the weaker position, which looks to be RF.

But back to this DL madness. Guys dropping like flies, and the net effect of this 10-day DL is to make you think they will probably be back sooner rather than later. I'm just saying wait on the dreaded MRI.

Caption That Kevin!

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That's Right. It's Time for *Caption that Kevin* the only contest where you don't  win only if you don't play. Are you Ready? It's time to *Caption that Kevin* And the first caption is:

che was right.

you can't lead a revolution

with split ends.

Who's on First. What's on Second...

Cats (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Josefa ortiz (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

... and Ortiz is also on first.

That is to say, it's time for our annual arguments about who qualifies where.  As BCL, it is my job to establish perspective, set parameters and in general herd the cats in the only way cats can be herded, by guessing in which direction they are headed and racing ahead to be there when they arrive.

Which can be a long wait.

Thus, I understand that these preliminary discussions are often reversed 'at table.' But what the hell. Better to light one little candle than curse the darkness or Marko, whichever comes first.

By team:

Boston: Ortiz is a first sacker. No problem there. Rusney Castillo will start the year in the minors, but Victorino in RF is the guy he'll most likely replace when he comes up.

Baltimore: DH Steve Pearce is listed as backup at 1B.

Chicago: DH Adam LaRoche is listed as backup at 1B.

Cleveland: DH Carlos Santana is listed as backup at 1B. Didn't catch or play 3B this spring.

Detroit: DH Victor Martinez is listed as backup at 1B. Didn't catch this spring.

Houston: DH Chris Carter is listed as backup at 1B.

Kansas City: DH  Kendrys Morales isn't listed as backup anywhere. So: 1B.

LA: DH Matt Joyce is listed as backup in LF.

Minnesota: DH Kennys Vargas (whom I've never heard of till this moment) is listed as backup at 1B.

NYC:  Aha. Room for argument here. DH Garrett Jones is listed as backup at 1B. DH Alex Rodriguez is listed as backup at 3B. Who actually plays where the first ten days will be suggestive.

Oakland: DH Billy Butler is listed as backup at 1B. Gentry and Fuld will platoon in CF once Cocoa Crisp returns to retake LF.  But Gentry will start the season in left, so I'd say draft him there along with fragile Cocoa.

Seattle: DH Nelson Cruz is listed as backup in LF.

Tampa: DH John Jaso is not listed as backup at C *but* he's a catcher. So Jaso: catcher.

Texas: DH Mitch Moreland is listed as backup at 1B.

Toronto: DH Edwin Encarnacio is listed as backup at 1B.

Any other position puzzles we need to chew on???