[whmatthews]

Preseason Rankings - Dale Layer Division

1. Th3rd
2. The Lugnuts
3. Beantown Bombers
4. All I Do Is Win
5. UTEP Miners
6. Tytan
7. Prototype

Th3rd - Had a great draft - picked up players that will get him off to a good start (Greinke, Utley, Lee) that will take him through the season. Not many question marks - A lot of good players who will bounce back this season (Beltran, Hamilton). Only question would be closers - Nathan is out for the season, but he has enough offense to make a trade down the stretch.

Lugnuts - Power, speed, youth. May need to address pitching later in the season, but offense will carry this team.

Beantown Bombers - Good mix of power (V-Mart, Tex, Carlos Lee) and speed (Crawford, Alexi Ramirez) that will get him to the top 3 of the league. Good core of starters and solid closers.

All I Do Is Win - Not a lot of power in line up but guys who will drive in runs and hit for average (Matt Diaz, Matt Kemp) and great speed (Granderson, Brian Roberts) Also good pitching in Halladay, Lester and Vazquez. Could be the sleeper team in the entire league.

JT's UTEP Miners - Success hinges on young players. That is the only question. Good infield (Dunn, Hill, Longoria), but will it be enough offense to get the the playoffs? A lot of young pitchers who will either blow it or be great (Porcello, Brett Anderson, David Price) These guys could also be trade worthy if he's in need of offense.

Tytan - I don't think he was there for the draft, but will have to work with what he's got: Highlights are Prince Fielder, Brian McCann and Justin Upton. Lot of question marks - Jose Reyes is still a question in my mind, as well as Brandon Webb. Jermaine Dye could be a big help if he finds a team to play for.

Prototype - Defending champion. Pitching staff concerns me - aging pitchers like Pettite and Padilla is a concern. A few pitchers who haven't proved much the last few seasons (F. Liriano (is he healthy yet?) and Barry Zito.) Good reliever core. Besides David Wright in the lineup, an aging offense is present: (Pierzynski, Ortiz, Tejada, Rolen, Helton).

Danny Rocco League

1. ChicsDigTheLongBall
2. Greensboro Grizzlies
3. Open Up A McCann
4. Run DMC
5. Liberty Flames
6. Beat The Skankees
7. Amish Rakefighters

ChicsDigTheLongball - As far as I'm concerned they are the favorite for the entire league. Enough power with A-Gon, Mauer, Ethier, Reynolds and pitching with Lackey, Wainwright and Jurjenns. A few guys could really have breakout seasons: Jurjenns, Cody Ross, Drew Stubbs) Also some veterans who can add productive offensive numbers (Carlos Quentin, Cuddyer, Cuts).

Grizzlies - Only concern is the 3B spot... no one to fill it. Otherwise, a lot of talent in their prime: Sandoval, Sizemore, Braun, Pence. Power with Morneau, Ludwick and Braun. Good has good upside: Clif Lee, Jimenez, Rodriguez. Watch out if Kawakami and Bedard have good years.

McCann - could have had a better draft, but took some chances on young guys who may not be up until mid or late-season. Heyward, Chapman, Ian Desmond. The bad part is it could be a slow start, upside is a late push in the season. Power supply with Ryan Howard and Jason Bay. Hopefull the starting pitching will be enough with Matt Cain, Tommy Hanson, and Buehrle. Peavy can be a good add if he can get back to his old form. Middle infield needs attention offensively. Could be a sleeper team.

RunDMC - Not a whole lot of power, but decent offense (Tulo, Morales, Werth, Cruz). Question marks in my mind: Beltre, McLouth (Wasn't a great as a Brave last season as he was a Pirate), Soto (Can he overcome the sophomore slump?) Decent pitching as well.

LibertyFlames - Decent offensive mix - Question marks - Choo, Aramis Ramirez, Fukudome. Enough offense to trade and upgrade the pitching staff.

Skankees - Not sure if having a team loaded with Braves will take you far in fantasy baseball. Bright spots: Pujols, and starting pitching. Offense could use another power bat to go with Pujols.

Amish Rakefighters - Team hinges around Miguel Cabrera. This team could actually move up to the middle of the pack depending on if some of his young guys have good seasons (McCutcheon, Rasmus, Andrus). Not sure where this team will end up at the end of the season.


Overall, I think the Rocco side will have better competition. I think there are generally better teams in the division. Playoff predictions

Layer Championship:
The Th3rd over UTEP Miners

Rocco Championship:
ChicsDigTheLongBall over Greensboro Grizzlies

League Championship:
ChicsDigTheLongBall over Th3rd.

[Th3rd]

thank you for the high ranking in preseason... im probably going to end up dropping Nathan as Closer and pick up another holds guy who can also get some saves.... im willing to risk losing that category since its 1 of 14

[ToTheLeft]

I think you're overlooking me a bit.

I think I have the best offense in the league. My arms are risk/reward types, but I sacrificed them a little to get bats.

I'm not so sold on Th3rd, he's got a lot of risks in terms of injury and age.

LongBall is pretty solid tho.

We'll see how it goes.

[whmatthews]

It was a great draft overall - I think it will be the most competitive season we've had in the last 3 years. It's pretty much a crapshoot as I see it. I think in each division the 1-5 teams could take it all.

[ToTheLeft]

I agree, it's a pretty well balanced league. Trades are always out there, guys, so make some offers if you want or need anything.

[prototype]

I think my team SUCKS!!

Picking 13th was the worst. Waiting forever to pick made it hard to grab stars, but hopefully own a couple categories and get lucky on the others. Someone mentioned 14 categories - aren't there only 12?

I had a horrible team last year too when i started - hopefully things will come together again...

[BJWilliams]

Since I could not get to a computer for the draft I was pleasantly surprised with how I ended up doing on autopick...I just dont want to be in the basement again. I may look to trade for an arm or two before the season though or see if I can pick somebody up off the waiver wire

[vastrightwinger]

Considering I did nothing to prep. The computer did a decent job picking a team for me. I could stadn to strengthen my pitching a little but all in all I am looking forward to a good season.

[prototype]

Just want to make sure you guys saw the article the USA Today had today about two of my players -
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball ... over_N.htm

[whmatthews]

As we approach the All-Star break, here is a mid-season report and analysis.

whmatthews PreSeason Ranks ------- Current Standing
Layer Division:
1. Th3rd-----------------------------------1. Th3rd
2. The Lugnuts---------------------------2. Beantown Bombers
3. Beantown Bombers ------------------3. The Lugnuts
4. All I Do Is Win ------------------------4. Protoype
5. UTEP Miners --------------------------5. UTEP Miners
6. Tytan ----------------------------------6. Tytan
7. Prototype -----------------------------7. All I Do Is Win

Rocco Division:
1. ChicsDigTheLongBall ------------------ 1. Amish Rakefighters
2. Greensboro Grizzlies -------------------2. Beat The Skankees
3. Open Up A McCann --------------------3. Open Up A McCann
4. Run DMC --------------------------------4. Greensboro Grizzlies
5. Liberty Flames -------------------------5. ChicsDigTheLongBall
6. Beat The Skankees---------------------6. Liberty Flames
7. Amish Rakefighters --------------------7. Run DMC

Analysis: Layer Division

Up and down this division the race is still close. The funniest thing is that "All I Do Is Win" should be "All I Do Is Lose". As of right now he is 1-9-1 on the season, but is roughing up interleague rival ChicsDigTheLongBall 9-2 at the moment. My rankings for this league were pretty accurate, with the exception of a few flops. Th3rd has an incredible run going to the half-way mark. He has run into a tear with Josh Hamilton on his team, along with Rios and Pence. He has probably the deepest bench in the league. If his pitching was a little deeper, he could run away with this thing. He's ranked low in the league in W, but is middle of the pack in every other pitching category. His offense is keeping him a top the league. Coming up fast behind him is Beantown and Lugnuts, with only half a game between them. Beantown will move up fast. He has Teixiera, who is always on fire after the all-star break and a good bullpen. However, I don't think is offense will be enough to hold off Lugnuts or catchup to Th3rd.

Team to watch during 2nd half: Lugnuts - currently putting a hurting on one the top teams in the Rocco division and has made some transactions to better his team.

Analysis: Rocco Division

The lead has changed hands within this division a few times, and race remains tight. In the whole league, Th3rd is ranked number one coming out of the Layer division, but the 2-5 teams are at the top of the ranks in the Rocco Division. Only 2.5 games are between the first place team and the fourth place team. Only 6 between the first place and last place. I really bit the bullet ranking Amish Rakefighters as last place in the preseason, but he has shot to the top and recently taken over first place with a record of 8-2-1. With an offense featuring Miguel Cabrera, it's easy to get to the top! His pitching has really gotten him to where he's at. He boasts a staff of Sabathia, Hamels (who is making progress compared to last season), Burnett (Off to a good start, may be starting to slide), Derek Lowe (another mediocre season, but what has helped is that the Braves have been hot), and Clay Bucholz. Two other teams that have held first and are going back and forth along with the Amish: Open up a McCann and Skankees. McCann is running middle of the pack on nearly every hitting and pitching category. Jason Heyward's hot start has creeped into a struggling pace and is hurting somewhat. There's not any depth to the bench, but the pitching staff andx a few big bats should keep the team at or near the top. Skankees has been on a role, winning 5 out of the last 6 weeks. Oh, and that one time he didn't win, he drew a tie. At the moment, he's losing to Lugnuts, but he has enough fire power to keep him competitve.

Team to watch during 2nd half: Open Up A McCann - Recently made a trade to bolster starting rotation and middle infield. If the big bats can get rolling (Ryan Howard, Jason Bay, BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Matt Holliday), then watchout. No one in the league has that much power potential. Currently beating UTEP Miners and with Amish and Skankees losing, could retake first place next week.

---------------------------------------
Moves of the Year:
April 21: UTEP Miners adds Strasburg to team off Free Agent list.
May 22: Greensboro Grizzlies trades Rickie Weeks/Pablo Sandoval for Kendry Morales/Yuneski Betancourt. Morales then goes on to hurt himself in a walk-off celebration.

[prototype]

Come on - nothing about the defending champs?

3 players in the top 10 in steals

7 players in the top 50 in batting avg.

My aging starting pitching staff have all been better than expected

4 out of the 17 Save Leaders

Just beat Th3rd to get myself closer to the playoff picture - and do what I did last year... win it all...

My team is not flashy, but they will be tough to beat.

[BJWilliams]

Well the #8 team in the league is about to knock off the #1 team in the league and set up a huge final week

[BJWilliams]

The Playoffs are underway and here is what they look like

#1 Th3rd
#2 Amish Rakefighters
#3 Greensboro Grizzlies
#4 The Lugnuts
#5 Liberty Flames
#6 Beantown Bombers

the last 3 spots basically came down to the last week with 5 teams mathematically able to make the playoffs. Liberty Flames defeated Beat the Skankees. Open up a McCann (who was in a playoff position going into the last week) fell to Greensboro Grizzlies and fell to the Consolation Bracket. ChicksDigTheLongball defeated Beantown Bombers but Beantown got the nod for the last spot.