Season #5! All teams return this year, should be an exciting season. We’ll be doing a complete re-draft in 2007.
Draft is March 24th, 6pm PST.
Mid-Season Report
West Coast Yankees (85 points)
After a down year last season the WC Yanks cleaned house in the offseason, keeping only 5 players and cutting their entire pitching staff. So far, the strategy seems to have worked brilliantly. With a booming offense and a pitching staff stolen in the middle rounds of the draft, the Yanks have been in first the most of the last month.
Reason for Hope: Hitters are all established guys, should continue to produce. Helton is finaly hitting again.
Cause for Concern: Already having usined 60% of their innings, how will the Yanks end up in Wins/Saves/Ks once they run out of innings and other teams keep going?
Worst Keeper: Aubrey Huff
Best Draft Pick: Derek Lee (7th)
Worst Draft Pick: Bret Boone (11th)
Durham Bulls (78 points)
Starting pitching was supposed to be the strength of this team, but injuries (Schilling, Hudson) and inconsistency (Santana) have meant the Bulls had to call up Derek Lowe for a few starts and are currently starting free agent pickup Jake Westbrook and have added Greg Maddux for the second half. The offense was hurt by injury in the first half as well, losing Jose Vidro and Bobby Crosby (and Crosby’s fill-in Clint Barmes) for most of the first half and Vlad for a few weeks as well.
Reason for Hope: Hudson should be back after the break and Schilling should make it back to the rotation for a month or two. If Giambi’s resurgance is for real, he could be a big pickup.
Cause for Concern: Closers are all shakey and starting pitchers needs to get more wins for the team.
Worst Keeper: Curt Schilling
Best Draft Pick: Travis Hafner (12th)
Worst Draft Pick: Dan Kolb (11th)
Senators (75.5 points)
The Senators are building on their success from last year, making a strong push towards the top spot. This year, the Senators kept 10 players and that has worked out well for them, much like their overhaul did last year.
Reason for Hope: Strong pitching looks like it will continue to power this team, even if surprises like Willis and Myers falter a little.
Cause for Concern: The offense needs one or two more big bats – will they be able to get one without gutting their pitching?
Worst Keeper: Lance Berkman (so far, due to injury)
Best Draft Pick: Dontrelle Willis (18th)
Worst Draft Pick: Angel Berroa (11th)
Bad Attitudes (62.5 points)
Strong young pitching, if these guys can just get a few hitters in the second half they can definitely contend this year. If I were managing this team, I’d be looking to make a deal or two. This is a team that should either choose to go for it this year and trade a few young players for the pieces they need this year or decide to build their keepers for next year.
Reason for Hope: Orlando Cabrera might be traded to a contender and might play better in new surroundings. Having Trot Nixon back should definitely help.
Cause for Concern: Is this the long awaited breakout season for Ben Sheets or will he slide back to his career numbers in the second half?
Worst Keeper: Lance Carter
Best Draft Pick: CC Sabathia (21st)
Worst Draft Pick: Roberto Alomar (19th)
Todds Allstars (49 points)
They aren’t out of it yet, but they will need to have a very strong second half to jump over the teams in the 50s to make it into the money. The early draft rounds were gold for TR (Ortiz, Kolb, Guillen) but the later rounds didn’t produce as much magic.
Reason for Hope: The starting pitching looks better than the current stats indicate.
Cause for Concern: It’s hard to see an trade that would really help them, they may start getting ready for next year.
Worst Keeper: Hideo Nomo
Best Draft Pick: Jose Guillen (13th, but then dropped)
Worst Draft Pick: Austin Kearns (17th)
SoxFan (49 points)
I had this team picked to challenge for the title this year but their starting pitching has really let them down. Halladay has been good, but Beckett is having blister problems and Colon and Millwood had been really poor. Maybe a trading partner for the Bad Attitudes, Mobsters and Senators?
Reason for Hope: They hitting is good enough they can afford to give some up to get some pitching.
Cause for Concern: There is a long hill to climb to get back in the ERA and WHIP mix, and that is where SoxFan needs to get some points back.
Worst Keeper: Bartolo Colon
Best Draft Pick: Jose Mesa (20th)
Worst Draft Pick: Rich Aurilia (14th)
A-Robbed (68 points)
A strong core of hitters plus Jason Schmidt and Mark Prior make a very strong fantasy team. With the exception of Bret Boone, A-Robbed’s keepers have performed admirably. The emergence of Brian Lawrence and Adam Eaton helped offset the early loss of Prior. Burnitz continues to prove that Coors field = fantasy gold. This team should have enough to challenge for the #1 spot this year, but they certainly look strong enough to push hard this year and even stronger for the future.
Reason for Hope: Mark Prior is back, Boone has been playing better. With Prior, A-Robbed may gain a few points in strikeouts and wins.
Cause for Concern: With the majority of their hitters performing and or above expected levels the team OBP is low and is a difficult stat to raise without moving several hitters.
Worst Keeper: Bret Boone
Best Draft Pick: Miguel Cabrera (14th)
Worst Draft Pick: Mike MacDougal (18th)
The Mobsters (57.5 points)
This team is mostly made up of established players that are largely doing what is expected of them. There is little reason to think they won’t continue to do well for the rest of the year. Rivera and Gagne have been unbelievable so far. This is another team that badly needs some hitting if they want to make a run at the money this year.
Reason for Hope: Richard Hidalgo seems rejuvinated in NY and has performed at this level before and Morgan Ensberg seems like a good bet to double his HR total in the second half.
Cause for Concern: Ken Griffey and Phil Nevin are back on the DL, again.
Worst Keeper: Morgan Ensberg
Best Draft Pick: Melvin Mora (21st, but then dropped)
Worst Draft Pick: Jose Reyes (13th)
All Stars(AKA Yanks) (42.5 points)
The All Stars are probably looking towards next year at this point. Some confusion during the draft got things off to a tough start but there is a decent core of players for the future. How this team leads the league in wins by 7 is a mystery.
Reason for Hope: Kerry Wood will help boost a solid pitching staff that should gain some ground in the second half.
Cause for Concern: This team needs more impact hitters in next year’s draft.
Worst Keeper: Chipper Jones
Best Draft Pick: Luis Gonzalez (14th)
Worst Draft Pick: Robb Nen (13th)
Huntsville Hammers (36 points)
This team started the season already thinking about next year and there is a solid core of players to build on. Unfortunately, they probably won’t make it out of the cellar this year.
Reason for Hope: There are some promising hitters on this squad.
Cause for Concern: There isn’t a top starting pitcher on the roster, unless Cliff Lee continues to impress.
Worst Keeper: Joe Borowski
Best Draft Pick: Hee Seop Choi (26th)
Worst Draft Pick: Eric Hinske (7th)