So when it comes to fantasy baseball, it’s much the same. I know I SHOULD take the safer player but the lure of “upside” gets me every time. Raise your hand if you were burned by Alexei Ramirez last year? Ok. I’m not alone.

Here are the players I tend to be taking earlier than normal just because I like their upside. Hope I don’t get burned.

Justin Upton (The dude is a BEAST. Has everything including the last name Upton. Oops. Wait a minute.)
Ben Zobrist (Multi-position eligibility. 30-20 upside. Don’t mess with the zohan…come on, you knew that was coming.)
Adam Jones (Perfect age for breakout. 20-15 lock, right? Wish he would run more though. Notice I didn’t make the obvious Pack Man reference…too late. Oh well.)
Hunter Pence (Why doesn’t he go higher? Where is his respect? Only getting better and went 25 homers and stole 14 bags. I see him wanting more. I mean he is a hunter. Geesh. That was terrible.)
Carlos Quentin (He was one of the hottest fantasy players in the game before his injury but he looks ready to go now!)
Franklin Gutierrez (18 hrs and 16 ribbies to go along with a decent average. I know he plays for the Mariners in a not so friendly home park but I still like him.)
Matt Garza and David Price (These two Ray starters might not get a lot of attention but I really like the direction they are headed. Garza’s K’s per 9 innings really went up last year and Price just “looks the part” to me and is only going to get better.)

Do you have any other breakout candidates?

I just participate in my first live draft of the baseball season and I really enjoyed it. I even did a mock live draft yesterday. Someone wanted to know why I was doing a “mock” one since it wasn’t my real team. I just replied that I love fantasy baseball and I especially love doing live drafts.

Today’s draft was very competitive. I could tell early on that I was playing with some experienced people. It was challenging and fun. I wanted Matt Kemp to fall me. No dice. With a plan to take Robinson Cano a few rounds later…nope. Looking to grab Cole Hamels in a round where it would have been a big bargain…foiled again! Yikes! It was on.

Anyway, I ended up with the following team. Would love to hear your comments.

Here’s the specs: 12 team: 5 x 5 standard roto; non-keeper; all leagues

Check it…

C Mike Napoli
1B Justin Morneau
2B Brian Roberts
3B Evan Longoria
SS Ben Zobrist
OF Justin Upton
OF Adam Jones
OF Hunter Pence
UTIL Carlos Quentin
UTIL Franklin Gutierrez
BENCH Alexei Ramirez
BENCH Nyjer Morgan
BENCH Garret Jones
BENCH Cameron Maybin

SP Ubaldo Jimenez
SP Tommy Hanson
RP Carlos Marmol
RP Matt Capps
P Matt Garza
P David Price
P Michael Wuertz
P Brandon League
BENCH Matt Latos

My initial thoughts are that I really like my offense. Think I will be fine there and have some good flexibility. I think I have adequate power and speed. I am a little concerned with batting average.

As for the pitching staff, while I like my starting pitchers very much, I know I will need to keep an eye on the waiver wire for closers. They were just so hard to come by in this draft and I figured I was better off grabbing good hitters rather than using many picks on closers. I hedged somewhat at the end of the draft by picking up Wuertz and League. I figured that they would both help me in other categories while also maybe sliding into the closer role for their teams at some point. Wuertz will help me no matter if he gets the closer role. On the other hand, I think League will end up overtaking Aardsma in the Mariner pen.

So, there’s my take. What do you think?

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]]> http://pmurphy.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/204/feed/ 0 papasmurf http://pmurphy.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/offseason-workout/ http://pmurphy.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/offseason-workout/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:03:18 +0000 Patrick Murphy http://pmurphy.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/offseason-workout/ ]]>     Ball Handling
•    Full Court Down and Back
•    1. Cross Over
•    2. Hesitation—down left-handed, back right-handed
•    3. In and Out—two dribbles then make a move—2 trips
o    a. First time all left hand
o    b. Second time all right hand
•    Two Ball Dribbling Down and Back
•    1. Together
•    2. Alternate
•    3. Cross Over
o    a. Two dribbles together then cross
    Passing
•    Lane Passing. Stay low, don’t go too fast
o    A. Down and back—twice
o    B. Chest pass then bounce pass
    Dribble Series
•    Start with the ball at half court. We will make three moves:
•    1. Cross Over
•    2. Hesitation
•    3. In and Out
    Dribble at coach who is standing at the three point line. Make the move and finish at the basket (against a pad if possible). Get your own rebound and make the same move on your way out to the other side. Finish at half court on the opposite side as you started.
    -Do the same series again with a pull up jumper.
    Shooting Series
•    Down screen shooting. Coach starts with ball on wing, player starts in short corner. Player cuts to the top of key to receive the pass. 3 moves:
o    1. Catch and shoot
o    2. Face up one dribble right
o    3. Face up one dribble left
•    Each player to shoot 4 of each move for a total of 12 shots. Do the series twice through, once with pull up jumpers, once getting all the way to the basket.
1 minute shooting
•    Three balls and two rebounders are needed. The passer starts less than 10 feet from the shooter so the balls will be received in rapid succession. Continue feeding the shooter for 1 minute emphasizing doing his work early. Stay low, don’t dip the ball. Get up as many shots as possible. Work on a quick release. Good shooters will make 20. Do this at 5 spots.
    Shoot free throws in between drills as needed.

Blogged with Flock

The second one is also funny. I mean, I don’t know what the makers of pears’ soap is trying to say. It looks to me like the are trying to say that the soap will hurt little children. Weird.

Blogged with Flock

http://www.wearethepostmen.com/?p=1898