EVIL~! alkeiper

The Marlins have great balance in their lineup, but no depth beyond their eight starters and Jeff Conine. The Phillies easily have the most depth in the division. I like the Marlins' pitching, but Alfonseca is an average closer at best. Guillermo Mota will get the first shot at the job. I've run multiple projections and gotten four different winners. Your guess is as good as mine.

Toronto's offense was well regarded at the beginning of last season. Remember they finished second in runs scored in 2003. However, I think the Marlins have a legitimately better offense. The Marlins' advantages are stronger players three and four places deep, and a solid catcher, rather than the patchwork the Blue Jays have presented the past few seasons. Keep in mind, however, I did rate the Marlins middle of the pack. Lots of young players, including SS Russ Adams, C Guillermo Quiroz, and RF Alexis Rios. I think at least one of those guys will strike big. Orlando Hudson is one of the better second basemen in the league. It just depends on whether the young players can move forward. I think alot of people miss the Blue Jays' rotation. Roy Halladay, Ted Lilly, Miguel Batista and David Bush are as good as many front fours in baseball. They're clearly better than what the Orioles, Devil Rays, Rangers, and others have to offer. I think the Blue Jays have a reasonable chance at finishing above .500. I don't think they can sneak into the playoffs just yet, but the Yankee collapse will happen one of these days.

Deal. Give me ten minutes, and I'll bang out some analysis.

I wouldn't rank him as the Braves' signature player, but the Atlanta Braves' all time leader in Win Shares is Phil Niekro.

Wait a second. If the NHL is such an unprofitable endeavour, why would anyone buy a team?

Personally, I can't see gene doping working. Genes sure worked for John Henry Williams, didn't they?

Sorry, but I hate this idea.

Umm....that VALIDATES the Webber-bashing population. How so. It just points out that Webber is not the number one option on the Sixers. Is Shaq an inferior player because Kobe took the big shots? Of course not.

I live in the Pocono Mountains, so I get to put up with the tourists and the transplants. Many of them (not all) are the most ignorant fucks I have ever had the misfortune of encountering. Ten years ago, I could get off Exit 302 onto 611 in less than 15 minutes in the Summer. Not anymore. The region is overcrowded, crime is up, property taxes and housing costs are WAY up, and I blame New York City. Sorry for the rant.

Ok, here's my COMPLETE rankings of the NL Lineups. 1. St. Louis 2. Cincinnati 3. Atlanta 4. San Francisco 5. San Diego 6. Philadelphia 7. Florida 8. New York Mets 9. Milwaukee 10. Los Angeles 11. Chicago Cubs 12. Colorado 13. Houston 14. Washington 15. Pittsburgh 16. Arizona St. Louis is obvious. Cincinnati at number two is a surprise, but remember they have the best outfield in the league, when healthy. San Diego is very underrated, due to their home park. The Padres actually finished second in the league in runs on the road last season. Florida is quite overrated. They have Delgado and Miguel Cabrera, but they're also running Alex Gonzalez and Juan Encarnacion in their lineup. Houston looks decimated there. Remember these rankings are adjusted for park factors. In raw totals, the Rockies and Astros will finish much higher in runs scored. Also, these rankings rate teams solely by their lineup's offense, and makes no allowance for bench depth, or team defense.

I'd say Sandy Koufax, or maybe Tommy Lasorda even though he was just Mr. Manager Oddly enough, the Duke is second all time in Dodgers' win shares. Zach Wheat is first, having collected 2,804 hits alongside a .317 batting average from 1909-26. But I wouldn't slap a franchise tag on Wheat. Koufax ranks 18th among Dodgers, but since his career was very short, that isn't quite a fair assessment.

Because the Sixers were a .500 team with no hope of sniffing the conference title, and now they do.

You do the same thing here, except in advance. Its easy to matchup players day-by-day, but much more interesting when you do it weekly. Besides, this eliminates players exploiting the lack of maximums. I agree with this. 3-5 bench slots are more desireable.

PG Allen Iverson SG Willie Green SF Andre Igoudala PF Chris Webber C Samuel Dalembert I like it, if Jim O'Brien would just leave Dalembert alone and let him play.

Repeated thread, so I'm closing this one.

YES YES YES!!!! Fuck yes!

Being that I am in several fantasy leagues around these parts, I can't afford to expose all of my sleeper candidates. However, there are a couple of closers worth keeping an eye on. B.J. Ryan struck out 122 batters in relief last season, and Jorge Julio just happens to have an arm injury. Mike Gonzalez posted a 55/6 K:BB ratio with Pittsburgh last season, and the only thing that needs to happen for Gonzalez to earn the closer's role is for Jose Mesa to turn into Jose Mesa. Now that K-Rod is the man in Anaheim, he's an elite fantasy pick. Keep an eye on Mike Adams in Milwaukee, Ryan Dempster in Chicago, and Chin-Hui Tsao in Colorado

ECW never even used Barbed Wire all that often. Off the top of my head I can remember Public Enemy/Funks, Sandman/Raven, and Funk/Sabu. As far as the barbed wire cage goes, I'm surprised not many people seem to remember the Sheepherders/Fantastics feud in UWF that saw the infamous barbed wire cage match. An Apter mag article about ten years ago ranked it among the ten most violent matches in wrestling history.

The Baltimore Orioles grabbed OF Matt Diaz off waivers. Diaz crushed the ball in Durham last season, and ZipS projects a .298/.343/.481 in the Majors. Good pickup for the Os.

I can not really comment on ghetto culture, but this whole business that Iverson should present himself the way WE view as non-threatening and acceptable is somehow troubling.

Too late. Post 7,000 was a dissertation on the value of weekly rosters in Head To Head fantasy baseball leagues.

Then you're out of luck basically. It happens, but every team takes that chance. I like this move, because it limits cycling pitchers (and the same strategy can be abused to maximize pitchers/batters). It forces the manager to make a hard decision at the beginning of the week, and besides, it is how most serious roto leagues run things anyway.

I assume you're referring to the movie Eight Men Out. A fine fim, but remember it would contain exaggerations. I do think the sports figures were villified to an extent. Joe Jackson was eligible for election to the Hall, and he received just two votes until he was officially declared ineligible after the Rose scandal. The courtroom likely cheered, but the jury certainly did not carry them out.

I've signed up. I'm still trying to figure out my last keeper, between Lance Berkman, Roger Clemens, and Ben Sheets.

Besides lack of perspective, its worth noting that baseball of the time had no financial difficulties of any sort, which made it all so stupid. At least hockey has an excuse.