Spmusic Mondays: Nothin' Like A Nice, Cool Draft
(1 Cent): Only 43? Ha!
Yes, my boy Kobe had only 43 points yesterday which broke his streak of 50+ point games. Still, it was the 5th win in a row which is the most important thing, right?
It puts the Lakers 6 games above .500 and retains the 6th seed for the playoffs. What's funny is that people are all disappointed, if not a little upset at Kobe for not doing it. I mean, c'mon, people! What he's been doing was amazing. Plus, he helped his team win. The entire Warriors defense was set up to stop Kobe, and they held him to 43 points. Golden State got outrebounded 63-33 because of that defense! They gave up 30 rebounds so Kobe wouldn't score 50 on them ... and they only did it by 7 and lost the game. That's still 13 points above Kobe's season average, which by the way, is #1 in the NBA (at over 30 ppg).
I kind of hate how people (especially people who comment on ESPN sites and other sites) have these ridiculous expectations. If Kobe doesn't score a lot, then he sucks. If he scores a lot, he's a ballhog. If they win, then it's because it's against lesser teams. It's almost as if anything he does, he gets crucified for it. I mean, did we hold Jordan to this standard? No, because there wasn't really anyone before him that the general fan could compare him to. Jordan revived the NBA at a time when it wasn't doing too hot. Now? We've had the Jordan era complete with the Magic and Bird eras ... which means now we have a great, relatively recent history to compare the players now against. Is it Kobe's fault if people keep comparing him to Jordan? Is it Kobe's fault if people have these ludicrous expectations that they didn't even have for Jordan? Kobe's been doings that haven't been done since Wilt Effing Chamberlin! What more do you want?
You can't compare Kobe to Jordan because there's too much difference in the NBA's style of play. Different hand checking rules; they defended one-on-one a lot more back in the day; the defensive strategies are totally more complex now. Plus, are you trying to say that if Kobe didn't have a Pippen on his team, he wouldn't have been just as good? It's all hypothetical.
I mean, give Kobe a Scottie Pippen to guard the other team's best player (which Kobe does himself) and to have that consistent, 2nd solid scoring option; give Kobe a center that doesn't drop the ball or turn it over every other possession (Wennington, Cartwright, Perdue, Longley ... all not scorers or defensive beasts, but did their job and played their role ... and could finish a layup); give Kobe defensive stopper at the PF position like Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman (I mean in their primes, not when Kobe actually did have them like 7 years ago); give Kobe a sharp shooting 3 point specialist like BJ Armstrong, John Paxon or Steve Kerr (and like Derek Fisher 7 years ago when they were winning their 3 championships); give Kobe a competent starting point guard like Ron Harper; give Kobe an awesome sixth-man like Toni Kukoc ....
I mean, crap! Kobe wasn't a ballhog back in the day with Shaq, Glen Rice, Fisher, Rick Fox, Robert Horry and Devean George on his team, among others. Still gave you 5 to 5.5 assists a game and scored in the high twenties (a la 2000-2001 averaging 28.5 ppg with Shaq averaging 28.7 ppg as one example). So, all of a sudden, when you stick Kobe with Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm, Jumaine Jones, Tierre Brown, Stanislav Medvedenko, "The Player Formerly Known As" Brian Grant, Kareem Rush, Von Wafer, Aaron McKie, Laron Profit, Devin Green, Sasha Vujacic, Brian Cook, Smush Parker, Kwame Brown and a 19 year old, 2 year vet of Andrew Bynum you expect Kobe Bryant NOT to shoot? You expect Kobe Bryant to win multiple championships?
It was a miracle (and I mean MIRACLE) that Kobe and Phil Jackson got 45 wins out of these guys last year and extend the so-called "championship calliber" Phoenix Suns to Game 7. It's more of a miracle to have these guys above .500 this year, especially with all the time lost to injuries of Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm and most recently Vladimir Radmanovic and Maurice Evans. Flat out modern-day miracles, my friend. I don't care who you are, no one in history is going to win a lot with the guys Kobe has played with after the "dynasty" -- not even Jordan. Put Kobe on those Bulls teams instead of Jordan, I have a hard time seeing them not winning all 6 ... and I don't see Kobe retiring for 2 years in between the three-peats ... I see 8 championships in a row.
Again, it's all hypothetical. Again, you can't compare Kobe to Jordan because of the different circumstances. All you can do is compare Kobe to the players in his era ... which means there's no comparison. Kobe has been the best player and no one can argue (logically) with that.
(And yes, I realize that this article started out one way and ended up with a different, almost tangetial point ... but that's the beauty of Two And A Half Cents ... it's my gateway to rant and to not have to follow guidelines!)
(2 Cent): Mr. Mosley
So, as I said in an earlier blog entry, my idea was to list my top 10 favorite Hip Hop (Rap & R&B) producers, with each week having a feature on the particular producer. I'll start at the top, with number one and working my way down.
It was pretty hard choosing a number one; I couldn't decide between Timbaland or Dr. Dre. So, what I'm going to do is make them #1a and #1b. The reason I'll start with Timbaland is because I did the only thing you could do when faced with a two-choice dilemma: flip o' the coin.
Going back to the mid 90s, Timbaland was the beatmaster behind a couple of my favorite artists -- and I didn't even know it at the time. If you want to read a little biography about Timbaland, click on the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland
As it says within the aforementioned article, Timbaland just made so many hits for so many artists, that it's crazy. Some people would kill for one hit, but this dude has dozens and dozens. Wikipedia doesn't even list all of the singles he did (which is kinda weird). He's had a big impact on the careers of Missy Elliott, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, Magoo, Bubba Sparxx, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and has made killer tracks for many more artists, too many to mention.
His creativity is off the charts -- his beats are so unique yet you can tell it's him after a few bars. That's the genius of it. He can do beats for Rap, R&B or Pop. He's been in the game for over 15 years and is still making hits, if not more now than then. For me, I can't recall a time that I heard a Timbaland beat and felt disappoint, or felt that it could've been better. He is everything that is right about Hip Hop: beats that actually make you feel something. There's a reason why they call him Timbo The King.
Sample of 10 Songs From Hit List (in no particular order):
-- "Pony" by Ginuwine
-- "Try Again" by Aaliyah
-- "Get Your Freak On" by Missy Elliott
-- "Ugly" by Bubba Sparxxx
-- "Big Pimpin'" by Jay-Z featuring UGK
-- "Is That Your Chick" by Memphis Bleek featuring Jay-Z, Missy Elliott & Twista
-- "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado
-- "Get A Light" by Snoop Dogg featuring Damian Marley
-- "My Love" by Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
-- "Ice Box" by Omarion
----------------
In fact, it's almost a dis to just list 10 songs, because I feel like I'm leaving off about 90 other songs that are just as good if not better. Just know he has more hit songs than you'll live years and he's the man.
My Top Producers List:
1a - Timbaland
(1/2 Cent): Two Teams Is Too Much (Not Really)
The Busdrivers rolled to another victory thanks to the Kobe Show. This week is the last regular season game and next week is when the real season starts. We just need our guys playing at their top level and to not poop out these last couple of weeks.
I'm a little worried because our "10th guy" has been different for about 4 weeks now (ever since Wade got injured ... hmmm ... any correlation?). This week is free agent pick up Devin Harris (DAL, G) who has been playing pretty solidly for the past 3 weeks. I just hope he doesn't pull a Fred Jones and gives me a 5 FP week.
I also picked (back up) Peja Stojakovic (NO, F) because he's supposedly returning from his back surgery and has been practicing and rehabbing for a while. We'll see. If he can put up some decent numbers, he might be my 10th man that I need.
Also, I am mulling over whether or not I should pick up Latrell Sprewell (No Team, F) now or wait until we (might) make the championship game. I think it would make for a great home page article story on our website. Something to the effect of Sprewell coming to the rescue of the Busdrivers, pushes them over the top for the championship game. You see, he's been out of the league for over a year now, because he refused to take a contract extension from his former team (T'Wolves) because he thought the money was too low. He had to "feed his family," which I assume $20 million dollars or so couldn't do. So, he's been out of the league and probably won't return ever again (another year older, no team wants that kind of selfish player). But, the beauty of stupid CBS Sportsline is that he's still someone you can pick up in the free agent list! Which means, I can drop someone (say, Peja) and add him for my bench! Now, I wouldn't start him at all, because that's just putting up a fatty zero for the week ... but how fun would it be to see his name on my team's bench? How cocky/self-assured/prideful would that make me (and J.H.) seem to the rest of the league? That's what I'm about: winning and entertainment. It would certainly amuse me.
At the same time, if I did it and lost, I'd look pretty stupid. That's the risk of it all. Do it and pull it off and be freakin' awesome ... do it and I lose and look like a bafoon. Ahh, fantasy sports! What would I do without you?
Week 21: W - 327.17 to 248.58 ... W-L Record: 18-3 (first in division; first in league)
Week 21 Fantasy Stud: Kobe Bryant (LAL, G) - 59 FP's ... even with Wade healthy, Kobe's numbers would have been the best in the league.
Week 21 Fantasy Dud: Delonte West (BOS, G) - 18 FP's ... he's not going to be dropped, 'cause he can pick it up ... but he's definitely benched (for the said Devin Harris).
-------------
Also, yesterday was our (J.H. and I) fantasy draft for baseball. Methinks the season starts next week or something ... at least that's when it says the first games are played (April 1st, Sunday).
In this league, there are 10 teams with 2 divisions. That's kinda good because last year for CBS SportsCrap, there were 12 teams, which made it slim pickin's in the free agency list. Again, we're doing everything through ESPN now (which makes me wonder why we never did before), so we're not too sure how they're scoring everything. As far as we know, we're going head-to-head in an every category league, which means to me that it puts how many HR's my guys had to how many HR's the opposing team had ... so forth with all the offensive categories.
By the way the boxscore looks, it looks as though there's 5 offensive categories for the position players and 5 for pitchers. But that makes 10. What if I win 5 and he wins 5? Are we going to have a lot of ties for the week? I'm not sure. I'll fill you in as soon as I know.
What I do know is our line-up as of right now (i.e., hopefully I get to make some free agent pick ups by next week). This year we had 7th pick. That's actually one of the lowest picks we've had. Usually we get no lower than 5th (i.e., this current basketball season) and have gotten the #1 pick a lot. No matter ... we still were fortunate enough to pick up Alex Rodriguez (NYY, 3B) (he went #3 last year). We also picked up reigning MVP of the AL Justin Morneau (MIN, 1B). The following is a list of our players. They're not listed in the order that we chose them (because I can't remember).
Team Name: V-Town The Moves (aka V.T.M.)
Players:
Catcher - Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez (DET) ... 2nd year in a row with Pudge; solid batter.
1st Base - Justin Morneau (MIN) ... didn't know about him last year until he won MVP.
2nd Base - Robinson Cano (NYY) ... batted .342 last year and is getting better.
Shortstop - Julio Lugo (BOS) ... hopefully can get us some runs batting in the Red Sox line-up.
3rd Base - Alex Rodriguez (NYY) ... after an "off" year, we hope he's MVP ready again.
Outfield 1 - Jermaine Dye (CWS) ... 2nd year with Dye; hope he hits another 44 HR's.
Outfield 2 - Torii Hunter (MIN) ... nothin' flashy but hopefully can repeat solid year.
Outfield 3 - Raul Ibanez (SEA) ... not the most well known man, but 33 HR's and 123 RBI's from last year is making me optimistic.
Utility (DH) - Todd Helton (COL) ... hopefully has a bounce back year a la Jim Thome of '06.
Pitcher 1 - Carlos Zambrano (CHC) ... maybe new Cubs offense produces even more W's.
Pitcher 2 - Barry Zito (SF) ... we think the move to the NL will make Zito even better.
Pitcher 3 - Jason Schmidt (LAD) ... remember my 'Cent' about him? 'Nuff said.
Pitcher 4 - Dan Haren (OAK) ... in the words of J.H., "He's supposed to be good." What more do you need than that?
Pitcher 5 - Jonathan Papelbon (BOS) ... in Spanish, his last name means "bon of paper" ... he also had an ERA under 1.00 last year.
Pitcher 6 - Bobby Jenks (CWS) ... his 41 saves and 81 strikeouts from '06 has me giddy.
Bench
Mark DeRosa (CHC, 2B, 3B, OF) ... a late pick up of the FA list last year, we like him because he can fill many holes (eeww) in case of injury to 3 positions.
Russell Martin (LAD, C) ... supposed to have a really solid year, batting 6th for the playoff favored Dodgers ... great backup for Pudge or the Utility position.
Brad Penny (LAD, SP) ... after we picked him, we figured out he has a little flair up in his pitching shoulder ... we haven't heard if it's serious, though ... 2nd year on our team, was out best pitcher last year.
Josh Beckett (BOS, SP) ... don't know why he slipped this low ... was supposed to be the next ace for the Sox ... he's had a great spring training (which doesn't mean jack, I know ... but better than him sucking it up, right?).
DL
Pedro Martinez (NYM, SP) ... is supposed to come back in July or August ... can be an ace pitcher when healthy.
-----------
We should have one more spot open (because the DL takes the place of an injured guy, which opens up one more spot on the bench). We're going for Jon Garland (CWS, SP) who won 18 games last year and was on our team before (another FA pick up). One more fool we're watching is Johnny Peralta (CLE, SS) who was mired in a season-long slump last year, but is figured to bounce back (we'll see 'bout that).
-----------
Welp, that's today blog ... longer than the previews for a new movie. Check back this Friday and make sure you write your comments and questions by clicking the Comments link below or writing to HCP2007@gmail.com.
Oh, and P.S. ... the spell check button doesn't work, so if you find mistakes, my bad. C'mon, Google! Get wit' it!
HCP
Yes, my boy Kobe had only 43 points yesterday which broke his streak of 50+ point games. Still, it was the 5th win in a row which is the most important thing, right?
It puts the Lakers 6 games above .500 and retains the 6th seed for the playoffs. What's funny is that people are all disappointed, if not a little upset at Kobe for not doing it. I mean, c'mon, people! What he's been doing was amazing. Plus, he helped his team win. The entire Warriors defense was set up to stop Kobe, and they held him to 43 points. Golden State got outrebounded 63-33 because of that defense! They gave up 30 rebounds so Kobe wouldn't score 50 on them ... and they only did it by 7 and lost the game. That's still 13 points above Kobe's season average, which by the way, is #1 in the NBA (at over 30 ppg).
I kind of hate how people (especially people who comment on ESPN sites and other sites) have these ridiculous expectations. If Kobe doesn't score a lot, then he sucks. If he scores a lot, he's a ballhog. If they win, then it's because it's against lesser teams. It's almost as if anything he does, he gets crucified for it. I mean, did we hold Jordan to this standard? No, because there wasn't really anyone before him that the general fan could compare him to. Jordan revived the NBA at a time when it wasn't doing too hot. Now? We've had the Jordan era complete with the Magic and Bird eras ... which means now we have a great, relatively recent history to compare the players now against. Is it Kobe's fault if people keep comparing him to Jordan? Is it Kobe's fault if people have these ludicrous expectations that they didn't even have for Jordan? Kobe's been doings that haven't been done since Wilt Effing Chamberlin! What more do you want?
You can't compare Kobe to Jordan because there's too much difference in the NBA's style of play. Different hand checking rules; they defended one-on-one a lot more back in the day; the defensive strategies are totally more complex now. Plus, are you trying to say that if Kobe didn't have a Pippen on his team, he wouldn't have been just as good? It's all hypothetical.
I mean, give Kobe a Scottie Pippen to guard the other team's best player (which Kobe does himself) and to have that consistent, 2nd solid scoring option; give Kobe a center that doesn't drop the ball or turn it over every other possession (Wennington, Cartwright, Perdue, Longley ... all not scorers or defensive beasts, but did their job and played their role ... and could finish a layup); give Kobe defensive stopper at the PF position like Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman (I mean in their primes, not when Kobe actually did have them like 7 years ago); give Kobe a sharp shooting 3 point specialist like BJ Armstrong, John Paxon or Steve Kerr (and like Derek Fisher 7 years ago when they were winning their 3 championships); give Kobe a competent starting point guard like Ron Harper; give Kobe an awesome sixth-man like Toni Kukoc ....
I mean, crap! Kobe wasn't a ballhog back in the day with Shaq, Glen Rice, Fisher, Rick Fox, Robert Horry and Devean George on his team, among others. Still gave you 5 to 5.5 assists a game and scored in the high twenties (a la 2000-2001 averaging 28.5 ppg with Shaq averaging 28.7 ppg as one example). So, all of a sudden, when you stick Kobe with Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm, Jumaine Jones, Tierre Brown, Stanislav Medvedenko, "The Player Formerly Known As" Brian Grant, Kareem Rush, Von Wafer, Aaron McKie, Laron Profit, Devin Green, Sasha Vujacic, Brian Cook, Smush Parker, Kwame Brown and a 19 year old, 2 year vet of Andrew Bynum you expect Kobe Bryant NOT to shoot? You expect Kobe Bryant to win multiple championships?
It was a miracle (and I mean MIRACLE) that Kobe and Phil Jackson got 45 wins out of these guys last year and extend the so-called "championship calliber" Phoenix Suns to Game 7. It's more of a miracle to have these guys above .500 this year, especially with all the time lost to injuries of Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm and most recently Vladimir Radmanovic and Maurice Evans. Flat out modern-day miracles, my friend. I don't care who you are, no one in history is going to win a lot with the guys Kobe has played with after the "dynasty" -- not even Jordan. Put Kobe on those Bulls teams instead of Jordan, I have a hard time seeing them not winning all 6 ... and I don't see Kobe retiring for 2 years in between the three-peats ... I see 8 championships in a row.
Again, it's all hypothetical. Again, you can't compare Kobe to Jordan because of the different circumstances. All you can do is compare Kobe to the players in his era ... which means there's no comparison. Kobe has been the best player and no one can argue (logically) with that.
(And yes, I realize that this article started out one way and ended up with a different, almost tangetial point ... but that's the beauty of Two And A Half Cents ... it's my gateway to rant and to not have to follow guidelines!)
(2 Cent): Mr. Mosley
So, as I said in an earlier blog entry, my idea was to list my top 10 favorite Hip Hop (Rap & R&B) producers, with each week having a feature on the particular producer. I'll start at the top, with number one and working my way down.
It was pretty hard choosing a number one; I couldn't decide between Timbaland or Dr. Dre. So, what I'm going to do is make them #1a and #1b. The reason I'll start with Timbaland is because I did the only thing you could do when faced with a two-choice dilemma: flip o' the coin.
Going back to the mid 90s, Timbaland was the beatmaster behind a couple of my favorite artists -- and I didn't even know it at the time. If you want to read a little biography about Timbaland, click on the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland
As it says within the aforementioned article, Timbaland just made so many hits for so many artists, that it's crazy. Some people would kill for one hit, but this dude has dozens and dozens. Wikipedia doesn't even list all of the singles he did (which is kinda weird). He's had a big impact on the careers of Missy Elliott, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, Magoo, Bubba Sparxx, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and has made killer tracks for many more artists, too many to mention.
His creativity is off the charts -- his beats are so unique yet you can tell it's him after a few bars. That's the genius of it. He can do beats for Rap, R&B or Pop. He's been in the game for over 15 years and is still making hits, if not more now than then. For me, I can't recall a time that I heard a Timbaland beat and felt disappoint, or felt that it could've been better. He is everything that is right about Hip Hop: beats that actually make you feel something. There's a reason why they call him Timbo The King.
Sample of 10 Songs From Hit List (in no particular order):
-- "Pony" by Ginuwine
-- "Try Again" by Aaliyah
-- "Get Your Freak On" by Missy Elliott
-- "Ugly" by Bubba Sparxxx
-- "Big Pimpin'" by Jay-Z featuring UGK
-- "Is That Your Chick" by Memphis Bleek featuring Jay-Z, Missy Elliott & Twista
-- "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado
-- "Get A Light" by Snoop Dogg featuring Damian Marley
-- "My Love" by Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
-- "Ice Box" by Omarion
----------------
In fact, it's almost a dis to just list 10 songs, because I feel like I'm leaving off about 90 other songs that are just as good if not better. Just know he has more hit songs than you'll live years and he's the man.
My Top Producers List:
1a - Timbaland
(1/2 Cent): Two Teams Is Too Much (Not Really)
The Busdrivers rolled to another victory thanks to the Kobe Show. This week is the last regular season game and next week is when the real season starts. We just need our guys playing at their top level and to not poop out these last couple of weeks.
I'm a little worried because our "10th guy" has been different for about 4 weeks now (ever since Wade got injured ... hmmm ... any correlation?). This week is free agent pick up Devin Harris (DAL, G) who has been playing pretty solidly for the past 3 weeks. I just hope he doesn't pull a Fred Jones and gives me a 5 FP week.
I also picked (back up) Peja Stojakovic (NO, F) because he's supposedly returning from his back surgery and has been practicing and rehabbing for a while. We'll see. If he can put up some decent numbers, he might be my 10th man that I need.
Also, I am mulling over whether or not I should pick up Latrell Sprewell (No Team, F) now or wait until we (might) make the championship game. I think it would make for a great home page article story on our website. Something to the effect of Sprewell coming to the rescue of the Busdrivers, pushes them over the top for the championship game. You see, he's been out of the league for over a year now, because he refused to take a contract extension from his former team (T'Wolves) because he thought the money was too low. He had to "feed his family," which I assume $20 million dollars or so couldn't do. So, he's been out of the league and probably won't return ever again (another year older, no team wants that kind of selfish player). But, the beauty of stupid CBS Sportsline is that he's still someone you can pick up in the free agent list! Which means, I can drop someone (say, Peja) and add him for my bench! Now, I wouldn't start him at all, because that's just putting up a fatty zero for the week ... but how fun would it be to see his name on my team's bench? How cocky/self-assured/prideful would that make me (and J.H.) seem to the rest of the league? That's what I'm about: winning and entertainment. It would certainly amuse me.
At the same time, if I did it and lost, I'd look pretty stupid. That's the risk of it all. Do it and pull it off and be freakin' awesome ... do it and I lose and look like a bafoon. Ahh, fantasy sports! What would I do without you?
Week 21: W - 327.17 to 248.58 ... W-L Record: 18-3 (first in division; first in league)
Week 21 Fantasy Stud: Kobe Bryant (LAL, G) - 59 FP's ... even with Wade healthy, Kobe's numbers would have been the best in the league.
Week 21 Fantasy Dud: Delonte West (BOS, G) - 18 FP's ... he's not going to be dropped, 'cause he can pick it up ... but he's definitely benched (for the said Devin Harris).
-------------
Also, yesterday was our (J.H. and I) fantasy draft for baseball. Methinks the season starts next week or something ... at least that's when it says the first games are played (April 1st, Sunday).
In this league, there are 10 teams with 2 divisions. That's kinda good because last year for CBS SportsCrap, there were 12 teams, which made it slim pickin's in the free agency list. Again, we're doing everything through ESPN now (which makes me wonder why we never did before), so we're not too sure how they're scoring everything. As far as we know, we're going head-to-head in an every category league, which means to me that it puts how many HR's my guys had to how many HR's the opposing team had ... so forth with all the offensive categories.
By the way the boxscore looks, it looks as though there's 5 offensive categories for the position players and 5 for pitchers. But that makes 10. What if I win 5 and he wins 5? Are we going to have a lot of ties for the week? I'm not sure. I'll fill you in as soon as I know.
What I do know is our line-up as of right now (i.e., hopefully I get to make some free agent pick ups by next week). This year we had 7th pick. That's actually one of the lowest picks we've had. Usually we get no lower than 5th (i.e., this current basketball season) and have gotten the #1 pick a lot. No matter ... we still were fortunate enough to pick up Alex Rodriguez (NYY, 3B) (he went #3 last year). We also picked up reigning MVP of the AL Justin Morneau (MIN, 1B). The following is a list of our players. They're not listed in the order that we chose them (because I can't remember).
Team Name: V-Town The Moves (aka V.T.M.)
Players:
Catcher - Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez (DET) ... 2nd year in a row with Pudge; solid batter.
1st Base - Justin Morneau (MIN) ... didn't know about him last year until he won MVP.
2nd Base - Robinson Cano (NYY) ... batted .342 last year and is getting better.
Shortstop - Julio Lugo (BOS) ... hopefully can get us some runs batting in the Red Sox line-up.
3rd Base - Alex Rodriguez (NYY) ... after an "off" year, we hope he's MVP ready again.
Outfield 1 - Jermaine Dye (CWS) ... 2nd year with Dye; hope he hits another 44 HR's.
Outfield 2 - Torii Hunter (MIN) ... nothin' flashy but hopefully can repeat solid year.
Outfield 3 - Raul Ibanez (SEA) ... not the most well known man, but 33 HR's and 123 RBI's from last year is making me optimistic.
Utility (DH) - Todd Helton (COL) ... hopefully has a bounce back year a la Jim Thome of '06.
Pitcher 1 - Carlos Zambrano (CHC) ... maybe new Cubs offense produces even more W's.
Pitcher 2 - Barry Zito (SF) ... we think the move to the NL will make Zito even better.
Pitcher 3 - Jason Schmidt (LAD) ... remember my 'Cent' about him? 'Nuff said.
Pitcher 4 - Dan Haren (OAK) ... in the words of J.H., "He's supposed to be good." What more do you need than that?
Pitcher 5 - Jonathan Papelbon (BOS) ... in Spanish, his last name means "bon of paper" ... he also had an ERA under 1.00 last year.
Pitcher 6 - Bobby Jenks (CWS) ... his 41 saves and 81 strikeouts from '06 has me giddy.
Bench
Mark DeRosa (CHC, 2B, 3B, OF) ... a late pick up of the FA list last year, we like him because he can fill many holes (eeww) in case of injury to 3 positions.
Russell Martin (LAD, C) ... supposed to have a really solid year, batting 6th for the playoff favored Dodgers ... great backup for Pudge or the Utility position.
Brad Penny (LAD, SP) ... after we picked him, we figured out he has a little flair up in his pitching shoulder ... we haven't heard if it's serious, though ... 2nd year on our team, was out best pitcher last year.
Josh Beckett (BOS, SP) ... don't know why he slipped this low ... was supposed to be the next ace for the Sox ... he's had a great spring training (which doesn't mean jack, I know ... but better than him sucking it up, right?).
DL
Pedro Martinez (NYM, SP) ... is supposed to come back in July or August ... can be an ace pitcher when healthy.
-----------
We should have one more spot open (because the DL takes the place of an injured guy, which opens up one more spot on the bench). We're going for Jon Garland (CWS, SP) who won 18 games last year and was on our team before (another FA pick up). One more fool we're watching is Johnny Peralta (CLE, SS) who was mired in a season-long slump last year, but is figured to bounce back (we'll see 'bout that).
-----------
Welp, that's today blog ... longer than the previews for a new movie. Check back this Friday and make sure you write your comments and questions by clicking the Comments link below or writing to HCP2007@gmail.com.
Oh, and P.S. ... the spell check button doesn't work, so if you find mistakes, my bad. C'mon, Google! Get wit' it!
HCP
posted by HCP @ 11:23 AM
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