Sunday, March 31, 2013

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/fantasy-roto-arcade/shuffle-starting-pitchers-exhuming-mccarthy-034125648--fantasy.html

Shuffle Up, Starting Pitchers: Exhuming McCarthy

By | Roto Arcade – Tue, Mar 26, 2013 11:41 PM EDT
Arizona getaway, getaway
Alright, amigos, let's get to the prices on the mound. Here's how I rank the Top 90 arms or so for the 2013 season, 5x5.
Players at the same prices are considered even. Don't worry about the numbers in an isolated sense; what matters is how the players relate to one another. I reserve the right to tweak the list as the evening goes along. Win the debate, win the rank.
[Bracket busted? Try again with Second Chance Tourney Pick'em!]
And remember the golden rule: a player doesn't gain 15-20 percent of bonus value simply because you roster him.
I'm sure there's more to the preamble but it's not coming to mind right now. Let's get to it.
$33 Clayton Kershaw
$32 Justin Verlander
$30 Stephen Strasburg
$29 Cole Hamels
$27 Cliff Lee
$26 David Price
$25 Matt Cain
As terrific as the Top 3 pitchers are, I'm fine to sit back and try to get Hamels at a nicer price (Yahoo! ADP: 33.8). Consider his Three-Year averages: 2.95 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 207 strikeouts; that's not too far from what we might expect from the holy trinity. And don't let the home ballpark throw you at all: Hamels posted better numbers in Philly for each of the past two seasons. Hamels doesn't turn 30 until December, so everything falls nicely into line here.
$23 R.A. Dickey
$23 Felix Hernandez
$23 Adam Wainwright
$22 Yu Darvish
$22 Madison Bumgarner
$21 Gio Gonzalez
$21 CC Sabathia
$20 Jered Weaver
$20 Chris Sale
$20 Johnny Cueto
$19 Max Scherzer
$19 Yovani Gallardo
$19 Zack Greinke
$19 Mat Latos
$19 Jordan Zimmermann
$19 Kris Medlen
Most other years I'd have Weaver a lot higher – extreme fly-ball pitchers tend to be underrated, as Gene McCaffrey has always said – but Weaver's velocity and strikeouts dropped last year and he's had trouble succeeding on the road. I'm not discounting him, but I'm no longer targeting him.
[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports: Join a league today!]
$17 Brandon Morrow
$17 Josh Johnson
$17 Matt Moore
$17 Jeff Samardzija
$17 James Shields
$16 Ian Kennedy
$15 Jon Lester
$14 Anibal Sanchez
$14 Jake Peavy
$14 Tim Lincecum
$14 Doug Fister
$13 Homer Bailey
$13 Jonathon Niese
$13 Mike Minor
There was plenty of Bailey hype early in his career, so it's easy to forget he doesn't turn 27 until May. If you rank all of roto's starting pitchers for their road-only starts in 2012, Bailey surprisingly grades out first. That's not going to help him in Cincinnati's cozy ballpark, of course, but given the mild upgrade most teams get when they play at home, perhaps we'll see more balance (and better overall returns) in 2013. (And yes, once and for all – Bailey over Jennifer.)
Why isn't Peavy higher? Simple case here: it's about durability. Peavy didn't get to 20 starts in any of the three seasons before 2012, and even his 2008 campaign was capped at 27 starts and 173.2 innings. He has a 4.08 ERA for his career at U.S. Cellular, though it's tied to a 1.15 WHIP. Someone in the room wants him more than I do, and I'm fine with that.
$12 Matt Harvey
$11 Ryan Vogelsong
$11 Lance Lynn
$11 Hiroki Kuroda
$11 C.J. Wilson
$10 Alex Cobb
$10 Jeremy Hellickson
$10 A.J. Burnett
$10 Trevor Cahill
$10 Wade Miley
I'm going to go down as a Cahill apologist for a while, I suppose. The walk and strikeout rates are moving in the right direction, the ground-ball clip is dreamy, and he just turned 25. He's still got a level to climb for us.
$9 Jarrod Parker
$9 Brandon McCarthy
$9 Derek Holland
$8 Edwin Jackson
$8 Dan Haren
$7 Matt Garza
$7 Josh Beckett
$6 Brett Anderson
$6 Ryan Dempster
$6 Jason Hammel
$6 Tommy Milone
$6 Wandy Rodriguez
I can't help but root for the McCarthy story. He's coming back from a scary injury; he's smart; he's an engaging follow on Twitter (the best of all the baseball follows, at least from what I've seen). McCarthy's strikeout rate has never been outstanding but it's just about guaranteed to get a spike in the National League, and we know he hardly walks anyone. He doesn't turn 30 until July. Plausible upside is here, let's write a ticket.
I'm not touching Haren this year at that price, obviously. His back problems from last year could be a chronic thing, and he's been throwing batting practice this spring (6.39 ERA, seven homers, albeit with a tidy K/BB rate). I know you're not supposed to put a lot of stock into March performances from established players, but after Haren's 2012 season, I want to see reasons for optimism. He's all yours.
$5 James McDonald
$5 Marco Estrada
$5 Chris Tillman
$5 Hisashi Iwakuma
$5 Phil Hughes
$5 Matt Harrison
$5 Roy Halladay
$5 Clay Buchholz
$4 Jaime Garcia
$4 Julio Teheran
$4 Kyle Lohse
$4 Alexi Ogando
McDonald's nightmarish second half left a scar, sure, but we can't ignore what he did in the first half (nine wins, 100 strikeouts, 2.37/0.97). He's entering his Age-28 season. I welcome him to the back end of my rotations, as a short-leash lottery ticket.
$3 Dillon Gee
$3 Daniel Straily
$3 Mike Fiers
$3 Andrew Cashner
$3 A.J. Griffin
$3 Wei-Yin Chen
$3 Paul Maholm
$3 Rick Porcello
$2 Tim Hudson
$2 Jason Vargas
$2 Hyun-Jin Ryu
All winter I waited and hoped for the Tigers to ship Porcello to an NL club – what good is a ground-ball pitcher in front of Detroit's current infield? Alas, Porcello isn't going anywhere, and maybe that's a good thing as he steps into his Age-24 season. He's been a marvel in spring training (21 strikeouts and zero walks over 24 innings) and let's not forget there's a first-round pedigree here. Keep an open mind, gamers. … Maholm and Vargas are two of my favorite "just don't mess things up" options for the back end of deeper-league rotations. Both pitchers figure to get plenty of help from an outstanding outfield defense.
$1 Shaun Marcum
$1 Andy Pettitte
$1 Ross Detwiler
$1 Vance Worley
$1 Shelby Miller
$1 Jeff Niemann
$1 Mark Buehrle
$1 Chris Capuano
$0 Tommy Hanson
$0 Francisco Liriano
$-1 Ubaldo Jimenez
It's going to be a while before I can trust Jimenez again. Even if the fastball velocity makes a comeback, there's the matter of those messy mechanics – over the past few years, no two consecutive deliveries were ever alike. You can't pitch like that and be successful.

Where will Roy Halladay finish among starters in '13 fantasy rank?

12,242 people have responded

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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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Sunday, August 12, 2012

Steve Henson
Steve Henson
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/athletics-giants-coliseum-move-san-jose-jemile-weeks-bud-selig-new-ballpark-stadium.html
Yahoo! Expert

A's move from Oakland to San Jose can't get traction because the Giants prove slippery

Wed, Aug 8, 2012 9:45 PM EDT
OAKLAND – We all know glass half-full and glass half-empty people. Jemile Weeks is a stadium half-full ballplayer. The Athletics second baseman doesn't see the thousands of empty green seats every game at the Coliseum.
"I see the diehard fans," he said. "When we get something going, they make the place sound and feel like a full house."
That doesn't mean Weeks, and everyone else on the A's, wouldn't welcome a new stadium. They've been pining for, planning for and pursuing one for years. But the obstacles are daunting.
"This might be the most difficult decision in baseball history because of the circumstances," said one MLB executive.The Oakland A's had a phenomenal July, going 19-5. (AP)
The need is obvious. The Coliseum is serviceable – for the NFL's Oakland Raiders. It's not a baseball stadium; it's a cold and cavernous mass of concrete, the dugouts seem acres away from the foul lines, and fans even at field level could use binoculars. The outfield bleachers are so far from the action they might as well be in Berkeley.
And, of course, the decrepit structure is in a town where the money isn't.
They want to move 40 miles south of San Francisco to San Jose, where digital dollars abound, luxury boxes would sell and a new venue would be built solely for baseball.
Yet it's like somebody looking into his neighbor's well-appointed back yard and saying he'd like to pitch a tent and move his family there. The neighbor would take issue with that.
In this case the neighbor is the San Francisco Giants. They point out San Jose is in their backyard, that a significant portion of their attendance and revenues comes directly from San Jose and the well-heeled towns nearby.
And furthermore, the current Giants ownership focused on creating a fan base in the San Jose area when the team was purchased in the early 1990s and considered moving 40 miles south from old Candlestick Park. The A's, thinking they might have the Bay Area to themselves, told them to go ahead. The Giants succeeded in spreading their brand and found a way to get a new ballpark built in San Francisco. Now they are going to allow the A's to pitch their tent in San Jose? They think not.
A baseball source said the Giants aren't even negotiating the issue, although talks could restart any time.

[Related: Rockies try another gimmick to help pitching and again fail]

So on one hand, the A's need to move to survive – they already have the second-lowest payroll in baseball. On the other, the only place that makes sense for them to move is off limits.
"We're talking about two immovable objects," the MLB executive said.
That's why it's taking so long. Commissioner Bud Selig appointed a committee in 2009 to come up with a plan for the A's to move, but 41 months later the committee isn't close to a decision. It would take a vote of 75 percent of the owners to overturn the Giants' claim to San Jose. And Selig is uneasy about what the Giants would do if a vote was taken and it went the A's way.
The Giants have attorneys close to their ownership group who made millions trying eminent domain cases. Owners agree not to sue MLB under any circumstances, but in that regard this could be ground-breaking if the A's are allowed to break ground in San Jose.
"Some people believe the Giants would sue, other don't think so," the MLB executive said.

[Related: Carter's homer caps 5-run sixth as A's beat Angels]

Oddly, the A's outstanding season might work against owner Lew Wolff's negotiating leverage for the new stadium. When it comes to bringing this to a vote of owners, he wants to cry poor. A pennant race that triggers increased attendance and potential playoff revenues would weaken his case.
Wolff's status as Selig's old Wisconsin fraternity brother doesn't appear to be getting him favoritism. But Wolff is careful not to say anything disparaging about his longtime friend. Getting this team to San Jose would be his crowning achievement, and at age 76, he can't wait forever.
No other location will do in Wolff's estimation. He rebuffed stadium proposals by Oakland and Sacramento. If another city in the 50 states could definitely support an MLB team, the Tampa Bay Rays would already have moved there.
So Wolff dreams of the A's becoming the darlings of Silicon Valley, the team of Google and Facebook and Yahoo! and whoever makes the next big idea a lucrative reality. Securing venture capital for a start-up to sell popsicles online to Eskimos would be easier to accomplish.A's owner Lew Wolff can't find the way to San Jose. (US Presswire)
The A's have surprised everyone with their outstanding play, improving to 60-51 after Wednesday's 9-8 victory over the Angels, who trail the A's by 1½ games despite having nearly three times the payroll. A's general manager Billy Beane continues to build and maintain his roster in innovative ways. But attendance remains modest: Only 21,150 showed up Wednesday, slightly more than average. Only the Cleveland Indians draw fewer fans than the A's.
Players can't help but wonder what a new stadium might do. Certainly increased revenue would have enabled them to add a player or two at the trading deadline instead of standing pat. But this bunch is going about its business, winning more than anyone anticipated and remaining oblivious to the empty seats.
"Some folks struggle just to come up with the money to come to a ballgame," Weeks said. "I'm playing for them right now. We'll see what the future brings."http://sports.yahoo.com/news/athletics-giants-coliseum-move-san-jose-jemile-weeks-bud-selig-new-ballpark-stadium.html
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The Sad State Of Baseball Economics

http://zkonedog.mlblogs.com/2009/11/24/the-sad-state-of-baseball-economics/

The Sad State Of Baseball Economics

mmw_baseball_101608_article.jpgAfter watching my beloved Minnesota Twins got stomped by the New York Yankees in the first round of the playoffs this past season, and then seeing Cleveland-bred C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee pitch the Yanks and Phillies into the World Series, I believe that now is the time for me to comment on the sad economic state of baseball these days. This has always been a very hot-button topic for me (as I root for the small-market Twins), so I would like to take a few moments to explain why the current system is broken and what can be done to fix it:
Basically, the problem started way back in the 1900s, when both the American and National Leagues were first established.
mathewson-ruth-wagner-cobb-johnson.jpg Instead of free agency, there was something called the reserve clause, which was essentially a legal precedent that baseball used to keep players on one team until their owner decided differently. The players were treated not too much different from a cattle-range steer, to be bought and sold as commodities. It wasn’t, by any means, the greatest system in the world (as the only option a player had to fight against an unfair salary, which were very common in those days when most owners made Carl Pohlad look like the Monopoly Guy, was to quit playing altogether), but it did help the competitive balance of the game, allowing all teams (if managed/owned sensibly) to have a shot at competing for a championship.
That all changed in the 1970s when Curt Flood of the St. Louis Cardinals challenged the reserve clause all the way to the Supreme Court.
curtflood.jpg
Though Flood didn’t actually win his case, he shed so much light on the matter that a free agency sytem was quickly established by MLB. During the 1980s, the system actually worked like it was supposed to…players had better rights, AND the game was still competitive. But, starting in the mid-1990s, salaries began exploding (along with the economy) and suddenly the system was skewered. Teams in huge economic markets like New York, Los Angeles, and Boston were able to throw huge wads of cash in the pockets of all the top free agents, all but assuring there services. Sometimes, in the case of Ted Turner’s Atlanta Braves, all it took was an incredibly rich owner to give a team a distinct advantage.
Those big markets had (and continue to have) such an advantage for a few different reasons: First and foremost is the fact that, just by sheer geography, a team like the Yankees can much more easily fill their ballpark every night than, say, the Twins can out here in Minny. Also, teams on both coasts have established their own TV networks (YES Network for the Yankees and NESN for the Red Sox), which bring in enormous profits compared to what the Twins get from Fox Sports North.
After about ten years of this broken system, when the same teams started making the playoffs year in and year out, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig established the “luxury tax” system into the game. Essentially, this is known as the Robin Hood system, as it robs from the rich to give to the poor.
RH_RobinHood_1024x768.jpg
This has helped a little bit (e.g. the Twins signed Justin Morneau to a long-term deal and have at least a shot at doing the same with Joe Mauer), but it din’t get to the root of the problem, as teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and Mets can continue to reach into their deep pockets to get the best players. Essentially, they are saying “luxury tax be damned” and just paying the fine for going over the payroll limit. This is evidenced very toughly for Twins fans by these two photos:
HunterAngels.jpg
johan-santana.jpgThe Twins gave very decent offers to both Torii Hunter and Johan Santana, but couldn’t come close to matching the amount of years the Halos offered Hunter or the sheer dollar amount the Mets dangled in front of Santana. Another obvious example was the beginning of this season, when the Yankees went out and got C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, while the biggest moves the Twins made was signing Nick Punto, bringing in R.A. Dickey (what a joke) and getting a Joe Crede whose back was so bad that he essentially a non-factor. Those “moves” were all we could afford. Imagine how different the 2009 ALDS might have been if Hunter had been patrolling the outfield instead of Delmon Young, or if Santana had made the Game One start instead of Brian Duensing.
Now, to be fair, there are some criticisms of instituting a salary cap into MLB, but I would like to give my rebuttal to two of them:
1. Why should the Yankees be penalized for running an efficent system? It seems as if Yankee fans could just criticize Carl Pohlad for being a tightwad all those years and not spending money to improve his team, but that really isn’t a fair criticism. First of all, George Steinbrenner isn’t really spending much (if any) of his OWN MONEY on the Yankees, instead relying on seemingly endless revenue streams based on his sheer geography. Without those streams, other owners (like the Pohlad family) would be dipping into their own personal reserves, which would be like you paying for your office supplies/furnishings or me paying for Wal-Mart shelf labels.
Secondly, then, is that if teams know they can’t spend with the Yankees, then why even try? The Twins know that, under the current economic system, they are already beaten in trying to sign free agents, so instead we save our money to try and lock up as many of our good players as possible (which, in this age of inflated salaries, is fewer and fewer each season).
2. The second criticism of the the salary cap is that it really isn’t needed, due to the fact that the 1998-2000 championship run of the Yankees was accomplished primarily with home-grown players like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posade, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera.
jeter-rivera-pettitte-jorge-300x199.jpg
That may be true, but funny how those great players STILL WEAR YANKEE PINSTRIPES! Instead of losing those great players to a higher bidder, the Yanks can just keep them. Plus, whether the free agents work out (Jimmy Key, Paul O’Neill, Johnny Damon, Sabathia, etc.) or flop (Kevin Brown, Chuck Knoblauch, Carl Pavano), the Yanks can just “pay through” and be done with it. If the Twins make a mistake in signing the wrong player to an expensive contract, it would hamper the organization for a decade.
Thus, until MLB institutes a salary cap like the NFL and NBA (to a certain extent) have in place, the economics of the game will remain skewered towards the large markets, and that severely troubles me. I consider baseball to be my favorite sport, the one that captivated me as a child and still does to this day, but right now the NFL is gaining ground and fast due to the fact that in the NFL setup, all teams have a chance to be competitive. It is only through bad ownership (Al Davis, Matt Millen, etc.) that teams completely fail.
I know that this situation isn’t likely to change anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that it is right or correct. Until Bud Selig can take charge of the National Pastime like he should and not just cater to the owners, the Yankees will continue to unfairly dominate the Twins for years and years to come.
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http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/

National League
EastWLPCTGBE#WCGBL10STRKHOMEROADLAST GAMENEXT GAME
NY Yankees6746.593---7-3W434-2233-248/11 @ TOR, W 5-28/12 @ TOR, 1:07 PM
Tampa Bay6152.5406.044-8-2W532-2729-258/11 @ MIN, W 4-28/12 @ MIN, 2:10 PM
Baltimore6153.5356.5430.56-4L129-2832-258/11 vs KC, L 3-78/12 vs KC, 1:35 PM
Boston5659.48712.0376.03-7L129-3427-258/11 @ CLE, L 2-58/12 @ CLE, 1:05 PM
Toronto5360.46914.0368.02-8L528-2525-358/11 vs NYY, L 2-58/12 vs NYY, 1:07 PM
CentralWLPCTGBE#WCGBL10STRKHOMEROADLAST GAMENEXT GAME
Chi White Sox6151.545---6-4L131-2630-258/11 vs OAK, L 7-98/12 vs OAK, 2:10 PM
Detroit6153.5351.0490.57-3L133-2328-308/11 @ TEX, L 1-28/12 @ TEX, 3:05 PM
Cleveland5361.4659.0418.53-7W130-2823-338/11 vs BOS, W 5-28/12 vs BOS, 1:05 PM
Kansas City4964.43412.53812.06-4W121-3228-328/11 @ BAL, W 7-38/12 @ BAL, 1:35 PM
Minnesota4964.43412.53812.05-5L323-3426-308/11 vs TB, L 2-48/12 vs TB, 2:10 PM
WestWLPCTGBE#WCGBL10STRKHOMEROADLAST GAMENEXT GAME
Texas6646.589---7-3W135-2231-248/11 vs DET, W 2-18/12 vs DET, 3:05 PM
Oakland6152.5405.545-5-5W134-2627-268/11 @ CWS, W 9-78/12 @ CWS, 2:10 PM
LA Angels6054.5267.0431.53-7L131-2329-318/11 vs SEA, L 4-78/12 vs SEA, 3:35 PM
Seattle5263.45215.53410.04-6W125-2927-348/11 @ LAA, W 7-48/12 @ LAA, 3:35 PM

National League
EastWLPCTGBE#WCGBL10STRKHOMEROADLAST GAMENEXT GAME
Washington7143.623---9-1W832-2239-218/11 @ ARI, W 6-58/12 @ ARI, 4:10 PM
Atlanta6647.5844.545-7-3W332-2634-218/11 @ NYM, W 9-38/12 @ NYM, 8:00 PM
NY Mets5460.47417.0329.54-6L227-3027-308/11 vs ATL, L 3-98/12 vs ATL, 8:00 PM
Miami5262.45619.03011.54-6W128-2824-348/11 vs LAD, W 7-38/12 vs LAD, 1:10 PM
Philadelphia5162.45119.53012.05-5L125-3326-298/11 vs STL, L 1-48/12 vs STL, 1:35 PM
CentralWLPCTGBE#WCGBL10STRKHOMEROADLAST GAMENEXT GAME
Cincinnati6846.596---5-5W236-2032-268/11 @ CHC, W 4-28/12 @ CHC, 2:20 PM
Pittsburgh6350.5584.545-4-6L335-2028-308/11 vs SD, L 0-58/12 vs SD, 1:35 PM
St. Louis6252.5446.0431.56-4W134-2328-298/11 @ PHI, W 4-18/12 @ PHI, 1:35 PM
Milwaukee5161.45516.03411.55-5L233-2618-358/11 @ HOU, L 5-68/12 @ HOU, 2:05 PM
Chi Cubs4468.39323.02718.51-9L228-2616-428/11 vs CIN, L 2-48/12 vs CIN, 2:20 PM
Houston3877.33030.51826.03-7W227-3111-468/11 vs MIL, W 6-58/12 vs MIL, 2:05 PM
WestWLPCTGBE#WCGBL10STRKHOMEROADLAST GAMENEXT GAME
San Francisco6252.544---6-4W133-2429-288/11 vs COL, W 9-38/12 vs COL, 4:05 PM
LA Dodgers6153.5351.0482.55-5L133-2528-288/11 @ MIA, L 3-78/12 @ MIA, 1:10 PM
Arizona5757.5005.0446.54-6L230-2627-318/11 vs WSH, L 5-68/12 vs WSH, 4:10 PM
San Diego5164.44311.53713.07-3W627-3024-348/11 @ PIT, W 5-08/12 @ PIT, 1:35 PM
Colorado4170.36919.53121.04-6L121-3720-338/11 @ SF, L 3-98/12 @ SF, 4:05 PM
x - clinched playoff berth
y - clinched division
w - clinched wild card
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