10 Awesome Things That Happened This Past Weekend (1/13-1/15)

10. Lebron James Can “Relate” to Tim Tebow

            This was one of the weirdest news stories on ESPN, as other than being endorsed by Nike and being overtly scrutinized by the media, I couldn’t think of two more dissimilar individuals than Lebron and Tebow.

9. Derrick Rose Obliterates Rajon Rondo

            The box score doesn’t really indicate this, but anyone who watched the fourth quarter would agree that Rose was the superior player Friday night.

8. Jeff Fisher Becomes Rams Head Coach

            Fisher is pretty crazy for picking the Rams over Miami, but perhaps he’s planning on righting off his coaching salary as a charitable donation.

7. Nuggets Hammer Heat, Hand Miami Third Straight Loss

            After a fast start, the wheels have come off a bit in Miami. Lebron is choking in the fourth quarter on a regular basis (again), Dwyane Wade is beat up almost as bad as the guy on the “Operation!” game board, and in case you forgot, they still don’t have an NBA caliber center. If you had to rank teams in the Eastern Conference, Chicago would clearly be tops right now.

6. Ravens Win Ugly Over Texans

            Was Baltimore pulling a Milton Berle against Houston and saving themselves for the Patriots, or does Joe Flacco just stink?

5. Clippers Win Battle of L.A., Part I

            Kobe did his best to keep it interesting with a 21-point third quarter, but Chris Paul was too much for Derek Fisher’s corpse to guard.

4. Yankees Trade Jesus Montero to Mariners For Michael Pineda

            I like this trade for one reason…it took both sides having some onions in order to make this swap. Both players have the potential to be perennial all-stars. If one doesn’t live up to expectations, we could be talking in fifteen years about how this was one of the most one-sided trade in history. Short-term this is a major upgrade for the Yankees, but long-term I can see Montero proving to be the most valuable asset. Pitchers are always one pitch away from Tommy John surgery, so despite the small major-league sample size of stats, I think Montero is the safer bet.

3. Giants Destroy Packers

            Ironically, there hadn’t been a bigger gag by a team generally picked by most to make the Super Bowl in the NFL playoffs since the 2008-09 Giants choked at home against the Eagles. Teams with first round byes need to revisit the whole “rest our starters in week 17 so they can get two full weeks off” strategy after Green Bay’s sloppy performance.

2. Patriots Hammer Broncos

            I think it’s safe to say that God didn’t show up Saturday night for the Broncos.

1. Vernon Davis Pulls Reenactment of T.O. in 1999, Shocks Saints        

            It’s hard to score four touchdowns in four minutes in a game of Madden, much less have two teams combine to do it in the final four minutes of a playoff game. Even if the 49ers flame out against the Giants next Sunday, good for Alex Smith to have at least one defining moment of his NFL career.

The First No Credentials Baseball Blockbuster

            We hadn’t seen much trading yet in the No Credentials Fantasy Baseball league (save for an exchange of Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero, which is fun in retrospect because both players have been cut from the teams that traded for them), but yours truly helped create the first blockbuster of the season. Here are the terms.

No Cred At All (managed by me) is trading Blue Jays 1B/OF Adam Lind, Nationals 3B Ryan Zimmerman, Yankees C Jesus Montero, and Nationals SP Jordan Zimmerman to Eastbound KP (managed by Mark the E-Bay Guy, the finest seller of Adidas Original’s footwear this side of the Tropic of Cancer) for Rays 3B Evan Longoria.

            Eastbound has done very well to currently sit 6^th in the season standings despite all of the terrible luck he’s had. Evan Longoria had a lengthy DL stint early in the season. Ubaldo Jimenez has mostly been a mess (with the exception of his past two starts). Justin Morneau still hasn’t found his groove since returning from a serious concussion. Phil Hughes suddenly lost the ability to throw a MLB quality fastball. To top it all off, Eastbound was the lucky owner in our league who had Buster Posey. Longoria was his first round pick, but with the boatload of players he’s getting back in return, the trade made sense for him. Ryan Zimmerman should be back within 10 days, and is capable of delivering top-30 value the rest of the season. Adam Lind can cover first base until Morneau gets straightened out, and then slide into the outfield if needed there. Jordan Zimmerman has delivered seven straight quality starts, and will be Eastbound’s fifth or sixth best pitcher.

            Of all these players, Montero may end up providing the production over the next four seasons. Montero is a major league ready hitter who is just waiting to be called up by the Yankees or traded to another team. I had Montero ranked as the 11^th most likely player to be kept for my 2012 team at the 1/4^th mark of the season. Even better for Eastbound is the price he would have to pay to keep him next season. I drafted Montero in the 30^th round, which means he can be kept for the price of a 30^th round pick for 2012. For me, Montero is the hardest player to part with.

            As for Longoria, I’m hopeful that he heats up as we get deeper into the summer months. Thanks to the quality of talent on my team, I’m unsure if he will be a one-year rental or a keeper candidate for 2012. In retrospect, I probably should’ve offered Desmond Jennings instead of Montero (as is the case with most fantasy teams, I have a ton of outfielders, but only Matt Wieters at catcher). That’s the only thing I would’ve changed with this offer. Lind and the two Zimmerman’s were ranked 20^th, 22^nd, and 24^th on my keeper ranks, so while all three are productive players, I should be fine without them going forward.

            All in all, this should be a great trade for both sides (provided Longoria gets his average up from the .240s). As soon as Montero is called up, Eastbound will have three hitters he should be able to start everyday and a solid new member of his starting rotation. We’ll look at this trade later in the season to see how it turned out for both sides.

Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Rounds 14-15

14-157 = Gio Gonzalez, SP, Athletics – Gonzalez is only 25, and if he lowers his walk rate, has a chance to crack 200 strikeouts.

14-158 = Vernon Wells, CF, Angles – Wells came to Anaheim from Toronto in what was viewed as the worst move of the off-season. Anywhere from pick 110 on isn’t a bad spot to bet on a guy who hopefully wants to provide his new employer with some vindication.

14-159 = John Axford, RP, Brewers – Axford racked up 76 strikeouts in 58 innings, and should find himself in more save situations thanks to the new additions to the Milwaukee pitching staff. I’d much rather draft Axford in the 13^th or 14^th round as opposed to Marmol or Rivera in the 6^th.

14-160 = Ryan Dempster, SP, Cubs – Even when the Cubs are in total disarray, Dempster always seems to finish with a sub-4.00 ERA and close to 200 strikeouts.

14-161 = John Danks, SP, White Sox – Danks is a volume pitcher. He doesn’t post a bunch of strikeouts per start, but he’s a great bet to finish the season with 210 innings.

14-162 = Craig Kimbrel, RP, Braves – Kimbrel isn’t guaranteed the closers gig in Atlanta, but thanks to his ridiculous strikeout rate (recorded over 14 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors, struck out 40 in 20.2 innings during his call-up at the end of 2010) he’s the favorite to earn the role. It’s a bit of a gamble to draft him this high as he isn’t assured of the closer’s role, but if he succeeds you’re getting a guy with a skill set that could place him in the top-5 of all closers in baseball. 

14-163 = Vladimir Guerrero, RF, Orioles – He’ll be a full-time DH for Baltimore (his performance in the field for Texas in the World Series was the end of his fielding career), which should go a long way in keeping him healthy. He’s a solid late round bargain for 25+ home runs and a solid batting average.

14-164 = Brian Matusz, SP, Orioles – One can point to Matusz’s second half numbers as reason for optimism going into 2011 (2.18 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 52 Ks in 62 innings). He has the talent to survive in the AL East.

14-165 = Mike Napoli, C-1B, Rangers – It’s unclear at this point how Napoli will get his at-bats, but I’m willing to bet he’ll finish with at least 400 by seasons end. That should be enough to give you 20 home runs.

14-166 = Ryan Franklin, RP, Cardinals – Not the sexiest guy to draft on your team, but he’ll get you close to 30 saves.

14-167 = Carlos Lee, 1B-LF, Astros – Lee had his worst season in the Majors last year. While there is the possibility of a bounce-back, Lee is best suited to be picked as one of your bench players that can fill in at first base and the outfield.

14-168 = Drew Storen, RP, Nationals – Similar to Kimbrel in the sense that he is not guaranteed the closer role at this point, but he has the best stuff of anyone in the Nationals’ bullpen. 

15-169 = Aaron Hill, 2B, Blue Jays – Hill was plagued all season by a .196 BABIP, which was 30 points lower than any other player in the majors. If that normalizes (league average is around .300), it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could post numbers close to what he put up in 2009.

15-170 = Brett Myers, SP, Astros – Myers thrived during his first year in Houston. It may be unrealistic to think he’ll throw 223 innings again, but he’s a solid pitcher to anchor the middle of your rotation.

15-171 = Jesus Montero, C, Yankees – Montero is our first player that isn’t guaranteed a spot on a major league roster to come off the board. Montero is ready to hit in the major leagues, but New York wants to develop his defense and his ability to manage a pitching staff. I’m willing to bet that Montero will be in the big leagues by June, whether he’s playing for the Yankees or not. If you miss out on one of the top catchers, take Montero and stash him on your roster until he’s called up.

15-172 = Javier Vazquez, SP-RP, Marlins – All numbers indicate that Vazquez is in severe decline (his average fastball velocity dropped 2 mph last season), but this is a good spot to see if getting out of Yankee Stadium will be all Vazquez needs to rediscover his mojo.

15-173 = David Aardsma, RP, Mariners – This pick was logged before I discovered Aardsma will be out until mid-April (aaaarrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh!!! Get it, Aardsma, AAArgh, nevermind…). There’s no guaruantee he’ll return to the closer role when he returns, but we’re getting to the point where saves are hard to find. 

15-174 = C.J. Wilson, SP, Rangers – Wilson performed as well as could’ve been expected in his switch from the bullpen to a starting role in 2010. The only concern I have going forward with him is how his arm holds up after the heavy workload he carried during the season and the Rangers playoff run.

15-175 = Jordan Zimmerman, SP, Nationals – Zimmerman has bounced back nicely from Tommy John surgery in August of 2009. He has potential to deliver over a strike out per inning. Expect 160 solid innings out of him.

15-176 = Leo Nunez, RP, Marlins – Nunez record the second highest total of blown saves last season, but thanks to a lack of quality arms in the Florida bullpen, is still slated to pitch the ninth inning for the Marlins. If he were to lose his closing gig, he would lose all fantasy value.

15-177 = Edinson Volquez, SP, Reds – A great roll of the dice pick at this point in the draft, Volquez is capable of delivering over 200 strikeouts. He will also have plenty of opportunities for wins picking a for a solid Reds team. There are health concerns, but at this point in the draft there are no sure things.

15-178 = Ian Kennedy, SP, Diamondbacks – Kennedy delivered a 3.80 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in his first full season in the desert. He’s only 26, so he does have potential to improve on those stats.

15-179 = Madison Bumgarner, SP, Giants – Bumgarner’s performance in the playoffs (2.18 ERA and 1.11 WHIP) will not be duplicated during a full season, but his exceptional control should keep his ERA under 4.

15-180 = Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 2B-SS, Twins – I wouldn’t know who this guy is if he walked into my living room right now with a t-shirt that said, “Hi, my name is Tsuyoshi Nishioka.” What I do know is he’s going to start the year batting 2^nd for one of the best offenses in the American League. Even if he only hits .275 he’ll have a chance to score 100 runs. (EDITORS NOTE: Nishioka is eligible at shortstop in Yahoo leagues, but not ESPN fantasy leagues)