60 Minutes: No Live-Blogging For Me

Due to my sudden westcoast connection, I will not be able to live-blog with most of you about the Roger Clemens-Mike Wallace 60 Minutes interview. Feel free to post stuff here, or check in with Peter Abraham at the Lohud Blog for some updates and live-blogging.

Also (thanks to PA), the Associated Press is reporting that Clemens might even be willing to take a lie-detector test (like in Meet The Parents). They’ve seen the 60 Minutes video already and also have some excerpts in there from the interview. Check it out.

**UPDATE– Here’s a transcript of the entire interview… very disappointing. Wallace didn’t really follow up on any his questions or even ask Roger secondary questions regarding the answers he was given. Clemens would give an answer (that was typically very brief) and Wallace would move right on. Pretty weak, indeed.

Fantasy Baseball: The Beginning

So, sort of a random topic, especially in light of other relevant issues in the baseball world, but I thought with the new season approaching and with all the steroids and Santana talk, a brief preview of my fantasy picks for 2008 and an overview of my 2007, could serve as an interesting (and much needed) break.

2007 was my first year in fantasy ball, and I must say, it was a trial-by-error process in the beginning. I had no idea how it worked, how to interact with others in my league (there were 12 of us) what I was supposed to do, and so on and so forth. But, after the first few weeks and a lot of investigating, I sort of figured it all out.

Here’s some brief info on the league I was in, before I get started on how it all turned out. I was basically in a head-to-head league (each week we battled for points in a variety of offensive and pitching categories), and we utilized every available position in baseball including 2 utility spots and an extra infield and outfield spot as well. We had 4 starting pitcher spots, 2 relief pitcher spots, 3 flat-out pitcher spots, 5 bench spots (to mix up rosters) and 2 DL spots (for injuries). Our points were predicated upon a ton of categories, including R, H, HR, RBI, SB, K, TB, AVG, OBP, SLG, IP, W, L, SV, BB, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP, K/BB. We were also capable of picking up players left and right (via trades, waiver pickups, etc.) because there were no restrictions on managerial moves.

So, since I had never done fantasy before (fantasy baseball, that is…) it was a bit difficult figuring it all out. I also missed the draft because I was in Florida on Spring Break (could you blame me?), so I had a bunch of questionable characters on my squad, to say the least. Of course, being a fantasy virgin also added to my worries.

My Initial Roster Accompanied by Initial Thoughts (After the Automated Draft):

1. Ryan Howard (Reigning NL MVP, can’t go wrong)
2. Mark Teixeira (He’s got to hit 50 home runs this year)
3. Jimmy Rollins (A bit older now, poised for a good year)
4. Jake Peavy (Great, he’ll rebound after 06)
5. Brandon Webb (Reigning Cy-Young Winner, great)
6. John Smoltz (Peavy, Webb, and Smoltz?)
7. Carlos Guillen (Totally underrated SS, nice pick)
8. Richie Sexson (Looks like the computer loves picking 1B)
9. Matt Cain (Another great pitcher, could become SF ace in 07)
10. Cole Hamels (Similar to Cain in terms of projection, great change)
11. Adrian Beltre (Not the best 3B around, but he’ll be enough)
12. Ramon Hernandez (Had a solid 06, could get better if healthy)
13. Brian Fuentes (Nice, I needed a closer and this guy is nasty)
14. Bronson Arroyo (Yuck, should be adequate pitching insurance)
15. Willy Taveras (Oh now, the computer is starting to screw me)
16. Ray Durham (Solid 2B, although old, should hit enough)
17. Ryan Freel (He does have position flexibility, but come on now)
18. Pedro Martinez (Injured player, could be used later)
19. Chris Duffy (Who? A Pirate?)
20. Brad Wilkerson (Oh no…)
21. Adam Wainwright (He posted good numbers last year… as a closer)
22. Juan Rivera (Another injured player (and an ex-Yankee)?)
23. Geoff Jenkins (What??? Why?!?)
24. Matt Murton (Lou will not play this kid)
25. Sean Casey (Good God…)
26. Javy Lopez (Aren’t you retired?)

So, as you can see, the computer actually did a pretty good job picking players. It snatched me some solid infielders, but it did a terrible job picking outfielders. Basically, it chose more and more pitching for me, thus making a lot of those guys expendable. Therefore, I became one of the most trade-happy managers in fantasy history. I was the guy sending you multiple trades and offerring up everyone and everything (which didn’t really work well at first).

In order to reconfigure the team and provide balance, here are some of my key moves that overhauled my flexibility and capabilities in the league:

PRIMARY TRADES/MOVES (*note, some may be slightly inaccurate):

• Peavy, Wainwright and Taveras for Andruw Jones and Nick Swisher
• Traded Ryan Howard for Jim Thome, Joe Crede, Brett Myers
• Flipped Nick Swisher for Hideki Matsui, straight up
• Cole Hamels, Carlos Guillen for Ichiro Suzuki and Bob Wickman
• Geoff Jenkins, Richie Sexson, and Brian Fuentes for Juan Pierre and Swisher
• Quickly flipped Juan Pierre for CC Sabathia
• Moved Brett Myers for Chien Ming Wang
• Traded Joe Crede and Chien Ming Wang for Magglio Ordonez

These were my biggest moves. Some of them sound crazy, but there was a method to my madness. I was able to revamp my OF and add Jones, Ichiro, Matsui, Swisher, Ordonez, while maintaining a strong IF (Tex, Durham, Beltre). Then I picked up Troy Tulowitzki to be my SS, since he was projected to deliver in 07 (and did). Ryan Theriot (of the Cubs) also deliverd some quality offense (for a little while) after losing Guillen.

I also dropped a bunch of guys (Casey, Lopez, Pedro, Rivera), especially after a bunch of injuries hit my team pretty hard (Ramon Hernandez, why did I trust you?). I then picked up some great young guys as the season progress, like Mike Jacobs, Jeremy Hermida (he finally had a solid year), James Loney, Joey Votto, and Adam LaRoche (great second half player), etc.

BIGGEST BUST: Andruw Jones, obviously. His season line was .222/.311/.413. The only person I missed from this trade was Peavy, since he did pitch amazingly well in 07.

STUPIDEST TRADE: John Smoltz for Pat Burrell. Yup, I did it. It was my very first trade and I had no idea what I was doing, simply because I didn’t know how the dynamic works between managers when making trades. Burrell actually went on to have a pretty solid year though (tearing the cover off the ball in the second half), so that helps a bit.

THE BEST MOVES: Flipping Wang and Crede for Magglio Ordonez at the beginning of the season was tremendous. He hit .363/.434/.595 over the season, and had a shot at the MVP award (until A-Rod killed it). Also, Juan Pierre for Sabathia was great. I needed to improve my K/BB and CC is one of the better pitchers in the league with that, so I moved Pierre and acquired the 2007 Cy-Young winner.

SHREWD PICKUPS: Troy Tulowitzki, obviously, was a big move. He could’ve been ROTY if it had not been for Ryan Braun’s amazing numbers. I also picked up Moises Alou after he came off the DL from his injury (hamstring?) and he went on to hit like a machine (a 30-game hitting streak). Another pickup that worked pretty well for me was Bengie Molina. He was a waiver wire outcast and once Ramon Hernandez hit the DL I added him and he hit enough to justify his addition.

ADDING RELIEF: In order to improve my pitching ratios, I had to pick up a bunch of good relievers. So, I opted for Scot Shields, Heath Bell, Kevin Gregg, Joakim Soria, John Broxton, and a couple of others. Closers were hard to find, and other than Wickman I pretty much had no one so I chased the Holds category a lot more. A lot of guys had 3 closers on their teams so I pretty much gave up on it, but I was able to stay competitive by adding Soria, and Gregg who actually converted 32 saves for the Marlins.

OVERALL RECORD: 1st Place. Record: 253-165-22 with a .600 winning percentage.

GUYS THAT I’D BANK ON FOR 2008: There are plenty of guys I’d keep from my 2008 team. It’s not necessarily a loyalty thing, instead it’s a knowing they’ll produce again thing. Someone like Matt Cain who had a pretty horrible record was actually amazing in the second half, so he’d definitely get another look. Teixeira, Swisher, Tulowitzki, Mags, Ichiro, even Beltre, are good enough to pick up in 2008.

Although, every player has their flaws, and you need to work around those. Some people like Beltre don’t have high stats in certain areas (OBP), others don’t hit in the first half (Tex), and the list goes on. Therefore, a lot of fantasy, from what I’ve learned seems to be all about structuring your team so that it is solid all around. For example, guys like Ichiro and Mags made up for the lack in BA from guys like Swisher and Beltre.

2008 SLEEPERS: Jeremy Hermida hit a ton in 07 (even after being on the DL for a while). Joey Votto, James Loney, all hit like machines during their brief stints. Matt Cain will be big. The biggest sleeper could actually be Andruw Jones, since injuries might have hampered him all season. I would expect a substantial rebound next year.

If you’re a big fantasy fan, this is my intro to what I’ve done thus far (I’m still very new to everything, so tips from you guys can help me out). Stick with me this season, I’ll be playing again (probably in the same league) and I’ll keep you updated from time to time on my moves and my picks for 2008.

Steroid Cloud Creating Lawsuits?

Here’s an interesting article from the Daily News about a retired minor league pitcher named Rich Hartmann:

Hartmann is now a 35-year-old operations manager at a Manhattan bank, but in the mid-1990s he was a minor league pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization. He doesn’t know if he was good enough to play in the big leagues. But he suspects he never got a fair shot, and he’s certain there were many minor leaguers who were denied a chance at Major League Baseball because they refused to use steroids.

“Was I cheated of my dreams of a big-league career?” Hartmann asks. “I don’t know. But I do know there were thousands of guys who were right on the doorstep between 1990 and 2005 and they were cheated because they didn’t use steroids.”

Hartman hasn’t played pro ball in more than a dozen years, but the thought that somebody beat him out of a major league job because they used the juice and he did not still galls him. He’s so angry, in fact, that he’s considering filing a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball on behalf of the minor leaguers who lost out on big-league contracts and the chance to play against baseball’s very best.

“If everybody was playing on the same level playing field, Rich would say, ‘OK, you beat me,’” says Hartmann’s attorney Michael Salomon. “But this is not right.”

Hartmann says several former teammates have agreed to join the lawsuit if it is filed, and Salomon says he is exploring legal theories that would serve as the basis of a lawsuit. But mostly, Hartmann says, he’s looking for a platform to point out that the biggest losers of baseball’s steroid era weren’t the fans, they were minor leaguers who were cheated of their dreams because a rival for a major-league job got a boost from steroids.

This isn’t a surprising turn of events. On the one hand, Hartmann makes a good point. A lot of pitchers who didn’t have what it takes one day, suddenly got promoted later on, thanks to their steroid enhanced athletic abilities. Look at Dan Naulty, who outwardly stated that he passed other guys on the proverbial pitching totem pole (in the minor leagues and then into the majors), because steroids added much needed velocity to his pitches.

Hartmann was never an overpowering pitcher; his fastball was consistently clocked at 89 mph and he relied primarily on changeups and sliders. Still, he thought he had a shot at moving up in the Cardinal organization when he played well for St. Petersburg in the Class A Florida State League, posting a 1.65 ERA in relief over 13games.

Instead, he watched other pitchers get promoted despite shabby stats because their velocity was increasing. Some were using steroids; a teammate told him the juice could add three to seven miles per hour to his fastball. But Hartmann never gave the idea much thought.

“I would have been devastating with a 95-mph fastball,” Hartmann says. “I see baseball as a great passion, but not one I would risk my health or life for.”

Instead of moving up, Hartmann was shipped to the Cards’ Savannah club, a lower Class A team with a poor record and lousy morale.

However, on the other hand, its basically impossible to sue the MLB for this, since they can fall back on their ignorance and state that they were never fully aware when players were using steroids. Their entire steroid testing system allows them to do this, since it was so utterly ineffective during the 90’s. The organization didn’t even provide legimitate testing (e.g. random tests, testing during the season, off-season, etc.) until around 2003-2005 and beyond (the present).

Either way, you can’t blame Hartmann for being upset. I think the saddest part about this whole situation is that, not only did many minor leaguers give up on getting to the majors because of rampant steroid use by others, but, many minor leaguers also felt pressured into using steroids in order to make it and ultimately did use them because of that unrelenting pressure. 

They didn’t want to be like Rich Hartmann, and as a few started using steroids, they all started using it, simply to “level the playing field.” As Hartmann says in the article, fans weren’t the only one’s who got shafted by steroids (at least we got to see “cool stuff” he says, like the home run chase in the 90’s). What about the players?

60 Minutes & Roger Clemens

 

Today is the big day for Roger Clemens. He will finally get his shot at softening public opinion as it relates to the Mitchell Report’s allegations (e.g. steroid use), while explaining himself to the viewers. Here are some final bits that we should all keep in mind as the interview airs today on CBS.

• Clemens knew of the report’s allegations before the report was even released (in fact, he had the chance to discuss the issues before its release). Clemens and his lawyers chose to withstand the fallout from the report, and have had ample time to prepare their public relations strategy.
• Tyler Kepners of the Times wonders exactly how the relationship between Clemens and Andy Pettitte will be influenced by the allegations. He also wonders how their situation might play out before Congress, especially after Pettitte has confirmed Brian McNamee’s assertions while Clemens rejected them entirely.
• Believe it or not, Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens spoke via phone on Friday (the 60 Minutes interview had already been taped by then), and Newsday is reporting that the conversation was extremely “emotional.”
• McNamee could possibly sue Roger Clemens for defamation if Clemens explicitly refers to McNamee as a liar (in relation to the Mitchell Report’s findings) while on 60 Minutes. Clemens has already stated that McNamee was “mistaken,” and had injected him, not with steroids or HGH, but with Vitamin B-12 and Lidocaine.
• Finally, Clemens will most likely attempt to disprove McNamee’s statements by attacking his credibility, so be on the lookout for McNamee references that may portray him in a negative light (e.g. the “rape” situation, etc.).

I’m sure we’ll know some more later today. Stay tuned.

The Steinbrenner Effect: Cashman’s Job

Here’s some news from PA’s Lohud Blog about Brian Cashman’s job (as the GM) and the manner in which it is evolving (or de-evolving) now that the Steinbrenner Brothers are in charge of the operations. Also, make sure to check out the guest blogger posts on Pete’s site as they are very interesting and provide you with some good insights.

And another quick note, I know that I said I would discuss my fantasy team today, however, due to some Yahoo issues, I couldn’t log into my account and see my roster. So, I should have it resolved tomorrow, and I’ll post my report then. Thanks for bearing with me.

Clemens and McNamee Had a Phone Convo?

From Newsday:

In a surprising twist to their public war of words, Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, spoke by telephone Friday night, Newsday has learned. It was their first contact since the Mitchell Report was released Dec. 13, and a person close to the situation described the hourlong conversation between the longtime friends as “emotional.

How wierd is that? I’m surprised they spoke, or, in fact, I’m more surprised that their lawyers didn’t strongly advise against it.