Brian, Butler, Debate, Injury Update, podcast, Shorty

Rotoballs Podcast: April ’14

Brian Dorsey, Ryan Butler, and Ryan Short discuss fantasy baseball topics including Spring Training, News, Injuries, and Standings.

Awards, Brian, Butler, Jared, Rankings, Shorty, Thaller, Wooden

Pre-Season Award Show 2013!

These awards have no correlation with fantasy.

Going back to look at last year, all of us were homers and picked Yonder Alonso to win the NL Rookie of the Year. How wrong we were. We were equally wrong when Matt Moore and Yoenis Cespedes were picked to win the AL ROY. We never said these predictions were any good. Predictions are like…well…let’s just say everyone has one and they stink. In fact, the only correct prediction made last year by our team was calling Miguel Cabrera the AL Most Valuable Player by Jared Cothren. Bravo, Jared. Bravo.

Here is this year’s list. Just don’t bet your life on it.

	RotoBrian	Jared	Butler	Shorty	SD Wooden	Thaller
NL ROY	Jedd Gyorko	Shelby Miller	Oscar Taveras	Julio Teheran	Jedd Gyorko	Shelby Miller
AL ROY	Wil Myers	Wil Myers	Wil Myers	Wil Myers	Wil Myers	Wil Myers
NL CY	Cole Hamels	Stephen Strasburg	Clayton Kershaw	Clayton Kersahw	Cole Hamels	Stephen Strasburg
AL CY	Justin Verlander	Felix Hernandez	Justin Verlander	Felix Hernandez	Felix Hernandez	Justin Verlander
NL MVP	Ryan Braun	Andrew McCutchen	Joey Votto	Joey Votto	Justin Upton	Matt Kemp
AL MVP	Miguel Cabrera	Miguel Cabrera	Mike Trout	Evan Longoria	Miguel Cabrera	Prince Fielder

Brian, Butler, Jared, Rankings, Roto, Rotoballs, Shorty, Thaller, Wooden

Rotoballs Top 100 Players for ’13

So after a grueling process of ranking and re-ranking, we bring you the Top 100 players for 2013 from Rotobrian, SDWooden, Backdoor Jared, Madbank Thaller, Shorty, and Smuggling Plums Butler. These rankings were made with a 5×5 rotisserie league in mind. On the right side of the table are the Composite Ranks. Use the comments section to air your praise or grievances. -rotobrian

Continue reading →

Butler, Outfield, Player Profile

Player Profile: Mike Trout

Earthquakes are no joke.

I started watching baseball in 1989. I still distinctly remember the Giants beating the Cubs in the NLCS before being swept by a far superior Bash Brother-powered Oakland A’s team in a World Series made memorable more by the earthquake than for anything else that happened on the field. The respective NL and AL Rookies of the Year that season were Chicago’s Jerome Walton and Baltimore’s Gregg Olson, who is not to be confused with 1920s Negro League star Greggg Olson. Walton would go on to have an exceptionally mediocre 10-year career (25 home runs, 132 RBI in 598 games), while Olson saved 217 games with a respectable 3.46 ERA. Winning the ROY does not always portend a stellar career; for every Mike Piazza there is a Ben Grieve, and for every Justin Verlander there is a Jason Jennings. In my lifetime, players like Nomar Garciaparra, Ichiro Suzuki, Ryan Braun, and Albert Pujols have produced incredible rookie seasons and gone on to become superstars.

Piazza’s rookie season remains, to me, the most impressive. Not because he was selected in the 62nd round by Tommy Lasorda as a Mafia-style favor to Mike’s father, but because he did it from the catcher position. Great hitter, but mobile as a microphone stand (17 career SB). In 2001 Ichiro became only the second rookie to win league MVP. He’s one of the great jackrabbits (452 career SB), but has averaged 55 RBI and 8.6 HR per season. Ryan Braun, who bravely succeeded where all others failed in resisting the nefarious overtures of deposed U of Miami strength coach, scumbag, and roid pusher Jimmy Goins, discovered each of the past two seasons that stealing 30 bags isn’t that hard. Garciaparra had little interest in running. Pujols has sneaky, opportunistic retard speed.

When asked if he had any clue how he would play in 2013, even Mike Trout said, “Go fish.”

And then there’s Mike Trout, who as a rookie displayed a power/speed/average combination the likes of which had not been approached since before Barry Bonds became a hydrocephalic, baseball-murdering gargoyle. He steals bases (49 thefts in 54 attempts) at will and tracks pitches like a cyborg. Continue reading →

Brian, Butler, Jared, podcast, Rotoballs, Spring Training

Rotoballs Offseason Podcast: Episode 4

Special thanks to Sparta and Darkest Hour for providing the music for this episode.

Brian Dorsey: Creator/Editor

Jared Cothren: Contributing writer

Butler, Prospects

You’re Only a Greenhorn Once Pt. 1

[Editor’s Note: This is a two part article, the remaining prospects will be discussed in an article released later this month]

Every season, by the time it’s all said and done, fantasy rosters are littered with impactful rookies. Many of them either didn’t enter the year in the majors, or began as a reserve player or middle reliever. Trying to forecast playing time and production for rookie players is tricky. In most cases the managers who end up with them are the ones who pay the closest attention, or get lucky. I’m not even going to attempt any kind of projections, but here are some players who might be worth a spot on your squad. If not at the start, then by the end.

Weird warm-ups are just part of the baggage that comes with Bauer.

Trevor Bauer- SP-CLE: The erstwhile Bruin ran afoul of teammates and coaches alike during his brief time in Arizona, in large part due to a perceived unwillingness to heed advice from either. Throw in a disastrous four starts and you have a recipe for a sell-low trade of a highly regarded prospect. From shaking off veteran catcher Miguel Montero on the first pitch of his career to his refusal to modify his strenuous warm-up routine, Bauer clearly was not about to adhere to the accepted rookie code of conduct. Some say the mechanical engineering major is too smart for his own good. Some say he has an IQ of 170. Some say he can solve a Rubik’s Cube using only his mind. Some say he’s a real piece of work. One thing Bauer is actually quite modest about is his assessment of his God-given physical talents; he firmly believes that he was not born a great pitcher but rather was made into one, in large part due to his unconventional training regiment. He’s employed it since he was very young, and it involves the use of rubber bands, medicine balls, 400-foot long toss, weighted baseballs, and year-round throwing. It is the diametric opposite of the current philosophy adhered to by most clubs when dealing with young pitchers, which is pitch counts, innings limits, and rest, rest, and more rest. The Indians will have a decision to make: allow Bauer to continue his workout routine or curtail it in keeping with the current paradigm of arm-babying. Whatever they decide to do, he’s got a decent shot at cracking the starting rotation.

Continue reading →