1. Dolph’s Destroyers: Clearly the best lineup and best pitching staff in the entire JimmyJam League.
2. Gameday Gamblers: Solid at the plate, and youthful on the mound. Both will be enough to get the Gamblers back in the playoffs.
3. Sex Panthers: Best batting average last season returns, but pitching will hold the Panthers back.
4. Stankinator: The only reason the 2008 champ is one spot out of the playoffs is because of all the injury questions. Once answered, if answered, they’ll boot the Panthers for sure.
5. NJ Bombers: The lineup is just as good as the No. 2, 3 and 4 teams in the Ron Burgundy League. The pitching just has too many question marks at this point.
6. Bad News Bears: The Bears won’t be 50 games out of first this year. And they’ll have a chance to compete for the No. 3 spot if all goes well.
Dolph’s Destroyers
There will be some destroying going on in 2010.
The Destroyers will not just be in the hunt for a Ron Burgundy League pennant, but they’ll be in the hunt for a Fantasy World Series title.
Offensively, the Destroyers have it all — singles hitters, run scorers, home run power, RBI potential and speedsters on the basepaths.
The only category that will hurt the Destroyers is strikeouts.
Matt Wieters was a great pickup last season at catcher and it will surely pay off this season.
Miguael Cabrera is no longer drunk at first base, so imagine what he can do without a hangover?
Asdrubal Cabrera will be a staple at second base with his 112 singles and 14 sacrifices.
Ryan Zimmerman at third and Troy Tulowitzki at short will score runs, hit singles, doubles and homers, and drive in runs.
Juan Pierre, Curtis Granderson and Hunter Pence are a great trio of outfielders, and with first basemen Carlos Pena and Kendry Morales in the utility slot, the Destroyers easily have the best depth at first base.
And, easily has trade bait, but hell, there’s no need to trade away 300 RBIs and 100 home runs when the utility slot will hold the sluggers.
The same non-problem at first base is a non-problem at pitching.
Get it?
Adam Wainwright, Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander will lead the Destroyers to many wins in the pitching category. James Shields and Edwin Jackson, as well as a possible rebound year from Aaron Harang, will certainly help.
He led the league in strikeouts (1,651), wins (116) and ERA (3.53) last season with the lead trio of starters.
The most amazing part of that is the ERA, because generally in fantasy, when you have the most strikeouts, it means you sent out the most pitchers without a care. But, he got effective starts out of his pitchers — 151 quality starts to be exact, one short of the league high by the Gamblers.
I’m excited to see what this team can do this season.
Gameday Gamblers
Well, the Gamblers have Joe Mauer for the next eight years and it didn’t cost them $180M.
Not bad.
In fact, the Gamblers are getting a lot of production for free.
With A-Rod at third and Mauer behind the plate, the Gamblers have two of the three highest paid players in the game.
(Can you somehow trade for Mark Teixeira?)
Unlike A-Rod, Mauer has many years ahead of him — hence the eight-year deal with Twins.
That’s the theme for many stars on the Gamblers lineup, including Ryan Theriot, Ryan Braun, Rajai Davis, Andre Ethier, Dexter Fowler and Jorge Cantu.
The Gamblers have a good mix of power, speed and run production and should be competitive offensively all season.
Defensively, the Gamblers are looking young, too, but should be in good shape.
Dan Haren is the veteran on staff and he’ll be leading Ubaldo Jimenez, Jorge De La Rosa, JA Happ, Clayton Kershaw, David Price and Stephen Strasburg.
There are a lot of “ifs” there, but if only a few of them pan out, it will be more than worth-while for the defending champs.
Closers Jose Valverde and Ryan Franklin will be just fine, too, as long as they can continue what they started last season.
Sex Panthers
After a disappointing end to a stellar regular season, the Sex Panthers starting 10 look even better than last season, which could be bad news for the rest of the Ron Burgundy League.
The Panthers led the league in batting average, and with her 10 position starters all recording averages better-than .293 from 2009, including six players who batted better-than .300, she should do it again.
Albert Pujols is obviously the top dog here. I need not say anything else.
The rest of the infield is solid with Freddy Sanchez, Martin Prado and Derek Jeter, and outfielders Johnny Damon, Shane Victorino, Nick Markakis, Matt Diaz and Skip Shumaker will all hit well again in 2010.
Young prospects Matt LaPorta, Oscar Salazar and Jesus Montero will, if not this year, next, make an impact for the Panthers.
Montero, the Yankees stud Triple-A catcher, should easily take over for the Panthers’ aging catcher A.J. Pierzynski when he cracks the major league roster. Until then, Pierzynski, who batted .300 last season, will hold his own.
Pujols will carry the power-hitting and the RBIs, but it might not be enough to consistently win those categories for the Panthers. With a singles-hitting, speed-laden team, the Panthers will look to win in other areas.
Pitching is one of those, but an early-season question mark surrounds the bullpen. Both Huston Street and Brad Lidge will likely start the season on the DL, but they should be back — but will they be fully healthy?
I really like starters Scott Baker, Josh Johnson and Wandy Rodriquez, but the Panthers will be looking someone in the group of Brett Anderson, Phil Hughes, Trevor Cahill and Kenshin Kawakami to step up.
That, or, have Ben Sheets make a great comeback.
With the loaded offense and the questionable pitching staff, the Panthers should wait till May, see what position players are expendable and trade for pitching.
Bringing in another No. 1 or No. 2 starter would give the Panthers a chance to content for a second straight league pennant.
Stankinator
It’s hard to deny that the Stankinator has by far the best photoshop logo in the league — at least for now.
But will his revamped logo recharge this 2008 Fantasy World Series Champion?
It may, but there are some serious questions that have to be answered before the Stankinator can begin to compete with the league studs Panthers, Gamblers and Bombers.
Jose Reyes is No. 1 key: Can he get healthy and be the speedster lead-off hitter the Stank needs.
Grady Sizemore is No. 2 key: Can he rebound from a season where he hit .248?
Jason Bay is No. 3 key: Can he put up the same numbers he’s had in his career in the mammoth Citi Field?
Magglio Ordonez is No. 4 key: Can he stay in the lineup for the Tigers?
Raul Ibanez is No. 5 key: He fell apart in the latter half of the season, slumped through the playoffs and crawled through spring training. Can he return to the April, May, June version of Raul Ibanez — or will Dominic Brown get the call-up and replace the disappointing bat?
If at least three of the five questions are answered with “Yes,” then count the Stank in.
Especially after the pitching staff got a boost with Chris Carpenter, Scott Kazmir and Joe Blanton.
Yes, Joe Blanton, a very underrated fantasy pitcher. He consistently goes seven and change, he consistently allows two to three runs, and he has good strikeout numbers.
Keepers Chad Billingsley and Mark Buehrle will provide wins, strikeouts and ERA help for the Stnak.
And of course, as usual, the Stank will lose the saves category about 20 of 21 weeks, but he’ll win in blown saves and holds at least 19 times.
N.J. Bombers
The Bombers might finally live up to their name.
With just 221 homers last season and 213 in 2008, the Bombers have been lacking the big bat.
Enter 2010.
With four 30-home run guys — Justin Morneau, Evan Longoria, Adam Dunn and Jay Bruce — and four 20-home run guys — Ian Kinsler, Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada and Franklin Gutierrez — the ball will be flying out with the Bombers regularly.
Those four guys alone are predicted to 233 homers, which is better-than 10 a week for the Bombers.
Obviously, with that comes RBIs and with that comes strikeouts.
The Bombers also should win the Fantasy Ricky Henderson award, with Jacoby Ellsbury (62 steals) and Michael Bourn (56) on the roster.
Pitching will make or break this team, though.
No matter how many home runs the Bombers hit, it will mean nothing if Firestine wasted another keeper selection on an ineffective Brandon Webb.
A keeper from 2008, he started in one game in 2009 and hit the DL for the remainder of the season.
With early-season setbacks already, he’s likely to be on the DL again for the start of the season.
That leaves A.J. Burnett, Jered Weaver and Andy Pettitte to hold down this staff.
There’s also a few fingers cross, hoping that Francisco Liriano, Chris Young (SD) and Justin Duchscherer can rebound after a few injury-filled season; hoping that Joba Chamberlain returns to the starting lineup or at least plays an integral role recording holds in the bullpen; and hoping that Joel Pineiro can pitch for the Angels like he did for the Cards.
It’s a lot to hope for, and it’s a reason why the Ron Burgundy League pennant is not a lock for the Bombers. Not yet, at least.
Bad News Bears
The Bad News Bears lived up to their name last season, and it wasn’t necessarily because of pitching.
He had a 3.99 ERA (ranked fifth) and was a competitor for the pitching categories, but when it came to his offensive stats, it’s easy to see why the Bears were a league-worst 169-249-86.
But things are changing in the land of Bad News.
Todd Helton, Robinson Cano, Aramis Ramirez, Stephen Drew and Carlos Lee will make sure that the Bears’ .270 batting average will be a part of the past.
Newcomer Garrett Jones will help out, too.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki, new Angels DH Hideki Matsui and first basemen Paul Konerko should do better than the ESPN predictions say, too.
Altogether, that means the Bears should have some offense this season, particularly in the home run department. The Bears have seven projected 20-plus home run hitters, and two slated to hit 19.
Ramirez and Lee are both expected to surpass the 100 RBI total again this season, and both are among five players expected to have better than 100 singles.
The offseason deals to get Jones and Ramirez could turn out to be key, and with the prospect of Suzuki being one of the bright young catchers in the league, it will be interesting to see if the decision to drop “Hip hip” Jorge Posada was the right move.
Pitching should be strong — and maybe even stronger — this season.
CC Sabathia is the head of this staff, followed by Erwin Santana, Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster.
Rick Porcello was acquired in an offseason trade, and it will be big if he can best his rookie season.
Kevin Slowey and Brett Myers could be nice sleepers, especially Slowey.
When it comes to closers, the Bears are in good shape with the best, Mariano Rivera, leading the way. Brandon Lyon takes over in Houston and should get 25-30 saves and Jon Rauch is part of the closer-by-committee in Minnesota, but he’s favored to be the go-to guy. If the committee fails in Minnesota, Toronto’s Jason Frasor has been rumored to be part of a trade to the Twins, and the Bears have him, too.
Depth will be the biggest problem for the Bears’ pitching staff, with only 11 on the roster.
2. Gameday Gamblers: Solid at the plate, and youthful on the mound. Both will be enough to get the Gamblers back in the playoffs.
3. Sex Panthers: Best batting average last season returns, but pitching will hold the Panthers back.
4. Stankinator: The only reason the 2008 champ is one spot out of the playoffs is because of all the injury questions. Once answered, if answered, they’ll boot the Panthers for sure.
5. NJ Bombers: The lineup is just as good as the No. 2, 3 and 4 teams in the Ron Burgundy League. The pitching just has too many question marks at this point.
6. Bad News Bears: The Bears won’t be 50 games out of first this year. And they’ll have a chance to compete for the No. 3 spot if all goes well.
Dolph’s Destroyers
There will be some destroying going on in 2010.
The Destroyers will not just be in the hunt for a Ron Burgundy League pennant, but they’ll be in the hunt for a Fantasy World Series title.
Offensively, the Destroyers have it all — singles hitters, run scorers, home run power, RBI potential and speedsters on the basepaths.
The only category that will hurt the Destroyers is strikeouts.
Matt Wieters was a great pickup last season at catcher and it will surely pay off this season.
Miguael Cabrera is no longer drunk at first base, so imagine what he can do without a hangover?
Asdrubal Cabrera will be a staple at second base with his 112 singles and 14 sacrifices.
Ryan Zimmerman at third and Troy Tulowitzki at short will score runs, hit singles, doubles and homers, and drive in runs.
Juan Pierre, Curtis Granderson and Hunter Pence are a great trio of outfielders, and with first basemen Carlos Pena and Kendry Morales in the utility slot, the Destroyers easily have the best depth at first base.
And, easily has trade bait, but hell, there’s no need to trade away 300 RBIs and 100 home runs when the utility slot will hold the sluggers.
The same non-problem at first base is a non-problem at pitching.
Get it?
Adam Wainwright, Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander will lead the Destroyers to many wins in the pitching category. James Shields and Edwin Jackson, as well as a possible rebound year from Aaron Harang, will certainly help.
He led the league in strikeouts (1,651), wins (116) and ERA (3.53) last season with the lead trio of starters.
The most amazing part of that is the ERA, because generally in fantasy, when you have the most strikeouts, it means you sent out the most pitchers without a care. But, he got effective starts out of his pitchers — 151 quality starts to be exact, one short of the league high by the Gamblers.
I’m excited to see what this team can do this season.
Gameday Gamblers
Well, the Gamblers have Joe Mauer for the next eight years and it didn’t cost them $180M.
Not bad.
In fact, the Gamblers are getting a lot of production for free.
With A-Rod at third and Mauer behind the plate, the Gamblers have two of the three highest paid players in the game.
(Can you somehow trade for Mark Teixeira?)
Unlike A-Rod, Mauer has many years ahead of him — hence the eight-year deal with Twins.
That’s the theme for many stars on the Gamblers lineup, including Ryan Theriot, Ryan Braun, Rajai Davis, Andre Ethier, Dexter Fowler and Jorge Cantu.
The Gamblers have a good mix of power, speed and run production and should be competitive offensively all season.
Defensively, the Gamblers are looking young, too, but should be in good shape.
Dan Haren is the veteran on staff and he’ll be leading Ubaldo Jimenez, Jorge De La Rosa, JA Happ, Clayton Kershaw, David Price and Stephen Strasburg.
There are a lot of “ifs” there, but if only a few of them pan out, it will be more than worth-while for the defending champs.
Closers Jose Valverde and Ryan Franklin will be just fine, too, as long as they can continue what they started last season.
Sex Panthers
After a disappointing end to a stellar regular season, the Sex Panthers starting 10 look even better than last season, which could be bad news for the rest of the Ron Burgundy League.
The Panthers led the league in batting average, and with her 10 position starters all recording averages better-than .293 from 2009, including six players who batted better-than .300, she should do it again.
Albert Pujols is obviously the top dog here. I need not say anything else.
The rest of the infield is solid with Freddy Sanchez, Martin Prado and Derek Jeter, and outfielders Johnny Damon, Shane Victorino, Nick Markakis, Matt Diaz and Skip Shumaker will all hit well again in 2010.
Young prospects Matt LaPorta, Oscar Salazar and Jesus Montero will, if not this year, next, make an impact for the Panthers.
Montero, the Yankees stud Triple-A catcher, should easily take over for the Panthers’ aging catcher A.J. Pierzynski when he cracks the major league roster. Until then, Pierzynski, who batted .300 last season, will hold his own.
Pujols will carry the power-hitting and the RBIs, but it might not be enough to consistently win those categories for the Panthers. With a singles-hitting, speed-laden team, the Panthers will look to win in other areas.
Pitching is one of those, but an early-season question mark surrounds the bullpen. Both Huston Street and Brad Lidge will likely start the season on the DL, but they should be back — but will they be fully healthy?
I really like starters Scott Baker, Josh Johnson and Wandy Rodriquez, but the Panthers will be looking someone in the group of Brett Anderson, Phil Hughes, Trevor Cahill and Kenshin Kawakami to step up.
That, or, have Ben Sheets make a great comeback.
With the loaded offense and the questionable pitching staff, the Panthers should wait till May, see what position players are expendable and trade for pitching.
Bringing in another No. 1 or No. 2 starter would give the Panthers a chance to content for a second straight league pennant.
Stankinator
It’s hard to deny that the Stankinator has by far the best photoshop logo in the league — at least for now.
But will his revamped logo recharge this 2008 Fantasy World Series Champion?
It may, but there are some serious questions that have to be answered before the Stankinator can begin to compete with the league studs Panthers, Gamblers and Bombers.
Jose Reyes is No. 1 key: Can he get healthy and be the speedster lead-off hitter the Stank needs.
Grady Sizemore is No. 2 key: Can he rebound from a season where he hit .248?
Jason Bay is No. 3 key: Can he put up the same numbers he’s had in his career in the mammoth Citi Field?
Magglio Ordonez is No. 4 key: Can he stay in the lineup for the Tigers?
Raul Ibanez is No. 5 key: He fell apart in the latter half of the season, slumped through the playoffs and crawled through spring training. Can he return to the April, May, June version of Raul Ibanez — or will Dominic Brown get the call-up and replace the disappointing bat?
If at least three of the five questions are answered with “Yes,” then count the Stank in.
Especially after the pitching staff got a boost with Chris Carpenter, Scott Kazmir and Joe Blanton.
Yes, Joe Blanton, a very underrated fantasy pitcher. He consistently goes seven and change, he consistently allows two to three runs, and he has good strikeout numbers.
Keepers Chad Billingsley and Mark Buehrle will provide wins, strikeouts and ERA help for the Stnak.
And of course, as usual, the Stank will lose the saves category about 20 of 21 weeks, but he’ll win in blown saves and holds at least 19 times.
N.J. Bombers
The Bombers might finally live up to their name.
With just 221 homers last season and 213 in 2008, the Bombers have been lacking the big bat.
Enter 2010.
With four 30-home run guys — Justin Morneau, Evan Longoria, Adam Dunn and Jay Bruce — and four 20-home run guys — Ian Kinsler, Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada and Franklin Gutierrez — the ball will be flying out with the Bombers regularly.
Those four guys alone are predicted to 233 homers, which is better-than 10 a week for the Bombers.
Obviously, with that comes RBIs and with that comes strikeouts.
The Bombers also should win the Fantasy Ricky Henderson award, with Jacoby Ellsbury (62 steals) and Michael Bourn (56) on the roster.
Pitching will make or break this team, though.
No matter how many home runs the Bombers hit, it will mean nothing if Firestine wasted another keeper selection on an ineffective Brandon Webb.
A keeper from 2008, he started in one game in 2009 and hit the DL for the remainder of the season.
With early-season setbacks already, he’s likely to be on the DL again for the start of the season.
That leaves A.J. Burnett, Jered Weaver and Andy Pettitte to hold down this staff.
There’s also a few fingers cross, hoping that Francisco Liriano, Chris Young (SD) and Justin Duchscherer can rebound after a few injury-filled season; hoping that Joba Chamberlain returns to the starting lineup or at least plays an integral role recording holds in the bullpen; and hoping that Joel Pineiro can pitch for the Angels like he did for the Cards.
It’s a lot to hope for, and it’s a reason why the Ron Burgundy League pennant is not a lock for the Bombers. Not yet, at least.
Bad News Bears
The Bad News Bears lived up to their name last season, and it wasn’t necessarily because of pitching.
He had a 3.99 ERA (ranked fifth) and was a competitor for the pitching categories, but when it came to his offensive stats, it’s easy to see why the Bears were a league-worst 169-249-86.
But things are changing in the land of Bad News.
Todd Helton, Robinson Cano, Aramis Ramirez, Stephen Drew and Carlos Lee will make sure that the Bears’ .270 batting average will be a part of the past.
Newcomer Garrett Jones will help out, too.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki, new Angels DH Hideki Matsui and first basemen Paul Konerko should do better than the ESPN predictions say, too.
Altogether, that means the Bears should have some offense this season, particularly in the home run department. The Bears have seven projected 20-plus home run hitters, and two slated to hit 19.
Ramirez and Lee are both expected to surpass the 100 RBI total again this season, and both are among five players expected to have better than 100 singles.
The offseason deals to get Jones and Ramirez could turn out to be key, and with the prospect of Suzuki being one of the bright young catchers in the league, it will be interesting to see if the decision to drop “Hip hip” Jorge Posada was the right move.
Pitching should be strong — and maybe even stronger — this season.
CC Sabathia is the head of this staff, followed by Erwin Santana, Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster.
Rick Porcello was acquired in an offseason trade, and it will be big if he can best his rookie season.
Kevin Slowey and Brett Myers could be nice sleepers, especially Slowey.
When it comes to closers, the Bears are in good shape with the best, Mariano Rivera, leading the way. Brandon Lyon takes over in Houston and should get 25-30 saves and Jon Rauch is part of the closer-by-committee in Minnesota, but he’s favored to be the go-to guy. If the committee fails in Minnesota, Toronto’s Jason Frasor has been rumored to be part of a trade to the Twins, and the Bears have him, too.
Depth will be the biggest problem for the Bears’ pitching staff, with only 11 on the roster.
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