Happy 50th!

The Fungoman is 50 today. Happy birthday!

Hall of Fame Nonsense

On MLBTV tonight, baseball writer Ken Rosenthal (I think he was the one) said he would never give his Hall of Fame vote for a guy who was a steroid user, whether it was a positive test or just allegations. If steroid use gave a guy Hall of Fame type numbers, he'd never vote for him. Then he added that he would still vote for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Rodriguez because... "they were great players before using steroids."

Trade

The Killer Bees traded Skip Schumaker and Brad Hawpe to the FFTs for Ronald Belisario and Shawn Camp.

Trades

The Wahoos traded Alfonso Soriano to the Killer Bees for Nick Masset.

The Warpigs traded John Lackey, Francisco Liriano, Brian Matusz, and pick 85 to the DVs for Trevor Cahill and Magglio Ordonez.

Trades

The Wahoos traded Cole Hamels, pick 12, and pick 103 to the Buckeyes for Jayson Werth, Darren Oliver, and pick 67.

The Buckeyes traded Kevin Correia to the FFTs for Mark Buehrle.

Trade

The Nads traded Sean Marshall to the Warpigs for Cody Ross.

Looking Ahead - The BUD 2011

Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Rhinos
2. Warpigs
3. Wahoos
4. SuperGoofs


RHINOS

Pitching: Sabathia is huge - in more ways than one. Following him are E.Jackson and Garza. Big drop off. Bullpen is Heath Bell and Soria. Both are good, but that's all there is.

Lineup: Easily the strength of the team. Where to begin... Votto, Tulo, Hanley, Braun, A-Rod. The second tier includes F.Gutierrez, Kemp, Yadier, Ethier, Polanco, and Infante. The Rhinos have an embarrassment of riches offensively. Defensively, Yadier, Tulo, and Gutierrez are 1's up the middle. Braun's 4 in LF won't hurt too much, but is necessary to get Hanley in at DH while Tulo mans SS.

Draft: The Rhinos won't be able to help themselves too much here, having only two picks in the first 50 (15, 31).

Needs: Pitching, pitching, pitching.

Best case scenario: 90-95 wins and another trip to the World Series.

Worst case scenario: 80-85 wins if they aren't able to add enough pitching, but don't bet on it.


WARPIGS

Pitching: Cliff Lee, Liriano, de la Rosa are three pretty good lefties. Lackey would be #4, and he's not as good. The bullpen is really bare, with only Thornton and Moylan.

Lineup: As usual, the offense revolves around Pujols. This year, like last year, they revolve around him from a great distance. There are a couple of interesting pieces: C.Santana, D.Young, Rasmus, Soto... but that's about it.

Draft: Four picks in the top 50 (3, 19, 37, 47) and then another at pick 51.

Needs: 3b, RF, plus lots and lots of bullpen.

Best case scenario: 85-90 wins and a chance to challenge the Rhinos for the BUD title.

Worst case scenario: 75-85 wins and a sucky draft pick in 2012.


WAHOOS

Pitching: Hamels and 3-4 other guys. Nolasco and Baker... Tommy Hunter, maybe. The pen isn't any deeper with Marmol, Mujica, and Frasor.

Lineup: The problem isn't the cards, it's the number of at bats those cards have. Youkilis, Morneau, Pedroia, Rollins... they all suffered injuries last year. Austin Jackson was a nice find in CF. Johnny Damon can still help out, but that's about it. Olivo and Aramis Ramirez won't scare anyone. Ditto Hafner and Soriano. The outfield defense has a cf-1, but the rest of them are all 4's and 5's.

Draft: Here's where the Wahoos will re-tool and possibly challenge the Rhinos. They have SEVEN picks in the first 50 (7, 12, 23, 28, 35, 39, 46).

Needs: Pitching, corner outfielders, catcher, and infield at bats.

Best case scenario: 85 wins.

Worst case scenario: 85 losses.


SUPERGOOFS

Pitching: Guthrie and Lewis are pitchable. Zito and Pineiro aren't terrible as the 3-4 guys. A deep bullpen will help. Clippard, McClellan, Adams, Franklin, and Broxton means the Goofs can take other things while everyone else is fighting over relievers.

Lineup: Shin-Soo Choo has become an elite player. Unfortunately for the Goofs, he's about it. Thome is gonna be scary at DH, but for a limited number of at bats. Phillips and A.Ramirez give the Goofs 1's at 2b/ss. Torii Hunter is still above average in cf. Hunter Pence isn't bad, but if Thome is the DH, there's no place for him to play.

Draft: Three picks in the top 50 (6, 22, 38).

Needs: LF, C, starting pitching.

Best case scenario: 80-85 wins.

Worst case scenario: 85-90 losses.

Looking Ahead - The MFD 2011

Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Buckeyes
2. Inmates
3. Mavs
4. Nads


BUCKEYES

Pitching: Carpenter and Lilly are an excellent 1-2. Dice-K and Pelfrey are a big drop off after that. The bullpen consists of Gurrier, Oliver, and Wheeler.

Lineup: The core of the offense is Barton (1b), Werth (rf), and Prado (2b/3b). After that... yikes! Alex Rios... Jorge Posada... Yunel Escobar... Hidecki Matsui... It's not great. But there are three reasons why it doesn't matter: The park makes most games end up 1-0 anyway, the Buckeyes are artful drafters, and there's a league rule that says the Buckeyes must win the MFD.

Draft: The Buckeye draft genius will have to come through again, but it doesn't help that they only have 2 picks in the first 50 (14, 30).

Needs: C, 2b/3b, cf, starting pitching, bullpen.

Best case scenario: No one makes better use of the draft than the Buckeyes. Even when the prospects for the upcoming season look dour (which is every year lately), the Buckeyes win 90-100 games and get a first round bye. Same thing this year.

Worst case scenario: Umm... worst case? Winning the MFD and not getting a first round bye? With this staff, this lineup, and no early picks... how are they picked to win the division? Keep reading.


INMATES

Pitching: J.Santana, Billingsley, Floyd, and B.Anderson are the options for the rotation. Won't be good enough to match the Buckeyes. The bullpen is a little better with C.Perez, Joba, Fuentes, Francisco, and Perry.

Lineup: There's some good stuff here. CarGo (LF), Beltre (3b), K.Johnson (2b), and Ryan Howard will occupy the middle of the order, and they'll produce. In a rush to corner the market on Ryan Howard backups, the Inmates traded for both Derek Lee and Carlos Pena. With Dunn gone, one of them may end up at DH. Pennington at SS and Adam Jones in cf are not much more than warm bodies. Jones even lost his cf-1 and dropped to cf-3. The good news is we all get to hear FUCK-U-DOME over and over this year. The FFTs should be fined for trading that guy to the Inmates.

Draft: Three picks in the top 50 (4, 20, 36).

Needs: C, starting pitching, RF, DH.

Best case scenario: 81-81, but they will outscore and outhomer their opponents.

Worst case scenario: 90-95 losses and a top 5 pick in 2012.


MAVS

Pitching: Pretty decent rotation: Cain, Gallardo, Hughes, and C.Buchholz. The pen, however, is pretty much just Street.

Lineup: The outfield is DeJesus (LF), C.Young (CF), and Heyward/J.Upton (RF). That's a good, young, group. The DH is Billy Butler, who is probably the best hitter on the team. The infield is suspect, though. Kendrick, Hardy, Headley, and Uribe make up this group. None had especially good years in 2010. And as far as I can tell, there is no one to catch.

Draft: Four picks in the first 50 including #1 overall (1, 17, 33, 49).

Needs: C, 1b, bullpen.

Best case scenario: 80-90 losses.

Worst case scenario: 90-100 losses.


NADS

Pitching: Arroyo, Dempster, CJ Wilson, R.Wells, Pettitte are the rotation hopefuls. Saito, B.Lyon, Marshall, and R.Ramirez will make up the bullpen.

Lineup: The top hitters are Adrian Gonzalez, Uggla, JD Drew, and Willingham. Aybar is the ss, Montero/Pierzynski are behind the plate, McGeehee/Mora/J.Lopez will battle for the 3b position. Defensively, other than 1b and rf, there isn't much.

Draft: Three picks in the top 50 (8, 24, 40).

Needs: Pretty much everything. CF, LF (so Willingham can DH), 2b (so that Uggla can DH), starting pitching, bullpen.

Best case scenario: 90-100 losses.

Worst case scenario: 90-100 losses.

Looking Ahead - The AWD 2011

Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Zaps
2. Sidewinders
3. Tweeners
4. Killer Bees


ZAPS

Pitching: Greinke and Josh Johnson give the Zaps two #1 starters. Scherzer and W.Rodriguez fill out an excellent rotation. The pen is already deep with O'Day, Downs, Kuo, League, and Aardsma.

Lineup: In the biggest trade of the offseason, the Zaps sent AL MVP Josh Hamilton to the FFTs for AL MVP runner up Miguel Cabrera. I think AL MVP 4th place finisher Jose Bautista might have been the main reason for this deal. Having Bautista and Hamilton as your two biggest bats would have caused headaches for RHP, but vs LHP would have caused headaches for the Zapper. Cabrera gives them more balance. Surrounding Bautista and Cabrera will be the likes of Crawford, Fielder, McCutchen, and Utley. Ryan Raburn will help somewhere (RF?). Utley and Crawford are the only 1's, but there are no defensive problems anywhere.

Draft: The Zaps are loaded here, too, with two first rounders and 4 picks in the top 50 (2, 16, 32, 48).

Needs: Catcher, maybe RF.

Best case scenario: 110 wins and back to back titles.

Worst case scenario: Hard to imagine this team not doing well. I guess worst case is losing in the playoffs.


SIDEWINDERS

Pitching: A rotation of Ubaldo, Danks, Lester, and Sanchez, despite leaning slightly to the left, will cause opponents plenty of problems. But the more impressive part of this staff is the bullpen. Breslow, Feliz, Betancourt, and Soriano are outstanding.

Lineup: For all the moaning and complaining the Snakeman does, you'd think the cupboard here was bare. I guess that's what continually getting thumped in the post season will do to an already fragile psyche. But the truth is, this team is still one of the best in the league. Mauer is still the best catcher in baseball, and David Wright is one of the top guys at 3b. Markakis and Bruce have only one problem: they both play only RF, meaning one will have to take his RF-1 to DH. The Snakes can have an all-1 outfield - and still have another OF-1 sitting on the bench! They have FOUR guys who are RF-1! Seems excessive to me. The legitimate problem, of course, is the infield. Bartlett wasn't great, but at least he didn't suck as bad as Aaron Hill. And NOBODY on this team plays 1b. Really, there is nothing there but a little Smoak.

Draft: Only 1 pick in the top 50 (44). Okay, so maybe the whining has some merit.

Needs: 2b, 1b.

Best case scenario: 90-95 wins and a first round exit - again.

Worst case scenario: The Snakes don't usually take a year off to rebuild, and the pitching staff alone will keep them in the hunt. Worst case... 81-81 and no post season, meaning he stays home and flicks his bean there.


TWEENERS

Pitching: Stocked. Felix, Wainwright, Braden, Bumgarner, D.Hudson. Wow. The pen is good, too, with Gregerson, Romo, F.Rodriguez, and the ancient Arthur Rhodes.

Lineup: Well... maybe pitching will be enough to win. Swisher at 1b, Hart in RF, and VMart at C isn't a bad nucleus. The acquisition of Vernon Wells helps vs RHP, but it means sitting down Victorino's cf-1 unless Wells is the DH. Loney hits RHP a little, but he only plays 1b. Zobrist, who plays almost everywhere, will probably spend most of his time at 2b. B.Roberts is not bad, but he's limited on at bats. Reynolds hit a ton of homers at 3b, but was under the Mendoza line. Brendan Ryan is interesting. He got the surprising ss-1, but 223/279/294 will be hard to play. I guess Rajai Davis(?) is the left fielder. Even the ubiquitous Zobrist doesn't play LF.

Draft: Three picks in the top 50 (10, 26, 42).

Needs: Offense. LF, SS, 3b. A catcher who can throw.

Best case scenario: The 10th pick in the 2012 Draft.

Worst case scenario: The 10th pick in the 2012 Draft.


KILLER BEES

Pitching: Already has a 5-man rotation in place (T.Hudson, Verlander, Hanson, Kennedy, and Cueto). The pen isn't as good as the other teams in the AWD, but it isn't bad (Duensing, Valverde, A.Bailey).

Lineup: Cano is one of the best players in baseball. The rest of the Bee infield (Teixeira, Castro, Rolen) is pretty good too. And the DH spot, which will probably be some combination of Dunn, Morales, and Weeks is fine. Ramon Hernandez can't catch every day, but his card will be adequate. The problem is in the outfield. Here are the options: Podsednik, Juan Rivera, Cameron, Schumaker, Francoeur, Hawpe. Like the picture of the BeeBoy walking up the stairs in his thong, it ain't a pretty sight.

Draft: Three picks in the first 50 (9, 25, 41).

Needs: Outfield, outfield, a backup catcher, and outfield. A new laptop to replace the Pig one he destroyed last summer. And some bullpen, of course.

Best case scenario: 80-85 wins.

Worst case scenario: 70-75 wins.

Looking Ahead - The NERDD 2011

Predicted Order of Finish:

1. FFTs
2. Drillers
3. DVs
4. Fungoes


FFTS

Pitching: The FFTs have a really good 1-2-3 with Weaver, Oswalt, and Kuroda. There are a few guys fighting it out for the 4th spot, but the limited-inning Strasburg is the key to the FFT's post season rotation. Mariano is still the anchor in the pen, with assistance from Thatcher and Camp.

Lineup: The FFTs can field an all-1 outfield (Hamilton, Bourn, and Ichiro), but the infield defense won't have anyone better than a 3. The offense is solid and will revolve around Hamilton, Carlos Ruiz, Ichiro, Furcal, M.Young, and the Chipper/Manny DH platoon.

Draft: No first round pick, but 3 picks in the first 50 (18, 34, 50). Not great, but not the DVs either.

Needs: Bullpen, first base, and defensive replacements in the infield.

Best case scenario: 90-95 wins and a trip to the World Series.

Worst case scenario: A good pitching staff and middle of the order should keep it from ever getting too ugly. Worst case is probably 81-81 and no playoffs, but that would take a lot of things going wrong.

If the Buckeye managed this team: 120 wins easy.

If the Head Inmate managed this team: Hamilton goes back to drugs, Strasburg never steps on a mound again, and the team loses 90 games (despite outscoring and outhomering their opponents).


DRILLERS

Pitching: Lincecum's post season for SF was as good as it gets, but he had a below average (for him) regular season. He, Haren, and Niemann give the Drillers a quality rotation. Even better is the bullpen, with B.Wilson, B.Sanches, and Burnett.

Lineup: One can get Driller-envy looking at 3b (Longoria) and catcher (Posey and Hanigan). And Konerko is an excellent bat at either 1b or DH. It drops off some from there. Vladimir had a fine year, and Murphy, Ludwick, and Jeter are capable producers, but none are great and there are big holes to fill in CF and 2b.

Draft: 3 picks in the top 50 (13, 29, 45).

Needs: 2b, cf, and maybe a 4th starting pitcher who is better than the choices currently on the team.

Best case scenario: 90-95 wins and a first round appearance - maybe even a trip to the second round.

Worst case scenario: The Drillers could take the route of playing for 2012, draft some kids, and lose 90 games. Having Lincecum, Posey, and Longoria puts them in a position where a lot of teams would be happy to trade teams straight up, but the Drillers might be a year away.

If the Buckeye managed this team: 110 wins with Wilson getting 85 saves.

If the Head Inmate managed this team: Ludwick plays CF, Vlad plays RF, and the team goes 82-80 to get the 9th pick in the draft (despite outscoring and outhomering their opponents).


DVS

Pitching: Halladay, Cahill, and Latos are as good a 1-2-3 as almost anybody. Bard and Madsen are decent relievers.

Lineup: Fairly solid lineup with Holliday, Kinsler, McCann. Good defense too. Fowler got the cf-1. Andrus got the ss-1. Mags didn't get a 4. Just too many holes to fill.

Draft: And here's the problem. Still suffering the effects of the Halladay acquisition, the DVs have only one pick in the first 50 (21). After that, it's pick 53. Once again the Propeller Head is forced to sit back and belch while watching the other teams in his division get stronger thr0ugh the draft.

Needs: If Holliday is the DH, then there's a hole in LF. Alvarez is a great prospect at 3b, but he's not there yet. Helton at 1b is looking old. And like everybody, bullpen is needed.

Best case scenario: 85-90 wins and a first round "flickin the bean" exit.

Worst case scenario: Too good to play their way to a top 3 draft pick next year, but they could find a way to lose a couple more than they win.

If the Buckeye managed this team: 100 walks for Helton. 100 steals for Andrus. 100 wins for the DVs.

If the Head Inmate managed this team: Halladay walks out during Spring Training and takes a job campaigning for Sarah Palin. Never pitches again. Still, the team wins 80 games (despite outscoring and outhomering their opponents).


FUNGOES

Pitching: Down years by Papelbon and... well, just about everybody except Price and Kershaw.

Lineup: Speedy and dangerous at the top (Gardner and Span) and powerful in the middle (Zimmerman and Cruz). That's about it. Wieters is a nice guy to have at catcher, but he's a year or so away from being elite, and by then Berkman and the O-dog will be replacing Mitch Williams in the studio at MLB-TV.

Draft: If the Fungoes are to repeat as NERDD champs, this is where it will happen. They have two 1st round picks and four in the first 50 (5, 11, 27, 43). And the Fungo is one of the best drafters in the league, so anything is possible.

Needs: SS (the Fungoes' dogs were even seen taking groundballs there recently), DH, starting pitching, and relief pitching. Berkman's days at 1b are numbered as well.

Best case scenario: 85-90 wins if they have a great draft.

Worst case scenario: If the Fungoes decide to draft kids to make WTF the place to be in 2012, this team could lose 100.

If the Buckeye managed this team: Price goes 42-3, Kershaw goes 41-4. Then they start every game of the post season, completing them all. Fungoes win! Fungoes win!

If the Head Inmate managed this team: RIP Price and Kershaw. Team wins only 60 games (despite outscoring and outhomering their opponents).

Trade

The Warpigs traded Mike Pelfrey and pick 115 to the Buckeyes for Jorge de la Rosa and pick 142.

Driller Cuts

Drillers cut...

Bush, D.

Hoffman, T.

Johnson, N.

Kelley, S.

Reimold, N.

Shoppach, K.

Valbuena, L.

Trade

The FFTs traded Maicer Izturis and pick 2 to the Zaps for Michael Young, Clayton Richard, and pick 64.

Trade

The Tweeners traded J.A. Happ and Alfonso Soriano to the Wahoos for Vernon Wells.

FFT Cuts

FFTs cut...

Anderson, Brian

Baez, D.

Camp, S.

Cantu, J.

Counsell, C.

Grabow, J.

Harang, A.

Kawakami, K.

Ni, F.

Tolbert, M.

Washburn, J.

Trade

The Buckeyes traded Jamey Carroll and Jack Cust to the Warpigs for Daric Barton and pick 67.

Trade

The Tweeners traded Carlos Pena to the Inmates for a reserve.