Roto Reality: The Race Towards the Post-Season

     Fantasy baseball at this time of year can be filled with all sorts of neglect.  People stop making moves, people stop making roster adjustments, people just can’t seem to hang with a 6 month long, 162 game schedule for baseball.  But that is certainly not the case in The Gentleman’s Game League.  I’ve seen add/drops, roster moves, and even a pair of trades.  The only neglect that’s happening over there is from me and my lack of coverage.  It’s been a little more than a month since we visited the boys and I have to say that quite a bit has changed as we near the start of their head to head playoffs.  Let’s take a look…

When last we visited the Gentleman’s Game league, the standings looked like this:

Today, this is where we’re at:

     As you can see, while Just a Little Outside (JALO) and the One Man WolfPack have maintained their positions at the top of the standings, the movement below has been quite significant.  Pine Tar and The Move Maestro have leapfrogged their way into 3rd and 4th place over Poo Holes, and Rock n Roll seems to have finally made his move out of the basement, a spot that has seemingly been reserved for him for most of the season.  If the playoffs started today, former contenders, The Masterbatters and Who Dat’s, would be left out in the cold.

     So how did it all happen?  What did everyone do to either put themselves in better shape or to cause harm to their season?  I’ll take you through, team by team, and we’ll see who’s done what.  Perhaps one of these guys’ moves can lend a bit of advice to you for your own league, or at the least, show you what not to do, if you want to stay in contention.  And away we go…

Just a Little Outside (JALO)

     While JALO has increased his lead by 4 games, his winning percentage actually has remained right about the same as it was a month ago.  With some timely additions of underrated players such as Delmon Young, Gordon Beckham and Brewers closer John Axford, JALO has been able to cruise along nicely over the last 4+ weeks.  Of course, all three of those guys have been shipped out already, but players like Wandy Rodriguez, Michael Cuddyer and the recently added Adam Lind continue to work for him.  While he lost Ryan Howard to the DL, JALO has maintained his positioning on power as Dan Uggla, Adrian Beltre, Carl Crawford, Brian McCann and even Hanley Ramirez continue to aid him week by week.  What’s even more impressive is that JALO, who stirred immense controversy early in the season with his ”revolving door of pitchers”, hasn’t been that active in changing up his hurlers.  A few here and there like Tommy Hunter and Travis Wood, but, for the most part, his rotation has stayed relatively consistent.  He’s still suffering a bit in battin gaverage and saves, but with an active trigger finger for waivers, I expect to see JALO maintain his positioning in the top 3 of the standings, and should be a force to reckon with come playoff time.

One Man WolfPack

     Some quality activity on the waiver wire and a surge from standard performers such as Mark Teixeira, Josh Hamilton, Rickie Weeks and Paul Konerko has kept the Wolf Pack at the top of the standings throughout these dog days of summer.  There’s been a bit of a revolving door amongst some of the hitters as Aubrey Huff, Alfonso Soriano, Corey Hart and Adam Dunn have all come and gone over the last month.  But the majority of activity again comes from his pitching staff.  Back in late June, I commented on how his rotation of starters was working so well for him, and he’s continued in stellar fashion.  While he’s recently held onto additions like Dice-K, Ted Lilly, Kevin Slowey and Bronson Arroyo, come and gone are the likes of Ian Kennedy, Ervin Santana, Brett Cecil and Tom Gorzelanny.  Surprisingly though, the Wolf Pack continues to struggle in wins and strikeouts.  Maybe trading Cliff Lee and Johan Santana back in late July for Chris Carpenter and a pair of injured stars in Justin Morneau and Andy Pettitte wasn’t the best of deals right now, but perhaps, in time, the deal will look a little better.

Pine Tar

     One of the biggest jump made in the standings sits here with Kevin and his Pine Tar gang.  Offensively, over th elast month, there have been a few tweaks, but nothing major.  Aubrey Huff was in there for a timely 2 weeks and the addition of Geovany Soto helped…atleast until he ended up on the DL.  He also lost Nelson Cruz again, but he seems more than covered still with replacement hitters.  But it was on the pitching front that Pine Tar made its move.  When last we visited, the Pine Tar staff was struggling, however, with the improvements of Yovani Gallardo and Francisco Liriano, along with the rotation of free agents like Javier Vazquez, Edwin Jackson, Ted Lilly and John Danks in and out of the lineup, the staff is much stronger these days.  The only glaring issue I see right now is the need for an additional closer.  With the loss of Jon Rauch as a bonafide saves guy, Pine Tar’s only ninth inning guy is Heath Bell.  The names out there aren’t the best in th ebusiness, but recently dropped John Axford, David Aardsma, Chris Perez and even Brad Lidge could be helpful.

The Move Maestro

     Well, like son like father when it comes to fantasy baseball as the other big jump in the standings comes from Kevin’s dad, Bob.  When last we saw, the Move maestro was sitting in 7th place and his pitching staff was struggling.  He had some big names like Matt Garza, Tommy Hanson and Dan Haren, but none were putting up the numbers he needed.  That is until this past month.  The Move Maestro made his usual plethora of add/drops, but, for the most part, it was all about the offense.  Bob’s pitchers started to take off, including Garza’s no-hitter (yes Bob, you were right to trust him that week despite what I said), and so tweaking the offense was all he needed to do.  However, even with the jump in the standings, Bob continued to work his team and ended up recently making a deal right before the trade deadline.  He sent Miguel Cabrera, Alexei Ramirez, Raul Ibanez and Hanson over to the Who Dat’s for Troy Tulowitzki, Starlin Castro, Jose Bautista, and Johan Santana.  Now while Bob tells me that part of this deal was to help set himself up fo rnext year, I’m not so sure this will even work for him this year.  Sure, Tulo is a solid shortstop, but going from Cabrera at first and David Ortiz at Utility to Ortiz at first and Castro at Utility is a significant hit.  Sure, Santana is probably a better bet down the stretch than Hanson, but that’s a good amount of power to sacrifice.  Perhaps he knows Cabrera is drinking again or something…

Poo Holes

     Well, he just keeps on chugging along.  While the Poo has dropped from second to fifth and seen his winning percentage drop below .500, he is still in a playoff spot and is still doing it with the majority of his originally drafted team.  In the past month, he has added Mike Napoli, Adam Dunn, Aramis Ramirez and Clayton Richard at the expense of…well….really nobody.  The core of Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, Jayson Werth, Brandon Phillips and Ryan Zimmerman has kept the offense afloat while the pitching staff, which includes the likes of Ubaldo Jimenez, Jon Lester, Roy Oswalt, Felix Hernandez and even Gavin Floyd, remains rock solid in th eface of competition.  It’s hard to argue with what he’s done thus far.  Sure, an added tweak here or there may have helped solidify him further up in the standings, but who am I to argue with his logic.  He’s done just fine without me.

Rock n Roll

     Well look who’s finally out of the basement!  After going 5-1-1 over the last 7 weeks, including a 12-0 shellacking of The Move Maestro two weeks ago, Rock n Roll has broken out of the cellar and is now sitting in the 6th and final playoff spot.  The timely additions of Buster Posey and Andres Torres have been an excellent complement to standards Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Matt Holliday, and a personal favorite of mine, Carlos Gonzalez.  He also somehow snagged Billy Butler which should aid him in categories like average and total bases.  The quick add/drop of Tommy Hunter was timely and the addition of a hot Trevor Cahill has been a nice help for Tim Lincecum, who continues to struggle.  However, with Madison Bumgarner pitching well and Ricky Nolasco back in form, Rock n Roll doesn’t need to do much more work other than a little tweaking here or there now.  His team is looking solid and could continue to ascend in the standings and grab a better playoff matchup.

The Masterbatters

     Remember when I said the only neglect in the league was from my coverage?  Well, I lied.  The last time we checked in, the Masterbatters hadn’t made a move in a month and the team had already dropped in both the standings and winning percentage.  This time around is really no different as they’ve made just 3 moves since the last time I was here and while he still has the same big names on the roster, the team is just not getting it done.  Power and pitching are his shortcomings, and if he has any hopes of making the playoffs, something needs to be done.  If he doesn’t, then he’s just going to have to hope that his team heats up for the duration of August before the playoffs start.

Who Dat’s

     And last but not least, our new cellar dweallars are here.  The Who Dat’s fought off the injury bug as best they could, but to no avail.  Losing Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian Roberts and Chase Utley was a disaster, and now with Carlos Santana done and Ellsbury back on the DL, the struggles continue.  The trade with The Move Maestro could actually help him out of the basement as he still has a decent team, but it could just be a case of too little, too late.  Atleast he’s picked up a solid keeper in Cabrera for next year.

     So there’s this week and next and that is the end of the regular season for the Gentleman’s Game League.  The playoffs begin the week of August 30th and from there it’s straight through til September 19th.  I’ll check in with them again at the start of the playoffs and then we’ll keep coming back after each round.  The gloves are off and the boys are ready to do battle!  Who’s it gonna be this year?  Will JALO continue hi sdominance in 2010?  Will Rock n Roll’s late run put him in a position to repeat as champs?  Will Bob and Kevin get a chance to fight it out as all fathers and sons need to do at some point?  These questions….and more….will be answered soon.

     Good luck boys!  And I’ll see one of you in the money this year!

Tagged as: Adam Dunn, Adam Lind, Adrian Beltre, Alexei Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Andres Torres, Andy Pettitte, Aubrey Huff, Brett Cecil, Brian McCann, Bronson Arroyo, Buster Posey, Carl Crawford, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Carpenter, Cliff Lee, Corey Hart, Dan Uggla, David Ortiz, Delmon Young, Dice-K, Ervin Santana, fantasy baseball, free agent waiver wire, gordon beckham, hanley ramirez, head to head leagues, Ian Kennedy, Johan Santana, John Axford, Jose Bautista, Josh Hamilton, Justin Morneau, Kevin Slowey, Mark Teixeira, Michael Cuddyer, Miguel Cabrera, Paul Konerko, playoffs, Raul Ibanez, Rickie Weeks, roto, Roto Reality, ryan howard, Starlin Castro, Ted Lilly, Tom Gorzelanny, Tommy Hunter, Travis Wood, Troy Tulowitzki, Wandy Rodriguez