Results tagged ‘ MLB.com ’
Zach Steinhorn Talks Fantasy With JA
I hope everyone had a nice Easter! Mine? Well, thank you for asking. It started good, with the little Archivers running amok franticly searching for the candy-filled eggs, which were left by the Easter Bunny, as Mrs. Archive and I looked on fondly.
Then it came time to get ready for the podcast, which was debuting it’s new extended format of 2 hours. I decided to record a few segments in advance to help me keep the show running smoothly and on time, but when I went to upload them I was face-to-face with the Easter Gremlin…and he won! I wasted like 3 hours, so I was concerned I wasn’t going to be as prepared as I wanted to be.
As it turned out, the show went well, I think. My special guest was Zach Steinhorn who does a great job at MLB.com assisting in the production of the Fantasy 411 and essentially makes the blog flow smoothly — which is a huge aspect of the show these days.
The show is an ever-evolving project, but I am focusing on making it a consistent product which provides good and useful content. I brought back the 2-Start Pitchers segment which will be a regular feature to help head-to-head league owners, mainly, prepare for the upcoming week.
I also introduced a new segment, the Johnny Archive Strategy Session or J.*****., which will focus on one particular strategy that is relevant to the current point of the season. For example, yesterday I discussed how I feel this is time of the year typically pitchers are ahead of hitters and the weather is more of a factor to hitting. Therefor, I think being aggressive in picking up low-end or unproven starting pitchers can increase the likelihood that you will get a good start and stumble onto this year’s Cliff Lee or Edinson Volquez.
Overall, I am excited about doing 2 hours every week, definitely gives me a chance to be more relaxed and not be rushed or run out of time. If you haven’t heard the show, you can check it out live at BlogTalkRadio every Sunday at 5pm-7pm ET or catch a replay at iTunes.
Good News from the Fantasy Hoops Department, I won the only basketball league I participated in this year. It was a tough battle with my friend and fellow J.A.I.L. owner, Firewyrm, who is real good at fantasy basketball.
I had suffered injuries to two of my top 5 picks, Amare Stoudamire and Michael Redd. Normally that means death to a fantasy season, but I did well with a few free agent pickups (Russell Westbrook, Nene and Eric Gordon) and was able to win the championship!
No, I don’t claim to be a fantasy hoops expert, but since I have played fantasy sports for 25 years now, I’m at a point where I can usually field a competitive team in just about any sport.
I play fantasy hoops mainly to help fill the void between football and baseball season, but it’s always nice to win! Ben Gordon saved me this week! Congrats to Firewyrm on having another great season.
Now, how about some baseball talk? Sounds good to me, too. I am currently in 2nd place in the J.A.I.L. league. Even with Ryan Howard and Geovany Soto not producing my hitters are putting up decent numbers, so that’s encouraging and I feel my pitching staff is going to be very solid all year, barring injuries.
In the NFBC leagues, I’m currently mid-pack 6th and 7th, which is fine. Even if I was in last I wouldn’t be too concerned, unless I had massive injuries to key players. I picked up David Aardsma, the relief pitcher who has picked up 2 Saves for the Mariners and appears to be the #2 guy if Brandon Morrow fails or needs rest, via the FAAB draft for $31. We start with $1000 and this is my first pickup. I was surprised nobody else bid on him, though.
I could have went with heavier on a 2-start pitcher, but I felt taking a flier on Aardsma was the smart play even though he may not have long term value. I’ll say it again, this is the time to take fliers on guys. Go for it!
I think I’ll take myself out to my first Round Rock Express game tonight. Have a great day everyone!
-Johnny Archive
Good News, Bad News 03/19/09
Let’s get right into it…
Good News – Spring officially begins on Friday!
Bad News – Opening day is still weeks away.
Good News – Geico has introduced another pitch man, a stack of money with some fake eyes on top, along with a catchy song.
Bad News – The Caveman and the british-speaking-lizard are not happy.
Good News – I’m finally reading the fantasy baseball classic book, Fantasyland.
Bad News – There are several references to the lack of respect that fantasiers get from real baseball people.
Good News – My contacts within the fantasy baseball world continues to grow each week.
Bad News – With all these great new friends comes much more time on the phone and less time for writing — yes, that should sound like an excuse for slacking on the blog lately.
Good News – Kevin Youkilis’s injury doesn’t appear to be too serious.
Bad News – I wonder how many USA players got beat up in that massive dogpile after winning that game in the 9th inning the other day?
Good News – The Texas Rangers have a chance to make a move this year in the AL West.
Bad News – If the Rangers don’t improve in ’09, could be the end of the line for all upper management positions, including Nolan Ryan.
Good News – I don’t think the Jay Cutler situation can get any worse for the Denver Broncos.
Bad News – The Broncos don’t seem to realize they probably have the perfect envoy to dispatch to resolve this matter in John Elway.
Good News – President Obama will appear on the Tonight Show this evening.
Bad News – Might not be the best time to go on a light-hearted show and look like he’s having fun out on the west coast.
Good News – Everyone seems fixed on recouping this money being paid out in bonuses to companies getting TARP money.
Bad News – It’s turning into a mob-mentality situation with even members of Congress calling for people to commit suicide.
Good News – Joe Lano got his Snuggie for winning the first Jailbreak of the ’09 season.
Bad News – Soon it may be too warm for Joe to wear his new fancy piece of clothing.
Good News – We have another great guest, Cory Schwartz of MLB.com, scheduled this week on The Johnny Archive Fantasy Baseball Show!
Bad News – The show is only an hour long and there’s much to talk about with Cory!
Sorry for getting this up a day late, but we gave a 20% discount.
Have a great day!
-Johnny Archive
I’ll Never Draft That Guy Again!
Good Monday Sportsfans!
First off, using the spring forward clock adjustment as an excuse to be late for work is lame! I want to thank everyone for checking my podcast on Sunday. I continue to get great numbers, as far listeners, which makes it all the effort I put into the show — and it’s alot more than most people would probably realize — worth it.
I am entertaining the thought of adding a second show, possibly Wednesday or Thursday. Again, I appreciate all the excitement people has shown me as I talked about that prospect over the weekend.
Today’s post will be about taking a look at some of the players out there that people are downright angry with heading into the 2009 season. Let’s face it, most of us fantasiers try to be centered and balanced when evaluating players for the upcoming season, but we are human and there some big leaguers who we just flat out don’t like.
And that’s fine.
But, a bi-product of that negative sentiment is that some players get a bad wrap based on what they did to make fantasy owners dislike them and that can create an opportunity for these players to be under-valued. Last year, Carlos Delgado of the Mets was a perfect example of this phenomenom.
So, man of the ‘chive, who are some of these players? I’m glad you asked.
Carl Crawford OF Rays – He was the only fantasy worthy player for years and so last year he had some injuries and didn’t live up to his drafted level. Yeah, let’s give up on this has-been, afterall he is 27 now and so I’m sure he’s used up all his talent. /sarcasm off
Eric Bedard SP Mariners – Big trade to great pitchers park and he has the nerve to get injured and not live up to the hype!? But all the so-called experts said he was worth a high round pick last year, and since he dissapointed , he must be forever banished from consideration. Yeah, I’m sure the 227 SO in ’07 was a fluke. We’re double-dipping with sarcasm aren’t we?
Jake Peavy SP Padres – At 27, and coming off of two 200+ IP seasons in which he struck out 215 and 240 batters, some experts considered Peavy good enough to draft him over Johan Santana — who everyone knows has dibs on the top SP taken in every draft. The Jake-ster then proceeded to go 10-11, pitch fewer than 200 innings and only made 166 batters whiff. Yuck! Now he’s 28 entering the ’09 season and he is falling into the 5th, 6th and even lower rounds. The “Pads” probably won’t be much better as a team, but Peavy could have a nice rebound year and could even be dealt to a contender before the deadline which might help rekindle his effort.
Colby Rasmus OF Cardinals – Alot of youngsters made their mark in the bigs last year. Many of them had much less hype than the Redbirds 5-tooler. A sprained knee took a chunk out of his season and he never had that bust-out stretch like Evan Longoria or Jay Bruce. So, many fantasy propsectors have discarded Rasmus as last year’s news and moved on to this year’s crop of gems. Not so fast my friend, as this is the year to hype the 22-year-old Rasmus since he is being given every opportunity to win a starting gig with the Cards.
Andy LaRoche 3B Pirates – Bright lights and the big city. The LA Dodgers touted this youngin’ as the next big thing to hit the infield. It was just a matter of time and the hot corner would be filled for years to come. Well, it didn’t happen and a mid-season trade to the Bucos only flat-lined an already cardiac batting average. Even big brother Adam couldn’t help. But the Pirates haven’t given up on this 25-year-old just yet and neither should you. Would it really be all that surprising if this kid rebounded in ’09 and hit 20+ HR? Keep him on the radar.
Phil Hughes SP Yankees – Yes, this is same untouchable prospect that has continued to get pounded pretty-much every time he has taken the ball in the majors. Everyone is sick of hearing about him and his potential while he has put up horrible ERA numbers the last two years, 6.62 and 4.46. Maybe we can cut the 23-year-old a little slack since it might be a little tough living up to all the NY hype, especially when the Yanks kept you instead of going after Johan Santana. This might be a kid who gets a start, puts it all together and has 6-10 solid years of production.
Robinson Cano 2B Yankees – An AL batting title has already been engraved with this 26-year-olds name on it, according to fantasy and real baseball fans all over the country. Least that’s what everyone said heading into ’08. Then a .271 season happens and everyone wonders what’s wrong? I remember when 14 HR and 72 RBIs out of a 2B was pretty awesome, and that was a down year for Cano! True, he doesn’t bring much speed, but he can still put up some meaty numbers from a typically thin fantasy position.
That’s all for now, but I’ll be highlighting more of these type of players as we get closer to the start of the season and I start noticing solid fantasy players being dissed by the masses.
Have a great week and adjust all your clocks already, including your car radio!
-Johnny Archive
Good News, Bad News 5/21/08
It’s that special day! It’s mid-week and you need some insight on today’s headlines. So, sit back and allow Johnny Archive to mildy amuse you with the latest edition of Good New, Bad News.
Good News – The San Francisco Giants have won 18 games and the organization is thrilled.
Bad News – The Colorado Rockies have won 18 games and the city is in a panic.
Good News – So far the professional Women’s Team Handball League (I’m assuming there is such a thing) appears to be free of any controversary.
Bad News – Unfortunately, the NFL has Spygate, the NBA has officials betting on and probably fixing games, MLB has ‘Roids and the NHL has Gary Bettman.
Good News – Barack Obama won the Oregon primary last night and appears to have sealed up the Democratic nomination.
Bad News – Hilary Clinton stomped Obama in the Kentucky primary and vows to “fight on.”
Good News – The Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander had a great night on Tuesday, getting a Win over the Seattle Mariners.
Bad News – After racing out to an 11-1 lead after 6 innings, the Tiger’s bullpen gave up 7 Runs (including 4 in the 9th) over the final 3 innings and barely hung on for a 12-8 victory.
Good News – Doug Mathis got his first MLB start last night for the Texas Rangers.
Bad News – Mathis was left out on the mound a lot longer than normal (gave up 9 Runs) after the Rangers played extra innings the night before, using up their bullpen.
Good News – Consuming massive amounts of alchohol is not encuraged by MLB teams.
Bad News – Apparently that doesn’t prevent MLB teams from suffering hangovers, as the Mets, Padres, Rockies and Yankees are all still recovering from the abrupt endings to their 2007 season.
Good News – The New York Yankess got 3B Alex Rodriguez back from injury on Tuesday and he returned to form, hitting a 2-run homer.
Bad News – Mike Mussina also returned to form, getting shelled by the Baltimore Orioles.
Good News – Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andruw Jones may be able to avoid surgery on his injured right knee and stay in the lineup.
Bad News – Jones, and his .167 AVG, may be staying in the lineup.
Good News – I’m thirsty. I’m sure glad this soda is ice cold.
Bad News – Did I just write that out loud?
Good News – Professionally trained sniffing dogs showed signs they were agitated (which means maybe they were on to something) out in the California desert at Charles Manson’s old ranch, where they were looking for remains.
Bad News – Maybe the dogs were just agitated because they were taken to the hot desert in the middle of the summer!
Good News – The Red Sox continue to sell out their home games in one of the most historic venues in MLB: Fenway Park.
Bad News – The capacity at the renowned Fenway Park is the 3rd smallest in the majors, at 36,336 — even Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Florida have bigger stadiums.
Good News – Senator Ted Kennedy was released from the hospital today after recently being diagnosed with Cancer.
Bad News – The United States is probably more synonymous world-wide with the Bush family name these days, rather than the Kennedys of last century.
Whether you like or dislike Ted Kennedy, he is a link to our history and I want to send out my thoughts to the Kennedy family.
Tonight at Midnight Eastern is The Johnny Archive Fantasy Baseball Show. You can catch the show live at Blogtalkradio.com or the archived version at iTunes, MLBFrontOffice.com or at JohnnyArchive.com.
Have a great day!
-Johnny Archive
Shame on Sterno, PETFBT Investigation Launched
Okay, let’s do some rambling, shall we? If you want to jump to my hatchet job on Casey Stern, it’s at the bottom of the post.
I think Bob Davidson, MLB umpire, is by far the worst umpire in baseball. Known as “Balking Bob” a few years ago when he went on rampage calling balks at a ridiculous rate. He did a horrible job in World Baseball Classic a few years ago, and as he proved on Sunday night when he blew the Carlos Delgado HR agianst the Yankees, he has not improved. He is a throwback umpire, instead of huddling together with the other umpires and trying to call the right, he would rather be adamant about a call and expect everyone to bow down to his authority. Blech.
Jake Peavy is hurt and this is the last thing the Padres needed. The Friars play in a ballpark where hitting homers is difficult, but at least they could count on their pitching to keep them in games. Now, their “stopper” is out and they continue to struggle to score runs, so the rest of the 2008 season could see a lot of changes in San Diego.
As I wrote about yesterday, C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers is continuing to get himself in hot water with his erratic pitching. He blew the Save yesterday in Minnesota, a game in which the Rangers went on to lose in extra innings. If you listened to me and picked up Eddie Guardado, then you’re happy that Wilson struggled because it may expedite his removal from the closer’s role, though you lost out on a Vulture Win for “Steady Eddy.”
Get Cory Hart on your team asap. This guy is being perceived as a player under-performing when he is actually playing pretty-good with only his HR numbers being down. As we’ve seen with several players over the course of the last week or so that homers come in streaks and Hart is capable of going on a launching spree any time now. Hart was a 5th rounder or there-abouts, and I’m guessing that you can get him for someone drafted much lower. Do it! Stop reading this blog and go make an offer for Hart — unless you are in my leagues and I own Hart, ’cause I ain’t dealing him (well unless it’s for something I like =)).
As I stated on my podcast Sunday morning, the temperature is rising across the nation and so will the ERA and WHIP of pitch-or-ditch style pitchers. I suggest becoming much more selective when scowering the free-agent starting pitching probables. I am not saying abandoning looking for quality starts from guys in situations with likely positive results, but remember my rule of 3 – it takes 3 good starts to undue the damage to your ERA and WHIP of 1 bad start. For example, as well as Daniel Cabrera has pitched this year, I passed on picking him up against the Yankees in New York.
Warning Warning! Mark Teixeira is beginning to warm up. It is time to make that final push to acquire “Tex” with his value on the low side. I’m still concerned about Chipper Jones staying healthy all year, but once Teixeira gets locked in he can absolutely explode. Don’t be too aggressive when making a play for him, but don’t expect to get him for Adam Jones straight up, either.
School is almost out and people are beginning to go outside and play. Typically, people leave their computer inside and thus begin to ignore their fantasy team, even if just slightly. That translates into opportunities for us active, aggressive fantasy owners to improve our teams through the free agent list picking up those hot bats. Even so-called experts are not putting as much time into their teams. Want some proof? Check this out.
Yahoo leagues have a feature that allows you to see which owners are active and which are neglecting their teams. Surely, someone who hosts a fantasy baseball show would not ignore their team, right? Buzzzz. Wrong.
| MillerGold |  kcstengel2003 |
10 | 23 | 1 |
Thu May 8 9:23am CDT |
The date/time listed is the last time the team had any activity. The team MillerGold is owned by Casey Stern of the MLB.com Fantasy 411. So, yeah, it’s been almost 2 weeks since he even logged in to check on his team. He currently has Jeff Keppinger and Paul Lo Duca, who are both on the DL and out for a while, in his active lineup.
I suggested Stern be added to our MLB.com listener league when he joined the Fantasy 411, and he immediately took some razzing about not being qualified enough, but he declared he had plenty of experience and was added to the Ron Cey League.
So, I’m throwing Sterno off the train (“under the bus” is old) for missing the draft, mis-stating my trade offers and now neglecting his fantasy team. I have already notified PETFBT (PETA-ish organization) People for the Ethical Treatment of their Fantasy Baseball Teams. I’m not calling for an all out boycott against Stern and his products (hair care), but if you happen to spill some paint on one his fancy-smancy suits, perhaps it will serve as a wake-up call for Mr. Stern.
Carry on.
-Johnny Archive
P.S. Just to be clear, this is intended as good-natured fantasy baseball razzing. The Fantasy Baseball Gods know full well about my disasterous 2007 season in which real life issues caused me to break just about every fantasy baseball etiquette rule.
Weekend 12 Pack – 5/02/08
TGIF! Woot!
C’mon stimulus check, come on home baby. Remember to be a good American and go blow your entire check on something totally trivial.
Before we continue, I want to state publicly that I cannot confirm or deny any intimate relationship between Roger Clemens and myself in the 90′s. Even Pete Rose is amazed at “The Rocket’s” ability to prolong a lie(s). No, Pete, I don’t want to bet if he gets nailed for perjury. Sheesh.
Also, isn’t it amazing how quickly these people – who hated the media during their careers — jumped at the opportunity to join the guys in the studio to demonstrate their great intelligence? I speak of John McEnroe, Bill Parcells, Dan Marino, Keyshawn Johnson and of course Bob Knight.
Okay on to the pitchers…
Weekend 12 Pack
Friday
Jeremy Guthrie Baltimore 4.34 ERA
Armando Galarrago Detroit 1.50 ERA
Luke Hochevar Kansas City 5.91 ERA
Kyle Kendrick Philadelphia 5.13 ERA
Saturday
Pat Maholm Pittsburgh 3.26 ERA
Ricky Nolasco Florida 5.13 ERA
John Lannon Washington 2.64 ERA
Jesse Litsch Toronto 4.85 ERA
Sunday
Joe Saunders Angels 2.08 ERA
Greg Smith Oakland 2.73 ERA
Bronson Arroyo Cincinnati 6.97 ERA
Todd (I have 4 E’s in my name) Wellemeyer St. Louis 4.14 ERA
John Marzano Dead: MLB.com & Baseball Deals With Tragic Loss
As I posted on Friday, April 19th is always a very somber day for me because I am reminded of the Oklahoma City Bombing that took place on that day in 1995. Now, it is even worse with the stunning news that MLB.com host John Marzano died in his home on Saturday.
Here is a portion of the MLB.com report:
NEW YORK — Former Major League catcher John Marzano, 45, a first-round draft pick in 1984, died this weekend at his home in Philadelphia, where he suffered a fall down a flight of stairs reportedly after a possible heart attack.
I am absolutely shocked and so saddened that we, the fans of baseball and MLB.com, have lost such a good friend and member of the family. “Johnny Marz” or the “Marz-Man” as he liked to call himself was a daily reminder to all of us on how to enjoy and live life.
Marzano loved baseball and people and was the type of man who would do anything he could for you. He was a professional baseball player and worked extremely hard at his new profession as an on-air personality at MLB.com, but he never talked down to anyone and was a fan favorite in both careers.
I send out my heartfelt condolences to his surviving family; his wife Terri, daughters Dominique and Danielle, and two grandchildren.
Here is the updated bio from MLB.com:
John Marzano, who was in his second season with MLB.com as the co-host of Leading Off, suddenly died the weekend of April 19, 2008. John played 10 seasons as a catcher in the Major Leagues consisting of six seasons with the Boston Red Sox, three seasons with Seattle Mariners and a stint with the Texas Rangers. As a native of South Philadelphia, John went to Central High and then played three years at Temple University before becoming a first-round draft pick by the Red Sox in 1984. After retiring from the game John worked for WIP radio in Philadelphia and at Comcast SportsNet as a postgame analyst for Phillies games.
He was a great storyteller and had a unique ability to make people laugh. He lit up a room and was extremely optimistic.
During a recent call into the show, I offered to buy him a beer at a Round Rock Express game if he ever made it to the Austin area. I will uphold my offer on my next trip to the ballpark and make a toast to a man who left us way too soon.
I also want to extend my thoughts to his friend and co-host Vinny Micucci.
We’ll miss you, Johnny.
-Johnny Archive
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