2008 Stock Fantasy League Results

[Big Hath]

Rorschach Raiders (if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would like my team letters to look like the picture below, one backwards "R" mirrored by another "R")

Uniform: Dark Gray (2D) 6th column, second from bottom
Helmet/Bat: Dark Red (07) upper right hand corner

Bobby Bonds (OF)
Lance Berkman (DH)
Jim Thome (1B)
Harmon Killebrew (3B)
Jay Buhner (OF)
Greg Vaughn (OF)
Joe Gordon (2B)
Bill Dickey (C)
Rafael Furcal (SS)

[Stock]

Stock....have you ever played a game with guys that have 155+ speed?  Is everything hit on the ground (not to the pitcher) more or less an automatic single at the very least?  I went with the strategy of drafting a couple of guys with 155 speed but absolutely shitty power under the theory that they will never hit it hard enough to get it thrown out.  Hopefully this works or I just wasted 2 picks.

Somebody should have taken the 15 minutes to try it themselves...

ZING!!!

Well, we will find out soon enough.
Attezz will either win it all or finish at the bottom of the barrel.

I have a custom cart made where both Ichiro and Rickey have a speed rating of 160.

They are pretty damn fast.  It is still possible to throw them out even on a grounder hit to the left side of the field, but pretty tough.  Am guessing the computer will have a tougher time.
I would say that any ground ball not hit very hard to the left side should be a hit.
However, there is no way (that I know of) to try to hit a ground ball, so I am guessing there will still be a lot of popups and week line drives that are caught.

[ultimate7]

The Nimrods, Green Unis and Black

Alfonso Soriano   2B   R
Darryl Strawberry   CF   L
Willie McCovey   1B   L
Willie Stargell   DH   L
Ernie Banks   SS   R
Duke Snider   LF   L
Kevin Mitchell   3B   R
Todd Hundley   C   L
Raul Mondesi   RF   R

[Mr. Blubbo]

we need a division winners prediction thread

[Nacho]

I suppose instead of posting our lineups in the results thread, we should have put them in a new thread and made it tidier for us to make such predictions.

Commie-Pinkos!

[Stock]

I suppose instead of posting our lineups in the results thread, we should have put them in a new thread and made it tidier for us to make such predictions.

Commie-Pinkos!

Once I have fknmclane's line-up, I will post an excel spreadsheet so everyone can double check I entered the numbers correctly in the editor.
This will be an easy way to pick the best teams.  They will be grouped by 4-team divisions too.

[fknmclane]

The Bullet Suppositories (Bs)

Brown and red

Roberto Alomar (2B)
David Ortiz (DH)
Frank Thomas (1B)
Mickey Mantle (OF)
Gorman Thomas (OF)
Mickey Tettleton (C)
Dean Palmer (3B)
Rocky Colavito (OF)
Juan Uribe (SS)

[Gantry]

The 1st Balloons (1B)

Brown and red

Roberto Alomar (1B)
David Ortiz (1B)
Frank Thomas (1B)
Mickey Mantle (1B)
Gorman Thomas (1B)
Mickey Tettleton (1B)
Dean Palmer (1B)
Rocky Colavito (1B)
Juan Uribe (1B)

[Stock]

Please open the excel spreadsheet and verify that I put in your team's RBI stats correctly.
Especially, make sure that I have your "hand" correct.

If the stats are correct, I am going to go with Division winners:
Ultimate (above average power; average speed)
Fighton (has the most power in a weak division.  No wild card comes from this division)
Beefmaster (Maybe the best team overall.  Best power/contact combo.  Not the worst speed.)
Weathermatt (Highest in terms of average raw power)

Wild Cards:
Rack (The Foxx trade will squeak him into the playoffs.  Good balance of power/speed)
Gantry (Most consistent team.  Average or better in Power, Speed, & Contact)

McLane also has a decent team considering all the first basemen he has.

[Attezz]

You're forgetting the pscyhological edge by naming my team StockW19 and having Robin Yount!

[Stock]

You're forgetting the pscyhological edge by naming my team StockW19 and having Robin Yount!

I hate you.

[WeatherMatt]

My stats all look good.

[fknmclane]

My team is going to dominate.

[WeatherMatt]

Fun fact - my team average contact is 42.22, and the worst in real RBI is Rafael Santana, with 38. I out-contact the next-worst team by almost 8 points (36.44, Mclane).

Division predictions and half-assed commentary:

Ruth
Ultimate
Mclane
Nomaaa
Attezz

I think Attezz, unless he knows something we don't, took way too much speed at the expense of power which dooms him to last place. Ultimate has a sickeningly balanced lineup with a bit of speed thrown in as well, and wins the division going away. Mclane edges Nomaaa by having more middle to high-end power.

Bonds
Rack
Beef (wild-card)
Ryno
Stock

First place here was basically a coin flip, as Rack and Beef have very similar teams in terms of overall power, but I think they're close enough that Rack's speed and contact advantages, especially at the bottom of the order, win out. Stock looks like he set up his lineup somewhat odd, and had to dig deep at the end to find position-eligible players, so I think Ryno nips him for third.

ARod
Gantry
WMatt (wild-card)
Nacho
Shooty

As much as I like the power and how I was able to find decent middle-infield guys at the end, the huuuge contact penalty will hurt enough to keep me out of first. Except for having to take Deshields, Gantry put together a solid lineup throughout. Nacho's got an excellent mix of speed and power, and probably has the best third-place team (though maybe not by record). Despite taking two 155 speed guys, Shooty's team average really isn't all that high, and he doesn't have the power to back it up.

Pujols
GDavis
USC
Big Hath
AlexT

Take out each team's worst player, and GDavis has the best overall lineup. That's the difference in an otherwise weak division. Fighton's excellent contact pulls him above Big Hath for second. If speed really does have an edge over power, Alec drafted the best to utilize it, completely outrunning this division while still being able to hold up in power. I still see him last, but don't be surprised if he steals this division.

[Shooty]

ARod
Gantry
WMatt (wild-card)
Nacho
Shooty

As much as I like the power and how I was able to find decent middle-infield guys at the end, the huuuge contact penalty will hurt enough to keep me out of first. Except for having to take Deshields, Gantry put together a solid lineup throughout. Nacho's got an excellent mix of speed and power, and probably has the best third-place team (though maybe not by record). Despite taking two 155 speed guys, Shooty's team average really isn't all that high, and he doesn't have the power to back it up.

You do realize that batting average is meaningless?  My team is awesome.  One of a handful of teams with 3 guys with 900+ power, 2 speed demons that will get on everytime assuming they don't pop up.

Side bet of $20 on who had a better record?

[WeatherMatt]

You do realize that batting average is meaningless?  My team is awesome.  One of a handful of teams with 3 guys with 900+ power, 2 speed demons that will get on everytime assuming they don't pop up.

Side bet of $20 on who had a better record?

I meant average speed there, not batting average.

And I think Womack and Taveras both have too little power to make use of their speed outside of infield hits. Not everything they hit will be ground balls.

Side bet - sure. Overall or head-to-head?

And finally, if we learned anything from Stock's last league, it's that pretty much all the predictions were off by quite a bit (even Stock's own detailed analysis). 90% of the time, these games are going to come down to who can 10-run the other team first, which will not always be the team with the most power.

[Shooty]

Overall.  $20.

I purposely went with low power/high speed for my middle infield as I play alot of games against the computer and its much easier to get hits with pitchers than guys with high 700's power against the computer.  And add the speed component, there will be plenty of infield singles and inside the park homers.

[Stock]

You do realize that batting average is meaningless?  My team is awesome.  One of a handful of teams with 3 guys with 900+ power, 2 speed demons that will get on everytime assuming they don't pop up.

Side bet of $20 on who had a better record?

I meant average speed there, not batting average.

And I think Womack and Taveras both have too little power to make use of their speed outside of infield hits. Not everything they hit will be ground balls.

Side bet - sure. Overall or head-to-head?

And finally, if we learned anything from Stock's last league, it's that pretty much all the predictions were off by quite a bit (even Stock's own detailed analysis). 90% of the time, these games are going to come down to who can 10-run the other team first, which will not always be the team with the most power.

You do realize that batting average is meaningless?  My team is awesome.  One of a handful of teams with 3 guys with 900+ power, 2 speed demons that will get on everytime assuming they don't pop up.

Side bet of $20 on who had a better record?

I meant average speed there, not batting average.

And I think Womack and Taveras both have too little power to make use of their speed outside of infield hits. Not everything they hit will be ground balls.

Side bet - sure. Overall or head-to-head?

And finally, if we learned anything from Stock's last league, it's that pretty much all the predictions were off by quite a bit (even Stock's own detailed analysis). 90% of the time, these games are going to come down to who can 10-run the other team first, which will not always be the team with the most power.

I don't want to know of any side bets. 

Anyway, you aren't kidding about last year.  I was (for the most part) way off on my pre-season analysis and there was a ton of parity in the league despite team stats looking very different.
Gantry didn't do too hot with his poopybutts last year (with only a .500 winning percentage, but ended up schooling everyone in the playoffs and winning the whole thing). 
However, this year there are more teams, and fewer making it to the play-offs.  This season will not be like the NBA (ie.. no slacking during the regular season).

[Attezz]

You do realize that batting average is meaningless?  My team is awesome.  One of a handful of teams with 3 guys with 900+ power, 2 speed demons that will get on everytime assuming they don't pop up.

Side bet of $20 on who had a better record?

I meant average speed there, not batting average.

And I think Womack and Taveras both have too little power to make use of their speed outside of infield hits. Not everything they hit will be ground balls.

Side bet - sure. Overall or head-to-head?

And finally, if we learned anything from Stock's last league, it's that pretty much all the predictions were off by quite a bit (even Stock's own detailed analysis). 90% of the time, these games are going to come down to who can 10-run the other team first, which will not always be the team with the most power.

[ryno]

If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to switch Dawson and Rice.

No big deal if it can't be done.