I Got Ellsbury

No, I didn’t need to draft him first overall. As I had hoped, I didn’t draft until the 8th spot in the first round (out of 12). That’s really my favorite area to draft from. I like being able to get a couple quick picks on the wraparound from round 1 to 2. In this case, my first two picks were Ellsbury at 8 and Roy Halladay at 17. I know. I can’t believe I didn’t take a Red Sox player in the second round either. But, I didn’t want the rest of my league to laugh at me again. And, I’m sure they were at least chuckling over the Ellsbury pick. I didn’t need outright belly laughs if I grabbed V-Mart or Pedroia at #17. But, I still think I ended up with a wonderful team. It doesn’t have the most Red Sox I’ve ever had, but it’s got plenty of them. I know you could care less what my fantasy team looks like, but it’s my blog and I’m telling you anyway. So there!

Starting with the offensive starters:

Catcher – Russell Martin
1B – Derek Lee
2B – Dustin Pedroia3B – Adrian BeltreSS – Miguel Tejada
Corner Infielder – Carlos Pena
Middle Infielder – Ryan Theriot
OF – Jacoby Ellsbury
OF – Torii Hunter
OF – Nate McLouth
OF – JD Drew
Utility – Mike CameronUtility – Ken Griffey, Jr

Not too bad. A nice balance I think. On to the pitchers:

Starting Pitcher – Roy Halladay
Starting Pitcher – Jon LesterStarting Pitcher – John Lackey
Relief Pitcher – Jonathan PapelbonRelief Pitcher – Billy Wagner
Pitcher – Scott Kazmir
Pitcher – Daisuke MatsuzakaPitcher - Justin Duchscherer

Yowzers, what a staff! Could have the Cy Young winners in each league.

On the bench sit:

3B, CI, U – Alex Gordon
C, U – Ryan Doumit
RP, P – Kerry Wood
RP, P – Daniel Bard

Naturally, the pitchers on the bench won’t stay on the bench. I expect Wood and Bard to be in the line-up every day to add in some K’s and saves. I don’t expect to ever put in Duchscherer to try and save innings for my better starters. Dice-K will ride the pine until he shows me he’s the 2008 Dice, and not the 2009 vintage. Unless he’s facing the Royals. But looking at the team overall, in a 5x5 I think it works out pretty well. Lee and Pena are a great start when it comes to HR and RBI. Most everybody else is at least solid in those categories. I won’t hit for high average, but Pedroia should help out with that. The Red Sox stars should split up runs scored pretty evenly, so that’s nice. And, with Ellsbury and Hunter I have no problem with steals. On the pitching side, how can I not be just fine in wins with the top three I have? Saves look pretty solid as long as Wagner is healthy. I’ve got really high strikeout guys too…especially my closers. As for WHIP and ERA? I have no idea. Halladay will help, Dice will hurt, and everyone else will be in between.0

I’ll have to see.

Rotation Revelations

Terry Francona released his pitchers for the first few games of the regular season. It wasn’t surprising. Frankly, the only thing I found surprising was the number of people who were surprised.
Josh Beckett is getting the nod on Opening Day. That was pretty straightforward. The way everyone on the Red Sox talks about him being the staff “ace” there should have been little doubt. As long as he’s healthy, he’s on the hill. You could argue that Lester has been pitching better, but that’s not the point. The ace is so much more than the best pitcher. It’s everything that Josh Beckett is.
Lester fell into the second slot. Again, no shocker there. Nor was it an amazing revelation that the new guy would be in the third spot. Even if Dice-K had been healthy, it would have been tough to put him in front of Lackey. With Dice out, Wakefield moves up a slot into the number 4 spot. This is where people were actually surprised. Some people actually seemed to think that Buchholz would get this spot? Really? I actually saw people in Chad Finns chat asking where Wake got the nerve to suggest he should be in the rotation. Of course he’s in the rotation. He was an all-star last year…as a starting pitcher. If he’s healthy, what argument could you possibly make for keeping him in the pen? It’s certainly not the guy in the fifth spot. With Dice out, Clay Buchholz is keeping his spot warm for him. It’s the exactly rotation I would have drawn up last month. (Well, I would have had Dice at 4…but you get the idea) Where do people get the idea that Clay has earned a spot? It’s that annoying potential thing again.
Tim Wakefield is an All-Star. He’s third all-time on the Red Sox in career wins. He’s proven that he can pitch in the big leagues. Clay? He’s proven that he could maybe pitch in the big leagues. He’s shown flashes of what might be. He’s also shown flashes of complete incompetence. What does that body of work mean he can push out a reigning All-Star? I’ll give you. If Clay were in Kansas City, he’d be in the rotation. It’s too bad that he’s not, just because he’s in Boston. Is that a reason to put him in though? Because it’s not fair? Before we dwell on poor Clay and the crummy luck he had being stuck behind five other starters, let’s remember something. Clay is 25 years old. Jon Lester is 26. There’s about 8 months between them. Why is Lester in the rotation, and Clay not? Because Lester has shown that he deserves to be there. Lester wasn’t blocked by veterans. He knocked down the door, and took his spot. He made it so that the Sox couldn’t not put him in the rotation. Clay hasn’t done that. He’s not close. Until he does, he’ll have to be happy with his time in the ‘pen, or AAA. While he’s there, he needs to show without a shadow of a doubt that he should force Wake out of the way. That’s the only way he’ll earn a spot.
Unless he’s traded to San Diego.

Red Sox A-Z: O is for…

Ortiz, as in David

David Ortiz has had quite the career with the Boston Red Sox. He’s gone from bench player to all-star to aging veteran. He is as responsible as any other player for the two recent World Championship banners hanging at Fenway. He is a legendary clutch player with a string of walk-off hits to his credit. Of his dozen or so walk off hits with the Red Sox, two stand out in my mind.
The first, naturally, is his home run in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. This homer meant the world to the Sox. It meant that the Sox wouldn’t be swept by the Yankees. That was the big one. At the time, nobody was really thinking about actually winning the series. They just didn’t want it to be embarrassing. The Sox have already lost to the Yanks in the ALCS twice before, once even in five games. So, as long it wasn’t a sweep it would just be disappointing. Not miserable. But, as you know, the win did more than that. It led to a string of seven more wins on the way to the title. I was lucky enough to be at that game. When the home run landed in the bullpen, it was absolute relief. Not only had the game ended with a win, but I could get out of the cold and into my car. We had parked that day in one of those parking lots that blocks people in, and we were one of the last ones in. When we got to our car, there were several people in their cars waiting for us. We joked that we hoped they weren’t waiting long. We were surprised when they responded, “A couple innings.” Who leaves a playoff game early…when you know you’re in blocked parking? Frankly one of the reasons we stuck it out so late was because we figured we were blocked in anyway. I can’t imagine leaving the game, and sitting in my car listening to the radio as that ending plays. That’s just too bad.
The other walk off hit of Ortiz’s that I remember happened on July 26, 2003. It was David’s first walk-off hit as a member of the Red Sox. It was against they Yankees, which made it even more special. It was the circumstances around the hit that were the most fun. The Sox and Yanks were tied entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Bill Mueller led off, and flied to center. Jeremy Giambi (remember him?) followed with a single. Giambi shocked everyone by stealing second base. Yup. A strike out by Varitek and a walk to Damon put runners at first and second with two outs. That brought Damian Jackson’s spot in the order. Jackson had come into the game the previous inning as a pinch runner for Todd Walker. Obviously, that wasn’t the situation you wanted Jackson up in. I was at this game as well, and remember wondering what would happen. With Jackson and Walker out, who would play second base? Grady Little put in Ortiz anyway. I have to admit; there was a part of me that hoped Ortiz made an out. I wondered what the defensive alignment would be for the top of the tenth. Would Ortiz be at second? Millar? Mueller? Of course, I never got to see what it would be. Ortiz smacked a ball of the Wall to score Giambi with the winning run. The legend had begun.
O is for Ortiz, David

List of 36: Best Red Sox Outfielders of the Past 36 years

1. Manny Ramirez

2. Carl Yastrzemski

3. Jim Rice

4. Dwight Evans

5. Rickey Henderson

6. Mike Greenwell

7. Andre Dawson

8. Fred Lynn

9. Tony Conigliaro

10. Jason Bay

11. Tom Brunansky

12. Trot Nixon

13. Troy O’Leary

14. JD Drew

15. Johnny Damon

16. Bernie Carbo

17. Jose Canseco

18. Ellis Burks

19. Tony Armas

20. Don Baylor

21. Tommy Harper

22. Jacoby Ellsbury

23. Dave Henderson

24. Carl Everett

25. Coco Crisp

26. Phil Plantier

27. Kevin Romine

28. Willie McGee

29. Dante Bichette

30. Darren Lewis

31. Gabe Kapler

32. Otis Nixon

33. Orlando Merced

34. Dave Roberts

35. Mark Whiten

36. Wes Chamberlain

　

How High Can I Draft Jacoby?

Yup. It’s fantasy baseball time. I know it’s not real baseball or anything, but I can still talk about it. Right? Here’s my problem.
I have a draft coming up next week for my league. It’s a pretty standard league, run by Yahoo in the 5x5 format. We have a couple extra roster spots than some leagues, but otherwise it’s pretty straightforward. I’ve looked through the lists of players, and have determined that Jacoby Ellsbury will be the first Red Sox player I select. (If he’s available, of course) Frankly his 70 steals make him incredibly valuable in the fantasy world. If I have him, I can fill the rest of my team with as many slow plodders as I want. So, now that I’ve determined he’ll be selected before any other Red Sox…I need to decide how many players from other teams will be selected before him.
I generally have a couple draft strategies. First and foremost, no Yankees. They are off the draft board for reasons that should be obvious. So, that trims off a few options of players to draft ahead of Jacoby. I’m a big fan of positional scarcity. If there are one or two second basemen that are heads and tails above everyone else, that’s a big deal to me. Also, I draft Red Sox players at least a round higher than they would otherwise go. Why? Because I can. Basically, the difference between the 20^th best player and the 35^th best player is a homerun or two. I figure that’s not enough to stop me from having a player I enjoy. Plus, if I have a Red Sox player it’s easier to follow. I’m more apt to know when they’re taking a day off in time to play a bench player. So, what does that mean for Jacoby?
If memory serves, Yahoo has Ellsbury pre-ranked in the mid-teens. So, if I move him up a round, that makes him a top five pick. No ARod…no Teixeira. Right now, I have Jacboy sitting at third on my list behind only Albert Pujols and Hanley Ramirez. That means I probably only have a real problem if I end up with the first or second pick in the draft. My dilemma? I would have a lot more fun during the season if Ellsbury was on my team rather than those two other guys. I’m not going to see and Marlins or Cardinals games. I’m almost sure of it. But, I’ll watch or listen to just about all the Red Sox broadcasts. So, having Ellsbury would make it a lot easier. But, can I do it? Should I draft Jacoby Ellsbury with the first overall pick? Or will everybody laugh at me?
Where would you take him?