"We Get Tacos"

Two more thoughts on this:

1) In addition to this being one of the single greatest promotional ideas ever, it actually seems to become more important than the game at some points.  See exhibit A.  The Rockies are down 9-4 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 on and 1 out.  What are the Rockies graphic people concerned with?  Not that the Rocks need 5 runs to tie…no, the broadcast is concerned with that the Rocks only need 3 more runs to "Feed the Fever" and give every ones cheap tacos.  F winning the game…I'm hungry.  Bonus points for the connection of Feeding the Fever to the 250 lbs, former Twin Dennys Reyes, the man so fat his mom named him in the plural.  I hope this serves as inspiration for us all.  I know that i will try to react to anything good that happens to me with "We Get Tacos!"  I can't wait for my next kid to be born in 7 weeks.  It's gonna be like the Oprah Winfrey show up in there.

2) While watching the same Rockies game, Golden Crispy received our first corporate sponsor, Mike Shaw Subaru in Colorado.  Every single replay during the game featured the Mike Shaw logo in the "Mike Shaw Subaru Super Mo Replay."  Yup, every single one…in a baseball game.  By the end of the second inning we watched I thought Mike Shaw was my best friend and I am pretty sure I bought a car  from him without ever having been to Colorado.  So, I am contemplating turning the "Mike Shaw Subaru Super Mo Replay of the Week" into a recurring segment on the Tater Tot blog.  I had already planned on doing a recap of each matchup, so the MSSSMR will be the featured matchup each week.

I hate that the MLB Extra Innings free preview runs out today. 

Amazingness

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Saturday night to bring you this important and amazing message.
This:

Kyler and I were watching the Badger-UK game and sampling the free excellency of the MLB Extra Innings Preview package and came across this little bit of heaven.  Apparently, the Colorado Rockies have a promotional tie in with Taco Bell where if the Rocks score 7 runs in a game, everyone in Colorado gets cheap tacos at Taco Bell the next day.  And they flash a "WE GET TACOS!" graphic on the screen when it happens.  This was about 374732 times more amazing in real time.  And its pretty awesome in GIF, so you can only imagine what it was like.

So Colorado gets legal weed and cheap tacos whenever the Rockies score 7 runs…

AutoTrac Bob - Bob's AutoTrackers

Bob and I work together.  Not necessarily in the same way the Tom and John work together, you know like actually working together, but in so much as the checks that Bob and I get on every other Friday are signed by the same person.  Around the RStar, he is simply known as AutoTrac Bob and I would bet there are some people who dont know that he has an actual last name.  Bob got his moniker for 2 reasons.  1) He is pretty much the only person responsible for building and packaging the kits that allow farming tractors to be upgraded to being AutoTrac ready. 2) He truely believes, at the beginning of every season, that the Cubs are going to win the World Series.  I have no idea what that has to do with AutoTrac, but...suck it.

Also, Bob is the shark in our pool of prairie dogs.  He plays multiple big money leagues (like $250+ buy ins).  That doesnt mean he knows what he is doing, but it does mean that he can find out who the good teams are picking up in those league and then try to copy them in our league.  He really wants the Crispy Crowns.

One other thing on roster moves and Keepers

Because I know most of you personally, I know that some of you will try to push the envelope on keeper salaries come the end of the year.  With that in mind, I am putting this out there right now: If you release a player at any time during the year and then reacquire him using FAAB, his keeper salary would be the price you paid for him during the draft or two times his FAAB cost, whichever is higher.

I was thinking about this situation because my team is severely hurting with injuries right now.  I was contemplating dropping Jurikson Profar to get an actual useful player and I realized that I might be able to get Profar back in 8 or 9 weeks at a huge discount from the $15 I paid for him at auction.  My own evil genius scared me into realizing that someone could save FAAB for the end of the season and do this with a few players if they were out of contention anyways.  For example, if Dusty was out of it with 3 weeks to go and he had more FAAB than anyone else, he could drop Mike Trout (and his $89 salary) to the waiver wire and then bid $1 more dollar than anyone else had and get Trout back at a reduced rate allowing him to have more to spend at auction the next season.

Worry not, my friends.  I will continue to think of completely implausible situations that only inscrupulous people like me would have the nuts to try and then create a corresponding rule to stop that very thing from happening.  And now a message from our sponser, Giorgio. Aliens.

Week 2 (but really still week 1) Roster Moves

So by some quirk of the scheduling Gods (or because of MLB's pure money grab decision to start the season 139 days early in Australia...number of days is approximate only), we get to enjoy 2 weeks of week 1.

There were no trades this week as I assume that we were all waiting to see which of our star players would end up on the DL before doing anything useful.  We will check in on those guys in a separate post.

But first, we will make an exception to give a special message to someone Tom knew for far too little time!

Hochevar finds out he only gets 1 week with Lionel.

RP Luke Hochevar - Les Moles - Rather than let Luke ride the pine, looking for ways to avoid the wandering hands of Lionel Richie, the awkward glances from across the dugout or the strange "coinidences" in the locker room, Tom decided to cut ties and send Luke back to the scrap heap, cold and alone.  You will be missed Luke.



Now, on to the guys we actually spent money on.  One note - Somehow MWP got Austin Jackson for $0.  I went back to week 1 and JJ Hoover was also $0.  Apparently the game lets you pick up guys for free, but I don't think that should be ok.  I will post something on the league page about this, but moving forward there will be no $0 pick ups.  If someone is picked up for $0, I will manually adjust their budget down $5 and will consider that player a $5 player.  Second offense will be $10, third offense will result in a team roster being frozen.


2b/3b Anthony Rendon - $5 - Bob's AutoTrackers - Rendon had a huge opening day (HR, 4 RBIs) and has a solid minor league track record.  He likely didn't need to cost $5 but he is a solid player with multiple position eligibility. 

RP Sean Doolittle - $2 - Bob's AutoTrackers - Doolittle is in his 3rd year and has posted solid rate stats and about a K per inning over that time.  RPs are notoriously difficult to predict from one season to the next because of their small sample sizes, but Doolittle is a nice option pitching in Oakland.  Bob has now spent 40% of his FAAB in 2 weeks.

C AJ Pierzynski - $4 - Dusty's Nustys -  Hey everybody! Dusty will have an actual catcher for the first time when week 3 begins on April 7th.  The Pierzynski pick up keeps Dusty's trend of going after everyone with ties to the early 2000s Twins.  I'm surprised that Torri Hunter and Jacque Jones are still available.

SP Ubaldo Jimenez - $3 - You Can Call Me Al - Four years ago (2010) Jimenez was one of the best pitchers in the game and seemed to have a stellar career laid out in front of him.  Arm issues sapped his once ridiculous velocity and turned him into a mediocre pitcher seemingly overnight.  He rebounded a bit last year and is a decent investment at $3.  If he regains his form, it'll be a nice bargain.  If he falls flat, its only a minimal investment.

RP Cody Allen - $2 - Dusty's Nustys - I'm not gonna lie.  Despite watching a decent amount of baseball, I had to look up who Cody Allen was.  Turns out, Allen has a pretty impressive strike out rate but has some control issues and seems to give up an abnormally high number of hits for someone who strikes out so many.  If he can hit the zone and miss a few bats, he looks like he could be a pretty solid pitcher.  Also, I did not find anything definitively saying that Cody Allen is not the illegitimate bastard son of Jared Allen or Tim Allen, so theres that.



RP Neftali Feliz - $1 - Backyard All Stars - Here is another high upside, low risk pick up.  Feliz burst onto the scene in 2009 giving up 13 hits in 31 innings.  he was spectacular again in 2010, but then arm issues surfaced and have sapped Feliz of much of his strikeout upside.  Opponents still have difficulty squaring up his pitches, but his walk rate has increased in each of the last 2 seasons.  If he can regain the pop on his fastball this could be a steal, but he was already sent to the minors as his velocity was down this spring.

SP Corey Kluber - $1 - Merry Tyler's Moors - Kluber is a pitcher who doesnt strikeout a ton of batters, but he doesnt walk many either.  For his career, he strikes out nearly 4 batters for every 1 that he walks.  That ratio keeps his WHIP low even though he gives up more than a hit an inning.  For $1, why not?

RP Drew Smyly - $1 - Merry Tyler's Moors - Wow...another reliever who strikes guys out and doesnt give up many hits.  Stop the presses.  There seems to be a number of this type of player.  It makes sense that these guys cost only $1.

OF Gregory Polanco - $1 - Merry Tyler's Moors - Finally, someone worth talking about.  Polanco is the #24 prospect in baseball accordign to Baseball Prospectus.  His speed combined with average power and decent walk rate project him as a top of the order table setter for the Buccos.  When he reaches the show, he will give the Pirates a starting OF made up entirely of CF caliber players (McCutcheon, Starling Marte).  Polanco should be up later this year, making this a potential keeper steal.

Zach and Tyler discussed their repsective pick ups of
Pirate farmhands.  I'm not sure which one is Zach
and which one is Tyler.

SP Jameson Tallion - $1 - The Zach Attack - I imagine the conversation went like this:
Tyler- "Hey Zach."
Zach- "Hey Tyler."
Tyler- "I'm going to pick up Polanco, the guy from the Pirates farm system."
Zach- "So...since we're brothers, I should probably pick up a Pirate too.  I think it'll be Tallion."
Tyler- "Cool.  I'll tell mom that we finally did something together."
Zach- "Dont you tell mom. I'll cut you."
-scene-
Tallion is the "other" top 3 pick that the Pirates are counting on to become rotation staples (Gerritt Cole is the other).  Tallion has the stuff to be a fantasy ace, but has run into some minor arm issues in the past several months.  I actually contemplated making the add this week with Tallion as well, but couldnt figure out who I wanted to drop.  This is a potential team altering pick up at $1.

SP Taijuan Walker - $1 - MBAS - Instead of Tallion, I settled on Walker. Walker had a cup of coffee last year, throwing 15 innings across 3 games while allowing 15 baserunners and striking out 12.   He is Baseball Prospectus's #8 prospect heading into this year and has a spot waiting for in the Mariners rotation when he comes off the DL at the end of April. 

RP Brian Wilson - $0 - MWP Masters - Lying in bed, just like....  The beard isnt nearly as feared as he once was.  Wilson is another of the faceless, nameless mass of RPs who strike guys out and dont give up a ton of runs.  I will refer to this concept from now one as "Project Mayhem."  Members of Project Mayhem have no name.

Scoring

So, I have fielded a couple of questions over the past few days on the scoring.  Here is how it works:
Each week there are 12 categories that your team can score in: Runs, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG for offensive players and Wins, Strike Outs, ERA, WHIP, Quality Starts and Saves+Holds.

For the counting stats, Runs, RBI, SB, Wins, Ks, QS and S+H, the total from each player in your starting lineup is added together to give you a weekly team score in each category.  For the rate stats, AVG, OBP, SLG, ERA and WHIP, the program calculates the team total based on each player's accumlated number of plate appearances or innings pitched and gives you a team rate for the week.

Each of the 12 categories is matched up with the corresponding category for your opponent.  If your total is higher, you get 1 win and your opponent gets 1 loss.  If it is a tie, then neither team gets a win and each gets a tie.  Each week, every matchup will yield 12 win-loss-tie outcomes.  It is possible to go 12-0 in a week.

Week 1 Roster Moves

There were a number of free agent moves in week 1.  This is fairly typical as teams that ran out of money or left the draft early are trying to solidify roster spots.  Heres a quick look around the league at the transactions that took place during the week of 3/24/14.

There were several drops made of players that are injured or not projected to be on the MLB roster this year.  One, in particular, stands out.  Dusty's Nustys managed to surprise us all by dropping Jhonathon Solano.  As you can see, he is devistated.  And yes, I did manage to find a picture of him. Much like giant talking M&Ms, he does exist.  Dropping Solano left the Nustys with exactly 0 catching options on the roster (which, to be honest, is what they had with Solano so its really a lateral movement, not a downgrade) and hinted that Dusty would be ponying up some FAAB for a new starting catcher.

FAAB Acquisitions:
SP Yordano Ventura - $20 - Bob's AutoTrackers (newly updated team name = Bob's intro profile is on the horizon!!!)  -- Ventura has been a huge buzzy prospect name floating around fantasy baseball circles over the past several weeks. He was named the Royals 5th starter and, according to some websites, will strike out everyone who tries to bat against him. Bob needed a solid 5th starter and paid for him.

OF Byron Buxton - $13 - Bob's AutoTrackers -- Buxton is the #1 overall prospect in baseball.  He might be a year or two away from making an impact but I know that Bob was very excited about the NA spots and wanted to get them filled ASAP.  Bob may have spent 1/3 of his FAAB budget before the season began, but he picked up two pretty solid players in doing so.

SP Chris Tillman - $10 - Dusty's Nustys -- Wait...what?!?  Does Tillman secretly play catcher and no one told the Orioles about it?  Because, if he doesnt, that means the Nustys will play all of week 2 without a catcher as well.  Thats not an encouraging start to the season.  That said, Tillman is solid but Dusty could have had him at the end of the draft for $1 and chose to go with 4th OFer Josh Willingham instead.

SP Ervin Santana - $4 - Merry Tyler's Moors -- This is a solid pick up.  Santana moves to the NL on a great team and should put up numbers that would require a salary much greater than $4.  To me, dropping Cole Hamels was the curious part of this move as he could have been stached on the DL.

RP (soon to be SP) Tanner Scheppers - $2 - MBAS -- Its a RP,SP guy?  I should probably have him on my team.  Really though, Scheppers is stepping into the opening day starter's role for the Rangers and should have every chance to stay in the rotation long term.  If not, he is a great ratio guy (Ks, WHIP, ERA) from the pen.

Hochevar learns he was picked up by Lester's Molesters
 and has to spend the season on the bench next to Lionel.

RP Luke Hochevar - $1 - Les Moles -- Sorry Tom. You must not have seen the news that Hochevar is down for the season with a serious elbow injury requiring Tommy John surgery.  At least it was only a buck.

RP Luke Gregerson - $1 - Merry Tyler's Moors -- I love when guys have two first names because you can switch them around and the name still works.  In this case Greg Lukerson, another solid ratio guy, should be a decent RP option especially pitching in Oakland.  He likely will never get the big chair at the end of games, but with saves+holds, he is a valuable addition.

SS Jhonny Peralta - $1 - The Zach Attack -- Peralta is the starting SS on what is possibly the best team in the NL (and i hate myself for thinking that, much less writing it).  He will help for our purposes because we dont lose points for our guys being fat or being bad at fielding baseballs. To get Peralta, Zach dropped Jonathon Villar.  I mention this only to include this picture.

OF Brett Gardner - $1 - MBAS --  With Springer and Tavares both being optioned to AAA, MBAS needed another warm body to stick in the OF.  $1 for decent OBP and steals is a nice parachute in case the Kole Calhoun experiment goes south.

RP JJ Hoover - $1 - Les Moles -- Hoover has been an above average RP for the past 2 seasons.  Another ratio guy who could get a few save opportunities with Chapman recovering from being hit by Debo.


Trades:
MBAS get SS Jose Reyes
Les Moles get SP/RP Tony Cingrani

Les Moles needed arms and has Ian Desmond at SS.  MBAS had a glut of arms and only Xander Bogaerts at SS.  Both players involved have question marks (Cingrani control, Reyes injuries), but needs aligned on this one that should be a benefit for each team.  Advantage: PUSH


Les Moles get RP Joe Nathan
MWP Masters get 3b Pedro Alvarez

I honestly have no idea what MWP is going for here.  Les Moles picks up a great RP who should garner a ton of saves and ks while posting solid ratios.  MWP gets a 3b to back up Ryan Zimmerman and leaves himself an RP short of having a full squad.  John, I know you like Tom and all, but you dont need to try that hard to show it. Advantage: Les Moles


The Zach Attack gets OF Ryan Braun, 2b/SS Brad Miller
Springfield Isotopes get OF Matt Kemp, SS Jhonny Peralta

Trading Places

Zach was able to turn a SS he just picked up for $1 and the DL'ed Kemp into Braun and a criminally underrated Miller. Strange how Kemp and Braun are repeatedly tied together and both come into the season with huge question marks and fairly high expectations.  The difference between them, for me, is that Kemp is already hurt and when he comes back, there is a log jam that means he may not have a clear path to regular playing time.  With Carl Crawford, Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier and super prospect Joc Pederson waiting in the wings, Kemp may end up being the odd man out, or perhaps worse, end up as a platoon player.  In weekly leagues, that is an awful situation to be in.  As for the SS swap, Peralta will likely end up with the better lines, but not by much and Peralta is prone to random craptastical seasons.  Miller has decent contact skills and marginal power and speed.  With a clear path to the Mariners starting SS gig, Miller's floor is higher than Peralta's.  Also, I just checked spring stats on Miller...holy balls.  Spring stats are admittedly meaningless but he is hitting .463/.522/1.000 fo the spring.  I think that would be some kinda record. Advantage: Zach Attack