rjortiz

You don't really need Luck. McCoy is a top ten RB, but could go anywhere from second to tenth. I'd dangle Rodgers for him, and go with Ryan. You could try a straight swap and move Ball to flex. Ryan, McCoy, Jackson, Marshall, Cobb, Gates/Rudolf, and Ball is a pretty solid lineup. You have no need for Drew Brees, and he's probably a downgrade from Rodgers anyway. I love McCoy this year. The Eagles are going to run a lot, and McCoy is a receiving threat. Morris is a good runner, but that's all. He's also not much of a threat to break off huge runs. This move looks kind of lateral to me. Also, don't look at it as you have to replace what you're giving away in a trade. You can trade a top QB for a top RB straight up. Your backup QB doesn't have to be a monster. Good luck with that one. Richardson is a 1st round running back. Ball has been going in the 5/6th rounds.

I'd try to see if you could land Calvin Johnson for Rodgers. You definitely don't need two kickers on your roster. Pick up McCoy/Lynch's handcuff, or gamble with a sleeper. Are you going to play matchups with your defenses? They both are great options. I'd try to flip one of those. They serve no purpose on your bench. Trade Matt Ryan to fill your hole at FLEX. Gates is not a great option there. You could be in serious trouble at RB if Ball doesn't win the starting job. This is why you don't draft backups when you still have holes to fill in your starting lineup. By starting lineup, I don't mean kickers and DST. Draft them last. Yes, I would start Seattle over Pittsburgh. I'd probably cut Pittsburgh, and take a gamble on a RB with upside. Same thing with Akers. If you don't trade one of the Bears/Seahawks, play them based on weakest opponent offense.

Holland is ahead in FIP, xFIP, WAR, and WPA. ERA didn't adjust for park difficultly, but ERA+, FIP, xFIP, and pitcher WAR do. It's a super thin margin between the two. The other poster suggested Uehara for Cy Young consideration. Does Holland get any?

Pitching to Ruben Sierra and Tony Clark helps a lot.

I doubt that Hellickson makes that start. They can and should skip him.

Probably heretical to suggest this, but he's probably not even the best reliever in the AL. Greg Holland is having a pretty marvelous season, as well.

Four team league, or he's doing one of those pick the best performers each week game. Nelson arguably is a better option than Bowe, considering who is throwing them the ball. Bowe is substantially more talented, but you would think be the number one option for the best QB in the league would be higher ranked. Not a fan of Bell. He'll probably be decent in fantasy land, because he'll get a lot of touches, but I hate running backs that run like tight ends.

That's the article. Cameron is pretty sharp. He's definitely my favorite baseball writer. He's a welcome change from the melodrama that oozes out of Dan Shaughnessy, or the "I don't get it, so I'll just bash it," Jason Whitlock.

I hope they realize that their sudden vault to relevance has to do with the Rays playing bad. The Yankees haven't exactly been setting the world on fire.

I think annoyance to others starts to climb at 13 and peaks at 21.

I left Gronkowski on the bench during his breakout 2011 season for the first few weeks. I don't remember who I even started ahead of him. I didn't even know who he was when the computer picked him for me. He was available pretty late. I can't recall any egregious errors, mainly because I always seem to run out of depth at the end of the season, and one or two key players always end up hurt during the playoffs. I've watched my crappy QB2's dramatically outperform my starter in some crucial games. I was stuck with Roethlisberger in 2011, and watched him suck against the Chiefs. My backup was Ryan Fitzpatrick, and he tore up the Dolphins that week. I'm pretty sure I lost by the difference in points.

I hesitate to make an endorsement, because a Jeff Tuel led Buffalo team will probably be down 49-0 at the half. Although, if New England is up that big, Brady probably did a lot of damage in that half. I also wouldn't be surprised if New England's defense scored 28 out of those points.

True, but the Astros would have to get there first.

Haha, that was fun to watch. You could tell that he knew they weren't going to hit his splitter.

How many people are in your league? Four? Looks like a tossup. Rodgers is the best QB in the league, but he is facing the 49ers on the road. Not sure how losing their safety will hurt their secondary. Brady is against Buffalo. I haven't heard great things about their secondary. Jeff Tuel could be the wildcard here. If he starts, I don't see Buffalo gaining positive yardage, which will lead to more drives for New England. The only worry is that they completely massacre Buffalo by halftime, and they sit on the ball. You really can't make a bad choice here.

I used to do my fantasy drafts on NFL.com. This had to have been over 10 years ago. I think I was probably 12. We would have six friends sign up for teams, so no trade would ever be vetoed. The old NFL.com fantasy league wasn't clear on the team that players were on. At the time, there were two Ricky Williams' in the league. One of them was the star running back who later retired to smoke ganja. The other was a third string scrub for the Colts. We would offer the scrub for top players in a proposal. The vague setup would confuse the other owner who always thought he was getting the star RB. When they realized their mistake, it was usually too late, and they would be stuck with the s***** Ricky Williams. To make them even more miserable, we would stack one team with the best players. The other owners could only watch helplessly. Most of them quit, but some owners would go completely bezerk. Learned a lot of new vocab words that season. Probably my first successful trolling. As for my bad pickups, I was forced to start JJ Arrington in the championship game due to injuries. I got clobbered. I drafted Jamaal Charles in one of my leagues a few years back when he tore his ACL. I also got stuck with Chris Johnson when he completely sucked one year. I think I drafted him in the 1st round. My worst waiver wire pickup was some sleeper Cowboys running back about five years ago. I hyped him up to everyone. I think he had like two carries that week. Not surprised I forgot his name.

Did you read the post before yours?

He's the only triple crown winner since Yaz. There wasn't another person contending for that honor.

Those are all valid objections, but arguing in absolutes, when the strategy has never been implemented is a little rash. At some point, this argument started to go in a circle. I think all that needs to be said has been said. The idea isn't mine, it has some traction in the sabermetric community. Maybe some statistically inclined organization will try it one day When that happens, then we can draw conclusions about its usefulness. Right now, it looks like the same arguments are being rehashed, but in slightly different ways.

I thought Peralta was under control for another year, my mistake. With that information, it looks better in the long run. They gave up a player that wasn't going to contribute to the Tigers championship window, and got someone who could start at SS. In the short-term, Igleisas is a downgrade over Peralta. Peralta was leading the AL in WAR and wOBA at the time of his suspension. He wasn't a defensively liability either. Iglesias is definitely an upgrade defensively, but I doubt that he will save more runs with his glove than Peralta adds with his bat. The switch won't kill them, but it takes them down a notch.

They are the winners of each of those trades, save for Iglesias. They gave up some highly touted prospects to get Cabrera, none who panned out. Scherzer and Jackson came in the Granderson deal. They also traded Edwin Jackson in that deal. Probably took a step back, but it paying off big now. Fister was another example of Seattle getting fleeced. As for Iggy, doesn't Peralta come back this year? Is trading a top prospect for 50 games of a stop gap that good a move? It might makes more sense if they trade Peralta, but his value has to be pretty low right now.

The Yankees aren't the same team they were earlier in the year. Rodriguez, Jeter, Soriano, and Granderson are upgrades over what they had a couple months ago. Those four probably bring them from truly awful to below average. I don't agree with the opinion, but apparently you only need three good relievers and three starters. They have the relievers, and Kuroda, Nova, and Pettitte isn't an awful front three. I think they are a slighly above average team. They probably need too much help to win the WC, but I would definitely prefer to face the Royals. Shields is good, but they might score three runs at most jn a five game series.

Looking closer at the 2012 Orioles, these are the FIP numbers of ten of their relievers: 1.89, 2.32, 2.79, 2.96, 3.25, 3.26, 3.45, 3.48, 3.59, 3.67. These are the ERA numbers: 1.10, 1.35, 2.28, 2.31, 2.43, 2.44, 2.49, 2.64, 2.79, 3.71. They went with Saunders who had a nearly identical FIP/ERA at 4.07 and 4.08. They did wind up winning, but I think this shows when the bullpen first strategy could be deployed.

Just to make sure we're on the same page, you know that I'm not claiming that it would be a 1-for-1 swap? At most, Kimbrel/relief ace would go 2 innings.

Red Sox are a -112 favorite. Doesn't prove my point, but it shows that calling an automatic loss because Scherzer is on the hill is ridiculous.