Archive for fantasy baseball

A series of unfortunate events — the end of a playoff run

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , on August 4, 2010 by Cardboard Icons

I’ll make this short and sweet. Ten days, six injuries — the fantasy baseball gods are not shining down on me these days.

2010 Cardboard Icons Fantasy Baseball Teams

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , on April 2, 2010 by Cardboard Icons

Cardboard Icons is awesome.

 I know you’ve been sitting near your computer screens for the last week just waiting to see what I was able to do in my fantasy drafts last week. I felt it. The pressure was there. Hundreds of you guys were spamming my e-mail box and twitter feed just trying to figure out who went where. 

 
OK, enough with the B.S. I’ll make this post short and sweet because fantasy baseball teams are like opinions and a-holes, everyone has one and no on really gives a crap. But I’m going to show you mine anyway. My fantasy teams. Get your mind out of the gutter.
 
I play in two 10-team head-to-head 7×7 keeper leagues in which we are allowed to keep five players and one guy who qualifies as a rookie. Team A is a league I joined four years ago, I won the first two years I played, and then took third last year. Core Keepers are: Albert Pujols, David Wright, Andrew McCutchen, Jon Lester and Clayton Kershaw. Tommy Hanson was my rookie.
 
The draft went so-so. My first three picks were Chris Carpenter, Brian Mc Cann and Adam Lind — hard to screw that up. I then took Cole Hamels, and proceeded to have a mediocre draft from there. My team isn’t flashy, but it’ll be fine. Unless things fall apart, I should be in it at the end. Here’s a screen grab of what my roster looks like on Opening Day.
Team A
 
Team B is a part of my primary league, which comprises a group of guys I have been playing with since 2001. During this off-season my team underwent a major overhaul. I unloaded younger talent and draft picks for more proven guys because my teams tend to be solid all year and then fail in the playoffs. I’m hungry for a title, been without one since 2003 — the first year we converted to a keeper. Nonetheless, I headed into the draft with these keepers: Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, David Wright, Hanley Ramirez, and Clayton Kershaw. Rookie was Andrew McCutchen. Because of the quality I got in my trades, I entered the draft without my first two picks; my first selection was at 27th overall; then had two more in the next six picks. First three guys I acquired were: Ricky Nolasco, Ubaldo Jimenez and Brian Roberts. I think my draft went pretty damn well.
 
 Team B

 

 Quick reminder: I’ll be posting later today or early tomorrow the drawing for the 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle / Hank Aaron card. I hit my milestone mark Friday morning and there were about 30 entries into the contest. Good luck to all who entered.

Three days of silence

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , , on March 26, 2010 by Cardboard Icons

Just a quick heads up, I’ll be silent for much of the next three days as I retire to the dungeon to prepare for a pair of fantasy baseball drafts this weekend. When I emerge, I should have formed solid teams that will thoroughly slay the competition.

Not writing about baseball cards during this time is essential to my focus. It’s much like a boxer who refuses to have sex until after the fight. It’s important to keep the eye of the tiger during these times and not be distracted by nonsense, like my Draft Day hat. Nonetheless, when I return I will share the results with you, as well as some other stuff I’ve come up with.  For now, let us focus on the task at hand.

My Worst Baseball Experience

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , , on April 15, 2009 by Cardboard Icons

img_0110The scene would have been perfect, but things just didn’t go as planned.

Since my wife and I had our daughter three months ago, we’ve not spent a lot of  time alone together. We used to be avid garage sale and thrift store shoppers.  Occasionally we’d hit up a movie. And frequently we’d treat ourselves to a nice dinner. But now with a child? No dice. Not yet, anyway. And honestly, it’s OK. Our child is our priority now.

But when we do see opportunities to have us time, we take it. Wednesday, that was supposed to be our time … at a baseball game.

This is why I love my wife. She’s not a sports fan, but she knows I’m flippin’ nuts about the Red Sox. And over the 12 years that we’ve been together — four of which have been wedded bliss — I’ve managed to convert her to a point where she at least cares when the Sox are in town. Hell, last year she wanted me to teach her the entire starting lineup, which she actually learned. God bless her. You know if she were trying to teach me about make-up brands or certain girly-type stuff I wouldn’t be able to remember more than one. Continue reading

LIVE! Opening Day Blog

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , on April 6, 2009 by Cardboard Icons

LIVE OPENING DAY BLOG

OK, folks, the time is here. I’ve started my 2009 Opening Day blog over on TheBaseballStars.com Web site. The site/blog looks different, but it’s still me. If you’ve got questions, simply leave a comment and I’ll try to answer them as best as possible. If you want to be private about the thing, send your queries to: cardboardicons@yahoo.com

Here’s what’s going on over at TheBaseballStars:

Opening day is here, and Newspaperman man is here too chronicling almost every pitch of the first full day of the 2009 Major League Baseball season. This blogging tradition started two years ago with an asinine warning: Stay away from Josh Hamilton. At the time Hamilton was fresh off his personal problems and I warned fantasy owners to stay away until he could prove he was over them. Clearly he is, and I was wrong. Hamilton has turned out to be one of the best players int he game, bar none. He’s a top-10 fantasy player, and a hobby favorite in the baseball card collecting community.

But I’m not here to talk about the past — thanks for the line, Mark McGwire — I’m here to talk about the future: the 2009 baseball season. Who will be today’s star? Who will break out of the gate like Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes and blast three homers on opening day? Stay tuned.

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3:28 p.m.: Just looking at some blog stats and see that we’ve got a few hits from people searching Google for the following phrases: “Chipper Jones naked”,” david wright underwear”, and “authentic football players masterbatin.” I am not kidding.

3:24 p.m.: Sabathia’s outing has inspired the following poll:

3:14 p.m.: In honor of CC, here’s a video for you to enjoy:

3:11 p.m.: As a Red Sox fan, it is my job to note that CC Sabathia of the Yankees has allowed five earned runs and is pitching with the bases loaded. Need I remind you he is facing the F’n Orioles.

3:07 p.m.: One of the best things to watchon Opening Day is the free agency activity in my fantasy leagues. Here are some of the adds: Bonaficio, Jeremy Guthrie, Billy Butler, Manny Parra, Anthony Reyes and Kendry Morales. The Drops: Rick Ankiel, Miguel Tejada, Carlos Guillen, Jack Cust and Khalil Greene. Interesting.

2:59 p.m.: WOW, Adam Dunn just CRUSHED a three-run home run off Nolasco. As the Nats announcer just said: “That’s what I’m talking about.”

The announcer just said, ” This is one dangerous dude.”

My wife responded with “Who the fuck is this announcer?”

Awesome.

2:53 p.m.: Just read a note from the State League Commish (FreeSanJose) where he makes fun of PoiDog who has made an unverified record of six pre-season free agency moves. We are limited to 30 throughout the season. Good job, Poi.

2:51 p.m.: Looks like one of our fantasy leaguers is reading this blog — or watching the Marlins game — Bonaficio has been added.

2:45 p.m.: Emilio Bonaficio of the Marlins had an inside-the-park homer about 15 minutes ago. He makes for an intriguing play at second base in fantasy leagues as he provides crazy speed.

To see more, check out TheBaseballStars.com