Thanks!

Thanks for a great season, everyone!  Enjoy the playoffs and the Hot Stove Season.  By all means, feel free to email me trade rumors - especially in the brutal days of late February.

Ubaldo Just a Distant Memory...

The Drew Pomeranz Era has begun!

Only 63 pitches to get through five innings, but the velocity on his fastball was dipping below 90 by the fifth.  A problem or simply the birth of the classic crafty lefty?

Merry Strasmas!

Merry Strasmas, everyone!

Although with the weather in DC it looks like we'll need a good old fashioned Strasmas Miracle to get the game in this evening.

Where Are They Now? (ECBR5TD Edition)

Where Are They Now?

With a month now in the books, I figured we were due to check in on the principals involved to see how they've fared.  Some highlights:

• Megan has gotten some solid production out of Demptster, who has collected 4 wins for Suicide Squeeze while posting respectable ERA/WHIP totals and a K:IP ratio of greater than 1.
• Corey Hart has been doing Corey Hart things since Ron nabbed him late in the first round, which includes 4 HRs over the 14 games he's cracked the Colossus of Clout's starting lineup.  Throw in a SB and a .255 average and you've got all the ingredients for a classic Corey Hart stat line.
• Part of Megan's haul included temporary D-Backs closer David Hernandez.  He amassed 4 saves for Suicide Squeeze before Putz returned from injury and has continued to put up excellent numbers even in a setup role.
• Curt's gamble on Mike Adams becoming the Padres closer didn't pan out; however, ROTD did squeeze 7 scoreless innings out of the setup man extraordinaire before Adams took his talents to Arlington.

To wrap things up, the first annual 'R5TD Spite Pick Award' is being awarded to John for poaching Justin Turner and never giving him an AB.  Classic Phillie fan move.

Justin Turner, shown here coming to terms with the disappointment of being a Spite Pick. 

The Big Trade

The Big Trade of 2011 Deadline Day has to be Ubaldo to the Tribe.  Personally, I don't like it.  One reason why:

Meet trade centerpiece Drew Pomeranz.

That's tough to root for.  As a Nats fan, I'm playing my own 'he was just a kid, I'll probably be able to root for him once he grows up a little' game with Bryce Harper.  Time will tell.

The Long and Winding (Colossus of) Rhode(s)

The eyes of a champion

The stride of a colossus

  

It's been confirmed that the shadow being cast over MLB is indeed the imposing presence of Chien-Ming Wang making a rehab start for the Syracuse Chiefs (5.2 IP, 3 ER).

Tough Break

I'm pretty sure the D-Backs didn't have a chance even before this happened.

2011 was apparently the year that a Drew could get hurt and I would feel 100% bad about it.  The healing process is complete.

R5TD Results

Results are in!

It was an exciting time at East Coast Bias headquarters in D.C. as our first ever Rule 5-Type Draft unfolded over four rounds:

Round 1:
Up Your BABIP:  Jose Tabata (LF, CF)
Suicide Squeeze:  Ryan Dempster (SP)
Rise of the Dead:  Mike Adams (RP)
-----MendozaLine----:  [No Pick]
OfficiallyWerthless:  Jonathon Niese (SP)
colossus of clout:  Corey Hart (RF)
Marginal Futility:  Geovany Soto (C)

Round 2:

Up Your BABIP:  Jeff Keppinger (2B, SS)

Suicide Squeeze:  Ryan Ludwick (LF, RF)

Rise of the Dead:  Drew Stubbs (CF)

-----MendozaLine----:  [No Pick]

OfficiallyWerthless:  Justin Turner (2B, 3B)

colossus of clout:  [No Pick]

Marginal Futility:  [No Pick]

Round 3:

Up Your BABIP:  Gaby Sanchez (1B)

Suicide Squeeze:  David Hernandez (SP, RP)

Rise of the Dead:  [No Pick]

-----MendozaLine----:  [No Pick]

OfficiallyWerthless:  [No Pick]

colossus of clout:  [No Pick]

Marginal Futility:  [No Pick]

Round 4:

Up Your BABIP:  [No Pick]

Suicide Squeeze:  Kevin Correia (SP)

Rise of the Dead:  [No Pick]

-----MendozaLine----:  [No Pick]

OfficiallyWerthless:  [No Pick]

colossus of clout:  [No Pick]

Marginal Futility:  [No Pick]

Not Selected:

Jason Bartlett (SS)

John Buck (C)

Jonny Gomes (LF)

Carlos Gomez (CF)

Aubrey Huff (1B, LF, RF)

Aroldis Chapman (RP)

Ted Lilly (SP)

Two In a Row!

I knew the NL was a lock.  Without further ado, your 2011 All-Star Game winning pitcher (0.1 IP, 1 IH [intentional hit], 0 BB, 0 K):

The National Clippard

R5TD Available Players

Official ECB merchandise available for purchase.

List of available players:

Position Players
Jason Bartlett (SS)
John Buck (C)
Jonny Gomes (LF)
Carlos Gomez (CF)
Corey Hart (RF)
Aubrey Huff (1B, LF, RF)
Jeff Keppinger (2B, SS)
Ryan Ludwick (LF, RF)
Gaby Sanchez (1B)
Geovany Soto (C)
Drew Stubbs (CF)
Jose Tabata (LF, CF)
Justin Turner (2B, 3B)

Pitchers
Mike Adams (RP)
Aroldis Chapman (RP)
Kevin Correia (SP)
Ryan Dempster (SP)
Ted Lilly (SP)
David Hernandez (SP, RP)
Jonathon Niese (SP)

R5TD IAQ

Rule 5-Type Draft Infrequently Asked Questions (will be updated as questions come in):

See what I did there?  It's rather clever.

Q:  When selecting a player, can the player subsequently dropped from my team be unprotected?

A: Yes.  You can drop an unprotected player during the draft - this does not affect their availability status for other teams.  If nobody takes them, they will enter waivers on Wednesday just like a standard add/drop transaction. Dropped players who are protected do not become available for selection during the draft - they simply enter waivers.


Q:  Can I draft one of my own unprotected players if I really don't want to lose them?

A: No - give them a chance to spread their wings and fly for a team that truly wants them.  It's the right thing to do.


Q:  How should I let you know what specific player I want dropped?

A:  You don't have to do that right now.  Any way you want.  You could provide a list of players that you consider droppable, rank them by droppableness (e.g., 1-5), then next to your draft pick put (1-5) for a highly coveted pick that you would be willing to drop anybody on your list for, while just (1) for someone you are not so high on.  Perhaps (1,3) to maintain positional parity for a specific pick.  I don't know.  But if you have two draft picks and list the same player to drop for both picks, you will not get them both because there is no valid player listed to drop for the second pick.  Your preferred drop is already gone.  As is your chance at drafting that second player.

Q:  Can I send you conditional picks?

A:  Yes.  For example, if there happen to be two catchers on the list you can communicate that you only want the second one if you weren't able to get the first one.  No problem.


Q: Are my unprotected players dropped from my team?


A: No - if nobody selects your unprotected players they remain on your roster.


Q: Is there a limit to the number of players I can draft?

A: No.

Rule 5 Draft Schedule

With the All-Star break right around the corner, it's time for our first ever Rule 5-type draft!  Each team has 19 active roster spots (plus one DL spot).  You will be able to protect 17 players.

The NL is a lock.

Draft calendar:

Sunday, July 10th:  Please send me the two/three players (depending on if you have an occupied DL slot) you wish to leave unprotected by Sunday evening (via email at ryan.c.sims@gmail.com).  I will compile the list and email it out to everyone that night (it will also be posted at ecbias.blogspot.com).  If I don't receive player names from a team, I will do my best to select the players I think are least valuable.

Tuesday, July 12th: If you wish to participate in the draft, send me a list of the unprotected players you are interested in adding to your team by Tuesday at midnight.  You must also include the player(s) you would be willing to drop for a particular draft pick.  You don't have to include players to be dropped - we'll deal with that later.  It might be important to see who you get and who got poached before you decide the player to drop.

Wednesday, July 13th: I will go through everyone's player add/drop preference (in non-snake order starting with the last-place team) and make the appropriate changes to your rosters on Wednesday.  Then we're set to play ball again on Thursday!

Any questions, feel free to email me.  In addition to email, I will be posting the draft results at ecbias.blogspot.com.

Wily Mo is Back

... and back to hitting tape measure bombs - his first two of the season in June were both over 450 ft:

He went deep to celebrate the Fourth as well:

Wily Mo is patriotic but he has not lost any weight.

Huh?

Was watching the Nats last night and everyone was shocked to see Angels closer Jordan Walden jump a good foot or two off the rubber and towards home plate before he releases the baseball.  Couldn't find video/pictures from the side, but this is a still from an angle that is high enough to show his foot clearly off the rubber well before he releases the ball:

The Kiss

No gold leaf, but just as romantic.

Those college dorm room walls aren't going to cover themselves.

Ryan Theriot Is Not a Good Fastball Hitter

Carlos Zambrano knows what he's talking about.

Should Have Thrown the Fastball

Does The Riot have no idea what he handles well or was this just pure machismo/bluffing?:

""I kinda like it," Theriot said Monday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "I hope everybody throws me fastballs now. If you look at the numbers, and I'm not sure what they are, but I'm relatively positive that I would say 90 percent of my hits are on fastballs."

Snakebitten

Wilpon's comments have done the impossible - make this photo even more awkward.

The full New Yorker piece is here.

Where Did Everyone Go?

Click to enlarge.

Get to Know: Larry Corcoran

Larry Corcoran: Baseball Pioneer

First and foremost, Larry Corcoran was a trailblazer:

• Member of the first rotation ever assembled (a two-man rotation with Fred Goldsmith) for the Chicago Whitestockings
• Supposedly the first pitcher to signal his pitches to the catcher from the mound, shifting a wad of chew when Uncle Charlie was coming to town (it seems like a stretch - pun intended! - that no pitcher had yet thought to signal a catcher; maybe we'll just credit him for being the first to have it documented)
• Switch-pitcher
• Originator of the one, true template for Washington Nationals acquisitions.  Once highly regarded, he had demonstrated his skills were completely eroded (dead arm), then had the Washington Nationals take a flyer on him anyway.  Corcoran performed predictably terribly for the Nats (establishing what everyone already knew) before being discarded.  The likes of Daniel Cabrera, Wily Mo Pena, Eddie Guardado and countless others from the past few years owe Corcoran a tremendous debt of gratitude.
• First pitcher to record two no-hitters
• First pitcher to record three no-hitters

Chicago won six of the National League's first ten pennants (NL began in 1876), staking claim to the title of baseball's first dynasty.

Seven No-Hitters

Is the single-season record.  It feels like that is well within range this year with all the near-misses we've had lately.  Jaime Garcia, Anibal Sanchez, and Yovani Gallardo all took a bid into the later innings recently.  Honestly, you probably have to discount Sanchez's because it was against the Nats, but still.

The record (seven no-hitters in 1990 and 1991):
1991 - Nolan Ryan, Tommy Greene, Bob Milacki/Mike Flanagan/Mark Williamson/Gregg Olson, Dennis Martinez, Wilson Alvarez, Bret Saberhagen, Kent Mercker/Mark Wohlers/Alejandro Pena

1990 - Mark Langston/Mike Witt, Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Dave Stewart, Fernando Valenzuela, Terry Mulholland, Dave Stieb

Although those were tough times for the Phils, they did get no-hitters in both seasons (Greene and Mulholland):

Tommy Greene's no hitter

Currently on sale.

Or if baseball cards aren't your thing, there is always the giant replica ticket of Mulholland's no-no:

Vance 'Cy' Worley

If I know the Philadelphia sports scene - and I like to think I do a little bit - talk radio and the papers are feeding Worley Fever as we speak.  As a general fan of unrealistic expectations, I'm fully encouraging it.

The Nat (and Joe Blanton's Career) Killer

I'm also happy to partake in this controversy because it allows for my impeccable pronunciation of Joe Blanton's last name.  One thing that has to be noted, though: it's easy to look good against the Nats.

Hitting coach Rick Eckstein should be fired, right after Bruce Boudreau 

Get to Know: Bud Norris

East Coast Bias favorite Bud Norris:

The only player in our league that is also a manager's profile picture.

Bud Norris is one of my guys.  Just like Lance Berkman is one of Chuck's guys and Ed Wade is one of Ron's guys.  Unfortunately, Curt nabbed him with the last pick in the last round.  Although I appreciate how fitting it was to have Bud fill the role of Mr. Irrelevant, it was a crushing blow to the morale of Marginal Futility.  Not since a young Jorge de la Rosa was flying under the radar with a K/IP over 1 has this kind of talent been so unappreciated.  Granted, the wins are hard to come by in Houston but he's been slapping up solid performance after solid performance - while hitting a Jason Marquis-like .286.

Chad Billingsley 2.0?

Among his comparables through the age of 25 are luminaries such as Cliff Lee, Micah Owings, and Boof Bonser.  Be on the lookout for a blockbuster Bud Norris trade in ECB over the summer...

106 MPH?

Aroldis Chapman hit 106 according to the home gun:

Pitch f/x respectfully disagrees at 102.4 mph.

My concern in all this?  That the tattoo is safe... for now.

Basking in the Power of Espinosa

That's me in the circle during Espinosa's three-run jack in game one of yesterday's doubleheader with the Brew Crew.  It's been long enough since the Nats swept a series that I'm posting it in celebration.  And also because Curt mocked my middle infield of Espinosa and Desmond.  It's too bad I had a jacket on because the Chien-Ming Wang j-shirt I was wearing always looks good on TV.

Early Lessons

Still maybe a little too early to start drawing lessons from the 2011 season.  It's never too early to restate the things we already knew and call them lessons, though.  In that spirit, we can safely say that ST stats don't indicate much of anything.  Either the good:

Leading the Majors in spring training HRs apparently doesn't get you anything.

Or the bad:

I can't wait for Garcia to get old enough so I can refer to him as a crafty lefty.

However, the ugly in ST still tends to be the ugly in the regular season:

The NL's most embarrassing closer - he's no Joel Hanrahan.

A (Brief) Nod to the AL

Just because we're NL snobs, doesn't mean we ignore the genuinely good stories that come from the JV.  On that note, the Mid-Atlantic region is abuzz right now with a little something called 'Orioles Magic':

A 'Rule 5'-Type Draft!

It was unanimous - Rule 5-type draft here we come.  It will happen over the AS break with the basic rules as outlined below.  That should give me enough time to come up with a name that is slightly better than 'Rule 5-type draft.'  The only thing I can think of that I wasn't explicit about in the previous post was that a player can only be selected once.

I've been out of town or I would have posted this on the official day:

A 'Rule 5'-type draft?

I'm thinking of instituting a Rule 5-type draft during the AS break this year.  We could hash out the details, but generally I'm thinking:

1. Every team gets to protect 17 players (players on DL are eligible)
2. Non-snake draft order is determined by reverse standings at the AS break
3. Managers don't have to make any selections
4. Draft continues until no team wishes to make a selection or the exposed player pool runs out
5. When a team makes a selection
1. It must declare which player it is dropping;
2. The team losing the drafted player is offered the dropped player in return;
3. If the team declines to take the dropped player, that player enters standard waivers (and is therefore not eligible to be drafted by any other team)
6. You can trade the ability to protect players (e.g. Latos for Gallardo and one player protection), so you could accumulate enough player protections to leave your team intact if you really wanted

This helps mix things up during a time in the fantasy season where there tends to be a lull, while also helping teams that may be struggling (with either injuries or poor performance) get a fresh injection of talent to turn it around.

Please vote in the poll to the right.

The Greatest Rule 5 Draft Pick Ever

The Greatest Two-Time Rule 5 Draft Pick Ever

Welcome Back

Welcome back, everyone!

I'm going to use this blog throughout the season as a less restrictive commissioner's note.  This will allow me to post pictures, videos, links, polls, etc.  I'll make a note on the league page for each new post.

For now, I'll leave you with this majestic sight: