Oh Yeah, Baseball!

Channel surfing recently I came across the MLB All-Star game.  Who knew baseball was going on? I am too focused on the Tour de France.  Anyways seems a shame this kid Puig is not on a roster.  So I am picking him up minus his 8 homers and dropping Stanton and his 10.

Can't figure out the score looking at the site. Assuming Davis has helped you gain ground. Time for my team to get ready for the dog days.

Do I get to subtract your Braun homers?

Vince Visigoths making multiple moves

Matt Kemp (2 HR) and fat Ryan Howard (7 HR) out.

Dominic Brown (-15) and Chris Davis (-19) in.

Brown and Davis each cranked out 10 HR in May, while Kemp and Howard have lingered due to injuries. There is always a risk of "buying high", but the case for the momentum is strong also.

"Hard to cut those two players, but this format and Greg's large lead leave me no choice," said coach Vince. "I would be shocked if Kemp did not appear on my roster later this season."

STANDINGGS: Extra G cuz Greg has a huge lead

May wrapped up and there is no "may" about it, Greg has a large lead.

Greg leads 99-79 in the 2013 HR Contest and has made no transactions, a sign of deft drafting.

20 dingers after two months is a very large lead even for his standards this early in the season.

Looking under the top-line numbers, Greg's squad has an OPS of .909, more than 100 points better than Vince's Visigoths at .798.

Check out this graph - teams were even entering May, but Miguel Cabrera jacked 13 and others just took off for Greg:

all this, and Greg didn't even have Giancarlo Stanton produce anything while on DL.

Automated stats? HomeRunContest moves into the 20th Century...

After an off year, I decided to try again to see if one of the major fantasy providers would allow us to set up a 2-team, 1-category, no-position-limit and libertarian-free-agency league.

This traditionally has been a folly - what major media outlet thinks anyone plays the game this way?

Yahoo! does. Yahoo!

Stay tuned, I think the main obstacle will be to get Greg to create a team and an Y! profile...

UPDATE: Main obstacles overcome...Greg needed an hour for his second profile - in setup, Y! said max 4 teams but in practice minimum 4 teams, so Greg and I each setup a fake account that we filled with small speedsters with culturally-interesting names.

RETROACTIVE STATS START WED APR 10! GAME ON!

2013 Home Run Contest Draft Results

Greg and Vince return to their old ways after a one year hiatus from Home Run Contest - fantasy baseball at its most elemental.

9 players per team.
No position reqs.
Forget the 4x4 or 5x5 debate - we only count HOME RUNS.

Greg won the toss and elected to take the first pick. leaving Vince with the next two. Then Greg with the next two. Rinse and repeat. 

2013 Home Run Contest Player Selection Meeting

1. Greg - Giancarlo Stanton

   

   Yep, that is the #1 pick Giancarlo Stanton

2. Vince - Albert Pujols
3. Vince - Adam Dunn
4. Greg - Miguel Cabrera
5. Greg - Jay Bruce
6. Vince - Ryan Braun
7. Vince - Jose Bautista
8. Greg - Edwin Encarnacion
9. Greg - Prince Fielder
10. Vince - Ryan Howard
11. Vince - Matt Kemp
12. Greg - Carlos Gonzalez
13. Greg - Bryce Harper
14. Vince - Joey Votto
15. Vince - Mark Trumbo
16. Greg - Adrian Beltre
17. Greg - Evan Longoria
18. Vince - Anthony Rizzo

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

The End of the Dogs Days of Summer Bring Us ..........Football!!

Let's be honest here. Despite an NFL lockout and seemingly daily ethics issues in college football, all of that hardly matters once the 1st kick-off arrives. Time that used to be taken up by family, work, or household chores are now replaced with fantasy football, survivor leagues and entire Sunday's spent in man caves. This all leaves precious little time for following Major League Baseball, let alone a HR contest. Luckily we both drafted well and we have nothing to be embarrassed about. Maybe buy and hold works after all!?

With that said and holding a 279 to 241 lead I am not taking any chances. Dropping Jason Heyward and the 10 homers he has had while on my roster and adding Matt Kemp minus his current 31.

Oh and my biased NFL prediction is the Browns offense finishes in top 15 in the league and team goes 8-8. They are only 3 defensive players and a move to the NFC West away from challenging for the playoffs!

VR Drops Ka'aihua, Adds Granderson

First time looking at my team this season, and oddly the only ballgame I watched all year should have tipped me that one of my players got demoted to AAA

I watched the Yankees-Royals while in NY at a conference and was impressed by the youngster Brad Hosmer at first base. Never occurred to me that my last round pick Kila Ka'aihue had to get bags packed for Omaha for that to happen...

So, I drop the Hawaiian and his two dongs, add Yankee star Curtis Granderson who has taken the slow trot 23 times this season.

I chose CG over Berkman, Kemp and Jay Bruce based on superior SLG and park effects. GT dropped Josh Hamilton earlier this season, but I will pass as my squad looks pretty strong despite the lag.

GT, your move.

July 4 Standings - GT up 168-147

It is fair to say neither combatant remains engaged in the 2011 Home Run Contest, but our pretty good drafting allows our laissez-faire management to get by for at least half the season.

GT lead VR 168-147, and almost all of that difference can be attributed to the first round selections of Greg's Jose Bautista (27 dingers to lead MLB), versus Vince's horrendous Adam Dunn (pictured, practice) with only 8. The rosters:

GT 168

Bautista 27

Pujols 17

Konerko 21

Heyward 8-3=5

Teixeira 25

Votto 12

Nelson Cruz 20

Adrian Gonzalez 16

Carlos Gonzalez 13

Dan Uggla 12

VR 147

Adam Dunn 8

Ryan Howard 17

Fielder 21

Stanton 16

ARod 13

Braun 16

Carlos Pena 17

Miguel Cabrera 17

Mark Reynolds 20

Ki'aihua 2

Greg cuts Hamilton, adds

Dropping Josh Hamilton and his broken finger and 0 homers for Jason Heyward minus his 3.

At least I saw Hamiltons injury on Sportscenter, or i'd probably never know.

Vince Note - I saw he called his third base coach "stupid", Stay classy Josh

2011 Home Run Contest Draft

HR Contest Year #5 - fantasy baseball at its most elemental.

Home runs only. Minimal free agent moves allowed.

Plenty of time to enjoy the finer things in life.

Greg, as two-time returning champion, elected to take picks two and three overall in our two-person snake draft, leaving Vince to select first.

Vince admits to following the quantitative methods of Baseball Prospectus to arrive at his draft list. Greg admits to looking at last season's leaders. Which one works?

Vince's roster, aka The Big Uglies

Adam Dunn

Ryan Howard

Prince Fielder

Mike Stanton (rookie)

Alex Rodriguez

Ryan Braun

Carlos Pena

Miguel Cabrera

Mark Reynolds

Kila Ka'aihua

Greg's roster, aka Tour de Longball

Jose Bautista

Albert Pujols

Paul Konerko

Josh Hamilton

Mark Teixera

Joey Votto

Nelson Cruz

Adrian Gonzalez

Carlos Gonzalez

Dan Uggla

Vince making moves - what trade deadline?

Cut Jay Bruce (should have picked Votto!) with his 10 HR.
Add Jose Bautista (MLB leader, going with momentum) and his 33 dongs.

and now for the crazy move...

Fantasy College Blitz CFO (Chief Fantasy Officer) Drew Smith suggested Baltimore Luke Scott for this HR Contest exercise, I declined. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy has 19 dingers in just 81 games, so projecting that out to the current games played makes him look like 25.

So..

Cut Ryan Braun (+16)
Add Luke Scott (-19)

At The Break

Figured we needed a midyear break update. Clearly neither one of us is following much baseball this year as the 1st and 3rd placed HR hitters YTD are not on our rosters. Despite this my team has a solid 156 to 131 lead. Hopefully no one gets hurt because I probably would never know it.

In other news.........while I grew up a Knicks fan my connections to Cleveland through being a lifetime Browns fan and going to college near there secretly had me hoping LeBron would stay in Cleveland over NY. Instead he is "taking his talents to south beach," as announced on the The Decision. Well, my decision is to cheer for anyone including Kobe to beat Miami now. It's like his ego grew 10 fold over a 2-3 week time period. His first time back to Cleveland to play could be like nothing we have witnessed in U.S. pro sports.

Standings May 23

Greg possess a killer bottom of his lineup - his last three picks, have 31 HR already, half of Vince's tally!

Greg 72, Vince 60

MLB Top HR

Greg has two of the Top 5 in Justin Morneau (right) and Mark Reynolds, both art of the back of his lineup. His top pick Prince Fielder managed only 6 skyshots, failing to reach the Top 50. It was reported on the Onion that he gave in to curiosity and ate a handful of dirt last week.

Vince's lineup looks consistent (seven in Top 50) but Chris Davis and Jay Bruce seem to be anchors to the windward.

GREG

Fielder 6
Howard 8
Carlos Pena 7
Teixera 7
Adrian Gonzalez 9
Carlos Quentin 4
Mark Reynolds 11
Justin Morneau 11
Jason Heyward 9

VINCE

Pujols 8
ARod 6
Dunn 9
Braun 7
Longoria 9
Josh Hamilton 8
Chris Davis 0 (CUT 5/23) ADD Konerko -14
Jay Bruce 4
Nelson Cruz 9