Four Bagger: Enough is Enough, time for a change

In recent weeks I’ve noticed something that I do not like about the Four Bagger. That being that the weekly piece seems a bit forced, contrived and pretty much meaningless. I mean the whole point of writing the piece is to update you as to how I’m doing in my personal challenge, and to use the piece as an opportunity to analyze where I am with each team. And what I’ve found is that subtleties often are not noticed week by week, but rather on an in frequent basis. So from here on out I will plan on updating my progress on a monthly basis, but write a “Four Bagger” piece whenever I feel there is something worth noting in my pursuit to four titles in four leagues.

That said, the last two weeks have been an interesting, yet trying team for the No Gimmicks Needed and Newspaperman squads.

The Jon knows these things to be true: Week 10

This doesn’t come easy. Newspaperman tried this week to emulate The Greatness known as The Jon, and his result was less than astronomical. He was writing something about Chase Utley, took some obscure lyric that didn’t even match and posted a Geto Boys video. Newspaperman. Son. Stick to David Wright and Grady Sizemore. Leave the videos to The Jon.

So why the Summertime video? Have you seen the baseball scores this week? Offense is running wild, dun. Temperature’s rising. It’s summer.

Summer brings crazy offensive numbers. Plus Will Smith is having a new movie coming out called Hancock …

You see that Newspaperman?

Will Smith, Hancock, Movie, Scarface, Al Pacino, white women dancing.

Those are tags son.

That drives up traffic to our site. When was the last time the Geto Boys have been in the news?

Let’s talk baseball, shall we?

The Jon knows these things to be true: Week 3




Another week, another win. The Jon is not used to this. The first couple of weeks of any fantasy baseball season has always been mired by frustration, bad pitching, lack of power and draft picks gone bad. Not the case this year. Three first round picks in the first round have a way turning history around. Not to sound all Newspapermanish, but things look good so far.

But it is only three weeks into a fantasy season, you can always plan and should to improve your team. Are you in the middle of the pack or at the bottom? You should know what your needs are.

If you are at the top, now is the time to play in into the other manager’s fears and take ’em for all they are worth. With that being said, let’s look at the week it was.

The Jon knows these things to be true: Week 1

Don’t worry, we’ll get into Stephen A. Smith, but first … after months and months the waiting has finally paid off. The first week of baseball has ended and along with it has brought many revelations. Still recovering from a Monday that saw The Jon exert zero movement except for The Jon’s patented beer elbow, here are some of the observations from the first week that has garnered a mention on these hallowed pages, ie. there is no real topic that The Jon has to write about, so subjects will be divided up for easy perusal.

Offense sucks during opening week
It’s true. Out of the top 10 players selected in most fantasy drafts, only Chase Utley and Hanley Ramirez have had strong weeks.

Draft Advice: The top 5 value picks

Fantasy baseball drafts are all about hype. As fantasy baseballers we feed off of it. When Jose Reyes, David Wright, Hanley Ramirez and Ryan Braun all have big seasons forever changing the fantasy landscape, we want to be the ones that said we saw it coming and that we told you so. That’s why Parrish was at this top of this post before the video becam no longer available seeing how his solo career was so successful. We all remember when Parrish Smith broke off from EPMD and the Green-Eyed Bandit. Yeah, that was successful. But guess what sweethearts, like a lot of solo careers, you can’t win by the rule of “I saw it comin” without solid producers — the value guys that keep on churning 180-plus hits, 30 or more homers, 100 RBI or 100 runs season after season. Your own Green-Eyed Bandit so to speak. What a weak piece of writing that last paragraph was. Videos no longer available sucks.

But still, we have humps out there saying Wright will drop 40 bombs along with Ryan Braun because they are under 26. Screw that. Let the other guys grab the sexy picks of Jose Reyes, David Wright, Hanley Ramirez and Ryan Braun, while you grab the sure things that are four-to five category studs. Get results, not predictions. Get value not teenage fandom. Here are the top 5 value picks in the draft:

Purple Lips: Yeah, no brainer right? Well, you would be surprised how many people

Shortstop Scenario: A video history

So, The Jon can’t help but look at the first round of any fantasy baseball draft and think of the Leaders of the New School. For those not in the know,The Jon and PoiDog invented that group back in 1991 and pumped Sobb Story back in our weak rides. The Jon sported a tan Dodge Caravan while PoiDog cruised in with the more respectable Toyota Tercel. It is ironic that LONS’ biggest hit was Sobb Story while their career became just like the hit’s moniker. Yeah, it’s been said it takes The Jon a long time to get to his point, but LONS reminds me of Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez and it all leads up to a showdown at the Arsenio Hall show. Confused? Then read on my friends.

Draft Advice: Top 10 Shortstops

Take a walk down the street and find three guys who play fantasy baseball. Now ask them who is the game’s top shortstop. Odds are you’ll get three different answers, one picking Jose Reyes, another Hanley Ramirez, and you may get one for Jimmy Rollins. (See how the ‘Stars chose their top three) Fact of the matter is fantasy players again find themselves in a position where they are debating who the best is. Five years ago we were analyzing three different guys (Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra), but the game has changed since then. The position has become deep enough where you need not have a top-tier shortstop if your league is 10 or 12 leagues deep. But don’t fool yourselves. Only three off them are worthy of being picked in the first few rounds. Troika!

1. Jose Reyes (47)

2. Hanley Ramirez (45)

3. Jimmy Rollins (43)

E-mailer’s Delight: The Top 3 Shortstops

As TheBaseballStars submitted their votes for shortstop rankings, it became clear that there was some dissension among the ranks. Here is how some of the stars came to their conclusions.

It’s in the stars: More letters

Keep Erik Bedard? What about Alex Rios? Is he worthy? And is Dan Haren worth these three guys? TheBaseballStars answer to more questions concerning keepers and trades.
Check it out here.

The Jon’s five most overrated players

Fantasy baseball writers like to feel special. They like to make bold predictions of players that will breakout so they can puff out their chest and tell a faceless community that they told you so. You won’t get that from The Jon. What you got here is a champ. The Jon gets results and trophies. With top three finishes for the past 5 seasons and a championship just this past year, The Jon doesn’t need bold predictions. Just results. So without further to do, here are the five most overrated players this season.

Carl Crawford: It’s a broken record. Check out this sight long enough and you will know the quasi-love-hate relationship The Jon has for Carl Crawford.