Four Bagger: Ramble On

Listen, Newspaperman can’t hang with the hip hop knowledge that TheJon, PoiDog and TheOz bring to TheBaseballStars. While they were listening to the supposed good stuff, I was eating up what MTV was serving: 3rdBass’ Pop Goes The Weasel, Metallica ‘s Enter Sandman, and Warren G and Nate Dogg in Regulate.

But I digress. I’ve come to understand the finer things in life, and I’m not talking about Tchaikovsky or anything like that. I’m talking Zeppelin, baby! Anyhow, as the header video states, it’s time to Ramble On and talk fantasy baseball.

Hey Newspaperman …

Newspaperman, this is your lucky day. With the recent ruling by the California Supreme Court which in essence overturns the ban on gay marriage, Newspaperman can now live his dream: He can marry David Wright. All of those love letters and naked photos Newspaperman has sent to David Wright hasn’t gone for naught. There is now an end goal in sight: Nuptials.

The Jon dedicates this video to Newspaperman who has already created an account on youtube called mrsdwright5 and he wrote this in response to the one of many David Wright videos: omg i love him so much! he is so gorgeous! 🙂

And if for some inexplicable reason David Wright spurns Newspaperman’s advances … there are a whole lotta Newspaperman to go around …

Four Bagger: NPM defeats The Jon … again

Justin Verlander may have cost me my first victory in the TBS League, but nothing can ruin this moment. Newspaperman has defeated TheJon … in the minor league setting that is the SLO League … in a regular season match up, no less … but I have has done it for the third straight time. Now if only I can take down TheJon in the TBS league. I have not beat him there since Aug. 6, 2006. Read about this week’s victory and other happenings in the Four Bagger.

Which BaseballStar are you?

So to get a better understanding of how TheBaseballStars differ, lets play a little game shall we? The fun begins with pitching, or which type of pitchers each individual BaseballStar goes for when creating a team. It is a vision of what the perfect pitcher is so to speak.
The game is figuring out which BaseballStar you are most alike in terms of which pitcher you go for when selecting your team.

The Jon fully expects you to read this post and spend one second saying you are like The Jon, Newspaperman (heaven forbid), PoiDog (you sheep), FreeSanJose (get anger management classes), or The Oz (MIA). So why the Roy Halladay video? The Jon thought you would never ask …

Saving the best for last

I’ve said it before, but this could be my best draft yet.

The long road to the 2008 season came to an end Sunday when I participated in the final of my four drafts, and it could have been the best one of the year.

The was the grand finale: TheBaseballStars league – a 10-team keeper league in which all five of TheBaseballStars participate. This is my version of an expert league, where I feel my fantasy skills are truly tested.

Anyway, I entered the draft without a third and seventh round pick, and with the following keepers: Jose Reyes, David Wright, Grady Sizemore, Justin Morneau; Justin Verlander, and Yovani Gallardo.

Here’s what my team looks like today.

Draft advice: Top 20 Starting pitchers

Every league has a pitching guru. Not to toot my own horn, but more times than not, I proudly proclaim that mantle. Once upon a time, I insisted on keeping five pitchers. But even I know that’s not a sound strategy. I prefer to take one or two studs early and fill in my staff with high-upside hurlers on the young side of 30 who are capable of becoming dominant. I’ll leave low-WHIP, low-ERA, low-K, low-risk guys for someone else. Our rankings largely reflect that philosophy. Although The BaseballStars had a pretty wide level of varience — some of our top-10 pitchers didn’t even appear on everyone’s top-20 list — I would feel perfectly comfortable following this list straight down.

The Michael Jordan of fantasy baseball …

Move aside Mike, Newspaperman is about to join you in three-peat land. Just when things looked like I was going to enter the season with Travis Hafner and Carlos Zambrano as two of my five keepers in one league, I got a surprising offer this morning from someone looking to dump Carlos Lee and C.C. Sabathia.