The Mike Vick Distraction

Maybe Mike Vick will be a distraction that helps out the Eagles. Vick isn’t the type of guy to argue with the coach and whine about not getting the ball. So, maybe all the pub for Vick will take the media pressure of McNabb.

Are the fans really going to bother McNabb? I think he’s used to them, especially after last year – his comeback after being benched was pretty impressive.

All the experts are saying they don’t understand the signing and that it doesn’t make any sense. Well, who would it have really made any sense for? If he doesn’t get to play till week 6, that gives the Eagles plenty of time to show up on the field with some totally off-the-wall schemes at the midway point in the season.

Enough with the drama. As far as fantasy goes…somebody probably picked him in the draft just to take a chance. Personally, I’d wait on the guy.

Deep League Quests for No-Name Streakers

I’ve been riding players since the All-Star break that even most baseball fans haven’t heard of. Oeltjen, Pagan, Ellis, Rajai Davis, and others. I’ve been picking them up before they gain popularity or recognition and it’s been paying off.

Sure, I get teased for having no-name players all over my roster but yesterday I picked up Johnny Gomes and Hanigan and they gave me 4 HRs.

I guess the key is looking at splits and riding streaks before they fizzle out. I’ve also been good at dumping players right before they hit slumps. Sure, I’ve been lucky, but after some fantasy baseball experience you can start to sense these things.

I rode Brandon Inge for too long before dropping him. He just hit a walk-off last night and I think he might pick up his HRs again, but I just don’t feel like taking the chance.

It’s the home stretch now and I’m looking forward to see what “no-name” players I’m using on a daily basis.

I’m afraid of pulling the trigger on Derrick Holland tonight versus Boston, but I can’t help myself.

French Kawakami

I’m picking up French for the Tigers and Kawakami for the Braves, today. Let’s see how that works out. Kawakami was awesome last week against the Yankees before he took a liner to the neck. Ouch.

French is seeing his first MLB start and is coming off a 2.98 ERA and a 4-4 record for the Mudhens of Toledo. I like the idea of an unseen rookie taking on the Twins. We’ll see how that works.

I'm picking up Luke French and letting him roll in his first MLB start for the Tigers.

We’ll see.

Manny’s Back Tonight

Manny Ramirez is back and all of his owners will rejoice. Ethier owners should be rejoicing as well. The numbers just haven’t been there for Ethier the way they were when Manny was around. Obviously Manny’s return is going to mean more runs  for Ethier and even more RBI’s.

Manny's return tonight should also mean the return of Ethier's numbers

Ethier certainly wasn’t slouching while Manny was gone, but his number did drop. I don’t own Manny on any teams, simply because I don’t like the guy.

I always knew there was a reason why he was wearing such bagging uniforms. I do, though, own Ethier and I’ll be looking forward to the increases in all categories.

The window might’ve passed to get in a trade for Ethier, but you still might be able to pull something off.

CFL Michael Jackson Celebration

Arland Bruce, wideout for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL, gave homage to the late (and previously weird) Michael Jackson with a touchdown celebration to die for. He got two penalities and was booed by the crowd. Last year he put a Spiderman mask.

CFL wideout celebrates TD while honoring the late, weird, Michael Jackson

You can check out the celebration of death here. I know that when I die, nothing would honor me more than to have a CFL wideout acknowledge my body of work.

How exciting would a CFL fantasy football league be?

Are Wins Arbitrary?

Unless your pitching staff is loaded, picking up wins can be about as easy finding someone who’ll say something nice about Detroit. Okay, I actually like Detroit. It has character. I once saw a guy riding a rascal and giving it three-wheel motion down a sidewalk going about 15mph. That’s fast for a rascal and this guy was laid back on it.

What about pitching? Well, I try to go for wins every single week – like a moth to a flame. I go for wins and there goes my ERA and WHIP – every week.

Right now, I’m down two wins. About to be three as soon as Wandy gets his. It’ll be 5-2. What will I do about it? I’ll drop and pick up and drop and pick up as much as I can. I’ll roll with 4 pitchers each day and maybe, just maybe I’ll get one win.

So, why bother? It’s probably a better idea to just go with what you’ve got and pick up one or two guys during the week if the match-ups are good. Sometimes you’ll get wins, sometimes you won’t.

Who am I kidding? I’ve got to have 3 pitchers going everyday. It’s no fun if you don’t.

Martin Prado – Multi-Position Eligibilty to get More ABs

I’m not a Braves fan but I live in the south and Braves games might be the team with the most regional coverage. Sure, there are Yankees and Red Sox fans everywhere, just like there are Cowboys fans – they all have jumped on the bandwagon at one time or another.

What’s my point? Because I get to listen to the Braves on the radio and TV more often than any other team (I get Reds games, too) I tend to pick up Braves on my team. With Martin Prado available on the wire and Bob Cox making the call that he’ll be the official starter at 2B, at least for now, I thought I’d pick him up. He’s had a hot bat lately.

Martin Prado takes over at second, for now.

I don’t need a 2B – I have Kinsler, Roberts, Phillips and Zobrist. I have Bonafacio, too. But this is a real deep league.

I dropped Ianetta for Prado, who was owned in 68% of all leagues on Sporting News. We’ll see what happens and how quickly he gets picked up by an opponent.

Bradon Inge – Still Producing

When Brandon Inge started getting noticed for his HR production, people started pointing out his usual batting average. Every expert out there said he’d be coming back to Earth.

So, has Inge fallen back to Earth?

A little, but he’s still producing and he’s the 3B mainstay on a potent offense. He’s the early Gold Glove favorite around the league so you know he’ll always be in the lineup.

What’s he been doing? He’s still batting .272 and remarkably owned in 97% of ESPN leagues. Why’s that remarkable? Because if you had told anybody that he’d be batting .272 at this point in the season and owned that much in the fantasy world, nobody would buy it.

The Gold Glove? Well, Tigers fans aren’t surprised. We’ve been watching this guy for years now. His arm is pretty amazing.

His strike outs are up and a little more like what we’re used to. He’s coming off a May where he hit .231, which is more “normal.” He struck out 31 times in May as opposed to just 14 in April. He’s struck out 18 times so far in June, but he’s hitting .264.

So, the numbers are coming back down to Earth a little bit for Inge, but he’s still producing. He might have been a guy to sell high on in April, but I doubt you could have found a taker.

I’m holding onto him.

Pseudo-Starters and Taking Away SP’s

Every league is different – different rules, different cash-outs, different opponents. You need to guage everything, including the habits of your competition. If you’re like me, and you make a lot of waiver moves picking up SP’s almost every day, then watch and see what your opponent does. If your opponent is trying to match you so they don’t get blown out in K’s or W’s, then see if you can bait them into picking up a bad SP.

In deeper leagues I like to pick up an SP early for each day. I’ll do it a day in advance if I can. That gives my opponent the impression that I’m starting him. Keep him in your starting lineup as long as you can. Of course, make sure it’s a guy that you’d consider starting.

By picking up pitchers in head-to-head leagues, you’re taking SP’s away from other owners. You might not be playing that owner that week, but it’s still going to make a difference. Picking up an SP, whether you play him or not, is keeping those stats away from everybody else in the league.

Maybe that pitcher you picked up got a W. That W might have made the difference for another team in the W category – maybe it would have given them the point for Wins, but you took the chance away. When the playoffs come around, it might be that one point (or all the points you’ve built up from this strategy) that gets you into the playoffs.

Tommy Hanson, Andrew McCutchen

These are the newest call-ups to keep an eye on and implement right into your lineups. From what I’ve read everybody in the fantasy world is high on Hanson and is suggesting that you go with him even on his first start. I’ve only heard good things out of Atlanta about Hanson, but it was a surprise when the Braves called up Medlen first. He didn’t fare too well.

As for McCutchen, he was getting talked about before the trade. He’s the top Pirates prospect and he’ll be getting playing time. I’ve gone ahead and picked him up and plugged him right into my lineup. As of today’s game he’s already got his first hit and some peripheral numbers.

Get them both now if they’re still around.