1B-Stud Again?

Carlos Pena was owned in just 60% of Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball leagues at the start of this week.

Say what you want about his batting average but that seems criminally low for a guy who is showing up after a wretched spring where he struggled with a thumb injury and wasn't getting consistent at-bats.

He's now up to 64% (after a 2-HR game against the Rockies) today, and has posted this line since May 1st: 43/171 (.251),  .366 OBP, 16 HR, 38 RBI, 31 BB, and 33 R in those 51 games. Not bad for a guy who had ZERO HR's and just 5 RBI's in 63 AB in April.

Make the Add people.

Selling Pujols? Yup.

I'm very happy with the current state of my team. 

Would it be nice to keep Albert Pujols as a late season possible addition at 3B (Especially a position currently held by Peralta/Polanco)? Duuuuh, of course. The injury kind of sours my plan for my hitters (To use a hot Pujols to help HanRam ease back into my lineup).

After my 10-3 throttling of Dave Cavanagh's first place Lights and Sirens squad, and the subsequent takeover of 1st for myself. The 4/5 seed could be a deadly opponent (See: Spliffs, Cliffs and TSA. Hell Downs too.)

I've decided I can make my run without the help of stalwart slugger Albert Pujols. Very few teams/owners can legitimately make this claim. In return and instant boost to my pitching staff. The Johan Santana Experiment is over (Waiver Wire) and thus I want to try something else. That something is getting Tim Lincecum or Clayton Kershaw.

Sans Pujols, my hitters will be:

- Hanley Ramirez

- Josh Hamilton

- Mike Stanton

- Ben Zobrist

- Howie Kendrick 

- B.J. Upton

- Carlos Pena

- Carlos Santana

- Jhonny Peralta

- Placido Polanco

- Geovany Soto

- Ian Desmond

That's without Pujols mind you.

Good enough to win stats with this pitching staff behind it?

- Felix Hernandez

- Tim Lincecum / Clayton Kershaw

- David Price

- Yovani Gallardo

- Michael Pineda

- Wandy Rodriguez

- Johnny Cueto

- Scott Baker

- Jonathan Sanchez

- Justin Masterson

- Cory Luebke (Spot-starter for now)

Now that I'm in first, I'm looking to fully be able to dominate the pitching stats down the stretch (It takes 8 of the 15 categories in our league too), even if it comes at the expense of my hitters in AUG/SEPT in the playoffs. I think the quality of my other hitters (Especially at 1B - Pena / Zobrist / Kendrick / Santana) will more than offset the loss of Sir Albert.

Pujols 3B Watch

*Editor's Note* - I had been running this segment on my Tumblr but I think I'll just continue it here. Seems more fitting I guess.

How many more games does Albert Pujols need to get 3B-eligibility in Beisbol?

Play: 4 3 games

Start: 1 game

Game Notes: Pujols made the switch to 3rd in the 9th inning. Made his 9th error tonight and thus makes it harder to continue putting him at 3B. Just start him there tomorrow and move him back to 1st base La Russa...

HR Watch

Josh Hamilton cranked a pretty looking two-run homer this evening.

And Carlos Santana hit a solo shot as well.

Jhonny Peralta adds a grand slam? I'll take it. Back-to-back nights with HR's for Peralta.

Trade Season

Offered a couple trades today.

Savage gets: 
2B - Zobrist - TB
P - Masterson - CLE

Mallow gets: 
P- Kershaw - LAD

The other:

Alex B. gets:
P - Masterson - CLE
P - Santana - NYM

Mallow gets: 
P - J. Johnson - FLA

Need A Barf Bag ASAP

The Empire is batting .196 / .253 so far this week. 

Or as like to refer to it:

Pujols to 3B: A Mallowsian Breakdown

Albert Pujols, fantasy baseball's long-time points monster (and one-time third baseman) is only 1 start and 4 appearances away from getting 3B-eligibility in Beisbol. Some bastard leagues he's already eligible, but not mine.

This is big for a couple reasons. It give me a fantasy beast at a position that's been thin most of the year (I drafted Pedro Alvarez, damn hype). It gives me the flexibility to switch Zobrist / Polanco / Kendrick around at 2B and the Walkin' Carlos Bros. (Santana & Pena) around at 1B.

There are two problems with this currently: Pujols recent error woes and David Freese's impending return. He got the start at third last night, and an appearance tonight but has made 3 errors in the two games. He's also made a few errors at 1B this season so his defense has been... well... offensive. Freese told KFNS 590, a STL radio station, that he's looking at a two week window until he's back. His minor league rehab stint is due to begin Monday or Tuesday of next week.

People say La Russa can be stubborn (How else does someone stick with Ryan Franklin so long), so I'm thinking if everyone starts asking him "WHY IS PUJOLS ALLOWED TO START AT 3B WITH SUCH TERRIBLE DEFENSE!??" he'll just put him out there one final time to show that he's the boss and that's he's been doing it for 42 years.

Intro Time

Name is Mallow (Not really, but yeah). I operate a fantasy baseball team named The Evil Empire. I am a Yankees fan first, Rockies fan second. I am the current defending champion of the league Beisbol on Yahoo!. It's a 12 team H2H league with 15 scoring categories, and 27 roster spots.

I figured it might be cool to start a blog to randomly document some of the happenings of my fantasy team en route to a repeat championship.

Here is the current roster: 
C - Geovany Soto - CHC (via Draft)
1B - Albert Pujols - STL (via Draft)
2B - Ben Zobrist - TB (via Draft)
3B - Placido Polanco - PHI (via Draft)
SS - Hanley Ramirez - FLA (via Trade)
OF - Mike Stanton - FLA (via Draft)
OF - Josh Hamilton - TEX (via Trade)
OF - B.J. Upton - TB (via Trade)
DH - Howie Kendrick - LAA (via Trade)
BN - Carlos Pena - CHC (via Draft)
BN - Carlos Santana - CLE (via F/A)
BN - Ian Desmond - WAS (via Draft)
BN - Jhonny Peralta - DET (via Draft)
BN - Angel Pagan - NYM (via F/A)

P - Felix Hernandez - SEA (via Draft)
P - David Price - TB (via Draft)
P - Yovani Gallardo - MIL (via Draft)
P - Johnny Cueto - CIN (via Draft)
P - Michael Pineda - SEA (via Draft)
P - Wandy Rodriguez - HOU (via Draft)
P - Jonathan Sanchez - SF (via Trade)
P - Justin Masterson - CLE (via F/A)
P - Scott Baker - MIN (via Trade)
P - Jose Valverde - DET (via Draft)
P - Kyle Farnsworth - TB (via F/A)
P - Fernando Salas - STL (via F/A)
P - Jon Rauch - TOR (via F/A)
DL - Johan Santana - NYM (via F/A)

In case you're wondering how I got such an amazing roster, I'm shifty as fuck. And a terrific micro-manager. And great at drafting.

Oh, and I'm currently just two games back of first place as we hit the mid-season stretch.