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Da Commish's First Half Recap
We begin the recap, as usual, by checking on my
preseason forecast. I had graciously picked my team to finish
second behind Jonathon -- of course everyone knows that I was just
being gracious and fully expected to win the first half.
Team
Predicted finish/Actual Finish
GA Clones
1st./2nd
Disastros
2nd/1st
Mystery Hill
3rd/5th
Yellowfin Tuna
4th/8th
Chiliheads
5th/6th
Mudslingers
6th/9th
BarleyMalts
7th/4th
Oaktown
8th/3rd
Goofballs
9th/9th
Playalistics
10th/12th
Monkeys
11th/7th
DCutters
12th/13th
Pirates
13th/11th
It has to hurt y'all to see my predictions be so
close
to the truth. I was pretty far off on Oaktown, and am still not exactly
sure how he ended up in third place. The Tuna were the great
underpeformers of the first half, with Barry Bonds and Jim Thome
unfolding as major busts and Randy Johnson not exactly pitching like
we're used to seeing. The Monkeys exceeded my expectations -- and, I'm
willing to bet, their owner's.
The first half's biggest surprises/draft bargains:
1. Brian Roberts (13th round, Mystery Hill) -- I can't believe Palmeiro
got busted and this guy escaped
2. Morgan Ensberg (25th round, Disastros) -- wish he had gotten hot a
little sooner...like before I waived him
3. Gustavo Chacin (28th round, Goofballs) -- basically on nobody's
radar except Clarke's back in March...now the likely ROY in the junior
circuit
4. Chad Cordero (23rd round, Oaktown) -- pretty nice to have your
backup become the league's top reliever, huh Art
5. Jon Garland (22nd round, Chiliheads) -- he was a huge bust for about
half of the league at one point or another before exploding with the
Chilis
6. Cliff Floyd (27th round, Playalistics) -- I can't believe he is on
pace for almost 600 at bats
7. Ken Griffey Jr. (15th round, Playalistics) -- I can't believe
he played an entire half, forget a whole season
8. Dontrelle Willis (5th round, Pirates) -- some of us thought he
was a reach this early, but the D-Train was amazing for most of the
first half
9. Andruw Jones (6th round, Mystery Hill) -- pretty weird that the
likely NL MVP has already been dealt twice in the LSFBL.
10. Julio Lugo (15th round, Tuna) -- probably nobody but Richard knows
that he's been among the top 5 shortstops in points this year
The first half's biggest disappointments:
1. Barry Bonds (3rd round, Yellowfin Tuna)
-- nothing really needs to be said, now does it?
2. Jim Thome (5th round, Tuna) -- RichieBo pulls off the 1-2 sweep
3. Ivan Rodriguez (3rd round, DCutters) -- has the distinction of
disappointing the most different owners this year (3)
4. Kelvim Escobar (5th round, Goofballs) -- he disappointed the second
most (2)
5. C.C. Sabathia (4th round, DCutters) -- has moved into the David
Wells class now, but not with his pitching
6. Curt Schilling (1st round, Pirates) -- he's become a rather
expensive closer...and not a very good one
7. Mike Piazza (6th round, DCutters) -- he has been hot lately but we
cannot let that obscure his miserable first half
8. Scott Rolen (1st round, BMalts) -- of course it is because he has
been hurt, but he's been outscored by Tony Graffanino
9. Corey Patterson (6th round, Chiliheads) -- it's safe to assume your
owner is disappointed when you can't even hit AAA pitching
10. Kevin Brown (6th round, Mudslingers) -- hard to figure why Rick
wanted the old fossil so badly, but 4 wins from a 6th round pick is
pitiful