Roughnecks Capture 4th PLPFBL Title

Congratulations to the Roughnecks on winning the 2011 $1000 1st place prize! Offensively, the Roughnecks were led by Lance Berkman, Ben Zobrist, Troy Tulowitzki, Nick Markakis, and Adrian Beltre, while Shaun Marcum, Madison Bumgarner, Ricky Nolasco, and John Axford anchored the pitching staff. The majority of the league must have been comatose when they allowed Greg to pick up rookie studs Brett Lowrie and Desmond Jennings to solidify his lead in the 2nd half.

In just five years of owning the Roughnecks, Greg Wozniak has now won the league four times. In 2011, Greg ran away with the title early and we were all playing for 2nd place since sometime in June. He settled for only 4th place in 2009, but still took home the old 2nd half prize of $100 that year. Greg has now collected $2600 in winnings for a $2300 net.

And guess who finished 2nd.... yep, it's everyone's favorite runner-up, Bret Jenkins. Bret tied his all-time transactions record of 560 on the season, and he needed every one of those moves to hang on to 2nd place. Joey Votto took the revolving door of scrubs that Bret assembled, put them on his back, and carried them all year. Heath Bell and Mike Adams look like the only pitchers that played a full season for Uhhh... Lucky Devil!.

Bert has now finished in 2nd place four times and 3rd place once, but has never captured ultimate fantasy glory. Bret has been an owner since the inception of the league and has never finished worse than 8th place. Bret's Uhhh... Lucky Devil! team takes home the $400 2nd place prize in 2011.

The trend continues with 3rd place. Chirag Amin's Chumps squad finished 3rd for the second year in a row and took home $300. The Chumps usually "sit on their team", much like the Commish does, and this year was no different. Chirag used only 103 transactions and relied on the season-long production of guys like Torii Hunter, Jimmy Rollins, Coco Crisp and Aramis Ramirez. Ryan Braun, Matt Wieters, Albert Pujols, and Carlos Lee also made huge contributions. Tim Lincecum, Jordan Zimmermann, Tommy Hanson, and Carlos Marmol led the pitching staff. Chirag also has a 4th place finish in his history and is a consistent top-10 finisher.

Fourth place ($200) goes to Commissioner Sven. The Duda Abides used an excellent second half surge and nearly reached second place in the season's final days. Dustin Pedroia and Brett Gardner led the team all summer, but they were never able to recover from the loss of Ike Davis to injury. Justin Verlander was the entire starting rotation, putting together one of the great pitching seasons of all time, while David Robertson and Eric O'Flaherty both dominated in middle relief roles. The Commish takes home his first prize money since 2006, when he finished in 3rd place as an absentee owner while traveling through South America. Sven has now finished in 4th place three times.

Fifth place goes to the most hated owner in the PLPFBL, Josh Robbins, and his Red Stripe and Reggae team. Josh's trading strategy has angered owners for years, and one owner in the bottom of the standings told me this year, "The only reason I'm still making moves is to try and keep Reggae out of the top five. I'm trying to take his points." Well, unfortunately for that ticked off owner, Reggae was able to jump seven points in the standings thanks to a final day that earned three QS, and edge out adios pantalones for the final $100 prize. Using a similar revolving door strategy as Lucky Devil, Reggae only had three players get over 300 at-bats with his team, Chris Young, A.J. Pierzynski, and Brandon Phillips. On the mound, Carlos Zambrano led the team with 77.2 IP. Yikes!

Draft Pick of the Year Award: David Robertson was selected with the last pick of the draft and he responded by picking up 34 Holds with a 1.08 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 66.2 innings. Congrats to 69witSuzynWaldman for making the best draft pick of the year. Sorry, no cash for that.

Best Team Names in PLPFBL History

Finally, the post we've all been waiting for.... the Best Team Names in the History of the PLPFBL.

The team name is the most important part of fantasy sports, and these owners had it figured out for at least one season.

10. Los Presidentes (2009, finished 9th): Classic spanish name that calls to mind some of the great latin baseball players and presidents of all time, like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

9. John Rocker (2007, finished 15th): Simple idea, take one of the most controversial baseball players of our time and name your team after him. I'm not sure what's funnier about Rocker, how stupid he was, or how stupid he looked.

8. Mosquito Dickson (2006, finished 3rd): Somewhat similar to the Dahl Bhat name that made the 10 Worst list, in that only the team owner really gets it. However, Mosquito Dickson sounds like something out of a Hemingway novel, making this list.

7. Character Issues (2006, finished 13th. 2010, finished 8th.): Great use of the ESPN catch phrase of the 2000's. In those years, there wasn't a single NFL report on that station that didn't use the phrase "character issues" at some point.

6. the Ju-Co Fuck Ups (2004, finished 14th): Used an F bomb and made me laugh at those numbskulls that lose baseball scholarships because they can't get themselves into a four-year school.

5. ProChinaBuffetEaters (2004, finished 1st): Celebrating great moments in eating history.

4. Skinny Dominicans (2009, finished 12th): Hilarious and politically incorrect. Great combination. Unfortunately, he drafted all fat white guys and finished 12th.

3. PC LOAD LETTER?!?!? (2010, finished 2nd): Took one of the great moments in movie history and ran with it. Used the trash talk option to quote the movie all season. Quality work here.

2. Who is Karim Garcia? (2004, finished 15th): Could have finished as the #1 team name in most leagues. This is simply one of the great all-time baseball quotes, by Pedro Martinez.

1. 69 with Suzyn Waldman (2008 - present, finished 2nd, 18th, 18th): Treadwell wins the prize here, and might just have the best team name in the history of all fantasy sports. It is all things disturbing and hilarious, and easily grabs the #1 spot.

Congratulations to Treadwell!

What do you think? Is there anyone I omitted? Let us know!

All-Time Worst PLPFBL Team Names

Everyone knows that the most important part of fantasy sports is the name of your team.

Well, almost everyone. These owners obviously didn't put a moment of thought into the team they lived and died with all summer. And in most cases, their place in the standings reflected that.

10. Chicago Knights (2004, finished 4th): Boring. Lacking creativity. Lame. Trying too hard.

9. Bumpin' Utley's (2009-10, finished 1st and 16th): The Utley's actually won the league in their first year with this name. Just a little too weird.

8. Homos (2007, finished 20th): No thought, and strangely insulting. Even though his team was called the Homos, he failed to roster Scott Brosius or Bernie Williams.

7. PK Yankees (2005-06, finished 13th and 14th): Broke first rule about NOT naming your fantasy team after a real MLB team. Awful.

6. Dung Stove Dal-Bhat (2010, finished 7th): Creative, but only meaningful to the owner. The rest of the league is left in the dark. Are we supposed to be impressed by this over-the-top name?

5(tie). Red Sox Nation (2008, finished 12th): Simply took a term already widely used in sports and made it his own. We all know you love the Red Sox now, fantastic. Too bad this is about your fantasy team.

5(tie). Bronx Bombers (2007, finished 16th): Now we all know you're a Yankees fan. That makes it easier for us to shit talk you. You must be very proud of yourself. Enjoy your $14 beer and terrible radio announcers.

4. Mariners GM (2009-present, finished 10th and 12th): Lacking creativity. Dull. Maybe the GM stands for Grandma.

3. ClemensDieNow.com (2007, finished 7th) or ClemensRetireNow.com (2008, finished 5th): Ah, the dreaded .com team name. We all hated Clemens but couldn't we find a more creative way to say it? It wasn't even a real .com!

2. The Titanium Sporks (2010, finished 20th): Corny. Trying too hard. Sounds like something that belongs in minor league baseball, not in the prestigeous PicketLine Fantasy League.

1. Dickie Thons (2007-present, 4th, 16th, 16th, 5th): Worst team name five years running. It's unfortunate because prior to the Dickie Thons incarnation, Bjorkman had three consecutive good team names (Chet Lemon Inc, Ben Oglivie all-stars, Who is Karim Garcia?), including one of which will make Wednesday's Top 10 Best list.

Congrats Bjorkman, #1 worst PLPFBL team name all time!

Is there anyone I'm forgetting? Let us know in the comments. Don't hold back!

Roughnecks Cash Annual Check!

Thanks to an enormous final day in which Coach Wozniak benefitted from the likes of Mark Rzepcynski and Nelson Figueroa, the Roughnecks tapped that black gold to capture their 3rd PLPFBL championship in the last four years. Congrats to Greg, who has now taken home $1600 in his four seasons in the league.

Coach Bret and PC LOAD LETTER?!?!? finished a disappointing 2nd. Team PC's final tally was 205.5 points, which would have blown away the competition in any other season. The previous high in points was 192.5 by the 2008 champion Roughnecks.

Taking home the third place prize was the Chirag's Chumps. Coach Amin was the predraft favorite after drawing the "lucky" 16th position in the draft. The Chumps played well all season, but could never catch the two top dogs of 2010.

Prizes....
1st Greg Wozniak, Roughnecks, $500
2nd Bret Jenkins, PC LOAD LETTER, $300
3rd Chirag Amin, Chumps, $100

2010: A Pennant Race Odyssey

Who will take the $500 first place prize?

Greg, and the two-time champion Roughnecks?












OR

Bret, and his four-time money winning PC LOAD LETTER?!?!? team?

Team PC

As of July 17th, PC LOAD LETTER?!?!? holds a 16.5 point lead over the second place Roughnecks. At one point, Bret Jenkins' squad had over 200 rotisserie points. How is he doing it? Well, 194 transactions shows he's working hard, but it looks like his successful draft is really what has kept this ballclub in first place almost all year.

You can start with PC's firstbasemen; first round pick, Miguel Cabrera and eighth round pick, James Loney. The Tigers' firstbaseman has posted 65 R, 67 RBI, 205 TB, and a .419 OB% for team PC and is currently ranked as Yahoo!'s best offensive player in 2010. Loney has put up 47 R, 60 RBI, 144 TB, and a .360 OB% for the LETTER.

Next, go to the outfield, where Bret has capitalized, probably more than any other fantasy team in the country, on the first half success of two Toronto Blue Jays, Vernon Wells and Jose Bautista. Wells was a guy I wouldn't have drafted at all this year, but Bret went out and got him in the 9th round. Wells has responded by posting a 40 R, 48 RBI, 162 TB, .305 OB% line. And while Bautista wasn't technically drafted by Bret, Bautista was acquired in the first run of post-draft waivers on April 3rd. Bautista has put up 51 R, 48 RBI, 147 TB, .354 OB% totals. On the basepaths, Bret has shuffled between Scott Podsednik and Nyger Morgan and gotten 13 SB out of each of them.

On the hill, Jered Weaver (9 W, 142 K, 3.16 ERA, 1.07 WHIP), Dan Haren (7 W, 133 K, 4.60 ERA, 1.35 WHIP), and Jeff Niemann (8 W, 90 K, 2.92 ERA, 1.11 WHIP) have carried the load. Max Scherzer and Doug Fister have also put up significant numbers for the LETTER. Fourth and fifth round draft picks, Jonathan Papelbon (20 SV) and Heath Bell (25 SV) have piled on saves, while free agent pickup John Axford has chipped in with seven of his own. Middle man, Mike Adams leads all of MLB in holds, racking up 22 for Bret's squad.

What's gone wrong? Sitting in first place and having two of the most surprising players in baseball on your squad, it's hard to imagine that anything has gone wrong with this team. But Jenkins can point at second round pick, Pablo Sandoval, as being a disappointment so far. Sandoval's counting stats are pathetic, and he's only produced a .316 OB% for team PC. Bret also drafted Jermaine Dye, who didn't and still doesn't have a team, in the 16th round, just a couple slots before Jon Rauch and Kevin Gregg got picked. Oops.

The second half should be interesting for PC LOAD LETTER?!?!?. Can his Blue Jays outfielders continue to produce? Will Sandoval finally start to hit like it's 2009? Will Bret find some middle relief help to make up for DL'd Mike Adams? Can he keep the surging Roughnecks, Chumps, and Thons at bay?

Trade Hysteria!

The PLPFBL trading season has begun. Err, tried to begin. Trades are being accepted and then voted down faster than it takes Oliver Perez to melt down on the mound. The message board is lighting up daily, full of angry responses to the 2010 trade hysteria. As commissioner, this will go down as my Hurricane Katrina. How will I handle this crisis?

Let's look at the first three trades that got vetoed....

On 4/17, the Sketchy Mustaches were going to trade Placido Polanco, David DeJesus, and Francisco Cordero and receive Hanley Ramirez and Scott Downs from 69 wit SuzynWaldman.

Since that day, here's how these players have fared....

Ramirez: .351ob%, 7r, 9rbi, 1sb, 27tb, 7k
Downs: 7.71era, 2hld, 7ip, 6k
-----
Polanco: .218ob%, 3r, 2rbi, 1sb, 13tb, 8k
DeJesus: .338ob%, 7r, 6rbi, 0sb, 28tb, 7k
Cordero: 3.68era, 5sv, 7.1ip, 6k

Polanco looked like the NL MVP after the first two weeks but has since crashed hard. DeJesus continues to produce admirably and Cordero is picking up his saves. Ramirez hasn't quite turned it on yet, however, we're pretty sure that Hanley is going to finish the season with over 100R, over 100RBI, and an OB% close to .400, making him one of the top fantasy players.

Later that same day, a similar trade was accepted and vetoed before I even received the trade email. This second deal had J.A. Happ also going to 69 and Scott Downs staying put. J.A. Happ has not made an appearance since then.

Most owners seemed to think that trading away Hanley Ramirez for a bunch of solid, yet unspectacular roster filler seemed like an early desperation move by 69. The two trades were voted down quickly.

--------------------------------------

Four days later, 69 with SuzynWaldman was at it again. Seemingly intent on giving up his star players, 69 attempted two trades that were vetoed within 35 minutes of eachother.

First, 69 agreed to trade away Kendry Morales to the Mustaches for Bronson Arroyo, Scott Feldman, and Francisco Cordero. Yikes! Since that trade was vetoed Kendry Morales has gone on a tear, putting up a .432ob%, 7r, 10rbi, 24tb, 3k line, while winning the player of the week award that Sunday.

69 should be thanking the league owners because Arroyo has an ERA of 9.31 since then. Feldman hasn't been much better, pitching to a 4.66ERA and a WHIP near 2.00. Again, Cordero has been picking up his saves, but I'll keep Morales.

In the second vetoed deal of the morning, 69 was trading away Hanley Ramirez again. This time it was to Mount Gay Rum. The Gay Rum actually had a decent offer here, including the likes of B.J. Upton, Nick Swisher, and Leo Nunez. Here's the numbers since 4/21:

Ramirez: .378ob%, 6r, 8rbi, 0sb, 25tb, 7k
Torii Hunter: .372ob%, 6r, 7rbi, 2sb, 22tb, 5k
-----
B.J. Upton: .348ob%, 10r, 4rbi, 3sb, 15tb, 9k
Swisher: .409ob%, 8r, 9rbi, 0sb, 28tb, 5k
Alex Gonzalez: .302ob%, 6r, 12rbi, 0sb, 27tb, 15k
Nunez: 0.00era, 1sv, 4ip, 3k

Swisher has had a good two weeks, while Alex Gonzalez continues to produce TBs somehow. Upton is getting a few SBs and Nunez has a sick WHIP right now.

On the other side of the argument, Hanley is Hanley, and Torii Hunter has turned it on hard in the last few games. Again, most owners thought that 69 was giving up way to much in order to try and fill a few "dead" spots in his lineup, and voted the deal down.

------------------------------------------

Finally, Sunday saw two more deals get squashed. The first involved notorious slow-starter and biggest tool in baseball, Mark Teixeira. Teixeira is a career .237 / .345 / .414 (avg/ob%/slg) in April, while the rest of the year he just mashes. After hearing that Psycho Studs had him on the trading block, Teixeira responded by going 4 for 5 that afternoon and is now 6 for 9 in May.

---------------------------------

In possibly the strangest vetoed deal in the history of fantasy baseball, one team was trading away two average starting pitchers (Derek Lowe and Scott Feldman) for a middle reliever (white-trash representative Joba Chamberlain), and owners thought that the team receiving the middle reliever was ripping the other guy off!!!! A middle reliever! Amazing. Only in this league.

----------------------------------------------

Seriously though, this trade veto is going to make me think about the setup of this fantasy league. I have a few ideas that might work to decrease the value of a relief pitcher that qualifies in the SP slot....

-I could raise the Innings Pitched maximum, which would increase the value of starting pitching.

-I could eliminate the Holds category and add the Quality Start category, which would both increase the value of starters and decrease the value of middle relievers.

-Or, preferably, I'd like to combine Saves, Holds, and Wins into one big category, and add Quality Starts.