Maybe I should have posted this beforehand, but here it is anyway. MDS was captured on podcast, check out Starbonell Station for the hour long show. We covered Aramis Ramirez, Josh Hamilton, Joey Votto, Jimmy Rollins (who is performing his best Henry Rollins "Cuz I'm a Liar!" impression), Clay Buchholz, Vernon Wells and much more. Between the American Dream, MDS and Starbonell you get all the info you need to know and probably some you didn't.

[Starbonell Station] no comments

It's no secret I have a man crush on Brett Anderson. Just thinking about drafting him makes my body temp rise a few degrees. When I look at his ADP my pupils dilate. The only problem is, everyone wants a piece of Brett Anderson. He is on every sleeper list imaginable. It's still very early in the drafting season and as ppl read up on him and watch him get drafted by others, his ADP will continue to rise.

ADP numbers are from MDC

Jan 7th: 243
Jan 30th: 207
Feb 2nd: 198
Today: 163 (37th SP)

That makes him a early Rd 14 pick in standard Yahoo! leagues. In mock auctions, I will buy Brett every time no matter the price. I am testing the waters to see how far ppl are willing to go on him. I usually get him for around $11-$15. His ADP and mock auction prices still leave value for profit. I have him ranked as my 25th SP, behind big name pitchers such as Nolasco, Kershaw, Hanson, Wandy, Cliff Lee, Peavy and Santana. Basically I think he'll be worth $16-$20 this season. Obviously I do not want to pay that much for him so if A-Mak wants to bump up the price tag, I'm gonna mess with him and Mike Napoli. That's right, it's getting personal up in this beyotch.

According to MDC, inferior pitchers such as Roy Oswalt, Ted Lilly, Scott Baker, Jair Jurrjens (yuck), Max Scherzer, Jered Weaver, James Shields, Brandon Webb, AJ Burnett, John Lackey, Matt Garza and Chad Billingsley are going ahead of Anderson. To be fair to Buffalo Billingsley, I have him ranked 26th. I have Scott Baker at 27.

All of my drafts are in the second half of March so Anderson's ADP will likely be pushing 140 by then and in competitive leagues he will probably go 130ish.... to me hopefully. It's impossible to say what I'll bid on him in auction drafts b/c my leagues are deep so I have no clue how the bidding will play out compared to standard leagues. All I know is that I want Brett Anderson. no comments

Have you ever heard of handcuffing? Of course you have. How about the theory, 3 MR are worth more than a SP? Well, I'm going to combine the two and take a look around a few bullpens and see who may be worth targeting as some last round picks. Believe in MDS, there is no point in drafting some bum like Jon Garland or Brad Penny (who are being called sleepers/bargains) when you can get better stats from dozens of players who go undrafted.

Handcuffing has been a term used for fantasy football, but you can handcuff closers too (esp in leagues that count holds). It's better to handcuff your closers, but who wants to handcuff Octavio Dotel with Joel Hanrahan? Now that is wasting a bench spot. Handcuffing other ppl's closers can pay off too.

Last year, if you picked up Michael Wuertz, Matt Thornton and Sean Burnett you would have accumulated the stats of a SP1. We're talking 14 Wins, 9 Saves, 2.80 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 232 Ks in 208.2 Innings. Plus you could have named your team Genital Wuertz. I want you to say hello to my Tim Lincecum Frankenstein Monster, built completely from bits and spare parts found from the free agent bin.

With these two powers combined, they summon the Earth's greatest champion, Captain Planet. Ok, maybe not, but we can still take out some Boss Hogs and reduce the pollution caused by the Zack Dukes of the fantasy world. Every team's bullpen is a different situation. Lets take a look around.

LA Dodgers- Jonathan Broxton will not be on any of my teams. He is too expensive, but you can still reap profit from his understudies and piss off the Broxton owner. Last year Troncoso, Belisario, Kuo and Sherrill would have given you 12 Wins, 7 Saves, 2.26 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 173 Ks in 211 Innings. This same situation plays out in Boston, New York, Minnesota and Oakland. I love Oakland relievers!

San Diego Padres- Heath Bell is a great closer and should be included in the above example, but he will likely be traded and where he goes is any one's guess. He could very well lose his save opportunities. This is a must handcuff and San Diego is a great place for relievers. Mujica, Gregerson and Adams will be 3 amigos who should be useful. Kerry Wood is another who could very well be traded and Chris Perez is a worthy handcuff.

California Angels (I still play RBI baseball)- Brian Fuentes is just one of those guys who could lose his job b/c he sucks. Of course Mike Scioscia gives his guys a long leash, but Fernando Rodney is still someone who should at least be on the watch list. He isn't very good himself so I wouldn't endorse him as someone to use. Scot Shields is interesting tho, but he is coming off knee surgery last May so nothing is a guarantee. I'm not messing around with the Cincy bullpen either.

Washington Nationals- Matt Capps is ok, but you won't be asking yourself if you've entered the Twilight Zone when he loses his job. Bruney, Burnett, Clippard and Drew Storen (eventually) should be useful as handcuffs. Seattle and Toronto have similar situations.

Philadelphia Phillies- Brad Lidge, what can I say? He should have lost his job numerous times last year. Ryan Madson will likely be saving games for the first few weeks of the season and will be useful after that. Other teams with good chances of injury to the closer and useful handcuffs: Atlanta and Tampa Bay.

Every team's bullpen is a different situation, so do your homework. These handcuffs are basically free and you don't need to get married to them. Toss em if they're not performing, there are plenty of useful MR options out there. Protect your interests, mix and match and have some fun creating your own 3 headed Frankenstein. Be careful if you handcuff another man's closer tho, if an injury happens, hell come knocking on your door with a pitchfork in hand. no comments

Matt Wieters sucks.

Ok, that was an overstatement, but his value does suck. What is the point of reaching for a catcher who is going to hit .293 with 15 HR? Kurt Suzuki will likely outproduce Matt Wieters this season. I'll definitely take Russell Martin, Mike Napoli and others at their price tags rather than Wieters at his. It pains me to say it, but AJ Pierzynski is a better buy. Hype does not dictate my rankings, like others.

Tell Bill James I said thanks for extrapolating AA stats.

I really like CHONE's projection for Baltimore's sweet baby Jebus. The 22% K Rate, .343 BABIP and 15 HR tally up to a .289 AVG. I'm being a little more generous with the BABIP to credit Wieters with a .293 AVG. You won't get any steals and the Runs/RBI are dependent on where he is slotted in the lineup. MLB Depth Charts has him projected to hit 5th in the lineup. Tejada wont be clearing the bases with HR and having Nolan Reimold and Luke Scott hitting behind him isn't bad. I'm thinking 60-65 runs and 70-75 RBI while playing 135 or so games. CHONE has him posting 55 Runs and 64 RBI, so even tho I don't like Wieters' price tag, I'm not a complete playa hater. So where does Wieters fit into the Million Dollar Catcher Rankings?

ADP numbers are from MDC
13.5 Joe Mauer
23.5 Victor Martinez
43.2 Brian McCann
130.4 Kurt Suzuki
136.4 Russell Martin
92.4 Matt Wieters
176.0 Mike Napoli
120.0 Jorge Posada
144.9 Miguel Montero
149.8 Geovany Soto
205.4 Ryan Doumit
253.8 AJ Pierzynski
157.5 Bengie Molina
174.0 Chris Iannetta

Thanks to Bill & James Not so Excellent Adventure in rookie projections and a lucky month of September/October (.435 BABIP), ppl will be overrating Matt Wieters. Overrating him even after he disappointed everyone who drafted him last year. What is up with that? You can have 2015's best catcher, MDS will be over here maximizing value. no comments

Watch out! MDS will be a guest on Chris Carbonell's fantasy podcast: Starbonell Station. Starbonell and the American Dream will want discuss the latest fantasy baseball news while I try to squeeze out valuable inside info about Carbonell's auction draft plans for the upcoming Blog Wars league. I can't wait to nominate Johan Santana!

Will Joey Votto be too anxious to count on in 2010? Can Josh Hamilton handle a barking shoulder AND sobriety? Which Russell is better, Crowe or Branyan?!?! All these questions and more will be answered in this week's episode of Starbonell Station. Guests Kiffy "The American Dream" Purvis and Million Dollar $leeper will swing through to drop some knowledge.

Cmon, we all know Russel Crowe is better. He isn't c**k blocking LaPorta and Brantley. The podcast is LIVE this coming Monday at 7:00 pm Central. no comments

The Johnny Damon free agent drama is over, thank goodness. Now that he is a Detroit Tiger, it's time to figure out how much regression to expect and where he fits in with the rest of the Outfielders.

Everyone and they mama knows he won't replicate his 2009 season with the Yanks. The HR, Runs, RBI and AVG will drop after leaving that lineup and stadium. This is no secret or revelation. He is o-ranked as the 40th best OF and 131st player overall on Yahoo after a great season. Currently he's going around pick 124 at Mock Draft Central, the 40th OF coincidentally. Will I be drafting Johnny Damon in the Tenth Round? Hell no! Like Johnny Drama, Damon is the washed up, has-been older brother of the Outfield.

Anyone who drafts Damon should expect a line of: .275/90/15/60/15. Expecting anything more would be lunacy, I feel like I'm being nice with this projection. So why would I draft him at his ADP when so many other Outfielders will be posting similar lines at cheaper prices. They may be seperated by 0.15 picks, but Carlos Gonzalez and Johnny Damon are worlds apart. Who else can post similar or better lines at cheaper prices? How about Denard Span (125), Nyger Morgan (130), Garrett Jones (152), Rajai Davis (167), Juan Rivera (172), Vernon Wells (192), Corey Hart (194), Julio Borbon (195), Nolan Reimold (200), Juan Pierre (235), Franklin Gutierrez (254), Josh Willingham (255), Dexter Fowler (280), Connor Jackson (317). There are more, like JD Drew, Magglio Ordonez, Jeff Francouer, Cameron Maybin, Lastings Milledge and on and on and on. Johnny Damon is just an average dude now.

Johnny Damon wouldn't even draft himself. Even he knows what's up. If it's the 10th, 11th, 12th Rd and you see Damon sitting there... ask yourself, Who Would Johnny Damon Draft? no comments

Where do you have Chris Young in your SP ranks? That is the Million Dollar Question. This used to be someone I really liked going into drafts the past 4 years. Petco was hiding his extreme fly ball tendencies, his WHIP was great, the ERA was good and the K/9 was above average.... and then Albert Pujols dam near decapitated him.

Chris Young is a name being thrown around the fantasy community as a "late rd flier" or sleeper or under the radar bla bla bla. Same old "worth a late rd pick" cop out advice that is used to describe a hard to predict pitcher. However, I just want to be the first to warn people against using a Late Round pick on hopeless individuals like Chris Young (or even Brad Penny). Why is Chris Young a hopeless cause? Hmmmm, where do I start? He is a radical pitcher, a very interesting case.

Let's start with his history of injuries. Chris Young has never reached 180 Innings during his five full seasons in the bigs. We're talking about arm fatigue, a fractured hand, stress reaction in his foot, upper back, oblique, forearm and groin strains, wrist soreness, elbow stiffness, elbow tightness and most recently, shoulder surgery. He is purveyor and collector of injuries, a connoisseur if you will. [Injury Tracker]

recent injury news via [Fanball] 2-19-10

Chris Young (shoulder) got through a successful throwing session on Friday. Young has progressed well ever since undergoing shoulder surgery in August, and at this point it looks like he'll be good to go by the start of the season. He's a talented pitcher but will always come with the risk of injury

Ok, let's talk about his dropping velocity. Since he entered the league with Texas, he has been losing velocity on all four of his pitches. His fastball averaged 91.2 mph in 2004 and last year it averaged a Jamie Moyer-ish 85.8 mph. That's not even fast enuff to travel in time with 1.21 gigawatts from the Flux Capacitor. His velocity is something to keep an eye on in Spring Training. Shoulder issues tend to rob players of power so I have doubts about his 2010 velocity. This is why I am waiting to project and rank Chris Young.

Maybe we should discuss the rising walk rate. It was near 2.50 BB/9 in Texas, and it's been getting worse ever since he moved to the NL. We're talking a steady regression: 3.46 BB/9, 3.75 BB/9, 4.22 BB/9 and last year he posted a 4.74 BB/9. Luckily for Chris Young's WHIP, he is able to maintain a seriously low BABIP (career .265 BABIP when the league avg is a little above .303)

Last season, Young's K Rate fell off the charts dropping over 2 Ks per 9. It's nice to see him throwing more sliders at the expense of his fastball, but the loss of control is hurting his F-Strike% and Zone% and thus his Ks. The loss of velocity isn't helping anything either. If you track the values of his fastball, it looks like Young peaked in 2007 (26.8 runs above average) and will be throwing under hand in 2010.

These disturbing trends and injury history are enuff for me to use my Late Rd pick on some one else. I'm not one to mess with shoulder injuries anyway. I wonder how low his velocity will be this year. I mean, it's not even feasible to hook him up to the clock tower in hopes of lightning helping his velocity, MLB games are put on hold during electrical storms. Unless Chris Young shows up to Spring Training reaching 88 mph and bringing his 2007 fastball back to the future, I won't be wasting my time on this Biff. no comments

Just because an expert can hide behind the skirt of company policy, doesn't mean he or she is impervious to the Million Dollar Sleeper. This week, AJ Mass of ESPN has to sit back and watch his bad advice get torn to shreds. Why? Cuz ESPN blows. Sure they are a great source of information if that info involves Tony Romo's love life or what Ocho Cinco said on Twitter. Who the hell does Suzy Kolber think she is turning down Broadway Joe? That old, drunk pimp. Anyway, hit up Base-Heads.com for the latest episode of Smackdown! where we got the attention of the MDS Most Wanted Ray Flowers.

[Smackdown! Mass Failure] no comments

Jair Jurrjens is ready to ruin teams like Jar Jar Binks ruined Star Wars. So naturally, I was a little relieved to read he has no structural damage in his shoulder. This is someone I plan on nominating (and avoiding) in auction drafts. Hopefully people will continue to draft Jair at his current ADP (MDC 137).

The News: [MLB Y! Sports]

Jair Jurrjens says he’ll be behind other Braves pitchers at the start of spring training as he works out stiffness in his right shoulder. He says he expects to be ready for the start of the season. An MRI on the shoulder this week revealed inflammation but no structural problems. Jurrjens says he’s happy with the results but says the shoulder is “really tight.” He says he’s doing a lot of stretching to try to regain flexibility in the shoulder. He says he hopes to start throwing in a week or two.

Jurrjens is popular among uninformed drafters b/c of his 2.60 ERA and 1.21 WHIP season at the age of 23 years. What they don't realize is that Jair is just an ordinary pitcher who benefitted from good luck. His K Rate is average to below average. He posted a 6.36 K/9 in 2009 when the league average was 6.99 K/9. His WHIP will regress when his .273 BABIP isn't as lucky. His ERA will climb when his 1.21 WHIP, 79.4% LOB% and 6.1% HR/FB normalize. So you have a guy who wont help you in any stat, he's simply an innings eater with a possible bum shoulder. I have him projected to put up a 6.5 K/9, 1.32 WHIP, 3.83 ERA and have him buried so far in my SP ranks, it doesn't even matter what number it is, he won't be on my team.

If you draft Jair Jurrjens, picture him constantly asking you, "Is mesa shoulder gonna die?" no comments

Check out Base-Heads.com for the new Smackdown! where Matt Snyder has to come to terms with Nasty Nate McClouth's naughty jungle of love or get the voters to come out of Left Field and be his Squirrel Master. [Smackdown!]

We argue over Andre Ethier's OF ranking and draft value. I think Torre will try to use Reed Johnson to get Ethier some time to rest. Johnson has hit .324 or better vs LHP in the past three years and has been known to make a [great play] or three in the Outfield. Plus he has crazy facial hair in his [profile] pic. We all witnessed what Crazy Joe was doing to Matt Kemp. no comments