The Draft, Rankings, Week One and other crazy worthless information

This is the official blog of The League.

All are enouraged to comment and post on this site. To post, e-mail the text, links to pics and websites to Ben at 446835@sbuniv.edu.

Now, important stuff.

Draft Rankings/Power Rankings

Don't know if you noticed or not, but we had a draft on Saturday. Here are the Offical Rankings and comments on the draft.

1 Ben Nielsen (Blackhawks)
Fewest holes of the 8 teams. Weakest position is right field. Puts a lot of weight on young
pitchers continuing success. Great keeper prospects. Would be outright number one with
a dominating ace.
Best Pick: Garrett Atkins
Worst Pick: Mike Mussina
Sleeper: Barry Bonds, Ian Snell and Curtis Granderson
Best Trade Prospect: Barry Bonds

2 Jason Wiley (Smurfs)
Would be number one if his catching, left field and back-end pitching rotation were not so
questionable with injuries and lack of fantasy production. Has an overall solid line-up. Top
two pitchers are the second best fantasy tandum behind Tony. Amazing bullpen.
Best Pick: Joe Nathan and Rickie Weeks
Worst Pick: J.D. Drew and Aaron Harang
Sleeper: Alex Rios
Best Trade Prospect: Gary Sheffield and

3 Tony Allen (Tones)
Would be ranked higher if the C, 2B and CF positions were not lacking so much. Good
pitching all around minus Wainwright and Millwood. Great depth. Good keeper possiblities.
Best Pick: Ryan Zimmerman and Dave Bush
Worst Pick: Ian Kinsler and Kevin Millwood
Sleeper: Nick Markakis
Best Trade Prospect: Adam Dunn and Freddie Sanchez

4 Andrew Wessley (300)
Great depth. Good keeper possibilities. Lacks the strong, heavey ladened line-up and
has too many pitchers that have questions about their health.
Best Pick: Matt Holliday (via trade) and Cole Hamels
Worst Pick: Dan Uggla and Nick Swisher
Sleeper: Billy Butler and Cole Hamels
Best Trade Prospect: Jermaine Dye

5 Joel Schilb (Schilbies)
Solid infield and a good bench. Great keeper potential. Bad pitching rotation and closers.
Best Pick: Jose Lopez
Worst Pick: Jason Isringhousen
Sleeper: Mark Teahan and Eric Byrnes
Best Trade Prospect: Magglio Ordonez and Scott Rolen

6 Casey Allen (KC)
Too many holes to be any higher. Has decent potential to improve and has good trade
pieces.
Best Pick: Vladmire Guerrero
Worst Pick: Jacque Jones
Sleeper: David DeJesus
Best Trade Prospect(s): Roger Clemens, Derrek Lee, Travis Hafner

7 Erik Johnson (The Zou)
Would be a great AAA Team. Too bad this is a Major League Fantasy Baseball League.
Guess Erik missed the memo.
Best Pick: Carl Crawford
Worst Pick: Estaban German and Tim Hudson
Sleeper: Howie Kendrick
Best Trade Prospect: Carlos Lee

8 Jeff Kimball (KIMBALL)
Kimball wins the "Most Likely to Actually Show Up at the Draft Next Year" Award after
seeing what his roster looks like.
Best Pick: Chase Utley
Worst Pick: N/A
Sleeper: Jhonny Peralta
Best Trade Prospect: Ryan Howard


Week One

Week one features some great match-ups including Power Rankings #1 Blackhawks verses #3 300.

300 will need shortstop Jose Reyes and designated hitter David Ortiz to step up this week. Most of 300's line-up is faceing good pitching with the exception of Ortiz and Reyes who are facing Kansas City and St. Louis respectively.

The Blackhawks will lean on second baseman Brian Roberts and right fielder Ryan Freel. If those two perform, then it will be very difficult for 300 to match the Blackhawks offensively.

What to watch for: Opening day, 300 will start 4 pitchers to the Blackhawks 1. A big day from those 4 pitchers could give 300 the momentum they need for the win.

Picks to Not Suck: Albert Pujols -Blackhawks, David Ortiz - 300

Prediction: Blackhawks over 300

OTHER GAMES:

Smurfs vs The Zou
W2W4: Smurfs back-end pitching need to step up to fend off young Zou line-up.
Picks to Not Suck: Carl Crawford - Zou, Carlos Beltran - Smurfs
Prediction: Smurfs over Zou

KIMBALL vs KC
W2W4: Both teams catchers could be sleepers this year.
Picks to Not Suck: Vlad Guererro - KC, Ryan Howard - KIMBALL
Prediction: KC dominates KIMBALL

Schilbies vs Tones
W2W4: Second best match-up of the week will be determined by the pitching battle.
Picks to Not Suck: Robinson Cano - Schilbies, Ryan Zimmerman - Tones
Prediction: Tones defeat Schilbies