Because fantasy baseball’s playoffs must take place during Major League Baseball’s regular season (so all the team’s players are playing), my league is down to its final two weeks.
And my team, The Scorpions, is way down, too. After looking like we might finish out of the cellar, the team has sagged in recent weeks, with poor performances by some players (Detroit starting pitcher Jeremy Bonderman, Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Ian Snell), and cool bats by Aubrey Huff (1B/OF-Baltimore Orioles), Raul Ibanez (OF-Seattle Mariners), and Gerald Laird (C-Texas Rangers). In the case of those last three players, it has almost been a season long problem.
At this point, it’s time to evaluate who I will keep during the off season. Of the 25 players on the roster, we get to keep up to 20. I may cut even more. Since my league is so competitive, I’m not going to list who those potential cuts are because some of the other owners in my league know about this blog. Now it’s time to start thinking about next year, believe it or not. The trading deadline for the league ends at noon today (Aug. 3), so that’s not an option. I can pick up free agents though — players that other teams don’t have — through the playoffs. It’s a great time of the year to get some bargain basement players — lots of rookies get called up at this time of the year — once the Major League rosters expand to 40 … so opportunities abound!
One thing that should be fun in the final week or two of our season is the record about to be set by, no, not that alleged steroid-using home-run hitter, but rather the indisputable one by starting pitcher for the New York Mets (and Scorpions) pitcher Tom Glavine, who get win No. 300 on Sunday (Aug. 5 — Link). We started him this week … and we will the final week of our season. I figure it will be exciting to watch … and get a win for my team. Odds are he will be pitching pretty well as he reaches his record. Nice to see a class act achieve such a milestone as well.
