Clearing The Bases

Time for our predictions about the National League.  Have to be honest, I’m not really sure about anything in the NL.  Philadelphia and San Francisco have outstanding pitching staffs but their offensive deficiencies bring them back to the pack.  Milwaukee and St. Louis were hit hard in free agency, perhaps the Reds take the Central.  […]

Clearing The Bases

Now that the fantasy players rankings are done it’s time to rank the teams they play on.  Yeah I know that predicting which team is going to finish where isn’t really fantasy relevant, but I do like to put my predictions on paper.  This column is dedicated to the American League.   With the addition of […]

Clearing The Bases

Closers can be a tricky position when it comes to fantasy as it is the one spot with the highest turnover as a couple of blown saves can cost someone his job.  When do we select them?  How many do we want?  These are all questions we ask ourselves.  Now in a 10 team league, […]

Clearing The Bases

The last of our batting positions is designated hitters.  Now there are only a handful of players that qualify as a DH, and less than half of those will be drafted in most fantasy leagues.  I’ve added a few names onto this list just to lengthen it some, but the last four players are nothing […]

Clearing The Bases

When I first started playing fantasy baseball, late 80s, it seemed like there were plenty of outfielders to go around, not so much anymore.  Sure there is a nice top 10, even 15, but after that the pickings get real slim real quick.  In most leagues two of the top four picks will be OFs […]

Clearing The Bases

To finish out our infield rankings we come to the spot that defines position scarcity.  What I mean by that is fantasy owners will reach to grab a shortstop earlier than they probably should because they don’t want to be stuck with someone who is going to be a black hole on their team all […]

Clearing The Bases

Time to get to the left side of our infield, starting with the hot corner, third base.  Most major league teams believe 3B is a position where power is required, and fantasy teams are no different.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that this position is pretty deep, with at least 12-14 I could live […]

Clearing The Bases

Today we will complete the right side of our infield with rankings for second base.  Position scarcity comes into play at 2B as some owners will move players up their draft board a couple of slots because they are worried about selecting an undesirable player that will hurt their team, therefore they take one of […]

Clearing The Bases

It’s time for the third in our series of player rankings, first base.  In the past I have refused to spend a top pick or top money on a 1B because of the depth of the position.  The depth remains strong, I listed 15 players below, and didn’t include players like Mike Napoli and Carlos […]

Clearing The Bases

It’s time for the second in our series of player rankings, catchers.  Catchers don’t necessarily get much love in fantasy leagues because they just don’t seem to be able to put up the offensive numbers that other positions can.  Why is that?  There is an old saying in baseball about playing catcher, “tools of ignorance”.  […]

Clearing the Bases

This may be my favorite time of the season.  Pitchers and catchers have reported.  Instead of the anticipation, we have actual baseball action.  We can start to dream about warm summer days watching a ballgame in the backyard and having a barbecue.  Some of my favorite times.  Speaking of favorite times, draft day.  For me […]

Clearing The Bases

    Well the 2011 season has successfully come to an end with an unlikely champion, the St. Louis Cardinals.  Who saw that coming?  Manager Tony LaRussa goes out on top as he retired a champion, have to wonder if his retirement will push free agent Albert Pujols towards another team.  That is a perfect […]

Clearing The Bases

The 2011 World Series has certainly been memorable.  Whether it’s Albert Pujols hitting three HRs in a single game or phone gate when Tony LaRussa couldn’t get Jason Motte warmed up in the bullpen during Game 5, not like we’re going to forget this series anytime soon.  Let’s see what else is going on throughout […]

Clearing The Bases

The 2011 World Series is upon us with the Texas Rangers representing the American League, not a shock, and the St. Louis Cardinals doing the same for the National League, quite a shock.  The Rangers were considered the best all around team in the AL for most of if not all of the season.  Yes […]

Clearing The Bases

Being a Yankee fan, it’s not easy watching the League Championship Series and not feel like the Yanks should be there.    Not that I thought they were the best team in the American League, I have been picking Texas to make the World Series for most of the season, but I did believe they were […]

Clearing The Bases

The Rays’ magic ran out in the 1st round playoff loss to the Rangers.  They won the first game, but their lack of offense was a glaring weakness in three straight losses that sent them home. The Yankees had a disappointing end to their 2011 season with a Game 5 loss to the Tigers at […]

Clearing The Bases

Wow, what a last couple of days in the baseball season.   Hard to believe that both the Braves and Red Sox choked up huge leads in the month of September, but as everyone likes to say, “that is why they play the games”.  The playoff matchups in the Wildcard round offer up some intriguing possibilities.  […]

Clearing The Bases

I was undecided about what to write about this column and then I did a podcast with Chris Mitchell of the Seamhead Podcast Network and we got into a discussion about the American League MVP.  Who should get the nod?  There are quite a few candidates, let’s go over them.  Not a bad starting lineup […]

Clearing The Bases

Last week we talked about the playoff picture in the American League, which looked kind of locked up with the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers and Rangers looking like they would have to collapse not to get in, but wouldn’t you know it, the Sox are trying to put Tampa back in the playoff hunt.  Problem […]

Clearing The Bases

What a shame that for all intents and purposes the playoff teams in each league have already been determined with three weeks left to go in the season.  Outside of playoff seeding and who wins the AL East, there isn’t much to look forward to.  With that being said I’m going to take a look […]

Clearing The Bases

We’ve had to take a few weeks off due to some software problems, but we’re back today, just in time to watch all of the players that major league teams will call up to fortify their bullpen and bench during this final month.  The Yanks and Red Sox have been playing a big series this […]

Clearing The Bases

Last week we looked at the teams that could be big players before the non-waiver trade deadline, this week we will look at the winners and losers.  This is where the general manager of a team makes his money.  You’re under pressure to make the best deal possible.  Everyone knows what you need, so you […]

Clearing The Bases

Unless you’re not all that big a baseball fan, you know the non-waiver trade deadline is this Sunday at 4PM.  It’s a major league team’s last chance to fix a problem on their roster before players must pass through waivers in order to be traded.  Trades seem to be harder to work out in this […]

Clearing The Bases

There was no column last week as I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and needed a few days to recover.  I’m back now and with the non-waiver trading deadline just 12 days away it seems prudent to talk about some of the players that might need to send a change of address to the post […]

Clearing The Bases

The Major League Baseball All-Star game is this coming Tuesday.  Now I love baseball, am a big Yankee fan, never miss a game, and will watch the ASG, but the format is just insane.  With the way the selections are set up now and how the game plays out, this should be nothing more than […]

Clearing The Bases

Anyone who listened to the Seamheads Fantasy Baseball Show on Wednesday night heard my co-host, Jeff Brown (Red Sox fan) toast the organization for their decision to play Adrian Gonzalez in right field for the sake of getting David Ortiz some at-bats during the team’s nine game road stretch in National League parks.  I may […]

Clearing The Bases

A little news and notes for everyone’s pleasure once again. Atlanta Braves:  Yes, that was Brandon Beachy who struck 11 Blue Jays in his last start, but before we get to excited, let’s remember that Beachy is not a pitcher who is generally going to be looking for a high whiff total…..The Braves are getting […]

Clearing The Bases

Last week we discussed the most disappointing players at each position, this week we’ll go with the most surprising, players who are playing well and above what we thought they might in spring training.  Some of the players listed are no longer playing at that position but that is where they qualified at coming into […]

Clearing The Bases

The baseball season is more than 1/3 completed, the weather is warming up, and pennant races are starting to shape up.  We are in mid-June; no longer can any player state that they are in a slump. Slumps don’t last two plus months.  With that in mind we are going to take a look at […]

Clearing The Bases

This week we’re going to take a look at some news and notes or rumors that involve each team. Atlanta Braves:  Jason Heyward may end up being a great player in time, but it would be nice if he could stay healthy for more than a month at a time……..Johnny Venters may just be the […]

Clearing The Bases

I love the game of baseball and spend most of my days/nights watching as many games as possible.  Over the years I have thought about what I would change if I was the Commissioner and allowed to institute any rules I wish.  So in this column I’ve decided to list the 12 rules that I […]

Clearing The Bases

Unless you have been living in a cave all week you have undoubtedly heard about the Yankees Jorge Posada’s decision to pull himself out of the lineup and refuse to play last Saturday versus Boston.  What you may not know are the details preceding this decision. When Posada first came up with the Yankees he […]

Clearing The Bases

Clearing The Bases                                                                                                                                          April 13, 2011 By George Kurtz Now that we have finished with all of our rankings and predictions, we can get back to our usual weekly column which will include news and notes throughout Major League Baseball that a fan may want to know. Manny Ramirez abruptly retired from the Tampa Bay […]

Clearing The Bases: AL Predictions

Clearing The Bases                                                                                                                                          April 3, 2011 By George Kurtz Yeah I know the season is four days old as of this writing, but today I’ll make my predictions for each division.  It seems the wildcard is no longer a lock to come out of the American League East, not so much because the Yankees and […]

Clearing The Bases: Closers

The old axiom when it comes to relief pitchers, is never pay for saves.  I follow this mantra somewhat, especially in mixed leagues, but in NL or AL only leagues I want to have one solid closer.  I don’t like to spend a big part of my budget on more than one, but I want […]

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