Thursday, February 16, 2006

Roundup

For those of you not in law school who have images of The Paper Chase and other such things, let me tell you what my day was today. I spent the day contemplating the following question, posed to me by Avraham Adler: How many players from 1996 opening day rosters are still with those teams today. Oh wait, I also prepared my draft worksheet for my Penn roto league draft that will take place in five weeks. I know, I know - busy day. It's usually slower than this.

Anyway, there are 12 such players. Thanks to the Avrahams, Adler and Sinensky, and me for coming up with the players. Adam Cohen also got all 12 but didn't add any we didn't already have. So he's worse. To clarify, a player must not have left the team (eliminating, say, Rafael Palmeiro), must be planning to play in 2006, and had to have been on the opening day roster in'96. If a player played what appears to be a full season in '96 I'm presuming he was on the opening day roster, so if he started on the 15 day DL or something don't kill me. Start thinking and I'll give you the answers at the end of the post.

My professor started today's employment law class by wishing everybody a happy start of spring training, after which he took off his blazer and revealed a Red Sox jersey, in which he taught the whole class. Awesome. The back of the jersey had "Williams 9" on the back. How do we feel about this - Ted Williams, so you know, did not have his name on the back of his own jersey. AC said that anybody should know a "9" Red Sox jersey is for Ted Williams, and if they're ignorant of that then telling them Williams might not make them think of Ted Williams anyway. "Jimy Williams? I thought the Sawwwx fired that guy. Go Sawwwwx!!"

Today is Fantasy Opening Day! Yeah, I don't know what that means either. But go with it. MLB ran some articles, including an "experts" article with tips. Each expert was asked 2 questions - who should be the top 3 choices in drafts this spring and what is a general piece of advice they have. My answer to the first question would have been, "fuck you," and the answer to the second would have been, "don't take anybody seriously who asks the first question." The top 3 choices? Who the hell cares? I need an expert to tell me that Pujols, A-Rod, and Vlad are the top 3 players in roto? "Golly, sure glad I read that column - I was gonna go and pick Jacque Jones with the 2nd overall pick. They really saved me." Everybody knows that roto success comes down to the middle guys - I could have my grandmother draft as shrewdly as Eric Karabell for the first round or two.

Scott Erickson signed a minor league deal with the Yankees. Man, the rich keep getting richer. First Jose Lima to the Mets, now Erickson to the Yankees. Baseball really has to do something about this gulf between the haves and the have nots.

The Marlins are now in talks with Oklahoma City as a possible relocation destination. I still can't believe the Hornets are playing there, and that's temporary. Now the Marlins are considering it as a possible permanent home? A franchise moving from Miami to Oklahoma City. I'm too stunned about the possibility to even try a joke about this.

Ok, the answers to the question. Stop reading now if you still want to figure it out on your own:


John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, Barry Bonds, Trevor Hoffman, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Brad Radke, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Garret Anderson, Tim Wakefield.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, I was in a league last year where a guy made Jaimie Moyer the 6th overall pick. SIXTH!!!

1:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Then again, I'm the same moron who blurted out "David Cone, $1" to open the 2003 draft.

1:55 PM  

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