Someone PLEASE help me with the name of this article.
I'm going to take this space to beat the drum of pushing for a IL spot next year.
Now, you may be saying to yourself "Dan, you only want that because you have guys like Judge, Meadows, Hicks, Olson, Luzardo, Skaggs and Heaney on the IL. Stop thinking only of yourself". You wouldn't be wrong about that statement, but it's not that simple. Injuries are everywhere in Wombat, and the key difference now vs when we started is you almost have to stash guys to remain competitive in the league. Gone are the days of picking up Manny Machado the night he's called up. In our current state, Machado would have been drafted and kept maybe a full year ahead of his call up date. Those are valuable roster spots, and you're paying a dear price by stashing them.
The issue is you really CAN'T drop them - they're too valuable, too soon. So to me, it doesn't make sense to have to potentially start someone on the IL (we saw that last year for the first time) over having a DL spot. I'm not sure what the argument AGAINST is, other than policing it. The worry is we'd have people taking advantage of it, but really it just creates an illegal lineup if they don't fix their roster upon a player being removed from the IL. That's on them to fix, and if they don't, well, maybe we start actually enforcing illegal lineup losses.
Next week: I use this space to advocate for switching to an auction draft
(not really...at least I don't think so)
(Double) Dong of the Week:
Altuve and Bregman go back to back in the first inning, keeping both of their hot seasons going. Altuve was starting to make some wonder if he had slightly fallen off, but to start the year he looks like an MVP candidate. Bregman continues to be an absolute franchise player for the MoonSchatz. Let's figure out a way to get them together. My proposal:
Moonschatz receive:
Jose Altuve - 2B
Megalomaniacs receive:
Dee Gordon - 2B
Daniel Vogelbach - 1B
Aroldis Chapman- RP
Matt gets to pair Altuve up with Bregman, giving him maybe the best infield in the AWL. On the other side, Dean gets some much needed power at first base - Miggy is sitting on zero bombs on the year. Chapman is a prized pen option, that Matt can afford to give up since he has saves in other places. Dee Gordon is of course, Dean's boy for life.
Let's make this happen.
Transaction of the Week:
4/20/19 10:01 PM ET
Cold Notes:
Shane Bieber SP | CLE - Traded from Kev Bombs Stephen Piscotty RF | OAK - Traded from Kev Bombs
Kev Bombs:
Nomar Mazara RF | TEX - Traded from Cold Notes
Luis Severino SP | NYY - Traded from Cold Notes
A blockbuster, on 4/20! This is a high risk / high reward trade for both teams, and I like it for both sides. Bieber isn't Severino's caliber of pitcher, but he's damn solid (minus his last outing) and more importantly - he's actually pitching right now.
On Kev's side, Severino is a true ace, and if he can come back in early June, and pitch like he has, then it's an absolute win. It may be a bit much to expect that much of Severino, but the reward is just so promising there.
Piscotty / Mazara to me are a wash personally, as I consider them equals. B+ trade for both teams.
Weekly MVP's:
Double MVP for Jon this week, which is just awesome to write. Yelich was an absolute monster for the Pandas, helping them put up an impressive 19 bombs on the Power Bolts.
AWL:
Week 1: Mike Clevinger - Kingslayers - 12 INN, 2 HA, 4 BBI, 22 K, 0.500 WHIP, W
Week 2: Austin Meadows - Ham Sandwiches - 12-22, 0.545 BA, 2 2B, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 6 R, SB, 5 BB
Week 3: Joey Gallo - Kingslayers - 11-23, 0.478 BA, 2 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 8 R, BB
NWL:
Week 1: Cody Bellinger - Time Consumers - 20-44, 0.455 BA, 2 2B, 3B, 7 HR, 18 RBI, 17 R, SB, 3 BB, CS
Week 2: Ronald Acuña - Fuzzy Kiwis - 12-22, 0.545 BA, 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, SB, 4 BB
Week 3: Christian Yelich - Killer Pandas - 10-24, 0.417 BA, 8 HR, 16 RBI, 9 R, 6 BB
Dan's Culture Recommendation of the Week:
I've come to listen to so many podcasts that I hardly listen to music anymore. All Fantasy Everything quickly became my favorite after just a few episodes, and it's hook was perfect for fantasy nerds like us - it's literally just a group of people "drafting" serpentine style whatever topic is picked that week. For example, one of the drafts was "Sports Nicknames". The first person took Dominique "The Human Highlight Film" Wilkins, then the second pick was Christian "The Nigerian Nightmare" Okoye, and so on.
There is a core group of 3 dudes who usually host, all of which are stand up comics. They're usually hilarious, and all seem like good dudes. Some of the better episodes I can remember are "The Taco Bell Menu", "Casting a Mob Movie", "Words That You Think Make You Sound Smart", and "Movies for When You're Hungover"
Fair warning - each episode is long as hell. The usually run around hour and half, and the first thirty or so minutes is just them shooting the shit. I tried to get April into it, and she liked it, but couldn't stand listening that long each episode.
Games of the Week:
AWL: Kingslayers @ Megalomaniacs
Could the Megas go winless after 4 weeks? They have a tough match up against the Slayers this week, who have a healthy Mike Trout back in their lineup. As of writing this however, the Megas have put up 5 bombs in one day, showing that they're not dead yet.
NWL: Kaiden's Krew @ Two Starts Only three teams in the NWL have a winning record, and none of them are facing each other. So this is kinda a meh week match up wise, based off record. The Krew are 1-2 going into the week, but look to get back to .500 by giving the Two Starts their first loss.