Here are the winners of the player of the week award in the Dynasty 1969 Draft League as voted on by me.
American League Luis Tiant Twins
El Tiante did not get a win or a save but was key to the Twins 5-2 victory against division rival Seattle. In the Top of the 2nd Tiant came in to replace an injured Gary Peters who had come in to replace starter Gene Brabender who came out with a stiff shoulder in the 1st. In the 3rd inning walks leader Mike Fiore walked as did Dick McAuliffe. Hits leader Pete Rose singled and it looked like the Twins 2-1 lead would be short lived with RBI Leader Ed Kirpatrick, Tommy Harper and Tommie Agee due up. and but a ground ball needed to tie the game. It was not to be Tiant would strike out Kirpatrick looking and Harper and Agee swinging the highlight of 5 2/3 innings of 2 hit 9 K shutout ball
How Tiant doesn’t get the win is beyond me
National League Jim Palmer Giants
There is nothing more painful for a team than to start the season with a long losing streak and the San Francisco Giants had. Having lost their first eight and their previous game on a 2-1 heartbreaker 1st round Jim Palmer took is 0-1 record the mound for the 0-8 Giants vs the 5-3 Cardinals Jim Bunning who had won his 1st start.
With two outs in the top of the seventh Palmer had given up a solo shot to Clete Boyer tying the game. Now in the bottom of the inning he came to bat with one out and Jose Cardinial who had doubled on 2nd. Mgr Guy Desrosiers let Palmer bat and he drove a 2-2 fastball into the gap in left center giving the Giants the lead and after advancing to 3rd on a grounder scored on a single by Sandy Alomar Sr.
He would end the game retiring the next six Cardinals striking out 3 to complete the game and consign San Francisco’s losing streak to history.
Palmer hutting only .200 but he made that hit count!
Note that franchise owners have the right to change their teams names.
The political stuff will have to wait till the morning as the draft has begun in my 1969 Dynasty draft league. As picks are made they will appear here: It will make a handy online roster list
I must confess I did not see Petrocelli going in the 1st round let along being the 1st pick
My Dynasty face to face 2019 face to face league season is over as my Washington Nationals fell to St. Louis in the wild card game 8-5.
So now comes the decision making time. As the Wild Card team that lost the play-in game I am allowed to retain 10 players on my roster who are not subject to next years draft.
That number does not include any new rookies for the Washington Nationals ( my franchise) who have their 1st card this year. All of those players are protected automatically although I do have the right to release them to make room on my 35 man roster or if they are fringe players (% players or limited AB vs LH or RH) can be put on my five man AAA roster)
Any man who was on my roster last year who is a fringe player (as described above) can be retained even if they can’t be used in play. Any player who did not have a card last year due to injury or the COVID opt out who is currently on my roster CAN be retained but again I would have to commit a roster spot to them.
This season is a tad odd in one respoect. Because of the COVID the league was put on hold for a while so we will be starting our 2020 season at a point were we are deep into the actual 2021 season so we know if a player is having a good (or bad) year which will of course affect our decision to keep players.
As of this moment here are the players that will absolutely make my protected list:
Abreu 1b:Clutch Rating Incredible power both sides improved range over the previous season and having a strong year for a team heading to the playoffs
Othani: DH While he had a bad card last year his stats this year plus the potential of filling both a pitching and a batting slot next season demands I keep him here.
Lindor SS While he is having a disappointing season this year his numbers last year combined with excellent defense ratings at a key position guarantee his roster spot
Scherzer RHSP Jam Rating While his 2020 season was below avg he’s still better than a lot out there combine this with a jam rating and a strong 2021 and Scherzer makes the team
Molina C (H & R rating) A -3 arm behind the plate forgives a lot of sins among pitchers combine that with a H & R rating and you’ve got a key position covered.
Hand LHRP Hand led the league in saves last year with a 7-1 K-BB ratio and no HR’s given up he’s a keeper without a jam+ rating which he had the year before.
Rendon 3B Clutch rating: Rendon has a big dropoff over his Washington numbers and led the AL in double plays last year but his defense is still strong and that clutch rating still makes him worth a spot.
Devers 3B: Clutch rating With Rendon at 3B & Devers defense not existent one might think he was worth risking in the draft but his powerful bat at DH will complement Abreu & Rendon in a lineup and if Rendon’s decline continues he might even get the starting job next year.
That leaves me two spots left and here are the players who are fighting for them:
Whit Merrifield 2B. While is 2019 states particularly on defense are down his 2020 starts are still pretty good. the real question is: Do I want to spend a draft pick on a second baseman or would I rather keep Merrifield and save the pick for someone else.
Eddie Rosario OF Rosario was one of the heroes of the team last season after the Mookie Betts trade and it was his bat that put the team into the playoffs. His bat is not as impressive this year and the clutch rating is gone but he still has plenty of pop to play with.
Edwin Diaz RHRP Diaz is a pretty solid reliver but not at Hand’s level. Again his stats were down from 2018 but this year they are back up and running.
Eric Hosmer 1b: Clutch rating. Hosmer as always has solid numbers and if it wasn’t for Abreu he would likely have a spot sewn up. He certainly could make a RH DH to platoon with Devers
Javier Baez SS Baez was my #1 pick last season but while is defense shines his power numbers are down for 2020 even if they have recovered in 2021. He is unlikely to take the SS spot from Lindor in 2020 but if kept might be the man in 2021, but is that worth a roster spot.
Anthony Rizzo 1B A mainstay of my team, Abreu’s improved range means he has no chance to start and the degree of depth at 1st makes keeping him a luxury.
Deshields OF: Speed, defense and the ability to bunt (a rare gift these days) are all in his favor but I’m almost certainly going to find a better outfield in the draft even as last as the 7th or 8th round.
Longshots include Josh Reddick, Sergio Romo Adam Plutko and Wade Miley
I’ve got several weeks to make up my mind as to who to keep and who to toss. If you have any suggestions I’ll be happy to entertain them.= in comments.
Here is the current state of the table top baseball leagues I run. All leagues are 162 game seasons with one 3 game series scheduled per week If you click on a team link you can see their stats, injuries, leaders etc.
Since our last update more teams have been taken in online leagues.
League one All Futility League (all teams lost 96 + games) 2nd Season. Scheduled series time Thursday Mornings. This league is nearly finished.
The SD Jones memorial .500 teams league is a league (all teams were no better than 2 games over .500 or no worse than 2 games under) Initial season . Games are scheduled for Tuesdays. AM
Avg Carew Min .358, OBP Trout LAA .440, SLUG Trout LAA .637, Runs Cabrera Det 106, Hits Carew Min 176, 2B Cabrera Det 43, 3B Durham ChW, 13, SB Carew Min 46 BB Trout LAA 91 HR Trout LAA 34, RBI Cabrera Det 112
Pitching
Wins Verlander Det 18, ERA Halladay Tor 2.26, IP Vernalder Det 238 2/3, K’s Verlander Det 219, Avg against Eckersley Cle .200, WHIP Darwin Bos 0.97, HR/9 Lehman Bal 0.30, Saves Valverde Det 26
Pitching Wins Scherzer Wash 18, ERA Scherzer Wash 2.38, IP Scherzer Wash 245 2/3, K’s Scherzer Wash 292, Avg Against Scherzer Wash .205, WHIP Scherzer Wash 0.95, HR/9 Cahill Ari 0.33, Saves Brantley Cin , Face Pitt 27
3rd League All time any time Great Teams League (3rd season) Games scheduled Friday evenings. Two teams have been picked up since the last posting (oddly not the Orioles)
Avg Lofton Cubs03 .361, OBP Morgan Cin .469, Slug Galarraga Atl .644, Runs Morgan Cin 81, Hits Kendrick Wash McGee StL 124, 2B Clemente 31, 3B McGee StL 14, SB Morgan Cin 47, BB Schmidt Phil, Morgan Cin 77, HR Ga;arraga Atl, Aaron Mil 26, RBI Aaron Mil 85
Pitching Wins Nolan Cin 14, ERA Tudor StL 1.76, IP Tudor StL 158 2/3, K’s Johnson Arizona 207, Avg against Tudor StL .182, WHIP Tudor StL 0.83 HR/9 Buhl Mil 0.23, Saves Chapman Cubs16 25
If you are interested in taking over the management of any of the online leagues teams contact me in comments.
As a bonus here are the standings of our face to face draft league which first began playing in 1987 in Fitchburg Massachusetts. We have two divisions with 4 teams each playing a 60 game season every other Saturday at Zeda’s Pizza in Fitchburg MA. The individual leagues are named for deceased members of the league. Five teams make the playoffs, the best record gets home field throughout and 2nd best record of the division leaders gets a home series against the best non-division winner while the final two teams play a one game playin for the right to face the best division winner in the playoffs.
New players are always welcome
Lynn Division
W
L
PCT
GB
WCGB
Tampa Bay Rays (x)
36
18
.667
—-
n/a
San Francisco Giants(w)
34
23
.596
3 1/2
+ 9
St. Louis Cardinals(w)
29
25
.537
7
+ 5 1/2
Colorado Rockies
23
34
.404
14 1/2
2
w clinched at least wildcard game x clinched playoff spot
Dan Division
W
L
PCT
GB
WCGB
New York Yankees (XY)
38
19
.667
—-
n/a
Washington Nationals
25
32
.439
13
_____
Seattle Mariners
24
33
.421
12
6
San Diego Padres
17
40
.298
21
ELIM
Y clinched division
the new season and draft will start shortly after this season ends additional teams for expansion are most welcome
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