The ViewPoint 10
May 17, 2004
Written by MadAlan

(Read archived articles here)

The hitters who are always hot early – Wiggington and Clayton - are hitting. The usual 2-dozen “surprise” players are creating havoc amongst the Fantasy Leagues – Sun-Woo Kim and Rafael Belliard - plus the stronger Keeper League owners are stockpiling players. Oh, I love baseball. Oh, I hate my teams. I just traded A-Rod in a Keeper League for Bobby Abreu, Rafael Palmeiro and Freddy Garcia. Gulp. My thinking was A-Rod and Abreu are about equal with the nod to A-Rod because of the position he plays and the extra 35 homers he will create over Abreu with the R.B.I.s being about the same. On the other hand Palmeiro looks like himself, still, so he will make-up the difference in homers and may even put me in the plus above the A-Rod totals, and then I got Freddy Garcia, who looks super so far, without any support, for basically nothing. Any thoughts are welcome.

In another league I offered Pedro Martinez and Richie Sexson for Mike Sweeney, Rich Harden and Morgan Ensberg. Any thoughts are welcome.

Many of the players we expected to show-off their goods, all earning favorable media, have been injured, therefore their numbers are either poor or reduced.

Jason Bay - Pirates
Joe Mauer – Twins
Bobby Crosby - Athletics

Not just the rookies but players like Scott Spiezio have been injured and were acquired to exceed the previous player’s contributions.

Scott Spiezio - Mariners
Tony Graffanino – Royals

The players we all were told were good - if they could receive playing time- have been doing fine jobs in replacement situations.

Lew Ford – Twins
Travis Hafner – Indians
Ken Harvey – Royals
Craig Wilson - Pirates
Kevin Mench – Rangers
L. Overbay – Brewers
H. Choi – Marlins

Then there are the players such as Adam Everett and Michael Young who are tearing it up in these early days. Oh I love baseball.

Jack Wilson - Pirates
Adam Everett – Astros
Raphael Belliard – Indians
Matt Lawton - Indians
Juan Uribe - CWS
Rondell White - Tigers
Sean Casey - Reds

MadAlan can be reached at madalan_3@hotmail.com