Gut Check/Hot Stove Friday

Wow, there is so much to cover today, I'm afraid I'll miss something. Let's do an abbreviated version of Gut Check Friday, then fantasy hot stove, then the real deal hot stove.

Baby Gorillas-9
The Rockpile-1
Domination for a second week. I'm now afraid I shouldn't have tweaked my team this week.

Tallcorn Cobras-7
Cornholers-3
If you wanna be in the playoffs, 3K, you've got a funny way of showing it.

Hoosier Heat-7
CO Yankees-1
Tied-2
Big week for Hackman, and he needs it to keep up with a cruising T-Dub.

The SwinGERS-6
Lawndale Longhorns-3
Tied-1
This should be interesting, a SwinGER win could catapult him to 3rd place in PG East.

Jimmy's Daddy-5
Clark & Addison-4
Tied-1
A classic street brawl for first place. Big time playoff implications here.

Year2000!-6
Client #9-3
Tied-1
Now is not the time to be losing to a #10 seed, Baby Bisho.

The hot stove was a little dull yesterday in the big leagues, but it was piping hot here in PG Sportsworld. And New Linc was front and center, knocking off two deals in an attempt to push him into the playoff winners bracket. Earlier yesterday, Linc sent Jair Jurrjens to Hoosier Heat for outfielder Matt Holliday. Jurrjens currently has a two year deal in place and Holliday will walk after this season. A strong message was sent that New Linc is going for the gusto THIS SEASON and will worry about the fallout after the season ends. And he wasn't done just yet. Later in the day, the Longhorns sent Kevin Gregg and Alex Rio to the Tallcorn Cobras for Derek Jeter and George Sherill. To me, this is a VERY shrewd move by T-Dub and the reason why you must be vigilant during trade deadlines. T-Dub sensed that Sherrill may be shipped to Los Angeles (and realized that he was become a back-up to closer Jonathan Broxton, thus giving him almost zero fantasy value), and he reacted in a timely manner. In Sherril's sted, the Cobra's acquire Kevin Gregg, who have 4 saves in the last 12 days. Well played, sir.

As far as today's MLB hot stove, what are you guys hearing out there? Quick note, if you fools had a Twitter account, you would get up to the second hot stove updates from baseball writers all around the country. Give it a shot, The Ger and I love it. And if you create an account, you can download an app right to your iPhone or Blackberry.

I'll leave you with this WHOPPER I heard about.....Heath Bell AND Adrian Gonzalez to the Florida Marlins for pitching prospect Andrew Miller, AA outfielder Mike Stanton and AAA outfielder Cameron Maybin.

Hot Stove Thread

We may as well have some dialouge going today as we approach the trading deadline. What is everybody hearing? If you're in the car, on the internet, or watching MLB TV and see or hear something interesting, go ahead and post it in the comments. And no, I don't want to hear, "I was driving on the freeway and I saw two cows fucking along the side of the road". Interesting? Sure. Relavant? Absolutely not. Here's a few I saw this morning.

A sure sign the Jays are desperate, got absolutely worked over with that Cliff Lee trade, and are starting to panic? They're trying to get the Yankees and the Red Sox into a bidding war for Halladay. Nice job, J.P. You're a hell of a GM. That was pure comedy. Here's the Blue Jays-we want every prospect in your system for Halladay. Here's the Phillies-You're crazy. Here's the Blue Jays-Then you can kiss Halladay goodbye. Here's the Phillies-Ok, we'll sign Cliff Lee. Here's the Blue Jays-Uh....wait.....what?

This is great....ESPN's Peter Gammons told us Wednesday that Ricciardi is not optimistic that Halladay will be traded. "We'd have to be wowed," says Ricciardi. "And we haven't been wowed." You haven't been wowed because you're too busy getting WORKED, son!!!!!!

To me, if Halladay doesn't go to LA, he ain't going anywhere. You've gotta believe LA wants to respond to Philly (who is now clearly the best team in the NL). But at what price? Kershaw? Billingsly? My adopted National League team could make a move, but personally I think they're good as is. And I don't care what anyone says, if push comes to shove, throw Mattingly out there. He can still play!!!

So I guess Victor Martinez is next? How does that feel, Jason Varitek? Thanks for your years of service, there's a nice warm spot at the end of the bench there for ya! Shit, you can even head over to the Cask And Flagon for a beer, we don't mind. Take Johnny Pesky with ya, he'll keep ya company.

I would be absolutely shocked if the Padres trade Adrian Gonzalez (and it would be VERY interesting if he went to the Red Sox). I mean, Heath Bell I can see, but Gonzalez has to be the cornerstone on which they rebuild their team.

Love this, Cubs are in search of a lefty bat who can play right. My advice? Go out to Hill Valley, California...talk to a Doctor Emmitt Brown. Use his DeLorean to travel back in time to January of 2009 and fuckin sign Bobby Abreu. Morons.

Every trading deadline, I lob a threat at the New York Yankees as a result of a rumor that I have heard, and it goes something like this, "I swear to fuckin God, if they trade for [INSERT NAME HERE], I'm finished with them". The most memorable being the 2000 season when the Yankees were on the cusp of trading for Sammy Sosa (instead they went with David Justice, thank GOD). I'm gonna do it slightly different this season. Here we go....

I swear to God, if the fuckin Yankees trade away Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Austin Jackson, or Jesus Montero, I'm finished with them".

PG TRADE DEADLINE

Just a reminder that our trade deadline is midnight on August 20th.

Wednesday Check-In

Wow, pretty eventful Tuesday that saw a couple of blockbusters and a ton of trade talk. Looks like everyone is either preparing for the playoffs and/or next season. Which brings me to the playoffs. Had to go back and sift through the e-mails between Wade and I and this is what we envisioned for the playoffs (apologies for not being clearer in our rules).

For the winners bracket....

The division winners of PG East and PG West will be seeded #1 and #2.

2nd place in each division will be seeded #3 and #4.

Next best records not in the top 4 will be seeded #5 and #6.

The losers bracket seeds will be based on record. So hypothetically, if the season ended today this is what the seeding would look like.....

#1-Tallcorn Cobras
#2-Jimmy's Daddy
#3-Hoosier Heat
#4-Clark & Addison
#5-Client #9
#6-The Rockpile/Lawndale Longhorns

#7-The Rockpile/Lawndale Longhorns
#8-The Cornholers
#9-The SwinGERS
#10-Year2000!
#11-Baby Gorillas
#12-CO Yankees

In the event that there's a tie (like the Rockpile/Lawndale Longhorns, we'll just look at the head to head record between the two teams).

Questions?

KEEP THOSE BLOCKBUSTERS COMING

The Baby Gorillas obtain Hanley Ramirez, Joba Chamberlain, Curtis Granderson, and Juan Rivera from Jimmy's Daddy for Ryan Braun, Jayson Werth, and Joakim Soria.

BLOCKBUSTER TUESDAY

The Heat and Daddy's rocked the fantasy baseball world this morning after an intense 24 hour negotiation marathon that sent Alex Rodriguez and Barry Zito to the Heat in exchange for C.C. Sabathia and Fernando Rodney.

The Daddy's GM Hef was searching far and wide for a top tier starter as well as filling a void in the closer's role. Mission accomplished, some might say. But it certainly came at a price with the departing Rodriguez. Heat GM Mr. Hackman will presumably sit Mark DeRosa in place of Rodriguez, adding to his arsenal of power.

Observing GM T-Dub was aghast at the news, saying, "Wow, I'm a little bit in shock, there is no question the Heat just got a little more scary with their bats and Daddy equally with the pitching...I feel like the pack of dogs is getting closer".

"After my embarassing loss last week to PG, the Daddy's felt the need to shake things up", opined Hef, "Hoosiers came to the table with fair offers that would help both teams down the stretch so it only made sense to make the move".

The move will surely invite criticism from opposing GM's, as it does anytime a top 5 fantasy players is traded away. However, Hef points out that Hank Blalock has put up comparable numbers to A-Rod this season, so his utility role may not lose production.

Linc’s Rumblings, Whispers, & Rumors

Ok, is it really necessary for ESPN to have a count down ticker to the trade deadline? Now I'll be the first to admit that I love me some Buster Gammons with a side of Timmy Kurtchen but we aren't talking about the dooms day clock people! Is the Boo-ya network so devoid of drama that they must manufacture some? Or is this simply a cheap ploy to distract us from the Erin Andrews video that every OTHER cable network has been reporting. Man, I would love to see some of the internal employee memos floating around Bristol instructing staff not to search for the video, view the video, speak of the video, or use any of the following words in public: shaved, bush, size, thirty-four, or c-cup.


Cliff Lee (SP) – With the Jays setting the price for Halladay so high several teams have turned their attention toward northeast Ohio. Reportedly “out” of the Halladay sweepstakes, Philadelphia resumed talked with the tribe. Milwaukee, Boston, and Tampa Bay are also said to still be in touch but the front runner appears to be the Dodgers who are rumored to be offering Billingsley or Kershaw and James Looney in return for Lee and Victor Martinez.

Adam Dunn (OF/1B/DH) – Prior to being traded to the Cardinals, Detroit thought it had put together a pretty competitive offer for Matt Holiday. Still in search for a big bat to spark their offense Dunn becomes an obvious candidate to protect Cabrera in the lineup. Another rumor which surfaced a week back was a “change of scenery” trade where the woeful Magglio Ordonez would go to the north side in return of the equally woeful Milton Bradley. Both the Cubs and Tigers immediately denied ever discussing such a deal.

George Sherrill (RP) – Every contending team with a weak bullpen has been rumored to have interest in Sherrill. The Marlins, Cubs, Rays, and Angels all are said to have made offers but no deal has materialized because Baltimore wants a closer in return. Although Baltimore and Chicago have partnered up before (Hill, Patterson) the Cubs won’t trade Marmol. Florida and the Rays have no immediate talent in their bullpens or they would have used them by now which leaves the Angels as the lone contender with the players and payroll to add Sherrill by the deadline.

Bronson Arroyo (SP) – Are you a team in need of a starting pitcher but don’t want to trade away any of your top young talent? Have piles of cash just laying around and player salaries aren’t an issue? Has your franchise not made the playoffs for several years despite having crazy amounts of talent? Well, do I have the guy for you! Brian meet Bronson, Bronson say hello to Mr. Cashman.

Matt Capps (RP) – For the past three weeks my mentor and hero Lord Olney has discussed Freddie Sanchez traded to either San Francisco or Minnesota. Should Pittsburgh and Minnesota find common ground look for Capps to also be included in this deal in return for Minnesota restocking the Pirate farm system. The Twins bullpen is thin and the Pirates could replace Capps with Grabow.

Roy Halladay (SP) – I’ll close the final edition of Linc’s Rumblings, Whispers, & Rumors with the latest Halladay rumor – or lack of one if you trust J.P. Ricciardi. Apparently the Jays asking price from the Phillies was too rich and the Phillies have turned their attention to Seattle in hopes of acquiring Bedard or Washburn. If Philadelphia is indeed out of the sweepstakes the Jays appear to be without a dance partner who has the young talent necessary to get the deal done. Cue Tampa Bay! If the Rays want to make a move that will significantly boost their chances to catch Boston and New York Halladay is their only real option. The Rays have the youth, farm system, and talent to land Halladay. According to the St. Petersburg media the Rays built a package for Halladay around Scott Kazmir just to gauge the Jays interest. That first deal was rejected but the paper quoted one Rays official as saying the talks are “major, major stuff”. We will see if a deal gets done before the deadline – obviously the PRICE will have to be right!