NPL - At the End of Period # 2.

Okay, here we are at the end of Period 2 of the North Park League. The Adam LaRoche – NPL story is at the end of this report, but first some odds and ends……

BULLDOGS grab the headlines again in week 2, and they have the top scoring team on both the Hitting and Pitching side. In 22 games started their staff has a record of 15 – 6 with a league best 3.83 ERA. Tony is vacationing in Las Vegas and Eddie says he should stay in Vegas as the Big E has this first place club under control.

The H-BOMBS had most of the league surprised that no moves were made this week. The Bombers 3rd round pick Carlos Quentin is batting an okay .275 but has 73 points in only 51 At Bats.

Did you know that those two NPL teams have an interesting side bet going on for 2009? The team that finishes ahead in the standings between the two will have its 2010 $100.00 entry fee paid for by the other!

We often hear of milestone numbers being reached in MLB. Well, in 2009 it looks like we will have a couple of milestone occurrences in the NPL as well. As they are reached, I figure to make note of them.

I had some fun with the Chien-Ming Wang thing this week before he got his one way ticket punched sending him back to Taiwan, but isn’t it amazing that an MLB pitcher can actually have stats that show 6 Innings Pitched with 6 Walks and 23 Hits Allowed?


And then I grab Ricky Romero from the waiver wire only to hear that the next day (Thursday) he goes on the DL, with no prior news that he had any injury problems and this news came just a couple of days after the Ryan Doumit injury. At this point the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS are searching for answers in trying to figure it all out, as I’m still waiting for this guy to call me back with some advice!!!!!

Have you noticed that two veteran lefty’s for the 69’ERS are both off to a 2-0 start. Yep, Mark Buehrle and Andy Pettitte have good starts under way and here’s an oddity for the Boys of Piffy… His # 4, 5, and 6 outfielders taken in the draft have already been dispatched. That would be Chase Headley, Marcus Thames and Ken Griffey Jr. – gone, and a lot of owners liked the Jason Kubel pick-up on Wednesday. In fact, Mr. Schoming gave it his personal endorsement!! The Niners off to a little bit of a slow start but you know Piff will not have any lifeboats going off the side of the ship. He’ll be in it all the way.

The VULCANS have quietly been moving up in the standings over the past week. Thanks to Dodgers in the Outfield. Manny is hitting well, over .320, but it is Andre Ethier the # 2 hitter in NPL scoring that has been a nice surprise. Now the Vulcs just need to get two other big thumpers untracked – Matty Holliday and David ORRR-tese (as Buck Martinez pronounces his name, for reasons that remain unclear).

Some baseball writer on espn.com wrote that Wandy Rodriguez (ROCK CATS) could be this year’s version of Cliff Lee. In the meantime, the Raven’s Cats have the best batting average in the NPL with a .293 mark as a pair of Phillies are the RC’s top two hitters – Raul Ibanez and Chase Utley.

Interesting that Free Agent pitcher Tim Wakefield had two consecutive Complete Game Wins but yet no one even mentioned his name for a free agent claim. Hey, he’s old, but he’s younger than Jamie Moyer!

Consistently within the top 3 of the standings all year has been the BIG TRAIN. The BT ranks 3rd in both overall hitting and pitching points. “Youk”, who was labeled by Billy Beane as “The Greek God of Walks” in the well known baseball book MONEYBALL is leading all of MLB in On Base Percentage with a .522 mark. Bob is enjoying his new MLB Network and I understand he is a big fan of the MLBN’s hottie from Boston - Hazel Mae!!


Another team near the top of the standings all year has been the historically tough LOCKHORNS. 2nd sacker Ian Kinsler is the # 1 hitter in the entire NPL with 93 points in only 59 At Bats and he has an obscene slugging percentage of .813. And he’s a 2ND BASEMAN!!! You may recall that Harv got Kinsler in the 2nd round and then followed with Uggla in the 3rd to finish off that shitty position. Horns catcher Chris Iannetti only has 3 hits thus far, but 2 of those are long balls. Did you know that Harv’s 3rd baseman Emilio Bonifacio has 178 stolen bases in his past 4 minor league seasons?

There are three MLB teams that have all three of their starting outfielders sitting as NPL free agents. They are the 1st place Florida Marlins, the San Fran Giants and San Diego Pods.

On the pitching side, there is one MLB team in which not even one SP is on an NPL roster. They be the Oakland A’s…. Even the Nats have one rostered in Jordan Zimmermann of the Dawgs.

The PITTSBURGH O’s have got to be enjoying the success of 8th round draft choice Paul Maholm. And he’s formed a nice SP-RP combo with Matt Capps. And speaking of Pirates, how ‘bout ANDY LaRoche. 0 for 16 while on the O’s. Then cut and since then 9 for 24. Here’s an odd stat…The O’s are 21 for 21 in the Stolen Base category. Zero Caught Stealings and consider the fact that every other NPL team has at least 4 Caught Stealings. The O’s are one of three teams that have 0 Blown Saves thus far. The Cats and Owls are the two others.

A note on the PBC blog on the Post-Gazette stated that in many 2009 box scores of the Cleveland Indians, their # 8 and 9 hitters are named …. “Francisco” and “Cabrera.” Not that I want to bring back sour memories or anything……

Avoiding those many injuries and DL moves thus far this season are the new Wexford OWLS, and this has helped John into the top 5 of the standings. The Birds also have a strange stat to note…. The only NPL team that does not have a Triple thus far in 2009. Especially odd with all the speed guys they’ve got. I made note of the town of Wexford with John and if you were not aware, the Owner and President of “Frissora Gaming Enterprises” is no longer in Erie, but back in the ‘burgh and renting a house in Wexford while a permanent residence is being looked at. It seems that the Wexford neighborhood has many new homes that are rented at this time and John lives on a cul-de-sac in which he happens to have neighbors both two houses to the right and two houses to the left which are Pittsburgh Pirates. Adam LaRoche and Tyler Yates. It was after John informed LaRoche that he is also a member of the Owls in the North Park League that Adam started turning it on and has become “Mr. April” as dubbed by Greg Brown. I can just picture John, LaRoche and Yates having beers on John’s deck on hot summer nights after the two Bucs return from PNC Park and a Bucco Victory. John will have to have a “Jolly Roger” ready to be raised on the family flag pole when the two drive down the street.

One funny side story to this is how John related that Tyler Yates has a 6 year old kid and the other day Yates was in the driveway throwing tennis balls to the kid who was in front of the garage door. Well, it seems that the intense Yates was firing these tennis balls at almost full velocity and by the time the poor kid swung the bat, the tennis ball had already bounced off the garage door and were on their way back to Yates…. After this, his next game out Yates was taken deep by Florida. Geez, if he comes down with a sore elbow this season I think we may know why!!

Good Luck in Period # 3.

NPL - "2009 Post Draft Report".

Hello Fantasy Geeks:

Well, another fantasy baseball draft is in the books, this being draft number

of the North Park League, 1992-2009. Also, this new location of Kennedy’s Tavern is the 8th different venue we have used and I think it worked out well. Piff will look to hook us up for the same spot in 2010 and we’ll work on getting a lamp for Harv in the back! But when it was all said and done, the results looked good……

Here’s a look at each NPL team, by order of draft selection……

the BIG TRAIN (Bob):

The Train gave us a minor surprise by going with Hanley Ramirez as the #1 overall pick. Bob had Han-Ram last season and liked the idea that the young superstar will now be a #3 hitter in the batting order. BT goes with 17 players from the NL including 8 of the 10 pitchers. And for the Bucco Report, Bob couldn’t keep up with Big O but he did get Nate for the 2nd consecutive season, this time the “N-Dog” was the lead pick of round 7. B.J. Upton as a DL player in round 12 was cause for the “nice pick” comment from other league owners, always a good thing to hear. One major blunder to report was that Bob chose to eat a burger on this Friday in Lent, a fact that did not escape Mr. Bill Harvey, who didn’t let the Train off easy for this “sin” as Harv labeled it, threatening to contact Bob’s Parrish over this transgression. Yep, it’s the NPL Draft and we were off and running!

69’ERS (“Piffy”):

The 2009 version of the “Niners” are fairly evenly split between A.L. and N.L. and Bobby went with 3 Phillies and 4 Yankees. Sliding up to the 2nd pick after the pass by the Vulcans, Piff takes David Wright as the #2 overall selection and then comes back in round 2 to clean up the 3rd base position by taking the young phenom Evan Longoria. A nice 3rd base duo for sure. Piff – did I ever tell you who “discovered” Longoria?? We heard some groans out of the Bulldog camp when the name of Dice-K was announced in round 5 and the 69’ers went early for closers and got a couple of studs in Rivera and Lidge in round 7 and 8. It looks like the 69’ers will be in charge of the Ken Griffey Jr. Farewell Tour, as Junior, once a steady candidate for the #1 overall pick went in round #25 to the Nines. And once again, THANKS to Piff for arranging the location, and getting us Amanda, the cute girl with the pink hair for our waitress, even though she was shocked by the number of beverages a certain NPL owner had ordered.

VULCANS (Rich):

Rich gets the award for coming the furthest distance, so you can’t blame the Monroeville native for getting…….

on his way to the draft. The Vulcs then dropped back from the 2 slot to 3 and got the 2nd shortstop off the board in Jose Reyes. Looking for the Cliff Lee – Kerry Wood SP/RP combo to do some damage and Matt Holliday in round 2 should be an interesting player to follow. In his free agent year and if the A’s are not contending, Holliday could be shipped to a contender in July. Some insider info here….. Eddie D says look for it to be his Red Sox! And Rich followed in round 3 with another outfield slugger…. Maybe the Vulcans team slogan in 2009 should be… “Welcome to Mannywood.” Yankee hitters will be a key to the season as The V’s have three of them in Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and don’t forget the Yankee Captain, #2 Derek Jeter.


OWLS (John F.):

Speaking of Yankees….. A big question of the night was …. When would A-Rod go? John responded by taking the troubled slugger in round 4, which followed the trio of Owls in rounds 1 through 3 which were Sizemore, Doc Halladay and Geo Soto, a nice group to start filling those positions of OF-SP-C. Mike Lowell will hold down 3rd base during A-Rod’s absence along with Edwin Encarnacion. In the usual Owls tradition, the first Closer off the board was Francisco (K-Rod) Rodriguez, now a New York Metropolitan, and this year the 2nd Closer is also named Francisco (Cordero) which should not be confused with Texas Closer Frank Francisco who is a Lockhorn. Whew….. John grabbed Shin-Soo Choo in the 10th round, as he was no doubt impressed by the Asian going 11 HR -48 RBI and .343 after the All-Star Break in ’08. This 2009 Owls team has speed and the Stolen Base crown should be wrapped up by June 1. Look for the golden spikes trophy to come your way, John! The Owls strategy for 1st base was get ‘em with the final two picks and round 25 & 26 brought home Jim Thome and Adam Bomb… LA-LA-LA Roche, unless big brother gets off to a slow start in which case he’ll be LA-LA-LA waived. But does Adam ever start slowly? Just askin……

BULLDOGS (Tony and Eddie):

If the Owls game plan was for 1st baseman late, it was just the opposite for the Bulldog duo. Albert Pujols with the #5 overall could be a steal and getting new Yankee Mark Teixeira in round 2 (#16 overall) was also a heist. The Dawgs took 3 BoSox in Lowrie, Varitek and Jason Bay but an under the radar fact was that they also drafted 4 Diamondbacks, three of which were hitters. Stephen Drew is thought by many to be ready for a major breakout season in 2009. By sitting next to the Dawgs at the draft table I was able to learn some insider information about this combo owned franchise. Such as Tony had to veto Eddie’s proposed team name change to “Ed Sox” and last year’s draft night selection of Josh Fields “almost broke up the ownership.” And Tony did not give approval of Fast Eddie fraternizing with the enemy, but Ed went ahead anyway and had this photo taken with the H-Bombs!

H-BOMBS (“Big Daddy”):

John’s evening got off to a contentious start, as upon his arrival at Kennedy’s, while sitting at the bar minding his own business, he was accosted and harassed by some crazed female Yankees fan who didn’t like the fact that Big Daddy was wearing Red Sox gear. But once he was safely in the confines of the draft room, Big D came out firing with outfielder picks as rounds 1 through 4 brought Ryan Braun, Josh Hamilton, Carlos Quentin and Alfonso Soriano into the fold. Then jumping to SP for rounds 5, 6, and 7 for Liriano, Lester and Shields. Yes, the young man did come in with a plan. One team did receive extra attention from B.D. as the Angels have four representatives in Napoli, Kendrick, Escobar (DL list) and closer Brian Fuentes. Sounds like Big D will have reason for late night west coast viewing on the MLB Extra Innings package this season. Some things never do change on draft night, and we were able to enjoy the pleasantries exchanged by Johnny and Harv. Ah, good times……..

Just a quick break in the report, to have the NPL say thanks to BRYAN for coming to do the stickers again for the 3rd straight year. It really moves things along more quickly and it helps that Bryan evidently knows his baseball, as you can see from his picture at the draft board below.

Guys at the BMC – tell Bry thanks again, and now let’s get back to the analysis……

LOCKHORNS (“Harv”):

Harv may have been surprised to see Ryan Howard sitting there for pick #7. No way the big guy will pass up those 50 dingers and then he got his boy Ian Kinsler coming back in round 2. Bryan commented that Harv’s team looked young, and that would then include those three youthful starters for the Fish in Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad who was added as a DL replacement pick after round 26. The Horns say watch out for 24th round draft choice Ryan Spilborghs and Harv didn’t realize that the fantasy experts from the MLB Network love this guy as a sleeper pick in 2009. The Lockhorns and Closer Jose Valverde are linked together for the third consecutive season. In looking at each teams split of A.L. vs. N.L. players, the Lockhorns had the most lopsided entry. Of the 27 players drafted which includes one extra due to the DL, they had 20 from the N.L and only seven from the Junior Circuit, and of those seven, three are Texas Rangers. At this draft Harv gave us a new term for certain MLB players in 2009. Not sure who qualifies but Harv labeled some players as “Watusi’s”, which almost blew up my spell check, and finally a question…….. Why was Harv giving the Big Train the finger all night???

PITTSBURGH Os: (“The Big O”):

The O’s enjoyed a pre-draft meal at Kennedy’s restaurant with Lockhorns owner Bill Harvey and then off to the draft. And after what both CC Sabathia and Tim Lincecum did for the O’s in 2008 you had to figure Larry would grab one of them when both were available with the 8th overall pick. And CC got the call. Can’t go wrong with that selection. Lincecum didn’t make it back to O for the 2nd round so therefore the O’s went with Jimmy Rollins, also known as “J-Roll” or his own self proclaimed nickname of “J-Smooth.” The Pitt O’s then took the catcher who most guys probably had ranked #1 at that position in Brian McCann of the Bravos. And now to the Pirates……. O grabbed Paul Maholm in round 8, probably the best bet of the Buccos. If you compare the 2008 stats of Maholm and Roy Oswalt for E.R.A., and K’s to Innings Pitched, there wasn’t actually much difference. For the second year in a row the O’s have The Big Bull Rider Matt Capps to close games and Larry cut-off Bob to grab Freddy Sanchez at 2nd base. The O’s are looking for the 2006 “Go Freddy Go” version of Sanchez in ’09. And the final Pirate came in final round 26 with little brother and Pirate 3rd baseman ANDY LaRoche. In 2009 Andy will be attempting to win.... “THE TED KENNEDY AWARD”. Which is given out for … “The most improbable overachievement by a younger brother.”

KOOPERSTOWN KIDS (Dave):

I went first round with a repeat from 2008 in Miguel Cabrera. Only in ’09 he is at 1st base instead of 3rd. That was after the obligatory NPL ceremony of the trophy presentation.

Actually a cheap bobblehead which is a free gift from CBS Sportsline, but what the heck….

I may have reached a little early for Jay Bruce Almighty in round 6, but I guess I was influenced by the fact that he plays his home games in the ballpark known as “The Great American Launching Pad.” When I got home after the draft I was stunned to see that I had drafted four Kansas City Royals!!! My God, what have I done???? But when Trenni Kusnarik of the MLB Network had informed me this spring that after the All-Star Break in 2008 only four MLB pitchers had more K’s than Gil Meche, well……… she had me at “Hi, I’m Trenni Kusnarik….”

Went with Chris Davis as his 17 HR and 55 RBI in only 80 games last year got my attention and for the record – he was a discovery in 2008 by the Bulldogs and I felt good about the pick after Big Daddy later told me… “I wanted Davis.” Yeah, and the good news is that he ain’t no “Watusi.” (I think?) Harv????

ROCK CATS: (“The Raven”):

The Rock Cat just had to roll down the hill from home and he was at Kennedy’s. Home Cookin?? John was sitting at 9th pick but slid back one spot for the double picks at 10-11 and then went Chase Utley and Tim Lincecum. Lincecum is an interesting guy with his small stature and pitching motion and as mentioned, we all first remember him as a Pittsburgh O from 2008. In fact, he is the subject of the weekly quote currently on the Blog and he’s got a great video game commercial out as well. Like the Lockhorns, the Rock Cats went heavy towards the National League with 18 picks. A well balanced team as John spread his picks around as opposed to concentrating on one area early on. When I put out the Top 5 prediction results you will see that the NPL liked this Rock Cats draft. But another item I was surprised to see once I got home and started looking at things is the number of San Francisco Giants the Cats drafted. Yeah, the Cats are riding the G-Men in 2009 like Arnold Rothstein rode the Reds in 1919!! Five (5) San Fran’s are the most MLB players taken from one NPL team this season. Along with Tiny Tim they are… Bengie Molina, Edgar Renteria, The Big Unit, and taken as a DL replacement after round 26 – Barry Zito. This spring some experts were saying that Zito was getting his breaking ball back like he had it in his Oakland A’s days when it was said that he had better curves than Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) of “Mad Men.”

And on that note, I think we’ll conclude this 2009 post-draft report. As always, the draft was a fun time and I think it’s one of the favorite days on the calendar for everyone.

Enjoy the 2009 season and best of luck to everyone!