On Deck Fantasy Baseball First Half Report
By Buster Softly

Already halfway through the fantasy baseball season in On Deck Fantasy’s inaugural season and we have learned 3 things:

1. The beginning of the season does not foreshadow the end, or even the middle of a season.
2. Drafting young is no indication of looking toward winning in the future.
3. Number of roster moves does not equal number of team wins.

We have seen a large swing in the momentum throughout the league since the beginning of the season, most notably, the Dirt Dawgs of Walla Walla. Led by Trot Nixon, the Dirt Dawgs came out of the gates with 3 wins of 7-3 or 8-2 margins in their first 5 games and GM Kevin Neville could not stop gloating to the rest of the league. Since beating hometown rival, The Great Guys, 8-2 in Week 5 though, Walla Walla has lost 6 straight including a 10-0 thrashing to the [REAL] Milltown Monsters. The team is now in 2nd to last place, 9.5 games out of a playoff spot. Who is talking now Neville?

Two of the top 6 teams, Lima Time and the Santa Monica Wildcats, were said to be battling for the 2010 championship at the beginning of the season. But the way things have been coming together; it looks as if they may be right in the thick of things when it comes down to the end this season. Lima Time is only 2 games out of first place, and has been a fixture at the top of the standings all season. After losing 5 out of their first 7 weeks, the Wildcats have come out of no where to roll of 4 straight, scoring a remarkable 7 categories in each win.

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Well, its that time of year again. Time for Primetime to make some predictions that are sure to go wrong. Here are your National League All-Star Starters!

Catcher – Bryan McCann (Atlanta Braves): This race is very close as we progress through June. Geovany Soto (ChC) is nipping at McCann’s heels, but the Braves’ backstop has put up some really impressive numbers. Posting a .306 average, driving in 39 runs, scoring 32 runs (7 more than Soto), and checking in with a .939 OPS (nearly 40 points higher than Soto), McCann gets the nod for half of the NL’s battery.

1st Base – Lance Berkman (Houston Astros): Berkman has been raking this season. He leads the league in runs scored and OPS, batting .360, and leads all first basemen in doubles and is tied among first basemen in homers. Honorable Mention: Albert Pujols.

2nd Base – Chase Utley (Philadelphia Phillies): Is there any question about this one? Utley leads NL second basemen in Homers, RBI, OBP, OPS, and runs. Utley’s production has tailed off in the past couple of weeks, but he’s also played some great 2nd base defensively, making up for short comings from Ryan Howard. Honorable Mention: Dan Uggla.

3rd Base – Larry “Chipper” Jones (Atlanta Braves): Chipper has been the talk of several SportsCenter segments chronicling his quest for .400. Unfortunately, he looks like he’s slowing down a bit, mostly due to his age and discolored teeth (man are they yellow!). Not only is Chipper hitting .403, his OBP is nearly .500! Outstanding first half Chip. Honorable Mention: David Wright.

Shortstop – Hanley Ramirez (Florida Marlins): Hanley truly has been the total package this year. He’s quietly leading NL Shortstops in runs, homers, walks and OPS. He’s also second to Jose Reyes in steals. This fantasy heart-throb is definitely something special, and will make his first start at SS in NYC. Honorable Mention: Miguel Tejada. Or is it Tejeda?

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With the South Carolina Force off to a rocky start, fans of the team have turned some of their attention to their minor league club, the Charleston Blunt Force Trauma (BFT) or Bufffttt, as the locals say. Here’s a look at how the BFT’s top starts are performing this year:

Clayton Kerhsaw (acquired for Alex Rios from Milltown): 0-3, 2.28 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 47 K’s, 43.1 IP

Rick Porcello (acquired for J.R. Towles from US Millarmy): 3-6, 2.87 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 36/17 K:BB

Wade Davis (10th selection, minors draft): 6-3, 3.15 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 52 K’s, 71 IP

Fautino de Los Santos (3rd round selection, 34th overall, minors draft): 2-2, 5.87 ERA, 26 K’s, 23 IP

Colby Rasmus (21st Round, Majors draft, optioned 3/31): .225, 9 HRs, 25 RBI, 8 SB

Jarrod Parker (2nd round selection, 15th overall, minors draft): 4-3, 2.72 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 34 K’s, 40 IP

Billy Butler (Signed 6/3): .364 AVG, .962 OPS, 5 Runs, 2 RBIs, 6 Games

Nick Adenhart (acquired in Peavy/Phillips trade from San Diego): 5-3, 3.02 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 1 major league win

As you can see, the future looks pretty bright down in South Carolina. With GM Matt Austin’s eyes always on the lookout for future prospects, feel free to send trade proposals along if you’re looking to win this year. Send inquires to his screen name at “Primetime at FSC”, or e-mail him at mattaustin1@gmail.com. Go Bufffttt. Go Celtics.

The Red Sox really have something special in the young Oregon native Jacoby Ellsbury. I was listening to Dennis & Callahan this morning on WEEI radio and Jerry Remy was their guest. Remy didn’t want to go too far into this, but he told the duo that he sees shades of Rickey Henderson in the 24-year-old Sox outfielder.

Now let’s not compare Ellsbury to Henderson, we all know it’s way too early for that, but this kid is the real deal and he’s provided such a sparkplug at the top of the potent Red Sox hitting attack. Ellsbury isn’t your normal prospect. When the front office drafted Ellsbury 23rd overall in 2005, they obviously knew what they were doing. These days we see many hyped-up prospects come and go, but it looks like Jacoby Ellsbury is here to stay. Nevermind the pressure that comes with playing in Boston, Ellsbury has shown he can go out night after night and get the job done.

From a fantasy analysis, those owners who drafted Ellsbury most likely got him for a great bargain. According to ESPN, sis ADP (Average Draft Position) was somewhere around 157. Now, let’s play a little numbers game.

Player A: .283-110-10-56-75
Player B: .280-119-12-57-78

Player A is the pace that Jacoby Ellsbury is on, and that’s based on a pace of 494 at bats in 2008. Player B is the 2007 season stats of Jose Reyes. Reyes had 681 AB last year. If Ellsbury puts up these numbers then I will be quite surprised, the odds of it aren’t very good, but hopefully in the case of Boston fans(and fantasy owners) his real stats will be similar. Now Jose Reyes’ ADP was 4.5. Maybe fantasy owners drafted him so high because of his power potential(he did hit 19 HR in ‘06). I’m not buying that, people have been saying the same thing about Carl Crawford and his “power potential” which has yet to show up. I’m not knocking Jose Reyes, but I do think he’s overvalued in Fantasy baseball.

Jacoby Ellsbury is good, very good. He currently leads the league in SB and is 4th in the AL in runs. Is Ellsbury better than Reyes? Probably not, at least not at this point in his career(mind you he’s still a rookie). But if the pace continues, should he be drafted in top 20 next year? 10? If the trend continues with the way Reyes has been drafted then we should certainly see him climb the ADP ranks. For now, we’ll just have to wait. And while we wait, let’s enjoy watching this 2008 American League Rookie of the Year.

Fantasy Owners are always looking for the “next big thing”. Here is a couple of profiles that you should take a look at during your next keeper-league minors draft.

Josh Reddick (High-A, Lancaster Jethawks: Red Sox Organization): While Lars Anderson gets a lot of publicity from the Lancaster (and knowledgeable Boston) fans, Josh Reddick has been tearing the cover off the ball this season. The 21 year old right fielder swings a pretty sweet bat from the left side. He has followed up his rookie season in Greenville (in which he hit .306, had 18 bombs, and knocked in 72 in 94 games), with a strong start to the 2008 campaign. He’s off to a very strong start, batting .333, launching 12 balls into orbit, and driving in 50 runs between low-A Greenville (53 ABs), and high-A Lancaster (205 ABs). The knock on him so far is his plate discipline. He has 44 K’s and only 14 BB’s, but with production like we’re seeing now, we can live with that. Keep this JuCo draftee on your radar.

Daryl Thompson (AAA, Louisville Bats: Cincinnati Reds Organization): Thompson has been cruising up top prospect lists this year, and he should. This 6’, 180 lb. right hander has been stellar on the mound this year. To start the year, this 22 year old was playing for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League. He was nothing short of spectacular. Getting overshadowed somewhat by other prospects in the organization, a la Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, and Homer Bailey, Thompson has put forth an excellent 2008 campaign. In 61 innings in Chattanooga, he posted a 1.76 ERA, K’d 56 batters and had a .208 BAA. His performance earned him a promotion to Louisville, where he has been excellent as well. With the exception of one rough start, Thompson has gone 22.2 innings, only allowing 2 Earned runs (0.81 ERA), and striking out 16 in those starts. Combined this year, he’s 6-2 with a 2.22 ERA, striking out 78 in 89 innings. With the way Cincy has been playing, this righty may be getting the call up sooner rather than later.

Until next time, I’m your minor league lookout, Matt Austin!

Week 9 has passed and the Milltown Monsters have finally fell to the hands of defeat.

After going on a 7-week win streak which was halted by a tie from the US Millarmy team, the Monsters rebounded nicely with a 10-0 victory over the WallaWalla Dirt Dawgs. Last week marked the end of GM Dumont’s official quest for excellence.

“It’s a long year here in Fantasy Baseball and you can’t expect to win week in and week out. Although it would be nice to have that title of “perfection”, our team knows that on any given day, week, or month, losing is a possibility” explained Dumont. “So am I disappointed? Certainly. But you have to give credit to the King of Kings, they were just better than us this week.”

The King of Kings and GM Craig Defrancesco have been on top of the standings for the majority of the year until week 8 in which the Monsters 10-0 victory secured 1st place for the first time this year.

“We’ve been fighting to make it to the top. Week 8 was a huge week for the team. We wanted to capitalize on that momentum and not look back. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the necessary adjustments during the week, our pitching wasn’t all too fantastic, and we couldn’t come up with those timely hits” Dumont further went on to say.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Monsters as they take on the young powerhouse of Lima Time this week.

“Pete Coulouras is a little sneaky bastard” replied Dumont when asked about his opinions on Lima Time. “I’m pretty sure he drafted Nick Markakis 20-22 overall, I’d have to check back on that. Either way he somehow has a solid, young team which will compete for years. Let’s hope we can turn it around and put up another W.”