Cory and Mike’s All-Surprise Team for 2006

1b Howard (Swisher)
2b Uggla (Phillips)

ss H. Ramirez (Hall)

3b Cuddyer (Sanchez)

c McCann (Martin)

OF Dye

OF Ibanez

of Matthews

sp Arroyo

sp Harang

rp Papelbaun

rp Putz

Happily, in one of my leagues (the one I’ve been leading almost from the beginning) I drafted Atkins in the 11th round; I’ve been quite pleased with him.

A couple of pitchers who were big surprises–Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders. Whatever expectations there were for their major league careers, I don’t think anybody thought they’d even make the big league team this year, much less be this good.

How about the Marlins starting rotation? Now there is a suprise…. Josh Johnson and Anibel Sanchez got those save chances for Borowski!

Note for Mike/Cory: On today’s show you speculated about what round Gary Matthews went in most drafts.

Gary Matthews started the season out on the Dl so chances are he was not drafted in most vanilla leagues.

C-Miguel Olivo, FLA
1B-Ryan Howard, PHI

2B-Dan Uggla, FLA

3B-Garrett Atkins, COL (Hon. mention Ryan Zimmerman)

SS-Hanley Ramirez, FLA

OF-Matt Holliday, COL; Jermaine Dye, CHW; Michael Cuddyer, MIN

SP-Chien-Ming Wang, NYY (Hon. mention Kenny Rogers, DET – I seriously thought he was done)

RP-Jonathan Papelbon, BOS

Ut-Gary Matthews, TEX

I had both Olivo and McCann on my roster most of the year, but I added Olivo as an FA (to replace Jason LaRue) while I reserved McCann from last year. … Howard is probably the most popular person in Philly right now since, well, since…Harry Kalas? … One of my last picks in our auction, Uggla ($5) was supposed to be just a middle infielder for me to sub for MGiles, Bill Hall, OHudson or Jose Reyes. Instead he helped me cover when I lost DLee and had only Lance Niekro and Scott Hatteberg in reserve. I eventually traded Josh Johnson ($3, FA salary) and Andre Ethier ($3) for Adam LaRoche ($14) and Jason Schmidt ($22) in July ($260 team salary). … Hon. mention at SS for Bill Hall, who also helped me make up for DLee’s absence with his 32, yes, 32 dingers.

Without a decent first baseman for half the season and with no closers left active from the start of the year (Turnbow, Valverde and Gonzalez), I’m leading our two-week head-to-head championship game in our eight-team NL-only 6×6 keeper auction league (33-man rosters, 25 active) and on the verge of my first title since my college 4×4 NL Rotisserie league in 1990, when Chris Sabo and Eric Davis paved the way to a championship.

I barely made the playoffs last year, and upset the top two teams to reach the final, where I got hammered. This year I was on top most of the way and finished tied for first with the guy I’m in the final with for the second straight year (he had the tiebreaker, going 3-0 against me in the regular season). I owe a lot of my success to the advice I’ve gotten from you guys over the course of the season thanks to finally breaking down and buying an iPod. The 411 has become an addiction I can’t break. Thanks for making such a great (and entertaining) show.

Scott in South Jersey

Cancel Josh Johnson…forgot he was a rookie.

RP – Takashi Saito – Gagne-esque from a 37-year-old who was not good enough for Japan.

I like the lists that Mike and Cory came up with. Great choices all around.

Some other honorable mentions (pretty much my first choices are on your lists):

C – Willingham – not sure if he qualifies

C – David Ross – 19 HRs in 233 ABs

1B – Swisher – 16th round in my league

1B – Morneau – dropped and then picked up by me

2B – Wigginton – 24 HRs in 421 ABs

3B – Teahen – .290/18 HRs/10 SBs in 393 ABs

3B – Lowell – thought he was dead in the water, though he might have been helped by Fenway, somewhat

SS – Aurilia

OF – Thames – 26 HRs in 344 ABs

OF – Rivera – .309/22 HRs in 434 ABs

SP – Josh Johnson – amazing to see a rookie dominate like he did

SP – Jered Weaver – expected him to be good, but not this good, this soon

SP – Anibal Sanchez – didn’t expect him to be good

SP – Arroyo – you could expect him to do better when moving from the AL to the NL, but THIS much better, especially in that park?

RP – Saito – though I’m not a major fan of this category, since it’s dependent upon closers losing their jobs, Saito has been awesome even without the saves, and as someone else noted, he wasn’t so hot these past years in Japan….

Some of these choices are obviously dependent upon playing time issues.

But look at it this way. If you can know when they’re not going to be in the lineup, think about how much performance they garnered you ON TOP OF another player’s performance who you could substitute in when they weren’t playing.

Also, to me any pitcher who has shown flashes before while being injured and stays away from the DL shouldn’t belong on the all-surprise team (e.g., Bedard, Escobar).

I’m kind of surprised people picked pitchers like Harang and Mussina (I drafted them both in my league). They along with Loaiza and Vazquez were my late-round (talking late-teens)/good upside picks for my starting staff. Loaiza and Vazquez, I eventually ditched for Arroyo and Weaver the Younger, though both have shown flashes of what I thought they might do later in the season. I guess the surprising thing for Harang is his K/9 level. Other than that, his ERA and WHIP are around the same as last year. Mussina, OTOH, has done this before and has been serviceable in the years when he didn’t do as well….

FJ

Not much of a difference from me:

C McCann

1B Morneau (I had given up on him)

2B Uggla (Translates into owl in swedish!)

SS Ramirez (Although Reyes was surprising as well)

3B Atkins

(3B) Sanchez

OF Dye

OF Ibanez

OF Cuddyer

(OF) Cameron

SP Liriano (Despite shortened season)

SP Verlander

(SP) Mussina

RP Papelbon

(RP) Putz/Otsuka

Regards

Bertil from Sweden

I wanted to choose players that neither of you chose and come up with an all surprise team, so here it goes.

C – Martin – Started the year in the minors and has been a double double player this year

1B – Morneau – Most likely drafted, but late, and maybe dropped or reserved early in the season, but rebounded for a great year.

2B – Phillips – very good all around player that was not drafted most likely

SS – Reyes – I know he is a stud but could you have predicted him to be a 20 – 80 – 65 player with 120+ runs scored and a .300+ BA?

3B – Zimmerman – 19 homers, 107 ribbies and a .286 average, from a rookie

OF – Beltran – after his fall from grace last year he should be back in the first round next year. Great value pick.

OF – J Rivera – .311-23-84 and a great hot streak during the summer.

OF – DeRosa – Can’t get him out of the lineup in TEX.

SP – A tandem a la Cory Schwartz – Arroyo and Harang. Where would Cincy be without them, and Harang’s K totals have been awesome.

SP – Bedard – The number 1 list of 12 guy for next year as you put it, has had a very good year with 15 wins and a sub 3.75 ERA.

RP – Putz – A waiver wire pick up that struck out over 12 per 9 and recorded 34 saves. Add 4 wins and a 2.15 ERA to that and you’ve got something.

Thanks for everything this year. I listen to the podcast every day and you have gotten me through many hours of grass cutting and Honey – Do’s this season. Keep up the good work.

Mike in CT