Wednesday, April 19, 2006

My NFL Mock Draft

The NFL Draft is next saturday, a chance for teams to gamble for their future. They might pick a 6th round QB who leads they're team to 3 superbowls, or a 1st pick player who ruins the franchise. Everyone has predictions on who will be taken by who, but thats all mostly bullshit stolen from ESPN. I can gaurantee two things about my mock draft, Reggie Bush will be first, and my draft will be twice as good as Sean Salisberry's.

1. Houston - Reggie Bush, RB USC
- Its basically either Bush or Young. Bush is perhaps the greatest college runningback ever. With Bush, pressure will be taken off Carr. With a second round offensive lineman, they're offense will be set.

2. New Orleans - D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T Virginia - Ferguson is one of the highest rated lineman in the draft in a while, they can't go wrong here. Ferguson can play on the right, while Brown can switch to the right, where he played in college. With those two elite lineman, they will have the foundation of the team set for the next decade.

3. Tennessee - Matt Leinart, QB USC- The Titans are disrespecting McNair and McNair deserves better. He'll most likely end up in Baltimore. Titans have to pick between Young and Leinart. Neither would start in the first week and both need work. Leinart already knows the offense of Norm Chow, his former offensive coordinater at USC, so the transition will be much easier for Leinart.

4. N.Y. Jets - Mario Williams, DE North Carolina State - He's been compared to Peppers by many, and already stole the nickname 'freak' from Kearse. He's a playmaker on defense, and with the loss of Abraham, Williams will be a perfect pick.

5. Green Bay - A.J. Hawk, OLB Ohio State - This is the most obvious pick in the draft. Packers need defensive support. They need an outside linebacker. It looks as if Arrington is going to sign with the Giants. They're pass defense was the best in the league infact, but thats probably because they couldn't stop the run.

6. San Francisco - Vernon Davis, TE Maryland - Alex Smith showed some potential in the last few games of the season. He needs support around him to develop. Davis has great speed and hands. He will Smith's best friend by the time the season ends.

7. Oakland - Vince Young, QB Texas - Al Davis could care less about already having signed a QB. Still, Young will be perfect for Oakland. He has the big arm, and oakland has the stretch receivers. Plus, Young is the kind of explosive guy that fans can get excited about, and trust me, if Oakland gets young, there will be parties all over the bay area. Young jersies will sell faster than you can say Marquis Tuiasosopo.

8. Buffalo - Winston Justice, OT USC - The Bills pass protection has been horrible, one of the worst in the league. Lossman and Holcomb got sacked a total of 43 times. Justice is a big powerful guy who can block for both the run and pass. He's the best tackle that the Bills can get.

9. Detroit - Michael Huff, CB Texas - The Lions need some help in the secondary. Huff is a hardhitting, fast playmaker. He flys all over the field, and will improve the secondary dramatically.

10. Arizona - Jay Cutler, QB Vanderbilt - The only think lacking in the cardinals' offense is a QB. Warner obviously isn't they're future. Cutler can learn under warner and take over the year after. He is a carson palmer type of QB, and has all the tools around him to succeed. He had basically nothing around him at vanderbilt and still put up great numbers. This will be a perfect fit.

11. St. Louis - Jimmy Williams, CB Virginia Tech - The Rams need defensive help. Williams is the best man-to-man corner availible. They could also be looking at Jason Allen in round two.

12. Cleveland - Chad Greenway, OLB Iowa - The Browns need a good linebacker next to McGinist. Greenway is a fast linebacker with great tackling skills. He's all over the field, and fill be a good fit in the 3-4 defense.

13 . Baltimore - Haloti Ngata, DT Oregon - Ngata is a huge defensive tackle. He is exactly what Ray Lewis is asking for. Lewis wants a big guy up front to occupy the gaurds so he can rome free. They need either a defensive lineman or offensive lineman, and because of Lewis' recent comments, they will go for D.

14. Philadelphia - Santonio Holmes, WR Ohio State - The Eagles need a replacement for Owens. Holmes is a Santana Moss or Steve Smith type of player. He's small, quick, fast, and has great hands. He would be a good fit in that west coast offense.

15. Denver (from Atlanta) - Chad Jackson, WR Florida - The Broncos need another target for Plummer. Jackson is an ideal wide receiver for the Broncos.

16. Miami - Ernie Sims, OLB Florida State - The Dolphins need an outside linebacker with the departure of Seau. Sims is an explosive hardhitting linebacker. He is somewhat undersized, but when has size ever held a dolphin linebacker back

17. Minnesota - Bobby Carpenter, OLB Ohio State - The Vikings have a good secondary, but need linebacker help. Carpenter is the best linebacker availible, better than any other inside linebacker. This will be a good pick for the vikings.

18. Dallas - Donte Whitner, S, Ohio State - Next to Roy Williams, the Cowboys need a saftey. Whitner can cover extremely well. He's alot like Ed Reed. This will be the ideal pick for the Cowboys.

19. San Diego - Antonio Cromartie, CB Florida State - Cromartie is an excellent cover corner. The Chargers need help at corner and Cromartie will be perfect. They struck gold last year with defense, this year they will too.

20. Kansas City - Tye Hill, CB Clemson - The Chiefs need a good corner opposite of Surtain. He's one of the fast players in the draft, and will be a good cover corner. He is somewhat undersized, but his effort more than makes up for it.

21. New England - DeMarco Ryans, OLB Alabama - He is a really smart player, one who belichick will ike. They need outside linebacker with the departure of McGinist. Ryans will be a good fit.

22. San Francisco (from Washington through Denver) - Mathias Kiwanuka, DE Boston College - He is an overall excellent defensive end. He has all the physical tools to be great, and the instincts. He will be a good pick for the niners.

23. Tampa Bay - Marcus McNeil, OT Auburn - McNeil is a huge offensive tackle, and exactly what the bucs need. Be blocked for Cadillac two years ago, and will do it again. He is raw, but has the tools

24. Cincinnati - Marcedes Lewis, TE UCLA - The Bengals don't have a star tight end as most winning teams do. Lewis has great hands, alot like heath miller of last years draft, and we all know how that turned out. Lewis will definately be on the board by this pick.

25 . N.Y. Giants - Tamba Hali, DE Penn State - The Giants need another defensive end. Hali is a good replacement for Strahan in a few years. The giants already improved they're pass defense with Sam Madison, and are probably going to get Arrington. With Hali, that defense will surprise alot of people.

26. Chicago - Sinorice Moss, WR Miami - The Bears need a widereciever opposite of Muhammad. They've been extremely inconsistant. Moss is a playmaker that the bears desperately need.

27. Carolina - DeAngelo Williams, RB Memphis - The forgotton runningback of the draft. Carolina has had too many injuries at runningback, infact its the only reason they didn't go to the superbowl. Williams will probably be behind Foster, but even then he'll definatly see at least 5 starts.

28. Jacksonville - Eric Winston, OT Miami - The Jaguars need an offensive lineman like Winston. He'll improve their offense overall. This will be a good pick is Winston falls this far.

29. N.Y. Jets (from Denver) - Ashton Youboty, CB Ohio State - With the departure of Law, the Jets need a corner. Youboty is a good corner who can get the job done. Hes a smart player who can make plays.

30. Indianapolis - Lawrence Maroney, RB Minnesota - With James gone, this will be a perfect opportunity to snag a great RB in the draft. Maroney is 1st round material. Hes a balanced runningback who will be perfect for the colts.

31. Seattle - Jonathan Joseph, CB South Carolina - Other than Trufant, the Seahawks don't have a reliable corner. Joseph is ideal size and has everything you look for in a cornerback. He will be a starter from week 1.

32. Pittsburgh - Lendale White, RB USC - Big smash mouth runningback on a smash mouth football team. This is probably the draftee-team fit in the entire draft.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

I Actually Used to Like the Titans

The other day Steve McNair was told to go home by the Titans. He is no longer allowed to workout in the team facilities. McNair has 28.46 million dollars on the salary cap, 9 million this year. If he gets hurt this season, the Titans have to pay him the whole 9 million. The Titans tried to restructure his contract, but McNair and the team aren't coming to any agreements.

This is a classless move by the Titans. I've lost almost all respect for the team. McNair is a guy who gave 120% every game. He's played through injuries, all for the team. He led them to the super bowl, coming one yard shy of leading one of the greatest comebacks ever. He was MVP of the league just 3 years ago, and he's been the face of that organization for so many years.

McNair has all the rights to refuse giving up more money. He had repeatedly restructured his contract in the past just to get the Titans under the cap. He's been playing for less than he's worth for all these years, less salary, less bonuses, all because he was promised his money in the future. McNair has earned his money, so why would he restructure his contract again, only to get screwed next year?

I actually used to like the Titans, all because of one guy, McNair. The Titans front office just can't manage the team, and McNairs getting screwed because of it. The Titans are officially the first members of my Wall of Shame.

Friday, April 14, 2006

My Elite Fantasy Baseball Team

C: Ivan Rodriguez
1B: Adam Dunn
2B: Ricki Weeks
3B: Alex Rodriguez
SS: Omar Vizquel
OF: Ken Griffey Jr.

OF: Hideki Matsui
OF: Jeromy Burnitz

Ut: Sean Casey
BN: Julio Lugo

SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Randy Johnson
RP: David Weathers
RP: Dan Miceli
P: Brad Penny
P: Esteban Loaiza

P: Justin Verlander
BN: Orlando Hernandez

BN: Jarrod Washburn
BN: Aaron Harang
BN: Todd Jones

DL: Eric Gagne

My team is not great, but its pretty good. With good managing, I can win it all. I have inconsistant batters with Casey and Burnitz. Vizquel is my expendable player, hes only had 2 games with RBIs. He hits second in the lineup, so he'll mostly be getting runs and steals. But those are stats that Lugo or other free agents can give me. He won't be on my team much longer. Weeks is also interesting, hes the same as Vizquel, he gets steals and runs, but not RBIs. Weeks is supposedly an emerging star, which is the only reason I'm keeping him, hoping he gets hot. However, if I drop him no one will pick him up, so I might just do that. I'll probably pick up Jose Lopez and Khalil Green. One Burnitz gets cold, I'm going to drop him too.

Obviously my weaknesses are steals and saves. One Todd Jones is back I'll start generating more saves. Jones is only going to stay on my team if he's the starting closer when he comes back. He's old, but if he starts, he'll get many save opportunities. Gagne has a while to go, but I need to keep him for the second half of the season and playoffs. The two pitchers I'm seriously questioning are Washburn and Loaiza. What really made me keep both those players are Mariner and A's biases, Mariners, my favorite team, and A's, my home team and second favorite team.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Detroit Tigers

As I was reading a blog entry on the debate over a salaray cap in baseball, I thought to myself, every bad team becomes good eventually. I thought of the Brewers, a young and confident team that can surprise many people, then I thought of the Tigers, and that got me thinking, the Tigers really aren't that bad any longer.

What really amazes me is the Tigers' pitching. Their rotation includes Kenny Rogers, Bonderman, Robertson, Maroth, and the young superstud Justin Verlander. This is the type of rotation a team that an elite team has.
Plus they're all under 30, except Rogers. This team has sucked for so long, now they are finally ready to make their run for the playoffs. All of these pitchers can win 10 games and get 150+K this year. Whats more impressive is their bullpen. Rodney has pitched perfectly thus far. The young Zumaya is a great setupman. Not to mention they have three relievers injured, two of which are able to be closers, Jones and Percival. The bullpen's average WHIP is 1.03, with a 3.17 ERA. Just to show how impressive those numbers really are, the whitesox average 4.75, the redsox average 4.31, and the brewers average 4.11.

But on the other side of the ball, the hitting is mediocre. However it is good enough to take them to the playoffs. Shelton is the hottest player in the league right now. Old players cool down, guys who are 26 and lead the league in homeruns, BA, and RBIs, do not. They also have the future star Granderson. He's only 25 years old and producing average to good numbers. Later in the season when analysts begin realizing that the Tigers are a force to be reckoned with, he will heat up. Plus they have my man Pudge. You can't go wrong with Pudge. The Tigers will be a world series caliber team in 3 years tops. They have the pitching. A few big name signings are all they need. They're a confident team and they believe they can win, and they will.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Milwaukee Brewers

The first thing I think of when I hear of the Brewers is failure. They've only won the division once in their history. They've been just another small market team who can't get it straight. But over the course of spring training and preparing for my fantasy drafts, I realized that the Brewers can no longer be ignored. This is a young team that will probably make the playoffs in the next few years.

They're pitching is as deep as any team in the league. Ben Sheets, Doug Davis, and Chris Capuano are all great pitchers who can win 15+ games a season. Davis is in a contract year, which means he'll have a great season.
Then theres Dave Bush and Tomo Ohka who are good too. The Brewers' old closer, Dan Kolb, who got traded to the Braves last year, is back as a setup man for Derrick Turnbow who hasn't allowed a run all season. With starting pitchers who'll take the lead deep in the ballgame, and a setup man like Kolb, Turnbow will be best closer this year, fantasy-wise. Vice-versa, with a setup man like Kolb and a closer like Turnbow, the starting pitchers will be getting alot more wins than people expect. Under pitching coach Mike Maddox, the Brewer pitchers will carry this team far.

As for batting, the team is not as great. But like the whitesox last year, they have enough to win games. They have guys that can get the job done, but no outstanding players. Carlos Lee and Overbay are good cleanup hitters, and Weeks, the future star, is a guy who can get on base and score. The Brewers are doing it all with their great farm system. They have one of the best farm systems in the league, and now after years of sucking, they are seeing it payoff, and are proving that it doesn't just take money to build a winning team.