TheBaseballStars

Listen, Newspaperman can’t hang with the hip hop knowledge that TheJon, PoiDog and TheOz bring to TheBaseballStars. While they were listening to the supposed good stuff, I was eating up what MTV was serving: 3rdBass’ Pop Goes The Weasel, Metallica ’s Enter Sandman, and Warren G and Nate Dogg in Regulate.

But I digress. I’ve come to understand the finer things in life, and I’m not talking about Tchaikovsky or anything like that. I’m talking Zeppelin, baby! Anyhow, as the header video states, it’s time to Ramble On and talk fantasy baseball.

V for Vendetta

The Jon loves to post this video whenever he gets a chance. And heck, the way Justin Verlander has been pitching lately, I’ll go ahead and post the damn thing for The Jon.

For those who decided Verlander was “can’t-hack-it-pantywaist who wears (his) mama’s bra” you’d better think again. Verlander is back, baby. He is the real deal, son. He had 10ks in his start earlier this week, and over the last month his ERA has been around 3.00 and the WHIP is a crisp 1.14. His season statistics are still pretty atrocious, but we know Verlander is better than what those numbers portray. Hell, maybe this year he decided to stink in the beginning of the season, and save the best stuff for later. Either way, Verlander is back and I’m reaping all of the benefits.

I am Iron Man

Guess who leads the league in home runs over the last month?! OK, it’s JD Drew (ugh). But whose tied for second? It’s Grady Sizemore! Of course we didn’t draft or keep Grady strictly for his power, it was everything else. Now only if he can keep building up that batting average. Having a .260 average as a leadoff hitter is not good.

Ugh! What, son?!

OK, maybe Juan Pierre has more hip hop knowledge than TheJon.

Once upon a time there lived a man who was considered one of the most underrated, yet very much appreciated in some circles, fantasy player named Juan Pierre. He was pretty much a poor man’s Ichiro, with 50 less hits per year. He was dubbed Juan “Freedom” (creative, no? It’s was PoiDog who coined this phrase) in the BaseballStars league , and it was the freedom he was given on the base paths that gave him tons of value. Heck, I think PoiDog even kept him one year. Or was that Scott Podsednik?

Anyway, back on point. If you didn’t own Pierre, you probably didn’t even think about him. That is unless you played the guy who used him against you. Then you saw what happened when Pierre went Hulk Hogan and ran wild on you. But for some reason, he started disappearing from fantasy rosters. Perhaps it was the influx of young talent whose hybrid skills combined power and speed, therefore making Pierre, he of the 55-plus stolen bases and 200 hits a year, nothing more than a bench player. And then when he was banished to Los Angeles last season, he was utilized less in the fantasy game. And at the start of the season he almost went Shawn Chacon or Latrell Sprewell on Joe Torre because the Dodgers had too many outfielders. His lack of playing time caused fantasy owners to cut ties and relegate him to the waiver wire.

But here we are, about two weeks from the all-star break, and Pierre has been scorching. He’s got his playing time and has been using it to set the base paths ablaze. Pierre has 34 stolen bases this year (tied for second), and 15 over the last month, second only to supposed fantasy darling Michael Bourn, who has 16.

Jay Bruce > the rest of the MLB … or not so much

Look at this bumbling idiot. His rant pretty much sums up the feelings of all fantasy baseballers about three weeks ago when “Bruce Almighty” burst onto the scene and mashed and raked his way into the hearts of the good people of fantasy land. He hit well over .500 for a week, then hit homers in three straight games and suddenly he’d become this year’s Ryan Braun and in some people’s minds perhaps the greatest player of all time.

Now look at you. Those same people are cutting Bruce like he’s Johnny Cueto just because he’s dipped under .300. His stats aren’t pretty, but this is what you should have expected from Bruce from the start. He’s a rookie. Deal with it.

And for you amusement

While looking for Hulk Hogan stuff to post under the Juan Pierre section, I came across this. Very disturbing.