Lineup was (stats listed are for me only):
1. Gross LF .254 .349 .424 Fast, high OBP part-timer, quality late round pickup 2. Sizemore CF .260 .362 .475 High HBP guy led SL in 2Bs, 2nd in Runs, 9th in MVP voting 3. Thomas DH .211 .314 .426 Picked up via trade for Josh Bard, moderate underperformance 4. Morneau 1B .296 .357 .531 7th in MVP, among SL leaders in Ave, Slg, RBI, w/ huge series vs. Dave to start season 5. Hall 3B .235 .309 .526 Big Iso guy, also played LF and backed up at SS, 2B and CF 6. Posada C .215 .307 .374 J-1 w/ +3 arm made him valuable, despite underperformance 7. Cuddyer RF .205 .279 .397 4 OF assists in semis, infrequently hit in regular season 8. Hudson 2B .248 .306 .417 3rd on team in RBI, 4th in SB, had wanted him the 2 previous SLs 9. HaRamirez SS .216 .281 .366 2nd in SL in SB, but was expecting Jose Reyes #s, not Ricky Gutierrez
Bench was:
Glaus 3B .214 .307 .500 Led off vs. LHP, 3rd on team in HR, defensive sub Snyder C .231 .293 .396 +5 had several big hits replacing Posada Gload OF-1B .282 .284 .308 2nd PR after pickup in trade for Matsui, performed like a 27th rounder Roberts OF-PR .219 .298 .288 1st PR taken in draft, led SL in SB, GWRBI off Papelbon late in season Scott OF .247 .312 .502 team's best hitter in his 65 starts, but still underperformed
Tried to have less emphasis on secondary average than my KITH, and more speed. Accomplished that, at least initially, but then made the Thomas trade to subvert that effort. Took Cuddyer much earlier than I wanted to, but did not see sufficient wing OF depth. 3B depth was very, very high, but Hall was taken for his speed, versatility (including ability to fill in on the wing), and with the understanding that whomever I took to back him up at 3B would probably be superior on defense and superior to the wing options. Luke Scott drafted very early, but he had one of the best cards available ... and, again, was related to wing OF issues that I believed to be at issue.
Starting staff was:
Santana L 16Z 17-12, 3.68, 284.0 IP, Cy winner, 1 win from SL lead and pitching triple crown Webb R 13ZG 8-4, 3.46, 112.0 IP, Picked up via trade for Mussina, 8th in Cy vote Escobar R 11Z 9-9, 5.22, 174.0 IP, High HRA contributed to high ERA, despite low walks Schmidt R 11 7-9, 4.88, 173.1 IP, one of better 4ths in SL, but just mildly above expectations ContrerasR 7Z 2-11, 7.91, 85.1 IP, awful, so much so I point to his performance keeping us from winning division
Relief staff was:
Putz R 18ZG 13-2, 2.68, 4 sv, 8 bs, high IP, low WHIP, my bullpen MVP Calero R 12 G 2-2, 2.27, 1 sv, 0 bs, ultra-effective in backend of the pen situations Embree L 11ZG 4-3, 4.28, 0 sv, 1 bs, other backend type, high unearned runs (10 in 1 game!!) Britton R 13 G 6-2, 3.97, 1 sv, 0 bs, high WHIP, but no blown and just 2 losses JaWalker L 14ZL 4-4, 3.29, 1 sv, 1 bs, overperformed until I had to give him IP late in SL Kennedy L 17 H 8-2, 2.08, 3 sv, 3 bs, low H/9, but limited to low IP (RIP Joe) MacDougalR 18ZH 5-0, 1.26, 20 sv, 3 bs, J-4 w/ unbelievably effective season, 10th in Cy
The staff was a high whiff, low-walks per 9, low-batting average allowed kind of a staff. Did not make relief a priority, expecting to be able to run Santana and Mussina out there for 17 IP per series. Putz was expected to dominate, and while no reliever seemed to dominate, his 8 blown at least wasn't catastrophic. I thought I took MacDougal and Kennedy too early, but they rewarded with great performances.
Pre-season, Greg told Steve in an email that those in the know were saying I had a top tier team. I started w/ a chico of Spit Cup winner Dave, where Morneau, et al, destroyed 23 Joe Nathan. Finished round robin at 29-16, scoring 5.44 per game, but with high 4.57 ERA. Everything going well, except I was being significantly outhomered. Chris was 23-22, second to me in the Division of Death (so named because all 5 of the SL titlists were grouped together). I felt Chris's squad would provide the best competition to me, and at this time, I felt he improved his team by picking up additional quality in a trade with Ken. Graham was 22-23, with an effective pitching staff and lumbering offense. Ken and Greg were both 21-24, just off WC pace.
At the 80 game mark, I was just 44-36, having my offense dip to 5.16, while my ERA only moderately fell to 4.46. Still was being significantly outhomered (by 32). Ken picked up a ton of steam, while Chris went from dominant offensively, to beginning to give away games in the pen. At Coors Field in August, as Ted Lilly was throwing darts that the Rocks couldn't hit, Graham and I discussed a trade that would give him a little different type of offense, and we consumated it shortly after, while I was visiting my in-laws at the end of the month. Effective J-4 Hideki Matsui (840 OPS), my leading part-time DH Josh Bard (805 OPS), and my #2 pick and #2 starter 13Z Mike Mussina (disappointing 6-9, 4.93) for Brandon Webb, Frank Thomas (2 speed), and Ross Gload. At minimum, I thought I would have better HR control, w/ a more secondary type of offense w/ Thomas taking over as DH.
At the 124 mark, I was 70-54 and had begun to again get going as a team, led by my team pitching, who saw the ERA drop to 4.11. Santana plummeted down to 3.27, while Putz steadied my middle relief, giving way to MacDougal, who saved 11 of the 26 wins since midseason. While the offense did not improve as a whole, Bill Hall led the effort w/ 17 2B's, 13 homers and 28 RBI since midseason, while Sizemore scored 36 runs in that span. Ken manage to take first place from me just after mid-season, with on an 11-0 night against Chris just after midseason. Despite the awful night, Chris still had WC aspirations.
The end of the season got me close to Ken, who continued his imitation of Greg's '97 team of starting slow, finishing in an unbelievable burst. Pulled to 90-67, but not close enough to Ken to scare him, and after falling victim to a Nims chico, I ended up 5 games behind Ken.
Thought I had a much better team than Matt, my semifinals opponent. But my offense was not a dominant offense, managing a mere 22 runs in 6 games, and when Santana and Webb combined for just 1 decisively good start, it put pressure on my very ordinary bullpen, which did not overachieve like it did during the season. Pujols was held down, Carlos Lee's impact was not overreaching, and Johjima went hitless in 20 at bats at the bottom of Matt's lineup, but in the end, it was not enough. While I expected to annoint Santana, Morneau or Sizemore as a postseason star, the stars turned out to be the more unlikely Reed Johnson and Johnny Damon and Takashi Saito.
Bob and Matt had the two best players in the league, in David Ortiz and Albert Pujols. I gave Ortiz the nod as the MVP on my ballot, with his 59 homers, 133 knocked in, and stellar play against me throughout the season. Pujols made the race a close one, with his high .306 average, 46 homers and 112 RBIs as the key driver for Matt's push to the playoffs, but it was not quite as dominant as what Ortiz did, even given the defensive and baserunning advantages that Pujols had.
Bob also earned a 1st place vote from me on the Cy ballot. BJ Ryan had a remarkable year for Bob, saving 28 games, winning 11, and posting a low 1.57 ERA. It was the 3rd highest save total in our league's history, Ryan's 8 holds were also the most by a reliever who saved more than 23 games, and with his ERA also of historical significance, I felt Ryan's achievements bettered the stellar performances from Mariano Rivera, Nate Robertson, and Roy Oswalt, among others.
Steve earned the MOY vote. Ken, Matt, and Bob all did spectacularly with their teams, but Steve is the measuring stick for that argument. When he bested Bob in Game 162, he sealed my vote. I also give him a little bit of extra credit for totally overhauling his philosophy from the past few seasons (relied on a ton of hit and runnings) to go with a historically high power squad. With the different philosophy, it still was a matter of Steve squeezing enough wins out of a squad that probably should not have been a playoff team.
Great to have Bob back in the league, Jim as well, albeit at the cost of Dave (happy to still have Dave on the mailing list). Enjoyed the thrills of having a solid team for 162 games, as opposed to what I had gone through the previous 3 seasons, where I had some catastrophic lapses. Greg's comment of the "SL Cogniscenti" believing I had one of the better teams was a most welcome comment. And at the end of it all, I feel like I would like to have had the chance to beat Ken in the final, but that even if I could have gotten past Matt, I probably wouldn't have fared much better than he did against Ken and his kavorka. Again enjoyed the Winter Meeting / Spit Cup Final combo event, which I hope we can continue in seasons to come.