Week 2 blues...

Okay,

Week 2 of the Hallucination Fantasy Baseball week. Week 2 means that if your starting pitchers started 14 games, you’re on pace for 180… the limit. Week 2 also means there are some pretty hot hitters right now… some pretty hot pitchers… and some surprising relief pitchers who have come out of nowhere to grab a bunch of saves.

Most importantly, Week 2 means that you have 22 more weeks of baseball to play and not all hope is lost. Yes, fantasy baseball does go a full 24 weeks and sometimes championships aren’t decided until the last 2 days.

Here are a few of my observations for Week 2:

Team of the Week: Shrewsbury Rounders
Is it even a question? How good are these guys? They have by far the best-performing pitching staff right now, their bullpen is terrific (ranked second in saves), and they have won 11 wins out of 13 starts, with the help of 3 relief wins. I’ll tell you right now, Scot Shields is a HELL of a player to have. When he’s set-up, he gets vulture wins and strikeouts. When K-Rod gets hurt, Shields gets saves. What’s not to like?
He’s got three starters who are pitching out of the minds right now in Webb, Beckett, Oswalt, and Penny and don’t be surprised if one wins a Cy Young. In addition, Shrewsbury’s hitting is also pretty good. 30 homers is tied for 2nd lace and 104 is 2nd in RBI. Power is there. Maybe a few more steals would be nice, but then we’d be nitpicking.

Hottest team: Bay State Bombers
Despite their starting pitching not running on all cylinders right now (Colon, Sabathia, Bonderman…), the Bombers are exactly what their TEAM NAME says they are… BOMBERS…
Thome and Dunn are swinging for the fences right now and Michael Barrett looks like he’s the second coming of Johnny Bench… okay, maybe not, but he’s among the league leaders in RBI right now… This is the ONE team that I can conceive producing all 10’s for the roto batting category. The team has solid middle relief with Villareal and Lirano (who will get 150 K’s this season), and their bullpen is darn good (but watch out for Weathers).

Silent but deadly: Dingle Berries
So much talent… they may be underachieving right now… but they’re not playing that badly. Berkman is having a nice rebound year, Vidro is a NEW man, and Atkins is really making me regret I dropped him before the season started. Nonetheless, when Ichiro, Vlad, Sizemore, Taveras start doing what they’re supposed to do, watch out for Berries hitters.
The best bullpen in the league. I say that even with Chris Reitsma on their staff. Turnbow, Ryan, and Ray are all pitching like stud closers… and Cordero soon will be too… Sooner or later, Hudson, C.Lee, Lackey, and especially Carlos Zambano will pitch to their potential. When they do, this team will contend. This could be the week they shoot up to possibly 2nd place.

What’s going on? Florida Sting
Let’s look at their pitching staff roto points… A 3 for wins and a 1 for strikeouts? What’s going on? Hmmm… maybe not having that many starts so far is deceiving our eyes making us think he doesn’t have a good pitching staff. Also, they’re not winning most of their games, so with their limited number of starts and mere five wins, they look like their not doing much, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. Prorate the strikeouts and wins with 15 starts and you’ll have pretty good stats. This staff is BUILT to catch the rest of the league up by July and overtake by late August.
Hitting? Sheffield, A-Rod, Matsui, Peralta, Crosby, Podsednik and Javy Lopez are really under-performing right now… It’s just a matter of time… remember what I said… this team is BUILT and DESIGNED for July and August… that’s when the numbers will spike.
By the way, I like this Francoeur kid... even though he's underperforming...20/20 could be a possibility.

Most * (Asterisk) Team: Hilo Firebirds
Everyone in the league has had their share of injuries and the Firebirds are yet hit again... Three * players... how about that? Who do I drop? Gagne? Hermida? or Lugo? My pitching will survive... but will the hitting suffer due to the dreaded asterisk?

Hope everyone had a good Easter. Take care and keep those trade offers coming!