Blog Entries tagged 'AccuScore'

Favre could return, do the Packers want him?

twilliams

When Brett Favre announced his retirement, I wrote this :

"A few days ago Favre was lobbying for the Packers to get Moss. Right after Moss signs with the Patriots, Favre announces he is retiring. If he is not retiring because of Moss, then why is the timing so convienent, and why was he on board with improving the 2008 Packers a few days ago? Personally I feel this decision was made based on emotion, and I don't think Favre is done for good. This Packers team is a team that [...]

Penguins extend Malkin, lose Ruutu

twilliamsnhl

After losing Marian Hossa to Detroit, the Pittsburgh Penguins signed Evgeni Malkin to a five year extension, a five year deal for $8.7 million a year, according to TSN. The contract is similar to Sidney Crosby's deal.

The Penguins lost out on Hossa to free agency, but retained the better player. Hossa is a 30 year old star winger, while Malkin is a 22 year old superstar center. Malkin was set to become a restricted free agent next year, and locking him up now gives [...]

NHL Roundup: Hossa signs with Red Wings

twilliamsnhl

As if the blow the Red Wings dealt to the Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals wasn't enough, the Red Wings added injury to insult today by signing Marian Hossa to a one year, $7.4 million deal, according to TSN reports. The Penguins acquired Hossa at the trade deadline last year, along with Pascal Dupuis, in an attempt to make a run at the Stanley Cup. To land the pair, the Penguins parted with Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, 2007 first round pick Angelo Esposito, and their first roun [...]

Angels no hit Dodgers, Dodgers win 1-0

twilliams

Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo combined to pitch a no hitter for the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night against their NL rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The only problem? The Dodgers won 1-0.

Matt Kemp reached first on an error in the fifth inning, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error, and scored on a Blake DeWitt sacrifice fly. That was the only run of the game. The Angels recorded all five hits, including a threat in the ninth inning when the [...]

MLB is getting with the times

twilliams

Before landing this dream job writing about sports, I was a manager at a movie theatre, where I spent most of my time either watching free movies, or playing fantasy sports. Of course there were the customer service duties as well, but let’s not allow that to interfere with more important priorities. Every so often we would get a customer, usually their age north of 60 years old, complaining that we didn’t advertise in the newspapers anymore.

[...]

Chase Headley gets the call

twilliams

Finally! The long wait for Chase Headley is over, as the Padres announced he would be called up this weekend, possibly starting in the lineup on Sunday. There has been a lot of speculation on Headley recently, as he is the top hitting prospect in the Padres system, but has been tearing it up in the minors while San Diego flounders in the majors.

A lot of people speculated that June 1st would be the date, since that delayed "Super Two" status for a year. I can [...]

Penguins set for big decisions

twilliams

Following their loss in the Stanley Cup finals, the Pittsburgh Penguins are faced with some key decisions as to which players they wish to keep in order to try and get back for another shot at the Cup. The following Penguins are free agents this off-season:

1. Marc-Andre Fleury

2. Marian Hossa

3. Ryan Malone

4. Brooks Orpik

5. Jarko Ruutu

6. Gary Roberts

7. Pascal Dupuis

8. Adam Hall

9. [...]

Pass on Gonzalez, go for Headley

twilliams

In the aftermath of the Jay Bruce call up, the Oakland A's have decided to call up outfield prospect Carlos Gonzalez. Gonzalez was one of the prospects acquired by Oakland in the Dan Haren deal this winter. In his first game on Friday night, the A's center fielder went 2 for 3 with an RBI. What can you expect from the consolation prize to the people who didn't get Bruce?

Gonzalez went from high A ball to AAA in the last two years, displaying 20 home run pow [...]

Jay Bruce gets the call

twilliams

The Reds will call up Jay Bruce before today's game, according to pretty much every fantasy site I checked today. Bruce is expected to enter the starting lineup in Cincinnati, which will leave Corey Patterson without a spot, and move Ryan Freel to backup duty.

Bruce is batting .364 with 10 homers and 8 steals in 184 minor league at bats at AAA. He is the most likely prospect this year to resemble the start that Ryan Braun got off to last season. I'm not saying he will put up [...]

What to expect from Kershaw

twilliams

Clayton Kershaw has been called up to make his debut today against the St. Louis Cardinals. If he is available in any of your leagues (unlikely) grab him as soon as possible. If you already picked him up, make sure he's in your starting rotation today.

AccuScore projects Kershaw to go 6.2 innings, allow seven hits, three earned runs, two walks, and three strikeouts in the majority of simulations, with a 53 percent chance of a win. Kershaw may not have things that e [...]

Liriano pitching well at AAA

twilliams

Three injury situations to keep an eye on...

Francisco Liriano - Liriano was horrible in his three starts in the majors this year, with an 11.33 ERA and a 2.71 WHIP. In his final start on April 24th he didn't make it out of the first inning, allowing five hits, three walks, and six earned runs, and only recording two outs. Liriano has since turned things around in the minors, with a 2.77 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 5.54 K/9 ratio, and a 2.77 BB/9 ratio in his last four starts. [...]

Kicking Their Pujols

twilliams

This past week I participated in two fantasy baseball drafts. The first draft was a live draft, to see how I would pick now that a fourth of the season has passed. The second draft was an auto-pick league where I decided to not set my rankings, in hopes that I would get a batch of players who I don't have on any fantasy team.

In the live draft, I went with a similar approach to the rest of my fantasy teams. I took Ryan Braun with the 12th pick in the first round, A [...]

Fantasy Baseball is the only way to go

twilliams

It's late July. You're watching your small market baseball team, in this case the Pittsburgh Pirates, lose another game. The only bright spot of today's 8-2 loss is that Xavier Nady and Jason Bay each hit homers. This is great news. You have known since the start of Spring Training that your team had no shot to compete this season. What you are cheering for now is the future. You are cheering for Jason Bay and Xavier Nady to go on hot streaks, w [...]

The NHL season can now begin

twilliams

I now know how it feels to be a Yankees fan.

Not in the sense that the Penguins buy championships. Maybe in the sense that the Penguins are loaded with a ridiculous amount of talent. As a Penguins fan, the reason I know how it feels to be a Yankees fan is because I now know what it feels like to have your season start when your team makes the championship.

While it is enjoyable watching two of the best players in the game playing all season long, then dominating in the playoffs, [...]

That Thong-tha-thong, thong, thong

twilliams

I was doing my usual routine of waking up in the morning, which consists of setting my fantasy lineups, cooking some fools on Facebook's Mob Wars, and reading articles on MSN. This morning I came across this article:

Yankee's Star Slump Remedy: Wear a thong

At first I looked at the title, and it was so shocking that I just dismissed it. Five seconds later it hit me. What? Yankee player actually admits to wearing a thong?! My first thoug [...]

Beware of Interleague Play

twilliams

It has been awhile since I have posted a blog about handicapping. My main reason for handicapping games is for the enjoyment of the game. If I have no vested interest in a certain game (like Houston/San Francisco for example), then I will cap the game to give me a side to cheer for. I haven't been capping games for awhile, for two main reasons.

The first reason is that I simply do not have the time needed to dedicate
towards capping. It's kind of funny. I worked 40-45 [...]

Home sweet home

twilliams

Since February 24th I have done a lot of things. This would include doing my taxes, filing my taxes, and getting my tax return back from the IRS. I moved to a new house, I set up the new house (well, my wife did a lot of it...I just set up my office and did the heavy lifting), and we got a cat in the new house. I drafted a ton of fantasy baseball teams, made a ton of trades in those leagues, and then drafted more leagues after 25% of the baseball season passed.

I watch [...]

Tuesday Night Closer Watch

twilliams

A few interesting developments on the closer front tonight:

-Eric Gagne got the save opportunity in a 5-3 game in Milwaukee. Gagne got the save, but allowed a walk and a hit, with no strikeouts. Personally I liked Torres the best out of the other options in the bullpen. It looks like Gagne will be given another chance. Hold on to Torres or even Mota if there are no better options in your league. I've got both in a deep NL-only league, but I dropped Torr [...]

Common Sense from Fantasy Baseball

twilliams

I have a firm belief that fantasy baseball players are the most knowledgable baseball fans. The average fan only follows his team, and maybe the teams in his division. He knows of the Yankees and Red Sox, and maybe some big names like Albert Pujols, but that is the extent of his knowledge. Fantasy players not only follow every star on every team, we follow the prospects on every team, and all of the potential bullpen guys who could be in line for saves. Who else, other [...]

Kicking Their Pujols

twilliams

I have five teams that I care about, apart from the public leagues where I mainly use my teams for research purposes in my various columns. In these five leagues, my team is known as "Kick Their Pujols", yet up until this season I have never had Albert Pujols on my team. It's not that I don't like Pujols, I love having him as a second round pick in my keeper league this year. It's just that he's not really one of my guys.

Anyone who has multip [...]