The Case of Clayton Richard

Clayton Richard will play a large role in who wins the NL West. In what follows I will break down his 2010 performance and give my thoughts on what to expect from him moving forward.

Clayton Richard, SP, Padres
6’5″, 240 lbs.
Bats: L Throws: L
Born: September 12, 1983 (Lafayette, IN)
Drafted: Eighth round selection in 2005 by the White Sox

MINOR LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS

2005 (Rookie, Single-A): He appeared in only 13 games tossing 51.1 inning after being drafted out of Michigan. He had a 2.85 ERA and 8.6 K/9 mark in Rookie ball before three middling appearances at Single-A (5.23 ERA, 1.45 WHIP).

2006 (Single-A, High-A): Was 6-6 with a 3.67 ERA over 18 appearances for Winston-Salem. His WHIP was poor at 1.52 as his K/9 mark dipped to 5.1. In four starts at High-A he was 1-3 with a 4.56 ERA and 1.48 WHIP.

2007 (High-A): His record was a mere 8-12, but he posted a solid 3.63 ERA over 161.1 inning (a minor league high). His K/BB was poor at 1.68 and he allowed almost a hit an inning (159) leading to a 1.35 WHIP.

2008 (Double-A, Triple-A): Finally he broke through. At Double-A he was 6-6 with a strong 2.47 ERA and 0.98 WHIP, numbers that improved when he moved to Triple-A when he went 6-0 with a 2.45 ERA an a 0.84 WHIP.

MAJOR LEAGUE CAREER

2008: He appeared in 13 games with the White Sox making eight starts. He had trouble getting batters out with a 6.04 ERA, 1.55 WHIP an a .303 BAA over 47.2 innings.

2009: He made 26 appearances with the Sox, including 14 starts, before he was dealt to the Padres. He went 4-3 with a 4.65 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in the AL before posting very similar numbers with the Padres over 12 starts: 5-2, 4.08 ERA, 1.47 WHIP.

PERSONAL REVIEW

2010 stats: 13-9, 3.71 ERA, 152 Ks, 1.40 WHIP in 196.1 IP

The most obvious place to start with Richard is that he is a totally different pitcher at home and on the road. Here are his 2010 splits:

Home: 3.16 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 8.01 K/9, 2.29 K/BB, .227 BAA
Away: 4.37 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 5.76 K/9, 1.66 K/BB, .307 BAA

At home he is a fantasy star, while on the road you would be better off starting a guy like Randy Wolf (yikes). No mere one year occurrence, here are his career numbers at Petco versus everywhere else.

Petco: 10-6, 2.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 8.02 K/9, 2.14 K/BB over 141.2 IP
Others: 14-13, 5.04 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 5.95 K/9, 1.67 K/BB over 255.1 IP

Those are some rather massive splits and they have to be a huge concern to fantasy owners.

As for his overall work this season there was some improvement. He pushed his K/9 rate up a quarter of a point to 6.97, while at the same time dropping his walk rate by seven tenths down to 3.48 (compared to his 2009 effort). At the same time, his 6.97 K/9 mark is slightly below the 2010 big league average of 7.11, while his K/BB mark of 2.00 is also below the big league average (2.17). Not really much goodness here, other than the slight growth he showed from 2009 to 2010.

As for his ability to keep the ball on the ground, his GB/FB was solid at 1.39, though that was worse than his career 1.45 mark while at the same time being a 3-year worst. His 19.2 line drive rate was pretty much league average, and his .314 BABIP was a dead on match for his career rate. The bottom line is that his BAA is right about where it should be (.266).

Richard was very, very good against left-handed batters with a 1.02 WHIP, a 3.15 K/BB mark, an a .225 BAA. However, he was sub par when facing righties with a 1.56 WHIP, a 1.76 K/BB mark, and a .281 BAA.

Finally, he continued an odd trend of being a better pitcher under the lights.

Day: 4.73 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 6.35 K/9, 1.59 K/BB
Night: 3.12 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 7.33 K/9, 2.30 K/BB

The bottom line with Richard is if you started him in a home game, that was played at nighttime, against a lineup filled with left-handed batters, you were almost guaranteed to find yourself with one dynamite performance.

PREDICTION

Richard is set to pitch on Friday night versus the Giants in what might be a must win for the Padres. I’m not going to predict how he will do in that outing other than to say that he has given up six or more earned runs in two of his last three starts and that he will be pitching on the road. If you read the report, you will know what to do if you are a Richard owner.

Long-term, until he learns to clean up his work on the road, Richard shouldn’t be counted on to produce numbers any better than we saw from him this season, which means he is nothing more than a depth option in standard mixed leagues.

By Ray Flowers

Early Award Returns

I’ll certainly go into much greater depth on all of the major baseball awards between now and the time that the season is completed, but I just wanted to give a few thoughts on the races at this point as the season marches, inexorably, toward the conclusion of the regular season (go Giants).

AL MVP

Main Candidates: Jose Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Josh Hamilton, Paul Konerko
Hamilton will lead baseball in batting average (.361), and he is hopeful of a return to action from his rib issue on Friday. Still, the guy has appeared in only two games in September and just 130 on the season. Is that really an MVP worthy campaign? There has only been one MVP who appeared in fewer than 15 September games in a non-strike season, and that was Dick Groat of the Pirates in 1960. I know it would make a great story, but I can’t give a thumbs up to a guy who didn’t do a damn thing in the seasons most important month.

NL MVP

Main Candidates: Carlos Gonzalez, Albert Pujols, Troy Tulowitzki, Joey Votto
CarGo and Tulo will likely cancel each other out. The anti-Hamilton, look at their numbers in September: Gonzalez (.412-5-26-24 with a 1.131 OPS), Tulowitzki (.299-15-40 with a 1.148 OPS). If that means the decision is left to Pujols and Votto you have to think the fact that Votto’s Reds are playoff bound will tip the scales in his favor in the eyes of most voters since Votto and Pujols have had nearly identical numbers this season: Votto (.325-37-111-104-16 with a 1.029 OPS), Pujols (.313-42-117-113-13 with a 1.015 OPS). Will Pujols’ history win out over Votto’s winning record?

AL Cy Young

Main Candidates: Clay Buchholz, Trevor Cahill, Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Jon Lester, David Price, CC Sabathia
The best pitcher in the AL has been Felix Hernandez, though he is a mere 13-12 because of brutal run support (the Mariners scored seven runs while he was in the game in his 12 loses). Hernandez leads the league in ERA (2.27), strikeouts (232), innings pitched (249.2), quality starts (30) and he is second in WHIP at 1.06 (Cliff Lee has a 1.02 mark). Still, no starting pitcher, in a non-strike season, has ever won the award with fewer than the 15 victories that Tim Lincecum posted last season.

NL Cy Young

Main Candidates: Roy Halladay, Tim Hudson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, Adam Wainwright
Hudson ha lost four of five decisions as his ERA has gone from 2.24 to 2.76. Jimenez was 15-1 at the All-Star break but only 4-7 since. Johnson leads the NL with a 2.30 ERA but he pitched only 183.2 innings and won just 11 games. That leaves Halladay and Wainwright to finish 1-2, with Halladay likely to win the award despite nearly identical totals: Halladay (21-10, 2.44 ERA, 219 Ks, 1.04 WHIP), Wainwright (20-11, 2.42 ERA, 213 Ks, 1.05 WHIP).

AL Rookie of the Year

Main Candidates: Neftali Feliz, Austin Jackson
Feliz was left in the bullpen when the club realized it had a hole there (he was slated to spend at least some time in the rotation), and all Feliz has done is have the best closing season by a rookie in league history with a record 38 saves in just 41 chances. He’s also posted a 0.90 WHIP over 66.1 innings.
Jackson has played strong defense in center field while at the same time scoring a ton of runs (102). He’s also hit nearly .300 at .299, while adding 26 steals. Do you favor pitching or hitting?

NL Rookie of the Year

Main Candidates: Starlin Castro, Ike Davis, Jamie Garcia, Jason Heyward, Buster Posey, Gaby Sanchez
One of the strongest rookie classes in recent memory. As much as people seem to want to hand the award to Heyward, there are a couple of salient points that Heyward apologists have to deal with. (1) Sanchez has one more homer with 19, while he has knocked in 12 more runs (83) then Heyward. Heck, Sanchez is only batting .003 points lower at .276. How many people think Sanchez should win the award? That’s exactly why Heyward’s candidacy isn’t as strong as some profess. (2) Buster Posey has only two fewer homers and seven less RBI than Heyward despite appearing in 35 fewer games. Posey also has a .020 point lead in OPS, and he is a catcher. I’m admittedly biased as a Giants fan, but I just don’t get all this Heyward talk.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: September 28, 2010

(1) Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Zimmerman likely done for the year. You can read more about those tow in MLB Player Rater.

(2) Justin Upton likely done with shoulder issue.

(3) Joe Mauer still out (knee). Likely back on Thursday.

(4) Josh Hamilton still out but he hit on Tuesday.

(5) Miguel Cabrera out with ankle issue.

(6) Daniel Hudson done for the year.

(7) Jimmy Rollins returns for Phillies.

(8) Giants juggle rotation to set up Tim Lincecum.

By Ray Flowers

Breaking Down the NL

I wrote my weekly National League breakdown piece today. Here are a few of the tidbits that really stuck out for me.

* Daniel Hudson leads the NL with 79.2 innings pitched since August 1st.

* Tommy Hanson has a 2.77 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over his last 14 starts. He is 2-6 in that time.

* Carlos Zambrano is 6-0 with a 1.63 ERA over his last 12 appearances.

* Scott Rolen has 20 homers on the year but only three in his last 50 games.

* Melvin Mora is hitting .325 with 17 RBI in the month of September.

* Clay Hensley has a 2.25 ERA and a K per inning over 72 frames.

* Bud Norris has 152 Ks over 147.2 innings.

* Rod Barajas has five homers in 59 at-bats with the Dodgers.

* Randy Wolf has a 2.56 ERA over his last 10 starts.

* Carlos Beltran is hitting .329 with a .991 OPS in the month of September.

* Ryan Madson has made 42 appearances since the All-Star break with a 1.32 ERA and 0.89 WHIP.

* The Pirates have only only player who is hitting above .250 while qualifying for the batting title (502 plate appearances). It’s Andrew McCutchen at .284.

* Jon Jay is hitting a mere .214 over his last 25 games.

* Will Venable is batting an insane .529 over his last nine starts.

*Aubrey Huff is leading the Giants in the Triple Crown categories (.291-26-85).

* Adam Dunn has at least 37 homers and 92 RBI in 7-straight years. There has only been one longer streak in the annals of the game; Rafael Palmeiro had a stretch of 9-straight years from 1995-2003.

To read the entire article click on the link to National League Breakdown.

Anyone out there notice that Mark Ellis is hitting .400 in September? His season has been a disappointment with only four homers and six steals after back-to-back 10/10 efforts the past two years, but his .281 batting would be his best mark since a career best effort of .316 in 2005.

What the heck is wrong with Jonathan Papelbon? It’s always hard to judge relievers on the fly given how small of a sample size we have to deal with, but his work of late has been awful – and that is with a capital “A.” He has made nine appearances in September during which time he has a 10.61 ERA, a 2.14 WHIP and a .372 BAA. At the same time he has a rather amazing total of 18 punchouts in just 9.1 innings. His late push in the K category has upped his season long K/9 mark to 10.11, his fourth straight year above ten, though his BB/9 mark is a career worst of 3.69 (more than a run above his 2.55 career mark). I tend to think he is just missing his spots right now, though this late season run of putrid production clearly won’t lock him into the 9th inning next season, not when Daniel Bard continues to deal. Bard has more than a K per inning this season (73 in 72.1 IP), owns a 1.87 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP, and has been amazingly effective in his two season big league career (2.59 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 10.06 K/9, .199 BAA).

Justin Upton’s season is likely over because of that shoulder injury of his. He is visiting Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion today, but with a week left there is zero reason for him to return to game action even if he gets a positive report. That means he will finish the year with a .273 average, 17 homers, 69 RBI, 73 runs and 17 steals in 132 games. Every one of those numbers is smaller than his effort from 2009 (.300-26-86-84-20 in 138 games). In fact, his OPS dropped exactly .100 points down to .799 as he racked up 15 more punchouts (152). Still, he could be undervalued on draft day next season as he clearly has 30 homer, 20 steal potential.

By Ray Flowers

History Comes in Three's

Ichiro beats you to death with singles, Bautista with his blasts, and the San Francisco Giants pitcher’s are beating down every offense they face.

Ichiro Makes History

Ichiro Suzuki racked up his 200th hit today. There are a whole host of interesting tidbits around that effort, and here are a few.

* He has 200 hits in all 10 of his big league seasons
* He is the first player to ever have 10-straight 200 hits seasons.
* Only Ichiro and Pete Rose have had ten 200 hit seasons.
* Since the 2001 season began he has 2,229 hits. Obviously that’s an average of nearly 230 hits a year(with more than a week left in the season, he’ll clearly push that mark even higher).
* Since 2001, no other big leaguer has more than 1,906 hits – Derek Jeter.

Hats off to you Ichiro.

Jose Bautista Hits #50

Jose Bautista hit his 50th homer today, a fact that I spoke to as a forgone conclusion earlier this week in History is at Hand. Here are some tidbits surrounding the remarkable achievement from the man that hit a total of 43 homers the past three years.

* Bautista is the 26th player ever to hit 50 homers in a season.
* He has hit all 50 of his homer to left or left center.
* He has hit 31 homers at home.
* He has hit 26 homers since the All-Star break. Remember, he had never before hit even 17 in a season.

Let’s put those numbers in perspective.

Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Hank Aaron, Ryan Howard and Barry Bonds never hit 50 homers in a season (Bonds is cheating – how apropos – as he hit 73 one year though he never actually had a season of between 50-72 homers).

Bautista has 31 homers at home. Here is a list of players who haven’t hit 31 homers this season no matter the locale: Ryan Howard (30), Prince Fielder (30), Mark Teixeira (30), Adrian Gonzalez (29), Matt Holliday (27) and Troy Tulowitzki (26) to name a few.

Here is a list of players who haven’t hit 26 homers, Bautista’s total in the second half in a mere 63 games: David Wright (25), Ryan Zimmerman (25), Jayson Werth (25), Alex Rodriguez (25), Matt Kemp (23), Ryan Braun (23) and Andre Ethier (23).

Yeah, I just threw up a little bit in my mouth too.

One last thought. Ichiro had his 200th hit, and Bautista hit his 50th bomb — in the same game. Don’t you love the symmetry of that?

Giants’ Starters are Aces

The Giants are a half game out of first place behind the San Diego Padres, but the blame for rests solely on the offense and not the dominating pitchers that the team has been running out there.

* The Giants have allowed three of fewer runs in 16-straight games, and that ties single season league record, since 1920 when the “live ball” was introduced. The other two teams to go 16 consecutive games were the 1972 Indians and the 1981 Athletics (the 1942-43 Reds did have a stretch of 20-games).

* The club hasn’t allowed more than four runs in 21-straight, and that is tied for the fifth longest in the live ball era, and the longest streak since the ’81 A’s. The record is 25-straight games by the 1942-43 Cubs, with the single season mark being 23 games by the 1972 Cubs.

* Since August 28th the starting rotation has posted a 2.06 ERA and held batters to a .191 batting average against.

* Over their last 10 starts the rotation has a 1.32 ERA.

So how in the world are the Giants 5-5 in their last 10 games? The blame rests squarely on an offense that he been shut out four times in 10 games. The offense has also produced one or zero runs in eight of the last 13 games.

One last note about the Giants.
They are a major league best 74-22 when they score three or more runs.

By Ray Flowers

Losing Touch

Sometimes I want to puke. Here’s is a quote from Miguel Cairo from the USA Today: “I haven’t made a ton of money in this game. But I’ve cashed a lot of playoff checks.” Huh? Miguel he has made the playoffs on in five different seasons, but that about the other part of that quote – I haven’t made a ton of money in this game. This explains, explicitly, just how out of touch some athletes are. According to BaseballReference.com, Cairo has made $7.075 million in his career. First off, the guy should be praying to the gods for their support since it’s amazing that a guy who owns a pathetic .267/.316/.361 career line has been paid that much dough. Secondly, are you kidding me here Mr. Cairo? You’ve made more than seven m-i-l-l-i-o-n dollars in your career. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average median household income in 2009 was $49,777. That means, in just a few short years – 142 to be exact – the average U.S. household will be able to make as much money as Cairo has in his 15 season baseball career. Get a clue Mr. Cairo.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Roy Halladay won his 20th game for the Phillies last night. He became the first Phillies’ hurler to win 20 since Steve Carlton in 1982, as well as becoming the first Phillies’ righty to win 20 since Robin Roberts in 1955. It was the third 20-wins season for Halladay, his career-high is 22 back in 2003. He also won 19 games back in 2002.

The Orioles went 32-73 when Dave Trembley was the manager. Since they switched over to Buck Showalter they have gone 29-17. That means the club has more than doubled its winning percentage since the managerial change was made going from a team with a .305 winning percentage to a .630 club. That’s truly amazing.

After a bit of a slow start CC Sabathia has really kicked things into gear. Not only has he won 20-games for the first time, you can read about that in Three’s Company, he has also gone bonkers over his last 21 starts going 16-3 with a 2.52 ERA for the Yankees.

Wandy Rodriguez was having a down season as well causing him to be found on plenty of waiver-wire’s in shallow leagues around mid year. Over his last 16 starts all he has done is go 8-2 with a 1.93 ERA to reward those that picked him up, or had patience and held on to him all year.

I know this is a baseball site, but I like to think of myself as a bit more well rounded. I’m no Leonardo Da Vinci or Michaelangelo, but I do write about football (NFL Player Rater: Week 2) and hockey (Frozen Pucks: Camp Begins) all the time. However, it’s a note from the world of basketball that simply blew me away.

According to Reid Cherner of USA Today, Dan Gilbert hates, an I mean with a passion, LeBron James (Gilbert owns the Cleveland Cavaliers). James, who in the mind of Gilbert is a turncoat of immense proportions for choosing to leave the Cavaliers to join the Heat, had his Fathead sign lowered in price from $99.99 to $17.41. Why the massive drop in price? Gilbert also owns Fathead, and to show his outright contempt for LeBron he chose to put LeBron’s sign on sale for $17.41 to reflect the year that American traitor Benedict Arnold was born. Think I’m full of it? Here is the link to the LeBron is a traitor article. That’s one serious man who is charge of the Cavs and Fathead.

By Ray Flowers

Three's Company

Three’s are nice. There is the Holy Trinity, the outs in a half inning, or the fact that three is a pleasing number for the eye to see in a painting. Building on that theme, I will break down three of the best hitters in baseball in what follows.

Troy Tulowitzki has been on fire, an if you weren’t aware of that you must be wearing your football jersey around each day paying no attention to the diamond. Tulo is hitting .351 over his lst 43 games, and over his last 48 games he has a 1.108 OPS. Those numbers are massive (duh). He also has 14 homers and 34 RBI, not to mention 24 runs scored in 18 September games. On the year he is up to .325-26-89-83-10, a fantastic top-20 effort that you can read about in this week’s MLB Player Rater piece. If he were to keep that level of production up over 550 at-bats – he had 543 last season but has just 422 this season – his effort would lead to a .325-34-116-108-13 season. Do you know how many shorstops seasons have ever been produced of .320-30-115-105-10? Try two. Once by Nomar Garciaparra (.323-35-122-111-12 in 1998) and once by Alex Rodriguez (.358-36-123-141-15 in 1996). Yes, Tulo has been balling.

Jack Bauer, I mean Joe Mauer (sorry my love of 24 shone through there), is currently on the shelf with a sore left knee. An MRI showed that there was only inflammation going on with his wheel, but he still might miss a few days. On the year he is hitting a superb .331. If he keeps his average up over .325 he will have his fourth season of .325+ (minimum 502 plate appearances), and that would tie Mickey Cochrane‘s all-time record for backstops. Mauer’s .408 career OBP is also second all-time (minimum 3,000 plate appearances), for a catcher behind Cochrane’s .419 mark. As for Mauer’s power, its been MIA just like I said it would about a million times this year (you can read about it in my MLB Predictions – Hitters piece). I said Mauer would never hit 30 homers, and in fact, “…it strains credulity to think that Mauer will once again be able to double his previously established level.” Mauer has nine homers, which if you remove his 28 homer outburst last season, would fit in quite nicely with his other seasons of six, nine, thirteen, seven and nine.

Joey Votto was scratched from the Reds lineup on Tuesday because of a sinus infection (he’s day-to-day like the rest of us). He is third in the NL in average (.323), third in homers (35), second in RBI (106), first in OBP (.423), second in SLG (.597) and first in OPS (1.020) in the NL.Toss in 100 runs and 15 steals, and Votto has been an absolute fantasy revalation. He has also been a beast in terms of his consistency with virutally identical production in each of the seasons two parts.

Pre All-Star break: .314/.422/.589
Post All-Star break: .336/.424/.608

He may or may not win the NL MVP award, but if he doesn’t finishin the top-3 you can conisder the election of the winner a total farce.

By Ray Flowers

History is at Hand

Jose Bautista is nearing a nice round number that will place him in elite historical company, while Yankees’ hurler CC Sabathia has already reached his magic number on the hill.

Jose Bautista has hit 49 homers, the most in baseball in 2010. I’m sure I will revisit this completely nonsensical season he is having at some point when it’s all wrapped up, but here are a few things to gnaw on until then.

First, he leads baseball in homers by a total of 10 (Albert Pujols is second with 39).

Second, Bautista hit 43 homers the past three seasons – combined.

Third, by my count, there have been 41 seasons in baseball history of 50 homers. There are only a few names that really stand out on that list, and they are Greg Vaughn (50 in 1998) and Brady Anderson (50 in 1996). Vaughn was a power hitter of some repute, he did blast 355 homers in his career including two other seasons of at least 40-homers, but his name still doesn’t fit in very well on the list. As for Anderson, he is likely the guy everyone will compare Bautista to in their end of the year write ups of the Blue Jays’ outfielder/third basemen. Anderson’s season was the most improbable homer season in history – until Bautista’s this year. Anderson had a career-high of 21 homers entering his 50 homer campaign (Bautista had never hit more than 16), but Brady never even remotely approached that level of effectiveness again with a secondary career best of 24. Makes you wonder about what Bautista will do for a follow up doesn’t it?

CC Sabathia is one of the stars of the game on the hill. He has won 156 games in his career – against only 87 loses (.642 winning percentage) – including at least 11 victories each season since 2001. By the way, he is the only pitcher in baseball who has won that many each of the past 10 seasons. CC has also struck out as many as 251 batters in a season, has been named to four All-Star teams, and he won the Cy Young Award in 2007 (he also finished in the top-5 two other times – 2009 in the NL with the Brewers and 2009 in the AL with the Yankees). Yet he had never accomplished what he did in his last start, and that is winning 20 games in a season.

With the advent of the 5-man rotation, pitch and innings counts, and teams just being flat out cautious because they have so much money invested in their arms, it’s fairly difficult, even if one pitches very well, to get to 20 wins. Figure this way. If you a guy makes 33 starts he has to win nearly 61 percent of his starts to get to 20 wins. In the case of CC, even with all his innings and that great winning percentage, it took him until his 10th season to pull off the trick. In fact, since the calendar flipped to the 21st century there have been a mere 35 twenty win seasons in baseball or an average of 3.5 a year. In the AL Jon Lester has 18 victories, while over in the NL a trio of hurlers are sitting at 19 – Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Halladay and Adam Wainwright – so one or more may still yet join Sabathia in the 20-win club.

By Ray Flowers

28,489 Words

I’m slightly confused right now. You might be too given the picture of an NHL logo headlining this piece, but here me out.

Over the past three days I’ve been locked in my house. Mother forgive for what I’m about to write.

I’ve taken one shower in three days.

I’ve only left my house five times for a total of about seven minutes. Three times I got the paper in the morning, once I took out the garbage, and the other time I put three envelopes in the mailbox.

I’ve eating, in no particular order: two veggie burgers, sunflower seeds, a breakfast bar, a granola bar, multiple bowls of oatmeal, two ham sandwiches, two bowls of carrot soup, a bag of tortilla chips, a basket of strawberries and two turkey sandwiches. If that isn’t an add for Weight Watchers I don’t know what is.

Why have I done all of this? For the love of the game of course.

Over the past three days I’ve been working until my fingers bleed, typing, typing, and then typing some more, to help complete our 2010 Fanball NHL Fantasy Hockey Guide. I haven’t written about baseball. I haven’t written about football. Heck, I haven’t even done the Fanball Fantasy Drive radio show on Sirius/XM radio (I’ll be back in studio for Sunday’s show covering the gridiron from 5-8 PM, EST). All I have done, literally, is eat, sleep and write about the NHL. How much writing have I done you ask? Here is the word count, nearest I can figure it, for the last three days, and know this – I have not in any way exaggerated this for effect. The number you are about to read is a completely accurate account of my life the last three days.

I have written 28,459 words about hockey which breaks down to 9,486.3 words per day.

To place that total in perspective, the United States Constitution is 4,543 words while the Declaration of Independence is 1,458 words.

I’m no Thomas Jefferson to be sure, but still, you gotta be sort of impressed by that number – 28,459 – don’t you?

By Ray Flowers

Just Keeping Afloat

As you might have gathered, I’ve been really busy the past few days. Why? I’ve been tasked to produce the Fanball Fantasy Hockey Draft Guide in less time than it takes the average fella to grow a beard. As a result, my time has been very limited in terms of writing anything other than information that is hockey related. With that, here are some links to some relevant information you might benefit from viewing.

I haven’t had a lot of time to write about baseball, but I’m still twittering like a madman. You can see my most recent Twitter posts at the right of this article, or you can just sign up at the BaseballGuys’ Twitter page.

For those of you that enjoy the frozen pond, make sure give Owner’s Edge: NHL a read. I’m biased, but it’s a great source that will be greatly enhanced when the Draft Guide debuts.

The Marlins shut down Josh Johnson because of concerns about his back/shoulder. You can read about his 2010 exploits in Daily Dose: Johnson Shut Down.

For those of you with four minutes to kill, you simply must take a look at the following video of the Fanball crew doing a fantasy football draft. Its simply tremendous.

By Ray Flowers