What did you learn last year? My advice for this year...

[HOOTIE]

And Prior's numbers were quite ordinary last season (esp for all the hype).

A DOM rate of 10.2 is ordinary? A 3.67 era is ordinary? Had he not been unlucky with his hr/f rate, his era would have been lower.

[TheYanks04]

And Prior's numbers were quite ordinary last season (esp for all the hype).

A DOM rate of 10.2 is ordinary? A 3.67 era is ordinary? Had he not been unlucky with his hr/f rate, his era would have been lower.

And if I pick the right 6 numbers, I am a millionaire. I don't and he wasn't. A 3.7 ERA for a top round SP...come on. Mixed in with more missed time leading to all of 9 or 10 dollars in value? If you want to pay for that, be my guest. This guy is Kerry Wood II from the looks of it. Lots of hyoe and usually does not back it up.

[AcidRock23]

Prior had an elevated HR rate last year and should return to normal I suspect. Maybe even above normal if *HOPEFULLY* Pierre puts a spark into the team this year. The Cubs took a year to get the Sosa out of their locker room...

[HOOTIE]

I might have been flat-out wrong about the thin-air effect, since the Coors website claims there is a 10% difference in ball flight versus being at sea-level. However, I was almost positive that I saw a show or read something where a team physicists had shown that the effects were negigible.

You're right, of course, that flat breaking balls would occur as well under these conditions. I always assumed it was due to humidity affecting grip, but I certainly could have been mistaken.

I have seen physics studies that show balls at 1 mile elevation, travel 9% farther then balls at sea level.

[djacks]

Prior was on steroids?...

Has it gotten to the point now where every player that has a down year or has some sort of injury MUST HAVE BEEN on steriods...?!?

To answer that question:....YES (or pretty much YES).

Have you seen Prior's thighs? There have been suspicions about him for a couple of years. Whether they are baseless or not is not really the point. ANYONE with the right body type who displays sudden sharp upticks or downticks in performance is suspect. And Prior's numbers were quite ordinary last season (esp for all the hype).

I still believe that if the truth is ever told, we will see that he majority of players over the past 5 years have been juicing to some degree. And some (like Sosa, Boone, Palmeiro, etc) have been juicing for most of their career.

I suppose Beltran was "juicing" in '04 and then got off them and that's why he sucked last year huh...???

Yes, there are a lot of players that probably took steroids or at least a form of HGH or something similar...but not every single player that has a freak injury or endures a sub-par year was on steroids!!! When you say the "majority of players over the past 5 yeas have been juicing"... that's ridiculous...what's your definition of "juicing"? If I'm a professional ballplayer and I want to add some muscle in the off-season to improve my strength and stamina, and in so doing I decide that I will take some creatine and protein supplements and work my ass off in the weight room...does that make me a "juicer"?

[rotterdam_82]

Have you seen Prior's thighs? There have been suspicions about him for a couple of years.

From who? I've not read anywhere, or even heard it suggested that Prior had been on steroids until you wrote it down.

Try this one on the MLB site. This is nothing new and whether you agree with it or not, a lot of people have grown suspicious of the guy. I am not 100% convinced, more like 60/40.

Whats wrong with using short links?

What? Are you being serious??? THATS what you base your suspisions on?

[TB13]

Some of my own tidbits...
1. Unless you can pick up a catcher that is not a catcher (Lopez this year) in the middle rounds (around 10), avoid them. You can get by quite comfortably with a AJ Priez in the late rounds.
2. Do not fall in with the herd and get caught up in an early closer run. Unless you are getting incredible value becuase they fell so high, you can do quite well with bottom tier closers (draft the Valverdes, Gonzos & Orvellas around round 15-20).
3. Do not get caught up with position scarcity. Take the biggest, baddest bats available. If you miss out on Utley or Soriano, do not feel the pressure of taking Giles in the 4th round. Hold out and take a bottom tier guy. Give yourself options. Is it really bad to start the year with Ian Kinsler or Mike Lowell or Iguchi as your 2nd baseaman? You have plenty of time to resolve your issues. You are not going to loose your league becuase you have Loretta and not Giles.
4. Build-a-stud (MR strategy). Personally, I love it. In an HTH league, let the herd gallop after all the closers as you shore up your hitting and starters. Then, if all of the closers are gone, suplement your line up with top MR's. If you combine the stats of Sheilds, Rincon & Crain (or even a Seanez ), you have one incredible pitcher. In a HTH league, punting saves is not the end of the world. Load up on starters with low WHIPs & high Ks & get a few good middle relievers and you are rockin'.

[RugbyD]

9.) Spring training really does mean crap. If you happen to have the ST HR leader – probably should trade him

Wasn't Andruw Jones the ST homerun leader? Seems to me like he had a pretty decent year.

Yes he was... How did you learn that last year, if the ST homerun leader also lead the majors in homeruns?

Jones is the easy one to remember, but Abraham Nunez is the easy one to forget.

[ehk103]

Adding to the leasons learned from last season:

"In a money-based & points league, don't sell a hot SP with an upcoming tough schedule to buy a decent SP with an easy schedule. Murphy's Law will get you."

[WittyC]

Have you seen Prior's thighs? There have been suspicions about him for a couple of years.

From who? I've not read anywhere, or even heard it suggested that Prior had been on steroids until you wrote it down.

Try this one on the MLB site. This is nothing new and whether you agree with it or not, a lot of people have grown suspicious of the guy. I am not 100% convinced, more like 60/40.

Whats wrong with using short links?

What? Are you being serious??? THATS what you base your suspisions on?

You must have been living under a rock when that happened, because the media made a huge deal out of it for about a week there.

The thing that everyone missed is that McDowell wasn't really implying that Prior took steroids. He was just making the point that if you were basing your steroids suspicions on how guys look or their injury history, Prior would be a prime candidate.

That said, I think it's complete BS that the media blew out of proportion during a slow news week.