Card of the Week - 5/28/14

When I first pulled a Curt Schilling card out of a 2000 MLB Showdown pack, I was like 'Whoa...wha....huh?!?'  I could't believe that they actually made a pitcher with 8 innings pitched (I obviously got Schilling before Randy Johnson).  I fell in love with the Schilling card and tried to use it whenever I could.  In the 2013 set, we have a card very similar to that 2000 Curt Schilling.  This player was co-player of the week this past week, making this week's Card of the Week....

MLB Showdown 2013: Starters 510-550 Points

Jordan Zimmerman	6	550	7	0	20	16-19	0	12-15	7-11	3-6	1-2
Mike Leake	6	550	6	0	20	17-19	16	12-15	6-11	3-5	1-2
Matt Moore	6	520	5	0	20	19	16-18	11-15	8-10	3-7	1-2

Mat Latos

5

540

7

0

0

17-20

16

12-15

7-11

3-6

1-2

Felix Hernandez	4	540	7	0	0	18-20	17	14-16	9-13	3-8	1-2
Zach Greinke	4	530	6	0	20	19	18	13-16	7-12	3-6	1-2

Madison Baumgardner	3	540	7	0	20	0	19	15-18	8-14	3-7	1-2
Anibal Sanchez	3	530	6	0	0	20	19	15-18	10-14	3-9	1-2

#ShotsFriday: Psychographics- Pingers

                Another week full of exciting stuff in baseball. Not sure how we are going to make a strategy card that involves biting players during a bench clearing brawl but trust me we are hard at work. I expect a lot fewer Abreu picks this week. Which is good because I forgot @Chris_Barnes7's pick of him last week and @Orioles881 a few weeks back. Also @Roktikitiki sent his pick to the wrong person but we counted that as his third. I believe Abrue is up to like 12 shots on the year (which is insane). Also every once in a while a shot prediction really impresses me. Last week @BenBoozer623 took Scott Van Syke and it actually worked. That was @BenBoozer623's second and obviously Van Syke's first shot of the year. Oh @TomWyliehart got a correct prediction as well with Yasiel Puig. I hope you were sitting down for that one. That is @TomWyliehart's 6th on the year and Puig's first believe it or not. Remember to tweet in your predictions for who will go deep using our hashtag #ShotsFriday or @MLBShowdownguru. Then spend the rest of your afternoon enjoying your favorite work appropriate beverage and thinking about baseball. 

Card of the Week - 5/21/14

The last two weeks, I have highlighted some of the players of the month for April.  And we saw some good players in arguably the #1 Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and one of the best young pitchers in the game, Jose Fernandez.

This week, I decided to highlight the AL Player of the Week for May 5th-May 11th.  This player was 9 for 28 in that week, with four homers, two doubles, and a triple.  He also drove in 10 runs while hitting his 200th career home run.  That player is...

MLB Showdown 2013: Starters 560-600 Points

CJ Wilson	2013	6	600	7	0	20	18-19	16-17	11-15	7-10	3-6	1-2
Matt Harvey	2013	6	600	6	0	20	17-19	0	12-16	9-11	3-8	1-2
Adam Wainwright	2013	6	600	8	0	20	16-19	0	13-15	8-12	3-7	1-2

Bartolo Colon

2013

5

580

6

0

0

17-20

0

10-16

5-9

3-4

1-2

MLB Showdown 2013: Starters 560-600 points 

               There are a lot of exciting young pitchers entering the league. None are generating more hype than Matt Harvey. He is in New York and has 36 career starts and an ERA under 2.50. Adam Wainwright and CJ Wilson have proved to be able to post serviceable ERAs while winning games for solid offensive clubs. Francisco Liriano helped the Pirates continue their magical year and make the play offs. Bartolo Colon has learned to be successful with only 1 pitch.

 #ShotsFriday: Psychographics - Power Players

               Another exciting week for those trying to pick the long balls. @TweeterLegrand got on theo board with his first shot of the year picking Jose Abreu. That is Abreu’s 6^th for the year. @Avery25 is continuing his hot streak. He scored his third shot by picking Joey Votto, Votto’s first.  All last week the sun rose in the east, the government collected taxes and @TomWyliehart predicted home runs. He recorded a double shot with Troy Tulowitzki’s first and Jose Abreu’s seventh. This gives @TomWyliehart that league lead with 5 on the year. Send in your tweets using our hashtag #Shotsfriday or @MLBShowdownguru for the player you think will homer this Friday. Remember the 1^st place finisher at the end of the year gets a free 2014 color set. 2^nd place gets a free 2014 black and white set and 3^rd place gets 5 David Cone and 5 Greg Maddux 2000 cards.

Situational Hitting

We unveiled the top tier of starters this week. How do you feel about this point value?

How many +600 points starters do you like to have.
	2: Give me the two headed monster and know that for half my games I have the best starter
	1: An ace and then a natural regression works fine
	0: Too many points for a player who players 25% of total innings or less.
pollcode.com free polls

Last Week's Results

                This was one of our more interesting poll results. It was also one of the most decisive and the decision was in the direction of change. In a vote of 7 to 1 people said they would prefer we have some CF scores that are actually lower than their LF/RF fielding score. This is really interesting information for two reasons. The first is I don’t agree with the vote. The second is that it is a vote for change. That being said with such decisiveness of vote I will make an effort to have at least 1 player in MLB Showdown 2014 that does have a lower CF score than LF/RF. I cannot promise any more than that but it will happen. 

Card of the Week: 5/14/14

Injuries are a part of any major sport.   Unless your name is Cal Ripken or Lou Gehrig, you are probably going to find yourself missing a game or two, or on the 15- or 60-day DL.  But it seems like all-too frequently, pitchers at the MLB level are finding themselves requiring Tommy John surgery.

Sometimes, players can come back from the surgery and as good as they were beforehand (see Adam Wainwright).  Other times, promising pitchers get sidetracked and are never the same (see....well, that list is too long).  This week's card of the week has yet to be featured on our 2013 charts, but because this player's injury looks to be heading towards TJS, just a short time after being named NL Pitcher of the Month for April.  That, of course, makes this week's Card of the Week...

MLB Showdown 2013: Starters +600 Points

Max Scherzer	2013	6	610	7	0	20	18-19	16-17	12-15	10-11	3-9	1-2
Hisashi Iwakuma	2013	6	610	7	0	19-20	18	17	12-15	7-11	3-6	1-2

Clayton Kershaw

2013

5

670

8

0

0

19-20

17-18

12-16

9-11

3-8

1-2

MLB Showdown 2013: Starters +600 points 

              No matter how much east coast bias you can muster there is something you have to admit: that Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball right now. Many of us wanted Justin Verlander to be the best pitcher of this era. Others thought Roy Halladay would get 2 more great years out of that arm. Others want Matt Harvey to be the next… well the next Clayton Kershaw. 3 straight ERA titles and 5 straight years with an ERA under 3 with 30 or more starts in all 5 of those years. Max Scherzer had another great year but the honor goes to Kershaw.

#ShotsFriday: Psychographics

                Guys I am going to say something I have never said before in my 3 years of running this blog (and I fear I may never be able to say again). I am leading the current #ShotsFriday leaderboard. I admit I took a page out of @BucNfortheCards playbook and picked a pair of Pirates. Going into the ninth inning neither had homered. Then in the span of a few minutes both Pedro Alvarez and Starling Marte homered.  Marte recorded his first (and my guess only) shot of the year. That gave me 3 shots on the year to take the lead. Alvarez has 3 shots on the year to tie for the player board lead. That was until @BucNfortheCard, @Averey25  and @TomWyliehart all picked Jose Abrue to go deep and he did. That means I have company at the top because it is the third shot for both of them and the fifth shot for Abrue. @Avery25 has 2 on the year. As you can tell the board shakes up pretty quick and anyone can earn our free 2014 color set with a little luck. Remember to tweet in your picks for who homers this Friday using the twitter hashtag #ShotsFriday or @MLBShowdownguru. Then spent the rest of your day thinking about baseball enjoying your favorite work appropriate beverage.

Situational Hitting

        We had an interesting comment from Kumar Azariah in our Centerfield charts. It was about about the Jeff Barry 2000 card with CF+0, LF/RF+1. This is obviously different than ever other centerfielder. They are all ether the same at center as the corners or have 1 higher. I believe Barry was a misprint but I can not find a definitive source on that at the moment. It did bring up an interesting point about the demands of centerfield. Centerfield is more difficult in regards that the area a player has to cover is larger.

         The logic is solid in that a bad outfielder would not want to cover more real estate. The opposite also holds some weight. That bad outfielder do not become worse in centerfield, they just do not provide an advantage that better fielders would provide. I wonder what y'all think of the matter. Should centerfielders have the option of having lower CF scores than LF/RF?

Should lower CF fielding than LF/RF be possible?
	Yes, some players play there but are better in the corner.
	No, players that arn't "better" in center should get the same. They cover the same ground and arm
pollcode.com free polls

Last Week's Results

                Take note all drafters: in our poll this week over two thirds of voters (12 out of 17) voted for Mike Trout. Trout has speed, some power, fields and plays a thin position. He doesn’t even cost the most. Cabrera cost the most. He is a 2001 Giambi like card which makes him not as exciting. He does play third which is a plus but he costs 620 points. Davis was a few homers shy of being in the elite power level. That would have likely tipped the scales for him. His 9, 16-20 homer puts him in more crowded company. 

Card of the Week - 5/7/14

Sometimes my real job gets in the way of my pretend job.  A couple of very busy days and it is suddenly 12:30 on Thursday morning.  Oh well...

Like many of you out there, I am looking forward to seeing what the 2014 Jose Abreu card is going to look like.  Congrats to him for Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month awards for April.  This week's Card of the Week is another player who was honored this month...

MLB Showdown 2013: Centerfield 10-290 Points

                Centerfield has been a speedy position for years now. With players like Ellsbury, Victorino, Gardner, Gentry, Bourjous and Span running around it is always exciting to find out who will get on base enough to be productive. Also it is exciting to see who will hit enough homers to separate themselves from the pack. Most of these guys at the lower point level came up a point shy of elite.

MLB Showdown 2013: Centerfield 10-290

Jacoby Ellsbury

2013

9

290

A(23)

2-1

0

18-20

16-17

12-14

9-11

6-8

0

2-4

1

Shane Victorino	2013	8	290	A(20)	2	19-20	0	17-18	16	7-15	3-6	2	1	0
Jason Heyward	2013	8	270	B(16)	1	19-20	0	17-18	0	9-16	3-8	0	2	1
Brett Gardner	2013	8	240	A(22)	2-1	20	18-19	15-17	14	9-13	5-8	0	3-4	1-2
Craig Gentry	2013	8	240	A(21)	3-2	0	19-20	17-18	14-16	9-13	3-8	0	1-2	0
Angel Pagan	2013	8	240	A(20)	2-1	20	19	16-18	15	9-14	5-8	3-4	1-2	0
Chris Denofia	2013	8	230	A(18)	1	20	0	17-19	0	10-16	6-9	5	2-4	1
Jordan Schaffer	2013	8	210	A(20)	1	0	20	18-19	16-17	12-15	7-11	6	4-5	1-3
Jon Jay	2013	8	200	A(18)	2-1	0	0	19-20	0	8-18	3-7	2	1	0
Gregor Blanco	2013	8	200	A(21)	3-2	0	20	19	18	11-17	5-10	0	3-4	1-2
Ben Revere	2013	8	190	A(21)	3-2	0	20	19	17-18	7-16	6	0	1-5	0
Andres Torres	2013	8	190	A(20)	1	0	0	17-20	16	9-15	5-8	4	3	1-2
Junior Lake	2013	8	180	B(16)	1	20	0	17-19	0	11-16	7-10	5-6	4	1-3
Robbie Grossman	2013	8	90	B(14)	1	0	0	18-20	0	11-17	7-10	6	5	1-4
Justin Maxwell	2013	7	170	A(19)	1	19-20	18	15-17	14	7-13	3-6	0	0	1-2
Aledjandro De Aza	2013	7	170	A(21)	1	19-20	18	15-17	14	9-13	6-8	0	5	1-4
Matt Kemp	2013	7	170	A(21)	2-1	19-20	0	16-18	15	8-14	4-7	0	0	1-3
Avisail Garcia	2013	7	160	B(17)	1	19-20	18	17	0	6-16	4-5	0	2-3	1
Peter Bourjos	2013	7	160	A(22)	2-1	20	19	0	18	6-17	3-5	0	0	1-2
Denard Span	2013	7	160	A(21)	2-1	0	18-20	15-17	14	7-13	5-6	4	1-3	0
AJ Pollock	2013	7	150	A(20)	2-1	0	19-20	16-18	15	9-14	6-8	5	2-4	1
Michael Saunder	2013	7	140	B(17)	1	20	19	17-18	16	12-15	6-11	5	3-4	1-2
Ryan Sweeney	2013	7	140	B(15)	1	20	19	17-18	0	10-16	6-9	4-5	2-3	1
Derrick Robinson	2013	7	80	B(17)	2-1	0	19-20	18	0	11-17	7-10	5-6	2-4	1
Shane Robinson	2013	7	50	B(17)	1-0	0	0	20	19	11-18	4-10	2-3	1	0
Adam Jones	2013	6	250	A(20)	3-2	16-20	0	11-14	10	5-9	4	0	0	1-3
Wil Venable	2013	6	240	A(20)	1	17-20	15-16	12-13	11	7-10	5-6	0	3-4	1-2
Leonys Martin	2013	6	90	A(22)	2	20	18-19	16-17	14-15	9-13	6-8	5	2-4	1
Adam Eaton	2013	6	90	A(18)	1	20	19	17-18	0	9-16	5-8	0	1-4	0
Drew Stubbs	2013	6	80	A(21)	1	20	0	18-19	0	10-17	6-9	0	5	1-4
Jordan Danks	2013	6	70	A(19)	1	20	0	19	18	12-17	7-11	6	4-5	1-3
Michael Bourn	2013	6	40	A(22)	2-1	0	19-20	17-18	15-16	7-14	4-6	0	0	1-3
Marcell Ozuno	2013	6	40	A(18)	1	0	19-20	16-18	0	8-15	7	0	3-6	1-2
Eric Young jr	2013	6	40	A(22)	1	0	19-20	16-18	13-15	7-12	3-6	0	1-2	0
Lorenzo Cain	2013	6	30	A(19)	1	0	20	17-19	16	8-15	5-7	4	2-3	1
Reed Johnson	2013	6	10	B(14)	1	0	0	19-20	0	10-18	5-9	0	2-4	1
Yoenis Cespedes	2013	5	120	A(20)	1	16-20	15	13-14	12	7-11	5-6	4	0	1-3
Justin Ruggiano	2013	5	70	B(17)	1	17-20	0	14-16	13	6-12	3-5	0	2	1
Aaron Hicks	2013	5	60	A(20)	2-1	20	19	18	17	10-16	7-9	4-6	3	1-2
Chris Young	2013	5	50	B(13)	1	19-20	0	17-18	0	10-16	7-9	4-6	0	1-3
John Mayberry	2013	5	50	B(15)	1	19-20	0	15-18	0	9-14	6-8	4-5	0	1-3
Roger Bernadina	2013	5	50	A(20)	1	20	19	17-18	0	12-16	7-11	0	6	1-5
BJ Upton	2013	5	40	A(19)	2-1	20	0	19	17-18	14-16	8-13	0	0	1-7
Justin Lagares	2013	5	40	A(18)	1	0	19-20	15-18	0	9-14	7-8	6	4-5	1-3
Ichiro Suzuki	2013	5	30	A(21)	2	0	20	19	17-18	6-16	4-5	0	1-3	0
Brandon Barnes	2013	5	30	B(15)	1	20	0	18-19	17	9-16	6-8	0	4-5	1-3
Julio Borbon	2013	5	30	A(20)	2-1	0	20	19	17-18	12-16	7-11	5-6	2-4	1
Logan Shafer	2013	5	30	A(20)	1	0	20	16-19	15	10-14	7-9	6	3-5	1-2
Clete Thomas	2013	5	10	B(16)	1	0	0	18-20	0	10-17	5-9	0	4	1-3
Endy Chaves	2013	5	10	B(16)	1	0	0	19-20	0	7-18	5-6	4	1-3	0

#ShotsFriday: Strategy Cards

We had one of the most interesting #ShotsFriday in a while. @BenBoozer623 took the newest member of the 500 home run club Albert Pujols. It is both players first shot of the year. Myself, @Roktikitiki and @TomWyliehart all picked Josh Donaldson. The universe was being pulled at its fabric. I who never pick the correct player and @Tomwyliehart who only picks correct players, something had to give. @TomWyliehart’s powers proved more powerful. That puts himself and @Roktikitik in a tie for first with two and I found my first. The day belonged to @Orioles881 and Jose Abreu who went deep twice. The double shot puts both at 2 homers on the year.  Remember to send your picks in using the hashtag #Shotsfriday or tweet at me @MLBShowdownguru.

Situational Hitting

We have now revealed the 3 most anticipated players for 2013. Chris Davis had his freakish 53 home run season and is the most powerful player in the crop. Miguel Cabrera is a power hitting 11 for relatively cheap at a relatively thin position. Mike Trout can do just about anything you would expect a Showdown card to be able to do. I am making you the GM with the number overall pick in your league's draft. Make the selection.

With Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Chris Davis being spoiled who is the #1 pick?
	Mike Trout
	Miguel Cabrera
	Chris Davis
	Other
pollcode.com free polls

Last Week's Results

                The people have spoken, they want to play with their catchers. It is a bit odd for me because as I see teams submitted to me catcher is most often the position punted on. It is also a position that is usually well represented on the bench for cheap pinch hitters and the option to pinch run. So most teams could function just fine rotating the backup in for a game. We will see if we pursue a strategy card pursuit for “punishing” catchers for not taking days off. There are a lot of logistical issues that would need to be hammered out before that happens. Six of the 10 votes cast said leave catchers were they are.