This week's edition of the Check Swing focuses on draft regrets. If we were to redo the FBLG draft today, there's no chance these players would go in the same round in which they were originally chosen.
1. Ryan's Rangers (1,425 points, 5-3, last week 1): Bill's team had a good week but ran into the E-3 buzzsaw and absorbed another defeat. Carlos Gomez posted a 30-point week, and Julio Teheran added 41 in a pair of starts. Chris Owings followed a 16-point week with a 1-point week. Also, Nolan Arenado broke a finger and is out for a while. Draft regret: Zack Wheeler, 9th round. Wheeler is 1-5 with a 4.31 ERA in 10 starts and is no longer a member of Bill's team.
2. E-3 (1,382 points, 5-3, last week 4): We figured Allen Craig (18 points) and Curtis Granderson (21) would get rolling to boost Adam's team, but we didn't expect Jason Hammel (21) and Josh Beckett (44) to bolster the rotation the way they have. Is this FBLG's most dangerous team? Draft regret: Matt Cain, 3rd round. Cain is 1-3 with a 3.66 ERA in 8 starts, has been injured and is having trouble cracking Adam's rotation.
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Here's something we haven't seen for a while: Bryce Harper
on a baseball field. |
3. Tanana in the Tailpipe (1,349 points, 5-3, last week 6): Matt's team leads a cluster of 4 teams separated by 9 points — and two other teams aren't much farther back. Adam Wainwright (48 points) and Mike Minor (23) did most of the damage in the Tailpipers' win against the Rookies. On the flip side, A.J. Pollock was a dud (5). Draft regret: Bryce Harper, 2nd round. Harper, out with yet another injury, is hitting .289 but has only 1 homer and 1 steal in 22 games.
4. Danger Zaun (1,343 points, 2-6, last week 5): The Rich/Brian team got into the win column for only the second time this year but remains in the thick of the points race. Homer Bailey appears to be turning it around, and Jaime Garcia could be a key replacement in the rotation. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has scored 7 and 5 points in the past 2 weeks. Draft regret: Ian Desmond, 3rd round. Although he's hitting for power, Desmond is hitting .241 and leads the majors with 14 errors.
5. Rocky Mountain High (1,341 points, 5-3, last week 2): A bad week for Jon's team led to a blowout loss to the Arbitration Losers. Carlos Gonzalez is battling an injury and scored 3 points. Dan Haren and Matt Garza combined for 9 points. However, Yasiel Puig is FBLG's fourth-leading scorer among position players. Draft regret: Brandon Phillips, 6th round. Despite hitting in the middle of the order, Phillips has only 3 homers and 16 RBIs.
6. Fresh Fish (1,340 points, 3-5, last week 3): Despite strong outings from Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Mike Leake — who combined for 57 points — Rick's team lost to Danger Zaun. Danny Espinosa and Buster Posey contributed only 9 points, and Tom Koehler's minus-2 implosion really hurt. Draft regret: Marco Scutaro, 13th round. Scutaro has been injured and hasn't played, which led Rick to turn to Dan Uggla early in the season.
7. Arbitration Losers (1,331 points, 5-3, last week 9): Raise your hand if you predicted a 29-point week for Denard Span. Anybody? Every position player scored in double digits for Tim's team, helping overcome a week of no double starts in the rotation. Can this team survive Cliff Lee's DL stint? Draft regret: Jedd Gyorko, 10th round. Gyorko is hitting .169 and was drafted ahead of Anthony Rendon, Neil Walker and Dee Gordon.
8. Pitch You Blockhead (1,327 points, 4-4, last week 7): A monster 32-point week from Jonathan Lucroy lifted Scott's team to victory. Who's have figured that Zack Greinke, Jeff Samardzija, Ryan Vogelsong and Ian Kennedy would make up one of FBLG's top rotations? Also, has anyone heard from Hanley Ramirez lately? Draft regret: Domonic Brown, 7th round. A year after being one of the NL's top power hitters, Brown is hitting .202 with 3 home runs and 6 doubles.
9. Misfits (1,281 points, 4-4, last week 8): Reid's team was in danger of failing to score 100 points this week. Madison Bumgarner scored 31 of his team's 124 points but got little help. Sergio Romo posted a zero, and Matt Kemp, Charlie Blackmon, Daniel Murphy, Everth Cabrera, Aaron Harang and Wilin Rosario scored in the single digits. Draft regret: Francisco Liriano, 8th round. Liriano, who went 16-8 with a 3.02 ERA in 2013, is 0-5 with a 5.06 ERA in 2014.
10. Rookies (1,208 points, 2-6, last week 10): The all-Braves outfield finally stepped up for Henry, scoring 59 points, but it wasn't enough to beat Tanana. D.J. Lemahieu and Devin Mesoraco did little, and bad outings from Jordan Zimmermann and Shelby Miller really hurt. Draft regret: Jason Heyward, 4th round. Heyward, formerly one of baseball's top prospects, is hitting .238 with 3 homers and 11 RBIs.
