Hello World Champs

On March 31 and April 1 the Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves will play a two-game exhibition series at Turner Field. While mainly scrubs will play these games, this will be the first time that the Sox will appear on a major-league field since winning the World Series in Houston. I just happened to get the MLB-issued World Series DVD last week as a birthday present. I almost forgot how close all those games were. A lot of things had to go right, and I’m glad that they did. It will be nice to see the team, even if a bunch of minor-leaguers take the field.

I took a trip into my past when I received John Sickels’ 2006 The Baseball Prospect Book. I used to pore over minor-league stats when I collected baseball cards in the early 90s, hoping to find the next hidden gem and ending up with a lot of Todd Van Poppel and Steve Avery cards gathering dust in my closet. Sickels used to write for espn.com and now is on his own, running a nice site called http://www.minorleagueball.com. I will undoubtedly spend too much time reading over the book, especially perusing the poor lot of White Sox prospects. The team did let go three of their top guys in the trade for Jim Thome, but lately Kenny Williams has been good at trading away the prospects that never develop. One reason that I got the book is I’m thinking of putting together a dynasty fantasy baseball league like my Zealots football leagues. There’s just so much potential in a dynasty baseball league because of the minor leagues. You can’t duplicate that in football unless you draft college players, and that’s not the same.

The first offseason in a dynasty league is always interesting. In z34 there have been a lot of trades. That’s because most dynasty teams are pretty equal after the first year. Starting in year two there is some separation. I noticed that in my other dynasty league, z17, where there were about five really good teams and some stinkers. After picking up Michael Clayton for a 2nd-round rookie pick, I panicked and dumped him for Chris Cooley and a 5th-round rookie pick. Most experts believe Clayton’s rookie numbers rather than his injury-plagued 2005 campaign. I don’t know. I had jack (Jeb Putzier) and squat (Jermaine Wiggins) at TE, so Cooley is a real upgrade. I also don’t have to spend my remaining two second-round picks on tight ends.

I also traded Billy Volek for Chris Simms. The guy who took Volek was a Bucs fan who couldn’t stand to have Simms on his team after the first-round playoff loss. I’ll take a young starting QB over a never-will-be like Volek. The guy’s 30 and breaks something every time he gets a starting opportunity. I picked up Edgerton Hartwell for a late draft pick. He’ll bounce back in a big way in 2006, and my linebackers generally suck.

I recently decided to look back at my inaugural dynasty draft (boy, it sure seems like I’ve had a lot of free time lately). I went RB-heavy, which in theory should give me lots of trade options in year two. Julius Jones (first round) looks like a solid RB2. I could have done worse. I got lucky with Larry Johnson in the third (traded the second-round pick) and traded up to get my only good wideout in Torry Holt. In the fifth I did well with Warrick Dunn but whiffed with Ashley Lelie. I traded up for Ben Roethlisberger in the 6th (note to self, I didn’t have to and knew it at the time), and while I got a lot of crap at the time he’s looking like a fantasy starter. The danger of falling in love with players is ending up with someone like Nate Burleson in all your leagues. I blew it by waiting for a TE (Eric Johnson in the 13th) and not getting a single linebacker to break out, although Jason Babin is intriguing. I did get top DB Charles Tillman in the 43rd round. I dumped 46th round pick Nathan Vasher and didn’t get to pick him back up.

Speaking of running backs, I took four with my first eight picks and my first three rookie picks were RBs. Because of that I have a gaping hole at WR2 and my second-highest scoring linebacker was undrafted (in our league) rookie Kirk Morrison. Even though I have Jake Plummer and Roethlisberger at QB, I wouldn’t mind taking Matt Leinart or Vince Young with my fourth overall rookie pick. Did I mention that I went 5-8 last year? I at least put in enough time to be one of those teams that pulls away from the pack a bit next year.

No love for Brad Smith

If it weren’t for a spotlight hog like Vince Young, Brad Smith would have had the best quarterback performance in a bowl this year. OK, technically he had the best bowl game for a QB in 2005 since the Rose Bowl was last night. In short, Vince Young can declare for the NFL draft and start counting his dollars. Brad Smith won’t even be invited to the Senior Bowl. He’ll probably get invited to the Hula Bowl and other so-called All-Star games for guys from schools that Kansas State schedules for their out of conference games. In short, his pro career probably won’t be too long.

It’s too bad that the best player in Missouri history ended up with a career record of 25-23. The thing with Vince Young is that while his throwing motion is like the limp-wristed motion of Lamar from Revenge of the Nerds, he can throw it a mile. Also he’s 6 foot 5 and built like a linebacker. Brad Smith is 6’2, 210 pounds, and is probably a half-step slower. In the Great Blue North Report’s current QB rankings, Smith is 16th. Fourteen quarterbacks were selected in the 2005 draft. There might be some interest from the CFL. Smith probably has an upside like Seneca Wallace, who was a third-stringer for two years before moving up to the Seahawks’ backup role this year.

I will pretend that the Titans’ season finale never happened. And who’s going to tell me that it did? That was the most boring, listless Week 17 in NFL history. I can see why most fantasy leagues wrap up a week early. Guys like Aveion Cason and Bruce Perry saw significant snaps. These two aren’t even on rosters in my dynasty leagues, and you can keep 53 guys in those.

What do the Titans need to do? The number three overall pick in the draft should be interesting. Between the sideshow known as Pacman and mister number three, the Titans will dish out about $30 million in up-front bonuses. Overpaid linemen like Brad Hopkins and Benji Olsen are likely to get the boot. Youngsters like Michael Roos and Jacob Bell will have to fit in.

Where do the Titans not need help? They’re solid at TE, K, P, and the return game as long as Pacman continues playing that role. Either McNair or Volek is probably gone. If the Titans sign Travis Henry to his promised extension they should be fine at RB with Jarrett Payton and Damien Nash to fill out the roster. I’d give the rookie wideouts a season to jell before running out and picking up anything other than a veteran minimum free agent. Is Justin Hartwig the long-term answer at center? Is anyone going to offer Albert Haynesworth, aka Fat Albert, a big free-agent deal? What will the market be for free-agent Kyle Vanden Bosch? The offense only needs some fine-tuning, while the defense is in need of a near-complete overhaul.