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Before the season, I rubbed the magic lamp and a Genie appeared granting me three fantasy wishes.

I'm still waiting on the knock on the front door with a 27 year old Ann-Margret greeting me for my first wish. (27 is the magic age for fantasy)



The other two wishes have been granted. Although the Genie could not give me outright answers, he did say on wish #2 that Chone Figgins would have 20 points of average per every steal without injury up to the all-star break.

I'm thinking 15/.300 and thanking the Genie for granting such a gift.

Figgins is at 9/.183....

Freakin' smartass Genie!



For wish #3, I needed power to go with speed. The Genie offered the same deal.

For every home run Adam Dunn hits, I would be given 20 points of average.

Again, I thought of a 15/.300

Dunn has a 8/.163



I've learned from the experience.

First, find a Genie you can trust, not a smartass.

Check out the Genie with your local Better Business Bureau.

Second, I don't know who to feel worse for;

Dunn and Figgins fantasy owners or the Mariners and White Sox who looks like they have albatrosses on their payroll for the next two or three years.



For some reason, I have an easier time forgiving Dunn over Figgins. Home run hitters go in long droughts and can explode. Although Dunn's average is laid to rest, he could very well have good power numbers in the second half and help the White Sox in the future.



Figgins looks like he is 'Miltoning' it and waiting for the end of the season to deposit his money. He looks lost at the plate and in the field. The Mariners have tired of trying to hide him and have benched him at times.

Without getting on base to use their speed, guys like Figgins and Juan Pierre are useless both to their teams and to their fantasy owners.



I'll get over Dunn and Figgins and that smartass Genie. Heck, I've already dumped Figgins. And I threw away that stupid lamp. I hope one of you doesn't pick it up, unless you're in my league.



It looks like my wishes may have turned into three 'busts'.

Worse for me, after the Figgins and Dunn trick, I am fearing every knock on the door.....

Funny you should mention that. Don't they say you can get anyone you want in an auction? Well in the incredibly tough field in the 5k ultimate auction I took both of those guys. Needless to say, I am not sure I can compete in that company anyway and certainly not when those guys helped dig me such a big hole.



Figgins was by far my most important player this season, having him on over 60 percent of my dollars worth of fantasy teams. He is a primary reason for my failures. It is nice not looking at his name on my rosters any longer.

Worse for me, after the Figgins and Dunn trick, I am fearing every knock on the door.....



Watch out. I had a Sr. Anne - Margret in elementary school.

Figgins has certainly been bad, but my vote for bust of the year goes to Fausto Carmona.

Seriously Carmona ? Look no further than non injured 3rd pick A.Rios...

Originally posted by TOXIC ASSETS:

Figgins has certainly been bad, but my vote for bust of the year goes to Fausto Carmona. Not even close. He has had one good year and that was it. He was a prime 5.00 ERA guy for this year.



Rios and Dunn are the two horrors for the White Sox and fantasy players this year. Both these guys were regularly 3rd round picks.



[ July 09, 2011, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: The Mighty Men ]

I don't look at injured players as busts. It could have been McCann that got run over as well as Posey. If injuries were included, than Posey, Wright, Choo,and Zimmerman could be included as busts, but it just doesn't do 'bust' justice.



The group of Utley, Morneau, Sizemore, and in early drafts Morales have not delivered above expectations for there drafters. When these guys hit the lineups, their owners rejoice, but forget that these guys are still coming back from something major and will probably not play up to their past.



Beltran is the surprise of the year on the injury front. During spring training, I would have given 5-1 odds that he would play in as many games as he has played in, let alone play well.



Some other busts that owners cannot feel good about are Casey McGehee, Derek Jeter, and Pedro Alvarez.

To me, guys like Alvarez are the worst. They put up horrific stats, then get hurt or sent down. This leaves owners with rotten stats and then holding a roster space for a guy that very well could come back and do the same thing to them. It's infuriating.



On the other side, players that have probably moved into the first round of some of next years drafts include Kemp, Granderson, Bautista, and Reyes. Moving out will be ARod, Crawford, Wright, and maybe even Hanley or Longoria.



It'll be interesting to see where other players go.

Kendry Morales will have missed a full year and a half. Jason Heyward has proved himself as a guy that doesn't really want to play through owwies. Pedro Alvarez is an enigma. Does Lance Berkman do it again? Are Dunn, Uggla, and Carlos Pena the same player?

Looking forward to the PreMature E-Draftulation leagues to find out some answers.



[ July 09, 2011, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

I've learned from the experience.

First, find a Genie you can trust, not a smartass.Met the same Genie. I wished for "one" that could reach the floor. Now my legs are only three inches long!



Smartass genie....

Ahh yes the Premature Draftulation league will answer many of these questions!!



Excluding injured players, my vote goes to Rios just barely over Dunn. I drafted him in round 3 in the main and any night that is not an 0'fer 4 night is like bonus stats for my team! I simply expect the empty stats from Rios every night yet I keep running him out there fearing he'll have that monster week as soon as I bench him. The worst part of it is that I was really expecting Ellsbury that round. He was drafted 2 picks before my turn in the 3rd and my plan b and c had also just been drafted... I happily took Rios as plan d but little did I know...

Rios and Dunn are two more excellent candidates, but let me explain myself about Carmona. I don't have either Rios or Dunn on either of my teams. But I had high hopes for Carmona this season and used mid level picks to get him on both. Look at his 2010 season, you had a young pitcher who improved all of his numbers from the previous 2 seasons, WHIP, ERA, BA against. With him turning 27 for this season there was no reason not to expect further improvement, maybe a 15-10, 3.50 ERA type of season. Instead all of the numbers are way worse than last year and now he's hurt. He's been one of the worst starting ptichers in baseball, and for a good team.

Originally posted by TOXIC ASSETS:

Rios and Dunn are two more excellent candidates, but let me explain myself about Carmona. I don't have either Rios or Dunn on either of my teams. But I had high hopes for Carmona this season and used mid level picks to get him on both. Look at his 2010 season, you had a young pitcher who improved all of his numbers from the previous 2 seasons, WHIP, ERA, BA against. With him turning 27 for this season there was no reason not to expect further improvement, maybe a 15-10, 3.50 ERA type of season. Instead all of the numbers are way worse than last year and now he's hurt. He's been one of the worst starting ptichers in baseball, and for a good team. There's never any reason to expect a 3.50 ERA from a pitcher who doesn't strike guys out and doesn't have elite command. His success is dependent upon groundballs finding gloves. Too much variability out of the control of the pitcher. Sure, he could get there, but realistically his upside was to hurt you in K's and WHIP and be average in everything else. He's Joel Piniero without the command.

Actually, Carmona has had a bit of a curious season. He is basically the exact same pitcher as last season with one major difference -- home runs allowed.



His K/9 and BB/9 are actually BETTER than last year, though only a little.



But he has given up nearly TWICE as many homers. Some of this is bad pitching, some of this is bad luck as his HR/FB is higher than even bad pitching suggests.



As others have stated, his low K/9 and reliance on BABIP limits his upside, but he has not pitched QUITE as badly as his surface stats suggest.



Unfortunately, we score surface stats.



[ July 10, 2011, 10:29 AM: Message edited by: ToddZ ]