AL Playoff Predictions in June

Earlier this week we looked at the Baseball Playoffs Now National League playoff predications. Today we will take a look at Dan Jarratt's AL predictions.

According to his most recent post, Dan has the Boston Red Sox winning the AL East, the Chicago White Sox winning the Central, the Oakland A's winning the AL West, and the Tampa Bay Rays as the AL wild card team. The playoffs outcome has Boston and the White Sox each winning their respective ALDS in five games with the White Sox over the Red Sox in the ALCS. From a personal view I would love to see an all Chicago World Series. With all of the media bias toward the Red Sox and New York teams having them both at home during the World Series while two teams from the mid-west battle it out would be outstanding!

I do have one issue with Dan's predictions. The Oakland A's are NOT going to win the AL west! I am not saying this because I am an Angels fan. Currently the A's are five games behind the Angels and are having injury problems. The Angels injury problems are improving and it won't be long before the Halos are at full strength. When the Angels are at full strength they are far superior to any team in the AL west.

I would encourage everyone to check out Dan's most recent prediction entry. Not only can you read the most recent breakdown but he also explains how he determines the predictions. The blog is located at http://baseballplayoffsnow.blogspot.com/

We will check back with Dan's predictions at the All Star break to see how his formula has things shaping up.

2B for the Rockies

Today’s topic is Colorado Rockies, my favorite National League team. Some will roll their eyes and accuse me of jumping on the band wagon because of the Rockies’ amazing run to the World Series in 2007. Believe me, I am not a band wagon Rockies fan. Because of MLB’s convoluted territorial restrictions, the Colorado Rockies have been on television here in Utah for years. In the days before the MLB Extra Innings package, the Rockies were the only team I could follow day to day during the season. The primary broadcast team of Drew Goodman and George Frazier an excellent broadcasting team and the Rockies are fun to watch. Even though I can now watch most MLB games on DirecTV, I still watch the Rockies as much as I do the Angels and Royals.

Heading into spring training, there is only one open position in the Rockies lineup. Colorado must find a second baseman to replace Kaz Matsui who signed with the Astros this off season. During the off season there was discussion of moving third base prospect Ian Stewart to second but it now appears Jayson Nix, Brian Giles, Clint Barmes and Jeff Baker will battle for the position.

Rookie Jayson Nix is the front runner for the job and is the best choice for the job. I have seen Nix play several times when Colorado Springs visited Salt Lake City and he is a solid defender. He does a good job of turning the double play and has excellent range. His 2007 range factor of 5.96 for Colorado Springs was impressive considering that no other PCL second baseman had a range factor greater than 5.00. Nix’s fielding statistics confirm what I have observed; Jayson Nix is a solid defensive second baseman. Nix is an inconsistent hitter without much upside, but his glove will more than make up for his lack of offensive production.

It is reported in this morning Rocky Mountain News that Jeff Baker has emerged as Nix’s top competitor. It would be a huge mistake for the Rockies to play Baker at second base. Baker projects to be a better hitter than Nix, but in his entire professional career he has not played a single inning at second base. Second base is not a position where the Rockies should sacrifice defense for hitting. A lineup that features Garrett Atkins, Matt Holiday, Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki, Braw Hawp, and Willy Taveras is going to score a lot of runs. Because of the strength of their lineup, the Rockies can afford to carry a below average hitter at second base in exchange for quality defense. This makes Jayson Nix the best choice to man second base for the Rockies in 2008.

Rotisserie Baseball Software

Spring training is under way and for many baseball fans it is the time to begin preparing for the rotisserie/fantasy season. Playing rotisserie baseball has turned into a year around hobby for me and it has enhanced my enjoyment of following the baseball season. Each March, I make the trek to Las Vegas to play in the LV Experts AL and NL leagues. I also play in the Armchair Commissioners League which is a very competitive NL only league. These leagues are for moderate stakes league and they are made up of experienced, top of the line roto players. Since 2005 I have been fortunate to finish in a money position once in the NL and twice in the AL Las Vegas league. I credit part of the success I have enjoyed to Diamond Draft software.

I will begin by stating I have no financial or personal interest in Diamond Draft software. I do not know any of the individuals responsible for this product and I have already paid full price for the 2008 version of the software. I am writing this entry because I am impressed with the product and have found valuable. Before discovering Diamond Draft, I would take a brief case full of spreadsheets and magazines to the auctions. Many times I felt I missed out on a player I could have bought for a bargain price because I was busy checking my notes or trying to find the player’s entry in a magazine. Diamond Draft has eliminated these problems because every piece of information a roto owner needs to have a successful draft is only a mouse click away.

The best introduction to Diamond Draft would be to visit the website at www.diamonddraft.com. It is free to download the software demo and the cost to purchase the full version is only $13.95. Compared to the cost of some of the other software currently on the market, Diamond Draft is reasonably priced.

Some of the advantages of Diamond Draft:

• Ease of setup. The individual screens are easy to understand and the icons make it easy to navigate from screen to screen.
• Diamond Draft can be customized to fit any league. Player pool, scoring categories, and the number of teams in the league are just a few of the areas that can be modified to fit the parameters of an individual league.
• Frequent updates of player projections and depth charts. I find this to be extremely valuable in preparing for the auctions. The magazines for sale on the newsstands are usually $7.00 and contain a great deal of out of date information. Click the mouse and Diamond Draft updates depth charts, projections, and dollar values.
• Because Diamond Draft is user friendly, it is easy to use during an intense auction. The software allows the owner to keep track of the available players and the amount of money each owner has left to spend. A key feature is the automatic adjustment of player’s values before and during the auction to account for inflation. This is a valuable feature for owners in a keeper league.
• A data base that includes hundreds of minor league players plus printable reports that can be customized to fit an owner’s particular needs.

Since I began using the software, Diamond Draft has helped me be more efficient and productive at my roto auctions and I recommend it to all. Good luck to all roto players this year.