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2010 HGH Boys Team Capsule |
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| 9th PLACE - 78.0 PTS
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 Coming off a 7th place finish in 2009 (his best since taking over the reins from Ron Jackson and Joe Bosco) HGH Boys owner Alex Fein was aiming for his first ever money finish in 2010. With a host of top pitching keepers including Josh Johnson ($11), Clayton Kershaw ($13) and Cole Hamels ($16), as well as good offensive values in Shane Victorino ($21), Alexei Ramirez ($11) and a free Gordon Beckham, the HGH Boys had a solid base to begin with. All that was needed was a good draft. Unfortunately for Fein, draft day was an exercise in futility. After quickly rostering Matt Holiday and Ian Kinsler, both at $43, Fein made a fatal mistake – he stopped bidding on Joey Votto, allowing Hotel California to snap him up. The HGH Boys spent the rest of the day chasing offensive stats to no avail, adding the super disappointing Jason Bay, overpaying for Jorge Cantu ($16) and filling up the rest of his roster with one bad choice after another (Jake Fox, Michael Brantley, Nick Johnson and Jeff Francoeur come to mind), before ultimately leaving an unconscionable $17 of draft day dollars unspent. To make matters worse, Kinsler spent a good portion of the season on the DL and even when healthy, he underperformed. As a result, Fein spent the rest of the season looking for lightning in a bottle and an answer to his lack of offense. But whether through trade (Derrek Lee and Manny Ramirez) or through free agency (Trevor Crowe, David Murphy, and Gerardo Parra twice) the holes in the offense were never plugged. The team spent most of the year cycling through the multitude of replacement level players, oftentimes playing the wrong players at the wrong times, leading the Boys to a 14th place finish in home runs, a 12th place finish in RBIs and a disappointing right column finish. |
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| TEAM MVP - TREVOR CAHILL & BRETT GARDNER |
When looking for an ace to anchor their staff, teams look for a pitcher who will throw a ton of innings with a sub 3.00 ERA, a sub 1.10 WHIP and a boatload of wins. Usually, players like that cost somewhere north of $30 on draft day. Fortunately for the HGH Boys, they were able to find an ace pitcher in the form of Cahill in the 4th round of the reserve draft. Even among a staff chock full of top end starters, Cahill was the best, posting a 2.845 ERA, a 1.082 WHIP, leading the HGH Boys to a top 5 spot in both categories. In addition, Cahill contributed a team best 17 wins. Equally as valuable on the offensive side was Gardner. As the HGH Boys spent a good portion of the year looking for outfielders, Gardner produced well beyond his $8 salary, stealing 47 bases and scoring nearly 100 runs. Other than the $43 Holliday, no other offensive player was as valuable, making him an easy choice as co-MVP.
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| TEAM RO-SHAM-BO - JASON BAY |
 In 2009, Bay was a monster for the Red Sox, posting career highs in home runs (36) and RBIs (119) while racking up impressive totals in runs (103) and stolen bases (13) as well. When the HGH Boys dropped $26 on Bay on draft day, Fein was hoping for similar results. Unfortunately for Fein, Citi Field and injury reduced Bay to the proverbial 98-pound weakling at the plate. Flyballs that either careened off or flew over the Green Monster in 2009 became ordinary pop ups at Citi Field in 2010, and the numbers didn’t lie. Bay posted career lows in homers (6!), RBIs (47) and runs (48), before a concussion mercifully ended his season. When it was all over, Fein was the one suffering the post-concussion syndrome side effects and Bay locked up a Ro Sham Bo award for his trophy case.
Jason Bay should have hit some stronger performance enhancing drugs in 2010 - instead he hit like a 98-pound weakling for the HGH Boys. |
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| OUTLOOK FOR 2011 |
The HGH Boys enter the season in an enviable position – their middle infield is completely filled and five of their six starting pitcher slots are filled before the auction even starts. Beckham joins SS Ian Desmond and free keeper Starlin Castro to make a $13 middle infield. In addition, co-MVP Gardner returns and free-agent pickup Chris Johnson will man the hot corner. On the pitching side, Johnson and Kershaw return, along with co-MVP Cahill. An off-season trade with Hotel California brought Gio Gonzalez to the squad. In a somewhat surprising move, Fein, tempting the fantasy gods, decided to keep Brandon Morrow, whose contract he was forced to buy out in 2009. With nearly half of their roster already filled entering the season and only $84 spent, HGH will be looking to add some high-priced offensive talent to wash away the memories of a disappointing 2010. With a productive draft day, the HGH Boys may finally make it back to the money, restoring some of the luster to the once-proud Sveltes franchise.
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