by Steven Prentiss

Random thoughts one week into the 2011 season:

We definitely have an interesting top of the standings. In the top eight in the standings, only one franchise (HGH Boys) has ever won a league title and that was back in the days of Ronnie and Bosco. Jeff is in 5th place, 28 points out of the lead – I’m sure he’s already planning his dump strategy. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the standings, the Light Bulbs can’t seem to get out of their own way and has been rather firmly entrenched in the cellar since day 2.

Interesting things I noticed in the HCBB standings:

• The Butt Pirates are still looking for their first win.
• The Light Bulbs and Willard’s Flapjack Emporium are still looking for their first save.
• The Charlestown Chiefs have just 3 HR and 21 RBI on the season. All 3 HR were supplied by Ryan Braun.
• The Tasmanian Devils have a 5.94 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP and just 17.5 pitching points – I thought Crystal was good at finding good pitching?
• The Tasmanian Devils are leading the league in HR and runs scored and have 65.5 hitting points – who said Crystal couldn’t build an offense?
• Time to Run is leading wins with 7, has just 4 quality starts and is dead last in ERA at 6.642.
• The Ball Hogs are 3rd in innings pitched, have 6 quality starts and have just 3 wins.
• M*A*S*H is leading batting average at .293.
• It has been an amazing 28 days since Clueless made a trade.

Great draft day bargains (so far):

• Willie Bloomquist – not drafted
• Alex Avila – not drafted
• Ryan Hanigan – not drafted
• Brennan Boesch – reserve pick
• Alberto Callaspo – reserve pick
• Nick Hundley – reserve pick
• Kevin Correia – reserve pick

Not so much:

• Michael Cuddyer - $19 salary, ranked 385
• Manny Ramirez - $15, ranked 384
• Vernon Wells - $20, ranked 379
• Kevin Youkilis - $49, ranked 378
• Dustin Pedroia - $16, ranked 359
• Kelly Johnson - $23, ranked 329
• Justin Morneau - $36, ranked 325
• Delmon Young - $21, ranked 323
• Shin-Soo Choo - $16, ranked 315
• Joe Mauer - $20, ranked 287
• Alex Rios - $29, ranked 242
• Albert Pujols - $68, ranked 222

But before anyone gets too wrapped up in what has transpired thus far, keep in mind where we were last year at this time:

1. Roll the Bones (finished 11th)
2. Suicide Squeeze (13th)
3. Time to Run (7th)
4. Prolonging the Magic (2nd)
5. HGH Boys (9th)
6. Light Bulbs (10th)
7. Half Cajun (3rd)
8. Ball Hogs (1st)
9. Butt Pirates (4th)
10. Charlestown Chiefs (8th)
11. Clueless (14th)
12. Hotel California (5th)
13. M*A*S*H (15th)
14. A Quality Product (16th)
15. Tasmanian Devils (6th)
16. Tee Timers (12th)

• Hotel California was last in runs scored with 25 and ended up finishing 3rd in the category.
• A Quality Product was in 2nd place in WHIP at 1.20 and ended up finishing dead last in the category.
• Meanwhile, Tasmanian Devils were 13th in WHIP and ended up finishing 1st, setting a new league record.
• Suicide Squeeze was winning ERA at 2.63 and ended up finishing 14th in the category.
• Tasmanian Devils was 15th in ERA and ended up finishing 2nd in the category.
• Tasmanian Devils and Half Cajun were tied for last in wins with 1 and ended up 1st and 2nd respectively.
• The Butt Pirates had 0 saves and ended up winning the category.
• The Charlestown Chiefs were in 15th place in batting average at .233 and ended up winning the category.

However, some things were getting established, even if it was the first week of the season:

• A Quality Product was dead last in RBI and HR after just a week, before setting new league lows over the course of the season.
• Tasmanian Devils were last in SB and almost broke the league record, finishing last in the category.
• M*A*S*H was 15th in AVG before finishing last and setting a new league low.

Interesting facts about the 2011 season so far:

• Josh Willingham has 22 AB and 11 strikeouts.
• Mark Teixeira and Carlos Quentin have 10 RBI each on the season.
• Willie Bloomquist lead the league with 5 SB.
• Sam Fuld is 2nd with 4 SB (extra points if you know who he plays for without looking).
• Francisco Liriano has issued 8 walks in just 9 innings.
• Joel Hanrahan leads the league with 4 saves.
• Albert Pujols leads the league...in Grounded Into Double Plays with 4.
• Yunel Escobar and Nick Hundley are leading the AL & NL respectively in batting average.
• Ryan Howard is hitting .480 on the season.
• Keepers Clay Buchholz and Max Scherzer have each given up 4 HR in just one start.
• Seattle’s Josh Lueke leads the league with a 27.0 K/9.
• Josh Lueke’s ERA is 54.00 and his WHIP is 6.00.
• Johnny Gomes has only 2 hits but has drawn 8 walks.
• Andruw Jones is 5th in the MLB in slugging percentage (1.200) and his OPS is 1.600.
• Dan Johnson is 1-23 to start the season and his OPS is .130.
• There have been two complete game shutouts and two emergency appendectomies.

I know it’s early, but will the Red Sox or the Rays ever win a game? Nothing like being 5 games back in the division just one week into the season. Other interesting standings occurences – defending World Series champs SF are in last place in the NL West, Cleveland & KC are leading the AL Central and Baltimore is leading the AL East.

Baltimore has surrendered just 16 runs in their six games with a rotation of four guys under the age of 25 (Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, Brad Bergeson and Zach Britton) and Jeremy Guthrie, posting a 5-1 record to lead the AL East. If the season started Aug. 3, 2010, when Buck Showalter took over the O's:

Meanwhile, the Rays have scored a total of 8 runs in their six games, becoming the fourth team ever to lose each of its first six games with so few runs. The other three teams all lost more than 110 games for the season: the 2003 Tigers (43-119), 1963 Mets (51-111) and 1916 Philadelphia A's (36-117). Of the Rays regulars, BJ Upton is hitting .364 with a HR and 3 RBI. No other regular is hitting above .200 or has driven in more than one run.

Ten semi-outrageous predictions made based on what I’ve seen over the first week of the season:

1. Joel Hanrahan will lead the NL in saves
2. Andruw Jones will have a significantly higher OPS than Dan Johnson
3. Casey McGehee will weigh 300 pounds by September
4. Brandon Belt will be back in the minors by June 1st
5. Manny Ramirez will not reach 10 HR for the second year in a row
6. Nelson Cruz will hit more than 50 HR and lead the majors
7. The Light Bulbs will NOT win a plunger
8. Boston will still win the AL East
9. Tampa Bay will lose more than 100 games and will finish with the worst record in the AL
10. Josh Willingham will not gain catcher eligibility this season