Jabrone Rising

Like in real baseball, fantasy baseball is a season of steaks and slumps, highs and lows. Learning how to ride those out is part of the overall approach to managing a winning team. Right now, I'm on the streak of my fantasy life. On May 23rd, I was dead-to-rites in 7th place, somewhere in the low 80's in roto points, and Roland posted this:

"Please tell me that this hasn't become a 2-team league with me and the Boston Red Sox.

I thought that you had traded for David Wright and Grady Sizemore."

Well, I did trade for David Wright and Grady Sizemore, as well as Scott Kazmir. And, I picked up Shane Victorino, Aaron Rowand and Jay Bruce. And all they've done since that magical 23rd of May is the following:

David Wright (11 games): .467 OBP, 10 runs, 3 HRs, 7 RBI's, 2 SB's

Grady Sizemore (10 games): .400 OBP, 6 runs, 4 HRs, 7 RBI's, 4 SB's

Shane Victorino (10 games): .422 OBP, 16 runs, 5 RBI's, 5 SB's

Aaron Rowand (10 games): .476 OBP, 10 runs, 3 HRs, 13 RBI's, 1 SB

Jay Bruce (7 games): .667 OBP, 1.038 SLG, 12 runs, 3 HRs, 7 RBi's, 2 SB's

Scott Kazmir (2 games, 14 innings): 2 wins, 0 losses, .642ERA, .642WHIP, 16Ks

Clearly, the guys mentioned above have been the leaders of this full-on attack of first place. Though, I don't expect the same production from the guys above for the rest of the year, this goes to show that free agent pickups, timely trades and overall effective roster management can give your team the shot in the arm that it needs. It's been good enough to get me 30 extra points and I think the guys are good enough to keep me in the mix.

Now, if I can just get my top 2 draft picks off of the DL (Holiday and Peavy) and have Liriano come back from AAA and produce, I can make Roland sweat the whole year for his run at the UPL baseball trophy. Although this year, I'd like to think that I'm a more formidable contender than in years past.

Off to watch Joba Chamberlain eat up the Toronto Blue Jays as if he were Joba the Hutt. Jabrone rising, my friends, Jabrone rising.