Last night my buddies D-Lib, Nattie Ice and I held our 3rd Annual Kickers League Draft. The draft itself took 2 minutes (results below), but the real highlight was the time we spent at the new wings place on The Ave. Last week when I was standing at the bus stop on 45th for the first time in a year, I noticed that the Mexican restaurant was no longer there - replaced by a wings place that was advertising $10 pitchers on Monday and at least 10 different flavors of wings sauce. It seemed like an obvious choice for the draft.
Nattie Ice and I got there at 5:00 and started off with a pitcher of Stella. When D-Lib arrived at 6:15 we ordered another pitcher and 25 wings - one half with the 2nd Degree Sauce and the other with the Bourbon Street BBQ sauce. Turns out our server (who was so young and attractive that there is no way she would have talked to anyone of us had she not been trying to get our 30-year old money) was actually right - the 2nd Degree is the way to go. Anyways, we then got another pitcher and out of no where, the head cook brought us out a Grilled Cheese Bacon Cheese Burger that they are 'trying out'. So in all, we got 3 pitchers, 2 baskets of fries, 25 wings and a burger for $20 each. Not terrible. The only thing that could have gone better - had the Mariners hit a home run while we were there, we would have gotten 5 free wings. Up til then I had never actually been mad at their offense for anything, but now I am officially annoyed (ok, J-Will get mad at me for being unfair to your M's).
I certainly had more beer yesterday than I have had in a long time. I love my Stella. Right as I was getting ready to leave, The Wife called and reminded me that I offered to go out and get diapers for The Incident. Damn, stupid responsibilities slapping me in the face. When I got home I instantly fell asleep and then proceeded to wake up every hour. Now today I feel like crap. Damn, stupid age slapping me in the face. Oh, and as I went to pay for the diapers I realized I didn't have my credit card and had left it at the bar. Damn, stupid, well...stupid me slapping me in the face.
Anyways, let's look at the final rosters:
Me: Nate Kaeding, Rod Bironas, Billy Cundiff, Alex Henery, Sebastian Janikowski, Dan Carpenter, David Akers, Ryan Succop, Kevin Huber (P)
D-Lib: Steven Gostkowski, Mason Crosby, adam Vinatieri, Jay Feely, David Buehler, Jeff Reed, Larry Tynes, Olindo Mare, Matt Turk (P)
Nattie Ice: Neil Rackers, Josh Brown, Garrett Hartley, Nick Folk, Matt Bryant, Ryan Longwell, Robbie Gould, Matt Prater, Jeremy Kapinos (P)
Comments: My team is an interesting lot. I have two of the most stable kickers in the game - Kaeding and Bironas who barring a miracle should be among the top 5 again at the end of the season. In Carpenter I think I have another guy who could be in the top 5 if 2010 is any indication. Janikowski was great for me last year and is just fun to have around the locker room because he is certifiably crazy. The problem with crazy kickers is that it can blow up at any time, so who knows what he will do. Cundiff and Henery, a rookie out of Nebraska, are my two wild cards because I have no idea what they might give me. Akers is a nostaliga pick - he has burned me the past two years, but was available in the 7th round so I had to pull the trigger. Last time I took a SF kicker (Joe NEdney in 2009) it didn't work out. And last time I took a prolific kicker who signed a deal with an NFC West team (Josh Brown in 2009) it also didn't work out...so I guess I'm not expecting much. As for the punter, John Huber, I expect Cincinnati to have the worst offense in the game, so the pick was an obvious one.
The great thing about this league is that no one is the favorite to win. Honestly, anything can happen with kickers...hopefully after finishing last both previous years my team decides it's time to get lucky.
So I am more pissed you got all that food for $20. That will buy me maybe the burger and beer out here. But since you took a jab at the Mariners, how is that Reyes guy and his hammy doing?
ReplyDelete-East Coast JWill
See you're just looking to be hurtful. Luckily I'm a Mets fan so I am used to disappointment.
ReplyDeleteLooking to be hurtful or not, hamstrings pulls are pretty major. What does this do to his ability to be considered someone to build a team around?
ReplyDelete-East Coast JWill
as a non-Mets fan, I may be underestimating his franchise value, but I guess I just never saw the franchise cornerstone shirt fitting reyes, (although I can see the argument in favor of 2006-08 reyes). or at least not with favorable results. I feel like his value is bound too tightly to other players and their abilities to be THE guy on a winning team.
ReplyDeletehamstring issues aside, which are not at all important to speed-first guys and never linger on and on, I'm sure someone will give him $60 million this winter.
Well that's the thing that I think a lot of Mets fans are overlooking. When he was going good earlier this year, it brought back a lot of good memories. I know Beltran did a lot to help us win the 2006 division, but he was a hired gun. Reyes and Wright were homegrown guys and that is so freaking important for Mets fans. We have had some shitty years recently and his amazing form made us forget it.
ReplyDeleteBut I had been saying it all along - no matter what happened, we were going to lose with this situation. I was and still remain a firm believer that you shouldn't pay a shit ton of money to a guy whose major attribute is his speed and baserunning when that guys has leg issues. Now of course if we let him go he would be injury free and if we keep him he'll be hurt. It's just a no win situation all around.
That being said, I actually think his injury might be a good thing for the Mets. There is an interesting article circulating about how every day on the DL is costing him 500k and how none of the big spenders actually need a SS. So I'm thinking maybe he can take a bit of a hometown discount.
I'm not saying I don't want him back, but certainly not for $20 million a year. If they resigned him for like 4 years, $60 million it would be overpaying him, but I would be ok with it. His gamble is ultimately not paying off. When he was hitting like .360 and becoming the lead guy in the MVP race he should have renegotiated, but now the power is shifting towards the Mets front office.