John Halpin
| John Halpin Fantasy Baseball Chat | (09/02/2009) |
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| 2:55 |
FOX Fantasy: Happy Hump Day everyone! We're getting ready for John Halpin's fantasy baseball chat as we speak. That means it's time for you to get in here and send some questions his way. We'll get to as many of them as humanly possible in the hour we have set aside. So, it's up to you now........let's have some fun with it! |
| 3:02 | John Halpin: Happy Wednesday, folks. Let's get started! |
| 3:03 | FOX Fantasy: All right, no better time to start than right NOW! Let's get rollin' with Reggie in the football hotbed of Midland, Texas...........John, it's late in the season and I need saves bad! Help me! |
| 3:05 |
John Halpin: Reggie, allow me to introduce you to Juan Gutierrez, who's getting the first shot at saves in Arizona now that Chad Qualls is out for the season. He's widely available, as is Washington's Mike MacDougal. I bet you can get either one of them. |
| 3:07 | FOX Fantasy: Chase has a similar question...........Where can I get some cheap steals this late in the season? |
| 3:08 |
John Halpin: Chase, I think Oakland's Rajai Davis is leading the majors in SBs over the last couple of months, and he's available in something like 93% of FOXSports.com leagues. He'd be my first choice. After that, Scott Podsednik is widely available, too. |
| 3:09 | John Halpin: Did anyone out there pick up Brian Duensing from the Twins? He's throwing a shutout today. |
| 3:11 | FOX Fantasy: Speaking of relatively speedy outfielders, Sammy has an OF question........John, I have an extra OF spot to fill. Would you take Angel Pagan or Carlos Gonzalez? Or is there someone even more exciting I don't know of yet? |
| 3:13 |
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| 3:13 | John Halpin: I don't buy Pagan's success for some reason, so I'd go with CarGo, especially since it's one of the more clever shortened-name nicknames. |
| 3:13 | John Halpin: Who just put that Pagan picture up there? Is someone trying to tell me something? |
| 3:14 | FOX Fantasy: Whoever it is, he must be a Mets homer. What a loser! |
| 3:14 | John Halpin: Anyway, CarGo hurt himself with a steak knife last week. If you pick him up, mail some plastic silverware to his attention c/o the Rockies. |
| 3:15 |
John Halpin: There are still Mets homers left? |
| 3:16 | FOX Fantasy: Let's continue, shall we?! Vincent wants to know about his starting rotation........I have Joba Chamberlain as my fifth starter. Given his inning limit, should I drop him and take a chance on someone else? Some of the names out there include Tommy Hunter, Bronson Arroyo and Brett Tomko. |
| 3:18 | John Halpin: I might be stubborn about Joba, but this time I have a reason. They want to build his innings back up for the playoffs, so you can expect to see him regularly this month. Don't waive him because of innings, but you can certainly do so if you think he'll continue to stink (which I don't). |
| 3:18 |
John Halpin: One more thing, Vincent: Please don't ever ask me again if you should pick up Brett Tomko. Thanks. |
| 3:20 | John Halpin: Gordon Beckham just hit his 10th homer. Glad I traded him for Grady Sizemore just before starting a rebuilding effort. %$#@! |
| 3:21 |
FOX Fantasy: Teddy in Valencia, CA must be a Dodgers fan.......Hey man, what impact do you see Jim Thome's addition here having on the fantasy world? |
| 3:23 | John Halpin: Teddy - Thome has about as much value as Babe Ruth right now. He's a pinch hitter, for crying out loud. There are Thome owners around the country cursing White Sox GM Kenny Williams right now. |
| 3:24 | John Halpin: The main beneficiary of the deal is Podsednik, who got a stay of execution from the fantasy gods. When the Sox got Alex Rios, Podzilla had nowhere to play. Now he does, and he'll keep running. |
| 3:26 | FOX Fantasy: Jessie in Birmingham, Alabama was wondering about a big-name lefty........Cole Hamels just had his second straight solid start! Is it a fluke, or is he back for good now?! |
| 3:28 |
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| 3:28 | John Halpin: He's back, Jessie. No runs in his last two starts, plenty of Ks ... and it's about damned time for all those people who drafted Hamels early. Probably too little, too late for most of them, since Hamels has probably dragged many teams into the cellar already. |
| 3:28 |
Is Cole Hamels a solid play the rest of the season? Yes ( 67% )
( 33% )
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| 3:29 | FOX Fantasy: This seems too good to be true, but Mark's had a surprise drop/add in his league......John, Adam Jones was just dropped in our league. Is he worth picking up at this point? |
| 3:31 | John Halpin: Sure he is, Mark. His back has been bugging him, and he's not as good as he seemed to be early in the season, but he's still pretty good. I doubt you can find many fantasy OFs better than Jones at this point. |
| 3:32 | John Halpin: By the way, a friend of mine just saw the chat graphic with my picture on the FOXSports.com fantasy homepage. He sent an IM that said, "Nice Glamour Shot." |
| 3:32 | FOX Fantasy: Abby's going off the board for this one..........Hi John, who do you think would be better at baseball: D.J. Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba, or Twist from the Fresh Beat Band? |
| 3:35 |
John Halpin: If you don't have little kids, take a quick bathroom break. I'd definitely go with DJ Lance, as creepy as Yo Gabba Gabba is. Twist is a white rapper with absolutely no rhythm, and I can only guess that he has the lack of athletic ability to match. He's always falling down, getting his feet stuck in buckets, etc. Shout from the Fresh Beat Band would be a much better choice than Twist. |
| 3:36 |
John Halpin: Try to get that kind of Nickelodeon analysis somewhere else. |
| 3:36 | John Halpin: By the way, Nick's Web site says that Twist's favorite expression is, "sweet." I rest my case. |
| 3:37 |
FOX Fantasy: Annnnnnnnnd, we get back on the horse with Hector in Jacksonville........Who's been this season's biggest fantasy disappointment in your eyes? |
| 3:38 | John Halpin: So many choices, but I think I'll take Josh Hamilton. |
| 3:40 | John Halpin: .269, 10 HR, 49 RBI ... you thought you were getting a superstar when you drafted this guy. He might be the biggest one-hit wonder since Brady Anderson. |
| 3:42 | FOX Fantasy: Sammy's back, and it's a decent question, so we'll let him go again. Don't get used to it Sammy!!!.........The real-life MVPs should go to Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer, and the Cy Youngs to Tim Lincecum and CC Sabathia. But who are your Fantasy MVPs? |
| 3:43 | John Halpin: Sammy gets TWO questions? Is he paying a premium? |
| 3:44 | FOX Fantasy: $100/week |
| 3:45 | John Halpin: Pujols is a no-brainer - .320, 42 HR, 114 RBI, 104 R and 14 SB with a month to go - he could take the rest of the season off and be my pick. But he's so good that he shouldn't count, so... |
| 3:47 | John Halpin: I think I might have to go with Mark Reynolds of the D'backs. 40 HR, 90 RBI, 22 SB, and you didn't have to draft him high. The value he's providing is probably carrying many of his teams to competitive finishes, or fantasy titles. |
| 3:48 | John Halpin: Lincecum and Zack Greinke are neck-and-neck among pitchers, but you probably had to draft Linecum really early, while Greinke hung around for awhile. For that reason, Greinke is my pick. |
| 3:49 | FOX Fantasy: One more from Sammy, perhaps?!! |
| 3:49 | John Halpin: Yeah, Sammy! |
| 3:50 | FOX Fantasy: OK, I'm just kidding!.......Here's one from Kevin in Rockport..........Who do you see being a nice late season rookie callup for my keeper league? |
| 3:50 | John Halpin: Booooooo - I wanted Sammy! |
| 3:51 | FOX Fantasy: I know it. We have one question left after this, maybe we'll get him in!?! |
| 3:51 | FOX Fantasy: Gimmie something good for our last question everybody!! |
| 3:52 | John Halpin: Just kidding, Kevin. You can probably still get Cleveland's Matt LaPorta, who will play every day and hit you some homers. |
| 3:52 | John Halpin: Jake Fox of the Cubs is still around in most leagues. He's versatile, and will probably play now that the Cubbies are toast. |
| 3:53 | John Halpin: The aforementioned CarGo is only owned in 3% of FOXSports.com leagues. |
| 3:55 | John Halpin: Finally, he's not really a late-season callup anymore, but what about Padres' SS Everth Cabrera (20 SBs). He's owned in one percent of leagues. |
| 3:56 | John Halpin: Now I can't get the Fresh Beat Band out of my head. Dammit! |
| 3:56 | FOX Fantasy: OK, and our last question comes from Joe right here in Los Angeles, and I like it......Who are the guys you see breaking into next year's top 10 draft picks who weren't at that level yet this season? |
| 3:57 | FOX Fantasy: And Edward wants to know if Jose Reyes will be amongst that top 10 again too. |
| 3:57 | John Halpin: Does Justin Upton count? He's a monster, and I have a rule that I have to overhype at least one Upton per season. Also ... |
| 3:59 | John Halpin: I don't think Mauer was anywhere near a top-10 pick before this year, but he's in the argument now that he has power. And what about Matt Kemp? He's going to be close to 30-30 before the end of this season, and his 25th birthday isn't for three more weeks. |
| 3:59 | John Halpin: I'll dodge the Reyes question for now, but if you held a gun to my head, I wouldn't pick a Met again - ever. That new stadium must be jinxed. |
| 4:00 | John Halpin: Seriously, let's see how healthy he is. |
| 4:01 | FOX Fantasy: As always, tune in every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 3pm EST/12pm PST for all our Fantasy Chats at FOXSports.com! Thanks for tuning in today, folks. See ya tomorrow! |
| 4:01 | John Halpin: Thanks for all the great questions, folks. I'll be back here for another baseball chat on September 16 at 3 p.m. ET. Until then, draft yourself a fantasy football team at FOXSports.com, and READ MY BLOG EVERY MORNING. |
| 4:02 |
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