Groin Mishaps Plague Fantasy Pre-Season

Mordecai was kind enough to invite me to participate in his Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball league, and on Sunday we had our draft. Today, I logged into Yahoo! Sports to monitor the health of my players and was alarmed to see the following updates:

Fri, Feb 27 3B Casey Blake suffered a groin injury while running in the outfield after leaving the Feb. 25 Cactus League opener against the Cubs. The injury isn't believed to be serious, but Blake still felt discomfort as of the morning of Feb. 27. Manager Joe Torre said Blake would avoid all physical activity until the discomfort subsided.

Okay, okay, I know that's not how you get a groin injury,
but it's the best the internet could offer.

Fri, Feb 27 OF Grady Sizemore will not play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic due to a sore left groin. "This was something I was looking forward to," Sizemore said. "I was excited to get a chance to play for my country."

Eyes on the Prize, Pain in the Thigh

During the draft, Paul* made a slew of disparaging comments about my decision to select Grady Sizemore in the first round. Among them were, "Who is Grady Sizemore? I don't even know who that is," and, "Is Grady Sizemore even good at baseball? Who IS HE?" and "I don't know why you chose that Grady Sizemore person. He's probably not good at baseball." Now, this blog may not typically address issues like "performance records" or "skill sets" or "statistics," but I'd like to take a moment to prove that Mr. Grady IS A VERY GOOD baseball player. From Wikipedia:

• 3x All-Star selection (2006, 2007, 2008)
• 2x Gold Glove Award winner (2007, 2008)
• Silver Slugger Award winner (2008)
• Led AL in runs in 2006
• Led AL in doubles in 2006

And from MLB.com (click to enlarge):


The text reads: With his combination of power, speed, on-base skills and durability, Sizemore is as close to the complete package as it gets in fantasy. The one thing the 26-year old doesn't do is hit for average, and even with his patient approach and improving K rate, he probably won't be much better in that department in '09. Regardless, this is a 30/30 player entering the prime years of his career. He'll be near the top of everybody's draft list, so you might as well give him a super-sized kiss goodbye if you opt for someone else in the first round.

Satisfied? My entire Top 5 got a super-sized kisses HELLO on Sunday, and frankly, in the aesthetic appeal category, we're unbeatable (I'll post the full roster soon, and maybe Kei, Joe and Mordecai can be convinced to do the same). Next on the agenda: learn how to play fantasy baseball. This will be an adventure!

*To be fair, Paul was actually very HELPFUL during the draft process. Thanks, Paul!