By JIMMY D / Red Alert! Bruce arrives, Belmont, Euro 2008 | Jimmy's archive
If you read Jimmy’s column two weeks ago and immediately heeded the advice to grab minor-league phenom Jay Bruce off waivers, you just experienced one of the greatest fantasy baseball debuts in recent years.
The 21-year-old Bruce was recalled by Cincinnati and went 13-for-22, belted a pair of homers (including a walk-off job Saturday against Atlanta), swiped two bases, walked six times and drove in six runs. Not bad for a six-pack of games.
Heck, A-Rod hasn’t generated that much for Jimmy in the past six weeks!
Jimmy wasn’t as lucky with another callup, Dodger lefty Clayton Kershaw. Grabbed off waivers, the kid got a pair of no-decisions, throwing well in one game and bombing in the next.
He was quickly ditched in favour of Phillie Brett Myers, who is pitching well for a team that is clobbering the ball.
This week’s tip focuses on a Jimmy draft pick from back in March, who struggled out of the gate after Tommy John surgery. Lefty Francisco Liriano bombed in his first few starts for Minnesota and was ticketed for Triple A to find the velocity and control that made him a rookie terror in 2006.
If you have room on your farm or bench roster, it’s probably time to pluck him before he returns with a similar Jay Bruce-style bang. His WHIP can be great, his control can be excellent and he can be a strikeout machine – hard to argue against any of the characteristics.
While Liriano was sent down after losing control of his fastball, Major League Baseball itself was purposely firing some high, hard ones at Little Leaguers. Yup, the league that has sent legal cease-and-decist letters to fans running simple websites (for using a trademarked team logo) and tried to monopolize player stats to squeeze the fantasy industry is trying to make sure no stone is unturned in generating revenue.
Incidentally, a ruling came out just yesterday that the US Supreme Court will not hear MLB’s appeal of an earlier decision holding that player stats are not copyright material owned by MLB. A contrary ruling would mean all fantasy game and content providers would have to pay licensing fees for saying “Ryan Howard was 2-for-4 with a home run yesterday and is now hitting .210 on the season.”
A story in the Southtown Star last week (http://www.southtownstar.com/news/968774,052508baseballuniforms.article ) detailed how MLB is threatening to take a Little League jersey supplier to court because kids’ uniforms either have an MLB logo or an MLB team name on them.
No Blue Jay logo for the Hammonds Plains Blue Jays. Heck, they don’t even want you to call your team the Blue Jays because that is trademarked too.
Of course, the kids and the baseball organizations can have those names and logos on their jerseys, provided they buy them at a healthy markup from MLB’s official supplier Majestic Athletic. The latest estimate of MLB’s annual licensing value was $3.1 billion in 2005.
The league says it wants kids wearing MLB jerseys and for kids to have fun by playing for the Cubs or Phillies when they play T-ball. They just want to make sure no suppliers and skirting their rules, laws about copyright. Oh, and impinging that $3.1 billion in licensing revenue that came in for 2005.
Belmont, Euro 2008 contests
Two of the year’s biggest events start this week on either side of the Atlantic and Jimmy D has found some contest action applicable to both.
Euro 2008 kicks off Saturday with 16 national teams vying for European soccer supremacy. You recall how Greece pulled off a mammoth upset back in 2004, knocking off the perennial powerhouses in Italy, Spain, Germany and England. You may also recall the local Greek community going wild with excitement with Greek flags hanging from homes and vehicle windows.
[ Click here to play the Euro 2008 contest ]
And Saturday in upstate New York, a horse named Big Brown will try to make history by winning horse racing’s Triple Crown. He cruised to easy victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and is a huge favourite to win at Belmont, the longest and most grueling of the races.
Of note, the owners of Casino Drive (half brother of the past two Belmont Stakes winners) believe he has the pedigree and stamina to pull the upset.
[ Click here to play the Belmont Stakes contest ]
There are PropMaster Challenge contests that let you compete for cash and bragging rights. Check it out, Jimmy will be showing off his soccer and horse racing savvy.
Stay busy and stay lucky.
Jimmy D
jpoole@herald.ca |
