The baseball season, as far as Scoresheet afficianados go, is here now. The draft provides hours of enjoyment (and maybe some frustration when your super sleeper selection gets nabbed one pick before yours!) and is a big part of the fun in Scoresheet baseball every year.

Recently members from the Scoresheet Experts league, BL Kings, which features luminaries from the fantasy sports industry, got together to talk about the upcoming season.

Jeff Erickson of RotoWire chatted with Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan on the RotoWire Fantasy Sports Hour over on BlogTalkRadio.com. To hear the entertaining and enlightening show, check out the February 11th edition. The link below will take you directly to the page for that segment:

RotoWire Fantasy Sports Hour – February 11. 2010

Fellow BL Kings owner Geoff Young posted a rundown of how he approached the decision-making process for his team this season on his blog. You can check out his insights at the link below:

Baseball Prospectus Blog Article

Who knows, you might pick up a few good tips for your own Scoresheet teams!

Will he or won’t he.   Oakland Raider’s owner Al Davis has to be used to being  an unpopular guy.   He doesn’t do what other NFL owners do. Ever.  For instance, generally before hiring assistant coaches, an NFL team would confirm or  even hire, their head coach.  And then allow the head coach to hire the offensive and defensive coaches.

Al Davis was reportedly going to fire Tom Cable.  Then he was reported to be interviewing possible replacements.  Then last Saturday, Davis confirmed Cable would stay out his contract. ESPN ran with that.  And then the Raiders declined to confirm.  So depending on which sports channel you get your news from…Cable is either staying, or he’s not.

The decision to hire Hue Jackson as offensive coordinator, certainly shows the Raiders are ready to deal with their lack luster JaMarcus Russell.  The #1 draft pick of 2007, Russell has yet to deliver the goods.  Can Jackson turn him around?  As the Raven’s quarterback coach, Jackson was impressive.   My bet is that Jackson likes a challenge.  And if he can turn Russell around, perhaps he’ll work his way into a top spot on the coaching staff next season.  Perhaps even taking Tom Cable’s spot?

So is JaMarcus Russell to blame for the Raider’s 9 -19 record this year?  Or do we hold Tom Cable responsible?   Hell, does Al Davis hold Cable responsible?  He seems willing to invest in support coaching staffers, hiring Jackson before his job interview with the Chicago Bears.   Now Al, do everyone a favor and take an affirmative stand on Tom Cable.  More in 2010 or no?

Sorry Mark, but your tearful admission to using steroids only made things worse on the PR scale.  And that’s coming from an avid A’s fan who thinks McGwire is basically a good guy at heart.  His problem?  He just doesn’t get it.

McGwire, who has been hired by former manager Tony LaRussa to be the St.
Louis Cardinals‘ hitting coach, had to “come clean” before the 2010 baseball season got underway.  So earlier this week he sat down for an interview with Bob Costas  to set the record straight.  An emotional McGwire did indeed confess to using steroids for several years, starting around 1993, according to the slugger.

OK, fine Mark. The timeline is up for debate – just ask Jose Canseco, who has so far been vindicated for his accusations aimed at other players at every turn – but the part I personally found most comical is McGwire’s claim that steroids didn’t help him hit home runs.  He only used them to help deal with injuries that had slowed his career.

Really Mark? You honestly think the ‘roids DIDN’T have anything to do with your massive power surge into 70 home run territory?  Yeah, pull this finger and a rabbit comes out of my cap.  McGwire once had Popeye forearms on an otherwise normal looking body, albeit a large one. By the end of his career he looked like Paul Bunyan in the batter’s box!  All that added muscle – which no doubt was developed to a great extent by his steroid use - didn’t add considerable power to an already powerful swing?

Please…

I don’t dispute that steroids don’t have much to do with hand-eye coordination, which McGwire claims was the true reason he hit so many home runs. But to think the steroids didn’t add muscle and make it easier to bounce back from the daily grind of nagging injuries, both key factors in being able to hit a baseball a long way, is nothing short of laughable.

I wish McGwire the best in his return to the baseball field.  But if he thinks this interview is going to make life on the road easier now that he has “come clean” to  the fans, he is in for a rude awakening.

So he finally admitted his steroid use, and his confession appeared heart felt.  Was anyone really surprised to learn the Mark McGwire was on the juice when he was at what was arguably his career best?  ”Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era,” he claims.  Maybe so. But is that hindsight or real regret?

One has to wonder when he goes on to basically claim that steroids are not in fact what made him hit those balls out of the park.  ”There’s no way a pill or an injection will give you hand-eye coordination or the ability or the great mind that I’ve had as a baseball player,” he said.  Really?  That kind of arrogance is exactly why I’m glad he’s not in baseball anymore.

I don’t understand this guy.  According to McGwire, he starts taking steroids to “recover from injuries,” and then low and behold, he discovers he plays a whole lot better while he’s on them.  Doesn’t stop, just stays on the juice, keeps hitting the ball out of the park, and now, he willingly admits to the drug use, but in his arrogance he claims the steroids aren’t responsible for his home run record?

The guy was an amazingly talented baseball player, without question.  And the steroids gave him the extra push, the extra edge.  Something that a player of his caliber didn’t really need, but knowingly took advantage of.  Do I want to see him in the Hall of  Fame? No, I want to see that honor go to players that reached great heights, on their own. Those who relied strictly on their talent.  No juice.

How would you feel if McGwire makes it to the Hall of Fame?  Should steroids disqualify good players from this lifetime achievement?

Scoresheet Baseball’s 2010 player lists will be posted on January 20th. And with Matt Holliday and Jason Bay having signed deals it looks like at least all the big name players will be under contract in time for our list’s release. On a side note, I am glad to see that those two guys and their agents were listening when I said the deals they had on the table two weeks ago were the best they were going to get.

This season Scoresheet will be implementing a new rule. Instead of waiting for players to sign contracts before adding them to our player lists, this year come the first week of February we will be adding any remaining free agents to the 2010 AL or NL player list based on where they ended the 2009 season. For instance, if in early February Joel Pineiro is still unsigned then we will add him to our 2010 NL player list, since he ended the 2009 season with the Cardinals. This way players will not suddenly become eligible to be drafted as of the day they sign with a team. (Last year we added players as they signed, so late signees such as IRod were suddenly eligible to be drafted in the late rounds of ongoing drafts.)

As I write this I am struck with just how weak the group of remaining free agents really is. If Joel Pineiro is the best remaining pitcher I can think of then teams better look to trade to improve themselves. Given past history, maybe Giants GM Brian Sabean will trade Tim Lincecum for an aging Mike Lowell? Yes, I am a bitter Giants fan who still regrets the Orlando Cepeda for Ray Sadecki trade.

And how about trading Joe Nathan and a host of others to get one year of A.J. Pierzynski? Not to mention signing Barry Zito to (at the time) the richest contract for a pitcher ever. Oh well, is it too early to say ‘Wait till Next Year’ yet again?

Given the economy I think we may see a rather large number of young (meaning cheaper) players make big league rosters this year. If you are a fantasy owner who follows prospects then this could be a year you get rewarded.

Looking forward to spring training – now only 6 weeks away!

Given that the average salary for a major league ballplayer is now roughly 3 million a year, do players really need an agent like Scott Boras who insists on getting every possible dime in negotiations?  Maybe a player is better off with an agent who finds a team that the player wants to play for (in a city he likes, or a team with a good chance to win, or a manager he appreciates)?

For instance, it seems that Johnny Damon would have really liked to stay with the Yankees, they did just win the World Series and he seemed to greatly enjoy his time in NY.  But Boras demanded top dollar (3 years at 13 mill per year according to reports), so the Yankees signed Nick Johnson and basically told Damon to go seek work
elsewhere.

Another example is Matt Holliday. I guess I don’t blame Boras for trying to get top dollar for Holliday, whom everyone agrees is the top free agent available this year.  But wouldn’t Matt be better off staying in St. Louis, even if he had to try and ’scrape by’ on a 6
year/96 million dollar contract, instead of demanding an 8 year/150 million dollar deal no one thinks he will get?  St. Louis is by all accounts one of the best places to play in all of baseball, with a team that virtually always is in the playoff hunt, great fans, and
Albert Pujols to take the hitting pressure off of Holliday.

If Holliday and “super-agent” Scott Boras are not careful St Louis is liable to sign Jason Bay instead, or maybe just trade for a cheaper OF alternative, and then Holliday might well end up like Adam Dunn last year – signing with a team (Washington in Dunn’s case) that has no chance at winning in the foreseeable future.

Once you get to 16 million a year, isn’t being in a great place to play more important than getting even more money?  I think Holliday can feed his family on that amount, eh?

During his 2008 arraignment, the judge called Chris Henry a “one man crime wave.” That was the last straw for the Bengals, who released him the same day.  It was Henry’s fifth arrest on a variety of charges including marijuana possession and gun charges.  It’s hard to believe that his NFL career didn’t end there.

He’d been a loose cannon with the Bengals for a few seasons .  In 2007 he was suspended for half the season, as the NFL started cracking down on players who found trouble off the field.  In a move that shocked many, the Bengals had a change of heart and brought Henry back after his legal difficulties.

Henry had begun to put his life back together off the field, he was engaged and raising children with his fiancee.  His legal troubles seemed to be completely behind him.  Teammates reported he was in excellent shape, showing great resolve, and he was working out with the team, with a strong focus on his NFL career.

Police aren’t releasing enough details to clearly explain how the Bengals wide receiver was thrown from the back of a pick up truck, reportedly driven by his fiancee.  They are describing the incident as a domestic dispute.  What is clear is a promising young athlete, with a second chance at NFL glory was taken too soon, at 26.

The Bengals will wear stickers on their helmets this weekend as a tribute to Henry.

It’s been a rough decade for two of the NFL’s all-time great franchises – the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers. Still, with the end of 2009 in sight, the Sacramento Bee recently compiled the “Team of the Decade” for both franchises.

In a sign of the times for Oakland, only punter Shane Lechler and kicker Sebastian Janikowski stood out as obvious choices for the All Decade team among players with any degree of longevity with the team. They were there during an impressive run to start the decade – including a trip to the Super Bowl following the 2002 season – and are among the most consistent performers on the downtrodden team since.

For the 49ers, the future is looking bright with a solid core of players such as linebacker Patrick Willis, tight end Vernon Davis, and running back Frank Gore – all choices on their All Decade team. And before he wore out management with his antics, receiver Terrell Owens was a top performer in the early part of the decade, assuring his name made the list as well.

As always, these sort of lists are subject to much debate.  So who would you have gone with?

After the Indianapolis Colts celebrated an impressive 28-16 victory over the Denver Broncos, there’s speculation that Peyton Manning, in line to receive the NFL MVP title, may be warming the bench until mid-January when the Colts will play their first playoff game.

MVP votes will be cast January 4th, and some are wondering if Manning’s name will remain top of mind, if he doesn’t keep a high profile on the playing field.   While Manning has led the Colts to an amazing 13-0 start, you can bet that other contenders for the MVP title will be scrambling a bit harder than Manning to keep their teams’ SuperBowl dreams in within reach.

For instance, Brett Favre is sure to spend the next few weeks focused on a leading the Vikings towards the SuperBowl.  And what of Drew Brees?  These two stand outs are sure to have plenty of playing time in the next month.  Manning and the Colts have a full dance card to get through as well, with a match up against Jacksonville just a few days from now.

So if Manning warms the bench, will this affect the Colts drive to the SuperBowl?  Will he hurt his chance at receiving his fourth MVP title?  Or will the Associated Press, who will be casting their votes in early January,  remember his name, even from the bench?

As the NFL season winds down to the finish line, who will claim the title of MVP?

It certainly appears that quarterbacks are at the top of the conversation. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning both have their teams undefeated after 12 games while the seemingly ageless Brett Favre has the Minnesota Vikings thinking Super Bowl.

A strong case could be made for all three. Each is a bonafide leader on the field and all currently have QB ratings exceeding 100, completion percentages at or near 70 percent, and have thrown for at least 25 touchdowns and 3000 yards.

So who wins?

This is one of those unique years where it is entirely possible we’ll see co-MVPs.  Favre is a media and fan favorite and arguably having his finest season at the age of 40. Brees is the toast of the town for a New Orleans Saints team that has never approached the prospect of an undefeated season and Manning has his Colts on a roll despite relying on a young mix of receivers this season after perennial favorite target Marvin Harrison was not resigned in the off season.

Stay tuned as the final weeks of the NFL season will likely decide the winner. If either the Saints or Colts finish undefeated, it would be hard not to give it to their Quarterback after such a remarkable feat.

About the only non-QB with a shot is Tennessee Titan running back Chris Johnson.  If he does indeed set a new rushing yardage record and somehow manages to get the Titans into the playoffs, then we’re looking at a four man race for the coveted award.

What’s your take?