If you can stomach the overly cutesy introduction (just skip on down to the list), Brad Evans has a handy cheat sheet for the fantasy baseballers out there that lists his top 30 base stealers in Major League Baseball. Evans has New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes in the #1 slot, projecting 62 steals for the 2007 season:
Reyes has become the preeminent base stealer in the game today. The NL leader in swipes the past two seasons, the 24-year-old tire-squealer has totaled 124 steals since 2005. His dramatic 54-point rise in on-base percentage and discernable eye (54 walks) in ‘06 arrows to another steals crown. Clearly the second best player in fantasy behind Albert Pujols this year, he’ll become the first person to reach the coveted 20-60 milestone since Rickey Henderson 17 years ago.
Everyone gets a little tipsy from time to time. No big deal, at all. But c’mon…. when Orlando Magic C/F Darko Milicic is the one who’s had way too many drinks, Empty the Bench considers it a high-priority news item. So have at it—Darko drinking with The Faceless Man.
No CommentsPosted by Brian Spencer on Feb. 27, 2007 at 6:10pm in NBA
The so-called “Holy Grail of Baseball Cards” was auctioned off yesterday to a Southern California card collector who has concealed his identity so that the neighbors can’t rib him for spending $2.35 million on a baseball card. The uber-rare tobacco card for Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner has long been described as the most “off the hook” baseball card one could possibly own, as there are believed to only be 60 still intact. This particular card was once owned by hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who sold it when realizing the value would decrease if put in the spokes of his BMX.
According to seller Brian Siegel, his Honus Wagner card is in waaaayyyyy better condition than the other ones in circulation. Still, you could put one in the bottom of your cat’s litter box for a month, dust it off, and still sell it for a cool $100 grand.
The others “you could stick in the middle of the street and let cars drive over it through the day, take it in your hand and crumple it up, and it still would be a $100,000 card,” said Seigel, CEO of Emerald Capital LLC, an asset management company, who lives in Las Vegas. “The Wagner card gave me a tremendous amount of pride, excitement and pleasure. I hope the new owner will have the same satisfaction I enjoyed over the years.”
Seigel went on to say he slept with the card, bathed with the card, took the card for walks, even dated the card for a short spell. He cited “irreconcilable differences” for the break-up.
Trevor Ariza is a little know player who could have a big effect on the Eastern Conference playoff race. Orlando Sentinel columnist Brian Schmitz recently detailed his expected impact, not only for this season but on the Magic’s future. Ariza returned to action Sunday versus the Rockets (14 points, 5 rebounds, 10-12 FTs), his first game since spraining his knee on January 10th. The Orlando Magic were 22-14 with Ariza in the lineup, and just 5-16 while he was out. One of the most important things Ariza brings to the table is youth and athleticism from the wing, something the Magic desperately need. They weren’t getting that from Hedo Turkoglu, J.J. Reddick and Grant Hill (when he plays). Trevor also plays some pretty mean defense outside, where they’ve been lacking.
While the season averages as a starter of 10.7 points, 4.6 boards and 1.7 steals on 53.5% from the field are very respectable, they don’t indicate the valuable energy and hustle he puts forth nightly. As Brian Schmitz said, “Ariza does so many things well that he makes an impact without launching a shot.” Because he is a 21-year-old, significant improvement is expected from him, especially on offense, over the next few seasons. Those in deeper fantasy basketball leagues should give him a look, as he can provide superior FG% and steals. Ariza will likely be inserted back into the starting lineup sometime this week. A second-round pick out of UCLA in 2004, Ariza has been making a name for himself around the league with his ups and hustle and has been in high demand since the Knicks included him in the Steve Francis trade last year.
We just wanted to take a second to thank the “Blog of the Day Awards” for recognizing Empty the Bench this afternoon and naming us as one of their “Blogs of the Day”. Very cool, and we appreciate it very much. If anyone is finding us from the awards site, thanks for visiting, and please bookmark EmptytheBench.com as we have tons of scintillating NBA, MLB, and NFL coverage always in the works.
Usually meek NCAA hoops analyst Dick Vitale’s mouth got him in trouble yesterday, as he accidentally revealed the contents of a confidential conversation with Florida coach Billy Donovan on air. Known as a master of subtlety, it’s shocking to learn Mr. Vitale actually missed one of his colleague’s cues and that the demure commentator speaks so freely when the mics are off. At the time of the slip up, he was doing a radio bit with Mike Griffith and John Adams of the News Sentinel.
Griffith tried to get Vitale’s attention but the popular basketball analyst continued his conversation with someone at the Broken Egg restaurant in Siesta Key, Fla. , while he was on the air with Griffith and Adams. Vitale said Donovan told him in confidence that NBA scouts were making a big mistake if they rated Florida’s Joakim Noah ahead of teammate Al Horford.
Perhaps what’s more surprising than his obliviousness is that Vitale’s babblings were actually in the form of a coherent thought.
Of all the salty old veterans in the NBA, Allen Iverson still ranks as one of ETB’s favorites. Though we weren’t big fans of him ending up in Denver alongside Punch-and-Run Carmelo, it is what it is and we’d still like to see him succeed in the Mile High City. Unfortunately, it just ain’t happening yet for the Nugs, but they did put it together (sort of) tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies with a 111-107 win on the road. Iverson paired nicely with Carmelo Anthony—tonight’s Top Small Forward, below—scoring 25 points on 7-18 shooting with 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 three-points, and 8-9 from the free-throw line. AI turned the ball over four times.
Behind 28 fourth-quarter points from the backcourt duo of Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford, the New York Knicks held on at Madison Square Garden to beat the Miami Heat for the third time this season 99-93. The rejuvenated home crowd erupted during the Knicks’ suffocating run in the fourth, with Marbury getting into the paint at will, dropping a few huge buckets, and Crawford hitting clutch shots, including a big time 3-pointer from the corner with under 30 seconds to go in the game.
Are the Knicks still in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt? They came into tonight’s contest trailing the Nets by just two games for the 8th seed, and with Miami hurting (and the tiebreaker advantage over the Heat) and the Nets performing inconsistently, the short answer is yes. They’ll need to string together a few winning streaks—something they’ve had difficulty doing all season—and hope the Heat fall like everyone predicts they will, but they have just as good a chance as the three teams currently ahead of them (the other being the Orlando Magic).
Fantasy Player of the Game: Eddy Curry came up big against the aging tandem of Shaq and Alonzo Mourning. On the night, the Knicks’ lumbering 6-11 center had 28 points on 9-17 shooting, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, and shot 10-13 from the line. Amazing that a young guy like Curry is smart enough to practice his free throws and display a significant improvement at the line, but “the most dominant player in the NBA” still hasn’t figured it out.
Fantasy Dud of the Game: Channing Frye of 2005-2006, where have ye gone? Frye’s season continued on a downward spiral this evening, with the second-year F/C posting 6 points and 7 rebounds on 2-6 shooting. You’ve lost that loving feeling, Channing… you’ve lost that loving feeling.
Bench Player of the Game: Not many contributions of note off the bench tonight. I’d give it to Alonzo Mourning, but he disqualified himself for “pulling an Alonzo” in the second half by posing, preening, and flexing for the crowd whenever he got the opportunity (ya know, like when he did something spectacular like grab a rebound). So… um… well… we’ll give it to Michael Doleac for being such a good sport during his 4 minutes on the court. The Great White Wonder finished with 1 rebound.
Andre Miller (18 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 8-10 FGs in tonight’s win over Sac town) has picked up his game recently for the Philadelphia 76ers. He is taking on more of the scoring responsibilities and learning to play with his new teammates (.69% FGs, 14.7 points, 7.7 assists and 1.7 steals in the last week). If you’re in need of traditional point guard stats and you don’t want to hurt your percentages, look no further. He’s ranked in the middle of the pack in most formats, but he can provide superior assist and steal totals when he’s on his game. The key thing is his shooting though. Miller has always been a guy who didn’t take shots he couldn’t make (.7 3-pointers attempted per game for his career) and knocked down his free throws. Somehow, he got into a massive slump in those categories over the last couple of seasons, but he appears to be back in his comfort zone.
The premier alley-oop tosser in the league has been posting those solid assist, steal and point totals, but it’s the shooting categories where the improvement has really taken place. In February he is scoring at a sizzling 55.3% from the field and 83% from the line (49% FGs and 79% FTs overall as a Sixer). It’s about time for Miller (a career 80% FT shooter who is coming off the two worst seasons of his career in the category, 72.8% and 73.9%) found his groove again. Andre will always be an assist specialist (441 total this year, fourth in the NBA), but he can also give you a boost in rebounds and FG% from the point guard position, and when his shot is falling there are very few point guards in the league I would rather have.
Maybe the trade deadline wasn’t completely worthless after all. Anthony Johnson started his run as an Atlanta Hawk in style on Sunday night, with 17 points, 5 assists, and 3 three-pointers on 7-12 FGs in 35 minutes. Johnson (11.1 points, 5 assists, 1 three-pointer, 1 steal on 45.5% FGs as a starter last season) is only worth a look in leagues of 10 teams or more at this point. As we’ve mentioned here before, the Hawks are pretty set at the SG, SF and PF spots, but they are sorely lacking at PG.
Tyronn Lue and Craig ‘Speedy’ Claxton have been injury prone this year (to say the least), so if AJ plays well he could be in line for a bunch of minutes. Johnson is a 10-year veteran who could bring much needed experience from the point to a young ATL lineup. Don’t get too excited, and don’t chase last game’s stats by making an add now. Put him on your watch list, and if he strings together another solid two games, consider a move. Don’t expect anything dramatic, but Johnson could potentially help your team in assists, steals and 3-pointers from the bottom of the roster.
