There should really be a trophy for this

For the last two weeks, my blogging has come to an absolute stop because of some computer issues, as well as some temporal issues.

Speaking of, last year around this time (actually 366 days ago), I wrote a particularly time-consuming blog diagramming your 2009 MLB All-Stars and their places in my fantasy league. Considering over half of my verified readers are in that fantasy league, I figure it's a valuable enough enterprise to repeat this season.

(By the way, there's a thing, over at the Star-News site, that you might want to read.)

So, here's my best modern-day recreation of last year's table:

NL Roster

Starters

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	Yadier Molina	Free Agent	271	I drafted Yadi and he immediately won me the first week with a grand slam, so he does provide some offense but is clearly a defensive selection. Despite that, he had 10 more F-points at this point last season.
1B	Albert Pujols	Team Manley	677	Nowhere near as dominant as he was at this point last season, Pujols is actually 4th in the league in F-points.
2B	Chase Utley	Port City C.B.K's	409	Utley went on the DL about a day before being selected as an All-Star. He's ranked behind 9 other 2B-eligible players, only 4 of which are on the All-Star rosters.
SS	Hanley Ramirez	Dallas RoughRiders	545	Hanley's has about 36% more F-points than next best SS of either league (Tulo), so the fans presumably made the right choice here.
3B	David Wright	Byron's Wang	563	Wright has been blazing over the past 30 days, averaging 9.1 F-points per contest.
OF	Ryan Braun	Byron's Wang	544	Braun is exactly 544 F-points above the other Ryan Braun, the KC RP who is (probably accidentally) owned in 0.3% of leagues.
OF	Andre Ethier	Saratoga Redsox	599	Ethier was one of my favorite F-players last season, so I'm disappointed I didn't draft him this year, especially now that he's averaging 9.2 F-points per game, good for second amongst position players (with more than 3 ABs, Drew Sutton).
OF	Jason Heyward	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	397	Probably the most questionable fan selection, with only a .251, 11 HRs and 45 RBIs. Heyward's popularity-contest win also suggests that Stephen Strasburg would be an All-Star if fans voted for pitchers.

Pitchers

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
CL	Jonathan Broxton	BS's THE BENIS	312	Broxton is the 4th highest ranked closer, despite being tied for 14th with 18 saves.
CL	Matt Capps	Team Manley	242	Conversely, Capps is tied for 5th with 22 saves, but has 70 fewer F-points.
SP	Chris Carpenter	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	385	Carpenter celebrated his All-Star selection by getting rocked by the Brewers, so he has -10 F-points since then.
SP	Yovani Gallardo	Port City C.B.K's	496	Little-known fact, Jon was not super excited about drafted Gallardo. Now he's the 4th highest scoring SP, 2nd highest scoring SP without a no-hitter, and 1st highest scoring SP on the DL. So far, Jon's All-Stars seem very injury-prone.
SP	Roy Halladay	Saratoga Redsox	778	Clearly the best pitcher in the league. Halladay leads the league with 7 complete games and 3 shutouts. He is not, however, on pace for the 30 wins that a lot of people predicted.
SP	Tim Hudson	Port City C.B.K's	250	Kind of a surprise, at least to me. Hudson only has 8 wins, despite pitching 14 quality starts in only 17 starts.
SP	Ubaldo Jimenez	Dallas RoughRiders	658	The other best pitcher in the league has struggled a bit of late, allowing 17 ERs through 17.2 innings over his last 3 starts.
SP	Josh Johnson	Saratoga Redsox	472	Johnson is tied for 1st with 15 quality starts (in only 17 starts), but only has 8 wins.
SP	Tim Lincecum	Byron's Wang	386	Lincecum was pretty well dominating SPs at this point last season. This season, he's not even the top scoring SP on Byron's roster. (He's behind surprise Padres pitcher Matt Latos, who has 391 F-points.)
RP	Evan Meek	Free Agent	143	Our second free agent, and for good reason, Meek is one of many 2010 All-Star RPs not in his team's closer role.
RP	Arthur Rhodes	Free Agent	135	And Arthur Rhodes is another.
SP	Adam Wainwright	BS's THE BENIS	582	Wainwright is the highest scoring SP without a no-hitter (3rd overall), in part because he's tied with Johnson and potential snub Felix Hernandez with 15 quality starts.
CL	Brian Wilson	Saratoga Redsox	314	Wilson is the third ranked closer and averages 9.5 F-points per outing.

Reserves

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	Brian McCann	BS's THE BENIS	355	He's performing better than last season, when he didn't necessarily deserve the All-Star nod. This year he's the 4th ranked catcher behind a guy on the DL and a guy with 2 grand slams.
1B	Adrian Gonzalez	Dallas RoughRiders	656	Always a good fantasy option, Gonzalez is only 21 F-points behind 1st overall pick Albert Pujols (and exactly 1 point behind absolute snub Joey Votto). He's also behind Miguel Cabrera, whom I'll get to soon.
1B	Ryan Howard	BS's THE BENIS	547	Howard, the 7th overall draft pick, is ranked behind 7 1B who were either drafted after him or not drafted at all. At least he's not Prince Fielder (6th overall draft pick, 16th ranked 1B).
2B	Brandon Phillips	Byron's Wang	434	Phillips was inexplicably a free agent for about 2 weeks while Byron played around with on-fire Martin Prado. Now, he has both.
2B	Martin Prado	Byron's Wang	526	Prado, who has eligibility at 2B, 1B, and 3B, is only behind Robinson Cano for 2B rankings. Interesting note: 3 teams own the top 6 2B-eligible players (Wang, Phillips and Prado; Sherricks, Cano and Casey McGehee; RoughRiders, Dustin Pedroia and Rickie Weeks).
SS	Jose Reyes	Port City C.B.K's	400	Reyes is tied with AL starter Derek Jeter with 400 F-points but is averaging .5 more F-points per appearance. He's replacing Tulo on the NL roster. By the way, Prado is replacing Utley in the starting lineup, but I typed so much about him, he broke my computer.
SS	Troy Tulowitzki	BS's THE BENIS	402	Like Reyes, Tulo has missed about a quarter of the Rockies' games (and will miss the All-Star game). Despite that, he's still 2nd amongst SS in our league.
3B	Omar Infante	Free Agent	161	So, the Braves have 5 All-Stars, some much, much less deserving than others. (Where's Troy Glaus?) In his defense, Infante is eligible at 4 positions (2B, 3B, SS, OF), but that's probably his best attribute.
3B	Scott Rolen	Port City C.B.K's	543	Definitely a surprising year for Rolen. He's the 4th ranked 3B in our league and plays for those asshole Reds.
OF	Michael Bourn	Free Agent	313	Quoted from last year: Spider-Man: "Tell 'em Peter." Peter Griffin: "Apparently everybody gets one."
OF	Marlon Byrd	Byron's Wang	442	I had a vague perception that Marlon Byrd was still in the league. Evidently, I was right, and he's not having a terrible year (.304, 9 HRs, 43 runs).
OF	Corey Hart	Port City C.B.K's	567	Hart is currently ranked 14th overall in our league. He's tied for 7th with 19 HRs and 6th with 61 RBIs.
OF	Matt Holliday	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	485	Oddly enough, this is Bryan's doesn't-deserve-to-be-there pick of the year. Bryan would like you to compare Holliday's numbers (.297, 46 runs, 12 HRs, 42 RBIs, 51 Ks) to Colby Rasmus' numbers (.276, 49 runs, 16 HRS, 40 RBIs, 83 Ks). Now you can.
OF	Chris Young	Saratoga Redsox	542	Young has been on three F-teams this season but is putting up good numbers. However, he's losing the PPG contest 35 to 6.6 to the other Chris Young (who has made 1 start).

AL Roster

Starters

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	Joe Mauer	Team Manley	390	Mauer is the lowest-scoring 1st-round pick in our league, though he averages .5 F-points more per contest than Prince Fielder.
1B	Justin Morneau	What?What? In the butt....	587	Our 5th-ranked 1B was drafted in the 5th round. He's ranked 12th overall.
2B	Robinson Cano	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	627	Probably my best draft pick (not that it's much of a contest), Cano has been a beast at 2B this year (.337, 59 runs, 16 HRs, 55 RBIs).
SS	Derek Jeter	Byron's Wang	400	Jeter has actually surprised me with his fantasy output, considering he's not really a power hitter. He's the third-ranked SS in our league, though it's a pretty weak position.
3B	Evan Longoria	What?What? In the butt....	524	Longoria is having a very good year (.296, 12 HRs, 60 RBIs, 12 SBs). But that doesn't justify his draft position (9th overall), considering he's barely cracking the top 30 for batters.
OF	Josh Hamilton	What?What? In the butt....	646	After an insane June (.454, 9 HRs, 31 RBIs), Hamilton has shot up to the 7th spot for hitters.
OF	Ichiro Suzuki	What?What? In the butt....	373	I guess Jackling's plan was to add AL All-Stars during the season. Ichiro is averaging 0.9 fewer F-points per contest than his cousin Kurt Suzuki (5.4).
OF	Carl Crawford	What?What? In the butt....	617	Crawford is the 3rd ranked OF, which means Jackling has two-thirds (with Hamilton) of the top three OFs in our league, as well as the entire AL starting outfield.
DH	Vladimir Guerrero	Byron's Wang	760	I really wish Ken Griffey, Jr. was voted in here. Alas. Vlad is 54 F-points ahead of the next closest batter (A-Rod) but still 18 points behind Roy Halladay for the top spot on our F-points scoreboard. Kind of a surprise, right?

Pitchers

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
SP	Clay Buchholz	BS's THE BENIS	324	Buchholz, who has 2 Hs in his name, is 10-4 with a 2.45 ERA, but will be on the DL for the All-Star game.
SP	Trevor Cahill	Saratoga Redsox	226	Cahill is only owned in 74.1% of leagues. This is probably Brett Anderson's "everybody gets one" spot if he'd stayed healthy. Dammit.
SP	Fausto Carmona	Free Agent	192	At 7-7, Fausto is probably another "everybody gets one." So, why not Shin-Soo Choo? Or maybe Fausto was voted in on an if-my-team-is-going-to-trade-for-him-I-might-as-well-meet-him-at-the-All-Star-game swing.
CL	Neftali Feliz	What?What? In the butt....	251	Feliz is tied for 5th in the Majors with 22 saves so far.
SP	Phil Hughes	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	307	My man. Considering the Yankees skipped his spot during their first time through the rotation this season, I was very happy to wait and pick Hughes off the wire after the first few games of the season. Hughes is averaging 20.5 F-points per start, despite totaling -20 over his last two starts.
SP	Cliff Lee	Team Manley	440	Lee has really turned it on during his last 4 starts, tossing 3 of his 2nd-place-worthy 5 complete games. He might have gotten some Fausto votes as well.
SP	Jon Lester	Team Manley	464	Lester is 10-3 with a 2.76 ERA this season. He also has 118 Ks in 114 innings pitched.
SP	Andy Pettitte	Byron's Wang	339	At 10-2, Pettitte was selected to replace the injured Buchholz, who has 2 Hs in his name. Despite his replacement-player status, Pettitte is outscoring a lot of pitchers on this list, including Buchholz.
SP	David Price	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	418	My other best draft pick (snagged him in round 20), Price is the 9th ranked SP.
CL	Mariano Rivera	Byron's Wang	249	Rivera was the 1st closer drafted (in round 8) but is ranked 10th amongst closers.
SP	CC Sabathia	Port City C.B.K's	401	CC is 11-3 and hasn't lost since May 23rd. He's facing free agent Eric Bedard this weekend in Bedard's first start of the year. So if anybody wants Bedard...
CL	Joakim Soria	Byron's Wang	262	Since I started this blog (some 3 weeks ago), Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh both announced they're playing for the Heat, 3 players were taken off the fantasy wire (including 1 Drew Sutton), 5,142 babies were born, Bryan fell over 9 different times, and Drew Brees was "on the move" 17 times.
RP	Matt Thornton	Team Manley	173	This is the only RP-that's-not-a-closer-but-still-made-the-All-Star-team that's on anybody's team. Thornton is the 30th ranked RP in our league behind teammates Bobby Jenks and J.J. Putz.
CL	Jose Valverde	BS's THE BENIS	222	Valverde is one of many seemingly elite closers who averages fewer than the value of a save (8) per appearance (6.0)

Reserves

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	John Buck	Free Agent	308	Replaces the injured V-Mart. There are currently 4 F-teams with starting catchers who have been outscored by Buck this season.
C	Victor Martinez	Dallas RoughRiders	383	V-Mart trails only Mauer (by 7 F-points) despite the fact he's missed the last 8 games.
1B	Miguel Cabrera	Port City C.B.K's	702	Cabrera is killing it this season (.343, 63 runs, 21 HRs, 73 RBIs). If the season ended today, he'd win the triple crown (in either league). He's only behind hitters A-Rod and Vlad, both of whom have hit multiple grand slams. Cabrera has zero.
2B	Dustin Pedroia	Dallas RoughRiders	509	Another injured RoughRider, D-Pads (as Matthew calls him) is 3rd amongst 2B despite missing the Sox last 10 games.
2B	Ian Kinsler	What?What? In the butt....	361	Kinsler, who replaces Pedroia, has also missed a lot of time, but is 5th amongst 2B with more than 3 ABs (sorry again Drew Sutton).
2B	Ty Wigginton	Free Agent	352	Wigginton is another multi-positional (3B, 1B, 2B, DH) All-Star who is probably only here because "everybody gets one." He does have 14 dingers, though.
SS	Elvis Andrus	What?What? In the butt....	287	I told you SS was a weak position this year. Despite that, there are currently 8 free agent SS-eligible players who have outscored Andrus this season. I probably shouldn't mention things like that, though.
3B	Adrian Beltre	Saratoga Redsox	429	As some sort of cruel April Fool's joke, Jackling dropped Beltre on April 1 in favor of Chone Figgins. So far, Beltre is outscoring Figgins 429-189. Probably not a great move, in retrospect.
3B	Alex Rodriguez	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	706	After 96 F-points last night, A-Rod hopped into 2nd place amongst hitters. His 3 grand slams are a major reason why he's that high up and I've won more than 2 weeks.
OF	Jose Bautista	Dallas RoughRiders	528	Bautista is surprisingly tied for the league lead in HRs (21). Not a terrible mid-May pickup for the RoughRiders. Of the 4 players with 21 HRs (Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, Hamilton, and Joey Votto), Buatista has the fewest F-points on the year.
OF	Torii Hunter	Saratoga Redsox	547	This 7th ranked OF has a .302 with 50 runs, 14 HRs, and 60 RBIs.
OF	Vernon Wells	What?What? In the butt....	547	This 7th ranked OF has a .273 with 45 runs, 19 HRs, and 48 RBIs.
DH	David Ortiz	BS's THE BENIS	479	Seriously, we couldn't replace David Ortiz (who was batting exactly .200 on May 12th) with Ken Griffey, Jr. (who was also batting exactly .200 on May 12th)?

So, totals:

Team Manley: 6 All-Stars (2 starters)

Dallas RoughRiders: 6 All-Stars (1 starter)

Sherwood Forest Sherricks: 7 All-Stars (2 starters)

BS's THE BENIS: 8 All-Stars (0 starters)

Free Agent: 8 All-Stars (1 starter)

Saratoga Redsox: 8 All-Stars (1 starter)

Port City C.B.K's: 8 All-Stars (1 starter)

What?What? In the butt....: 9 All-Stars (5 starters)

Byron's Wang: 11 All-Stars (4 starters)

Quote of the Week:

From: Me
To: Bryan
Subject: Damned Ryan Franklin

"He saved your fantasy ass, though. I came up with a new word for that sort of bittersweet fantasy game: suck/rule. It's pronounced suckrule, like the SuckCut from Wayne's World."

Yes, I'm quoting myself, but it's a good word. You should use it. Or not.

(By the way, Franklin lost the game for the Cardinals – gave up six earned runs – but kept Bryan in our fantasy matchup by losing 23 F-points for my team. So, Franklin's appearance suck/ruled for Bryan, not me. It just sucked for me.)