May 9th, 2023
Hello and welcome to Hoff's Hot Takes. We had a bye week last week, but are back and better than ever. We will update the ranks, and we talk about each team's last two matchups and how their teams are going. We will have OF Primes, a big shakeup in the Power Rankings, and much much more. Today's Takes are brought to you by Microsoft Excel, Chevrolet, and Pineapple Express.
Star - Star has dominated his last two weeks. He has won his last two matchups 16-6-2, and is cruising. He has averaged under 3 ERA the last 10 days. Star is one of three guys who have two top ten guys on the player rater. Juan Soto is an OBP machine and leads the league in walks by a large margin. Brent Rooker is killing it, and was an amazing pick up for the Bro Stars. Ryan has 7 guys batting over .282 on his team, which in 2023 in pretty insane.
Nolan - Without a doubt, but maybe I have a doubt cause I suck, but I think Nolan has dropped the most these last 12 days... Lost to Mike 4-7-1 in Matchup 4, but he bounced back to be down 3-7-1 to Micah as of Sunday evening. There are only 5 people with double digit homeruns this season - and Nolan has two of the 5. Nolan also has three of the top 5 RBI guys in the league at this moment... Bailey Ober - 18 IP and a .98 ERA
Jordan - Not a good start for 'ol JPH coming back to the Dirty Diez. He loses his Matchup 4 against AlBear 5-6-1, and then he got smoked by Star 2-10. Jordan is a bit banged up, and generally sucks, but I feel a big turnaround coming soon (After some trades. And by turnaround, I mean I have been playing a long game for 2024. Jordan has the number one player in fantasy on the player rater in Ronald Acuna, but he is just wasting away like Jimmy Buffett in Margartiaville. Give me a bit more losing, I will be selling out like Sublime after Bradley died.
Berrones - In matchup 4, Mike took down Nolan to secure a spot in my mind as a dude. He will be around. He will be good. Final 4 Mike is what they call him in these parts... Matchup 5 did not really go as planned for Mike, because as of 6:15PM on Sunday, he is down 0-12. Cmon, at least I have 2 wins going... Mike is one of three guys to have two top ten players on the player rater at this moment. Bo Bichette leads the league in hits, and should provide elite stability for his lineup. I like Mike to maybe win a playoff game right now for some reason. Could be a good reason, ya never know...
Berry - Berry takes down Jordan in Matchup 4 by a score of 6-5-1, and is currently up 7-1-4 on Kurgan. I propositioned Alex for MJ Menedez this offseason, and he balked. Take your base... Wander Franco is on pace for 30/100 per 162, and 40 SB. Would be one of the small 30/40 seasons in history... Trea Turner and Franando Tatis should heat up soon (Turner cause he is good, Tatis cause he will piss hot.) Shane Bieber is so good. I know I am not breaking any news here. He is on pace for 11 wins, an under 3 ERA, and like 170 Ks. No Walks. No Fuss. Just Gas (TM)
Micah - Micah has killed it the last three weeks, and his team is really hitting his stride. Micah is one of three people who have two top ten players on the player rater. Micah takes a close loss to Star, and in Matchup 5 he took Nolan out back to the woodshed 9-2-1. Anthony Santandar, and Manny Machado lead the way for Micah. Loving Mason Miller. He should be awesome this summer and beyond. Marcus Stroman was a good pickup, and he should be better than 2-2.
Kloss - Kloss kept it rolling in Matchup 4 against Joe, winning 8-4. Kloss has four of the top 8 starters in terms of Innings pitched, and if that holds up, it may be a tough out week in and week out... Kloss has 25 more RBIs than any other team so far... Kloss is already up 6-1-5 against Jordan right now as of Monday evening at 7:45. Does Nico keep it up? Jose Ramirez has 18 RBI and 18 BB. Give me some Josh Lowe...Spencer Strider and Sonny Gray have 80 innings pitched and 18ER (around 2.00), and 8 Wins. On pace for a combined 40 wins.
Kurgan - Kurgan has 4 wins in the last two weeks as of 8:05PM Sunday night. We need to turn the 'Topes around here. The league is better when the 'Topes are competitive. I just love saying the 'Topes... Love this Ke'Bryan Hayes. Love a randomly placed apostrophe... Mookie had 8 RBIs this week... Whit Merrifield is on pace for about 45 doubles, 70 doubles, and 35 steals. That has to piss Joe off. Or does it? Hmmm... Blake Snell and Drew Smyly combined for 22 IP and 3 QS this week. 18 hits and 8 ER though...
Brey - Brey has two of the five guys who have 5+ pitching wins this season. He got a huge win in matchup 4 against Kurgan, and he flipped the switch and lost this week 1-9-2. Marcus Semein killed it this week and carried Bill to his win in Matchup 4. Vlad Guerrero Jr is on pace to go 30 HR and 30 doubles while batting .320. That good? Love Ezequiel Duran, and think he has legs for ol Billy boy... Garret Cole and his relivers give him a good solid foundation for his staff. Could hold him up this summer. Love the Lieter kid.
Gaza - Joe loses matchup 4 to Kloss. Team Dad D is currently up 12-0 against Mike, and he needed it after a few weeks of not so good ball. Joe has a team OPS of .820, and no other team is above .800... Joe got a good week from the Good Asian guy from Boston (look, im tired, and I do not want to go back and copy and paste his name... Ya know what, Yoshida. There. Yoshida...) Otani gave up 1 walk in 5 innings, and drew 4 at the dish this week. Joe batted .300 this week.
Primes - Tony Gwynn from 1993-1997 batted .370. In those five seasons he also averaged 100 RBI, 15 SB, and had 2x as many walks as strikeouts. He averaged only 20 SO a season!.... From 2001- 2012, Ichiro batted .322, while averaging 159 games player per season. He had 10 gold gloves, lead the league in hits 7 times, and had an MVP in that stretch as well, finishing in the top 10 of MVP 5 times...Kenny Lofton is an amazing hall of good player. From 1992-1998, Kenny batted .313 while averaging over 200 hits and 35 doubles a season. He also averaged 69 stolen bases during that time, so you can kind of say that is 104 doubles cause those were singles that he stole second on... Marquiss Grissom alert! From 1990-1994, Grissom batted .280 and averaged 60+ steals. 30 doubles, 13 HR. His steal rate was over 80% for those five years. He had three top 12 finishes in MVP, and 3 gold gloves during that time as well.... Jermaine Dye from 99-2006 batted .280 and averaged 31HR 35 2B and 109 RBIs per 162 during that stretch. He finished 5th in the MVP in 06, but his 2000 season may be his best one.
Randomness - Rays are +115 in run differential right now, Oakland A's are -135... Cubs are only 3 games back, Sox are 7. My preseason predictions for the ALCS and NLCS are looking alright right about now... Braves are 15-3 on the road as of 5/8... I think if I were to buy 5 T Shirt Jerseys right now I would do the following : Griffey Jr. in dark blue Mariners, Andre Dawson Cubs, Maddux Braves in blue, Oakland A's Rickey Henderson, and Mcgwire in A's Green.... Nelson Cruz had 5 hits in a game this week. He is 42. He is the oldest player since Pete Rose with 5 hits in a game. He also now has the second most HR ever after the age of 40. He is hitter Bartolo Colon.