With the season over, we now look back before we first look back and see what we got right and what we got wrong. Today, we begin by looking at my Bold Predictions article from March. Spoiler Alert: It did not go great.
In 2021, I sat down to do my draft prep and as I looked through the projections and projected lineups for the upcoming season, one name stuck out to me as a potential breakout candidate: Cedric Mullins. He had spent a majority of the last month of the 2020 season as the Orioles lead off hitter and I saw his underlying skills as something that could be built on. He was also dirt cheap in early drafts, going outside of the top 500 picks.
On June 3, 2026, the San Diego Padres designated Nick Castellanos for assignment, effectively ending his time with the organization where he hit .191/.221/.339 with four home runs this season. While this isn’t technically the end of his career as any team could opt to claim him, it very well could be the end of the line for the veteran hitter. If this is the end for Castellanos, he will end his career with 254 home runs and a .270/.319/.462 triple slash in 7072 plate appearances over 13 years. However, his legacy is much more than that. Read the rest of this entry »
In 2003, I arrived at Ft. Meade, Maryland to attend the Defense Information School (DINFOS) for Journalism. I had originally been an ammunition specialist and tried to reclassify to a linguist but failed the entry exam (a story for a different day) and ended up choosing journalism as my backup plan. I was pretty embarrassed and not very excited for my new career path in the Army. After arriving at my barracks, I was shown to my room and introduced to my bunkmate, Private Hunter.
About three weeks ago, I was picking up my youngest kid from school and as she was telling me about her day, she mentioned she fell from the playground and landed on her wrist. This was not an uncommon occurrence as she has her mother’s balance and father’s spatial awareness. For example, a few days before, she had twisted her ankle chasing her friend around that same playground and was hobbling around for a couple of days before she was back to normal. When we got home, I took a look at her wrist and it was a tiny bit swollen, but she was able to rotate her hand, make a fist, and adding pressure to it didn’t cause any pain, so I was pretty confident it was just a minor sprain. Read the rest of this entry »
In 2022, I decided to fly to Las Vegas for the NFBC live events to compete in the high stakes events. If you have never been, it is a really great week of events with a ton of fantastic players. On Saturday morning, they run about eight Main Event drafts at the same time. It is chaos, but at the same time, it is beautiful watching 120 people drafting fantasy baseball teams at the same time.
I woke up on April 25th of 2005 like I did any other day. I only had vague recollections of the night before and I was shaky and a bit nauseous, but that was normal because I was an alcoholic. I grabbed the bottle that was reserved for the mornings and I walked over to the sink in my bathroom. I looked in the mirror and didn’t like who looked back at me. Instead of pouring the contents of that bottle into a glass, I poured it down the sink. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Patience. Read the rest of this entry »
When I was a senior in high school, I had a number of options in front of me that I needed to make a decision on. After 9/11, I joined the U.S. Army Reserves with the belief that I would go to college to pursue my dream of playing football while being a reservist. I had a junior college that I was talking to about playing football for, I had early admittance to Sacramento State University where I could attempt to walk on their team, and I had the opportunity to go active duty in the Army.
Opening Day started like any other for me in 2018. I was excited and had taken the day off from work so I could settle in on my couch and just watch the games. I had done all my drafts and felt confident that I was going to have a fantastic season.
Read the rest of this entry »
As the Dodgers prepped for their World Series matchup against the Blue Jays in late October, one man was unexpectedly left off the roster. Alex Vesia was a vital piece of the Dodgers’ bullpen, throwing 59.2 innings during the regular season with a 3.02 ERA, a 34% strikeouts and registering 25 holds and five saves. The announcement from the team stated that Vesia was dealing with a “deeply personal family matter” and his return to the mound for the World Series would most likely not happen.
After the Dodgers clinched their second straight World Series championship, Vesia and his wife posted on social media that their newborn daughter had passed away on October 26th.