Profile Pictures

I finally got around to looking at baseball box scores a few hours ago, and something I saw struck my attention.

These two guys were the 'top batters' for their respective teams.

Which reminded me of this:

Last year after Pudge left the Yankees to sign with the Astros, this became his profile picture sometime in the first month or two of the year. It was the first time I had seen the slightly zoomed out camera angle that I think makes the players look malnourished. Actually I can't think of any player picture with that view since Pudge, until this year's new photos came out. So I looked at the box scores of every game played yesterday and looked for new pictures, and here's what I got:

Johnny Damon


Vladimir Guerrero


Miguel Tejada


Adrian Beltre


Rick Ankiel


Milton Bradley


Juan Pierre


Victor Martinez


Marlon Byrd


Jake Peavy


Marco Scutaro


Chone Figgins


Hideki Matsui


Jason Bay


Rich Harden


Adam Laroche


Alex Rios


Matt Holliday


Curtis Granderson


Nate Mclouth


Jeff Francouer


Melky Cabrera


At first I thought the zoomed out view made everyone look younger, but it seems to be more when they don't fill the frame vertically.
One thing I'm wondering is why it seems like everyone's jerseys are hanging a little to the left as evidenced by the amount of undershirt you can see.
Another odd thing-no new pictures for any pitchers.
Part of me prefers the old-frame filling photos, but those photos of the Mets and Melky Cabrera I would keep in my wallet if I were related to them. That's some Van Gogh School Photographers poses right there.

Letters

Dear Felix,

Please accept my apologies for only drafting you in three out of four fantasy leagues. I'm sorry I doubted you for a second, and that I was momentarily drawn by the high ranking status of Roy Halladay. I should have stuck with The Plan, which was the one-two Venezuelan punch of drafting Miggy and then you. I will make sure to appreciate you in my other three leagues. I will also work on expanding my King Felix baseball card collection.

Have a good season!!!

Love forever and ever,
Kei

DRAFT DAY

He looks so happy and so young in the face!

On Saturday night, I was planning out my "IDEAL TEAM: THE POPPERSTEINS," but I was also preparing for a backup plan, known as "NON-IDEAL TEAM: THE LITTLE OMARS." I was trying to prepare myself for the worst: last pick, no Miguel Cabrera. Thirty minutes before the draft, I found out I was--oh, indeed--LAST PICK. I panicked, thinking that there was no way I'd get the LORD MIGGY, whose overall rank by Yahoo was 11. I was prepared to go with plan B and select players to whom I had no particular attachments but also knew were good people to have, so that I could terrorize the entire league with them. I was envisioning being the MoT version of Omar Little from "The Wire."

But by the grace of fantasy baseball gods, I ended up with the LORD MIGGY! First of all, Ryan Howard was totally unloved and neglected in the first round. And then there was magic. I must personally thank both Slippery Logicians and Waste Wildenstein. I owe these managers a cookie or two. Slippery Logicians made sure to secure MIKE LOWELL, for familial reasons, and Waste Wildenstein locked in ace pitchery in the form of TIM LINCECUM. As our favorite Steak 'N Shake waiter says, "Gooood choiiiice, gooood choiiiice..." With these moves, I was able to select Miggy. I had to pick again immediately after because of the snaking order, so I was able to get my ideal second pick, KING FELIX HERNANDEZ. The rest of my team is a strange mashup of Tigers, Rockies, and Marlins players, with an estranged person here and there.

The draft took three hours to complete and I am exhausted. Unfortunately, I have to deal with this thing called "reality," but I'll be back soon with a collage of my team.

My First Fantasy Baseball Team: Lessons Learned #1

The "Chone" in Chone Figgins's name does not rhyme with "cone."

Absentee

BASEBALL IS UPON US

"Chicago Cubs pitching instructor Mike Mason sniffs a broken bat hit back to the pitching mound during workouts at the team's spring training baseball facility Tuesday, March 2, 2010, in Mesa, Ariz." Is this a Post-Sosa thing; is this how you see if there's cork in a bat?

Hello everyone! It's March, and at least in Chicago, the snow is melting and there's a weekend of 40 degree weather on its way. The internet is abuzzing and atweeting about baseball, spring training, and baseball cards. I think it's safe to say that spring is on its way.

The Marauders of Time draft is scheduled for Sunday, March 7, 3:00PM CST. If you don't have a draft plan, there are a variety of places to do some draft research. MLB.com has a list, complete with photos. I have no idea who these people are, but I found them on Yahoo's main baseball site, so here are some other rankings. Rotoworld is another possible resource and somehow CBS has a fantasy site. I don't really know much about these sites, but there they are. Anyway, drafts are the best part of fantasy, so don't miss it LIVE!

EDIT: The draft is no longer this Sunday, March 7, but the following Sunday, March 14, at 3:00 PM CST. MARK YOUR CALENDARS!