Michael Cooney's New York Yankees fan blog

Let's take a look at the top 3 qb sleepers for the 2009 season:

Note: All stats and rankings are based on the following:
20 yards passing=1 point
10 yards rushing= 1 point
Td's= 6 points
Fumble/Int= -2 points


3. David Garrard
08: 3620 passing yards 15 passing td's 13 INT's 322 yards rushing 2 rushing td's

This guy always seems like a perennial sleeper. He finally came out of his shell a little bit last season, passing for 1111 more yards than the previous season, though he did play in 4 more games. Last year he was the 11th best qb, and yet is consistently ranked lower than 15 for the upcoming season. He should be able to crack the top 10 qb's this year given the addition of aging, yet talented, receiver Torry Holt. In addition, Garrard is effective at creating points with his legs, rushing for 322 yards and 2 td's last season. What keeps Garrard from being a top tier qb (besides his lack of receivers), is his lack of passing td's. For a man with 3600+ yards passing, 15 td's is a very small number. Cassel and Pennington passed for nearly identical yardage last season, and they had 21 td's and 19 td's respectively. If Garrard could ever pass for td's like he did in 07' (when he had 18 td's in only 12 starts) and have the health he did in 08', he could easily eclipse 20 passing td's. While I'm not so convinced of this that I will make him my starting qb, Garrard will make a terrific backup with the potential to catapult himself into a starting fantasy gig.

Continue reading "3 quarterback sleepers in the 09 fantasy football season"

Three wide receivers who will give you the most return value in 09'.

Note: All rankings are based on following stats
10 receiving yards= 1 point
All td's= 6 points

3. DeSean Jackson
08: 912 receiving yards 2 rec. td's 96 yards rushing 1 rushing td

Opinions vary widely on Jackson. Yahoo Sports! projects Jackson as the 30th best wr this season. My fantasy magazine has him at #19. His adp 57.51, puts him as the 21st receiver taken in an average draft. With so many varying opinions, it should be quite common to see drafts in which Jackson is taken too high and too low. He was the 30th best receiver last year, and really faded down the stretch. In fact the only games in which he topped 100 yards receiving were in weeks 1 and 2. His yardage waned considerably in the second half of the season. To top it all off, Jackson displayed little skill in the endzone, catching only 2 td's. So far it seems like Jackson is more of a bust than a sleeper, but this can be beneficial. It will be beneficial because many owners may know this and intentionally shy away from Jackson. However, he now has help thanks to the Eagles draft which landed them Maclin and McCoy. These guys should help spread the field and take attention away from Jackson. In addition, it is very odd that the speedy Jackson never burned defenses for long yardage catches after the first 2 weeks. He has the speed and the moves, and McNabb's got the arm. I would expect to see more of these long catches this season, and I would expect Jackson to come down with more td's this season, as he only caught 2 of McNabb's 23 last year. My advice: if Jackson slips past pick #60 I reccomend drafting him. If he slips past #75 definitely draft him. However, there are too many proven stars to justify taking him below pick #45.

Continue reading "3 fantasy football wide receiver sleepers"

 

  There's a saying about every sport that goes "Love the game first, the league second, your team third, and the players last". This saying poignantly displays that all fans are interconnected by their love for the game, no matter which team they support. I'm going to identify 3 teams that every NFL fan should be rooting for this season (of course unless they face your favorite team) and 3 you should be rooting against (unless they are your hometown team).

For

 3. Miami Dolphins

   It's not just their worst to AFC East first that means you should root for the Dolphins, it's the way they did it. They truely are an overachieving team of 'Average Joes'(minus stud RB Ronnie Brown). Chad Pennington was cast-off by the Jets in order to make room for attention-starved Brett Favre and responded by having a great season. And the Dolphins got to first utilizing the exciting wildcat offense, something most experts said could be used successfully in college, but not in the NFL because the "talented" defenders could easily recognize it. Well the Dolphins used it week in and week out and no D was able to stop it.

Continue reading "3 NFL teams to love (and 3 to hate!) this season"

1. Depth of starters

  Both the Sox and the Yanks have 3 great starters (Beckett, Wakefield, and Lester vs. Sabathia, Burnett, and Joba), but the Sox have no other pitchers of quality. Their #4 and #5 starters are Penny(5.02 ERA) and Mr. "I was happy with that start" Smoltz, whose sporting a 6.31 ERA. The Yankees seem to be lacking a strong #5 as well, but they should find some stability with Hughes, Wang, and Mirte all competing for the spot. And Pettitte, the Yanks #4 starter, is head and shoulders better than Smoltz and Penny. His ERA (4.65) is better than that of both Penny's and Smoltz's, and this despite the fact that he pitches in hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium (on the road his ERA is 3.69). The Yankees should easily tee off against Smoltz and Penny, while the Sox hitters would be kept in check by Pettitte.

Continue reading "5 reasons the Yankees will win the pennant and the Sox won't"

With a little over a week before the trade deadline, hot stove rumors are flying. Many of them center around the New York Yankees, who have consistently made deals prior to the deadline. Many of these rumors center around the Yankees acquiring one of the two top players on the trading block, Blue Jay's ace Roy Halladay and A's outfielder Matt Holliday. While these two players would certainly make the Yankees a more potent team, I am going to analyze what a trade would mean in terms of each player's: Talent, Necessity, Value, and Price.

 Roy Hallady

 Talent 

  Generally considered the biggest name on the trading block, there is no doubting Roy Halladay's talent. So far this year he's 11-3 with a 2.73 ERA and 113 K's in 132 innings. He shows great control, only walking 17 batters this year, or one batter for approximately every 8 innings pitched. He's shown consistency too, pitching 200+ innings over the last three years, and a cumulative ERA of 3.53. He would easily be the ace of the Yankees rotation. However, were Halladay to join the Yankees, don't expect him to maintain that 2.73 ERA at hitter-friendly Yankees Stadium. For a reference point, in 2008 7.95 runs a game were scored at the Blue Jays' home stadium, Rogers Center, while this year 10.56 runs a game are scored at Yankees Stadium. Still, Roy's just as talented no matter in which stadium he's pitching, but don't expect the same gaudy numbers if Halladay is in pinstripes.

Continue reading "Halladay, Holliday, or Hold em': Part 1"