There has been an ongoing joke in my fantasy baseball league for a few years about Jose Quintana and his consistent mediocrity. The joke is basically to make fun of whoever owns him, because most of the owners in the league think he sucks. I take offense to such criticism though, as I’ve chosen to have Quintana on my team a couple of times. I certainly would not have drafted…
While listening to Bill Simmons’s baseball podcast last week, I heard a guest on the show say something along the lines of, “Carlos Beltran has been a much better hitter as a DH, ever since Alex Rodriguez went on the Disabled List.” This guest is right. In 72 plate-appearances so far in 2016 as a designated hitter, Beltran is hitting .323 with a 1.100 OPS and a 189 wRC+ (weighted runs created plus —…
With the MLB draft less than two weeks away, I thought it would be appropriate to examine one of the most controversial topics surrounding the draft: the qualifying offer. Essentially, the qualifying offer intends to reward teams — presumably the small-market, low budget ones — that lose players in free agency. This reward comes in the form of an additional first-round draft pick for every player that signs with another team. Only…
Hello readers. My name is Jeb Clarke and this is my first post here at Check Down. I am a recent (6 days) college graduate and I find myself in the awkward phase that most of my fellow classmates seemingly find themselves in post-graduation. It seems as though us graduates can be categorized into three groups. Group A includes the fortunate ones that obtained a fancy, suit-wearing job that requires relocating to…