Swollen Dome » Albert Pujols

2012 Fantasy Baseball: First Basemen First Look

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:48:32 +0000

1 Miguel Cabrera
2 Albert Pujols
3 Joey Votto
4 Adrian Gonzalez
5 Prince Fielder
6 Carlos Santana
7 Paul Konerko
8 Eric Hosmer
9 Mark Teixeira
10 Freddie Freeman
11 Michael Morse
12 Paul Goldschmidt
13 Mike Napoli
14 Lance Berkman
15 Mark Trumbo
16 Ryan Howard
17 Michael Young
18 Kevin Youkilis
19 Adam Dunn
20 Billy Butler
21 Carlos Lee
22 Gaby Sanchez
23 Adam Lind
24 Pablo Sandoval
25 Ike Davis
26 Mark Reynolds
27 Michael Cuddyer
28 Justin Smoak
29 Mitch Moreland
30 Howie Kendrick
31 Carlos Pena
32 Justin Morneau
33 Joe Mauer
34 Kendrys Morales
35 Aubrey Huff

Inside The Swollen Dome: Wednesday 2.22

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:26:03 +0000

Harmon revs up the microphone for another day of ranting. He explores the NBA slate, Danica Patrick’s arrival in the Sprint Cup series, more NFL free agency & combine chatter and some random sporting tidbits. You want that Don Zimmer teddy bear/bobblehead thing, don’t you?

ITSD 2.22

* I referenced a Matt Bowen column in the podcast as an extension of the email I received that deemed the NFL Combine as “the ultimate job interview.” Here’s the link to the article from The Chicago Tribune .

And here is the frightening photo of the upcoming Zim Bear . It’s set the blogosphere on fire since this morning. Sleep with one eye open.

Inside The Swollen Dome: The Return

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:09:06 +0000

Harmon relaunches “Inside The Swollen Dome.” In his first extended ranting session, he rambles on about the NBA Finals (and the LeBron sub-plot), NHL Final, myriad baseball topics (Carlos Zambrano) and the glorious entertainment world.

Inside The Swollen Dome, Episode 1

Jose Bautista Signs a Huge Deal: Worth It?

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:53:40 +0000

Congratulations go out to Toronto third baseman Jose Bautista, who reportedly scored a monster 5-year, $65-million deal on the heels of his huge 2010 season. He slammed 92 extra-base hits, including 54 home runs, while driving in 124 runs with a .260 batting average (he’s a career .244 hitter).

I applaud Bautista and his agent for negotiating such a fantastic contract on the strength of a single season. The 30-year old 3B/OF had been in and out of the major leagues since 2004. He had never hit more than 16 home runs nor driven in more than 63 runs in any season.

Bautista had shown gap power with his 36-double, 15-home run season for the Pirates in 2007 (the year that he drove in 63 runs) and finished 2009 with a huge power surge, but nobody could have seen his 2010 season coming.

And now, the Blue Jays are forking off a mountain of cash to him with hope of similar output. Was it really just a simple adjustment of his swing that kept Bautista from being a fledging major league player to a behemoth? It took that long to find it?

I don’t believe that the floor drops out from under Bautista or that he sinks into oblivion. He’s in a good lineup in a good ballpark and will put up solid numbers. What level of production are they paying for here?

I Gave Up Too Early

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:04:41 +0000

I recently had a link forwarded to me that took me back to the sandlot.

I was a crafty southpaw and slap hitter as a youngster, far earlier than anybody should have carried either of those tags. The decision was made that contact was better than the big fly, hence I didn’t make full use of my ass-ets. I hit well, but the glory of the scoreboard-shattering blast eluded me.

On the mound, I never learned to harness the power that laid in what would later be dubbed Quad-zilla. I never found that sweet spot between power pitching and control and, in my youth, you could still get people to chase if you mixed things up … although drilling a few more batters might have been good for releasing frustrations.

Regardless, I wasn’t fleet of foot. I wasn’t the statuesque portrait of a ballplayer. I wasn’t, well, I just wasn’t … but the combination of being a lefty and this means that perhaps I should have kept going.

It’s not too late, is it?

Check out the article here .