So I was perusing the wire today and I saw a name that made my blood boil. Ok, maybe that's a bit strong, but I certainly didn't react positively to the name.
I think most fantasy players, after a while, end up with anti-binkies. I've mentioned the irrational fantasy binky in the past (I myself am a recovering member of the Jose Guillen binky club), well the anti-binky is the opposite, a guy who you irrationally hate.
The anti-binky really needs a good name. How about bonky? That’d be especially appropriate in fantasy hockey if your bonky was Radek Bonk.
Anyway, my current bonky is Hank “Mookie” Blalock, aka Hank “Stiff” Blalock. There, you see, my irrational distaste for Mr. Blalock is shining through. As you can probably guess, I once owned Mr. Hank Blalock. In fact, I made intermittent attempts to acquire his services over the course of 2 years before finally acquiring him prior to the 2006 season. I traded a high pick (top 10) and a lower pick for Blalock and a mid-round pick. I don’t want to delve into our league rules too much, suffice it to say, I gave up a fair amount to acquire him.
The thought process at the time went something like this: “He’s only 26, and already has a 32 HR, 110 RBI season under his belt. Nevermind the fact that he can’t hit lefties to save his life (He sports an impressive .225/.278/.351 against lefties in his career). Also nevermind the fact that his OPS had decline for 2 straight seasons, from .872 to .855 to .749. Basically, I was betting on him to turn it around, after all, he was only 26.
Well, what happened? He fell further off the face of the Earth. His OPS lowered again to .726. He hit even more pathetically against lefties. By the end of the season one of his coaches told him “You are a waste of talent.” By our league’s trading deadline I was disgusted with this stiff (who had taken up residence on my bench, having been supplanted by Adrian Beltre, another guy I have a love/hate relationship with) and shipped him out to get some first base help (Kevin Youkilis).
Hank was off to a better start this year before going under the knife. Not up to his previous career standards, but his OPS was at least over .800.
I think one of the main reasons people form fantasy bonkies is because of disappointment. In my case, I worked off and on for a few years in order to get that guy, only to end up saying “Man, this guy friggin sucks!”
We all have our bonkies and I welcome your comments about yours, and the reasons why.
Other bonkies I have/had:
JD Drew - He's well on his way to bonky status with his incredibly weak start. I draft him even though he was my 5th outfielder and traded Magglio Ordonez (and Joe Borowski, for Jason Giambi) to make room for JD. Not looking so good right now.
Chris Carpenter – This one is more a case of “what might have been.” I drafted him (a steal I thought) in the 12th round of our inaugural draft, back when he was still in Toronto. I thought he’d be a good one. He got bombed in his first start, then went on the shelf. He came back a few weeks later to get bombed again. Back to the DL he went, eventually having some arm surgery, if I recall correctly. Toronto ended up letting him go, he went to the Cardinals and the rest is history.
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