We've all got them: the guy we hate

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 5^th 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 12^th 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.

Do I need to drew you a picture?

So as Spring Training draws ever nearer, I figure I'll start talking about some of the guys I have been giving serious consideration to. The first guy I'll talk about is JD Drew. For a lot of people, he might as well add another letter to his abbreviated "first name." Just call me JDL Drew. People see him as the white, over hyped cousin of RonDL White.

First off, I think if JD hadn't been such a hyped prospect, and hadn't had the nasty holdout with Philly, I don't think he'd have the injury prone reputation. I think the fact that he was a high visibility guy from day 1, magnified everything he did. Look at it this way: two kids go to a tough college (yes, I am drawing parallels from my past here). Both struggle. One was valedictorian (I wasn't) in high school and never really had to work hard, one was in the top quarter of their class, but had to work hard. Most people would find the struggles of the valedictorian more surprising, because they excelled so easily in high school. JD Drew is that valedictorian.

He dominated college fairly easily, coasting on physical talent. Didn't have to work hard at conditioning or really apply himself. I think adjusting to playing 140+ games was tough for him, he couldn't get by on raw talent. He was ill prepared conditioning-wise as well as mentally, because he'd been told he was great for so long.

Short story long, he didn't work hard, and he had a rough go of it to start his career. Happens to a lot of guys, but JD was higher visibility. His struggles were more public, what with batteries being thrown and all, and he got branded with underachiever and overrated labels.

All that said, he's older now. From what I've read, he's applied himself to staying healthy and productive. If you look at his last few seasons he's played 145, 72, and 146 games. The year he played 72 games he got hit on the wrist with a pitch. Could happen to anyone.

The bottom line is that his career line is a /.286/.393/.512. A career 905 OPS is nothing to sneeze at. His 162 game average (yes I know he'll never play 162) is 102 runs, 27 HR, 86 RBI, 12 steals, with gold glove caliber defense. I expect him to stay healthy this year and play 145 games, and I think he'll probably put up numbers close to his 162 game average, due to the fact he's entering his prime, and hitting in a strong lineup. An OF like that is probably a top 12 AL outfielder....