Rockem Sockem

Congrats to Wilson who deserves all the praise, what a year, some far-out picks paid off and Neezer wins his first Rockem Championship, ending John's reign. Perhaps no one was rooting harder for Wilson than BK, but I digress. The top of the league was a pier six brawl as Mike Ryniec lead the whole shebang on September 1st only to drop down to 8th place by October 1st. What a crazy, mixed-up season.

The Spearmint Rhinos however were in contention the whole run (owning April May and June) and ended up on top when the season terminated. The teams manager was even a bit prophetic as you can see with his answers in the preview:

3) Whose team are you most impressed with?

I am most afraid of Winston’s and McNally’s, because they got girls pregnant recently and Rockem Sockem is basically becoming a fertility clinic (for further reading, see Moon and Birdie and Bull, who taught us that if you you want to go up the board, you gotta first go up to the bridal suite).

Good on you Campbell Soup, you called it in the preview….Who knows, if the season was three more days perhaps Don McNally might have ended up on top as his team (powered by Yelly and Belly) made a fantastic run to finish in 2nd. The Bar Boys first and second, beating all odds (Shakes head in disgusted respect). The third and final free eats position was hotly contested but Jeff jumped in the slot, leapfrogging Moon at the final whistle and the whole league is glad there wasn't a clusterfuck tie there.

Moon finished in 4th (again) while reigning champ Birdie, who was a force all season, wound up slotting it right in the five hole. Your humble Commish took sixth and while points were just a mere 11 from the top, the squad never really made the move he was hoping for. Rounding out the middle third of the league was a late arriving Don Fatone who steadily gained points in September and Mike who steadily lost points.

Perhaps the greatest testament to the 2019 season was the bottom third of the league as Tom, BK, Bull and even the lowly Vig were never in contention over the summer months, yet managed up until the bitter end. They were consistently sniping points here and there from the top of the heap. Thanks to everyone for staying interested and involved, making this truly, better than your league…wait….if you are reading this it probably is your league…mmmm ANYWAYS!

Continuing a tradition that is Meh at best…unlikethispicturewhichisBooshatworst.

MVRSFP - The Most Valuable Rockem Sockem Fantasy Player goes to….

We will get to the pick that won Wilson the league…right now! Sure he had a flashier pick, but without Nolan Arenado** doing what he do, all the other picks wouldn't have mattered much. Steady and consistent Nolan put up another fantastic year in the 'rado ending up being ranked 9th overall. Yelich and Bellinger split the (fake) votes on Don's team and finished 1st and 3rd in the rankings while Rendon and Acuna had career years, yet they couldn't float Fatone to an Eets a Boat. Nolan gets this one as winning matters.

Rockem Sockem CK - Goes to the best fantasy pitcher this year, just like the CY in real baseball but we renamed it CK in 2016 for Kershaw because he keeps winning it:

While Verlander finished a bit higher (2nd to Garrit Cole's 8th in our overall standings) that mostly had to do with CG's and as Wilson proved, those were not needed this season. Garrit Cole was a beast and as a third round pick he delivered. Verlander certainly helped Moon to 4th and will win the real Cy Young (and maybe the World Series) while banging Kate Upton, but Cole delivered the Chief Beef O'Queef the illustrious Eeeets A Boat. Congrats to G. Cole for taking home this fake award.

The Zeddemore Poles Coach of the Year Award: Goes to the best Rockem Manager (named for Winston's Historic 11 point last day jump in 2008):

EWC- How can he not win this? The man was pacing, smoking cigs (or chewing those nicotine pills) until the last pitch was thrown. He made deals to help his standings (sort of) and ended up on top. Ebtek deserves all the accolades and the nicknames.

The Eric Hinske Memorial: (he's dead right?!) goes to the Biggest Bust Drafted that Year named for the Commish drafting Hinske in the 4th round of 2003:

As always lots of options on this one. Most of the top picks did fairly well, but the likes of Benitendi kept Winston spitting mad all year and Jose Ramirez sucked hard but turned it on at the end (before getting injured) to make the season semi-respectable for Bull. Those were close, but no season was as disappointing as Manny Machado's. McNally picked him 17th and he ended posting the 130th overall season with almost 600 AB's as he played all year…just poorly. A let down, and certainly one reason Don couldn't grab the crown, but for a guy who got the 1st and 3rd overall players NOT to win the league…McNally may have more players (and *cough …a coach…cough*) to blame than just Machado.

The Edwin Encarnacion Elation: goes to the biggest positive surprise of the year who was drafted late (after 10th Round for EE's amazing jump a few years back)

There are a few options for this one. DJ proved that he could hit outside of Colorado, jumping up to 21st overall for Vig who picked him up during his annual drunken Yankee run in the 19th round. Jeff got a hell of a value with Ryu, picking the Street Fighter as an afterthought in the 22nd round, but this year the easiest (well not easiest because I can't find the original draft sheet) choice for any of these awards goes to the Mets own Pete Alonso**. Wilson grabbed him in the 12th round way back when NY had not even decided if he was going to start the year in the Majors; Neezer had more faith in him than his actual employer. While Nolan may have won our prestigious (in theory) MVRSFP award, Alonso really won Wilson the league. These are the type of gambles you need to take, as Pete was ranked 302nd in the pre-season and ended up 18th overall. Quite a ride for all involved.

The Nomar Broken Everything Award (Player's injuries who sink a team, named for Nomar sinking multiple teams early in Rockem History):

More NY'ers but not in a good way. The twin towers of Giancarlo Stanton** and Aaron Judge** will split this award this year as they managed to sink both Tom and Jay Vig's teams with equal ease. Somehow the Yankees overcame these two sucking it up, but Gallagher and Vig could not navigate the shittiness that their injuries produced.

The Cliff Lee Award : (FA Pickup that changes the league, named for Bull snatching Lee in Rockem 7)

Last year we scrapped the bottom of the barrel for this award, but 2019 provided many candidates. Jorge Soler was a beast for Winston who went un-drafted while huge improvements from Mike Minor and Lucas Giolito gave joy to both Mike and the Commish respectively from the waiver wire garbage. However, before things got underway this year on March 28th John Ferrari picked up Ketel Marte** and it almost upended Rockem. Had it not been for The Polar Bears amazing season in Flushing, Marte would have received even more love as he demonstrated pop (juiced balls) never before hinted at in his brief career. Marte finished 14th overall and any of us could have drafted him. John picked him up though and almost ate for free because of it.

and now a new award for Rockem 18 the inaugural:

W.W. Rockem Sockem Spirit Award : (Named for Winston Walters delivering the highlight of the Baltimore Orioles 2019 season and the true reason baseball/life is so grand)

Rockem Sockem is more than a league, it is a way of life. Baseball is at the foundation and showing the true spirit of what makes this world/baseball/life so amazing is why we have named this newest award after Winston Walters. The young man started the season marching with us at a parade and now wins an award that will be forever named after him. He did this by showing some love to a fan who shared a foul ball with him. This is the true spirit of Rockem Sockem and life itself; good on you Winston. While this award may not be given out every year, it certainly starts with a bang and a hug.

Until next year fellas….