Today's the first day of the free agent frenzy that will become the 2009 Offseason, but teams around the league were already making big moves to acquire pieces to ensure a 2009 playoff run.

The Chicago Cubs picked up closer Kevin Gregg from the Marlins, all but ensuring that Kerry Wood will not return next season.

The Yankees traded away perennial swinger and misser Wilson Betemit to the White Sox in exchange for Nick Swisher. The deal is supposed to be a fall back plan in case the Yankees can't sign Teixeira, but it's already made one fan lose his mind (in a good way).

Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks front office failed to come to terms on a new contract, forcing the Big Unit to file for free agency. Randy is just five wins shy of 300 for his career.

Well, it was bound to happen some time. Sports Illustrated has it's cover curse, we have our "Can't Miss Fantasy Prospect Advice" curse. We're not saying we're big enough to actually rival SI's cover curse, we're just saying we're not listening to our advice anymore. You probably shouldn't either.

Nick Swisher: Swisher has been the cover boy for this new 108 Red Stitches curse. Drafted in our fantasy league in each of the past four seasons (after Swisher's dominating welcome to the majors), Swisher has either run into a wall, had a tough season, or was traded to a team who mis-used him by making him their lead off hitter. Currently, our favorite hard nosed ball player is batting .213 with 13 RBIs. Hard nosed is no longer considered a stat in most fantasy leagues, which lead us to dropping Swisher in favor of the young Joey Votto. Look for Votto to fail miserably within the next few weeks.

Santiago Casilla: One of our latest "touted prospects" for your fantasy team needing a quick boost, here's the update on Casilla, courtesy of Rotowire;

Spin: He left Thursday's game with a right elbow injury, but there's no word yet from his medical evaluation.

Ryan Garko: Could we have screamed any louder on draft day when Garko fell quietly into our laps way late in the draft? Yes, we could, and have. Garko has looked more like a gecko at the plate than his previous self. After hitting 21 dingers last year, Garko was given the keys to first base, and has been spinning his wheels in neutral all year. Four home runs (majority coming in the past week or so) and a scorching .235 BA have left Garko owners (cough...us....cough) pounding our heads into our keyboards.

So, does three players actually qualify as a curse? No, probably not. But just to continue to earn curse points, lets just name a few players in this blog, and see what happens in the next few weeks: Santana, Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Wagner, Schneider, Church, Pedro, Alou, Perez.

Yes, I'm a Yankee fan currently watching the Subway Series. Hey, they need help.

ESPN's Fantasy Department recently ran an article explaining how and why washup and never drafted Aubrey Huff will outperform a rising star and over paid for Evan Longoria. While the evidence is there, we don't totally agree with Huff outperforming Longoria, but we do have our own list of overbid and underpaid:

Nick Swisher vs. Andre Ethier

Swisher has been slow to perform this season (fantasy wise) batting a sub par .268. Not the greatest batting average for a lead off hitter. He's been extremely streaky (2-12 in one stretch followed by a 4-10 current stretch) and his power isn't there just yet. Sure he's scored a bunch of runs (11) because he's hitting in the lead off spot, but lets be honest, I didn't draft Swisher because he scores a lot. Note; he is still Selective Swisher, walking 12 times so far this season.
Here's a fun stat: Percentage of Fantasy Leagues With a Team That Owns Nick Swisher: 100%

Andre Ethier, on the other hand, is only owned in 80% of the same leagues (ESPN Fantasy) and is outperforming Swisher; .308 BA, 2 HR, 11 RBI, and has a stolen base.

Are we saying that Ethier is a better player than Swisher? No, not really. We're just pointing out the oddity of dissimilar players putting up similar numbers and being drafted on opposite ends of the board.

Frustrating is the life of a fantasy league team owner. He carefully selects a player he hopes will bat third or fourth in a semi-potent White Sox lineup, only to find out Swisher will be batting leadoff, and some other owner gets lucky by drafting a fourth string outfielder who supplants Juan Pierre in the Dodger batting order.

Record TV contracts, revenue sharing at an all time high, millions of dollars beings spent on homegrown talent, players who'd normally have to wait for free agency to cash in. These are all signs that baseball is alive and healthy.
But after a cold winter of steroid allegations and findings laid out in the Mitchell Report, baseball might find itself wading in the waters of Oblivion this season; teetering on the edge of a slippery slope. Here's a list of five things Baseball must do to keep its head above water;

Baseball needs a "Feel Good Story". The last thing it needs is an league wide assault on another home run record. Having five guys challenge a record that already bears an asterisk, could do nothing in the way of extinguishing the public's perception that steroids or performance enhancing drugs are still governing the game of baseball. However, if a fan favorite like a Jimmy Rollins or a Troy Tulowitzki manages to threaten Joe D's hit streak record, the fans might have something to cheer about.

Baseball needs to "Love the Fans". Nothing says I'm sorry like 1000 red roses from ProFlowers.com. Or nothing says I'm sorry like a handful of $5 games and Saturday day/night double headers. Nothing says I love you like making the playoff games, even if its just one or two of them, at a kid friendly viewing hour. Remember, you can always give a gift to the one you love "just because".

Baseball needs to produce a "Little Guy" everyone can love. It's time for those hard nosed players to have their moment in the sun. Guys like David Eckstein, Aaron Rowand, Nick Swisher all need to be put up on a mantle as examples of hard work and dedication prevailing over needle pushing and pill popping. These guys will run through walls, and for what? Just to save an extra base or shave a point or two off their pitcher's era? It's time to celebrate these guys.

Baseball loves the Phoenix. Every once and a while, a team will rise from the ashes and take hold of a league. The Rockies did that last season, but few teams are poised to do the same this year. There's always hope that the Royals might pull something off, and the Athletics have a chance to write a feel good story. Imagine trading off your entire team of All-Stars, playing with a bunch of no-namers, and making it to the World Series. Sounds like something out of a Charlie Sheen movie.

Baseball need to be un-juiced. Nothing would deter the most ardent nay-sayer like a 100% steroid free season. We're talking Majors, Minors, Independent League, heck even your local Sunday Morning Beer League team, not a sniff of steroids, not a drop of HGH, not an ounce of PEDs. The Union needs to embrace this idea along with the owners and management. If someone fails a test, at this point, they should be banned from the game.

ESPN.com is reporting that Oakland left fielder Nick Swisher has been dealt to the Chicago White Sox for three minor league prospects.

And not a second after I placed my order for a green and yellow Swisher jersey.

The A's receive hurlers Gio Gonzalez and Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Ryan Sweeney.
Is it just us, or does this Gonzalez trade fodder for the ChiSox? How many more times can they deal the same guy back and forth between teams?
It's a sad day for Oakland fans, the Swisher trade signals another round of rebuilding for the A's. Coupled with the Haren trade a few weeks ago, GM Billy Beane looks to be working his Moneyball magic.

My Lugnuts. My Fantasy Team. My Bastards. You break my heart.
Last week of the season before playoffs and you decide to catch fire.
Too bad we were eliminated from playoff contention five weeks ago.
I should file a restraining order against Nick Swisher, I feel like I'm being abused.
But I love him anyway.
He ruins my fantasy team for the entire season, and just after I write about how there's no way he'll be wearing the Lugnut Cap next season, he has to go and catch on fire.
Three dingers in three days.
How do I justify leaving him now?
Scott Kazmir, you little runt you. I love you to death, but every morning, I flavor my coffee with tears because I can't stand the fact that you're bullpen steals 50+ wins from you every season. You're about as useful to me as a long inning reliever.
But I love him anyway.
Joe Mauer, you represent everything that is good and wonderful with the human race.
Too bad that's not a stat in my league this year.
Last season he's leading the league in batting average. The kid hits and no one can stop him.
Then he puts on a Lugnuts jersey.
But I love him anyway.

Barry Bonds. You're foot is hurting.

You'll never wear a Lugnuts Cap, no matter how many records you break.

You'll never have the opportunity to ruin one of my fantasy baseball season.

I hate you.

With only a few weeks left in the season, its time for me to look back and dissect one of the most important franchises in baseball. Where did they go wrong? How can a whole team simultaneously slump? When is it ever a good time to say goodbye to an fan favorite? In short, where did I go wrong with my fantasy team, "The Lugnuts"?

Over the past seven seasons, the Lugnuts continually hover around .500 baseball. They sneaked into the playoffs last year, but were crushed in the second round. In the seven years of existence, they've only won one Yahoo Championship. Considering the fact that I've been around the game since I was four, I should be able to build a winning team, right? Guess not. In a shameful look back on a dismal season, here are some reasons why the Lugnuts (and possibly your team) didn't do as well as planned.

1. Draft Day Jitters: Things were not looking good from the very beginning. Somehow I landed the number eight pick of the draft, a damning position in any fantasy league draft. David Wright somehow landed into my lap, and I grabbed Manny Ramirez followed with the 18th pick. Joe Mauer seemed like a sensible third round pick, but things quickly went south. Nick Swisher, Carlos Zambrano, Scott Kazmir, Takashi Saito, Barry Zito, Prince Fielder, and Ian Kennedy round out the top 12. They weren't bad moves at the time, but looking back, I overpaid for Swisher, Mauer, and Kennedy. Things started to unravel after my pre-draft day plans looked like a rorschach test.

2. Loyalty: This can kill any fantasy league player. One guy performs and carries your team in previous years, and you ultimately wind up overpaying and riding on wishes and fairy dust for the rest of the season. To date, Nick Swisher, (my hero, my rock that I built the team around, my player least likely to be back in Lugnuts uniform next season) has stats unbecoming of an outfielder: AVG: .269 R: 65 HR: 17 RBI: 63 SB: 2

3. Mediocrity and Slow Starts: It took Zambrano and Kazmir forever to get going and Zito has been hot and cold every other start. By the time the front four of my rotation got going, I was floundering at the bottom of my league. Picking up Tom Gorzelanny and Joe Blanton helped, but it was too little too late.

4. Injuries: I know, every team has to deal with injuries, but this season, I felt like I should have drafted a medic instead of a corner infielder. Ian Kinsler (after a dominating April) lands on the DL for the majority of the season. Nick Swisher and Carlos Beltran (acquired via May trade) are banged up before the All Star Break. The worst injury (as a close friend put it "When I found out the news, it was like a family member died".) was when Chase Utley went down with a broken hand. No sooner does he start to show some positive signs, does Shane Victorino and Cole Hamels plop themselves down on injury lane. Oh yeah, and Joe Mauer, he got hurt too.

Looking Towards the Future
This was the first time our league decided to join ESPNs Keeper League. I was able to make some trades (Acquired Chase Utley and Carlos Beltran via trade, Ryan Zimmerman via Coup d'état) and plucked Prince Fielder out of the draft in the 20th round (Thank YOU, Starbucks!)
So my keepers look like Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, and Prince Fielder, which are not a bad three to build your team around. They're all young, and each does something that the other doesn't, so it looks like I've got all the bases covered. Now, if I can just resist the urge to draft Swisher next season.....