Vigilante Baseball: Loving Alex Rios

The reasons for not trusting Alex Rios are plain to see.  He is one of the most inconsistent performers in fantasy baseball, tantalizing players with his 30/30 potential one year and putting up a .267 wOBA the next.  After his standout performance last year which saw him put up career highs in home runs (25), batting average (.304) and wRC+ (125), it is easy to say that he will regress this year and downright lazy for some to say that he’ll just follow his trend of alternating good seasons with poor seasons in the same way that Prince Fielder puts up a great power season every other year.  While Rios will most likely not repeat his fantastic 2012 season, he has a long way to fall before reaching his ADP of 75.  
Vigilante Baseball: Loving Alex Rios

Vigilante Baseball: Hating on Jay Bruce

I'm starting to write again for Vigilante Baseball after briefly writing an article and doing rankings last year.  The site is revamped and there's a lot of content so check it out.  Here is why I think Jay Bruce is going way too early in drafts this year: Overvalued: Jay Bruce

Return of the Wookie

Animal Collective announce tour with Dan Deacon

There are not many tour combos I would rather see than Animal Collective touring with Dan Deacon.  Recently I had the chance to see Dan Deacon at Lincoln Hall in Chicago and it was a live experience unlike any other.  Pure jubilation mixed with and moments of epic weirdness is the best way to describe this show.  Animal Collective live is an electronic explosion of their recorded music, on a level they can't quite reach in a studio.

This spring, Animal Collective will be touring with support from Dan Deacon. A pre-sale will begin on 
Wednesday January 16th at 10 AM local venue time. Go to http://bit.ly/animaltix to access the pre-sale.

Animal Collective Tour Dates THUR 1/17/13 Sydney NSW AU Enmore Theatre FRI 1/18/13 Sydney NSW AU Big Day Out^ SUN 1/20/13 Gold Coast AU Big Day Out Gold Coast WED 1/23/13 Melbourne VIC AU Palace Theate^ FRI 1/25/13 Adelaide SA AU Big Day Out Sat 1/26/13 Melbourne VIC AU Big Day Out MON 1/28/13 Victoria Park Perth AU Big Day Out Perth THU 3/7/13 Boston MA House of Blues* FRI 3/8/13 Montreal QC Metropolis* SAT 3/9/13 Toronto ON Danforth Music Hall* MON 3/11/13 Cleveland OH House of Blues* TUE 3/12/13 Covington KY The Madison Theater* WED 3/13/13 Nashville TN Marathon Music Works* FRI 3/15/13 Royal Oak MI Royal Oak Music Hall* SAT 3/16/13 Chicago IL Riviera Theatre* SUN 3/17/13 Madison WI Orpheum Theatre* MON 3/18/13 Minneapolis MN First Avenue* WED 3/20/13 St. Louis MO The Pageant* THU 3/21/13 Kansas City MO Midland Theater* FRI 3/22/13 Denver CO Ogden Theatre* SAT 3/23/13 Salt Lake City UT Depot* SUN 3/24/13 Boise ID Treefort Festival* 6/29/13 -7/7/13 Roskilde DK Roskilde Festival TUES 7/2/13 Helsinki FI The Circus ^w/ Africa Hitech  *= w/ Dan Deacon

The 2013 Chicago Cubs as I see it today

The Chicago Cubs 2013 opening day lineup as I see it today: 

1. David DeJesus – CF
2. Nate Schierholz – RF
3. Anthony Rizzo -1B
4. Alfonso Soriano – LF
5. Starlin Castro – SS
6. Ian Stewart – 3B
7. Wellington Castillo – C
8. Darwin Barney – 2B

Puke inducing.  There isn’t a much better way to describe this diatribe-inviting lineup. 

The Cubs starting rotation though, looks much better:

1. Matt Garza
2. Jeff Samardzija
3. Edwin Jackson
4. Travis Wood
5. Scott Feldman/Carlos Villanueva

DL. Scott Baker

When Scott Baker returns this spring from Tommy John surgery he will join Edwin Jackson as another solid #3 MLB starter in this rotation.  Travis Wood, Scott Feldman and Carlos Villanueva each have the potential to be #3 big league starters as well, but each also has experience in the bullpen giving the Cubs plenty of flexibility.

Bottom line: the Cubs should have a deep and effective starting rotation. Good pitching, solid defense and anemic offense.  Do I smell the number two wild card in the Cubs future?  If absolutely everything goes right, it could happen. Cubs fans are at least allowed to dream.  

Year end lists

There's nothing like being completely overwhelmed by year end lists chalk full of songs you've never heard.  It's always fun to root for certain songs that you've become fond of to see if and where on the list your song will appear.  Reading these lists is obviously a lot more fun when you've dutifully been paying attention to the music scene over the course of the year.  This year, that was not the case for me. But the lists are still fun and it's always nice to see what you missed out on, what hidden gems may be waiting to be listened to and enjoyed.

Just for fun, I wanted to take a snap shot of my most listened to songs on my iTunes.  No thought required, just a simple list of my most played songs.  Therefore, what should be my "favorite" songs.  Making a year end list is always so difficult, I never feel like I get it right in the end.  So while I try to come up with my favorites of this year, (and this is really just for me to see how it changes over time) here are my most listened to tracks on iTunes over the past five years:

1. 134 plays: Washed Out - Hold Out
2. 126 plays: Cut Copy - Out There on the Ice
3. 106 plays: Animal Collective - The Purple Bottle
4. 98 plays: The Tough Alliance - Miami
5. 97 plays: Cut Copy - Lights and Music
6. 94 plays: Air France - Collapsing at Your Doorstep
7. 92 plays: Gauntlet Hair - I was thinking...
8. 91 plays: Little Dragon - Feather
7. 88 plays: Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire
8. 84 plays: VEGA - No Reasons
9. 82 plays: Animal Collective - What Would I Want Sky?
10. 80 plays: Of Montreal - I Was Never Young
11. 79 plays: Of Montreal - The Party's Crashing Us
12. 78 plays: Animal Collective - Grass
13. 78 plays: Cut Copy - Saturdays
14. 78 plays: Neon Indian - Terminally Chill
15. 75 plays: Animal Collective - Winter Wonder Land
16. 75 plays: Animal Collective - Water Curses
17. 75 plays: Blood Diamonds - Grins
18. 74 plays: LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
19. 72 plays: Gold Panda - Marriage (Star Slinger Remix)
20. 72 plays: Memory Tapes - Plain Material