HALFWAY POINT REVIEW

I'm going to write up a little something at our halfway point. To me, this has been a very interesting (and disappointing) year. Pretty much everyone is still in this thing as far as the playoffs are concerned. People are throwing in the towel around Easter, then picking up their towel a couple weeks later...then throwing it in again.

The best teams from last year are scuffling this year (with one exception), the worst teams from last year are looking playoff bound (with one exception). All in all, it's been fun, and we still have 50 games left before the playoffs. Something tells me we're in for a wild ride.

Here are the playoff standings as of today. Keep in mind that we did switch to head to head as the first tiebreaker when TWO teams are involved so there could be a change, but I'm not going to look all that stuff up for this.

Enjoy.

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12. JUNEBUG (21-29)

Jon was so far down in a hole that I was laughing at him trading a 4th round pick. I figured he'd be back from Mexico with no shot whatsoever. But he's been winning a little lately and he's only 4 games out of a playoff spot as of now. He still should have taken my gift of an offer for power free Billy Butler, but who knows? Maybe Bug can make a run for another playoff berth. Nelson Cruz has to stay healthy and Alex Rodriguez has to start doing more jogging around the bases like that queer commercial he's in.

DOWN: 2012 4th round pick
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11. OFF CONSTANTLY (Bare) (22-28)

Bare shocked the world, OK maybe not the world, but he shocked the league when he traded Ryan Howard to Phil for a 1st AND 2nd round pick to start the trading season. I thought it was way too early, and apparently so did Bare, as he's flip flopped back and forth between wanting to try this year and pack it in for 2012. His latest move getting Michael Young back and David Ortiz, as well as the Brewers SP tells me he thinks he's got a shot...for now anyways.

UP: 2012 1st round pick.
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10. Hop On Pop (Bill) (22-28)

Bill is the latest to throw in the towel as he's traded his biggest chips for some picks the past few days...while getting some decent bounce back candidates just to make sure he's covered in case he changes his mind...which I'm sure he's done about 1394 times in the past couple weeks. Having five pitching staffs and none of them very good has been his most disappointing dilemma I'd think. But Bill's always good for a Brent Lillibridge insertion in the lineup for double digits, and he'll continue to put in lineups, so that makes him dangerous still.

UP: 2012 2nd, 6th, and 7th
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9. Little, Team Omar (Tim) (22-28)

Like Bare, Tim has gone from giving up to going for it every other day, even with a 4th round pick peddled to me for David Ortiz just a short week ago. But he seems to view that as a mistake now (as do I)and is prepping for the 2012 draft. Tim's got a quarter of the picks in the first two rounds and is hoping he can do a better job with them than I did this year. Timmy also keeps getting "throw ins" to keep him three games out of the playoffs even today. Guys like Andrew McCutchen, Gaby Sanchez, Justin Morneau, and Mike Moustakas (although supposedly the target). Maybe some of these teams that are trading picks for Tim's players should keep their own guys that are good in the same trades?

UP: 2012 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, and 6th
DOWN: 2012 3rd and 11th
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8. La Flama Blanca (Nate) (22-28)

Ah, where do I start? Kendrys Morales in the 2nd? Fail. Pedro Alvarez in the 3rd? Fail. Thanks to Phil on that reach. I'm on pace for less wins than I had last year after I traded my team away to get in a position to dominate this year. Even with my slow start however, my team has incredible depth, and I can't even really find an area to upgrade as of now...trust me I try daily. I've made a couple trades to get better, but am pretty much even as far as 2012 picks go. And I'm third in the league in points. So, I'm just going to ride this thing out and hopefully my team will perform up to their potential.

UP: 2012 3rd and 4th
DOWN: 2012 2nd and 6th
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7. The Orchidometers (Nick) (25-25)

Is it just me or is Nick always in this position? He seems to always be just in or just out of the playoffs. As far as points go Danny gets the nod. As I said though, I'm not sure where the season series stands between Nick and Danny, so Nick could be #6 officially. Either way, this position is old hat to Nick. Albert Pujols is starting to heat up however, and sooner or later his other keeper Jason Heyward should be back. Adrian Beltre has turned in to one of the most consistent fantasy scorers around...at the weak 3B position to boot. So Nick's in decent shape.

UP: 2012 11th
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6. Eagle Eye Annie (Danny) (25-25)

Danny's Cubs (and Rockies) heavy team has sputtered a bit lately, but he's still very much in the mix for the playoffs, and even the ADONIS DNA DIVISION title. Unlike Nick, though, Danny doesn't have that one superstar that wins games by himself, unless Troy Tulowitzki can get hot. He did pick up undrafted Todd Helton for nothing, and he's been a godsend for Danny at 1B. Can he keep it up? Does Danny have enough firepower up and down his lineup? Those are the questions we'll find out the answers to.

NO TRADES INVOLVING 2012 PICKS
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5. Miller Time (Phil) (26-24)

Our points leader made the bold move early to trade his top two picks from next year for Ryan Howard. He then shared with me his plans to trade Ryan Howard back to Bare before next year's draft for picks. Let me clear this up though, YOU CAN'T TRADE PLAYERS ACQUIRED FOR DRAFT PICKS FOR DRAFT PICKS THE FOLLOWING YEAR. So, Phil can trade Miguel Cabrera for instance, but Ryan Howard is either on Phil's team or back in the draft pool. Hopefully you guys all realize this. Anyway, Phil and I have a $10 bet that Phil will win the points title, so I'm hoping one of the other 11 guys can catch him. Matt Kemp is making that bet look better and better every day for Phil.

DOWN: 2012 1st, 2nd, and 11th
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4. Miller Genuine Draft (Tom) (29-21)

Unofficially, Tom is enjoying his most successful year in the Can O'Corn league, actually only a couple games out of the #1 seed. How has he done it? I'm not sure. Keepers Hanley Ramirez and Ian Kinsler have been disappointing. Tom made a move to acquire Buster Posey and before he even played one game...well you guys know the rest of that story. It's been guys like Curtis Granderson, Matt Joyce, and Jacoby Ellsbury that have come out of nowhere for Tom. I wouldn't necessarily call his current roster a finished product for a title run, but he's in great position at the halfway point.

NO TRADES INVOLVING 2012 PICKS
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3. Crardawgs (Crary) (27-23)

John is definitely all in for this year making trade after trade to get who he wants. Adrian Gonzalez has been absolutely on fire since John got him in an early draft pick trade from Tim. Adam Lind has been the same since he came off the DL. His team looks set, especially in the infield, but even with Matt Holliday in the lineup once he gets healthy, is his OF good enough? It would seem he's just about out of ammunition to acquire anything else. In fact, if he trades any other draft picks, I am going to almost insist he pay for 2011 AND 2012 come September. JK John (kind of).

UP: 2012 11th
DOWN: 2012 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th
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2. Flight 666 (Andy) (28-22)

Like Tom, this has been unofficially Andy's most successful campaign, and he too is "going for it" with his trade of next year's first round pick for Alexei Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval (essentially). A little bit of an overpayment if you ask me, but that trade filled his two biggest holes, and so far Andy might have the scariest foursome out there in Mark Teixeira, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Carlos Quentin. Keeper Joe Mauer has been on the DL all season, but Miguel Olivo seems to hit double digits 50% of the time. Once Mauer and Sandoval come off the DL, Andy might just have a championship team on his hands. Hell, he might just have one without them.

DOWN: 2012 1st round pick
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1. Fielder Dreams (Chris) (31-19)

Obviously everyone else in the league would love to be in Chris' position right now. He's the #1 seed, twelve games over .500, and watching Prince Fielder have an MVP season with no slow down in sight, seeing that the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ looks to have Prince locked in big time. Unofficially Prince is the Can O' Corn MVP this year as he seems to be player of the game quite a bit. But dig a little deeper and it's not all positive for Chris. A short time ago Chris' team actually had a .750 winning %. Tom is creeping closer and closer, and a big series against him looms next weekend....with five games against two of the top three scoring teams in the league before that. Kalsch's trades have been questionable at best, going after good backups yes, but trade targets? I'm talking about Ryan Ludwick and Andres Torres from Trader Tim. He turned down a very fair offer of David Ortiz for an 8th round pick a couple weeks ago. DOH! But Keeper Ryan Zimmerman hasn't played all year, and as long as Prince is mashing along with Jose Bautista, and SS surprise Asdrubal Cabrera, Chris should be right in the mix.