NL-Only Draft Discussion
Post any comments on the draft here. Remember not to discuss players that have not yet been drafted.
Guys, I would really like to see the speed of the draft pick-up. I don't want to have everyone checking this website 10 times a day, but please email the 2 people picking after you when you make your pick to let them know its their turn. The first couple rounds should be the fastest since we actually know the names of the players we are picking. Things will slow down later when we are having to choose between bench guys we have never heard of like Chad Bentz or Kenny Baugh.
posted by mymrbig at 9:48 PM
234 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
5:31 AM, February 01, 2006
Can I draft myself? I consider our league in New Orleans an NL league since our pitchers bat for themselves...then again, we did have a DH...
5:39 AM, February 01, 2006
Trust me, I have thought about that in the past. Only problem with drafting you, me, or Nate is that we don't get enough at-bats for its to really make a dent in the stats anyway! Major leaguers get 20+ plate appearances per week. We get 40 per season.
6:32 AM, February 01, 2006
In case I didn't mention it before, Peter is a doctor and I wouldn't be surprised if we occasionally have to wait on him. I was very pleased to see him get the 1st pick (or the 11st pick) because it means he will always make 2 picks at once and won't have to check in as often.
6:43 AM, February 01, 2006
If you guys can pick yourselves, I would like to use my co-ed softball league stats.
6:53 AM, February 01, 2006
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
9:14 AM, February 01, 2006
Read them and weep. Pujols! The only sure thing in the draft. It's like taking Reggie Bush. Or is it Vince Young? Well, either way - it's good.
6:10 PM, February 01, 2006
My true hope for this game is that the Astros fans (me and Peter) pick up Cardinals and Cubs, the Cardinals fans (Nate and Tom) pick up Astros and Cubs, and the Cubs fan (Jody) picks up Asros and Cardinals. Then the mixed emotions we experience when rooting for our respective teams and players will tear our souls apart. Or something.
5:41 AM, February 02, 2006
Wish granted, so far. My family will be so ashamed of me.
5:45 AM, February 02, 2006
RULE CHANGE POLL
Gentleman, I am thinking of tweaking the rules, but I would like to gather some public opinion. I was thinking of changing the rules so that we could not keep anyone drafted in the 1st or 2nd round. This will ensure everyone has a chance at some great draft picks if we continue the league next year. Please post your opinion.
6:52 AM, February 02, 2006
Has yahoo come out with position specifications yet?
8:20 AM, February 02, 2006
I don't think so. I believe a player is elegible at a position in Yahoo if he has either (1) started 5 games at that position or (2) played in 10 games at that position. If you are wondering about Cabrera, he qualifies at 3rd and OF.
8:36 AM, February 02, 2006
I agree with the rule change poll, although I fully admit that my primary motivation for agreeing is that the "random" selection yielded me the 10th pick, virtually assuring that I wont get a franchise player. But, my vote stands nontheless.
2:48 PM, February 02, 2006
My biggest concern on the rule change is this: Peter drafted Pujols this year based on the blind luck of his draft order. Lets say he wins the league this year (a tall order). Without the rule change, he would get to keep Pujols next year as the 11th pick of the 1st round. Seems like a no-brainer and it defeats the purpose of giving the winning manager from the previous year the last pick in the 1st round. Plus, next year new players will be worthy of 1st round picks that are picked in the 3rd round and higher this year so there will still be some very good keepers out there.
2:54 PM, February 02, 2006
Pujols seems like the marquee guy in the NL right now, although I might still want Cabrera next year, especially if the Fish put some halfway decent guys around him. You could do something like allow 2nd rounders to be kept as 1st rounders. Or, and I think this is reasonable, if you have a higher first round pick than you did the previous year, you can keep your 1st rounder as your 1st rounder. Thus, I could keep Cabrera next year if I finish last or next to last, which I am fearing I might just do. However, if I finish last, then I could pick anyone. Jason, if he finishes in the bottom 5 (not likely, considering Jason's prowess as a fantasy baseball guru), could keep Jason Bay, if he so desires.
I think there may be other, better, ways to deal with bringing up the bottom teams, although I haven't really started trying to figure any of them out. If we end up putting too many restrictions on keepers, it might not end up being much of a keeper league.
3:36 PM, February 02, 2006
The draft is not even one day old and already everyone is trying to steal my Pujols!!!
5:08 PM, February 02, 2006
Not trying to steal, just wishing you'd let him slide to #2. I don't have anything against the Cards, so I wouldn't be torn every time he lights up Petitte, Oswalt, Lidge, and Co.
9:18 PM, February 02, 2006
Why don't we do a 5-year fantasy draft and freeze the teams? All players have to have 2 years or less MLB experience (base it on a dumb and overused term, "upside"). Running totals for 5 years, that way, for example, while Peter is up to his elbows in placenta, medulla oblongotas (sp?), or GSWs to the chest (, he doesn't have to check back in until 2011. That would prepare us for our mid-life crisis career changes...MLB General Managers!!! That's if the Cubs haven't signed me by then when they realize that signing guys who K 120+ times/yr isn't necessarily a requirement for a MLB RF...I statistically average out to about 110 Ks/yr if you take out the ones where the umps in our league made horrible calls.
After Evan's comments on the new rule, I finally can say that I agree w/ my wife that I am dumber than a rock. I'll stick w/ programming. Rule is ok. I'll assume the role of lemming on this one.
10:35 PM, February 02, 2006
I would like to propose that once a selection is made in the draft, the drafting party send a courtesy email/text message to the next player letting him know that it is his turn. Any thoughts?
6:25 AM, February 03, 2006
I like Tom's idea, but let's extend it to the next 2 managers. Please do this. Also, remember that I am more than happy to take queues. If Nate has not made a pick by around noon in New Orleans, I will call him up. Its entirely possible that he has not checked his email. We've been kinda distracted here in New Orleans, with the freakish thunderstorms and tornados and all...
6:55 AM, February 03, 2006
FYI, I just called Nate. The thunderstorms 2 nights ago knocked out his internet but I let him know he was up. This city is pretty dang rickity still. Seems like every time a front goes through a few streetlights lose power or something else that was a weak link craps out for a while.
9:35 AM, February 03, 2006
This only happens once a year, so I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Waitangi Day. Please remember to drive safely. The police are notorious for their Waitangi Day sobriety checkpoints.
10:05 AM, February 06, 2006
Joel - please re-draft ASAP. This draft is NL-only and Ichiro is in the AL!
12:47 PM, February 06, 2006
So.....we waited 48 hours for someone to draft Ichiro, huh?
1:56 PM, February 06, 2006
Congratulations Joel, on making the surprise pick of the draft:-)
In a side note, often managers do not draft over the weekend. We should really focus on making our drafts during the week that way no one has to think about drafting over the weekend. Of course, people are free to draft on weekends, but most slow drafts like this do not expect managers to draft over the weekend, so the 48 hour wait is no problem (as long as its on a weekend).
That said, at our current rate I think the draft would be finished in something like 4 months, so we do need to pick up the pace a little. Peter not drafting for 24 hours was expected since I sent out the initial email without warning. Nate not drafting was technology related, and those things happen. Its fine that Joel did not draft over the weekend. Lets try to pick it up during the week though! Feel free to leave queues with me, I promise this will speed things up, as I check the draft quite a few times per day.
2:22 PM, February 06, 2006
Come on Michael, we've been waiting for you to pick for three days. If you need help, give me a call--I've got some inside info on a guy named Babe Ruth that you might be interested in.
5:44 AM, February 07, 2006
Damn, I was hoping Ichiro would slip to the 2nd round...
6:12 AM, February 07, 2006
The only people I only know in this draft are Nate and Jason, but from the recent comments I'm pretty sure we'd get along just fine. With that said, I think my 3rd round pick just retired. I'm looking at some of the prep scouting reports for fresh high school talent to fill in the gaps. They should have 3 years experience by the 7th or 8th round.
6:38 AM, February 07, 2006
Nice one. Along the lines of Jody's previous comment, I am staking my claim: I am planning on picking Jay Bigelow with my last pick in the draft. He should be just finishing high school by the time we get our teams set, and could be a sleeper keeper for future seasons.
2:59 PM, February 07, 2006
That's fine with me Michael. My last pick is reserved for Alexander "X" Nabors, Jody's son. He's 2 years older, so he'll be more developed than Jay at this time. X will no doubt be mashing balls over some fence by that point.
On a side note, I think Jay is left-handed. At least, he definitely prefers his left hand when he throws things on the ground. Isn't being left-handed enough to get someone a pro contract as a team's second lefty specialist these days? Is Jesse Orosco still playing so I can take him with my 25th round pick?
3:12 PM, February 07, 2006
This fantasy league is for 2007, right? I think we'll finish the draft just in time.
5:03 PM, February 07, 2006
Thought I would post a few photos on my blog w/ a few pictures of me, Nate, Jason, and, for future trade considerations, a little scouting report on Xander, aka X-man:
http://jodyamyx.blogspot.com/
8:06 PM, February 07, 2006
Zack, you are evil for taking my Utley. He was my Utley, and you know it. Oh yeah, he's my Peavy too!
7:13 AM, February 08, 2006
Justin, you are evil for taking my Wright.
In other news, Roy has crazy facial hair! Looks ... kind of ... cool ... actually. Go Roy. For those who saw me the time I grew facial hair, it was a ridiculous and embarassing endeavor. It just doesn't work for me.
8:31 AM, February 08, 2006
Facial "hair" definitely needs to be in the singular for you. By the way, Michael and I have been referring to you as Judge Kenesaw Mountain Bigelow. Hope you don't mind.
8:45 AM, February 08, 2006
Oh, so that isn't Jose Reyes deathly ill and pale? My mistake.
10:35 AM, February 08, 2006
Should I refer to Jason as Judge Kennesaw or Your Highness?
BTW, have you ever seen an eskimo w/ facial hair? I missed Nanook's "tough-looking" period.
12:40 PM, February 08, 2006
Eskimo? I thought it was Jeff Kent! And I was just about to take Ramirez.
12:53 PM, February 08, 2006
Adam Dunn, eh? Wait, strikeouts only get points when they're by pitchers, right?
1:03 PM, February 08, 2006
Wow, things are flying now.
My "tough-looking" period was the summer of 2000 and a little into fall of 2000. Peter definitely saw me, I don't think anyone else in the league saw me (Roy?). It wasn't pretty. The only fun part is when I shaved, because I shaved just the right side of my face for a few hours. Good stuff.
1:04 PM, February 08, 2006
If people are going to start calling me weird names that I don't quite get, then I get to call Jody "Adam Dunn". Stikes out a lot but has a ton of power. Or maybe sasquatch is better?
1:06 PM, February 08, 2006
Here is the rest of that picture.
And while I'm at it, this is a link to the sports blog Evan and I have been writing. Feel free to criticize without mercy. (Even an abusive reader is better than none at all.) There's not much baseball yet, but there will be. Eventually.
1:08 PM, February 08, 2006
Jason, take notes because this will be on the test: Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the first commissioner of baseball. He's the one who banned them cheatin' Black Sox.
1:09 PM, February 08, 2006
The strikeout thing will change when I get back to NOLA this summer. I figured out I wasn't hitting the ball and that was causing the strikeouts. I do want to note that I made a deal w/ myself that I had to K three batters when I pitched for every time I K'd. After mid-season, I think I held to that. Jason probably has our stats memorized.
Ok, new straw poll: All-Potbelly Team.
--Antonio Alfonseca
1:15 PM, February 08, 2006
Whoa. Violation! Besides, I thought he was on the "All-Six Finger Team".
2:00 PM, February 08, 2006
Question: How are averages (BA, ERA, WHIP) aggregated?
Is my team's BA the sum of the players' BAs? Or is it the sum of their hits divided by the sum of their at bats?
Is ERA the sum of ERAs, or is it the sum of earned runs divided by (the sum of innings pitched divided by nine)?
And is WHIP the sum of WHIPs, or is it the sum of walks and hits allowed divided by the sum of innings pitched?
2:01 PM, February 08, 2006
Sorry Roy, I can't tell you. Because I don't know.
I'm pretty sure it is the sum of hits divided by at-bats and sum of (hits+walks) divided by innings pitched. That makes sense because it would reflect the different numbers of at-bats or innings-pitched that players have. I don't believe Yahoo would merely average the different players averages without taking into account differences in playing time. Certainly, these averages are not merely the sum of the players' averages.
2:21 PM, February 08, 2006
You're the commish! Make a decision. If it turns out Yahoo aggregates the averages the wrong way, I'll volunteer my only brother to write a program to do it the right way.
2:42 PM, February 08, 2006
You're right. Yahoo says composite states are computed team-wide, not averaged across players.
2:45 PM, February 08, 2006
A new addition to the All-Potbelly team, and the obvious choice for team captain: Rich Garces. (I am assuming the All-Potbelly team is not NL-only and not necessarily involving players still "active" in MLB.)
4:34 PM, February 08, 2006
How about Babe Ruth for an all-time pot-belly team? Cecil Fielder deserves a spot on some pot-belly team...
5:01 PM, February 08, 2006
Kevin Mitchell ... he could bash and make barehanded catches. Fernando Valenzuela. John Kruk. Edgardo Alfonso. Kirby Puckett ... or was he just big boned?
5:28 PM, February 08, 2006
Bob Wickman can close games for the team.
5:37 PM, February 08, 2006
Nice picks Pete. Two of the guys left I was hoping would fall to me next. At least a fellow Rice alum and Astros fan got Berkman!
8:15 PM, February 08, 2006
Tony Gwynn can patrol (slowly) right field.
8:53 PM, February 08, 2006
No holds barred on the Bellys. Let's see...how about rookie sensation and obviously corn-fed Bobby Jenks. I don't know if Kevin Mench qualifies, but his head is huge. Rosie O'Donnell in "A League of Their Own"...what a what a waste of flesh. Edgar Martinez. There's also this big guy that plays on a team me, Nate, and Jason played on who couldn't hit a breaking ball because it dropped below his belly. Nice guy though.
9:39 PM, February 08, 2006
Alright, I'll throw fat-ass Sidney Ponson onto the team.
And for some reason ever since I've come back from Iraq I really enjoy watching people tear each other apart (the psychiatrist tells me it's unresolved rage), so how about a new running poll on the worst pick so far... I'll get things started: Nate, I don't know you, but Carpenter in the first round? Come on... the guy's had one good season... (if he wins another Cy Young you guys can cruciify me later)
3:52 AM, February 09, 2006
To stick up for Nate a little bit: at least his pick was from his home team (that great Cardinals organization). Two of my first three are Cubs, and I would've taken Ramirez if he was still around. I hate myself.
Side note: do we think the Mets have the best team? Of our first 18 picks, 5 are Mets.
5:47 AM, February 09, 2006
Mets might have the best players. But the Yankees almost always have the best players and haven't been able to win the WS lately. Mets still have some holes (leadoff hitter who never walks, questionable starting pitching depth, 2nd base).
I've seen Carpenter go in the first round of some drafts, but I wouldn't have taken him that early. I'm just a bit risk averse to picking pitchers early after seeing RJ and Schilling both get hurt a few years ago. Pitchers seem to have a few more health problems than hitters.
6:25 AM, February 09, 2006
I'm not afraid to bash myself for making risky picks. Soriano is going to a new team and is not exactly a team player when it comes to his potential position change. Prior was unlucky last year w/ the line drive off of the elbow, but he hasn't pitched a full season since his 2nd season. I don't think Ichiro was a bad pick...it made me laugh.
6:44 AM, February 09, 2006
Easily my toughest pick yet. If all the rest of you bozos hadn't been snapping up all the ace pitchers, I would have waited another round to grab a starter. Damn. Damn. Damn. That's all I have to say about a few of the guys I didn't pick. Damn.
8:00 AM, February 09, 2006
Jason as commissioner.
Does Soriano count at 2B even if he plays in the OF all year? If so, he might be a worth it, counting as an OF, he's a reach, especially since he won't be in a hitter friendly park.
What about Andruw Jones? Was last year him turning the corner and becoming an elite player? Or, was it an aberration. The guys has incredible talent, but you never know what you're going to get. Same could be said for Derrek Lee. He carried my fantasy team last year, but his second half was just pretty good.
I would have passed on Pedro. Their offense should be better, but I think he missed out on a huge year last year because they didn't get him any runs. I have a hard time seeing Pedro being injury free again this year.
9:08 AM, February 09, 2006
Although, the worst pick of the draft might turn out to be Cabrera, since our fantasy league could probably field a better supporting cast than the one the Marlins have. I wonder if the D-Train is going to hit cleanup behind Cabrera when he pitches and when they play interleague in American League parks. Who should I have selected 2nd? Can you trade down?
Seriously, can you trade picks?
9:19 AM, February 09, 2006
Players have whatever elegibility they have from the previous year plus whatever they gain this year. So yes, even if Soriano doesn't play an inning at 2nd this year, he is elegible at 2nd.
I am not allowing people to trade draft picks this year. If we keep the league together next year, we will be able to trade draft picks. I thought it would make it too confusing this year. However, if we finish the draft before the season you can make trades before the season starts.
9:23 AM, February 09, 2006
Justin may have the steal of the draft so far. I strongly considered taking Helton, but really wanted to get a pitcher. Yeah, Helton has some injury problems and struggled early last year. But he hit .367 after the break with power. He could hit .330 with 30 HR, no problem. Of course, it looks like his 40 HR days are a thing of the past and his elbow (recent operation) could always explode...
10:24 AM, February 09, 2006
I thought about taking him too, but first basemen with my first three picks just seemed greedy.
10:34 AM, February 09, 2006
Nice pick Michael. He was the other guy I was thinking about and passed on. Hard to beat his consistency and I figured you would take him, being a Dodgers fan and all.
12:56 PM, February 09, 2006
Thanks...yeah, my first choices for those two picks were Carlos Lee and Todd Helton...but unfortunately the two picks immediatly previous took those. So then I was down to Jeff Kent and "another NL infielder." And while said other infielder could be a good keeper, Kent will unquestionably have better stats THIS season, and generally is injury-free. (As long as he doesnt wash his pickup truck, that is....someone send him the memo that there are ample car washes in the Los Angeles area.)
1:53 PM, February 09, 2006
Another thing about Helton. Its pretty amazing when you can hit .320 with 20 HR and its considered and "off" season and scares fantasy managers away.
1:59 PM, February 09, 2006
Well, imagine how much your stats would soar if you played in Coors (or the Colorado front range in general). Roy will appreciate this:
Helton home (2003-2005): 0.372, 210 runs, 57 HR's, 184 RBI's
Helton away (2003-2005): 0.313, 132, 28, 108
When you remember how many HR's Mike Hampton hit that one year, 20 isn't all that impressive.
2:13 PM, February 09, 2006
Zack, hadn't noticed that. Funny stuff, specially since my team came in 2nd. I keep trying to predict your draft picks and I'm always wrong because I guessing you will pick the guys on your other team (like Wright and Reyes).
Speaking of the other league, have you been able to contact most of the guys? I'd really like to see the league continue since its a keeper league.
And Evan, hitting .313 on the road ain't too shabby. Specially when you consider the fact that when Helton's on the road, curveballs suddently break and extra 3 or 4 inches. Tough adjustment to make.
11:16 PM, February 09, 2006
Pedro in the first round is a gamble, but he's only had one season in his career as a starter that he hasn't had at least 180 IP. To me that's pretty solid.
Hmmm, thinking about my pick of Smoltz, I'm probably on my way to having the oldest starting rotation in the league... I'd better have Dr. Jobe's # on speed dial...
1:23 AM, February 10, 2006
Jason, how many games do they need to gain eligibility from the previous season, 5, 20, etc.?
1:34 AM, February 10, 2006
Elegibility is determined by Yahoo! Sports. I believe the rule is 5 games started at a position or 10 games played at a position.
6:39 AM, February 10, 2006
You're right, .313 isn't bad, it's the averages of 19 HR's and 70 RBI's that scare me (which is about what you get if you average the road stats over a full season).
.313, 19, 70, it no longer looks like Todd Helton, it looks like Mark Grace in his prime. In fact, in 1998, Grace posted: .309, 17, 89
7:14 AM, February 10, 2006
Well, then I'm glad that Helton's playing in Denver...
9:37 AM, February 10, 2006
Sorry about the delay. Was digging out from a foot of snow up here. Built a 7-foot snowman...structural integrity has become an issue, after 12 hours, it's listing...back and to the left.
7:03 PM, February 12, 2006
Tom, you're doing a pretty good job of collecting non-Cardinal NL Central talent. Do you feel like a dirty traitor? I mean, Peter (Astros), Nate (Cardinals), and Jody (Cubs) have all managed to pick up at least 1 guy from their teams. Michael did too and I don't know who everyone else roots for (who do you other guys root for?). I pull for the Astros more than anyone else, but for some reason I also like the D-Backs. No idea why I pull for the D-Backs though.
7:10 AM, February 13, 2006
You can't live in Baltimore without becoming an Orioles fan.
That's a joke. I think it's telling that the most popular orange bird continues to be Cal Ripken.
I usually follow the Giants trajectory in the standings with interest. I harbor tremendous resentment against that stupid rally monkey.
That's a joke, too, but not as much.
7:47 AM, February 13, 2006
There is just too much money riding on the outcome of this league to be sentimental. I imagine that once we start getting into the later rounds I'll be hitting the Cardinals' bench and prospects because they are really the only ones I know. But for now my main strategy is to not be the first person to draft a player that was already taken.
8:26 AM, February 13, 2006
Hello from 80 degree Santa Barbara. I was in New York for the past few weeks, and got out just in time..in fact, I moved my flight to Saturday morning, and got back to the west coast to see that my original flight was cancelled. Phew, that was a close one. At any rate, its good to see the we are back to our original drafting pace...at least there is some sort of comfort level here.
3:13 PM, February 13, 2006
Wondered when Bonds would finally go. Lots of risk, lots of reward. I think he'll be good for at least 30 HR and considered taking him, but I already have 2 outfielders and I needed to shore up my infield first. Also considered Weeks instead of Giles, but I didn't want to take a chance that Weeks hits .240 when Giles should be around .300.
4:06 PM, February 13, 2006
Decent picks, just a little risky is all I'm saying.
4:07 PM, February 13, 2006
My thoughts exactly, I was hoping everyone would shy away from Bonds until my next time around ... I finally convinced myself this morning that he wasn't worth a pick this early because if he needs every 3rd day off, you'll miss out on a lot of production in a set your picks every week league like this one. I think he'd be worth more if you could change day to day to update your team based on his status, but I guess we'll see.
Weeks is interesting, because, like a lot of young players, you think he'll continue to improve and approach the high ceiling people think he has, but you never know how much a player will progress, or regress, year-to-year. I guess that's why everyone has different fantasy draft boards, and why Jason doesn't agree with any of the experts. The same kind of thing could be applied to Ryan Howard, who I really hoped would fall to me. Sometimes, extra big league exposure just leads to pitchers figuring out how to get you out.
4:14 PM, February 13, 2006
I like to live on the edge - high risk, high reward. Bonds will be well rested and have a nice chance at 30 hrs. Weeks will continue get better and the Brewers should be much better around him. Very much a multi-talented player who is a threat to go deep and steal a base. We'll just have to see. Of course I was going to take Wagner if he hadn't had slipped off the board one spot earlier. Morgan was an option, but I didn't want to take too many 'stros.
4:30 PM, February 13, 2006
I have been trying to guess who everyone will pick and have been generally doing a poor job. I thought Peter would take Wagner and Ensberg. Guess he would have taken Wagner at least and Ensberg was on his mind. My only good guess (outside the first round) so far was Michael taking Kent.
8:57 PM, February 13, 2006
Next time I'm up, e-mail me and tell me who you think I'll pick, maybe it will be better than my idea.
9:02 PM, February 13, 2006
Hello from the Olympics... saw Shaun White do a big, nasty McTwist over my head the other day... pretty cool.
Jason, you haven't been peeking at my queue, have you? While I think Bonds is probably worth the risk at this point I couldn't sell my soul to root for his punk ass. I really wanted Furcal but really didn't expect him to fall that far. Go Blue!
5:34 AM, February 14, 2006
Kato, don't worry about your queue, I'm not abusing my powers. Giles was next on my list and I am not taking the guy that was next on your queue.
Cheer for the red, white, and blue for the rest of us. Tell the skiers to stop dragging their a$$ses down the hill and win a few medals.
6:36 AM, February 14, 2006
Minor request for El Commisario: is there a setting for your blog that will post the newest comments at the top?
8:17 AM, February 14, 2006
What, do you have dial-up or something? I'll check, I really have no idea. Roy or Evan or Jody, if you guys know please tell me.
8:19 AM, February 14, 2006
It's not a speed issue. This is 100% laziness. I would simply prefer not to scroll to the bottom. As we near the 100th comment in only the 5th round, I imagine that by the 45th round we will have millions of comments. My math may be off a little, of course.
8:23 AM, February 14, 2006
Just a couple orders of magnitude.
8:26 AM, February 14, 2006
Hopefully, Todd Helton won't give Clint Barmes any deer meat to take home this year.
8:27 AM, February 14, 2006
ROFLMAO (not literally, because it would look foolish at work). I didn't see any way to have the 1st comment post first. However, I was already planning to start a new post and comment thread at some point with my post summarizing all the players drafted in a more concise manner. I will do this at the completion of this round.
8:33 AM, February 14, 2006
I don't have any Rockies hitters yet, so they are free to carry around as much deer meat as they want. Hell, to help my fantasy team maybe I should contact their trainer and recommend they institute a pre-season workout that substitutes deer meat for medicine balls...
8:35 AM, February 14, 2006
I hope I was joking about the 45th round. How many are there?
8:46 AM, February 14, 2006
26 rounds. 11 hitters and 8 pitchers on the active roster plus seven bench spots. You can start filling bench spots before filling your active roster (i.e. you can draft a 5th outfielder before you draft your 5th starting pitcher) but you must be able to fill your active roster at each position by the end of the draft.
8:51 AM, February 14, 2006
We could start soon, but how about a new thread for every couple of rounds or so? I'm w/ Tom. Take those few seconds to scroll and add them up...when you stop and think about it, you could build up minutes where you could be doing something even less productive...like work.
Speaking of productive, Mr. Commish, how about taking Friday off to help me and Nate move my stuff out of my house?
8:55 AM, February 14, 2006
26 rounds, huh? With the first pick on Feb. 1 around 9 pm, plus we are halfway through the 5th round...let's see...we're just under 1/5 of the way through the draft after 13 days (tell your significant other Happy Valentine's Day)...pitchers and catchers report to spring training for my Cubs tomorrow...calculating...we should be done in about a month and a half just in time for opening day in early April. We'll be cutting it close if we don't speed up.
9:07 AM, February 14, 2006
I can take a few hours off to help, but I can't afford to take a day off (sorry). I need to bill 2000 hours this year, regardless of holidays, vacations, and sicknesses. That's 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, for 50 weeks. We already have 2 weeks of holidays and I want to take another 2 weeks of vacation, so I need to bill like crazy when I am actually at work (or take work home with me, which I have been doing, or come in on weekends, which I am loathe to do). Jenn was pretty pissed when she realized I don't really get vacation since, in the end, I still have to make up the time. I was pretty far behind in January and really can't take a whole day off.
That said, I can help our for a couple hours either early morning, around lunch, or afternoon, just let me know what you prefer. I suggest lunch since I can avoid traffic across the bridge...
9:07 AM, February 14, 2006
Regarding the problem of having the most recent comments at the bottom of the page:
Most browsers go straight to the bottom of the page if you hit the "End" button on your keyboard. That would save scrolling.
Blogger lets you send new comments to an e-mail address. It's not too difficult to filter e-mails and route them to a web page where the draft comments could be displayed in most-recent-first order.
Jason could also make minor changes to his blog template that would take you to the bottom of the comment page when you clicked the link to the post, instead of the top.
Finally, it is probably possible, using some more arcane template magic, to actually display the comments in the reverse of their current order. But you probably don't want that for all your pages.
11:00 AM, February 14, 2006
Roy, you lost me at "regarding." Tom, either use the end button or stop being lazy.
11:12 AM, February 14, 2006
Yeah, that was way over my head. "End" works fine, except for the obvious shortcoming of requiring me to do something (which I am completely against). Maybe if the comments could be transferred directly into my brain via some sort of thought transmittal device...
11:23 AM, February 14, 2006
Combining comments from Roy and Tom, we could set up the template so that when a post is made that it emails a text message to your cell phone...and if you have a Bluetooth that audibly notifies you of an incoming text message, that's about as close to getting in your head as you're going to get.
Another option is to schedule a conference call w/ all participants (including queues for those not able to participate) and get this thing done in one or two nights; however, using the blog is fun. Hard to talk trash on a conference call...maybe a chat room could work...Jason would be responsible for adding an entry to the blog w/ picks for each round.
11:33 AM, February 14, 2006
I am against a conference call or online chat at this point, mostly because we still have a lot of time. Plus, the pace really picked up for about a week there. If things continue at this slower pace, then we will try to figure something out. All getting together at once will be difficult with people stretched out from California to Germany...
11:36 AM, February 14, 2006
Am I the only one thinking that we need a weekend in Vegas to get this draft taken care of?
11:44 AM, February 14, 2006
Vegas, baby, Vegas.
Or, Tom, in our cases....Atlantic City, baby, Atlantic City.
(Am I the first one to think of the Swingers Vegas quote? Or just the first one with poor enough taste to actually post it?)
3:53 PM, February 14, 2006
Well, I guessed wrong on Nate's pick, though I figured he would go for an outfielder. I was right on Roy though, which is unfortunate because I was hoping Schmidt would fall to me...
6:26 AM, February 15, 2006
Jason, was that last pick for Justin? Regardless, great pick; league over; I concede
7:02 AM, February 15, 2006
Oh yeah, Michael probably won't be waking up for another 5 hours, so we've got time before his pick.
7:05 AM, February 15, 2006
Yes, the Holliday pick was for Justin. He sent me the world's longest queue since he didn't know what kind of internet access he would have at the Olympics.
7:20 AM, February 15, 2006
I only took Schmidt because I guessed that Jason predicted I would. I also was hoping that he would fall to me, but I didn't want to risk it.
8:49 AM, February 15, 2006
Well I figured with you being a Giants fan and Schmidt being their ace, it was a good fit. I was surprised you didn't take Bonds the previous round, which I predicted. I'm damn bad at predicting...
8:59 AM, February 15, 2006
I guess I thought Bonds would last a bit longer. But that seems to be a bad guess 'round here. If you're thinking it, somebody else is, too.
9:01 AM, February 15, 2006
What is the availability of people who are unsigned? Let's imagine Roy Wesley is a free agent. Can I draft Roy in the hope that he signs with an NL team?
12:04 PM, February 15, 2006
Oh, sorry, it's in the rules.
12:06 PM, February 15, 2006
Per the rules, free agents can be drafted. If they sign with an AL team or retire (Tino Martinez), then you are SOL (no compensation pick later in the draft or improved waiver priority).
12:10 PM, February 15, 2006
Tino Martinez retired? Ahh crap. Way to throw a wrench in my whole draft plans! What are you going to tell me next, the Cards aren't moving Pujols back to 3rd to make room for Big Mac?
12:10 PM, February 15, 2006
Re: drafting free agents, if someone had drafted Jeff Weaver (signed by the Angels today), they would be out of luck. If they had drafted Tino Martinez (retired today) they would be out of luck. If this occurred during the draft, they would get the last pick in the draft as a replacement. If it happened after the draft, they would have to pick up a free agent.
1:14 PM, February 15, 2006
Well you should have picked Counsell, goddamnit. This is the third time that the two picks immediatly before mine were the exact top two players that I would have chosen. Maybe Bigelow cant get in peoples heads, but everyone seems to be getting into mine!
8:02 PM, February 15, 2006
Everyone is getting in my head too. The two guys I really wanted with my next pick were either Burrell or Schmidt. Now I actually have to think about it. Dangnabit!
8:17 PM, February 15, 2006
Worst pick ... Roy taking Tony Clark ... wait a second, does Chad Tracy play 1B or 3B?
9:00 PM, February 15, 2006
Ok, I was wondering ... seems like a reverse position change, most guys go from 3B to 1B (Konerko, Thome, Pujols). I rescind, for now, my overzealous criticism of my brother.
9:08 PM, February 15, 2006
Tracy qualifies at 1B and OF from last year but is playing 3B this year. Nice position elegibility, hopefully the 30 HR power was real...
9:09 PM, February 15, 2006
Yeah, I wanted Hudson and either Edmonds or Burrell, figuring Zack wouldnt take both of them...but he did. Francoeur seems like a gamble for me, but what the hell. He could go for 40-110, or could hit .220. Either way, he is young and talented, and in a keeper league, seemed like worth the risk.
10:15 PM, February 15, 2006
By the way, I was thinking Nate would take Edmonds instead of Griffey.
10:50 PM, February 15, 2006
I think Nate realizes that Edmonds' catches don't count for much in this league, plus his numbers were down last year (Rolen affect--pressure?). Griffey has figured out his hamstrings are about 6 inches shorter and should let the young bucs make the fancy catches while he yanks balls out of that wind tunnel in Cincy.
6:26 AM, February 16, 2006
Zack watches in horror as the closers begin to fly off the board and greedy Evan takes two of them. Michael is content with his decision to take the top closer available long ago. Jason wonders this will be the year Brad Ausmus finally hits his weight and ponders taking him in the 7th.
8:55 AM, February 17, 2006
Not to worry, one-year-wonder Derrick Turnbow is still available. And on this foggy Friday morning, I would like to leave us all with a thought from one of this world's great philosphers, Mr. Adam Corolla, courtesy of the Valentines Day "Man Show" marathon:
"We should do away with male nurses, because the only thing that a man should nurse is a bottle of Scotch."
Amen.
9:13 AM, February 17, 2006
I would like to note the sentence in the original post that states "Remember not to discuss players that have not yet been drafted." I don't believe Ausmus actually counts as a "player" for fantasy baseball purposes, so I am not in breach of said rule. Chad Bentz (who I played with in high school ) and Kenny Baugh (who I
played with in college) don't count either because they are such longshots to see any action in the majors or contribute. Turnbow, however, is a legitimate fantasy player and for that reason, we should preterminate any discussion of him.
Plus, he's the new Kolb;-)
9:28 AM, February 17, 2006
Mr Selig: Because of my last pick, can you tell me how the DL works in this league? I don't remember if it was in the rules you sent us at the beginning of this adventure.
9:51 AM, February 17, 2006
You have 2 DL spots available. If a player is placed on the DL, you will be able to put him on the DL through Yahoo!. You will then be able to pick up another player off waivers or as a free agent.
If Nomar can play 120 games, he's a pretty nice pick, especially given his position elegibility. Don't know that I'd want him as a 1B or 3B, but he's still elegible at SS (any maybe OF? Can't remember.).
9:52 AM, February 17, 2006
It isn't Kolb's fault Bobby Cox doesn't know how to work with closers. Cox is a moron when it comes to managing late game situations.
9:59 AM, February 17, 2006
I figured with only 16 teams, the closer market's going to be slim, so I might as well grab 2 ... someone had to, might as well be me. There are still plenty out there. If I'd waited, they might not have made it back to me. Sucks being on the end. I think the draft order should be completely random!
11:07 AM, February 17, 2006
I think we've gone far enough for some early round evaluations. We're not too thin skinned for such discussions are we? Best pick so far? Best team so far? Worst? Most surprising?
I know for a fact that Michael has only picked players that are on his man-crush list. That probably doesn't surprise anyone though.
1:40 PM, February 17, 2006
I'm uber-surprised Winn went this early. I think he's a fine pick here, but I was hoping to grab him 2-3 rounds later. Didn't realize others would pounce on him.
1:46 PM, February 17, 2006
Winn went? Am I having internet problems or something? The last thing that I see (even after reloading) is the pick of Hoffman.
1:57 PM, February 17, 2006
Peter took Winn and Izzy. Evan is out of his freakin' mind and took Turnbow as his 3rd closer. Please hand the man 10 points for the saves category.
2:04 PM, February 17, 2006
Well, there goes another guy I was considering (Renteria). Pickings are slowly getting slimmer.
2:05 PM, February 17, 2006
I'm really counting on Bonds staying healthy and performing. If so, Winn should get some great pitches to hit with Bonds behind him (hoping that Winn would hit 3rd and Bonds 4th - guess I'm counting on that too).
2:10 PM, February 17, 2006
I think the Giants should put Winn at #2 and Bonds at #3 to get Bonds more at bats. I think Winn will have a good year, 15 HR, 20 SB, 100 runs (with Bonds healthy). Hard to stay as hot as he was at the end of last year for a full season though...
2:20 PM, February 17, 2006
I wouldn't worry about Randy Winn being pitched around ... but that's just me.
2:26 PM, February 17, 2006
And, if they want Bonds to hit, they actually might try to keep Randy from getting busy on the basepaths. They don't want 1st base open so Bonds will get walked even more.
6:57 PM, February 17, 2006
It's Friday night, why the slow down? Everyone should be fixated on their computer screens waiting with great anticipation for the next pick to be posted!
7:32 PM, February 17, 2006
Let me see.... Someone doesn't like Winn. We'll just have to see how things look in few months when Bonds adding up the HRs and Winn is adding up the runs. Not many people out there who (at least) will get 15 HRs, 15 SBs, and score 80 runs. Plus, if his hot streak at the end of last season carries over to next, we're talking quite a bit more. We'll see - I guess that's what makes all this so much fun. All this talk would certainly be much more fun if I knew any of you besides Jason.
7:39 PM, February 17, 2006
I like Tom and Michael's teams, although I'm not sure Francoeur was a great pick, his BA decreased drastically over the course of his stint last year. He hit .413 in July, 0.312 in August, but was 24/102 in September and October ... that's .235. Did he hit the wall, or did pitchers figure out how to get him out. I'm wondering if Nate will have enough DL spots for Furcal, Rolen, Griffey Jr. and Carpenter. If he can avoid the injury bug, he has a strong squad.
But, at this point, it's hard to speculate because I don't really know that much about fantasy, there is so much variation in player's from year to year, and there is still a lot of filling in to be done.
Evan definitely has the most depth at reliever and I'd give Roy the nod for best outfield, even if Floyd and Jones played out of their minds last year.
7:53 PM, February 17, 2006
I heard on Sportscenter that the Giants are hoping Bonds will play 100 games. Now, I don't know if the Giants have any idea how many games he'll actually play, I guess it could be a lot more or considerably less. Last year shows that the Giants and Bonds aren't always on the same page.
I didn't mean to knock Winn, or his selection at this point in the draft. I just don't see him as someone you'd worry about "getting pitches." Usually, guys with speed and not a lot of power (like Winn) are challenged more by pitchers than guys like A-Rod, Bonds, Ortiz, Pujols, etc. If Alou has his way, sounds like Bonds will hit 2nd. I wonder if they'd just rotate the lineup up, so the pitcher hits 7th or 8th?
8:07 PM, February 17, 2006
I'm not saying that I expect him to pick right up from where he left off last year, but if you were to extrapolate his numbers after he came to SF last year over 150 games you would get 36 HRs, 18 SBs, 67 RBIs, and 100 runs. That's without Bonds in the lineup. Even if he comes close to those numbers (like the 15HR/15SB/80R I mentioned previously), I would say there is not really any OFs left who could be expected to put up those numbers.
8:24 PM, February 17, 2006
Since I'm sitted here doing work (anyone interested in a presentation on cardiac murmurs), I figured I would put in my 2 cents on the league thus far (and not let Jason or Evan hog all the color analyst positions). One thing is obvios - Evan will dominate to saves with three closers already picked. I was going to agree with Evan regarding the injury prone lineup Nate has picked up but Furcal started 154 games, Griffey 128 games, Casey 137 games (the last two not great, but not horrible considering Griffey hit 30HRs). Carpenter pitched 241 innings. Rolen did only start 56 games, but I wouldn't call him injury prone considering he started more than 140 games the previous 4 seasons. I would say the riskiest picks thus far (besides my own roster which is full of risky picks including Weeks and Bonds) are Gagne (pitchers coming off arm injuries - just risky), Soriano (#4 pick already having conflicts with new team) Barmes (lucky to be playing in CO), Floyd (career year last year), Smoltz (no Mazzone for the first time) and Francoeur (agree with Evan's analysis here). I would have to say that either Tom or Jason have the best squads at this point. Great combos of power, speed, pitching. Sure, Tom is missing a closer at this point and has the risk of Nomar but that seems like a good risk. I can't wait until all of this starts and the fun begins. And Jason - I object to you saying Kenny Baugh-ller is a long shot - he was my deep deep deep sleeper this year.
8:54 PM, February 17, 2006
Furcal had knee surgery in the off-season, that's my concern with him - along with his lifetime .157 avg. at Dodger Stadium, his new home park. It seems unlikely that he'll steal 46 bases again, since he averaged 25 the previous 3 years. If I was coming off knee surgery, I wouldn't be as adventurous on the bases. Rolen is also coming off surgery, multiple surgeries on his shoulder that cost him most of last year. I'm a civil engineer (though not a transportation engineer), not a doctor, but I'd think shoulder surgery wouldn't be the best thing for a guy playing third base.
Carpenter was on my team last year, and it was great. However, he started to tank at the end of the season (5.73 ERA w/ .309 BAA in September) after a solid start and a great middle of the season. Isn't it possible that 241 innings was too many. His previous high (216.2) came in '01 and he missed most of the next year (2002 he made 13 starts) and all of 2003 with injuries.
Griffey Jr. is a great power hitter, in a solid lineup, but he hasn't been injury free since his last year in Seattle (1999). That's six partial seasons, and the only reason he isn't closing in on Henry Aaron's 755. He played well last year, but the previous three years he averaged 68.67 games, hit around .255, and 13.67 HR's.
9:41 PM, February 17, 2006
Way too early to tell for best teams so far. Health will be the biggest question so far for most teams.
I think Justin has the two best picks so far in Wright (I almost took him with my #5 pick) and Helton (his 2nd half suggests big rebound, even if the power is down).
Worst pick is probably Tony Clark. I thought Roy did a great job until that pick, but Clark has to compete with an unnamed player and I'm not sure he can repeat last year even if he is a full-time player. Of course, I would have said the same thing last year and anyone that drafted him last year laughed all the way to the bank.
12:44 AM, February 18, 2006
Never too early to provide analysis. At least that's what I've learned from ESPN....
10:40 AM, February 18, 2006
My point was that this early, I think most of the teams are still pretty close. I have a good balance between all the hitting categories, but plenty of teams have more power than me.
10:45 AM, February 18, 2006
For all that is holy, we have to let Nate redo his last pick.
11:56 AM, February 18, 2006
Is Hampton healthy?
1:04 PM, February 18, 2006
He had Tommy John surgery at the end of last season and is supposed to be out all year.
1:14 PM, February 18, 2006
I let Nate re-pick. I didn't realize Hampton was out either, good catch Tom.
2:47 PM, February 18, 2006
Roy, I'm starting to hate you. You keep taking the pitchers I want. You are evil incarnate.
5:18 PM, February 18, 2006
Two things:
1. Which Gordon?
2. I think it's pathetic that our fastest drafting is being accomplished on a Saturday evening.
6:12 PM, February 18, 2006
Only projected NL starters named Gordon and Patterson are Tom Gordon and John Patterson. Patterson's a good pick if the Nats get him some runs.
6:17 PM, February 18, 2006
Everything's shut down in Oklahoma. They canceled everything since ice, then snow, came through last night.
6:18 PM, February 18, 2006
Dang, I was hoping Hall or Freel would get back to me. Anyone need a closer?
7:50 PM, February 18, 2006
Yeah, especially since my next pick--and the last decent closer-- just disappeared.
7:57 PM, February 18, 2006
Corey Patterson would be the best pick since Ichiro.
6:52 PM, February 19, 2006
Fielder can close, right?
7:00 PM, February 19, 2006
Evan, now I'm displeased with you. Of course, I wasn't going to draft him for 2 more rounds so I guess I shouldn't be surprised he didn't make it too me. It will be interesting to see if he can hit lefties in the majors.
Thought about Duke instead of Lowry, but he doesn't really strike many guys out and he's a little unproven still. Good talent, but will hitters adjust?
7:07 PM, February 19, 2006
Duke and Lowry are quite similar aren't they, just one year of experience apart? Both had fantastic runs at the end of their first season, though it was only part of the year.
8:02 PM, February 19, 2006
Well, if you'd send out a list of the "Commish untouchables", everyone would know who not to draft.
8:04 PM, February 19, 2006
Not a single pick for over 24 hours....is this a new record? Lets see how long we can go with this...
6:10 PM, February 20, 2006
Like I said before, Peter's a Doc. He's probably elbow deep in spleen...
6:15 PM, February 20, 2006
Sorry about the delay. I worked from 7am yesterday to 2pm today - so no computer at that time. Then to prevent making totally stupid picks, I got a little sleep first. Of course, I'm still half asleep so who knows who I just picked.
6:56 PM, February 20, 2006
The commish is confused. What did Peter apparently get that the rest of us didn't? If the combination of Roy and Evan don't "get" something, I usually feel pretty confident that there is nothing to "get" in the first place. Or in Zack's case, in last place...
10:27 PM, February 20, 2006
....Zing!
And on another note...a 31 hour shift...wow. Peter, you are a better man than I. These things confuse me though, as I have discussed with my good buddy who is a 4th year med student looking forward to the horror of his impending residency...why are doctors asked to work such shifts? I mean, other than an airline pilot, is there anyone in the world who you would rather have well rested and lucid than a doctor/surgeon? Yet there you have it, a 31 hour shift. A paradox, indeed.
11:30 PM, February 20, 2006
Nice pick Tom. He's pretty underrated since he's been healthy the last 2 or 3 years. Consistent and his R and RBI numbers should improve with an improving lineup.
8:54 AM, February 21, 2006
Thanks. It was a toss up btwn him and another guy. I fully expect that you will take the other guy with one of your next two picks. For that, I hate you.
9:10 AM, February 21, 2006
So, should we pencil the Brewers in for 1st in the NL Central? They're leading the NL in pitchers drafted, even if Fielder isn't seen as a potential reliever. Plus, they've had 1B, 2B, 3B, RF and LF snatched up.
I'm starting to wonder when the run on Rockies starting pitchers will begin. Perhaps, I should try to get that one going next time through.
3:15 PM, February 21, 2006
Yes, I was going to mention that it was "draft a brewer" day today. I would have drafted my brewer if not for extra terrorestrial, I wasn't quite ready for Jenkins yet since I already have 3 outfielders.
3:19 PM, February 21, 2006
Sorry, guys...I decided to go ahead and draft a second closer even though there are one or two Brewers still left on the board who could be drafted in this position. My bad.
5:13 PM, February 21, 2006
Slow down, boys. I can't process the information this quickly
5:18 PM, February 21, 2006
Is that Brewer for Justin?
7:33 PM, February 21, 2006
I agree with the fact that who would wzant a doctor working 30+ hours. I definitely wouldn't mind the same hour restrictions as pilots. That being said you would be surprised at how well you could get used to working 30hr shifts and 80hr weeks. It probably isn't hard to recognize when I'm at the end of a long shift b/c I'll most likely make shitty picks.
9:16 PM, February 21, 2006
Apparently, CS graduate students at Johns Hopkins occasionally work 30 hour shifts as well. Who knew?
9:30 PM, February 21, 2006
Terrorestrial? Is that some kind of Houston or New Orleans word?
9:33 PM, February 21, 2006
Michael may have lucked out (or played the rest of us for fools perfectly) with J.D. Drew. Even if he doesn't play the entire year, if he puts up 15 HR's in less than half the year, filling someone in from later on (usually on the bench) will provide enough production to make that OF spot very viable. I was hoping he'd quietly slide back to me ... I just couldn't pass on Taveras' SB potential last time. If he plays all year, he could be a great producer. A Bonds led Giants team should get quite a few leads to Benitez as well. Nice turn all around.
9:39 PM, February 21, 2006
Wow. I come in and check in the morning and see what players I get off of my queue and it looks as if Jason sent it out to the rest of you just to mess with me. Biggio, Green, Jenkins, Drew, and I'm left with Brady Clark? This sucks...
11:05 PM, February 21, 2006
I think Roy's pick up of Biggio is a great move, it might almost make up for that Tony Clark gaff.... Drew always has the potential of a huge season if he stays healthy, but there are always a lot of questions when a guy's coming off of two surgeries. Jenkins and Green are solid. I really think that Green might have a couple of 30 - 40 HR years left in him...
11:08 PM, February 21, 2006
I'll take Lane's 25+ HR any day of the week over Drew's pipe dream "stay healthy" season. Clark (Brady) isn't so bad (Tony is), but you could have put Lane ahead of him or taken Green or Drew before Perez.
Zack, I traded Michael for Valverde in your league 2 years ago and he immediatetly went on the DL. Good luck with him. Nasty when healthy though.
6:29 AM, February 22, 2006
Well, in retrospect I probably would have gone ahead and taken Green with my 9 and Perez with my 10 instead. Such is life...
Jeff Suppan? I'm guessing Nate's next pick is going to be John Tudor...
6:45 AM, February 22, 2006
Jason, you got Valverde and only had to give up Michael. Good deal. I'd trade him for less.
7:08 AM, February 22, 2006
haha.
7:09 AM, February 22, 2006
As rookies in the league, you'll have to cut Nate and I some slack. We'll be the guys at the end of the season you'll be looking to for trades to plug your holes down the stretch while we wallow in the basement. I don't blame him for going w/ the people he is comfortable w/.
Don't be surprised if I'm in the cellar at the beginning of the season w/ my entire starting lineup on the disabled list because I'm distracted by buying/selling a house, having a baby in May, and moving back to New Orleans. I don't know if it's kosher to stand on the commish's shoulders and ask him to realize my team is in the tank during this period.
Bigs was probably drooling on his keyboard when he saw Lane was still available. J, do you remember that game we went to when Lane was playing for the Zephyrs in AAA?
Benitez seems to be turning into the present-day version of Lee Smith, nothing flashy just results.
7:11 AM, February 22, 2006
Thanks for the vote of confidence on Biggio. He was atop my list, and I needed a two-bagger, so the only difficulty in the decision was the confusion over why he hadn't already been selected by someone else.
I feel like I should defend myself regarding (Tony) Clark. I would like to point out that I (a) was desperate for a first baseman, (b) had allowed last year's performance excessive weight in the majority of picks, (c) wasn't paying attention to projected starters or platooning, (d) remain oblivious to many issues because of a lack of careful observation in recent years, and (e) would like to point out that I can always close my eyes and cross my fingers.
8:16 AM, February 22, 2006
Did I just say "I would like to point out that I would like to point out that . . ."? Sorry. I usually proof before I press send.
8:19 AM, February 22, 2006
Does anyone know who the Atlanta Braves closer is going to be this year? I saw some grabbed Jorge Sosa. I was under the impression that Bobby Cox was going to bring back Mark Wohlers and John Rocker and go with that two-headed monster righty-lefty combo.
Roy, you don't get to use ignorance as justification for taking Tony Clark. It's just not solid footing to stand on. Perhaps, you should have made the case that the picks were going so fast you didn't know what to do.
10:40 AM, February 22, 2006
I thought there were a lot of Astros fans in the league. Where is the love for the 'stros? Lane and Wilson just now went and Ensberg, Taveras, and Biggio went to non-Astros fans, probably lower in the draft than they should have, definitely lower than they could have gone.
Jeff Suppan, according to Roy's scheme for rating players, was actually a fairly solid pick. He was near the top of the remaining starting pitchers.
10:45 AM, February 22, 2006
I couldn't agree more on both accounts. Astros are going a lot later than their numbers warrant. Unfortunately, in several instances they have gone one or two spots earlier than I had hoped. However, it is clear that the Brewers have a much better team than the Ass-tros.
As for Suppan, he was one of the most consistent and reliable starters left in the draft.
11:00 AM, February 22, 2006
Biggest problem with Suppan is that his WHIP for 2003, 2004, and 2005 was 1.31, 1.37, and 1.38, respectively. His strikeouts were 110, 110, 114, respectively. His ERA was 4.19, 4.16, 3.57, respectively. This tells me he got lucky last year with the ERA and just scattered his hits better and had a few more unearned runs. In fact, last year he had 93 total runs and 77 earned runs. In 2004 he gave up 98 total runs and 87 earned runs. My guess is his ERA was lucky last year. Still should get a solid 14-16 wins, 110 strikeouts, 1.35 WHIP, and 4.10 ERA. Solid, but probably could have been picked later.
And yes, the Astros are definitely getting picked late. Main problem is that they are all proven commodities while many of the Brewers are unproven, meaning people are hoping for the breakout season (Weeks, Fielder).
I will cut Jody all the slack in the world. Not because he is becoming a real estate tycoon, not because he has to worry about moving, and not because he's having another baby. Rather, I will cut him some slack because, if I don't, he will hit me in the face with a baseball. Its happened before, and let this serve as a warning to anyone thinking of crossing his path!
12:07 PM, February 22, 2006
And those Suppan stats right there are why we all should fear Bigelow. That, my friends is why "Zack or Bigelow" is an even-money (or better) bet versus "the field" for who is going to win this league this (and every) year. This would be the case if I were a betting man, which of course, I am not. The only way any of us has a chance is if someone small comes up big...like if my 26th round keeper, Jay Bigelow, wins the triple crown in a couple years...then I have a chance down the road. Hey...it could happen.
12:20 PM, February 22, 2006
You give me more credit than I deserve. I just read an article at www.rotoworld.com a few months ago that said those things about Suppan. I just looked up his stats today to see if the article was correct. Suppan has been solid, but unspectacular for the last few years. I look for players with more upside than him, but his reliability is worth something in fantasy baseball because you know what you are getting and don't have to worry about injuries.
12:28 PM, February 22, 2006
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