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Subject: 2009 Baseball post-draft review and musings Posted by: Seattle Zen - [402241610] Mon, Mar 16, 2009, 12:24 Hey, it’s time to review my draft and take pot shots at everyone in the process. Hopefully everyone else will chime in. This year was a little different as I was on the road for the first two days of the draft. I was really hoping that we would have progressed to my pick before we left in the morning, but I was prepared to tackle this challenge. I’d rather be gone at the beginning than the end as I had spent a lot of time planning how I wanted to draft early, I didn’t want to repeat my mistakes from last year. Here’s who I thought were the best ten players in the draft for my team: Brad Lidge, Nate McLouth, Chris Davis, Garrett Atkins, Corey Hart, Francisco Cordero, Bobby Jenks, Matt Capps, Rich Harden, Carlos Pena So I get a message that it is my turn to pick. I was in the gem of Central Washington, the town of Toppenish. Now, when I say “gem”, I don’t mean “jewel”, and I don’t even mean “semi-precious stone”. No, Toppenish is closer to “rock”. I hear RSF read off the list to me. Javier Vazquez number 3? Jonathan Broxton before Brad Lidge? Wow, Lidge is right there and I have him as my number one. Is this what I really want to do? The gulf between Atkins and the next third baseman is large in my estimation. I firmly believe that he will be The Man this year for the Rox, knocking in over 100 rbi’s. Has there ever been a year in which The Man for the Rox is not coveted? But didn’t I read something about a hip flexor? Lots of talking heads poo-poo Atkins as he has two declining years in a row, but even these guys are taking him the sixth round of 12-team drafts. I tell RSF to go with Atkins because I feel I have a better chance of landing a closer in round two than I will find a decent third baseman. I was right. Nerve takes Robinson Cano next. I can’t believe it, this is a terrible pick. Dude, you left Brad Lidge on the board to pick up a back-up second baseman? Plus, I have been screaming from the mountaintops how much I hate Cano. It’s back to me and both Francisco Cordero and Bobby Jenks are still on the board. Experts are split on these two. I go with Cordero because he gets a lot more strike outs and Jenks has Octavio Dotel waiting if he falters. There is no one of note behind Cordero. Last year, I had a choice between drafting Todd Jones and Brian Wilson. I flipped a coin and it came up, FAIL. Big mistake that I hope doesn’t happen to me this season. Maybe everyone is leery of Harden because his shoulder is made of paper maché. I’m afraid that Biliruben will take him, hell, he traded away his first round pick for him last season. I’ve only seven picks until I get to go with Action Figure’s third rounder. I’m surprised to see Joey Devine go, at a loss of words when Polanco comes off the board. Then I jump up and down when I get to type “Rich Harden”. I think of him this way: I’d rather have a player with top 5 starting pitcher ability who delivers when he is healthy enough to take the mound. If he is hurt, he sits on my bench and someone else takes the mound. He won’t stink up the joint like a Aaron Harang or Justin Verlander last year, he’s my Chipper Jones, you are happy when he is in there, you just know he won’t always be there. I’ve read that he is recognizing the limitations of his shoulder and has finally figured out how to pitch with these limitations. Hey, he’s got Cy Young stuff and if he ever made 33 starts, watch out! Just another 5 players to be taken until I get to pick again. Right now, I feel confident enough in my plans that I can take the best player on left on the board. After seeing four closers and a serious overreach for a starter go off the board, I decide that I want an outfielder. The choice is between Torii Hunter and Johnny Damon. I had Damon last year and he was one of my better draft picks. Great for runs, steals and average. My team is weak in steals (and will remain so), but I am concerned about the Yankees’ outfield/DH. They have too many bodies – Damon, Nady, Swisher, Matsui, Gardner, Cabrera. Johnny is old and with Swisher deserving some at bats each week, if Johnny has the slightest tweak or the Yaks have four straight road games, he’s going to sit. I don’t think he’s going to get 600 plate appearances this year and I was happy with him last year, I don’t want to go to the well too many times. Torii is my guy, he’s batting clean up with Bobby Abreu getting on base before him. I think Torii could steal 20 bases and he’ll certainly drive in more runs and hit more homers than Caveman. If I hadn’t drafted Rich Harden, I definitely would have taken Yovani Gallardo. Nerve, don’t let him trip over anything, let others use knives in the kitchen, hire him a nurse to help him in and out of the shower. He should be a stud. Ricky Nolasco will get hurt, you heard it here first. I want another closer. Much to my delight, only one comes off the board and he is a risky one in my mind. Bili takes a shot at The Hype. The great thing about Diamondback pitchers is that they get so many games in Petco, PGE Park, and in Chavez Ravine. I’m sure Bili will arrange for Torre to bat Juan Pierre in the cleanup spot against Sherzer. I like the Slowey and Garza picks. I also think Jose Lopez will have a great season, but he probably could have been picked a round later. Millege has talent, lots of it. Brian Wilson is only 27, has no one breathing down his back. His ERA and WHIP should regress some this year as a few more of his fly balls ended up over the fence than should have last year. Tree grabbing Damon 18 picks after I was contemplating him was a steal. There’s a third baseman run, finally, the first guys off the board since I took Atkins a million years ago. Nelson Cruz was a good pick, batting clean up for the Rangers in their matchbox ball park is very attractive. The next six picks are all stretches. There are so many great players out there and I don’t have any of those guys amongst them. Here were the top 11-20 players I had for my team going into the draft: Adam Dunn, John Broxton, Jermaine Dye, Javier Vazquez, Torii Hunter, AJ Burnett, Yovani Gallardo, Raul Ibanez, Derek Lee, Carlos Delgado Somehow Burnett is still there. In my game planning, no way did I imagine that I would get five of my top 16 players. Again, he is risky, but he has topped 200 innings three times in his career. He will still strike out a ton of players when he’s on the mound and he has shown that he can win 18 games pitching for an AL East squad, though he no longer gets to face the Yanks, who he owned last year. At this point, I have Jake Peavy, James Shields, David Price, Rich Harden, and AJ Burnett as my starters. I’m stoked. Baldwin, seriously, you think Gil Meche will outperform Burnett? Come on! Another great pick by Tree in Adam Wainwright. I like the chance that Punk takes on Zambrano. Is Jason Motte from Kentucky? Coming into the draft, eight teams had second basemen, but only seven knew this as C1NRB drafts Polanco so Ian Stewart can stink up his third base slot. B7, Pancho and Perm had filled their second base slot by this time. I wanted to get Kelly Johnson again, he is seriously undervalued. He leads off for the Braves, he has a little power, he steals bases, scores runs, good average. Take a look at his output and compare it to Adam Jones and ask yourself, “damn, Jones is in the outfield and Johnson is a two bagger, why isn’t Kelly getting the love?” He outperformed R. Cano last year, yet no one cares about him. Once Baldwin passed on second base again, I knew I was good to take him. Plus, I get the satisfaction of keeping him away from Tree, who took a risky, high upside choice in Kendrick. Now what? All I have to fill is catcher. I want Benji Molina, Ianneta failing that, but I don’t think I need to take him this round. What about Huston Street? I really was impressed with Ryan Dempster’s season last year, but I am a little worried that he will regress to a more realistic line much like Derek Lowe did in 2003. Well, B7 snags him, so why not go with his teammate who has been a steady rock for the past two years? I like the Cubs this year and think they should win 100 games. The way Lilly pitches, he should get 16 of those. Not bad for your sixth starter. I’m through trying to figure out what the other managers are thinking. Maybe I’m off in some Bizarro world, but my list of top players is being completely ignored. I feel confident in picking Benji Molina at this point even though I am usually loath to pick a catcher before the second to last round. I mean, I put together a list since my Kelly Johnson pick of the sixth round and only Huston Street, Dempster and B Lyon have come off of it, and no one falls off in the early ninth round either. I starting thinking about who has the best chance of hitting 30 homers left on the board. I think it’s down to Jim Thome, Mark Reynolds, Adam LaRoche, Kevin Kouzmanoff, and that’s it. Thome should hit for a slightly better average this year. He is batting clean-up in the highest scoring offense in baseball. For a bench player, he has fit the bill. His UTIL position must have scared people off. But there is a stud still out there, waiting to be picked like the one black kid in the all-white middle school gym class. The Chipper Jones of the outfield. “You sunk my battleship!” I’ve been a fan of Milton Bradley since 1998 when he was in the St. Louis Browns’ minor leagues, whoops, Expos. Someone smarter than me wrote that going to a team full of veterans like Derek Lee should mellow Milton. Cubs have a great team, he’s never been on a great team. And like his teammate Harden, this guy seriously produces when on the field. I would much rather have a guy who has to figure out how to stay healthy in the majors than try to figure out how to hit. If I owned the Cubs, I would hire an experienced Thai Massage/muscle kinesiologist to work on Milton every day. Thai massage is all about stretching, strengthening the tendons that connect muscles to bone and joints. Milton hurts himself because he is a hugely muscled man who plays the field with near reckless abandon. You need to be limber and have great core strength like a football player to stay healthy. Maybe he is mature enough now to listen to his body, but you have to understand your body first… he needs a mentor. I don’t think Lou Pinella will every throw him to the ground and blow out his knee, no, I think he will have a mellowing influence on him – I’m sure Lou sees a lot of himself in Milton. A winning atmosphere in the clubhouse cures a lot of what ails you. I knew Tree would want Milton and I strongly believed that he was the last impact player on the board. I proposed a trade with Nerve, but he had given that pick to CC, so I pitched it to MBJ who agreed and I was ecstatic. Then Taxman took Jered Weaver, a great pick who had slipped way, way too much. That made me jump up and down as well as I remember Tree taking Jered in the first round in 2007. Tree confirmed my suspicions when he was belly aching when it was his turn to pick! Oh, simple pleasures! It was boring sitting out the next 38 picks. I had a five man Q and only three of them we taken – Carlos Gomez, Michael Bourn and Hong-Chih Kuo. The Crushin’ Russian was the second guy on my queue. Thank goodness this is not an on-base percentage league. I have quite a few bats who will hit north of .300 this year, even so, I could not afford to play Ryan Howard, Jim Thome, and Kevin K if they are all hitting poorly. Jose Arrendando was the fifth guy on my queue, was a little upset to see Tree land him. but wasn’t too disappointed to not get him as I think Scott Shields gets the saves if Fuentes goes down. He has a great arm, but he won’t reproduce what he did last year, young middle relievers rarely do. I’m obviously light in steals, but with Gomez and Bourn off the board, I can only hope for some speedster to appear out of no where and I must be quick to pull the waiver wire trigger. All of the closers are gone, and I think Brandon Morrow will end up the M’s closer, very nice pick by B7. Mike Napoli is the kind of late in the draft catcher pick that is very wise, nicely done, Nerve. David Aardsma, isn’t he the first player in the alphabetical order in Kafinated? I have to think that was a late night, drunken mistake. Fear not, the waiver wire is flush with fish. Marino Rivera had offseason surgery. He hasn’t thrown yet this spring. He is 68 years old. Has he pitched so well the past few years that people have forgotten that he is ancient and therefore fragile? That’s pronounced frah-JILL-lay. My bold statement of the preseason: Damaso Marte leads the Yankees in saves in 2009. That’s pronounced DAMN A$SHOLE by the rest of you!!! Jody Gerut was a complete Baseball Prospectus pick. They happen to love the guy, and when I say “love”, I mean they think he will be the 6th best outfielder in all of baseball next year using their metrics. BP has a statistic that they say best measures the contribution to winning a player provides and call it VORP for Value Over Replacement Player. Of course, this isn’t fantasy baseball – VORP uses defense in their calculations, but still, the sixth best outfielder in 2009? They envision him hitting .302/.365/.500 with 15/63/68/8 in 455 plate appearances. Add in the fact that he plays good centerfield defense and supposedly this makes him sixth: Carlos Beltran, Ryan Braun, Manny Ramirez, Grady Sizemore, Nate McLouth… what, you don’t immediately spit out, “Jody Gerut!”? It’s worth taking the risk. I’m in such a state of preseason fantasy baseball harmony that I can recite the Baseball Prospectus blurb of about 250 players by heart. I need to get away from the computer. Last year we finished the draft on Friday, I wish we had done that this year. I’m eager to get back to preparing for my two other teams. I have one even shallower 4-man keeper mixed league and I co-manage a uber-deep 12 team old school 4X4 NL-only auction eight man keeper that is so different, it’s like dealing with ancient Aramaic texts. To give you an idea, our squad, which sucked last year, has 11 below-market valued young players. We had to unload some players, and trading with these Methuselahs is aggravating. We ended up finally agreeing to this swap: Ryan Dempster at $10, Elijah Dukes at $5 and Clayton Kershaw for $10 for Corey Hart at $6. Hart is in the final year of his contract, Dempster, Dukes and Kershaw will be in their option year next season. It seems like a horrible trade for us, but believe me, these types of trades happen all the time. We were going to lose some good, cheap players if we didn’t do something. Here is what we have going into the draft: Joey Votto $15, James Loney $10, Jay Bruce $10, Cameron Maybin $10, Shane Victorino $6, Corey Hart $6, Jorge Cantu $12, Tim Lincecum $20. That is super cheap. We are in desperate need of a closer, but I love our bats. This league usually has a lot of top players thrown back into the pool because they go for over $40 in the auction, lots of cheap players are kept. Yeah, it’s really strange – there is no bench- this league has been around for 23 years, so you can see why they speak Aramaic. I think being in three leagues takes a ton of my concentration, I don’t know how some of you guys can be in a dozen leagues. This is my favorite and I really hope I can take the pennant. Good luck to all. | |||||||
| 1 | Tree ID: 61411921 Mon, Mar 16, 2009, 13:51 |
great, great write up SZ, and i think you and were definitely going along similar lines in the draft from players we targeted to wondering what the heck some of the other owners were thinking. i definitely wanted Bradley, and was eyeing him for nearly a full round. losing on him and taking Nady was a big downswing as far as im concerned. if Nady gets the playing time, then he'll hit 25 homers and i'm fine, but right now, that remains to be seen. which brings us to Damon - again, playing time. what will happen? still, at that late juncture, i had to grab him, because he shouldn't have been available. then there's Kelly Johnson. he went a round earlier than i anticipated, but that's how these things go. So, i went with Kendrick - you're right, the high risk, high reward pick. But i'm hoping his batting average rewards me enough for the low Avg i'm gonna get from Dunn, who is exactly the kind of player i hate - all power, no average. still, he was the right player at that moment of the draft, and thus far has been the epitome of consistency with 40 dingers a year. Jermaine Dye is another guy. he seems underrated every year - but he'll do ok. Jose Arrendando was a bit of a reach imho, but i presumed he was high on other people's radars, and wouldn't last much longer, so i snagged him for depth in my relief corp. i'll finish reviewing my team later, but these were the guys relative to SZ's post. | ||||||
| 2 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Mon, Mar 16, 2009, 16:23 |
Zen You have a lot more energy then I think I can muster. Nerve takes Robinson Cano next. I can’t believe it, this is a terrible pick. Dude, you left Brad Lidge on the board to pick up a back-up second baseman? You value closers much higher then I do. Cano isn't my back up second baseman, he can sit in one of the utility spots and fill in at second on off days for Alexei. Cano is a .303 lifetime batter who is just turning 27. Yeah his first half was horrible last year but he batted .307 after the all star break so he appears to have turned things around and he bats in the middle of the an all star line up. He batted .342 in 2006 in over 400 AB's. That is talent that I hope he finds again. Unfortunately I've just read he has Buritis in his shoulder. Opppps. I would have taken Liriano, McLouth, Mauer, (Before injury) Tulowitzki and Davis before him but guess what? They were gone. I saw no need to taking pitching here because there was a group of 10+ pitchers all at the same value and most of the league had pitching from keeper lists. I don't like taking closers early and I ended up getting Jenks 2 rounds later and I had him not much further down my list then Lidge. Last year as I mentioned earlier, I left the draft with only Nathan and I finished in 4th place with saves. Your comment to me during the draft about no pitching didn't jar me, it was my strategy along to grab a plate of pitchers next in the draft since I had every field position filled at that point. (except catcher) Also had 2 extra picks in the next 4 rounds and a big group of pitchers I liked. So the next 5 picks I got Greinke, Jenks, Gallardo, Milledge and Garza. So while most everyone else was fleshing out their batting, I was putting together a group of solid second tier SP's with high upside, hopefully one turns into an Ace. Some won't pan out but the waiver wire will have replacements. After that I was really looking for the top talent on my list and that was Verlander and Chris Perez and Josh Johnson..yeah three more pitchers but there they were and they were topping out my draft list. I'm pretty confident Perez will close, but even if he doesn't he will get saves and help other stats. The thing about not keeping an ace on your keeper list, is you have to overload with the second tier, less reliable pitchers, to see who pans out, and I am feeling good about my hitters with the exception of possible downside with Youks. I over did it on pitching here though and wish I had let two of these go until later and added hitting instead, that's my biggest regret of the draft. Reynolds was Best on my list next and will be one of the Utils. I had a big list of people I wanted rather than Tommy Hanson, and it will be hard to hold him with our shallow bench when he heads to the minors but the upside and possible keeper reward is so high. Number two pitching prospect after Price with only Tom Glavine at age 42 in front of him. In a perfect world I preferred Carlos Gomez, Fred Lewis and Kouzmanoff who came after him but I wanted to take a real flier and then I get Rivera after him and he was close to the others I just mentioned. Maybin is a prospect free bee that I look forward to watching and I wanted that extra prospect slot. Love the prospect draft. My prospects over the years have included: Jered Weaver, Felix Hernandez, Cole Hamels, Carlos Quenitin, Lasting Milledge, Jacob Ellsbury and Cameron Maybin. | ||||||
| 3 | Biliruben ID: 52052916 Mon, Mar 16, 2009, 17:08 |
Hated my draft, and so crazy busy after the first few picks barely had time to get in a good rant or two about kidHated, much less waste time with "research". Hopefully you'll again let me beat you on the wire, but my guess is my luck is running out. | ||||||
| 4 | Seattle Zen ID: 402241610 Mon, Mar 16, 2009, 17:39 |
If you planned on using that draft pick as one of your UTIL players, there were at least 50 players better on the board than Cano. I stand by my statement that Kelly Johnson will outperform Robby this year. he bats in the middle of the an all star line up. Ah, no, he bats seventh, that ain't the middle. Unless Cano can get back to hitting over .320, I think you would have been happier with Carlos Pena, who may not hit .320, he just racks up those annoying HR's and RBI's while actually hitting in the middle of an All-Star lineup. Otherwise, I liked your draft. You took some chances and if they pan out as well as they did last year, your team will be quite formidable. Bili - but my guess is my luck is running out. We all certainly hope so. | ||||||
| 5 | Pancho Villa ID: 12291420 Mon, Mar 16, 2009, 18:49 |
My pitching should be stud, especially if Chris Carpenter and Chris Ray return to earlier form. Carpenter looks good this spring. In 2006, he won 15 games, 184 Ks, 3.09 ERA, 1.07 WHIP. Not bad for a #5 starter. That same year Chris Ray had 33 saves, 2.73 ERA, 1.09 WHIP. Not bad for a #3 closer. He should take over for Sherrill by May. Armando Gallaraga needs about 50 more Ks per year to be premiere stud material, but his 1.19 WHIP is encouraging, especially for a rookie. Qualls had 71 Ks in 73 innings, 2.81ERA, 1.07 WHIP. 35-40 saves is my guess. My hitting is OK, outfield is a little weak after Hart and Ibanez, unless Denard Span explodes. Jose Guillen had 97 RBI last season. That's worth a last pick flyer. Bourn had 41 steals. If he could draw a walk now and then, or just be a late inning pinch runner, that might be worth a late pick. He may even learn to hit. Infield depends a lot on Furcal staying healthy and putting up numbers and either DeRosa or Weeks stepping up at second. DeRosa has 3B and OF qualifications as well. I went back and forth on whether to keep Jorge Cantu, Shone Figgins or Tori Hunter. I chose Cantu because I think he can improve on his HR, RBI, runs and average playing the entire year batting near the top of the order. Figgins and Hunter seem to be on the back end of their careers with only steals (and runs in Figgin's case) as categories where they outshine Cantu. There are a bunch of really good teams in this league. A 4th place finish is probably my best shot given pre-season rosters. | ||||||
| 6 | nerveclinic ID: 27132251 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 07:11 |
Yeah Zen Pena will get you homeruns and a .247 batting average. We already know what we will get from Pena, there is no upside at age 31 without PED's so I've been taking players on this side of 27 as much as possible. In 2007 Cano, at age 25 had 19 HR's and batted .306. he had 97 RBI's and 93 runs. OBP .353/SLUG .488/ OPS .841 Now two years later, the HR number should move up if he has really corrected the bad start he had to 2008. I'll take the possible upside in HR production and a .300 average over Pena's .247 average and granted guarenteed HR production. Until I have a group of keepers like Tree's I have to use some of the early picks in the draft for players with possible keeper potential. Of course the shoulder news is not what I was looking for. Why you haten Cano so much Zen? Mariner fan? | ||||||
| 7 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 07:27 |
By the way Zen I am not explaining this to you to be argumentative, just showing my thought process. I definitely draft differently for this league then a non keeper. By the way I have Carlos Pena in Yahoo Public League #57495, and #85380, and #47951 so I must agree with some of your logic. 8-] | ||||||
| 8 | Baldwin ID: 10258919 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 09:36 | Weiters and Strasburg on the same keeper list. Just five more prospect drafts to go. | ||||||
| 9 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 09:54 |
Just five more prospect drafts to go. LMAO Of course you would really be excited if you could draft a 45 year old prospect. | ||||||
| 10 | Baldwin ID: 10258919 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 10:24 | Now now, when we were nearly done, before I picked up Konerko, my average age of my team was 28. A lotta room for upside. | ||||||
| 11 | Baldwin ID: 10258919 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 10:25 | [That was counting Weiters as already on the team] | ||||||
| 12 | Perm Dude ID: 25225178 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 10:32 | I'm sure Baldwin will win the AAA All-Star game... | ||||||
| 13 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 12:07 |
Zen David Aardsma, isn’t he the first player in the alphabetical order in Kafinated? I have to think that was a late night, drunken mistake. Fear not, the waiver wire is flush with fish. And you call yourself a Mariners fan. He's now in the mix for Seattle closer. | ||||||
| 14 | Seattle Zen ID: 36255179 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 12:30 |
Simply living in the proximity of Safeco field does not make me a M's fan. They have Adrian Beltre on that team, you remember him, that "shriveled balloon" you once drafted in the first round. Once Bret Boone got off the Juice, they no longer even piqued my interest. Nah, I'll stick with my Twins. | ||||||
| 15 | Seattle Zen ID: 36255179 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 13:05 |
In 2007 Cano, at age 25 had 19 HR's and batted .306. he had 97 RBI's and 93 runs. Ah, I see you were drafting using a 2008 magazine. Since you are using 2007 statistics, Pena hit .282 with 46 HR/121 rbi/99 runs. Cano had those rbi's and runs in the second spot of the line up. He now bats way down at seventh. He has a terrible attitude. He didn't just start slow last year, he starts slow every year. Joe Girardi, who will be fired sometime this season, cannot afford another slow start, but it is envitable. Without ARod, the Yanks will under preform this April, but this year Girardi will blow a gasket. Cano will be sleepwalking through April again, end up in the dog house, and simply suck. You'll use someone else in your UTIL slot for the first few months. Maybe, just maybe, Cano will heat up enough for you to put him back into the UTIL slot this summer, but you will mostly be doing that because you don't like the feeling of wasting your first pick and in the hopes that he proves me wrong, at least for a month. He might give you a hot streak for two weeks, just enough for you to say, "See, SZ..." But you will know I was right, just like I was about Beltre. | ||||||
| 16 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 13:21 |
Your always cocky this time of year Zen. Enjoy while it lasts. | ||||||
| 17 | Action Figures ID: 52122817 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 13:24 |
"David Aardsma, isn’t he the first player in the alphabetical order in Kafinated? Actually...no that would be his brother Aaron Aardsma I don't know much about the Mariners closer situation but I did read this somewhere. "Aardsma has been "the most consistent" pitcher of the closer candidates this spring", manager Don Wakamatsu said. | ||||||
| 18 | Seattle Zen ID: 36255179 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 13:48 |
Ah, Aaron Aardsma from Zzyzx, of course!
| ||||||
| 19 | Perm Dude ID: 192191712 Tue, Mar 17, 2009, 14:22 |
Had a decent list of overachievers as keepers, including FA pickups Aubrey Huff, and Ryan Ludwick. With VMart, Manny, Fausto Carmona, and Daisuke Matsuzaka I was hitting most of the highlights but lacked a closer. Last year I had, essentially, Sherrill and a rotating stock of middle relievers, which was good enough for 6 points in the saves category. Nathan is a step up. Without a second rounder, I knew I'd need to start out with a bang. With Chris Davis I think I'll shore up dingers with a young player. Ludwick, Manny, Huff and now Davis should have some serious dingers this year. And I don't think there is anyone out there who thinks that VMart will end up with just two home runs/35 rbis like last year. I wanted to firm up my starting pitching, since the biggest question mark in my keepers is Carmona. I have to be honest: I really dont like Chien-Ming Wang. But all signs point to him coming back without the pressure of being the #1 starter, and it isn't unreasonable to expect 17-18 wins out of the guy. He doesn't get a lot of K's but he'll eat innings at about a 3.60 ERA, which I'll definitely take. For round 4 I was looking at perhaps Nolasco or JJ Hardy both of whom went before I had the chance, but Jose Lopez was close to those two on my list. I typically shy away from any Mariner hitters, but Lopez hits for a good average and has surprising pop for a second bagger--17 dingers last year. I'd have liked a little more speed from this position, but I've learned (slowly) to draft hitters first and speed later. When round 5 came I couldn't pass up taking a SS. Orlando Cabrera, who helps in SB and average will help. His move to Oakland means a likely drop off in runs and rbis, but still, not a bad place to take a good second-tier SS. I was still looking at SP, and was surprised to see Buehrle still on the boards--he's a decent 15-game winner (wins still count in this league, yes?) which is probably 2 more than Nolasco will get. A couple of underachieving OFs next in Randy Winn and Shin-Soo Choo. One for speed and the other for average. I think the Cleveland offense will pick up again this year so Choo should do just fine. Not many .300 hitters still left. (I expect Winn, who hit over .300 last year, to dip below that this year). Jorge Posada is still a very good player--I don't know if he'll be a 20 dinger/90 rbi player like a couple of years ago, but I was hedging here with having VMart. At this point I felt I was seriously lacking in speed, and with positions locked up I felt I could pick some speedsters at this point. Off went Mike Cameron (20 sb), Kazuo Matsui (30 sb), Cristian Guzman (OK, another slow high-average hitter), and Chris Dickerson (25 SB). While I was primarily looking for speed (which not only get stolen bases but runs as well), I didn't want to unduly sacrifice other areas, and I think these guys fit the bill. Last two picks were throws of the dice: Bronson Arroyo (any pitcher in Cincinnati is a risk) and Bill Hall (who used to be good, and looks to be getting the starting 3B in Milwaukee). Overall I think I did OK. Not many "doh!" picks, and relatively few guys that I wish I'd taken earlier. Some very good picks made: Liriano by Baldwin (odd--Liriano won't have a rag arm for years). Zen's Lilly pick. Michael "Bourn Conspiracy" by Pancho. Bili's pickup of Perez very late might have been the steal of the draft, in the end. | ||||||
| 20 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Sun, Apr 26, 2009, 15:11 |
Yo Zen master... Nerve takes Robinson Cano next. I can’t believe it, this is a terrible pick. Dude, you left Brad Lidge on the board to pick up a back-up second baseman? Plus, I have been screaming from the mountaintops how much I hate Cano. Zen, looking for some help here, I know the wheels must be getting ready to come off Cano any day now, is it time to drop him to the waiver wire? 15R 5 HR 15 RBI 1 SB .366 AVG It's a little early I know but...ZenIf you planned on using that draft pick as one of your UTIL players, there were at least 50 players better on the board than Cano. I stand by my statement that Kelly Johnson will outperform Robby this year. KJ 9R 3 HR 9 RBI 0 SB .213 AVG Cano will be sleepwalking through April again, end up in the dog house, and simply suck. You'll use someone else in your UTIL slot for the first few months. Weird, I've had him sitting in my line up all April. Well there's still a week left n April, maybe I should bench him now? Whatcha think Brah? | ||||||
| 21 | Boldwin ID: 133532810 Tue, Apr 28, 2009, 11:55 | Considering Nerve has second basemen with the highest and third highest hits in the majors for any position, I'd lay low on criticizing his choice of second basemen. | ||||||
| 22 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Tue, Apr 28, 2009, 16:55 |
It's a cruel sport Baldwin, that could all change in a couple of weeks, I just wanted to make my point while it's still April which I was assured would be a graveyard for Cano. | ||||||
| 23 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Tue, Apr 28, 2009, 17:17 |
Zen is strangely quiet, he must be busy trying to explain to his boy, Milton Bradley, he's not a punk like everyone is saying. Zen Someone smarter than me wrote that going to a team full of veterans like Derek Lee should mellow Milton. And how did that advice work out for ya? (.046 BA) 8=] | ||||||
| 24 | Seattle Zen ID: 563222811 Tue, Apr 28, 2009, 17:57 |
Zen is strangely quiet There is more than one thread, Nerve. I already said Cano was giving you the April of your dreams in the Baseball 2009 thread. Milton is a moody baseball genius. He's building a case for Comeback Player of the Year... 2009, not 2010, really! | ||||||
| 25 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Wed, Apr 29, 2009, 01:59 |
Sorry Zen I didn't see that. You know you deserve this though? I'll quit while I am ahead, like I said it could all change in a week or two, fortunately we are almost done with April. | ||||||
| 26 | Boldwin ID: 133532810 Wed, Apr 29, 2009, 10:43 |
I also expect SZ's Burnett to finally exceed my Meche's ERA, K's and WHIP just before Burnett gets injured for the year. Baldwin chose who? | ||||||
| 27 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Fri, May 08, 2009, 02:20 |
Wait! Hold on everyone there's been a terrible mistake made. Zen accidentally dropped Kelly Johnson. He couldn't have dropped him intentionally because we all know he will outperform Cano this year, Zen has assured us: If you planned on using that draft pick as one of your UTIL players, there were at least 50 players better on the board than Cano. I stand by my statement that Kelly Johnson will outperform Robby this year. We've always been cool in this league about helping someone out when they accidentally drop a player and let's face it this must have been a mistake... I wanted to get Kelly Johnson again, he is seriously undervalued. He leads off for the Braves, he has a little power, he steals bases, scores runs, good average. Take a look at his output and compare it to Adam Jones and ask yourself, “damn, Jones is in the outfield and Johnson is a two bagger, why isn’t Kelly getting the love?” He outperformed R. Cano last year, yet no one cares about him. hmmmm it was a mistake wasn't it Zen master? | ||||||
| 28 | nerveclinic Leader ID: 05047110 Fri, May 08, 2009, 02:21 |
I say the above as Zen has an incredible day 7 Hr's, 3.80 BA and a killer start by Lilly. He should be pulling into first place. | ||||||
| 29 | Seattle Zen ID: 19447810 Fri, May 08, 2009, 11:51 | Kelly Johnson will outperform Cano, but even that isn't enough to stay on my roster. I'm stacked. | ||||||
| 30 | nerveclinic ID: 105222 Fri, May 08, 2009, 18:32 |
As Cano goes 1-21 last AB's. But dang he was good in April. we'll have to see how the year plays out. johnson will rebound. and the Zen Master is sitting in first. | ||||||
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