rburgh wrote:I've just been scouting the cards this evening waiting for my pick. (There's not a lot else to do here in Evanston, WY in January.) I found some cards that were surprisingly bad. Maybe it's just that I haven't gotten fully acclimated to the fact that pitchers are becoming dominant again. Gee, I hope we don't have to live through another 1968.
For all the hype, Bryce Harper doesn't thrill me. I'm sure that's mostly a function of his age, and that he will be really good down the road. But comparisons to Trout are just not possible as yet.
B.J. Upton continues to make the least of his supposed talent, and it rubbed off on big brother Juston this year. Maybe they should have their family name legally changed to Downton.
The former player known as Shane Victorino is traveling down the slippery slope at Warp 3 or more. He ought to abandon hitting left-handed.
Josh Hamilton had kind of an ordinary year. I got to watch the Rangers' telecast the night he hit 4 HR - he looked like he would never miss another pitch for the whole rest of the week. Then he came back to earth with a thud.
It's hard to believe that Stephen Drew makes the kind of money that he does. He must have some very nasty photos of Bud Selig or something.
Pablo Sandoval had an awful year for a guy who was such a big playoff hero.
Dustin Ackley and Ian Kinsler were both dreadful; neither one can hit a lick against RHP.
Yonder Alonso and Eric Hosmer, for a couple of hyped prospects a couple of years ago, are taking the Pedro Alvarez road to their supposed stardom. It all started coming together for Pedro a little this year; maybe these two guys will get all the way to mediocre next year. It was a bad year for 1B all the way around; I thought it was weird when Bill drafted Adam LaRoche in the middle of the 2nd round, but Adam looks awfully good in the context of this season's 1B pool.
Matt Wieters is still nothing more than a big-time lefty crusher, with a great presence behind the plate. Catchers are tricky, though. Go back and look at Johnny Bench's career. He made Bret Saberhagen look consistent.
Actually, I'm pleasently suprised how good Sandoval's card is, given his regular season stats, It's not a stud card I'll grant you, but given how bad the 3b base position is overall, I'll take it. As for LaRoche, clearly you didn't look real hard at my roster. I had a hole the size of the grand Cayon at 1b and couldn't take a chance of LaRoche falling any farther especially not having 4th or 5th round picks.
I'd agree with most of the rest of your assesments though. I still think Hosmer and Ackley will be players, I'm not completely down on them, but the rest, especially BJ Upton, your spot on.