HCKL Chat/Trades

Sorry still missed Mujica on last roster 1/25 and also had 1 too few picks for Cubit in draft sheet, will send post draft just please note for the record.

Reposting divs & pre-draft handicapping:

WEST
Palmtana - ARI
Cubit - BOS
Smokey - open
Niners - NYM

CENTRAL
Zim - NYY
Hawk - TEX
Craig - WAS
Jason/FD - open

EAST
Lev - CIN
Stoney - DET
Qksilver - PHI
Smitty - CLE

For the newbies, we have a tradition in HCKL of me posting my prognostications for each team/div as part of the pot-stirring, so based on current rosters, here goes:

WEST
Cubit has a very solid squad this year anchored by HR king Chris Davis and Puig and where the only lineup hole I can find is LF. Rotation needs some help after Darvish as some of the SPs are 1-sided, but the pen is strong with Torres, Holland and Benoit. 91-95 wins.

Smokey has a nice pitcher park team with the best D in the league and excellent pitching headed by Kershaw & Buchholz, arguably the 2 best SP cards in the set (with Fernandez making his case too). Will be very tough to score runs against him with those 2 going. 88-92 wins, front runner for WC.

Niners has a nice blend of OB & power on offense but the D will be average - strong up the middle but vulnerable on the corners. Scherzer & Harvey lead the rotation, but the back end needs some help after dealing Gio G and the pen needs work. 82-86 wins.

Palmtana has another rebuild year going but is inching closer to competitiveness. Acquiring Neil Walker shores up a big hole and Yelich will have a freaky card vs RHs, but this team is built to compete when guys like Buxton, Hamilton Taillon and Taijuan Walker break out, not before. Iwakuma and Cashner have nice cards that could be used to leverage more future talent. 60-64 wins.

CENTRAL
Jason once again has a stacked team with Miggy @ 3B and Votto @ 1B, both having near-career years. This team will score runs in bunches with Ellsbury and Drew setting the table vs RHPs. Defense is very strong everywhere except 3B, and rotation headed by Price and Sale will be good enough to win some games. Pen is the main weakness but should be solvable through the draft. 94-98 wins.

Zim has a solid lineup with the main issue being balance as only 1 starter is LH, McCann. Depth is also an issue as there many of the cornerstones will have injury rolls. Rotation is deep with guys like Corbin, Hamels, Latos, Fister but maybe lacks a top-line starter. Pen is in good shape with Perkins, Smith, Rodney. 80-84 wins.

Hawk has a bevy of picks in the top of the draft, but not sure there is enough depth in the draft to cover all the holes. He's set at C, 1B and LF/DH with Choo, but all other spots are very iffy. Fernandez is a stud at the top of the rotation but there are few good SP cards after him, and the pen needs some help as well. This is probably the hardest team to handicap, as the draft will make or break it, but call it 76-80 wins.

Craig's squad has great depth in the pen, but quite a few holes in other places, notably CF and SP. Also some key position players like Hardy and Phillips did not have great years and there is little help to be found in the draft at those spots. This may be a year to deal the bullpen pieces and sell high on guys like Donaldson if the draft doesn't fill in all the holes. 70-74 wins.

WEST
Our squad has a nice core again with Harper, Tulo, Goldschmidt, Beltre, Kipnis etc. We lack a true DH but other than that we have a strong offense with good D except for C. We'll have fewer platoons than usual which hopefully will help HAL. Rotation is strong & balanced with 2 LH *s and 2 RH *s in MadBum, Wood, Kuroda and Shields or Verlander. Jeanmar Gomez and Alexi Ogando both have a good swing cards and will steal some starts and provide depth in the pen in our hitter park. Doolittle and Uehara need 1 or 2 more arms to complement them but we should be good for 92-96 wins.

Stoney has a great last year @ C from Mauer and some good supporting cards in Utley, Victorino and Worth. Not a ton of power in the lineup but it should still score & do ok in run prevention with Gregorius a surprising 1 @ SS. Stras heads a rotation that may need some help, and the pen has a good starting point with Furbush, Rosenthal. Could challenge for a WC spot, 83-87 wins.

Lev has Cano and a lot of good defenders. Run prevention not issue here. But this team is going to struggle to score runs as Crisp and David Wright are the only above-avg hitter cards outside of Cano. The SPs are nice with Felix, Cliff Lee and Colon at the top, but the holdovers in the pen had off years. 78-82

Smitty has Trout, which is a lot right there. He has a few good bats to support him as well including Moss, Beltran and Myers. However the SPs are weak after Cole, and there are holes in the lineup. Like Craig, this may be the year to sell some of the top cards in the pen and play for next year. 72-76 wins.


Overall I think there is a lot of parity in the league this year, and I don't see a 100-win team right off the bat. Any of the teams projected in the 72-86 win range could have a good draft and compete much better than I project right now. 2nd season will be interesting for sure, as I did find one pretty clear front-runner in each div, which means the Season 2 Div of Death may be the toughest ever. Again, no slights meant towards anyone with these assessments, all in good fun & to stir the pot!

Cheers,
Dave/Qk

Thanks Dave,
Very intriguing write up. I would definitely agree that Jason has the best team. Will be hard to beat. I was initially surprised by your optimistic prediction for Cubit (based of his finishing with a -214 run differential in season two last year), but after looking at it more the break outs for Crush and Puig should definitely lead to huge improvement.
I can't argue with your analysis of my team. I am kind of gearing towards season two when I should be in an easier division, but I should have a chance in season one. It's definitely good for me that I don't need to look to the draft for a SP, as last year I spent some picks on SPs and it will be nice to focus on something else. High BPHR hitters are definitely my priority.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to next season! Let's get this draft going.

Yeah, my team stinks. Oh well, high draft positions can cure most ills.

I have selected Ivan Nova in this year's FA draft with my #2 pick, so the draft is now on to the next pick, Smokey at #3.

Thanks again Qk for getting us all up and running, with a huge help from Bill. I appreciate Qk's words in the outstanding League analysis, I do hold out some hope for this season after the horrors of the last couple, but it is always tricky playing in Fenway to know how the bashers and the others will play out over a season. I would like to know all three other parks in the division, but what I really need is to finally learn how to play this game at the tactical level to do something to bend luck just a little more my way. I'm looking forward to the play and the challenge of bringing the Maine Coon Cats back.

I have some pieces I could move. My needs: a closer, premium bully arm(s), sp, C v right, LF v right.

I could potentially move the following guys to get this done.

Hill, A
Bautista, J
Butler, B
Escobar, A
Hosmer, E

Cowart Kaleb 3B ANA 2015
Sanchez Aaron SP TOR 2015
Hawkins Courtney OF CWS 2015
Gray Jonathan RHP COL 2015
Cecchini Garin IF BOS 2015

I can also include FA and rookie picks.

I need a pick in Rnd 2. If you have one to spare I'll offer my 1st rnd FA in 2015. Holler if interested.

Got my pick in, mostly because no one took my guy if he had been taken you all would have had to wait until late this afternoon when I get home.
Nice write up dave I agree with your assessment on my squad, Course the part about the pen you could write almost every year as I seemingly always manage to stock my pen with one year wonders and can never find guys that repeat their performances. Hopefully Ross helps the rotation, though he is a bit one sided.

Ross definitely one of the better available SP cards. There are a few left in the deck but not a lot.

If someone wants a good * SP I will offer Shields up, holler at me if interested. Looking for a strong RP and a pick.

More trade bait - if anyone is looking for a top-flight SS, I will put Everth Cabrera on the blocks. Wanted to keep him as a handcuff for Tulo but his card may be too good to keep on the bench with nice OB vs RH, best steals in the set, and killer card vs LH. Would want a good return as he looks like a $6M+ card.