![Offline Offline](./styles/we_universal/imageset/en/icon_user_offline.png)
- Posts: 2113
- Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:44 am
Draft Recap and preseason notes and predictions
It turns out that having the first pick in the 90s draft was not a good thing. I drafted McGwire #1 overall and figured I’d draft all righty sluggers and play in the Skydome. But none of that worked out. The 2nd pick was a surprise – Greg Maddux who is obviously a great pitcher but I think is a shade worse than Pedro, but gritch seems to have worked out all the statistics, so there’s probably a good reason for it. If there were a way to trade down maybe we both would have traded out of the top picks. I had planned to pick a SS at the end of Round 2, but all the premium SS were gone – Arod, Nomar, and then Jeter and Larkin picked by jaywalker and gritch immediately before my turn. Round 1 was very pitcher-heavy - in order – Maddux, the Big Unit, Pedro, and Clemens. Then, with the 2nd pick of Round 2, sphilipp paired Clemens with Kevin Brown and later in the round Studmeister paired Mussina with his earlier pick of Pedro. Jaywalker picked the only 3rd baseman worthy of a high pick, Chipper Jones, with the 3rd overall pick. I’m glad I’m not in jaywalker’s division because if Chipper is 98 or his 99 MVP year he can carry a team to a division title almost single-handedly. The first two rounds also saw all the best sluggers taken – Griffey, Bonds, Piazza, Manny Ramirez, Belle, Giles, Thome, Sosa and Frank Thomas.
Notes about the live draft format: 2 minutes per pick seemed perfect and the 26 round draft finished in about 2 hours. I drafted the first half of my team in the cab on the way back from the airport; so, I can say the live draft feature works fine by phone. It would be nice to have a feature where draft picks could be traded. Divisions were randomly formed after completion of the draft. It would have been better to have seeded divisions so we could draft our teams to match our division rivals.
At the end of Round 2 I had my pick of either Alomar or Sandberg and went with the more consistent Alomar. At the start of Round 3, the only premium player left on my draft board was Ricky Henderson so I went with him and my plan to draft a bunch sluggers was out the window. Ed1447 either had a plan to draft lefty sluggers or developed one during the draft because after drafting Bonds and Thome in the first 2 rounds he followed up with Whitaker, Baines, and Edmunds in rounds 3, 4, and 5. Some of the early value players by round were Mike Kingery (round 5), Rey Ordonez (5), Matt Mieske (6), Chili Davis (6), Turner Ward (grrr, 6), John Vanderwaal (7), Lee Guetterman (7), Phil Plantier (7). In the Finals draft you just can’t expect your favorite value players to last and I saw almost all my favorites disappear before I had a chance to draft them. Gritch drafted 7 of my favorite value players which shows that either we take a similar approach to player selection or he is spying on my draft board.
Last year, JimmyJames did a podcast reviewing the Finals live draft, but since none of the Round Table made this year’s Finals, I’ll make a super short take. Hallerose has to be viewed as the preseason favorite with power hitters at every position and, as always, a hitter’s park (Riverfront). After the draft it looked like he might break tradition with a decent fielding OF, but Edgar Martinez was available in free agency and the temptation was too great, so Albert Belle will start the season in left where he will consider chasing the ball. Here is a quote from Belle that I think summarizes his personality "The Indians wanted me to issue a statement of regret when the fine was announced, but I told them to take it out. I apologize for nothing." Hallerose made the finals based on a coin flip for 12th place which just adds to my sense of foreboding. The Central division looks very tough with both hallerose and sphilipp. I’m in the West division with jmdziuban, the always-dangerous daveaq and Takanahana. I’ve been in many theme leagues with sphilipp and Takanahana with mixed results. As the old saying goes, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.
Brothers Ed1447 and Takanahana are in different divisions with Ed drafting a lefty-hitting team in Shea and his brother drafting a mostly righty-hitting team in Qualcomm. In the East, we have Ed’s bunch of lefties in a lefty-ballpark, so the team could do very well. Then Piloneus made Coors Field the first ballpark taken but only has two great sluggers – Griffey who is consistently great and Sosa who has two really, really great seasons and 3 mediocre ones; so a 40% chance of a big hitting team. Jaywalker also took a gamble with Chipper Jones and Giambi – if they’re on their best years it seems like it could be a walkover to the East title; but we saw last year with JimmyC’s gamble on Mantle and Maris what can happen if the gamble doesn’t pay off (a terrible start). Then the division favorite, gritch, with Maddux, Larkin and a collection of value players most of whom will be cut before Game 40. I predict a hallerose v gritch World Series with the home team prevailing in Game 7. Anyway, the Finals starts tonight and I am looking forward to a fun season in the year’s most competitive Mystery league. The link to the finals is here: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/461671
It turns out that having the first pick in the 90s draft was not a good thing. I drafted McGwire #1 overall and figured I’d draft all righty sluggers and play in the Skydome. But none of that worked out. The 2nd pick was a surprise – Greg Maddux who is obviously a great pitcher but I think is a shade worse than Pedro, but gritch seems to have worked out all the statistics, so there’s probably a good reason for it. If there were a way to trade down maybe we both would have traded out of the top picks. I had planned to pick a SS at the end of Round 2, but all the premium SS were gone – Arod, Nomar, and then Jeter and Larkin picked by jaywalker and gritch immediately before my turn. Round 1 was very pitcher-heavy - in order – Maddux, the Big Unit, Pedro, and Clemens. Then, with the 2nd pick of Round 2, sphilipp paired Clemens with Kevin Brown and later in the round Studmeister paired Mussina with his earlier pick of Pedro. Jaywalker picked the only 3rd baseman worthy of a high pick, Chipper Jones, with the 3rd overall pick. I’m glad I’m not in jaywalker’s division because if Chipper is 98 or his 99 MVP year he can carry a team to a division title almost single-handedly. The first two rounds also saw all the best sluggers taken – Griffey, Bonds, Piazza, Manny Ramirez, Belle, Giles, Thome, Sosa and Frank Thomas.
Notes about the live draft format: 2 minutes per pick seemed perfect and the 26 round draft finished in about 2 hours. I drafted the first half of my team in the cab on the way back from the airport; so, I can say the live draft feature works fine by phone. It would be nice to have a feature where draft picks could be traded. Divisions were randomly formed after completion of the draft. It would have been better to have seeded divisions so we could draft our teams to match our division rivals.
At the end of Round 2 I had my pick of either Alomar or Sandberg and went with the more consistent Alomar. At the start of Round 3, the only premium player left on my draft board was Ricky Henderson so I went with him and my plan to draft a bunch sluggers was out the window. Ed1447 either had a plan to draft lefty sluggers or developed one during the draft because after drafting Bonds and Thome in the first 2 rounds he followed up with Whitaker, Baines, and Edmunds in rounds 3, 4, and 5. Some of the early value players by round were Mike Kingery (round 5), Rey Ordonez (5), Matt Mieske (6), Chili Davis (6), Turner Ward (grrr, 6), John Vanderwaal (7), Lee Guetterman (7), Phil Plantier (7). In the Finals draft you just can’t expect your favorite value players to last and I saw almost all my favorites disappear before I had a chance to draft them. Gritch drafted 7 of my favorite value players which shows that either we take a similar approach to player selection or he is spying on my draft board.
Last year, JimmyJames did a podcast reviewing the Finals live draft, but since none of the Round Table made this year’s Finals, I’ll make a super short take. Hallerose has to be viewed as the preseason favorite with power hitters at every position and, as always, a hitter’s park (Riverfront). After the draft it looked like he might break tradition with a decent fielding OF, but Edgar Martinez was available in free agency and the temptation was too great, so Albert Belle will start the season in left where he will consider chasing the ball. Here is a quote from Belle that I think summarizes his personality "The Indians wanted me to issue a statement of regret when the fine was announced, but I told them to take it out. I apologize for nothing." Hallerose made the finals based on a coin flip for 12th place which just adds to my sense of foreboding. The Central division looks very tough with both hallerose and sphilipp. I’m in the West division with jmdziuban, the always-dangerous daveaq and Takanahana. I’ve been in many theme leagues with sphilipp and Takanahana with mixed results. As the old saying goes, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.
Brothers Ed1447 and Takanahana are in different divisions with Ed drafting a lefty-hitting team in Shea and his brother drafting a mostly righty-hitting team in Qualcomm. In the East, we have Ed’s bunch of lefties in a lefty-ballpark, so the team could do very well. Then Piloneus made Coors Field the first ballpark taken but only has two great sluggers – Griffey who is consistently great and Sosa who has two really, really great seasons and 3 mediocre ones; so a 40% chance of a big hitting team. Jaywalker also took a gamble with Chipper Jones and Giambi – if they’re on their best years it seems like it could be a walkover to the East title; but we saw last year with JimmyC’s gamble on Mantle and Maris what can happen if the gamble doesn’t pay off (a terrible start). Then the division favorite, gritch, with Maddux, Larkin and a collection of value players most of whom will be cut before Game 40. I predict a hallerose v gritch World Series with the home team prevailing in Game 7. Anyway, the Finals starts tonight and I am looking forward to a fun season in the year’s most competitive Mystery league. The link to the finals is here: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/461671