Get ready everyone...Baby Bisho's coming high and tight with his 1st annual fantasy draft analysis. Keep in mind, this analysis is the opinion of one owner, and not meant to hurt anyone's feelings. Here we go.ARODSACYSSY
Best Pick – Javier Vasquez in Round 9
Worst Pick – Russell Martin in Round 3
Overall Grade – D+
With guys like Crawford and Quentin on the board at the end of the 3rd round, the Martin pick seems upsurd. In addition, when your staff ace is Wang, and Halladay was still available, one might ask if the “lipper” that was introduced early in the draft had some ill effects on the GM.
BABY GORILLAS
Best Pick – Chris Young (AZ) in Round 10
Worst Pick – Vlad Guerrero in Round 4
Overall Grade – B+
Love, love, love the starting pitching. Webb-Lester-Shields-Myers-Sanchez. About as solid as they come. The pen is strong as well…the “Mexicutioner” Soria might have the best peripherals of any RP. Added some good young talent late in the draft with Rasmus, Porcello and Lars Anderson. All 3 of those guys could make an impact this year. Would have rather had Aramis than old man Vlad in the 4th. Only thing lacking in the lineup is speed.
CLARK & ADDISON
Best Pick – Rickie Weeks in Round 21
Worst Pick – Ichiro in Round 3
Overall Grade – C
Ho Hum, Ho Hum off to work we go! There is nothing eye-popping about Clark & Addison on paper. They didn’t make any big mistakes, but didn’t find much gold in their pan either. They’ve got some power, a little speed, and very questionable in the rotation beyond Lackey. Weeks is an absolute steal in the 21st round if he stays healthy. Look for a middle of the pack finish in year #1
CLIENT #9
Best Pick – Lastings Milledge in Round 16
Worst Pick – Jeff Clement in Round 22
Overall Grade – A-
Very well balanced, but contract years are going to be an issue with such a young team. Kemp, Hart, Votto, Bruce…all of these guys should improve their rate stats over the life of their assigned contract. Pitching is solid, but not great, and the pen is a MAJOR question mark. There’s a chance come May 1st that there isn’t one clear cut closer on the roster. Strong drafting late with: Feliz, B. Anderson and Alvarez. Expect a top 3 finish in year #1
CO YANKEES
Best Pick – Edwin Encarnacion in Round 18
Worst Pick – Robinson Cano in Round 7
Overall Grade – B-
A lot like its GM, team is “long in the tooth”. Lee, Rivera, Oswalt, Wells, Damon, Polanco…Christ..is it 2003? In all seriousness though, Sizemore and Fielder provide a good base, and Peavy can anchor any fantasy staff. I actually like the late rotation picks of Kuroda and Blanton better than the earlier picks of Carmona and Pelfrey. Another positive, he’ll have a crap load of contract years to apply to younger players as half the team is staring at retirement in the next 2 years.
HOOSIER HEAT
Best Pick – Lipstick on a Pig here…I guess David Wright in Round 1
Worst Pick – and also awarded WORST PICK OF THE DRAFT – Victor Martinez in Round 4
Overall Grade – D
I guess I can start with V-Mart in the 4th round. One word…Yuck! Way too many question marks to contend this year: V-Mart, Burnett, Bedard, Hoffman, Konerko, Sherrill, Helton, Percival, Matsui, and Hafner. Half of the team was either injured for a majority of the season, in danger of losing their job, or traded in the off-season. Between Hoosier Heat and CO Yankees, they can start building phase #3 at Del Boca Vista. No prospects were drafted.
JIMMY’S DADDY
Best Pick – Ivan Rodriguez in Round 25
Worst Pick – Benjie Molina in Round 11
Overall Grade – C
When your 25th round pick will start over your 11th round pick, chances are you screwed the pooch on that 11th pick. I think Jimmy’s Daddy would be much happier with Pudge and Milledge, Encarnacion, Maybin, or Ankiel…don’t you? With a healthy A-Rod, and Hanley anchoring the offense, and 2 of the best closers in the business, look for a 5th-8th place finish in year 1.
LAWNDALE LONGHORNS
Best Pick – Cameron Maybin in Round 16
Worst Pick – Geovany Soto in Round 4
Overall Grade - A
Hands down, best draft had by any owner. The Soto pick is marked only because the author doesn’t believe in drafting catchers early. Top to bottom, there are no weaknesses, and plenty of upside in guys like Motte, Sandoval, Hanson, Price and Davis. Team is scary good..and finishes in the top 2.
TALLCORN COBRAS
Best Pick – Matt Cain
Worst Pick – Derek Jeter
Overall Grade – B-
The shine is off Jeter….declining numbers year after year, and continually drafted far too high. I was actually watching Doc Gooden’s 2003 no hitter for the Yankees last night, and was surprised to see #2 playing shortstop. BTW..Doc is NOT taking care of himself. Looks like the 3rd or 4th best draft overall, with Pujols, Soriano and Beltran, you can’t really go wrong. Besides grabbing Cain late, who, if he got some run support would be a top 15 SP, Tallcorn nabbed Felipe Lopez and Chris Volstad, who might find their way into the starting lineup for the cobras before week 3
THE ROCKPILE
Best Pick - Rick Ankiel in Round 13
Worst Pick – Magglio Ordonez in Round #6
Overall Grade – C+
Do you want to face the Rockpile when this rotation has 2 starts each in a week: Lincecum, Volquez, Felix & Ubaldo? I don’t! That’s 80 strikeouts right there. High strikeouts, high rewards, high risk. Would anyone be surprised if all 4 of those guys ended up on the DL with elbow bursitis or “my herky jerky motion caused my 24 year old arm to fall off”?? The offense needs help, but should keep them in the mix most weeks.
THE SWINGERS
Best Pick – Troy Tulowitzki in Round 9
Worst Pick – Anything from the 13th round on
Overall Grade – C-
I’m hoping autodraft clicked on at the 13th round, and those were not conscious picks. I count 7 of those picks that should be on the waiver wire. Rounds 1-12 were much different. Good mix of all categories, young guys with upside and established veterans. If The Swingers, can make some moves, and add some real depth, they’ll finish in the upper half in year #1
YEAR 2000!
Best Pick – Ricky Nolasco in Round 12
Worst Pick – Hamilton in Round 1
Overall Grade – B+
I would have picked differently in the first round…still don’t trust Hamilton. Year 2000! boasts the best pitching staff in the league, and should dominate all 5 categories each week. He’ll likely need to trade one of his arms for a bat or two towards the middle of the season, but count on a top 4 finish. Good, strong, talent for the next 3 years indeed
Projected Final Standings for Year #1
1. Lawndale Longhorns
2. Client #9
3. Year 2000!
4. Baby Gorillas
5. TallCorn Cobras
6. CO Yankees
7. The Rockpile
8. Jimmy’s Daddy
9. Clark & Addison
10. The Swingers
11. ARODSACYSSY
12. Hoosier Heat
19 comments:
OK, what cliche should I start with?
Recap's are as bad as predictions. They're both worthless.
But you have me coming in 2nd to last and gave me one of the worst grades of all owners. Even worse then the guy you said was on auto-draft from the 13th round on. Wow.
I'll defend my Russ Martin pick as he is cleary the best fantasy catcher in the league for 2009 and that is why he's off the board early. As for your suggestion of opting for Crawford or Quentin, well Quentin is an injury risk from hell plus I duplicated his stats by picking up Dye 3 rounds later and Crawford declined last year (on a pennant winning team too) and he projects to have almost identical stats as Martin in '09.
I would like to say something about you calling out Wanger, the only problem is it would be very difficult for me to debate Wang's worthiness over Halladay. I agree that Halladay would of been the pick there (actually he was going to be) but the only problem is that Halladay was already off the board. Maybe you need to fact-check just a little bit better before you start making the snide remarks.
My bad on Halladay....meant that you should have taken him instead of the canadien midget catcher. For shits and giggles though, I'll start listing other pitchers that indeed went after Wanger: Oswalt, Billingsly, Burnett, Zambrano, Shields, etc., etc., etc.,
Quentin is an injury risk? He broke his hand in a fluke bat punching incident. Crawford and Martin equal...laughs.
Well it's obvious you have a fundamental dislike for Wang. Is it a hatred of the Far East? We've already determined your hate of Canada. Wang is a highly underrated pitcher. Back-to-back 19-win seasons and a .730 winning percentage. Yeah Burnett is better with his 10-year career of .500 pitching and the reality that he has never shown he can bounce back after a 200+ inning season. The owner of a guy like Burnett will be lucky to get 135 IP out of him in '09.
Yes, Q is an injury risk. It's the entire reason why the DBacks got rid of him. You may recall that problems finding his swing again after his shoulder injury were part of the reason the White Sox were able to acquire him from AZ. There is the same skepticism now with his wrist (very important for power hitters). So while I certainly hope that Q stays healthy I don't think he'll be putting up 35+ HRs in 2009.
Don't get me wrong I love Carl Crawford. I've been dreaming of the day that the White Sox would be able to lure him away from Tampa. Problem in Tampa is that they won't be using Crawford to his full ability. The team has become a HR hitting squad and how many bags do you think Crawford (if healthy) will steal when he's got guys like Longoria, Burrell and Pena looking to clear the bases with one swing of the bat? That is the only stat that Crawford can trump Martin and I don't see Crawford stealing 40-50 in '09. So maybe he adds 15 more thefts then Martin, but he should put up just as many fantasy points (they're extremely equal).
In the end it's obvious you don't put much emphasis on the C position. It's also painfully obvious that I put TOO MUCH emphasis on that position. I guess I just figure when I'm looking at holes in my lineup I feel I can replace an OFer much easier then a C. On the other hand I'm assuming you'll be on the waiver wire looking for a scrap heap bargain just to fill out a C position as Jeff Clement is most likely bound for AAA and you have no backup.
Well, that didn't take long. An insinuation of regional racism in post 3.
And for the record, Clark & Addison loves the Far East. I've been to PF Chang's twice...and loved it!
While it is fun to analyze and predict, the season starts soon enough and then we all shall see. Afterall, my brother was picked to win this league...my brother. Let that soak in for a bit.
Ryan - your trash talk is like your roster.....(wait for it)......WEAK!
I can only hope this is a prelude to a season full of mud-slinging and back-handed compliments....
Considering the source of the recap and that I have maybe a year or two on the author, I will laugh the old man comments off. I am pleasantly surprised with my B- rating though, I thought no matter what, Bisho gives me a D.
I think I have a good mix of youth and veterans that will make a solid run this year. Too bad you cannot sign your entire t-ball team to 3 year deals.
One thing, Oswalt is old? (31?) I dont have a 40 year old plus pitcher on my squad....
And the Wanger wins another 18+ games this year.
Always great to see the trash talk, so great to see everyone back in full swing.
The Asian racist suggestion was epic, only to be topped by Clark & Addison's PF Chang comment. LOL!!!
Over at Team Baby Gorilla, we embrace diversity and take a melting pot approach. We have Mexicans (Sanchez, Soria), Americans (Webb, Shields), African Americans (Young) Venezualans (Cabrera), even homosexuals (Lester).
Looking forward to a great season fellas!!
Man, PG coming in with the unsolicited homophobic comments about Red Sox players. Good thing you can see through your bigotry to draft one to anchor your staff.
I loved one person's analysis of the draft although I will have to give Round 1 of Tony 3K/Bisho to Mr. 3K. I don't think taking Martin that high was a bad pick. Using Bill Jamesian stat speak, the replacement value of catchers is much lower than that of outfielders. The drop off from the top 2 or 3 catchers to the next tier is significant. Sometimes it is not about what the maximum value of a guy is but the loss in production by going with another guy.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Lester...
Any high I felt from my draft, and I was feeling pretty confident, is gone after reading my grade.
Question...has Ivan Rodriguez been drafted yet? If not, that's reason enough to say that Russell Martin in the 3rd round probably wasn't a good pick. Sure, Martin is now better than the aging Pudge. However, the loss of production (as Ed so eloquently put it) would probably be neglegable when comparing their stats with players like Nick Markakis, Man Ram, and Carlos Lee.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to disparage Russell Martin at all (he is a fine player and will put up good numbers). But i'm gonna have to agree with Baby Bisho on this one. Drafting a catcher so high is a mistake.
On that same note, Bisho, was your second round Ian Kinsler pick so smart? I mean, Dan Uggla went in the 5th, heck, Jose Lopez went in the 14th round (which, btw, was an absolute steal). Leaving guys like A-Rod, Matt Kemp, Holliday, Markakis, Man Ram, etc.
Also wanted to point out that getting Ryan Braun with the 10th pick was an absolute steal for The Ger. Good work dude.
You're missing Ed's point PG.
You shouldn't be comparing Russ Martin to the other guys drafted in the 3rd or 4th rounds but Martin compared to the "next tier" of catchers after the top 3. After Martin, McCann and Mauer (health?) the production out of catchers becomes hit and mainly miss.
Now, when speaking of OFers you can get very similar numbers out of 5th or 6th round draft picks that guys will get out of 3rd round OF draft picks. For instance:
3rd & 4th rd guys:
Quentin .286, 37, 111, 11
Crawford .293, 10, 85, 38
Bay .282, 30, 107, 8
Hart .260, 21, 85, 21
5th & 6th rd guys:
McClouth .261, 23, 85, 23
Victorino .281, 10, 55, 35
Ellsbury .276, 8, 50, 40
Granderson .280, 24, 75, 13
And of course my actual OF pick of Jermaine Dye in the 7th round:
Dye .276, 28, 90, 3
Not a dramatic fall-off from the Jason Bay pick in the middle of the 4th round to Dye taken in the middle of the 7th round.
PG, as a Yankees fan you should know that Pudge projects to be a big drop off from Martin. He was also picked up by Jimmy's Daddy. Martin also figures to benefit from a full season of Manny in the lineup too.
I think the big point is that 1B and OF are the two positions that are easiest to find productive players in later rounds. 2B, SS, and C who are very productive are harder to find and that is why players like Hanley and Reyes are so valuable when compared to Pujols and a healthy ARod.
It comes down to draft strategy. Some guys like to take the best overall players on the board with their first 4-6 picks. I think Bisho likely falls into that category. Others like to fill specific holes as they go along looking at the entire pool of available players. Obviously 3K is in that camp. It's kind of like Mel Kiper criticizing NFL GM's for what he feels are bad draft picks only to have those picks pan out.
That's why they play the games...
This season can't start soon enough for me. I wish I had Bisho in Week 1 but that will be left to Ed. I get Wade, which is a rematch of the football championship!
Speaking of the season this will serve as the official invitation for Opening Day at my place. I'll have all the games going, with multiple TVs to watch your hometown team, food and beverage provided and wi-fi for those interested in tracking their team. If interested just shoot me an email and I'll provide directions.
AS -
Will you have the Tacoma Rainiers game on for opening day? I'd like to catch Jeff Clement's AB's?
Kinsler will rival Utley for the top 2B all year
Well the Rainers don't open their season until April 17th, so maybe you can catch Clement in an extended ST game in your backyard of AZ!
The rest of the big leaguers will be playing official games on the 6th.
Does anyone else here totally expect Philly to fall flat on their face? I see Hamels being out for extended periods of time and Utley battling nagging leg issues all year.
Don't get me wrong Kinsler is simply a product of his environment. He's a .250 hitter whenever he's away from Arlington. For that I can't display too much love for the guy.
Lotta 'tweaked' nerves in this place ... I do agree on Jeter, that's why I backed it up with an aging, steroid-less Tejada. Short porch in Houston, however.
I think I'll go with the PF Chang reference as the highlight of my week. Book that.
Bring the blog back, boys, bring it back in style!! And could it be that Baby Bisho is trying to avoid a rash of homo erotic love from Shane-o-matic with all of the worship? Just sayin ... lotta man love goin' on up there.
Hackman is on a mission, none too pleased and silent hatred must be spewing from his pores ... I can feel it from here, 12th best and bloodied by the re-cap ... ouch.
I'll write off the saves category effective immediately. Gregg over Marmol has me in a tight spot.
That's the biggest gap in my draft, no doubt about it. Live and learn boys, live and learn.
Lou is racist. I'm convinced.
Post a Comment