Remember, WL, Lake Merritt was autodrafting. The computer picked Nen. And later on, it picked Nevin. :eek:
BTW, if anyone wants to do it again, my league is still open. Draft day is the 24th at 5:45 MST (7:45 on the East Coast). Right now, it’s AL only, but I will open it up if I get enough teams. I’m using more stats than normal, but nothing out of the ordinary. Offensive stats are Runs, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, AVG and OBP. Pitching stats are Wins, CG, Saves, Ks, ERA, WHIP, and K/BB. 25-man rosters, and OF-only categories (i.e. no RF, LF, CF breakdown).
If you are interested (again, committed owners only, please!), the code is 20066, and the password is fondue.
Sorry, Omni. It was the only one available that wasn’t during the day. It’s iffy for me, as well (I get back in town the day before, but, if there’s a war, maybe not) - and I own the damn league!
Well, I’m E. Wilson All-Stars, so I’ll throw my own team out there. I’ll leave the detail round by round to WL if he wants to continue.
OK, now I know who you are on here… I was wondering throughout the draft. This statement makes me feel a lot better, since when you picked right before me in the even rounds you took three or four players right from the top of my queue (Kim, Izzy, Giambi the Younger).
**C - Charles Johnson (COL) **
The pickings at catcher were pretty slim by the 16th round - it was either him or Damian Miller in my mind. He’s certainly got more of an upside (and probably more of a downside).
**1B - Todd Helton (COL) **
Second pick. Third highest OPS in baseball over the last three years. Good fielder, too. Little bit of a health risk, but he was the top rated player on my board at this point. I briefly debated picking Nomar before deciding on Helton.
**2B - Jose Vidro (MON) ** This pick was made while I got bounced out of the draft applet by a connection problem. Thankfully, I had the right guy at the top of my queue. A solid pick in my mind for the 7th round.
**3B - Edgardo Alfonzo (SF) ** How much will I have to bribe Alou to have him bat Fonzie in front of Bonds instead of behind him? Let’s hope the gains he made last year stick. The Alfonzo of 2001 was scary.
**SS - Rafael Furcal (ATL) ** Was starting to worry about SS and speed at this point. Renteria had just disappeared off the board and I wasn’t liking what was left. He may have been a reach here.
**LF - Bobby Higginson (DET) ** Bleh. Kept waiting and waiting on LF, a couple disappeared right before I was about to pick them up. I had two primary candidates left - Alou and Higgy. Scott took Alou, I panicked and took Higginson. He could be OK. He could be not.
**CF - Ken Griffey Jr. (CIN) ** In round 6. Couldn’t resist. I thought about Mariano here… but WL took him before the draft got back to me. Junior, please forget all those nasty things I said about you last year when you got hurt. No hard feelings, huh?
**RF - Vladimir Guerrero (MON) ** When the draft started, I had no idea who I was going to pick in the 7th spot. I was pleasantly surprised to see Vlad still here. I doubt he’ll steal 40 again, but I’ll be happy with 45 HR / 25 SB. And Vlad, please keep the walk rate up, OK?
Why yes, I do talk to the players on my roster. Doesn’t everybody?
OF and Griffey insurance - Steve Finley (ARI)
In round 14. Seemed about right for him. Good combo of medium Power and Speed. As long as he doesn’t realize he’s 38 I should be OK here. Good fielder too.
IF - John Olerud (SEA)
OBP machine. Some power. Great glove. Really wanted a first baseman as my IF slot.
Util - Frank Thomas (CWS)
High risk / high reward pick in the 17th round. If he can get that BA up 30 points or so, he’ll be a OBP and SLG monster again. Then again, there’s always a chance he’ll revisit 2001 again. Having a great spring, FWIW.
Bench - ** Victor Martinez, C, CLE: Carl Everett, OF/Headcase, TEX: Robert Fick, RF (and 1B soon), ATL**
Somebody (WL?) questioned Fick in round 23 - I think he’s a great pick there. Everett is another high risk/high reward type. Bonus is that he qualifies at all three OF positions. Martinez is a pet sleeper. He should be the Indians starting catcher; he probably will start the year in AAA.
Conclusion on the hitters: Boy, I’m skewing old. Power should work out OK - either Thomas or Griffey should have a big year. Steals worry me a little - hoping Furcal picks it up some. I should be up there in OBP.
Now the pitchers -
**SP - Mike Mussina (NYY) **
One of these years he’s going to win 24 games in New York. Why not this year? I hate picking Yankee starters - I attend 15-20 games a year at the Stadium and I’m a wreck when one of my starters is going. But he’ll be strong.
SP - Kerry Wood (CHC)
One of my fantasy faves. I almost always have him. Hopefully he’ll get some run support this year, and stay healthy. Ks galore should follow.
SP - Matt Morris (STL)
I had just taken Moose and Wood in rounds 3 and 4. I was sure I was going to take a hitter in round 5 - but there was no way I was going to let Morris go by when he was still there. I almost took him in round 4. Always has been one of my favorite players - I know I probably overrate him, but I had him as the 9th best starter, right behind Wood. And I had knocked him down a few rankings to 9th, because I know I’m not objective about him.
RP - Kelvim Escobar (TOR)
Good but not elite closer. Good strikeout rate, bad WHIP.
RP - Francisco Rodriguez (ANA)
Should be a K machine. Here’s hoping Troy Percival gets hurt. Probably too early in round 13 - but I was worried deb2world would take him.
P - Scott Stewart (MON)
Was quite happy to see him still on the board in round 15, especially after gambling on K-Rod earlier. Should be a solid save guy.
P - Jason Schmidt (SF)
Maybe a bit of a health risk, but not bad at all for a fourth starter. My pre-draft plan was to get 4 starters in the first 9 rounds - he was still there in round 9 to my surprise.
P - Tony Armas Jr. (MON)
Hey, I have four Expos! And two Juniors! Neato!
Bench - Francisco Cordero (TEX), Brandon Duckworth (PHI)
Cordero has phenomal rate stats, and there’s always a chance Urbina will blow up. Duckworth is good but hurt.
Conclusion - strength and depth in SP, which is usually my plan going in to the draft. Obviously saves are a weak point.
Well, I’m looking forward to the level of competition in this league - this should be a lot more fun the Yahoo Public leagues where half the owners disappear. I have delusions about running away with this, but I should be competitive. Scott, thanks for organizing this, and thanks for letting a longtime lurker join!
Good point, Winnowill. I forgot as I was doing those first rounds that Lake Merritt was autodrafting. I guess the Nen pick makes sense that way (the computer didn’t do too badly by him, aside from the Nevin problem which we all saw coming. While his team carries some injury risk, he’s decently balanced and has some strengths to deal from too).
Sorry Wilson, anybody whose identity I didn’t know off the top of my head I didn’t go back and check.
Winnowill, I’m way interested in your league, but at that time I’d have to be at least 45 minutes late to the draft. No way to put it off even that much? Missing the first 4 rounds kinda takes the fun out of it. Although I guess I could do some preranking to get that taken care of and just try my luck.
Unfortunately, as rackensack discovered, Yahoo! draft times are FULL. I’d put it off if I could, but I can’t. I do like my draft day, though - exhibition games are over, but the season hasn’t started. So we’ll know for sure who’s going to the Bigs on Opening Day.
White Lightning, I’m interested in seeing the rest of your draft analysis. I will say that the only thing that made your pick of Ichiro in rd 3 weak in any way was that it left Kent on the board.
I agree tha in our league, Weirddave’s first round pick of Beltran was weak. In retrospect, I’m glad he saved me from taking him there. Thanks, Dave.
I also have doubts about Oswalt (for this year). His innings increased significantly last year. Not the best thing for a young pitcher, especially a small one who has to apply so much torque to his arm to get that heater up there – one little mechanical flaw could do damage very quickly.
Pitching went very early in this draft – Manny Ramirez, Ichiro, Abreu and Kent should never have made it to the third round.
The only rd 4 picks I question are Aaron Boone, Johnny Damon and Mark Prior. I think Halladay and Maddux both went a little late considering the former’s potential and the latter’s track record. But I was glad to see them both go, as I would prefer to have neither of them. Halladay because I don’t trust my objectivity (as I’m Canadian and therefor a Jays/Expos fan). Maddux because I think last year’s nagging injuries were only the tip of the iceberg of his decline.
Round 5: Carlos Delgado, Pat Burrell, Rafael Palmeiro, Jeff Bagwell, Jorge Posada, Eli Marrero, Matt Morris, Bernie Williams, Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner, Wade Miller, Ivan Rodriguez, Kevin Millwood. My pick: Pat Burrell. As I said when I made this pick, I don’t like taking obvious picks but I thought this one was right. He was easily the strongest OF left on the board at the time, and no position players jumped out at me. The overall slant of my draft was truly bizarre – typically I tend to lean heavily towards positional drafting, I usually favor pitching over hitting, and I never draft outfielders early. Yet here I am with just one pitcher by Round 5 and having taken three outfielders in a row. The timing just never seemed right. In retrospect I’d probably take Matt Morris here but at the time I didn’t think any available pitchers were in range yet. I also briefly flirted with taking a 1B (Delgado or Bagwell), but when Winnowill snatched up Delgado right before my pick I decided that I didn’t want to be forced into taking Bagwell so I’d just stick with Burrell. Strongest Pick: Nothing in this round was too surprising. I’ll go with two guys that lasted longer than they probably should: Matt Morris (Wilson, # 59), who’s in the lower range of the top tier of pitchers and could easily notch 20 wins this season, and Ivan Rodriguez (Weirddave, # 64), who lasted longer than I thought he would. Dave managed to make a very solid pick, take a top-three catcher, and make a homer pick all in the same round. Reaching: Palmeiro (Blake’s) at 55 is a stretch, particularly with Bags still on the market. Initially I thought rackensack had jumped the gun on Eli Marrero at 58th overall, but looking over his final roster I see that Marrero fit his strategy really well, and after all he could turn out to be huge this year, especially qualifying at catcher. Misc.: ArchiveGuy’s computer took Wagner at 62, giving him 2 of the first 4 closers picked. Fewl’s picking Millwood to close the round at 65th overall surprised me because I think that’s just about exactly right for his value, and I was sure somebody would believe the hype and reach for him way earlier than necessary, but nobody did.
Round 6: Ryan Klesko, Eddie Guardado, Adam Dunn, Bret Boone, Cliff Floyd, Mike Sweeney, Ken Griffey Jr., Billy Koch, Matt Clement, Jarrod Washburn, David Eckstein, Ray Durham, Luis Castillo. My pick: Ray Durham. When I passed on Kent in 3 I targeted this guy for later. I didn’t think he’d still be around in late 8 to take, so I just grabbed him here. I really didn’t hesitate to do so; I had filled my OF and saw no compelling starters. I watched Mariano Rivera fall through this round with dread, knowing that I might have to take him. I took Durham hoping that Winnowill would solve my problem for me, but she was not obliging. Strongest Pick: Several good ones here. Nevin going down hurts Klesko (Fewl) more than anybody (except Nevin, heh), but he’s still a good take to lead off the round at 66th overall. Mike Sweeney was another victim of the saturated 1B market, falling to Treviathan at # 71 overall. No standout picks in this round. Reaching: You’ll find few bigger fans of Matt Clement (Omni, # 74) than myself, I’ve been watching him for years and celebrated when he escaped the clutches of the ruinous Marlins pitching staff. But I think taking him this early, as the 20th starter drafted, is a little ambitious. I’m not sure David Eckstein (Blake’s, # 76) belongs this high either. The second tier of shortstops could have waited. Misc.: After 6 rounds, 7 teams had 2 pitchers, 4 teams had 3 (only Wilson had 3 starters, 2 teams had 2 and a closer, and ArchiveGuy’s stalwart computer had 1 starter and 2 closers), and only myself and Fewl had taken only one pitcher.
Round 7: Corey Koskie, Mariano Rivera, Eric Young, Armando Benitez, Luis Gonzalez, Paul Konerko, Jose Vidro, Jose Hernandez, Junior Spivey, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Gary Sheffield, Derrek Lee, Keith Foulke. My pick: Mariano Rivera. God, I hated making this pick. But how could Rivera fall to 7? He’s the scariest guy in the game. Dan Patrick asked Torii Hunter who’s the guy nobody wants to face with the game on the line, and of course Rivera was the answer. 7 closers get taken before him? I know he’s had some arm trouble, but that’s silly, and I had to make the move. I announced to everybody at the time that I wanted to trade him, because trust me, I have no intention of starting the year with a Yankee, much less this Yankee, on my roster. Strongest Pick: Luis Gonzalez (Omni) at # 83 is pretty strong, and a late pick for what you get with that guy. He also filled the hole in LF for Omni so makes overall for a very good pick. I like Keith Foulke (Fewl) to close the round at # 91. He will save 40+, and though he may not win 11 like Koch did in Oakland last year he also won’t have you reaching for the Maalox every time he comes out (and he also won’t be dragging your WHIP upwards like Koch did). Reaching: Jose Hernandez (Treviathan) at 86th overall might be jumping the gun a bit on this potential sleeper. To my mind his value is lessened by the fact that he won’t be moving to 3B as planned due to Uribe’s injury, and there wasn’t much pressure to take a SS at the time. Corey Koskie (Winnowill) is a good player and a decent mid-level 3B, but opening round 7 at pick # 79 with him is early. Misc.: One thing about a run on a position is that if you catch the end of it, while your instinct is to jump on and grab whoever’s left, usually your best bet is the opposite. Because being at the tail end of a run usually indicates that a lot of the teams out there have now filled that position. The 6th to 7th-round run on 2B in this draft was a perfect example of that. Two 2B got taken to close round 6 (Durham (WL) and Castillo(Winnowill), and then Eric Young (Blake’s) and Jose Vidro (Wilson, and a nice pick btw) went with the 3rd and 7th picks in Round 7, respectively. When deb2world’s pick came up at 9th in the round, she had just seen 4 2B get taken in the previous 10 picks. She took Junior Spivey there, with the 87th overall pick. Junior Spivey is a good player, another solid mid-level guy, and he enjoyed a great season last year. But at the time that she made that pick, only 5 other teams were without a 2B, and there were a wealth of viable options available (Roberto Alomar, who as I’ll note later incredibly managed to make it to the 10th round, Craig Biggio, Todd Walker, and deb’s hometown Adam Kennedy, plus Fernando Vina, Mark Ellis, and Mark Bellhorn – more than enough options to go around), so there was actually very little pressure to make that pick. The pick might have been better used to take a second starter or a 1B, also holes she needed to fill. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, and in retrospect the only better choice I can see would have been Tom Glavine, who actually lasted 12 more picks, so this isn’t a terrible pick by any means, I just thought the way the position broke down was interesting.
Yep, it was all karmic payback for you taking Vladimir Guerrero one pick before me. The good thing, though, is I hear that all that bad karma goes away if you trade him to me for David Bell.
[sub]And throw in a catcher, to boot.[/sub]
I will try to break down my draft picks on order of selection
Glaus, Troy (3B-Ana) Stud, what can I say, can give me HR power at the hot corner
Mulder, Mark (SP-Oak) I don’t usually pick a pitcher this high up cause you can usually find decent pitching during the season, but figure an ace would be nice to have
Anderson, Garret (LF-Ana) One of the most consistent players in the last 5 yrs. Yes every now and then he doesn’t hussle and I just want to walk on the field and slap him, but that is few and far between.
Percival, Troy (RP-Ana) I have always in the past waited until the end to pick up a RP, but he was there, I took him. Plus how could I not have 2 Troy’s on my team.
Lo Duca, Paul (C, 1B-LA) Young catcher who has the potential to have some power
Floyd, Cliff (RF, LF, DH-NYM) Power if he plays to potential.
Spivey, Junior (2B-Ari) One thing I do when drafting is to try to fill my infield in the top rounds, it is easier to find pitching and outfield off the available player list. So I notice an empty spot on my roster.
Ibanez, Raul (1B, LF, DH, RF-KC) Potential can play numerous positions.
Ortiz, Ramon (SP-Ana) This guy will give me lots of K’s. In pressure situations he get rattled easily.
Roberts, Dave (CF-LA) I just like him
Lackey, John (SP-Ana) Not as many K’s but the wins could be there as well as the ERA
Ellis, Mark (2B-Oak) Potential
Kearns, Austin (RF-Cin) Young player with power, was somewhat disappointing last year when there were great expectations surrounding him but he really didn’t do that bad last year, so hopefully he will live up to those expectations
Izturis, Cesar (SS-LA) He has the potential to hit for average
Millar, Kevin (LF, RF-Bos) see Kearns above
Lopez, Rodrigo (SP, RP-Bal) This is one of the bright spots in Baltimore
Fullmer, Brad (DH, 1B-Ana) Power, good guy for the DH spot
Gil, Geronimo (C-Bal) I like the name Geronimo—don’t be surprised if you see me pick up CoCo Crisp if he starts doing well.
Stark, Denny (SP, RP-Col) This probably raised a few eyebrows. But this dude can pitch in Colorado, You will notice I will be sitting him down when he pitches on the road.
Hernandez, Ramon (C-Oak) Potential Plus it was time to start taking chances on my picks (not like I didn’t do that above :))
Groom, Buddy (RP-Bal) I don’t know, I like Buddy, he has been on other of my teams, he comes thru for saves, but then I drop him cause he starts to get wild and the ERA goes up, and then I pick him up, then drop him…
Lamb, Mike (1B, DH-Tex) Baa, Baa. Hey it is a chance
Kennedy, Joe (SP-TB) Could be one of the bright spots in Pinella’s world
Tucker, T.J. (RP-Mon) Will he continue to be saves person or will he be a setup man, but he has decent stuff
As you will notice, I like them young (mmmm…young men sigh). I will take a chance on young talent. I know the young talent last year didn’t hurt me as much as having Freddy Garcia during July thru Sept, grrrr. I like to get to know the up and coming talent. Plus you will notice that I have a lot of Angels on the team, could be cause I am called deb’s Halos.
Plus notice I have not 1, not 2 but 3 catchers. Hey they are all young. I am taking a chance on them plus a few of them can be played at other positions. And if they don’t pan out, will drop them like a 1993 New York Yankee out fielder with a fly ball.
Thanks, Trev (and others). I keep forgetting to mention that all my ‘analysis’ is of course my personal opinion only, and if I characterize a pick of yours as being a ‘reach,’ a ‘stretch,’ a ‘horribly wrongheaded pick undoubtedly made by a complete idiot,’ or whatever, please don’t take it personally.
Also, comments/arguments are welcomed. Encouraged, actually.
I was planning on cutting back for the later rounds but this is way more fun than I anticipated, so if you all can stand it I might just keep this pace up all the way.
I’m also enjoying your analysis, WL, and probably still will when you start criticizing some of my later picks made when I was barely awake. I’m looking forward to the rest of it.
Draft order (serpentine draft): 1 Winnowill, 2 White Lightning, 3 Blakes Bears, 4 Isotopes, 5 Omniscient, 6 rackensack, 7 Wilson, 8 Treviathan, 9 deb2world, 10 ArchiveGuy, 11 Munch, 12 Weirddave, 13 Fatwater Fewl
Round 8: Preston Wilson CF, Eric Hinske 3B, Freddy Garcia SP, Mike Cameron CF, Raul Ibanez 1B LF RF, Jason Isringhausen RP, Edgardo Alfonzo 3B, Tom Glavine SP, Sean Casey 1B, Edgar Renteria SS, Jim Edmonds CF, Tim Wakefield SP RP, Hideo Nomo SP.
My pick: Tim Wakefield. Somobody asked me if I was “falling apart” after taking Wakey, but frankly I was surprised he made it back to me and glad to take him here. I’ve never liked him much, but there’s no denying that he’s a hard worker and a dedicated player, and once he got established in the rotation last year the numbers were there. He’s underrated but he’ll perform. If current speculation holds true, he’ll be slotted in at #2 for the BoSox between Pedro and Lowe to provide a radical change of pace for opposing hitters. He doesn’t strike out many but his WHIP is miniscule and he’ll win games and pitch a lot of strong innings.
Strongest Pick: Now we’re starting to get into real steal territory. Glavine (rackensack) at 99th overall is extremely nice. I’m surprised he fell to the 23rd starting pitcher taken. Alfonzo (Wilson) at 98th would qualify as a serious steal except that this league counts Runs and not RBI, and he’ll mostly be making the latter as long as he’s batting 5th with nobody behind him (unless J.T.’s gonna drive him in, heh). As it is he’s still a strong pick, just not a candidate for best steal of the draft. Preston Wilson to lead off the round at # 92 was a pretty good pick as outfield prospects dwindled.
Reaching: Is Eric Hinske (Weirddave) at # 93 a little early? Might be. Or last year’s AL ROY could well follow up with a superb 2003 campaign. Dave’s squad could be huge or it could fall flat – a lot of very intriguing young guys on his roster (I see that Dave noticed his youth movement too and rectified it by taking Mesa, Vizquel, Clemens, and Biggio with his next 4 picks).
Misc.: Three Cardinals were picked in this round. And three guys whose first names begin with ‘E’.
Round 9: Juan Gonzalez, Jimmy Rollins, Octavio Dotel, Odalis Perez, Mike Lieberthal, Mark Bellhorn, Jason Schmidt, Tim Salmon, Ramon Ortiz, Phil Nevin, Jason Kendall, Jose Mesa, A.J. Pierzynski.
My pick: Jimmy Rollins. I sensed a SS run coming (actually, I don’t remember thinking that at the time, but who knows), and I was right. Aurilia, Vizquel, and Furcal all got taken before my next pick. Along with Aaron Boone and Jose Hernandez, this group comprises the second tier of shortstops after the Big Three/Four (Jeter sucks). Of the four remaining I think Rollins and Aurilia dominate, and I already had a San Francisco middle infielder, so Rollins was the guy I had targeted all along. Taking him in this round was a quality strategic pick by me.
Strongest Pick: Juan Gone (Winnowill) leading off the round at # 105 is a lot of power for a cheap price. He may end up on the DL but if he doesn’t, this will clearly be a huge pick.
Reaching: Octavio Dotel (Blake’s, # 107) is the best setup guy out there, but taking him in early 9 is early. Perhaps the Bears were concerned about their staff, with only one SP and one closer, and Dotel certainly will hold the cumulative stats down and strike out one per. He usually wins at least a half dozen a year. All that said, though, 9’s too early. ArchiveGuy’s computer took Nevin at # 114 overall. We all knew it was coming, and it actually happened way later than I’d have thought. I wonder what the computer would have done if the Marlins already had a 3B.
Misc.: Here went the catchers. Piazza was in 3, Posada, Marrero, Lo Duca, and Rodriguez all went in 5. Omni started the trend by taking Lieberthal at # 109, then Kendall (Munch) and Pierzynski (Fewl) went with 115 and 117 respectively. Two more got taken in 10. This is where being on one end of the draft really started to irk me. With 23 picks between mine, a whole trend could come and go in between two of my picks. Each time I thought I’d be able to safely take one guy from the next group, the entire group ended up getting rifled before anybody fell to me. It happened a few times and eventually I just gave up. More on this later. Is anyone surprised to see the “ace” from the staff of a purported playoff contender go in mid-9 with the 111th overall pick? Not when that player is Jason Schmidt (Wilson).
Round 10: Rich Aurilia SS, Omar Vizquel SS, Darin Erstad CF, Jamie Moyer SP, Dave Roberts CF, Erubiel Durazo 1B, Rafael Furcal SS, Richard Hidalgo RF, Adam Kennedy 2B, Roberto Alomar 2B, Benito Santiago C, C.C. Sabathia SP, Michael Barrett C.
My pick: C.C. Sabathia. Ever since my 2/3 picks where I missed Colon I had been looking for a K guy to pair with Pedro. Here I got him. I may have overvalued him as a 10th-rounder but I got what I was looking for out of the pick.
Strongest Pick: Roberto Alomar (Isotopes) falling to 10 and 127th overall is absolutely shocking. This one gets shortlisted for biggest steal of the draft. He’s had some troubles in New York but if he has even an average year for him it justifies a 7 or 8 round pick at the latest. Don’t ask me how he made it this far. Erubiel Durazo (Treviathan, # 123) is expected by pretty much everybody to have a huge year out of the DH spot in Oakland. He’s Trev’s third 1B here, but with an IF and a UT slot, and counting FPCG, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and makes a nice pick in 10.
Reaching: Dave Roberts (deb, # 122) may get on base and will steal a lot of bases. Will he do anything else? Deb had a hole to fill in CF and she said she likes this guy, so I guess that’s two good enough reasons to reach for him in 10. I’d venture to guess that she was sad to see Erstad (Munch) go two picks previous at #120. Does anybody remember his 1-million hit 200 campaign any more?
Misc.: Had Omni left at this point? I don’t think he had, so he has no one to blame but himself for taking Adam Kennedy at # 126 with Alomar still on the board. The Isotopes were kind enough to highlight this misstep immediately by taking Roberto with the very next pick. Will this be Hidalgo’s comeback season? rackensack hopes so, but time is running out. Signs point to yes, if you believe Jimy Williams handing Hidalgo the starting RF job before spring even started. But do reasonable people believe anything Jimy Williams says or does? This was the first round since the first round where no closers were taken. It was purely coincidental as the penultimate pick in 9 was a closer and the first pick in 11 was a closer but it’s still a good sign.
Round 11: Danys Baez SP RP, Richie Sexson 1B, Hideki Matsui LF, Randy Wolf SP, Adrian Beltre 3B, Danny Graves RP SP, John Olderud 1B, Joel Pineiro SP RP, John Lackey SP, Ellis Burks DH, Ugueth Urbina RP, Roger Clemens SP, Juan Pierre CF.
My pick: Richie Sexson. I’m calling this a steal. Sexson’s numbers are pretty similar to the group of guys that we saw go back in 6 and 7 (Sweeney, Klesko, Konerko, Lee), and probably due again to 1B saturation he fell all the way to me in early 11. If RBI counted this guy would be a monster (the Brewers suck, but with Sanchez, Young, Jenkins and Sexson they do have half of a good lineup), as it is I’ll just take his .900 OPS and 30+ HRs to the bank.
Strongest Pick: Danys Baez (Winnowill, # 131) to open the round is a strong acquisition and an outstanding second closer for the Wieners. He’s got filthy stuff and really excelled in relief last year. This one will pay off. I forgot that Winnowill was a Cleveland fan or I’d have thought about taking him earlier. Roger Clemens is fat, ugly and stupid, but there’s no denying that the blackguard has struck out a boatload of batters over the course of his treacherous, deceitful, and two-faced career. You bet the Yankees wish they could have signed the guy this season for 11th-round money.
Reaching: I just deleted a whole section on Randy Wolf (Isotopes, # 134) because while doing some research to add to my criticism of him I found that I was totally wrong. This guy will have a great year and is actually a very good pick in early 11. The only other bother about this round is that while John Lackey (deb, #139) excelled down the stretch last year, he’s essentially untested, but we’re getting into the territory where those picks are appropriate (cf. the Matsui pick by Blake’s also in this round).
Misc.: People mentioned Juan Pierre (Fewl, # 143) as a steal, but I’m reserving judgement until we see how he performs in Florida. I don’t have anything to say about Danny Graves (rackensack, # 136) because mid-11 is just about exactly where I think he should have gone. He’s a bit of a question mark moving back to the rotation but the rackster could stand to have him fall flat with Maddux, Buehrle, and Glavine heading his rotation.
[sub]maybe[/sub]