# SDMB Fantasy Baseball - Anna Benson Stadium Tour **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 23, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560 "2006-03-23T06:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560/61 "2006-06-02T19:47:16Z")
I like Beltran the best out of the second round picks… he’s putting up great numbers in every category for this league and doesn’t seem to be slowing down, even though he missed some games because of injury. I said Reyes was overrated in this league because of his OPS and ABs right after draft day, and I maintain that now - in a five-cat league he’s just hurting your average, here’s he’s a much bigger drag on the offensive stats. Though one that works with that team because of Manny and Hafner, among others. As for my Young pick… well… yeah. As I said in my draft recap, there weren’t any guys I really liked there… it was between he and Tejada. And Tejada had an absolutely ABYSMAL second half this year (and may this year, too, who knows) - 7 HR, 38 RBI, sub-.800 OPS from July 1 forward. Young was the exact opposite last year, and his best two months historically are July and September. So I can’t really argue with it being the worst 1st-rounder at this point, but I’m cautiously optimistic. As for Jeter, well, he’s consistent, and this year he’s on pace for his best year since 1999 - otherwise, he’s consistently “above-average”, and wasn’t in the first-round discussion. Though he’s looking like a brilliant pick where he was taken. I like Webb over Wells in the 5th, but you can’t really go wrong with either. Wells has been less impressive lately, though (and less impressive when he isn’t facing the Sox - over half of his HR have been against Boston this year). I agree that the Thome pick was brilliant - almost certainly one of the best in the entire draft, especially since the value should have been obvious to the rest of us. This draft has continued last year’s trend for me, where I bombed the first few rounds and am in it because I hit gold (or was at least consistenly above-average) later on. I can’t wait to see who Omni picks as worst in round ten - that might have been the worst round in the entire draft, with several unqualified busts, only about three impact picks, and a Clemens that is about to start pitching… for a different team than the one that drafted him. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560/62 "2006-06-02T21:05:45Z")
> [@unwashed brain](#): > > If he’s drunk, you’re on crack. Huff was the only obvious pick in that group. In the spring, a lot of the experts were predicting Beltre would have a normalizing year somewhere in between his 2004 and 2005 seasons. Blake’s .746 OPS last year was less than impressive, as was Crede’s .756. Mueller’s age and move from Boston to Chavez Ravine had “regression” written all over it. You’re missing my point. I’m not saying any of those guys blow Beltre away in the stats department. Beltre’s 2004 season is almost certainly the aberration and all those others mentioned, Mueller excepted, are clearly on the upslope of their careers. The point was that there were at least 5 3Bs available at that draft slot and there was no reason to reach for a 3B. Taking Beltre instead of the others is defensible in the 10th or 11th round, not in the 6th. > [@](#): > > I think more people were scared off by Soriano’s move to Washington’s cavernous stadium than his behavior. My pick here is Pujols, partially for the fact that in most leagues it was a tossup between him and ARod. The difference in production between Pujols and ARod makes choosing Pujols over ARod the best decision in the first round. I couldn’t disagree with this more. Pujols is definitely great, but no one in their right mind would have looked at the numbers going into this year and taken A-Rod over Pujols. They’d have been laughed out of the draft room. The only category where A-Rod stands out is his SBs, Pujols OPS is about 80 points higher. Taking Pujols is a no brainer for anyone but a delusional Yankee fan. Pujols numbers are so great that he might unseat Soriano here even with the pick values, but the fact that he was a no-brainer #1 overall I’m not going to give an award for him winning the lottery. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560/63 "2006-06-02T21:49:11Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > You’re missing my point. I’m not saying any of those guys blow Beltre away in the stats department. Beltre’s 2004 season is almost certainly the aberration and all those others mentioned, Mueller excepted, are clearly on the upslope of their careers. The point was that there were at least 5 3Bs available at that draft slot and there was no reason to reach for a 3B. Taking Beltre instead of the others is defensible in the 10th or 11th round, not in the 6th. You couldn’t be more wrong about the “upslope” comment. Blake regressed 70 points in OPS last year from 2004 and will be 33 this summer. Beltre, for all his MLB experience. is _only_ 27 years old, which has been statistically proven (see bill james or baseball prospectus) to be the age that the average player peaks statistically. Crede is 28 and has never been much better than league average at his position (career .306 OBP and .750 OPS). > [@Omniscient](#): > > I couldn’t disagree with this more. Pujols is definitely great, but no one in their right mind would have looked at the numbers going into this year and taken A-Rod over Pujols. They’d have been laughed out of the draft room. The only category where A-Rod stands out is his SBs, Pujols OPS is about 80 points higher. Taking Pujols is a **no brainer** for anyone but a delusional Yankee fan. Pujols numbers are so great that he might unseat Soriano here even with the pick values, but the fact that he was a no-brainer #1 overall I’m not going to give an award for him winning the lottery. Hyperbole much? I think you need to abandon whatever source you are using to research your arguments. Pujols’ OPS last year was 1.039 and ARod’s was 1.031. Pretty much a tossup, with the edge going to ARod because he was a better bet to repeat his SB totals and he plays in a better lineup. Although not completely analogous to our league, ARod (avg pick was 1.7) was chosen first in more Yahoo 5x5 drafts this year than Pujols (2.4). ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560/64 "2006-06-02T22:13:44Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Pujols OPS is about 80 points higher. Taking Pujols is a no brainer for anyone but a delusional Yankee fan. Ahh, I see now that you’re referring to career averages. Still, in the “what have you done for me lately” department, Arod went stride for stride with the youngster last year, so one has to neither be delusional nor a Yankee fan to gnash a bit of teeth over the ARod vs. Pujols argument at the start of this year’s draft. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560/65 "2006-06-02T22:16:47Z")
**Round 9:** ```auto 1. D. Haren The Cougars 2. J. Posada Isotopes 3. I. Rodríguez Got Melky? 4. G. Jenkins rackensack d... 5. M. Ordóñez All Juiced Up 6. C. Young UU's House o... 7. Y. Torrealba Tazmanian Devil 8. J. Valverde project mayhem 9. C. Ray Petelin 10. J. Drew California Q... 11. Z. Duke Pastafarians... 12. A. Rowand No More Idiots 13. L. Overbay Puget Sound 14. J. Morneau Sea Bass' Re... 15. K. Mench Roid Boys 16. J. Estrada OutOnWavelan... 17. B. Hall Sepotosi 18. O. Cabrera Winnowill's ... ``` Best Pick: **Magglio Ordonez** This is a pretty strong round, top to bottom, and there just aren’t many bad picks. Maggs .913 OPS outdoes the rest by a pretty fair margin for the top prize. There was a run on second tier catchers here and every one of them, Torrealba excluded, is performing at or above expectations. Considering the challenge in getting a reliable player for that position each one of those picks has a bit more value than their numbers indicate. Worst Pick: **Justin Morneau** His average is pretty bad and drags down the rest of his respectable numbers. Compared to some of the other worst picks this one doesn’t look so bad though. This was just a pretty decent round and getting a guy on pace for 30 HRs as the “worst” pick isn’t really that shameful. **Round 10:** ```auto 1. G. Anderson Winnowill's ... 2. J. Randa Sepotosi 3. A. LaRoche OutOnWavelan... 4. M. Ellis Roid Boys 5. G. Atkins Sea Bass' Re... 6. S. Hillenbrand Puget Sound 7. P. Polanco No More Idiots 8. M. Cain Pastafarians... 9. C. Monroe California Q... 10. E. Guardado Petelin 11. B. Wickman project mayhem 12. R. Clemens Tazmanian Devil 13. M. González UU's House o... 14. P. Feliz All Juiced Up 15. M. Barrett rackensack d... 16. J. Dye Got Melky? 17. J. Bonderman Isotopes 18. W. Peña The Cougars ``` Best Pick: **Jermaine Dye** There’s a bunch of pigs in this round like **Kiros** noted but choosing the best wasn’t much of a challenge. Dye has been terrific and he was landed at the end of this round. 16 dingers, a +.400 OBP and 41 ribbies puts him in the discussion for best value picks in the entire draft alongside fellow White Sox Thome. Worst Pick: **Joe Randa** There’s plenty of guys who could be called busts in this round but Randa stands out. Nominally I’ve avoided piling on injured guys with these picks but Randa played for a month and brought nothing to the table when he did. He’s listed at a “power” position and went right near the top of this round. Him being hurt is actually helping his team compared to when he was playing. **Round 11:** ```auto 1. J. Duchscherer The Cougars 2. N. Johnson Isotopes 3. J. Vázquez Got Melky? 4. Pr. Wilson rackensack d... 5. R. Barajas All Juiced Up 6. M. Bradley UU's House o... 7. K. Foulke Tazmanian Devil 8. M. Cameron project mayhem 9. E. Bedard Petelin 10. M. Batista California Q... 11. R. Dempster Pastafarians... 12. Sh. Green No More Idiots 13. R. Sanders Puget Sound 14. C. Shelton Sea Bass' Re... 15. T. Jones Roid Boys 16. A. Kearns OutOnWavelan... 17. J. Gibbons Sepotosi 18. N. Swisher Winnowill's ... ``` Best Pick: **Nick Swisher** This round is flat out loaded. Kearns, Shelton, Nick Johnson, Vazquez are all really outperforming expectations but Nick Swisher’s are right there with Dye and Thome for best values in the draft. 16 HRS, 46 runs and 42 RBIs while caring a .400+ OBP are first round draft pick numbers. Worst Pick: **Erik Bedard** For as many quality picks as there are there are plenty of duds to choose from too. Barajas, Bradley, Cameron all are swatting flies at the plate and really none of the pitchers in this round are tearing it up but I think Bedard is the prize for worst pick. Frankly there wasn’t a whole lot of reason to expect him to be much better than this, when was the last time a Oriole pitcher didn’t suck? The fact that Mussina and Papelbon were still available, along with a bunch of other quality guys, makes this one ugly. **Round 12:** ```auto 1. C. Capuano Winnowill's ... 2. M. Alou Sepotosi 3. M. Murton OutOnWavelan... 4. C. Blake Roid Boys 5. B. Clark Sea Bass' Re... 6. F. Liriano Puget Sound 7. Lui. González No More Idiots 8. J. Hermida Pastafarians... 9. R. Belliard California Q... 10. R. Baldelli Petelin 11. C. Granderson project mayhem 12. D. Cabrera Tazmanian Devil 13. Mi. Sweeney UU's House o... 14. Lui. González All Juiced Up 15. S. Casey rackensack d... 16. B. Penny Got Melky? 17. J. Guillén Isotopes 18. J. Jones The Cougars ``` Best Pick: **Brad Penny** Seriously, it’s a crime that he was still on the board at the end of this round. Moises Alou was under consideration but you can’t miss a month and get credit even if you are hitting .380. The fact I still hate the guy from his Cubs days doesn’t help matters. Penny on the other hand is just dealing. His rate stats are pretty good across the board and if the Dodgers were healthy and giving him better run support he’d have Brandon Webb’s wins. Worst Pick: **Mike Sweeney** There’s plenty of guys to choose from here, a handful dancing around the Mendoza line, but Sweeney gets special mention. Look at my comments for Joe Randa and paste them here and we’ve pretty much covered it. OK, time for another break. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560/66 "2006-06-02T22:25:13Z")
> [@unwashed brain](#): > > You couldn’t be more wrong about the “upslope” comment. Blake regressed 70 points in OPS last year from 2004 and will be 33 this summer. Beltre, for all his MLB experience. is _only_ 27 years old, which has been statistically proven (see bill james or baseball prospectus) to be the age that the average player peaks statistically. Crede is 28 and has never been much better than league average at his position (career .306 OBP and .750 OPS). Again, I think you’re reading too much into my comments. I’m not placing any of those guys on a pedestal way above Beltre and Beltre is indeed on the upslope, just like Crede, Blake and Huff (they are all basically the same age). Fact is, all those guys I mentioned, including Beltre, are basically interchangable if you look at their career numbers. None of them are worth taking in the 6th round of course, and the core of my critique is that taking Beltre there was a reach. He could have waited 5 or 6 rounds and gotten a 3rd baseman of equal value with just as much upside. His own comments indicated that he made a panic move with the 3B position and I’m pointing out that there were at least 4 other guys he could have had much later in the draft with equal or better value. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560/67 "2006-06-02T22:28:38Z")
I love how my picks got tabbed as the best of rounds 2, 3, and 4, and I’m dominating in OBP despite the Reyes pick, and my team’s still a fucking awful, horrible mess. I can’t figure out if that means I’m not dead yet, or that I’m really doing a terrible job managing the team. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-baseball-anna-benson-stadium-tour/349560.md?page=3)