OK, a week later, the draft diary I promised for UU’s House of Blades.
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- (6) M. Ramirez** - I would have taken him third. I felt a lot better about it at six. I feel like in the first round position shouldn’t really be an issue at all, and I think Manny’s as safe a bet to have a monster season as you can ask for here. The fact that two of the first basemen were still available, and that they were Teixeira and Ortiz, was definitely surprising, but I thought there was first base quality all over the place, and my thinking was that by filling 1B right away I’d be setting myself to be pissed off in later rounds when my guys came available. As it turned out, that didn’t materialize, as the Berkman/Wilkerson/Howard/Sexson/Morneau types all went a little bit before I wanted to get one of them. Still, I can’t be unhappy about this pick.
2. (31) J. Reyes - About this pick, on the other hand, I still don’t know how I feel. It was a lot easier to draft the next six rounds without worrying about making up steals, and I didn’t think SS was a great crop otherwise, and I love Reyes as a player, but… I don’t know, man. All he has to do is walk like 50 times, is that too much to ask? As his plate demeanor currently stands, if he tweaks the hamstring and “only” steals 38 bases this year, he’s about half the player Rollins is for this league. Matter of fact, I think I know how I feel about this pick now. I shoulda just taken friggin’ Berkman and ignored steals like I always do.
3. (42) T. Hafner - I don’t care about UT, I love this pick. He slugs the piss out of the ball, and it’s not like UT isn’t a starting position. Basically, the only limititation is that I still need a first baseman, but at this point I’m still confident there’s going to be bats aplenty at that spot. Seeing Berkman go right before this pick hurt my feelings. Anyway, at this point, the first time in the draft that I really took a breath the score stands thusly – I’ve sacrificed flexibility, taken huge hits at OBP and SLG, gotten two big bats and taken care of steals. I’m not thrilled but I don’t have the car running in the garage yet either.
4. (67) B. Ryan This pick was basically made for me; the only question was which closer did I want? I like all those K’s, but in retrospect I don’t know about him vis a vis Street. I guess I thought I had a shot at taking both, and Ryan certainly wouldn’t have lasted all the way around the bend, but I really like Street (added a pitch, too). There’s a little bit of a risk here, but I planned on adding multiple closer options later, and as I said all those K’s really help me with choosing starters, which as I said in a previous post was a position I really wanted to sit on for a while.
5. (78) H. Blalock -I fucking hated this pick when I made it and I still do. I was watching the closers to see if I could get another one, but I didn’t like what was left, and I had me eye on Ensberg, too, but I was sort of grasping here otherwise, and I made the mistake of taking a guy who was priced at this spot instead of maybe reaching ten spots for a guy I actually wanted. By my count I liked 6 1/2 of the guys that went after this pick in this round better than I like Blalock. Taking him after taking Reyes was a stupid, stupid move, and really put me over a barrel, god damn it. I was actually saying “should have reached, should have reached, should have reached” out loud for the next ten picks or so. With the benefit of hindsight, though, it encourages me slightly to revisit how good Blalock was in '03 and '04. Give me that 850-875 OPS at third base this year and I’m not in such a giant hole. Give me 2005 numbers again, and, well, shit.
6. (103) J. Schmidt – I couldn’t resist. I told myself not to even look at starters until at least this round or later, and for the most part I wasn’t tempted at all, but at this spot I felt like we were well beyond the portion of the draft in which Jason Schmidt should be available. Like WL said, I think everybody let starters slide in this draft, so most of the guys I had on my radar at this point were starters anyway, and most of the top bats had already gone (although I liked Crisp and Beltre), so I felt good about this. He’s only 33, which isn’t quite the point where you give up on a guy after a rough year, and he had a good spring. As long as he’s not walking people I feel like I got a bargain here.
7. (114) T. Gordon - This was a little of a hold-your-breath pick. If somebody else had taken him I’d have said “Great pick, that’s a steal.” When his 50-year old ass is on my team (both in this league and in real life), I’m a little more worried. I think that in all likelihood getting Flash as my second closer in this price range was very solid. He’s definitely going to have a bunch of chances, and he’s got the arm, so it’s pretty much all about health. Not bad, all things considered, especially in this league.
8. (139) J. Lane - Speculating a bit here. This is about where the individual OF positions become a bitch, and I like his pop (and his park). There were a lot of awesome picks in this round, which thinned out my queue significantly – pretty much every starter and Loretta, to be specific. Loretta, Beckett, and Myers, to be really specific. With those guys gone I figured I might as well try to fill an OF spot, but I could hear my OBP whimpering again.
9. (150) C. Young - All right, I liked this pick. He had one lousy month, but other than that he was spectacular last year, and his league, his defense and his park are all getting much more favorable. Dan Haren was a fantastic pick as well. He’s going to be another in a long line of guys that I have in this league a year before they become a big deal, joining the likes of Figgins, Bay, Jose Guillen, and I can’t remember if I had Beltre the year before or the year of in this league. All right, that’s all I can think of, so not that long a line.
10. (175) M. Gonzalez - Again, a lot of good picks in between my two. The first basemen finally started to dwindle, which I had to keep an eye on. I like Gonzalez a lot in this league because, as long as you aren’t relying on him as a primary closer, all he has to do is keep being as good as he has been, and he’ll contribute significantly whether it’s in terms of saves or not. I was happy to be able to grab him as a third closer, although relievers are a third of my roster at this point.
11. (186) M. Bradley - I wanted Nick Johnson’s OBP in this slot. Vazquez shouldn’t have been around either. Hopefully I can get some OBP help at CF here, which I don’t think is too much wishful thinking. If he stays on the field he at least won’t hurt, and, of course, there’s the chance that he’ll get back up to those great numbers he had a few years ago. I’d love to say that the fact that he’s on Oakland means he’s finally going to be comfortable and sane and I expect him to drive in 100 and score 100, but really, I’m only looking at a few positions here, and Bradley’s got the talent to be attractive.
12. (211) Mi. Sweeney - Well, this closes the book on my first round pick. I didn’t get a single one of the guys I thought I would be plucking off of trees at this position, and Sweeney ain’t exactly the guy to play 160 games, but he adds what I didn’t have – solid rates. I didn’t need so much power out of him, but I really had to get Sweeney once I lost out on Johnson. He’s a sure thing, which is nice to get halfway through an 18-team league. Speaking of which, around this point I detected a definite surge in sleeper/rookie/project picks, which I had been waiting for to get an idea of how the third quarter of the draft would go. Again, the starting pitching that’s still out there is amazing.
13. (222) J. Blanton - See? Penny - Santana - Westbrook - Millwood - Blanton. Omni said this would hurt my rates, but K/9 would’ve been the one I worried about, and it’s not around. At this point I’m feeling really good about my pitching staff – almost good enough to stop scourging myself for the state of my lineup.
14. (247) J. Vidro - It’s pretty obvious what I started doing with my hitters once we got to the teen rounds. I had the power (I HAVE THE POWERRRR) element in OK proportion, so I just started grabbing pros who I knew I could count on to take a friggin’ pitch here and there. I don’t really see any reason why a healthy Vidro won’t keep rapping out doubles and get on base at a pretty good clip, and it’s not like I had to use a high pick on him. Now, is he going to be healthy? At 247 I like the risk/reward, anyway. Just stay on the field and get on base at .380.
15. (258) D. DeJesus - I swear to god, I don’t know why this guy isn’t a slightly bigger deal. Oh, wait, yes I do. He’s on the Royals. Anyway, I’m actually pretty pleased about DeJesus – he had a pretty solid year last year, contributed in a bunch of ways. He might survive the inevitable coup I’m going to stage while everyone else in my entire lineup will be up against the wall.
16. (283) D. Hermanson - Already cut. I fucking hate injury reports – he went from “Will probably start season on 15-day” to “He hopes to be able to contribute in the second half of the season” in a day. I liked the pick, too.
17. (294) J. Reed - He had a .935 OPS in 2004. No, seriously, I don’t know, I hadn’t pulled much out of my ass at this point, and he should steal a few bases. The good news is, his wrist has always been broken! I hate my offense.
18. (319) A. Harang - On the one hand, I’m not that big a fan of Aaron Harang. On the other hand this is pick number 319. Mike Lieberthal is off the board. Yahoo has him ranked at 168 overall, and you know it’s a good pick if the guy who makes it uses Y! Rankings as the justification. I mean, he threw 211 innings in Cincinnati and kept his ERA under 3.9, what do you want from me? On the other hand, he’s almost certainly not going to have a better year than Esteban Loiaza, so fuck you, Chitwood.
19. (330) J. Crain - I’m looking at holds, backup outfielders, and a catcher the rest of the way. Is there anybody at any of those positions who could be considered elite? Well, yeah, Crain. Plus, he’s a Twins reliever, which for some reason means he’s going to win 15 games this year. What’s up with that, anyway?
20. (355) V. Diaz - I hate my offense so much at this point that I’m not just trying to hurt it; I want it dead. I’m kidding, of course. I figure with the guys in the Met’s corners, Diaz will get some hacks, and if he gets hacks he’ll get some numbers. His OBP isn’t that great, but that’s OK, because that doesn’t count in this league, right? You can tell by the way I drafted my team, hahahahahaaa… I wasn’t kidding before. I hate my offense and I want it dead.
21. (366) J. Valentin - I lied again. I love my offense. Jason LaRue’s going under the knife, ohhh yeah. I might slip a roofie in that surgeon’s coffee and “operate” myself. I’m so happy about this it’s disgusting, and I was delighted to see that others share my view of this pick. It’s the little things, you know? Totally whiff on 2 out of your first 5 picks, and then get the catcher you want in the 21st round, and it all balances out.
22. (391) J. Castillo - Whatever. Seriously, I have nothing to say. He’s young and he starts, and I thought he was going to be good once. His OBP is above .300. He’s currently my starting IF. Where’s that trading block?
23. (402) D. Brazelton - Already gone, but only because – they SAID – a great spring wasn’t going to translate into a rotation spot. Now he’s the fourth starter. He’s going to be a pretty good pitcher one day, you mark my words. I should mention that Robert Person was probably my favorite pitcher of all time. Also, I had to draft him, because he’s the only pitcher capable of walking the guys in my lineup. Now, if I pick him back up, he’ll walk 15 guys in his first two starts. If I don’t, he’ll strike out 15 in his first start and somebody else will get him, and I’ll forget about cutting Sizemore last year.
24. (427) D. Riske - Nothing wrong with this as the 800th player taken. With Hermanson gone I’m not as secure as I first thought, and even though he had an awful spring, Riske’s got a decent chance to pick up a lot of holds and even some saves. We’ll see how the Red Sox bullpen shakes out, but all you can really ask for here is a guy who could contribute somehow, and Riske definitely fits the bill.
Summary
There weren’t very many jerks in this year’s draft, so I don’t really have anybody to make fun of except for myself. Things I like about my squad – Javier Valentin is the greatest offensive player in the history of sports. I like my starters; this was the first time I ever anticipated a general trend, stuck to it, and it worked. I like my relievers, although I liked them a lot more before Hermanson became Mota. Still, the bullpen’s a strength and my starters are good enough.
Things I don’t like: I’ll give you three guesses. Here’s a hint – it has something to do with a similarity between my team and Steven Hawking.
PS - this took too long for me to share my notes about everyone else’s draft, which I was planning to do, so here’s a few names I thought were good picks – Peralta, Gathright, Ryan Church, Duffy, JAVIER VALENTIN, Ryan Madson, Wilkerson Wilkerson Wilkerson, J. Vazquez, Michael Barrett, D. Cabrera. That’s all I can think of that I didn’t mention above.
