Journal:

 

Pre draft jitters. We haven’t had the Winter Meeting yet.

 

It was great to get information from Greg and the follow up from Dave. Curious as to some of the APBA ratings.

 

Pitching – the Z’s seem to be real stingy. Pedro? Moyer? Non Z’s. Wood and Ortiz are W’s.

 

Darrell May is a non Z – he had something like 2.3 w/ 9 in 2003. This does coincide with Pedro and Moyer.

 

I wonder if they will be stingy with HR ratings as well.

 

Defense – Rolen a 6? Not Chavez? Chavez is Rolen’s equal defensively at worst.

I like ARod as a 10. Boone as a 9. I also like the 5’s at first. Helton was knocked down to a 4.

 

Chavez is the best 3B I’ve seen. Rolen is excellent as well but I don’t think he is as great as Chavez. (subjective commentary)

 

Predraft predictions.

Steve will select 2 high grade lefties early. Wagner, Cormier, Marte. 3^rd and 4^th round?

 

I was wrong about this one. I think he wanted Wagner but he didn’t make it back to him for the 3 4 swing and wasn’t interested in Marte/ Cormier. Steve didn’t take a lefty until the 16^th round. I was way off.

 

Merker is a 19W – he can probably get that round 10.

 

Merker went in the 15^th. W reliever can be scary.

 

He will also try his best to copy the team from last season. I don’t think that will be possible unless he gets one of the 17Z starters (Brown, Schmidt) I doubt they will have the magic Pedro had.

 

He had no chance on the above. His strategy was based on power numbers not necessarily base stealing.

 

12-10-03 – I looked at the disk last nite. I really liked Pujols card. Hopefully, this is the player I can select. His card at worst looks like .290 – so probably .310. ARod also looked impressive and of course Bonds. Reggie Sanders is on the list as a get him if you can 10^th round type. –

 

I picked Sanders in the 4^th. Reggie has made me look good. Some huge homers early in the season and is 2^nd in RBI’s only behind Pujols.

 

Disappointments include: Rolen, B Boone, Sheffield. Frank Thomas looks ‘under carded’ power wise. I predicted the 135 for both Garciaparra and Patterson. Too many 1166 players. Stairs. Thomas. Sheffield. Lowell. Delgado. Plenty of others. I kept coming across them. Remember to avoid those.

 

I did select Stairs. I would have liked Thomas too for the draft round value. Both were excellent values. I got Stairs in the 13^th. I bet I will get similar results with Stairs as Steve will get with Ortiz selected in the 5^th round. Both will be in the middle of lineups including superstars that will bat in front of them. Rolen and Boone have not done too much yet. Frank is doing OK for Dave. Sheff has been great for Graham.

 

Patterson was never selected.

 

Thome is 1156 – He might hit more homers with that than he did with Chris last season.

 

I am still sticking to this prediction – all he needs is 41. But, my statement may change if Bob strictly platoons him with Sammy.

 

A lot of the starters have G’s or H’s. This will be interesting on how that proceeds. Hopefully, the first two rounds will entail many of those selections so Bonds/ Pujols can be had. Maybe even Helton Round 2. Those are the three I covet. I don’t think it will happen unless I pick 6^th or something. I am pretty certain that someone like Chris or Graham would jump on Bonds in the 1^st round regardless of the J2 w/ a 42. (I will take that risk). And Helton being a 4 will likely be gone.

 

Graham got Bonds. Chris wanted Pujols. I think he was surprised when I told him I was picking him. Then Chris picked Pedro.

 

I think I wrote down 20 players with 0 or 6 @ 44. Edmonds, Pujols, Lopez and Ortiz all have the 6. Bonds, Hidalgo, Anderson, Sanders. OF OF OF. Juan Gonzalez, Jason Michels, Griffey, OF OF OF. I think 2 40 game catchers. Helton.

 

I got 4 – Pujols, Edmonds, Sanders and Ford. Steve got 5 Helton, Michaels, Hidalgo, Hinske and Ortiz. Chris got Lopez. Matt got Anderson. Bob got Griffey and Dave got Gonzalez. Ordonez was not selected.

 

April 1^st.

 

Thinking about my team. 19-11. Looking at everyone else- my starting pitching is good. The relievers are all bunched in the middle of the road types. My power and extra base hitting is 2^nd to none. Defense stinks. I think I got a deal with quite a few picks. Young, Jeter, Chuck J. (I expect 25 homers from Johnson, Ross and Wilson – 8 after 30 games).

 

Keith received a few deals. Berkman (8^th), Blalock (14^th), Baerga (17^th) and Edgar (18^th). Will his relieving hold up? He has used plenty of innings at this juncture for his three scrub inning guys. That puts a ton of pressure on Merker (W). Well, my early prediction remains that he will win that division. His bullpen is the best after 6 innings.

 

Matt received a few good deals as well. I like Mientky as late as he selected him. He just beat Greg 4-1.

 

Greg’s lineup should have Cabrera behind Abreu. A great hit and run man behind a guy that gets on a lot that steals marginally. Greg took relievers 2^nd and 3^rd, 20^th, 21^st, 23^rd and 24^th. He spoke to me on the phone about that. Two reliable relievers and then 5 that he probably will not have faith in.

 

4-12-04

 

Sometimes I think of players on my team.

 

2001 – Jim Edmonds. I was leading him off and he was not walking much or hitting much at all. I thought about him most of the season. I did end up moving him to 5^th in the lineup and leading off Klesko and Edmonds started hitting and Klesko continued hitting well.

 

2002- All season. My 6^th and 7^th hitters, Cruz and Chavez had numbers that were way down. Of course, Cruz rectified himself with his finish and Chavez had zero errors.

 

2003 – Floyd. Hit a bit but didn t drive anyone in at all.

 

2004- Larry Walker. This is not your normal Larry Walker. Huge walks. Great on base. Cant hit. I actually thought I was taking a huge gamble with him in the one spot. Similar to Chipper and B Giles. .360 on base but Walker does not hit as well.

 

May 24, 2004 – Waiting out the slow process of getting to 40 games. Supposedly, Dave will play his 20 games this forthcoming weekend – then we can do the Free Agent draft and then the free for all. Bob, Matt, Graham and Steve. It could be difficult.

 

Looking over my team. Pujols 52 Rbi’s 39 runs in 40 games. 19 doubles 18 homers. .363 average. Sanders 34 Rbi’s in 31 games. Two man wrecking crew leads to 26-14 6.5 game lead over Graham. Up 10 over Chris. Bradley has scored 28 times in 28 games. Stairs is hitting well. Edmonds was injured. I thought I would have some trouble but chico’ed Dave without him in the lineup. Who will I play the next 5 is yet to be determined. I am going to look over everyone’s team and make that determination. I doubt it will be divisional. Who has two lefties? Who has a few 13 starters? Somehow I think Keith is the target.

 

66 homers is pace for 267 homers. Probably right. Walks are low. I cant figure that one out.

 

My order of Overvalued by selection:

 

Bret Boone

Hidalgo - I think this pick was terrible and likely two rounds too early

Sanders - similar to Hidalgo but, he was the last of the power/speed outfielders

Renteria – 2^nd best SS but, the 2 thru 9 SS available all had some value

Rolen – Bob wanted the D so I shouldn’t have him listed here but he will not hit as well as he could.

V Wells – No walks. Plays every day with power.

Vidro – A couple rounds later. He is batting 9^th for Dave.

Guerrero – SA4 with limited games. 3 Dave picks in a row. I am not picking on you.

Posada – Cant throw. I guess the fact that he is a catcher and you can hit him in the middle of the order means something but…

Furcal – 7^th round?? If he was a 9 maybe…

Lowell – Graham will be lucky if he hits .200 for him

A Jones - .210 to .230 hitter with power and limited walks.

Tejada – All the SS seemed to be overvalued.

Finley – We are starting on the overvalue of CF. Perhaps Dave’s selection of Wells triggered this pick.

Wilson – More overvalue for a CF. Good power. 2 D. Limited BB.

Wood – W. If you can keep his ERA under 6 you should be proud.

M Young – Limited BB. Good Basestealing and D

Ru Ortiz – W. See Kerry Wood

Castillo – Light hitting 2B that have an awful stealing pct should be selected no sooner than 20^th.

Chavez (in conjunction with Hinske I think this is the worst) Individually they look OK with the other or another taken at another time.

Hall – Who? When?

Fuentes - +3 no Z. Lefty with games. 4.50 ERA guy. Maybe I am being harsh on myself.

Wilkerson – PH that can BB.

Juan Gonzalez – What is this guy doing in our league? (I hope he doesn’t single handedly win a few games against me for this comment)

Hunter – See Juan Gon. How far does great defense take you? Fortunately for Graham he is able to bat him low in the lineup.

 

Value selections

Berkman – lots of BB. Good Power.

Chipper – lots of BB. OK power.

Sexson – lots of BB. Great power. Best Value.

Lee – lots of BB. OK Power and speed. 5 D.

Adams – I guess only a value compared to Herges taken 5 rounds earlier. Mid grade relievers were forgotten for a while during our draft.

F Thomas – lots of BB. Good power.

Blalock – good average and power. 8^th 3B taken. Tough to get this quality this late.

Cintron – games played and stealing are his only limitations.

Mientky – 5 D with lots of BB.

Jeter – games played is his limitation.

Baerga – Keith isn’t using him that much. Great on the H&R.

Varitek – Good power.

Nick Johnson – lots of BB. Limited games.

Koskie – lots of BB. Leading off for Dave.

Drew – good power, good amount of BB. Limited on games

Mantei- limited on games. Good late acquisition.

Sosa- Great power late.

Mateo – 13Z taken this late. Ignore the L. Pitch around it. His ZZ is in question.

DaVanon – Similar CF, Byrd and Matos were taken in front of him. His limit is games played in CF which Chris couldn’t afford. Uncertain as to why Matt didn’t take him unless it was strictly games in CF. He is a good fit on Greg’s team.

 

6-4-04

Trying to avoid working and making it to the weekend.

 

Chris and Steve pulled off a trade. Chavez, Wilson, Giles and Jimenez for Mueller, Byrd, Everett and Polanco.

 

I looked at both teams. I don’t know how much it will help either. Steve will have more base stealing abilities – Chris got Giles and an upgrade in power with Wilson and Chavez. Both are crappy OBA guys though. Steve can use Wilkerson in CF instead of Byrd and Mueller at 2B with Hinske playing some 3B. It will help flexibility but I don’t know if much else. Chris will have three high OBA guys in front of Javy Lopez which is a good thing.

 

I wonder what other trades will occur. I don’t know if there any in the works.

 

Steve just emailed a trade that Greg declined. Huff and Cabrera for Furcal and Hinske. None are great. Greg countered with Helton and Furcal for Cabrera and Bagwell. Whatever.

 

6-16-04

 

Steve had a 25 game poluza on 6-14-04. He went 12-13. Got drunk and likely overused some of his players including; Hinske, Ortiz and Mueller. My series against him was a bomb for me. 2-3 I hit 14 dongs but only scored 29 runs. That is amazing. I had 6 doubles, 4 homers and 10 walks in game one. I scored only 7 runs. Sanders continues his hot streak. Pujols has cooled off. Edmonds is in a slump. Bradley has continued to perform well. Stairs was injured so Bradley will get more starts. My best lineup may be:

 

Walker DH

Bradley LF

Pujols 1B

Edmonds CF

Sanders RF

Young 3B

Soriano 2B

Jeter SS

Johnson C\

 

Jamie Moyer

98 90-72 Finals loser

99 96-66 semis loser

00 82-80 semis loser

02 81-81 finals loser

03 96-66 finals loser

 

01 was pitched one game for Keith down the stretch. That team lost in the semis.

 

What will he do for Bob?