SOSH Real Fantasy Draft 2014: Draft Order, Rules, and Draft Thread

Frank Fenway

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Apr 23, 2009
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MakMan44 said:
That's because you believe that your warped 3 catcher roster will somehow magically carry you to a WS win.
 
Oh, you think catchers are your ally, but you merely adopted the catcher. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see Johnny Bench until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding! The shadows betray you, because they belong to me. I will show you where I have made my home, whilst preparing to bring justice. Then, I will break you. Your precious draft list, gratefully accepted. We will need it. Ah yes, I was wondering what would break first. Your spirit, or your body.
 

MakMan44

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Aug 22, 2009
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So you actually think your team sucks? Terri have more confidence in yourself....
 
Cause I sure don't
 
 
:wooper:
 

MakMan44

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Dude. We were talking way past each other this whole time. Like wow. Opposite ends
 

Rich Garces Belly

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Thanks Mak for taking my proxy, I went with Jeter this round to serve as my DH verse lefties and to backup at second and third.  Jeter has a career .911 OPS verse lefties while Howard has been pretty bad against them.  I don't really love the pick, especially because he is retiring after this season, but I went with him anyways.
 
 

Galway Sox Fan

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Dec 8, 2013
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Scoops Bolling said:
Non Development Nonsense: Yes, it does. If you take a player who isn't ready for the MLB, and throw him into it, you will screw up his development, and possibly ruin him as a player. Could Travis hypothetically develop despite not getting regular ABs, and despite facing pitching he almost certainly isn't ready to face? Maybe. Could his confidence collapse, and destroy him as a player? Maybe. But the fact of the matter is, he is way less likely to develop in any normal fashion as a bench player facing MLB pitching than he would getting regular ABs in the minors, and he's way more likely to be ruined.
 
AAA Nonsense: Wrong. Plenty of players in AAA have the talent to play in the MLB, but don't either due to service time concerns, options, depth of the MLB club, or the fact while they're capable of playing in the MLB, they're  simply better served playing every day in AAA. Hell, I drafted a guy like that myself in Baez. He probably should start in AAA. Does he have to? Probably not, he annihilated AA and he kills LHP to such an outrageous degree he could almost certainly platoon effectively. The same is true of a number of pitchers the Red Sox had in AAA last year. Just because a player is better suited to AAA doesn't mean they couldn't play in the MLB, it just means that the team may have better options, or may prefer to keep the player in the minors for other reasons.
 
Four Season Nonsense: Again, wrong. The point of this exercise is to draft your 25 man roster for this year, and the next few seasons. You can argue "I drafted Torii Hunter and he will probably retire after a couple seasons, so I'd be forced to find a replacement" and that's a perfectly reasonable logic. What is not reasonable for this exercise is to say "I drafted Devon Travis, and I will not expect him to play a role for the next two seasons, but despite sitting his ass on the bench that entire time I'll expect him to magically improve to the point where he's ready for a full time role at that point".
What a load of sanctimonious codswallop.
I enjoy debating with people who are willing to debate but thats not the case here so this will be my last input on this topic.

I have said before that there is a large grey area about 'real life baseball' should affect our draft. You are picking and choosing elements to support your arguement which is fair enough. I just disagree with some of your application of this. More than a few people allowed for player development to occur.
Your saying a year of basically platooning Baez will not affect his development. In real life I think it would. I also said that Travis in my team would get plenty of at bats and game time at 2nd base. His defence stands up to it. He is very capable with the bat and has had a solid spring training as well as being an elite 2nd base prospect. With Iggys injury he will get close on 400 at bats in season 1. I would argue that he has the skill set to get by and learn in this scenario. At least a similar one to Baez yet you slate the pick.

As for 4 season nonsense. I dont get this. This is not nonsense. This was always a four year exercise. Many have picked thier teams around this idea. Some went for the win now with some older players who are likely to fall away after a couple of years. Some went young with the win in the future with many younger players and some picked mid 20s Mlb players with some younger players to hopefully be competitive for the entire 4 years.

If Hunter retires in 2 years I see your team as effectively a 27 man squad as nowhere was it ever mentioned that you can 'find a replacement'. So again in this game world I see that as terrible drafting for a long term plan. Even if Travis didnt develop at least he would contribute something more I seasons 3 and 4 than a non existent player.

I could go on but im bored and I wont change your mind and you wont change mine so theres no point.

Im not sure who said that this exercise will be fun to argue who has the best team in a couple of years. It will be virtually impossible given the amount of confusion about how this works.
 

The Tax Man

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Jun 8, 2009
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RP Darren O'Day
 
He's not really a hard thrower but his slider and his side arm style allows him to be death on righties.  He manages to have a solid K rate and a low BB rate.  Can't really ask much more out of your bullpen arms.   
 

 
PM sent
 

MakMan44

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Aug 22, 2009
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John Mayberry Jr BP
 

 
Mayberry is being brought in to platoon with Joc for now. He can back up both corner OF spots as well as 1st base. He's actually a pretty great BP, I'm really happy with how my bench has turned out to this point. Mayberry isn't a great player. Arguing that would be silly. But he fills a specific need for me and being able to fill that this late is pretty nice.
 
MakMan44 said:
Ryan Lavarnway, C 
 
 
Thanks for the proxy!
 
There's a thread on the main board debating whether Lavarnway is AAAA filler or a power-hitting prospect who just needs the right opportunity to break out.  Obviously, I'm putting my money on the latter.  He kinda sucked last year, but prior to that season was impressive enough that he was taken in the 7th round of this draft and a number of people were like "damn I wanted to pick him."
 
Backup catcher is a pretty low-risk place for an upside play, especially when the starter is Yadier Molina.  If Lavarnway's power returns and he can stick at catcher, he'll be a great player.  If just one of those two happens, he'd still be a pretty good pick at this point.  Even in his worst season last year, he showed exceptional plate discipline in AAA, which is one more offensive skill than most backup catchers have.  And FWIW, in a very small sample, BP's fancy new catcher metrics have him as slightly-above-average at both pitch framing and blocking.
 
I think he'll be in a perfect situation on this team.  He'll back up one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, and occasionally spell Alonso or Ortiz against tough lefties.  That's probably 300 ABs, which should be more than enough opportunity to prove himself.
 
Now I just have to hope he gets a chance in real life (and the Sox get a decent return for him in a trade).
 

Leskanic's Thread

lost underscore
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I think it falls to me now, since it's been more than 12 hours since KFP's turn started.  Someone let me know if I'm talking out of turn here.
 
The ABQ Hermanos select Enny Romero - RP4
 

 
Expanded write-up to come later.  For now, I'll PM Scoops that he is up.
 

Scoops Bolling

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Jun 19, 2007
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Alright, well it's time to add another bench option, so I'm going to take one of the most versatile pieces left on the board, and a guy who can also platoon a good deal with DeJesus and take ABs versus LHP.
BP2-Logan Forsythe

While Forsythe struggled in 2013, he was dealing with a foot injury all season. Even still, he's a versatile option capable of playing almost every position on the diamond with the exception of CF and C (although he'd certainly be stretched as a SS), and for his career he has posted a .793 OPS against LHP (in no small part due to a bonkers 1.010 OPS against LHP in 2012). He'll get some play in the outfield against lefties to get DeJesus off the field, and his ability to play anywhere around the diamond combined with the presence of Swisher and Quentin gives me the ability to move guys around a good bit and let players take a breather when needed. He's my swiss army knife.
 

Why Not Grebeck?

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Feb 29, 2008
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I actually really love my picks this round, you guys. That probably means that they're awful.
 
With the last pick in round 19, the Bombers select Alex Colome, BP2 (for now).
 

 
 
I've almost selected Colome for the last couple of rounds now, and I'm thrilled that he fell to me here. He's got absolutely electric stuff and a consistently 95 MPH fastball. He's proven he can pitch well at the AAA level and was great in a couple of cup-of-coffee starts for Tampa Bay last summer. The issue with Colome is durability - he's had health problems in the past and may not be able to handle a full workload as a starter. If he can't, he profiles as an excellent reliever and my #1 set-up man right now. 
 
Colome's status on my team is uncertain. With Beachy's status unknown, I'm continuing to stretch him out as a starter in major league camp with the hopes that I can go with a rotation that consists of Strasburg / Beachy / Jordan / Carrasco / Heaney as my 1-5. If Beachy needs a second Tommy John surgery, Colome and Henry Owens will compete for the vacated #5 spot while the loser ends up in the bullpen. It's not ideal, but with the pitching depth my team has now I can survive (or at least tread water) with my #2 and #3 starters possibly losing a year or more to surgeries. I'd feel better about my team and would have a couple of bullpen aces by now if Medlen and Beachy hadn't gone down, but under the circumstances I think my team will still be reasonable in 2014.
 

Why Not Grebeck?

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Feb 29, 2008
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With the first pick of the 20th round, the Bombers select Danny Espinosa, BN.
 

 
What you remember about Danny Espinosa: He was so bad in 2013 that he was demoted to AAA by a struggling Nationals team. Perhaps you spent a mid-to-late round pick on him in fantasy baseball and had to look at his sub-.200 average and tons of strikeouts.
 
What you didn't remember about Danny Espinosa: He's only 26, his defense is above average, he has the ability to play second base, third base, and shortstop, he was worth more than three wins above replacement in 2011 and 2012, each of his last two healthy seasons, oh - and his wrist AND shoulder were hurt last year and the Nats had him play through both injuries. He now claims to be fully healthy and ready to go back to being the player he used to be. Will that happen? Hell, even if it doesn't, he's worth a pick here based on defense alone. The skills are there for him to be an above-average regular, but even if he's just a below average one he's incredibly useful to me as a utility infielder. Between him and Almonte, I really love my bench right now. 
 

Curll

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Jul 13, 2005
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Are Rule 5 guys allowed to be drafted? I say they should, since they "have" to be on the 2014 MLB roster it only makes sense.
 

Scoops Bolling

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Curll said:
Are Rule 5 guys allowed to be drafted? I say they should, since they "have" to be on the 2014 MLB roster it only makes sense.
No, they are not. Eligibility rules are the same they have always been.
 

Eck'sSneakyCheese

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I'd be comfortable saying that at least 3/4 of us were looking at Espinosa or Forsythe. Both really good picks. 
 
Also, I've been looking at Colome for a while but with the uncertainty in my rotation I couldn't pull the trigger.
 

MakMan44

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I can honestly say that I wish I had grabbed Forsythe instead of JMJ. I didn't know he had played OF though so I didn't even bother to look. Then again, the last couple days have been super stressful. Oh well, nice picks all around. 
 

Why Not Grebeck?

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Feb 29, 2008
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Just heard that Beachy is for sure getting his second Tommy John surgery as well...sad times here in Burbank.
 
#1 Strasburg, #2 Carlos Carrasco, #3 Taylor Jordan, #4 Andrew Heaney, #5 Alex Colome / Henry Owens battle for the ages. It ain't pretty, but that's what happens when two of your starters go down for the year during spring training.
 

Scoops Bolling

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Alright, time to add a lefty to the pen.
RP4-Brian Matusz

 
I was looking at Matusz and one other reliever primarily, and ultimately decided to go with Matusz. He's death on lefties and holds his own against righties, he's durable, and worst case scenario he can even take the occasional spot-start. His strikeout rate spiked in the second half of the season, and his swinging strike rate suggests the improvement was for real. Overall, I think in a second full season as a reliever he's only going to get better.
 
Gotta say, I love the way my team is shaping up.
 
C-Iannetta/Molina
1B-Swisher/Forsythe
2B-Wong/Forsythe
SS-Baez/Forsythe
3B-Donaldson/Forsythe
LF-Austin Jackson/Forsythe/Swisher/Quentin
CF-Bourn/Jackson/DeJesus
RF-DeJesus/Forsythe/Swisher/Quentin
DH-Quentin
 
SP1-Scherzer
SP2-Latos
SP3-Tillman
SP4-Stroman
SP5-Jackson
 
RP1-Herrera
RP2-Jones
RP3-Withrow
RP4-Matusz
 

Leskanic's Thread

lost underscore
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All right, sorry for the delay. Had been looking at a variety of players for bench spots, and have decided to go with the one on my list with the highest ceiling.  At the risk of invoking Scoops' wrath, I'll be taking a AA player that's the top prospect in his organization.  Assuming we can't (or don't want to) count on Jesus Montero to be our backup catcher, and to keep up our focus on team defense, the Albuquerque Hermanos select Gary Sanchez - BP2.
 

 
Because why have one formerly touted catcher prospect from the Yankee system whose recent performance level has led to people questioning his commitment to playing the game when you could have two?
 
I know he's low in the minors, but his defense can play in the majors now.  His hitting will be a weak spot, for sure, but his glove/arm will allow him to spell Mesoraco, and hopefully his hitting will come around a little as well.  At worse, he will be a defense-only catcher making a black hole in the 9th spot when he plays.  At best, he may improve his bat (especially when the Yankees inevitably trade him away for much more than he's worth) and fulfill even some of the hype that had been thrown his way.
 
PMing KFP.
 

MakMan44

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Scoops Bolling said:
I'll let Kramerica's pick stand, but KFP is up and on the clock. He is not skipped this round.
Am I mis-remembering what we did last time? I thought you got skipped if your time elapsed in the previous round.
 

Scoops Bolling

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MakMan44 said:
Am I mis-remembering what we did last time? I thought you got skipped if your time elapsed in the previous round.
That is not in the rules for this draft, and has never been discussed in this draft. What we did last time is irrelevant.
 
In general, if you have a question about rules, PM me as I'll get an email notification about it. Don't wing it, and don't do what Makman says just because he's here all the time. :wooper: