Cooperstown Giants Draft

Well as John said, your either in it to win it, or complete the rebuild you started 3 years ago after winning the World Series. Guess I'm in it to win it as all of my early picks were traded away to acquire front line starters in Heath Bell, Andres Torres, Angel Pagan, Arthur Rhodes, Kelly Johnson, Paul Konerko, Roy Oswalt, Shane Victorino, and CC Sabathia. So with all those players acquired via trade here were my picks:

4.08 - Koji Uehara, Yes this was a need pick and a darn good one at this point in the draft as one can't have enough bullpen help

5.02 - Mark Trumbo, Big power bat but not great on defense and really no place to play, but maybe DH. Angels could use him way down in the lineup and put up some good power numbers.

5.05 - Alex Sanabia, Hopefully his arm is heathly because he should have a rotation spot for the Marlins and some really good numbers at AA and AAA last year.

5.19 - Gregory Infante, Chicago's bullpen needs a shot in the arm in the worst way and Infante is certainly an interesting name. The 23-year-old right-hander posted a 3.45 ERA in 55 relief appearances between High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham this season, averaging 10.4 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9. His control is still a work in progress, but with a fastball in the mid-90s and a developing curveball, he has one of the best arms in the organization.

6.15 - Barry Enright, A shot in the dark here, hopefully the homerun ball won't bite too much next year, but still a young arm that I had to take a chance on.

7.03 - James Russell, Russell will be given a shot at a rotation spot this spring.

Russell operated as a reliever last year as a rookie, posting a decent 4.96 ERA and 1.35 WHIP over 49 innings of work. The 25-year-old left-hander relies mostly on a high-80s fastball and a sharp slider, but he also carries a curveball and changeup in his arsenal. His main competition will be Andrew Cashner, a 24-year-old righty. This is one to watch come spring time. Maybe Nick knows more about him, but his numbers looked pretty good and being in Chicago, he might have a shot next year.

7.11 - Chris Nelson, Always like a middle infielder with some pop, good AAA numbers and hopefully will win the final roster spot next year in Colorado.

8.07, Lucas Duda, This could be MY steal of the draft. Some great numbers and really good pop. With the NY outfield in a state of flux, he could be a very good everyday player and has been rated highly in many prospect draft as a sleeper to watch.

9.07, Josh Donaldson, Another possible steal if he gets some playing time. A catcher with some pop and better than average defense. Again another that is high on the sleeper prospect list.

10.05 - Robbie Weinhardt, The 24-year-old sinkerballer has a 2.01 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 22 appearances between Single-A Connecticut and Triple-A Toledo this season. He sits in the low-to-mid 90s with his heater and has averaged 9.5 K/9 over parts of three seasons in the minor leagues. He could be a nice late pick in the Tigers bullpen.

I really had patience this year with my picks (Nick yes I said patience) as I really had some parts I could have moved to get in the draft early, but I'm happy with keeping a core of young kids around the vets I acquired. I have 9 cuts to make some will be difficult, some not as it depends on spring training also.

Good luck to everybody

Iron City Draft Recap

Going into the draft, Iron City had some tough choices to make. Coming off back-to-back championship seasons, management dearly wanted to try for the three-peat. But too many gaping holes in the lineup and rotation made that next to impossible. Winning in Mudville is arguably harder than any other league I've ever been in -- mainly because our small league size (20 teams) really packs a lot of talent on every team. So in order to win, your team has to be STACKED. To attempt to win with two or more holes on your team is basically folly. Sure, it can be done -- but the wise owner makes every possible move to plug every possible hole he can.

Ultimately, management conceded that there weren't enough assets left to trade (most picks were already gone, traded last year to maximize the strength of that squad) to plug the holes. So with great regret, management decided to sell off the immediately valuable assets and try and restock through the Mudville draft. The talent in this draft was very deep, so the goal was to acquire as many picks as possible.

Two players that Iron City initially deemed untouchable -- Adam Wainwright and CC Sabathia -- were ultimately dealt when the opportunity to get back potentially equal replacements in Zack Greinke, Chad Billingsley, and additional draft picks.

After all was said and done, Iron City was able to acquire or hold on to 16 draft picks. The following is a breakdown of the choices, and the though process behind each.

1.8 Pedro Alvarez

Honestly, we were quite shocked (and equally pleased) when Pedro "fell" to the 8th overall pick. One of Iron City's biggest needs is a solution at 3B (jury still out on Chris Johnson, and Andy LaRoche fell off a cliff), and being a long-suffering Bucco fan the Alvarez selection was a no-brainer. Not that there was any fault with the picks ahead of Alvarez, mind you (Heyward, Stanton, Davis, Santana, Garcia, Castro, and Strasburg). The toughest part of the pick was passing on Jeremy Hellickson, who Iron City management really coveted and expected to take with 1.8 if Alvarez went off the board.

2.8 Danny Espinosa

Fat chance that Hellickson would fall here, so the short list for this pick was Tabata, Domonic Brown, Chris Sale, Desmond Jennings, and Espinosa. All but Jennings and Espinosa went prior to this pick, so it was a toss-up between the pair. With Jennings clone Dexter Fowler on board via the Wainwright trade, we opted to go with Espinosa as the draft was very thin on quality middle infield prospects. Espinosa's power bat and solid defense should make him a Cowgunner staple for many years.

2.18 Ryan Kalish

Kalish is a guy we really coveted, but he's not hyped as much as some of the other young outfielders in this draft. In any other league, we would have tried to steal him in the 3rd or 4th round. But Mudville has a large New England contingent and I knew Kalish would be no secret to them. So rather than gamble, we opted to take him here and hope some other names fell to our third round picks. Kalish is a complete ballplayer with above average tools across the board, though none individually blow you away. Our hope is that he becomes the next JD Drew, minus the injuries and mental issues. By all accounts Kalish is a gamer so we project many productive years ahead.

3.9 V. Chris Carter

We were legitimately shocked that Carter was available with our first third round pick. Without a doubt he was the best power bat on the board, and while his defense is suspect his bat is 100% legit. He may never hit for a high average, but annual returns of 30+ HR are reasonable to expect.

3.18 Jake McGee

With some quality bats still on the board, it was tempting to keep addressing the offense (which is generally a safer investment), but power lefties like McGee don't come around often. He surely would have been gone sooner if he had a rotation spot waiting for him in Tampa, but with their crowded rotation his likely destination in the short term is the bullpen. It's quite possible that he'll return to starting down the line -- and if he does, this pick becomes larceny. But at worst, he should be a lights-out closer for the Rays and we'll gladly take that if that's the ultimate outcome.

3.20 FINED

Ouch. Iron City's highest fine in franchise history. And it was fairly awarded. Management totally blew it regarding Ichiro's usage -- spoiled after years of unlimited J-0 at-bats, Tony Soprano and Co. blindly assumed Ichiro was (yet again) a J-0 this season. Wrong answer. He was in fact at-bat limited and as a result his usage far exceeded the allowable amounts. Fortunately, this had zero impact on the post-season as Iron City was a wild card and had to go through Hollywood, Olathe, and Cardiff on the road. Obviously there was plenty of great talent still on the board at 3.20, so this penalty really hurt. But it was self inflicted, so it's a no-whine zone.

4.7 Brandon Beachy

This pick seemed to upset a few managers, so hopefully the consensus is correct that Beachy should be a solid SP for the Braves.

4.16 Mark Rogers

Even though there are some bats still on the board we liked a lot (Allen Craig, Lars Anderson, Jason Donald), we decided we needed to keep plucking the power arms that were left in hopes that some do pan out. Rogers certainly has the pedigree to be a top of the rotation starter; it's all about health with him.

5.15 Jeremy Jeffress

Donald goes, Craig and Lars still on the board... but so is Jeffress. Next to Chapman, the hardest thrower in the draft (Strasburg now a question mark). With the trade to KC, Jeffress has an opportunity to start, as long as he can lay off the ganja. At worst he should be a late inning fireballer, and you can never have enough of those.

7.10 Allen Craig

With no 6th round pick, we had to sweat it out and hope that Craig dropped to us... and he did (Lars went though). Not a great defensive player, the bat is legit and he has a chance to start at 3B in St. Louis, or get some time in the OF. With LaRussa you know that guys will get their chances all over the place. As long as he keeps hitting, Tony will keep running him out there somewhere.

7.20 Tony Sipp

This pick was semi-need, semi-investment. Sipp's a power lefty RP who I was surprised to still find on the board this late. Probably because he's wild, but he also strikes out a batter (or more) an inning. With 40 man roster spots precious, we gladly added Sipp's 60+ IP to the bullpen to allow us to invest our other spots into young guys with limited PT.

8.15 Tyson Ross

Lots of upside here; also surprised he slipped so late. One of the disadvantages of playing in Oakland I guess; no one knows your name (much like playing in Pittsburgh). If Ross can stay healthy (always a big question mark with pitchers) he could be a solid #3 SP, or you guessed it, a quality late inning power arm.

8.20 Brad Lincoln

We kept Lincoln on our watch list the whole draft, assuming he'd go somewhere in the 4-6 round range due to his #4 overall selection pedigree and solid minor league season. Fortunately for Iron City, most teams must have focused on his horrendous rookie MLB numbers and let him drop. With no expectation or plans of taking him in this draft, we couldn't resist taking him here and stashing him in hopes that he puts it together in 2011. There will certainly be plenty of opportunity to make the rotation in Pittsburgh.

9.12 Greg Halman

Formerly an elite level prospect, most seem to have given up on Halman due to his horrendous strike zone discipline. History isn't kind to these types of free swingers, but Halman is also a very good defensive outfielder so he has other positive tools going for him. His logical comp is Preston Wilson, and if he turns out along those lines I'll be thrilled. More likely, he'll be the next Rob Deer (with a better glove), but in the 9th round that's still not too shabby.

9.15 Jhan Marinez

With all the young players in Florida this year, it was hard to keep track of them all. Marinez is one that I definitely took notice of. Very young, very raw, with a very live arm and great strikeout numbers in the minors. Some health concerns, but a potential future closer and one we gladly gobbled up late in the 9th.

10.1 Chris Resop

Once a top prospect, he had plenty of MLB struggles and went off of the radar. Atlanta ended up giving him a shot and he put it all together in their minor league system. Traded to the Bucs, his high strikeout rates continued and he was quite effective in his tenure. There's an outside chance he'll start in Pittsburgh, but most likely he'll be a regular in the pen and should rack up a lot of innings and strikeouts in that role.

10.20 Juan Miranda

The Cuban with the big stick... Pedro Cerrano anyone? Though I think Miranda hits the curve better. Regardless, he's a bit old at 27 to be a prospect, but has produced in the Yankees' minor league system and now has a chance to be an every day player in the desert. His primary competition at 1B will be Brandon Allen, who can also (sort of) play the outfield. So if both hit, Miranda's the likely option at first with Allen shifting to the outfield. He's a guy who could put up Luke Scott-type of numbers for a few years, and for Mr. Irrelevant that would be just dandy by us.

All in all, very happy with our draft. Would have loved more 1st and 2nd round picks, but decided to trade Wainwright and Sabathia too late to make that happen. I also don't recall a deeper draft EVER with catchers and first basemen. Which worked to our advantage, as we have Mauer and Pujols at those positions. So I was effectively able to cross those guys off my list and focus on players at the other positions. The impact of that was making the draft extra-deep from our perspective, as there were almost a full round's worth of quality C & 1B prospects.

We had really hoped to make Ichiro a Cowgunner for life, but in Mudville the worst thing you can do is ride the fence -- either go all-in to win, or go all-out in your rebuilding effort. So we wish Ichiro well in Olathe, and have the ceremonial one-day retirement contract already drawn up so he can finish his career wearing a Cowgunner cap.

Draft Recap 2011

There were 189 players taken in this year's draft. Iron City made the most selections with 16 and Dakota made the fewest with four. Dekalb County, Hollywood and Nigella each made three 1st round selections while seven teams made none. The last team to make their first selection was Olathe at 6.16. Both Dekalb County and Hollywood selected 11 times before Olathe made that pick and the Stars made their twelth selection directly after at 6.17. This seemed to be a pretty deep draft, both in young talent, and veterans who contributed solid years and will help out contenders. More team by team draft recaps to follow.

2011 Draft

Every year the draft pumps out young, talented players expected to turn into future All-Stars. This year, players like Jason Heyward, Aroldis Chapman and Stephen Strasburg were obvious talents to lead their teams for the next decade. They are studs you hear or read about in nearly every corner of the baseball world. However, in MUD, it's often what happens after that first round that can be the difference since teams turnover players much quicker than MLB. I'd like to take a look at a few players I think can be later round impact players.

First, a look back at some of the 2010 'steals.'


Tyler Colvin (8.13) - Colvin was a 2006 1st round pick of the Cubs who collected just 3 hits in 17 At-bats in 2009. Given a chance out of spring in '10, Colvin produced 20 HRs, 56 RBI and a .500 SLG before his season was ended with an impaling. He outproduced Nolan Reimold (2.10) Julio Borbon (2.16) Michael Brantley (2.20) Chris Carter (3.20) and several others and appears to have as much upside as any of these guys.

Andres Torres (6.06) - I have to go with my guy Andres. Torres was a 4th round pick by the Tigers way back in '98 and had never done much until a solid back-up OF role with the Giants in '09. His .876 OPS and speed made him a nice PH/5th OFer option for the Stars. Then given a chance to start on the eventual World Series Giants team, he put up an .823 OPS, 26 steals and sparkling defense in full-time duty.

2011 potential 'steals.'

Juan Miranda (10.20) - John already pointed out Mr. Irrelevant, but Miranda could be the steal of the draft. If he can win regular at-bats, he has the bat to produce a similar season to the one Colvin put up in 2010.

Jay Gibbons (10.02) - Gibbons has enjoyed plenty of success in MLB, but was playing in independent ball before last year. He's penciled in for regular at-bats on the Dodgers and if he can find that late form Torres found, he could post plenty of HRs and a nice OBP.

Tyson Ross (8.15) - A 2nd round pick by the A's in '08, Ross moved quickly through the Oakland system and made the team out of spring training. He pitched well before succumbing to some arm troubles. If he can stay injury free, he could be a very solid reliever this year and a potential solid starter in the future. Considering he's just 23, he has plenty of time to round into shape.

There are certainly several more guys, but these are the guys I think can be low risk, high reward players.

It's been 5 months since shoulder surgery and my (TIA) mini-stroke. 1 week in the hospital put a new perspective on life. First thanks to my family who came to the hospital everyday and my sister who flew in from Southern California to be with me, you don't know how much that meant to me. The many friends who took time out of busy schedules to visit me in the hospital and home, Matt and Lyn who without them I don't know what I would have done...I can't say THANKS enough but I get ONE a day right Matt? So now I'm considered a stroke survivor, lucky to have had only a mini-stroke and able to come back quickly from the effects, not quickly enough in my books but I'm lucky. I scheduled my shoulder surgery so that I would have 5 weeks before my month of workshops that started the end of September and would go for the month of October and into November. Who knew that life would take a turn, but I also knew that I needed to push myself despite to pleas of others to slow down and take it easy. As you know I'm self-employed and my Zeiss contract is my life and work, without it well let's say I don't know where I would be. I'm the ONLY one doing my job so I needed to push myself to get back to work and I've done just that. I've also had the luxury of being in New Mexico for a few weeks of rest, one during balloon fiesta and this week after the two long shows in Chicago. I've had time to think how much that life offers, it's about the little things in life and taking it one day at a time, eating healthy and taking care of the body that God gave you because in an instant life can change. Taking stress out of my life is very important and learning to control my emotions. Time to get on track and get my body healthy, back to the gym and back to something I really love..bowling. It's been 5 months since I've picked up a bowling ball and my goal is to bowl in December and back to leagues in January. I have 3 more trips this year and a visit to see my sister for the holidays with my parents and my son and hopefully my grandson Noah who I miss. Yes, I've pushed myself..10 weeks seems to have gone quickly, but not quickly enough but I know I have to listen to my body to recover from this major trauma. What's the next step, God only knows but I know for myself I get up everyday and smile and enjoy life around me. I don't write much so this is a big thing for me, but again without friends and family I would have never made it thru this. I love you all...I'm finally back home on November 3rd for a bit and looking forward to seeing everybody back home. It's been great to know that Mudville and BBW is still a big part of my life and enjoy the thrill again of having a possible playoff team again after a few years of rebuilding. Thanks everybody...

George

Just some thoughts...

Sometimes we all get so wrapped up with our personal lives (and our APBA teams) that we tend to "forget" to spend time with our friends and family. I have to admit, I'm just as guilty of doing that as the next guy....and probably even more guilty than the next guy! Heck, if it weren't for the wonderful innovation called "email", I'd probably never keep in touch with some of my closest friends....cuz I absolutely flat out hate talking on the telephone most times! In fact, the first words out of my mother's mouth when I got on the phone with her the other day were "are you mad at me?" Uhhhh, "no mom, why would you think that?", I said. And of course, her response was the obvious one -- "because you don't call me anymore!". Well "anymore" isn't necessarily accurate, but it has been awhile and her point was very well taken...and of course hearing that from my own mother made me feel like s--t!

Well anyway, as you can clearly tell so far, the point of this particular blog has nothing at all to do with baseball, APBA, or Mudville....except it does pertain to being "in touch" with those that are dear to us. In our case, you all know by now that one of our longest tenured members, Ron Bates, has been eerily absent from the league the past few months. Everyone has heard that he is struggling through cancer and the necessary treatments for it, but earlier today, I couldn't help but wonder how many of you actually THINK about Ron from time to time. Not call him, not email him, but just THINK of him. I know George and I think about him a lot. We've all met more than once, gotten together for a few summertime visits, played wiffle ball together, laughed at Ron falling from chairs.....become friends......beyond just being fellow league members and APBA aficionados. Personally speaking, my wife and I visited Ron and his lovely wife Shirley at their home in Portland OR. We had the pleasure of meeting his daughter. Him and Shirley drove to Washington a couple times to visit me and my wife and other MUD members. They even drove up to honor me by attending my USAF retirement ceremony in Washington! Yes, I'm proud to say we're friends. More than fellow members of Mudville. Of course you also know that Ron and I have had a few debates over some Mudville controversies, but despite those, none of my regard and respect for Ron as a friend has changed one iota.

But I digress. Back to my point. I took the time today to read through Ron's blog. You remember the link that's been sent out to the league before? Well, I thought I'd send it again.....ya know....just in case you've lately been like most of us get sometimes.....so wrapped up in our personal lives that we "forget" to spend time with our friends and family. In my opinion, Ron is exactly that...friend and family...and on the weekend of this Easter holiday, I sure hope you'll MAKE the time to spend just a few minutes "with him" by reading his blog. Send him a note to let him know you're thinking of him. Say a prayer for him if that's your thing. Heck, just sit in your car, crank up some Grateful Dead and think about him in private. I'm sure he'd appreciate spending those few private moments with you.

So without further adieu, here's the link to his blog. Check it out, will ya?

http://ronstreatmentsblog.blogspot.com/


Nick

Mitchell Report

I really thought there would be more a heated discussion about the recent Mitchell Report. Me personally, I think it's all hear say. Mitchell got really lucky that the two clubhouse attendants basically fell into his lap or MLB would have pissed away about $60 million. I was very impressed however with the photocopies of personal checks and shipping labels in the report. However, it is pretty sad to see the best pitcher and as much as I hate to say it, best hitter of the past generation be pubicly humiliated.

It was good to see that something was finally done about steroids. But a senator who's old as dirt? Come on. Not to mention he was on the payroll of a certain baseball team in Boston. I know there was about 85 guys named, but what about all the others? I was happy to see no current important Red Sox on the report. I could care less about Gagne and Donnelly. But it did kill me to see Mo Vaughn come up seeing as I still have a poster of him up in my room. No lie, ask Ricky or John B.

It was a major black eye for the sport but at the same time it's a start. I'm curious about all the fall out that is to come. And just for fun, Bud Selig looked like a used car salesman during his press conference.