It’s late November, some of us are watching MLB free agent signings, others are shopping online for Christmas gifts or waiting for Black Friday to start doing so. Then, there are the dreamers, the few of us that are drafting kids that aren’t even legally allowed to consume alcohol in most states. Hoping one of them might be our team’s saviour in keeper leagues.
Here’s the synopsis, 4 rounds, 14 teams, 7 days. That’s a total of 56 picks, averaging about 8 per day.
Now here’s the view from behind my laptop. A veritable ‘how not to draft if you want to be a winner’ of sorts…
Day 1: 3rd pick overall.
Text comes in: “your pick”. Easy reply – “Give me Appel”. “Sorry dude, he went 1st”. Oh crap, I’m out for the weekend and I was sure he would be there at 3. I don’t want to be the much maligned momentum killer, so let’s haul out the list of Top 100 MLB prospects and browse through the list of names. Top 12 drafted in previous drafts, as are most of the top 20. Logically, #13 or some other top 20 should look enticing right? Nah, that’s too obvious let’s just skip to the 40s. That Seager kid has a brother in the bigs and the Dodgers have a good team – I’ll jump on him. Text sent “Tell them I’ll take Seager from the Dodgers system, who cares if they have Hanley at SS”.
Day 3: 3rd pick of the 2nd round.
I’m set, laptop in front of me, full list of prospects from several writers at my disposal. “Proud to select Jorge Solar from the Cubs organization”. I can’t believe he fell in my lap! Oh wait, he was drafted last year and it’s spelled Soler? “Plan B, Alen Hansen, SS from Pittsburgh”. Now before I can focus on that additional 2nd rounder I picked up my inbox if hit with 4 different emails. “Dude, you need to ease up on the coffee, he was ALSO taken last year and it’s spelled Hanson.” Huh? Can I just quit now before I lose all self-respect? Let’s just go with Christian Bethancourt, I need a catcher and I like the Braves. Plus, again, I’m not going to be the guy holding up the draft.
Day 3 con’t: 7th pick of the 2nd round.
Let’s blow through this real quick: Henry Owens the Red Sox pitching prospect. He reminds me of Steve Avery, the Braves pitcher in the 90s.
Day 4:
No picks, but several players on my list of ‘hidden gems’ aren’t as hidden as I thought and get selected. All I can do is sip my ‘Midnight Madness’ coffee and wonder if maybe I should have come a little more prepared. Maikel Franco, Robert Stephenson, Miguel Zapata…strike 1, 2 and 3. Caught looking as all 3 are selected. A Molotov cocktail consisting of impatience and boredom sets in, I need to make a trade. Lucas Sims is a Braves prospect; I’ll trade for him while I wait for my next pick.
Day 5:
Whatever. I traded my 3rd round pick as part of the deal to get Sims. Let’s just hope he doesn’t burn me like Mark Prior did for so many years.
Day 6: Pick 3, round 4
Well, let’s go back to the Red Sox organization because, well, I hate them. This Trey Ball kid looks like he can throw some heat, plus he looks like one of those guys that would have hung me from the towel hooks by my boxers in gym class if I was 20 years younger and went to his school.
A quick recap:
Soler and Hanson, drafted last year and not available for the draft. I should really use spell check. Franco, Stephenson, Zapata all plucked from my hands because I thought they weren’t well known. Seager, Bethancourt, Owens, Sims, Ball all part of my floundering keeper franchise’s prospect list. Let’s hope I improve on my 12th place finish from last year.
The Last word on drafting? If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
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