Are you mocking me?
by Derek AmbrosinoFebruary 01, 2012
Derek Ambrosino aspires to one day, like Dan Quisenberry, find a delivery in his flaw, you can send him questions, comments, or suggestions at digglahhh AT yahoo DOT com.
May 16, 2012
Now Available for 2012 THT Essentials: Now Available The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012, an annual "must buy" for all baseball fans, is now shipping. Read this article to learn more about it.
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Are you mocking me?by Derek AmbrosinoFebruary 01, 2012 Derek Ambrosino aspires to one day, like Dan Quisenberry, find a delivery in his flaw, you can send him questions, comments, or suggestions at digglahhh AT yahoo DOT com. Comments
Derek Ambrosino said...
I guess Morneau might make an appearance in that column. You know, it’s funny - sometimes you FEEL like it’s later in the draft than it actually is. It FELT late enough that Morneau would be a good gamble, but maybe it wasn’t. Posted 02/01 at 11:01 AM
Derek Ambrosino said...
Also, this draft was done before the stronger speculation that Crawford would be starting the season on the DL. There were some questions, but they seem to have intensified since - though nothing is confirmed even now. Posted 02/01 at 11:35 AM
Brad Johnson said...
That guy for me was Clay Buccholz. I thought he was being overlooked and picked him, then realized there were still several slightly better pitchers available. That mistake was purely based on not having a personal board in place. On Yahoo’s UI, that pick doesn’t happen. I find that I have trouble thinking about snake drafts after two years of basically eschewing them. My only snake is a somewhat imperfect linear weights league (no decimals, which adds up over a full season), so the draft board is extremely unique and can differ wildly person-to-person. Posted 02/01 at 11:55 AM
Derek Ambrosino said...
I just want to clear something up, the Chris Young pick that I wish I made was made by Michael Stein, not Paul Singman. My bad. Posted 02/01 at 03:11 PM
Drewcorb said...
I mostly just wanted to comment so you know that there are readers besides THT contributors. Also, I think the lineup is a little soft on power. There are some good BA guys, but if I’m holding off of the big hitters I’d try to get some stud pitchers. I see about 3-4 pitchers that I wouldn’t be surprised to drop somewhere through the season. Good commentary on your strategy to aim for undervalued veterans. That was interesting to read. After seeing the team, I don’t think I’ll do that strategy. But it was definitely helpful to see your thought process. Posted 02/01 at 09:33 PM
JoeC said...
A friend and I looked over this draft and we both came to the independent conclusion that Brad had assembled the best team. His pitching is well-balanced, as well as his power and speed on offense. He has a hole at third base (Gamel!) and the Bryce Harper pick is weird for a non-keeper league, but overall, best team to Brad. Posted 02/01 at 10:43 PM
Pochucker said...
No offense to anyone but my opinion is 99% of mock drafts are a “mockery” . To many times “experts” are either trying to show different strategies , trying to show how smart they are by reaching for unknowns/unprovens or are simply unprepared or uninterested,doing favor,nothing riding on it etc etc. Posted 02/02 at 01:25 PM
JoeC said...
Sure, but if I’m gonna trust any mock draft, it’s gonna be a THT mock draft. These guys know what they’re doing and they do it more than you or I. Posted 02/02 at 01:41 PM
Brad Johnson said...
I like this JoeC guy. Personally, I can’t say I’m entirely pleased with my team. There were a couple of mistakes, both intentional and accidental, that could have been easily avoided. In order for my team to be the best, you have to ignore the DH slot (which is what I did, I pretended it was UTIL). Pochucker does have some good points. An amateur mock will rarely teach you anything. And indeed, if you know the guys you’re playing against, you should do well executing your strategy. Whether or not your strategy is wise and effective is another matter. This wasn’t a perfect draft, our THT League draft will probably teach you more about the lay of the land, but I can tell you that nobody was messing around in there or taking things lightly. We were all trying our damnedest to draft the best team possible. I learned a lot from sitting in on it. My personal prep was light. I don’t have any leagues that look anything like the one we drafted so I didn’t see the benefit of doing a full prep. I came in with my personal lists by position by tier and waited for patterns to emerge. I think I acquitted myself nicely although my team has a lot more upside than certainty. Posted 02/02 at 02:47 PM
JoeC said...
Haha! Is this a case of “flattery will get you everywhere”? Mr. Johnson, are you too going to write an article analyzing this mock draft? I would be interested to hear your (expanded) thoughts on why you picked who you did in each round. Posted 02/02 at 03:41 PM
Brad Johnson said...
It’s 80% done as we speak, but it has very little why in it. It’s more about what I learned about ranking players, reaching, and participating in drafts with other experts. I’ll be happy to answer any “Why’s” in the comments. Expect it sometime in the middle of next week (you’re hearing that before the editors Posted 02/02 at 03:44 PM
Derek Ambrosino said...
I tend not to enter drafts with much paperwork, in general. A list of the players - especially closers and relevant back-ups for each team - is pretty much enough for me, in most cases. In fact, I think that many of us - despite how much prep we bring to the table - have largely internalized the process by the time we’ve done much of our reading and after years of doing this. I actually share PoChucker’s opinion to a substantial degree. In this case, the exercise is a springboard to discuss differing strategies and views on different players. I may have experimented a bit here with the 2-catcher ace move, but it’s certainly not something unprecedented or unjustifiable on its merits. That is, I was doing any thing just for the hell of it. It think one of the keys to appreciating my team is that you can’t look at many of the players on my roster in terms of what they “should have been” or “could be.” Those disappointments are in the past, and those players have been somewhat repriced according. Rather, you have to look at each team, and player on each team, in terms of what each player has to do to justify/profit from the pick. For example, look at Jayson Werth. Granted, he was quite bad last year. But, I took him as basically the 30th OF off the board. Last year’s 30th ranked OF was Torii Hunter, who posted a line of .264/80/23/83/5. Werth does not have to regain vintage Philly form to make good here, he just has to rebound some. And,that’s the way a lot of my team is constructed. Posted 02/02 at 08:33 PM
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I like the approach to discussing your team here. I’m planning on a discussion about reaching.