*** VD 7 Commentary Thread ***

[johnnya24]

Oops -- meant career hitting.

I didn't underestimate it ... but I couldn't find the players I needed in the last 1/3 ... then I made the Jay Bell error which cost me. I needed to balance out those big BY numbers I had, and I didn't.

[TS Garp]

I didn't underestimate it ... but I couldn't find the players I needed in the last 1/3 ... then I made the Jay Bell error which cost me. I needed to balance out those big BY numbers I had, and I didn't.

I definitely miscalculated there. It's too bad -- I think I could've been up there with a couple of different picks.

[Pogues]

Anyway ... that's my draft. Catalogue of errors (oh ... and Hacko jumping on all our picks too soon! ).

Oh I want to do this too!

Mistake #1: Not saying screw you all I didn't want to be in this draft.

Mistake #2: Not deciding on a strategy right away and just going for it, and taking Walker and Sheffield with my first two picks to try to leave myself open to a few different ideas. All it did was give me BY stats in all five categories, causing me to throw away any batting strategy.

Mistake #3: Not taking Eckersley with my 2nd round pick. F'in Frae.

Mistake #4: Taking too many pitchers too early. If you're doing a dump pitching strategy...well take more batters early!

Mistake #5: Saves...saves saves saves saves saves. I could have saved picks if I avoided saves!

I did enjoy trying to get first place in Career and BY saves, ERA, and WHIP....I really had nothing else to strive for after about Round 10.

[Pogues]

I thought I could dump career W and K's (which I did) and be solid with late picks for BY W, K and ratios all around. I knew early on that that inning requirement was going to screw me and I was forced to take pitchers early just to get innings and decent career ratios. I miscalculated the BY numbers from many of the studs though and could never get my BY WHiP under control with a bunch of one hit wonders. The innings also screwed me on taking enough closers and I ended up chancing saves at the end when I wanted to take David Price (who I thought I was picking when I took Prior). All my fretting over my punt pitching strategy never let me go about accumulating hitting numbers which is what I wanted to do.

basically I heyelandered my draft yet again...

It was fun watching both of us limp across that 18000 IP mark. I would have been closer had Nolan not ended up being a better choice with my last pick than another early 70s pitcher.

[The Feral Slasher]

I never considered Hernandez as I thought he was taken a while back

I was eyeballing him and hoping he made it back to me. Only fitting that CJ would swipe him. He has been nabbing my pitching targets for two drafts. I ran thru every guy I could think of and only found one who gives me a lead with one pick left. Decided not to look at Revo's possibile picks and impacts. Either way it was a fun draft and congrats to Controller for two stellar drafts in a row, both of them picking right in front of me. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

[johnnya24]

Here's the final standings:

Heyelander	47.6	29.8	36.8	29.5	143.681	8
Frae______	42.0	39.3	38.7	38.5	158.512	6
Pogues__	23.1	38.9	37.1	37.0	136.089	10
TS Garp__	30.4	35.4	47.5	45.9	159.115	5
ElDiablo__	42.9	43.2	40.3	33.3	159.670	4
JohnnyA__	38.9	37.0	44.1	44.3	164.190	3
LongJohn_	42.9	20.6	29.8	39.8	133.108	11
Hacko____	34.2	46.9	34.3	37.1	152.510	7
Controller_	37.0	47.5	42.8	42.2	169.447	2
Slasher___	46.6	44.0	43.3	37.2	171.048	1
Revo_____	36.7	39.6	27.8	37.6	141.621	9

[johnnya24]

Was convinced Controller was heading for the high 170's, possibly even breaching 180.

[Long John]

I also underestimated the massive number of Career Saves I would need to even be remotely competitive in the category. Of course, figuring out that there was actually a minimum innings pitched requirement in Round 8 didn't help my cause either. At that point, I tried to punt Career WHIP and ERA in hopes that I could maximize the other three career counting categories while still competing in BY pitching. Again, I missed the impact of closers on this era.

My worst pick was Gagne in Round 6. There were 7 starters that were taken after Gagne and before my next pick and any one of them would have been infinitely better for my team.

I would love a redo on this draft, but I'm in for the 1920-1969 choice too.

[The Feral Slasher]

Well it's better to go down with a strategy, even if it doesn't work. I imagine it could have worked well if you got the IP limit under control with one or two key early picks.

As far as the right strategy for this draft ... Slasher nailed it. Seems obvious in hindsight. I blindsided myself by focusing too much on getting all-round points on pitching, and then lazily adopted the worse hitting punt for this format.

Once I picked up Rivera I was planning to dump BY Saves and after picking Schmidt and Thome I was considering punting batting average too. In the end I just figured I could still compete in those categories. This was the most unique draft so far I think. SB's were more valuable, I didn't really realize that until later, probably should have been obvious. Made the Biggio pick better than I thought it was at the time. The John Hiller, Bill Campbell, types seemed to be in higher demand, I guess because the starting pitching started to get pretty bad later in the draft. I was wondering if that would lead to more closers being drafted, and it did.

I really thought I was headed for a middle of the pack finish early on and then it looked like I could squeeze into the top third, and then suddenly I had a shot. Getting to choose the last pitcher was an advantage in this case. I Spent about an hour last night trying to optimize my last pick, Campbell was the only pitcher left I found that gave me a lead. Billy Koch and Mitch Williams were the next best picks.

[TS Garp]

Congrats to Slasher -- very fun draft.