*** VD 13 Commentary Thread ***

[heyelander]

thanks much all...

pick soon... I'll stop googling 1994 Wilmington bluerocks...

[Kevin Seitzer]

I am guessing he can run like 2 million outcomes and see how many each team will win. Damn us techno incompetents.

No, I'm not doing anything sophisticated that anyone in this draft couldn't do.

I simply take the decades that everyone has remaining and fill in players from my rankings, snaking through the draft order until the spreadsheet is full. I'm not looking for team fits or position matches or anything like that--just whether the team has an opening in that decade. Then I go back and move catchers around so that everyone has exactly two catchers. (I don't pay any attention whatsoever to other positions.)

Then as the draft proceeds, I move players around as they are drafted. For example, Heye just picked Phil Niekro. I had Niekro assigned to a different team. So I take the 1960's pitcher that I had given to Heye and swap him out for Niekro on the other team. Occasionally I will try to optimize an opposing team by trying different players, but I spend less time on that than you might think.

That's all I do. It works surprisingly well for how unsophisticated it is. By this point in the draft I can get an idea of where most teams will finish within +/- 5 points or so.

[revo]

No, I'm not doing anything sophisticated that anyone in this draft couldn't do.

I simply take the decades that everyone has remaining and fill in players from my rankings, snaking through the draft order until the spreadsheet is full. I'm not looking for team fits or position matches or anything like that--just whether the team has an opening in that decade. Then I go back and move catchers around so that everyone has exactly two catchers. (I don't pay any attention whatsoever to other positions.)

Then as the draft proceeds, I move players around as they are drafted. For example, Heye just picked Phil Niekro. I had Niekro assigned to a different team. So I take the 1960's pitcher that I had given to Heye and swap him out for Niekro on the other team. Occasionally I will try to optimize an opposing team by trying different players, but I spend less time on that than you might think.

That's all I do. It works surprisingly well for how unsophisticated it is. By this point in the draft I can get an idea of where most teams will finish within +/- 5 points or so.

That's exactly what I do, except rather than snaking I just do one random team at a clip. And I usually start it with 7-8 rounds to go.

[Kevin Seitzer]

A fun little piece of draft trivia:
Last round with Bene's pick of Vida Blue at Pick 15.05, we reached hitter-pitcher parity for the first time in this draft, with 82 hitters and 82 pitchers remaining to be drafted (and 113 hitters and 74 pitchers selected).

[heyelander]

I think it's time for me to start panicking. Glassdoor just sent me a notification that they found a great job for me. I open it, and its as a cashier at Panera...

[Ken]

How long has RJ been around? I remember the Byron Cox days, the CoxCombs and all that. Trying to remember who posted the most back then. Trader Mac -- is he still on here under a different name?

I was over at Byron's house last weekend. He said RJ started in 1997 actually. He and a friend at work started the site just as an opportunity to learn HTML.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I was over at Byron's house last weekend. He said RJ started in 1997 actually. He and a friend at work started the site just as an opportunity to learn HTML.

Byron and Long John? Or am I remembering that completely wrong?

[Kevin Seitzer]

I don't think Trader Mac has been around since he went to China, though I may be wrong about that. I don't know all the aliases. I've never figured out who Mandy is, though I gather now that it's someone in this vintage draft.

[Kevin Seitzer]

In fact, Controller Scott Nascarfan Slider Thompson would be my prime suspect.

[heyelander]

I don't think Trader Mac has been around since he went to China, though I may be wrong about that. I don't know all the aliases. I've never figured out who Mandy is, though I gather now that it's someone in this vintage draft.

I had a thought that Mandy was you for a bit... so it's not you, and by this post it's not me...

[TS Garp]

I was over at Byron's house last weekend. He said RJ started in 1997 actually. He and a friend at work started the site just as an opportunity to learn HTML.

RC Cook?

[Kevin Seitzer]

I think it's time for me to start panicking. Glassdoor just sent me a notification that they found a great job for me. I open it, and its as a cashier at Panera...

If you pronounce it cash-ee-AY, it sounds a lot fancier.

[Kevin Seitzer]

RC Cook?

Oh yeah. I think you're right. Of course Ken can verify.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I had a thought that Mandy was you for a bit... so it's not you, and by this post it's not me...

I don't think anyone in this draft would be incapable, although I think El D was gone whilst Mandy was still active, so I doubt it's him.

[TS Garp]

I don't think anyone in this draft would be incapable, although I think El D was gone whilst Mandy was still active, so I doubt it's him.

I don't spend a lot of time on RJ outside of these drafts, but from what I've seen, I assumed it was Fresno Bob?