*** VD 8 Commentary Thread ***

[The Feral Slasher]

Sorry guys, been away all weekend. I tried to find a bit of time, but couldn't justify it. Be home around 6/7.

7th sounds about right for me the way things were heading. Interestingly I estimated 165pts to be the ceiling for my strategy if everything went perfectly, so I chose poorly there. Still, always better to gamble.

Well done to Slasher and ElD, I figured it would be pretty close between them. Thought Eld had a slight edge, but there wasn't much in it.

... I'm not sure if I didn't enjoy this draft because I was out of it from early, or because of the format. The later probably. I'm finding out that I hate drafts that don't have a handicap (letters, decades etc). They become so boring and formulaic after a while. It takes so much of the strategy and skill out of the game with players can just pick the best available.

It's certainly easier to do this format over the summer months with so much going on. Much less prep required. With the new scoring there are still lots of strategies available, just don't have the added complication of letters/decades. I think this draft was closer and more competitive than VD7, significantly lower winning score if I recall.

Perhaps the best thing about this draft is getting to listen to Heyelander trash talk you !

[heyelander]

Perhaps the best thing about this draft is getting to listen to Heyelander trash talk you !

Gotta pick your spots... kinda sad that I get to talk shit from another bottom-half finish.

[johnnya24]

sounds like loser talk to me.

That's just poor draft etiquette.

[heyelander]

That's just poor draft etiquette.

poor draft etiquette is all I know.

[Long John]

Wow. I just suckalot, don't I.

Where on earth did I go wrong?

[The Feral Slasher]

Two things stuck out to me about this draft:

1. There are an awful lot of pretty similar pitchers once you get through the very top notch guys. Had anyone else pursued Feral's strategy (almost like a Johnny-lite from the olden days) he would have had a tough time.

2. Johnny's exactly right about the rankings. I could literally go down to the next most valuable guy, with a couple very small exceptions regarding HRs (Lee May) or steals. Not a lot of strategy involved there unless you were dumping BA or something.

Probably doesn't help to have someone else do punt the same categories--although it does give you the option of being just good enough to beat the and thereby pick up some extra points. It took me quite a few rounds to finally decide to give up on career K's and SO's, just seemed like those categories were dominating people's picks in the pitching department. I was sort of shocked by how little people seemed interested in BY whip and ERA, there seemed like a lot of good choices in those categories that lasted much longer than expected.

[The Feral Slasher]

Two things stuck out to me about this draft:

1. There are an awful lot of pretty similar pitchers once you get through the very top notch guys. Had anyone else pursued Feral's strategy (almost like a Johnny-lite from the olden days) he would have had a tough time.

2. Johnny's exactly right about the rankings. I could literally go down to the next most valuable guy, with a couple very small exceptions regarding HRs (Lee May) or steals. Not a lot of strategy involved there unless you were dumping BA or something.

What was Johnny's old strategy --punt wins and K's ?

[johnnya24]

What was Johnny's old strategy --punt wins and K's ?

Yeah, W/K punt. The first time I did it there was no IP restriction

Edit: career IP restriction ... the 30 game / 100IP minimum was still in place I think.

[Long John]

Two things stuck out to me about this draft:

1. There are an awful lot of pretty similar pitchers once you get through the very top notch guys. Had anyone else pursued Feral's strategy (almost like a Johnny-lite from the olden days) he would have had a tough time.

2. Johnny's exactly right about the rankings. I could literally go down to the next most valuable guy, with a couple very small exceptions regarding HRs (Lee May) or steals. Not a lot of strategy involved there unless you were dumping BA or something.

I wanted to dump BA coming in, but heye and someone else had the same idea, so we negated each other's effectiveness. I was all set to take Joe Morgan, but he got picked right at the turn.

[The Feral Slasher]

I am still unsure about whether picking Rollie Fingers so early was a good move or not. He had so many more career saves that I figured I could grab him and forget about that category until very late in the game and grab some of the cruddy relievers with a couple good seasons. I did end up grabbing Jim Brewer (a pick I kind of regret) and then Phil Regan very late in the game. I had planned on one more closer in the Bob Lee mold but it started to appear that starting pitchers would work better for me. In the end, I end up with remarkably similar scores almost no matter who I pick for my last pitcher.

I just knew I shouldn't finish last in BY saves and sure enough I ended up with a measly one save above the last place guy ('twas you, Long John).

Relievers were very interesting in this draft. I was surprised Konstanty lasted as long as he did...

[revo]

2. Johnny's exactly right about the rankings. I could literally go down to the next most valuable guy, with a couple very small exceptions regarding HRs (Lee May) or steals. Not a lot of strategy involved there unless you were dumping BA or something.

But yet someone finished 1st and someone finished 11th.....

[The Feral Slasher]

That's why I don't share my rankings.

Not until I took a job at the NSA you didn't...

[Pogues]

Probably doesn't help to have someone else do punt the same categories--although it does give you the option of being just good enough to beat the and thereby pick up some extra points. It took me quite a few rounds to finally decide to give up on career K's and SO's, just seemed like those categories were dominating people's picks in the pitching department. I was sort of shocked by how little people seemed interested in BY whip and ERA, there seemed like a lot of good choices in those categories that lasted much longer than expected.

Dumping BY ERA/WHIP just seemed to be the smart thing for me to do after I took Walter Johnson in the first round. I figured it was his weakness, so why not run with it? It wasn't as if his numbers were horrible, but I've been screwed in these drafts by not deciding on a strategy until Round 4 or 5. Somehow I still managed to get 9th place in both categories, which helped. I also decided to dump BA, since it's inevitable I overdraft the BA category and screw most of the rest of my hitting, or at least a good chunk of it.

Somehow, I ended up dumping RBI...I still have no idea how that happened. That's what cost me huge. I finish mid-pack in both career and BY RBI, I'm right there fighting for the top spot.

[johnnya24]

Dumping BY ERA/WHIP just seemed to be the smart thing for me to do after I took Walter Johnson in the first round. I figured it was his weakness, so why not run with it? It wasn't as if his numbers were horrible, but I've been screwed in these drafts by not deciding on a strategy until Round 4 or 5. Somehow I still managed to get 9th place in both categories, which helped. I also decided to dump BA, since it's inevitable I overdraft the BA category and screw most of the rest of my hitting, or at least a good chunk of it.

Somehow, I ended up dumping RBI...I still have no idea how that happened. That's what cost me huge. I finish mid-pack in both career and BY RBI, I'm right there fighting for the top spot.

I was dumping BY ERA/WHIP and K's. The player pool seemed to have a fair amount of pitchers who fitted that profile. But I needed Cicotte to make it work. Because of that I blame myself for not committing to him earlier. I should have picked Ryan, Adams and Cicotte together, then went back to focusing on hitting. Still don't think the ceiling on the strategy was high enough in hindsight. One of the reasons I went with this strategy was that I was PO'd I didn't spot Feral's strategy in the 1960+ draft. It was so obvious, and the fact that he beat Scott's (seemingly unbeatable lineup), made me look for the player-pool-loophole in this draft. The difference here is that there were other strategies that could also use these players, in addition to the similar strategies.

It also supports the previously mentioned point about being the only person on a set strategy, and the advantages that gives you. Sometimes it only takes one other person to bugger everything up. JC is normally my kryptonite when it comes to strategy negation. Twice he killed me by adopting the exact same strategy, and once he stole all my key players, then bailed on the strategy halfway through ... just rub a little salt in ... "haha, I stole all your career ERA/WHIP punt players, now I'm gonna punt BY ERA/WHIP! ... sucka!"

I also easily lose interest in non-handicap drafts (the BY-only draft also dragged). There's nothing to think about until your pick is up, so there's less interactivity, also you pay less attention to other peoples teams because anyone can pick any player.

[revo]

If a career W/K punt always works, then we should raise the IP minimum. Obviously, 18,000 IP is too few.