IBC

Let me start by saying I'm so happy the draft is here, It seems like it takes forever to arrive each offseason. For me, its one of the most enjoyable aspects of our league. Glad draft pick trading is here, its long overdue given that everything was back channeled anyway. It adds an interesting twist to things. Astros already capitalized on this with a surprising deal to me landing 3 picks for 1.

I was surprised both of the big Japanese players went so early, to be honest. But glad they were, as I don't think I would have gotten Brooks Lee otherwise.

I think Pitts draft looks really good so far with Senga who steps right into the rotation and Neto who looks like a fast mover. 2 guys who should help them right away. How do you guys let the champ get 2 picks in the top 11? Sheesh.

Okay Z, question for you. You went with your heart over your head and took the Yankee, Spencer Jones. Who would your head have picked?

JP runs the Cardinals now. Levine GMs the Pirates.

No one wanted to trade me a big bat so when COL offered up the #4 I took it to move up to get one of the NPB guys. I feel like Yoshida will put up Benintendi numbers so he's likely a 115 guy with LF D going forward, but the big 2023 number was what I was really buying. Perhaps CLE would have taken him at 5.

I don't think there have been any real surprises so far.

RedSox wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 4:23 pm JP runs the Cardinals now. Levine GMs the Pirates.

Ha, my bad.. still not used to the changes. Levine - love your draft so far dude.

Rockies wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 4:07 pm Okay Z, question for you. You went with your heart over your head and took the Yankee, Spencer Jones. Who would your head have picked?

I was surprised Neto was there. Head said to take him…but couldn’t pass up a Yankee with Jones’ upside.

Love the draft so much. Good to engage again around it fellas!

RedSox wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 4:23 pm JP runs the Cardinals now. Levine GMs the Pirates.

No one wanted to trade me a big bat so when COL offered up the #4 I took it to move up to get one of the NPB guys. I feel like Yoshida will put up Benintendi numbers so he's likely a 115 guy with LF D going forward, but the big 2023 number was what I was really buying. Perhaps CLE would have taken him at 5.

I don't think there have been any real surprises so far.

I'm actually really down on the two Japanese guys and actually have guys at both positions who are pretty good, so I didn't really want the choice. So, thank you in a sense. Projections are great but it seems most non-Darvish and Ohtani guys don't have a great ROI. Really loved that Johnson fell.

I was all in for a lotto ticket and Elijah Green was my number one guy on the board. You can maneuver around and pick up solid players if you are shrewd, but it is really hard to acquire guys who have even a 1% chance to be the best player in baseball. We are going to continue to grind out finding our solid players and see if we can win the lotto on a Green or Mauricio here in LA.

Angels wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 9:11 pm I was all in for a lotto ticket and Elijah Green was my number one guy on the board. You can maneuver around and pick up solid players if you are shrewd, but it is really hard to acquire guys who have even a 1% chance to be the best player in baseball. We are going to continue to grind out finding our solid players and see if we can win the lotto on a Green or Mauricio here in LA.

Love the thought on Green. I had Green, Collier, and Jones highly ranked for those reasons...and why I went Jones over Neto.

I'm sorry for taking so long. Got especially engulfed at work and have lost track of the rest of the world the past week or so.

Was desperately hoping for Green to fall to 8. I like the Jones and Lesko picks a lot. Lesko at 12 will be a steal.

There was a prospect ranking that was posted on the board last year. I found that really helpful to pull names from especially international guys. Is that available somewhere?

Angels wrote: ↑Sat Feb 18, 2023 11:02 pm There was a prospect ranking that was posted on the board last year. I found that really helpful to pull names from especially international guys. Is that available somewhere?

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... er-drafts/

Would love to hear some people's philosophies as we wrap up the first round. 'Safer' guys like Neto, Termarr and Jett fell versus their rankings, while some others (including me with Jones over Neto) went for the bigger swing.

My goal was to get out of the first round with Jones and one of Cole Young or Brock Porter...a bit thrilled to walk out with Jett on top of Jones and Young...but thinking I may have made a mistake passing on Neto, as much as I like Jones.

I think without FA or the risk of players leaving, the delta between superstars and good players is higher in a league like this. Safe players are infinitely valuable in real baseball as they can be club control years to balance large FA contracts. We don't have to deal with that so it is much easier to acquire guys who end up being good major leaguers and nearly impossible to acquire superstars. I believe the acquisition of talent and not having to deal with salaries and player movement make going for superstars more profitable. I would imagine many people who take safer picks are trying to parlay them into trade fodder as they will be ranked highly.

Doesn't most of this just come down to taking best guy available for a given window of contention. Like anyone taking a teenager likely is assuming they won't need that player for 4 years, whether they are contending or not, whereas if you draft an Asian or college guy, you are looking to use their projection this year or likely next.

Damn, was hoping to get Vargas too and complete the quartet

Astros wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:55 pm Damn, was hoping to get Vargas too and complete the quartet

The next 5 picks should net you something

Damn. Was hoping Beavers would make it to 38.

Astros wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:55 pm Damn, was hoping to get Vargas too and complete the quartet

Should have traded for my pick, not sure I have seen anyone have 5 in a row before.

Orioles wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 5:36 pm Damn. Was hoping Beavers would make it to 38.

REMINDER: All teams are expected to keep their rosters at 55 as the draft progresses. Please drop a player to accommodate recent draft picks.

Padres wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 9:26 am My goal was to get out of the first round with Jones and one of Cole Young or Brock Porter...a bit thrilled to walk out with Jett on top of Jones and Young...but thinking I may have made a mistake passing on Neto, as much as I like Jones.

Jones was my target at 17. I thought I had a pretty reasonable chance to get him. I was wrong.

Twins wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 7:55 am

Padres wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 9:26 am My goal was to get out of the first round with Jones and one of Cole Young or Brock Porter...a bit thrilled to walk out with Jett on top of Jones and Young...but thinking I may have made a mistake passing on Neto, as much as I like Jones.

Jones was my target at 17. I thought I had a pretty reasonable chance to get him. I was wrong.

I thought the same at 14.

Well as I have yet to actually make a pick, I don't have much to add, but I'm pretty pleased with my trades thus far.

On to Cincinnati...

Padres wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 9:26 am Would love to hear some people's philosophies as we wrap up the first round. 'Safer' guys like Neto, Termarr and Jett fell versus their rankings, while some others (including me with Jones over Neto) went for the bigger swing.

My goal was to get out of the first round with Jones and one of Cole Young or Brock Porter...a bit thrilled to walk out with Jett on top of Jones and Young...but thinking I may have made a mistake passing on Neto, as much as I like Jones.

I obviously thought about Neto at 9, but honestly was closer to taking a swing at Lesko or Porter before deciding on the big bat. I think our lack of free agency means the draft is your best bet at a true superstar on a cheap price and also since so many teams are always rebuilding solid vets tend to come available. Neto reminds me of Mark Ellis, who I got as a throw in in another trade once he’d already made the big leagues. Great that I didn’t have to think about second base for like 4 years but he was gettable.


Edit: I just checked, it was actually 7 years!

Really wanted Locklear or Tidwell at 68 but both just got snagged, so I went back to the well and drafted another Reds prospect (my 3rd out of 5 draftees) in Duno. Yikes. Go redlegs I guess.