It's time to pay the piper ... 24 hours from draft day 2001 and time for the annual pre-draft report card. Who's got it and who's still looking? Lets take a look:
WESTERN DIVISION
1. Masterbatters - The 2000 JBL World Champions will try to make it two in a row. No team has won back-to back titles in over 12 years but this squad could have a very good chance to snap that string. A solid five-man rotation that includes Roger Clemens, Jon Lieber, Mike Hampton and Eric Milton will be the key. Mike Piazza and his +3 arm will hope those pitchers keep opponents off base but hitting will not be a problem. That card is ugly. Jeffrey Hammonds was added to shore up the only soft spot in the lineup (CF) and the team has depth so look for a strong run at another title.
2. The Four C's - Clearly the main threat to a Masterbatters division title, The Four C's have a squad chock full of career years. Darin Erstad, Richard Hidalgo and Matt Lawton all put it together in the outfield while the infield of Jeff Bagwell, Edgardo Alfonso, newly acquired Derek Jeter and Travis Fryman all had big years too. That infield's hitting could be secondary though. A potentially soft pitching staff will benefit from their fielding ratings as much or more than they will the hitting. Another factor: The C's are in a better draft position and could use the draft to close the gap.
3. Last Rites - They look competitive in the field with respectable hitting and they have a solid bullpen nucleus anchored by Keith Foulke and Jason Isringhausen. Swingman Scott Williamson looks better suited to complement that bullpen but may be forced into a rotation that has only Randy Wolf returning following the trade of staff ace Kevin Brown. Watch the draft to see if the Rites can assemble an adequate starting rotation. Thats the weakness and if they can pull a rabbit out of their hat (finding three starters in this draft would be one BIG rabbit), they could move into serious contention.
4. Cape Fear - Another year of optimism dashed by front office fiddling. Cape Fear was on a par with Masterbatters and figured to have a big year. Exit Al Leiter, Robb Nen, Barry Bonds and Jose Jimenez with little coming back in return and the Cape suddenly became a lot less Fearocious. The lineup isn't too bad although Bonds' huge bat will be missed in the middle of the orded but the pitching staff that lost its best starter and two best relievers is a shambles. Their is hope since they have the best draft position of any team but this draft does not offer the kind of help it will take to patch the new holes.
5. Ryan's Express - Injuries derailed the Express and they'll pay the price in 2001. Ugueth Urbina, Billy Wagner and Matt Mantei all suffered through injury plagued seasons and without them in the bullpen, the team will likely struggle this season. Compound that problem by needing to find 3/4 of an infield in a weak draft and it spells "wait 'til next year." Look for the Express to write this one off and draft to build an infield for the future in anticipation of bounce back years from the bullpen standouts. The outfield is strong and deep and Charles Johnson has emerged as a star behind the plate. A good draft will have this team back in the hunt next year.
6. Up and Comers - Some nice young players are sprinkled throughout the roster but most are a year or two away. They have a lot of draft picks but far more holes. Dealing away too many protection spots magnified the problems and cost them a couple of their prized prospects. Its time to put together a plan and put that plan into motion right now. The organization is searching for a direction and the path they choose will decide the future of the franchise. They are a long way from contending but have enough draft picks to at least lie a foundation in this year's draft.
EASTERN DIVISION
1. Lincoln Loungers - They took their lumps last year and will look to return the favor in 2001. Shrewd dealing landed ace Kevin Brown. That made them a threat. Being named beneficiary of the annual Cape Fear self-destruct exercise (remember the departing names that moved Cape Fear down several spots in the WEST? Those same names moved this team up several notches in the EAST). The pitching is still a little shaky and could be a problem but a good draft could garner enough arms to hold off the thundering herd that will be nipping at their heels. There aren't many holes in the everyday lineup so the pieces are in place for a title run.
2. Flat Earth Society - Always a bridesmaid, never ... well, you know the rest. Hitting, hitting, hitting and more hitting in a hitter's heaven. They will score, maybe as often as they scored last season when they shattered virtually every JBL offensive record. But, can they keep the other guy from scoring more? The bullpen is fine but the rotation lacks a leader. A large collection of arms will have to be sorted out but, look as they might, there isn't a number one guy there. Bartolo Colon, Tim Hudson and Kris Benson could be that ace they need so badly but it won't be this year. They will make it close but expect them to fall just short once again.
3. Siberian Express - The winningest franchise in the JBL may be taking a year off to restructure a team that has averaged 60 wins a year for five seasons. The pitching is still very strong but unlike The Four C's and Lincoln Loungers, the Sibe hitters collectively had subpar years. Because of Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson they could play the role of spoilers while they regroup for another attack on the league but look for some calculated drafting that will be intended to rebuild while remaining respectably competitive. A dark horse for 2001 that will be back soon.
4. Splendid Splinters - The most hitting they've ever had and a move to a heavily slanted park will give the Splinters a whole new look. Cliff Floyd and Barry Larkin were huge additions but will they make up for disappointing years by pitchers Kevin Millwood and Rick Ankiel? Here's another team that will depend on the pitching help they can find in the draft to determine their fate in 2001. If they can find starters to take some of the load off of ace Mike Mussina they could jump right into the race. Trouble is they need relief pitching too and there may not be enough talent in this draft to fill all the needs.
5. Bates Motel - Here's the wildcard. The Motel could finsish anywhere from first to fifth in the division. They have a capable rotation headed by Darryl Kike and Greg Maddux. They have a decent bullpen lead by Donne Wall and they have some very nice sticks including Jason Giambi and Carl Everett but will it be enough to challenge in an extremely competitive division? If they can find the right guys in the draft and if they can catch a few breaks on the filed throughout the season, the answer could be yes.
6. Rubber Arms - New ownership will try to mend the bones of a badly broken body. Previous ownership stripped the franchise of much of its talent and, worse yet, dealt away much of this year's draft. There is a VERY good nucleus of players that includes Ivan Rodriquez, Todd Helton, Nomar Garciaparra and Magglio Ordonez but the cupboard is pretty bare after that. Expect them to take some major steps forward in 2001 and, with a little luck they could be a very solid team by 2002.
* Welcome to "Tracks To Nowhere" ... Volume 1 Issue 1 ... Remember me? I'm the former webmaster of the UNofficial JBL website. But now, as a freelance columnist with absolutely no responsibility for factual reporting or journalistic ethics, I can join the other members of this league in posting totally outrageous shite that has no basis in reality. On the other hand, his grace Capernicus, leader of the pack when it came to nonsensical postings, is obliged to come back to Earth and make at least a modest stab at common sense. I love it!
* Just for yucks I left a couple of the old Ramblings here for your reading pleasure. Top of the list would be the 2000 season predictions (March 5, 2000). Both division winners and 1-2-3 in the East. Hey, I'm proud of myself! I think I would have been even closer overall had the Splinters and Loungers not cashed in their chips early in the season and if the Cafe, Ryan's Express and The Four C's remembered it was an 88 game season that ended in October and not in July.
* So who's gonna come out on top this year? Nah, that would be telling! You'll have to wait until I have a chance to review the cards and I'll have to wait and see how long it takes some of the serious contenders to trade themselves completely out of contention. Don't worry. That'll happen sooner than you think. By early March the picture should be pretty clear.
* Lots of talk already as to who will wear the coveted "I was picked first shirt" on draft day. The Lounger is in the driver's seat and he's either not talking or he's still deciding. The Lounger was heard asking just the other day, "J.D. Drew where are you? If you were available in this draft I could trade this first pick for a plethora (people who talk to ducks and geese use words like that) of superstars and somebody's entire draft for the next decade."
* Check back often fellow travelers! The Tracks To Nowhere will take another trip soon ... all aboard!
PAST ISSUES
March 5, 2000 ....
* It's that time again. Time for the annual Ramblings Pre-Draft Report Card. Strolling through the protected rosters of all 12 JBL teams as they prepare for draft day 2000, we'll try to separate the haves from the have nots. Which teams will move up on draft day and which teams will fail to plug the holes? We'll have to wait for the answers to those questions. Here we go:
WESTERN DIVISION
1. Last Rites - This is definitely a team on the way up after struggling the past few seasons. Kevin Brown heads up a pretty fair starting rotation that includes the newly acquired lefty/righty combo of Kenny Rogers and Jason Schmidt plus holdover Shane Reynolds. Other new faces quietly acquired during the off season include CF Kenny Lofton, SS Neifi Perez, lefty specialist-reliever Steve Kline and a future rotation mainstay in Steve Woodard and it all came without sacrificing this year's or future drafts. Add those names to a solid nucleus of C Brad Ausmus, 1B Kevin Young, 3B Matt Williams, SS Mark Grudzielanek and OF's Sammy Sosa, B.J. Surhoff and Brady Anderson and the sum may just be a division title. The bullpen is the only remaining disaster area on the team Ross inherited and will have to be addressed early in the draft and some depth questions will need attention but the pieces are all coming together for this year and the future. A slight edge in a tough division to call.
2. Splendid Splinters - Even more than the Last Rites, the defending division champions will have to depend on their starting rotation to win games and the bullpen to win so many one-run games just won't be there this season. Kevin Millwood is a standout and Mike Mussina is a reliable workhorse. The Splinters are expected to nab super prospect Rick Ankiel who could fit comfortably into the three hole with the first pick in the draft, but the mound picture gets a little muddy after that. Pete Harnisch, Brett Tomko and Ramiro Mendoza could all get a crack at the four spot and there are no returning relievers (other than Mendoza and Tomko) to stock the bullpen. Rafael Palmeiro at 1B and newly acquired RF Vladimir Guerrero will be counted on to spark the offense which will feature Johnny Damon in CF and Edgar Renteria at SS but questions abound with light-hitting C Eli Marrero, oft-injured 2B Fernado Vina, aging 3B Todd Zeile and the LF collection all listed as areas of concern. The Splinter's managing will keep them close and that may be all they need to repeat a title.
3. Ryan's Express - So much for starting rotations. Unlike the top two picks in the West, the Express has no starting rotation, in fact, they have no starting pitchers at all and face a pitching thin draft. However, all is not lost as the bullpen is a huge plus for this squad. Lefty Billy Wagner is as good as they get and Ugueth Urbina and Matt Mantei will provide a solid one-two punch from the rightside as this group figures to get plenty of work. Hitting won't be a problem either, especially in the outfield where LF Gary Sheffield, CF Bernie Williams and RF Matt Stairs are the headliners of a deep and talented group. John Olerud and Randy Velarde or Homer Bush are certainly capable at 1B and 2B but the left side of the infield is severely lacking. A good draft could move them up but its difficult to be too optimistic with no starting pitching and only half of an infield going in.
4. Bates Motel - One of the most successful franchises in the JBL the past four years, age finally caught up with the "Motel" and forced a little remodeling. Perennial all star P Greg Maddux stumbled badly and David Cone is gone but there could be brighter days ahead if Juan Guzman and Denny Neagle continue the resurrection of their careers. C.J. Nitkowski will contribute this year and will hopefully improve to join a rotation that could be pretty strong in the future with a healthy Kerry Wood and a more Astro-like Darryl Kile. Danny Graves heads a thin bullpen that will look for help in the draft. Lots of new (and younger) faces dot the diamond. Mike Redmond will try to carry the load at C again but then the changes begin. 2B Mike Lansing (off the taxi squad) figures to join a newlook infield that will be lead by hardhitting1B Jason Giambi and the poweful Tony Batista at SS while Bill Mueller adequately fills in at 3B while the organization's top prospect, Adrian Beltre develops. Jeromy Burnitz in RF and Carl Everett in CF join solid veterans Albert Belle and Ray Lankford in a solid outfield. They will be competitive but the best is yet to come for this newly-designed Motel.
5. The Four C's - Not much pitching, with no bullpen and three starters coming off subpar years will likely spell "long year" for the top team in the JBL's 1999 regular season. Dustin Hermanson, Tom Glavine and Darren Dreifort are all capable of rebounding but they figure to struggle in 2000. There are still some bright spots though. Jeff Bagwell at 1B, Edgardo Alfonzo at 2B and super-glove SS Rey Ordonez still make up three-fourths of one of the best infields in the game and LF Barry Bonds will be as dangerous as ever. The C's acquired CF Carlos Beltran in the off season and he will fit nicely between RF Raul Mondesi and Bonds. Javy Lopez is potent but injury prone behind the plate. Lack of pitching will be hard to overcome but that has been said of the C's before. If everything falls into place ... if they stay healthy ... if they find some arms ... hmmm, thats alot of "ifs."
6. Up and Comers - Two years ago this squad set a JBL record for losses in a season as the computer directed "Inept Steins." Last year, under new management, they took a few small steps forward. This year you can see a nucleus beginning to develop with the acquistion of RF Manny Ramirez. Dean Palmer at 3B and Tony Clark at 1B could someday anchor an infield that boasts a young and talented keystone combo of 2B Miguel Cairo and SS Alex Gonzalez. Jose Cruz is still worth hoping for in CF but the collection of Roberto Kelly and Garret Anderson (a nice 4th OF) are really nothing more than patches while the Comers look for more permanent fixtures. The pitching staff will be lead by another recent acquisition, young "up and comer" Jose Rosado and there will be many prayers said asking for Brad Radke to find a new ballpark to pitch in so he can finally live up to his potential. Matt Anderson is the gem of the bullpen but, like so many of the Comers, he will not offer much help this season. They are Coming Up but they are a year or two away.
EASTERN DIVISION
1. Arán Róshta - Pitching is expected to separate the frontrunners from the others in the West and Róshta hopes the same thing will transpire in the hitting laden East. Argueably the best rotation in JBL history with Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling as it's anchors Róshta heads into 2000 with great expectations. The bullpen is solid, though not as strong as it has been in past seasons, but should be bolstered with earlier round draft picks. The everyday lineup features Shannon Stewart in LF, Ken Griffey, Jr. in CF and 1999 MVP Larry Walker in RF. Jason Kendall will again handle the C duties as long as he stays healthy while 3B Robin Ventura and SS Barry Larkin man the left side of the infield. All six were regulars on the 1999 World Championship team. The only significant pre-draft changes from that team will be 1B Mark McGwire and 2B Ray Durham, both acquired in off season deals. This team doesn't hit quite as well as some of the other Eastern Division powerhouses but then none of those teams can match the solid gold mound corps. Slight edge in a very rugged division.
2. Kelcie's Klubbers - Róshta may set a JBL record for fewest runs allowed while this team is shattering virtually every offensive record in the league. Rumoured to be moving into a hitter friendly ballpark, this squad of perennial bridesmaids could be a pitcher's nightmare. Edgar Martinez or Jim Thome at 1B are the weakest links in the infield that sports 2B Roberto Alomar, SS Alex Rodriquez and 3B Chipper Jones. Thats scary. The outfield is lead by newly acquired RF Shawn Green while Andruw Jones, Jeffrey Hammonds or Darryl Hamilton patrol CF and Ben Grieve and Richie Sexson platoon in LF. Who will be behind the plate is still a question.. Many diamonds to treat opposing pitcher's rough. The pitching is another story. The rotation is shaky and that could be a concern in hitter's heaven but they will only be expected to get the game into the fifth or sixth inning before turning things over to a strong bullpen lead by Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. If you like softball, get your season tickets, this team will score alot ... and probably win alot too!
3. Masterbatters - Every year they write off the Masterbatter and every year he directs his team into the playoffs. This year's edition certainly shouldn't be overlooked. C Mike Piazza will again be a force in the batters box but his weak throwing arm figures to be exposed even more in 2000 with more good base stealers scattered throughout the league. Mark Grace at 1B, Craig Biggio at 2B, Omar Vizquel at SS and Ken Caminiti at 3B make up the veteran infield while emerging star Bobby Abreu will play RF and the newly acquired Rusty Greer will get the majority of the time in LF. Reggie Sanders looks like the choice in CF but some improvement can hopefully be found in the draft. On the mound, they will likely start with three southpaws (Mike Hampton, Sterling Hitchcock and Eric Milton) and follow them with a very capable set of righty relievers (Derek Lowe, Doug Brocail and Armando Benitez). On paper they don't look as strong as the top two in the division but you can count on them being right there at the end.
4. Cafe Loewto - Run, Tom, run! Speed and on base percentage are the calling cards of this year's Cafe squad. AA and A base stealers arewoven through the entire lineup and most of them get on base at a .400+ clip. The best catcher in the game, Ivan Rodriquez not only discourages opposing baserunners, but he hits and the Cafe rabbits don't have to try and run against him! Todd Helton is at 1B with 2B Luis Castillo and Nomar Garciaparra at SS while Fernando Tatis figures to get most of the playing time at 3B where his power can hopefully chase some of the bunnies home. The outfield is all speed. Rickey Henderson in LF (yes, they actually have someone older than Tom on their roster this year), Doug Glanville in CF and Roger Cedeno in RF could make up an all AA OF and that doesn't take the sweet swinging, Magglio Ordonez into account. The rotation is pretty ordinary with Omar Daal, Bret Saberhagen, David Cone and Andy Ashby while John Rocker heads up the bullpen.Overall, the pitching is suspect and they might lack power to drive in all those baserunners. Still a "rapidly" improving team to be dealt with.
5. Lincoln Loungers - A late season swoon cost the Loungers a playoff spot last year and they may be hard pressed to repeat the threat in 2000. The team is gradually being reworked and has some solid hitting with an OF that features Juan Gonzalez in RF, Mike Cameron in CF and Brian Giles in LF. Sean Casey is the new 1B and Troy Glaus was acquired to play 3B, both are young stars in the making. Deivi Cruz is a steady SS but 2B is a question mark that the Loungers will look to address in the draft. All-in-all a good,relatively young lineup. Next on the list will be a similar revamping of the pitching staff. Justin Thompson will hopefully recover from his recent arm troubles and Francisco Cordova and Ismael Valdes have both shown flashes when healthy but injuries have plagued both of their careers too. Andy Benes was a number one starter once upon a time but his best years may be behind him.Jason Christiansen is a capable reliever and will be counted on heavily but the rest of the pen will need attention. It could be a lean year in Lincoln this season but the pieces are coming together and they seem to have a bright future.
6. Cape Fear - As everyone welcomed the new millenium, the Cape Fear faithful also celebrated a new era for their team. This was the season they would make a run. Unfortunately, a couple of ill-advised trades set the program back into its infancy by eliminating its best young player, Vladimir Guerrero, and sacrificing several years of draft picks to acquire J.D. Drew. Drew will eventually be a very good player but not this year and with so few draft picks in the cupboard, plugging major holes will be virtually impossible. 1B Carlos Delgado left and then returned but the short trip was an expensive one. Pokey Reese at 2B and Derek Jetter at SS are spectacular fielders and Jeter crushes the ball. Scott Rolen is turning into a very fine player at 3B and Mike Lieberthal had a breakthrough year behind the plate in 1999 but thats about the end of the good news. The outfield is a shambles with respectable holdover Steve Finley in CF being flanked by Bobby Higginson, coming off a down year, flash -in -the pan David Delluci and the not yet ready for prime time Drew. And the mound corps is worse. John Smoltz is the best of it with journeymen Chuck Finley, Rick Helling and Masato Yoshii filling out the other rotation spots while Graeme Lloyd and Stan Belinda head up the beleaguered bullpen. A division title is out of the question and even a playoff appearance looks out of reach.
February 27, 2000 ....
* Where have you gone <fill in name here> ... a nation turns its lonely eyes to you ... woo woo woo ... Okay, so there may not be any Joe DiMaggio's in this year's draft. Most drafts, there are precious few Dom DiMaggio's, let alone Joe's, but still we seek that player for the ages ... that one piece that will allow us a few brief moments of gloating to our fellow owners when we can say, "I found him ..." Now for some honest analysis.
Twenty years ago you could have a reasonable chance of accomplishing your goal of sneaking up on fellow fans with an unknown. But not today. Why? Rotoisserie baseball has brought those glory days to a screeching halt. As little as fifteen years ago, rotisserie baseball was a little known, borderline illegal (if there was any money involved at all), office backroom pastime. Spring baseball magazines amounted to Street and Smith's annual with more or less up-to-date spring rosters, Baseball Digest with a few artciles and every team's schedule and a flimsy preseason preview in Sport. There were no "three year averages" or "dollar values" assigned to any player. Predictions amounted to, "this team will probably finish first and this team will probably finish third etc etc ... " Sometimes on page 122 of Street and Smith's they would list the "Ten Rookies That Might Make A Difference This Year" and we all read all about those guys to try and prepare for September when that rookie made a big league 30-day splash before fading into his own personal oblivion, never to be heard of again outside of Toledo, Ohio. Baseball was a veteran sport. Rookies arrived on nondescript and unadvertised trains or public airline flights ... they paid their dues for several years while the entrenched veteran played out his string and moved aside only after age and injuries diminished his effectiveness beyond the point of denial. To be a great prognosticator of future stardom you had to do your homework. Only the true addict could tell you anything of interest about the kid in AA making a quiet name for himself on his way to the top.
So what about today? There are at least a dozen magazines and hundreds of websites dedicated to uncovering the next great superstar in baseball. Most magazines give us 50 to 100 names to mull over. Splinter showed us a Baseball America "Top Twenty" and if you dig a little deeper on that website, you can find the top ten prospects in each organization ... what's that? multiply by 30 teams ... I guess that makes more or less the "best" 300 prospects ... but wait ... at the end of each team's list is another five "best of the rest" list which adds another 150 so we're up to the "best" 450 prospects in baseball. Do you want to know how many of those 450 will be superstars? Maybe four or five. How many will have some impact in the major leagues? Maybe 50 or 60. How many will never see a major league ballpark without buying a ticket? Maybe half.
What's my point? The vast majority of those kids we all love to read about will never have a usable strat card if they ever have a strat card at all ... Over half of the #1 prospects will never make a dent. What are the chances of you picking the "right" prospect based soley on heavy roto magazine reading? Not very good guys ... sorry ... you better be able to honestly evaluate talent when you actually see it perform and even then its a long and winding road ... so patience is the answer. Pick out a guy based on what you've seen (and to some extent read) ... study the guy, watch him every chance you get, read the stuff that doesn't necessarily relate to his on field ability because thats only a part of the picture (how about that magic radar gun the Dodgers use for their latest mound phenom ... 89 turns into 94 with the wave of wand) and stick to the guy until something substantial makes you think the player has become a non-prospect. Injuries could do that ... organizations routinely do that ... other players burying your prospect at his only true position is a very real possibility ... but as long as you still think your guy is the one, you have to stick with him.
How many prospects are on my own 2000 "damn I want that guy" list? Five. One of them is "Rick the Pick" and it would appear unlikely he will be on my team. I might get two of the other four with a little luck. One of them, if I get him, will step into the number three spot on my "highly coveted future players" roster and the other one would be no higher than fifth or sixth on that same list.
I consider this a weak prospects draft with no available player in a spot to displace either of my two prizes. There are two players on my roster who will not be any factor on my team this year but that I would not trade for the first overall pick in the draft. I am being patient. Neither of these players were rated THE hot guy when they came out ... one was actually relatively unknown (at least as unknown as you can be these days) but they were the guys I felt could be special. I know where Splinter was coming from when he talked about a picture in Baseball Weekly being worth a round or two in the draft and I know where Jeddy is coming from when he responded with a life's priorities list on his site. They are both right.
So, I'll close with some information that hopefully illustrates the point of this whole column as well as it can be illustrated. The player that was conisdered THE hot guy in 1995 is on my roster. He has been on my roster three times even though I have never protected him. I am not opposed to cutting a guy I really want to keep if I think his card is bad enough and the publicity is light enough to leave him out there to redraft in the middle or late rounds .. its almost like having an extra protection spot. Good roster management. There is some risk, I have lost guys waiting too long to redraft them, but it works often enough to be worth the chance.
Now I realize I may be exposing a guy I would like to redraft by telling this tale but it so clearly defines "patience" and therefore I'll coninue on. I have casually mentioned this guy in several trade talks ... no interest ... and each time I smile ... maybe he'll last until the ninth or tenth round. The guy was the best prospect in baseball five years ago, on the cover of Baseball America's Prospect Issue, high enough on own his team's list to make one or two of today's superstars an afterthought in hotstove discussions. He will be 26 this year ... entering the age range that sees most super talents turn into superstars ... no career altering injuries ... he has played very regularly in only one season and showed the speed to possibly steal 30+ bases and the power to possibly hit 30+ homeruns with a glove and arm to win gold gloves in bunches. He strikes out too much ... he plays on a struggling team ... he presses ... all part of the maturing prossess ... still no interest. He didn't destroy the major leagues in 1996 and he became a shadow ... he didn't light up the league in 1997 and he became a memory ... he got his shot to some extent in 1999 and he was a "disappointment" and now in 2000 he's "who?" Is he Ruben Sierra or Bombo Rivera? If you think the former, patience will one day pay off and he'll crush the ball for 10+ seasons ... if the latter, he's just another of those 450 top prospects that was way overbilled and cost someone a lottery draft pick. You decide.
Best regards, David Clyde, super-prospect.
March 22, 1999 ....
* Okay ... here is my "draft at a glance" Academy Awards nominations ...
- First player that "couldn't possibly be drafted" Award - Rick Aquilera by Sons Of Bliches. I gotta remember Scott is going to be there on draft day and old with a bad card doesn't mean a player won't be taken. Its that Cub philosophy ... old and bad doesn't mean we don't want him.
- Huh? Award - Biggest surprise of the draft by a team other than my own - Cafe Loewto actually took a player over 30 years old in the first round. Pete Harnisch, age 32. I know Loewto, he USED to be a prospect so that kinda counts.
- 1999 Doug Jones Honorary Draft Choice Award (thats the old player Cleve takes and then swears the rest of the year he will NEVER waste a high draft pick on a player like THAT again) - Terry Mulholland
- Epstein Is In A Cold Sweat Award - The best graded righthanded starting pitcher (Paul Byrd) and the best graded righthanded relief pitcher (Mike Williams) didn't go in the first two rounds let alone with the first two picks in the draft.
- DUH! Award - Thats the player taken solely to wreak havoc on the rest of the league only to have it discovered he doesn't qualify to even pinch hit. That would be Lyle "39 at bats" Mouton (at least temporarily) of the Masterbatters. No, Tony, nobody is going to buy into the claim that he was drafted as a "prospect."
- Ludwig's Ghost Award - Has anybody found Ross Priest yet?
- God, I Hope He Stays Healthy Award - Chris +3 Hoiles of Ryan's Express is the only catcher on the roster other than Charles Johnson and Todd "not until next year" Greene.
- I Finally Got My Lefthanded Hitting Backup Thirdbaseman Award - Bill Spiers of Cafe Loewto. Tom has been waiting a full year to draft this guy after he was plucked from his grasp just a little earlier than Tom might have guessed ... but last year's card would have been better.
- Who Is This Guy Award? - Terry Jones of The Four C's is not real well known to be sure but most people would expect the team drafting him to know who he is.
- Quick, Let Me Change My Vote Award - Kerry Wood of Bates Motel is glad that "keep a guy with no card" proposal passed. The guy went from sometime in the middle rounds to fifth overall because of that rule.
- Which Gonzalez Am I? Award - Alex was on Splendid Splinters. Alex is now on Splendid Splinters. Too bad neither is named Juan who will hit more homers than Alex and Alex and joins the former Alex on Lincoln Loungers while the latter Alex hopes Edgar (not even a Gonzalez) goes somewhere before the 2000 season ...
Write to: The Editor, Tracks To Nowhere c/o Siberian Express (Please include a SASE or reasonable facsimile)