1980 Rookie Draft

[dust bunnies]

double post

jack

[Sockeye]

It would be interesting to see how some of the draft graders would grade the different team drafts. I don't know how you do that without hurting anyone's feelings by being critical of their choices but it would be fun to read a "draft analysis" or team grade like you do after the NFL draft.

I think it would be different according to everyone's draft board. Everybody likes the players they've chosen or else they wouldn't have selected them A lot also depends on the draft picks each team has. For instance we've had 6 of the first 45 picks. So obviously we'll have aquired more talent than a team with only one or two picks to this point. What might be interesting is for everyone to pick the top 5 or 6 best drafts (not counting their own).

Here are my top six through pick #45

1. Gold Sox: A
2. Hard Cider: A-
3. Boys: A-
4. Badgers: B+
5. Knights: B
6. Legends: B

[Sockeye]

I'd absolutely love to hear what people think of my draft, and I'd probably enjoy discussing others' drafts as well. I have a pretty exhaustive list and B-R is easily accessible as well.

I don't want to critique people's picks without their consent, though, but I hope everyone feels confident enough in their picks to defend them.

You've had an excellent draft!

Leon Durham: (#8 on our board)
Mike Davis: (#11 on our board)
Charlie Lea: (#21 on our board)
Tim Lollar: (#41 on our board)

Anyone is welcome to critique our draft as well. Always enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts.

[Windy City Fan]

Team needs also can impact how you grade a draft. The Tyrants for instance are not going to competitive in 80 or 81, so our draft board reflects that reality. But looking at the draft boards I'd ranks these clubs as having the best drafts:

Gold Sox - Durham, Lea, Davis, and Lollar. Durham and Davis both have some impact seasons ahead of them and Lea and Lollar provide quality pitching at an affordable price.

Knights - Boddicker, Lefebvre, Berenyi, Salazar. Boddicker is a Cy Young candidate one season. Lefebvre is rated at catcher for a few seasons and swings a great bat. Berenyi provides some solid seasons. Salazar gives a good season in 80 as a pinch hitter and a solid 81 season as a platoon 3B.

Legends - Fernando and Ozzie Virgil. Fernando is a jackpot guy in this draft. I had him as the top guy on the board. Virgil is a steal in the third round.

Everyone else had a least one pick that made me go "meh".

And I'll talk about the Tyrants draft board, just because I want to. Given that 80 and 81 mean nothing to us, I think the Tyrants did well. Moseby provides two all-star caliber seasons and another solid season. Law provides several seasons as a good utility or platoon infielder (check out his splits against lefties in 82 and 84) and then a potential all-star season in 85. And then Phelps gives us a great part time season in 84, another solid part time season in 85, and an OK season in 83. All in all, this draft is going to help the Tyrants get set for a nice mid 80's run I think.

[leecemark]

--The Corsairs select RP Luis Aponte
--The Knights select LHP John Martin
--Feel free to critique my picks . I'm pretty happy with the Knights draft, although we did give up a number of future picks to shore up this draft (no 2nd, 3rd or 4th rounder for the next 3 years now). We came in with only one SP under contract for 1981 and little money under the cap or coming off the cap next year so we needed some cheap, near MLB ready help.
--When Boddicker slipped he was good good to pass up, but that was not part of the game plan and lead to the trades for 2nd and 3rd rounders. With those we got;
--Bruce Berenyi - I really like him, perhaps more than most of you. He has some serious control problems but misses alot of bats and gets alot of ground balls. Thats a good profile for Tiger Stadium and he is my "ace" next year as it stands now. Another good season in 82 and and acceptable one for a 5th starter in 83.
--Albert Williams - he'll make and help the staff this year and will be an innings eater in the back of rotation next year, then a decent 4/5 starter in 82/83.
--John Martin - he is the 3rd guy from this draft penciled into next year's rotation. Another 4/5 type of guy, so I'm still looking for somebody better but I can live with him. Strong against LHB in his other 3 seasons.
--Joe Lefebvre - bench help this year and a powerfull platoon OFer next year. Even better in 83 and a potential contributor off the bench in 82 and 85.
--Luis Salazar - big bat off the bench or in a platton role this year and a solid starter next year. One more year where he mashes lefties and flashes an EX glove at 3B and another where he could make the team as a utility guy.
--So 3 SP, a full time starter and a platoon starter for a total cost of 2.5M next season. Just what the doctor ordered for a team with serious cap problems.

[buppers]

Feel free to critique the Badgers draft. Now that we have all adult owners I am OK with any critizism. The only caveat is to remember I am building for 1981. Between drafts, trades and FA signings I feel I have a strong pitching staff for 1981 especially with the extra playing time.

[catcher24]

Feel free to critique the Badgers draft. Now that we have all adult owners I am OK with any critizism. The only caveat is to remember I am building for 1981. Between drafts, trades and FA signings I feel I have a strong pitching staff for 1981 especially with the extra playing time.

Ed, I think you had a simply terrible draft. I can't imagine what in the world you could have been thinking. Were you drinking when you made those picks - or on something else?

Just kidding, Ed. I didn't want you to feel deprived of the criticism you used to get on a regular basis. Kind of make you feel "at home", you know. BTW, is being an adult owner sort of like being an X-rated owner?

In reality, the Badgers did OK, picking up some very useful players.

The Legends did well with their two picks so far. Fernando will of course be an anchor for the rotation from 81 through 85, with significant HTD value. He also will make a mighty fine September call up this year. Ozzie Virgil doesn't do much for a couple of seasons, but then is a decent platoon catcher for two years and a very decent starter for two more. Not a whole lot of resign value there, although there is some.

The Lumberjaxx had three picks (to this point) and took all pitchers. Joe Price gives three years as a decent starter, and three years as a decent reliever. John Butcher has two decent years as a starter, two as a reliever and one as a fourth or fifth innings eater. Mike Armstrong steps up as a decent reliever just when we lose Sutter, so was a pick of need. We didn't do as well as Mark financially, but we still got three guys who can help us for several seasons each for a total of 3.5M, so I guess we did OK.

[catcher24]

Sort of off topic here Mark, but I was wondering if you've decided to extend the rookie draft a day and drop the 750K auction round, or go with the schedule as posted?

[leecemark]

--I editted the schedule after you pointed out the discrepancy, but it was to extend one day of bidding rather than extending the draft. We are way ahead of pace on the draft anyway.

[buppers]

Badgers make the following trades

Tyrants: Renie Martin for Badgers 3rd in 81 and Dave Heaverlo
Thunder: Gene Garber for Len Barker

Ed

[Windy City Fan]

Badgers make the following trades

Tyrants: Renie Martin for Badgers 3rd in 81 and Dave Heaverlo
Thunder: Gene Garber for Len Barker

Ed

Both trades are confirmed!

[Erik Bedard]

One thing I really missed in this draft was the added playing time in 1981. I was baffled when Lefebvre went in the 2nd round, but neglected to adjust his playing time for the strike-shortened season. It makes sense now. Ditto for Stapleton in the first, which makes even more sense when I considered that Ed is building for 1981.

Some guys I think I rated lower than most:

Albert Williams
John Butcher
Doug Corbett
Luis Leal
Tony Pena
Tim Wallach
Luis Salazar

and a few I think I rated higher:

Pascual Perez
Mike Scioscia
Jay Howell
Andy Rincon
Mike Boddicker

Generally I think I'll favor one or two great years over four or five above average ones. That's why I would have taken Perez over Leal, Scioscia over Pena, etc.

Also I wouldn't trade drafts with anyone but if I was absolutely forced to it'd probably be the Gamblers. Howe/Lynch/Charboneau/Rincon is a great haul.

[leecemark]

--I'd guess this is the best draft in Gold Sox history anyway!

[Erik Bedard]

I got Tony Conigliaro, Steve Blass, Ken Sanders, and Randy Hundley in 1964, and 1967 was Bench, obviously. Still, this has got to be right up there. Definitely the best of the last decade.

[Windy City Fan]

The best Thunder draft had to be in 74: John Montefusco, Ed Figueroa, Jim Kern, Gary Lavelle, Larry Demery, Bruce Boisclair, Bill Almon, and Dave Moates. 1975 was pretty good too when we landed Jack Clark and Willie Randolph, but lacked the depth of the 74 haul.

[jaybird_1981]

I know most would look at Wallach as a bit of a reach but I was a big fan of his as a kid and 3B seems to always be hard for me to feel and I would have picked Pena there if I didn't go with Wallach and I have Bo Diaz who plays a couple seasons that overlapped Pena.

[jaybird_1981]

With the 48th pick in the 1980 first year player draft the Hard Cider select:
reid_nichols_autograph.jpg
CF-Reid Nichols

[leecemark]

--Nichols is a nice pick up in the 4th round. I had Wallach as a 1st rounder too. He was 14th on my board, but a bunch of guys were close enough that team need could easily lift a player half a dozen spots.

[Erik Bedard]

Wallach was a first rounder on my board. Not as high as you had him, but on closer examination I get it. 3B is a much harder position to fill than people generally realize, and Wallach fills it with a solid bat and great glove. Not really a reach at #6 at all.

To kick off the fourth round, the Gold Sox will take Jack Perconte.

[leecemark]

--I don't think there is much to criticize in this draft really. In the early years there were more head scrathers and you could hope to score players lower than you deserved, but all our owners do a good job of scouting now.
--There were three guys drafted in the 1st that I had rated as 2nd rounders, Dave Smith, Joe Price and Bob Ojeda. Smith I do think was a reach, but on further review he looks more comparable to the top relievers than I originally thought and I tend to rate relievers lower than some anyway. Price and Ojeda were late 1st and there really wasn't much difference between the guys rated late 1st and early 2nd (big group of B+ prospects for me)
--The top 1st rounders on my board who skipped were Lea and Leal and neither slipped very far (17 and 19). Leal is the toughest kind of player for me to rate in our league. Zero star power, but slightly above average quality and LOTS of IP for 4 years. Guys of Leal's quality are that hard to find in a given year in our league, but having one locked up for 4 years at a bargain rate definately helps. He was the best fit for what I hoped to do in this draft, but (as I mentioned earlier) the two big years of Boddicker were just too tempting for me to pass up.
--I had Hubie Brooks as the biggest slip of the 2nd round, so kudos to the Skipjacks there. I think there was alot of drafting for need going on though and its tough to judge somebdoy elses call when you don't know what they are trying to accomplish. I made some need picks that may not look that good to an outside observer (and may not look good to me once they take the field ). Albert Williams is a poor man's Luis Leal. John Martin I'm just hoping to get one servicable season of SP out of and he is a LOOGY the rest of the time. Bruce Berenyi is the guy I was really high on - he actually excites me more than my first round target Leal - but I expect there is alot of variance for him on tother boards. I'd actually like some feedbackon that pick.

[dust bunnies]

Dust Bunnies select Jerry Ujdur. Jack

[scubadan]

John Martin I'm just hoping to get one servicable season of SP out of and he is a LOOGY the rest of the time.

I was high on Martin and would have picked him if I could have traded a future draft pick for one in this draft after I picked Milner. I think his numbers are strong and probably would have used him primarily as a reliever for his serviceable years.

[Erik Bedard]

I was kind of interested in Berenyi, but shied away primarily due to the walks. Had him ranked about where he went, though.

Ujdur is a great pick and if Perconte was gone he'd have been mine. Perconte was too good to pass up, though.

[Windy City Fan]

I think Bruce Berenyi is going to be a good fit for the Knights. If his 81 season would've fit in the Tyrants' timeline, I definately would've taken him before you got him. And going back to the discussion on Wallach, I don't think he was a reach at all. In fact he was the other guy I took a long look at before I picked Moseby.

I'm curious where did people have Vance Law rated? I struggled with that pick as I looked at several other guys, but most of them slid to the third round (Phelps, Howell, and Virgil) other than Berenyi.

[Erik Bedard]

Law was a second rounder on my board.