67 thoughts on “2020 WGOM Draft: Round 7”

  1. Needing another pitcher, and not quite trusting the numbers of those who were born in 18-something-something, I'm going to go with:

    Pick SelectShow

    I had initially thought I was going to pick Glavine, or maybe one of the better active pitchers, but Mussina did what Glavine did, only slightly better, in slightly less time. The man was the model of consistency. Indeed, he largely seems as forgettable as a modern HOFer can be, but that's because he was pitching at the same time as 4 of the greatest (all 4 of whom were picked in the 2nd round of this draft, interestingly enough). As far as #2 pitchers go, he's going to be one of the best of all time.

  2. Why does the Hall of Fame hate third basemen?

    Career highlights:
    9x All Star
    Gold Glove winner 5 straight years
    7th in JAWS for 3b
    4th in WAR7 for 3b
    Elected to the HOF 2 years after his death
    Maybe he walked too much for the era

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    1. I think part of it is that many third basemen eventually move to other positions, but mostly I think their defense gets undervalued. They're the middle child. Not seen as a defensive position, so unless you're Brooks Robinson you don't get noticed. And most third basemen don't hit like Mike Schmidt, so something like a 120 OPS+ doesn't seem all that special.

  3. I feel like there's about to be a run on pitchers and third base here. Glavine was strongly considered, and I kind of expected to take him here if he was available. And there's a bunch of good third basemen left. I don't expect the players I was looking at will still be there next time I pick, but there's someone else left that I couldn't pass up. Mr. Cub is gone, so Mr. Tiger it is.

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    The highest WAR of anyone still available, career OPS+ of 134, a plus-defender in right field, 9-time gold glover, 15 all-star seasons (including three where he made both all-star games), top-10 MVP finisher 10 times (including 4 times in the top 5), inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year, and is still a special assistant in the Tigers organization.

    1. I was really tempted to take Mr. Kaline with my last pick. I am very surprised that he lasted this long.

      1. Yeah, me too. I kept thinking someone already picked him, and I just missed it on the spreadsheet.

    2. When I was born, one of my dadā€™s friends presented me with an Al Kaline model Louisville Slugger. I mustā€™ve been ten or eleven before I was even allowed to get it out of the cellophane it came in. Even after I had graduated to full-size bats, it still took me a while to get used to swinging that piece of lumber.

  4. Spoiler SelectShow

    My wife is from the Seattle area, so I've long had a soft spot for the Mariners and I missed out on Griffey, so I wasn't going to wait any longer to make this pick.

  5. Spoiler SelectShow

    Iā€™ll slot him at 3rd base right now but may shift him to utility. Hereā€™s his cool story bro...

    In 1951, the aging Dandridge briefly mentored 20-year-old teammate Willie Mays, who spent just 35 games at the highest level of the Giants organization before moving up. Dandridge and Mays sought relief from the summer heat at a cool movie theatre one afternoon, and the usher came and told Mays his manager wanted him back at the hotelā€”the call to the big leagues had come.

    1. ā€œDandridge didnā€™t get the chance to play in the majors, but he had major league talent. He was a superstar,ā€ said Hall-of-Famer Monte Irvin

  6. Round 7, Pick 6 SelectShow

    Don't have much to say other than I wanted to draft a pitcher. He had a good peak, though not standout compared to others drafted thus far, and long career.

  7. round 7 SelectShow

    Maybe a slight reach, but I wanted another pitcher and this is a guy that I always enjoyed watching. To have the stats he had, pitching in the same division as the Red Sox and Yankees for most of his career- it's really impressive.

    1. Not a reach to me. After jerkface Philo took Mussina, I was on the fence as to whether I was going to take Halladay or the one I ended up going with. I think I would've kept it this way if I had the choice, but it was close for me.

  8. Just out of curiosity. Are any of you looking at line up construction (namely right handed bat versus lefty bat) in your roster choices? I find it very intriguing the layers of strategy in this draft.

    1. A little, yes. Though ultimately I decided it was kind of hard to do this early into things still, and I should just grab best available by positions I need to fill.

    2. Nah, I'm just picking players I like /respect. I figure as good of hitters as most of these guys are it ain't gonna matter.

    3. I look at positions and how many of the truly great players are available at that position. I haven't even really paid attention to whether they bat left or right or whatever.

    4. I plan to worry about complementary players once I start working on my bench. (For example,I don't need a backup shortstop!)

    5. Agree with all here. When choosing from the best of the best, I figured I could slot them in anywhere in the batting order and it will work. When adding back ups I will look at line up construction more closely.

  9. Round 7, Pick 8 SelectShow

    He's number 2 in JAWS amongst starting pitchers who haven't been picked yet who played in the last half century. The way he's been pitching the last couple of seasons, he has a decent chance to surpass Schilling, and I'd argue that his peak is undeniably higher. He'll probably be a top 20 pitcher when all is said and done. That feel like good value halfway through the 7th round.

    He also feels like the second most dominating starting pitcher I've ever seen live (behind Santana). I distinctly remember him starting in Aaron Hicks' debut, and Hicks just having no chance against him.

    I will not be upset to have Kate Upton in the crowd cheering, either.

    1. So my big debate was between Mussina and Verlander. Fascinating division between the two. Verlander is all about the black ink, Mussina compiled WAR as steadily as you could (and even if Verlander pitches as well as he has as he continues to age, it'll take him a while to catch up).

      1. Verlander definitely could catch up. He's 36, but he just won the Cy Young last year, so it's not like he's already fallen off a cliff yet. If he has a slowish drop off on the aging curve, he could break the top 25 in JAWS, and maybe top 15 in Fangraphs? It all depends on how quickly he ages once he starts, or if he's able to come up with new tricks on the level of, say, Greinke (he already kind of has, as he doesn't threaten 100mph anymore).

        1. I actually looked at his contract status when considering this. He'll be a free agent in 2 years, at age 38. What kind of contract is he going to get? How long is he going to want to play? Would he just retire at that point? My head started spinning, and I disregarded it all, but... it was fun to think about for a little bit.

    2. I've attended 6 Verlander starts, and he's 5-0 with an ERA below 2.00. The only start he didn't "win" was the game cheaptoy and spooky also attended when he had a one-hitter into the eighth, but Soria imploded ending with the Dozier walk-off.

  10. I need to start filling out my infield with guys to stand around while my starters strike everyone out.

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    As good as Ozzie Smith, but a better hitter. Average and power. El Diablo.

    1. From his HoF page:

      DID YOU KNOW: THAT WILLIE WELLS IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE FIRST PRO BALLPLAYERS TO WEAR A BATTING HELMET, FASHIONING A HARD HAT FOR PROTECTION AFTER A 1942 BEANING?

    2. If I had to pick a shortstop for my team, it would be Willie Wells," Negro League legend Buck O'Neil said in his autobiography in 1996. "He could hit to all fields, hit with power, bunt and stretch singles into doubles and doubles into triples. But it was his glove that truly dazzled. ... Great as Ozzie Smith is, old-timers in St. Louis who saw Willie play for the St. Louis Stars still haven't seen his equal.

      http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/mlb_negro_leagues_profile.jsp?player=wells_willie

  11. Iā€™ve long thought him a deserving Hall of Famer who was one of the truly elite talents at his position, but I might not have picked this player at this stage in the draft before a recent article in Fangraphs.

    Round 7, Pick 10 SelectShow
    Rationale SelectShow

  12. Round 7, Pick 11

    So Gordon was pretty excited when [pick] called him into the video room. He figured that he must have found something in his swing, something small, some little flaw that he could fix and it would turn his entire season around. He followed him to to the monitor. [pick] turned it on.

    The video was ... yep: [pick] hitting a home run. [pick] watched it lovingly and then turned back to Gordon.

    "Do more of that," he said.

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        1. I specified at the beginning that you can build your team for a DH league or not, whatever your preference.

  13. I was debating a few pitchers for my next spot (including Greinke), but JoePos's great story the other day tipped the scales to

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    That stat about going 20-3 against white exhibition teams, plus with Ty Cobb saying he would be a "sure 30-game winner," and with many contemporaries rating him more highly than Satchel Paige, I'll gladly take him as a third starter.

    3. If I didn't have such a need to start filling out my infield, I would have taken him as my fourth starter.

  14. Spoiler SelectShow

    The amount of time between this and my last pick meant I forgot to give it much thought, so I was just browsing the WAR leaderboard and thought he'd be a fun pick. Get them OBP skills for the mashers to drive in.

      1. I was hoping heā€™d sneak through to another round. Molitor will be an awesome utility player; he can plug in at 3b, 2b, or 1b. Even short in a pinch.

  16. Realized I don't have any outfielders, going to grab this guy while I can.

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    Satchel Paige called him ā€œone of the greatest hitters we ever had. He was as good as Josh [Gibson]. He was as good as anybody who ever played ballā€.
    And that is a good enough endorsement for me.

        1. Disappointed that people are sleeping on this. I was hoping for a wgom buck to go buy a coffee this afternoon at 7-11.

          2. Sorry I wasn't there for you. I get it, but Wednesday is my busiest day and I didn't see it until now.

        1. Note, using the featured and WGOM featured tag on a post at the same time confuses the layout. The code can't handle one post being in both slots. If you ever see a blank spot at the end with only 11 posts listed, that's why. It's really minor so I haven't put in the effort to support that case.

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