61 thoughts on “2020 WGOM Draft: Round 12”

    1. at least 25. There's talk about a 26th round to draft a Twin for the bench, as well as the 27th round for manager and 28th round for ball park.

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    He may have fallen the last few years, but man, when he was good he was good. And if anyone deserves to be drafted to a super team, its this guy.

  10. Well, I need a first baseman, but I don’t like my top two options. So, I’m going to double down on left-handed left fielders with the same surname.

    Round 12, Pick 6 SelectShow
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  11. Working on filling out my rotation. This guy was a 6-time All-Star with two 8+ rWAR seasons, an ERA title, 5-time K leader, 3-time FIP leader, two-time WAR for pitchers leader. And never finished higher than 3rd in Cy Young voting because he pitched for bad Cleveland teams.

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    His career was all-peak, thanks to alcoholism and arm troubles. His top 7 seasons ranged in rWAR from 4.0 to 8.3, all between ages 21 and 28 (with an off-year of 1.4 at age 24). The lefty drew not-ridiculous comparisons to Koufax in the mid-1960s. Reggie Jackson was quoted as saying "I think he's got the greatest fastball, curve ball, slider, and changeup I ever saw."

    And then he was essentially done, other than a decent stint out of the bullpen at age 32.

    After retiring, he hit bottom, losing his marriage, family, and job selling insurance. Eventually he got into rehab, got sober, got a college degree and emerged as a rehab counselor and a founder of a retirement community for former pro athletes. The character of Sam Malone of Cheers fame is based in part on his life.

    Also, This

          2. I saw the headline and the Twins reference and figured it was the game that Carlos Silva threw an 11-hit shutout and then got excited, he threw the ball in the stands after completing the game.

  12. Among thus far unclaimed starting pitchers whose careers didn't begin before 1900, there is one pitcher who's number 1 in both bbref's WAA (wins above average) and fWAR. It stands to reason that he was a bit underappreciated during his playing career.

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    I had a handheld Tiger electronics 1989 all star game (this one!) that had an electronic voice that would announce the names of the players and the action on the field. I assumed for a LONG time that the pronunciation of this guy's name (RUSHELL) was just a quirk of the digitized voice not being able to say his name properly.

    1. If I had to choose between 5k and rib eating contest against him, I think he might be the only player drafted so far that I'd choose 5k.

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    Second baseman and maybe emergency catcher? I guess what I know about him is he got hit by lots of pitches and I'm pretty sure that his numbers aren't inflated by trashcan banging.

        2. Oh, I agree that James is way too high on Biggio for his grittiness and ability to maximize his strengths (blatant dog whistle), and that is why I passed on Biggio my last two picks despite needing a second baseman. Still, it's a good summary in one place as to why Biggio was really, really good.

          1. I wasn't really referencing the article. I like Biggio. It's more about his Twitter persona.

            1. I remember (reading about) the good old days when James helped agents present arbitration cases to earn the players more money.

      2. I would love to see the good pitcher/bad pitcher splits for a large selection of All Stars.

        Kind of by definition, good pitchers get outs at much higher rates than bad pitchers.

  14. Every round I'm trying to figure out if this is the time to start picking relievers. There are so many to choose from, but elite relievers that manage to stay that way for a decade or more are rare. You can either pick older style relievers with higher WAR but in a utterly different environment from today or someone more recent with a lower WAR but undoubtedly better per inning. It was a toss-up between this guy and someone more familiar but opted for the lefty.

    Round 12, Pick 10 SelectShow

    1. Wagner was born to 18-year-old Yvonne and 20-year-old William "Coal Bucket" Wagner in Marion, Virginia on July 25, 1971...

  15. I still need someone to hit some dingers when I really need one, defense be damned. Plus the obligatory Twins connection.

    Round 12, Pick 11 SelectShow

  17. I looked at a bunch of pitchers, but none of the starters really excited me, and I haven't thought enough yet about how to gauge relievers. So, DH or masher off the bench it is. Plus this we, I don't need to worry about his hugely negative dWAR.

    Round 12, pick 13 SelectShow

    Between him and Bonds, that's a couple of big-time head cases. But maybe between Barry and Piazza, he can learn to cheat better and not get caught?

  18. My roster doesn't really NEED a backup second baseman at this point but I'm just so surprised this guy is available.

    I wasn't a huge Cubs fan growing up but they were always on TV in the afternoon and had a pretty good team right around the time I was really getting into baseball. I still remember watching this game: https://youtu.be/_XEp_ElQThU

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      1. Also, not a criticism of your pick, but why is he in the Hall but not Luis Tiant?

        Sutton certainly compiled up the wazoo, and excelled in WHIP. Some of that was pitching for so long in Chavez Ravine and with very good defenses behind him.

        1. Tiant was the master of bad luck and timing. He twice led the league in ERA with a sub-2.00 ERA and didn't finish above fifth place in Cy Young or MVP voting. The first time was when Denny McLain won 31 games and the second time was when Gaylord Perry and Wilbur Wood both had monster years (both 10+ WAR).

    2. Sutton is probably the underrated overrated player. 324 career wins made him a slam dunk HoF for his era. Of the 24 pitchers with 300+ wins, Sutton is 22nd in WAR, so even as a compiler, he wasn't that great. He spent all but a few years of his career in pitchers' parks, so his ERA+ is only 108 for his career. The one stat of his that stood out to me was that he led the league in WHIP 4 times, and his career WHIP was 1.142, so he was certainly very good at limiting base runners overall. Also, his career started the year after the Dodgers beat the Twins in the WS, and of his 756 career starts, just 16 came after the Twins won the WS in '87. And yet, the Twins are in a longer WS drought now than they had then.

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