65 thoughts on “2020 WGOM Draft: Round 16”

  1. My turn again, already?

    Spoiler SelectShow

    I need an extra infielder. His defensive WAR is 3rd best all time at his primary position, and his bat ain't too shabby either.

    1. I really like this pick here. He’s fallen off radars since leaving Philadelphia, but just a couple more years like 2019 and he’ll be in the liminal space for potential HoF starters.

      1. Not much for peak years. Two at least 6 rWAR and two more at least 5 rWAR. However, there is only a small gap between him and Sabathia. Sabathia has one more 6+ rWAR season but zero 5-6 rWAR seasons and fewer overall 4+. It's going to be interesting in five to ten years on who gets in and who doesn't.

  7. I don’t know exactly what to expect for this guy over the remainder of his career, but I’ll take another contemporary pitcher with elite rate numbers if I can count on a lot of quality innings from Pancho Bert, Lefty, Bullet, and El Inmortal. If he’s coming out of the bullpen...well, giddyup!

    Round 16, Pick 6 SelectShow

  8. Another bullpen guy. Two-time AS without ever having been a closer, let alone THE closer. Death to right-handed hitters, great personal story, local connection.

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    1. Your <img> URL was messed up. This is were my investigation led me, hope I fixed it properly.

      2. It took me a while to get it. Everyone needs to include a name, in text, somewhere in the LTE when drafting a player.

  9. I need a middle infielder! Considering I've got Derek Jeter at short, I should probably pick one that can actually field that position.

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    Might as well pick the one that managed to pick up 40+ rWAR despite a strongly negative bat.

  10. So, just looking through b-ref and something caught my eye-

    Go ahead, click on it if you were as confused as I was
    Paul O'Neill

    So that was something I had never seen before today- always good to learn new things!

    2. That clip is in my dad's old TWIB VHS that I devoured as a kid.

      I love the little easter eggs in BR, iike Madison Bumgardner's rodeo winnings and Mookie Betts' bowling winnings

  11. Bench guy SelectShow

    I admit, I didn't know much about this guy, but having Reggie Jackson as your best comparable from the age of 28 to 34 has got to be pretty good, right? His 5 year peak from 1982-1987 is impressive. And also- consecutive MVP's!
    Plus, he came up as a catcher for his first 3 seasons- though it doesn't look like he was very good at it- so I can use him there in a pinch.

    1. Also, all around good guy that constantly interacts with fans on Twitter and listens to Jason Isbell.

      I'm a big fan due to mainly watching the Cubs and Braves on tv when I was a kid.

      1. Poor man's Johnny Bench (complete with flapless batting helmet IIRC), but with a mullet.

  13. He's one of those turn of the century guys who was really good for his era so I'm assuming his skills will fit with the rest of the team. Probably use as a defensive replacement or a occasional fill in. Also known as an SOB, which I Probably need a few more of so that Drysdale doesn't go crazy.

    ROUND 16, PICK 11 SelectShow
  14. Spoiler SelectShow

    Going for a backup catcher. Very underappreciated player by the Hall, it would seem. 11 time All-Star. 5 straight Gold Gloves. Finished second in MVP to batterymate Denny McLain in 1968. Are they the only battery to do so?

  15. I'd like a reliever here, but I'm finding difficulty in assessing the careers of people who are/were strictly relievers. So, instead, I'm going to take a starter who I think could have been an excellent reliever if put in that role. He's number 21 all time in strikeouts per 9 innings. And, a bunch of his career value was lost due to him getting hurt early on, and not coming back as the same pitcher he once was. But, before that injury, man what a great first two seasons he had. In this fantasy world, I'm going assume that a switch to the bullpen would have extended his peak at least a few seasons, and who knows, maybe he never would have gotten hurt in the first place. Given the parameters, I expect he would have been an excellent lefty setup man. And, of course, the Twins connection.

    Actual Spoiler SelectShow

    1. Though now that I look at the draft list, I kind of wish I had taken someone with a 70's first name, to continue the streak. Last four picks: Dale, Ted, Bill, Bill.

        1. I have neighbors named Merle & Vern. They are original residents of the neighborhood, a population dwindling in number. When I asked how long one of my other neighbors, Merv, had lived in the neighborhood, they said of Merv & his wife, “Oh, they’re new. They moved here in 1968.”

  16. I'm going with a pure hitter with this next pick. Pinch hitter, DH, back-up at 1b and 3b. 30th all-time in career OPS+.

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      1. We're getting to the point where I think it gets a little harder. I'm trying to find specific niches. "Hitter" isn't hard, but defensive outfielder is a little tougher.

    3. It seems crazy to me that he's a 16th rounder. Quick look (maybe not so quick - a lot there...) at stats makes me feel justified in that assessment, though he's closer to the average HOF 1B than I might have expected.

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      Much like my pick of Dan Brouthers, I'm not quite sure how to evaluate this pitcher. He was among the best in the deadball era. Yes, it was the deadball era. But he led the league in K's 6 seasons, and had a 3-1 K/BB ratio. He won a pitching triple crown. And also, he's left-handed. So for a 5th pitcher, that's pretty darn good.

      1. To call him eccentric would be an understatement.

        He was notably unpredictable; early in his career, he would often leave in the middle of a game to go fishing.[2] He also had a longstanding fascination with fire trucks, and had run off the field to chase after them during games on multiple occasions.[3] He would disappear for months at a time during the offseason, and it was not known where he went until it was discovered that he was wrestling alligators in a circus.[4] He was easily distracted by opposing fans who held up puppies, which caused him to run over to play with them, and shiny objects, which seemed to put him in a trance.
        ...
        According to baseball historian Lee Allen in The American League Story, Waddell began the 1903 season sleeping in a firehouse at Camden, New Jersey, and ended it tending bar in a saloon in Wheeling, West Virginia. In between those events, he won 22 games for the Philadelphia Athletics; toured the nation in a vaudeville play called The Stain of Guilt; courted, married, and became separated from May Wynne Skinner of Lynn, Massachusetts; saved a woman from drowning; accidentally shot a friend through the hand; and was bitten by a lion.

        1. I didn't know there was a Minnesota connection.

          After his major league career was over, Waddell pitched for parts of three more years in the minor leagues, including a 20-win season for the Minneapolis Millers in 1911. In addition to pitching for the Millers, he pitched for the Minneapolis Rough Riders and with Virginia (MN) in the Northern League in 1913

        4. He would disappear for months at a time during the offseason, and it was not known where he went until it was discovered that he was wrestling alligators in a circus.

          I hope he picked a cooler name than Mason Saunders.

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