94 thoughts on “2020 WGOM Draft: Round 22”

  1. Not only can he play all four infield positions very well, he has a career ERA of 0.00.

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  2. This is very SSST pick, but it was a hell of a ride while it lasted. He might be around after we snake back, but as everyone is filling out their rosters, I'm thinking someone might scoop him up:

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    Keeping him in the bullpen for now (he should fit right in) instead of pitching him 400 innings. Also, no shagging batting practice.

    1. Yeah, I kept thinking about taking him. He must have had one hell of a sinker because his strikeout rate was sad even for the era.

      24 complete games at age 21. Child abuse.

      1. Did you catch Jeff's random recap where he was allowed to throw ten innings despite allowing six or seven runs? Yikes.

      2. For the time, it wasn't all that unusual. For instance, Blyleven had 17 CGs at age 20 with 278 IP. Of course, what we know now, it would never be allowed, or at least someone would be at high risk of being sued.

        1. somebody on the Bookface (??) yesterday shared a link to an SI story about Kerry Woods' 20-K game. In it was mention that in his senior year of HS, AFTER he'd been drafted (and possibly signed?) he threw something like 160 pitches in the first game of a double-header in the playoffs. THEN STARTED THE SECOND GAME 30 MINUTES LATER.

          Talk about child abuse.

          1. link

            Ok. ONLY 146 pitches in the first game.

            By the time Wood was a senior at Grand Prairie (Texas) High, there were enough speed guns in the stands to monitor traffic on I-45. "It was normal for 40 scouts to be at his games," says Mike McGilvray, who coached Wood at Grand Prairie. "Luckily, he's always been a mature kid who handles pressure real well." After Wood finished his senior year 14–0, with an 0.77 ERA and 159 strikeouts in 81 innings, he was tapped by the Cubs and rewarded with a $1.265 million signing bonus. The weekend after the draft, in a state playoff series, Wood threw a 146-pitch two-hitter to win the opener of a doubleheader. Then, on 30 minutes' rest, he came back to pitch the nightcap, a 16-4 victory that he cemented by belting a grand slam.

        2. Yes, the innings and complete games were more prolific back then (to be fair, most teams had a few banjo hitters in their lineups that no longer exist). But look at the tenth inning of this game and explain how he was never replaced.

          1. I wonder how much the AL pitchers were hurt by the DH since managers lost their incentive to replace them with a PH in tie games. Can't even find a pitch count for that game. That could be an interesting study, looking at durability of AL pitchers vs. NL pitchers in the first 10-15 years after the DH was implemented. I also wonder if it became harder for "stat compiler" pitchers to get into the HoF because abuse of young pitchers was reduced so it became less rare for starting pitchers to last a ways into their second decade of MLB.

    2. For most of the draft I've been taking guys more because I think they're interesting than for actual playing/performance reasons, so I think this is a great pick!

  3. Sorry I'm late. I didn't expect it to come back around to me that quickly. I should probably fill out my backup C spot, and I'm going to go with a homer pick in the hopes that what he did last year was real:

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  4. I'm pretty much eschewing relievers, so let's continue that trend. I've already got the winningest American pitcher in history; now, I'll grab the winningest pitcher from elsewhere. (Yes, I know wins are a social construct counting team stat.) Other facts about him:

    -He changed his birth name to avoid discrimination.
    -He claimed to throw 100 miles per hour.
    -He had a famous temper. He held the record for most ejections when he retired. He also challenged an opposing manager to a fistfight
    -His nickname evolved from Telephone Pole to The Emperor as his career gained stature
    -He would force himself into close games to try to vulture wins.

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    1. He was definitely on my list. Speaking of child abuse, from age 17 through age 30, the fewest innings he threw in a season was 303.2. During that time, he averaged 33 starts, 24 complete games, and 21 games finished per season. At 21, he threw 400 innings. And: he threw left-handed.

      You can imagine where this goes. From 31–35, he threw a total of 606.2 innings and started more than 20 games just once.

  5. Alright, well this is definitely in "because I love him" territory of the draft. He has a few of his countrymen on my team already and he's just a delightful human being. Hope he lives up to his potential

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  6. Drafted out of (basically) semi-pro ball, he didn’t become a regular until his age 27 season. Because he bucked the system, he struggled to gain the respect of his manager, a legendary former pitcher. In his first season as a regular — splitting his time between second, first, and third base — he belted 33 homers on the way to a 1.043 OPS. In his second season, he won his first of three career Triple Crowns, and first of two MVP awards. Over his career, he walked 340 more times than he struck out.

    Some other black ink:

    - Batting Title x5
    - OBP Title x7
    - SLG Title x5
    - HR Leader x5
    - BB Leader x9 (8 consecutive)

    He never had a steady defensive position until he turned 36, when he finally settled in at first base for the final nine seasons of his career.

    It boils down to this:

    Iconic batting stance. No-flap batting helmet well into the 1990s. A .311/.422/.564 career slash line. 510 homers. What else could one want in a utility infielder?

    Round 22, Pick 6 SelectShow

  7. BS pick:

    Primarily an infielder in the minors, he was bounced all around the Twins' lineup in his early years with the club, logging substantial time at 3b, 2b, even SS, before settling in as a mostly-regular OFer. More of a gap hitter than a power hitter, he managed to parlay doubles, a solid average, positional flexibility and decent OF defense into MVP votes in several seasons and wormed his way into the hearts of Twins fans. Plus, he has a career ERA of 0.00.

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      1. Yup. I am a little surprised he lasted this long. It's not like he was a big star or anything, but 100 OPS+ for his career, black ink (hits once, HBP once, and doubles and triples once; AB per K three times, plus six more on the leaderboard), 186 starts at 3b, 180 at 2b, 52 at SS, plus all three OF positions, plus the play-an-inning-at-every-position gimmick game. I mean, dude, he struck out Reggie! Gotta love that. 121 starts in 1966 across four positions and he still managed to make the leader board in dWAR (for the only time in his career, but still).

  8. Let's be honest for a moment. My lineup is awesome. To some degree, it doesn't matter who I pick, they're not going to be getting a lot of time in the starting lineup. Who left is taking playing time from Mantle and Robinson and Hornsby?

    So, let's go with a guy who works as a very good pinch run/outfield defensive replacement.

    Plus, he gives me my requisite Twins player that I didn't have yet.

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    2. You may have extended his career significantly by keeping him from running into the outfield walls.

  9. Huh, he's still available? SelectShow

    Seriously, look at the bb-ref list of his ten most similar batters. Granted, that's all I'm getting from him is batting, but still-

    Frank Thomas (899.3) *
    Fred McGriff (865.6)
    Manny Ramirez (855.0)
    Miguel Cabrera (843.4)
    Jim Thome (828.8) *
    Rafael Palmeiro (816.6)
    Jeff Bagwell (812.7) *
    Willie McCovey (800.4) *
    Carlos Delgado (797.2)
    Gary Sheffield (793.2)
    * - Signifies Hall of Famer

        1. Dang it
          I searched it about twelve times because I was sure he was gone
          I'll try again...

  10. Well, how about this then? SelectShow

    I'll take someone who is comparable to Ortiz, but is actually available.
    I think "this article" does a nice job of summing up what happened to this player without trying to accuse him or give him a platform to make excuses. I can't say I followed the story back then or honestly cared much about any of it then or now, so I don't have a big problem to adding him to my team.

      1. I mean, I already got Pete Rose- gotta balance out Tony Gwynn and Dale Murphy somehow!

  12. Round 22, Pick 11 SelectShow

    I need a nice defensive replacement outfielder, pinch runner, and all around cool guy.

      2. Dang it! Scoured that roster. Ok back to a pitcher and need to check my notes.

  13. Just in case there are people here that don't know, you can use "Control+F" on google sheets to search for words in the document.

    I figure most people on here know that one, but just throwing it out there because it really does help speed things up when I'm trying to figure out who's still available and who isn't.

    1. Thanks, I didn't know that and I've been frustrated I didn't know how to search (obviously).

  14. O.k. I need another lefty to come out of the bullpen, maybe spot start here and there, plus be kinda irascible.

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    3. I looked at him, too, but decided to go with the diminutive lefty with the longer peak and no ties to the Yanks.

  16. I'll be filling up the rest of my bullpen. I was looking for someone who could be a long reliever, so I figured the guy Wikipedia calls "the sport's first prominent reliever." Plus, was on the Senators.

    But really, this is mostly for the cool name.

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  17. I'm a "high peak" guy. Definitely not a fan of compilers. I'm not saying playing above average for a long time isn't great. I just don't think guys like Nick Markakis should be considered anywhere near HOF just for being above average into their late 30s.

    The guy I'm going with had a high peak (14th all-time for career ERA+) but had his career cut short at just seven seasons. Three year peak of CY and 2 runner-up to CY. He pitched a total of 4 innings after that peak. Who knows what could have come.

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      1. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I figured with his short career and modest WAR7, that he might last until the final round but I didn't want to risk it.

    2. That was my reasoning for Nomar. For some reason Webb wasn't on my radar but he should have been

    1. Yeah... Philo has a few real estate closings today, so will get to it when he can...

        1. My wife works as a paralegal for a real estate attorney. She has been ridiculously busy. Business has been booming this whole spring.

          Four houses sold just in my small neighborhood in the past two months.

          2. Are they actual purchase or refinances? Are they lake homes/cabins, or primary residences?

            My experience is that real estate has been really slow lately, except for refinances. But I'm in farm country. Of the two I have today, 1 is probate related and 1 is family to family. Neither is a regular arms' length purchase. I've seen many fewer real estate transactions than normal, I just happened to get two of them stacked on the same day.

            1. Purchases, all. This area has been weird for the past few years, but there's been absolutely no slowdown this year. There was a new house built on the lot next door to our house, and it started a chain reaction of people selling their places, and all of them sold after only a day or two on the market.

              1. Wow.

                I was talking with the banker about this at one of the closings, and she confirmed that maybe 1 out of every 5 transactions they're doing is a standard home sale.

                1. Our "will they/won't they" with moving is currently leaning more "will" lately.

  19. I was genuinely surprised this player was still available. He has more than 500 career home runs. He has positional flexibility. He has a career oWar of 80.8!
    That's pretty much the perfect bench bat.

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      1. I mean, I certainly don't intend on putting him in for defensive purposes ever. But if I need a bat of the bench, and then I have to put him in, I've got a couple options.

      1. Wait.. did I miss something? Are you picking from the leftovers? What's going on here?

        1. Yeah, I am going to draft an "expansion" team from the leftovers.

          I initially wasn't too interested in this project, but I've gotten sucked in.

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