54 thoughts on “2020 WGOM Draft: Round 23”

      1. yeah, I'm surprised Joe didn't go there first. Not sure there's anything he's more passionate about.

    2. I think it'd be worth sending him a little summary of who we are, our process, etc. Could be fun.

  2. Alright, I'm heading back to my theory of having the best bullpen. And in that vein, I'm grabbing the 5th best reliever of all time by JAWS. I didn't know much about this guy, but from what I've learned, he'll be a nice compliment to the bullpen I've already got. He won 24 games as a starter, pulled down an MVP award, and was an excellent fielder. More importantly, he gives me another lefty in the pen, and he was apparently very good with the off-speed stuff, including throwing a knuckleball. I think I'd be hard-pressed to find a better compliment for what I've currently got.

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  3. I was torn between two guys for my last offensive player. I want someone that played CF. That gives me experience at all 8 defensive positions in my backups. The guy I chose had one of the best rookie seasons of all time which netted him the ROY, MVP, GG and AS game all in that first full season. An all-star his first 9 full seasons. (Not all deserving.)

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    1. that's another one of those "he's still available?" picks.
      The 1975 Red Sox happened the summer I turned 12. I was a big fan of the Big Red Machine, but definitely caught the Red Sox hype as well.

      I didn't realize that the only All-Stars that year on the team were Lynn and Yaz. The pitching staff was mediocre at best (9th in ERA and FIP, last in HR allowed, 10th in Ks, although they allowed the fewest walks). The infield, other than Fisk, was terrible at the plate. But that outfield! Rice hit 309/350/491 (128 OPS+) as a 22-year old rookie; Lynn hit 331/401/566 (162 OPS+) as a 23-year old rookie (ROY and MVP), Evans hit 274/353/456 (120 OPS+) as a 23-year old, third-year player, and old-man backup Bernie Carbo slashed 257/409/483 (143 OPS+) in 407 PA as a ripe, old, 27-year old reserve corner OFer.

      They had no business beating Oakland in the ALCS, but they did in a 3-game sweep. Luis Tiant threw a 3-hitter to dominate the opener; in game 2, Rollie Fingers entered the game in the fifth inning and gave up three runs on five hits while finishing the game. I mean, WTF was Alvin Dark thinking?? And the Sox finished the sweep by beating Ken Holtzman for a second time (again, what was Alvin Dark thinking?). Why start Holtzman again on short rest? Granted, he didn't have great depth in his rotation, but he had the perfectly serviceable Dick Bosman (who held opponents to 223/261/358 over 13 starts in the second half of the season, although he was hit hard in 5 September starts) and Stan Bahnsen (.241/309/332 in 17 second-half appearances, including 12 starts) available. Instead, he went with the two left-handed starters in Holtzman and Blue.

  4. Going to take another starter to turn him into a reliever. Unlike my previous two starter-to-reliever picks, though, this one's in the Hall of Fame. Reading more about him, I'm kind of surprised someone else didn't take him already, and am pretty happy to have him fall to me this late in the draft.

    First, he has the all-time lowest WHIP and second-lowest career ERA of all time. Granted, this was early 1900's, so not nearly the same offensive environment as later players, but even in his own time, he led the league in WHIP twice, led in ERA+ once, and never had an ERA+ worse than 115. His best season was 1908, when he led the league in ERA, hits/9 and walks/9, and amassed 8.5 WAR.

    Of course, the reason he's still available, and the reason he didn't join the Hall of Fame until 1978, was his short career. He's the only player inducted who only played 9 seasons in the majors, as it took going against the 10-year minimum rule to allow him in. He collapsed during Spring Training in 1911, then died less than two weeks later from tuberculous meningitis at age 31. His team, the Cleveland Naps, invited stars from across baseball to play against them as a benefit for his family in what Wikipedia calls the first All-Star Game.

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    1. He's been on my list for a long time. Just been reluctant to pull the trigger on a deadballer. Nice pick

      1. There's a few from that era that I've looked at closely but just can't do it.

        1. Understandable. I had some qualms about going with someone that old-timey, but I figure if they dominated their era, they could still be something special today. And, he was known for his big-time fastball (for the time at least) and change up, so hopefully he could still hack it facing the modern sluggers.

          1. I figure if they dominated their era, they could still be something special today.

            This. Especially as bench players, I was willing to crack the seal on the oldest of the old-timers. And once I learned more about some of the individual player's skill sets, that helped too. And, for that matter, it helped me decide to pass on some of them too.

  6. I need another outfielder and this guy can give Puckett a breather with little dropoff at the plate or on the field.

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  7. Round 23, Pick 6 SelectShow

    He pitched a whole lot of innings and racked up a lot of strikeouts. His total still ranks highly, albeit for lefties. He also out-pitched some other guy for the final win of 1968.

    1. I was expecting you to take the ace of that staff, but I guess that pick was too much of a gamble.

      2. Don't mention the warsuspension, brian.

        Also, take a look at the obscene abuse Billy Martin put Sean's pick through.

        1. That jump after 1970 is something.

          Year Age G CG IP
          1963 22 33 4 144.1
          1964 23 44 12 232.0
          1965 24 43 7 243.2
          1966 25 40 5 203.2
          1967 26 31 11 204.0
          1968 27 39 8 220.0
          1969 28 37 15 280.2
          1970 29 40 13 272.2
          1971 30 45 29 376.0
          1972 31 41 23 327.1
          1973 32 42 17 308.2
          1974 33 41 27 308.0
          1975 34 32 19 240.2
          1976 35 31 5 192.2
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    He currently holds the third-best strikeouts per walks rate in baseball history, at a 5.0363 ratio, for pitchers who threw a minimum 1000 innings. That's hard to do when he only averaged 2.4 K/9 for his career (ok, so he's from the 1870's)- but he ain't gonna walk anyone! I am also impressed by the 386 complete games.
    And he was the first MLB player that was born in Ireland, so kind of a pioneer in that regard, given the anti-Irish sentiment that was widely pervasive at the time.

  10. I see that I don't have a lefty on the bench. It's probably time to amend that.

    Plus, this pick gives me infield flexibility (his primary position was shortstop, but he also played a ton at second, and a great deal at third, too). He won't hit much for average (.247 lifetime), but he'll hit home runs (about 18 per 162) and walk a ton (OBP almost a hundred points higher than his average).

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  11. My starting rotation is star-studded and filled with heat from both sides. I have Gossage and the Easy Button and Tanana in the 'pen. So it seems kind of funny to be filling the back end with guys like this one. He holds the records for most pitching appearance in a season in BOTH leagues, and had two quality years with the Twins in the late 1970s. Not a prodigious strike out guy, but an outstanding screwball made him equally effective against lefties and righties. He dubiously won the NL Cy Young in 1974, playing a big role in helping the Dodgers to the pennant. Known for rather unorthodox pitching theories and impressive (even by 1970s standards) facial hair, he'll excel at middle relief, assuming his ego will let him take a back seat to Goose.

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  12. My groundskeeper is no mere legend, but a character out of an unwritten Tom Russell song. He was his parents' only child to survive infancy. Nonetheless, his earliest days are shrouded by multiple birthdates.

    His parents self-expatriated the family when he was still an infant, living in political exile abroad rather than face execution as counter-revolutionaries at home. Fifteen years later, his father murdered his mistress; his father’s prison sentence plunged the family into poverty. He was blackmailed into signing his first contract.

    At 6'4" tall and 220 pounds, he was one of the most physically intimidating players of his day. He threw hard and often — he pitched 894 innings in a two-season span — but was afflicted with pleurisy starting with his age 25 season.

    Denied citizenship in his adopted home country, he was forced by rampant xenophobia to change his professional name. Some stories indicate that, under his uniform, he wore a t-shirt with the first initial of his real name stenciled over his heart. His clearly foreign features made him increasingly conspicuous, and he was eventually cut by his club and placed in an internment camp. When he emerged, he worked as an interpreter until he could restart his baseball career. Though he was still under 30 years old, his old club wouldn't have him back; a former manager got him a start with a new franchise. In all, he lost a season and a half of playing time in his late twenties. Compounding matters, his wife left him for her lover.

    He pitched until he was 39, but the later years of his career were dampened by depression-fueled alcoholism. Despite his considerable troubles, he became the first player from both his native and home countries to win 300 games. His career over, he was gradually ensnared by a web of mental illness spun by genetics and alcohol. Fewer than two years out of the game, and still just forty years old, he died when he rear-ended a streetcar at high speed. He had been drinking heavily, and there is some question whether the collision was accidental or not. Though he had been marginalized due to his foreign birth and conspicuous skin color, and though it came posthumously, he the first foreign-born player to be inducted into this country's Hall of Fame.

    Achievements: Two-time MVP. 350 complete games across 449 games started. 83 shutouts. Pitching Triple Crown. A 42-win season, a 38-win season, and a 33-win season. No save statistics are available, but he finished 122 games. He pitched against high-contact, deadball hitters, yet owns a 1.066 WHIP in 4175 innings. Though he played against major leaguers — including Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Gehringer, and DiMaggio — in exhibitions, he never played an inning in an official major league game. His top pitching equivalents are Old Hoss Radbourn, Burleigh Grimes, Carl Hubbel, and Jim Palmer.

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      1. I think I read it once but had forgotten. Makes your Dick McAuliffe pick seem unsexy

  13. Well gosh. I was looking at my roster and what it didn't have enough of was steroids. Thankfully, I have A-Rod to share some. Plus, this guy before the roids was a really good fielder and base runner. Most importantly, didn't want Mags to get him in the supplemental draft.

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  14. Looking at my squad, my bench looks pretty well rounded:
    Tony Phillips can play anywhere
    Mickey Tettleton can offer walks and power
    Mark McGwire offers DINGERS!
    Juan Soto is fantastic
    Curt Flood offers outfield defense

    The only area that it looks like I should shore up is infield defense. Let's face it, Cal Ripken isn't taking any days off (and Tony Phillips will cover short if necessary). Brett and Allen have 3b covered. Allen and McGwire have 1b covered. Kent wasn't particularly great at second base, so let's get some defense there (and some speed for pinch-running if necessary).

    I'll pick a guy known for having great speed and considered a fantastic defensive second baseman. He was a very good bunter and hit-and-run guy, as well. Seems like a perfect fit for the few boxes not currently checked on my bench. Plus, the guy's given first name was Elwood!

    (He also once punched a white umpire in the face for blatantly missing a call during an exhibition game against white players.)

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  17. My bench could use an extra SS, though he's proven he can play any position on the field, including pitching (and ambidextrously at that!). First guy to play all nine positions in one game. He homered off of Jim Kaat on his very first pitch in the majors. He might not give me a lot of power, but he's a threat on the base paths, leading the AL on stolen bases six times. Throw in his defense and that's a lot of flexibility off the bench. A mainstay on the great A's teams of the 70s:

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    1. Nice pick, I was seriously looking at Bert when I opted for Dave Concepcion. I've always liked the 1970's A's.

  18. Time to fill another slot in the bullpen. At this point picking relievers is pretty much throwing darts, for me anyway. An awful lot of good pitchers with little to differentiate them. That being said I'm taking this workhorse from the '70's & '80's. Led the league in games four times, top 10 twelve times and 9th on the all time list. Plus he had a delivery that was fun to watch.

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    Also, he appeared in a 1983 episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood to explain how people play baseball. Now how can you not love that!

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