Prospect Draft

Mike Jackson

Noah Syndergaard goes first overall in the 2015 prospect draft, as he’ll join the Dakota Nightstalkers.  Syndergaard joins the following players as #1 overall BLB prospect picks:

First overall prospect picks

  1. 2008 – Kosuke Fukudome
  2. 2009 – Dexter Fowler
  3. 2010 – Stephen Strasburg
  4. 2011 – Bryce Harper
  5. 2012 – Matt Moore
  6. 2013 – Jurickson Profar
  7. 2014 – Masahiro Tanaka
  8. 2015 – Noah Syndergaard

Team WAR depth charts – info required

Mike Jackson

Guys,

As you know, each year I do an auction report card and this year is no exception (as I write this I’m about halfway through the grading). Last year as part of that I introduced the team depth charts, where I estimate each team’s Wins Above Replacement (or WAR) using the methodology I developed a few years back. The goal was to better refine the report card’s predicted standings, and as you’ll see in this year’s report card the WAR system did quite well last year in predicting things. Below is an example of what the depth charts look like; this is my team from last year (that rotation… oh the humanity!):

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Auction Thoughts

Mike Jackson

So what did everyone think of their auction?

Here are my thoughts on my picks:

Lucroy ($42) – My dream would have been to get Lucroy and McCutch, but Lucroy was the one player i absolutely wanted. Best cacher card in the draft, just ahead of martin (who is older, has a C durability). Martin for $27 was definitely a nice pick and I reached higher for Lucroy than I wanted, but I’m ok with that.

Stroman ($10) – I’m happy with stro at this price, his card is pretty nice (he’s likely one of my long men in the bullpen) and in year 3 he’ll be worth the price

Dickey ($13) – Happy with Dickey at 13 as well; he’s not the greatest fit for Fenway with the big DD window vs RHP, but he’s a jam/30 endurance and could be in for a nice year in toronto with Martin as his catcher

Benoit ($15) – Definitely overpaid for Benoit, no question, but the card is pretty nice and I believe he was one of the last elite RH RP left.

Snider ($1) – He’ll take some AB away from Heyward against LHP and he’s a bit of a sleeper to have a nice year in Baltimore. Happy to have him at a buck

Tolleson ($1) – He’ll platoon with Seager (at least up to his AB limit); was happy to get him for a buck.

Left $24 on the table which I’m not thrilled about, coulda been in on some of the guys I dropped out early on.

Overall I’m reasonably happy with my auction; didn’t hit a home run but came away with some solid cards and some holes filled. Likely give myself a B or B+ in the report card but we’ll see.

Now your turn: What did you think of your auction?

Mike

BLB Player Pool Set – Roster Moves Due Feb 10

Mike Jackson

Guys,

The BLB player pool is set, and the spreadsheet that I’ve emailed out can be found at the bottom of this post for reference. As a reminder, all of your player moves (extensions, buyouts, etc) are due Feb 10th. After that, rosters are frozen until the auction so get all your trade fliers out there NOW!

Again, if anyone has any questions at all about buyout/extension math, etc, please let me know! I’d rather answer a bunch of questions than have someone mess up a move because they had the math wrong…

Mike

MLB 40 man rosters Feb 1 2015

Contracts Primer and FAQ

Mike Jackson

Guys,

We are only a few weeks away from the finalization of our player pool for the 2015 season, which means that teams will need to start thinking about roster moves. I usually start getting quite a few questions around this time of year, so I thought it would be useful to create a blog post for easy reference that will hopefully answer most of the questions you may have. If it doesn’t, still feel free to ask away! Continue reading →