Paul Drye
03-19-2005, 01:23 AM
The 2005 Cleveland Indians Fantasy Draft
I don't think I'm going to play full seasons until I can tone down the injuries a bit (I know, 8.01), since the last time I played one I had two starters make it to more than 150 games despite one of the best medical staffs in the game.
What I did think I would do is play with the fantasy draft aspect of things, since that's new to 2K6. Here's the results of trying to stock the Indians, with comments about what I learned for future drafts against the AI.
Set-up
The first thing I noticed is that there's an inverse correlation between the strength of a team's market and its initial scouting rating. In a normal game this doesn't matter very much since it only takes a few months of heavy spending to make your scouts some of the best in the game. In a fantasy draft game, however, it's a levelling factor since it's considerably harder to find bargains if the scouting ratings are +/-10 or whatever. If you're playing a team like the Mets or the Dodgers you're going to have to go with your own knowledge of the players. There are a few exceptions to this rule, like the Yankees (with good scouting) and Florida (with bad). Besides the Yankees, I'd say the Washington Nationals have the best scouting to budget ratio.
In my case, the Indians are a middle of the pack team on budget, and somewhat over average (B+) on out-of-the-box scouting. This means I'll be able to snag the best cheap players, but might run into trouble in the long run.
I set the draft options to "Random" and "Snake", and get the game to announce all picks so I can keep a close eye on what's going on.
Away We Go
The AI starts off with surprisingly unproven talent, rolling the dice on players usually under 25 and a ways from their peak. Anyone with much over the major league minimum salary is passed over. The exceptions there are Albert Pujols and Tim Hudson.
My own personal preference is for similar players, but close to well-formed and at key positions, particularly SS, 2B, and C. I particularly like power and the ability to get on base, followed by good defense. Speed is of no interest to me, and I don't pay too much attention to personality.
1. Joe Mauer (C)
2. Cole Hamels (SP)
3. Omar Infante (2B)
4. Joaquin Arias (SS)
Mauer's ceiling is very high, plus he's a young, already good-hitting player at a tough position. Infante is similar at second base.
Artias and Hamels are more prospects than current players. Hamels projects as a staff ace, but could use some seasoning in the #5 slot.
5. Lance Berkman (RF)
Berkman is our first big signing, but is one of the very few premier hitters (as in "virtually certain to have an OPS over .900") at a moderately difficult position (RF) available for less than 10 million dollars ($7.2m).
At this point, following up on the Berkman signing, I start looking for players who can play well now, rather than long-termers like the first four picks. If I can get them cheap, great, but I'm willing to spend up to about 6-7 million bucks for someone particularly useful.
6. Matt Clement (SP)
7. Andy Pettite (SP)
The really good starting pitching had just evaporated by the sixth round (excepting expensive baubles Pedro Martinez and Roy Oswalt), so I spent $14 million on these two. Along with Hamels we'll be solid.
8. Vernon Wells (CF)
9. Aubrey Huff (3B)
Two more bargains in the vicinity of 5 million each. Altogether we've spent about 35 million for everyone up the middle (including 3B in that) and three starting pitching positions, and we have a borderline all-star or budding prospect at each.
10. Ben Broussard (1B)
He rounds out the infield cheaply.
Now the goal is to bolster the pitching, and particular positions where I have a very young and inexperienced player (SS, basically, maybe 2B).
11. John Patterson (SP)
12. Juan Dominguez (SP)
So there's the back end of the starting rotation, assuming I don't pick up an expensive guy later in the draft.
13. Carl Crawford (LF)
14. Mike Cuddyer (2B)
15. Erik Bedard (SP)
That's an athletic young outfielder, backup for Omar Infante at second and a flame thrower with iffy control who can step into the rotation if needed or work on his control in long relief as needed.
For the next while the goal is more rounding out the rotation and generalized bargain-hunting for the lineup.
16. Kevin Gregg (RP)
Another young player with heat, good control.
17. Rafael Furcal (SS)
18. Ramon Hernandez (C)
19. Hideki Matsui (LF)
Furcal is starting shortstop, so I can let Joaquin Arias season for a year or two. If he works out, I can flip Furcal, unless he asks for a huge raise (he's currently making a reasonable 7.2 million). Similarly, Hernandez is a cheap option for future flipping, or else one heck of a backup catcher. Matsui is the oldest player I've drafted, but comes at major-league minimum and a pretty nice outfielder with some power and a really good ability to get on base. He's the kind of player who's undervalued as he hits just under .300, just barely cracks 30 homers, and gets about 80 walks. If a player does only one of those things he's not much good, but do all of them and it adds up.
20. Scot Shields (RP)
And another guy for the bullpen, potentially the closer.
21. Alex Cintron (SS)
22. Kazuhisa Ishii (SP)
23. Lew Ford (LF)
24. Felipe Lopez (SS)
Spare parts. Cintron and Lopez are cheap guys with some upside to bring off the bench or fill in in the middle infield as needed. Ishii is a reasonably talented pitcher who can go in the pen but come up to the rotation if he has to. If he gets some success, we can flip him. Ford is another cheap player with a variety of skills in the Matsui mold.
25. Gary Majewski (RP)
He rounds out the bullpen unless I draft someone expensive later.
The 25-man roster is potentially set now, and we've spent about 35 million dollars. We've got 15 to play with, and I think I'm going to go for Jim Thome as my expensive player, which replaces the under-average Ben Broussard for just 7.8 million dollars. Another possibility is Bobby Abreu for right. While I already have Lance Berkman there, Abreu is just sick offensively -- perennial .300 hitter, always hits 20 to 30 homers, killer basestealer, and takes an insane number of walks. It's possible that I'll pick both Abreu and Thome, which pushes one of them to DH and leaves someone free as trade bait, possibly Carl Crawford.
The key is "cheap, cheap, cheap" from now on until the end of the draft. Some players close to ready -- and young, if possible -- are needed so I can handle injury, and I'm on the hunt for some long-term projects.
26. Jon Lester (RP)
27. Gio Gonzalez (RP)
28. Matt Ginter (SP)
29. Alex Escobar (CF)
30. Marco Scutaro (2B)
31. Josh Paul (C)
32. Seth McClung (SP)
33. Bobby Madritsch (RP)
34. Chone Figgins (3B)
35. Jason Lane (CF)
Just a bunch of spare parts here, a couple of whom might see action off the bench in an injury emergency. The idea is just to stock the depth charts, and just maybe come up with one useful piece a few years down the road if I pour money into the farm system.
35. Chris Gissell (RP)
36. Jeff Francouer (RF)
37. Delmon Young (RF)
38. Brandon League (RP)
39. Johnny Gomes (DH)
40. Travis Dawkins (2B)
At this point, it doesn't matter who much to take, the players are all pretty fungible. One thing I am trying is picking up players that are important prospects in the real world, but that are rated poorly in B2K6. Francouer, Young, and League are all in this category. Gomes is here as the best available young, cheap hitter in the draft -- if he plays a bit and puts up halfway decent stats as I DH, I can trade him.
Note that even at the stage of every team now having their 40-man roster filled, many very good (but expensive) players are still available: Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, Adrian Beltre, and that's not anything like all of them (Ichiro, Jeter, Bonds, Drew....)
41. Jim Thome (1B)
42. Bob Abreu (RF)
43. Frank Menechino (2B)
44. Esteban German (3B)
45. Ruben Mateo (RF)
I pull the trigger on both Thome and Abreu -- I'll get the payroll straightened out somehow if I have to. Two expensive players went, Richard Hidalgo and Javy Lopez, so there are signs that the AI is starting to shift on the top guys. Before it did I'd already scored the two guys I really wanted, as if I hadn't the only difference would have been getting, say, Manny Aybar instead of Frank Menechino. Whee. The downgrade is so slight it's worth it to prevent anyone from taking either of my two coups.
46. Ramon Ortiz (SP)
47. Cody McKay (C)
48. Dave Borkowski (SP)
49. Joe McEwing (2B)
50. Tsuyoshi Shinjo (CF)
51. Corey Hart (DH)
52. Keiichi Yabu (RP)
53. Wil Ledezma (RP)
54. Chris Richard (LF)
55. D.J. Hanson (RP)
56. Raul Gonzalez (RF)
57. Cha Baek (RP)
58. Cliff Bartosh (RP)
59. Jim Serrano (RP)
60. Larry Barnes (1B)
61. Bobby Jones (RP)
62. Scott Sullivan (RP)
63. Greg Norton (3B)
64. Mike Venafro (RP)
65. Andres Galarraga (1B)
At this point there's only enough players left for everyone to get three more (some will get four). Still available: Rodriguez, Beltran, Jeter, Ramirez, Bonds, Glaus....
66. John Franco
Franco's the last guy I can get with a salary under a million dollars. Now comes musical chairs: who will get stuck with the untradeable contracts? I start picking based on how easily I think I can unload the player.
67. Greg Maddux (SP)
68. Trevor Hoffman (RP)
I don't think I'm going to play full seasons until I can tone down the injuries a bit (I know, 8.01), since the last time I played one I had two starters make it to more than 150 games despite one of the best medical staffs in the game.
What I did think I would do is play with the fantasy draft aspect of things, since that's new to 2K6. Here's the results of trying to stock the Indians, with comments about what I learned for future drafts against the AI.
Set-up
The first thing I noticed is that there's an inverse correlation between the strength of a team's market and its initial scouting rating. In a normal game this doesn't matter very much since it only takes a few months of heavy spending to make your scouts some of the best in the game. In a fantasy draft game, however, it's a levelling factor since it's considerably harder to find bargains if the scouting ratings are +/-10 or whatever. If you're playing a team like the Mets or the Dodgers you're going to have to go with your own knowledge of the players. There are a few exceptions to this rule, like the Yankees (with good scouting) and Florida (with bad). Besides the Yankees, I'd say the Washington Nationals have the best scouting to budget ratio.
In my case, the Indians are a middle of the pack team on budget, and somewhat over average (B+) on out-of-the-box scouting. This means I'll be able to snag the best cheap players, but might run into trouble in the long run.
I set the draft options to "Random" and "Snake", and get the game to announce all picks so I can keep a close eye on what's going on.
Away We Go
The AI starts off with surprisingly unproven talent, rolling the dice on players usually under 25 and a ways from their peak. Anyone with much over the major league minimum salary is passed over. The exceptions there are Albert Pujols and Tim Hudson.
My own personal preference is for similar players, but close to well-formed and at key positions, particularly SS, 2B, and C. I particularly like power and the ability to get on base, followed by good defense. Speed is of no interest to me, and I don't pay too much attention to personality.
1. Joe Mauer (C)
2. Cole Hamels (SP)
3. Omar Infante (2B)
4. Joaquin Arias (SS)
Mauer's ceiling is very high, plus he's a young, already good-hitting player at a tough position. Infante is similar at second base.
Artias and Hamels are more prospects than current players. Hamels projects as a staff ace, but could use some seasoning in the #5 slot.
5. Lance Berkman (RF)
Berkman is our first big signing, but is one of the very few premier hitters (as in "virtually certain to have an OPS over .900") at a moderately difficult position (RF) available for less than 10 million dollars ($7.2m).
At this point, following up on the Berkman signing, I start looking for players who can play well now, rather than long-termers like the first four picks. If I can get them cheap, great, but I'm willing to spend up to about 6-7 million bucks for someone particularly useful.
6. Matt Clement (SP)
7. Andy Pettite (SP)
The really good starting pitching had just evaporated by the sixth round (excepting expensive baubles Pedro Martinez and Roy Oswalt), so I spent $14 million on these two. Along with Hamels we'll be solid.
8. Vernon Wells (CF)
9. Aubrey Huff (3B)
Two more bargains in the vicinity of 5 million each. Altogether we've spent about 35 million for everyone up the middle (including 3B in that) and three starting pitching positions, and we have a borderline all-star or budding prospect at each.
10. Ben Broussard (1B)
He rounds out the infield cheaply.
Now the goal is to bolster the pitching, and particular positions where I have a very young and inexperienced player (SS, basically, maybe 2B).
11. John Patterson (SP)
12. Juan Dominguez (SP)
So there's the back end of the starting rotation, assuming I don't pick up an expensive guy later in the draft.
13. Carl Crawford (LF)
14. Mike Cuddyer (2B)
15. Erik Bedard (SP)
That's an athletic young outfielder, backup for Omar Infante at second and a flame thrower with iffy control who can step into the rotation if needed or work on his control in long relief as needed.
For the next while the goal is more rounding out the rotation and generalized bargain-hunting for the lineup.
16. Kevin Gregg (RP)
Another young player with heat, good control.
17. Rafael Furcal (SS)
18. Ramon Hernandez (C)
19. Hideki Matsui (LF)
Furcal is starting shortstop, so I can let Joaquin Arias season for a year or two. If he works out, I can flip Furcal, unless he asks for a huge raise (he's currently making a reasonable 7.2 million). Similarly, Hernandez is a cheap option for future flipping, or else one heck of a backup catcher. Matsui is the oldest player I've drafted, but comes at major-league minimum and a pretty nice outfielder with some power and a really good ability to get on base. He's the kind of player who's undervalued as he hits just under .300, just barely cracks 30 homers, and gets about 80 walks. If a player does only one of those things he's not much good, but do all of them and it adds up.
20. Scot Shields (RP)
And another guy for the bullpen, potentially the closer.
21. Alex Cintron (SS)
22. Kazuhisa Ishii (SP)
23. Lew Ford (LF)
24. Felipe Lopez (SS)
Spare parts. Cintron and Lopez are cheap guys with some upside to bring off the bench or fill in in the middle infield as needed. Ishii is a reasonably talented pitcher who can go in the pen but come up to the rotation if he has to. If he gets some success, we can flip him. Ford is another cheap player with a variety of skills in the Matsui mold.
25. Gary Majewski (RP)
He rounds out the bullpen unless I draft someone expensive later.
The 25-man roster is potentially set now, and we've spent about 35 million dollars. We've got 15 to play with, and I think I'm going to go for Jim Thome as my expensive player, which replaces the under-average Ben Broussard for just 7.8 million dollars. Another possibility is Bobby Abreu for right. While I already have Lance Berkman there, Abreu is just sick offensively -- perennial .300 hitter, always hits 20 to 30 homers, killer basestealer, and takes an insane number of walks. It's possible that I'll pick both Abreu and Thome, which pushes one of them to DH and leaves someone free as trade bait, possibly Carl Crawford.
The key is "cheap, cheap, cheap" from now on until the end of the draft. Some players close to ready -- and young, if possible -- are needed so I can handle injury, and I'm on the hunt for some long-term projects.
26. Jon Lester (RP)
27. Gio Gonzalez (RP)
28. Matt Ginter (SP)
29. Alex Escobar (CF)
30. Marco Scutaro (2B)
31. Josh Paul (C)
32. Seth McClung (SP)
33. Bobby Madritsch (RP)
34. Chone Figgins (3B)
35. Jason Lane (CF)
Just a bunch of spare parts here, a couple of whom might see action off the bench in an injury emergency. The idea is just to stock the depth charts, and just maybe come up with one useful piece a few years down the road if I pour money into the farm system.
35. Chris Gissell (RP)
36. Jeff Francouer (RF)
37. Delmon Young (RF)
38. Brandon League (RP)
39. Johnny Gomes (DH)
40. Travis Dawkins (2B)
At this point, it doesn't matter who much to take, the players are all pretty fungible. One thing I am trying is picking up players that are important prospects in the real world, but that are rated poorly in B2K6. Francouer, Young, and League are all in this category. Gomes is here as the best available young, cheap hitter in the draft -- if he plays a bit and puts up halfway decent stats as I DH, I can trade him.
Note that even at the stage of every team now having their 40-man roster filled, many very good (but expensive) players are still available: Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, Adrian Beltre, and that's not anything like all of them (Ichiro, Jeter, Bonds, Drew....)
41. Jim Thome (1B)
42. Bob Abreu (RF)
43. Frank Menechino (2B)
44. Esteban German (3B)
45. Ruben Mateo (RF)
I pull the trigger on both Thome and Abreu -- I'll get the payroll straightened out somehow if I have to. Two expensive players went, Richard Hidalgo and Javy Lopez, so there are signs that the AI is starting to shift on the top guys. Before it did I'd already scored the two guys I really wanted, as if I hadn't the only difference would have been getting, say, Manny Aybar instead of Frank Menechino. Whee. The downgrade is so slight it's worth it to prevent anyone from taking either of my two coups.
46. Ramon Ortiz (SP)
47. Cody McKay (C)
48. Dave Borkowski (SP)
49. Joe McEwing (2B)
50. Tsuyoshi Shinjo (CF)
51. Corey Hart (DH)
52. Keiichi Yabu (RP)
53. Wil Ledezma (RP)
54. Chris Richard (LF)
55. D.J. Hanson (RP)
56. Raul Gonzalez (RF)
57. Cha Baek (RP)
58. Cliff Bartosh (RP)
59. Jim Serrano (RP)
60. Larry Barnes (1B)
61. Bobby Jones (RP)
62. Scott Sullivan (RP)
63. Greg Norton (3B)
64. Mike Venafro (RP)
65. Andres Galarraga (1B)
At this point there's only enough players left for everyone to get three more (some will get four). Still available: Rodriguez, Beltran, Jeter, Ramirez, Bonds, Glaus....
66. John Franco
Franco's the last guy I can get with a salary under a million dollars. Now comes musical chairs: who will get stuck with the untradeable contracts? I start picking based on how easily I think I can unload the player.
67. Greg Maddux (SP)
68. Trevor Hoffman (RP)