Behind in the Count #3

[Simulacrum]

I enjoyed the article as a humor piece- good stuff. Was it a true story or a work of fiction? If you really drafted that mess you need to put down the pen for a while and study up in the forums.

You have a good sense of humor, I don't think you need to resort to jokes about cripples to get laughs.

[rexthewonderdog]

Hey Toby,
I'm enjoying the articles - you're taking me back to my rookie fantasy baseball days. I'm up in Canada (where we can't actually find the baseball because of all the snow), so I'm a bit of a late bloomer to the game myself. Over about seven or eight years now, I've learned more than a few lesson. The biggest one though, is to ignore the 'expert' advice out there, or at least take it with a big grain of salt.
My first season, I read a magazine or two and took their word as gospel; now I realize that all they were doing was hyping last years best players. This was the year after Mike Hampton and Jose Lima had career years, for those of you who recall (or admit to!) taking the bait.

One thing that caught my attention in your piece on the draft is your notion of position scarcity. I don't think Hanley Ramirez is a bad #2 pick, or BJ Upton a bad 2nd rounder. They are scarce. Though the field of both 2B's and SS are deep, there are only two or three top tier options. At SS, you've got Reyes, Rollins, and Ramirez (The 3 R's?), and at 2B, there is Utley, then Upton and Philips. After those six are gone, the rest are either "steady" (which is good, but won't win you your league) or unreliable. In the OF, the drop off is not as extreme. Matsui, for example, is a lock for 25 HR, 100 R, 100 RBI, and a decent average. I'd rather have Matsui and Ramirez, than Holliday and an average SS. It's a matter of opinion of course, and really depends on who your later picks are, but drafting your top players based on scarcity is not a bad way to go. Just don't do that for an entire draft.

Looking forward to reading onward in your rookie season. Good luck!

Matt

[tmlfan4ever]

Without being too harsh, that was a terrible draft. The guy who got Tex and Berkman must have been laughing his ass off.

[Chicago 2]

I enjoyed the article, real draft or not, these type of situations happen all the time.

Almost every draft I'm in this situation, have my next picked lock I know I'm gonna take "player x" and right before me hes gone and I end up drafting someone I usually don't.

Another situation that happens to me is I'll be drafting and would be absolutely loving my draft, I'd be drafting the perfect team and when the draft is over I'd look at my roster and second guess myself seeing how the different players stats line up.

Nice article, looking forward to your next piece.

[heyrook_nicepiece]

Thank you all for taking the time to read my stuff and provide me feedback. I just wanted to write quickly and let you know that MLB.com has signed me up as a writer and my new column "Welcome to the Show" will appear in its fantasy section each week, starting on Friday. I will still be posting in the forums and seeking advice, but "Behind in the Count" will be put on hiatus for now. Thank you all for reading, I really appreciate it. I hope you will continue reading about my quest to learn about the game at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fantasy/index.jsp from here on out.

Thank you again (and a special thanks to the admins at the Cafe for running my stuff in the first place)
- Toby