How Is Your End Game?

[buster h]

Do you remember how much time you spent pouring over stats, projections, etc. in trying to figure out how to fill your team up at the draft in the last five rounds? The proverbial “end game” is where leagues are won, right?

As my team sucks and resembles a MASH unit (note to self, never draft Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee together, again), I no longer have to worry about the tough decisions as to whom to play, as my bench is, and has been, filled with DL’d players. Given the additional time, I tracked the players cut in my league (Online #5) and learned that, at least in our league, that finding value in the last five rounds is beyond difficult.

Here’s a look at those rounds, and the surviving players:

Round 30. Two of the original 15 are still rostered by the drafting team. One, Nolan Arenado, hasn’t played an inning. The other, Jake Westbrook, hasn’t been much of a contributor.

Round 29. Three players have survived. Seth Smith isn’t much. Jordan Schafer has 14 SB, but nothing else. Anthony Rizzo hasn’t played an inning in the MLB.

Round 28. One player, Kyle Drabek is still on his original team.

Round 27. A huge round for Online #5 with six drafted players still on their original teams. Wei-Yin Chen, Josh Reddick and James McDonald have contributed. It looked/looks like David Robertson might contribute. Tyler Green is still rostered, and Trevor Bauer could be called up in the near future.

Round 26. Remarkably, Pedro Alvarez is still on his team. Aaron Harang has been serviceable, and Mike Trout has been fantastic.

All told, a total of just 16 of the 75 players drafted remain on their drafted teams. Of those 16, four have yet to appear in a major league game, six others haven’t done anything to write home about. This leaves just six contributing players (Schafer, Chen, Reddick, McDondald, Harang, and Trout) drafted in the last five rounds. Not surprisingly, my last five picks have all been cut.

The team that drafted two of the contributing six (Mike Trout and James McDonald) has hovered between 250th and 300th overall.

[Hells Satans]

The reason why I'm hanging around in the ME was because of the back half of my draft:

13 14 Lucas Duda
14 2 Hiroki Kuroda
15 14 Vance Worley
16 2 Colby Lewis
17 14 Marco Scutaro
18 2 Jose Altuve
19 14 Will Venable
20 2 Chris Capuano
21 14 Chris Davis
22 2 Carlos Ruiz
23 14 R.A. Dickey
24 2 Marlon Byrd
25 14 Jason Vargas
26 2 Rafael Furcal
27 14 Raul Ibanez
28 2 Travis Hafner

[Money]

The reason why I'm hanging around in the ME was because of the back half of my draft:

13 14 Lucas Duda
14 2 Hiroki Kuroda
15 14 Vance Worley
16 2 Colby Lewis
17 14 Marco Scutaro
18 2 Jose Altuve
19 14 Will Venable
20 2 Chris Capuano
21 14 Chris Davis
22 2 Carlos Ruiz
23 14 R.A. Dickey
24 2 Marlon Byrd
25 14 Jason Vargas
26 2 Rafael Furcal
27 14 Raul Ibanez
28 2 Travis Hafner

I would challenge anyone to find somebody who did it better than this. Absolutely amazing. Most teams hit on a few, the top teams hit multiple times like you have. Good luck.

[Hells Satans]

Thanks. Unfortunately my 11th and 12th round picks were Farnsworth and Balfour, which leaves me like 380th in saves. I hate closers.

30th Round pick was Harang, who has been useful too, but I had to cut because of injuries taking up bench spots

[BK METS]

The reason why I'm hanging around in the ME was because of the back half of my draft:

13 14 Lucas Duda
14 2 Hiroki Kuroda
15 14 Vance Worley
16 2 Colby Lewis
17 14 Marco Scutaro
18 2 Jose Altuve
19 14 Will Venable
20 2 Chris Capuano
21 14 Chris Davis
22 2 Carlos Ruiz
23 14 R.A. Dickey
24 2 Marlon Byrd
25 14 Jason Vargas
26 2 Rafael Furcal
27 14 Raul Ibanez
28 2 Travis Hafner

That is crazy good "end drafting". I thought I did good in the main with:

18) Addison Reed
19) Dayan Viciedo
22) Lance Lynn
23) RA Dickey
24) Jon Jay
26) Aaron Harang
28) Andy Pettite (Dropped him before his comeback)

Would have been amazing if I kept Andy.. but oh well..

But to pick up good players from 14 out of 16 picks near the end of the draft is a very nice job.

[Jeff Erickson]

Hit-and-miss for me, though some of my cheapie SP have saved my bacon:

11.13 - Chris Perez
12.3 - David Freese
13.13 - Vernon Wells
14.3 - Kenley Jansen
15.13 - Austin Jackson
16.3 - Bud Norris
17.13 - Mat Gamel
18.3 - Edwin Jackson
19.13 - Phil Hughes
20.3 - Ramon Hernandez
21.13 - Jed Lowrie
22.3 - Bryan LaHair
23.13 - Mike Leake
24.3 - James McDonald
25.13 - Felipe Paulino
26.3 - Ty Wigginton
27.13 - Dillon Gee
28.3 - Ian Stewart
29.13 - Jonny Venters
30.3 - Wilin Rosario

I cut Paulino & Venters after Week 1, so no credit for any of Paulino's good outings.

[chimpat]

We had a strong finish to the draft..... knocked it out of the park with picks 25-28 and even Harang at 29 has contributed. We made a terrible move dropping McDonald after his first few starts, but what can you do....

13 Lucas Duda RF
14 David Freese 3B
15 Jim Johnson MR
16 Wandy Rodriguez SP
17 Gavin Floyd SP
18 Alfonso Soriano LF
19 Yonder Alonso 1B
20 Nick Hundley C
21 Ivan Nova SP
22 Mitch Moreland 1B
23 Ty Wigginton 3B
24 Drew Pomeranz SP
25 R.A. Dickey SP
26 Josh Reddick RF
27 James McDonald SP
28 A.J. Ellis C
29 Aaron Harang SP
30 Chris Parmelee 1B

[CASS]

13 Anibal Sanchez
14 Ian Desmond
15 Jose Altuve
16 Kenley Jansen
17 Jason Kubel
18 Alex Presley
19 Bud Norris
20 Allen Craig
21 Devin Mesoraco
22 Chris Iannetta
23 Eduardo Nunez
24 Homer Bailey
25 Tom Wilhelmsen
26 Randall Delgado

some misses but some serious gems. Sadly it's our top horses that have struggled. Normally this is a homerun for that area...

[BEF]

From a Slow Draft held last November, at the First Pitch Arizona seminar:

15 Jonathan Lucroy C
16 Cory Luebke SP
17 Daniel Murphy 2B
18 Brandon League MR
19 Allen Craig 1B
20 A.J. Pierzynski C
21 R.A. Dickey SP
22 Matt Harrison SP
23 Rafael BetancourtMR
24 Chris Heisey LF
25 Zack Cozart SS
26 Chris Capuano SP
27 Aaron Harang SP
28 Luke Scott LF
29 Casey McGehee 1B
30 Rod Barajas C


11 of these 16 players are in my starting lineup this week (three are on the DL, two on the bench). I don't know if that reflects my ability to find late round talent, or my incredible inability to get good early round talent...

[HOB]

15 11 Vernon Wells
Dropped for Trevor Plouffe recently
16 2 Neil Walker
Everyday starting 2b for me until Utley shows me something
17 11 Hiroki Kuroda
Be a must start most weeks
18 2 Ryan Dempster
no wins but helping in all other cats
19 11 Brandon McCarthy
hurt now but has been worth having
20 2 Matt Capps
Crapps has yet to be Crapp and is not hurt..which is a plus
21 11 Jed Lowrie
dropped early in the year when I went all in to pick up Ellsbury in FAAB
22 2 Josh Willingham
Been a godsend here
23 11 A.J. Pierzynski
See willingham
24 2 Ivan Nova
Good for wins and K's..
25 11 Jonny Venters
dropped early to pick up Soriano when Big Mo went down for the Yanks
26 2 Marlon Byrd
dropped for Carlos Quentin
27 11 Rafael Furcal
In a slump but overall a good year
28 2 Alberto Callaspo
dropped for Betemit
29 11 Kyle Lohse
so far so good
30 2 Scott Downs
dropped early and was pissed about it until i was able to get Soriano for two bucks.