The Transition

[DOUGHBOYS]

We're almost ready to transition from drafting season to baseball season.
Our drafting season is similar to the Hot Stove.
As the person who dictated what, how, and who we drafted, we each think (hopefully) that we have won the drafting season.
Just like the GM's in baseball.
The large difference being that GM's build off of their same players, while we start anew each year.

Some things, I will not miss concerning drafting season.
I will not miss Greg, Tom, podcasters, writers, and touts saying that a player has 'value' because he is under valued.
Yeah, they use 'value' TWICE IN THE SAME SENTENCE.
They have no better idea than we do when it comes to what really will happen during the season.
They are basing their comments on comparing drafts with adp or past performance.
Silly.

Spring Training Heroes.
Chris Paddack has risen from nowhere at the beginning of the drafting season to being the hottest pitcher drafted in high dollar leagues.
Coming into Spring Training, Paddack was on par with Dylan Cease of the White Sox in being drafted around round 30 in Draft Champions leagues.
The White Sox slow played Cease and sent him down early. The padres ramped up Paddack. And with the signing of Manny Machado, the Padres look to move with Paddack on their roster.
Paddack has played his part by pitching beautifully.
It has made his rise to rounds 10-12 in Main Events the perfect storm of drafters being in pre-jizz mode.

Predictions are fine.
I talked with a drafter who told me that, in that lineup and ball park, Scooter Gennett will go 35/110.
We try to think the best of every player. At the same time, we know that it only takes a second for a player to go down.
Predictors and projectors are human, just like the players we draft.
We can recite any numbers or facts to back up theories, but the fact is, until the season begins (or even before in Gennett's case), we really know little.
Objects appear larger in the rear view mirror, for us, those 'objects' is recent past performance.
Most of the players taken in top rounds this year had great years last year.
We're not doing rocket science.

The drafting season is like a young couple deeply in love and about to marry.
Our world is rosy and full of hope.
We know we're making the right decision. We just know it in our hearts.
We believe in our partner (players) and can't wait for the day that our marriage is consummated.
For us, that day begins on Thursday.
And like that married couple, we're going to experience a lot of different emotions with the players on our team.
We will even make them sleep on the couch (bench them) or even talk about divorce (FAAB).
But if making it through the perils, trepidation and rough patches in the relationship, the sense of accomplishment is like no other.