To kill a little time before real baseball starts, I've devised a continual top 10 of bad jargon that takes us from the beginning of our study into the beginning of our season.
1. SLEEPER. I just cringed. When I was a kid Rip Van Winkle was a sleeper. The word means little anymore. But that word is sure to be in every magazine countless times. But after dreaming of our number one picks, we delve into lesser known players looking for a sleeper that has....
2. UPSIDE. I much prefer Shandler's pros and cons to magazines listings of upside. Hardly anybody talks about the downside. I do know that no hill or mountain has all upside, its the same with players. Of course, if you do hit on that player with ALL upside, he is having his....
3. BREAKOUT YEAR. I haven't quite figured out breakout year. Does that mean that the player like a McLouth or Quentin or Ludwick will continue to have great years once they've "broken out" or does it mean they will probably never come near those numbers again. Breakout year hopes are usually given to....
4. PROSPECTS. I call them suspects. For every Braun or Longoria, there are a hundred Wily Mo Pena's and Jayson Nix's. But we tend to like these guys because we don't want to miss the boat if Elvis Andrus turns from PROSPECT Elvis Andrus to Jose Reyes, but we know in our heart of hearts that he'll probably be Cesar Izturis. Either way he'll be ...
5. UNDERVALUED,OVERVALUED. I got Longoria with the 27th pick in my draft. I like Longoria this year. Instead of being elated, my first thoughts were why did Longoria pass by so many other drafters? In my mind, they had UNDERVALUED him. But upon further review, each one of these players may have been looking for something different, be it position, speed, or average. I may have gotten Longoria at a bargain, but players with better numbers were taken later, and we all know that....
6. NUMBERS DON'T LIE. What a load. Mark Twain popularized the slogan, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Smart man, that Twain. We're geting ready for the draft and Mr. Common Guy knows that Shandler had Joba as the number one pitcher. Great numbers, over a strikeout an inning, that does it, the average player goes to bed with thoughts of getting Joba. After he is rostered, he'll realize that Joba's innings will max out at 150 and that if Rivera hits the injured list or Joba even has a hiccup in his arm that he will be right back in the bullpen. That is just one case, Morneau's doubles to homers, Ludwicks average...they will all be scrutinized before, during, and after the draft with.....
7. PROJECTIONS. It's replaced sleeper as my most unfavorite word. ANYBODY can make projections. Hell, if you don't like how your projections came out, you can even change them to feel better about your team. The draft is just the base of your team. 30 Guys on your roster and 15 of them probably won't be there by year's end. I'd like to see projections on who will stay on the roster for the whole year
. I laugh when I see the "I have 280 hr's and 150 sb's", uh...no..., you have zero, just like me. A lot of the projectionist (that used to be a job at movie theatres before computerization) go on the Boards and ask to....8. RATE MY TEAM. Boring. At this stage, we should be looking into our own leagues and seeing who to beat. But it is tough because the league hasn't started yet and so far nobody has posted a better team than the one you drafted. But, now the season has started and your team is doing well. Elvis Andrus has stolen two bases, he is....
9. ON PACE TO....Ugh. The first few weeks of the year, we hear it, and some posters believe that the pace will be kept up :rolleyes: I won $20 from a friend who thought Josh Hamilton would break the rbi record last year. It was mid year, he was looking great and still came up 60 rbi short at the end of the year. Sufficith to say, it's a long season and the ON PACE TO, will be followed shortly by....
10. INJURIES ARE KILLING ME. Believe me, you care, but unless you have a relative playing in the NFBC, nobody else will. Some get hit with clusters of injuries that are just devastating, some lesser, and can overcome them. Either way, everybody has problems. INJURIES ARE KILLING ME is akin to 80 year old Aunt Ruth speaking of her health problems.
So there it is, and the only sure thing....damn, I should have added SURE THING, is that all of these terms will be used over and over again in the future. Good luck to all. Luck is the factor that no projectionist can evaluate.
[ March 24, 2009, 05:51 PM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]
