Chicago League 4

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:36 am

The Chicago main event will be held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on Saturday, March 21st starting promptly at noon CST with 4 full leagues. Please be on time as all drafts will start exactly at the top of the hour. Here is the draft order for Chicago League 4:

CHICAGO LEAGUE 4

1. Kevin Carlson, Beavercreek, Ohio

2. Mark Grooms, Shelbyville, Missouri

3. Nick Cole, Lascassas, Tennessee

4. Dave McDonald, Bay Village, Ohio

5. Russel Wyatt, Oswego, Illinois

6. George Beason, Chattanooga, Tennessee

7. Stanley Kaye/Todd Nord, Frisco, Texas

8. Dominic Cirigliano, Columbia Station, Ohio

9. Gary Cutler, Jeddo, Michigan

10. Richard Kulaski, Nashville, Tennessee

11. Kim Dettmann, Mt. Prospect, Illinois

12. Karl Mische, Rogers, Minnesota

13. Michael Makula, Chicago, Illinois

14. Edward Nolan, Oakdale, Minnesota

15. George Kleemann, Palatine, Illinois

Less than Dave · Post by **Less than Dave** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:42 am

NICE!! I'll take it!

headhunters · Post by **headhunters** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:48 am

dave- nice to know you were called out as dead $ in super. luck box here- the perfect spot. no excuses.

Less than Dave · Post by **Less than Dave** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:13 am

hahaha ya I saw that.. he played it off like it was a joke... but you're right, no excuses.. at #4, I should be able to make an elite team this year.

Navel Lint · Post by **Navel Lint** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:40 am

Good Luck All

Snord35 · Post by **Snord35** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:06 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

The Chicago main event will be held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on Saturday, March 21st starting promptly at noon CST with 4 full leagues. Please be on time as all drafts will start exactly at the top of the hour. Here is the draft order for Chicago League 4:

CHICAGO LEAGUE 4

1. Kevin Carlson, Beavercreek, Ohio

2. Mark Grooms, Shelbyville, Missouri

3. Nick Cole, Lascassas, Tennessee

4. Dave McDonald, Bay Village, Ohio

5. Russel Wyatt, Oswego, Illinois

6. George Beason, Chattanooga, Tennessee

7. Stanley Kaye/Todd Nord, Frisco, Texas

8. Dominic Cirigliano, Columbia Station, Ohio

9. Gary Cutler, Jeddo, Michigan

10. Richard Kulaski, Nashville, Tennessee

11. Kim Dettmann, Mt. Prospect, Illinois

12. Karl Mische, Rogers, Minnesota

13. Michael Makula, Chicago, Illinois

14. Edward Nolan, Oakdale, Minnesota

15. George Kleemann, Palatine, Illinois Looks like a league full of guys I have drafted with before. Stan and I are very happy with the 7 pick as we wanted a top 4 pick or a middle of the round pick. Can't wait for Saturday I'll be looking to catch up with many of you before the draft.

Bobby J · Post by **Bobby J** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:02 am

good luck Dave, I got the 4 spot in Chicago 1, that comment about the super definitely got a good laugh out of me, what did you do to **** him off?

Less than Dave · Post by **Less than Dave** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:09 pm

hahahaha.. nothing! you know me, I'm a nice guy... I hadn't even said anything on the message board in weeks.... but hey, good luck man... I look forward to chatting at the draft with you... pick 4 looks good right now for us.

Navel Lint · Post by **Navel Lint** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:39 am

Good Draft Everyone

Nice meeting Dave and Gary and seeing George again.

Let's have a good season and I hope someone brings home 100K.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:34 pm

Hey guys, it was a blast and well worth the 10 hour drive (both times)!

With no further ado, let me tick the world off... Las Vegas may be more fun before and after the draft and auctions, but Chicago has definitely got the lead in being more fun at the draft and auctions.

And as for Chicago being as close to hell as I've ever come, everyone I've met there are some of the best

Here is to a great season, win or lose!

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:45 pm

Good Luck in your leagues George. It was fun doing the auction with you and everyone else.

bill

Head 2 Head · Post by **Head 2 Head** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:49 am

Great draft. It was nice to meet some of you for the first time and to get reintroduced to others.

I see many of the teams from our league over on the Main Message Board, but thought I would post ours here. From the 9 hole.

C Mauer (7), R Hernandez

1B Butler, Giambi or Nick Johnson

2B Uggla (6) and Cano (8)

ss Rollins (1) and Tejada (Utility)

3B Beltre (11)

OF C.Lee (2), McLouth(4), X Nady and Matsui (hoping Swisher doesn't take AB's away from either), Spilbough

SP CC (3), Dice-K (9), Cliff Lee (10), Verlander

Litsch, Blanton & Bush

RP Nathan (5) and Corpas or Ziegler

Bench: Cahill & Hughes, Teahan, McCutchen & Laporta. Also 1B and RP (Giambi & Corpas?)

I liked the thoughts that you all shared on your teams - so I will give mine on our team (Team Name: Top of the Fourth in Chicago).

I thought we got a nicely balanced (target .285 70/70 300/300 from first three hitters) start with Rollins, C.Lee and McLouth along with an Ace and a Closer (CC & Nathan).

Since we were short in power and thought Uggla was a value we went that way in the sixth and then followed it up with Cano and Mauer (hoping for 400+ AB's of .315) to offset Ugglas' bad BA.

BA should be over .280 if Nick Johnson play (benching Giambi's .250) which isn't something we should count on. But today we can dream.

HR should approach 275 as Mauer is the only starter that should get under 15 dingers. However, only Giambi (on the bench) and C. Lee are the only true 30+ guys.

Steals look short - 125 until McCutchen plays, as only McLouth and Rollins (and hopefully Spilbourgh) are safe bets to steal over 10.

On the pitching side CC, C.Lee, Dice-BB and Verlander SHOULD give us a solid core of a sub 3.70 ERA 1.28 Whip and 675 K's (if Healthy).

The inning eaters (Blanton, Litsch and Bush) are all low-K guys (averaging about 5.5k/9) that I am projecting to have less than 4.25 ERA's and 1.35 Whips. With Nathan and whoever wins

our second closer role giving us a sub 3 ERA along with a sub 1.2 whip, we should end up in the 3.8 ERA 1.28 Whip range.

Wins are a crapshoot and saves are short (I have ordered Devine and Street voodoo dolls).

My only complaint was that Underdog (George Kleeman) was so nice and helpful to my girlfriend (Kaline) that she is rooting for him.

Gary

Less than Dave · Post by **Less than Dave** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:47 pm

Had a blast as always, guys... thanks for another great draft. Russel, nice to meet you too! Good luck guys... may you place 2nd

dantemarco · Post by **dantemarco** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:43 am

I also enjoyed my return to Chicago. Both the auction and the main drafts were a gas. Lots of cool people with skills.

I haven't crunched numbers, but if I had to choose who I thought had the best draft, I would vote for Karl (12) and Dave (4).

Consider yourselves hexed.

Less than Dave · Post by **Less than Dave** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:34 am

hahahaha noooooo! Everyone said that last year and I had quite possibly the worst fortune of anyone in fantasy baseball!

rkulaski · Post by **rkulaski** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:57 pm

Hey guys,

What a great weekend. I flew up from Nashville, TN and stayed at my nephew's house over the weekend. He's my co-manager. We drafted from the 10 spot. I wanted to post our team and then I'll post it under General Discussion in a little bit.

Obviously, catcher is questionable with Weiters being a true wild card. Otherwise, I think our power and speed may be better than it looks on paper. Our pitching staff is a little riskier than some others but I like it. I actually was a little disappointed I missed some of my later round good value pitchers but still managed to get a couple others. Ok, from the 10 spot:

1 Utley- best avaible in our opinion followed next by J Hamilton

2 Crawford- love his work ethis

3 Alexei Ramirez- obviously we're high on him

4 Halladay- good because the next best aces wouldn't have fallen back to us

5 KRod- didn't like the bats or SPs at this point

6 Tulo

7 Dye

8 Ethier - mildly surprised he slipped here

9 F Francisco- and then the closer run began

10 J Johnson

11 Weiters- didn't expect this pick

12 Carpenter- obvioulsy we believe in him

13 S Choo- if Weiters works out, we were strong coming out of the break

14 J Weaver

15 Sandoval

16 Sonnanstine

17 A Casilla - added some speed

18 Lowell- not a bad 3B this late in the draft

19 K Gregg- closer?

20 R Church - 5th OF

21 Glaus- depth at CI or util, back by mid May?

22 M Owings

23 K Escobar

24 L Overbay - our last hitter filled- not sexy

25 B Penny

26 R Hill

27 S Lewis

28 J Owens

29 K Davies

30 M Redmond- could you finish with a stronger bat than this?

To the team who picked 9th (Head to Head)- nice meeting you guys. Looks like you have a solid team.

To the team who picked 11th (Kim??)- nice meeting you too. I know we "stole" a couple of your picks but you did the same to us too. I don't know how happy you are with your team as you look back on it, but, if I remember, the bats seemed solid.

Good luck everyone.

Sincerely,

Rich, Nashville TN

co-manager Chris, Tinley Park IL

Navel Lint · Post by **Navel Lint** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:18 am

I saw this type of post in another league and I thought I would try it here. These are just my opinions based on draft day rosters. We all know that your draft roster won’t be the same as your final roster, but it’s a starting point. I also think that the draft is about 65% of the equation to the final standings puzzle. Roster moves, FAAB, and injuries are the other 35%. So, with that in mind, here are;

Odds to win 2009 Chicago League 4 Championship;

7-1 Bull Pen Pugs Saves and performance of a couple young OF’s will be key.

15-2 Navel Lint Middle level power, solid avg and steals. Saves will be the challenge.

9-1 Team Cutler Big power, light on speed. Short on saves

11-1 That’s A Winner Monster power. Solid Starters with high K’s

11-1 Less than Dave Lack of power will be biggest problem.

12-1 Diamond Knights Avg will be a drag on team. Save total could be 35-90

14-1 Bambinos Very balanced. Question marks are ratio categories; avg & era

17-1 Broken Arms Plenty of speed and power, but saves and maybe even RBI’s a problem

20-1 Hang Tough Surprising lack of counting stats for the number of AB’s projected

20-1 Teamsters Potential upside SP. Should be 25-1, but giving union brother discount.

20-1 In it 2 Win It Wieters, Choo, and Sandoval will be the keys to team.

33-1 Smoky Mnt Oysters Speed to burn. Power, RBI’s & K’s are the problem.

50-1 MP Hammers I think the weakest overall hitting. Pitching OK, but won’t cover hitting.

100-1 Underdogs Some big power, but came at a sacrifice of SB and avg.

100-1 Team Grooms Bottom third hitting, worst pitching on the board.

OK, so there it is. Take it for what it’s worth. It’s for fun and a conversation starter.

I’m setting myself up for target, fire away.

Less than Dave · Post by **Less than Dave** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:04 am

Interesting. I think my power will come down to AROD.. if he comes back healthy around May, I'm fine. If not, I may be in trouble. I think my biggest issues are having enough starters (with Harden, Duchscherer, and Smoltz I will need to pick up more innings) and closers (I really hope one of Percival/Isringhausen will get the saves for the Rays)... looks like Motte will close in St. Louis so Franklin is probably not gonna help me. The one thing I really love about my team is that my ratios (ERA, WHIP, and BA) are all going to be very strong... those are the hardest to make up. Also, all of my hitters hit 1-5 in the batting order except Luis Castillo.. I think that will be huge for my R/RBI numbers. Essentially though, it comes down to AROD. He could make or break me.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:56 pm

Originally posted by rucrew2:

Odds to win 2009 Chicago League 4 Championship;

7-1 Bull Pen Pugs Saves and performance of a couple young OF’s will be key.

15-2 Navel Lint Middle level power, solid avg and steals. Saves will be the challenge.

9-1 Team Cutler Big power, light on speed. Short on saves

11-1 That’s A Winner Monster power. Solid Starters with high K’s

11-1 Less than Dave Lack of power will be biggest problem.

12-1 Diamond Knights Avg will be a drag on team. Save total could be 35-90

14-1 Bambinos Very balanced. Question marks are ratio categories; avg & era

17-1 Broken Arms Plenty of speed and power, but saves and maybe even RBI’s a problem

20-1 Hang Tough Surprising lack of counting stats for the number of AB’s projected

20-1 Teamsters Potential upside SP. Should be 25-1, but giving union brother discount.

20-1 In it 2 Win It Wieters, Choo, and Sandoval will be the keys to team.

33-1 Smoky Mnt Oysters Speed to burn. Power, RBI’s & K’s are the problem.

50-1 MP Hammers I think the weakest overall hitting. Pitching OK, but won’t cover hitting.

100-1 Underdogs Some big power, but came at a sacrifice of SB and avg.

100-1 Team Grooms Bottom third hitting, worst pitching on the board.To say that I am hurt is an understatement... Especially since I missed out on the union brother discount.

Well, here goes: I think that since you started out with 7-1 odds that is a sign you think there is some parity. All in all, I think the league is mostly flat.

In my opinion, MP Hammers is the best buy on the board at 50-1, followed by mine at 33-1. I really don't agree with the two longshots. They are longshots but they are better than 100-1.

The worst value by far on the board is Navel Lint at 15-2. That looks like the "Old And In The Way" team. Inge, Polanco, Mora, Branyan, Wells, Soriano and Thome. The pitching is pretty flat, with the ace being a severe injury risk as well as unhappy camper since he keeps being shopped around. Ah, payback is hell... I was really offended at 33-1. I thought we were friends and all. :rolleyes:

Now the real meat - Bull Pen Pugs. Are they the favorite? I'm personally buying a winning ticket for Hang Tough. They nose out the Diamond Knights in pitching. The Bull Pen Pugs I don't believe are in the top 5 of the league. Even if Berkman didn't have a bum arm, the OF has too much age and too many question marks. The pitching doesn't look very strong either.

Here is what I think:

1. Hang Tough (3-1)

2. Diamond Knights(5-1)

3. Teamsters (12-1)

4. Bambinos (18-1)

5. Less Than Dave (20-1)

But that is me trying to be humble, and not say that my team is head and shoulders above everyone else. Buy a ticket on me at 33-1, and take it to the bank

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:59 pm

Oh yeah, and it was just gut feel. I didn't plug any numbers in anywhere.

Bull Pen Pugs · Post by **Bull Pen Pugs** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:06 pm

Thats why your way off. I think Naval was being nice at 33-1, cause I project you to finish in the last third of the league.

Naval, Top of the fouth, me and Less than Dave in the top 4.... But, its a long year........

[ March 29, 2009, 11:05 PM: Message edited by: Bull Pen Pugs ]

Navel Lint · Post by **Navel Lint** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:34 pm

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

quote:Originally posted by rucrew2:

Odds to win 2009 Chicago League 4 Championship;

7-1 Bull Pen Pugs Saves and performance of a couple young OF’s will be key.

15-2 Navel Lint Middle level power, solid avg and steals. Saves will be the challenge.

9-1 Team Cutler Big power, light on speed. Short on saves

11-1 That’s A Winner Monster power. Solid Starters with high K’s

11-1 Less than Dave Lack of power will be biggest problem.

12-1 Diamond Knights Avg will be a drag on team. Save total could be 35-90

14-1 Bambinos Very balanced. Question marks are ratio categories; avg & era

17-1 Broken Arms Plenty of speed and power, but saves and maybe even RBI’s a problem

20-1 Hang Tough Surprising lack of counting stats for the number of AB’s projected

20-1 Teamsters Potential upside SP. Should be 25-1, but giving union brother discount.

20-1 In it 2 Win It Wieters, Choo, and Sandoval will be the keys to team.

33-1 Smoky Mnt Oysters Speed to burn. Power, RBI’s & K’s are the problem.

50-1 MP Hammers I think the weakest overall hitting. Pitching OK, but won’t cover hitting.

100-1 Underdogs Some big power, but came at a sacrifice of SB and avg.

100-1 Team Grooms Bottom third hitting, worst pitching on the board.To say that I am hurt is an understatement... Especially since I missed out on the union brother discount..........

I was really offended at 33-1. I thought we were friends and all. :rolleyes:

[/QUOTE]George,

I was just trying to call it as I see it. I know it's only draft day rosters and anything can happen I hope you or anyone else isn't really mad. I hope we're still good.

In fact, If you come back to Chicago next year we should try and have a Friday night Chicago get together like they have in Vegas. I know that there are some that come in from out of town and maybe some of the locals like myself could get out.

And, I didn't know you were union....so......

Revised odds......

Smoky Mtn Oysters 27-1

[ March 29, 2009, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: rucrew2 ]

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 5:40 am

I've been a member of the pipefitter's local since the grand old age of 21, however now I just carry the card and work as an engineer/entrepreneur/fantasy baseball bum. But you got to pay homage to the things in life that get you on the right path. Being a union pipefitter certainly helped me.

No offense taken, but I bet Underdogs and Team Grooms may disagree

That Friday night sounds like a great idea. I'm all in. But first we have to get you in the auction!

So, just as a little chit chat during the lead up what were you and Pugs' projections for everybody? I really think Hang Tough and Diamond Knights are teams to watch out for.

And seriously if you have me in the bottom third, you guys must be reading your list upside down

Head 2 Head · Post by **Head 2 Head** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:49 am

9-1 Team Cutler Big power, light on speed. Short on saves

Originally posted by Head 2 Head:

Wins are a crapshoot and saves are short (I have ordered Devine and Street voodoo dolls).

Gary One down - one to go.

Navel Lint · Post by **Navel Lint** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:48 am

Originally posted by Head 2 Head:

9-1 Team Cutler Big power, light on speed. Short on saves

quote:Originally posted by Head 2 Head:

Wins are a crapshoot and saves are short (I have ordered Devine and Street voodoo dolls).

Gary One down - one to go.

[/QUOTE]Might not last very long, but.....

Huston Street has reportedly edged Manny Corpas for the closer's role in Colorado, according to the Denver Post. ~ Rototimes