The San Diego Stingrays are in an interesting place. Even though we could probably win now if we kept the team in order, we’re $40,000,000 over budget and I don’t feel like putting my team into bankruptcy. Here’s a brief look at the North American Baseball League (NABL) before we begin.
Beyond our financial problems, I’ve found two others. Both the Los Angeles stars and San Francisco Ocean have astronomical budgets. This won’t really be an issue right now, but in the future they’ll be the biggest threats to us. Since there are 3 potential wild card spots in each league it won’t be impossible to overcome.
To my surprise, the team doesn’t actually look that bad. I mean, the bullpen isn’t great and the back end of the rotation could use some work but it’s a solid lineup. In a way, that makes my situation even worse. It’s like having a perfect meal in front of you but you can't touch it because it costs your weight in gold.
Beside the overpaid, we have 2 really good players: Chris Asberry and Edwin Garcia. Garcia is a 25 year old right fielder with excellent power. Depending on how the season goes, he’ll either be traded in July or we’ll keep him. Asberry on the other hand is untouchable. He’s ranked as the league’s number one prospect by OSA.
3/5/17
The Draft
In the first ever NABL draft, the Stingrays will pick second. The first overall pick (by the Ponce Swords) was Scott Murdock, a San Diego kid! He wasn’t very high on my list, those curve/change ratings are concerning, but he can touch 100 so he’ll probably be a solid reliever even if he fails as a starter.
It was a deep draft so I had a really nice selection for my pick. From my first look it was obvious that college hitting was the bread and butter of the class. Third baseman Blake Bailey, right fielder Guadalupe Contreras and second baseman Griff Stone were early standouts. Bailey had an all star ceiling and a nice floor. Contreras had the best floor in the draft but OSA and my scout disagreed on his potential (OSA thinks he’s a generational talent but my scout sees him as a solid starter but not spectacular) and he might have some signability issues. Griff has batting title potential but lacks power and eye. On top of that, he’s already almost 23 years old. I’ll pass on him, even though he had the lowest bonus demand.
After much deliberation, I decided to go with Contreras. If OSA is right on him, he’ll lead the offense for the foreseeable future. The Stars ended up picking Nick Salinas next, a lefts with an underdeveloped change. Griff Stone ended up being taken 15th overall by the Philadelphia Bells.
Surprisingly, Blake Bailey was still available for my next pick. As was Dusty Greenwood, a college pitcher I perceived as the best in the class do to his we developed nature. I took Blake, but it probably means I’ll have to go under slot for the next few picks. Dusty Greenwood was available for my next pick. At this point, either I’m having a great draft and the AI is an idiot, or I’m doing terribly. With my next pick, I took Nate Rester, a bat first catcher who was mediocre at fielding, struckout too much and played against poor competition. His only upside is his “very easy” signability. Maybe he can be a backup in the future. With my fifth pick, I took Mario Martinez, a future middle reliever with easy signability. All of my other picks can be found below. Overall I thought it was a pretty good draft. I didn’t get as many starting pitcher as I would’ve liked, but I got a few lottery tickets in the later rounds. At the very least, I know I got a few second division starters and relief pitchers in the bottom half of the draft. Hopefully a few surprises emerge. Next time I'll cover from now to opening day. I'll probably sell off some guys so I can get under budget.
