[Tiger Fan]

While I encourage DD Martin to keep us informed on the Bulls progress I will pop in now and then with an update on their soon to be division rivals to the north. As you may recall from above I moved to the helm of the Chicago Traders when that team opened up and DD took over my old spot building the expansion Kansas City Bulls.

I also posted earlier I thought I had picks 8 and 10 in the first round of the draft but it turns out my predecessor in Chicago dealt both of those picks for the guy who's player page is attached below.

The deal, done in spring training a year ago had sent two first round picks (which turned out to be 8th and 10th overall) and a marginal third baseman from my team to the cross-town Chicago Hawks in exchange for this pitcher and a third round pick.

Now, I don't have the experience in this league to judge this trade as I am told injuries are rampant among pitchers so durable guys like Vanderveer trade at a premium and I am also told my predecessor with the Chicago Traders did an excellent job of trading. I will say there was no way I would deal two first round picks for a pitcher like this but time will tell how he turns out.

As a result I did not own the 8th and 10th pick as expected. I did not have a first rounder but I did have two second round picks which I packaged to Toronto in order to move up and get the 18th pick of the opening round. I had been trying to get as high as I could with my limited resources because there was a catcher in the draft I really wanted. I did not get him as he went 8th -(Uggh. In the spot that originally would have been mine had the deal for Vanderveer not been made).

Here is how my draft went.
I will start by saying it was very interesting and something quite different for me that will take some adjustment. Despite playing OOTP forever that was the first fictional player draft with visible ratings I have ever done. My other online leagues are either historical, in which case I will glance at the star ratings but primarily draft players based on what I know of their careers, or stats-only. And in solo play when I do run a team instead of just simming as the commissioner I always turn ratings off and go only by stats and scouting reports.

So this one was a challenge and there is so much I need to figure out with perhaps the primary thing being to remember to look at ratings instead of college/HS stats and scouting reports. I will struggle for a while with things like which pitching ratings are most important (stuff, movement or control?) and can things like range, error or double play ratings improve or are they basically static. There will be a learning curve but, aside from a few wild discrepancies, most of the guys on my draft list were selected near where I had slotted them so perhaps the learning curve won't be as steep as I fear. But it was fun and with ratings visible or not I stil really had quite an internal debate over which out of 2 or 3 guys to select each time my pick came up. I was also very impressed how quickly we progressed through the draft so for that credit goes to all of the great GM's in this year. It is even more impressive it took only 3 days to complete when you consider New Years Eve fell right in the middle of the draft. These GMs are obviously dedicated which will likely make my job of trying to restore the tradition of exellence set by the Traders teams of the past.

BREAKING DOWN THE TRADERS DRAFT

1-18 RHP TOBY CHAMBERS: #16 on my draft board. I had traded up sending my two second round picks to the Toronto Hurons for this pick with the plan that I wanted catcher Jerry Bischoff. I had no idea if he would last that long (he didn't) but felt the high school product from Connecticut could be a great hitting (for his position) catcher. I have 7-time all-star Billy Hall but he will be 34 next season and could be starting to show signs of slowing down and beyond him I have no one on my roster I can trust as the backup catcher so the plan was Bischoff would fill that role and take over as Hall faded. My backup plan was to get a decent pitching prospect with Witt, Moser, Danvers, Chambers and Elsner all in the mix. Chambers would be the highest pitcher remaining on my board when my turn came up.

As for Chambers himself, the scouting report calls the high schooler out of Miami a potential #2 starter. He is just 18 so will be a project but has a pair of plus pitches in his screwball and sinker along with 2 others in a curve and slider. He is a groundball pitcher, which is something I always look for and my hope is he can become a very good middle of the rotation guy eventually. The one thing that scares me is he is a high school pitcher and in my other league high school arms often run into injury and do not pan out.

3-8 C DAVE WELSH: #72 on my draft board. I did not get the first round catcher I needed and felt no other backstop in the class was worthy of first round consideration so the decision was I would draft for need and take the best available catcher here. I had Castro, Estes and Potts in that order but all three went in the middle of the second round so I was in scramble mode. Welsh was a guy I initially put on my list because he hails from London, Ontario - a city I live 15 minutes from right now. He was right near the bottom of my list at 72nd and quite possibly would have been available when I next picked at 3-22 so I was heavily debating between him, SS Keith Fulmer and OF Walt Minnick. I figured I could not wait as there were no other catchers that made my list so I went with the hometown kid. Welsh is no future starter but hopefully can be a servicable backup. I need his eye to develop to the point where he can get on base enough to make up for a low contact tool. His arm is also below average but he is instantly my backup by default unless I can grab someone off the waiver wire.

3-22 1B JIMMY MCCOLLUM: #66 on my draft board. It is no secret Melbourne Trench is in the homestretch of his career and if the Traders get off to a poor start there is a good chance he will be traded shortly after he gets his 400th career homerun but before the end of July deadline. The Traders need to look for an eventual successor at first. I don't say replacement as it is clear that no one player can replace the most prolific homerun hitter in the game. Jimmy McCollum, a 21 year old out of Fresno State, will certainly not replace Trench but the hope is McCollum could develop his other tools enough so that his above average power can find a spot in our lineup, at least as a stopgap until we find someone else to replace Trench. There were several pitchers including my fifth round pick Johnny Baggs still available on my list when I drafted McCollum but I thought I would take a chance on the first baseman who hit 11 homers each of his 2 seasons of college ball. Only two players in the current draft class: Virginia's Bob Anderson and Long Beach State's Bill Marks hit more homers this season then McCollum. I likely would have taken Anderson over McCollum had he not been selected by Boston 5 picks ahead of me although I was very much debating it as my pick approached. I had Anderson well ahead of McCollum (30th) on my draft board due to his fielding skills and higher batting eye potential but McCollum feels like a slightly more finished prospect at this point. Marks, who would go a round later to Toronto, was not in the mix for me at this juncture of the draft.

5-8 P JOHNNY BAGGS: #57 on my draft board. Baggs was about the last man standing on the list I inputted into stats plus. Yes, his name seems more suitable for a middle man who delivers the cash for a group of mobsters but he is durable (and I tell my self that is great every time I think of Greg Vanderveer), has four pitching including what hopefully will become a very good curve ball and has great stamina. Unfortunately, it appears most of his pitches - perhaps even the curve - are a little too straight right now as he likes to serve up souviners for fans in the outfield bleachers a little too often for my tastes as his 13 homers allowed last season at the University of Minnesota were among the the most allowed in the NCAA a year ago.

That completes my first draft at the helm of the Chicago Traders. Overall it's not too bad I hope but certainly could have been much better, especially if we had been able to land Bischoff. What hurts even more with Bischoff is he went 8th to the Chicago Hawks - in the draft slot I would have had were it not for the infamous Vanderveer trade. (And Billy Ray, who was taken 10th by the Hawks with the other selection the Traders dealt was very high on my list as well).

I also wonder if I will regret not drafting one of shortstops Mike Jackson and Jerry Schonfield with my first round pick (note if you want to look at their player pages they are posted a little earlier in this thread when I was discussing who KC should take first overall). I was very high on both right from my mock drafts when I was still anticipating running the KC Bulls and I had each in my final draft list top 5 along with pitchers Neas and Alton and CF Jablonowksi, I really did not look at them closely in the final draft as the expectation was both would be gone when I picked at 18 and I was laser focused on Bischoff or the best pitcher I could get. As it turned out they both hung around very long and neither was drafted until the second round. As for Jablonowski I was looking at him again as my first round pick approached especially as Witt, Moser and Danvers fell off the board but the decision between Jablonowski - who was #1 in the mock draft - and an arm was made for me when St Louis took the outfielder 2 picks ahead of me at 16.