April 18, 2014

TTO Scoresheet Podcast

A Mock Supplemental Draft

by Ian Lefkowitz, Ben Murphy and Jared Weiss

Printer-friendly

In Scoresheet baseball, the first supplemental draft is a time when the dreams of spring training are dashed against the rocks of designated for assignment statuses and hamstring strains. For all but the most active/desperate traders, this is your first chance to reshape your team, if even slightly, to cover up for some of the inevitable strains against your depth chart.

To help prepare you for the upcoming draft, we podcasted what may be the first-ever mock Scoresheet supplemental draft, a feat for which we are duly proud and ashamed. In order to determine who was eligible for the draft, we randomly selected 25 public continuing Scoresheet leagues, both American and National format, and found whether the players were available in that league. Players who were available in 60 percent or more of these index leagues were listed as available.

Obviously, when drafting in all your supplemental rounds, your individual choices will probably be swayed much more by the needs of your team than by the best overall value, so these mock rankings should definitely be taken with shakers of salt (and should probably be accompanied by listening to the podcast, in order to best understand our reasoning for each draft choice). Our best generic advice is to take stock of your depth, and plan a month out, considering the ramifications of further attrition, particularly in your infield and your starting rotation. With all of those caveats, here's one potential way that your supplemental draft can play out:

AL Mock Draft (with approximate percent of leagues in which the player is available):

NL Mock Draft:

Start

Michael Morse: As usual, it pays just to see who rolls into Coors Field, and adjust accordingly, as San Francisco’s righty sock faces off against Franklin Morales and Jorge De La Rosa. The non-Coors half of the week also sees the nondescript Cleveland rotation come to town. Although the Sunday matchup against Danny Salazar promises a strikeout or two, it looks like it will be another solid week for the hot hitting Beast Mode. We don’t think it’s particularly for real, but if Morse is somehow still on your bench or in a complementary position, it’s time to get baseball’s best DJ into your lineup.

Ryan Sweeney: Sweeney has tended to be drafted late if at all in most Scoresheet leagues, but if he’s hanging out on your roster, it may be a good week to see if you can sneak that centerfield caliber defense into your lineup without sacrificing as much on offense as usual. Sweeney and the Cubs face six right-handed pitchers this week, with Wade Miley being the only sinister starter. The caliber of the pitchers may get stiff against the hot Milwaukee pitching starters, but it’s more than balanced by four games against the imploding Diamondbacks rotation and their shaky bullpens.

Tommy Milone: A canny draft-and-stash pick last month, Milone faces two relatively comforting matchups this week, as the wreckage of the Texas Rangers lineup heads into Oakland for the first game, and Milone heads to Houston for the second. Milone (and Dan Straily) should be able to take advantage of catching their rivals at the wrong time of the season.

Sit

Brian Dozier: It’s a rough projected week for Twins’ hitters this week, as they draw the ambulatory half of the Rays rotation, and then come home to get matched up against Detroit. Dozier in particular has shown terrific secondary skills so far, and has rewarded owners who were willing to wait the longest on a second baseman. If you do have a platoon or other options at the position, however, it’s probably a good week to let your lefty take most or all of the work.

Chris Johnson: Atlanta takes on Miami and Cincinnati this week, meaning that they’ll be facing a steady supply of strong right-handed pitching, including the best starter in baseball. While not as brutal as it’s been in the past, you’re certainly not starting Chris Johnson for his defense, so why not cobble something together out of your backups this week, and skip Johnson as much as you can?

R.A. Dickey: It’s hard to project any individual matchup against the knuckleball, really, but it’s been clear that Dickey hasn’t been sharp in the early going. Even when Dickey was having his greatest run, he has struggled in the early going; whether due to difficulty finding the grip or getting involved in an overly engrossing Lord of the Rings versus Song of Ice and Fire flame war on the internet. The next two starts are at home, where the weather isn’t a factor but the lack of air pressure is, and they come against the Orioles and Red Sox, two teams that should be getting back to their natural offensive level pretty soon.

This Week’s Podcast: Joan of Arquimedes Caminero
This week, the Outcomes are rock stars, in that they take forever to get to the point. However, they do their best to prepare you for the upcoming supplemental draft, with one mock draft in each league. For those who want to get straight to business, the AL draft begins at 10:32, and the NL Draft begins at 47:58. If you listen, then we are inducting you into our Hall of Fame!

Download Here (1:20:22)
RSS Feed
iTunes Feed
Email Us
Sponsor Us