I went into the draft with the #3 pick in a 12 team PPR league. I had been targeting Trent Richardson for weeks, presuming that after Adrian Peterson went #1, Doug Martin would go #2. However, Jamaal Charles was the #2 pick, so DMart fell to me and I snagged him. I assigned 14 RBs to my first two tiers, with 4 RBs as my target for my 2nd pick, the 22nd overall. In order of preference, I had Steven Jackson, Matt Forte, Chris Johnson, and Stevan Ridley as possible options. However, in order to get any of these guys, I needed 7 of the first 21 picks to go for WRs, QBs, or RBs not on my list. My league's owners tend to love QBs in the first round, and I figured Calvin Johnson and Jimmy Graham would go before my pick, so I needed some help to get any of my four targets. As I predicted, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and Aaron Rodgers all went in the first 18 picks, as did Calvin Johnson. Unexpectedly, Dez Bryant went with pick 14, and David Wilson, Reggie Bush, and Darren Sproles (all RBs not in my top 14) all went early, leaving pick 21 with the option to take Jimmy Graham. Suddenly, I am faced with the dilemma of taking Jimmy Graham or one of my two RB targets. My decision is immediately made, as Graham is selected with pick 21.
With Steven Jackson still there, being the top RB from my next tier, I grab him with pick 22. Knowing I have picks 27 and 46, I have my sights set on Rob Gronkowski with pick 46. My hope is he will be overlooked by the other owners, as my past experience with them has revealed they will avoid drafting an injured player. Knowing this, I need to target an elite WR for pick 27. However, RB Stevan Ridely is still on the board, and still one of my top RB choices. I could take him, but suffer at the WR position. I'll have to wait and see who goes in picks 23-26. AJ Green, Demaryius Thomas, and Brandon Marshall all go in those picks, leaving me with a choice between Julio Jones and Ridley. As much as I like Ridley, Julio is the last WR left in my tier so I pull the trigger and draft him. RB-RB-WR is how I typically begin a draft, so this is looking nice. I now have a painful 18 picks to suffer through until I can decide on Gronkowski, however Lamar Miller and Giovani Bernard are still on the board after my pick 27. They are just too good to pass up at 46, and I decide I will have to pick one and roll the dice on Gronk still being there at pick 51. But, both RBs get picked and my decision comes down to Darren McFadden or Gronk, so I take Gronk at 46, just as I had hoped. I plan on taking Tyler Eifert late in the draft to start 1-2 games will Gronk is still recovering, and end up getting him in round 15.
Most of the RBs are going quickly now, and I pick Reggie Wayne in round 5 and Cecil Shorts in round 6. Lots of WRs I had rated lower than Shorts went, so I was happy to take him. Now, I am left with a QB decision, and my list of 12 QBs I would draft is down to one by the time my pick comes around in round 7, and I happily select Russell Wilson as my starting QB.
So here's my first 7 picks (RB-RB-WR-TE-WR-WR-QB):
Doug Martin
Steven Jackson
Julio Jones
Rob Gronkowski
Reggie Wayne
Cecil Shorts
Russell Wilson
I would have liked to have 3 RBs in the first 7 over 3 WRs, but the potential of Gronkowski at TE makes this acceptable, especially in a PPR.
For my reserves, I acquire Bryce Brown, Vick Ballard, T.Y. Hilton, Ryan Tannehill and Tyler Eifert. I had hoped to get Carson Palmer or Matt Schaub as my bye week QB, but they were both gone so I selected Tannehill over Josh Freeman. I was also able to get my top rated kicker, Blair Walsh, whose long FGs won me our league championship last season. We play Individual Defense Players for defense, so I won't go into that other than to say I got Lance Briggs, Jerod Meyo, and Aldon Smith.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with my draft. I got two great RBs, a stud WR, and an elite TE, and a capable Russell Wilson as my QB.
I missed out on Ben Tate when he was selected one pick before me in round 8. Other than Jimmy Graham going one pick before me in round 2, he was the only guy that I was hoping to get that was just out of reach.
I don't know if this link will work, but here is my draft (my team is the Crackheads): http://ppthree.football.cbssports.com/draft/results
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
The evolution of the lefty specialist
In 1962, something happened in MLB that had never happened before: a pitcher appeared in at least 40 games, and finished the season with fewer innings pitched than games. It was the Reds's Bill Henry, and he appeared in exactly 40 games, with only 37.1 IP. To no one's surprise, he was a left handed pitcher.
The next season, the Los Angeles Angels's lefty Jack Spring duplicated Henry's feat, appearing in 45 games with just 38.1 IP. And in 1967, the Astros's lefty Dan Schneider became the third player to accomplish this feat, bettering both Henry and Spring by appearing in 54 games for 52.2 IP. Schneider would only appear in 6 more games in his career. Lefty Al Jackson would do it too in 1969, playing for both the Mets and the Reds. He never pitched again.
In the 70s, three pitchers would join the club: the Astros's Jack DiLauro in 1970, the Phillies's Eddie Watt in 1974, and the Rangers's Joe Hoerner in 1973 and 1976. Only Watt was a righty.
Here is a breakdown in # of pitchers per year that did this, since 1980:
1980: 1
1981: 1 (strike season)
1982: 1
1983: 2
1984: 2
1985: 1
1986: 3
1987: 3
1988: 3
1989: 2
1990: 4
1991: 8
1992: 25!
Of these first 62 players to appear in 40 games with fewer IP than games, only 10 were righties. Since 1992, the numbers have climbed steadily. In 2012, 114 pitchers appeared in 40 games with fewer IP than games, but 76 of these pitchers were now righties! What used to be almost exclusive to lefties is now dominated by righties. The game changed a lot in the early 90s, that's for sure. It's just hard to believe it happened so fast.
Here is the list of pitchers per year, since 1992:
The next season, the Los Angeles Angels's lefty Jack Spring duplicated Henry's feat, appearing in 45 games with just 38.1 IP. And in 1967, the Astros's lefty Dan Schneider became the third player to accomplish this feat, bettering both Henry and Spring by appearing in 54 games for 52.2 IP. Schneider would only appear in 6 more games in his career. Lefty Al Jackson would do it too in 1969, playing for both the Mets and the Reds. He never pitched again.
In the 70s, three pitchers would join the club: the Astros's Jack DiLauro in 1970, the Phillies's Eddie Watt in 1974, and the Rangers's Joe Hoerner in 1973 and 1976. Only Watt was a righty.
Here is a breakdown in # of pitchers per year that did this, since 1980:
1980: 1
1981: 1 (strike season)
1982: 1
1983: 2
1984: 2
1985: 1
1986: 3
1987: 3
1988: 3
1989: 2
1990: 4
1991: 8
1992: 25!
Of these first 62 players to appear in 40 games with fewer IP than games, only 10 were righties. Since 1992, the numbers have climbed steadily. In 2012, 114 pitchers appeared in 40 games with fewer IP than games, but 76 of these pitchers were now righties! What used to be almost exclusive to lefties is now dominated by righties. The game changed a lot in the early 90s, that's for sure. It's just hard to believe it happened so fast.
Here is the list of pitchers per year, since 1992:
| Year ▴ | #Matching |
|---|---|
| 1992 | 25 |
| 1993 | 30 |
| 1994 | 20 |
| 1995 | 31 |
| 1996 | 31 |
| 1997 | 34 |
| 1998 | 40 |
| 1999 | 39 |
| 2000 | 42 |
| 2001 | 60 |
| 2002 | 49 |
| 2003 | 59 |
| 2004 | 58 |
| 2005 | 67 |
| 2006 | 66 |
| 2007 | 85 |
| 2008 | 85 |
| 2009 | 93 |
| 2010 | 100 |
| 2011 | 106 |
| 2012 | 114 |
Friday, May 17, 2013
The 1990 Major League Batting Champion
Maybe you remember this, maybe you don't. Or maybe you never knew this at all. But in 1990, the MLB batting champion wasn't honored at all, because he didn't lead his league in hitting.
Willie McGee was leading the NL with a .335 batting average on August 29th when the Oakland A's traded for him. He already had 542 plate appearances for the Cardinals at the time of the trade, so he had enough PA's to qualify him for the batting title. He went on to hit a respectable .274 for the A's for the remainder of the season, which dropped his season BA to .324.
Meanwhile, in the AL, George Brett would hit .329 to lead his league.
At the time of McGee's trade, Eddie Murray (then of the Dodgers) was batting .312. He would have a torrid September/October, batting .411 over 30 games and lifting his BA to .330. However, since McGee was qualified for the NL batting crown with a .335 BA, McGee would win the title over Murray (as McGee's AL at bats didn't reduce his NL batting average).
So, for the 1990 season, no one batted higher than Murray's .330, but he would see Brett win the AL batting title and McGee win the NL batting title. Murray would never win a batting title in his career.
Similarly, McGee led all of MLB in hits in 1990 with 199, but did not lead the league. Brett Butler and Lenny Dykstra led the NL with 192 hits, and Rafael Palmeiro led the AL with 191 hits.
Willie McGee was leading the NL with a .335 batting average on August 29th when the Oakland A's traded for him. He already had 542 plate appearances for the Cardinals at the time of the trade, so he had enough PA's to qualify him for the batting title. He went on to hit a respectable .274 for the A's for the remainder of the season, which dropped his season BA to .324.
Meanwhile, in the AL, George Brett would hit .329 to lead his league.
At the time of McGee's trade, Eddie Murray (then of the Dodgers) was batting .312. He would have a torrid September/October, batting .411 over 30 games and lifting his BA to .330. However, since McGee was qualified for the NL batting crown with a .335 BA, McGee would win the title over Murray (as McGee's AL at bats didn't reduce his NL batting average).
So, for the 1990 season, no one batted higher than Murray's .330, but he would see Brett win the AL batting title and McGee win the NL batting title. Murray would never win a batting title in his career.
Similarly, McGee led all of MLB in hits in 1990 with 199, but did not lead the league. Brett Butler and Lenny Dykstra led the NL with 192 hits, and Rafael Palmeiro led the AL with 191 hits.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The battle for the 1976 batting title, Game 162, Twins at Royals
It isn't very often where the batting title comes down to the last game of the season. And with today's sabermetrics, winning a batting title probably isn't as exciting as it once was. But there was a time when it did mean something, when players would sit in the dugout with calculators computing the players' batting averages in a heated race. In 1984, Yankees teammates Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly battled it out to the very end, with Mattingly (.343) edging Winfield (.340) on the last day of the season, going 4-5 (to Winfield's 1-4).
But in 1976, there were three players fighting for the batting title, on the same field, in an otherwise meaningless game. The Royals had clinched the AL West on Friday, October 1st, so Royals manager Whitey Herzog rested Hal McRae (.3308) and George Brett (.3307) on Saturday, both sitting with a .331 batting average. In Saturday's game, Rod Carew would go 3-4 to lift his average from .327 to .329 (.3295), putting him within reach of his third straight batting title. As a side note, Twins CF Lyman Bostock would sit games 161 and 162, finishing 4th in the batting race with a .323 BA. Otherwise, game 162 would have featured all of the AL's top four batting leaders.
In the first inning, Carew would reach base via a base on balls, so his average stayed put at .3295. In the bottom of the first, Brett would line out to the shortstop, dropping him to .33022. McRae would bat in the bottom of the second, but he hit a fly ball to the centerfielder, dropping his average to .33015. At this point, all three leaders were within 7 ten thousandths of a point, with the top two needing the fifth decimal place to separate them. Essentially tied at this point, the batting title would go to whomever finished with the most hits in this game.
In the top of the third, Carew would ground out. In the bottom of the fourth, Brett would line an RBI double to right field. McRae, batting cleanup after Brett, would line a single to center. McRae was now leading Brett, .3314 to .3313.
Carew would ground out again in the fifth, dropping his average to .328. He would bat again in the top of the seventh, doubling to left field and raising his average to .329. Brett would lead off the bottom of the seventh inning with another double to right field, and McRae followed him with an RBI single. McRae .3327, Brett .3323.
In the top of the ninth, Carew would line a single to center, raising his average to .3306. But it was too little, too late. He could not win the title even if Brett and McRae were to make outs in the bottom of the ninth. It would be the only time from 1972-1978 that Carew did not win the AL batting title.
In the bottom of the ninth, Brett was up second, and McRae third. Brett hit a ball hard to left field, with the ball taking a big bounce on the Astroturf over the left fielder's head, and the ball rolled all the way to the wall. Brett, always the hustler, would make it all the way home for an inside-the-park HR. After giving McRae an advantage in his previous two at bats by doubling and giving McRae the bat with a runner in scoring position, McRae would have to earn the batting title with no one on base. Brett now sat at .3333 to McRae's .3327. A hit by McRae would give him the title. An out, and the title would be Brett's.
You already know how this ends. McRae would ground out to the shortstop, finishing the year with a .332 BA, and second place. Brett would finish at .333, winning the first of three batting titles of his HOF career.
Brett would finish 2nd in MVP voting, with McRae 4th, and Carew 5th. In case you are wondering, Thurman Munson was the 1976 AL MVP.
But in 1976, there were three players fighting for the batting title, on the same field, in an otherwise meaningless game. The Royals had clinched the AL West on Friday, October 1st, so Royals manager Whitey Herzog rested Hal McRae (.3308) and George Brett (.3307) on Saturday, both sitting with a .331 batting average. In Saturday's game, Rod Carew would go 3-4 to lift his average from .327 to .329 (.3295), putting him within reach of his third straight batting title. As a side note, Twins CF Lyman Bostock would sit games 161 and 162, finishing 4th in the batting race with a .323 BA. Otherwise, game 162 would have featured all of the AL's top four batting leaders.
In the first inning, Carew would reach base via a base on balls, so his average stayed put at .3295. In the bottom of the first, Brett would line out to the shortstop, dropping him to .33022. McRae would bat in the bottom of the second, but he hit a fly ball to the centerfielder, dropping his average to .33015. At this point, all three leaders were within 7 ten thousandths of a point, with the top two needing the fifth decimal place to separate them. Essentially tied at this point, the batting title would go to whomever finished with the most hits in this game.
In the top of the third, Carew would ground out. In the bottom of the fourth, Brett would line an RBI double to right field. McRae, batting cleanup after Brett, would line a single to center. McRae was now leading Brett, .3314 to .3313.
Carew would ground out again in the fifth, dropping his average to .328. He would bat again in the top of the seventh, doubling to left field and raising his average to .329. Brett would lead off the bottom of the seventh inning with another double to right field, and McRae followed him with an RBI single. McRae .3327, Brett .3323.
In the top of the ninth, Carew would line a single to center, raising his average to .3306. But it was too little, too late. He could not win the title even if Brett and McRae were to make outs in the bottom of the ninth. It would be the only time from 1972-1978 that Carew did not win the AL batting title.
In the bottom of the ninth, Brett was up second, and McRae third. Brett hit a ball hard to left field, with the ball taking a big bounce on the Astroturf over the left fielder's head, and the ball rolled all the way to the wall. Brett, always the hustler, would make it all the way home for an inside-the-park HR. After giving McRae an advantage in his previous two at bats by doubling and giving McRae the bat with a runner in scoring position, McRae would have to earn the batting title with no one on base. Brett now sat at .3333 to McRae's .3327. A hit by McRae would give him the title. An out, and the title would be Brett's.
You already know how this ends. McRae would ground out to the shortstop, finishing the year with a .332 BA, and second place. Brett would finish at .333, winning the first of three batting titles of his HOF career.
Brett would finish 2nd in MVP voting, with McRae 4th, and Carew 5th. In case you are wondering, Thurman Munson was the 1976 AL MVP.
Here is a link to a story about Hal McRae's claim of racism about Brett's last hit: http://www.royalsreview.com/2010/2/9/1303471/hal-mcrae-racism-and-the-disputed
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