EVIL~! alkeiper

I'm not inventing stadiums here. It's hard enough putting the old stadiums in the system. Anyway, IK if you want Yankee Stadium, I don't see why I can't put two teams in the same stadium, perhaps placing Roy in "old" Yankee Stadium and yourself in the "new" version.

Sorry about any confusion guys. I didn't want to kick off the picks myself as that seemed unfair. I select C Mickey Tettleton. Reminder that we'll have a live portion at 9pm ET tonight.

Following a 91 win season, the Giants made a slew of bad moves and then watched their hopes crumble when Barry Bonds experienced difficulty recovering from knee surgery. Before I get to Bonds, let me take a look at the rest of the team. The Giants signed Mike Matheny to a three year contract. Yes, Matheny is a legitimately good defensive catcher. He also holds a .239 career batting average, and he is 39 years old. And his peripheral statistics do not exactly suggest Gene Tenace. What is frustrating is that Yorvit Torrealba is already a superior catcher. The Giants also signed SS Omar Vizquel to a three year contract. Vizquel is barely an average hitter, his fielding is no longer great, and he turns 38 next month. The Giants also signed Moises Alou, coming off a 39 home run season. The problem is that season was almost certainly a fluke. Alou hit 27, 15 and 22 home runs the previous three seasons, and he is also 38 years old. Check out Alou's home/road splits for 2004... Home: .339/.405/.714, 29 home runs. Away: .247/.316/.400, 10 home runs. I cannot help but think that maybe Alou benefitted from a friendly hitting environment at Wrigley Field. The problem is that old players tend to suffer nagging injuries. This is a team with SERIOUS collapse potential. Barry Bonds is the key to the team's offense. According to the runs created metric, Bonds created 183 runs last season. That is the difference between finishing second in runs scored as the Giants did last season, and finishing 13th. If Bonds misses all or most of the season, this team could easily lose 100 games. He is that important. The Giants do have a good, young pitching staff. Jason Schmidt anchors the rotation. Behind him are 23 year old Jerome Williams, and 24 year old Noah Lowry. Brad Hennessey, Jesse Foppert, and Kevin Correia provide depth beyond. Matt Cain and Merkin Valdez also wait in the wings. If the Giants embark on a rebuilding project in the near future, those pitchers should provide a base on which the Giants can develop an offense.

-Ken Harvey was sent down to AAA Omaha, giving Calvin Pickering the DH job. Look for a monster season from Pickering. -The Brewers released PH/RP Brooks Kieschnick. Kieschnick has a 4.59 career ERA, and a .444 career slugging percentage. I have to believe he can help a team somewhere.

That wraps up round 19. Round 20 begins now, in the same format.

The Man In Blak selects RP Gene Garber.

His skills hadn't eroded as badly as you might think. He hit well in AAA Salt Lake last season.

The Californian selects CL Rod Beck.

Ok. This draft has slowed to a crawl. Since it is the late rounds, I am going to try something here. We are going to finish this round by tomorrow evening. If you have a pick left this round, and I am listing those who have a pick, go ahead and make your pick, regardless of draft order. JHawk - Beast - Bored - nogoodnick - The Man In Blak - MartyEWR - Treble - The Californian - KingPK - HarleyQuinn - LooneyTune - Slapnuts! - IK Cool Jew - Precious Roy -

The Oakland Athletics caused a stir this offseason, trading two of their three best pitchers for prospects. It was a bold move towards rebuilding, striking a year early rather than a year late. Many bemoan the finances of baseball having forced the A's to depart with their pitchers, but one has to wonder. Could ANY team retain three pitchers of this quality once they reach free agency? Even the Yankees could not keep Andy Pettitte following the 2003 season, and they have seemingly unlimited financial resources. The Athletics used to hold onto their players, let them leave for free agency, and receive draft picks in return. Then, the market for impeding free agents was incredibly weak. In return for Ray Durham, the Athletics only needed to part with Jon Adkins, a fringe prospect. Nowadays, teams are parting with big time players, and it makes sense for the Athletics to trade their players before free agency. In return for Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder, the A's received starters Dan Meyer and Dan Haren, relievers Juan Cruz and Kiko Calero, catching prospect Daric Barton, and outfielder Charles Thomas. Daric Barton is one of the best hitting prospects in baseball. His defense is questionable, and he will undoubtably move to first base before he reaches the majors. No big matter there, as the A's are stocked with catching prospects. Barton hit .313/.445/.511 in Peoria in the Midwest league last season. He walked more than he struck out, and he should develop more home run power. The Cards could afford to part with him because they have that Pujols kid at first, who I expect should do ok for the forseeable future. Juan Cruz and Kiko Calero join the Athletics' bullpen. The Athletics' pen struggled early last season, and finished tied with Cleveland and Detroit with 28 blown saves, worst in the league. However, the Athletics finished 6th in the league in bullpen ERA, ahead of the Yankees. Besides Calero and Cruz, both quality arms, the Athletics have Ricardo Rincon, Octavio Dotel, Justin Duchscherer, and they eagerly await the arrival of prospect Huston Street. I mentioned the blown saves. Considering the Athletics lacked a "proven closer," relying on Arthur Rhodes and later Dotel, that they seemed to do poorly in situations cannot be ignored. Looking over the blown saves, they are widely distributed. Of the 28, all but eleven went to pitchers in the middle of the pen. Arthur Rhodes blew five saves in fourteen chances, while Dotel saved 22 of 28. Dotel's save percentage was 79%, worse than average, but not abysmal. Moreover, Dotel actually posted dominant K and BB numbers. Dotel had a problem with the home run ball, surrendering 9 in 50.7 IP. Were Dotel's failures due to a penchant for the long ball, or the inability to adjust to the pressure of the ninth inning? Ultimately, I really cannot convince you either way. I will state that it is very rare that a truly dominating middle reliever cannot be converted to the bullpen. Dotel had a K rate of 12.8 in Oakland. That's is VERY good, and it seems difficult for me to believe that a pitcher could dominate in the 9th inning like that, while AT THE SAME TIME folding to the pressure by surrendering home runs. A few adjustments, and I truly believe he can be an elite closer. Now for the rotation. The Athletics still have Barry Zito as the number one. Number two is Rich Harden, one of baseball's most exciting pitchers. Harden compiled an 8-2 record after the All-Star break, with a 3.49 ERA. And he was just 22. Harden looks poised to become a dominant starter, and that is not just a stathead point of view. Three, four and five look less clear. Joe Blanton looked good in AAA Sacramento last season, posting a 7.3 K/9 ratio, with excellent control and few home runs. Blanton keeps the ball down, and with the A's excellent infield defense, he should pitch well in Oakland. Dan Haren struck out 10.55 batters per 9 in AAA Memphis last season, along with a 4.5 K/BB ratio. Both of these guys are as good a bet as anyone to advance to the Major Leagues. Dan Meyer zipped through the Atlanta system in 2004. The problem is that he advanced three levels in one year, and it is not clear that he is major league ready, even though he pitched extremely well in eleven AAA starts. Oakland does have several reasonable placeholder candidates for the rotation. Seth Etherton pitched well in AAA Louisville and is a possible fill-in. Kirk Saarloos once looked like an outstanding prospect before falling off the map. He seems to have regained his form in Spring Training. Duchscherer and Cruz are also capable of starting games, if needed. The offense looks as good as it has in years. The Athletics lost production at second base last season, as Marco Scutaro compiled a meager .297 OBP. Mark Ellis and Keith Ginter should improve the A's this season. Nick Swisher looks to replace Jermaine Dye's production in right field at the very least. Bobby Crosby should improve. And Jason Kendall adds a nice bat at catcher. The question here is the back of Oakland's rotation. If the Athletics can get their rotation to produce, they will win the division, and possibly leave the Angels in the dust. There are no other holes on this team. But if the rotation struggles, it could be a difficult season.

Andres Galarraga has announced his retirement, as reported by ESPNNews. Galarraga is not a Hall of Famer, but he had quite an interesting career. Galarraga beat cancer to reach the All-Star game in 2000. Impressively, only two players hit more home runs after reaching the age of 35, Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron. Galarraga was a class act all the way.

Don't forget the time in 2002 when he met the young man who was wounded by the D.C. snipers. That certainly gives a good impression.

I remember watching Survivor Series '87. What stood out is that the WWF booked the match to find Bigelow by himself against Andre, the One Man Gang, and King King Bundy. Bigelow proceeds to beat the Gang and Bundy by himself, and give Andre a run. He was pushed insanely when he came in, and then nothing.

It's down to 30. The idea of having 10 extra players who will likely sit there after I take the trouble of placing them in the database is none too appetizing.

Of course, those numbers leave out the fact that Kobe Bryant turns over the ball at a MUCH higher percentage than Tracy McGrady.

As an aside, from here on I'm pushing the deadline to twelve hours, and then an autopick. Just to keep things moving.

McGrady gave up at times on defense last season, which tends to happen when your team has no hope. That is not an excuse for him, just an indication that he was not playing to his ability. Sass, I don't know where the bad attitude rep comes from for McGrady. He's been a class act from what I have seen, and he is a far cry from what I see out of Kobe Bryant off the court. Someone mentioned that Orlando is better without McGrady this season than they were last season. That is true. But Orlando also has Steve Francis, a healthy Grant Hill, Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard. Last season it was McGrady and four black holes. This team is more balanced. As for McGrady vs. Lebron, that is a good question. It is very, very close right now. I'd be forced to say James, but that is just an educated quess.

I'm aiming for 9pm ET.

Young is a nice prospect, but overrated. He did not hit AAA until 25, and he's 26 now. I don't see any Ranger pitcher posting a sub-4.00 ERA, particularly in that ballpark. Juan Dominguez I think is the best young pitcher the Rangers have.

The Twins released 3B Eric Munson.

The Plexiglass Principle states that teams that improve drastically in one season will usually decline in the next. Not always, but usually. Note the Marlins decline from 91 wins to a more reasonable 83. The forces of competition tend to pull teams towards .500. I bring this up because no team improved as unexpectedly as the Texas Rangers. Coming off four consecutive last place finishes, the Rangers hung in the AL West race until the last weeks of the season, finishing with 89 wins, and missing the division crown by just three games. Can they do it again? The Rangers' success last year was due to their bullpen. Francisco Cordero (2.13 ERA), Brian Shouse (2.33) and Ron Mahay (2.55) all had great seasons. Frank Francisco was a surprise (especially to fans in Oakland) and Carlos Almanzar and Doug Brocail pitched well. The problem is that as a group, they are not likely to continue pitching so well. Only Frank Francisco is younger than 28, and he is battling arm problems this Spring. While Cordero is the real deal, the rest have good peripherals, but nothing astounding. The Rangers' pitching staff as a whole ranked 5th in the AL in runs scored, but 9th in walks and 11th in strikeouts. The Rangers have improved from their club in 2003. But they are not quite there yet, and I expect a regression towards .500 this season.

Once I write my Dodgers preview on this board, it should look clearer. As for the Giants, they have no hope without Bonds. Bonds created 183 runs last season. You take away 183 runs from the Giants, and they fall from 2nd to 13th in runs scored. That bumps them from 91 wins to approximately 69 wins. The Giants can flat out not win this division without Bonds.

The database only has major league stats on it, so anything in the minor leagues is black space. PM me and let me know who you are thinking about.

I'm likely dropping after this season. I left my team to rot at various points, and it seemed to lose its fun.

The first few times I listened to Revolver I didn't see the big deal. The more I listened to it though, the more I seemed to dig it. Maybe it's an aquired taste.