EVIL~! alkeiper

If you were unable to attend, please check the All-Time Draft picks thread to see your selections. We pick this up in round 19, one at a time, with Bravesfan, JHawk and Beast.

Join us in "TSMAllTimeDraft"

Jesus fuck.

Close. I was referring to Around the Horn.

Sorry. It's 8pm ET.

Phillips dominated AAA Colombus last season, hitting .316/.386/.560. He lost most of 2003 to injuries. He's got the goods at the plate, even if he played slightly above his head last year. His primary position is first base, but he can play second in a pinch. He could easily provide a solid platoon partner for Tino Martinez this season.

Why wait for the article? ESPN holds a half hour special on the subject every afternoon at 5.

"Whoo Hoo! Abreu!!" "What was that sweetie?" "I said 'I love you.'"

Perhaps. But Baseball Prospectus never mentioned Payton's home/road splits, did they?

And he wonders why Dave Meltzer never answers his emails.

Who says you have to choose? I get to watch the Phillies, Meg gets laid, it's all good. And heck, thanks to the miracles of the doggie style position, we can enjoy the game together.

Here are pack factors I'm using for sixteen of the teams. 100 is neutral, higher is offense oriented, and lower favors the pitching. Sportsmans Park 127 Kaufmann Stadium 110 Memorial Stadium 107 Ebbets Field 107 Fenway Park 106 Jarry Park 105 Crosley Field 103 Yankee Stadium 102 Lackawanna County Stadium 100 Camden Yards 99 Braves Field 98 Jacobs Field 97 Polo Grounds 95 Chavez Ravine 93 Griffith Stadium 92 Comiskey Park 83

AIM chat at 8pm tonight. If you cannot make it, PM me some picks. Otherwise, I'll run the autopicks.

The Chicago Cubs actually improved last season, posting an 89-73 mark but finishing sixteen games behind the ridiculously hot Cardinals in the NL Central. The Cubs finished three games behind the Astros for the wild card. Many blamed the Cubs' failure to reach the postseason on their lack of a "proven" closer. I do not buy that theory. Certainly the Cubs would like an ace in the bullpen, but those players are not often readily available. This give a club two options. One, either reach and give up more than they should, or make do. The Cubs used LaTroy Hawkins, who I believe pitched effectively. Hawkins posted a 2.63 ERA with 69 strikeouts and just 14 walks. And five of those walks were intentional. Nine unintentional walks in 82 innings is impressive. Hawkins has a bad rap from his days attempting to close for the Twins in 2001, but this is an improved pitcher. You cannot have a star at every position, and Hawkins is as good a guy as you will find without dipping into the elites. Despite a littany of injuries, the Cubs finished second in runs allowed, behind only the Cardinals. Glendon Rusch finally pitched to his potential, posting nearly a 3:1 K/BB ratio. The Cubs only lost Matt Clement from the rotation, and if Wood and Prior can make more than 22 starts apiece, this staff is in good shape. The back of the bullpen is a concern. The Cubs need Todd Wellemeyer and Jon Leicester to mature and produce. Many cite strikeouts as a problem in the Cubs' offense. However, strikeouts have little effect on a team's run production. They are no worse than any other type of out. The Cubs' true problem was that while they ranked second in slugging percentage and first in home runs, they ranked 11th in OBP and 14th in walks. Derrek Lee and Moises Alou led the team with 68 walks apiece. The Cubs desperately need plate discipline. The Cubs lacked production at shortstop for most of the season. This season, a full year of Nomar Garciaparra should add a much needed bat. The outfield is lacking, but Jeromy Burnitz and Jason DuBois are reasonably good players, and should produce. The team gains alot of production from third base thanks to Aramis Ramirez, and Derrek Lee is one of the most underappreciated players in the game. As long as Wood and Prior and company are healthy, this team will compete. They could even make a run at the division title, if everything breaks right. However, I think a wild card berth is more likely. The Cubs are the favorites to grab it, in my opinion.

I disagree. Acquiring Dave Roberts is a very, very good move for this team, for two reasons. One, he can cover the expansive center field in Petco. Jay Payton was a liability, and his fielding statistics only look good because he had to cover for Ryan Klesko in left field. When you play in a park with a massive outfield, you need outfield defense, and Klesko, Giles and Payton just is not going to cover it. Dave Roberts will cut a few points off the team ERA. Second, Roberts' abilities unlike most hitters should not be affected by the ballpark. Jay Payton hit .242/.305/.304 last season at home. No player in the majors with more than 200 home at bats hit worse. In Petco, Payton smashes the ball and it just lands in a glove somewhere. Roberts' skills are perfect for a ballpark like that. They should at least give May a chance to prove his worth in the Majors. Petco is a lot different than Arizona.

Since JHawk sent me a list a couple days ago, I'll use that. JHawk selects OF Vince Coleman.

They discussed it, but I haven't heard anything.

He did stick to the topic, technically.

The San Diego Padres finished 87-75, missing the NL West crown by six games. While they played well, they seemed to struggle at times with Petco Park. What people miss sometimes is that while the Padres' hitting stats were down, this does not necessarily equate bad hitting. Value does not come from compiling impressive hitting stats, but from creating enough runs to win a game, relative to the average in that park. The Padres scored 768 runs, eighth in the National League. That seems run of the mill. But on the road, they scored 439 runs, second in the League, and only two runs behind the St. Louis Cardinals. This was a very good offensive team, masked in an extreme pitchers' park. Six of the Padres' starters had OPSs 10% or better above the league average. Take Khalil Greene for example. His .279/.349/.446 line was fairly good, for a shortstop. On the road, Greene's line ballooned to .301/.353/.543. Greene's slugging percentage on the road was tops for NL Shortstops. Greene appears to be a truly good player who could be severely underrated by his home park. The danger for the Padres is complacency. Teams who play in pitchers' parks tend to stick with bad pitchers longer because the park masks their deficiencies. The Padres only enjoyed above average performance from Jake Peavy and David Wells last year, and Wells is gone. Jake Peavy's injury last season cost the Padres the division crown, without a doubt. Peavy finished with a 15-6 record and a 2.27 ERA in 20 starts. He missed about 6 weeks. To cover, the Padres used Dennis Tankersley (6 starts), Sterling Hitchcock (4 starts) and Justin Germano (5 starts). Those three pitchers finished 1-10 on the season. Germano was rushed, and should improve. But in any case, the Padres' performance without Peavy was putrid. Cases like the above is what makes projecting winners so difficult. Often, it is not the abilities of the players, but the ability to stay healthy, and if that fails, to find reasonably good fill-ins to cover in case of injuries. The Braves had Nick Green and won the NL East. The Phillies found Paul Abbott and lost. The Dodgers turned to Wilson Alvarez in their rotation and won the division, while the Padres turned to Sterling Hitchcock and lost. This looks like a two team race between the Padres and Dodgers. I am loathe to pick a winner right now. It's just very, very close. This should be a fun one to watch in any case.

You also got good picks on even numbered rounds. In any case, the problem is that posters on the ends of the order would see close to 80 picks in between their turns. That seemed excessive. We'll do one at a time through the live portion tomorrow, and then I'll think about re-ordering the draft order.

JHawk, Bravesfan, and Cena's Writer are up next.

Is everyone ok with a live chat tomorrow night? Also, once we start doing two picks a round, the draft order will switch to a straight order, instead of serpentine.

Absolutely. Heck, they could go twenty, if they trained.

That was the longest TITLE bout. Jim Corbett fought Peter Jackson to a 61 round draw in 1891, under Queensbury rules.

People would be more comfortable with the judging system if it did not seem so random. Boxing needs to train their judges better, and consider going back to 15 rounds for its biggest fights.