Around here at Razzball we are one big family that is some freakish hybrid of the Brady Bunch meets the Addams Family. Honestly, I’m not really sure what to make of all this. First we have our father Grey, the dad who works all day, comes home every night to a daiquiri, and goes out on the weekend and buys us the $100 high tops we want, but mom won’t let us have. He does this to make up for all the little league games he missed because he was bringing home the bacon. Now, Rudy is our mother, and I mean this in the nicest, most masculine way possible. He’s there to keep everything sensible, clean, and in order. Jay and Sky are the older brothers we come to for advice when we get in trouble, or to teach us how to undo a bra with one hand. Guru is Grey’s illegitimate child from a high school girlfriend that is re-connecting with us, and getting to know his dad. Jeremy and I are the younger brothers just glad to get scraps and a hand me down that isn’t filled with holes. Mike is our reliable uncle, who taught us how to properly swing a bat and to drive our shoulder to the plate when we pitched. Smokey is our cool uncle, who gives us beer and taught us all how to roll a doobie so we’ll be ready for high school. Tehol is our creepy uncle, who wears ridiculous clothes that border on illegal, and who our parents never want to leave us alone with since the “incident”. Nick is our neighbor that takes too many pictures and video of the family, even when we aren’t aware of it. Scott is our bachelor neighbor, who drives a kick ass Iroc-Z and dates a different 20-year-old every week. Our cousins Pete, Josh, Dano, and Tom are always hanging out because their mother, Paulie, and father, Dan, are either drinking or drinking. It’s a family over here, I’ll cut any mother f***er who tries to mess with these guys, and have no problem doing a couple a months in county to protect them. That’s why when Jay called upon me to help him out and cover the RCL recap this week I was ready to step up to the plate and help a brother out.
With the real Opening Day in the books, we have finally arrived at what all this reading, writing, counting numbers type-stuff, and drafting were all for. It is now time to step into the ring and find out if you will leave with a championship or walk away filled with regret, self loathing and violently self destructive tendencies. I won’t do any player re-caps, because that is Grey’s thunder, and I will not steal from him, but I will say one thing….WOW! I did not see some of the things happening yesterday, and how much I love some of the starting pitchers I took high. I love you guys……..and you readers too.
Before we move to the first standings recap, which will be out next week, we need to cover the late drafts this past week and see who were the winners (golden child) and the losers (red headed step child). I might come off a bit harsh at times, but I have my own way of looking at a draft. I like to do a couple of things that I think are key to draft day success. First, you need to get a read on the room. It’s okay to have a plan, but identifying what type of drafter you are dealing with can make a world of difference when it comes to getting value. Second, understand value. And just because someone else is willing to jump too far ahead to ensure they get Brad Miller or Billy Hamilton doesn’t mean you need to draft Kole Calhoun in the 8th round. When those other guys over-draft, they just leave better options for you to take when it’s your turn . Look, I get we all have our crushes, I wanted Sonny Gray more than anything this year and was unable to draft him anywhere because it never fit into what the draft was giving me. I know I made mistakes here and there, but I will have to wait ’til next year when he’s a higher tier-two SP. Third, don’t draft a catcher before the 10th round unless he has 30 HR potential in his bat. Speaking of 30 HR power in a catcher, I want to say how much I love Wilin Roasrio this year. You so sexy Wilin, I’d be willing to do anything for my Wilin! Ok, enough of my creepy crush, here’s the recaps
League of Extraordinary Gentiles
The last RCL formed, and I chose this one because I wanted to show how much I appreciate Rotisserie Jedi for doing this last league. I also believe newbie frequent commenter Principal Blackman was able to join this league and that makes me happy. As I go through the draft, I like what I see in the first round, especially the last pick of Bryce Harper by Yoda’s Big Stick. But, right after that, he takes Carlos Gomez… that’s a red headed step-child pick. You passed on Edwin Encarnacion, Joey Votto, Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki, and Hanley Ramirez for a third rounder. You’re going to stay at Uncle Tehols later. I like seeing my crushes Wil Myers (4.40 by BJ “no thank you” Upton) and Eric Hosmer (4.47 by Team Fart in a Jar) moving up drafts as the season got closer. I guess my “reach” for them in the writers draft (3.35 and 4.38) doesn’t seem so silly anymore. Grubers Mullet pulled a red headed step child by taking Buster Posey at pick 5.56 but in the same round Team LS1 (5.53 Chris Sale) and Beltre Sniper (5.54 Justin Verlander) each made nice SP1 grabs after all the other top arms were gone. I know pitching is deep, but after injuries to so many good arms, I think the values have changed. These two guys were able to each get a stud arm after their first four hitters, well done you two. Stanton Ovation started drafting by positions and I know Grey loves him some Cody Asche but I have not seen him go this high (11.127) and then two rounds later takes Jimmy Rollins (13.151), I don’t want to be too hard on him, he did snake J.J. Hoover at 22.258 and took his catcher late. To end this, I want to pass out some golden child awards– I liked Kole Calhoun at 17.193 by Jose’s Jeros, Adam Eaton at 17.203 by Cross Bend Clusterbangs and Christian Yellich at 19.217 by Jose Jeros again. Good looking offense Jose!
Brucely, This is the Best RCL
I’m not a fan of the league name here, it’s not the FCL, which in in my opinion is the best RCL ever. Viva Los FCL! On the flip side, it does have two of our FCL members and our resident house cat Gareth, so this should be an interesting one. Running down round one, it’s looking real good and then comes the fateful last pick, numero 12, a place I have been a few times this year in drafts, a place I have grown to love in the first round. So I would assume that the pick would be easy….right? Wrong! Team Mock goes all red headed step child by taking Jacoby Ellsbury with his first pick. Maybe he’s a Yankee fan, as he took Robinson Cano, a golden child selection right after, but c’mon, Ells is not first round and not even 2nd round talent. Oh, the duality of Team Mock. If this was last week you would be in the Sarlacc Pit. Brucely, round 7 and 8 had some of my favorite values with Hunter Pence (7.75 by Gareth 8774 gryff), Carlos Beltran (7.78 by Team Adams), Jason Werth (8.87 by Kid A) Jose Abreu (8.89 by Canader Layte) and of course Wilin Rosario (8.95 by Tennessee Achilles). Damn those are all golden children for me over here. Chupacabraj Samsquanch scored a huge golden child award with me by taking Billy Butler 11.124 and also gets a gold star for Coco Crisp at 12.141. Kid A gets another golden child pick for Jason Castro at 17.202, a top 5 catcher in my book, and honestly has the best offensive team in this league….I heart it! His starting pitching will be a work in progress but he should be capable of handling as I see he’s on the stream first ask questions later approach. I can’t end this post on a loving note so I must pass out some red headed step children awards to Madeas Fantasy Stache (Oscar Taveras, 22.264 & Ike Davis, 23.265), Miggs Boson (Ivan Nova, 16.186) and Girl Number Four (Bartolo Colon, 19.225). Overall a good solid draft by this league, it’s up there.
Lastly, I want to take a moment to make a shout out to Nick Capozzi and his all new Razzball radio. We are pushing hard to get everyone here to subscribe to our You Tube channel where you can go anytime to catch up on the Razzball Radio video’s. Subscribe or Die!
