Bob Gordon’s 2024 draft experience: ‘It’s called a vision’

Nine years ago, Bob Gordon wrote an enjoyable series of articles about his 1979 postseason replay experience. Within the last week, he contacted me with another piece, this one about his drafting experience in the Ultimate APBA League.

I found it interesting with just the right sense of humor.

Two leagues put up with me. 

I’ve been in the UAL for five seasons and CABL for four.  One is a current league (UAL) and the other a retro league.  Both leagues are great fun and I highly recommend joining either should the opportunity present itself.  The same is true for the MDTL.  I enjoyed my time there, but didn’t have enough hours in the day. They even have a website. Yeah, I’m jealous.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m no expert on drafting.  An argument can be made that I’m as far from expert as you can get.  I’m scratching down my thoughts hoping that yinz will give me some helpful hints on how it should really be done.  Maybe some day I can field a competitive team.

Everyone knows the first step is preparation.  Well, no, I don’t.  I think you need to know where you are going in order to get there.  In business, it’s called a vision.  Can you compete?  Win it all?  Just trying to win as many as you can?  Or are you doomed and positioning for the future?  That’s my first step.  I have to decide whether to draft for now or the future.  This year – spoiler alert – I’m throwing in the towel and drafting for the future.  Turns out that is a tough decision.  I know going in to the season that I’m going to lose more often than I win.  The dice already hate me and now I’m making it easier for them.  Reality is that I’m missing multiple position players and have no starting pitching.  So I have to stay focused on the vision.  I’ll take my lumps but will be better next year.  (Yeah, right.)

Now I’m doing a detailed evaluation of my team.  Which positions are most in need of improvement?  Do I have enough games at each position?    How many more starts do I need from my rotation?  Innings from the pen?  The UAL draft starts in July so we have a half season of performance to look at in addition to the cards.  How are my guys doing (looking ahead to next year)?  OK, Rendon at third and Tim Anderson at short.  (Good grief.)  Stallings and Cartini behind the dish.  Rosario, Suwinski and Rodriguez in the outfield.  Olson and Gimenez man the right side of the infield.  The bullpen is solid, but the starting pitching hopeless.  I’m not ready to prioritize my needs quite yet.  Because…

I’m sorting through the available players.  I have them downloaded in an excel sheet and sorted by position.  Now I can look at who is out there at each position of need.  I’ve done that.  The draft class is deep at shortstop and catcher.  The choices at third are, uh, limited.  The outfield choices aren’t great.  (We have a salary cap, so guys with a good card, like Heyward, might not make sense for everyone.  Besides, I don’t want Heyward.  I’m building for the long term, not taking a guy to try and push me over the top.)  Now that I’ve looked at who is out there, I can prioritize my picks.  I’m going third base, Shortstop, catcher, outfield and starting pitching.   The implicit decision here is drafting the ‘best’ player for a position rather than the best available player.  (Last year I took Julio Rodriguez with the third pick in the draft.  Gunnar was the fourth pick.  Who made the better pick?  If I had a vision, a plan, and stuck to it, maybe I wouldn’t have this gaping hole on the left side of my infield.  Sigh.)

Time to make a choice

I’m lucky.  I’ve managed to get two first round picks, but both are in the latter half of the round.  The draft is conducted on line.  Our ”draft“ site tracks each pick and sends out an email to the league once the pick is made.  It tells you who the pick was, which team picks next, who is on deck and who is in the hole.  Managers know their turn is coming.  I’m watching and my guy is still available.  I’ve been texting with another manager (smarter than me – though that isn’t saying much).  He knows I want Westburg.  He tells me I should trade up to get him.  Now why didn’t I think of that?  I offer to swap first rounders with the manager on the clock and sweeten the offer with a reliever from his favorite team (it helps that he is an A&C*XY).  He bites and I snag Westburg.  Now I just need to be patient.  There are lots of shortstops left (yeah, Delacruz went at pick 1) and I’m confident I’ll get one.  My second first round pick rolls around and I take Winn over Tovar.  Tough choice, but I went with Winn mostly because I’ve seen him on TV.

We go to day two, the last four picks of the first round.  My next priority is catcher, then outfielder.  (Yeah, I have two second round picks, too.)  The first pick of the day comes in – O’Hoppe, the Angels catcher.  Now I don’t like my odds.   Can I pull off another trade up?  I text and make an offer.  My pick early in round 2 and my third round pick next year.  He counters with my 2^nd round pick and one of my two third round picks this year – the earlier one.  I counter with my 2^nd round pick and my 2^nd pick in the third round.  Done deal.  I snag Patrick Bailey (yeah, Alvarez and Diaz were long gone).   I get a text from the guy across the street from me (he is in the league, too) pointing out that I have managed to get three first round picks, down from last year’s four.  Multiple first round picks do make for a fun draft.  I was planning on taking an outfielder with my second second round pick (aka my other second round pick), then two C starters with my two third round picks.  I’m changing my plan.  I don’t like the available outfielders.  So I jump on a C starter that might be useful next year.  Grayson Rodriguez and Christopher Sanchez are both long gone so I take Bryce Miller. 

Day three and round three.  I’ve got one pick and one target.  I’m back on my outfield kick.  I get lucky and Colton Cowser falls in my lap.  Now he is next to useless this year, but I have high hopes for the future.  It doesn’t hurt that I’m an Orioles fan, too.  Which begs the question.  Do you draft with your heart or your head?  Its back to that vision thing.  Are you in it to win it or for enjoyment?  (Heaven help you if the answer is both.  One has to be a higher priority.)  For me, Cowser checked both boxes.  One of the other managers told me he was debating between two equally talented guys.  He went with the one that went to a local high school. Ultimately, it has to work for you.

Wheeling and dealing

The manager I’ve been texting with is offering a trade.  He knows I’m looking to the future and he tells me he is going for it this year.  We swap Matt Olson, Brendan Donovan and Tanner Scott for Hector Neris, Freddie Freeman and Jose Miranda.  Yeah, I traded Olson and his 50 dingers.  It was more of that vision thing.  Jose had 12 straight hits and Freeman is better than Olson next year.  (I have no excuse for letting Scott go.  Except that I’m an idiot.) 

Writing an article on trades can be a different article – but I’m pretty sure I’m hopeless.  (Seriously.  Last year I sent Sean Murphy and Tyler Anderson along with a 3^rd and 4^th rounder for Victor Caratini, Jean Segura, Jon Gray a 2^nd rounder and a next year 1^st round pick.  One could argue I turned that first round pick in to Westburg.  Nope, still an idiot.)

I don’t have a 4^th round pick.  I have a 5 and a 7.  I’ve offered my 5^th for next year’s 4^th, or my 5^th and 7^th for next year’s third to another manager.  I already traded my 8, 9 and 10.  Time goes by.  No go on trading my 5 and 7.  I see the manager across the street as we walk our dogs.  He needs a second catcher.  He offers me my 6^th round pick (I traded it to him last year) for Victor Caritini.  We do the deal in the street.  (Isn’t that convenient?)  Still looking to the future – and rolling the dice (you should excuse the expression) – I take Pirate prospect Henry Davis in the 5^th round.  He’s a real life first round pick, so I’m hoping for some improvement from Henry in the future (me and a few hundred thousand yinzers). 

I’m pretty much done for the “rookie” draft.  I just saw one of my targets (yeah, he plays for one of my favorite teams, why?) go off the board.  I still have a 6 and 7.  I could take a C*YW or two to add to my pen, but why?  I’m not going anywhere this year.  I find a taker for my 6 and 7 picks, getting his 4th rounder next year.  I can just sit back and watch the next five rounds go by as players I’ve never heard of get scooped up.  Doubtless many of them will pick up a key base on balls or big hit to send me to yet another defeat this year.

If you’re interested, our first round shook out like this:

Now that the draft is over, I can make some more (bad) trades and prep for the waiver draft.  The UAL has a salary cap, so there could be some interesting cuts as guys dump salary.  Or maybe some good trade deals to be had.  (As long as I let me dog negotiate for me…. hey, he can’t do worse.)  How do you prep for the waiver draft? 

Well everyone knows the first step is…

Thanks for submitting this, Bob. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

photo by Sewageboy – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136187111