While I am on a conference call now, and since I finished my bit of talking, I figured that I would lay out a quick rant about drafting closers. I just had my first of 3 drafts yesterday, and thought it went real well.
I won't get into who I took where, but every year I am amazed at how people spend, er, waste their 3rd - 5th picks on guys like Rivera, Nathan, Gagne, Lidge, Wagner, etc. First of all, at least 2/3 of the closers going into the season either get hurt, lose their job, or have someone else come out of nowhere to take away a few saves. Plus, you have guys that just won the job and are getting WAY too much press. Look no further than Mike Adams or Guillermo Mota from last year. And while guys like Jenks may be real good, you never know if a guy can hold up for a full season. Or whether a manager will shuttle closers in and out throughout the season either.
So what does this mean? Well, I can take guys like Utley, Jeter, Carlos Zambrano, Pat Burrell and Andy Pettitte (which I did yesterday) while the above closers are taken. And then I can take Hoffman, Izzy and Dempster (not to mention 2 other closers as fliers) in the 8th round and later. So I still get my saves - which some still don't get is only one category and hardly worth wasting a high round pick on.
But I'll see it happen every year, and gladly get 2 or 3 closers in the middle rounds and watch the wire for others.
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1 comment:
Closers rule, everyone should be looking to take Bobby Jenks as early as possible. Also, young pitchers must be overvalued as part of every draft. Bonderman must be a first round pick! I would still take Karl Malone any day of the week
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