EHCC 2016 Performance ⅔

This is always the most exciting time of the year. The season is two-thirds of the way through. The mi-draft is freshly in the rear view and the trade deadline is quickly approaching.

The leader in top weekly score so far is Weymouth with 103 points in week 13. The leader? for worst weekly score so far is San Fernando Valley with 20.5 points also in week 9.

The Draft of SD

For better or worse, the 2016 mi draft will be known as the draft of Santo Domingo. In 2015, as it became clear that the ASF weren’t going to make the playoffs, GM Manny Ramirez set out to get younger. Through negotiations with owners it became clear that already owned prospects and young players were almost impossible to obtain. You can’t really blame owners for not wanting to part with “their guys”. Once you draft a guy, you’re invested in that player. But mi picks? Picks are an anonymous entity; they could be had.

So SD ended up trading away Jose Bautista, John Lackey, Brad Ziegler, Alex Rodriguez & Mark Melancon in 2015 for a cache of 2016 minor league picks. These along with SD’s own picks and the a contribution pick gave SD a whopping 7 picks in the 2016 mi draft. As there were only 27 total picks in the draft, SD owned 26% of the draft. With no other team owning more than 3 picks.

Having so many picks is a little daunting. So SD solicited the league for offers on their abundance of picks. After enduring the shit storm of low ball offers, SD decided that they’d be better off making the picks rather than trading them. After all, the team name “All-Star Factory” is a reference to Theo Epstein’s “drafting and development machine”. It was time to live up to the team name and draft and develop some talent.

One of the advantages of having so many picks is the freedom to take some chances. If you only have one or two picks you really need to make the most of those picks. With 7 picks, you can take a flyer on high ceiling, low floor type player without fear of torpedoing your draft.

So how’d Santo Domingo do? SD used their 7 picks to pick up Alex Bregman (SS), Anderson Espinoza (SP), Eloy Jimenez (OF), Brent Honeywell (SP), Ian Happ (2B), Lewis Brinson (OF) & Amir Garrett (SP). There’s probably a couple busts in there. Maybe an all-star or two? Only time will tell.

6 for 7

It’s shaping up like there are 7 teams in striking distance as we come down the stretch of 2016. I know that the magic number math doesn’t quite work out yet but Las Vegas, Weymouth, San Juan and Dublin can basically start printing playoff tickets. Quebec City is a half-step behind those guys in the standings but it’s “more probably than not” that they make the dance. That leaves RIO and SD, who are only separated by 1.5 games to the last playoff spot (the other 5 teams are 17+ games out).

RIO and SD are two teams coming from different directions. RIO are the reigning West champions. They have a solid roster from top to bottom. They were projected to be in contention for another West crown but they’ve had the worst luck of any team this season. SD is a little bit of a wild card. An up and coming squad who are just as capable of putting up a great week as they are putting up a stinker. Given their most recent rebuild, SD is a little surprised to be in contention in 2016 (2017 was their target). But why not make the most out of this opportunity? The difference could be potential reinforcements that SD has at their disposal. SD has a bevy of budding high end talent that could make an impact down the stretch; Turner, Bregman, Giolitto, Berrios, Manaea, Reyes & Lopez have either already seen the majors this season or are expected to get the call by season’s end. Might one or two of these guys be the difference down the stretch?

This is a high stakes games. The 6^th see gets you a ticket to the dance. The 7^th seed puts tears in your beers. The dance is better (tears are salty and bad for beer). 7^th place is the worst finishing position possible. You don’t get the chance to make a run and you still get a shitty draft slot. Something tells me that that week 20 SD vs RIO matchup is going to be huge.

Who’s going to make the big move?

While there are at least 4 teams printing playoff tickets in the middle of July, there are no dominant teams this year. These teams, while good on paper, all have their warts. So who’s going to make the move that sets them apart? Who’s going to make the move to be that dominate team? Who’s going to make the move to get them off the bubble? Who’s going to be making a speech while holding a freshly engraved plaque come January?

*Reminder, the trade deadline is Tuesday August 2^nd at 11:59 pm.

Line Drives

- Only 4 trades have been made all season. All include LV.

- Trevor Story, still in the minors. #freestory

- For the record. Saying SD has many picks available in the upcoming mi draft doesn’t mean that SD is giving away picks or trading them for the 26^th man on your roster.

- I hope that Julio Urias is getting good mileage from Winnipeg to Quebec City. 2,504.5 km on the Trans-Canada Highway.

- Dillon Tate; #4 overall 2015 mlb draft pick; #3 overall 2016 ehcc mi draft pick.

- The best time to shop your mi draft pick is not the middle of the draft when you don’t have your phone on you, then only answering text’s from one owner, then trading said pick well after it past when the value is the lowest.

- SD has more RP’s than SP’s.

Feeling Unlucky?

Below is a summary of the PF and PA for the 2016 2/3 regular season. The PF shows how well you’ve performed on average on the 12-120 scale. As in my previous posts, the delta(∆) column is your PA minus 65 (65 being the average). This number gives you an idea of how “lucky” you’ve been. You’ll see that the most “lucky” teams so far in 2015 are San Juan, Las Vegas and Bridgewater. While the most “unlucky” teams have been Rio, Rakeville and Tijuana.