You'll note that it's not all holiday cheer, though, as the bit of business at the bottom reminds everyone that Draft Day is just over three months away...
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
From the Archives: Happy Holidays, CFCL Style
Dipping in to the CFCL's history treasure chest, here's a hand-illustrated and colored Christmas greeting that Rich sent to CFCL owners during the during the off-season between the end of the 1992 campaign and the start of 1993.
You'll note that it's not all holiday cheer, though, as the bit of business at the bottom reminds everyone that Draft Day is just over three months away...
You'll note that it's not all holiday cheer, though, as the bit of business at the bottom reminds everyone that Draft Day is just over three months away...
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
The Game Outside Of The Game
During the off-season there is a big lull. Normally we have our Awards Banquet in October or November (2013 is a bit of an anomaly since the Commission has been delinquent in putting together the Award Ballot. We're a week away from Christmas and haven't had the Banquet yet). Then we don't have a lot going on until the first Sunday in January when Winter Waivers begin. Enter Matt Bentel, he's an Idea Man. He suggested a way for us (him and me) to get through the doledrums of the winter and basketball conversation on talk radio. He proposed a CFCL type draft with Cub players.
Here's a quick reminder of how the CFCL works. We draft teams of 23 players fitting specific positions (5 OF, 3B, SS, 2B, MI, 1B, OU, 2 C, 1 U, 9 P). We accumulate stats in the following categories: On-Base Percentage, Total Bases, Steals, Runs, RBIs, Quality Starts, Holds+Saves, WHiP, ERA and K/BB.
His idea was for us to draft from all the Cub teams from 1974-2011 (2011 is when we held our draft and 1974 is as early as both of us can remember actually watching Cub games. Matt, since he is much older, can remember back into the '60s. I being the youngster can only remember back to 1974). We would not be allowed to do any statistical research. Once you drafted a player, you would wait until the end of the draft, THEN do the statistical research and decide which year you wanted to use. So Matt drafted Ryne Sandberg with his first pick. Once we completed all the picks Matt looked at Sandberg's career and decided if he wanted the MVP year of 1984, the power year of 1990 or a year when Ryne stole 50 bases (he chose 1990).
We did this on the honor system and then compiled the stats. The only variance we made from how the CFCL competes is we used Wins instead of Quality Starts and Saves instead of Holds+Saves essentially because baseball-reference.com doesn't provide QS and H+S. We made one pick per day. So Matt picked Monday, I picked Tuesday, etc. This allowed for us to draft over a month and a half, helping to kill the dead of winter.
I will say, as stupid as this may sound, it was the most exhausting exercise I have ever been a part of. Each day I was emotionally torn between whom I should select or who Matt was going to steal from me. Below are the results. Some interesting challenges we faced, for example, was in our pitching selections. Matt picked Ryan Dempster and I chose Kerry Wood. Once the draft was over and we selected the seasons we wanted to use the stats for we could look at the other team's roster and anticipate their choices and thus make our own. But with Wood and Dempster it provided an added layer of strategy. Why? Because both Wood and Dempster had years with the Cubs in which they were starters and closers. Would Matt use Dempster's closing year or starting year? Should I use Wood as a closer or starter? Ends up we both chose closer.
There were a myriad of strategies. I encourage you to find a friend and challenge them to a draft. This year Matt and I are two picks away from completing a similar draft, but this year our pool of players are Hall of Famers whose careers began 1900 or later. We also trimmed our rosters to seventeen instead of the full 23 (getting rid of 1 OF, 1 U and 4 P). The other difference we're doing this year is instead of choosing a player's individual season, we are using the 162 game average line from baseball-reference.com. Adds another layer of decision making when you realize that a player may have compiled some great stats, but if the last few years of their career were less than stellar, it could kill their yearly average. I'll post the rosters and results sometime after Christmas. I don't think I'll be as lucky this year as I was in 2011.
Here are the rosters and stats from our Cubs draft.
Here's a quick reminder of how the CFCL works. We draft teams of 23 players fitting specific positions (5 OF, 3B, SS, 2B, MI, 1B, OU, 2 C, 1 U, 9 P). We accumulate stats in the following categories: On-Base Percentage, Total Bases, Steals, Runs, RBIs, Quality Starts, Holds+Saves, WHiP, ERA and K/BB.
His idea was for us to draft from all the Cub teams from 1974-2011 (2011 is when we held our draft and 1974 is as early as both of us can remember actually watching Cub games. Matt, since he is much older, can remember back into the '60s. I being the youngster can only remember back to 1974). We would not be allowed to do any statistical research. Once you drafted a player, you would wait until the end of the draft, THEN do the statistical research and decide which year you wanted to use. So Matt drafted Ryne Sandberg with his first pick. Once we completed all the picks Matt looked at Sandberg's career and decided if he wanted the MVP year of 1984, the power year of 1990 or a year when Ryne stole 50 bases (he chose 1990).
We did this on the honor system and then compiled the stats. The only variance we made from how the CFCL competes is we used Wins instead of Quality Starts and Saves instead of Holds+Saves essentially because baseball-reference.com doesn't provide QS and H+S. We made one pick per day. So Matt picked Monday, I picked Tuesday, etc. This allowed for us to draft over a month and a half, helping to kill the dead of winter.
I will say, as stupid as this may sound, it was the most exhausting exercise I have ever been a part of. Each day I was emotionally torn between whom I should select or who Matt was going to steal from me. Below are the results. Some interesting challenges we faced, for example, was in our pitching selections. Matt picked Ryan Dempster and I chose Kerry Wood. Once the draft was over and we selected the seasons we wanted to use the stats for we could look at the other team's roster and anticipate their choices and thus make our own. But with Wood and Dempster it provided an added layer of strategy. Why? Because both Wood and Dempster had years with the Cubs in which they were starters and closers. Would Matt use Dempster's closing year or starting year? Should I use Wood as a closer or starter? Ends up we both chose closer.
There were a myriad of strategies. I encourage you to find a friend and challenge them to a draft. This year Matt and I are two picks away from completing a similar draft, but this year our pool of players are Hall of Famers whose careers began 1900 or later. We also trimmed our rosters to seventeen instead of the full 23 (getting rid of 1 OF, 1 U and 4 P). The other difference we're doing this year is instead of choosing a player's individual season, we are using the 162 game average line from baseball-reference.com. Adds another layer of decision making when you realize that a player may have compiled some great stats, but if the last few years of their career were less than stellar, it could kill their yearly average. I'll post the rosters and results sometime after Christmas. I don't think I'll be as lucky this year as I was in 2011.
Here are the rosters and stats from our Cubs draft.
| Matt | At Bats | sac flies | Hits | HBP | Walks | Runs | RBIs | Stolen Bases | Total Bases | OBP | IP | ER | Hits | Walks | Strikeouts | Wins | Saves | ERA | Ratio | K:BB | |
| Ryne Sandberg - 1990 | 615 | 9 | 188 | 1 | 50 | 116 | 100 | 25 | 344 | 0.35407 | Rod Beck - 1998 | 80.3 | 27 | 86 | 20 | 81 | 3 | 51 | 3.0262 | 1.3200 | 4.0500 |
| Derrek Lee - 2005 | 594 | 7 | 199 | 5 | 85 | 120 | 107 | 15 | 393 | 0.41823 | Greg Maddux 1992 | 268 | 65 | 201 | 70 | 199 | 20 | 0 | 2.1828 | 1.0112 | 2.8429 |
| Aramis Ramirez - 2004 | 547 | 7 | 174 | 3 | 49 | 99 | 103 | 0 | 316 | 0.37294 | Mike Bielecki - 1989 | 212.3 | 74 | 187 | 81 | 147 | 18 | 0 | 3.1371 | 1.2624 | 1.8148 |
| Keith Moreland - 1985 | 587 | 9 | 180 | 1 | 68 | 74 | 106 | 12 | 258 | 0.37444 | Mark Prior - 2003 | 211.3 | 57 | 183 | 50 | 245 | 18 | 0 | 2.4278 | 1.1027 | 4.9000 |
| Henry Rodriguez - 1999 | 447 | 1 | 136 | 0 | 56 | 72 | 87 | 2 | 243 | 0.38095 | Ted Lilly - 2008 | 204.6 | 93 | 187 | 64 | 184 | 17 | 0 | 4.0909 | 1.2268 | 2.8750 |
| Jerome Walton - 1989 | 475 | 5 | 139 | 6 | 27 | 64 | 46 | 24 | 183 | 0.33528 | Mitch Williams - 1989 | 81.6 | 25 | 71 | 52 | 67 | 4 | 36 | 2.7574 | 1.5074 | 1.2885 |
| Juan Pierre - 2006 | 699 | 1 | 204 | 8 | 32 | 87 | 40 | 58 | 271 | 0.32973 | Ryan Dempster - 2005 | 92 | 32 | 83 | 49 | 89 | 5 | 33 | 3.1304 | 1.4348 | 1.8163 |
| Mark Grace - 1998 | 595 | 7 | 184 | 3 | 93 | 92 | 89 | 4 | 280 | 0.40115 | Carlos Marmol - 2010 | 77.6 | 22 | 40 | 52 | 138 | 2 | 38 | 2.5515 | 1.1856 | 2.6538 |
| Alex Gonzalez -2002 | 513 | 2 | 127 | 3 | 46 | 58 | 61 | 5 | 218 | 0.31206 | Carlos Zambrano - 2004 | 209.2 | 64 | 174 | 81 | 188 | 16 | 0 | 2.7533 | 1.2189 | 2.3210 |
| Geovany Soto - 2008 | 494 | 5 | 141 | 2 | 62 | 66 | 86 | 0 | 249 | 0.36412 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Gary Matthews - 1984 | 491 | 10 | 143 | 3 | 103 | 101 | 82 | 17 | 210 | 0.41021 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Mark Bellhorn - 2002 | 445 | 0 | 115 | 6 | 76 | 86 | 56 | 7 | 228 | 0.37381 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Bill Madlock - 1976 | 514 | 4 | 174 | 11 | 56 | 68 | 84 | 15 | 257 | 0.41197 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Michael Barrett - 2004 | 456 | 8 | 131 | 5 | 33 | 55 | 65 | 1 | 223 | 0.33665 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Total | 7472 | 75 | 2235 | 57 | 836 | 1158 | 1112 | 185 | 3673 | 0.37062 | 1436.9 | 459 | 1212 | 519 | 1338 | 103 | 158 | 2.8749 | 1.2047 | 2.5780 | |
| Rich | #DIV/0! | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Jody Davis - 1984 | 523 | 7 | 134 | 1 | 47 | 55 | 94 | 5 | 220 | 0.31488 | Rick Reuschel - 1977 | 252 | 78 | 233 | 74 | 166 | 20 | 0 | 2.7857 | 1.2183 | 2.2432 |
| Andre Dawson - 1987 | 621 | 2 | 178 | 7 | 32 | 90 | 137 | 11 | 353 | 0.32779 | Jon Lieber - 2001 | 232.3 | 98 | 226 | 41 | 148 | 20 | 0 | 3.7968 | 1.1494 | 3.6098 |
| Moises Alou - 2004 | 601 | 6 | 176 | 0 | 68 | 106 | 106 | 3 | 335 | 0.36148 | Randy Myers - 1993 | 75.3 | 26 | 65 | 26 | 86 | 2 | 53 | 3.1076 | 1.2085 | 3.3077 |
| Starlin Castro - 2011 | 674 | 4 | 207 | 2 | 35 | 91 | 66 | 22 | 291 | 0.34126 | Lee Smith - 1983 | 103.3 | 19 | 70 | 41 | 91 | 4 | 29 | 1.6554 | 1.0745 | 2.2195 |
| Rick Monday - 1976 | 534 | 3 | 145 | 2 | 60 | 107 | 77 | 5 | 271 | 0.34558 | Rick Sutcliffe - 1984 | 150.3 | 45 | 123 | 39 | 155 | 16 | 0 | 2.6946 | 1.0778 | 3.9744 |
| Ivan DeJesus - 1978 | 619 | 2 | 172 | 2 | 74 | 104 | 35 | 41 | 219 | 0.35581 | Bruce Sutter - 1977 | 107.3 | 16 | 69 | 23 | 129 | 7 | 31 | 1.3420 | 0.8574 | 5.6087 |
| Alfonso Soriano - 2007 | 579 | 3 | 173 | 4 | 31 | 97 | 70 | 19 | 324 | 0.33712 | Kerry Wood - 2008 | 66.3 | 24 | 54 | 18 | 84 | 5 | 34 | 3.2579 | 1.0860 | 4.6667 |
| Mark DeRosa - 2008 | 505 | 8 | 144 | 9 | 69 | 103 | 87 | 6 | 243 | 0.37563 | Ray Burris - 1976 | 249 | 86 | 251 | 70 | 112 | 15 | 0 | 3.1084 | 1.2892 | 1.6000 |
| Carlos Pena - 2011 | 493 | 7 | 111 | 4 | 101 | 72 | 80 | 2 | 228 | 0.35702 | Joe Borowski - 2003 | 68.3 | 20 | 53 | 19 | 66 | 2 | 33 | 2.6354 | 1.0542 | 3.4737 |
| Rick Wilkins - 1993 | 446 | 1 | 135 | 3 | 50 | 78 | 73 | 2 | 250 | 0.37600 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Leon Durham - 1982 | 539 | 2 | 168 | 2 | 66 | 84 | 90 | 28 | 281 | 0.38752 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Bill Buckner - 1982 | 657 | 10 | 201 | 5 | 36 | 93 | 105 | 15 | 290 | 0.34181 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Bob Dernier - 1984 | 536 | 0 | 149 | 2 | 63 | 94 | 32 | 45 | 194 | 0.35607 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Ron Cey - 1983 | 581 | 9 | 160 | 5 | 62 | 73 | 90 | 0 | 267 | 0.34551 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | ||||||||
| Total | 7908 | 64 | 2253 | 48 | 794 | 1247 | 1142 | 204 | 3766 | 0.35115 | 1304.1 | 412 | 1144 | 351 | 1037 | 91 | 180 | 2.8433 | 1.1464 | 2.9544 | |
| Matt | Rich | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TB | 3673 | 3766 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Runs | 1158 | 1247 | |||||||||||||||||||
| RBIs | 1112 | 1142 | |||||||||||||||||||
| SB | 185 | 204 | |||||||||||||||||||
| OBP | 0.37062 | 0.35115 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 103 | 91 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Saves | 158 | 180 | |||||||||||||||||||
| ERA | 2.8749 | 2.8433 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ratio | 1.2047 | 1.1464 | |||||||||||||||||||
| K:BB | 2.5780 | 2.9544 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)