Bob 2003
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Draft Capsule:
Nothing wrong with that pick, Ken might have said to Bob about all 27 picks. Went heavy with offense early, then relief among his other early round picks. Not a bad move at all considering the starting pitching depth available. When he did have to take starters while continuing to load up on relief, it cost him player depth, but he still had a fair enough bench. Personally, I loved his ARod pick, his Manny pick, his IRod pick, and his Finley pick. I usually love one pick in Bob's draft, and like to blab about the bad ones, which is why hates me so.
Season Highlight:
Like a great racehorse closing to the final pole, Bob just kept gaining momentum and increasing the tension. Unfortunately, his season highlight was likely wiped out with the final wrong ORG incident.
Season Lowlight:
The aforementioned lost ORG, or the afternoon double-schlitz one Summer day, thanks to Chris. Maybe it was the first half in general, where he still was searching in vain for a leadoff man and consistency from ARod and Vlad, and for a complete game from his starting staff.
If I analyzed the scripts or boxes, I'd check how:
well he did with certain lineups ... IRod 10 times the player Ausmus was, but I felt Ausmus didn't hurt him as much as I would have imagined ... What his record was with savior Finley in the leadoff spot ... What his record was with MVP candidate Manny in the lineup vs. Dunn or Piazza ... Record when Damon started on the wing. These are the things that interest me most, and maybe Bob would agree that if he had settled on Finley earlier, his big push might have netted a playoff spot.
2003 Surprises:
How well his starting staff did, with the exception of Leiter. Most of the teams had 4 starters before Bob had drafted his first, but Bob finished 6th in Starting Pitching ERA. Kind of a negative surprise to see a team hit 270 home runs but fail to score 5 runs per game. Is it a surprise when Bob doesn't win the defensive crown, something he shared with Dave in 2003? In light of the defensive crown, it was surprising that he was above the league average in unearned runs allowed.
Best Strategy:
Helton was fine as a leadoff hitter, but I agree that the lineup was better off with him 2nd. Finley was fine as a 6th hitter, and Pudge as a 5th hitter, but I agree that the lineup was better off with Finley leading off and Pudge dropping down to 6th. Not sure what to say about his pitching strategies, but I would say the overall strategy of giving 4 and half innings per game to both the starters and relievers was sound considering the how good the lower-tier starting pitchers were, compared to the seasons past.
Worst Strategy:
I've been talking about the negative impact of Damon starting on the wing for a few years now, and yet that's where he was for Bob for a 100 or more games. This isn't an unpardonable sin, but sure enough, he ended up hitting 6th a bunch of times in the first half of the season. Maybe, on the whole, it works out better than I think, and I might agree that Damon was better than alternatives Dunn or Piazza (with Manny shifting to left), but I would have to see the data ... and my gut tells me that Damon would lose out in any subjective analysis. Bob's use of his bench didn't seem too well thought out, at least in our head-to-head games. Of course, that didn't mean they didn't produce some big hits against me.
GM Summary:
I think Bob has always been a better GM than manager, and now he's really coming into his own as a GM. He has a personality and competitiveness that helps him to read the rest of the league, even after the elitists have written him off. This year, as with the past couple, he concentrated his offensive efforts on a select few that he was going to hang his hat on, filled out the lineup in the middle rounds, then picked up decent spare parts. Maybe it's not any different that the way the rest of us go about the draft, but his success in this manner has been something to write about in the past two seasons, when it was something to write negatively about in seasons past.
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