Chris 2003
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Draft Capsule:
Long and strong, Sir Mix-A-Lot once rapped. That was Chris's strength in the SL
Draft, talking rounds 5-27. Even 1-4 was good enough. Like the Spit Cup winner in
'02, Chris took hitting 1-2 at the far end of the draft, something which I observe
to be unusual these days. Obviously, great opportunity costs throughout. The
exceptions might have been Romero, Boone, maybe Reed, and maybe Garrett, but it's
not like any of those guys derailed his chances for success.
Season Highlight:
Drinking from the Cup. Nuf ced. To a lesser extent, he six-packed Greg at the end
of the season, helping him tie Greg in the all-time standings.
Season Lowlight:
Again, I point to the wrong ORG. I was on the phone with Chris when he realized
what happened, and it angered him that he had made such a mistake. It cost him a
chance at the President's Cup, but that was still only an outside chance at that
point. Earlier in the season (sometime nearing the stretch run), I was able to
double-shlitz Chris on a Fall afternoon ... but even with that, he didn't lose his
division lead, and he certainly did not temper his playoff aspirations after that.
All in all, as with most Spit Cup winners, the valleys didn't get too low.
If I analyzed the scripts or boxes, I'd check how:
Chris and I were talking over Thanksgiving about who he should have lead off. I
insisted Andruw was the guy who should have had that regular role ... so I would
like to go through the boxes to see how he did in spot duty. Just seems to me that
Giles was so much better suited to the 2 or 3 spot. Also would like to analyze how
the team did overall ... win %, offense, defense, pitching ... in the games Bordick
played SS vs. the games Cora played SS. This is the classic offense vs. defense
question, though I will admit playing Cora is not as extreme (offensively or
defensively) as playing Chipper, as Steve did in 2001. Maybe along the same lines,
I'd liked to analyze the team performance with Schneider behind the plate vs.
Santiago.
2003 Surprises:
Byrd rocked. Who'da thunk? Thome had a great year, which he doesn't usually do, I
think, but he had a great year while significantly underperforming in the HR
department. Andruw didn't do spit all year, then was the surprise hero in bringing
the Spit back to Chris.
Best Strategy:
3B platoon. While earlier picks Chavez and Rolen brought down their respective
lineups, Huff and Colbrunn fueled Van Wyck, even though Boone was taken relatively
early. I had eyed a Bordick-Cora time share at SS early in the draft as a way to
get a good opportunity cost out of the position, and Chris made it work well, having
to invest less in draft positions than I had imagined. Karim as a 5th was maybe not
so much a surprise, but it was surprising that such a late, late pick would be able
to provide yet another impact.
Worst Strategy:
Again, maybe it was using Giles as the lead-off man ... he drove in no one. Chris
drafted very little speed, which had to have cost him some runs.
GM Summary:
My GM of the year. I can't gush enough about how much I liked Chris's draft. And
though he looked to help himself during the season, he didn't need much, and he did
well to keep things intact.
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