Keith 2003
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Draft Capsule:
Too much emphasis on mid-grade pitching. Colon-Rueter-Mulder, I could have done without. Jeremy Giambi was good in the playoffs, not very good most of the season. His brother Jason was ok, but was a poor complement to Bonds. My filler bench guys like Pokey, Matheny, & Spiezio were all questionable ... the kind of guys you aren't real sure about whether they belong in the league. I thought Kearns was good in the 15th, comparable to Kielty, and Tejada too was comparable to a couple SS's taken well ahead of him. All in all, the team I drafted would have done nothing if not for Bonds, but looking at the big picture, I did have a better season than Dave did when he had Bonds as the top pick, so I am not complaining.
Season Highlight:
I had a solid 30 or 40 games heading into intra-divisional play, and at times during this stretch, I thought I might get the 2nd seed ... or Steve would plummet and I might challenge for the President's Cup with a low 90s win total. There were a lot of small peaks throughout the season, not too many Everests.
Season Lowlight:
Shlitzed in 2 of my first 3 series, I fought back to the point where I held a strong lead in the division most of the way. Bob and Matt made me very nervous down the stretch, and I barely held off Bob. It was an incredibly pathetic effort from me in the last 12. My expectations sunk after that, so I wasn't too low when Chris's team bettered me in the playoffs.
If I analyzed the scripts or boxes, I'd check how:
The complete impact of playing Jeremy in RF vs. Kearns. Granted, I wasn't exactly choosing one over the other. So many people told me I was so much better off with Kearns there, and I generally agree with that, but I can't ignore that Jeremy created about as many runs per game. Also would want to go through and chart my effectiveness with Jason G as my leadoff hitter. I drafted him to bat 2nd and occasionally 4th, always next to Bonds, but I convinced myself at the 40 game mark that I could lead him off, and so I jettisoned Bellhorn ... would just like to see if the hunch I had about Giambi leading off was right.
2003 Surprises:
I was a little surprised at how awesome Bonds was ... going 20 games against him in the past, 5 games at a time, is one thing, but playing him 140 some games of your 162 is another thing. Not that I should have expected anything from my catchers, but I was still pretty surprised at how bad Hernandez and Matheny hit. Just about every other team had decent seasons from their pen, but just the same, I was surprised at how effective my group was, especially considering how little I invested in them. Also shocked at how different Moyer performed vs. my lefty 12 Zs Mulder and Rueter.
Best Strategy:
Using Percival like an MLB closer ... ok, not exactly in the same role, but moreso than what I usually do with my top reliever. I can't explain his success, but he did well enough in that role to stabilize the end the game as well as any other reliever in the league.
Worst Strategy:
My 7-8-9 of Koskie-Kotsay-Hernandez was an absolute black hole. I should have found a way to split them up better. Also, not finding a way to increase my team speed via a trade was pretty telling in the end, I think.
GM Summary:
Pokey and Matheny were pretty suspect, and I was planning on giving them 150 PAs each. My rounds 7-11 contributed as much as my rounds 2-6. I had the worst impact from rounds 2-6 compared to anyone, except for maybe Ken and Greg ... but Bonds made up for it. I thought as soon as I drew the ace that Bonds would fuel my success, and he did ... but if I found a way to put better guys around him, I could have brought home a couple of Cups. Shrug.
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