Top 100 Players Right Now

MLB Network presented their list of the top 100 players in baseball "right now," with consideration being given to recent performance and expected performance. The list is at the bottom of this post.

Here are the number of those 100 players on each NASOMA team. And assigning 100 points for #1, 99 points for #2, etc., the teams' point total is given as well.

Zaps - 10 players - 668 points (by far the best team in the league)
Sidewinders - 10 players - 562 points
Tweeners - 10 players - 386 points
Warpigs - 9 players - 552 points
Drillers - 7 players - 381 points
Wahoos - 7 players - 294 points
Rhinos - 7 players - 275 points
FFTs - 6 players - 291 points
DVs - 6 players - 241 points
Fungoes - 5 players - 346 points (including #1 and #2)
Mavs - 5 players - 337 points
Inmates - 5 players - 277 points
Killer Bees - 4 players - 102 points
Nads - 3 players - 103 points
SuperGoofs - 2 players - 98 points
Buckeyes - 0 players - 0 points (but he'll still be in the playoffs)

Players in the Draft - 4 players - 137 points

Here's the list. It's open to debate. Lots of snubs, of course. (Morneau wins the NL batting title, but is not in the top 100... but Prince Fielder is! No Garrett Richards, but Justin Verlander is on the list! No to Lorenzo Cain, but yes to Adam Eaton? Come onnnnnnn!)

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Mike Trout
3. Felix Hernandez
4. Giancarlo Stanton
5. Chris Sale
6. Andrew McCutchen
7. Miguel Cabrera
8. Buster Posey
9. Jose Abreu
10. Robinson Cano
11. Max Scherzer
12. Jose Bautista
13. Paul Goldschmidt
14. Adam Wainwright
15. Corey Kluber
16. Johnny Cueto
17. Troy Tulowitzki
18. Josh Donaldson
19. Yadier Molina
20. Adrian Beltre
21. Michael Brantley
22. Adam Jones
23. Jonathan Lucroy
24. Bryce Harper
25. David Price
26. Madison Bumgarner
27. Hanley Ramirez
28. Zack Greinke
29. Ian Desmond
30. Jose Altuve
31. Anthony Rendon
32. Joey Votto
33. Victor Martinez
34. Craig Kimbrel
35. Jordan Zimmermann
36. David Ortiz
37. Justin Upton
38. Carlos Gomez
39. Wade Davis
40. Greg Holland
41. Jhonny Peralta
42. Carlos Gonzalez
43. Jon Lester
44. Jason Heyward
45. Yu Darvish
46. Matt Holliday
47. Hisashi Iwakuma
48. Hunter Pence
49. Edwin Encarnacion
50. Cole Hamels
51. Evan Longoria
52. Dustin Pedroia
53. Anthony Rizzo
54. Jacoby Ellsbury
55. Matt Kemp
56. Yan Gomes
57. Kyle Seager
58. Adrian Gonzalez
59. Masahiro Tanaka
60. Matt Harvey
61. Aroldis Chapman
62. Yasiel Puig
63. Ryan Braun
64. Josh Harrison
65. Alex Gordon
66. Nelson Cruz
67. Freddie Freeman
68. Doug Fister
69. Stephen Strasburg
70. Sonny Gray
71. Salvador Perez
72. Carlos Santana
73. Neil Walker
74. Todd Frazer
75. J.D. Martinez
76. Jayson Werth
77. Alex Cobb
78. Julio Teheran
79. Christian Yelich
80. Jose Fernandez
81. Starling Marte
82. Jeff Samardzija
83. Chris Carter
84. Nolan Arenado
85. Andrelton Simmons
86. Jose Reyes
87. Kenley Jansen
88. Lance Lynn
89. Jake Arrieta
90. Russell Martin
91. Devin Mesoraco
92. Gerrit Cole
93. Adam Eaton
94. Ben Zobrist
95. Pablo Sandoval
96. Yordano Ventura
97. Prince Fielder
98. Justin Verlander
99. Albert Pujols
100. Joe Mauer

Rosters and Picks

On the Rosters page, I have highlighted the picks you would lose if you made no more cuts or trades between now and next Friday night (or in the case of the Bees, how many picks you would ADD). I know several teams still have cuts to make, but I wanted a visual of where you stand with your combination of players and picks. Official Pre-Draft Rosters must be set by midnight Friday night.

The following day, I will adjust the Draft Grid and Roster Page on the webpage to reflect the picks you will have in the Draft. I'll post a print-friendly version of the Grid. I'll also consolidate a list of every player eligible to be drafted. Let me know if you want a copy of this.

To refresh, your total number of picks and players is:
  30
+ 2 (Tweener Rule)
+ # of Reserves you own

There will be a 5-round Lightning Round at the conclusion of the Draft. The Lightning Round has a special set of rules: picks cannot be traded (the players you select can); you must be present to participate; carded players only; 60 second time limit each pick; if you select an ineligible player, you're done.

Before the weekend is over, everyone's official roster listing 30 active players and your reserved players is due. And remember, when you play your first game, the 25 players active for that game MUST be on the 30-man roster you turn in.

Beeboy, I hope you'll be able to keep up with the live draft and make your picks via the Google docs page. I hate that you won't be there.

Official Roster Deadline

The deadline for making any final cuts to your roster is 11:59 PM on Friday, March 6th. Don't feel like you HAVE to wait until the last minute (unless you are the Wahoos). Please refer to the official rosters here and then let me or the Buckeyes know of any changes you wish to make.

The following day, I will update the Draft Grid to reflect your official slate of picks. You get 1 pick for each open roster spot on your team, plus 2 additional picks for the Tweener Rule. So, if you have more than that number now, the picks at the end of your list will disappear. On the other hand, if you DON'T have enough picks, your picks from rounds 13+ will be added to cover it.

The Zaps would like to go ahead and get pick 1 signed and out of the way, so he selects Jason Giambi.

Nadman, you're up.

FFTs and Warpigs trade

The Warpigs traded Tyler Lyons and players to be determined to the FFTs for picks 92, 140, and 145. The PTBD will be from among the players cut by the Pigs following the 2015 Draft.

Totals for Top Ten Right Now

In looking at MLB Network's Top Ten Right Now lists, you get an idea of the current strengths of the teams in NASOMA. Here's a grid showing the teams represented by each Top Ten player:

If you assign a point system (10 points for #1, 9 for #2, etc.), here are the team totals:

1. Zaps 64
2. Sidewinders 60
3. Warpigs 59
4. Drillers 43
4. Wahoos 43
6. Mavs 39
7. DVs 35
8. Tweeners 32
9. Fungoes 30
10. FFTs 29
11. Inmates 27
12. Rhinos 22
13. Goofs 19
14. Killer Bees 8
14. Nads 8
16. Buckeyes 1

Some observations...

There are 6 Top Ten players available in the Draft - a total of 31 points. And with some teams having multiple 1st round picks (including the Zaps and Wahoos), those teams' point totals will get better.

Also, while this subjective ranking system has its flaws (How the hell is Napoli in the Top Ten, but Morneau is not?!?), it is a fairly accurate snapshot of the talent at the top of each team. It doesn't reflect the depth of each team as accurately, however - especially where pitching is concerned. And it doesn't rank the DHs, which for some teams is an important asset.

The Wahoos get 32 of their 43 points from their infield; the Drillers have 43 points too, but NONE come from pitching. The Snakes get almost half of their 60 points from pitching alone. The Zaps, however, get points at every position except RP and LF - and when he drafts Corey Dickerson, LF will be covered too.

Top Ten Right Now - 3B & C

From MLB Network, the top ten players at each position. Here are the top ten for 3b and catcher.

Third Base
1. Beltre, Warpigs
2. Donaldson, Drillers
3. Harrison, Free Agent
4. Rendon, Zaps
5. Wright, Sidewinders
6. Seager, Wahoos
7. Carpenter, Fungoes
8. Longoria, DVs
9. Uribe, Sidewinders
10. Arenado, Tweeners

Not making the top ten: Machado, Sandoval, Frazier, Aramis Ramirez, Headley, Chisenhall, Prado, Lawrie

Catcher
1. Posey, Drillers
2. Lucroy, Mavs
3. Molina, Warpigs
4. Gomes, Tweeners
5. Martin, Zaps
6. Mesoraco, Sidewinders
7. Perez, Fungoes
8. McCann, DVs
9. Norris, Wahoos
10. Ramos, DVs

Just missing: Castro, Wieters, Zunino, Rosario, Ruiz

Wahoos and Tweeners Trade

The Wahoos traded Gregor Blanco to the Tweeners for Ryan Howard and pick 91.

New Season Updates

The file downloads for the new season of Strat cards will be available at the end of the day tomorrow (Monday, 2/9). There are a number of "improvements" in this year's version.

Here’s the complete list of improvements to Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2015:

1) Free Online Draft - Now your league members can hold your draft in real-time on the Strat-O-Matic servers, and the best part about it is that this is a free service! To hold the draft, the commissioner of the league sets up the league files using the Windows game, then uploads them to the Online Drafting website. From there the entire draft is held online, in real-time. After the draft, the commissioner downloads the files and imports them back into the Windows game so that league play can commence.

 

2) Support for up to 36 Teams per League - The previous limit was 30 teams in a league. This has been increased to a maximum of 36 teams in a league.

 

3) New Computer Manager Relief Pitcher Setting - A new setting called "Always remove reliever at end of inning" has been added to the Computer Manager Pitcher Settings dialog. The computer manager will always remove this pitcher after the current inning ends (in other words, before the next inning begins). Many modern day managers will do this with particular relief pitchers, normally limiting them to one or less innings pitched per appearance.  

 

4) Card Image - Ballpark Effects - If you have purchased the Card Image Option, then the ballpark effects are now integrated into the card image displayed on the Game Screen Layout. Instead of the original (advanced) card result, the actual ballpark effects result is shown on the cards. This will make it easier to evaluate the current batter and pitcher and will make more sense when the ballpark result is rolled with the dice. Note that the only place this is done is on the in-game batter vs. pitcher card image (where the dice are rolled). You can still view the player's original card image by clicking on the player's name to display his notebook. Also note that the ballpark effect results are shown in yellow to indicate the original card result has been replaced with the ballpark result.

 

5) Condensed Play Log - An optional Condensed Play Log has been added to the Daily Reporter and Newspaper Games Stories reports. This log shows every play that happened in the game in a condensed format. When you select this option on the Autoplay/Boxscore Options dialog, this new play log will appear on both the Daily Reporter and the Newspaper Game Stories.

 

6) Support for DH Specific Lineups - Draft League Mode now allows lineups to be defined, which are to be used only when the DH rule is turned on. As an example of how this can be handy, this capability allows you to define DH lineups for National League teams, which will be used when they play interleague games on the road vs. American League teams.

 

7) WAR, BABIP and Other Sabermetric Stats Added to Player Detail Report - WAR and other newer sabermetric-type stats such as BABIP have been added to the Player Detail Report. These new metrics are useful tools when evaluating player performances as they provide additional insights into the value that each player adds to his team.

 

8) Pitcher Game Log Report - WHIP has been added to the Pitcher Game Log report.

 

9) Awards Voting Report - This report has been improved so that the all-star, gold-glove, and silver slugger awards are now based upon the positions that players were used in replays instead of their real-life primary positions.

 

10) Boxscore Improvement – Box scores now list Team RISP. For example, "2-for-7" means the team had two hits in seven times at bat with runner(s) in scoring position.

 

11) Game Notes - The Game Notes feature has been improved by adding more information about the current series games that have been played. There is now another line following each game that indicates the winning and losing pitchers (and their updated records) and also the reliever who recorded a save (if there was one).

 

12) Player Notebooks - Batter and pitcher notebooks now display Slugging on the Hitting and Pitching tabs.

 

13) Draft-O-Matic - The Draft-O-Matic logic has been improved by adding another internal layer of player evaluation. This will result in a better selection of batter cards with more emphasis now being placed on drafting players who not only fit an available role on the team, but who also bring a higher overall skill level. Previous versions of the draft logic were more focused on just filling out team roles.

 

14) Super Hal Pinch Running - A COPY button has been added to this dialog. This button can be used to copy one Pinch Running pecking order to another. For example, say you first setup your order vs. Standard Righties. Your order vs. Reverse Righties might be similar. Instead of creating it from scratch, you could copy the Standard Righties order to Reverse Righties order and then customize the Reverse Righties order with just the differences.

 

15) Social Media Updates - Blogger & Twitter Support Updated: Support has been added for the new Twitter and Blogger APIs. IMPORTANT - You must read the note about setting up blogger in order to use this feature! The Twitter access code was also completely rewritten to support Twitter's new API. Please refer to the Social Media topic for more information.

 

16) Bugs Fixed

• Draft League Mode was choosing the wrong starting lineup against pitchers who had extreme balance ratings. For example, vs. Joe Saunders (2013, SEA) the program was not correctly using the L9L lineup.
• Netplay would sometimes hang when using the Actual Pitcher's Hitting card feature.
• Newspaper Style Recap - Starting pitchers for double-headers were not displaying properly.
• The Game Notes report would sometime incorrectly display the starting pitchers for upcoming scheduled games.
• The Player Detail Report was not reporting games started by pitchers for Double-Duty players properly. The Games Started section of the batting report was showing the pitcher's games started under "DH" instead of under the "Pi" column.
• When Double Duty players pinch hit in the top of the 9th they were always being used in relief at the start of the bottom of the 9th inning, even in situations where a more appropriate reliever was available in the bullpen.
• Added Strikeouts to Traditional Pitching in the Report Writer (this should have been on the report by default).

 

17) New Seasons - Support for the new 2014, 1969 (Deluxe Super-Advanced), 1953 (Deluxe Super-Advanced), 1873 National Association, 1911 Negro League, 1922 Negro League, 1934 Negro League, 1945 Negro League, and 2014 Japanese Baseball seasons has been added.

 

18) Ballpark Photos 

• 7 new ballpark pictures - Chicago-NL (day and night), Oakland (day and night), Kansas City (night), Atlanta (day and night)
• 33 new ballpark entry pictures - Chicago-NL-4, Oakland-6, Kansas City-4, Texas-1, Colorado-5, Atlanta-6, Houston-2, San Francisco-5

 

19) Play-By-Play  

• Over 500 new lines of Nickname play-by-plays have been included.
• New and updated Trivia questions are included.
• All 30 team play-by-play files have been edited and updated for 2015 season. 

iScore App

Take a look at this app and let me know what you think. I have read about Strat players utilizing it to keep up with their cards & dice games, and wondered if it was something worth looking into. It's $9.99, so I think I'd want to know more about it before wasting ten bucks. Yes, I'm cheap.

Mock Draft Update - Early February Version

Let's try this again...

1. Zaps - Corey Dickerson. At this point, the first pick hasn't changed. And why would it?

2. Nads - Josh Harrison. Ditto. On the other hand, this could still be the young Cub, Soler.

3. Wahoos - Jake Arrieta. Best of a good group of starting pitchers.

4. Mavs - Jorge Soler. Or a pitcher. There's no telling. But in the drafts done around the country that include only guys carded for the first time, Soler is the highest pick that isn't already on a NASOMA roster.

5. Goofs - Dellin Betances. The Goofs are in the hunt for the AWD title, and Betances is the best reliever in the draft.

6. Wahoos - Wade Davis. Just as good a card as Betances. Maybe better.

7. Inmates - Jacob deGrom. I don't know if deGrom is better - or more valuable - than McHugh, but I don't think you can go wrong with either.

8. FFTs - Joc Pederson. Young Dodger sets the tone for the FFT draft.

9. Goofs - Collin McHugh. I don't know if McHugh is better - or more valuable  - than deGrom, but...

10. Inmates - Carlos Carrasco. There are a handful of SP/RP guys with good cards and good futures. This is one of them.

11. Nads - Mike Fiers. This is another one of them. Harrison and Fiers would be a couple of really big Nads. I'm tellin' ya, the Nads could be riding high this year. They could hang around. Don't expect them to shrink away from the competition. Go Nads!

12. Buckeyes - Mookie Betts. The Buckeyes are rebuilding, and this guy could be a core player for awhile. He's projected to start in RF for the Red Sox.

13. Wahoos - J.D. Martinez. Maybe the third best full-time hitting card in the draft. If he slides to 13, the Hoos have a steal.

14. Zaps - Aaron Sanchez. Or Shoemaker. Or Giles. The two he doesn't take will be there at 17 when he picks next. The Zaps have a great team already, and they're going to have a great draft. Definitely the team to beat in 2015. It's not even close. I'm predicting 120 wins for the Zaps. Who's with me?

15. Sidewinders - Dee Gordon. The Snakeman could prove me wrong just for spite, but the speedy, left-handed hitting second baseman seems to be a perfect pick for this team. But don't be shocked if the only team capable of hanging with the Zaps takes Panik instead.

16. Fungoes - Danny Santana. Hechavarria would still be a good pick, but Santana is probably the better ss for the Fungoes until Lindor comes around.

Top Ten RIght Now - RP and 2B

MLB Network's Top Ten Right Now...

Relief Pitching
1. Wade Davis, Free Agent
2. Greg Holland, Mavs
3. Craig Kimbrel, Sidewinders
4. Dellin Betances, Free Agent
5. Joaquin Benoit, SuperGoofs
6. Aroldis Chapman, Sidewinders
7. Mark Melancon, Wahoos
8. Koji Uehara, SuperGoofs
9. Zach Britton, Free Agent
10. Tony Watson, Sidewinders

Interesting choices. Obviously the Snakes have a great bullpen (they have 3 other guys in the pen who are also good). Three of these guys are in the draft. And, of course, we in NASOMA look at relievers a little differently. We evaluate at least 95% of bullpen guys by how they did LAST YEAR as opposed to how good they'll be THIS year. But still, there's not a lot to argue about here.

Second Base
1. Robinson Cano, Warpigs
2. Dustin Pedroia, Wahoos
3. Ben Zobrist, Tweeners
4. Neil Walker, Drillers
5. Ian Kinsler, DVs
6. Jose Altuve, Inmates
7. Howie Kendrick, Mavs
8. Chase Utley, Zaps
9. Brian Dozier, Nads
10. Scooter Gennett, Buckeyes

This is not a real strong group. Even the guys at the top had down years. I think Altuve should be higher, and I'd probably put Wong or Gordon on the list. I still think Kipnis is top ten despite his crappy 2014. Phillips is fading, Murphy just needs to improve with the glove, and Panik/Odor/Schoop are knocking on the Top Ten door.

Zaps and Inmates Trade

The Inmates traded Wellington Castillo and pick 186 to the Zaps for pick 110.

Starting Pitching and First Base - Top Ten Right Now

More from the MLB Network Shredder...

Starting Pitchers
1. Clayton Kershaw, Fungoes
2. Felix Hernandez, Tweeners
3. Chris Sale, Sidewinders
4. Adam Wainwright, Warpigs
5. Max Scherzer, Zaps
6. Johnny Cueto, Sidewinders
7. Corey Kluber, Zaps
8. David Price, Fungoes
9. Madison Bumgarner, Tweeners
10. Jordan Zimmermann, Wahoos

Hard to argue too much with this list. MLB is definitely pitching-rich these days. So much so that many good pitchers are left off the list. Pitchers like Strasburg, Darvish, Lester, Greinke, Hamels, Richards, Fernandez, Sanchez, Iwakuma, Teheran, Tanaka...

First Base
1. Miguel Cabrera, FFTs
2. Paul Goldschmidt, Zaps
3. Jose Abreu, Drillers
4. Joey Votto, Rhinos
5. Freddie Freeman, Killer Bees
6. Edwin Encarnacion, Wahoos
7. Anthony Rizzo, Inmates
8. Mike Napoli, Zaps
9. Adrian Gonzalez, Nads
10. Carlos Santana, Killer Bees

At first base, however, there's plenty of room for argument. Mike Napoli? Would you rather have him RIGHT NOW than Hosmer, Adams, Morneau? I'd rather have Pujols than Napoli. Or Belt. Or Mauer. Hell, I'd rather have Prince Fielder than Mike Napoli. Okay, maybe not Prince.

And I'm biased, but Morneau should be on this list. He won the batting title last year in the NL and has more OB+TB on the right side of his strat card than any other 1bman - meaning he had a pretty good year.

I have no problem with the top 3 (though I'd flip 1-2), but I'd have Rizzo at 4.  I'd have Freeman at 5, Morneau 6, Encarnacion 7, Votto 8, Santana 9, and Hosmer (or maybe Matt Adams or Brandon Belt) at 10. Napoli and Gonzalez would not be on my top 10.