Your Draft Primer

As if the fact that the draft is less than 4 days away isn't enough, here's some additional good news. It appears NetPlay may have finally been improved enough to use on a regular basis. This falls under the "I'll believe it when I see it" category, but I've played home and home games vs the Wahoos and home and home games vs the DVs over the last couple of days without a single problem. You should try it out before Friday just to see if you have any issues.

Glenn asked me to pass on a couple of notes about the draft...

We had some issues last season with teams running out of innings or at bats at certain positions.

For pitchers, it is a good idea to have a MINIMUM of 1,000 SP innings and 500 RP innings. That's a minimum. MIN-I-MUM! Any fewer than that, and you're going to have trouble making it to the end of the season. In addition, be aware that just because you have a player who is SP/RP and has 120 innings doesn't mean you should count him for BOTH your starter and relief innings. It doesn't work like that.

And honestly, the teams that had players run over typically had plenty of unused innings by their other players - it was just that one or two of the pitchers were being used way too often (usually by Hal). First, draft enough innings. Then, check constantly throughout the season to make sure no one is being overused. And if they are, put them on the taxi for awhile - especially for road games being managed by CM.

For hitters, figure around 600-650 AB or 680-700 plate appearances per position. Last year, the 16 teams averaged 5583 ABs, 516 walks, 67 HBPs, and 23 Sac Bunts (why does almost no one keep SFs?). Where they bat in the order will affect the totals, of course. I still remember the first time I played the Bandits. Ab had Kal Daniels batting 9th every game, and I couldn't figure out why a stud card like that was buried at the bottom of the order until he explained to me that he would last longer batting there. Just make sure you have everything covered before playing your first game.

We have always worked on the honor system with regards to ABs, IPs, and your pitching rotation, and it's pretty much always worked. Just be aware and take care of your shit. If you're going to carry that 30-inning pitcher or 50-AB prospect (I don't wanna name names, but you know who you are - and RHI KNOW who you are), just make sure you're covered by the other players on your team.

If you have questions, ask the Buckeyes.

Now... Can I go ahead and announce pick 1?!?