I can't believe it. Last week at this time, it was nice outside and the Pirates were days away from embarking on yet another 90-loss season. I wake up this morning to snow and the Buccos in first place for their second day in a row. Sure, it seems like nothing until you remember that these are the Pittsburgh Pirates. I urge all of you to buy the newspaper today, tear out the baseball standings, and highlight the Pirates in first place, because you may not see such a thing again for quite sometime. On second thought, I should have taken a screen shot of the 2006 standings when Bukkake Tsunami was in first place for that one week, because that was something that did not happen again. Oh well.
Today's column is about surprises. You can never tell exactly what's going to happen in the SBL. It's as unpredictable of a league as there is. Teams and players who look like gold one week can look like garbage the next (and vice versa). Twice in the last two seasons has the lowest seeded playoff team advanced to the finals. You don't even know who's going to show up on a given week. Of course, we can never overlook all of the randomness that happens during each week. Ladder scrums, beer pong shootouts, beer showers, hockey fights, and people getting dumped into trashcans have all become commonplace in our precious league, which, coupled with the personalities we have, are what make it so unique. Surprises come from all angles in the SBL. With the 2007 draft still in the recent past, today's focus is on draft day surprises. I'm not talking about this year's draft (you can read Nate's review on that), but rather surprises from the past ones. Since nobody can say for certain how a player will turn out, I can't exactly call them "draft day busts" or "draft day blunders". This is just a little trip down memory lane, reminiscing about first rounders who didn't quite work as well as those taken after them who turned out to be late round bargains.
2001 & 2002
It's hard to fill in data about these two years when: a. I wasn't around and therefore do not have much knowledge about what went down, b. There is no draft page posted for 2001, and c. The 2002 draft page links to the 2004 draft page. Hhhmmmmm. Weird.
2003
Worst Pick(s): Fred Shaffer, Vice City Miracles (2nd pick); Josh Flynn, Lunchbox Hero (6)
The scoop: Shaffer played in just six games, a pretty poor value for the second overall pick. Teddy Ballgame's Miracles sure could have used him in the playoffs, or perhaps one of the forty players drafted after him that year. Josh Flynn had a projected stat line for a full 20 game season which would read as follows: 10 HR, .458 AVG., 40 RBI, and 10 DPs. Those are pretty good numbers for 2003. It's just too bad that he only played in two games.
Taken later: John Olsavsky(7), Jamie Moroco(11), PJ Nespor(12), Shelley Goodpastor(15), Jared Clayton(19), and Mikey Moroco(21)...not to mention Matt McClelland(undrafted), who won rookie of the year
2004
Worst Pick(s): Mark Tarkanick, Hoosier Daddy(predraft); Andy Esenwein, PJ & the Ladies(7)
The scoop: Ah, the pre-draft era. We all remember the days of picking up one player before the draft, and in this particular case, it was Mikey Moroco and Bryan Frankovich picking up Tark. I remember seeing him play his first week back in 2004, thinking he was a great player. It's a shame that I haven't seen him since. Maybe a curse isn't to blame for Frankovich's having never won a championship. Meanwhile, PJ & the Ladies thought that picking up Andy Esenwein will lead them through the playoffs. They also thought he would show up often. WRONG!
Taken later: Jamie Moroco(8), Billy Picciotto(24), Dan Kelly(25), Jon Olsavsky(34), Brandon McKendry(35), Aryn Christman(41), Katie Kelly(43), Danielle Hennon(45) and Ben Smith(undrafted)
2005
Worst Pick(s): Patrick O'Mahoney, Team Koopa Troopa(6)
The scoop: The only standout poor first-rounder from this draft is Patrick O'Mahoney. He put up great numbers and showed up regularly during the firsth half of the season. Hell, he may have given Terry Shernisky a run for his money had he not violated the number one golden rule for any SBLer: don't piss Nate off.
Taken later: PJ Nespor(8), Pat Lackey(9), Mike Frankovich(20), Aaryn Christman(22), Greg Lackey(25), Pat Nespor(41) and Terry Hall(undrafted)
2006
Worst Pick(s): Billy Picciotto, Minoriteam(2), Big Ando, Cashdollar & Associates(4) Jason Biddle, Wet Dream Team(5)
The scoop: Since the teams were already put together before the draft, you can notice the quality of players slip a little. I can also recall Mike Frankovich having a team that was disbanded after he failed to show up for the draft. Otherwise, there would have hardly been any talent in the pool at all. None of these players suited up for their teams for more than a week (if even that). That brings a tear to my eye.
Taken later: Ray Cataline(9), Terry Hall(11)
In addition to the quality of players in the draft slipping, notice how 2006 is the only year without an undrafted player making an impact. It's hard to tell if we will be saying the same thing when looking back on the 2007 draft. It does seem like there were more rookies in the pool this year than last, at least giving us a better chance to have a good draft to reflect on. However, I honestly didn't see one "sure thing" player to pick up in the draft. At least we knew Pat Nespor would show up on a regular basis and contribute.
Well, that's all for this week, folks. Happy Easter!