UPL Baseball Draft Lottery and 2010 Preview - Picks 13 and 12

This year, I'm going to combine the baseball preview and the lottery announcements, and put out a series of posts, counting down the lottery results. Currently, the plan is to have the UPL Draft on or around March 27, and it's looking like it's going to be an evening draft so as to accommodate the 17 hour time difference for our first international franchise: The Seoul Benver Droncos. And we are adding our first expansion team, the Milwaukee Whiffers. As a result, the keeper schedule will change slightly.

March 13 - All teams must submit 12 keepers from last year's final rosters.
March 17 - The Milwaukee Whiffers must submit a list of 12 players, one from each of last year's teams, who was not kept in the March 13 round of keepers.
March 20 - All teams must submit 6 more keepers, from last year's final rosters.
March 24 - The Milwaukee Whiffers must submit a list of 6 more players, from the remaining unkept players from last year's final rosters, with no more than 1 from each team.
March 27 - 8-round draft.

So without further ado, the results of the UPL Baseball Draft Lottery, with season previews.

The 13th pick of the 2010 UPL Baseball goes to:

Milwaukee Whiffers

History: Traditionally a middle of the pack UPL franchise, with a top finish of 4th place in 2007.

Tendencies: Not afraid to make trades to shake things up, but often trades work out poorly (and draw the ire of the Commish).

2009 Result: DNP - Wedding Planning

Likely Keepers: N/A

Strengths and Question Marks: N/A

2010 Outlook: Basically, it appears that the Whiffers will start off with twelve 13th round picks, and six 19th round picks... which doesn't sound all that great, but if you look at the players that were available beyond the 13th and 18th rounds last year, there is talent available. Top end result looks to be maybe 4th place? And 7th or above would be considered a win. The goal should be to compete by year 3, which is entirely possible.

This takes us to the results of the 2010 UPL Baseball Draft Lottery, where immediately, you see a major shakeup. The 12th pick of the 2010 UPL Baseball Draft goes to:

IAmJabrone

History: Traditionally a top-end UPL franchise, with 6 podium finishes, including a win and two 2nd place finishes.

Tendencies: Can be a feast or famine team, as they typically rely on draft and free agency, rather than trades to round out rosters.

2009 Result: 2nd place

Likely Keepers:
Offense Locks: Albert Pujols, Mark Reynolds, Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Hill, Dan Uggla

Pitching Locks: C.C. Sabathia, Josh Johnson, Cole Hamels, Jonathon Broxton, Huston Street

Probable Keepers: Jay Bruce, Johnny Damon, Ian Stewart, Jason Kubel, Clay Buchholz, Ryan Dempster, Ricky Nolasco, Billy Wagner, Matt Capps, Jorge de la Rosa

Strengths and Question Marks:
Offensive Strengths: Albert Pujols. You can live with Ellsbury never making contact when you have The Machine doing what he does. Power appears to be good, with a couple 20+ HR guys (Uggla, Damon) offering stability to go with Pujols' all-world numbers.

Offensive Question Marks: Major questions for players coming off of career years - Mark Reynolds, Aaron Hill, and Jason Kubel. The odds of that trio replicating their 2009 numbers would seem to be low, and those three played a major role in the 2nd place finish last year. Also looking for Jay Bruce to take a step forward. Needs an upgrade at SS, C, and perhaps UTIL2. The OBP looks like it will be weak, when you trot out a couple guys at .330. Could compete in SB, if one more speed guy is picked up.

Pitching Strengths: Top end SP; RP. Sabathia and Johnson are a stabilizing force for ERA, WHIP, and K. Broxton and Street are legit options.

Pitching Question Marks: After Sabathia and Johnson, the SP all has question marks. A bounce back season from Cole Hamels, a huge 2009 disappointment, and a continuation of the 2009 2nd half Ricky Nolasco will go a long way. Jorge de la Rosa seems to have good stuff, but isn't consistently dominant. Who knows what Buchholz and Dempster will get you. The Francisco Liriano Experiment should be officially over for IAmJabrone, and Westy should get his rightful place as the next experimenter. A little more certainty with SV will also be helpful, since we're not sure what Capps will look like in WAS or what Wagner's role in ATL will be.

2010 Outlook: Should probably try to send one of the SP question marks out to a team with excess at C or SS, since help in the draft or free agency is unlikely at those thin positions. Any time you send out Albert Pujols, you'll compete on offense, and you don't have to be perfect drafting or in free agency. More question marks will show up on the pitching side of things, and will decide if this team is a 5th place team or a title contender. Best guess? We'll go with history and guess that IAmJabrone is a top 3 team.


What's interesting is that this means that the defending champion '90 Reds have defied the lottery odds and moved into the top 3 of the 2010 UPL Baseball Draft... when we return, we'll announce the 11th pick of the draft.

-Chairman (aka O.N. Thugs)