UPL Baseball Draft Lottery and 2010 Preview - Pick 3

The 3rd pick in the 2010 UPL Baseball Draft goes to:

'90 Reds
History: 3 time UPL Baseball champion, who has also seen some tough times (10th in 2003, 8th in 2004).

Tendencies: Strategy seems to be evolving. Originally, overvalued starting pitching, at the expense of offense. Currently appears to be looking to build off of elite offensive talent, while patching things together with value in SP. Able to make trades to shore up roster. Seems to get lucky in free agency in successful years (I still can't let go of Bret Boone's 2001* season).

2009 Result: 1st place

Likely Keepers:
Offense Locks: Ryan Howard, Victor Martinez, Justin Upton, Pablo Sandoval, Aramis Ramirez, Jason Bartlett

Pitching Locks: Dan Haren, Javy Vazquez, Edwin Jackson, Wandy Rodriguez, Chad Qualls, Brian Wilson

Probable Keepers: Michael Bourn, Carlos Gonzalez, Billy Butler, Manny Ramirez, Chipper Jones, Joe Nathan, Homer Bailey

Strengths and Question Marks:
Offensive Strengths: Deep offense with some positional flexibility, though Sandoval no longer qualifies at C. Ryan Howard almost single-handedly makes you competitive in HR and RBI. Bourn, Bartlett, and Upton give enough speed to compete for some points. Upton has an ultra-high ceiling.

Offensive Question Marks: Jason Bartlett is coming off of a career year in 2009, at the age of 30, where his OPS was about .190 higher than his previous 2 seasons (where he totaled over 1000 PA's). Which Bartlett will show up? A-Ram is coming off injury, and seems to be more a bit injury prone the last few years. Man-Ram turns 38 this year, is coming off a disastrous 2009* campaign, and has been his usual, unpredictable self, commenting on how this is going to be his last season in LA. Sandoval's weight has been a concern (basically, he's built like me, only he's a bit shorter, and much more skilled) - we'll see if this is something that actually affects performance, and perhaps he can team up with Ryan Howard and Jared for some low fat, Subway $5 footlongs.

Pitching Strengths: Deep SP, with good rate stats across the board. Dan Haren has been a rock for 3 years in a row.

Pitching Question Marks: Obviously, Joe Nathan's situation hurts, and also raises the question of what to do with SV this year. Javy Vazquez, Wandy Rodriguez, Edwin Jackson, and Brian Wilson are coming off of career years (all 1 run and about .15 below their career ERA/WHIP going into 2009). Which versions will show up in 2010?

2010 Outlook: Sometimes you look at a team, and you wonder how they did as well as they did. Looking at this roster, there were a lot of players who had career years in 2009 (Wandy, Jackson, Vazquez, Wilson, Bartlett), which explains the 2009 success. It's hard to imagine all of them coming up roses again in 2010. That said, assuming average luck, this team should be good enough to be easily in the top-half of this league. And the management should be strong enough to put the '90 Reds into the top 4. Where in that top 4 is an interesting question. If I was guessing (and I am), I'd say 3rd place.

-Chairman (aka O.N. Thugs)