Draft Rounds 1-3

Messages

Ben: This is where the picks and messages for rounds 1-3 will end up after we've entered the fourth round.

Ben: This should be pretty straightforward: go to "Draft Form" to make your pick. You'll need to hit the "back" button and then reload the message board to see your pick appear. Since the messages will get long, I will re-set the board every 3 rounds, saving the messages in the links Round "1-3", etc. There will be a Draft Roster page updated every 30 seconds (once the draft begins - it won't work now). When you are next to pick, please wait at the message board (not the draft roster), clicking "reload." That's it, I think.

John: I am here and ready as I am going to get.

John: I am here and ready as I am going to get.

John: Apparently I misremembered the time. I'll check back later.

Levent: I am in too, btw, you haven't change to the daylight savings time??

Toby: Daylight savings turns this weekend.

Toby: Hey Ben, how about making this page automatically reload every 10 seconds??

Levent: so we have about 1 hour to go?? we have changed last weekend so I am a bit confused...sorry...

Toby: sorry, yeah, we start in about 40 minutes . . .

Mike: AS Ben suggested, I am here at work ready to draft whenever people show up.

James: I've been here, lurking.

Toby: anyone missing? If anyone isn't here yet, they should post a note.

John: I am here, again!

%commentname: who are we missing? Ladd, Tom and Ben? Do we have a ninth? what was the deal with that?

Ben: I'm here. I can't make this page reload for you - that involves running a "server push" which I can't do from here. So, keep your reload fingers nimble.

%commentname: ben should have made it do something clever if you forgot to click on who you are when you post, like making the comment come from "idiot" or something. that would have been very clever and funny.

Toby: Hey ben, the web site is very very cool! Well done and thanks!!

Tom: Hello everyone. I'm all set too.

Ben: If you don't select your name, the program documents it and sends spam email to over 200 million people showing your mistake.

Ben: It looks like we're only missing Ladd....

Toby: hey james, did you find anyone to trade?

Mike: So, how do we know when its time to start drafting?

Toby: oh, that IS clever and funny . . .

Levent: we have a ninth available if you can add...

James: No, you want to? I'll throw in a coed to be named later.

Mike: This scrolling up to type and down to read is good exercise. I already know that I will be taking Toby's first choice in the first round.

Ben: Nameless coeds....let's not start down this path....

Toby: Well, if she weren't "to be named later", I'd be up for it, but as it is I'll have to stick with the number 5 picka and what I can download from the internet . . .

James: Good call Ben, more of us are married now.

John: Hey, the folks at NIST say its 7:00.

Mike: So, this ambiguous responses, like "No, you want to" are dangerous if someone posts between a question and your answer!

Toby: I missed that, mike. you mean you also want Todd Zeile in the first?

Tom: So, who here is NOT married?

Ben: Levent, you're saying your friend is available, i.e. here? What's his name? I can at least give him a voice....

Mike: Also, I clearly need a spell and grammer checker for my comment window.

Toby: Um . . . *I'm* not married . . . anyone . . . else . . . ?

Mike: Well, Toby, if I commit to that, then James would just take him, and neither of us would get him!!

%commentname: name: Onder, he is waiting...

Ben: I'm ready to pick, but I don't know where Ladd is....and we should decide what to do about this 9th person. I think I can add him to the roster program easily enough....I'll have some time to kill after my first pick anyway...

Toby: yeah, james is kind of a meanie that way . . .

Mike: To follow up on John's comment, you would think with Ben's fancy new web page, we could at least start on time this year!!

James: If he's here, I say bring him on.

Toby: adding one is fine with me, but if other people object that that's fine, too. can I abstain?

Ben: Onder, hit reload and you can now speak. How do we determine his draft order? Should we randomly select a number from 1-9, put Onder there, and then keep our order for before and after him?

Mike: It messes up my whole drafting strategy, but that is probably a good thing. So go ahead if you can, and put him in. I might suggest the 8th spot, but I leave that up to Tom. I find being last is much better than second to last in this draft.

John: Since none of you typically talk to my coworkers I will confess to be expecting a child in October (in addition to being married)!

Toby: put him last (sorry onder)

%commentname: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!

Toby: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!

James: Yes, re: what Ben said said about Onder's order.

Toby: that didn't take long, John. Who'd have thought you'd have it in you? :-)

Mike: Since John has confessed. I too am married, and we are expecting a second child in Aug..

Tom: Good news about the kid! Congrats.

Levent: I sent him an email, and we'll see whether he is still around...

Toby: anyone heard from the ladd-meister?

Ben: Okay, Onder drafts 8th, Tom 9th. Unless Ladd doesn't show up soon. Now, everyone avoid typing a message for about a minute while I get this board set up....

John: I might nominate Ladd for the 9 spot.

Mike: Have we heard from Ladd yet??

Ladd: I'm here - got stuck in traffic. Love that #3 spot!

Ben: Okay, I'm going to start drafting - we'll let Levent figure out if Onder is here before the 8th pick.

Levent: agreed...

Round 1 - Ben takes Randy Johnson, Ari - P

Toby: damn, I wanted him !!! (rinse and repeat)

Ladd: I'm here, but I'm not seeing my previous comment posted.

Round 1 - James takes Bagwell, Hou - 1B

James: You killed me Ben, I was so sure I could get Johnson I didn't even have a second choice.

Ben: Ladd, are you getting the updates? You might need to set your cache size to zero if it won't reload the page when you hit reload.

Toby: does ladd know to hit reload?

Toby: see, ben, he won't get your message if . . .

Round 1 - Ladd takes Ken Griffey Jr., Cin - OF

Ben: Duh, oops.

Onder: Guys I'm here

Round 1 - Mike takes Mark McGwire, StL - 1B

Toby: Hi Onder!

Round 1 - Toby takes Sosa, Chi - OF

Mike: Hey Toby, I almost took Sosa, but I am going with my tradition of never picking an outfielder in the first round. However, by picking him, I probably guarenteed McGwire a broken back or something else terrible!

Ben: Hi Onder. Did Levent explain to you our draft structure? The order we pick is the order at the top of page, so mostly you'll follow Levent. We'll point out the exceptions - in particular the 2nd round is reverse order.

Toby: I was very happy with him last year . . . never had sosa before

Round 1 - John takes Kevin Brown, LA - P

Toby: Good, all the good pitchers are gone, so I don't have to worry about it any more . . .

Mike: Hey John: I hope for your sake LA can get its act together this year!

Round 1 - Levent takes Millwood, Atl - P

James: I hope LA gets its act together for my sake.

Tom: Aaargh!! I wanted Millwood!

%commentname: I've never done this before. Is there a list of positions and players somewhere? Don't tell me you remember all of them...

Ben: The draft rosters won't be updated for a few minutes, while I work Onder in the program....I feel like a NASA programmer making corrections during flight...

Mike: Its amazing how a really good year can move someone so far up in the draft (i.e. Millwood)! This is fun commenting on every pick! Maybe I should pay more attention to who I am going to pick.

Onder: That las comment was mine...

Toby: Ooh, that will make it more difficult. Ben, can you forward onder the list you sent out

Ben: Onder, post your email address and I can send you some stats sorted by position.

Tom: Of course, that's a really REALLY good year by a 25-year old

Onder: kivanc@utdallas.edu

Toby: BTW, Onder, in case you haven't seen the draft order, it goes 1-9 in the first round, then 9-1 (so 9 makes two picks in a row), and the 4-3, 5-4, 6-5, etc...

John: Ben, does that mean you are going to wait 22 rounds to notice that we have an extra player and then decide its probably not worth mentioning?

Mike: RE MIllwood, yea, and I picked Avery after his really really good year and where is he now? Blowing games from the bullpen so the Yankees beat up on the Braves as I recall.

Toby: HOW 'BOUT THEM TARHEELS?!?!?!?!! (and what about them there badgers? . . .)

Toby: Hey mike, that was directed at me and I'm hurt!

Tom: Well, I didn't get Millwood, so I guess it doesn't matter if he goes down the tubes.

Toby: NOT!!

Mike: Toby: I assume that the current TARHEEL joy is a sufficient cushion that you can absorb the pain!

Mike: am I correct that it is Onder's pick, and we are just waiting a few minutes for Ben to get the Draft roster in order?

Toby: I'm pretty ecstatic about the heels, yep, although I'm also very nervous. I'm not so unhappy to be playing florida next, rather than a good team :-)

Ben: No need to wait for me - Onder can pick whenever he's ready. The draft roster may or may not be working soon, but we can go on picking..

%commentname: As for the Badgers, they've won 10 out of their last 13 games, so they're on a roll. Of course the three games they lost were all to MSU . . .

Toby: Hey John and Mike, do you know if you're gonna have little boys or little girls?

James: Hey Toby, how are your cats?

Ben: Draft roster should be working now.

Mike: The ultrasound strongly suggests a girl, but the tech. person was not willing to committ 100%

John: We don't know and probably won't try to find out.

Toby: Hey, the kitties are doing great, thanks!! Some random person sent me email the other day telling me how cute they are (from the way outdated pictures on my web page). My little girl had diarrhea a couple of nights ago, and she panicked and ran frantically through the apartment, spraying wet shit out of her ass, so I spent the evening scooping brown patches out of the carpet in every room . . . but other than that they're great!! Cute as ever!!

Ben: Onder, any technical problems?

%commentname: It's a bad sign when the first round ends 40 minutes too late . . . anyone got to be at work in the morning ??

James: Thats sooo sweet. We're still waiting for Onder right?

John: Levent can you help Onder somehow?

Toby: James, how are your kitties? (kitty?)

Onder: Give me a second, I'm trying to get organized.

James: They are doing well, the little gray one (Jessie) is starting to get old.

Toby: John, I think you pretty much have to try *not* to find out the sex of your baby these days . . .

Toby: How old are your kitties? you don't have pictures posted, do you?

Round 1 - Onder takes Glavine, Atl - P

Ben: Not that anyone is asking, but our cats are doing fine. Shadow still runs to greet us at the door every day, even if he's been sleeping upstairs (he's often not quite awake as he stumbles down the stairs).

Mike: TOBY: Actually, you just need kids like ours that hide during the ultrasounds. We never new Kimberly's before hand. And we almost didn't know this babies.

Toby: Hey Ben! How are YOUR cats (shadow and pele) doing?

Round 1 - Tom takes Guerrero, Mon - OF

Tom: Well, if I can't have Millwood ...

Round 2 - Tom takes Maddux, Atl - P

Toby: is it Tom again now?

Mike: Hey Toby, if we ever make it back to us in this century you get to take my pick this round!

Ben: Yeah, yeah, hide behind the phase shift....I know you read my comment first.

Round 2 - Onder takes Williams, Ari - 3B

Onder: hey Onder, you may realize this, but just since it's your first time, we go backwards this round, so it's your pick. if you're just getting ready, I apologize.

Mike: I assume Onder knows that it is his turn.

Toby: sorry, that last from onder was from me, and I see he made his pick while i was typing!!

Toby: does onder know that Williams is out 6 weeks with a foot injury?

Ben: Onder - you need to select your name when you make your picks.

Round 2 - Levent takes Wagner, Hou - P

Round 2 - John takes Chipper Jones, Atl - 3B

Round 2 - Toby takes Piazza, NY - C

Ben: So, now that it's history, what do people think of my taking Johnson first? It's a bit scary to pick up a 37 year old, overworked starter....

Levent: good luck Ben...remember what happened to me when I picked Bonds and Smoltz?? :-))

James: Ben, I was going to take him second, so obviously we are both idiots.

Toby: I think it's a very good call , Ben. Pitching is very very thin this year, and hitting is very very deep. I would have taken him if he were still available (and I didn't expect him to be)

Round 2 - Mike takes Shane Reynolds, Hou - P

Ben: I assume Mike knows that it's his turn....

%commentname: I don't think we've ever had so many pitchers go in the first two rounds . . .

Toby: I don't think we've ever had so many pitchers go in the first two rounds . . .

John: I was a little surprised (I guess James thought he would go 2nd) but I wouldn't have wanted the pressure of the 31 pick. There is a lot of parity near the top as opposed to recent memory.

Mike: Sorry for the delay Ben, I couldn't read and got confused, I thought Toby picked twice for some reason.

Toby: I still remember that glorious year of old when there was *not* this kind of parity and still managed to get both Maddux and Bonds . . .

Onder: Sorry guys for the delay earlier... but I have 3 problems (1) I'm not too familiar with NL players (2) The list I have doesn't include some of the players that are already drafted. (3) For some reason my name shows up as %name when I draft...

Ben: Mike, I was just copying your post, it was joke. And, I assume Ladd knows it's his pick?

Toby: Onders, you'll find http://espn.go.com/mlb/statistics/index.html helpful, particularly the sortable pitching and sortable hitting . . .

Mike: Ben: Ah! The difficulty with getting a typed joke when I am slow to begin with!

Toby: have we ever split the draft between 2 days?

Ben: Onder, your name should show up with your pick - just be sure to select your name when you make your pick.

Toby: Are we all in different cities?

Ben: Ladd, want some help?

Mike: If this goes like past years, things should speed up significantly. I hope. We seem to always have massive technical difficulties at the beginning. I hope John is taking a nap now so that he is healthy as long as possible. Does Ginger realize that as a wife, it is her duty to step in and draft a winning team if John falls too ill?

Ladd:

Tom: Not completely. Ben and I are only in different cities if you draw a city border down the middle of the room that we're in.

Ben: Is that kind of like the wife finishing a presidency? I guess these rules apply to ultra-important matters...

Toby: Um, actually, as I recall, the first rounds are fast, and the middle and end rounds are interminable.

Ladd: I can't get this message board to update past Onder's pick of Williams - even though I see on the draft sheet that Toby has picked Piazza in round 2! Any thoughts..

Toby: Ladd has laryngitis

Round 2 - Ladd takes Larry Walker, Col - OF

Ben: Ladd, you need to set your disk and memory cache size to zero. You're using a browser with some bug in checking the time stamps of the files, so it's not reliably realizing when the file is changed.

Round 2 - James takes Bonds, SF - OF

Mike: I have no ideas - I assume someone with ideas is helping Ladd. TOBY: By slow in the beginning, I mean we often have this 1 hour technical delay. But I too am sensing a long draft. Perhaps it will be two days for people in certain time zones!

Levent: not for me :-))

Round 2 - Ben takes Shawn Green, LA - OF

Toby: durn you, ben

Ben: Ladd begins round 3, and we draft in order....

Toby: is it mike now?

Toby: what time is it in Turkey?

James: I hope Green has a big year and everything, but I just don't know...

Levent: 4:07 am

John: Ginger is balking at taking over the draft. I would like to move it along though.

Toby: Maybe we can crash Ben's server by all repeatedly hitting Reload . . .

Mike: Has Ladd solved his update problem?

Levent: say Hi to Ginger please...

Toby: Hmm . . . or maybe I'll crash my Netscape . . .

Mike: Anyone in direct contact with Ladd to check if he has solved the update problem?

Mike: Anyone in direct contact with Ladd to check if he has solved the update problem?

Mike: Sorry about the double post, I hit update in the wrong window.

Ben: I've sent Ladd a couple of emails. I'll try calling him.

Toby: I was going to wait to feed my cats until after my next pick, but I'm afraid they're going to devour me before that happens . . .

Round 3 - Ladd takes Trevor Hoffman, SD - P

John: Perhaps we could designate someone to email Ladd the picks if he can't get the page to update

Round 3 - Mike takes Biggio, Hou - 2B

Mike: so did TOby really leave to feed the cats ...

Round 3 - Toby takes Womack, Ari - SS

Toby: sorry, Mike, i was repeatedly hitting reload, but your pick was off the bottom of the screen!!

Levent: complaint: Womack plays infield this year...

Round 3 - John takes Alfonzo, NY - 2B

Ben: Levent's right - you'll HAVE to take Womack at SS, lucky dog. Unless you say you don't want him there, I'll change your pick.

Ben: John, you wanted Alfonzo at 2B. I'll change it.

Toby: DUDE!!!!!! Womack at SS!!!!!!! I'm there!!!! Thanks, levent!!

Round 3 - Levent takes Helton, Col - 1B

Round 3 - Onder takes Lima, Hou - P

Round 3 - Tom takes Benitez, NY - P

Round 3 - Ben takes Urbina, Mon - P

Round 3 - James takes Hampton, NY - P

James: oops, Hampton NY, obviously