The Class of 2003 - Five Years Later: Where Are They Now?

OK, let's take a look back in time and explore the first round draft picks made in 2003. Where are they now? Have they panned out?

1st pick: SP Matthew Cassity, Virginia
Where is he now?: Pitching for Dayton (AAA - River Cities)

Matthew Cassity was a young 19-year old righthander when he was selected by Virginia as the first amateur draft pick in SDMB OOTP history. Assigned to A-ball, he went 5-13 with a 4.39 ERA in 2003. He never really got the hang of A-ball play until 2006, when he proved to be one of the league's better pitchers by going 13-9 with a 3.91 ERA and 150 K. He finally managed to bid A-ball goodbye with his overpowering 11-2 start to the 2007 campaign. He is currently pitching in Dayton (AAA) and has started the season with a 1-1 record.

2nd pick: SS Ricky Peppers, California
Where is he now?: Playing SS for South Bay

Ricky Peppers is a power-hitting shortstop with good range. It should be noted that Peppers was my first choice for that draft, put he was taken one pick ahead of me. Peppers spent his first four seasons bouncing between A and AA ball. It was in the middle of his poor 2004 campaign that he was traded to Stockholm as part of the deal for Lincoln Rossetti. He eventually made it to the majors with Florida in 2007, but was overwhelmed in his initial major league experience, hitting only .170 in 64 games. The start of his 2008 season seems to be going well, hitting .289 with 3HR and 5 SB in 12 games.


3rd pick: C Beau Manning, Brooklyn
Where is he now?: Playing 1B for Brooklyn

Manning was patiently guided up the minor league system. He spent two and a half years at Brighton Beach (A) before finally becoming a regular at Flatbush (AA) in 2005. After spending 2006 at Flatbush, he started 2007 at Kensington (AAA). He didn't stay there long before arriving in Brooklyn to stay in June. He played 96 games for Brooklyn in 2007, hitting .257 with 16HR and 74 RBI.

4th pick: SP Chet Overholt, Saskatoon
Where is he now?: Pitching for Battleford (AA - Saskatoon)

In the five year period from 2003-2007, Chet Overholt has won 50 games - all of them for Tisdale Prarie Sox (A). After two subpar seasons, he seemed to be on-track with good performances in the 2005 and 2006 campaigns. However, he seemed to fall apart in 2007, going 6-6 with a career-high 5.05 ERA. Nonetheless, he's been promoted to AA for the 2008 season where he has (so far) pitched 13 scoreless innings over two games, earning one victory.

5th pick: SP Kevin Silverman, Seattle
Where is he now?: Pitching for Olympia (AA - Seattle)
Control-artist Kevin Silverman started his career in Olympia, skipping A ball and posting a 12-9 record. Since then, he's been a fixture at AA (aside from six games at A-ball Kent).

6th pick: SP Ed Scull
Where is he now?: Pitching for Covington

Ed Scull holds the distinction of being the first player drafted in an amateur draft to make it to the major leagues. The young 21 year old made his major league debut during the 2003 campaign, clearly showing that he was not yet ready for prime time. He pitched in 14 games and had an ERA of 15.53, giving up 35 hits in 13 innings. A trade to Virginia that same year saw him go back to the minors (all the way down to A-ball, in fact). A trading-deadline deal in 2004 saw him traded again, this time to Austin as part of a package for Jason Guth. He finally returned to the majors in 2007, where he turned in a record of 9-12, but with a respectable 3.47 ERA. This year he's off to a hot start, with a record of 2-0 and an ERA of 1.86 in three games.

7th pick: CL Junior Cuomo, Stockholm
Where is he now?: South Bay's closer.

Junior Cuomo is a pitcher with a really live arm. He started his career in A ball for Stockholm quickly racking up 19 saves. A midseason promotion to AA saw him pick up 16 more. In 2004, he saved 25 more for AA and then 2 more in AAA. He also got to make his major league debut in 2004. He spent most of 2005 in Stockholm, but he was clearly overmatched, ending up with an ERA of 8.51. He returned to the minors in 2006 and picked up 29 saves in AA and AAA (despite a 5.00+ ERA). He returned to the majors in 2007 where he clearly improved his skills, picking up 8 saves with a scorching 0.77 ERA in 17 games. He currently looks like he's going to be a strong closer for years to come, with 3 saves and a 1.35 ERA in four games this season.

8th pick: MR John Miller, Houston
Where is he now?: Pitching for Akron (AA - River Cities)
John Miller showed a lot of promise when first drafted, but has yet to live up to his potential. In his first season with Houston, he saved 28 games at A ball. In 2004, he saved 27 between A and AA and in 2005, saved 23 at AA and an additional 5 at AAA. However, after his trade to River Cities prior to the 2006 season, he was never the same pitcher. In 2006, he only saw action in 15 games (although he had 8 saves in those fifteen games). 2007 saw him demoted to Akron, where he was assigned to middle relief in the bullpen, where the 27-year old still toils today.

Hey, look what I did!

I've had a logo for my team imported into OOTP for a while, so it shows up when I'm on my team screens and on any of my players. I found it semi-helpful, and decided to create a new one using that "cap embroidery" style I used on my newspaper page below.

Then I decided to make one for everyone (picked the colors mostly at random or whatever your team name evoked in my head):



If there's interest, I guess I could throw together a .zip file and instructions on how to install them (like, one step...). I did them out of boredom mostly.

That Olivas combined no hitter....

(Against me, unfortunately)...

Gotta love the AI that took Olivas out after 8 perfect innings... having thrown 72 pitches!

(Ok, after further looking I admit maybe he wasn't perfect through 8. There was an error by Danville, and a CS on my CF Juan David. But can you imagine a manager taking out a pitcher who's perfect through 8?)

But hey! Somehow I'm in first, when I expected that this year would be pretty much a rebuilding year as I wasn't able to improve my team much through free agency. I think my pitchers are performing way over their heads so far, but I'll take it.
It's going to be fun watching rookie pitcher Harold Biscoe this year - he's allowed only 9 hits through 18 innings this year! of course the 13 walks sort of offset that.... call this an experiment to see if a pitcher can survive in the majors despite a single-digit control rating.

With my #3 SP out right now, I am looking for an SP at this point, so if anyone has mediocre ones to spare, let me know. I don't have a ton to offer in exchange (please don't ask about Rubio or Placencia), but I am willing to take on salary or part with cash.

Small Sample Size Theater - Franklin Jackson edition

All right, I'm not going to panic after 14 games. 14 games where my manager gave Josh Elders, the number five guy in my bullpen, four opportunities to blow close games. Nor am I going to be upset about the injury to Derrick Raglin, my starting, four-time All Star shortstop, that left the punchless wonder George Wilde hitting fourth or fifth for five games.

Now, keep in mind that I live in Seattle. I know bad baseball. In my childhood, I had the pleasure of watching the infamous Mario Mendoza play in person as a member of my Mariners. More recently, I have watched Jeff Cirillo, Scott Speizio and Adrian Beltre put up some terrifically bad hitting lines while manning the hot corner. For God's sake, Adrian Beltre had a line 12 games into this season of .109/.212/.109 (Avg/OBP/Slg), giving him a mighty .321 OPS.

But Franklin Jackson (http://ootp.izev.com/p377.html). Oh, Franklin Jackson. Last year he was .263/.324/.497 with 33 bombs and 111 RBI. A solid, dependable player who, incidentally, is pretty cheap. I felt ok with him manning left field for me.

BUT HOW THE F&^%#&^%$ IS HE "HITTING" .098/.161/.118???? He has four singles, one double, and three walks in 54 plate appearances! My dog could put up a .279 OPS (hey, she has small strike zone). And Jackson is my fifth or sixth hitter in the line-up. He also threw in a game-losing error on defense just for good measure. ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

I try to tell myself that it will make the inevitable comeback and the Monarchs' march to the title all the sweeter, that anyone can hit anything in a small sample size, etc. It doesn't make it much better though.

Sigh. And this is what I do for "fun".

No hitter? Try no outs!

Even with the basking glow of Sherm Wheeler's performance the Paddlewheelers remain corn-fused about 4.5 star #3 starter Jonathan Starner and his 37.13 ERA in 3 starts. Oofah!

His lines:
Date IP H R ER BB K
4/3/08 2.0 4 4 4 1 1
4/9/08 0.1 4 4 4 0 0
4/14/08 0.1 2 3 3 1 0

All to Walla Walla! What secret mojo do they have? What hidden reserves do they draw upon when facing one of the more feared starting pitchers in the league? And more importantly: STOP PICKING ON HIM!

And Another One On Day 2!!!

The problem with the rosters was resolved and I finished the sim. And lo, and behold, on Day 2, Danville pitched a no-hitter as well against New York! Eight perfect innings by Roberto Olivas. The only runner was a walk in the ninth.

Zev

Shades of Bob Feller!

I'm still having roster problems with one team, so I can't advance past day one of the season.

However, I will let everyone know that on Opening Day, River Cities' Sherman Wheeler (a guy I traded away!) pitched an Opening Day no-hitter. The only Federal Duck to get on base was Cristian Lazo with a walk in the third inning.

(Box Score)

I'll advise when the roster problems have been solved.

Zev

We'll try Sim1 again tonight

I had everyone's info last night in order to do the sim, but I didn't actually get around to it. I'll do it tonight.

Zev

Additionally, I thought you guys might be interested in this page I designed for my newspaper today (links to a slightly bigger version):

Farm teams come back to the farm.

DANVILLE, Ill. -- The Danville Dans are pleased to announce the relocation and renaming of the team's minor league system, hoping to draw on the rich baseball tradition in the Midwest.

Danville's triple-A team moves to Huntingburg, In., and is renamed the "DuBois County Bombers". The team finished fourth in the Zotti League triple-A standings in 2007 as the Davis Frogs. The Bombers will now play home games at the historic League Stadium, which opened in 1894 and was a primary filming location for the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own."

Danville's double-A team moves to Quincy, Ill., and is renamed the "Quincy Gems". The team finished second in the Zotti League double-A standings in 2007 as the Reseda Palms. The Gems will now play home games in Quincy Stadium, originally built in 1938 by President Roosevelt's WPA, and former home of farm teams of the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs.

Danville's single-A team moves to Springfield, Ill. and is renamed the "Springfield Rifles". The team finished second in the Zotti League single-A standings in 2007 as the Shasta Glissade.

The minor league teams were slated to move to central Illinois with the Dans for the 2007 season, but administrative snafus kept the farm teams in place.

This whole waiting-for-assignment thing is going to get old so fast.

Give 'em a deadline and then release them! Zero tolerance!

And let's get on with my inevitable march to glory!

Sim 1: Who uploaded?

Received an upload from:

Denver
Hickory
Saskatoon
Seattle
Danville
South Bay
River Cities

Assign Your Players!!!

I could not complete the sim tonight. There were two teams that had players who needed to be assigned. I have sent them the appropriate email, advising them that they will be subject to forty lashes with a wet baseball bat each. :)

In the future, please, please, please remember to assign your players.

Zev

OK, blogs up!

Let's give it a go. You'll all get invitations to become members of the blog, which will allow you to post. If you already have a Blogger ID, feel free to use it, if not, feel free to create another one just for this purpose (as I did).

Any questions? Feel free to ask (or post!)

Zev