Well, the 2025 Annual Draft is over. The 5th annual draft for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LEG). First off, I would like to thank Steve Cutler, Stray Corrado, and of course Nik. If I have this correct (correct me if I don't) Steve and Stray set up the draft program in our inaugural year under the watchful eye of Nik. Steve has the knowledge of computers and programing and Stray has the money and contacts to make sure they know what they are doing. Nik? Well, he's the Commish and knows what he wants the draft to be able to do. Together they make a very astute and knowledgeable team. Thank you gentlemen.

     On to the Draft. 30 rounds this year. In my humble opinion, the draft pool was not as talented as previous years. But there were players that ,if picked, would add talent to teams,...or at least fill some holes.

     Like every previous year, pitchers were the most popular picks. Of the 30 first picks, 16 were pitchers. 10 were starting pitchers led by Willie Cornelius #3, Preacher Roe #7 and Eddie Rommel #9 ( who was a split grade BUT had many more IP as a starter than a reliever). 6 were relievers led by Dave Smith #1, Jeff Russell #6 and Ted Wilkes #15. So, pitchers take the title again of most favorite position taken.

 

If you are wondering how each position fared in popularity? Here you go ,...

10 starters

6 relievers

1 catcher

2 firstbase

2 secondbase

1 thirdbase

2 shortstop

6 outfield

 

     As you read through the comments on the first round picks, please remember that team's picks were influenced by position needs, player card numbers or grades, player names, money available to spend and player salaries. Picks are also influenced by what managers are trying to accomplish in building their teams. So as you go through the comments remember that these are my thoughts and they are probably not totally in sync with the managers' thoughts.

 

                                                 LEG Season 5 Draft

 

1. Virginia- Dave Smith-RP      What?? With all the high graded pitchers and the power graded players? Yes. I lost him to free agency and wanted him back. Why? Yeah, he's graded 17* but, he's got 8 years left for his next yearly roll and 5 of them are grade 16*, 18*, 18*, 20*, 23*. That's a 62.5% chance to get a great grade. I'll take it. Those of you that got players you weren't sure you would get can thank me. You're welcome. (my choices were pitchers Cornelius and Roe, along with OF''ers Smith and Cravath).

2. San Diego- Cecil Fielder-1B      With 3 firstbasemen and 2 of them having very good cards with power, I expected a reliever, maybe a closer. Mike surprised me here. He could be thinking of the coming years when we start using a DH. Fielder would be a good choice for that. Right now? I would have gone for the reliever. But I'm not Mike. He knows what he's doing.

3. Lewisberry- Willie Cornelius-SP      Could have gone with a firstbaseman. But why? Freddie Freeman is the starter and he's a good one. The pick would be for a backup. Cornelius is the right pick. He steps into a staff that has Farr 18 and Rijo 17 and gives them a good 1-2-3 punch. Good move Bob.

4. Fantomz- Chino Smith-OF      Gordon could have beefed up his bullpen. He needs a setup man. His infield is pretty much set except for some backups. His outfield? He had about 10. BUT, how do you bypass a 6-0, 10-1's power card? If you're Gordon, you don't. Smart move.

5. Yucaipa- Freddie Lindstrom-2B      Yucaipa was pretty settled at all positions. Except for thirdbase. Mark made the correct choice. Fill your holes first. He did. Lindstrom is a grade 6 defense with 12 hit numbers including 3-0's with good power. Excellent pick

6. Tonka- Jeff Russell-RP      Hey Robert! You need a reliever? How about the top one in the draft? Tonka could have added a starter but opted for the top reliever on the board. Russell becomes the closer they didn't have. I like the pick (I like relievers). Good choice.

7. Middle Channel- Preacher Roe-SP      Another team that was basically set at all positions. So what do you do Jamie? No, you don't punt. You take a pitcher,...even if he may be related to me. Preacher will fit nicely in the three hole and even give you some relief. I should have kept him. Enjoy.

8. Purry- Eddie Collins-2B      With a couple of 16 starters on the board, Rob opted to shore up a hole at secondbase. Utley's batting numbers are very good, but his 7 defense at second is suspect. Rob took Collins and his 8 defense and decent card to shore up his infield. I'm guessing Rob decided that since his bullpen is so strong and deep, he needed more defense not pitching. Makes sense. I see it.

9. Detroit- Eddie Rommel-SP      Detroit had 15 picks in the Draft. Kirk (and Kevin) basically rebuild their teams every year (almost). Kirk started his rebuild this year by beefing up his pitching staff. Rommel is a split grade 15/18* but I imagine he will be used primarily as a starter. Either way, Kirk knows what he is doing and he does it well.

10. Charm City- Gavvy Cravath- OF      7-0's and 7 walks! You don't pass that up. And Nigel did not pass. Smart man. Charm City had a fairly good lineup with decent pitching and a great bullpen. So, Nigel simply added to his power potential and grabbed another power bat. Wouldn't you?

11. Margaritaville- Tommy Tucker- 1B      Already having 4 firstbasemen, I may have opted to go for a starter or reliever There were a couple of 16 starters out there and a 17*, 18*, 19* reliever available. Ed decided to go for one of the better hitting cards available. Tucker has 12 hit numbers (4-7's) and 9-1's. Probably not a bad idea.

12. Wrigleyville- Roger Peckinpaugh- SS      Having no shortstops, Paul, filled his spot with a defensive SS-9. Fixed that hole real quick. Nicely, I might add. The hitting card is about average but the Defense is great. I like the choice. Good job Paul.

13. Iowa- Cool Papa Bell- OF      Jim wasn't hurting at any position and he has great defenders at almost each spot. A 3 OF'er would have helped, Bell is a 2. More importantly, a big power bat would have complimented the lineup, especially if he could couple it with a 3 defense. Bell didn't. He does have some good cards in the future though..

14. Hartford- Turkey Stearnes-OF      Duncan went for the big bat of the Turkey Man. A solid choice,... normally. I think I would have looked closer at the 13-14 and 15 starters. A 19 and 17 at the top of Hartford's rotation drops to 13-12. There were 14-15's available as starters. There were also a few high grade relievers on the board that could have helped his bullpen that went from 22* down to 13*. But again, Stearnes is a big bat.

15. Pittsburgh- Ted Wilkes-RP      With a roster pretty well set, Phil went for a reliever to bulk up the bullpen. Smart move. He got a good one who was still on the board. Wilkes also has over 600 mbf as a reliever and can be used a lot. And he probably will be. I like it.

16. Climax- Burt Hooten-SP      Well, Nik said he was going to try and beef up his rotation,...I didn't think he would be able to,...unless things really fell in a nice way for him. Boy did they! Top pitching grades were not falling like I thought they would. Nik smiled. With a 21 and two 14's on his staff, he quickly grabbed Hooten and his grade 16. Was he finished? HA! Keep reading.

17. Chicago- George Harper-OF      It's Stray. I figured a $400,000 player. Surprise!Surprise! Chicago was a little bit short on outfield strength so Stray took an OF'er with a decent card, decent defense, decent arm and decent speed and a (for him) a decent low range salary (1.104 mil). Still inexpensive, but up there a little bit.

18. Lewisberry- Matt Thornton-RP      Bob,... can you do it again? Why yes, thank you. For the 3rd pick in this draft, Bob took the highest grade starter (17/20) and now he eliminated Thornton (19*) from the board as the highest reliever available. Talk about having a great draft! Smile Bob.

19. Madison East- Jim Gilliam-2b      You've got a 1B-5, 3B-4, SS-9 and 2B-6,...what? Wait a minute. There's a 2B-8 out there that can hit. Let's take him. And Rick did. You gotta be strong up the middle. Madison East accomplished that.

20. Stratford- Urban Shocker-SP      Rich needed pitching. His bullpen was fine but he needed to shore up the rotation. Not one to look a gift horse on the mouth, he saw that one of the nine grade 15 and above starters was still on the board,...he took him. That was the right move.

21. Southlake- Red Ehret-SP      Another team that didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Back-to-back grabs of a grade 15 starter. I wasn't sure too many starters would be left this deep into the draft. But Hey, you never know. Ron was glad there was one left for him. So he did what I would have done,...he took him.

22. Jack Street- Greg Holland-RP      Jack Street appeared (to me) to need another starter. However, Joe opted to help solidify his bullpen. An 18* grade reliever was still on the board and Joe reached out to claim him. That turned out to be a good move and helped him strengthen his pen. To make it even better, he still got his starter in the second round. Nice move Joe.

23. Kansas City- Doyle Alexander-SP      With only one SS (and that one a weak hitter great defender) I would have looked for a big bat SS as a backup or platoon partner. But that's me. Gary decided to concentrate on his rotation. And he got one of the top four graded pitchers in the draft. At pick 23. That turned out good. In addition he later added 2 more of the top 16 graded starters. NICE.

24. Minnesota- Terry Turner-SS      There goes that SS I was just talking about. Yes, Jeff already had a good hitting, good defending SS but you need a backup. And Turner can hit with power, and he's got speed, so he will probably be used as a PH'er as well as a backup. I like it.

25. Tonka- Sherry Smith-SP      Smith is a split grade with way more innings as a starter than reliever with about 115 -120 IP out of 130 total coming as a starter. So Robert will probably give him some time in the rotation. My guess is he will be primarily used as middle relief. But who knows. He fits.

26. Cincinnati – Sparky Lyle-RP      John saw a big hole in his pitching staff. He had no middle relief. So he set about fixing that. That was the right move. He took Lyle-16* and later followed that up with two 14* relievers. That's what I would have done so I have no question about that pick. Prudent.

27. Hollywood – JD Drew-OF      I thought Steve would pick up starters. He needed some. He surprised me by taking Drew. However, know that Drew is a 3 outfielder and the only one on the team. Plus his hitting is very decent. So, normally a good pick,...and still is. I just would have opted for a starter.

28. Climax – David Price-SP      Well, Nik kept to his word. He took another starter. This time he added to the Climax rotation by taking David Price. Price was one of the last top 9 starters left. I can not disagree with this pick nor this strategy. I hope it doesn't come back to bite me (we're in the same Division).

29. Charm City – Chris Hoiles-C      Nigel really didn't need anything pressing for his roster, He was just filling holes with big bats. With his second pick in the 1st round he decided on Hoiles to backup Gary Carter. Hoiles is not a defensive wizard behind the plate,...but he can hit. That's all Charm City wants.

30. Pigtown – Chris Sale-SP      With the last pick in the 1st round, World Series winner Tim Braue decided on a starter. Well, he didn't need anything. He took Sale for his potential. Smart. His staff this season is well stocked, as his team is. So Tim is looking toward the future.

 

Well, there you have the first round of the 2025 LEG Draft.

I liked it because I got who I wanted. If you got who you wanted, then it was a good draft for you. And if you filled holes, then it was a good draft for your team. Some of you spent tons of money and some of you didn't. And some, like Stray, tried to spend NO money. But hopefully all of us had some fun.

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