It was an expansion draft, all right — the D.C. Balk went from 2 to 15 players in about an hour. Kind of like the Big Bang at the beginning of the universe: in the blink of an eye there’s something there when there wasn’t anything before.
Rob Bohall went up against some very big EFL luminaries today: reigning EFL champion John Johnson, original EFL owner Phil Smith, and EFL database guru Dave Votaw. Even perennial champ and Miracle Worker Mark Weinert (MW suits both his name and his title) stopped by for a few minutes.
Here are the results. I might have a few comments to follow:
| Expansion | Draft Results | Fan Graphs | WAR | |||||
| Balk | Dummies | DC | DD | |||||
| 12,250,000 | 18,500,000 | 9.9 | 18.2 | |||||
| Josh Tomlin | 2,250,000 | 2016 | CLE | V | SP | 1.5 | ||
| Justin Upton | 9,000,000 | 2017 | PR | V | OF | 3.4 | ||
| Trevor Bauer | 1,000,000 | 2017 | OD | R | SP | 1.2 | ||
| F Gutierrez | 1,500,000 | 2016 | SEA | V | OF | 0.7 | ||
| C Capps | 1,000,000 | 2017 | MIA | R | RP | 1.9 | ||
| R Castillo | 500,000 | 2019 | BOS | R | OF | 0.8 | ||
| A Sanchez | 500,000 | 2019 | TOR | R | SP | 0.5 | ||
| JP Arencibia | 500,000 | 2016 | TB | V | C | 0 | ||
| S Dyson | 1,000,000 | 2017 | TEX | R | RP | 0.9 | ||
| W Flores | 500,000 | 2018 | CC | R | SS | 1.8 | ||
| C Bassitt | 500,000 | 2019 | OAK | R | SP | 1 | ||
| Yimi Garcia | 500,000 | 2019 | LAD | R | SP | 0.6 | ||
| Brett Wallace | 1,000,000 | 2016 | SD | V | 1b/3b | 0.4 | ||
| John Ryan Murphy | 500,000 | 2018 | NYY | R | C | 1.1 | ||
| T Rosenthal | 1,000,000 | 2017 | HD | R | RP | 1.4 | ||
| Trevor May | 500,000 | 2019 | MIN | R | SP | 0.9 | ||
| Alex Wilson | 500,000 | 2018 | DET | R | SP | 0 | ||
| Christian Colon | 1,000,000 | 2017 | KD | R | INF | 0.5 | ||
| Ken Giles | 500,000 | 2019 | PHI | R | RP | 1 | ||
| Phil Gosselin | 500,000 | 2018 | ARI | R | UTIL | 0.2 | ||
| Liam Hendriks | 2,000,000 | 2016 | TOR | R | RP | 0.9 | ||
| Corey Dickerson | 500,000 | 2018 | COL | R | OF | 0.6 | ||
| Garrett Richards | 2,000,000 | 2016 | PP | R | SP | 3.2 | ||
| Aaron Altherr | 500,000 | 2019 | PHI | R | OF | 0.6 | ||
| Yohan Pino | 500,000 | 2019 | KC | R | SP | 0 | ||
| Chris Colabello | 500,000 | 2018 | TOR | R | 1b/OF (-.5) | 0.8 | ||
| Enrique Hernandez | 500,000 | 2018 | LAD | R | UTIL | 0.9 | ||
| passed | ||||||||
| RULE 5 | ||||||||
| Randall Delgado | 2,000,000 | 2016 | ARI | R | SP | 0.2 | ||
| Gerardo Parra | 4,500,000 | 2017 | COL | V | OF | 1.1 | ||
| Rule 5 fees | 500,000 | |||||||
| TOTAL SPENT | 19,250,000 | |||||||
Notes:
- JP Arencibia is with the Phillies now, and should have a good shot at a starting gig. After all, FanGraphs’ Steamer projection, while it only anticipates 1 plate appearance for JP, says he’ll hit .202, .239, .369. You know we’re in the earliest phases of the expansion of the universe when the math will produce a batting line like that out of one plate appearance. So let’s wait and see what JP can do.
- With one solid starter (Tomlin) in the fold, the Balk may have positioned themselves to fill a starting slot or two with part-timers who can platoon. Rule 5 acquisition Randall Delgado, with fellow half-timerish Trevor May and a trio of others (Yohan Pino, Alex Wilson and Yimi Garcia) could be a clever way of covering one or two more starting spots with guys with long-term potential.
- The Liam Hendriks pick has more to it than meets the eye. Hendriks was traded straight up for Jesse Chavez. For twice the money, a solid reliever could be traded for a solid starter — a decision Bohall doesn’t need to make until just before Opening Day.
- There was one bit of scandal. Part way through one of the Dummies managers tried to pick a second player from a major league team before the 11th round. He was roundly rebuffed, and seemed repentant. But then, under the very nose of the Commissioner, the Dummies picked a THIRD BLUE JAY in their 13th round: Chris Colabello. The Commissioner caught the error right after the draft — and immediately disqualified the Dundee Dummies from competing in the 2016 season! Fortunately, this egregious bit of expansion draft fraud occurred late enough to have no effect on the Balk.
- According to FanGraphs, the expansion teams drained 7.3 WAR out of EFL teams. The Dummies, before being disqualified, had amassed 18.2 WAR for the coming season (17.4 WAR without cheating). The Balk stand at 9.9 WAR so far — again, according to the Steamer projections. By contrast, the defending champion Haviland Dragons project at 34.4 WAR with 20 players on their roster.
- On the other hand, while the Dragons have a healthy $53,000,000 in the bank under the salary cap, the Balk have $68,250,000. So there’s a lot of cash there with which to narrow the gap. And that first round pick in the Rookie Draft, too.
- The Wolverines take pride in this: two of the 2015 Wolverines were chosen — I believe more than any other EFL team — and they went 2nd and 3rd in the draft (Justin Upton and Trevor Bauer, both by the Dummies). Upton had been traded to the Rosebuds, but Portland carelessly left him out in the rain and the Dummies swept in and nabbed him. Upton did shield other Rosebuds from the draft, so maybe it was all worth it.
- From the Old Detroit point of view, all that’s left now of our panicked dumping of Salazar last spring is little Jackie Bradley, Jr.