** Report on Chicago STPC's Tourney in April by Larry Braus  **

The game players present were all very good and the competition was strong. If you’re on the fence about participating in a local tournament do yourself a favor and take one in. There are draft tools (eligible players list, average pick sheets and such that can help you evaluate the cards) which will help level the playing field for the less experienced player.

This event was well run, and the prize payouts were fair (if you just want to play for fun you can play for a minimum entry that limits your participation in the prize fund).

My personal weekend went very well, as I took my team all the way to the finals, losing to my old pal Dave Bengert in 6 games late Sunday evening.

The field was very even, as just about everyone won as many games as they lost. My 11-8 first round performance Saturday & Sunday morning was good enough for a 3rd seed placement in the playoffs. From there I advanced by handing Jake Arietta his first loss of the weekend, winning a 5 game playoff 3 games to 2 (I had lost to Arrietta once Saturday. That is just 1 tough card to score runs off of).

Below is my team and how they performed for me:
(Note - players and the parks selected in the tourney draft used the latest set based upon the
2015 MLB season)

My home park was Pittsburgh.

SPs - Scherzer, J Garcia, Kluber and Carrasco. Oddly enough Carrasco was the most effective of the four.

Garcia did well. You can pitch left handed starters in this set.

Kluber was the biggest disappoint as he was knocked around a bit. Scherzer had a few good games but Carrasco only lost a few starts for me.

Bullpen. Uehara was my closer, with Madson and Colon pitching the middle and Diekman and JP Howell as my LH specialists.

Colon was not scored on until the 2nd round. When you avoid hitters parks he’s serviceable and cheap.

I did not run into many closer situations on the weekend - but when I did, Uehara was fine.

1b Goldschmidt. Underperformed a bit. A few key HRs but a little let-down in total.
Spent more rolls in the 3 column for his walks than anything else.

2b Walker. Performed well for the most part. Platooned with Drew against LHP. Further research may find a better choice for this position - but LH hitters who hit LH starters have value this year and I did well with Drew for the most part. Plus, he provided some position coverage and late inning defense. He was my last pick in the draft and contributed enough. Not much more I could want.

SS Crawford- Over-achieved. Managed a few HRs and delivered at least 1 clutch hit. Made a few untimely errors though.

3b Donaldson- Also made a few untimely errors, but zeroed in on his triple-double split a few times. Batted him 5 for his clutch performance - which did not occur once.

C- W Castillo, Wieters, Joseph. I started Castillo most of the time, using Wieters only against hard RHP.

Taking a 3rd catcher is something I may not do again. Joseph was pretty much a wasted pick and in this type of draft, every pick is critical. Castillo did little. Wieters may have been the most productive of the three catchers but with that high injury on his card, I would hesitate to take him as a main catcher.

LF Ethier. Produced little of consequence.

CF Blanco, Gomez (Blanco moving to LF vs LHP). Also started Gomez over Ethier in certain parks and against certain pitchers. Blanco only had a fair first round but was an on-base machine in the 2^nd round. Camped in the 2 column in the last series vs Dave.

RF Carlos Gonzalez, Valencia, Blackmon. One of my draft errors on the weekend was not finding a good RH platoon for Cargo. Blackmon was not very good and Valencia was not much better. But Gonzalez carried me in the first round batting clean-up.

Others- A Rodriguez and Kris Davis had little impact as pinch hitters. A few times they were in a position to change a game but always failed.

All told I was very happy with the weekend. Even when I lost I managed to put myself in a position to tie or win- and that’s all you really need. The opportunity to win. The rest is dice rolls.

For the statistically inclined, here are some performance notes on the weekend.

Blanco .328 – Over-achieved a bit. Started and hit lead-off every game.
Walker .209 2 HR but most of hits were impact.
Goldschmidt .250 5 HR. A disappointment from a first round pick.
Gomez .108 in limited action. Mostly vs LHP and late inning defense.

Donaldson .268 5 HR – Another high pick underperforming
Wellington Castillo .257 3 HR. I overpaid for him a bit.
Ethier .309 1 HR. I was surprised because I don’t remember him doing anything of consequence.
Crawford .210 with 6 HR. The HR’s came at key moments. But he also made a couple of costly errors.
Valencia .444 2 HR mostly off the bench