Wow--looks like Capilanos needed six pitchers to get through the second inning.

I'm attempting the parallel strategy of standing pat and assuming my underperformers will pick up the slack. That doesn't seem to work either. HAL's gonna HAL.

Rodon is my best pitcher, now sitting at 0-4 with a still-decent ERA of 3.54, but my staff is being carried (such as it is) by Tarik Skubal, 5-2, 2.89. Not the plan.

Not exactly a late-round draft pick, but Jason Heyward (1.008 OPS) was picked up as a trade throw-in. No delusions that it will last, but it's become Boomer's lament.

Wow, 20 bombas in just five games. Pretty good exhibition by two powerhouse teams. We’ll played, guys—congrats on an excellent finish to the season.

I am prepared for the worst, so bring it, Groundouts.

Only teams left are Oakland and Toronto.

I just back-filled Baltimore, LA Angels, NY Yankees, Minnesota and Kansas City.

Great re-cap. I don't think any player was picked shockingly high or low, but I thought Goldschmidt might have lasted a little longer. Then I looked him up, and he had a 6+ WAR, so pretty hard to argue with that. One guy that came tantalizingly close to the end of the round was Dustin May. I know he's coming off an injury, but Pensacola made out pretty well. The draft was a blast--let's break up Chuck's team again real soon.

Glad to have you aboard Ryan. Let us know any way we can help. Note: do NOT trust Jeremy.

Good questions from all. Here's a quickie re-cap: • 2022 draft is 100% unchanged. Port Aransas will be the team folded in, as agreed to during last winter's meetings. • 2023 draft may look a little different; original plan was to include both remaining teams, HAV and NEW. I'll be forming a committee to work through the revised plan. • Paul Johnson will be using the WAR roster, and Chuck Tinkler will be using the HAV roster for the R5 draft. Both teams will maintain their existing draft positions and assets/liabilities. • A new manager will take control of the LAD franchise, to be announced soon. • Yes, I firmly believe that Chuck will hold on to (and even add to) the collection of catchers in Havana.

The tickets were in the upper corner, probably 550 feet from home, so that didn't help. Scott is right about the joy of being back in the ballpark, but even more than the pace/three true outcomes, I get annoyed with having a barrage of Delta, Best Buy, Pentair, Target, Budweiser, StarTribune, LeafGutter and Treasure Island Casino ads assaulting me nonstop for three hours. But here's the other thing: I still love reading about, thinking about, and talking about the game. Cue the James Earl Jones speech from Field of Dreams...

Today, I got an email from the Twins inviting me to Saturday's game vs. Houston, including free tickets and beverages. I passed.

I predict that these numbers will look even worse next season. .700 OPS is starting to look pretty nice.

The truth behind my favorite "sports" collectible is actually my Brooke Shields signed baseball. I met her maybe a year after the Hrbek sandwich.

@El Dorado So here's the long story: Nowadays, there's a huge 3-day winter event in MN called TwinsFest, with players, media, obnoxious collectors and 150,000 8-year-olds. But before it became an actual "thing" the Twins held a smaller one-day event in the Metrodome with players mingling about in a random, unscheduled sort of way. It was held the week after the Bears won the 1985 (86?) Super Bowl, and I was in attendance with Commissioner Jeff and a couple other friends. One of our friends won a garbage Jim McMahon card at a Spin-the-wheel. (Kellogg's or Mom's Bakery...something like that.) As the event was winding down, we hit up the free buffet and I grabbed a turkey sandwich, wrapped in cellophane, and were immediately encountered by Hrbek. Friend only had the McMahon card for signing but Hrbek refused, saying he hated the Bears and would rather sign the turkey sandwich I was holding. So he did. I had it in my office until the fun police interceded after many months, saying it was a health and safety violation, which was undoubtedly true. The blue Sharpie signature had started to bleed anyway, and the whole thing was a mess, but I enjoyed the short shelf life. If you're a serious collector, do NOT have players sign on cellophane.

Although I had to get rid of it after 8-9 months, I once owned a turkey sandwich signed by Kent Hrbek.

You can check the last time a CM was pushed, so that would give some indication of attentiveness.