NCCubFan

So far so good.

Actually I think that's available for all games, not just out-of-market. That would be important for people who are at work and can't watch the games on TV but can on their computers (such as, say, me).

I already submitted my picks. You can also copy your picks into their national contest with cash prizes.

Maybe he can make up for the disappointment of Luke Hagerty.

I think Butler's an exception too; they seem to have sustained success for a few years now.

Just for fun somebody should pick Zambrano as the wild card. :D

I didn't even realize Chiasson was still around. I hadn't heard anything about him for several years.

Group A: Howard Group B: Ramirez (Manny) & Ramirez (Hanley) Group C: Hamilton, Bay, Soriano Group D: Votto, Ortiz, Morneau, Soto, Bradley Wild card: To be PM'd to Laura

I agree with you if you're playing for money. If you're just playing for fun I'm not as sure. For me, having my fantasy team's success somewhat tied to the success of my favorite team adds to the enjoyment.

It wasn't a request.

I pick Dae-Eun Rhee, pitcher, Chicago Cubs. He's not in the database; hopefully Juan can add him. This will be my last pick in the draft. 1 Saber Metrics - Buster Posey - SF 2 The Fighting Manginos - Gordon Beckham - CHW 3 Valenzuela's Screwballs - Tim Beckham - TB 4 Lynx - Eric Hosmer - KC 5 Severe Tooterstorms - Aaron Hicks - Min 6 NC Cubs - Jason Castro - Hou 7 Tampa Bay Rays - Wilmer Flores - NYM 8 Quakers - JP Arencibia - Tor 9 Harrys Budcrew - Brett Lawrie - Mil 10 The Eyes of Texas - Kyle Skipworth - Fla 11 Tampa Bay Rays - Greg Halman - Sea 12 Alamo Stealth - Dayan Viciedo - CHW 13 Galesburg Hand Sanitizers - Dominic Brown - Phi 14 Tootielicious - Andrew Lambo- LAD 15 Fuzzy Logistics - Chris Carter - Oak 16 Raw Dawgs - Gabe Sanchez - FL 1 Raw Dawgs - Tyler Flowers - CWS 2 Fuzzy Logistics - Chris Valaika - Reds 3 Tootielicious - Brett Cecil - Tor 4 Galesburg Hand Sanitizers - Andrew Cashner - CHC 5 Alamo Stealth - PASS 6 Northside Baseball - PASS 7 The Eyes of Texas - Josh Reddick - BOS 8 Harry's Budcrew - Freddie Freeman - ATL 9 Quakers - PASS 10 Tampa Bay Rays - Todd Frazier - CIN 11 NC Cubs - Desmond Jennings - TB 12 Severe Tooterstorms - PASS 13 Lynx - Wilin Rosario 14 Valenzuela' Screwballs - Daniel Bard 15 The Fighting Manginos - Martin Perez 16 The Sabermetrics - Sean Rodriguez 1 The Sabermetrics - Danny Cortes 2 The Fighting Manginos - Wilson Ramos 3 Valenzuela's Screwballs - Ike Davis 4 Lynx - PASS 5 Severe Tooterstorms - PASS 6 NC Cubs - Dae-Eun Rhee 7 Tampa Bay Rays 8 Quakers - PASS 9 Harry's Budcrew 10 The Eyes of Texas 11 Northside Baseball - PASS 12 Alamo Stealth - PASS 13 Galesburg Hand Sanitizers 14 Tootielicious 15 Fuzzy Logistics 16 Raw Dawgs

Seconding E.J.'s request, let's get back on topic. Cut out the sniping.

I suspect Meph probably won. I thought his asking was his way of bragging. I could be wrong. And BTW, this year we have an entry called Meth's System Picks. :D they must have dropped out or changed their name, because I don't see that one. It's still there, but you have to click on View Complete Standings to see it. Only the top 10 (which, for now, means the first 10 to sign up) are shown on the main group page; the rest show up if you click on the View Complete Standings link.

OK, will do. NC, I plan to make my pick tonight. Sorry for the delay! That's fine. I'll be home tonight, so it shouldn't take me too long to make my next pick after yours. I wasn't intending to sound impatient, just thinking that if things don't start moving again we'd still be at this when the season begins (which, for minor league prospects, wouldn't necessarily be a problem anyway).

You evidently have a different definition of "soon" than I do. ;) Relative to eternity, anytime even in this century would qualify as "soon." :D

OK, will do.

I didn't think so; you'd know how to spell Meph correctly. An obvious parody by someone else.

The Cubs signed infielder Esteban German (who most recently played for the Royals) to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training.

It's been over 24 hours between picks again. If Deven doesn't pick before later tonight I'll assume he's passing and make my next pick so we can move on.

I suspect Meph probably won. I thought his asking was his way of bragging. I could be wrong. And BTW, this year we have an entry called Meth's System Picks. :D

I've done this scoring before and I found it to be pretty horrible. Pretty much just pick all underdogs. You'll miss on most your picks, but still end up winning by a good margin. I like the idea of rewarding successfully picking upsets, but not with such a drastic bonus. There is an alternative for rewarding bonuses which does not take seed differential into account, but I don't really like that because that system treats piking a #9 seed over a #8 the same as, say, picking a #13 over a #4. If we're going to reward picking upsets at all I think we should differentiate between a true upset and what in effect should be an even matchup. One thing worth pointing out is that, even though the bonus system is used within the group, the overall standings (and cash prizes) are based on the default scoring system without bonus points. So it would be easy to recreate the group standings without the bonus and see how much of a difference it makes.

You can ow make your picks. The deadline for submitting picks for the entire tournament is the scheduled tipoff time for the first game on Thursday (the play-in game isn't part of the contest). Until that time you can change your picks.

1 Saber Metrics - Buster Posey - SF 2 The Fighting Manginos - Gordon Beckham - CHW 3 Valenzuela's Screwballs - Tim Beckham - TB 4 Lynx - Eric Hosmer - KC 5 Severe Tooterstorms - Aaron Hicks - Min 6 NC Cubs - Jason Castro - Hou 7 Tampa Bay Rays - Wilmer Flores - NYM 8 Quakers - JP Arencibia - Tor 9 Harrys Budcrew - Brett Lawrie - Mil 10 The Eyes of Texas - Kyle Skipworth - Fla 11 Tampa Bay Rays - Greg Halman - Sea 12 Alamo Stealth - Dayan Viciedo - CHW 13 Galesburg Hand Sanitizers - Dominic Brown - Phi 14 Tootielicious - Andrew Lambo- LAD 15 Fuzzy Logistics - Chris Carter - Oak 16 Raw Dawgs - Gabe Sanchez - FL 1 Raw Dawgs - Tyler Flowers - CWS 2 Fuzzy Logistics - Chris Valaika - Reds 3 Tootielicious - Brett Cecil - Tor 4 Galesburg Hand Sanitizers - Andrew Cashner - CHC 5 Alamo Stealth - PASS 6 Northside Baseball - PASS 7 The Eyes of Texas - Josh Reddick - BOS 8 Harry's Budcrew - Freddie Freeman - ATL 9 Quakers - PASS 10 Tampa Bay Rays - Todd Frazier - CIN 11 NC Cubs - Desmond Jennings - TB 12 Severe Tooterstorms - PASS 13 Lynx - Wilin Rosario 14 Valenzuela' Screwballs - Daniel Bard 15 The Fighting Manginos - Martin Perez 16 The Sabermetrics - Sean Rodriguez 1 The Sabermetrics - Danny Cortes 2 The Fighting Manginos - Wilson Ramos 3 Valenzuela's Screwballs 4 Lynx - PASS 5 Severe Tooterstorms - PASS 6 NC Cubs 7 Tampa Bay Rays 8 Quakers - PASS 9 Harry's Budcrew 10 The Eyes of Texas 11 Northside Baseball - PASS 12 Alamo Stealth - PASS 13 Galesburg Hand Sanitizers 14 Tootielicious 15 Fuzzy Logistics 16 Raw Dawgs

Not me.

Go Kentucky!