The Phoenix Report

The 2008 TBL draft was held in February. The Phoenix went into the draft room with two completely divergent goals in mind:

1. Add some killer cardboard to help get us to the next level.

2. Add some kids and build up for a run in 2009.

Couldn't do both, so it all came down to the first pick. We were looking at Billy Butler and Carlos Pena. I did not expect either one to be there when we picked at 13.

As it turns out, both Pena and Butler slipped to 12, and our entire draft strategy was riding on the selection of one of our main rivals - Mahopac. Jon picked Billy Butler, leaving Carlos Pena (9 hits, 6 walks, 1-1-0-0-0) for us.

Who could argue?  We took him, and the rest of our draft was dictated by this first pick:

Bonus - Tim Redding. 30 years old. Washington starter. Grade 12 for 15 starts.

Round 3 - Ryan Ludwick - 30 years old. St. Louis outfielder. 9/4 1-5-6-6, R+3.  Our new left fielder.

Round 4 - Lenny Dinardo - 29 years old. Grade 7 for 20 starts. 34 innings of Grade 20* relief.

Round 6 - Joe Dillon - 12 hits, 5 0s, 2 walks. L+11. Best lefthanded pinch hitter available.

The hitting attack is much improved with the addition of Pena and Ludwick. The pitching got reinforced with Dinardo in the bullpen and Redding in the starting rotation. We're in a scrum with Mahopac and Maracaibo for the Aaron division title.

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