The rules: I identify the day of the draft the two or three players I want the most. In order to be eligible, the player had to be available within three picks before the Reds chose or was available at the time they chose. Here's a look back at how I did vs. the Reds in the post-JimBo era:
2004 Homer Bailey
I wanted: Homer Bailey, Jeremy Sowers or Jered Weaver
Best Player: Jered Weaver
2005 Jay Bruce
I wanted: Cameron Maybin or Jay Bruce (although I really liked Maybin)
Best Player: Jay Bruce
2006 Drew Stubbs
I wanted: Andrew Miller, Clayton Kershaw or Tim Lincecum
Best Player: Clayton Kershaw
2007 Devin Mesoraco
I wanted: Jason Heyward, Rick Porcello or Matt Dominguez
Best Player: Jason Heyward
2008 Yonder Alonso
I wanted: Brian Matusz, Justin Smoak or Gordon Beckham
Best Player: Yonder Alonso
2009 Mike Leake
I wanted: Tyler Matzek, Grant Green or Aaron Crow
Best Player: Mike Leake (or better yet, Mike Trout!)
2010 Yasmani Grandal
I wanted: Yasmani Grandal, Chris Sale or Josh Sale
Best Player: Chris Sale (at this point)
2011 Robert Stephenson
I wanted: Daniel Norris, Taylor Guerreri or Robert Stephenson
Best Player: ??
2012 Nick Travieso
I wanted: Courtney Hawkins or Lucas Gioloto
Best Player: ??
Looks like the Reds know what they're doing a little bit better than I do- at least certainly in '05, '08 and '09. Who knew? In fact so far, there hasn't been a time where the Reds passed on my first choice and he turned out to be the best choice.* Let's hope that trend continues in '11 (Stephenson over Norris) and '12 (Travieso over Gioloto).
How about you? Any particular picks you liked/didn't like at the time? Be honest!
*Although I liked Heyward much better than Mesoraco at the time, he was taken just before the Reds picked in '07 so the Reds technically didn't pass on "my guy"/the better player. Ditto for Kershaw in '06, although Miller was the guy I really liked in that draft. The Sales and Grandal were too close to call for me in 2010, so I won't count that as "I knew better."
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