ESPN Buster Olney Blog

The labor strife of 1994-95 killed the game for nine months, and a World Series wasn't played for the first time since Theodore Roosevelt's administration. When the players came back, then, there was a seething anger among some fans, a deep frustration, and it sometimes manifested itself in the taunts aimed on the field.

Almost all the players understood, at that time, that they needed to go the extra mile to appease fans. They needed to make sure to do a lot of stuff that should be done, always: Honor more autograph requests, be polite, welcome the fans through actions or words. That was the summer that Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games streak, and he led the sport by example, standing out along the right-field foul line, in the brutal heat at the All-Star Game in Texas, and signing hundreds of balls and cards and pictures -- something he occasionally did after games at Camden Yards until 1 or 2 in the morning.

The players begin reporting to spring training next week, and it feels as if they're walking into a similar situation, when they should really focus on taking steps to appeal to fans -- and if they don't, it feels like they run the risk of engendering a whole lot of anger.

The economy has tanked, millions of people have lost jobs and 401(k) money and pension funds. There figures to be even less patience than usual for a player who fails to run out a ground ball, because whether you think it's fair or unfair, that player is going to be viewed through this prism: That SOB has a great job and is making great money and he can't even run hard to first base.

It could get very ugly in a hurry for those who don't play hard, or are perceived as being rude, or having a sense of entitlement.

The best and brightest among the players -- guys like Carlos Pena, Derek Jeter, Michael Cuddyer, Jamie Moyer, Jimmy Rollins, Dustin Pedroia, CC Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, Brandon Webb, Troy Tulowitzki, Derrek Lee and Tony Clark -- would do themselves and their brethren a great service by leading a discussion about this, and creating a set of guidelines for players. If there has ever been a time for all players to make themselves available for 20 or 30 minutes a day to sign balls and talk to kids before games, this is it. If there was ever a time for the fans to know that they have a very good chance of pregame access to players, for 20 minutes, this is it. If there was ever a time for the Players Association to create a fund to help families in need, this is it.

It would be a good thing for the Players Association to be very conspicuous about all this, too, to make the average fan understand that the players understand that these are very difficult times (and I believe that given their own backgrounds, the vast majority of the players do get it, and don't have a sense of entitlement).

Baseball is in a much better position than businesses like the auto industry. But the economy already has had an impact on the sport, and will continue to do so. Some club executives are reporting a decline in season-ticket renewals ranging anywhere from 10 to 50 percent, and if teams like the Tigers get off to poor starts, their attendance numbers could plummet through the summer. The players would be well-served to think of themselves as owners of a surviving mall store, and extend themselves even more to their customers, to thank them for making the journey at a time when the journey, for many, has become difficult to afford.

The Indians' ticket sales are in a state of flux, says Mark Shapiro.

Warning: What follows is an explanation of a fantasy draft. If you don't care about fantasy stuff, please, skip over this section.

The Battle of the Budgets that we rolled out this week reminded me a lot of the dozens and dozens of Strat-O-Matic leagues in which I played over a 20-year period, because there were built-in limits. In the Strat-O leagues, we would limit the number of Type 1 players -- we would define those with guidelines -- to force the team owners to draw from the Type 2 and Type 3 players as well.

There were a couple of distinct differences with this draft: First, none of us really had any sense of what Diamond Mind values in its simulation. We were told that the 2008 stats would weigh heavily in the projections for 2009, but I still don't know, as I write this on Saturday morning, how Diamond Mind values defense. With Strat-O, it was all laid out.

In the end, my strategy was much as it was in some of those Strat-O leagues -- create strong platoons and a bench stacked with guys with acute split numbers against right-handed or left-handed pitchers.

For example, Asdrubal Cabrera's overall numbers are mediocre overall -- a .259 average, a .366 slugging percentage. But Cabrera, my 20th-round pick, absolutely wrecked left-handed pitching in 2008, hitting .337, with a .414 on-base percentage and a .512 slugging percentage.

Cabrera is sharing second base for me with Mike Fontenot, who did major damage against right-handed pitchers -- a .911 OPS, including 29 extra-base hits in 222 at-bats.

I took Nick Evans in the 22nd round, and his overall numbers are certainly not eye-popping. But against lefties, he hit .319, with a .514 slugging percentage and an .894 OPS.

Ian Stewart, picked in Round 21: a .370 average against lefties, with a .704 slugging percentage.

But the best example might be Cleveland's Shin-Soo Choo, my 10th-round pick, and the second position player I selected. His overall numbers are good: 14 homers and a .309 batting average in 317 at-bats. But Choo completely destroyed right-handed pitching: a .413 OBP, a .579 slugging percentage, 38 extra-base hits in 240 at-bats.

So this is what my lineups looked like vs. right-handers, with the players' OPS vs. right-handers in 2008:

1B Kevin Youkilis, .946
2B Fontenot, .911
3B Casey Blake, .823
SS Jose Reyes, .840
LF Ryan Ludwick, .984
CF Shane Victorino, .762
RF Choo, .992
C Geovany Soto, .852

Against left-handers in '08:

1B Youkilis, 1.009
2B Cabrera, .926
3B Blake, .802
SS Reyes, .816
LF Ludwick, .929
CF Victorino (who hit for serious power against lefties, as CC Sabathia can attest), .882
RF Denard Span, .874 OPS
C Soto, .915

Bench notes:

John Baker: .904 OPS vs. right-handers
Skip Schumaker: .393 OBP vs. right-handers
Stewart: 1.137 OPS vs. lefties
Evans: .894 OPS vs. lefties

Obviously, I went for dominant, cheap power pitching at the front of the draft, generally built a strong defensive team with the likes of Victorino, Span, Choo, Reyes, Youkilis, etc., and picked Petco Park for the home digs. I think I've got the best starting pitching and the best front three in relief.

We were under the impression, for a lot of the draft, that we would be simulating a 162-game season, and in the end, we are simulating playoff series; for a variety of reasons, the 162-game simulation just wouldn't work out. Otherwise, I wouldn't have taken No. 5 starter John Danks as high as I did, and would not have taken Baker -- who has more value over a 162-game season, of course, than he would over a short series -- in the 16th round. In the end, I wondered if I would have been better off spending big money for Brian Roberts at second base, rather than taking Blake, and creating a platoon at third, with Stewart. But I like the second-base platoon I have, and Blake is a solid player, albeit unspectacular.

I have two lefties in my platoons vs. lefties, in Ludwick and Span, but in the world of unintended consequences, this may have worked out -- my first-round opener is against left-hander Cole Hamels, who is more vulnerable against lefties.

Will it work? Will I win? I have no idea. But it was fun. And I hope Steve, Rob and Jayson all lose.

Most importantly, as of this morning, a majority of Vermonters picked me to win -- two of four. Now I don't have to feel like George McGovern in '72, when he lost his home state in the presidential election.

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