[JetsIn06]

The expansion draft is here. With four teams drafting, it's a little more crowded than I'm used to.

I fiddled with the expansion draft settings a bit - this is something I'd love OOTP to expand on more in the future, but for now, every team is allowed to protect 15 players, but everyone with six years of pro service or less is automatically not eligible to be drafted. Teams will have to pick and choose from their major league roster, but most prospects and good young players will be automatically safe.

Each existing team (there's 16 existing teams) is allowed to lose four players each, which will limit this draft to 16 rounds.

It's a serpentine draft, and have the 2nd pick to start things off. The pool is pretty much exactly the way I wanted it to look - it's not an absolute dumpster fire, but most guys that have talent are older, or play 1B, or both. Lots of relievers too, of course, but with this first pick I really want to get a foundational piece that can have a shot at being with us for the first few years, at least.

Still, the bats are light and no one really jumps out at me. But looking at the pitchers, one guy stands out. Righty SP Joel Berryhill is 26, listed as "durable", and is rated as a 55 by our scout. A 5th round pick in 1937, he's currently with the Washington Wasps, starting 31 games last year with a 4.00 SIERA and 2.6 WAR. He's also still making the minimum salary with just two years of service. That'll do, for us.

With our next pick, we take the best of the aforementioned glut of young, decent 1B, right-handed Adam Escamilla. He's also 26, listed as durable, and is rated as a 50 by our scout, with a solid 6 hit tool and 5 power and eye. He'll strike out a bit, but the other nice thing about him (other than also being on min-salary) is that he's very popular locally and well-known nationally. We gotta get butts in seats, and he'll help.

Next up is LF Matt Smith, a left-handed bat who is also 26, and hasn't hit one year of service time yet. He has a 6 hit tool and won't K much at all, but overall is rated as a 45 by our scout. The defense will work in LF, but we'll definitely need to grab a legitimate CF in free agency.

With our next two picks, we grab some okay-looking relievers who I won't go into, with the thought that the next four guys in our rotation after Berryhill are going to suuckk.

And yes - they do suck. Our next pick is SP Jason Caudill, a 27-year-old RHP who's rated as a 30. With no major league experience, we're rolling the dice here (without much choice, obviously). But he does have five pitchers, three of which are actually good, and according to our scout had the highest stuff of the remaining SP's available. The personality works, and he's well known locally, somehow.

CF Mario Camarillo is next to suit up for the Rosebuds. Another career minor leaguer, he can play center decently and has enough tools to maybe be a bench piece on a bad team. He's got the "sparkplug" personality which will hopefully keep the boys going when we're in last place.

C Ignacio Panameno is next, an absolute defensive wizard who can't do shit on offense, and then IF Jose Salazar...likewise. Both have great personalities and tremendous gloves which should give them a spot on the roster.

SP Bobby Medina, a 31-year-old minor league journeyman is next up, followed by another SP Adam Furio with the same story. RP

Some more relievers go next, including one southpaw who's making ~$3M. We went so cheap throughout the rest of the draft that I bit the bullet on him. And then in the 14th round, we grab another first baseman, Antonio Tamez, who can also dabble in the corner outfield. But he's a switch-hitter and actually might have some power. Maybe a DH, or a nice pinch-hitting option at the very least.

3B Eric Lang, a LHB with a whopping 9 wRC+ (yes, 9) in 129 PA last season is our next pick, but he actually was pretty decent in prior years as a bench bat. His maximum number of PA came three seasons ago in 1943 when he got up 258 times and had a wRC+ of 81. It's better than 9!

And finally, with our final pick, we go with Glendon Rogers, a RHP who is FORTY-ONE years old and has just four years of major-league service. He was a 4th round pick in 1923, and didn't make his major-league debut until 1931. He's coming off a season where he posted a 6.26 ERA over 22 appearances.

And that's it. Our first sixteen players. Next up, free agency, where we'll have to somehow figure out where the other ten guys are going to come from with a limited ability to add players that are good.