Selecting The YITS Team

 Introduction by Mitch Pollock:

It may not be billed as an all-star game, but there’s no question that the Over/Under 35 game is an exhibition game that players on both sides want to win. And with the amount of talent included, let’s face it: It’s an all-star game. Selecting the rosters for this game is the hardest task in the league. Captains of the all-star game do not have to choose their players, but Sean Vader and Mike Paladino had to comb through the league’s elite and make some touch decisions. You’ll notice some awfully good players left off of these teams, but at the same time there isn’t a player who made the final cut who doesn’t belong.

So what goes through the mind of a captain making such hard roster decisions? Mike Paladino has been gracious enough to share his thorough thought process with the league. It is clear Mike is playing to win- as it should be. Like all other blog content, it is clear that this is all written in a good-natured tone.

Selecting the YITS Team:

By Mike Paladino

Welcome to the 35 & over Old Man Team!  Otherwise known as the YITS.  So this was written in true YITS fashion, at least from an Italian perspective...and because I'm an analyst by nature and by living.  You'll see below how I'm looking to handle the game on Sunday night...please let me know if there are any late cancellations or if anyone is hurt.

I was honored to be asked to captain a team of studs - you can't really go wrong when putting a team like this together.  Or so I thought until the Marlboro Softball peanut gallery started chiming in.  I get along with everybody I've ever played with and against in this league (except for one incident last year when a guy spiked me), so it was really difficult be the guy to make these calls.  But someone had to do this and I tried to be extremely objective (that's also a requirement in my day job).

So in the spirit of giving the league what keeps it vibrant (chatter and yapping at Bagel Talk and along UH fences, and electronic content for blogs and cyberspace), I outlined how I went about picking the team...and how the decisions came to be because I'm tired of answering the "why didn't you pick this guy" questions.

When I thought about how to put this team together, I started with a few principles.  I believe you have to prove it/earn it every year and you should be rewarded, so performance up to selection time was a factor (not the only factor).  But it's also not an all-star game, so we had to build a team, not necessarily pick the players that would be drafted the highest or have best stats, though obviously there is a correlation.

The reason we lost last year was simple - we didn't hit and didn't score.  Yes, this is definitely a fun game, but I also wanna f'n win.  Everyone tells me we're underdogs, but F the peanut gallery...let's show the Young Guns that the vet All Stars still have a pretty full tank.

In a game like this, it is much easier to build a good defensive team on both Over/Under, which means offense is much tougher to come by.  So a main theme was that I wanted excellent defense, but not excess defense.  Also, the fact we're playing at UH was a definitely a factor in picking this team...it would have been different if we played at a different fenceless field (maybe we do that at some point in the future?).  With such strong D, I believe we need to increase our chances to score where they can't play defense, so that influenced the roster.

This led me to pick the team in 4 buckets of players and means we won't rotate players as much as if I picked more guys valued for their glove as much or more than their bat.

I have not yet made up the lineup.

Pitchers - wanted 2

Decision #1 was determining that to give us the best chance to beat the Young Guns, we would benefit from 2 pitchers so that they won't see the same P every time up.  When you have 2 awesome Ps like Joey K & Clamp that also provide the type of offense they do, this was my easiest and first decision...every other decision followed this.  I'll talk to these two separately and manage how we're going to rotate.

Dual-threat IFs - wanted 4 for 3 positions

SS - Gluck

3B - Granese

2B - Paladino

Rotate in - Younger

Defensive gameplan: I will manage this rotation during the game.  Starters will get majority of innings and finish a close game, JY will mix in at 2B/3B, Matt and I may get an inning or two at SS.

Others in mix:  D Kay, Barlow

Comment:  This was the toughest bucket to call.  Noel was the only no-brainer.  It became complicated by the fact that the other top fielding SSs (me, Granese, and DK) are all having ok but not great offensive seasons, while solid defensive options (Younger, Barlow) are hitting the shit out of the ball.  Decided we couldn't afford to not have 3 SS gloves and couldn't afford to not have 1 of the better offensive options, so I picked those that were having the better offensive seasons...me and Granese over DK and Younger over Barlow.

Dual-threat OFs - wanted 5 for 4 positions

LF - Panassidi 

LCF - Zaretsky 

RCF - Roland

RF - Spoto

Rotate in - Golden

Defensive gameplan:  I'm asking JZ to manage the OF rotation during game depending on situation and who's coming up for them.

Others in mix:  Schef, Murphy

Comment:  This group gets much deeper next year when Callow and Goldstein hit the Over threshold, if the website is correct.  JZ is the only no- brainer here.  Roland is pretty close to it due to consistency and so is Golden at this field due to UH power.  Spoto was my one sight unseen pick, relying on Callow's scouting report and the numbers he's putting up this yr...and after seeing him play last weekend vs Feldman, I'm confident this was the right call.  He's going to be drafted probably a mid-2 next year.  So this call was ultimately Spoto and KP over Schef and Murphy.  Very tough call here...familiarity played a role with KP...played with him on a semifinal team w Beilis and never played w Schef or Murphy, so less well known to me.

Pure Hitters C/1B - wanted the best 4 with no regard for position, UH threat and 1B experience a plus

1B - Greenspan 

C - Applebaum

Rotate in - Schindleheim

Rotate in - Hor 

Others in mix:  The "Others" noted above...and Newman, Lenny, Dell'Alba, Ronnie C, Donnie, Bobby B, AP

Defensive gameplan:  I'm going to ask Apples to manage the 1B/C defensive rotation during the game.  Adam/Apples, talk to JZ during game for an inning in the OF, I'll look to get Brock an inning at 3B, and we'll probably keep Rick at these 2 positions.

Comment:  This is where the excellent, but not excess theme comes in.  You guys were selected purely for your potent offense and/or UH power threat...and that's not meant to show any disrespect to your gloves, which are still very good.  But in a game like this, we're generally going to have better options at your normal positions.  I also wanted Newman b/c he actually plays 1B and is a strong UH threat.  Essentially, the call was that we need Adam and Brock for their UH power and great offense...and Apples and Rick could be the best pure hitters in the league.

FINAL NOTE - I think it's clear that I believe Apples and Younger should probably be rated mid-2s next year, with Brock as a good comp.