WELCOME TO THE NEW MILLENNIUM

A little background to begin.  The Millennium League is a simulation baseball league using Dynasty League Online Baseball as its platform.  Dynasty League Baseball is from the designers of the classic baseball board game Pursue the Pennant.  This is the inaugural year of the league.  There are 24 teams in the league from all across the United States, with one team being managed from the United Kingdom.  The kicking off point is the year 2000.  All players who were carded were eligible to be drafted.  Teams drafted 30 players per squad and are allowed to keep 20 players from year-to-year.  Draft was serpentine.  Following is a list of how the 1st round shook out: 

Round One 

Alex Rodriguez, on the phone with
New York Bombers manager BennyP,
who gave him the news that he had
been selected with the 1st overall
pick in the inaugural MBL draft.

1  New York Bombers - Alex Rodriguez (SS/3B)
2  Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums - Randy Johnson (SP)
3  Tampa Bay Stone Ponys - Barry Bonds (OF)
4  Toronto Redcoats - Pedro Martinez (SP)
5  San Francisco Quakers - Mike Mussina (SP)
6  Miami Panthers - Sammy Sosa (OF)
7  Houston Buffaloes - Manny Ramirez (OF)
8  Colorado Briar Jumpers - Greg Maddux (SP)
9  Minnesota Millers - Derek Jeter (SS)
10 Pittsburgh Crawfords - Bernie Williams (OF) 
11 Baltimore Stouts - Todd Helton (1b)
12 Milwaukee Phantoms - Carlos Delgado (1b)
13 Cincinnati Red Stockings - Curt Schilling (P)
14 New York Rippers - Kevin Brown (P)
15 Atlanta Stonecutters - Vlad Guerrero (OF)
16 Oakland Osprey - Jorge Posada (C)
17 Detroit Buckeyes - Roger Clemens (SP)
18 Seattle Lightning - Chipper Jones (3B)
19 San Diego Vipers - Bobby Abreu (OF)
20 Arizona Apaches - Jeff Kent (2b)
21 Cleveland Rock 'N Rollers - Jason Giambi (1b)
22 St. Louis Sliders - Mark McGwire (1b)
23 Boston Beaneaters - Tim Hudson (P)
24 Washington Senators -Jim Edmonds (OF)

Top of the draft went pretty much as expected.  First four picks go Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Barry Bonds and Pedro Martinez.  Hard to argue with any of those.  First "surprise" came with the 10th pick when the Pittsburgh Crawfords selected Bernie Williams.  Obviously Bernie Williams is an excellent player, but his 2000 was nothing special, and he only has a couple more "good" years left in him.  To each his own I guess.

Another head scratcher was Mark McGwire by the St. Louis Sliders with the 22nd selection.  Home team pick maybe?  McGwire played in only 89 games in 2000 (albeit with a 1.229 OPS), then another 97 in 2001 before retiring.

The best picks in my estimation were Vlad Guerrero by the Atlanta Stonecutters at 15, Chipper Jones at 18 by the Seattle Lightning, and Jeff Kent to the Arizona Apaches at pick 20.  Kent was MVP in 2000 and has a decided positional advantage at 2B among his peers in this draft.  Guerrero has an OPS above 1.0 for three of the next four years BEFORE winning the MVP award in 2004.  Chipper, coming off his MVP in 1999, has an OPS above 1.0 for four of the next nine years, only dropping below .900 once in that span.