<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Great list, Mark!<div><br></div><div>I count my blessings every day that Polanco is in the Lubeasts lineup. Quirk of fate that he got hurt so he has stopped switch-hitting, and voila!</div><div><br></div><div>With Chapman, it looks like everyone but Buddha forgot that Cubans can pitch forever. Would love to know what the secret is to that (the pitching, not Buddha\u2019s wisdom for selecting pitchers \U0001f609)</div><div><br></div><div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage"><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On May 2, 2025, at 10:23\u202fAM, Mark Blocker <blockermark@gmail.com> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">League:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"> I know its only May 1, and obviously things can change a lot, but I took a look at players who obtained in the low-money phase of the auction (1) after the first 100 picks and (2) for $3 or less. Here are my top 5, and apologies if I have left out some other worthy candidates:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">1. Jorge Polanco ($1) - Lubeasts: 9-25-1 .384. Thus far one of the best hitters in the league!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">2. Ben Rice ($2) - Brats: 8-13-2 .266. How did we all overlook this guy?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">3. Aroldis Chapman ($3) -- Buddha: 11 innings, 17 Ks, 4.5 Sv/H, and great ERA/Ratio. See comment on Ben Rice.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">4. Kyle Manzardo ($1): 8-19-0 .220. Low BA, so below Polanco and Rice, but the power is real so far and he is hitting clean-up.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">5. Luke Weaver ($1) - Brats: The new closer on a team that will generate lots of saves and the former closer seems out of sorts. Smart buy!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Comments of course welcome.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Mark</div></div>
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