The Value per Pick Index (V.P.I.) was developed to measure how efficiently each individual draft pick was used. Each selection is evaluated based on pick number, talent available, positional depth, three year statistical averages, 1998 projections, and the trend analysis of the previous five N.J.R.B.L drafts. The V.P.I. does not factor in the quantity of picks a team has or the team needs. It is assumed that a team would move down in the draft to select appropriate value while meeting team needs. A perfect score on the V.P.I. is 1.0.

1. PC 1st Cousins	(.88)	Best middle in draft (Durham) at 17 and touted starting arm (Tomko) at 18
2. Swillers	(.75)	Stud closer (Beck) at 3 and starter with best numbers (Perez) at 6.
3. Freaks	(.67)	Steal of draft at 22 (Ramon), ageless Doug Jones at 23, reached a little for Deshields at 24.
4. Humpbacks	(.63)	Healthy Ron Gant at 11, and solid Al Martin at 12. Two quality, bargain outfielders at these spots.
5. Scrubs	(.55)	Nice picks at 1 (Estes), at 10 (Mesa), and at 32 (Hermanson). Cordova (31) and Key (33) will disappoint.
6. Monarchs	(.52)	Bargains in Vizquel (30) and Greene (9). Forced Grace (5), Conine (25) and Reynolds (2)
7. Bombers	(.51)	Selected young potential star at 29 in Delgado. Will provide limited help in 1998.
8. RH Factor	(.47)	Grabbed former players too early at 4 (Segui) and at 28 (Ziele). Value over loyalty would have been better.
9. Beagles	(.45)	Nomar Principle with Lee (7) and Cameron (8). Hunter (26) and Wilson (16) taken too soon. E.Young solid at 27.
10. La-z-Boyz	(.43)	Rushed Kendall (15) and D.Bell (13). Cirillo is good value at 14.
11. Notorious CUZ	(.37)	Loiselle at 20 is fine. Nunnally at 19 a gamble. Young at 21 was way too early.

Second Round Analysis

1. PC 1st Cousins	(.71)	Nice closer at 49 (Brantley), solid catcher (Fletcher), and great free at 51 (Konerko)
2. Notorious CUZ	(.67)	Karchner (52) should have gone 20 picks earlier, solid vets in King and Tapani
3. Swillers	(.62)	World Series success probably bumped up Livan (34), Clayton (35) should provide steady, yet unspectacular numbers
4. Monarchs	(.59)	Rushed Dreifort at 36 looking for upside, Erickson (59) and Walker (62) nice fits at these spots.
5. Freaks	(.57)	M's closer (Slocumb) at 57, upside middle (Valentin) at 56. Does Leiter have enough juice left to warrant 55?
6. Humpbacks	(.54)	Pick of the round with Urbina at 45, Powell and Fullmer dragged down the score.
7. RH Factor	(.52)	Curious closers at 40 (Benitez) and 41 (Aggie), nice value with Johnson at 42 and Brosius at 61.
8. Bombers	(.49)	Expansion starter (Alvarez) at 37, followed by overrated starter (Rosado) at 63.
9. Scrubs	(.49)	Another Series hero (Renteria) at 39, Jones at 38 is OK. Hinch and Tatis are the stud frees we heard about? NOT!
10. Beagles	(.48)	Leyritz was solid at 60. Too many better arms available at 58 (Burba)
11. La-z-Boyz	(.43)	Grudz (47) and Spiezio (48) are two very blah middles. Finley (46) would have been nice 30 picks later.

Notable Late Picks
Freaks: M.Clark, Sorrento, Fielder, Wood, Surhoff, Rhodes, and a partridge in a pear tree Scrubs: Stevens, Grissom, Steinbach, Gordon. The Scrubs finally shine! PC 1st Cousins: Fetters, Pavano, and Womack. Finishes off a solid draft. Swillers: Benson, Dipoto, and S.Green. Would have been great day if only Rhode Island won! La-z-Boyz: R.Davis and Carrasco. Lap top was startin to Purr in the later rounds. RH Factor: Hollins and Montgomery. Good thing Hoiles was found in the chat room! Notorious CUZ: Loaiza and D.Gibson. Turnin to baseball after her singing career? Bombers: E.Davis and W.Clark. Valdes and Cruz sure would have been nice! Humpbacks: Hoiles and Giles. Too bad Hoiles got lost somewhere in the chat room Monarchs: L.Gonzalez and J.Reed. Blame it on the partner. Beagles: Millwood and Guzman. Just five hours of sleep finally caught up.

keep in mind that the person doing this analysis thought nomar was a bad pick last year