So, I've been tasked, by the glorious slack chat of OTM Fantasy, with getting this year's Pick Five out. For the past several years, BobZupcic has run it, and run it well enough, that the program has continued beyond its first installment. So that's good! As a community staple in the off-season, we've come to realize we rather enjoy having it around.

Unfortunately, BZ has passed on doing it, so the task falls to me. I hope I do not let you down, and that this is not the last Pick Five.

Now, I'm going to copy/paste last year's rules, because why mess with a good thing?

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How to Participate

Create a Post in this thread with the names of 5 players that are not current property of the Red Sox. Players can be FAs or under contract with another team (trade-able). Once a set of 5 is posted you cannot chose the same 5 players.

IE - You cannot say "Buchholz" because not only is he current property, but he has also already had his option exercised.

IE 2 - If BobZupcic says "Cueto/Bruce/John Cena/Fred Durst/OOLF" as his five, then .406 cannot choose the same five players. Additionally, you cannot choose those same five players in another order (so no OOLF/Fred Durst/John Cena/Cueto/Bruce list from .406, even though it's a lock I'll be playing for the Sox next year. From here on out, let's assume .406 chose his 5 as OOLF/John Cena/Bruce/Sale/Lucroy for whatever reason.)

How to Win!

As we go through the off-season and players are acquired by the Red Sox either as FA or via trade you will receive 1 pt for each player of your Pick 5 that makes the opening day 25-man roster. Tiebreaker will go to the Pick 5 with the highest overall 2016 salary of properly chosen players.

IE - You win by picking the right players. If BobZupcic chose the list above, and OOLF and Fred Durst sign with the Red Sox, then BobZupcic will get 2 points. Since .406 did not choose Fred Durst, he only gets one point, for correctly picking OOLF... however, if Chris Sale and Jay Bruce are both traded to the Sox, .406 will get 2 points for correctly guessing both, and BZ will get one point for Bruce, leaving both .406 and BZ tied at 3 points a pop... the tiebreaker is salary, and since Chris Sale will obviously make more than me and Fred Durst combined, .406 would be the winner between the two.

Deadlines

Deadline to participate, due to how late we are starting will be Friday, November 11th at noon EST. If your prediction is out BEFORE a player signs, then you will get credit for the point. If your prediction is out AFTER a player signs, you will not.

IE - Let's assume I sign with the Red Sox on November 10th at 11:11 PM EST.

If BZ predicts the Red Sox sign me, and his post is made on November 10th at 4:30 PM EST, then he will get credit, since I had not yet signed with the Red Sox.

If .406 predicts that the Red Sox sign me, and his post is made on November 11th at 11:59 AM EST, one minute before the deadline, then he will not get credit for me signing, since he made his prediction after I signed, and we hate cheaters.

This obviously makes things tricky. It becomes a balance of "how late can I make my pick AND ensure I get the five I predict"? It's not like any Pick Five we've done before. I have high hopes it won't suck.

Past Winners with links (Can anyone guess 3?)

As you can see below we are notoriously bad at this with 2 pts taking home the trophy every season so far that the Pick 5 has run. Also, the correlation between winning and having numbers in your handle is most clearly a 1.

2016 Pick 5 Winner: Rick Bentsen (2)

2015 Pick 5 Winner: RogueNine (2)

2014 Pick 5 Winner: .406 (2)

2013 Pick 5: Pick 5 Writer's Strike

2012 Pick 5 Winner: aubatron2011 (2)

2011 Pick 5 Winner: mg050369 (2)

Happy Pickin'!

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THE PICKS

sguglie2 - Brad Ziegler/Chris Sale/Jose Bautista/Neftali Feliz/Gerrit Cole

J.Elam - Edwin Encarnacion/Greg Holland/Doug Fister/Brad Ziegler/Wilson Ramos

trespada - Matt Holliday/Brad Ziegler/Shohei Otani/Greg Holland/Carlos Beltran

soxpatsceltics - Boone Logan/Mike Moustakas/Greg Holland/Yasmani Tomas/Zach Wheeler

JimXavier - Carlos Beltran/Brad Ziegler/Gerrit Cole/Greg Holland/Matt Holliday

TimRich88 - Matt Holliday/Brad Ziegler/Jose Quintana/Drew Storen/Sean Rodriguez

steel43 - Brad Ziegler/Edwin Encarnacion/Carlos Beltran/Matt Holliday/Takayuki Kishi

justin_bobo - Mike Napoli/Matt Holliday/Brad Ziegler/Eddie Butler/Daniel Descalso

BobZupcic - Jose Bautista/Luis Valbuena/Brandon Moss/Travis Wood/Sergio Romo

.406 - Mike Napoli/Carlos Beltran/Brad Ziegler/Wade Davis/Nate Jones.

titio1300 - Edwin Encarnacion/Matt Holliday/Kenley Jansen/Chris Sale/Brad Ziegler

theloganscorpion - Kenley Jansen/Matt Holliday/Sergio Romo/Pedro Alvarez/Koji Uehara

AlohaSox - Brad Ziegler/Matt Holliday/Mike Napoli/Greg Holland/Gerrit Cole

Draven1234 - Brad Ziegler/Matt Holliday/Carlos Beltran/Rich Hill/Josh Reddick

crosssabres8 - Brad Ziegler/Greg Holland/Carlos Beltran/Matt Holiday/Kendrys Morales

South Coast Ghost - Brett Cecil/Carlos Beltran/Lourdes Gurriel/Jose Quintana/David Robertson

parasox - Edwin Encarnacion/Jose Bautista/Brad Ziegler/Charlie Furbush/Greg Holland

On to Lansdowne Street - Brad Ziegler/Carlos Beltran/Chris Sale/Kenley Jansen/Matt Holliday

kahlil_b - Aroldis Chapman/Carlos Torres/Edwin Encarnación/Angel Pagan/Brad Ziegler

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Most Common Choices (19 participants)

Brad Ziegler - 15

Matt Holliday - 10

Carlos Beltran - 8

Greg Holland - 7

Edwin Encarnacion - 5

Chris Sale - 3

Jose Bautista - 3

Gerrit Cole - 3

Mike Napoli - 3

Kenley Jansen - 3

Jose Quintana - 2

Sergio Romo - 2

Neftali Feliz - 1

Doug Fister - 1

Wilson Ramos - 1

Shohei Otani - 1

Boone Logan - 1

Mike Moustakas - 1

Yasmany Tomas - 1

Zach Wheeler - 1

Drew Storen - 1

Sean Rodriguez - 1

Takayuki Kishi - 1

Eddie Butler - 1

Daniel Descalso - 1

Luis Valbuena - 1

Brandon Moss - 1

Travis Wood - 1

Wade Davis - 1

Nate Jones - 1

Pedro Alvarez - 1

Koji Uehara - 1

Rich Hill - 1

Josh Reddick - 1

Kendrys Morales - 1

Brett Cecil - 1

Lourdes Gurriel - 1

David Robertson - 1

Charlie Furbush - 1

Aroldis Chapman - 1

Carlos Torres - 1

Angel Pagan - 1

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So the collective OTM Pick Five team, is Ziegler/Holliday/Beltran/Holland/Encarnacion

If you picked that team, you are the most likely, according to OTM, to win Pick Five this year. The three closest (by merit of each having the top 3 -Ziegler/Holliday/Beltran, and one of Holland/Encarnacion), are trespada, JimXavier, and steel43.

Hope that was fun to look at!