2020/21 Pick 5 Results

All the way back in October, you were tasked with choosing five players that you believed would join the Red Sox in the upcoming winter. I know it feels like October was a few years ago at this point. I also know that we all know how this year’s edition is turning out. Spoiler alert: It did not go well. It never does. There are three eventualities in this universe, death, taxes, and Over the Monster being bad at Pick 5.

First, a few matters that need to be addressed: yes, Jackie Bradley Jr, Jake Odorizzi, and a few other players named on various lists are still free agents and could theoretically sign with the Red Sox. I direct you to this section of the rules from the original thread:

We will call the contest over on the day of the first televised Red Sox spring training game. If a player hasn’t signed by then, they will have missed the deadline for this competition. We need to crown a winner before the season starts.

The first televised Red Sox spring training game has come and gone. We even let the ESPN game come and go. No matter where you draw the line, it is not disputable. The first game was aired, and the rules state that that means the contest is over. If those players sign with the Red Sox, cool. If not, cool. It does not change these results.

The second matter: We had to use a tiebreaker. This was expected. If you did not answer a tiebreaker correctly, I went with my best guess of what you meant to say. If you failed to fill out a tiebreaker, then it counted as you saying nothing.

Below, I have listed every poster who selected at least one player correctly.

Horace Fury - Hunter Renfroe

Good_Better_Betts - Enrique Hernández

Mnadeau2001 - Enrique Hernández

Seriously. That’s it. Three people got at least one player right. Nobody got more than one right. The streak of nobody being able to pick three continues yet again.

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You may be wondering which of these three won this year. Since nobody got at least two right, we have to go to a tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker goes to the Pick 5 that has the highest combined 2021 salary. Renfroe has a salary of $3.1 million. Hernández has a salary of $6 million. Thus, Horace Fury is eliminated and finishes third place this year. Tiebreaker two involved the highest AAV of a player to sign with the Red Sox. This only really came into play if there were multiple players to sign. So this tiebreaker does nothing.

Tiebreaker three went to the player who correctly guessed how many players are extended qualifying offers. This is an player who is extended qualifying offers, including but not limited to players on the Red Sox. Good_Better_Betts guessed 7 QOs, and Mnadeau2001 guessed 6 QOs. Trevor Bauer, DJ LeMahieu, J.T. Realmuto, George Springer, Marcus Stroman, and Kevin Gausman were the six players extended qualifying offers.

This means our winner was Mnadeau2001. It was their first and only comment on OTM (to date). That’s as good a record as it gets. There have been posters who have been here for years who have never once got a single player correct. Congratulations Mnadeau2001!

OTM Pick 5 Hall of Champions

2021 Pick 5 Winner: Mnadeau2001 (1)

2020 Pick 5 Winner: A Random Human (1)

2019 Pick 5 Winners: Chris Sanford, crossedsabres8, Dabageldond, Good_Better_Betts, mattowens04, ty42198, and xii_dex (2)

2018 Pick 5 Winners: Chelista625, Bogey2Short, SirBenjaminPK, Ricochet!, crossedsabres8, REDSOXFAN1973, timtime321 (2)

2017 Pick 5 Winners: sguglie2, titio1300, On to Lansdowne Street (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)

Some more fun facts from this year’s contest:

• 26 people signed up to play.
• A total of 59 different players were chosen in these Pick 5’s.
• The players picked the most were Jackie Bradley Jr. (12), Taijuan Walker (8), Kevin Pillar (7), Alex Wood (5), and Jake Marisnick (5)

Better luck next year!