Still with me? This entry is a breakdown of a team I recently drafted for the upcoming baseball season. I should inform you that this a roto league. The hitting categories are: Runs, Hits, HRs, RBIs, SBs, BBs, Ks and AVG. The pitching categories are: Wins, Losses, ERA, WHIP, Quality Starts, Ks and Net Saves (Saves - Blown Saves). Feel free to use the link below for the entire draft results and some frame of reference. The top portion of the document has the round-by-round results. Underneath it are the teams with the players inserted in their starting positions. Welcome back, baseball!
Draft Board
Rd 1 (Votto): After the big 3, I felt like it was pretty wide open. Arguments could be made for or against every other potential first round pick. I liked Cano and Kemp the next best but of course they got taken. I felt like it was a little early for an ace. The choice came down between Votto and Pujols. I’ve never owned either but Votto’s numbers last year despite missing a 1/3 of the season were off the hook.
Rd 2 (Bautista): This
choice was either between Joey Bats or Kershaw.
As it turns out, I made the right choice in gambling I could still get
an ace. In a post-steroid era where
power seems to be dwindling, the likely AL HR champ was too much to pass
up. Oh, and you might have noticed that
Toronto made some off-season improvements.
Rd 3 (Pedroia): I made this pick with a lot of
trepidation. Pedroia’s ADP suggests it
was a legitimate pick but middle infielders have a propensity of getting
hurt. I’ve had enough Kinsler shares in
my other leagues the past couple years so Pedroia was the preferred choice for
me at the thin 2B position. I really
should’ve went for a pitcher in the absence of any slam dunk hitter, but I got
lucky.
Rd 4 (Hamels): As
I’ve alluded to, this was a no doubter for me.
Hamels was the last true ace in my eyes and I was doing the happy dance
when he came back around to me. Gun to
my head, I’d have picked Price if both were there, but I can definitely make the case for this guy
as the 4th best SP after the Verlander/Kershaw/Strasburg holy
triumvirate.
Rd 5 (Craig): I’m
probably a little higher on Craig than most but I was still sweating it out
hoping to get him in this round. I
wasn’t targeting anybody else. Sure,
he’s a bit of an injury concern and I don’t foresee a full season. Still, 140 games will be worth it because all
this guy has ever done is rake whenever he got the chance to play. The Cardinals finally unleashed him last
year. That triple-position eligibility
is handy too.
Rd 6 (Zobrist): This
felt like a little bit of a reach at the time and I may regret not taking a
better #2 starter like Greinke or Sabathia.
Again, I was a sucker for the multi-position eligibility, especially
considering one of those spots was SS.
An SS with a 15/15 floor and respectable numbers across the board will
play nicely no matter how you slice it.
Rd 7 (V. Martinez):
This was a case where participating in a draft the week before tipped me
off to something valuable. Yes, V-Mart
has still retained C eligibility in Yahoo (he didn’t in my CBS league). I missed the boat on my other league but I
wasn’t about to here. He’s essentially
Joe Mauer but a couple rounds cheaper. Sacrifice a little average and gain a
little pop. As a fantasy owner, you have
to appreciate when your catcher isn’t really a catcher. That means he’s probably playing more games
and isn’t going to get wore down by the demands of the most taxing
position. The brilliance of this pick
may be somewhat mitigated by the number of quality catching options that could
be had late but after reviewing the draft, I didn’t see anyone picked after
this pick that I would have rather had.
Rd 8 (Kimbrel): Wait,
you’re telling me I was the first to take a closer? That sort of thing is reserved for Wick
(well, that and taking a kicker). Never
pay for saves. We’ve all heard that,
right? Actually, I think this pick is
fairly defensible. His ADP says he could
have gone a couple rounds earlier. He’s
the hands down best player at his position.
You mostly just care about saves with your closer, but the K’s and
ratios are dreamy with this guy. At this
point, I still needed a 3B and CF but I didn’t see any options that jumped out
at me. The same can be said for the SPs,
and I did need a #2. I strongly
considered taking Peavy here but as you’ll see, it’s a good thing I waited.
Rd 9 (Peavy): OK, I couldn’t wait any longer on securing a 2nd
starter. Believe it or not, this was not
a homer pick. Peavy simply was the
highest guy on my board. There’s obvious
injury concern here and I’d still like to acquire a better #2.
Rd 10 (Gallardo):
Clearly, I was still feeling the reservations of my Peavy pick so I
wanted to back it up with another quality arm.
I’ve never owned Gallardo because I’ve never liked him. I still don’t really; his WHIP is just too
high for my liking. That being said,
he’s a 200 K guy who always flirts with 20 wins. I wanted Freeman but Ken snatched him and I don’t
have any regrets with this pick.
Rd 11 (H Ramirez): I
felt like we’d finally gotten to the point where we were past picking guys that
couldn’t be dropped. Sure, there were still good options out there. I’ll even concede that this was too early for
a guy missing 2 months. If he wasn’t an
SS, Hanley would not have even been a consideration. I wonder how much longer he would have
lasted. If he comes back and does what
he’s capable of, it will be a nice boost in the 2nd half. Plus I
already had Zobrist so it’s not like I will be scraping by with Alexei Ramirez.
Rd 12 (Willingham):
Based on last year’s numbers alone, this guy should have been picked
much higher. Would you believe he had 35
bombs and 110 ribbies? Yeah, that’s
real. The Hammer dropped because people
don’t see a repeat. I don’t see one
either but I don’t think it will be much of a drop-off. The power has always been there and I think
it makes for a nice trading chip.
Rd 13 (Grilli): I was
disappointed to see both Gomez (CF) and Lawrie (3B) go before I got to make
this pick because I still needed both spots.
Now I’m not sure if I set off a bit of a closer run (eh, I’ll take some
credit) but 3 of them did go right after this pick. Grilli is unproven but Hanrahan proved the
Pirates can provide ample opportunities. He has the K numbers you like to see
in a closer. I don’t love this pick but
it also didn’t cause me to miss out on anyone.
Rd 14 (Betancourt): Seeing guys like Montero and Perez go
after this pick put a damper on my V-Mart joy.
I had briefly considered each as a backup C but felt like I didn’t need
one with V-Mart expected to play so much.
I’ve had some misfortune with closers the last few seasons but I still
try to hoard them as much as possible. I
just usually wait a little later. For
some reason, I decided to go with a guy I felt better about. Betancourt has
earned his way into my circle of trust after last year.
Rd 15 (Crisp): This
was a pretty boring pick. Crisp is
usually a guy that doesn’t get drafted but finds his way onto a team at some
point during the year. I really liked my
offense but I still needed a CF and I needed a lot of speed. Crisp fit both needs. In the back of my mind, I remember the
revolving door I had in LF last year and I feel like CF could be that problem
point for me this year. I should have
went for a 3B with upside right here but again I lucked out.
Rd 16 (I. Davis): I
chose to ignore 3B again because Davis stood out to me as a great value pick. The .227 average is downright ugly but the 32
HRs are not something easily found at this stage in the game. Most projections I’ve seen have Ike’s average
climbing above .250. Averages just
aren’t what they used to be and if those projections hold, he’s more than worthy of
a utility spot. My power is elite so this was just a case of adding to a
strength and positioning myself for a trade.
Rd 17 (Middlebrooks):
By this time, I was just praying that either Middlebrooks or Moustakas
would be left when it got to me. Both
are young 3Bs with a great amount of upside.
I actually like Moustakas more but I wanted both and felt like
Middlebrooks was more likely to be selected.
His BB/K ratio is raises a few flags but the power numbers and average
in limited time last year have me hopeful.
Rd 18 (Moustakas): Giggity.
My other 3B target did in fact go undrafted. Moose has been absolutely killing the ball this
spring. I know that means little but
it’s better than sucking. He projects as
a 30 HR guy eventually (although maybe not this year) and his minor league track record suggests
the average can rise. Between him and Middlebrooks, I’m just hoping I hit on
one of them and have my 3B.
Rd 19 (Fiers): With
just 3 starters and all my hitting spots filled, it was time to refocus on
pitchers. Fortunately, I pride myself on
being able to go real deep in pitching.
It always amazes me the kind of pitchers you see get taken at the end of
drafts. That’s why I felt confident in
my ability to get good values here and beyond.
Actually, I was disappointed to see some of my targets for a #4
(Estrada, Lynn, Harvey) jump off the board but Fiers was another guy on my list. I love the K potential and upside with a good offense supporting him. I regretted this pick after I made it though because
Fiers may not have even been drafted. Update: I’ve since dropped him when Milwaukee
announced he would be working out of the bullpen. Then they decided to change their minds a few
hours later. Jerks! Nonetheless, I wanted some shares of Julio
Teheran to start the year (I didn’t have him in any other leagues so I was
antsy). It’s almost a wash between those 2 in my eyes.
Rd 20 (Reddick):
Another value pick who can play 2 OF positions. Let’s call him the Ike Davis of the
outfield. A 30+ HR guy with a sketchy average. There’s always plenty of speed you can grab off
the waiver wire (see my recent Juan Pierre add) but not so much with power.
Reddick makes a nice backup and a pick I was glad to make.
Rd 21 (Cobb): There
was no doubt I was taking an SP here, so it was just a matter of the best one
left. To me, this was Cobb. He had a strong finish to last year and has
posted some very tidy numbers this spring.
He’s made some sleeper lists. He
could be a nice spot starter or he could be off my team in a few weeks. I guess it’s that way with any pitchers you take
this late. The only trait they should
have is upside and Cobb has it.
Rd 22 (Griffin): Most
of what I said about Cobb above can be repeated here so I’ll save some words.
Rd 23 (Veras): The penultimate
round and there’s a still closer to be had?
Sign me up. Sure, this guy could
do more harm than good but he also might save 25 games with numbers that won’t
kill me. There’s only a finite number of
those closing jobs available so this was an easy pick.
Rd 24 (Ortiz): Big Papi
is closer to 40 than 30 and he’s probably going to miss the first month of the
season. And yet there were at least a
couple groans from people who didn’t realize he was still available when I
called his name. (Not gonna lie, that felt good.) In an injury-shortened
2012, he put up great (not just good) numbers.
I can’t expect a complete renaissance but he’s a last round pick after
all. I don’t expect much of
anything. He’s got the upside of a
utility player and that’s all I can ask.
Overall thoughts: I
was pretty pleased with how the draft turned out. There were only a couple times where I got “burned”
by having a player snaked away from me.
It’s virtually impossible to get through a whole draft where that’s the
case; you just hope to limit the number.
I took some gambles hoping that players would fall to me (specifically with
an ace SP and those upstart 3Bs) and they did.
I was able to acquire many of the players I was targeting in the early
part of the draft. There were a couple
times I wish I had just grabbed the best player available instead of trying to
fill out the whole lineup. However, I
think I corrected that line of thinking in the middle part of the draft as
evidenced by my waiting on a CF and 3B. I
think my offense is going to be dynamite.
I should even fare well in the “hidden” categories like walks and
strikeouts. Speed will be an issue but
there are a lot of one-trick ponies in FA who can fill that void. My biggest concern is the lack of a more
stable #2 SP, which would allow everyone else to slide down a spot in the
rotation. My closing should (fingers
crossed) be a position of relative strength but the volatility of the position has
me sleeping with one eye open. It was a good piece of a work in my
opinion. I’ll give myself an A minus.
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