If your name is not Pinko Punko, Halford, Seitz, or Brando, you might just want to skip out right here. It gets gory ….
The league: Mixed 16 team head-to-head draft format, 5X5. We have $200 FA dollars and bid for draft position. I had the #8 pick overall, after bidding $33 for draft position. Very competitive league and lots of reserve spots.
By Round:
Chase Utley – the consensus #8 pick. Surprisingly, Jose Reyes slipped to #7. I wanted Ortiz, but he went #5
Derrek Lee – I wanted a basher to complement my middle infielder. It was him or Morneau, and I just hope he runs this year
Andruw Jones – Surprised he fell to me. The guy I wanted, Garret Atkins, went one pick before me
Jonathan Papelbon – I went along with the closer run to pick a guy I really see as the #2 closer out there.
C.C. Sabathia – Heartbreak here. Dice-K went one pick before me and Lackey, Smolt, and Kazmir went just earlier
J.D. Drew – A homer pick, but I like him more than Hunter, who went right before me
A.J. Burnett – Super super risky, but you have to love what he can do when healthy. I needed an upside pick here
Derek Lowe – Super super safe, because I picked Burnett the previous pick. Probably should have taken Ibanez
Melvin Mora – All the good 3B had been going, and I like his well-roundedness. Bonds went at the beginning of the round
Russell Martin – Didn’t really need to take a catcher this early, but I really like the guy.
Scott Olsen – I think he’s good. I was too busy being heartbroken by losing Markakis the previous pick.
Jhonny Peralta – All the other SS were gone, and I had him his breakout year before he actually sucked
Nate Robertson – Trying to build some SP depth with K upside. I doubt he’ll be as good this year.
Brian Giles – He used to be so good. Maybe not great for a #3 outfielder, but solid and predictable
Scott Podsednik – I think he’s healthy enough. I have no speed on my team. He could win a week for me.
Dan Wheeler – All the crappy closers were gone and I have no faith in Lidge. He’ll get saves and doesn’t suck.
Kenny Rogers – Do I have anything to lose? I can throw out 5 pitchers that won’t kill me in ERA and WHIP. Will get wins
Jeff Suppan – See Kenny Rogers. You cannot have enough starting pitching depth. I wish the Sox remembered that.
Brandon Inge – Suprised he was still there. An adequate backup of Mora and maybe trade bait.
Fernando Rodney – You don’t really think Todd Jones will do it again, do you? Zumaya was already gone.
Matt Murton – Outfield depth with potential for upside. Hope he gets enough at bats.
Jarrod Washburn – See Kenny Rogers and Jeff Suppan
Dustin Hermanson – Might actually have the Reds closing job and might not suck. It’s getting to really late rounds
Mike MacDougal – In case Jenks can’t do the job. Actually, probably a better pick than Rodney. Solid
Randy Winn – Even I have to stifle a yawn drafting him here. Could bounce back with speed, though.
Overall, I don’t love my team, but it could be OK. I think the strengths include balance and reliability. I don’t have many risky picks or many overly injured players. I don’t have many people with terrific upside, but don’t see many disasters waiting to happen to me, unlike last year with Lidge, Teixeira, Matsui, Helton, etc … My big weaknesses are speed and saves. Saves could work out if Hermanson gets the job and Lidge/Jenks/Jones fail. At least it will generate good ERA, WHIP, and K numbers. Podsednik alone could save my ass in steals, but I can’t count on that.
Good draft, especially for a 16 team league. You’re going to be scraping AAA by the end with that many teams.
Utley’s a very solid first pick and by far the best player at his position. CC will probably have some good Ws with a strong Cleveland team. I probably would have taken Morneau over D. Lee, but that’s partly because I take high doses of anti-Chicago homerism right before all fantasy drafts. I think Lee will bounce back and flirt with .300/40/110, and his RBI production should be better since the Cubbies should get more men on base this year. Murton’s a nice late-round pick because he’ll start when Cliff Floyd goes on the DL in mid-April.
I am a big believer in not wasting good picks on closers. They’re like kickers in football — much more interchangeable than people think. I took Francisco Cordero early last year and had cut him loose by June.
I have my 13-team 5×5 draft tomorrow and my 10-team head-to-head on Monday. I’ll post my results.
And Jim Thome can eat sink lettuce. He killed me in 2005.
In the 16 team league, you can’t blow off closers, because the best teams will have two, and if you punt saves, you just can’t win. Steals are the only thing you can really punt, I think.
Murton’s a nice late-round pick because he’ll start when Cliff Floyd goes on the DL in mid-April.
You mean when he goes on the DL in 3 …. 2 ….. 1 ……
I forgot that you know from Chicago. I’m really excited about Lee. I thought last year, he was easily a top 10 pick, and I don’t see why he isn’t the same player, but in a better lineup. I see Morneau having a greater liklihood to regress to the mean.
Utley is by far the best 2nd baseman. What annoyed me, though, is that SS and 3B went like hotcakes, but there were still very nice 2B options late into the draft and I could never capitalize. I hated not being able to run counter to the draft trends. I think if you get sucked up doing the same thing as everyone else, you don’t get value picks.
I think Pinko is right about saves. The nice thing is that you can almost punt saves in the draft if you are smart and diligent about free agents. The team that won it all last year drafted K-Rod as their only closer, but later picked up Saito and Julio as FAs and stormed into the championship. Steals are more puntable because they are insanely stochastic.
hmmm
interesting. i have a draft coming up soon on yahoo, and have been completely out of touch with baseball, what with all the cricket.
gracias for the tips, will keep this in mind for later.
I have a glaring addiction to Brewer’s because I think this is the year they break out, so this lineup may implode if they continue to disappoint me like they have since I was an impressionable youth. I’m intrigued by the Cubs, so I’m optimistic they’ll have with a solid batting core even if they’re pitching is sub par.
I completely screwed up my starting pitching, but I’m hoping to just wing it with FA’s if I need to. Here’s my Yahoo draft for Ghost of Don Zimmer…
Ghost of Don Zimmer
View All
Round Pick Player Position
1. (12) Vladimir Guerrero OF
2. (13) Roy Oswalt SP
3. (36) Aramis Ramírez 3B
4. (37) Carlos Zambrano SP
5. (60) Bill Hall 3B,SS
6. (61) Rickie Weeks 2B
7. (84) Prince Fielder 1B
8. (85) Kenji Johjima C
9. (108) Magglio Ordóñez OF
10. (109) Francisco Cordero RP
11. (132) Takashi Saito RP
12. (133) Rafael Soriano RP
13. (156) Jeff Francoeur OF
14. (157) A.J. Burnett SP
15. (180) Freddy García SP
16. (181) Joe Crede 3B
17. (204) Lyle Overbay 1B
18. (205) Jeremy Sowers SP
19. (228) Dan Wheeler RP
20. (229) Curtis Granderson OF
21. (252) Dave Bush SP
Yawn!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is there anything more spinanch dip than this post? Oh wait, he’s not talking about stupid sh$t like hedgehogs and Pax 6 and gels he ran.
Hedgehog and Pax6 are cool! Particularly Hedgehog. I wish I could undergo auto-cleavage, I just can’t find my cholesterol acceptor glycine?
Asian symbol, is your wife coming home soon? AG asks because either that and/or you must be really bored to be blogging over here and defending UC’s hedgehogs that aren’t even cute let alone useful to the world.
p.s. We went to the Bubble Tea Bistro tonight on Harvard Ave. It was amazing. UC gave it a 9/10. We’ll all have to go soon.
No Joe Mauer? Fine, more for me.
robola, I don’t see why your pitching is in such bad shape. Getting Oswalt and Zambrano is super safe and productive. I guess your other pitchers have question marks around them, but this is starting pitching after all. I would be more worried about outfield depth and hope to hell that Magglio can continue his productivity. I can see that I’m not the only person expecting Lidge to get evicted as closer in about two weeks time ….
Snag, he went pick #27 in our draft, right after Lee and Morneau. I love Mauer, but unless you have a massive masher in the 1st round like Pujols, Howard or Ortiz, I think it was more important to get a power hitter in the 2nd round. Also, I think you will get similar fantasy output from Victor Martinez, who you can get later in the draft. Mauer is still an injury risk.
Did somebody say… hedgehog?
I was drafting online while playing a 7-person poker game at my house. That was interesting. I won the poker game, we’ll see how I manage the league. I’ll post both my drafts after I do my second one tonight.
Oh, Plover, that hedgehog is so freaking cute it makes me want to sing. No, not sing; it’s more that a high pitched growl forming deep in my diaphragm. Oh oh, it’s coming out, I can see a colour and a glee and a most intense cuteness. Here it comes …..
SQUEEEE!!!
Apparently even you’re Seitz you probably want to skip this one.
BO-RING.
And by the way, I don’t really follow baseball anymore.
Seitz wins the comment thread!
P.S. Hedgehogs suck. Much like rugelach that pisses AG off, they should be stomped to death on Harvard street.
Personally, I totally agree with you.