2011 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball - SDMB Big League

The Game Room
41

When I get a late pick in a fantasy draft I try to balance between not panicking and not being afraid to scoop people early when I don’t think they will make it back around. I feel like I mostly accomplished that goal this time.
1. (15) Álex Rodríguez (NYY - 3B)

  • Given my position this pick was a no-brainer. Looking back at my roster, I am thrilled to have some much needed power in my lineup.

2. (22) Félix Hernández (SEA - SP)

  • I was pretty happy with this pick. The top pitchers were taken right after my first round pick so I figured it might thin out a bit before my next pick came around

3. (51) Víctor Martínez (DET - C,1B)

  • Martinez is coming off of a solid preseason after a nice year in 2010 so I look forward to getting some production out of him this year

4. (58) Alexei Ramírez (CWS - SS)

  • Shortstop is fairly limited this season so I was happy to get this pick

5. (87) Martín Prado (ATL - 2B,OF)

  • Versatile and a productive hitter at the plate.

6. (94) Delmon Young (MIN - LF)

  • Young has been looking really good this preseason. He’s hitting well and looks fit and ready to go. I expect a 20+ HR season out of him easy this year.

7. (123) Brett Anderson (OAK - SP)

  • Anderson is a solid pitcher with a nice resume so if the A’s continue their upward trend and add some more run support, I expect Anderson to put up some good numbers. Of course, this is all contingent on his ability to stay healthy this season.

8. (130) Ángel Pagán (NYM - CF,OF)

  • I just like the potential that Pagán has hitting between Reyes and Wright. Plus he has looked solid this preseason and I know he’s good for some steals.

9. (159) Adam LaRoche (WAS - 1B)

  • LaRoche was an RBI machine last year. Even if I slim those numbers down for this season he will still be well above average.

10. (166) Jonathan Sánchez (SF - SP)

  • Sanchez had an impressive year in 2010. I feel like he is an overlooked part of the Giants rotation. He is consistent and after watching him in the NLDS, you know he can keep the composure and get the job done when the pressure is on.

11. (195) Derrek Lee (BAL - 1B)

  • Lee should be a nice option at 1st for me. He has a proven ability to hit the long ball and while I don’t expect him to crank 30+ like he did a few seasons ago, I still like the consistency of his hitting.

12. (202) Brandon Lyon (HOU - RP)

  • A productive closer that I expect some solid saves from this season.

13. (231) Will Venable (SD - LF,CF,RF)

  • Venable is rounding out my starting outfield and I am excited to see this speed RF get some solid numbers in the lead-off spot.

**14. (238) Dexter Fowler (COL - CF)
15. (267) Tyler Clippard (WAS - RP) **

16. (274) Chase Headley (SD - 3B)

  • Headley has been looking great this spring and I like his value as my IF/Util option.

17. (303) Johan Santana (NYM - SP)

  • Injured but I am fine holding him to see how he bounces back from surgery last fall.

18. (310) Lorenzo Cain (Minors (from KC) - CF)

  • Cut, so he’ll be off my roster soon.

19. (339) Scott Baker (MIN - SP)

  • Don’t love him, don’t hate him but I do expect a lot of effort out of him this season. Especially since he did just sneak into the starting rotation.

20. (346) R.A. Dickey (NYM - SP)

  • I am not expecting him to repeat last season but I have watched him this preseason and he looks strong.

21. (375) Orlando Hudson (SD - 2B)

  • Batting number 3 means he could have quite the season so I am happy to have gotten this pick where I did. Also, its nice to have an actual second baseman.

22. (382) Justin Masterson (CLE - SP,RP)

  • Masterson is still young and getting into his groove. A young pitcher on a team with suspect offense but its nice to have a starter with his potential this far in the draft.

23. (411) Sean Burnett (WAS - RP)

  • Back when I was in Pittsburgh, there was a lot of talk about Burnett. He is coming off a great season and I expect him to round out my relief staff quite nicely.

24. (418) Ronny Cedeño (PIT - SS)

  • You never know, this might be the Buccos year.

I was the one who spoke up when Wilson scooped up Emaus but that’s only because I assumed he would at least get back to me. All in all I am pretty happy with my team. It is clearly lacking in power but I expect to improve that aspect with some trading.

42

I think you’re going to be sorely disappointed on this one. Lee’s bat has slowed down a ton and he’s a double play machine. I’m not sure he has the type of game that translates to old-man power. Lots of high average 1Bs in the past in their latter years were able to trade some bat speed and OBP for HRs, Lee doesn’t have the pop to make that transition these days. He’s rickety and his swing is too long.

43

Damn, its funny you chose those words because I was really looking for that old-man power you see from savvy veteran athletes. Here’s hoping he doesn’t tailspin too quickly at least.

44

Last year was pretty tailspinny in Wrigley. Not sure how he finished the season in Atlanta, I was bitter and tuned out by that point.

45

Evil Empire v2.0

  1. (7) Robinson Canó (NYY - 2B) - I had him 7th on my board, and the six I had above him had already gone. I was tempted to say “screw the rankings” and go homer time for Adrian Gonzalez here, but I went by the book with position scarcity instead. I love getting quality OPS out of OPS-sink positions.

  2. (30) Joe Mauer (Min - C) - I have a really poor history of picking catchers early in this league: Javy Lopez, Victor Martinez, Wieters, and probably one or two others, I’ve picked and butchered their seasons. But… I also really like the concept of being able to get the catcher position out of the way and not having to pick up Jason Varitek a month into the season. Even though Jason Varitek is my Fantasy Team Career Games Played Leader. Anyways, try not to blow it, Mauer.

  3. (43) CC Sabathia (NYY - SP) - Ace #1. I’d have preferred Kershaw, but only mildly; I think CC ends up having a better season, but I think there’s somewhat less risk with Kershaw in that park and division than CC in his.

  4. (66) Andre Ethier (LAD - RF) - I was looking to grab my second ace here, but I still had several pitchers that I had ranked in the same tier available, so I was almost certain one would make it back to me. I had Bruce and Morneau queued up, and would have been happier with either, and of course Morneau got grabbed immediately in front of me by the auto-draft. This pick is… not terrible? Limited upside because he can’t hit lefties? Not my favorite pick of the draft.

  5. (79) Tommy Hanson (Atl - SP) - Ace #2. I like him better this year than at least five SPs that are already off the board. This finishes the classic starting rotation that I like to use in this league: 2 aces, then a bunch of okay guys late…

  6. (102) Chris Carpenter (StL - SP) - … so naturally I go off the beaten path with my next pick. I hate this pick because it dooms me to having a much weaker lineup than I prefer; on the other hand, I love the value here, and I think he was by far the best pick on the board based on pure expected value.

  7. (115) Pablo Sandoval (SF - 1B,3B) - I wanted to go with Quentin at the time, but Omni grabbed him; I did have Sandoval ranked pretty much the same, though, and in retrospect I’m really glad I got 3B filled here. He reported to spring training down 20 pounds! (who doesn’t?) He is better than he was last year, though, and I think he’ll do just fine in this slot.

  8. (138) Jason Bay (NYM - LF) - I don’t want to talk about this pick. It was a panic pick at the time after Pena/Swisher/Ortiz got grabbed in succession, he’s probably going to start the season on the DL, let’s just move on.

  9. (151) Jonathan Broxton (LAD - RP) - Obligatory closer. This pick has Tremendous Upside Potential, at the cost of quite a bit of risk. I did cover myself with Kuo later on, though, and the drop off in closer talent after Broxton was off a cliff.

  10. (174) Rajai Davis (Tor - LF,CF,RF) - Speed guy, last elite one on the board. I’m not married to any particular speed guy, but I always like to grab someone; I’ve used Dave Roberts, Pierre, Bourn, and Gardner in the past, usually with good success. My only truly dismal OPS guy so far.

  11. (187) Manny Ramírez (TB - LF) - I was torn here. His bat was definitely slowing a bit last year, but if he really plays DH in 80+% of the games in the middle of that Tampa lineup? He could go 30-100-.900 just off of mistake pitches. Highest upside left on the board, as weird as that is to say about a guy this old.

  12. (210) Gaby Sánchez (Fla - 1B) - Winnow stole my Bard. :frowning: I was getting very concerned about the depth left at 1B within the last round or so, and with both IF and Util I couldn’t really afford to let even the fourth tier guys start getting taken into those slots. I had Sanchez and Moreland ranked similarly, but I think Sanchez is a little more reliable in terms of keeping his hold on that job.

  13. (223) Hong-Chih Kuo (LAD - RP) - First holds guy, also cover for Broxton. Judging from the other guys going in this area, I took him at about the right time, and I absolutely needed to get him.

  14. (246) Yunel Escobar (Tor - SS) - After Crisp and Moreland went off the board, there was nothing I was really in love with still on the board, so I decided to go with the best remaining guy at a position I didn’t have filled. It did kick off a little desperation SS run, and it’s always better to be at the beginning of one of those than the end.

  15. (259) Logan Morrison (Fla - LF) - I was picking between Ibanez, Morrison, and Smoak at this spot; I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that the two autodrafts sandwiching me took the two that I didn’t. Either way, I needed another OF with at least some upside who has a hold on a lineup spot, and I think Logan fits the bill.

  16. (282) Freddie Freeman (Atl - 1B) - High upside rookie, and I needed another hitter. Not much more to it than that. Lance Berkman was the other name I was looking at to fill this spot, but at least this once, I went for youth over age.

  17. (295) Erik Bedard (Sea - SP) - Every. Single. Year. At least he’s projected to be ready for the start of the season this year!

  18. (318) Evan Meek (Pit - RP) - Quality holds guy, next-in-line for saves. Crappy teams often have more close games, so having a reliever on a crappy team isn’t really a drawback as long as he’s a good reliever.

  19. (331) Jack Cust (Sea - LF) - Some small OPS upside here, and the chance of regular at bats. Plus, he has a position, so at least he’s not Travis Hafner.

  20. (354) Sergio Romo (SF - RP) - Another holds, next-in-line for saves type.

  21. (367) Jake Westbrook (StL - SP) - My yearly Dave Duncan inspired SP pick, about half of which end up actually working out.

  22. (390) Travis Hafner (Cle - Util) - Wait. He IS Travis Hafner. That said, he was actually pretty usable last year. Just worried about the potential loss of ABs in the DH spot as the ease some of the injured guys back into the lineup.

  23. (403) Wilton López (Hou - RP) - Intriguing RP arm. Some K and ratio upside, but also a guy I won’t feel too bad about dumping when I need a roster spot.

  24. (426) Aaron Harang (SD - SP) - Damn, I really wanted to take Barry Zito in the last round again this year. Anyways, I think Harang has slightly more upside, especially pitching in that park, and he’s another guy that I’ve had several times in this league, so I had to take him instead.

Overall, I wish I had gotten a second saves guy, a bit more speed, and a lot more “sure” power rather than upside. I don’t think I’ll be able to go through this league making virtually no roster moves like I did most of last year. It’s not a terrible team, though, and it’s one that I’m willing to start the season with.

I haven’t had so much as 5 minutes to scan through what the other teams ended up with, yet, so no comments there so far. Hoping to take a look over the next few days, before the season starts.

46

I just wanted to highlight this comment from my post-draft review.

Omni’s current standings?


Rank  	Team  	 	 	R  	HR  	RBI  	SB  	OBP  	SLG  	W  	SV  	K 	HLD   	ERA  	WHIP	Total
9. 	Out On Waveland 	16 	17 	15 	13.5 	18 	18 	2 	4 	3 	3 	1 	3 	113.5

Son of a bitch!!!

47

Cross-posted from the league message board for posterity

Well, first off congrats to Connor on a great year and to the rest of the jerks who finished ahead of me. I’m consistently surprised that in a league this deep with so many above average players that the winner can put up such dominant stats. Top 3 in 8 categories is pretty insane, and that’s been repeated a few year in a row if I recall.

The main purpose here is to take a few minutes to break down my own team’s result. At the start of the season after the draft I bemoaned my fate of always finishing smack dab in the middle of the pack and surmised that it was a result of consistent under-performance by the pitching staff and my day-to-day management as a whole. This year I was happy to finish well ahead of my usual standing at 6th place, but when I start picking into my team log I see that I probably should have finished much higher.

I drafted a really good hitting team again. Getting Votto and Bautista carried me and they were healthy all season long and finding a bunch of cheap power late in the draft was enough to slot me in right at the top of the league in those categories. Where I fell down was pitching. I made it a goal to spend a lot early on pitching, safe reliable pitching that I could plug in and not have to worry about micromanaging. I succeeded somewhat in that goal, with Lee, Wilson and Dempster pretty much being reliably productive in all categories all season long. Where I fell down was in my management of them. I somehow screwed the pooch to the point that I only got credit for 11 of Lee’s 17 wins and 4 of Dempster’s 10. Those 12 wins would have been worth I think 7 points in Wins and who knows how many in the other categories. Additionally, I got screwed by some bad luck/bad choices in closers. I hoped to lock in 2 closers in Nathan and Franklin, proven guys on good teams, who would lock me in as middle of the road in saves. Both were pretty much finished before May. I never found replacements for any of those saves. Bad effort by me.

I’m convinced that a better day-to-day manager would have taken my team into the top 3, if not the title. I did an OK job of shuffling my outfield around with temporary fixes and guys who can bolster my OPB, steals and runs stats but I left more than 20 starts unused at 5 positions. At OF and UTIL, two spots where it’s inexcusable, I had 29 unused starts. Really bad job by me.

48

Without looking, I’d guess that most of those missed starts from Lee and Dempster took place on Sundays. At least for me, that’s the most likely day for me to miss adjusting my lineup, and the day most likely for a team’s ace to start (I believe it’s because Sunday is a little harder to get folks in the seats than Friday or Saturday, and they count on those weekend games for more revenue).

Looks like my post to the league page didn’t quite make it from today…

Anyway, thanks for another great season everyone - I love this league. It’s certainly even more fun when you’re fighting for a chance on the podium. And after several seasons of terrible drafts and absurd injuries, this one felt good (even better than if I had come even close to winning money in my money leagues). After drafting the all-retiree team (Chipper, Ortiz, Abreu, Saito, Magglio and Helton) then watching My 3rd round pick Posey end his season after 45 games, I didn’t have a ton of hope. But everyone pulled through, I had great success from my SPs that I drafted (finally - I ALWAYS get burned by my SPs), and my trades worked out.

Speaking of which, the other day I noticed (with a little guilt) that I was involved in every single trade this season. That is, until I dug a little deeper and saw that both teams improved in the rankings after each trade (except when I traded for Hanley Ramirez, and got 41 at-bats out of him for 3 runs, 3 RBI, 3 SB and a .298/.268 line). I like to think that I offer trades that have something for both parties, but it was good to see that that was actually true. In a league this big, trades should be a bigger part of the equation - it’s hard to fill out a roster all the time. Trading became even more important for me when I realized I drafted roughly 12 1Bs (and Util), and they were all producing decent numbers - at least for a starting spot in an 18 team league.

It looks like I’m only allowed a win this every 8 years or so, which I’ll absolutely take. Can’t wait for next year.

49

Probably not. I’m not a every day guy when it comes to baseball season. Usually I’ll pop in on Monday at work and set my roster for the week, trying to juggle the pitching matchups based on projected starts 5+ days out. Where there’s rain outs and Yahoo’s little carat symbol is wrong I probably get screwed. I know at some point this year I accidentally left Lee on my bench for like 3 weeks. I’m just not dedicated enough to non-Cubs baseball to track this stuff every day. I run my fantasy baseball team like a fantasy football team, for better or worse.