The league has only 2 dl spots yet Strasburg is owned, heck even Brandon Webb is owned. . Harper is available though. We can keep up to ten players. I kept Oswalt, Latos, and Wandy Rodriguez as pitchers.
Next year, we’re going to go to a modified keeper format where we can only keep a certain number of players for 1,2 or 3 years. This way there will be more action and parity in the draft.
Just finished an AL-only draft and I think I did rather well.
Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler, Shin Soo-Choo, Carlos Santana, Neftali Feliz, Phil Hughes, Carlos Quentin, Josh Beckett, Michael Young, Jeremy Hellickson, Torii Hunter, Jake McGee, Jesus Montero, Bobby Abreu, Derrek Lee, Jason Vargas, Matt LaPorta, Ivan Nova, Reid Brignac, and Mike Moustakas is my team, and in that draft order. I think I did well. That means I’ll end up in dead last.
Just had my draft last night.
How do you guys think I did? People were reaching like crazy, so I didn’t get a couple of the guys I have normally targeted in mid and late rounds, but I feel like I did enough to be competitive.
(127) Wandy Rodríguez (Hou - SP)
(134) Ian Desmond (Was - SS)
(153) Hiroki Kuroda (LAD - SP)
(160) Tim Hudson (Atl - SP)
(179) Adam Jones (Bal - OF)
(186) Brian Roberts (Bal - 2B)
(205) Ike Davis (NYM - 1B)
(212) Howie Kendrick (LAA - 1B,2B)
(231) Kurt Suzuki (Oak - C)
(238) Coco Crisp (Oak - OF)
(257) Hong-Chih Kuo (LAD - RP)
(264) Logan Morrison (Fla - OF)
(283) Mitch Moreland (Tex - 1B)I think you start off very strong, but fall off very hard after the 6th round. How many teams in your league?
I was looking over the draft and realized that my screwing up the 4th round probably cost me Colby Rasmus too, because it pushed everything else back a round for me.
Oh well.
Hm. For 13 teams, that might not be SO bad. But like you said, that one fumble pushed you back a round.
For the draft I just had, I had the second pick and got Cabrera. The person in first wanted Cabrera, but accidentally drafted Josh Hamilton. He was pissed and threatened to leave the league. Good times.
I love Miggy, despite the drama. He excels at everything but SB, and those are cheap. Holliday is very good value there as well. I’m not in love with Choo. I think 3rd round for a 20/20 guy is reaching, personally.
That Storen pick hurts, but mistakes like that happen. Bummer it happened in the 4th round, not the 14th. Kershaw’s right where you need him. I still don’t understand your love of both Prado and having a roster full of 2B.
McGehee’s probably a round too early, and you’re paying for what you think he’ll do - but I think he’ll still be a top 10 3B. Young will produce better than McGehee (and maybe even Choo) - this is your best pick of the draft. I love Lilly, but this is one of the worst picks of your draft - there is simply no way he wouldn’t have fallen 2-3 more rounds for you.
(127) Wandy Rodríguez (Hou - SP)
(134) Ian Desmond (Was - SS)
(153) Hiroki Kuroda (LAD - SP)
The SS crop is sooo thin this year. I like Desmond, but I’m not paying an 11th round pick for production I can scrounge up off the waiver wire, since everyone not named Troy or Hanley are nearly interchangeable this year. Great pick on Kuroda.
(160) Tim Hudson (Atl - SP)
(179) Adam Jones (Bal - OF)
(186) Brian Roberts (Bal - 2B)
I really like these picks. I think that Roberts may be a gamble, and could completely bust - but this is where you start taking gambles (not in round 6) that have big payoffs. Luckily (?) you also have ridiculous depth at 2B to mitigate any collapse. Adam Jones is underrated as well. He’s the perfect example of why you don’t pay a premium for a 20/20 guy in round 3.
(205) Ike Davis (NYM - 1B)
(212) Howie Kendrick (LAA - 1B,2B)
(231) Kurt Suzuki (Oak - C)
Remember when Kendrick was the huge can’t-miss 2B prospect? I grabbed Kinsler that year in a keeper league and squeezed every bit of value out of the pick. Kendrick in the 17th is fantastic value. He may just hit 10 HRs again this year, but you’re not paying a 6th round price for it.
(238) Coco Crisp (Oak - OF)
(257) Hong-Chih Kuo (LAD - RP)
(264) Logan Morrison (Fla - OF)
(283) Mitch Moreland (Tex - 1B)
I actually love the end of this draft. Lots of lottery picks - one of them is bound to produce.
I really like Prado. I couldn’t tell you why, but I was really glad to get him. I like Beltre a lot this year too, and was a bit pissed when he went in the 2nd round. The 2B thing is probably a byproduct of me starting my research into the season this year with 2B and I have a better handle on the depth at that position. It’s unintentional.
Those two were question marks for me, and I almost didn’t pull the trigger on either. I had intended to pick up Rasmus in the 11th there but he went to the person picking directly ahead of me, and Lilly I just psyched myself out. I saw a whole bunch of pitchers I had been targeting in mocks fly off the boards in the first 7 rounds (Chris Carpenter, Gio Gonzalez, Max Schrerzer crazy crazy early stuff) and I got freaked out that if I didn’t get at least one of the guys I wanted soon they would all be gone. In hindsight, you are probably right.
These last picks are entirely thanks to you guys. I figured I would grab as many huge upside guys as I could. I almost picked up Justin Smoak, who I think should step forward this year in a big way, instead of Mitch Moreland but decided that Moreland was just as much upside and more likely to pan out.
Thanks for the feedback.
OK, so my guess is that most leagues will be having their drafts sometime in the next week or so. With that in mind, I’m interested in getting everyone’s take on the player pool on a position-by-position, rather than a round-by-round, basis. If there’s interest, I’ll post one or two positions a day for the next week or so, and we can spend a few days arguing about Martin Prado (right there with you, NAF. I actually kept him in a league this year because I like him that much) or whoever.
So, starting with first base. Here is the top 30 list, courtesy of ESPN.com (I’m leaving off Buster Posey and Mike Napoli, both 1B-eligible but likely to be drafted as catchers).
So, what think, folks? Who’s too high, and who’s too low? Who do you like for no particular reason? Who wouldn’t you touch in a million drafts?
I’ll come back with observations of my own after my morning meeting.
I feel like you absolutely need one of the top 10 1Bs on that list (though I’d rather have Youk at 3B). Some people say you should wait on the deep positions, but I think a deep top tier means you need to grab one of them. The top 8 guys in that list will be gone in the first 3 rounds, and Morneau/Dunn won’t be far behind. You don’t want to be one of the few teams without a good 1B, and I really really want 30+ HRs from mine.
Outside of the top 10 I like Carlos Pena, Carlos Lee, Gaby Sanchez and I wouldn’t touch Morales, Butler, or Konerko at their ADP.
I’ve drafted two teams already. I have Pujols on Team A. I have Gonzalez/Fielder/Moreland on Team B. I’m going to probably trade Fielder or Gonzalez for good a 2B and 3B. Speaking for 3B, Cuddyer qualifies there on Yahoo, and is much more valuable at the much shallower position. I have him as my 3B on the Pujols team. I dropped Ike Davis for Moreland and Berkman for 3B David Freese
Interestingly, I had exactly the opposite reaction. I feel like there are four absolute certainties here: Pujols, Cabrera, Votto, and Gonzalez.* These four guys are well ahead of the rest of the pack, in my mind, and are going to be (barring injury) a mortal lock to produce at a high level (above 30 home runs, above 100 RBI, and a batting average above .280). For me, the rest of the top ten is filled with question marks, and I’d say that predicting with any certainty an order for those 6-8 guys following the big four is impossible. Maybe Dunn hits .270 and is extremely valuable; maybe he hits .240 and is much less so. Maybe Konerko hits at 35 like he did at 34, and maybe he hits like he did at 31-33. Youkilis is pretty steady, but he won’t get you to 30 home runs and he will go much higher than he warrants because of that 3B availability.
But if I can’t get one of the top four, I’m waiting, because I think there are a bunch of unproven guys with the ability to be - well, I won’t say better than the guys in spots 5-10. But of Moreland, Smoak, Ka’aihue, and Sanchez, one is very likely to produce on that level. And if you can figure out which one, you’ll get better value with that guy plus the #2 overall second baseman (let’s say) than out of a top ten guy who might be 10% better than your pick plus the #11 overall second baseman.
Wow. How many teams are in that league?
Oh, and I forgot to notate the asterisk in my last post.
I think Adrian Gonzalez is almost under-rated at #4 on that list. The guy went for .298/.393/.511 last year, with 31 home runs and 101 RBI. He did it at Petco Park, a pitcher’s park, and he’s moving to Fenway Park, a hitter’s park (more so, at least, than Petco!).
Also, he drove in 101 and scored 87 in a lineup where the next best OPS belonged to Will Venable, at .732. For most of the season, the guys batting ahead of him were guys like David Eckstein (OBP = .321) and Jerry Hairston (OBP = .299!). This year, he’ll join a lineup where the guys hitting in front of him will be Carl Crawford (OBP = .356) and Dustin Pedroia (OBP of .367 in an injury-shorted down year). Plus the bottom of the Red Sox lineup is likely to be much, much, much better than the bottom of the Padres lineup (which included a pitcher). So way more RBI opportunities in Boston, and therefore more RBIs, are quite likely.
I’d figure his runs scored to increase somewhat, too, going from Chase Headley and Venable as the guys charged with bringing him home after a double to David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis.
I guess he belongs behind Votto and Cabrera, and obviously behind Pujols. But I think he’s light years ahead of the rest of the crowd at his position.
But let’s just note for the record that those guys who Gonzalez is light-years ahead of include:
and so on. So let’s give Gonzalez a hefty bump for getting out of Petco, and another one for his comfortable spot in his new lineup. But let’s also remember that the three dudes above are all coming off downish years, and are all incredibly terrifying monsters. Personally (and hilariously I’m hesitant to offer this information, as if the rest of the SDMB league’s members are writing this down and are going to seriously alter their own approaches because of this), I’m going to let somebody else spend the 8th pick or the $48+ on Gonzalez. I feel pretty safe with one of those 3 in the second round.
Or, (and I understand that I don’t really know what I am talking about but what the hell) while everyone else is scrambling for those top tier 1B you grab up the top players at the scarce positions. The difference between Paul Konerko and Kevin Youkilis isn’t all that great.
I think Fielder is ranked too low on that ESPN listing. I had him at #5 on my personal list and I have seen him go as late as the fourth round in some of the mocks I was doing. I agree that Gonzalez is under rated. I would take him ahead of Votto, but the difference between them is probably trivial.
It was a 12 team auction draft. While I was stacked at 1B, I have deficiencies at 2B and 3B. I have Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac at 2B. I have Ian Stewart, Jose Lopez, Miguel Tejada, and David Freese at 3B. I just accepted a 3 for 1 trade. I give up Prince Fielder for Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, and John Lackey. I am dropping Lopez and Tejada to make room. I hope it doesn’t get vetoed.
Seems reasonable to me. I have some of the names switched around (like I have it Votto, AGonz, Cabrera mostly due to risk tolerance), but the tiers seem right on. I would probably drop Morales given that his injury still doesn’t seem healed, and raise Smoak who has more upside than the few guys above him.
I don’t think a top 1b is ever crucial. There are always guys available, though there certainly are significant drops after the top 4 and again after the top 9 or ten depending on one’s confidence in Morneau
A trade in a rotisserie league, my Troy Tulowitzki and Hunter Pence for his Derek Jeter and Carlos Gonzalez. I’m leaning towards “no”.