Swisheriffic!
- (16) Mark Teixeira
- (19) Carl Crawford
- (50) Brandon Phillips
- (53) Johan Santana
- (84) Javier Vázquez
- (87) Shane Victorino
- (118) Francisco Rodríguez
- (121) Jake Peavy
- (152) Jorge Posada
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(155) Nolan Reimold -
(186) A.J. Burnett -
(189) Miguel Tejada -
(220) Luke Gregerson -
(223) Hideki Matsui -
(254) Scott Rolen -
(257) Joba Chamberlain -
(288) Scott Kazmir -
(291) Luke Scott -
(322) Matt Diaz -
(325) Jason Frasor -
(356) John Lannan -
(359) Austin Jackson -
(390) Homer Bailey -
(393) David Robertson
I believe this team is pretty good at every position. Rolen, Tejada and Posada are probably going to come down a bit, but last year just about every starter here slugged about .450, give or take, which is competitive as an average, much less a floor. OBP is a bit more of a tight spot, I guess, but overall the offense looks pretty sound unless multiple guys go right off the cliff (which I suppose could happen). I love Austin Jackson at 359; I think there’s no way he doesn’t pan out at that spot. Big shame about Reimold, though; hard to imagine that a guy like that loses his job in spring training while playing injured, but maybe he gets it right back rather than having to split at-bats all year or have to back up for a significant period.
Love Santana at that position and don’t think he’s quite lost it the way a lot of other people must. Vazquez I decline to forecast since I just don’t understand him. I don’t understand why he just isn’t the pitcher that he was last year, but I’ve failed to understand it while relying on him too much in the past. Nothing would surprise me. The Burnett, K-Rod and Peavy triumvirate I’m not in love with. Gregerson is one of the few players drafted before the last couple rounds that I don’t know anything at all about, but the bullpen in general seems serviceable but not anything more than that. Frasor in the 20th was a seriously crucial pickup toward that end, no matter what he ends up doing most of the year.
Blue Eyed Samurai
- (17) Ian Kinsler
- (18) Justin Upton
- (51) Kendry Morales
- (52) Brian Roberts
- (85) Torii Hunter
- (86) Denard Span
- (119) Chris Coghlan
- (120) Ryan Dempster
- (153) David Ortiz
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(154) Edwin Jackson -
(187) Kevin Correia -
(188) Hiroki Kuroda -
(221) Randy Wolf -
(222) Alex Gordon -
(255) Alfredo Aceves -
(256) Kenshin Kawakami -
(289) Cristian Guzmán -
(290) A.J. Pierzynski -
(323) Derek Lowe -
(324) Paul Maholm -
(357) Darren O'Day -
(358) Delmon Young -
(391) Gaby Sánchez -
(392) Ben Francisco
No pitchers 'til the 8th then plenty from then on, none of whom are a closer and only two of whom are relievers, each with injury concerns. So that’s a bit of a worry. Left plenty of time for offense early, though.
I love Upton, I guess everyone does at this point, and I’d be way more comfortable with him in this format than in a standard one, because maybe the home runs don’t come just yet but he looks very likely to OPS the shit out of the world. Plus he’s going to run a little bit. For that matter, everyone on the team runs a little bit, so the Roberts pick was a bit of an autodraft stumble (or maybe the autodraft machine knew the Kinsler pick could have gone better and tried to make up for it). I don’t know that I like him that high in any event, since we’re getting to that point where the legs start to go, and with them, his slugging (in the form of his doubles) and steals (the steals are already starting to go), and with those, his value. On a team that already invested in a second baseman, for good or for ill, another big swinger in that slot could have shored up the offense considerably. 17th out of 17 is a tough spot to be in, especially when you’re one pick away from Teixeira, but Gonzalez/Upton would have gone down a lot smoother with the Roberts pick than Kinsler/Upton. Still, there is a lot of good hitting potential there, even if it is mixed in with some dreck in a couple of spots.
The pitching situation as I said is a little dangerous; lots and lots of above-average innings available but nothing that stands out. Unfortunately, the one thing that tends to be available most of all in this league is decent pitching, so it will be hard to stand out that way. The relief situation probably needs to be addressed so it doesn’t become a major disaster. Of course, I get my ass handed to me in wins and Ks on a pretty regular basis, so maybe I just think a lot of things that aren’t true are true.