My favourite time of the year: spring training is under way, draft’s coming up, can’t wait for the beginning of the real thing. I can hear John Fogerty sing Centerfield. Chase Utley is pursuing me in my sleep: I like him so much I could draft him first overall.
So, how do you see the 2007 season from a fantasy standpoint? Who do you hope to have on your team? Who do you hope to pick as sleepers? Who do you foresee as disappointments? Any important news from your favourite/local team we might have missed but should know about?
Play Ball!
I did my brother’s fantasy league draft for him the other night… I’ll have to post it in for feedback.
If I don’t get the #1 pick (Pujols) I am taking Johan. There are tons of great hitters but damned he is far an away the best pitcher. The only one out there I can say is a lock for a < 3 era, and his peripherals are ridiculous. It fills me with a little dread because I almost never take a pitcher in the first round, and the only time I ever did was when I spent the first overall pick on Randy Johnson in 2003. That, uh, didn’t work out so well.
A couple players that I think are going to wind up undervalued in their average draft rank, in no particular order: Ichiro, Dice-k, Sheffield, Delmon Young, Sabathia, Eric Chavez, Alex Rios, Piazza.
K, here’s my team:
C Jorge Posada
1B Albert Pujols [#1 overall pick]
2B Freddy Sánchez
3B Hank Blalock
SS Adam Everett
OF Juan Pierre
OF Jeff Francoeur
OF Andre Ethier
Util Derrek Lee
BN Anderson Hernández
BN Melky Cabrera
BN Doug Mientkiewicz
BN Maicer Izturis
BN Jay Gibbons
Pitching
SP Randy Johnson
SP Rich Harden
SP Pedro Martínez
RP Joel Zumaya
RP Akinori Otsuka
P Boof Bonser
P Braden Looper
P Liván Hernández
I think I could use a little more pitching, and obviously it was a little bit of a gamble to pick up Johnson and Martinez - but I waited until the middle rounds and I think at least one of them could have a bounce-back year. I’m assuming my brother will take over his team eventually, but I’d like to leave him in good shape.
My quick thought before dinner:
How big is the league and what are the categories being used? I can see at least 6-7 guys(Hernandez (both of’em), Izturis, Mientkiewicz, Looper, Gibbons) who don’t belong on a roster in a standard 12 team league. I hope that it’s a 20-team league since Everett is your starting SS. Even then, I’m sure there’s a better option on FA.
And where are the saves going to come from? Zumaya will win the job eventually and Otsuka’s a nice backup assuming Gagne can’t stay healthy but that’s not enough.
There are 15 kids in the league, and I don’t know much about the categories. But I think they compete one-on-one in a few different categories, a week at a time.
The best shortshtop left, acording to Yahoo, is Nick Punto.
Yeah, you know what - this is what I get for not having enough time to read up on this league. I’ve replaced Everett with Punto. I had about two hours’ notice that I had to do the draft, which was barely enough time to buy Who’s Who in Baseball and thumb through it on the train ride home.