Sunday, March 15, 2009

Fantasy Baseball

So, it's that time of year again. I'm in two leagues this year, both largely made up of friends from college. The first draft was today, and I was able to participate live on-line. Our friendly blog owner is in the same league, so I'll stay out of too much strategy analysis. It's a 10 team league, so the pickings got rather slim towards the end of the draft.

The A-Roids
Round Pick Player Position
1. (4) David Wright 3B
2. (17) Ian Kinsler 2B
3. (24) Lance Berkman 1B
4. (37) Dan Haren SP
5. (44) Brian McCann C
6. (57) Chad Billingsley SP
7. (64) Stephen Drew SS
8. (77) Corey Hart OF
9. (84) Jonathan Broxton RP
10. (97) Ricky Nolasco SP
11. (104) Nate McLouth OF
12. (117) Justin Upton OF
13. (124) Chris Iannetta C
14. (137) Lastings Milledge OF
15. (144) Kelly Johnson 2B
16. (157) Hunter Pence OF
17. (164) Chad Qualls RP
18. (177) Scott Baker SP
19. (184) Ubaldo Jiménez SP
20. (197) Cristian Guzmán SS
21. (204) Alex Gordon 3B


Overall I was happy with my draft. I waited a bit to get in on the pitching, and when I did I made my picks in spurts. My starting offense is fairly low-risk, although it's also for the most part only moderate reward. I probably reached a bit for a back-up catcher (in Ianetta), but I try to have two good catchers on the roster because of the injury risks. My outfield is deep but not particularly outstanding...I'm hoping that the numbers put up by Wright, Kinsler, Berkman and McCann will supplement my strictly-average outfield.

I got caught without a closer last year at the end of the year, and it cost me in some close contests, so I wanted to give a good effort at the position this year. I'm hoping that I made good choices in balancing draft position with productivity. Again, I'm very happy with my starting pitching, and I'm hoping that Baker's fly ball issues are the worst of my starting pitching problems this year.

I was also happy to get Johnson so late in the draft. I couldn't really turn down Guzman and Gordon with the last two picks. Overall I made a few reaches, but nothing too crazy.

My next draft is this week, but as I'll be in class, I'll be relying on the auto-draft option, which I hate.

3 comments:

RC said...

If you want me to draft your next one, I can . . . dude, this is 80% a perfect draft, but if it's really only a 10-team league, wow. Like, the Billingsley pick blows me away, Drew's been going much lower than 64, and I wouldn't touch Hunter Pence with a 30-foot dong.

I actually don't hate your OF - it turns out, the OF is actually really shallow this year, so I think Upton and McLouth are fine starters, and Hart has to be better than last year (plus you know how much I <3 25/25 guys). I'd really watch the waiver wire, or try to ship something for a Jay Bruce-type and just go for broke w/ him and Upton.

The Nolasco pick is inspiring though - great selection, great spot.

You are retarded deep at C - in fact, it kind of looks like McCann is your UTIL right now . . . what's up with that?

Good work getting three of the top 12 players in the draft with only 1 pick there though - I think your first 3 are all absurdly good selections.

cseguin said...

Here's where I try to defend my picks without getting defensive...

I kind of panicked a bit on the shortstop pick and should have waited a few more picks - but he was the best shortstop by a pretty solid margin at that point, especially in a league that relies on traditional stats.

At the point I chose Billingsley, I should have gone with King Felix or Kazmir...I think I tried to get too cute with it.

We'll see what happens with my catcher situation...at the end of the day I could use one as trade fodder when someone loses their catcher.

cseguin said...

Also, for what it's worth - here's how my auto draft turned out in my other league. Funny enough, I had the 4th pick again, and the draft came out almost identical:

The Don Mattinglys
1. (4) David Wright
2. (21) Lance Berkman
3. (28) Brian McCann
4. (45) Russell Martin
5. (52) Corey Hart
6. (69) Nate McLouth
7. (76) Troy Tulowitzki
8. (93) Yovani Gallardo
9. (100) Ricky Nolasco
10. (117) Zack Greinke
11. (124) Kelly Johnson
12. (141) John Danks
13. (148) Scott Baker
14. (165) Chad Qualls
15. (172) Justin Upton
16. (189) Frank Francisco
17. (196) Ubaldo Jiménez
18. (213) Pablo Sandoval
19. (220) Orlando Hudson
20. (237) Coco Crisp
21. (244) J.D. Drew