2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Recap

Last night was the draft for the baseball league that I pay the most attention to. I suppose I can't really get in to it too well considering that fantasy stuff is blocked at work but I certainly want to go over it. So, with a delicious six pack of Saranac Irish Red Ale by my side and Q-Tip keeping me company on iTunes, I jumped in to the draft.

Despite the absolute awesomeness of my team last year I managed to make an early exit in the playoffs so I thought that I really needed a strategy this year. Unfortunately, I couldn't friggin come up with one. That all changed, however, when the commish made an adjustment to the scoring system by dropping a category for both hitters and pitchers: Extra Base Hits and Home Runs Given Up.

Once I made that adjustment to my spreadsheet something really weird jumped out at me: Instead of seeing power hitters dominating the rankings I saw guys with no power shoot up in value.

I thought I had fucked up a formula or something until I thought about it. By having your usual 5 categories (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVE) and including OBP and Ks, the league now favors your prototypical leadoff hitter rather than your heart-of-the-order slugger. A good leadoff guy will get you about five and a half of those categories easily. He'll score a pile of runs. He'll steal bases. He should hit for a decent average and get on base at a good clip. He shouldn't strike out much. And just with the amount of At Bats that a guy in the one spot should get, about 60-70 RBIs should be within reach. Of course home runs will be kind of scarce, which isn't sexy, but that's one category. Within that strategy I feel that I did really well considering that I have about five guys who lead off for their team and a couple more who bat second.

Here's how I ended up:

C-Mike Napoli-This was a catcher that I was targeting. He has performed great in spring training and provides a little bit of power in what you will see is a rather weak hitting line up. The only concerns I have would be that Napoli has gotten injured in the past and he will be splitting time with defensive catcher Jeff Mathis.

1B-Lance Berkman-I had determined that first base would be very deep this year and so I was determined to wait and was able to get Berkman deep in to the draft. Unfortunately the Big Puma is dealing with some injuries and may start the year on the DL but if he can deliver even the same numbers that he had last year I'll be happy. Also, the waiver wire still has guys like LaRoche, Garrett Jones, Konerko, and Gaby Sanchez so a replacement is well within reach.

2B-Gordon Beckham-Another target of mine. I had to reach a little bit to get him so this one may come back to kick me in the pants but the potential is just too good to ignore. There is a real possibility that he will deliver a 90/20/90/15 season. Despite the fact that he is starting a second for the White Sox he doesn't yet have eligibility so I had to draft Detroit rookie Scott Sizemore to fill in for the first five games. And if Sizemore takes off you won't hear any complaints from me.

3B-Alex Rodriguez-I hate the selection at third this year, so I knew that I had to get one early or take a chance on someone much later in the draft. So with the 4th pick of the draft A-Rod was still on the board and I rolled with it. My hope is that his numbers last year were the real deal and that he doesn't deal with anymore lingering injuries. If he doesn't stay healthy this year then I will have literally no power to work with.

SS-Derek Jeter-I never really had Yankees on my fantasy teams before so to end up with two high profile guys was kind of surprising. I can even honestly say that I did not reach for either of them. Anyway, like 3rd, SS was another position that I thought that I would have to go for early or be stuck with turds later. In retrospect that may have been wrong. There are guys like Alcides Escobar and Everth Cabrera still hanging out there. However, Jeter was my third ranked SS and he fits the profile for my strategy so what the hell? I am well aware that repeating last years numbers will be very difficult for Jeter but with that lineup and in that ballpark it was still a good choice.

OF-Jacoby Ellsbury-Drafting Ellsbury hurt me on the inside. The fact that he is the exact blueprint of my strategy (shitload of runs, some RBIs, piles of SBs, NEVER strikes out) and he was my highest ranked outfielder could not be denied. Who knows, the idea of having to root for the Sawx may push me to get him off my team. But at that point can I ever get rid of the taint?

OF-Bobby Abreu-Another guy to fit in my strategy. The power seems to be quickly leaving and I believe the 30 SBs were a fluke but Abreu is the definition of a patient hitter. Hopefully I am not getting him at the beginning of a quick slide into old age.

OF-Denard Span-Yup. Another lead off guy. Span has the privilege of batting in front of guys like Morneau, Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel, and Thome. The fact that his OBP is close to .400 means that Span will be crossing the plate ALOT.

Util-Conor Jackson-I like Jackson a couple years ago but, at the time, he was playing first and he doesn't exactly have corner infielder power. Then he disappeared off the map last year due to a bout with Valley Fever and was quickly forgotten. However, everything I've heard about him this spring made me want to take a chance on him. He's now a starter in the outfield and word is that he will get the lead off spot. Considering Jackson's excellent plate discipline and his little bit of speed and power, this could be a huge sleeper for me.

Bench-Juan Pierre-You know the drill. He's leading off again in Chicago and word is that Ozzie is going to have him run, run, and run some more. I have never set myself up to be this competitive in stolen bases as much as I have this year. Wouldn't be surprised if I was getting 10 a week.

So there's the batters. There's no way in hell I will ever win the home run category unless it's a week where Napoli, Beckham, and A-Rod all happen to get hot but I should be pretty solid in every other spot. Only time will tell.

On to the pitching. I'm not sure how I feel about the squad I set myself up with. My original goal was to go strong on offense for the first ten rounds and ignore pitching but the way the draft went caused me to change that up. I really just took what was given to me and went with the flow. It surprised the crap out of me that people ignored closers. I ended up with five friggin closers on my staff and I think there's another 50 saves still sitting on the waiver wire. Weird.

1-Dan Haren-I tried to ignore taking a top-tier pitcher for as long as I could but eventually I couldn't ignore Haren any longer. At that point he was the second guy left in the tier and there were no batters that I was eager to draft, so why not?

2-Josh Beckett-...and then Beckett was the last guy left in that top tier for me. Again, I couldn't ignore it anymore. Didn't I say that I hated both of these guys in a post not too long ago?

3-Ricky Nolasco-Ricky has looked electric in spring training and coming out like he has something to prove. That 5.00 ERA he had might have something to do with it. If he can keep up the second half he had I will be very happy.

4-Tim Hudson-About time to start taking on some injury risks eh? Hudson has been exhibiting some pin point control so far in the spring. He's also only a year removed from being a great starting pitcher. High risk/ high reward.

5-Ted Lilly-More injury risk! Lilly's a good pitcher if he can stay healthy. Like I said earlier, home runs allowed was dropped as a category which can only help Lilly out.

6-Francisco Liriano-I was really surprised to see he was still available in the 2oth round of the draft with all of the Dominican League/Spring Training hype but maybe not everyone is as obsessive about that as I am. If really has recaptured his old form from a few years ago this will end up being a steal. If not, it's not like I really gave much up to get him.

Closers-Andrew Bailey, Chad Qualls, Mike Gonzalez, Jason Frasor, and Ryan Franklin. Holy crap that's alot of closers. Hopefully it doesn't come out to bite me in the ass.


So like I said, by conventional means my team looks weak in the batting department. The more I think about the strategy I am trying to employ, however, the stronger it seems. Pitching seems pretty tight as long as at least one or two of those guys don't have their arms fall off in the middle of the season. On top of that, only one of my batters shows a consistent track record of batting worse in September.

Regardless of what happens, I'm friggin excited for the season to start. Only about a week until opening day. WOOO!