The Draft: Part II

Last week was the draft for my main fantasy baseball league. Composed of my brothers and friends, I’ve been playing for (wow) six years now, although some of them have been playing fantasy since before it was online. I can’t believe people would do that either.

This year we played with 8, with even further expanded rosters. I was 3rd pick for 29 rounds of bliss. Our league is 5x5 Roto, but instead of the conventional AVG, we play OBP (I suggest you all do the same), and an innings cap of 1650. (1650 works out to about 6 SPs and 5 RPs for the season).

Out positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, LF, CF, RF, OF, OF, Util, Util, SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL.

Below are the results for the next five picks of the draft along with my analysis. You can view Part I. Just like any other draft it was unpredictable for the most part regardless of how many mock drafts you have done. Here we go:

Round 5

1. Paul Konerko (CWS - 1B) Storm VIII/S…

2. Carlos Santana (Cle - C,1B) Clip Show

3. Matt Holliday (StL - LF) Shooting Blanks

4. Josh Hamilton (Tex - LF,CF) DrunkDrafter

5. Hunter Pence (Phi - RF) Toyko Rose o…

6. Pablo Sandoval (SF - 1B,3B) Baghwan’s Ba…

7. Cole Hamels (Phi - SP) Girls Don’t …

8. Ryan Zimmerman (Was - 3B) Uggies vs Yu…

My Pick: Holliday. If you play OBP Holliday is a name that you know. I didn’t really want to have another OF already (even though we play 5), but I feel very good about him playing value. Even with El Hombre gone, I am a lot happier taking him in front of Hamilton and Pence.

Hero Pick: Cole Hamels. Again I like my pick, but Hamels has the potential to beat the Felix, pick I made a full round earlier. Hamels is also the default winner. The OF picks are okay. Paul, Carlos, and Sandy were early. Zimm I like this late, but he has had his injury problems.

Villain Pick: Sandoval. I don’t like Konk or Santana either, but I am not a Sandoval fan. Sandy is injury risk, has terrible OBP, and might not hit in the heart of a weaker lineup. Sandy has to be passed on, especially with Zimm still there.

Round 6

1. Dan Uggla (Atl - 2B) Uggies vs Yu…

2. Alex Rodriguez (NYY - 3B) Girls Don’t …

3. Dan Haren (LAA - SP) Baghwan’s Ba…

4. Brett Lawrie (Tor - 3B) Toyko Rose o…

5. Zack Greinke (Mil - SP) DrunkDrafter

6. David Price (TB - SP) Shooting Blanks

7. Elvis Andrus (Tex - SS) Clip Show

8. Ben Zobrist (TB - 2B,RF) Storm VIII/S…

My Pick: David Price. I think he has a chance at the AL Cy Young and I got him late. Would have preferred Haren, but am happy. I also think that Price is the end of 2nd tier of SPs, so was happy I have two at this time.

Hero Pick: Zobrist. There are a couple picks I like this round, but Zobrist is my favorite. I thought about taking Zo even though I already had a 2B since his OBP is awesome and he is good bet for 90-20-90-20.

Villain Pick: Uggla. I don’t hate a 2B with Thor like power, but he is a slow starter which is hard to take as a fantasy owner and likely not the pick Zobrist will be.

Round 7

1. Michael Bourn (Atl - CF) Storm VIII/S…

2. Stephen Strasburg (Was - SP) Clip Show

3. Kevin Youkilis (Bos - 1B,3B) Shooting Blanks

4. Eric Hosmer (KC - 1B) DrunkDrafter

5. Jay Bruce (Cin - RF) Toyko Rose o…

6. Michael Young (Tex - 1B,2B,3B) Baghwan’s Ba…

7. Craig Kimbrel (Atl - RP) Girls Don’t …

8. Starlin Castro (ChC - SS) Uggies vs Yu…

My Pick: Youk. My favorite nickname I’ve heard is from ESPN, The Greek God of Walks. In previous years Youkilis went as high as the 2nd round. He has been hurt in last few years, but I’ll take the risk at 7. The 3B is great too until Miggy has it. Even in an off year last year, his OBP was 0.116 better than his average (tied for 4th best).

Hero Pick: Youk. Although the injury risk is there, I took the only player that can finish in the 2nd round. I would like Stras if he didn’t have the innings cap.

Villain Pick: Castro. I am not a Hosmer fan (at least not for 2012), especially with some good 1Bs still to come, but Castro was taken too early (even though he wasn’t reached for). Castro like many of my least favorites does not put up a good OBP compared to his AVG. He finished 98 last year for OBP, and I don’t know how much he is going to improve in a weak lineup.

Round 8

1. David Wright (NYM - 3B) Uggies vs Yu…

2. Brandon Phillips (Cin - 2B) Girls Don’t …

3. Howie Kendrick (LAA - 1B,2B,LF) Baghwan’s Ba…

4. Yovani Gallardo (Mil - SP) Toyko Rose o…

5. Nelson Cruz (Tex - LF,RF) DrunkDrafter

6. B.J. Upton (TB - CF) Shooting Blanks

7. Matt Cain (SF - SP) Clip Show

8. Jon Lester (Bos - SP) Storm VIII/S…

My Pick: BJ Upton. I do my homework to find the OBP steals like Upton. I needed a bag guy to anchor me and one that hits 20+ HRs is awesome. Since the draft it looks like he might start on the DL, so I’m not quite as excited, but still content.

Hero Pick: Wright. I was very happy to get my SBs with Upton even if he’s on the DL, but Wright has 1st round upside and should not have still been there. The team that drafted him loaded up way too much on CIs, even before the Wright pick, but with the value there I can’t blame him.

Villain Pick: Kendrick. I don’t think it’s a bad pick, just worse than the others. I think he will play at value here, but that is because of improvement. You are not benefitting in value.

Round 9

1. Madison Bumgarner (SF - SP) Storm VIII/S…

2. Mariano Rivera (NYY - RP) Clip Show

3. Lance Berkman (StL - 1B,LF,RF) Shooting Blanks

4. C.J. Wilson (LAA - SP) DrunkDrafter

5. Jimmy Rollins (Phi - SS) Toyko Rose o…

6. Jonathan Papelbon (Phi - RP) Baghwan’s Ba…

7. James Shields (TB - SP) Girls Don’t …

8. Ian Kennedy (Ari - SP) Uggies vs Yu…

My Pick: Lance Berkman. Everyone thought he was done last year and he wasn’t. Big Puma has always been a OBP stud. Last year he finished 22 in our settings. Picking him reminds me of Konerko being taken, except I took him a few rounds and I think there is more upside.

Hero Pick: Berkman. I think both Bumgarner and Wilson will be great value pick here, but I think Berkman is going to come close again and I’ll have a 3rd/4th rounder.

Villain Pick: Rollins. I like pick, but the others more. Rollins is just about at his value last year, and you have to imagine a regression with some age and more so without Utley and Howard for a while.

Round 10

1. Asdrubal Cabrera (Cle - SS) Uggies vs Yu…

2. Alex Gordon (KC - LF) Girls Don’t …

3. Gio Gonzalez (Was - SP) Baghwan’s Ba…

4. Michael Morse (Was - 1B,LF) Toyko Rose o…

5. Brian McCann (Atl - C) DrunkDrafter

6. John Axford (Mil - RP) Shooting Blanks

7. Desmond Jennings (TB - LF,CF) Clip Show

8. David Ortiz (Bos - Util) Storm VIII/S…

My Pick: John Axford. I was excited to get a top tier closer a round or too later than the others. Especially with all the injuries to closers already this year, I’m excited to have one of the elite.

Hero Pick: Desmond Jennings. Ortiz is always underrated, but Jennings is at a great price here. He is usually taken before pick 50, but it’s hard to exceed expectation there, but here he’s a steal.

Villain Pick: Cabrera. I had him last year and it was a value, but this is a classic example of paying for a career year. Of the group he has the least chance at repeating value.