This past Monday, the Fantasy Factor held its first ever fantasy baseball draft consisting of myself, Mrs Fantasy Factor Maria (pictured) and a few of my loyal readers. It was a lot of fun to converse and talk baseball with you guys and I'll be sure to set up leagues for football and hockey this fall. For those of you that were in the draft, this will mostly be all old news, but for those of you that were not able to participate here's how it all shook out.
(Photo by Nick Fruscello / Fantasy Factor)
Draft order:
1. Guam Boonie Dogs
2. erieburgher
3. Buc Fever
4. The Winning Team
5. Xtreme Machine
6. Barry's Juice
7. arepooandastaken2
8. Kevin Zuk
First Round:
First up was the Guam Boonie Dogs who was very deserving of the first overall pick considering he actually lives in Guam and it was 3am there while the draft was going on. With the first pick in the draft Hanley Ramirez was gone. Next off the board was Albert Pujols. Buc Fever picks Jose Reyes, which I thought was a little bit of a reach for that early for the first round, but nonetheless a great five tool player. Next up, my wife, Maria with "The Winning Team". As I looked at the draft board and saw her favorite first rounder already gone (Pujols) this was bad news. If she can't have the first round pick she wants, she goes after my projected first rounder. I had not discussed who I was taking in the first round, but somehow she knew. "The Winning Team selects 3B David Wright (NYM)". Ugh! "I knew you would pick Wright" I texted to her.
I was up next. With Wright gone, I now had three players on my mind, Josh Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera and Ryan Howard. I only had 90 seconds to decide. Howard is a monster and plays in a hitters park, but his average has been on the decline. Cabrera is an RBI machine and finished really strong last year, but he plays half his games in Comerica Park. Josh Hamilton made the most sense. Great hitter, playing in a hitters' park and I really think he'll be a top 3 pick in the coming years.
After me, Barry's Juice selected Grady Sizemore, another great 5 tool player. arepooandastaken2 went for Miguel Cabrera and Kevin Zuk drafted Ryan Howard.
Second Round:
Going into the second round, I wasn't too optimistic about the remaining offensive players. Cabrera and Howard were my targets for the second round, but the pitchers were completely ignored in the first round and neither were available going into it. With pitching being ignored, I saw this as a golden opportunity. I picked the first pitcher in this draft and my top ranked fantasy pitcher, Johan Santana with the 4th pick in the second round.
Third Round:
Going into this round, I had every intention of continuing to draft the top pitchers, but Buc Fever wisely snatched away Tim Lincecum two picks before it was my turn. "Ohhhh man! So close to getting the top two pitchers in baseball.", I texted to Maria. Her next selection was Red Sox DH, David Ortiz. Her selection inspired me select Ortiz's former teammate and protection in the batting order, Manny Ramirez. Manny put up MVP like numbers while on the Dodgers and if he can play anywhere near that level for a full season, he should be in the running for MVP this year.
Fourth Round:
Kevin Zuk started off the round with a big bang, selecting A-Rod who dropped a lot farther than I thought. I'm not sure how well he'll play this year, but he'll be better than most 3B. With A-Rod gone, my attention went back to pitching which has been barely touched at this point. Lots of good ones out there, Hamels, Halladay, Peavy, but I decided to go with Arizona ace Brandon Webb. He's a good bet for 15+ wins and will strikeout quite a few hitters this year. He's as consistent and as reliable as they come.
(Photo by Pat D. Hemlepp)
Fifth Round:
With just Hamels coming off the board before my next pick, the best players available were still pitchers. "It looks like I'm gonna have one heck of a pitching staff this year." I thought to myself. With the 5th pick in the 5th round, I selected Roy Halladay. Another guy that's been consistently good over the years and is a great strikeout pitcher.
Sixth Round:
With the pitching staff built up nicely, it was time to take a look at the hitters again and see what's out there. Justin Morneau was on my scope, but with Mauer questionable this year, it could affect Morneau's numbers, so I wasn't as high on him as I was earlier in the month. It didn't matter anyways as arepooandastaken2 drafted him before it was my turn. I really wanted to get an infielder since I already had 2/3 of my OF built, but I figured, I have 3 UTIL spots and picking the best player available has never failed me in the past. Magglio Ordonez was still available and in this round, I felt he would be an incredible 3rd OF and was too good to pass up.
Seventh Round:
Before Maria's sixth round pick, she asked me if she should take "Jones or Jeter?". I, of course, told her Jones who will put up much better numbers than Jeter, but the fact that Jeter was still available was interesting. I was in desperate need for a good infielder and Jeter would be a solid choice to fill that position. As the draft came back around to me, Derek Jeter was still available and was then chosen to be the Xtreme Machine's SS.
Eighth Round:
I was planning on going the pitching route again, but Barry's Juice picked Franciso Rodriguez, my top closer, before it was my turn again. That pick turned my attention back to hitting. I had wanted Adam Dunn who I think will have a big season in Washington this year, but who else other than Mrs Fantasy Factor scooped him up before me. The next best power hitter was Adrian Gonzalez. I'm not wild about his situation (playing for Padres in Petco Park), but you can't deny that fact that despite being in a bad environment, he still puts up big numbers.
Ninth Round:
Back to the pitching world now. A lot of leagues' top closers were still available and adding great closers to go with the great starters would be a dream. Maria had already picked up Jonathan Papelbon, but Mariano Rivera was still on the board. He let me down a couple years ago when I drafted him, but last season he enjoyed one of his best seasons ever and that's saying a lot for one of the greatest of all time.
Tenth Round:
I was at a crossroads in this round. I wanted to solidify my infield with Dan Uggla, but at the same time one of my personal favorites, Brad Lidge, was still available and I've been doing a great job of stockpiling arms in this draft. Maria texted me:
Maria: "Who is next for you?".
Nick: "Lidge or Uggla. Not sure".
Maria: "Ha! I have Uggla then Lidge on my queue. I need 2B. So Uggla will be a good one for me".
Nick: "Me too. I'll leave Uggla for you."
Maria: "You are so nice :) "
So with that, I selected Brad Lidge and my closers were set.
Eleventh Round:
Unfortunately, the whole Lidge/Uggla thing threw me off and I forgot about my favorite fantasy pitcher, Rich Harden who was selected by erieburgher with the 2nd pick in the 11th round. I took a look at who was available on the board for hitting, with my infield still looking pathetic. Unfortunately, none of the infielders really jumped out at me. The best player available was none other than Bucco Nate McLouth. He should be hitting in the third spot and will have plenty of opportunities for RBI's and runs.
(Photo by AP)
Twelfth Round:
Still looking for power I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with Jim Thome or Carlos Delgado. I did a quick lookup on both. Thome was struggling with back pain yet again, while Delgado had no report. Carlos had a monstrous second half and here's hoping he can do it again.
Thirteenth Round:
With just six picks remaining, now was the time to start taking chances on anyone you feel even lukewarm about. Jose Lopez is a young guy with a lot of promise. He swings a lot, which leads to a lot of strikeouts, but it also leads to a lot of hits. His numbers have steadily climbed over the past few seasons and with him looking to be the best power hitter on the M's this year, this could be his breakout year.
Fourteenth Round:
Hoping to fill my 3B spot, I moved Garrett Atkins to my queue. However, as soon as I did Kevin Zuk, who already had A-Rod, figured Atkins would make a good sub while A-Rod was on the DL. Maybe it was the frustration, but for whatever reason I moved back to pitching and figured I would fill in the remaining gaps. Surprisingly, Cubs all star, Ryan Dempster was still on the board. I'll take a 17 game winner, 180+ K, sub 3.00 ERA pitcher in the 14th round any day.
Fifteenth Round:
One of the players I would holding in my que and just waiting for the right round was Raul Ibanez. He's a big sleeper for me this year. Playing in Safeco field, he had pretty good power numbers. I'm really interested to see what he'll do in Philly with a much better offense around him. It could be a career year for Ibanez.
Sixteenth Round:
An interesting thing happened in this round. Kevin Zuk lost his internet connection and the autopick selected for him. It picked injured all star catcher Joe Mauer. Not exactly what he needed or wanted. I, on the other hand, still had need for a catcher and was more than willing to take a chance on Mauer and hope he comes back. It was my turn and I completed my pitching staff with my 2005 first round pick, Randy Johnson.
Seventeenth Round:
After I had selected Johnson I made a deal with Kevin in the draft chat room. I said I would draft whomever he wanted with my next pick in exchange for Joe Mauer. He was all for it and with his direction I selected Justin Upton. Meanwhile, Maria was having computer problems as well. Her computer locked up after selecting Vernon Wells and was worried she may miss out on her last pick.
Maria: "The stupid auto picker will draft for me if I don't get back in time."
Maria: "Log in as me in another browser"
Maria: "Who's next on the ranking? Cory Hart?"
Maria: "Is he the one that dates Pink?"
Hart was drafted just two picks before her and ultimately, she ended up with David Price in the 18th round, who is actually a really good pick, except there's doubt about him starting the season with the Rays, which personally I don't understand. This kid was great during the season and in the playoffs. I think the Rays are making a mistake if they do move him down to Triple A.
Eighteenth Round:
Time for the extreme fun gamble pick. Lots of final round draft picks have worked out very well for me in the past in all sports. This year it was the versatile 1B / 3B / C Pablo Sandoval. I had just read a scouting report on him the day before and sounds as though he could be a sleeper. He's a switch hitter that makes good contact with the ball. With the lack of offense the Giants have, he could be batting 3rd or 4th.
After the draft, Maria calls me, "I'm pretty happy with my team. I think I have a really good infield". I just rolled my eyes, "Yeah, you have David Wright and I have Pablo whatshisname." I'm really unhappy with the infield and for that I give myself a B. The outfield is great, the pitching staff is the best in the league (and it better be after using all those high picks), but the holes at catcher, 3B, possibly 2B and not to mention Jeter is coming off a bad year, kind of makes me nervous. But as I say every year after the league's draft, "There's a gold mine of great players sitting on waivers right now.". Its all of matter of knowing which ones are gold and which ones are fools gold. Thankfully, you have this really good fantasy sports guy to lean on and help you pick out the good from the bad ;-)
So how do you think I did? For those of you that participated, how well would you grade yourself? What were your thoughts on the draft?
Posted
Mar 20 2009, 11:49 AM
by
Nick Fruscello