Expert (Not Mock) Draft: Sports Bloggers

Hey everyone, thanks again for helping me in the other thread, the draft went extremely well and I'm happy with my team. Check out "The Fifth Pick" for a run-down of my picks, but for now I wanted to do a run-through of the actual league. It was a 26-round affair, so I'll look at five rounds at a time with commentary. For the record, I drafted from the second pick.

1st Round: Alex Rodriguez, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Hanley Ramirez, Johan Santana, Jimmy Rollins, Matt Holliday, Miguel Cabrera, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols

• I don't know what's more surprising, Ortiz in the first round or Pujols for all intensive purposes in the second. The first four picks I agree with, and Santana came up in our discussion of the fifth pick. I expect Utley to fall in a lot of drafts since his numbers aren't as gaudy as his roundmates, though compared to his position he's a steal at ninth. Howard belongs in the first round.

2nd Round: Carl Crawford, Alfonso Soriano, Prince Fielder, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, Ryan Braun, Carlos Lee, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, Ichiro Suzuki, Vladimir Guerrero, B.J. Upton

• Soriano made up for the Ortiz reach in the first round, and I think is vastly underrated, especially by experts. While I like Phillips, I don't like him that early and ahead of guys like Lee, Beltran, and Braun. Interestingly, Fielder was taken by the same team that took Howard. I like this in such a deep league, but in your standard 10-team Yahoo! league I think other category needs should be addressed instead. Carlos Lee is underrated by the general public but was given his due in this draft with a mid-second round pick. 

3rd Round: Jake Peavy, Lance Berkman, Alex Rios, Curtis Granderson, Adam Dunn, Russell Martin, Magglio Ordonez, Justin Morneau, Victor Martinez, Aramis Ramirez, Brandon Webb, Erik Bedard

• Peavy fell much further in this real league than in the mock draft with the same writers, and I agree. While he's likely to put up great numbers, he isn't that much more likely than guys like Bedard and Webb. Russell Martin and Victor Martinez are going to go in the third round, and I just can't do it--a team with one outfielder and one corner infielder has too many needs heading into the middle rounds. I like Morneau less than D. Lee and dislike the pick there, while Ramirez is a nice pick at the end of the third round. Lastly, Dunn and Ordonez simply don't constitute a pick in this round.

4th Round: Brian Roberts, Chone Figgins, Travis Hafner, Nick Markakis, C.C. Sabathia, Bobby Abreu, Derrek Lee, Garrett Atkins, Manny Ramirez, Derek Jeter, Josh Beckett, Troy Tulowitski

• Lee, Atkins, and Ramirez are all undervalued this year, and those teams got great value in the fourth round. C.C. Sabathia is underrated considering it being a walk year and his Cy Young Award; I consider taking him fourth after Johan, Peavy, and Webb. I don't think Jeter is worth much, but at the end of the fourth round we held off as long as possible. I consider Beckett overrated, but slightly better than Cole Hamels, the next best pitcher available.

5th Round: Corey Hart, Gary Sheffield, John Lackey, Robinson Cano, Dan Haren, Cole Hamels, Justin Verlander, Eric Byrnes, Chris B. Young, J.J. Putz, Carlos Guillen, Jonathon Papelbon

• The closer run began in the fifth round, which I find reasonable compared to Mock Draft Central trials. Sheffield is worth much more with OF eligibility, and for those wondering, Yahoo! does provide the cornerstone of the Tigers' offense with the blessing. Guillen will be Jeter of the past with a little more power and a little less speed, and is a good SS to count on. The starting pitchers fell interestingly, as I like Hamels and Verlander a bit more than Lackey and Haren as we get closer to the season.

So concludes the first five rounds. Any thoughts would be appreciated, and any questions I will gladly answer. There is a lot of data here, but I tried to keep my analysis brief.