Sports Bloggers Draft Continued
After the amount of depth in my previous post, and considering this is a 26-round affair, I'd like to begin to move a little faster with a little more brevity. So without further adieu, Rounds 6-13.
6th Round: Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Rafael Furcal, Ian Kinsler, Carlos Pena, Adrian Gonzalez, Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Hunter Pence, Aaron Harang, Francisco Rodriguez, Scott Kazmir
- Kazmir at the end of the sixth was probably the best pick, giving the owner a powerful one-two punch of Peavy and Kazmir. I was surprised that Nathan and Rodriguez made it most of the way through the round-this is important to note for those worrying whether they have to jump on a closer as soon as the first of the big four falls off the board. I think Adrian Gonzalez went a little early here, only because he likely would have lasted another round (or so it seemed during the draft).
- Drafts are won in the middle rounds because high-risk, high-reward players fall now. Zimmerman, King Felix, Delmon Young, and Miguel Tejada all define this characteristic. I'm not a huge fan of Posada this early (only one round after McCann) since a lot of people wait on catchers until that third tier is broken into, and no one likes to be the one to do it.
- I was shocked that Swisher and Konerko went in this round, and would never really get a legitimate first baseman because of it. I agree that both were due though. Hardy seems like the most questionable pick of this bunch, while I really like Zambrano in the 8th round.
- Last years rejects were featured in round nine, with freefallers Andruw Jones and Jason Bay sliding at least six rounds from their 2007 ADP. Halladay hurts unless your league counts complete games, since he can no longer provide K's and a ton of wins while his peripherals showed signs of deteriorating. I think Jones and Bay were the best picks of this round, while Pierre and Ellsbury were questionable.
- Not much to say here. Wagner was the best pick, while Dye has seen his best days pass. I think the interesting thing about Liriano is that, while he could be a bust, he could also be the best pick in the draft. While it may hurt to lose your tenth round pick, it might hurt more to play against the team that drafted Liriano when you were too worried. And right now, it looks like Liriano will at worst be a tenth-round pitcher.
- This was a round of reaches. Gordon, Hermida, Hamilton, Towles, Soriano, and Encarnacion were all taken before being on the big board of all players, and I like all of the picks. At some point in the draft you have to take risks. No real loser here, though the Gallardo taker is going to have to deal with a shortened April and possibly a shortened season if the Brewers shut the young hurler down while the Cubs take the division by storm.
- I count five closers in seven picks, which was bizarre. For those of you who haven't heard yet, Lidge is undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery again. Also, I'm shying away from Trevor Hoffman since at some point batters will realize they are facing a change-up and another change-up. Still, Fukudome was the strangest pick since he won't offer much in a league not including OBP and I have to commend the taker of Johjima to wait around after I took Soto what appears to be a round too soon.
- Adam Jones and Michael Bourn at the end of 12 was a strange decision in my opinion, since both would have been around later. Still, this was a round of taking crushes, as Johnson, Matsui, and Votto were all reached for. I think that, when tiers are considered, these picks weren't the best when they were taken. Pedro was crush pick, though I needed another pitcher and most of the legitimate guys were gone.
- My team so far: Jose Reyes, Vladimir Guerrero, Lance Berkman, Josh Beckett, Gary Sheffield, Francisco Rodriguez, Ryan Zimmerman, Mariano Rivera, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Geovany Soto, Alex Gordon, Willy Taveras, Pedro Martinez
Labels: Expert Drafts
posted by Zachary Piso at
5:39 PM
8 Comments:
I'm not too thrilled about Taveras in the 12th round, but with 5 OF I suppose you need to fill them quick. I'm also not fond of the Soto pick, but again, with 2 C spots, you need to fill em. I like the Gordon pick and I LOVE the Martinez pick. Both can provide excellent value for where you drafted them.
I was happy with the Gordon and Martinez pick, but wasn't sure if that was wishful thinking. I'm a fan of Taveras as my fourth outfielder, with an upside as a number three, allowing me to move Berkman to first (where Gordon is now) and move one of my 3B.
I hate having two catcher spots, but Soto was my guy and I used the previous mock draft to project where I had to take him. Unfortunately, it was fellow blogger Pete Abbate who triggered the catcher run, and it seems it was a round too early in the mock draft also?
I'll admit, I have not participated in many two catcher drafts, but due to the overall thinness of the position, you would have to join in on a run in order to get at least one decent man. Two catchers in a twelve man league is rough. It's a good thing I'm not an expert.
Here's my thoughts on a two-catcher league: Nobody is getting Russell Martin and Brian McCann. Everyone is going to have one bad catcher, so you might as well not take your second until the last round. Think of them as the kicker in fantasy football - just grab Benji Molina and hope you get 15 HR or 90 RBI from that spot. Getting a midrange guy like Soto or Johjima is important, but you can't stress too much over there being two catcher spots. Nobody is going to be that strong or deep there.
Regarding this draft, I love to see Jason Bay falling into Round 9 along with Andruw Jones. Those guys are both great values there. Carlos Zambrano in Round 8 also is excellent... I would definitely take him over Smoltz, although I am a fan of the Atlanta veteran.
Finally, I like Edgar Renteria in the tenth round. Michael Young and Miguel Tejada went in Round 7 and JJ Hardy in Round 8, and I don't know that I like any significantly better. Tejada will put up better numbers if he plays the whole season, and maybe I'm just too conservative a player, but I feel assured that Renteria will produce solid numbers in Detroit.
Rich Hill only three picks after Zambrano? Really?
How you like that Kazmir pick now (Fantasy Hurler calculated him as a seventh round value due to his overuse at a young age).
I decided to compare Kazmir statistically to another overworked-at-a-young-age poster child: Zambrano. Let's look at their fourth seasons, as Kazmir is heading into his fifth...
Zambrano: 16 W, 188 K, 2.75 ERA, 1.22 WHIP
Kazmir: 13 W, 239 K, 3.48 ERA, 1.38 WHIP
At this point they had pitched roughly the same number of big league innings, and Zambrano followed his brilliant 2004 campaign with a line of 14 W, 202 K, 3.26 ERA, and 1.15 WHIP. So the "overused" isn't necessary with great pitchers, and I think Kazmir was a good pick at essentially the seventh (end of the sixth)
One other thing I like about Kazmir is he will get you a ton of K's. Heading into last season, a lot of analysts were commenting on quality fantasy starts, praising Peavy off a bad year of at least delivering a K per inning each outing. Pair power pitching like Peavy and Kazmir with a solid bullpen to cover peripherals and you have a good pitching core.
As a side note, that strategy is most valuable in H2H leagues, but also applicable to rotisserie.
. . . Kazmir missing the next two weeks with his elbow injury doesn't scare you?
Everything I've heard about the "incident"-as I would not call it an injury since Kazmir had to alert the trainers something was wrong, and was diagnosed with rest-leads me to believe it is not a big deal. The MRI revealed no damage, so to Kazmir owners, don't panick. To prospective Kazmir owners, don't shy away too much-I consider Kazmir a good buy but toward the end of the third tier. The only guy I think might be worth taking ahead of him, and who was very close in the first place, is Harang. But still, pretty much interchangeable.
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