We recently completed our second expert mock draft for the draft guide, this time it was an auction draft. As promised, my results of the draft follow. A couple points of note before I begin, this was my first mock auction draft of the year and I clearly didn’t spend enough money at the top of the draft. I ended the draft with an excess of money. However, I also ran out of spots to fill towards the end of the draft despite there being players available I was still targeting. This leads me to believe that when I draft again, I should spend more money in less players at the top of the draft. Also, it is important to note that Kevin Correia was drafted by mistake when the time on my draft clock ran out and shouldn’t be touched in actual drafts (that mistake also accounts for why I only have two closers).

C: Geovany Soto – $3
C: Jarrod Saltalamacchia - $4
1B: Adrian Gonzalez - $23
2B: Freddy Sanchez - $3
3B: Kevin Kouzmanoff - $2
SS: Troy Tulowitzki - $19
CI: Alex Gordon - $3
MI: Khalil Greene - $1
OF: Eric Byrnes - $26
OF: Alfonso Soriano - $34
OF: Adam Dunn - $20
OF: Alex Rios - $24
OF: Josh Fields - $3
UTIL: Billy Butler - $1
P: Tim Lincecum - $12
P: Justin Verlander - $18
P: Chad Billingsley - $10
P: Rich Hill - $12
P: Brett Myers - $4
P: Zack Greinke – $5
P: Kevin Correia - $1
P: Joe Nathan - $15
P: Jason Isringhausen - $8

Remaining Salary: $9
Total Salary: $251

I think the team I compiled here can certainly be a competitive team. I’ll talk on each player, going down the list. I was happy to grab Soto and Salty late in the draft for almost nothing. At first base, I probably paid a bit more for Adrian Gonzalez than he’s worth. In fact, I think the person bidding against me may have been driving the price up knowing I was desperate for a first baseman. I waited to the point where there were really no other reasonable starting 1B left. At 2B, I drafted Sanchez because he is a cheap option to help offset poor averages from Greene, Dunn and Fields. At third base I found Kouzmanoff and Gordon for almost nothing. Both will be good options next year. Kouzmanoff can repeat his numbers from last year and Gordon will certainly improve upon his. At SS I ended up with Tulowitzki and Greene. I was happy with Tulo at $19 considering Jeter went for $21. I value Tulowitzki higher than Jeter this year and he could end up hitting 30 homeruns next year based on his second half numbers. Where I spend my big money on offense was in the outfield. There a bunch of guys I’m targeting this year that will produce both homeruns and stolen bases and I grabbed a bunch of them. I also grabbed Josh Fields cheap. As I’ve mentioned before, he could hit 30 homeruns. A $1 Billy Butler is a great value late in the draft.

I was very happy with my pitching staff with the exception of obviously, Kevin Correia who I didn’t mean to draft. Correia’s spot would have been used, along with my other $9 to draft a third decent closer. As my starters go, the only person I think I overpaid for was Chad Billinglsey. However, that is not to say that I don’t think Billingsley can produce numbers worth $10. I just think I could have gotten a comparable option for less later in the draft, such as Adam Wainwright who went for $3.

Overall, my team has plenty of speed and a decent amount of power. The rotation should be able to compete with the best of them. The only major flaw is the lack of a third closer (see Kevin Correia). That's all for now. Remember: You can view the complete results in the draft guide.