Bottom Tier Outfielder Draft Strategy

[Honus]

I have a standard 5x5 roto draft tomorrow and was considering the following simple plan:

Focus on infielders and pitchers in the first 8 or nine rounds and end up with something like this:

Pujols in the 1st
Schmidt in the 2nd
Jeter or Young or Garciaparra in the 3rd
M Giles in the 4th
Mora or ARam in the 5th
Halladay in the 6th
Burnett, Beckett, Mulder, Harden, Smoltz, Mussina type SPs in the 7th & 8th
Mauer in the 9th

Then, over the next 9 or 10 rounds, pick up mid-low level RPs (Cordero, Baez, Affeldt, Looper and Takatsu types) and OFs like Hidalgo, Preston Wilson, Dye, Mench, Juan Gone, Byrnes, Jenkins and Lane. If I get 6 of the outfielders mentioned, do you think I could piece together 3 decent OFs and a U slot that will keep me competitive?

What do you think of the strategy overall? I've never waited so long to pick up my first OF and I wonder if anybody has tried such a method with good success.

[OwenTheBlonde]

There's a lot of merit to that idea. First off, if you get Giles in the 4th it's a steal. He'll be as good as sori. Anyway, there is a lot of potential in the latter OF picks. Don't forget Griffey also as he could be a steal. I think it's worth attempting and deviate only if a premium outfielder falls farther than he should. Preston Wilson could easily rebound to a huge year now that he appears healthy, etc. I like the idea and actually pretty much have done that except I took one top OF then waited a long time after that.

[curious_george_43545]

no way you get Aram in the fifth or your in one baddddddddddd league

[SouthBronxBombers]

It's not a horrible plan, but it is all predicated on you actually getting all of those players you want earlier. I doubt you're going to be able to stick with it.

[Honus]

Just to clarify, the sample picks I gave were just examples. If a 3B like ARam isn't available in the 5th, maybe I get an SP like Mulder and pick up Lowell or Chipper in the 7th. The real point is picking up all of the infield slots and 3-4 very good SPs before ever touching an outfielder or RP.

[kev921]

Most of those OF's you mentioned seem to be injury prone. You could get most of them in much later rounds. Plus I would focus on a 2nd stud OF before I would get a catcher that hasn't proven he can finish a season.

[Cooner]

i use a similar strategy, but generally try to grab (if available) a stud OF early to anchor the OF, then wait around for the lower tier OFs late to get numbers 2 and 3/ut/bench. Generally I find I can get a Sheff type in the 2nd, waiting to draft pitchers til the 3rd or 4th. It seems to have worked well for me in the past

[looptid]

Most of those OF's you mentioned seem to be injury prone. You could get most of them in much later rounds. Plus I would focus on a 2nd stud OF before I would get a catcher that hasn't proven he can finish a season.

Yup. He's at 0% for his career.

I'm not saying knee injuries to 6'4" catchers instill much confidence, but for the ninth round you are a little too pesimistic. Mauer could be a monster bargain. He's probably going to hit third. Stewart and Ford both had .380 OBPs last year and should hit 1-2 (plenty of RBIs) and Mauer, no slouch at getting on base, will bat infront of Morneau (plenty of runs). How many catchers hit in such an ideal line-up slot? And a stud outfielder in the ninth round? I would assume you have a loose definition for the term stud. That's Andruw Jones-Sammy Sosa kind of territory for most leagues. Good, but not really stud.

[ja515y]

1st pick- Beltran
14th pick- Berkman
16th pick- Winn
18th pick- Jenkings

Tried it and liked it. It Allowed me to hit more depleted positions.

[mmdmaznn]

I did the same strategy in my draft and was pretty happy with it. Picked up Giles in the 4th round and got Jeter, Rolen and Ichiro early. Ended up with later picks of J. Drew and T. Hunter in the outfield with back-ups of A. Dunn(mainly-1B), Dye and Bradley. The hardest part of that strategy was having to take Giles while H. Matsui was still available (he went 2 picks later).