I Came Home And Was Amazed

[JTWood]

I was not able to be home for the draft in my 3rd league today. I actually forgot all about it. I came home about 1-1/2 hours in to the draft, and was able to set up some pick priorities before I had to leave again. I just got home about 20 minutes ago and I was amazed at not only the overall quality of my starters, but the depth of my team as well.

But, as always, I have to check with the Cafe to make sure I'm not dumb. So here it goes...

14-team, H2H
Starters
SP Ben SHEETS
SP Carlos ZAMBRANO
SP Chris CARPENTER
RP Joe NATHAN
C J.D. CLOSSER
1B Richie SEXSON
2B Mark BELLHORN
3B Aramis RAMIREZ
SS Nomar GARCIAPARRA
OF Gary SHEFFIELD
OF Preston WILSON
OF Raul IBANEZ

Bench
SP Horacio RAMIREZ
SP C.C. SABATHIA
SP John THOMSON
RP Chin-Hui TSAO
1B Frank THOMAS
2B D'Angelo JIMENEZ
3B Garrett ATKINS
OF Barry BONDS
OF Cliff FLOYD

Am I wrong, or is that actually a pretty good auto-draft???

[jflorian]

Having Nomar is huge...

[DEF]

Not a bad squad. I hope you have a couple DL spots though, as Bonds and Thomas won't be playing for a while (Sabathia's hurt too). If they come back and produce they way they're capable of though, that could give you a nice boost in the second half of the season.

I like your starters a lot. But the bullpen needs some help. I'm not sold on Tsao. I also think your OF is pretty shaky unless Bonds comes back quickly. With him and Wilson, that's an awful lot of injury risk for one club. Ibanez is nothing special either, even for a 14-team league.

There's actually a huge amount of injury risk up and down taht whole lineup the more I look at it. Sheets had back surgery in the offseason, Zambrano's a risk due to Dusty abuse, Carpenter's coming off an injury, Sexson's shoulder is a question mark, Nomar has to show he can stay healthy, Sheff's got issues still, Wilson, Bonds, Thomas are well cronicled, Floyd is always hurt, H. Ramirez was hurt last year and Sabathia's already injured. I might be dreading watching Baseball Tonight for updates with that group.

Overall, not bad for an autodraft, but definitely some work to be done on the waiver wire or with trades. Good luck.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Its OK JT - but I think you have some decent sized holes and questionmarks.

Need a different C - Closser is not going to cut it. He's batting well under .200 this spring.
I dont like Bellhorn at 2B even in a 14 team.
OF is weak after Sheff - isnt Preston still injured?
Bench is shallow too - not much there.

I think you might have to deal a SP to make up some ground on offense.

Are you punting SBs?

For an autro draft its not bad, but I think you have an uphill fight ahead of you.

[JTWood]

Its OK JT - but I think you have some decent sized holes and questionmarks.

Need a different C - Closser is not going to cut it. He's batting well under .200 this spring.
I dont like Bellhorn at 2B even in a 14 team.
OF is weak after Sheff - isnt Preston still injured?
Bench is shallow too - not much there.

I think you might have to deal a SP to make up some ground on offense.

Are you punting SBs?

For an autro draft its not bad, but I think you have an uphill fight ahead of you.

No Bellhorn, huh? I had him pegged for .270, 18 HRs, and 80 RBIs. I wasn't too upset with him at 2nd...

I'm not fond of the catcher situation, either, but I'm sure the WW will help me upgrade throughout the year.

I think Preston's playing a bit now. He's 4-for-10 with a 3B and 2 RBI so far this spring. I believe they have him pegged to start opening day batting clean-up behind Helton.

I'm not punting SBs. Can you keep a secret? This is a points league. Shhh... If word gets out, no one else will reply to this thread because everyone here hates points leagues.



Anyway, I was hoping that Big Frank and/or Bonds might make for trade bait at some point in the season. If they come back hot, then maybe I could trade Sexson/outfielder to fill the catcher hole.

Thanks for the feedback...