League winners - first 5 picks?

[Knicks4ever]

in my main money leauge

bonds
tex
prior
young
blalock

i picked up lee, haftner, and bay in rounds 8, 9, and 10

i also picked up pettitte, millwood, street and patterson

[quietstorm]

Yeah, championships are all about the late rounds. Early rounds are nothing but studs unless you're in something like an 18-team league.

I had:

Helton
Manny
Dunn
Renteria
Andruw

I finished 7/8, but I had, by far, the most points -- it was just dumb H2H luck that put me in the back, because I even outscored my opponents by about 10% over the course of the season.

My full draft-day roster (Howry was a throw-away pick: Three RPs are required during the draft, but you only play two per week, so I draft an RP in the last round possible -- you have to have the roster filled before you take your 25th pick -- and drop him as soon as the season starts):

POS Last Name First Name Team Round
C Mauer Joe MIN 9
C Hernandez Ramon SD 23
1B Helton Todd COL 2
1B Morneau Justin MIN 10
2B Jimenez D'Angelo CIN 17
2B Durham Ray SF 20
3B Blalock Hank TEX 6
3B Lowell Mike FLA 12
SS Renteria Edgar StL 4
SS Greene Khalil SD 15
OF Ramirez Manny BOS 1
OF Dunn Adam CIN 3
OF Jones Andruw ATL 5
OF Damon Johnny BOS 8
OF Holliday Matt COL 22
SP Martinez Pedro NYM 7
SP Clement Matt BOS 13
SP Hernandez Livan WAS 16
SP Bonderman Jeremy DET 18
SP Greinke Zack KC 21
RP Wagner Billy PHI 14
RP Mota Guillermo FLA 19
RP Howry Bob CLE 24
DH Hafner Travis CLE 11
UT Wright David NYM 25

I had Wright, Hafner, Damon, Wagner, and picked up Chad Cordero.

Championships are not contingent on the draft. Half my team either imploded -- see Lowell, Helton, Greinke -- or got injured -- see Helton, Morneau, Hernandez, Mota, Greene -- and one even got demoted -- see Jimenez. But in the last week, I had Iguchi, Bedard, Jae Weong Seo, Chad Cordero, and Zach Duke on my roster.

The first five picks can certainly help, yes, but it's unlikely that Alex Rodriguez is going to have a breakout season. Past Alfonso Soriano, nobody in the first five rounds is very far ahead of the rest of his position -- and in roto, that doesn't even matter so much.

[Gwyddbwyll]

In the league I won, my first five were:

Pujols, Pedro, Sheffield, K Rod, Foulke.

I think the key picks were Mauer (8th), Wright (9th) and Pettitte (14th), Davis (18th). Comedy pick was taking Ankiel like 10 minutes before he converted to an OF.

Probably the most important thing this year was recognising when to abandon your mistakes and spotting who was the real deal.

[hooligan1]

I actually tied for first according to Yahoo, but according to our own "tie-break" formula, I finished second for the purposes of trophy awarding.

Regardless, my first five picks were as follows:

Alex Rodriguez
Mark Teixeira
Miguel Cabrera
Raphael Furcal
Jake Peavy


Worked out pretty well. All were, with the exception of A-Rod, players I targeted in my draft-prep.

[Apollo]

Hm, how did I win?

1. Beltran
2. Ortiz
3. Teixeira
4. Schilling
5. Huff

Three out of five busted--and I traded Ortiz for Tejada at the all-star break, just as Tejada collapsed!

Looking back, my draft included:

Beltran
Schilling
Huff
Ollie
Morneau
Luis Castillo
Odalis Perez
Danny Graves
Estrada
Latroy Hawkins
Kearns
McPherson
Borowski

Is that a collection of busts or what? I did not deserve to win this year...

[shmolex]

I won my only league of the year. H2H first overall for the season and won the championship 8-2. Amazingly, my first 5 were:

1. Rolen
2. Schmidt
3. Pudge
4. Nathan
5. Matsui

Thank god for Ensberg and Giambi or I would have finished in the bottom 6.

[Niffoc4]

Oddly enough, I won my yahoo winners league with my early picks,
1. Johan
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Derek Jeter
4. Brad Lidge
5. Hideki Matsui

Then in the 6th I got derek Lee, and of my picks 12-21 the only ones who I had at the end of the year were Derek Lowe and Iguchi. Of the first 11 the only who I got rid of was Luis Castillo.

In my other league that I won: Bonds, Helton, Jeter, Matsui, Clemens

[bronxxbomber]

This was 14 team mixed keeper league (it's first year). I finished third <img src=/forums/images/smiles/kiss.gif> , but the winner had these top 5 picks.

Johan
Gagne
Ortiz
Edmonds
Rivera

[rlee]

I was in 3 private Yahoo leagues this year, and here are my top 5 in each:

1. Helton
2. Abreu
3. Pedro
4. Rollins
5. Foulke

1. Beltran
2. Texeira
3. Oswalt
4. Sheffield
5. Huff

1. Manny
2. Ichiro
3. Oswalt
4. Nomar
5. Mariano Rivera

[WittyC]

5x5, H2H, Yahoo! private w/ weekly locked rosters. Won the regular season with 122-76-22 record, but lost in finals 5-5 with ERA tiebreaker.

1. Beltran (dealt after just over a week for Tejada!)
2. Sheets
3. Chavez
4. Marcus Giles
5. Huff

5x5 H2H Yahoo! public. Finished 6th, but won in the playoffs.

1. Abreu
2. Ichiro
3. Huff
4. Zambrano
5. Blalock