My draft strategy, and how things went

[dewey finn]

Torrealba is undrafted in most (if not all) leagues.

[Freebird27]

It was a good read though

[tuckerman85]

I actually had a very similar draft last night in which I waited until the 9th round to grab my first pitcher. It wasnt my plan but there were just too many solid bats slipping through each round that I had to take them. I realized in the 8th that I might be in trouble so I started going pitcher happy. I think I'm in pretty good shape, especially if I can keep an eye on a few of the pitchers still on the WW.

C - VMart
1B - Dunn
2B - Weeks (hope he doesnt go to DL)
3B - Wright
SS - Young
OF - Shef
OF - C. Lee
OF - Sizemore
UTIL - Hafner
BN - Holliday
BN - Hermida

Pitching Staff is young and questionable

Zito
Webb
Haren
Blanton
Cabrera
Harang

Wagner
Fuentes
Gonzales
Devine

I was looking at the pitchers that didnt get drafted and there are still several I would pick up.. Do you think I should drop one of the above mentioned for C. young, B. Penny, B. Halsey, C. Silva, Erik Bedard, D. Bush. ???

Thanks for the help

[DGroundhog]

Vlad and Wright is sure a decent start to a draft, but things went horribly wrong from there. If you go in intent on ignoring pitching, do just that, and still have holes on offense after 11 rounds you have made a mistake somewhere.

I'd actually think about dumping alot of your garbage SP and bench players for top MR guys instead of hoping you can find enough help at SP along the way to help you out. At least you keep your ERA and WHIP low, and can vulture wins at a good W/9 IP ratio. Getting 7 wins in 70 innings is like a mini 20 game winner who pitches 200 innings. The low ERA, WHIP and high K rate can make them near elite given the right situation.

[Ender]

How deep is this league? If its 12 teams your league mates are morons and I think you'll win regardless. I do not have a problem with your "ace" SP at all, Haren and Webb are better than half of the starters picked before them in most leagues. I do think your pitching staff lacks the depth needed to compete though. If this is a 12 team league your team looks great.

[gostanford07]

I actually had a very similar draft last night in which I waited until the 9th round to grab my first pitcher. It wasnt my plan but there were just too many solid bats slipping through each round that I had to take them. I realized in the 8th that I might be in trouble so I started going pitcher happy. I think I'm in pretty good shape, especially if I can keep an eye on a few of the pitchers still on the WW.

C - VMart
1B - Dunn
2B - Weeks (hope he doesnt go to DL)
3B - Wright
SS - Young
OF - Shef
OF - C. Lee
OF - Sizemore
UTIL - Hafner
BN - Holliday
BN - Hermida

Pitching Staff is young and questionable

Zito
Webb
Haren
Blanton
Cabrera
Harang

Wagner
Fuentes
Gonzales
Devine

I was looking at the pitchers that didnt get drafted and there are still several I would pick up.. Do you think I should drop one of the above mentioned for C. young, B. Penny, B. Halsey, C. Silva, Erik Bedard, D. Bush. ???

Thanks for the help

It's interesting to note the similarities in all the pitching staffs of these managers who are passing on SP (by design or whatever). It is a trend that has essentially taken over the cafe, and for very valid reasons, but I'm seeing a lot of Haren's and Blanton's and Webb's. Seems like everyone has them . Also, does anyone think that this trend may have a reverse effect? I mean obviously in public leagues or any relatively uneducated ones, managers are going to reach for the ever-shaky starting pitchers. But it seems that in a veteran league, there would be many opportunities for high value picks at SP. I'm not saying that I would employ this strategy myself as I prefer the former, but do you think this will begin to happen?

[nuggets]

Second, I remember being really hurried when making picks in the last couple of drafts. So, this year, I decided the best thing to do would be to concentrate the first half of the draft on hitters, and then go for pitching in the later rounds. The reason for this is simple: with the steroids era now behind us, true premier offensive talent is much scarcer than pitching. So, if I can get some big bats, then I can basically concentrate on building a pitching staff over the course of the season. This cuts my work during the season pretty much in half

I'm not sure how you figure this is true. Pitchers could have used roids as well. Assuming roid use was league wide, the good and marginal hitters will have "decreased" perfomance as well, so relatively speaking there should be a little effect on hitter value variance.

I remember seeing the other folks feverishly checking their draft sheets with each pick and trying to make a quick decision. I just sat back, and used the rankings from Sporting News and ESPN Magazine. Those guys dedicate their life to ranking fantasy players and being in the know, so why not trust their expertise?

Beacause many of their choices are not the best or near best choices.

So, I began and got Vlad, David Wright, Soriano, and Berkman in the first 4 rounds. Not a bad start.

If you would have read the Cafe, you (likely) wouldn't have taken Soriano 3rd and you'd know why not to.

The next few rounds were good too, as I got Sizemore, Damon, Sexson and Podsednik. More power and steals, and I was particularly happy to get Pods this low. I think he'll be comparable to Figgins, Reyes, and Pierre and comes at a much lower price.

You probably could have gotten better hitters than Sizemore (5th) and Podsednik (8th)

I deviated from my strategy in Round 9 and picked Isringhausen. I needed at least one good closer to keep me respectable in saves. After that, I was able to get Vernon Wells, who is another good sleeper. The last two seasons, he's basically had no lineup protection. He should do much better with Glaus and Overbay hitting in front of and behind him.

Injuryhausen is not a good #1 RP to rely upon. Wells had Delgado two seasons ago. I can't disagre with the round you took him in(10th), but I probably would have been looking for a SP then.

So, from Round 11, I began concentrating on pitching. At this point, I just wanted the best value pitchers I could get. I also had holes at SS and C, and needed to fill those. So, I took Cliff Lee, who should be decent this year,

Massively overrated, but pitches in an extreme pitchers park, so who knows. Good pen and wins potential from a quality Tribe starter.

and then Barmes, who would have been the NL ROY if not for that unfortunate accident. Next came Valverde, Brandon Webb, Haren, and Yorvit Torrealba. I was hoping to get Michael Barrett, but I think that Torrealba is still a good bet to hit some HRs in Coors. He was a bit of a reach in Round 16, but I didn't want to end the draft without a C. People around me were saying I should have taken Ramon Hernandez, but I differ. I think he'll put up mediocre stats in Baltimore, since he really hasn't done all that much in Oakland and SD.

You should have taken Hernandez. Really should have. Now he's in a righ handed hitters park, not the best pitchers parks. He may have a career year.

Round 17 brought Aaron Harang, who should be solid in all categories except wins. Round 18 netted Garrett Atkins, who should be a good fantasy 3B, since he plays in Coors and isn't in a platoon. Round 19 got me Oliver Perez. If he's even halfway back to his 2004 season, I should do pretty well on K's. He had 239 K's in 200 IPs that year. I finished things out with Joe Blanton in Round 20. I'll probably end up dropping him.

So, I have one of the best, if not the best, lineups in the league this year. Now, I just have to build up my pitching staff. It should be a much better season than the past two.

Sorry to be critical, but those are just some of the reasons why to do your own projections and not to listen to fluff sources.

[cards05]

I agree with Ender, you did really well and I don't understand the criticism in a 12 - teamer. Berkman in the 4th is solid and Sizemore in the 5th is awesome.

[sharksfan1139]

i agree with nuggets on a lot of his points...your pitching is pretty horrible and your hitting isnt that great considering your whole focus for the first 8 rounds were hitting...good luck

[nuggets]

How deep is this league? If its 12 teams your league mates are morons and I think you'll win regardless. I do not have a problem with your "ace" SP at all, Haren and Webb are better than half of the starters picked before them in most leagues. I do think your pitching staff lacks the depth needed to compete though. If this is a 12 team league your team looks great.

Ender, I usually agree with you, but "great" ?

Relativity has to be considered here as well ( Catcher choice for one example).