Meet the Overbay City Rollers!

[duckbillgates]

Just completed my first live draft of the season. I'm normally conservative in a draft, but this one took some surprise twists, so I altered my draft plan a bit, got aggressive, and this is what I ended up with.

12-team standard 5x5 roto, 5 keepers, draft round in parenthesis (counted keepers as first five rounds)

C: Mike Piazza (11)
1B: Lyle Overbay (14)
2B: Chase Utley (keeper)
3B: Miguel Cabrera (keeper)
SS: Jimmy Rollins (keeper)
OF: Carlos Lee (keeper)
OF: Matt Holliday (keeper)
OF: Nick Markakis (13)
Util: Jim Thome (6)
Bench: Shane Victorino (18)

SP: Ben Sheets (7)
SP: Felix Hernandez (10)
RP: Huston Street (8)
RP: J.J. Putz (9)
P: Matt Cain (12)
P: Kelvim Escobar (19)
P: Octavio Dotel (15)
Bench: Roger Clemens (16)
Bench: Pedro Martinez (17)
Bench: Salomon Torres (21)
Bench: Jose Contreras (20)

Some draft notes:
I went with Thome after Konerko was drafted, got shut out at 1B and ended up stuck with Overbay. Then I looked at his numbers from last year. Not bad. I have embraced my fate and changed my team name.

I hate to draft closers, but the good bats were gone, so I went Street and Putz back-to-back drafting on the end of a serpentine draft to try to induce a closer run. Mission accomplished. Eight closers drafted before my next pick (and 15 pitchers overall).

Likewise, with all the top-notch starters gone, I too a huge chance and went Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez back-to-back.

My pitching strategy is to go with a four-closer lineup early in the season. I will hopefully get a leg up in saves and stay well below the pace for innings pitched. If/when I get Clemens and/or Pedro back (lot of questions there, huh?), I can start raking up extra starts (and probably move a closer for a starter) and catch back up with innings pitched.

So how do I look? Overbay and Markakis/Victorino seem like my weak spots on offense. And that pitching strategy is either brilliant or stupid. I can't tell which.

[soxrock556]

Thanks for the help - I like your team i think thome is going to have only an average season this year try to package him and overbay to someone that is strong at first but weak at util and try to get their 1st basemen

[Chip1010]

Thanks for the help.

I really like your offense, especially having Piazza at catcher. That's a huge advantage.

My main critique would be that your rotation is all young guys with a tendency to be very inconsistent. One day it's a 9-strikeout performance, the next week they get knocked around for 7 ERs by the Royals. I expect big things from Felix this year, and Sheets and Cain are capable of excellence, but all three of them make me nervous every time they take the mound.

[bronxbombers71]

Thanks for the help. I really like your hitting. Big fan of piazza this year. Im not sure though for your pitching if you can take the hit with pedro and clemens not pitching till summer.