I am really confused....

[abrunn11]

I just had my first ever auction draft. It is an AL-only keeper league. At the of the draft we had a minor league draft. Since I was new to the league, I got the 10th and 11th overall picks (10 team league). D. Young, Upton, Gordon, Butler, and Maybin were all gone from last year, so the first pick was Evan Longoria, then Josh Fields, Reid Brignac, Jose Tabata, Adam Jones, Jacoby Ellsbury, Bill Rowell, and a few other guys. When it gets to me I take Phillip Hughes and Adam Miller. Everyone starts laughing at the fact that I took pitchers and that 2/5 pitchers are complete busts. It is a standard 5X5 league, so pitching does account for 1/2 of the stats. What am I missing here? They told me that there has not been a pitcher taken in the minor league draft in 5 years. Am i going insane?

[RynoDyno]

was it a LOL or more of a LMAOROTF?

I would counter that you only selected two pitchers, so technically you could even draft one more and still not have 2/5 of the bust ratio they claim.

LOL!

[TitusIII]

You will get the last laugh come 2009...

[looptid]

Pitchers carry more risk, but Hughes is ranked as the 2nd best prospect in all of baseball by BaseballProspectus (who do not include Matsuzaka in their list), and 4th in baseball by BaseballAmerica (who do include Matsuzaka in theirs).

Adam Miller is ranked 19th in all of baseball by BP, and 23rd in all of baseball by BA.

I don't know who was still available when you took Miller, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with your pick of Hughes. At #10 it was probably a steal.

[SignGuy]

I agree. Hughes was a great pick there, but if B Wood was available (maybe he was protected already?) i would have taken him over A Miller. But regardless those are two of the most promising arms int he AL IMO

[abrunn11]

Wood was gone from last year.

[bellings]

My rookie reserve in my keeper league contains 3 players: Hughes, Bailey, and Garza. If someone gave me crap for that, I'd just laugh and smile.

[theclefe]

That sounds like a league I would like to take advantage of.

If no one likes good pitchers, then get them all. Sure they seem to flame out more the offensive guys, but there are plenty of offensive guys that turn out to be nothing more than mediocre. Because they still contribute, they aren't consider flops. I say get every top pitcher that comes along and in a few years you will dominate every pitching category... and the league.

[George_Foreman]

I mean, pitchers are generally more difficult to predict, but those are fine selections. I'd have taken Hughes ahead of Rowell, Ellsbury, Fields, Brignac, Jones, and probably Tabata. Adam Miller is a less obvious choice, but it's still a very defensible one.

[MaudDib]

For every pitcher that hasn't lived up to potential there is hitter that does the same thing. Both of those guys will be pitching in the majors by the end of the year. I would have grabbed Hughes and I might have gone with the other Miller in CLE but I would rather have a young stud pitcher then try to find a top hitter after 11 picks. Good job. Next year you can trade Miller for a bat after everyone see's how good he will be.