Benefits and Drawbacks of owning #1 FBB Draft Pick

[Chicago RedSox]

The Setup:
In our league, the winner from the previous year will automatically get the first pick in the following season. I have been fortunate to win the past two years, and will have first pick this year. 12 Team, H2H, 8x8, serpentine draft (meaning my draft spots will be 1.01, 2.12, 3.01, 4.12…etc)

The Question:
As I read the sometimes looks like drafting mid-order leads to a better draft. Agree/Diagree?
Midseason, do you ever curse the fact that you did not have first draft pick?
Looking at the ADP’s is having the #1 and #24 really better then having #12 and #13?
Or do you think it’s always better to have #1.

I picked 2 MockDrafts to illustrate (FBB Café and MockDraftCentral)

FBB Café:
#1 Pick – Arod and Berkman
#12 Pick – Crawford and Braun

MDC:
#1 - Arod and Peavy
#12 – Cabrera and Howard

If you could pick your draft position, what would it be, and why?
(didn't post this is draft/keepers because it's more of a strategy question, mods pls move if I'm wrong)

[Matthias]

Generally speaking, the value of draft picks get closer the further down the ladder you go. So the biggest drop-off, generally, is between 1.01 and 1.02, then a smaller drop-off between 1.02 and 1.03, and a smaller drop-off between 1.03 and 1.04, etc. So normally the greatest value is captured by the person drafting first.

I would certainly take the 1st pick without any complaint.