12 Team Cafe League 6x6

[fezzik]

12 team standard cats except OPS added for hitting...instead of K's we use K/9...and have added Holds. I've noticed the most common criticism is me drafting Beckett in round 4, but the other guy I was going to take at the time fell to me in round 5 (Markakis)...go figure.
Fezzik's Brute Squad

C Ramón Hernández (20)
1B Mark Teixeira (2)
2B Orlando Hudson (17)
3B Adrián Béltre (8)
SS Miguel Tejada (7)
CI Hank Blalock (14)
MI Yunel Escobar (18)
OF Matt Holliday (1)
OF Álex Ríos (3)
OF Nick Markakis (5)
Util Pat Burrell (13)
Util Milton Bradley (FA)
BN Mark Reynolds (19)
BN Mark DeRosa (24)

SP Josh Beckett (4)
SP John Smoltz (6)
RP Rafael Soriano (10)
RP Joakim Soria (12)
P Kevin Gregg (15)
P Scott Downs (21)
P Manny Delcarmen (22)
P Pedro Feliciano (25)
P Justin Miller (26)
BN Rich Hill (9)
BN A.J. Burnett (11)
BN Rich Harden (16)
BN Chris Carpenter (23)
BN John Patterson (FA)

Feedback? Areas of improvement? It looks like I defnitely need steals...maybe try to get Bourn from an owner and pop him into my util spot? Try to get Victorino maybe? If Roberts gets moved to the Cubs, I'm not sure how many AB's DeRosa is going to see...so I can probably grab a FA or something. Weakness to address? I would like to improve at 2B too...maybe keep an eye on the Colorado situation?

I know Patterson is on my team...I like him as a sleeper, so leave me alone.

Any comments would be appreciated...whether you see something different or want to reenforce something I've already noted. Thanks!

[The Artful Dodger]

Just wondering, how high of an overall pick did you have? From the looks of things, you had a top 5 pick (Holliday & Tex the first couple of picks).

I think you have a pretty decent team and I believe even your draft isn't all that shabby. I probably would've let Beckett slide a round down whereas you reached for Beltre, but all in all, not bad. Offensively, I get the impression you could've fared better, but you have good bargain power with Blalock and Burrell to complement Tex/Holliday/Tejada/Rios/Markakis. I think the pitching could be really good and it could turn south on you just like that if Harden, Burnett, Soriano, and/or Beckett go down. I thought the Yunel Escobar and Manny Delcarmen picks were quite smart.

Another question, who did you drop for John Patterson? I like his upside too, but he's looked really erratic the last couple of years and riddle with injuries. I'll ask the same for Bradley.

[fezzik]

Just wondering, how high of an overall pick did you have? From the looks of things, you had a top 5 pick (Holliday & Tex the first couple of picks).

I think you have a pretty decent team and I believe even your draft isn't all that shabby. I probably would've let Beckett slide a round down whereas you reached for Beltre, but all in all, not bad. Offensively, I get the impression you could've fared better, but you have good bargain power with Blalock and Burrell to complement Tex/Holliday/Tejada/Rios/Markakis. I think the pitching could be really good and it could turn south on you just like that if Harden, Burnett, Soriano, and/or Beckett go down. I thought the Yunel Escobar and Manny Delcarmen picks were quite smart.

Another question, who did you drop for John Patterson? I like his upside too, but he's looked really erratic the last couple of years and riddle with injuries. I'll ask the same for Bradley.

First off, thanks for the response. I had the 6th pick in the draft...so I took Tex over Crawford and Peavy because I wanted another big bat...and with OPS an additional cat and it being a H2H league, I devalued steals a little.

I dropped Luis Castillo for Milton Bradley and Matt Lindstom for John Patterson...

I agree I should have taken Webb in round 4 (considering who else was available...or Markakis...but he fell to me anyway). I didn't really like many people with that pick and felt that I needed an SP with solid ratios and a nice K/9...the bats available really didn't appeal to me, although eftda too Atkins with the pick right before I took Beckett...so I was getting pretty excited that he would somehow fall to me. That may have thrown me off a little.

I agree I reached a bit on Beltre...I checked my tiers at that time and felt like every guy I wanted would fall back to me by the next round...Beltre included.

I'm definitely counting on my pitching being one of the best...anything I get from Harden will be a bonus, but I am counting on Burnett being healthy (at least for the playoffs )...it will be more difficult to compete if they both go down, which is entirely possible. I tend to take a lot of pretty high risk/reward guys when I draft, particularly with pitchers. I was going to draft Soriano's backup, but Moylan went before I could snatch him. I admit I really like my pitching, but having O. Cabrera as my starting 2B is not what I was aiming to do...K. Johnson went 3 picks before I was going to take him (and I was going to grab him a bit early).

Hopefully I have one healthy productive pitcher among Harden/Burnett/Carpenter when the playoffs come around.


Thanks again...I'm looking forward to see what Bradley can do batting cleanup in Texas...other OF's I was considering were Alou and Franklin Gutierrez, both of which are available.