Draft Position advice please! I need to pick a spot!

[The Jury]

I'm in a private league with 7 other friends and we held a lottery to determine the draft order, with a twist. Whoever gets picked out of the hat first gets to choose his draft spot first, and so on.

Here are the categories:
Batters - R H HR RBI SB BB TB OPS
Pitchers - W SV OUT K ERA WHIP K/BB K/9

It's my turn to pick a draft spot (it's a Yahoo snake draft) and the available spots are 3, 7, and 8.

Right now I'm kinda worried about my shortstop position as I'd want Nomar preferably or maybe Tejada to fill it instead of someone crappy. I'm pretty sure the first two picks are ARod and Pujols.

Any advice, maybe some names to look out for in certain spots? I was first thinking about taking a late pick and grabbing Nomar and Sosa, but then I had another idea to take Soriano with the 3rd pick.. then maybe Tejada as my shortstop in the 2nd.. then I got confused and I seek your advice!!

[Cornbread Maxwell]

With an 8 team league, everything changes.

First of all, I would take the 8th spot. I know I dont want the 3rd spot, and I would rather be able to have back to back picks throughout the draft.

Second - I think you have to get one of Prior, Pedro, or Schilling with your first set of picks. I would combine that with the biggest thumper I could find regardless of position. Sosa is not near the top 10, so dont even consider him there. You will probably have a decent shot of taking him with your 3rd pick since he has been going around the 20-30th overall range (your 3rd pick is 24th overall if you take the 8th spot). Also, look for RJ to drop too far.

I would look for Sheff, Beltran, or Manny - if one falls to you, and one very well could in that small league, you have to grab him.

[TAJK]

With the third spot you will have a choice between Soriano, Helton, or Prior. If you are looking to draft Nomar there is a very good chance he will be available at the 8 th spot. As for me I would grab Soriano at the 3rd spot as SS is much deeper than 2B.

[swarmee]

It's my turn to pick a draft spot (it's a Yahoo snake draft) and the available spots are 3, 7, and 8.

Take the 7th spot. The preseason studs for 2004 are:
A-Rod, Pujols, Soriano, Beltran, V Guerrero, Helton, and Prior. Then there's a significant dropoff. So with the 7th pick, you're guaranteed one from the top tier. And you get the second pick in the second round, where you can pick up your shortstop.

[Spartans Rule]

Your scoring system changes things from a typical 5x5.

Forget Soriano and Beltran. Their steals are far less valuable with 8 hitting categories, and neither of them has a great walk rate or OPS.

Pitchingwise, with 4 ratios out of 8 categories, and only 8 teams, it should be easy to execute a LIMA strategy. So don't draft a pitcher first.

I would be drooling over Todd Helton. Lots of hits, lots of walks, great OPS and TB. Pure hitters are emphasized. Vlad would be a good pick as well.

If you think you can get one of those two at 7 (and you should be able too) then pick that spot.