early mock draft for a struggling owner

[morrison.daniel]

This is a 12 team 5x5 league. Last yr both of my teams were absolutely terrible. the yr before they both won. I'm confused becasue I had different strategies in all 4 leagues in my last 2 yrs. I don't know what works. Here is my team and please give suggestions on who I should have taken or what I could do differently. Thanks and I will rate in return just post a link please.

C:Wieters (rd 10 pick 4)
C:Pierzinsky (rd 20 pick 4)
1b: butler (rd 4 pick 4) interesting pick becasue last yr my sleeper (grienke) got taken 1 pick b4 me in round 8. Now I'm reaching 4 my sleeper pick.
2b: jeff baker (rd 21 pick 9)
ss: yunel escobar (rd 14 pick 4)
MI: clint barmes (rd 23 pick 9)
3b: mark taehan (rd 22 pick 4)
CI: Kendry Morales (rd 3 pick 9)
OF: Manny (rd 5 pick 9)
Of: ellsbury (rd 1 pick 10)
of: rajai Davis (rd 13 pick 9)
of: quentin (rd 9 pick 9)
of: shin soo choo (rd 6 pick 4)
u/DH: Ortiz (rd 17 pick 9)

P: felix hernandez (rd 2 pick 4)
p: beckett (rd 8 pick 4)
p: carpenter (rd 7 pick 9)
p: webb (rd 12 pick 4)
p: David Price (rd 15 pick 9)
p: Bailey (rd 16 pick 4)
p: porcello (rd 18 pick 4)
p: Brian Wilson (rd 11 pick 9)
p: Kerry Wood (rd 19 pick 9)

I'm not very fond of this draft overall... please help

[fast dogs]

yea this isn't very good; Ellsbury in round 1 is a huge no no right out of the gate. You need to start with a 30-100 kinda guy here.Felix with pick 16 is too early, especially since you didn't get a slugger right away. Morales is a nice pick but 3rd round is too soon. Butler in the 4th most certainly is.To get full value for an underrated/sleeper pick you need to draft them later, not early.I suggest you go bopper, bopper first 2 rounds; and get some sort of ADP chart & be sure not to pick guys before their spot on the chart. You are taking guys way out of rounds they should be drafted in, thats the first thing that needs to be addressed. You can occasionlly reach for a guy you don't think will last until the next round, but constantly taking players too early is a sure-fire way to have a weak squad.

[morrison.daniel]

my reasoning is ellsbury wins you sbs almost bye himself. King Felix helps a lot in K's. I agree that I should have prob gone bopper then ellsbury but ellsbury gets u .300 70sbs 120 runs. I was clueless round 3 becasue I didn't want to go pitcher again and no hitters really slipped. Round 4 I should have prob gotten a MI. In my next mock I'll prob try something different and I'l keep trying until I get a draft I'm happy with. Do you like Fielder or Howard better?

[morrison.daniel]

C: Martin
C: Pierzinsky
1B: Morales
2b: Pedroia
3B: arod
ss: hardy
OF: Shin-Soo-Choo
OF: Beltran
OF: Quentin
OF: Nyjel Morgan
OF: Ryan Ludwik
U: Matsui
MI: Izturis
CI: Helton
P: Felix Hernandez
p: Halladay
P: Bucchols
P: Zambrano
p: Bailey
p: Valverde
p: wilson
p: wood
p: thornton

How'd I do? If this were a real league I'd drop Thornton if Chicago keeps jenks but I HAVE A FEELING HE WILL BE TRADED. Please rate and I will rate in return

[DaShiz23]

Going off your first mock here, I see many problems. The first one that I see, and it has nothing to do with you, has to do with drafting at this time of year at all. Rankings, including the ones you most likely used on the website you used, are too skewed towards last season, and do not take much future projections into account. Webb in the 12th, IMO, is rediculous. I agree with above about, basically your first 6 picks (sans maybe Manny), being way off. Ellsbury, Felix, Morales, Butler, Manny and Choo is not a nucleus that screams contender at all, even IF they all produced (overproduced) last season.
It just appears that this was an unspirited offseason mock where one or three teams struck gold by taking advantage of some bad draft application.
You are at the right place though, the projections and info. available at the Cafe will go a long way towards helping you out, but at this time it is WAy too early to find anything that is well tuned yet.

[morrison.daniel]

Is fantasy football cafe leagues run by individuals? Has anyone had a problem with claiming money if you win? I want to find a league to do but don't want to get ripped off.