Five Early Targets

[kab21]

I'll take Prado late every season, for all the reasons listed in the OP. I hope he continues to be as disregarded as indicated here.

Will Prado get drafted late though? He had a great year and he can play everywhere so people are going to take him early. He went at pick 116 in a fangraphs mock. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index. ... unds-6-10/

[kaiser]

Maybe not anymore. But up until now, he has been completely undervalued.

[J35J]

In the first Cafe Mock of the year...here is where the 5 guys went...

Roy Halladay, SP, Philadelphia Phillies: - pick 6.01(61st overall)
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Arizona Diamondbacks: - pick 5.01(49th overall)
Martin Prado, 3B, RF, SS, 2B, Atlanta Braves: - pick 9.03(99th overall)
Yadier Molina, C, St. Louis Cardinals: - pick 8.05(89th overall)
Greg Holland, CP, Kansas City Royals: - pick 12.08(140th overall)


...discuss...

[bigh0rt]

I think that's a decent place to pick up Holland, and the 5th Round isn't a bad place to grab your 1B with Goldie's potential (and already shown production), if you were able to load up elsewhere in the earlier rounds (which is the whole point, right?). My main worry with Goldie is, what are we expecting from him in 2013? He went 20/18 last season. Do we think he approaches 20 SB again? Do we think the power heads closer to 25 HR? Bill James has him at 27/15, with his R/RBI each heading north of 100. If he comes close to that, he's a massive value in the 5th Round. If that .340 BABIP comes down and he bats .260, though, instead of .280, you'll see his fantasy stats suffer almost across the board. Molina, no thanks to a catcher in Round 8, and I just don't think I'd ever draft Prado in any semblance of a normal league.

[Ender]

I just can't get on board with Prado and I think it is because of the R/RBI. When a player only gets 150 R+RBI and is sort of a 15/15 type of guy it just limits his value so much even if he is a legit .300 hitter. He certainly needs to be rostered but I'm not all pumped up about owning him either. He is kind of like Polanco who I was never excited about but used as a fallback plan on a regular basis for the safe and boring guy that he was.

[kab21]

Maybe not anymore. But up until now, he has been completely undervalued.

I'm not sure I would even want 2009 or 2011 Prado on my team and after 2010 Prado was being taken pretty early. I also didn't think it would be a surprise that Prado was being taken early (10th rd or so) this season.

[kaiser]

All I can tell you is I have owned him on at least one team every season for the last three or four, and his consistency, durability and position flexibility have proven immensely helpful every single season.

He may not be a fantasy stud, but he's a great ball player. We are gong to miss him here in ATL.

[AussieDodger]

In the first Cafe Mock of the year...here is where the 5 guys went...

Roy Halladay, SP, Philadelphia Phillies: - pick 6.01(61st overall)

Too early

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Arizona Diamondbacks: - pick 5.01(49th overall)

Sounds right, could be a steal by the end of 2013

Martin Prado, 3B, RF, SS, 2B, Atlanta Braves: - pick 9.03(99th overall)

I'm not taking my band-aid bench guy inside the top 100, or maybe even top 200. Do Not Want

Molina, C, St. Louis Cardinals: - pick 8.05(89th overall)

Meh. A bit risky given his XBH numbers before 2011.

Greg Holland, CP, Kansas City Royals: - pick 12.08(140th overall)

Sweet value. This is where you want to be taking your closers.

[OBPlover]

IN 2013 Lindy's

Goldy is ranked 4th for all First Baseman, Yaddy is 2nd for Catchers, Doc is 25th for starters.

So I doubt anyone of those guys can qualify as a sleeper.

[Ender]

He didn't say sleeper, he said early targets.

I'm fine with where Molina is going and I fully expect him to repeat most of what he did last year. Something changed in him in the 2nd half of 2011 and it carried through 2012 and he is such a good AVG hitter that even if the power slips a little he keeps most of his value. Having said that I think drafting a C that early in general is silly so I would only be taking him if he falls a couple more rounds, just like I think drafting Posey in the 1st or 2nd round is insane. Value at C is finding this years Molina.