Here's proof you can come back from a bad draft...

[The Loveable Losers]

This was my first fantasy baseball league ever...I studied all I could before I started (hadn't found the Cafe yet though) but as you'll see from the draft below I hadn't quite gotten things figured out yet.

(12 team league...I had the snake pick at 12)
1. R. Johnson
2. C. Crawford
3. H. Blalock
4. A. Huff
5. J. Peavy
6. B. Wagner
7. V. Wells
8. C. Figgins
9. J. Kendall
10. M. Ordóñez
11. L. Walker
12. B. Ryan
13. G. Jenkins
14. T. Gordon
15. J. Rincón
16. S. Shields
17. K. Greene
18. G. Aquino
19. M. Lieberthal
20. V. Zambrano
21. S. Kazmir

This was in a very active private league on Yahoo (somehow I accidentally joined a private league when signing up for my first league...not really sure how that happened).

I languished at first but as I started to learn more and more here at the Cafe and just by having experience I took an overload strategy in SB's and SV's (aided by the Cafe helping me snag newly promoted closers). Gradually I traded for value over and over and over again, giving up closers to get upgrades to the rest of my team.

Here's my starting roster now along with who I originally drafted to play that position:
C J. Kendall (Oak - C) (drafted but have played AJ, Inge, Molina, etc)
1B A. Pujols (StL - 1B) (drafted Blalock basically)
2B J. Lugo (TB - 2B,SS) (drafted Figgins...late season departure)
3B A. Huff (TB - 1B,3B,OF) (same)
SS M. Tejada (Bal - SS) (drafted K. Greene )
OF G. Sheffield (NYY - OF) (drafted C. Crawford)
OF H. Matsui (NYY - OF) (drafted V. Wells)
OF G. Sizemore (Cle - OF) (drafted M. Ordonez)
Util L. Berkman (Hou - 1B,OF) (drafted L. Walker)

SP R. Johnson (NYY - SP) (same)
SP J. Peavy (SD - SP) (same)
RP F. Rodney (Det - RP) (MASSIVE turnover here)
RP J. Valverde (Ari - RP) (MASSIVE turnover here)
BN F. Hernández (Sea - SP) (drafted S. Kazmir)
BN M. Prior (ChC - SP) (drafted V. Zambrano)

My team may win the league...it may not. It's a tight race with me up 88.0 to 84.0 over two different teams in a 12 team league. But given that draft...to be where I am at this point is nothing short of amazing. And I owe a lot of it to the Cafe in both getting me up to speed on how to play the game and then in keeping me informed.

[dyuen87]

wow you must've made some nice trades. i give you a lot of props for that. what did you do in your draft tho? . great job.

[AT]

Assuming this is a 5x5 (No Holds) the only respectable picks you made after Figgins in Round 8 was BJ Ryan at 12 and Kazmir at 21. You should be heckled for that draft and commended on a job well done recovering from it. Nice work you dope

[The Loveable Losers]

I was a complete fantasy baseball moron at the start of the year. I plead stupidity for the draft.

[dyuen87]

I was a complete fantasy baseball moron at the start of the year. I plead stupidity for the draft.

was it your first draft ever? cuz if it is i can join you in tat running.

[The Loveable Losers]

Yep...it was my first fantasy draft in any sport ever. I've always been a baseball fan and a numbers sort of person but I've never actually played fantasy baseball (played Pursue the Pennant back in the cards and dice days though back in high school) but never fantasy baseball. That still doesn't excuse the crappiness of that draft - I could have set up a dart board and thrown darts to get a better draft than that.

[dyuen87]

well if that was your first draft you've come far since then. impressive.

[Pedantic]

Yep...it was my first fantasy draft in any sport ever. I've always been a baseball fan and a numbers sort of person but I've never actually played fantasy baseball (played Pursue the Pennant back in the cards and dice days though back in high school) but never fantasy baseball. That still doesn't excuse the crappiness of that draft - I could have set up a dart board and thrown darts to get a better draft than that.

Hah! You should have seen my first real draft. I drafted Derek Jeter because I'd heard of him and Odalis Perez because my friend thought he was going to be a bigtime ace. I ended up third in the league, mostly because I learned a lot before the end of the season and hardly anyone else paid any attention after the All-Star break. And it helped that I drafted someone named Juan Pierre in the teen rounds (though that was a completely random pick, of course).

[The Loveable Losers]

Here's my trade list for the person that mentioned that:

May 4
Received L. Berkman (Hou - 1B,OF)
for D. Turnbow (Mil - SP,RP)

May 26
Received P. Feliz (SF - 1B, 3B, SS, OF)
for T. Walker (SF - RP)

Jun 3
Received C. Beltrán (NYM - OF)
for B. Ryan (Bal - RP)

Jun 30
Received B. Inge (Det - C,3B,OF), Ol. Pérez (Pit - SP)
for B. Molina (LAA - C), G. Maddux (ChC - SP)

Jul 16 Received A. Pujols (StL - 1B), K. Mench (Tex - OF)
for C. Beltrán (NYM - OF), C. Crawford (TB - OF), H. Blalock (Tex - 3B)

Jul 19
Received I. Suzuki (Sea - OF)
for K. Mench (Tex - OF), D. Hermanson (CWS - SP,RP)

Aug 2
Received M. Prior (ChC - SP)
for
C. Reitsma (Atl - RP), K. Farnsworth (Atl - RP)

Aug 10
Received G. Sheffield (NYY - OF)
for V. Wells (Tor - OF), T. Jones (Fla - RP)

Aug 13
Received M. Tejada (Bal - SS), H. Matsui (NYY - OF)
for I. Suzuki (Sea - OF), C. Figgins (LAA - 2B,3B,SS,OF), B. Wagner (Phi - RP)

That's all of them. When you see me trading a player I didn't draft (which happened VERY often when it comes to the closers) they're the ones I picked up as FA's. I've used 60 position players and 57 pitchers to date so far. That will probably go up before things are over (Grady Sizemore is a relatively new addition for example and my hail mary is today so some fresh blood coming in there as well). Even with all that inconsistancy roster-wise though my team has still managed to hit .280 and has a 3.57era and 1.19whip which puts them around the middle of the pack in average and right up toward the top in era/whip. And while I've lost 2 points in the SB category since my moves to offload my speed guys, I've more than made up for it by moving up about 3 points in both runs AND rbi's as well as 2 or 3 points in average.

[MMoNeY24]

I missed the draft in my 14-team money league:



^

Four closers drafted in a row? Are you serious?

Current team (finished in 2nd place) after trades and FA's:



^

Note: Guys like Vazquez, Lieber, and Glavine have been added over the past week. Guys like Dye, Utley, Patterson, and Dellucci have been the prized FA pickups. Thank god I got Ortiz in the 2nd round through autodraft.