It's a Surprise Party!

Before I start with a few of this seasons biggest surprises, if you haven't seen this please stop and do so now.  "I forgot about her face!"

We love baseball for so many reasons, many of which revolve around the inevitable surprises that come with each year.  Every season players come out of nowhere to help you win leagues and others bomb to drag your whole team down.  With this post I'll take a look at the surprises and disappointments of this year.   

If you're feeling like a genius because you're in first place by a mile, do a little humbling by looking at your draft.  No matter what your team looks like now, there's probably a few terrible picks.  In one of my leagues I'm proudly in first place despite tanking quite a few draft choices including, 

6th - Byrnes, 7th - Harang, 9th - Posada, 14th - Pedro, and 16th - T. Pena

This shows us the draft is important but, roster management through the year is just as/if not more important.  If a team can be in first place despite getting nothing from it's 6th, 7th, 9th, 14th, and 16th round picks it shows that holes have been filled by players who went undrafted.

To start the surprises here are just a few of the players who went undrafted in a deep 12 team mixed league with 28 players.  This is the equivalent of a shallow 15 team league.  Keep in mind, these players went UNDRAFTED.  I've listed their Yahoo rankings and stats besides them.  

- Cliff Lee (5) - 14 Wins, 120 K's, 2.29 ERA, 1.03 WHIP

- Carlos Quentin (9) - 73 runs, 27 HR's, 78 RBI's, 5 SB, .281 average

- Ryan Ludwick (17) - 68, 23, 70, 4, .291

- Justin Duchscherer (23) - 10, 76, 2.37, 0.94

- Aubrey Huff (36) - 63, 20, 64, 2, .291

- Milton Bradley (48) - 58, 19, 57, 4, .308

- Jorge Cantu (49) - 61, 18, 60, 4, .292

- Ryan Dempster (50) - 11, 117, 2.99, 1.17

- Edinson Volquez (54) - 12, 134, 2.77, 1.31

- Joe Saunders (73) - 13, 66, 3.10, 1.14

- Xavier Nady (78) - 51, 13, 57, 1, .327

- David Murphy (80) - 58,14, 64, 7, .272

- Mike Mussina (89) - 13, 81, 3.26, 1.21

- Jon Rauch (95) - 4, 17, 46, 2.86, .99

These are 13 of Yahoo's top 100 players and they went undrafted in a deep league. Only 13 out of the 28 players I drafted are still on my team in this league. Roster management has been a must.     

Disappointments and other undrafted surprises after the jump

Here are players who were drafted in the first 10 rounds and have greatly under -produced due to injury or otherwise.  Their draft order position and stats are beside them.  All 16 of these players were drafted in the top 10 rounds.

- Eric Bedard (22) - 6, 72, 3.67, 1.32

- JJ Putz (44) - 2, 7, 28, 4.70, 1.83

- Troy Tulowitzki (49) - 21, 3, 18, 1, .213

- Eric Byrnes (69) - my pick - 28, 6, 23, 4, .209

- Aaron Harang (76) - my pick - 3, 108, 4.76, 1.40

- Gary Sheffield (80) - 28, 8, 26, 6, .222

- Ryan Zimmerman (81) - 24, 8, 28, 2.62

- Chris Young, SD (91) - 4, 51, 4.50, 1.48

- Jeff Francoeur (92) - 45, 9, 45, 0, .233

- Jorge Posada (100) - my pick - 18, 3, 22, 0, .268

- Rich Hill (103) - 1, 15, 4.12, 1.58

- Andruw Jones (104) - 20, 2, 12, 0, .166

- Edgar Renteria (107) - 44, 5, 34, 3, .260

- Brett Myers (115) - 3, 90, 5.82, 1.57

- Todd Helton (119) - 39, 7, 29, 0, .266

- Yovani Gallardo (120) - 0, 13, 1.80. 1.25

Next are players who went undrafted that don't show up in Yahoo's top 100 but, look to be major players from here on out.  These are the players that may be the difference between 1st and 2nd in your league.

- Jeff Baker - 42, 8, 35, 4, .296

- Mike Gonzalez - 4, 17, 2.70, .68

- Chris Davis - 22, 10, 20, 0, .303

- Alexei Ramirez - 35, 8, 35, 7, .314

- John Danks - 8, 102, 3.18, 1.21

- Mike Pelfrey - 9, 73, 3.67, 1.42

- Aaron Cook - 13, 73, 3.46, 1.23

- Fred Lewis - 63, 7, 29, 17, .272

- Rickey Nolasco - 10, 96, 3.99, 1.23

- JP Howell - 6, 2, 59, 2.43, 1.16

- Manny Parra- 9, 92, 3.72, 1.48

- Armando Galarraga - 8, 75, 3.27, 1.16

- Brandon Morrow - 1, 9, 45, 1.56, 0.87

This is why we love fantasy baseball.  It's a game where Brad Ausmus can go 4 for 4 and Geoff Blum can hit 2 hr's in the same game, where Cliff Lee can pull an Esteban Loiza, where Josh Bard can hit his first HR of the season the day after I pick him up out of desperation, where the Braves can blow a 5 run lead the day after blowing a 6 run lead, and where Fernando Tatis' OPS is .890.  Don't switch to football quite yet, there's lots of baseball to be played.