Fantasy Baseball: Jason's Draft Recap

by Jason Hunt on Mar 26, 2010 11:00 AM EDT

I had the draft for my longest running league last night.

The rules and settings:

Yahoo 10-team mixed H2H league
7 hitting categories (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, TB)
6 pitching categories (W, SV, ERA, WHIP, K, K/9)
Lineup: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, UT, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, P, 5 BN, 1 DL
No keepers

My draft: (I had the 4th pick overall)

Overall, I am very happy with this draft. I feel like I was able to come away with a very balanced team. I tended to lean towards a little more upside than some of the owners, but I think that I was able to draft very solid players early to counter that. I started reaching for players in the 10th round, but with either 13 or 6 picks between, I had certain players I wanted and didn't want to wait for. I essentially punted saves, mostly due to the fact that saves always come into the league. Instead, I loaded up on high strikeout relievers who have the potential to close. I especially was happy with the Adams pick, despite there being other low-end closers still on the board. When Heath Bell gets traded, he's going to be the closer. Until then, he is still going to be a solid middle reliever with an excellent strikeout rate. I am also pretty happy with my positional flexibility, as I have 3 people who can play 1B, 2 who can play 2B (Beckham when he qualifies), and 3 who can play 3B.

Some notes about this league:

We have a 75 move limit for the season, as a result of previous years of insane streaming of starting pitchers during the playoffs. We would have people getting nearly double the normal week's innings pitched as a result of the streaming. There is the potential for streaming still to some extent, but it is a bit more controlled than it used to be.
Trading is extremely rare, as it is unusual for some owners to make a trade unless they are a slam-dunk winner of the trade immediately. The "win-win" trade is rarely seen unfortunately.
The waiver wire is still very active, as lineups are set daily, and it is a fairly shallow league (240 players owned total at any one time including all DL spots)
This league has been won previously by players who didn't show up for the draft. Strangely though, all owners were at the draft this season, the first time it has happened in 6 years.

Some notes about the draft itself:

2B Chase Utley fell all the way to 8, despite being ranked 4 overall.
Lincecum went at 12, Halladay at 16.
Pitching had a bit of a run early on, with 13 pitchers taken in the first 60 players.
The first closers went in the 8th round. Saves are generally ignored at the draft in this league until late.
They did go on a huge run though, with 12 drafted in the span of 30 picks from the 10th-13th rounds.
Strasburg went at the end of the 16th round.
One team managed to leave the draft without a catcher, which I wasn't aware it would let you do. Best catcher on waivers is probably Ryan Doumit or A.J. Pierzynski.

Some players who went much later than I would have expected:

Gordon Beckham and Elvis Andrus in round 15
Lance Berkman in round 11
Denard Span in round 14
Michael Bourn in round 17 (behind Julio Borbon in the 16th round)

Some potential high-value late picks:

Corey Hart, Brad Lidge, and Chris Davis in the 22nd round
Phil Hughes (RP eligible), Colby Lewis (RP eligible), and Mark Rzepczynski in the 19th round

Overall, this league is always interesting to watch, as waivers are extremely active throughout the season, and the league is extremely competitive. I have not won this league yet, with my best finish coming last season with a 3rd place finish. I'm hoping to do better this year.

Your thoughts on how my draft is?

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