Last night I participated in the UBA NL-Only 4 x 4 league auction draft in NYC. As you know, I went into the draft with $242 to spend and a strategy of playing for 2011, targeting some of the top available hitters and pitchers available in the draft.
Here are the results of my draft:
C-Ramon Hernandez-$5
C-Ryan Hanigan-$1
1B-Ryan Howard-$48
2B-Blake Dewitt-$1 (keeper)
SS-Ruben Tejada-$1
3B-Mark Reynold-$36
OF-Kyle Blanks-$5 (keeper)
OF-Carlos Lee-$38
OF-Jonny Gomes-$7
OF-Xavier Nady-$6
OF-Jayson Nix--$1
MI-Jeff Keppinger-$1
CI-Daniel Murphy-$9
U-Chris Johnson-$4
U-Travis Ishikawa-$1
P-Mat Latos-$10 (keeper)
P-John Smoltz-$1 (keeper)
P-Clayton Richard-$1 (keeper)
P-Chad Qualls-$28
P-Brad Lidge-$18
P-Cole Hamels-$24
P-Derek Lowe-$10
P-Jamie Moyer-$1
P-Sammy Gervacio-$1
My draft analysis follows after the jump:
The first player I drafted was Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds, fresh off his 40-20, season, I won the bidding at $36. As I was writing his name on my sheet, I heard the comment from a fellow ownere "you should have raised him!!". That drew a hearty chuckle from your truly as I made one of my worst decisions as an owner in this league by not raising him to $15 before the start of the 2009 season.
I was involved in the bidding for Albert Pujols but could not pull the trigger on bidding $60 on him, as he went for $59 to another owner who is also playing for 2011. I then targeted Ryan Howard, perhaps one of the more consistent power hitters in all of baseball, and got him at $48. I think he will be easier to trade at $48 than Pujols at $59.
After landing Howard and Reynolds, I targeted speed and closers. I was able to land Chad Qualls at $28 and injured Brad Lidge at $18. With Octavio Dotel going for $24, Carlos Marmol going for $26, Francisco Rodriguez going for $35, and Matt Capps going for $27, I think I made a good decision targeting Qualls, as I like him over all the other available closers at the price I got him for. Lidge is a risk, but can he really be as bad as he was in 2009? He has to show SOME improvement, right? I took the chance.
After winning the bidding for the two closers, I targeted speed, but did not want to spend $36 on Jose Reyes or $35 on Michael Bourn. To me, Reyes still has some risk, even though he appears healthy so far in extended spring training. After losing out on both speed guys, I targeted a less risky Carlos Lee who could put up a 30-100 season even on a bad team like Houston. In comparison, Jason Bay went for $39, and I think Lee can outperform Bay in 2010. Again, at $38, he won't be difficult to deal.
Then I targeted Cole Hamels and Derek Lowe to solidify my pitching staff. Before the draft I targeting injured pitchers Jordan Zimmerman and Edison Volquez, but both were called out too early for my liking and went for $8 and $10 respectively. Brandon Webb was another target and he went for $12.
Quality setup men went for expensive prices in this draft:
Mike Adams-$14
Takashi Saito-$11
Luke Gregerson-$8
Other notables:
Roy Halladay-$41
David Wright-$39
Raul Ibanez-$30
Jason Bay-$39
Jimmy Rollins-$39
Adrian Gonzalez-$38
Jose Reyes-$35
Carlos Beltran-$24
Johan Santana-$28