This past weekend we had our annual keeper league draft. I had a quick post earlier before the draft with my keepers. Here is how the league is set up: 15 MLB keepers each year and 5 minor league keepers. The commish determines minors/majors eligibility a week or so before the keeper deadline. This year I had to keep Jason Heyward and Madison Bumgarner on my major league team because of this. Onto the draft - 13 total picks. We often trade draft picks so I had two 3rd rounders, two 6th rounders, and three 7th rounders. A nice thing that the league does is have a 'Round 0' for the teams that missed the playoffs the year before to help them. Here is how my team turned out (finished 4th last year although 4th - 8th was like 5 games apart). We play H2H for this format (R / HR / RBI / SB / E / AVE / OPS and W / SV / K / ERA / WHIP) and top 6 of 12 make the playoffs. I have shown my picks in parentheses where K = keeper and the others indicate the round taken.
C: Geovany Soto (K)
1B: Prince Fielder (K)
2B: Gordon Beckham (K)
Martin Prado (7)
3B: Ryan Zimmerman (K)
SS: Stephen Drew (K)
OF: Jay Bruce (K)
Jason Heyward (K)
Alex Rios (1)
Juan Pierre (3)
Cameron Maybin (5)
Garrett Jones (6)
P: Felix Hernandez (K)
Justin Verlander (K)
Ubaldo Jimenez (K)
John Danks (K)
Scott Baker (K)
Clay Buchholz (K)
Joe Saunders (K)
Madison Bumgarner (K)
Phil Hughes (6)
Jon Rauch (7)
Chris Perez (7)
Minor League Roster:
Michael Stanton (K)
Jesus Montero (K)
Casey Kelly (K)
Tim Beckham (K)
Eric Hosmer (K)
Aaron Crow (3)
Jose Iglesias (4)
Jemile Weeks (8)
Tanner Scheppers (9)
J.P. Arencibia (10)
Overall I like what happened in the draft. My pitching was set with all my keepers and I think I should roll through K's and W's (while I should get a S here and there, its a weak point but is only one category). My offense needed the most help. I am happy with Maybin as he is a bit of a post hype sleeper and has had a nice spring and should be slotted in the #2 position in Florida (I'm thinking 20/20 is stretching it but not ridiculous). I am higher than most on Pierre and think he will add some much needed speed to the team. Rios should be solid - after the trade he was awefull but I think he rights the ship. We will see if Garrett Jones is for real - if he is then Me = happy. Phil Hughes was just named the #5 starter in NY so that helps the already deep pitching with adding RP eligibility for roster flexibility.
My minors team was absolutely stacked even with having to promote Heyward and Bumgarner and I like the depth that was added through the draft with Crow and Iglesias being the guys I am highest on. Weeks and Scheppers are nice players that can make some big strides this year and Arencibia was my last pick, we will see how he pans out. We can add/drop minor leaguers just like major league guys (limit two FA minor league additions per season) so at the end of the year the roster may look very different due to trades and pick-ups.
Any Comments are welcome.
The season is almost upon us - stay tuned for the minor league list of guys that will be part of the daily updates during the season (we can add anyone you all are interested in that isn't on the master list).