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I wanted to take a look at LABR draft results to see if there are any specific trends resulting from the draft, and tell you which experts had the better draft. Here is what I found:
NL DRAFT RESULTS
- Closers went cheap, with Carlos Marmol leading the pack at $20. Red closer Francisco Cordero went for $10, as did set up man Aroldis Chapman.
- One team-Ambrosius and Childs- drafted 3 shortstops-Hanley Ramirez-$41, Troy Tulowitzki-$35 and Jimmy Rollins-$25. I think I would have spent the Rollins money on someone like Justin Upton-$29 or Hunter Pence-$29.
- Derek Carty from The Hardball Times spent $100 on 3 aces and 2 closers-Tim Lincecum-$27, Clayton Kershaw-$25, Chad Billingsley-$19, Jonathan Broxton-$14, and Joel Hanrahan-$15. I like the 3 aces, but think the closers could be a little shaky this year. Here is Carty's providing details of his draft strategy.
- Doug Dennis from Baseball HQ spent $230 on hitting, leaving himself with Leo Nunez, Bud Norris, Jonathan Niese and a bunch of releivers and 5th starter types. I guess he thinks he can pick up some starting pitchers on waivers during the season.
- Hanley Ramirez-$41- went for one dollar more than Albert Pujols-$40. There is something wrong with this, position scarcity be damned.
- Buster Posey-$24, Pedro Alvarez-$20, Mike Stanton-$27, Danny Espinosa-$13, Jason Heyward-$25, Colby Rasmus-$23, Jose Tabata-$18-who provides the most value in 2011?
- Brandon Funsten won the bidding on Chase Utley at $24. This bid looked fine on draft night. Not so much now.
- Zack Greinke-$28 went for more than Cliff Lee-$23-why? I think Lee is a top 5-6 starter in 2011.
- Highest salary by position: C-Posey-$24, 1B-Pujols-$40 (Votto-$39), 2B-Brandon Phillips-$26, SS-Hanley-$41, 3B-David Wright-$32, OF-Carlos Gonzalez-$37, Ryan Braun-$37, Matt Kemp-$32, SP-Roy Halladay-$30, CL-Carlos Marmol-$20.