My Completed Draft Breakdown

Completed my first pert draft of the season a couple of weeks ago; this will be a league where no FA pickups or trades will be made. It’s a 5x5 Roto and you play all year with what you drafted. The team will be 2C, MI, CI, and 5 OF with standard other positions. With that in mind I did not want to take to many chances on Rookies or possible platoon players and wanted studs in the rotation. Here is my team after drafting from the 7^th position. The breakdown of the draft after the break.

C	VICTOR MARTINEZ
C	RUSSELL MARTIN
1B	ADRIAN GONZALEZ
2B	GORDON BECKHAM
3B	RYAN ZIMMERMAN
SS	ALCIDES ESCOBAR
CI	RYAN HOWARD
MI	JEAN  SEGURA
OF	ANDREW MCCUTCHEN
OF	CAMERON MAYBIN
OF	JON JAY
OF	TYLER COLVIN
OF	TORRI HUNTER
UT	ADAM DUNN
SP	FELIX HERNANDEZ
SP	CC SABATHIA
SP	ZACH GREINKE
RP	JOEL HANRAHAN
RP	JJ PUTZ
RP	RAFAEL BETTANCOURT
P	ROY HALLADAY
P	MATT GARZA
P	HOMER BAILEY
B	CARLOS MARMOL
B	ICHIRO SUZUKI
B	JOSH BECKETT
B	OMAR INFANTE
B	LONNIE CHISENHALL

With 7^th pick in a 5OF league I went with McCutchen though Votto and Cano where still on board. He contributes mightily across all Roto stats and hits in the 3 hole…a must for early draft selections.

RD 2 I was targeting Tulo but he went 2 picks ahead of me. That left me with a Reyes/AGon pick. More power in a deadly lineup so it was AGon. People think he had a down year with a line of 21HR 100RBI and hitting .300, if you like AGon as much as I start putting the word out about his so called down year and you may get him 3^rd round this year. Look for up ticks in all counting stats in that potent Dodgers line-up.

RD 3 Wish list was Han Ram, or Pedroia, I had also seen five 3B come off the board. Wanted another 100RBI guy or a +.300 hitter. My choice came down to Zimmerman or Butler. I decided to fill my 3B hole with Zimmerman, hoping to get 150 games from him this year.

RD 4 I saw 5 picks ahead of me come off the board that I had lower on my draft board. It went Lawrie, Harper, Price, Hamels, and McCann. I thought a run on C may be coming since it is a 2C format. There were no SS or 2B at any value here so it had to be SP. King Felix was highest rated with 5 other SP already off the board.

RD 5 had three C being selected in front of me, Wieters, Santana, and Mauer. I wanted an elite C due to the format so I reached here with V-Mart. He was a comeback player I targeted for this draft and debated if he would be around much longer. Alternative was Zobrist with his multi-position flexibility.

RD 6 saw Zobrist go before my selection and before that Kipnis was grabbed too. I thought Kipnis would be around for 7^th-8^th round. Lots of value at SP still available. No OF with value but many 2^nd tier 1B/CI and the teams after me all need 1B. Goldschmidt, Freeman, Teixeira. I decided on more SP and would keep with SP as long as #1’s are still available. I took Sabathia.

RD 7 as I predicted the run on 1B/CI happened with the 3 I mentioned plus LaRoche. I noted that    Rizzo, Howard and Dunn had the CI power I crave still on the board. Still many aces available. I thought that another couple of elite SP and I could dominate this league in Pitching. Greinke was mine.

RD 8 had 10 picks before me again. 3 SP fell, Cueto, Moore and Dickey. Personally I did not like any of them and though my staff of King Felix, CC, and Sabathia was overly strong. 3 OF went too and with only 1 OF on my team was a little nervous on being shutout. With no stud OF on the board decided to finish off my staff was Halladay. I was very pleased and did not have to worry out SP until it was bench filling time. 4 SP in 8 rounds is odd for me but overall I was comfortable with my team.

RD 9 & RD 10 Looked for either Power or Speed/Runs with these picks. Selected both Ryan Howard and Adam Dunn. Obviously no speed but upside is 70 HR and 200 RBI from 2 guys. Downside is a major hit on batting average.

RD 11 Is a time to analyze your team weaknesses and fill in Roto Stat needs instead of just selecting the best player on the board.  My needs are SB and Saves. At this point Runs are average though low on position players, Power elite, BA below average. I need 2B, SS, OF with speed and hit at the top of the order. I went with SS and Escobar and his near 40 SB, hope he hits 2^nd in KC and not 9^th or he hurts me in Runs.

RD 12 & RD 13 at this point 10 of the 30 projected Closers were off the board. But I remembered the Closer carousel that started at the beginning of 2012 with injuries and demotions and was cautious. I took Hanrahan. This was before Grilli was signed to an extension and Hanrahan was traded. Got lucky here that Hanrahan still secured a Closer gig. This is one of the major problems drafting so early…trades and reshuffling of bullpens. Next I plucked Putz for more Saves.

RD 14 & RD 15 was to round out my OF. Like I stated earlier, drafting in December and before the winter meetings is hard and many chances can be taken on players. I choose to be more conservative and look for players under contract. Specifically OF with Speed and hit lead-off or 2^nd. The OF I selected here were Maybin and Jay. Maybin was overrated last year and dropped in many leagues but he has Speed, a little pop and hits lead-off in SD. Jay was a bit of a gamble. I wasn’t sure if St. Louis would go get another OF this off season or if Allen Craig would take some AB away from Jay with starts in the OF. If Jay projects as I want him too, look for 8 HR, 50 RBI. 88 Runs with a .300 average to go along with 28 SB.

RD 16, 17, 18 Looks like I will be punting on 2B and my 2^nd C since all that are left are lower tier picks. Started exploring all the players with multi-position eligibility for added flexibility to my line-up. When my pick came I had just read that Bettencourt will not be moved by Colorado and will be their Closer in 2013. I took him more top block other teams and did secure a 3^rd closer. While studying the Rox line-up for trade rumors I saw that management stated Colvin would get daily playing time in the OF and 1B. I feel he is good sleeper this year for a 20+ HR 80+ RBI season. Any hitter in Coors is a good play. I finished off these rounds with Segura for MI, a source for some steals and a good play for SS in Milwaukee or at 2B if the often injured Weeks goes down.

RD 19, 20, 21 Prior to this pick Torii Hunter just signed with Detroit. This was a no brainer. Then Garza was still available at 20 going into a contract year. Could be good trade bait for the Cubs with a contender down the stretch. Next was another sleeper for 2013, Homer Bailey. Pitches on a good team and finished the season 6-4 with a 3.21 ERA 1.18 WHIP with a 9.1K/9.

RD 22 Cubs Management stated Marmol would close even after signing Fujicawa. 4 Closers and another block to other teams.

RD 23 Good for me…Ichiro’s camp stated he would resign for 2 years in the Bronx. Ichiro in round 23 is fantastic.

RD 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28 Still do not have 2B or 2^nd C and need to fill bench with another starter at MI and CI. Took Beckham just because he was best available 2B and could find that rookie magic again at the plate. Next was Josh Becket, just a good last SP who is on an excellent team. Now my two back ups at MI and CI. Omar Infante and Lonnie Chisenhall both have starting gigs with no one really on their heels. Last selection was the recently added and former upper round C Russell Martin. Could have done a lot worse at a 2^nd C.

Currently in my 2^nd pert draft with the guys at Fantasy Game Day. You can follow the action if you like on Twitter #FGDMock.