Well the freeze deadline passed without being able to make a deal – not for lack of effort but Jeff Erickson of Rotowire decided he liked Chris Carpenter ($18) and Johnny Cueto ($13) over Jonathan Papelbon ($17) and/or Arodys Vizcaino ($4) and a supplemental draft upgrade. Which means I had to cut one of those pitchers or one of the eight hitters I had planned on keeping.
Ultimately I decided to continue with an AC/DC approach to 2012: keep the best players to compete this year (I only have one FARM eligible player) and hope to find the right players in the auction to give me a chance to win in 2012.Then I can enhance what turn out to be weak spots and gain prospects in the supplemental draft in March. And, if that fails to produce a contender then trade off the contracts I won’t want in 2013 and get ready with more quality prospects (remember this is a keeper league that functions like a dynasty league).
Obviously that meant keeping Papelbon over Vizcaino. And I chose to do that even if it meant having two closers that would earn only a modest profit because I can nominate closers (and first basemen) everytime the bid gets to me and let the others battle it out for those players.
So here is my freeze list:
C – J.P. Arencibia (4)
1B – Gaby Sanchez (7)
CI – Justin Smoak (7)
2B – Darwin Barney (6)
SS – Troy Tulowitzki (34)
OF – Melky Cabrera (6), Juan Pierre (11), and Jerry Sands (4)
SP – C.J. Wilson (11), Jhoulys Chacin (9), Vance Worley (10), and Ryan Vogelsong (10)
RP – Heath Bell (16) and Papelbon (17)
FARM - Jarrod Parker (AZ)
That leaves me $108 to spend on C, 3B, MI, two OF, UT and three pitchers (hopefully one very cheap closer or a nice closer in waiting and two cheap starters).
The auction will be this Friday at 3 PM at First Pitch Arizona. If you can’t stop by you can hear the broadcast/interviews from the draft on the fantasy sports channel on XM-87/ Sirius-210.