Early drafts provide plenty to learn from

So here is proof that some of us are “draft nuts” – take your half finished draft prep this early in the offseason to a draft facing some of the toughest fantasy baseball players on the planet. Sound like fun? Take a look at this field for the World Championship of Fantasy Baseball Online Championship that my partner Greg Morgan and I drafted against last Wednesday:

Byran Vogel
Rick Thomas
Chris Schinker
Kevin Kirves
Nelson Sousa (10th in 2010 WCOFB)
Eddie Gillis
Steve Jupinka (2010 NFBC winner and WCOFB runner-up)
Kevin Dukesherer
Kelly Uganski
Shawn Childs (4th in 2010 WCOFB){jcomments on}
Ken Norred
Glenn Lowy (6th in 2010 WCOFB)
John Zaleski
Greg and I, aka Captain Morgan (5th last year in WCOFB)

The good news was that we had the first pick in the draft. Quickly agreeing on Albert Pujols, we looked at our first pair of picks and decided that after best hitter available at 2.14 (Round 2, Pick 14) we would like to get either Roy Halladay (unlikely but possible) or Felix Hernandez at 3.01

The WCOFB format has 32 roster spots and plays the standard 14 hitters and 10 pitchers for each lineup period. The catch is that the 10 pitchers must be:
6 starting pitchers
2 relief pitchers
2 free pitchers (either starters or relievers)
There are two lineup periods each week: Monday through Thursday, and Friday through Sunday, so the objective is to get as many starts per week with your starters and free slots while still getting the saves you need to compete against all the teams in your league.

You compete for league prizes in 14-team leagues and then all teams are ranked in the event for overall awards. Generally you would shoot for the top 20 percent in each category and would try and get 13 to 14 starts per week.

Back at the online draft at RTSports, we waited for our second player and were glad to be able to get Rangers RF Nelson Cruz with the last pick in the second round. Halladay had been drafted (2.09) as had Tim Lincecum (2.13), but we were very happy to select Felix Hernandez at 3.01. We weren’t going to get a Tier One starter at 4.14 and while Seattle may not provide as many wins for King Felix as you would like, the numbers are a terrific foundation. Hernandez who will be only twenty five years old one week into next season has improved his ERA, WHIP and K for each of the last three seasons while increasing his innings pitched.

Waiting almost two full rounds is tough in any league but especially against these guys – your short list will be shredded time after time, so while there were players we added to our queue there was no point discussing choices until it was a pick or two away. Brandon Phillips seemed like the best player we could add at 4.14 (we were salivating over Jayson Werth but Glenneration X (Lowy) grabbed him right in front of us.

We decided to wait on our next pitcher and looked at choices for 5.01. Greg and I both like the production we think Dan Uggla will have in Atlanta, and while we hope for a repeat of his uptick with 2010 BAvg, we do have a lower number covered with Pujols. We thought he was a better pick than any of the shortstops or catcher who would be taken before our next pick (Weeks, Jeter, Alexei Ramirez, and Brian McCann).

The 6.14 pick gave us the best SP – Roy Oswalt. We would have taken a closer there but Marmol went at 6.06 to Childs and Feliz at 6.11 to Norred and thus we decided to wait and get saves later in the draft – it doesn’t matter as much who you get the saves from as long as you get the right number although certainly a closer who is better in strikeouts for his innings pitched is a plus. The first pick in round seven was Drew Stubbs who we hope is close to Todd’s 98-25-78-33-.255 projection. Adding players with double digit HR/SB production (and so far we have four of five) makes it less likely you will have to draft a rabbit who will lose ground for you in RBI as well as homers.

We needed to keep adding at least one pitcher per round if we liked them to assemble a strong staff. This is not easy when your opponents are fortifying their own rosters with the best available pitchers but you zig and you zag and hope to hit your category targets as best you can. Getting thrown off your aim because you lost any given player is a recipe for a bad draft and one of the plusses of a good partner is having someone stay the course.

Unfortunately those we wanted most were drafted in round seven and eight so we went for offense on the 8/9 turn with Curtis Granderson and Casey McGehee, bolstering our power numbers very nicely. But the 10/11 turn allowed us to add to starters who we liked, Tim Hudson and Ryan Dempster. We finally got a closer, the Cardinals Ryan Franklin at the end of round twelve and took hopefully another 20/20 season from Bobby Abreu at 13.01

Here is the final roster (pick)
C – Ruiz (16.14) & Torrealba (18.14)
CI – Pujols (1.01), McGehee (9.01), & Polanco (24.14)
MI – Phillips (4.14), Uribe (17.01) & Uggla (5.01)
OF – Cruz (2.14), Stubbs (7.01), Granderson (8.14), Abreu (13.01), Venable (21.01)
UT – Thome (26.14) planning to start him on 2/3 or 2/4 matchups each week
Bench players (who may well be starters by opening day)
Jed Lowrie, 2B/SS eligibility at (27.01)
Fred Lewis (28.14) for SB if he platoons in LF and leads off for Cincinnati
Alex Gonzalez (29.01) for HR if we move Uribe to CI
David Freese (31.01) could well be a starter at CI if in the lineup on opening day

Pitchers
SP – F. Hernandez (3.01), Oswalt (6.14), T. Hudson (10.14), Dempster (11.01), Kuroda (14.14) and Arroyo (19.01)
RP (closers) Franklin (12.14) and Gregg (15.01)
FP – third or fourth closer or more starts
Closer candidates – Jordan Walden (23.01) & Jake McGee (25.01)
Additional starters – Stauffer (20.14), Duensing (22.14), Guthrie (31.01, & Hurley (32.14)

There were several players we got snaked on in this draft, notably:
Craig Kimbrel, who I like as the Braves closer too early in the 11th round by Vogel;
A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox catcher in the 18th round by Uganski when we were looking to add our second catcher;
Clay Hensley, who at least enters the year as the Marlins closer in the 22nd round by Norred;
Barry Zito who really started the season well for the Giants and our teams last year, taken in the 28th round by Uganski;
and somewhere along the line one of the pedophiles got to Kansas City Royals third base prospect Mike Moustakas before we could roster him.

Overall this looks like a good team in a tough league. We certainly have good power and I think the BAvg is fine. We are close to the 170-175 stolen base target but may need Lewis to lead off for the Reds or Venable to lead off for the Padres to get that level unless Granderson runs more for the Yankees this year.

On the pitching side I think we are fine to start the season but we will have to be vigilant to add saves with several other teams in the league shorter than we are and we will have to replace our long shot pick of Eric Hurley with another starter unless he breaks in the rotation for the Rangers.

If you would like to see the discussion of this draft on the WCOFB message board, click here