I love the drafts in fantasy baseball! It is our time to be the General Manager and make the decisions. I always like to review the draft recap and my picks, thought I would jot down some notes on each pick and see how they look (good or bad) later in the season.
CCO Fans League Draft Recap – Here is the draft round by round or you can sort it by team. This league looks to be very competitive with lots of good teams.
Here are my picks by round and my thoughts on each pick.
CCO Fans League – Clark and Addison (my team)
1. Max Scherzer – I could not believe he was still there, I thought he would be gone in the first four or five picks. Andrew McCutchen or Giancarlo Stanton were my bat options but an elite starting pitcher is better in these leagues than those bats as they will bring your team more points over the course of a season and on their two start weeks can almost single handedly win your game.
2. Corey Kluber – Once again, I had him going before the 52nd pick and Matt Carpenter would have been my bat pick at this point, but felt I could fill 3B later in the draft and the upside of another ACE type starting pitcher was too much too pass up. I didn’t plan to go with two starting pitchers out of the gate, but I know feel like I have two guys who can win me that week’s game just by having two starts that week.
3. Chris Archer – Why not!! I have always wanted to try having a stud rotation and this is almost too good to be true. I would have taken Brian Dozier with this pick and once again, feel the upside of another stud arm was too good to pass up and that I could fill second base later in the draft.
4. Freddie Freeman – It took everything in me not to go all in and take Adam Wainwright here. But when in most drafts I have four position players after four rounds, hard for me to not start out my lineup card with Freeman.
5. Jay Bruce – I like Bruce and feel he is going to have a big year and will get traded to a contender and really take off (please go to hitter’s park!!). But I was kicking myself for taking him the rest of the draft as I felt I had right field options always staring at me the rest of the draft and I should have filled another position (3B or 2B) with this pick. (If anyone needs a RF and will trade a 2B or 3B I may be interested now or after a few week.)
6. Jordan Zimmermann – Another pick that I didn’t really like at the time, but I was looking for another bat to take and just couldn’t pull the trigger on anyone with this pick that I didn’t think would still be there (or similar player “tiers”) with my next two picks. I may have wished I took Michael Wacha here, as I wanted him with my next pick but he was taken right before I could pick.
7. John Lackey – The rotation is complete now with five really good starting pitchers. I would have been happy with Lackey as my number three or even number two starting pitcher, but as my number five, I feel my rotation is going to win me a lot of weeks (If they stay healthy).
8. Alex Gordon – I watched two players come off the board before this pick that I was looking at (Brandon Crawford and Starlin Castro) for SS, but I was thinking a few more rounds before taking them. Kind of in the part of the draft where you are taking “good but not great” players that you need to fill out your roster but you really don’t get too excited about.
9. Logan Forsythe – Never been a big fan of his, but he was in the next group of players for me to take and his second base and first base eligibility made him my pick. Once again, solid players in this part of the draft, but nothing to get excited about.
10. Gerardo Parra – I am banking on the Coors Field effect, affecting his numbers even more than the projections project.
11. Nick Castellanos
12. Chase Headley – Both third baseman and both should get lots of playing time, good things at this point in the draft. Headley should provide decent production and I will bank on Castellanos breaking out this year.
13. Asdrubal Cabrera – I needed to fill shortstop sooner or later, was thinking later but no one else stood out to me except guys that would be redundant and only shortstop and catcher were not filled for my starting lineup.
14. Cesar Hernandez – Starting to look at bench players and trying to get players that will produce points and hopefully play every day. Tough to decide between vets who could lose playing time to younger players versus younger players who could take off.
15. Eugenio Suarez – Someone I had my eye on at some point as he has third base and shortstop eligibility and should play every day in Cincinnati’s bandbox.
16. Nick Markakis – Pretty good bench right fielder and utility option. I think I had Bruce and Markakis last year on a team after trading for Markakis. Decent vet that will play every day.
17. James McCann – I waited long enough for catcher and at this point will need two guys to try and get points every day.
18. Jarrod Saltalamacchia – Perfect! Waited on catcher and was able to get both guys from the same team to make sure I have one starting every day. McCann looks to be the starter, but he crushed left handed pitching (All-Star production) but can’t hit right handed pitching (terrible actually) so I expect Salty to get lots of starts against right handed pitching, what he does best anyway.
19. Michael Taylor – Not much left in every day starters, but Taylor is going to play a lot (so Dusty says) and is a pretty good last option on the bench at this point.
20. Drew Storen – This is one of the reasons why I wait on closers. Storen wasn’t ranked high, nor projected high because he technically hasn’t won the closers job even though all public comments by the Blue Jays lean towards him basically having it. Good team, good closer, in his prime and pitching for a contract. I will be happy with 12-15 ranking for him, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up in the top five in points for closers.
21. Alex Cobb – This spot is going to rotate and I just drafted a name. I could easily use 10-15 of my moves this year on trying to fill the sixth starting pitcher spot. He is hurt, so likely to start the year on the disable list.
Overall, I have to say I like my team. When I add up the daily lineup projected points and figure the whole week, my lineup is not as bad as I expected and when I figure my rotation points over seven starts, I have to say I am not sure I will ever lose. Seriously, I have always wanted to try having a stud rotation and it worked out where it made sense here. I never go into a draft with a goal of doing this, but hard to pass up the arms that kept falling to me. Time will tell whether this was a good draft or not.