On to the bats … right? Yes and no. First base isn’t the same as it was, but it is still a good place to find some really good bats. There are lots and lots of depth that can produce decent enough points, but the amount of elite bats goes fast, especially in larger leagues. One thing first base does offer is one of our MVP tier guys, Paul Goldschmidt.
Goldschmidt is in a class by himself and should be one of the first four picks in the draft.
The other thing first base offers is multiple position players and a way to fill your utility spot. If you end up drafting your first baseman late, one way to off-set that is to take two guys close together, with one of them being able to play another position or be your utility player.
Tiers
When looking at each position, I will divide the players into tiers. In theory, each tier should be filled with similar players. The ultimate goal would be to get the last player in each tier as that would mean you waited the perfect amount of time to draft that position and didn’t have to reach in the draft. Of course even within a tier we can have our favorites and preferences which are hard to ignore. Sometimes I have to force myself to take a player I don’t like or usually want on my team when they are the last player in a tier and they are clearly the best pick.
When doing your own tiers you should always ask yourself if you would be good with the next player, if not, that player goes into the next tier. Keep in mind that when deciding between players from different positions, if you set your tiers up correctly, you should not have any Super-Stars left to draft before going on to the All-Star tier, no more All-Star tier players before moving on to the Solid players, etc., etc. Within each tier names are listed in alphabetical order with their 2016 projected point totals from the CCO leagues on ESPN.
Previous Tiers
MVP
Paul Goldschmidt (647)
You will need a top pick to get Goldschmidt and if for some reason he is still available after the fourth pick, you better not think twice on drafting him.
Super-Star
Chris Davis (589), Anthony Rizzo (584), Joey Votto (594)
I would be more than happy with any of these three guys, but let’s be honest, all of us here want Rizzo on our team and will take him before the other two guys. Not saying it is wrong and Rizzo has as good of chance of leading all first baseman in points this season as anyone. But Chris Davis has some big time power and is right field eligible adding value to him. Not sure I could pass on Rizzo being a Cubs fan, but you really can’t go wrong with this trio.
All-Star
Jose Abreu (556), Miguel Cabrera (559), Edwin Encarnacion (568)
This is the end of the elite first basemen and you will still be using one of your first couple of picks to get these guys. But the drop off is pretty steep after this group, which in a 20-team league means that half of the teams are going to trying to figure out which guy that is left will have a better season than expected.
Solid
Freddie Freeman (516), Adrian Gonzalez (524), Carlos Santana (502)
Well you missed out on all of the elite guys at first base, now what? Either grab one of these guys and hope they have a better year than expected or wait it out and hope for the best.
OK
Brandon Belt (456), Lucas Duda (469), Eric Hosmer (488), Buster Posey (476), Albert Pujols (477)
Boy how times have changed, not a lot to get your hopes up too much at this point. Posey will be your catcher if you take him and you have to wonder if Pujols will play the full season. The other three guys are, well, just OK.
If You Wait
Pedro Alvarez (403), Justin Bour (424), Logan Forsythe (442), Adam Lind (405), Joe Mauer (439), Brandon Moss (399), Wil Myers (421), Byung Ho Park (437), Mark Teixeira (433), Mark Trumbo (408)
Drafts are all about choices and depending on where you draft and the way the positions go, you could find yourself trying to add your first baseman from this group. Think upside and flexibility if this is where you end up.
Summary
Some great bats and guys you can build a lineup around for sure, but not one that I would plan to wait until the end to draft on purpose. But if I do end up in that position, I would be well prepared by knowing what positional flexibility is available and try to match it up with another position I waited on and then I would back-up first base so that I would have three guys for two positions and would be able to play the hot hand and match-ups each day.
Next up is Catcher!
CCO Leagues
CCO fantasy baseball leagues are on ESPN and we will fill up to 20 teams in each league. This year we will have two different styles of leagues.
- Weekly H2H with daily lineups, rules on pitching.
- Weekly H2H with daily lineups, rules on pitching, auction draft and keepers.
If you are interested in playing in one of these leagues, please send your email information to Neil at this link and he will forward it to me. Also include which league you are interested in playing. We have three leagues right now. The style we used the last two years is option one and we have two different leagues that are full but I will take more names for a waiting list or even to create another league. Option 2 is the auction/keeper league and it is almost full.