The Draft

The draft took place on March 21st. We kept 60 players predraft. I kept the following:

David Wright
Mark Teixeira
Jimmy Rollins
Josh Hamilton
Evan Longoria
Cole Hamels

I like the core of my team a lot. I thought about dropping Hamels for Billingsley when his elbow issues popped up, but decided to stick with him. Besides, my wife thinks he's hot. I know you're surprised I'm married. Well, I'm surprised you're reading this blog, so we're even.

I picked 9th. I'd decided that Rios was the guy I wanted. I'd figured out a way for him to fall to me, but a couple of owners had to do something stupid for it to happen.

A couple of owners did stupid stuff. But he still didn't make it to me.

Here was the first round:
#61. Manny (no brainer)
#62. Vlad (probably based too much on name value)
#63. Rivera (not sure why this owner did this. RP's do have more value in our leauge and the best ones were kept, with this exception, so by the tier method of drafting, this makes some sense. But this doesn't have a 1b or 3b and he left Youkilis on the board.)
#64. Youkilis
#65. Uggla (I didn't see this pick coming, but the presence of a MI on our rosters tends to make some people freak out. This guy freaked out.)
#66. Rios (Fuck. He's gone. I'm looking at my queue and it has two names - Crawford and Kemp. There are 2 picks before me.)
#67. Billingsley (Our leage uses BAA as an extra stat, and I know he's probably one of the best SP's available, but this seemed really early to me. I was planning on taking him with my second pick, #72 and I was considering that a reach. Regardless, I was pumped.)
#68. Kemp
#69. Crawford (I still don't exactly get how he fell to me. I took him and one fellow owner even mocked me. I have no idea why. But since it was the guy who took Uggla, I assumed he was drunk or simply didn't know who Crawford was.)
#70. McLouth (didn't want him, don't believe in him, didn't care that he's gone.)
#71. Chamberlain (this seems incredibly early, 71st overall, but it's a weekly league and he qualifies at RP, which means his owner gets an extra start. I wanted to draft him early, but I was thinking around Pick #100 and not here).

So it was my pick. I had only Hamels in my rotation at this point and his elbow has me a bit concerned so I was planning to draft a starter here. I'd wanted Billingsley, but he's gone. The top starters available were: Oswalt, Volquez, Lester, Lackey and Lee. The guy I decided I really wanted was Votto, but I have nowhere to play him because we don't have a CI spot for some reason. So I took the guy I figured was the safest. The least sexy. But most reliable.
#71. Oswalt

My next pick was #89 overall. There was 1 guy I'd been planning on. One guy I really wanted. 1 guy in my queue. Miraculously, he was still there.
#89. Yovanni Gallardo (I have something of a man crush. Someone had to fill the void left by Hafner)

My next pick I wanted power. I realized with Crawford in my OF spot that I didn't want a speedy MI, I needed one who could hit the long ball. So I reached for the best available one.
#92. Jhonny Peralta (I was really happy with this pick and got happier, as a huge run on punchless MI's like Furcal, Weeks and Jose Lopez went flying off the boards very early.)

With my next pick I was thinking Closer. We have to start 4 RP's so closers generally have more value here than in my other leagues. I think. So I loaded my queue up with BJ Ryan, Broxton, Wood and Valverde, assuming one would make it back. I also put Wainwright in there for the way back, because we start 4 SP's and I like him. Things were looking good, I had three closers left and only 3 picks before me. Five seconds later, it was my pick and those 3 closers were gone.

Panic is a tricky thing. I don't know where at the saliva in my mouth goes, but I'm amazed how fast it's gone. The top closers left were Matt Capps and Huston Street and it was way too early for them. It seemed early for Wainwright, too at #109. I suddenly remembered my advice to myself. Not, "get a rope and hang yourself." Part of me has been barking up that tree for years. But this: "It's a keeper league, if you're ever not sure or don't love anybody, take Wieters".
#109. Matt Wieters (Not sure how I felt about this at first. I remember feeling relief. Then feeling much worse when the next pick off the board was Wainwright. But post-draft, I felt good having him and knowing that I could always have him. In a non-gay way.)

With Wainwright gone, my queue was empty. The next group of SP's I had my eye on were Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Carpenter. Their ADP's were a ways away, so I decided that my team needed RBI and so I grabbed the best RBI guy left out there.
#112. Raul Ibanez (Sexy pick? No. Smart pick? Maybe. It gave me 3 OF and we only start 3 OF, so probably, I should have taken an SP since OF is so deep and our league so shallow.)

With my next two picks, I was going to lock up 2 of those 3 SP's. And which 2 became clear, when the guy picking before me took Johnson.
#129. Ricky Nolasco (Not a bad #4 starter for a fantasy team. I had him last year, he was awesome.)

Now to sit back and wait to draft Carpenter 20 picks too early, with pick #132 overall. This was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the guy at the end, who took Wainwright from me, was thinking the same thing, and Carpenter, very unexpectedly went off the board.

When people panic, they rarely do the smart thing. What my team needed right now was an RP. My offense was almost entirely filled out -just needed a 2b and a catcher until Wieters is ready - but my bullpen was barren. So I did the logical thing.
#132. Kelly Johnson (I like him a lot, but this was a bad pick. Way too early - #132 overall - despite the shrinking 2b pool. This was probably a bad move.)

Put a bunch of closers in my queue and then watched them all disappear. So I drafted the second best starter who will qualify as an RP.
#149. Brandon Morrow (I liked this pick a lot at the time. Not as much now, as he's headed back to the bullpen.)

Then, still needing saves:
#152. Heath Bell (should the Padres ever win a game, it will probably be low scoring...)

#169. Jason Motte (Reached a bit, but needed saves badly and liked his chances for the job. He has since gotten the job and throws really hard for a good team.)

#172. Eric Bedard (time for a broken down sleeper pitcher. I kept him on a different team for 2008. Lesson not learned. But hey, he's got a great offense backing him up...Oh wait.)

#189. Trevor Hoffman (this is a guy I've said for years I'll never own. Totally overrated in real baseball - one inning pitchers always are - but he gets saves. And this year, he also gets hurt and will start the year on the DL.)

#192. Randy Johnson (I loved this pick. That's #192nd overall, and he gets K's, doesn't walk anybody and is moving to a great pitchers park in a bad offensive division. Yet somehow, people in the league mocked this pick. The pick after me was Johnny Cueto and people raved. Fuck them.)

#209. Keving Gregg (going for cheap saves - JACKPOT!)

#212. Manny Corpas (going for cheap saves - have already dropped him)

#229. Nelson Cruz (Can't believe I got him this late. Could have a huge year. One of my - and many, many others' - top sleeper targets this year.)

#232. Ramon Hernandez (Great ballpark to hit in. He'll do fine until Wieters is called up)

#249. Xavier Nady (don't need him. Can't play him, but he shouldn't be out there at this point)

#252. Carlos Villenueva (Hoffman insurance)

#269. John Smoltz (DL Stashee for now. Love the man, loved this pick)

#272. Tommy Hanson (2 stashees in a row. 9 bench spots, so aim high)


The draft being on the 21st, early, made it easier for me to get good closer options late by taking fliers on people like Gregg and Motte. Looking back, the only pick I'd really change was Kelly Johnson. I could have grabbed a solid SP like Lowe, Baker or a upside guy like Kershaw. Or a closer like Gonzalez or even Qualls. But even after I took Johnson, other 2b went right away like Orlando Hudson at #137. So the pickings were only getting slimmer and mine at least has a shot at 20 homers.

All and all, a solid team to start the season.