SOLD OUT: NFBC $150 2-Hour Draft Champions 14

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, it's time to get serious about these NFBC $150 2-Hour Draft Champions Leagues. These will only be available through the week of March 9th and then we have to move on. If you want a quicker, more enjoyable way to compete for the $30,000 grand prize in the Draft Champions National Championship, then sign up now. You'll love the faster clock -- which includes a 6-hour pause at night -- and you'll love the competition.

Owners are playing for the top league prize of $1,000 in the NFBC $150 Draft Champions Leagues and the $30,000 grand prize, our biggest grand prize for this format in our history. We ask everyone who enters these Draft Champions Leagues to be prepared to draft and to show respect for their fellow owners. Please check out this thread for some of the DC Etiquette we propose and then enjoy your time in this format:

http://nfbcforums.stats.com/viewtopic.p ... te#p140640

NFBC $150 2-Hour Draft Champions League 14
15 Teams, 50 Rounds, 2 Hours Per Pick (with 8 hours sleep clock)
Pay Top 3, $1,000 to 1st Place, $30,000 to Overall Champion
1. Joe Berg
2. Fred Moseley
3. Dorian Kinman
4. Dan Kenyon
5. Marc Perlmutter
6. Joe Lawrence
7. Jon Vintzel
8. James Tomony
9. Eric Heberlig
10. Dave Shovein
11. Jonathan Wolff
12. Samuel Horton
13. Garrett Christensen
14. James Gabal
15. John Pacca

[DOUGHBOYS]

Let's put a little bump on this one.
I'll join and start a thread about it as well.
We'll focus on the drafters who select Trout and Kershaw.
Many, many talks this drafting season about which player is easier to draft a team around.
We'll discuss how the drafters in this one build on arguably the best hitter and pitcher in baseball
Let's get this filled before this weekend and we'll do it.

[Tom Kessenich]

NINE spots left

NFBC $150 2-Hour Draft Champions League 14
15 Teams, 50 Rounds, 2 Hours Per Pick (with 8 hours sleep clock)
Pay Top 3, $1,000 to 1st Place, $30,000 to Overall Champion
1. Joe Berg
2. Fred Moseley
3. Dorian Kinman
4. Dan Kenyon
5. Marc Perlmutter
6. Joe Lawrence

[Tom Kessenich]

EIGHT spots left

NFBC $150 2-Hour Draft Champions League 14
15 Teams, 50 Rounds, 2 Hours Per Pick (with 8 hours sleep clock)
Pay Top 3, $1,000 to 1st Place, $30,000 to Overall Champion
1. Joe Berg
2. Fred Moseley
3. Dorian Kinman
4. Dan Kenyon
5. Marc Perlmutter
6. Joe Lawrence
7. Jon Vintzel

[Tom Kessenich]

This league is SOLD OUT

NFBC $150 2-Hour Draft Champions League 14
15 Teams, 50 Rounds, 2 Hours Per Pick (with 8 hours sleep clock)
Pay Top 3, $1,000 to 1st Place, $30,000 to Overall Champion
1. Joe Berg
2. Fred Moseley
3. Dorian Kinman
4. Dan Kenyon
5. Marc Perlmutter
6. Joe Lawrence
7. Jon Vintzel
8. James Tomony
9. Eric Heberlig
10. Dave Shovein
11. Jonathan Wolff
12. Samuel Horton
13. Garrett Christensen
14. James Gabal
15. John Pacca

[DOUGHBOYS]

I promised to follow up in this draft, focusing how drafters put together a team with the start of Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw....

Starting a team with either is a luxury we all want. Trout and Kershaw are arguably the best players at their positions.
It should be easy, right?
Friends and I have had debates in which player is easier to build a team around.
Presuming helath, I argue that Kershaw is easier to build around.
A team can go all offense for many picks after Kershaw or build a pitching staff that can be the envy of the league.
The choice is yours.
With Trout, the knee jerk reaction is to build his immediate draft with pitching. Sometimes, teams leave Trout on an island in drafting that pitching.
Any which way, I'll follow what the two drafters did in this draft to followup in picking the cream of the crop in hitting and pitching.

As usual with drafts, Mike Trout was selected first.
The drafter in his first attempts to build around Trout, chose Brian Dozier and Carlos Carrasco.
I felt that they were good choices.
Dozier is a five category player that will emphasize the offense along with Trout.
Carrasco is the first pitcher that most drafters look for in the third round.
He hasn't reached elite status, but is knocking on the door.

Kershaw was drafted third in our draft. As high as he will go in just about any draft.
His drafter fortified Kershaw with Madison Bumgarner and Andrew Benintendi.
Like Carrasco, Bumgarner has 'his area' and that is at the bottom of the second round.
Last year, Bumgarner was taken at the bottom of the first round.
Paying a one round penalty for stupidity on a tricycle.
The drafter here, looking for a quality one-two punch.
In round three, he selected Benintendi. Personally, I don't love the pick.
When having two of the best pitchers in baseball, I'd rather start my offense with more of a sure thing offensively.
Benintendi was selected over Josh Donaldson and George Springer.
Donaldson and Springer do not offer the five categories as Benintendi did last year, but I feel they would have been more solid in four categories while stolen bases could be dealt with later in the draft.

Any way, that is my take.
What's yours?

I'll be back to followup on the Trout/Kershaw drafters on Monday....

[DOUGHBOYS]

Let's do a last follow-up on the drafters taking Trout and Kershaw in this draft.
Again, there is a disagreement among many in which player is easier to build a team around.
Since Trout is the overwhelming number one pick, drafters want to try their luck there. But many contend that starting with Kershaw relieves a lot of the pitching pressures that Trout owners deal with in drafts.
Either which way, let's look in on how these drafters fared.....

The Trout drafter did something that I have seen a lot of Trout drafters do. I'm sure you can see the pattern in his corner selections...

1. Trout
2/3. Dozier-Carrasco
4/5 Encarnacion-Quintana
6/7. McCutchen-Hand
8/9. Eaton-Neris
10/11. WRamos- JGray
It is the familiar pattern of one hitter, one pitcher.
The drafter is illustrating that it is, indeed, tough following up on Trout.
Almost as if forcing himself to select pitching at every corner bend.
I could be totally off base in that he is not selecting the two players that will most help his team at each turn, looks are, that he is forcing pitching instead of having it come to him in the draft.
This is one of the premier arguments for the Kershaw faction in ease of drafting the best pitcher.

Has the Trout drafter done a good job?
You decide.
Here is the team after 11 picks...
C- Ramos
1B- Encarnacion
2B- Dozier
OF- Trout
OF- McCutchen
OF- Eaton
P- Carrasco
P- Quintana
P- Jon Gray
P- Hand
P- Neris

The Kershaw Drafter may have been bitten by what Trout drafters deem a trap.
Trout drafters warn that there are two major traps in selecting Kershaw.
One is leaving Kershaw alone on an island in building a mighty offense to match Kershaw's skills.
In doing this, Kershaw's numbers are mixed in with six other Starters seemingly intent on making Kershaw's numbers useless.
Two is ganging up on pitching to garner most of your points and letting the offense fend for itself.

Here is what the Kershaw drafter did...
1. Kershaw
2. Bumgarner
3. Benintendi
4. Pollock
5. Keuchel
6. Bogaerts
7. Wade Davis
8. Cespedes
9. ENunez
10. Familia
11. Zimmerman

Number two is a strong possibility here.
Kershaw has been followed up nicely by Bumgarner and Keuchel.
The penalty for doing so is that the offense severely lacks power.
The drafter may or may not be fortunate in that Cespedes was still available late in the eighth round.
On paper, Cespedes provides power this team desperately needs.
On the field, Cespedes is always just a muscle pull away from missing a lot of time.
He'll have to find more power as the draft winds back to him in later rounds.

Starting teams with Trout or Kershaw is a miserable delight.
The debate about which player is 'easier' to start a team with will rage on....
We do not have a textbook or instruction pamphlet that goes with the drafting of players.
We are judged critically or nicely by other drafters, but what is said, in the end, can all be rat's assed.
The real judge begins March 29.