Kenyon Pre-Mature League: A Look Back

[Greg Ambrosius]

Now that the NFBC drafting season is over, it's fun to look back at all of our drafts to see where we goofed up. But I wanted to do something different today and take a look back at our very first Draft Champions League that was started the day after the regular season (okay, so they couldn't wait and even started this during the last week of the season) to see how close these drafters were to the final ADPs. How good were these Trendsetters?

You have to give these early drafters a ton of credit because for the most part they really were the trendsetters. Take a look at these first 10 rounds and most of these picks were spot on. Good job guys:

NFBC Draft Champions League, Kenyon Pre-Mature League
Round 1:
ROUND PICK PLAYER POS TEAM
1 1 Mike Trout OF Team Vogel
1 2 Miguel Cabrera 3B My Guys
1 3 Paul Goldschmidt 1B RoundTrippers!
1 4 Chris Davis 1B Kaye-o's
1 5 Andrew McCutchen OF Bearded Gyorko
1 6 Robinson Cano 2B Worst to First
1 7 Clayton Kershaw P Team Diedrich
1 8 Carlos Gonzalez OF DOUGHBOYS
1 9 Ryan Braun OF Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
1 10 Adam Jones OF Mudhens
1 11 Bryce Harper OF Hopefully Not Last
1 12 Joey Votto 1B Mallorys Killers
1 13 Giancarlo Stanton OF Pre Mature 2014
1 14 Hanley Ramirez SS Head2Head
1 15 Matt Carpenter 2B Pre Mature

Round 2:
2 1 Jacoby Ellsbury OF Pre Mature
2 2 Troy Tulowitzki SS Head2Head
2 3 Jay Bruce OF Pre Mature 2014
2 4 Adrian Beltre 3B Mallorys Killers
2 5 Yasiel Puig OF Hopefully Not Last
2 6 Edwin Encarnacion 1B Mudhens
2 7 Jose Reyes SS Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
2 8 Yu Darvish P DOUGHBOYS
2 9 Jason Kipnis 2B Team Diedrich
2 10 Evan Longoria 3B Worst to First
2 11 David Wright 3B Bearded Gyorko
2 12 Max Scherzer P Kaye-o's
2 13 Jean Segura SS RoundTrippers!
2 14 Prince Fielder 1B My Guys
2 15 Freddie Freeman 1B Team Vogel

Round 3:
3 1 Matt Kemp OF Team Vogel
3 2 Carlos Gomez OF My Guys
3 3 Dustin Pedroia 2B RoundTrippers!
3 4 Ian Desmond SS Kaye-o's
3 5 Jose Bautista OF Bearded Gyorko
3 6 Adam Wainwright P Worst to First
3 7 Jose Fernandez P Team Diedrich
3 8 Alex Rios OF DOUGHBOYS
3 9 Stephen Strasburg P Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
3 10 Albert Pujols DH Mudhens
3 11 Craig Kimbrel P Hopefully Not Last
3 12 Hunter Pence OF Mallorys Killers
3 13 Buster Posey C Pre Mature 2014
3 14 Eric Hosmer 1B Head2Head
3 15 Josh Donaldson 3B Pre Mature

Round 4:
4 1 Madison Bumgarner P Pre Mature
4 2 Chris Sale P Head2Head
4 3 Allen Craig 1B Pre Mature 2014
4 4 Josh Hamilton OF Mallorys Killers
4 5 Felix Hernandez P Hopefully Not Last
4 6 Justin Verlander P Mudhens
4 7 Adrian Gonzalez 1B Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
4 8 Ian Kinsler 2B DOUGHBOYS
4 9 Mark Trumbo 1B Team Diedrich
4 10 Justin Upton OF Worst to First
4 11 Shin-Soo Choo OF Bearded Gyorko
4 12 Matt Holliday OF Kaye-o's
4 13 Cliff Lee P RoundTrippers!
4 14 Elvis Andrus SS My Guys
4 15 Greg Holland P Team Vogel

Round 5:
5 1 David Price P Team Vogel
5 2 Cole Hamels P My Guys
5 3 Ryan Zimmerman 3B RoundTrippers!
5 4 Aroldis Chapman P Kaye-o's
5 5 Zack Greinke P Bearded Gyorko
5 6 Starling Marte OF Worst to First
5 7 Wilin Rosario C Team Diedrich
5 8 Yadier Molina C DOUGHBOYS
5 9 Manny Machado 3B Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
5 10 Matt Cain P Mudhens
5 11 Domonic Brown OF Hopefully Not Last
5 12 James Shields P Mallorys Killers
5 13 Pedro Alvarez 3B Pre Mature 2014
5 14 Yoenis Cespedes OF Head2Head
5 15 Anibal Sanchez P Pre Mature

Round 6:
6 1 Daniel Murphy 2B Pre Mature
6 2 Wil Myers OF Head2Head
6 3 Kenley Jansen P Pre Mature 2014
6 4 Brandon Phillips 2B Mallorys Killers
6 5 Gio Gonzalez P Hopefully Not Last
6 6 Jose Altuve 2B Mudhens
6 7 Hisashi Iwakuma P Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
6 8 Joe Mauer C DOUGHBOYS
6 9 Alex Gordon OF Team Diedrich
6 10 David Ortiz DH Worst to First
6 11 Carlos Santana C Bearded Gyorko
6 12 Jayson Werth OF Kaye-o's
6 13 Jordan Zimmermann P RoundTrippers!
6 14 Ben Zobrist 2B My Guys
6 15 Salvador Perez C Team Vogel

Round 7:
7 1 Jason Heyward OF Team Vogel
7 2 Matt Moore P My Guys
7 3 Alfonso Soriano OF RoundTrippers!
7 4 Jonathan Lucroy C Kaye-o's
7 5 Jedd Gyorko 2B Bearded Gyorko
7 6 Gerrit Cole P Worst to First
7 7 Mark Teixeira 1B Team Diedrich
7 8 Michael Cuddyer OF DOUGHBOYS
7 9 Mat Latos P Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
7 10 Mike Minor P Mudhens
7 11 Chase Utley 2B Hopefully Not Last
7 12 Coco Crisp OF Mallorys Killers
7 13 Martin Prado 3B Pre Mature 2014
7 14 Jered Weaver P Head2Head
7 15 Carlos Beltran OF Pre Mature

Round 8:
8 1 Mike Napoli 1B Pre Mature
8 2 Kris Medlen P Head2Head
8 3 J.J. Hardy SS Pre Mature 2014
8 4 Shane Victorino OF Mallorys Killers
8 5 Kyle Seager 3B Hopefully Not Last
8 6 Billy Hamilton OF Mudhens
8 7 Aaron Hill 2B Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
8 8 Joe Nathan P DOUGHBOYS
8 9 Homer Bailey P Team Diedrich
8 10 Jimmy Rollins SS Worst to First
8 11 Kendrys Morales DH Bearded Gyorko
8 12 Shelby Miller P Kaye-o's
8 13 Alejandro De Aza OF RoundTrippers!
8 14 Alex Cobb P My Guys
8 15 Jed Lowrie SS Team Vogel

Round 9:
9 1 Julio Teheran P Team Vogel
9 2 Leonys Martin OF My Guys
9 3 Danny Salazar P RoundTrippers!
9 4 Patrick Corbin P Kaye-o's
9 5 Austin Jackson OF Bearded Gyorko
9 6 Francisco Liriano P Worst to First
9 7 Curtis Granderson OF Team Diedrich
9 8 Jon Lester P DOUGHBOYS
9 9 Starlin Castro SS Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
9 10 Andrew Cashner P Mudhens
9 11 Nelson Cruz OF Hopefully Not Last
9 12 C.J. Wilson P Mallorys Killers
9 13 Addison Reed P Pre Mature 2014
9 14 Desmond Jennings OF Head2Head
9 15 Ernesto Frieri P Pre Mature

Round 10:
10 1 A.J. Burnett P Pre Mature
10 2 Matt Adams 1B Head2Head
10 3 Michael Wacha P Pre Mature 2014
10 4 Everth Cabrera SS Mallorys Killers
10 5 Andrelton Simmons SS Hopefully Not Last
10 6 Nolan Arenado 3B Mudhens
10 7 Koji Uehara P Dynamic Inertia (Premature)
10 8 Alexei Ramirez SS DOUGHBOYS
10 9 Hyun-jin Ryu P Team Diedrich
10 10 Brandon Moss 1B Worst to First
10 11 Clay Buchholz P Bearded Gyorko
10 12 Todd Frazier 3B Kaye-o's
10 13 Evan Gattis OF RoundTrippers!
10 14 Billy Butler DH My Guys
10 15 Brandon Belt 1B Team Vogel

Thoughts?

[Edwards Kings]

See! Even here I could have gotten Cliff Lee, Chris Sale, or David Price at the 3/4 turn!

[Raskol]

Nice idea, Greg. This league a blast to draft (it's all done via email of course) but my favorite part of the experience is the first FAAB. Roughly five full months transpire between the draft and the opening up of FAAB. During that time span we experience everything from sudden retirements,un-retirements, catastrophic injuries, beneficial & horrible (for us) trades, roster shake-ups and of course, the closer carousel. Teams regularly spend half or more of their FAAB budget during the first week in an attempt to address all the changes. It's common for us to be forced to replace 1/3 of our rosters via FAAB. Here's a sampling of high-priced week one players who were available (not drafted):

Nate Jones
John Axford
Grade Sizemore
Sergio Santos
Tommy Hunter
Kelly Johnson
Jose Veras
Erik Johnson