NFBC Message Boards

Last year after the content panel league every player posted their team and their plan in getting there.



I will start the same trend this year. If you like my team cool, if not cool too. I usually get a lot of praise on these boards with my teams. I expect not quite as much this year especially if you not like my guys. First my plan- disclaimer I am always willing to adjust for great value, but I do not count on getting it at this level. I generally break a draft down in to 5 separate 6 round events. I will only bore you with the first 2 sets.



I picked 5 in LV 10



First set

I want solid and reliable here b/c I know I am taking risks in the next tier. I wanted an OF, 2 corners, a SS b/c I thought the back half was weak, a SP, and either a 2nd OF, 2nd corner or a closer. I could afford no batting avg issues b/c I knew I was sitting out catcher unless huge value fell.



I wanted Holliday at 5 but he went at 4. "Settled" for Jimmy Rollins. Next round I wanted Berkman and was willing to settle for Rios. Luckily I got Berkman. 3rd round I wanted Brian Roberts with Holliday. Since I got Rollins I needed to change. Came close to huge value with Rios and a change of plan but he got snagged. Aramis Ramirez was the pick. 4th round I coveted 2 guys Brandon Webb and Chris Young. If it was Young I would draft one catcher who I expect to hit 275. Young went at the turn but luckily I got Webb. Pick 5 offered nothing in the OF so I went Adrian Gonzalez and moved Berkman to the OF in my head. Pick 6 is where I varied for what I thought was huge value in Krod.





2nd set

I wanted to take risks I wanted my guys here. Pitching wise I wanted Corpas, Billingsley, Mcgowan, and one of James Shields, Maine or Rich Hill. Hitters I wanted were Gordon, Encarnacion, Ellsbury, Francouer, and Billy Butler.



Pick 7 I made a mistake and took a guy I like way too much for my own good in Johnny Damon. I varied off of my plan. Pick 8 I am back on plan and I just love John Maine. Pick 9- my previous intelligence indicated other players at the table coveted Edwin Encarnacion as I did. I know it is early but I want him. Pick 10 is a guy a lot of us love Dustin Mcgowan. At the turn I notice Billy Butler goes in round 10 in another league and my intelligence tells me Gene Mcaffrey loves him and picks twice before me. Gene already has Hafner rostered. I cannot risk him taking him in round 12 before me and holding for corner eligibility. I have Butler down for 25/100/300. Pick 12 I see what I think is value. I think I am fine in k's and nab Brad Penny.



All in all a solid but unspectacular effort in my opinion. I saw teams from nfbc rooks (Neil Moses) that I thought were better than mine. If I am right about my top guys staying steady and solid. If I am correct on Encarnacion, Butler, Maine and Mcgowan, and if I hit on a few flyers late I will be fine.



BTW my late flyers included Scott Baker, Alexi Ramirez, Dan Wheeler, the oriental reliever in Cleveland, Colby Rasmus, and Travis Buck.



I hope someone found this info valuable and posts their own. Anyone can post a team with Cust and Ankiel and hear how they will struggle in batting avg back. I find this format even though it takes awhile to be very valuable assuming others take the time to participate.



Good luck in 08 to all my pals in Orlando, my old pals in Vegas, my new pals in Vegas, and especially to Dan and Andy. I learn something from both of you almost every day.

Chest,



Interesting breakdown. I would be interested in seeing your full squad broken down by position.



Ultimately, how was the competition in Vegas compared to Tampa/Orlando?



I love Webb but as you know, I love Haren even more this year. I hope that they both rock the house, it will be interesting to see who ultimately has the better year. Most will say Webb but I really believe!!!!



Good luck this year, Jacksonville represent!!!!

Hey lay off the shots on teams with Ankiel and Cust and there soon to be struggles in AVG!

Chester the Molester - good to see you if only briefly in Sin City. Very nice idea and write up and I shall follow your lead.



I did not have positional targets for the first six as you suggest - looking to take the best players with categorical and positional scarcity "breaking ties".



I drafted in LV2 from the 13 hole, and sadly none of the guys I really wanted (Braun, Howard, Crawford, Johan etc)were available. My backup plan was to do a combo of David Ortiz and Ichiro, giving me 40+HR, 40+SB, 220R, just short of 200RBI and a HUGE BAvg base that would allow me to take some counting stats but questionable BA guys later (note - I would have broken this option if Pujols or Phillips were there but the were drafted by the teams behind me). I felt quite lucky that Markakis fell to me at 3-13 (Tulo did not make it or I might have taken him over Nick). I don't take pitchers not named Santana or Peavy this early, so easy choice at 4-3 of Garrett Atkins. In this league, Santana (1-9), Peavy (2-8), Bedard (3-14), Webb (4-5), Haren (4-6), Verlander (4-11), Hamels (4-14) and Sabathia (4-15) were all of the board as we started the fifth round and before my turn, Kazmir, Harang, Papelbon, and Putz were drafted in the fifth round. Todd and I both try to draft pitchers in the first third of the rounds from the tier we want as opposed to specific pitchers or specific rounds. With that number of pitchers gone, I was fine with taking Smoltz at 5-13, and Nathan, KRod and Oswalt went to the two teams behind me. So for my last pick in your stanza, I thought it was clear to draft a player that I know others got a round (or ugh two) later and took Josh Hamilton. Yes it gave me three OF in the first six picks, but I draft for overall targets and not positionally (strictly - it's a hard habit to break).



2nd set.....

Eight more pitchers gone from 6-4 to 7-12, but one of my targets for SP2 was there and I rostered Matt Cain. At 8-3, I needed to get some power at 1B and Ryan Garko who was the best available, and 25+HR. At 9-13 I took Julio Lugo - SS and 35+SB and at 10-3 knowing the ninth round closer run (three before me and one after in Rd 9 and one in first two picks in Rd 10) would continue took Joakim Soria. At 11-13, I took my third SP - Oliver Perez, attempting per plan (yeah most likely everyone's) to have first three SP who could give you 600 strikeouts. Ellsbury was taken after me at 11-14, so my twelfth round pick jumps ADP, but really the hitters taken in the rest of the round (A. Hill, Ibanez, Taveras, Kent, Cuddyer and Polanco) don't offer near the value that Corey Patterson (Reds starting CF) will provide this year. [note - if I was really lucky I could close my eyes and make other picks and get him in Rd 18 right Shawn?]



I will say one thing since they have posted their teams (and both have thick skins) - the offenses drafted by Childs and Srebro are VERY close to projections in all five categories with mine. Some of the rest of you are likely close or even better - the point is that even IF (and Slim just left town) the hitting played out that way, it is managing the pitching and having additional upside in offense available that likely separates a lot of teams during the season.



Good Luck Kent and all the rest of my NFBC friends and competitors



[ March 17, 2008, 06:45 PM: Message edited by: Captain Hook ]

Ok Kent, I'll follow suit. Picking from the 11 hole, my partner and I were looking at Fielder, Howard, and Crawford. We were almost certain that none of the top 8 were going to fall (which they did in several other leagues)and we figued there was no way for us to lose out. As it turned out, all three were there so we grabbed Fielder. So plan #1 one goes into effect. We would've liked Phillips or Teixiera, who both went on the turn, but were very happy to fill up our pie eating contest team with Ortiz. Position scarcity didn't worry us as there is always value somewhere in the draft. We already had Figgins penciled in (or so we hoped) and he came back around. We wanted one more speed guy and a solid outfielder and we got Furcal and Torii Hunter.



Second set of five we wanted a couple big upside hitters, two starters and a closer. We took Delmon Young 6th, which may have been a touch early, but we feel like he's going to come alive this year. We wanted to go with pitching in the 7th, but Zimmerman was sitting there and he was too tasty to pass up with what we had him penciled in for. Pitching was a must then so I passed on Maine because I figured he'd be there in the ninth (thanks Kent) and took Francisco Cordero for some (hopefully) steady year long saves and grabbed Myers and Snell to round out the top 10.



All in all, our math had us hitting all of our offensive numbers, and we were pleasantly surprised with our pitching staff when it was all done. Thought we got some good value with Lugo in the 12th with the late news on his back and Rich Harden in the 14th if he can pitch 180-200 this year. Had a few guys go a round earlier than I anticipated (Velez and Prior both got a grunt out of me) and our only "setback" really was not hearing the news the day before on Wili Mo Pena, so we had to clean up that mess.



Some of my later picks that I think can outperform their performance are Homer Bailey in the 19th, Jonathan Sanchez in the 23rd, and if David Bush and Scott Olsen can both find their stuff again, they will be bargains in 22nd and 25th. Oh yeah, someone please sign Barry Bonds to DH !!!!!



Some really nice guys in LV10...was nice getting to put a face to some of you. Wanted to get around and see a few more of the guys, but allergies we whooping up on me.



Good luck everyone,

Mudster



[ March 17, 2008, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: Mudster ]

Originally posted by Mudster:

Ok Kent, I'll follow suit. Picking from the 10 hole, my partner and I were looking at Fielder, Howard, and Crawford. We were almost certain that none of the top 8 were going to fall (which they did in several other leagues)and we figued there was no way for us to lose out. As it turned out, all three were there so we grabbed Fielder. So plan #1 one goes into effect. We would've liked Phillips or Teixiera, who both went on the turn, but were very happy to fill up our pie eating contest team with Ortiz. Position scarcity didn't worry us as there is always value somewhere in the draft. We already had Figgins penciled in (or so we hoped) and he came back around. We wanted one more speed guy and a solid outfielder and we got Furcal and Torii Hunter.



Second set of five we wanted a couple big upside hitters, two starters and a closer. We took Delmon Young 6th, which may have been a touch early, but we feel like he's going to come alive this year. We wanted to go with pitching in the 7th, but Zimmerman was sitting there and he was too tasty to pass up with what we had him penciled in for. Pitching was a must then so I passed on Maine because I figured he'd be there in the ninth (thanks Kent) and took Francisco Cordero for some (hopefully) steady year long saves and grabbed Myers and Snell to round out the top 10.



All in all, our math had us hitting all of our offensive numbers, and we were pleasantly surprised with our pitching staff when it was all done. Thought we got some good value with Lugo in the 12th with the late news on his back and Rich Harden in the 14th if he can pitch 180-200 this year. Had a few guys go a round earlier than I anticipated (Velez and Prior both got a grunt out of me) and our only "setback" really was not hearing the news the day before on Wili Mo Pena, so we had to clean up that mess.



Some of my later picks that I think can outperform their performance are Homer Bailey in the 19th, Jonathan Sanchez in the 23rd, and if David Bush and Scott Olsen can both find their stuff again, they will be bargains in 22nd and 25th. Oh yeah, someone please sign Barry Bonds to DH !!!!!



Some really nice guys in LV10...was nice getting to put a face to some of you. Wanted to get around and see a few more of the guys, but allergies we whooping up on me.



Good luck everyone,

Mudster Mudtser werent you pick 11?

I sure was...nice catch.

Can Kent now safely lay claim to the phrase "first set", and everyone will understand it is the first 6 rounds of a 15 team draft?



I like it...I like it!!!



~Lance

Nice stories from guys who had a great draft spot I would have gladly traded with any of you! I came out of the 2 spot in Chicago 1 But it was my fault... I forgot to set my KDS. So much for procrastination, huh?



I agree with several that have posted here that there is one #1, and then about 25 #2's. I knew that my first pick would be a jewel but my second was going to be a step below what everyone else was getting. So I set a strategy going in and never waivered from it. I was going H-P-H-P-H-P, etc. all the way to the 10th round, and then I would re-evaluate during the break. I was at the turn so I flip-flopped the H-P a couple of times. My thought on the H-P format was that I was going to get a potential MVP in the first and then a potential Cy Young in the second. Where a second hitter would put me on pace with everyone, a top tier pitcher could give me an edge but with a lot of risk. But from the second slot I had to do something risky to start strong. By doing that, I felt that I needed to use my picks at the turn to continually build both. Voila, 1 pick hitting, 1 pick pitching.



Like the Captain I wasn't going to draft any pitcher not named Peavy or Santana, but I expanded a little since I was taking a chance and decided if either of the two were gone I would take Bedard. Santana went 9, Peavy 16, and Bedard 24. At 29 I had to expand again and took Webb. I know, I know... I've seen everywhere that Webb went in the 4th round in most leagues. I stuck by my guns, and I will either win or lose by my guns.



Here it is:

2 David Wright (best five tool player after A-Rod)

29 Brandon Webb (best four tool pitcher left)

32 Alexis Rios (five tool)

59 Robinson Cano (wanted Markakis but he went a few picks ahead of me, and Cano was the last of the top tier 2B. Unlike others, I thought 2B was pretty shallow.)

62 Dice-K

89 Delmon Young

92 Rafael Soriano (purposefully the only closer I took, and when I saw people taking 3 closers and a bunch of potentials I was very happy )

119 Adrian Beltre (his last chance at ever having another big season in my opinion. IMO, tons of upside with very little risk.)

122 Dontrelle Willis

149 Aaron Rowand



I went with the best available player according to my projections, and I never waivered from that either. Again, being too attached to my plan may kill me, but let it be known even when I doubted what the hell I was doing I kept going!



I came back from the break and knew I had to fill in some positional holes and that proportionally I needed more hitters than pitchers so I went Pedro, Jason Kendall, Youkilis, Stephen Drew, and Randy Winn. I would have taken a second closer instead of Pedro but at the time every closer left was Gagne or worse. I went with Pedro; it made more sense to me. Then back to pattern:

Kelvim Escobar - Jason Bartlett - Melky Cabrera - Ervin Santana. Then I finished out the second set with Bonds.



The remaining ten were: Laird (C) - Rajai Davis - Capuano (very bad pick and I don't why I did it) - Kotsay (perfect fit in Atlanta, he will do well) - Jordan Schafer - Wladimir Balentien - Andrew Miller - Jorge Cantu - Henry Owens - Reggie Willits.



Really, I wasn't happy with it. In comparing it with other teams in my league I don't think I will finish last. The team is competitive, but a lot of the hitters are going to need to have above average years for me to do well. On the other hand I think I am very strong in four of the five pitching categories, which was part of the plan. As for saves, I just wanted to have some and didn't care how many as long as it wasn't zero. Somebody always tries the no closers strategy, so if I had at least one save I could guarantee myself 2 pts.



Anyway that's it in a nutshell. Drafting from the 2 hole sucked. The best shot I thought was relying on a unique draft strategy. I threw out the magazines and used my own projections based on my strategy. And then I shot for the best available player alternately between hitters and pitchers. The real trick was setting a plan and sticking to it.

Good idea guys! Not sure if we have a content league this year or not, since I was out of whack for awhile here, but I'll go ahead and post about my draft, and can delete this if this thread is only for 2008 content league folks lol



For the first time, I got my top KDS pick - 15th. I wanted it because that's what I had last year, and it worked out well. Not sure if it was the right thing to do this year or not.



1st - Pujols fell and fell, so I'm sitting there and had to take him - no guts no glory.



2nd - Sizemore on the turn - good all around guy, still young, should improve over last year across the board.



3rd - Jeter for the 45th pick - I'm not a Yankees fan, but Jeter should be good for another solid year.



4th - Figgins on the turn - I targeted him all the way at this spot, and got him.



So here I am after 4 rounds with an MVP guy, a 5-tooler, Jeter, and a speed guy who should score more runs than in the past, and I was feeling good...



5th - K-Rod - top closer, 75th pick, sure seemed ok to me, plus 2 Angels!



6th - Oswalt on the turn - no reason why Oz shouldn't be a top-50 player again.



Still feeling real good...Pujols, Sizemore, Jeter, Figgins, K-Rod, Oswalt...all solid picks but need more power, and then I went all crazy...



7th - Sheets

8th - Liriano on the turn



Yikes, what have I done to myself? lol I had planned on drafting a ton of offense this year, and turned around and drafted 4 pitchers in a row!



9th - Thome - good for 30-35 HRs, 90 RBIs or more, can handle the BA, a great pickup IMO



10th - Valverde - yikes, 5 pitchers in 10 rounds, what the hell am I thinking lol...



11th - Delgado - not sure about this one, saw him go 15th round in at least one league, but I needed to do something quick about power and RBIs, and he seemed like the best bet at the time.



12th - Griffey - ok, good for a laugh perhaps, but he's healthy, hit 30 last year, still has the best swing in baseball, and I like him! lol



13th - Orlando Hudson - needed a 2B, Hill and Pedroia were now gone, and he's an ok pick.



14th - Ramon Hernandez - I have a rule about drafting catchers...never draft a catcher unless you can get him for 5 bucks or less than the round is worth. I calculate a dollar value for each round - how much is a 5th rounder worth on average, how much is a 20th rounder worth on average, and at this point, I had Ramon projected at 5 bucks less than a typical 14th round pick - so I took him.



15th - CJ Wilson - took a 3rd closer, because saves were frustrating last year, and my Oswalt-Sheets-Liriano combo have great K/wins potential.



16th - Cust - hmmm, not sure about this one.



17th - Maddux - very good value pick here, since the guy is always good for 14-15 wins, ERA around 3.95-4.00, and a WHIP below 1.25.



18th - Matthews Jr. - another Angel, most I ever took, but he's batting second, will score a lot, hit a few, steal a few, and what more can I want for an 18th rounder.



19th - Felipe Lopez - risky, but I believe he will be the starter, and with a more offense-friendly park this year, could easily go .280 with 35 SBs.



20th - DeJesus - more runs, 10-10 guy, hopefully .280 or better.



21st - Buck (C) - I projected him for -$2, and it was the 21st round, so he was within 5 bucks.



22nd - Villanueva - targeted him, aware that he could be just about as good as Gallardo if he gets the SP nod this year.



23rd - need one more pitcher for legal lineup, but I grabbed Mora for many reasons - worth the pick, backup in case of Delgado or Pujols, etc.



24th - Jacque Jones - if he returns to form, he's good for 20 HRs and other decent stuff.



25th - Scot Shields, backing up my K-Rod pick.



26th - Chuck James - good for decent wins, not-too-bad ERA and WHIP, if he recovers from current ailments.



27th - Juan Rivera - fully recovered, deserves to be a starter, rumors of a trade persist, and could be the best 27th round pick I've ever made...or could be a total waste lol. But Garet Anderson is fragile...



28th - Marcus Giles - this guy was a regular 5th rounder 2 years ago, and wow has he fallen. Still, Colorado rejuvenates people, Giles should make the squad, and if he gets to play everyday...



29th and 30th - Danks and Daniel Cabrera - 2 promising younger pitchers, both with potential this year, surprised that Cabrera was there after all the buzz last year about how he would do better with the Orioles' new pitching coach. Perhaps this year is the year!





C - Hernandez

C - Buck

1B - Pujols

2B - Hudson

3B - Figgins

SS - Jeter

CI - Delgado

MI - Lopez

OF - Sizemore

OF - Griffey

OF - Cust

OF - Matthews Jr.

OF - DeJesus/Jones/Rivera?



SP - Oswalt

SP - Sheets

SP - Liriano

SP - Maddux

SP - Villanueva

SP - James/Danks/Cabrera (Cabrera will certainly keep me competitive in Ks if I go with 6 starters)



CLO - K-Rod

CLO - Valverde

CLO - CJ Wilson



The rest - Mora, Rivera, Giles, Shields



The verdict - stay tuned!



John

Two things. I'm fascinated that we drafted from the same spot and didn't draft ONE player that was on both rosters.

Secondly, Pujols and Sizemore? Man, in my dreams one of them would have fallen, let alone both. And then Figgins in the 4th? I'm jealous.

Good luck.

"I wanted to take risks I wanted my guys here. Pitching wise I wanted Corpas, Billingsley, Mcgowan, and one of James Shields, Maine or Rich Hill. Hitters I wanted were Gordon, Encarnacion, Ellsbury, Francouer, and Billy Butler."



Well Kent, looks like we value a lot of the same players... I absolutely LOVE Rich Hill, and also really like Maine, Billingsley, Gordon, Francouer, Butler, Ellsbury, and McGowan (to a degree). I think Shields is great, but not where he usually goes.



Anyways, at pick 12, my plan was to pray to the fantasy gods that Ryan Braun somehow falls to my team (even though the latest he went in the last batch of satellites was 11). Then I was fairly certain BJ Upton would be there in the 2nd. After that, I had several targets in each round, but keeping in mind that I had to be flexible depending on what the draft gave me. You gotta be willing to adapt to your draft - if you don't, you get burned and get on the wrong ends of runs and/or miss out on good value picks.



My draft was... interesting. AROD, Hanley, and Wright went first, as usual, but then Rollins went at 4 and I knew it was going to get interesting. After Rollins, Reyes went followed by Utley. Then Fielder! This threw everyone off I think, but obviously the next 2 guys took Holliday and Cabrera and were ecstatic. Well, by this time I knew I was destined to get Braun. Santana went at 10, then Crawford at 11. With a huge beaming smile I took Braun at 12.



It got crazier after that. Following Braun was Soriano, then Sizemore, then Russell Martin. Phillips went first pick of the 2nd round, then Peavy. Ok, I can still get Upton. Nope, he goes at the pick in front of me. CRAP! But wait... what the..?!? RYAN HOWARD is still there in the 2nd round! In shock, I take Howard and smile. This totally changes my draft strategy as now I need to focus on speed, but so what, you gotta go with the flow of the draft and take what it gives you.



So I take Figgins in the 3rd and Furcal in the 4th to get some speed (Furcal was key because he is one of the very few top tier SS out there.. and he can steal) I don't know about other drafts, but speed went FAST in ours. Bourn went 6th round, Ellsbury went 7th round.. CRAZY.



My other strategy was to draft a few high batting average guys (and avoid low batting average guys also if possible) because you can pick up steals or homers off the waiver wire, but you can't easily makeup average. I picked Howie Kendrick in the 5th (early, but last remaining "top tier 2B" left in my opinion and he wouldn't make it back to me in the 7th). I say 7th round because my 5th and 6th round picks are 3 picks away from each other and I knew my 6th round pick wasn't getting taken there, so I took Kendrick first. He should really boost my team average. After that, I picked my favorite SP this year- Chris Young (top 5 I think). 7th round, Matt Kemp was still there.. was planning to go SP there, but couldn't pass him up so I grabbed him. 8th round I took my boy Rich Hill. Very pleased.



No closers yet and approaching the pick 130-150 closer run. I take Corpas in the 9th round to make sure I get one solid closer. Back to starting pitching, as I missed out on the Maine/Billingsley/Ollie/Lincecum/Gallardo group. Next best on my list was McGowan (although Pedro was tempting) so I take him in the 10th. 11th round I take Clay Buchholz hoping Jered Weaver makes it back to me. He didn't. I took Soria as my 2nd closer there in the 12th instead. Works for me. Wigginton was still there in the 13th, so I took him for his 2B/3B flexibility (might move Braun to OF anyhow).



Now, I knew the target area for the catchers I liked was rounds 13-15, and I wanted to make sure I got 2 solid catchers as I think that's a HUGE plus if you don't have a waste of space catcher. I took Ramon Hernandez and Towles in rounds 14 and 15 and was very happy. The draft always leaves plenty of good SP and OF for the late rounds, so I make sure to fill out my positional players first. Now it's time to start looking for those young up-and-comers who I think will make a big difference for me this year as well as some solid backups. I ended up with Billy Butler, Chris Duncan, Ian Kennedy, Matt Diaz, Colby Rasmus, Kevin Slowey, Franklin Gutierrez, David Eckstein, Dave Roberts, Carlos Villanueva, Clayton Kershaw, Brian Bannister, Scott Hairston, Anthony Reyes, and Dana Eveland.



I couldn't have planned for a better draft. I was absolutely ecstatic. Here's my final roster:

C R. Hernandez

C JR Towles

1B R. Howard

2B H. Kendrick

SS R. Furcal

3B R. Braun

CI C. Figgins

MI T. Wigginton

OF M. Kemp

OF C. Duncan

OF M. Diaz

OF D. Roberts

OF F. Gutierrez

DH B. Butler



P C. Young

P R. Hill

P D. McGowan

P C. Buchholz

P I. Kennedy

P K. Slowey

P C. Villanueva

P M. Corpas

P J. Soria



B C. Rasmus

B D. Eckstein

B S. Hairston

B D. Eveland

B A. Reyes

B B. Bannister

B C. Kershaw



I'd also like to say it was an absolute pleasure to meet all of you in Chicago. Especially: Sheep, Nord, Bobby J, Chris, Dave (Darth Vander), and of course seein my buddy Mike again. We had great people there and it was a blast.

Originally posted by Less than Dave:

"I wanted to take risks I wanted my guys here. Pitching wise I wanted Corpas, Billingsley, Mcgowan, and one of James Shields, Maine or Rich Hill. Hitters I wanted were Gordon, Encarnacion, Ellsbury, Francouer, and Billy Butler."



Well Kent, looks like we value a lot of the same players... I absolutely LOVE Rich Hill, and also really like Maine, Billingsley, Gordon, Francouer, Butler, Ellsbury, and McGowan (to a degree). I think Shields is great, but not where he usually goes.



Anyways, at pick 12, my plan was to pray to the fantasy gods that Ryan Braun somehow falls to my team (even though the latest he went in the last batch of satellites was 11). Then I was fairly certain BJ Upton would be there in the 2nd. After that, I had several targets in each round, but keeping in mind that I had to be flexible depending on what the draft gave me. You gotta be willing to adapt to your draft - if you don't, you get burned and get on the wrong ends of runs and/or miss out on good value picks.



My draft was... interesting. AROD, Hanley, and Wright went first, as usual, but then Rollins went at 4 and I knew it was going to get interesting. After Rollins, Reyes went followed by Utley. Then Fielder! This threw everyone off I think, but obviously the next 2 guys took Holliday and Cabrera and were ecstatic. Well, by this time I knew I was destined to get Braun. Santana went at 10, then Crawford at 11. With a huge beaming smile I took Braun at 12.



It got crazier after that. Following Braun was Soriano, then Sizemore, then Russell Martin. Phillips went first pick of the 2nd round, then Peavy. Ok, I can still get Upton. Nope, he goes at the pick in front of me. CRAP! But wait... what the..?!? RYAN HOWARD is still there in the 2nd round! In shock, I take Howard and smile. This totally changes my draft strategy as now I need to focus on speed, but so what, you gotta go with the flow of the draft and take what it gives you.



So I take Figgins in the 3rd and Furcal in the 4th to get some speed (Furcal was key because he is one of the very few top tier SS out there.. and he can steal) I don't know about other drafts, but speed went FAST in ours. Bourn went 6th round, Ellsbury went 7th round.. CRAZY.



My other strategy was to draft a few high batting average guys (and avoid low batting average guys also if possible) because you can pick up steals or homers off the waiver wire, but you can't easily makeup average. I picked Howie Kendrick in the 5th (early, but last remaining "top tier 2B" left in my opinion and he wouldn't make it back to me in the 7th). I say 7th round because my 5th and 6th round picks are 3 picks away from each other and I knew my 6th round pick wasn't getting taken there, so I took Kendrick first. He should really boost my team average. After that, I picked my favorite SP this year- Chris Young (top 5 I think). 7th round, Matt Kemp was still there.. was planning to go SP there, but couldn't pass him up so I grabbed him. 8th round I took my boy Rich Hill. Very pleased.



No closers yet and approaching the pick 130-150 closer run. I take Corpas in the 9th round to make sure I get one solid closer. Back to starting pitching, as I missed out on the Maine/Billingsley/Ollie/Lincecum/Gallardo group. Next best on my list was McGowan (although Pedro was tempting) so I take him in the 10th. 11th round I take Clay Buchholz hoping Jered Weaver makes it back to me. He didn't. I took Soria as my 2nd closer there in the 12th instead. Works for me. Wigginton was still there in the 13th, so I took him for his 2B/3B flexibility (might move Braun to OF anyhow).



Now, I knew the target area for the catchers I liked was rounds 13-15, and I wanted to make sure I got 2 solid catchers as I think that's a HUGE plus if you don't have a waste of space catcher. I took Ramon Hernandez and Towles in rounds 14 and 15 and was very happy. The draft always leaves plenty of good SP and OF for the late rounds, so I make sure to fill out my positional players first. Now it's time to start looking for those young up-and-comers who I think will make a big difference for me this year as well as some solid backups. I ended up with Billy Butler, Chris Duncan, Ian Kennedy, Matt Diaz, Colby Rasmus, Kevin Slowey, Franklin Gutierrez, David Eckstein, Dave Roberts, Carlos Villanueva, Clayton Kershaw, Brian Bannister, Scott Hairston, Anthony Reyes, and Dana Eveland.



I couldn't have planned for a better draft. I was absolutely ecstatic. Here's my final roster:

C R. Hernandez

C JR Towles

1B R. Howard

2B H. Kendrick

SS R. Furcal

3B R. Braun

CI C. Figgins

MI T. Wigginton

OF M. Kemp

OF C. Duncan

OF M. Diaz

OF D. Roberts

OF F. Gutierrez

DH B. Butler



P C. Young

P R. Hill

P D. McGowan

P C. Buchholz

P I. Kennedy

P K. Slowey

P C. Villanueva

P M. Corpas

P J. Soria



B C. Rasmus

B D. Eckstein

B S. Hairston

B D. Eveland

B A. Reyes

B B. Bannister

B C. Kershaw



I'd also like to say it was an absolute pleasure to meet all of you in Chicago. Especially: Sheep, Nord, Bobby J, Chris, Dave (Darth Vander), and of course seein my buddy Mike again. We had great people there and it was a blast. Ryan Howard in the 2nd round is the ultimate gift. I give you credit for taking advantage of it.



[ March 17, 2008, 11:24 PM: Message edited by: Chest Rockwell ]

I concur. Also, love the Young, Hill, Bannister and Eveland picks

Helluva team. Damn. I'm beginning to think LV10 was the toughest league!! Your thoughts Chest?

well, I obviously have no control over who falls to me.. it's not "skill" to take what's handed to me like that, but hey, I'll take it just the same. And yeah, I definitely don't think my league is going to be a strong one over all, though Darth Vander and Bobby J have solid teams as well. It helps a WHOLE LOT to have weaker teams drafting in your league... more than it helps to avoid strong teams even.

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

BTW my late flyers included Scott Baker, Alexi Ramirez, Dan Wheeler, the oriental reliever in Cleveland, Colby Rasmus, and Travis Buck.Oriental reliever? Does he go well with your Negro second baseman from Philly? It's the 21st century. Show some respect. Use his name. You picked him, you should know it.

I was wondering if he drafted him that way.



Also goes well with his gimpy OF from NY.

Originally posted by fbc:

quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

BTW my late flyers included Scott Baker, Alexi Ramirez, Dan Wheeler, the oriental reliever in Cleveland, Colby Rasmus, and Travis Buck.Oriental reliever? Does he go well with your Negro second baseman from Philly? It's the 21st century. Show some respect. Use his name. You picked him, you should know it. [/QUOTE]Funny, but by Chest's description I knew the player he was talking about was Kobayashi. I have no idea who you are talking about.

Chase Utley is black...?!?!

I dislike everything about political correctness in speech.



Tough love, thick skin...all fading away to wimpy sensitive fem-male programming.



~Lance

I like this thread so i'll join in with my draft logic and results. This was my 3rd year in NFBC's main event and I was competing in Las Vegas #1 with last years $100,000.00 winner. I'm happy with my results picking from spot #9 but would be interested in others opinions.



My strategy going in was in 2 parts. 1.) I wanted to avoid having to draft a Juan Pierre, Michael Bourn, Wily Tavares type player later in the draft as I really don't believe players like that give you enough in a competition this strong. 2.) I hadn't planned on drafting a starting pitcher until round 7 as like many owner, I feel that hitting is just so much more predictable. I've also been burned by pitching 2 years running now having picked pitchers earlier than round 7 and having picked too many pitchers in my first 10 picks.



Picking from the #9 spot I knew I had a real good shot at Ryan Braun going in. He was my target and Carl Crawford was my fall back. I felt one would be there at 9 if not both. Turns out both were and I stuck with Braun who I expect to give me power and adequate speed to start with.



My goal for round 2 was Upton but was not sure he would be there for me. I actually felt 2B was pretty deep this year so I was not too concerned with the position, but there really was not another player that I coveted for round 2 so I prayed he was there, and was fortunate when he was at 2-22. My fall backs were all guys who were gone by the time I picked so as it turns out they were not fall backs at all.



For round 3 I went in to the draft hoping to get Troy Tulowitzki here knowing that ADP said it was possible, even though it seemed unlikely. It turned out to be verly unlikely when he was the next pick off the board in R2 right after my Upton selection. My back-up plan originally was Erik Bedard for this spot which I hoped not to use because I really did not want a pitcher this early. It actually turned out better than anticipated because Brian Roberts dropped to me and I never expected to see him on the board at 3-39 and had to make that pick.



Round 4, my target going in was Ian Kinsler who I figured I would have to draft earlier than ADP but knew that would have to change anyways once I got Upton and Roberts. As it turns out Kinsler went even earlier than 4-52 where I was picking so I grabbed another guy who dropped inexplicably in my mind which was Derek Jeter.



Round 5 I was originally targeting a 1B such as Adrian Gonzalez if he made it to me at 5-69. He did not and Joe Mauer had dropped far enough in my opinion so he was my pick. I did not rate him that much lower than the other top tier catchers and was very happy to grab him here.



Round 6 was my last round I felt certain I would go offense at 6-82 before pitching and there were several guys I had targeted for this pick. I ended up with Swisher here not because he was my highest rated but because he was dual eligible and I badly needed a 1B at this point. I was not unhappy with the pick in this spot, however, for whatever reasons there are, a serious pitcher run followed this selection of mine and made me wonder whether my strategy was now extremely poor as all of the guys I had tareted for round 7 and round 8 were gone before I picked at 7-99.



Round 7 at pick 7-99 I had targeted starters who were all gone. Needing some pitching I decided not to reach for starters here and go with a reliever instead grabbing Valverde.



Round 8 at pick 8-112 with still no starters I really liked, I grabbed Francisco Cordero.



Round 9 at pick 9-129 I had to go for a starter now and Ben Sheets was my highest rated. He has burned me before and may burn me again, but his upside was too great in my opinion to pass up.



Round 10 at pick 10-142 I reached a little earlier for Jered Weaver. He was a guy I really liked going in and knew he was having a good Spring. Since I was not 100% confident he would make it to me in round 11 and I needed starting pitching I felt I had to make this pick.



I had not planned anything beyond round 10 thoroughly as I knew I would need to reevaluate at the break anyways. I still needed pitching coming out of the break so I grabbed Joba Chamberlain at 11-159 and Brad Penny at 12-172 and then followed that up with my 3rd closer in Troy Percival at 13-189.



The rest of my roster is below.



14 - 202 Aaron Rowand - again dropped to far

15 - 219 Josh Willingham

16 - 232 Frank Thomas

17 - 249 Milton Bradley

18 - 262 Richie Sexson

19 - 279 Colby Rasmus

20 - 292 Ian Kennedy

21 - 309 Barry Bonds

22 - 322 Ben Broussard

23 - 339 Mark Prior

24 - 352 Gerald Laird

25 - 369 Kenny Rogers

26 - 382 Joe Saunders

27 - 399 Adam Loewen

28 - 412 Yorvit Torrealba

29 - 429 Luke Hochevar

30 - 442 Mark Loretta - Hoping for a trade but loved his overall eligibility.

The Chinaman is not the issue here, dude! Oh and dude, the preferred nomenclature is Asian.



[ March 18, 2008, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: bjoak ]

another great post by sports betting man- no wonder you drink- you live in california and hate the pc police. you are welcome in chicago. trust me- i have no african american friends- just black ones- and they are fine with it. they can call me chalk all they want. if chase is black- can he steal 45?

Originally posted by fbc:

quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

BTW my late flyers included Scott Baker, Alexi Ramirez, Dan Wheeler, the oriental reliever in Cleveland, Colby Rasmus, and Travis Buck.Oriental reliever? Does he go well with your Negro second baseman from Philly? It's the 21st century. Show some respect. Use his name. You picked him, you should know it. [/QUOTE]Lighten up Francis



I simply did not have any of my draft sheets with me and was typing in a hurry. I honestly still cannot tell you which one is for Texas and which one is for Cleveland. I just wish I owned them both at this point. This has turned in to a great thread where everyone can learn a lot- how bout focusing in on that rather than trying to be so darn PC.

dear dave- 2 questions for my buddy the new draft guru. since i drafted satana at 14 and carl crawford went 12 in our draft- how did you "know" braun was coming to you at 12 after pick 9? second- if you draft 12 aren't there 6 picks between your odd and even picks? did you think there were 3 the whole draft? did that help or hurt you? are you concerned that braun is going to be dl'ed? thanks. just giving you a little s..t. btw- ltd is another tall player. i think with him and vander we have 2 forwards for our chicago basketball team.