First, I don't care what others teams look like.
Second, asking for a 'rate' tells me the drafter really likes a team and wants compliments or is insecure, one way or the other, I go back to the first reason for not liking them, I don't care.
Many like to judge teams. Or compare teams. It's the reason these threads are liked by some.
It is with this thought that I judge another team. It's not my cup of tea. But, at the same time, it's an extraordinary circumstance for fantasy drafters and a team that should be spotlighted.
I don't know the owners of this team. And certainly, they have not asked me to critique their draft, strategy, or team.
But, I'm gonna do it anyway
This is not a normal team in a normal league. This team had a definite strategy. A strategy that they were backing with a lot of dough. $10,000 worth of dough. That's a lot of dough. This was the Diamond League.
Without an Overall, sometimes a strategy is used that is foreign to most of us.
And most of us do not like these strategies. This is the reason most want the innings limit pushed up every year.
I don't have to go about this like a typical writer. I know most of you and know that the fantasy baseball intelligence level is higher than most other places.
With that in mind, I'll give you the first 10 selections made by this team and let you draw your own conclusions before I blabber on.
Out of the 13 spot-
1. Kershaw
2. Price
3. F Hernandez
4. Wainwright
5. Altuve
6. Papelbon
7. Samardzjia
8. Aybar
9. Revere
10. Frieri
With seven pitchers and three judyish hitters, it was clear to all those around the table during the first break what this team's strategy was. They wanted to dominate the pitching categories, draft Judy Garland's to remain competitive in three categories, while punting rbi and hr.
There are failings with this sort of strategy. It is widely thought that judy's score a lot of runs.
They don't. At least, not as a whole.
Bourn, Pagan, Scutaro, and Andrus are the only players in the top 50 of runs scored last year who had less than 10 homers.
In short, judy's rely on the kindness of others to cross the plate.
I feel the first mistake this team made was in drafting David Price in the second round. Not because of the slow start by Price, but because Dustin Pedroia would have fit this team's m.o. so much better.
To be sure, they need to dominate pitching with the strategy, but going into the 11th round, this team has to be better than average in Average, SB's, and Runs, and with just Altuve, Aybar, and Revere, they put themselves at a severe disadvantage offensively, even in just three categories.
Their draft up to this time started to influence other drafters. Partnered with Andy Nolan, we had a discussion about it and decided to overdraft Emily Bonifacio to insure us a speed piece to our team. We also felt with a lot of speed going to one team that we wouldn't need as many stolen bases as first thought, but a situation to keep an eye on just the same.
My jaw dropped when they named their 11th pick. I couldn't see a way Ethier fit into their plans at all.
One of two things was happening. Ethier was a personal love of a drafter or maybe a' value' choice and maybe they could decide how to fit the square peg of Ethier into their round hole of a draft later
OR they were abandoning their plan.
That question was answered with their next pick, Andrelton Simmons.
Plan on.
To strengthen their pitching hold, they took Parnell and Ogando with the 13th and 14th picks.
I thought these may have been two of their best picks. They both fit their profile and Parnell as a third Closer looked pretty good.
But still, that offense was sagging.
And one thing that is true with every draft no matter how many teams, batting average gets tougher and tougher to find with each passing round.
The two picks I felt were two of their best picks was followed by one of the worst.
Aaron Hicks in the 15th round.
$10,000 on the line. $10,000.
And their sixth highest hitter selected is Aaron Hicks.
To be nice, they've got more cajones than I. But this was an important pick for them.
Juan Pierre and Torii Hunter were still in play, but Hicks was the pick.
The Hicks pick was followed by a solid selection in Denard Span.
At this point, remember that only four of the top 50 in runs scored had less than double digit homers last year.
The only double digit home run hitter for this team is Ethier, a batter who hits down in the order and will not help that much in runs scored.
John Jay and Gerardo Parra were taken with their next pair of picks. Both of these fellas were small gambles.
Both have better players behind them that were in the minors (Jay/Taveras....Parra/Eaton), but then again, we are getting close to the second break and batting average is getting more and more scarce.
Not to mention that a catcher had yet to be selected.
Hicks may have been this team's worse singular pick, but up to this time, I hadn't questioned the pair of picks this team made....till now.
Their next two picks were Veras and Chisenhall. Veras was picked, I'm sure, to bolster their Saves. A category that had already been covered.
This took us into the second break. While there was a little bit of fear from us in this team's strategy after the first break, we were relieved in some of the choices made in between breaks. As far as our 'by the book' strategy was concerned, this team was no longer a factor in our thinking.
In effect, they had made starting pitching, at least the cream of the perceived crop of starting pitching, a little more valuable. Comparing it to our team, which started with Strasburg, Scherzer, and Harvey, we felt that that team may have even helped our team, while potentially hurting others who may have relied on hitting early.
After the second break, they selected Colvin and Wellington Castillo. I thought those were two good picks. Unfortunately, the Rockies didn't agree and sent Colvin down. Still, they were following the plan and got back on track in thinking about batting average.
Rob Brantly and Oscar Taveras were next. Brantly for average. Taveras to cover Jay. I thought these were good picks. At the same time, it seemed like every pick now has a give and take.
In taking Castillo and Brantly they are keeping batting average afloat, but have sacrificed runs in that both catchers play on teams that have little chance of driving them in.
And, although using Taveras as a backup to Jay, this team really can't afford to waste a bench spot on a guy who will bat at the second half of the Cards lineup and not get a whole lot of runs.
One other thing was the lack of positionality.
None of their offensive players were eligible at more than one position.
While drafting minor leaguers, this would effectively tie their hands in manueverability on their roster.
It turns out the best possible pick they could have made, would have been Matt Carpenter.
He'll hit for a high average.
Score a lot of runs at the top of that lineup.
Steal a few bases.
But, even more important, he could have been the swiss army knife this team needed for positionality.
Valdespin, Callaspo, Kelvin Herrera, Gerrit Cole, Billy Hamilton, and Sean Doolittle finished out their draft in uninspiring fashion.
The first time I saw this type of strategy, it was used, beautifully I might add, by Shawn Childs in KJ's MLBC League.
If done right, it can succeed in a one league system. But a lot of thought has to go into each pick.
This team has enough arms to carry pitching. So many arms, that they may have left their offense wanting.
There is a certain confidence in knowing that only three categories need to be covered. This team may have thought too much about getting pitching ducks in a row before covering those three categories.
We are seven weeks into the season now.
This team is in ninth place with 74 points. 60 of those points on the pitching side of the standings.
They are 13th in batting average.
15th in Runs.
Tied for seventh in steals.
On the pitching side, they are only 4th in Saves, even with four Closers.
They also lag in W's, which cannot be controlled by any mere human force.
I feel they loaded up a little too much on pitching. With or without Price, they'd be near the top of every category and they need more offense. They are losing ground with each week on the offensive side and little can be done about it.
Pacheco, Dominguez, Wilson Ramos, DeJesus, and Kozma have all been added while they stubbornly cling to Hamilton, Taveras, Cole, and Herrera, who have limited their flexibility.
It's a good concept and a good strategy for a single league. I feel this team just missed the mark on a few picks. And missing a few picks at this level can really cost.
In this case, a lifetime supply of Doritos, even for me.
A postscript-
I did not write this to put down the owners of this team. This is just an honest review of their draft, how it affected our draft, and what I may have done a little differently.
It takes courage and cajones to go with a draft strategy like this with so much on the line.
A salute for that.
