NFBC Message Boards

On the top line of the Message Boards yesterday, a poster noted that he was 'targeting' a player and also got (gulp) 'value' for him. In the true sense of Fantasydom (shuddup spellchecker!), we cannot both target a player AND get (arghh!) 'value' for him.
If getting (I'm dying) 'value' in a pick, it means that he was picked at a bargain price, and if he was picked at a bargain price, then he slipped, in which case the drafter was not really 'targeting' him. He was just happy that a player coveted, had slipped.

Anyway, I've preached that the Main Drafts are a different animal than the Championship Leagues. The Main Events render the NFBC listed adp as almost meaningless. I heard countless folks in Las Vegas say, "I can't believe he went THAT early."
Believe it.
The Draft Champions drafts are 'accumulation drafts'. With no faab, we are trying to put together as many playable players as possible. If we can get 35 of our 50 players to be viable players for a starting lineup each week of the season, we have something we can work with.
Let's compare two players. Adam Jones and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Jones is a budding star. A five category player with a bias towards power. But, Jones is more than that. Jones is steady and reliable. He is what Draft Champion drafters are looking for- A five category player with a reliability factor through the roof.
He played in all 162 games last year. Reliability.
Look it up in the dictionary...Reliability- See Adam Jones
Jones was constantly picked near the end of the second round.
Jacoby Ellsbury is also a possible five category player with a bias towards speed. 'Possible' five category player in that some drafters believe in his power, some don't.
Ellsbury is the polar opposite of Jones in terms of durability. Ellsbury is adept at finding teammates to crash with. Not in their apartments, on the field.
So, this makes Jones the better pick, right?
Not for most Main Events.
Jones is the 'slow and steady wins the race' type of player. When drafted, no drafter thinks he will be the number one player in baseball during the coming year. His drafters drafted him in the second round, and dammit, they want their second round money back.
Ellsbury has the possibility of more. The possibility of being the best. The possibility of a Mike Trout year.
After all, Shandler says once a skill is displayed, a player 'owns' it. Ellsbury has shown that he can be a premier player. And although his lack of reliability doesn't play well for Championship Leagues, those drafting in the Main Event are willing to overlook his previous ouchie ways for his five category goodness.
I'm too lazy to look it up, and I'm sure somebody will check, if only to prove me wrong, but I am guessing that Ellsbury's adp was higher than that of Jones for Main Event drafts.

'Hot' players are also taken earlier in Main Event drafts. Alex Cobb and Julio Teheran are two examples. Each had spectacular springs driving their prices up like gas in California.If even one Main Event drafter has 'green numbers' beside these two names in their NFBC adp column, I would be shocked.

I was in a Main Event draft in Las Vegas loaded with sharks. Jeff Devoto, Neal Moses, Kris Carroll, Shawn Childs, KJ Duke, Ray Murphy, Dave Clum, Artie Rastelli, Jeff Price, Dave Cushard, Scott Keikoan and others ...it was brutal....and freakin exhilerating.
These guys know the Main Event drill.
Let me take you for a peek at one of the most interesting rounds of this draft.

5/1 Jose Altuve. The drafter had just selected Elvis Andrus with his other corner pick. He wanted speed in his middle infield positions and got it. Andrus and Altuve had adp's well below this spot. This drafter did not let adp direct him in who to pick.

5/2 Jimmy Rollins. This drafter may have been influenced by the Andrus pick. There would not be another shortstop picked for two rounds and he may have thought that he would be looking at lower tiers when looking at shortstops in later picks.
Or maybe he just plain likes Rollins.

5/3 Zack Greinke. Understandable. Round five is the last round to get true Aces. Some folks believe Greinke is a true ace, others don't.

5/4 Matt Wieters. Here is where it starts to get really interesting. Except for Buster Posey, this drafter could have any catcher in baseball as Wieters is the second catcher off the Board. This drafter is saying 'Screw ADP', I want Wieters.
A guy after my own heart.

5/5 Brandon Phillips. Like Rollins, this could have been a 'tier pick'. The next 2b would not be picked till three rounds later.

5/6 Carlos Santana. Like Wieters, this drafter wants power out of his catcher position. Joe Mauer's adp was well ahead of both Wieters and Santana in Championship drafts, but these drafters wanted power more than average at the position.

5/7 Kris Medlen. Like Greinke, a possible ace.
'Them Meddlin' Kids! ' Sorry, Scooby Doo reference.

5/8 Yadier Molina. Catchers with some power is the apple of the fifth round's eye. Mauer is being treated like a crash test dummy in this draft after being a consistent number two catcher in Championship Drafts. And there's nothing wrong with it.
These drafters want a power advantage.

5/9 Mike Napoli. Napoli's adp is messed up. He went much later in Championship Drafts because of all the off season rhetoric over his hip.
Hip drafters knew this. And if they were buying into his health, they know that his adp is artificial...unlike his hip.
Again, this is a drafter who knows what he wants and says, 'Screw you, adp, you're my beaaaatch! '....(wow, sorry, lame attempt of an old guy trying to be hip)

5/10 Joe Mauer. Mauer finally finds some love. Within minutes, he has gone from a catcher's adp of two in Championship Drafts to the sixth catcher taken in this draft. Mauer has won two batting titles out of this position. That meant little to previous drafters.

5/11 Shin-Soo Choo. What?! No catcher? Choo was the only outfielder taken in this round. Round five was not outfielder friendly in most Main Event drafts. Most of the favorites were taken in the first three rounds, then some tweeners were taken in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. Choo is a tweener. He could have third round numbers. He could have ninth round numbers.

5/12 Chris Sale. Another possible ace and 'real' aces are starting to run out.

5/13 CC Sabathia. Another possible ace. By pick 6/14, all the perceived 'real' aces will be gone.

5/14 Wilin Rosario. Of course. This drafter was probably cringing with each power catcher being taken off the Boards. He knows that the next drafter being on the corner, has seen the catcher run and may be a little panic'ed that he'll never get the chance to have a good catcher on his roster, let alone a catcher with good power.

5/15 Victor Martinez. This drafter probably had no intention of taking VMart when entering the draft. It is a draft dictated pick. He doesn't give a rat's ass what VMart's adp is. He only knows that a nice hitting catcher is available and knows there is little chance of one coming back to him.

And picker 15 was correct. Miguel Montero, Sal Perez, and Jesus Montero would all go off the Boards during the next round.
And another catcher would not be taken till the 12th round.
The Matt Wieters pick was a possible boon to drafter 5/4. Not only did he get the catcher that he thought should have been the number two catcher in baseball, but unexpectedly, he started a catcher with power, run. A phenomenon that he could not have anticipated and unless coveting those catchers in coming back to him, played into his hands in picking from a position that had been ignored in that fifth round.

Some could say that the Joe Mauer pick was a 'value pick'. And that is the reason I hate the term. If Mauer gets hurt or even struggles in a bad lineup to put up numbers and Mike Napoli thrives in Boston, who is the value pick?
Mauer simply was a better fit on one roster, while Napoli was a better fit on another.
I know for a fact that the Mauer drafter had no idea that Mauer would be available at 5/10.
I know that, because the drafter was me.
In taking Mauer, I stood up out of my chair and poked fun at myself in proclaiming Mauer, 'a value pick.'
It wasn't at all.
It was a product of others looking for power from the position and by the time Mauer arrived to me, I made sure nobody had taken him, then selected him because I was looking for batting average out of the position. That's all.

We are in a funny part of the season. Right now, Gerardo Parra has value, no matter where taken in any draft.
Mike Trout does not. And we know where he was taken.
We know that the trend will, most likely, reverse. At the same time, our game is built on what is in the bank, not what we intend to deposit. Troy Tulowitzki has been 'Uncle Billy' from 'It's a Wonderful Life' the last few years. He has the money or talent in hand, ready to make the deposit into our stats bank, but it gets lost before the deposit is completed.
It's already happened to Ryan Ludwick. Whoever declared him as a perceived value pick in a later round, now has a real valueless pick for a long time.

This has already been a long post, so just one more thing.
I'm stupid. I just want you to know that.
I preach about taking who YOU want in a draft. Not what adp says. Not what Childs says or Shandler or the Paper Boy.
You.
So, here I am tooling along in a Main Event draft online and I get a little antsy. I have 20 seconds on the clock and the next six players on my list are players I do not care for. And so are the next 10 after that.
Gulp.
This dilemna is worse to me than picking between two players that I adore. At least in that scenario, I am guaranteed to get a player I like.
In this problem, I could get saddled with a player, not trusted. 10,9,8 and I'm looking at every player I like and they are either gone or a probable three or four rounds from being drafted. I just can't over draft them by that much and feel good about myself.
3,2,1 and I punt. I give in. I take a player not trusted.
He has skills. But I know this guy is going to be 'Bubba' in my jail cell in that the things he'll do to me will be unspeakable.
He is Anibal Sanchez.
Or 'Annabelle' as I like to call him.
Sanchez is an ok pitcher that throws for what could be a great team.
But I don't trust him.
I sat him this week. Vs. Minnesota. Because I don't trust him. He pitched well. And I get the feeling that if I had started him, he would have had a 1ip/8 er line.
I already know that this Bubba is going to have his way with me all season.
And it's going to hurt. And I'm going to scream. And nobody will care.
And I will only have myself to blame.
Stay away from Bubbaing yourself. If it's too late, like me. You have my sympathies.

Don't worry Dan. Sanchez is a sleeper who projects to provide real value.

"But I wanna go with them! I want to fly too!"
Annabelle's Wish
1997

If your drafting a guy where I assume you did with Sanchez (gotta be a 3 or 4) and not starting him vs the Twins week 1 you need to re evaluate bigtime. Funny how different opinions can be on a guy..."Ok" is the farthest thing from my mind when describing his skill set.

CASS wrote:If your drafting a guy where I assume you did with Sanchez (gotta be a 3 or 4) and not starting him vs the Twins week 1 you need to re evaluate bigtime. Funny how different opinions can be on a guy..."Ok" is the farthest thing from my mind when describing his skill set.

I don't buy into that 3/4 stuff.
I don't trust Greinke, should I throw him every week because he's a number one?
Whether answering yes or no, this is the reason I preach taking players liked. Annabelle could be my number one or seven, it doesn't matter. Trust is the issue.
The Twins had hit around .300 vs. Annabelle before this last outing. So it wasn't an ideal start for him. Granted, over the last three years, he is a better away pitcher than home, but that could change with a new team in Detroit.

But splits are not the problem for me with Annabelle. Trust is.
Annabelle on my roster reminds me of the guy who lived in New Orleans.
Twice, he had his homes ruined by hurricanes.
He packed up his family and moved to California. After signing the papers on a new house, he felt that he and his family were finally secure.
The next day, an earthquake destroyed his home.
In a fantasy sense, I am that guy and Annabelle is the disasters.

So why draft him? My list of players I "trust" and "like" probably starts with Braun and ends with Miggy....so unless i find a shallow league i'm not going to be able to implement that strategy

CASS wrote:So why draft him? My list of players I "trust" and "like" probably starts with Braun and ends with Miggy....so unless i find a shallow league i'm not going to be able to implement that strategy

I drafted him because we're not perfect. I know who I should have taken in hindsight. At the time, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He was the pitcher that I trusted the most out of the next several pitchers on the list, who I would not trust with my daughter alone, let alone on my roster.

Here's what I should have done....
I started the draft with Fielder in the first, Butler in the third.
I knew that I was in like with Matt Carpenter and knew he would be a probable pick later, so I discounted corner men.
When Todd Frasier was taken a few picks later, I was less than happy with myself.
Classic mistake in boxing myself in and thinking inside the box.
Unforgivable.

Must agree w/ Cass on this one Dan...hafta start him against the Twinkies, but my reasoning is b/c of the weather. Pitchers seem to have the edge early in the season and ESP. when it's cold like it sure is in Minny this time of yr.

I looked up Anibel's #'s against the Twins, looks like he's only faced them once before, which is not enough data for me. Back to the weather, I read somewhere that a whole bunch of SP have ERA's below 3 rt now.

Heck, b/c of the weather I started your buddy, ol Goggles Worley against the mighty Tigers and though it wasn't a good start, it wasn't awful...better than Hamels against the Braves. Also I preferred Worley over Miley at Milwaukee, he only pitched against the Brew Crew once before but he got shellacked.

btw, when is that "professional hitter" William Butler going to show up

rockitsauce wrote:Must agree w/ Cass on this one Dan...hafta start him against the Twinkies, but my reasoning is b/c of the weather. Pitchers seem to have the edge early in the season and ESP. when it's cold like it sure is in Minny this time of yr.

I looked up Anibel's #'s against the Twins, looks like he's only faced them once before, which is not enough data for me. Back to the weather, I read somewhere that a whole bunch of SP have ERA's below 3 rt now.

Heck, b/c of the weather I started your buddy, ol Goggles Worley against the mighty Tigers and though it wasn't a good start, it wasn't awful...better than Hamels against the Braves. Also I preferred Worley over Miley at Milwaukee, he only pitched against the Brew Crew once before but he got shellacked.

btw, when is that "professional hitter" William Butler going to show up

Along those same lines, somebody was asking what was wrong with Prince after three games...he looked pretty good today.
Guys like Prince and Butler are going to be fine.

And I'll be fine with Annabelle. I'm just going to have to make some adjustments, knowing that sometimes, somebody is going to have to pass me the analgesic after he gets done having his way with me
Who knows? It may become one of those picks that ultimately is the difference between something good and something really good.
At least I hope so.

rockitsauce wrote:
Also I preferred Worley over Miley at Milwaukee, he only pitched against the Brew Crew once before but he got shellacked.

Miley's line - 6.0 IP, 8 K, 1 BB, 1 ER (1.500 ERA), 1.000 WHIP, Win

it's times like these that my philosophy in life kicks in now more than ever....gotta laugh to keep from crying

We all drive ourselves mad with start/sit over evaluation sometimes. And we trust the spew of info we read...case in point - I sit ruggiano because i'm told he's somehow now on the bad side of a platoon as per the MANAGER... What happens? 3rd game of the season he starts against a RH and homers. Oh really so what happened to the platoon? ....gave it up after 1st RH? I just laughed....

Dan,

Great post. Really one of my favorites. I was trying to explain to someone about how the one year that I entered the Main, I was so shocked and unprepared for the way in which players came off of the board. I think that this post comes closest to it.

I know I could go to your team and look at your teams, but I would one to see you do a write up of how you drafted and the rationale behind it.

Good luck this year.

Doug

Schwks wrote:Dan,

Great post. Really one of my favorites. I was trying to explain to someone about how the one year that I entered the Main, I was so shocked and unprepared for the way in which players came off of the board. I think that this post comes closest to it.

I know I could go to your team and look at your teams, but I would one to see you do a write up of how you drafted and the rationale behind it.

Good luck this year.

Doug

I'm probably the last person you'd want to hear from in the way of strategizing (What?! Spellchecker says that's not a word.
Unbelievable.) a draft, Doug.
I don't go into any draft, with the intent of getting certain players or category.
Well, I take that back, I look at my draft pick and come up with the scenario that seems most likely to happen.
Let's go back to the draft I talked about before.
A Las Vegas Main Event with all the illuminaries (ok, you're right, I don't know how to spell it, sue me spellchecker) mentioned.

I like being in drafts with Shawn because we have different styles. Shawn is going to draft his players. I know some of them and am not interested in most.
KJ and I think a lot alike, so I was not relishing drafting with him. The rest of the drafters I knew as top-notch, but knew little of their drafting tendencies.
First round, I had 10th pick. The week leading up to this pick I was guessing that I would end up with Prince Fielder. Shawn picked sixth and I figured/counted on him to take Tulo or some other guy that doesn't usually go at number six.
I was wrong in that he didn't take Tulo. I was right in that he over drafted a player in that position.
Shawn took Strasburg.
What this did was give me a better chance at Fielder. The next five picks have been Cano, Votto, CarGo, Kemp, and McCutchen. Pujols could also be in with this group, but he had looked awfully gimpy (still does) and I expected his stock to fall. Anyway, I knew that I would take Prince over Pujols.
In this draft, Cano took a dive. When it came to Ray Murphy at pick nine, Cano was still on the Board. So was Fielder. So was Pujols. I really like Cano and the positional advantage he gives, so I started asking myself what I would do if Ray took Pujols. I was still flipping through my minds eye at the attractivness of both Cano and Fielder, when Ray announced he'd take Cano.
I took Fielder.
In our draft, Pujols was not selected till 2/1. KJ took Tulo with the 13th pick and backed his power/position play by taking Beltre on the way back. During pre-drafts scenarios, I figured I'd be taking Adam Jones. It was well ahead of where he had been going in lesser drafts and I think he's a dynamo that doesn't get hurt. If one of the 'Big 3' pitchers had dropped to me, I would have hesitated, but I really like Jones this year and took him (screw you, adp).

Shawn took Buster Posey and Starlin Castro before I got to pick again. I was eyeing Castro, Ad Gonzalez, Darvish, and Billy Butler with the next pick. Not in any kind of order yet. I'd decide which when I was 'under the gun'. After Shawn picked Castro, Ad Gon was selected, then Murphy took Darvish. This made my decision easy in that Butler was the easy pick for me.
I've got Fielder/Jones/Butler and a mental note that a 1b coveted would have to come at a tremendous discount to be considered.
KJ took Allen Craig and when he took Jason Kipnis with his fourth pick, I got a little worried. I wanted Aaron Hill. Sometimes after the first two or three rounds are completed, some picks become knee jerks. This is how 'runs' are started, such as the catcher run in this draft. I knew that Zobrist, Hill, and Phillips were the 2b's that I liked left. Also around was Altuve and Weeks, neither of whom I had little interest in.
Picker 12 picked Zobrist. I squirmed.
Dave Clum was the next picker sitting beside me. All of a sudden, I HAD to have Hill.
Dave obliged and took Felix Hernandez.
I took Hill without thinking about anybody else.
This led up to the Catcher round that was round five. I had my power and never thought about Mauer. I just figured that he would have been gone. But as said, others were looking for power from this position and I was happy to get what Mauer dishes out.

I'll stop here.
As said, this is probably boring a lot of folks. So that is what led up to that fifth round in that Vegas draft....

Not boring at all. Quite interesting, imo.

I enjoy reading thoughts and adaptations on navigating through a draft, especially one with all the heavy hitters that were at your table. Not only that, but navigating through a Main Event draft.

I find myself exhausted on many levels when I have completed a ME draft. It's 4 hours of joy (when you get your pick/target), surprise (like when someone goes much higher than the all holy ADP..lol), and heartache - like when the guy you want gets taken right before you or the 2 or 3 picks a draft when you feel like there is absolutely no one good available or that will help your squad.

Usually I'm a 'go with the flow'/every draft is it's own animal' kind of drafter. I'm not set on too many 'targets' and just try to scoop up as many players that I like as they come along. But this year I had a 10-round plan - figured I hadn't cashed in the ME the last two years & it was ok to try something different.

Just hope that the plan was right, that I didn't screw up the last 20 rounds, and that I perform well in faab!!

Doughy, I'm with Matt. I truly enjoy reading draft recaps that go through the thought processes behind the picks and the draft flow that lead to the choices made. I know there's a saying that noone cares about your team but you. Well, I don't subscribe to that theory, I find it both interesting and a learning tool.

I hope you decide to finish the draft recap. When I finished Part I, I was left wanting to read the rest.

Alright, you guys asked for it.....


After five rounds, my team was Fielder/Jones/Butler/Hill/Mauer. Besides being light years behind other drafters in the way of pitching, I liked the start. In the sixth round, most of the 'top' pitchers are gone. I put 'top' in quotations because I don't really believe this. In my mind, youngsters like Harvey, Zimmerman, M Moore, Bailey, Minor, Cobb, Teheran, etc are going to have better numbers than Gallardo, Sabathia, Halladay, Shields, Greinke, etc.....
Remember, this is my mind, and I'm sure most don't agree, but that's why we all draft....

I zeroed in on Jordan Zimmerman. Great team, steady pitcher, wonderful WHIP, the guy just never seems to be 'off'. I was fairly confident in getting him since I was screwing adp a little. But, right before I was to pick, Dave Clum, bastard that he is, and Dave, you know I love you (not!) takes Zimmerman. I had a backup plan, but I sure wanted Zimmerman's steady goodness at the top of my staff. As I was berating Dave for taking 'my player', I knew that I would be taking 'Shawn's player'. I know of Shawn's love affair for Matt Moore, and this was a 'shit rolls downhill' thing in that Dave took my pitcher, now I was taking Shawn's.
Moore is a bit wild still and will be prone to those dreaded, 4ip/3h/5er/6bb/7k lines, something Zimmerman would never do, so I am not happy about taking away Shawn's love, I'm more miffed that Dave took mine.
Shawn took Gallardo.

For some reason, guys like Alex Gordon falls in Main Event drafts. Gordon is a five category player and excels in none of them. He probably falls because drafters are looking for SOMETHING. Be it power, speed, average, whatever, and Gordon does not fill the bill when looking at players that way. At 7/10, I was dreaming of him falling to me, but Shawn paid me back for the Moore pick and took him. It was a dream for me anyway, but since I had good coverage in most offensive categories, Gordon would have been a great pick for me.
I selected a player who would screw me over later in the draft...And screw Dave Clum in that he was going to pick him next.
Chase Headley. Headley is a discount pick. A third rounder before his boo boo, he now could be had at a discount. His discount ran even deeper in other drafts, but Dave was set to take him, so good timing here. Dave took Brett Lawrie.

At 7/13 and 8/3, KJ took Michael Bourn and Fernando Rodney. I began to think thet we're not as simpatico as we once were since neither of those players appealed to me. And I was hoping the Rodney pick would not trigger a run. I didn't think it would. There were a lot of veteran drafters at the table. Each knowing that the later we take Closers as a whole, the better chance we have at Overall money.
It did not trigger a run.
My pick in the eighth round was predetermined and the reason I put off aces as long as I did. I had a lot of confidence that Matt Harvey would put up similar numbers to other number two aces and that early in the eighth, it would be a screw adp pick. The Moore/Harvey pairing is backwards to me. I have more confidence in Harvey having better numbers than Moore, but Moore being more 'acclaimed' had to be taken first.
I was going to follow up the Harvey-screw adp pick in the eighth with a Minor-screw adp pick in the ninth.
But again, Shawn got me. He screwed adp before I could and took Minor. I was a little miffed that Shawn was infringing on 'my territory'. I came into this draft knowing that he wouldn't do this and here he was, ''hole carding' me.
With Lester and Minor gone, two pitchers I would have loved in the ninth, I decided to screw pitching for a bit.
When in doubt, take power is a thought of mine in 'live' drafts, so I took a guy that I was surprised was still available.
Yes, the dreaded 'VALUE PICK'. Man, do I hate that term, but you know that.
Mike Morse.
A Morse is a horse, of course, of course...sorry, Mr. Ed reference.

After the Morse pick, Dave Clum took Jason Motte. I felt like kicking him and telling him to reconsider. I thought that if a tech neophyte like me knew about Motte, EVERYBODY should know.
At the break, Dave found out about Motte and Clum was glum. I know Dave will find the humor in that line more than he will the pick. Dave looked at 'rotowire' who had no coverage of Motte's problems. Chalk one up for RotoWorld.
After the Motte pick, Reed, Grilli, and Romo were taken. Signs that getting a Closer was at hand.
Still, I felt I could hold off. I wanted a player who I dislike. A player with a dollar body and a ten cent head.
I wanted Hanley Ramirez. My offense was already looking great and if I get my pitching right, I felt Ramirez, a legend in his own mind, could put me over the top.
I decided to finesse (a fancy word for waiting on a position or player) and take Hanley. But Dave paid me back and took Hanley before me.
Oh well.
Maybe it was a sign to take my Closer after all. I took race car driver, Jimmy Johnson.
It was a stupid pick. I like Johnson well enough, but only one Closer would be taken in the next 20 picks leading back to me.
I had mis-read the table and was kicking myself in the nuts with each non-closer pick.
I could have had my third Starter in Homer Bailey there. Stupid me.

When it got back to me for the 11th pick, I was so mad at myself that I could spit. I took Angel Pagan and was still self-kicking myself in the Charlies. I looked down my list of pitchers and thought that Brett Anderson would make a nice consolation prize. As soon as thinking that, KJ calls out Anderson's name.
DAMN YOU, KJ!
I looked at my list of pitchers. I hated all of the coming pitchers. I looked at Closers and thought to myself, 'No! You've already over drafted one closer!'
So I looked back at my Starters, my time was down to mere seconds and off my lips comes the name Annabelle Sanchez.
I don't trust Annabelle Sanchez. I should have taken Todd Frasier in hind sight. I love Todd Frasier, but I had narrowed my thinking to Starter only. A rookie mistake. Stupid!
Now, I'll be saddled with Sanchez all year.
Knowing that he is the Jekyll to my Hyde. Black Spy vs. White Spy. Reggie Jackson to my Billy Martin.
Every fantasy Manager has players that don't belong on their team. Any team. Sanchez is one of those for me.
I've had him before. He pitches his best games when on my bench. He's at his worst when I need him the most.
In the 10th pick of Johnson and 12th pick of Sanchez, I have pitchers that others would be happy with, but I am not a happy camper.

The 13/14 picks were 'need' picks. I needed a second Closer and speed. I selected Frieri and Bonifacio. Bonifacio is a favorite of mine this year. He should qualify at 2b after two weeks of the season and with injuries, could become a leadoff or second hitter on a good hitting team.

15/16 were to be the picks that would make my pitching staff. I was set to Overdraft Cobb and Teheran here. Both were having good springs. Both in organizations that knew pitching. Loved them both, but got only one.
I took Cobb with the 15th pick, knowing that he was more apt to be picked by those behind me more than Teheran.
KJ strikes again! He takes Teheran and I give him crap. When somebody gives another drafter crap at a 'live' Main Draft, it is the sincerest form, oh screw that, and screw you, KJ!
I took 'Handy Man' Matt Carpenter. Carpenter is one of those players who gets a bump because of his 'positionality'.
He's like the most likeable girl in your school. Great personality, but not much in the looks department. The opposite of Hanley who would be the blond bimbo in your school. Love the body, but hate it anytime her mouth opens above the letters.
The looks in this case are Carpenter's numbers. Carpenter is a good hitter, but does not excel in any category. Carpenter is to fantasy as Maicer Izturis is to real baseball in that a Manager will see him and plug him in somewhere.

After the Carpenter pick, the upside picks start flowing in. Lorenzo Cain, Dominick Brown, Lonnie Chisenhall, etc, along with the ugly Closers, Chris Perez, Brandon League, Bobby Parnell. And to me, there's a guy that fits both of these categories, who I ended up taking in both Main Drafts.
Fujikawa. I have a preference towards first year Asian pitchers. They're new to American hitters and most seem to have a really good first year. Uehara, Tazawa, and Okajima were examples.
Anyway, we have to have a reason for liking a pitcher we've never seen before, and that was my reasoning on him.
I also liked the fact that it would save FAAB in terms of having two and a half Closers rostered.

KJ would kill me again before the 18th pick. He took Derek Holland, who I felt has changed his clown like demeanor during Spring Training and is acting like he wants to be a real pitcher this year. Still saddled with the ugliest mustache in baseball, Holland is going to be a very good pitcher this year.
Enjoy KJ, you bastard!
I take Holland's over achieving teammate, Matt Harrison.
Harrison is a smoke and mirrors pitcher on a good team.
Some think of him as one step from Tim Hudson. I think of him as one step from Joe Saunders. But, we're in the 18th round and we can say something bad about every player taken now.

I laughed out loud at Shawn's 19th pick.
Carlos Marmol.
He turned to me a little sheepishly and said one word...."Desperation"
Shawn had drafted Hanrahan, but the Closer Boat left him at the docks when it came time for his second Closer.
I ho/hummed 19 and 20 with Edwin Jackson and Lucy Cruz. I've called him Lucy so long that I had to say 'Lucy Cruz, you know, the Dodger infielder.' The facilitator asked me if I liked my players. I said I guess I did. He said, 'Just asking, so far you've taken Annabelle Sanchez, Emily Bonifacio, and now, Lucy Cruz'.
Note to self- Quit using girl names to describe players so much!

I winked at Shawn when he took Al Albuquerque in the 21st round. The Detroit situation is still not solved to this moment and Albuquerque probably has their best arm. But I don't think Tiger Management sees it that way. In this case, Shawn has probably outsmarted himself a bit in that he took the right guy for the job, but the Tigers will probably not see it his way.
Well, that and desperation.
I took the only player who is on almost every one of my fantasy teams this year. Like Albuquerque, his real team does not see the talent like we do and uses him in stupid ways instead of just giving him a rotation spot and letting him go.
David Phelps. The Yankees ruined Joba and they're well on their way to ruining this kid. The talent is well above a hurt Hughes and crappy Ivan Nova, but the Yankees need to be hit over the head to give somebody under the age of 30 a chance.
Stupid Yankees.

I backed the Phelps pick with Wade Davis. Davis seems more suited for the bullpen, but the Royals have to win now so that Dayton Moore could have even more years to kill this likeable franchise.
Davis is a coin flip, he could succeed or he could flop and go back to the pen. But if succeeding, I wanted him rostered.

23/24 was Jason Vargas and Chris Johnson.
Vargas is the opposite of Annabelle Sanchez for me. Whenever starting for me, he usually turns in a good game. When benched, his stats suck so that others won't take him the following year. We've romanced for a long time.
Johnson, I like in Atlanta. Plus, when he gets hot with homers, he's a little like Chris Davis or Brandon Moss in that he becomes a wind-up toy. We just start him and let him go.

25/26 was Kelly Johnson and Jonny Gomes. These are grinders picks in that they'll be used situationally.

27 I take Nick Hundley. Hundley is a favorite of mine if waiting on a second catcher.
Why? I don't know. He plays in Yellowstone Park and hits near the end of a bad lineup. Still, I get the feeling that he'll be hitting fifth or sixth in that lineup by the time Grandal comes back and make the decision tough for Bud Black in what to do when Grandal arrives.....or maybe he just sucks and I don't know it, we'll see.

28- Jackie Bradley. I saw the kid play in Spring Training and I know that he's still a little tentative at the plate. His defense is remarkable for a kid his age. He looks Torii Hunterish or young Andruw Jones in how he plays outfield. I took him because I felt his defense will keep him in the lineup long enough for his swing to get accustomed to Major League pitching.
If lucky, I'll have a decent fifth outfielder.

Before discussing my 29th pick, it should be said that you don't have to feel badly for Shawn.
True, he has Hanrahan, Marmol, and Albuquerque in his bullpen, but in the 29th round, he took an arm better than those three.
Kelvin Herrera.
Shawn also knows that Herrera, long term, is better than both Marmol and Albuquerque. Sometimes, we are forced to bid opportunity over talent. It is how we get backward picks such as taking Marmol 10 rounds before Herrera.
My 29th pick was Nate McLouth. McLouth is playing for the right guy in Buck Showalter. In my job during the summer, I get to meet some scouts who were Major League players for awhile.
If there is one Manager these fellas rave about, it is Schowalter. Some claim that Buck changed their whole outlook both on the field and off. Have to respect that.

My last pick was Jose Quintana. Serviceable blah blah blah.

So there you have it. I hope I didn't bore many. I'm not a fan of others drafts and I wouldn't expect the same from you
I came out of this draft ok. I'd feel a whole lot better with Homer Bailey than Annabella Sanchez, but them's the brakes.
Matt, Glenn, I hope you enjoyed.
For the rest of you, I'll be back tomorrow with a devastating event in baseball during the 50's.

What could be interesting is having somebody else from this draft give their thoughts about it.
I know that Shawn is a Superstar and doesn't have time for us fantasy mortals ( ), but maybe KJ or somebody else can give a few thoughts from their perspective.

Excellent read. Thanks for your time in sharing the recap of your draft.

anibal just called after his 2 run 5 hit 1 bb 8k winning performence to say tell mr. dough to go f... himself. if he no like me he can drop me but i am k...g 200 and winning 20.

DOUGHBOYS wrote: Matt, Glenn, I hope you enjoyed.

I can't speak for Matt, but I certainly enjoyed the recap. You have a way with words, Mr. Dough. You had me right there at the draft table with you. Nicely done and very entertaining.

Great Article and recap Dough! I thouroughly enjoyed reading both parts.... I sat next to KJ in a 12 team the last weekend, him with 11 and me with 12 and it seemed I was always 1 round to late on at least 3-4 players I liked, as he swooped in like vulcher before me.

Nice job and thanks for "taking requests".

Thanks Doug, Glenn, Matt, and Mike(s) for the nice things said.

Mike the headhunter, surely you've had a fantasy player that was your kryptonite. This player could be as good as Annabelle Sanchez or even a Superstar like Tulo. Both are the same on my fantasy team. Kryptonite.
Maybe this is the year that Annabelle and I kiss and make up. Who knows?

yep-alex rios. i think you called anibal out and now he will show you- it is all good.

I was in this draft with Doughboys and crew very tough as advertised. But all I got to say is John Buck rd 28 pick 14 you can put it on the board yeesssssss.

Dan,

Please tell me you had Annabelle active this week..........