RotoWire.com Experts League Draft

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:11 am

RotoWire.com will publish a 15-team experts league draft with the same rules as the NFBC in their baseball magazine, which hits newsstands at the end of January. All NFBC members will get a copy of that before the draft. Anyway, I again had the third pick and here's the first six rounds of the draft. Enjoy.

ROUND 1

Albert Pujols (Will Carroll, Baseball Prospectus)

Alex Rodriguez (Chris Liss, Rotowire.com)

Vladimir Guerrero (Greg Ambrosius, NFBC)

Carl Crawford (Jeff Erickson, Rotowire.com)

Derrek Lee (John Murphy)

Mark Teixeira (Matthew Berry, TalentedMrRoto.com)

Johan Santana (James Benkard, Rotowire.com)

Michael Young (Gus Papadopoulos, Rotowire.com)

Bobby Abreu (Howard Schindel, Rotowire.com)

Miguel Tejada (Tim Schuler, Rotowire.com)

Carlos Beltran (James Arnold (Rotowire.com)

Miguel Cabrera (Mike Beller, Rotowire.com)

Andruw Jones (Jason Thornbury, Rotowire.com)

Ichiro Suzuki (Jason Pliml, Mockdraftcentral.com)

Manny Ramirez (Derek VanRiper, Rotowire.com)

ROUND 2

David Ortiz

Chone Figgins

Alfonso Soriano

Jake Peavy

Jason Bay

Todd Helton

David Wright

Travis Hafner

Grady Sizemore

Jose Reyes

Chase Utley

Pedro Martinez

Jimmy Rollins

Juan Pierre

Rafael Furcal

ROUND 3

Barry Bonds

Roy Halladay

Gary Sheffield

Roy Oswalt

Derek Jeter

Jeff Kent

Victor Martinez

Eric Gagne

Lance Berkman

Randy Johnson

Marcus Giles

Aramis Ramirez

Paul Konerko

Chris Carpenter

Mariano Rivera

ROUND 4

Ben Sheets

Edgar Renteria

Morgan Ensberg

Brad Lidge

Carlos Zambrano

Mark Prior

Rich Harden

Adam Dunn

Eric Chavez

Dontrelle Willis

Jorge Cantu

Jhonny Peralta

Carlos Delgado

Hank Blalock

Johnny Damon

ROUND 5

Scott Rolen

Felix Hernandez

Francisco Rodriguez

Carlos Lee

Scott Podsednik

Troy Glaus

Felipe Lopez

Ryan Howard

Billy Wagner

Hideki Matsui

Bartolo Colon

Richie Sexson

Pat Burrell

Melvin Mora

A.J. Burnett

ROUND 6

David Eckstein

Huston Street

Javy Lopez

Mark Buehrle

Chipper Jones

Joe Mauer

Matt Holliday

Yorvit Torrealba

Mark Mulder

Vernon Wells

Andy Pettitte

Rickie Weeks

Joe Nathan

Aubrey Huff

Brad Wilkerson

ROUND 7

Josh Beckett

Jim Edmonds

Roger Clemens

Jason Varitek

Jonny Gomes

Coco Crisp

Keith Foulke

Scott Kazmir

John Lackey

Tadahito Iguchi

Lyle Overbay

Magglio Ordonez

Chad Tracy

Brett Myers

Brian Roberts

[ December 16, 2005, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]

Potter · Post by **Potter** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:14 am

Greg Wondering if you are gonna post the next 3 rounds. Thanks.

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:59 am

Wow, finally no one took the 34 HR, 34 RBI, 34 Run Miguel Cabrera in the first round. But not in the first three? I wonder where he went.

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 2:02 pm

Wow, lots of strange picks IMHO but Hafner in the middle 2nd? I mean the guy plays 1b and is good for a 35hr, 110 RBI season with no stolen bases....

Spy

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:25 am

Originally posted by Potter:

Greg Wondering if you are gonna post the next 3 rounds. Thanks. I will soon, I promise. Tom and I are on deadline with our magazine and working on three others. Sorry, it's a lame excuse, but we're trying. I promise to get more draft results up soon. If all of you promise to sign up for the NFBC in the next three days, you'll see 23 full rounds!!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:04 am

Originally posted by bjoak:

Wow, finally no one took the 34 HR, 34 RBI, 34 Run Miguel Cabrera in the first round. But not in the first three? I wonder where he went. Okay, I updated the first post to include picks for the first seven rounds, the first 105 picks. We had originally ommitted Cabrera from the list, but he was the 12th pick of the first round. Enjoy the results and look for all of these results in the 2006 RotoWire.com Fantasy Baseball Guide.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:07 am

Okay, here's my full team from the third spot. Could it compete in the NFBC? Not sure I have enough pitching and I definitely would need Clemens to take the mound 32 times!!

Here are the picks in order:

1. Vladimir Guerrero

2. Jimmy Rollins

3. Gary Sheffield

4. Carlos Delgado

5. Francisco Rodriguez

6. Joe Nathan

7. Roger Clemens

8. Barry Zito

9. John Smoltz

10. Ivan Rodriguez

11. Randy Winn

12. Placido Polanco

13. Shea Hillenbrand

14. B.J. Upton

15. Rocco Baldelli

16. Derek Lowe

17. Jarrod Washburn

18. Jay Gibbons

19. Reggie Sanders

20. Dioner Navarro

21. Kris Benson

22. Jesse Crain

23. Emil Brown

Cooperstown · Post by **Cooperstown** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:03 am

Greg, you're becoming quite the expert on picking 3rd. Five pitchers in a row. Hmmmmm.

Here's a scenario for you. Clemons retires, Smoltz is made the closer again, and Greg curses the Baseball Gods.

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:16 am

Here are the picks in order:

1. Vladimir Guerrero Greg, I like the overall team, but I worry about age quite a bit!!!!

Chris aka Spyhunter

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:22 am

Did I figure this guy Jason's team out properly (14th in odd rounds, 2nd in even)? Ummmm... This is perhaps the worst draft I have seen. I assume no trading in this league right? Does he want to win SB by 200 and get 1 point for both power/rbis??

I will make sure not to buy any MockDraftCentral analysis....

Spy

ROUND 1

Ichiro Suzuki (Jason Pliml, Mockdraftcentral.com)

ROUND 2

Chone Figgins

ROUND 3

Chris Carpenter

ROUND 4

Edgar Renteria

ROUND 5

Melvin Mora

ROUND 6

Huston Street

ROUND 7

Brett Myers

[/QB]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:00 am

Originally posted by coops:

Greg, you're becoming quite the expert on picking 3rd. Five pitchers in a row. Hmmmmm.

Here's a scenario for you. Clemons retires, Smoltz is made the closer again, and Greg curses the Baseball Gods. Yeah, I almost took Teixeira third to mix things up, but couldn't do it. We'll see if Vlad is my curse this year or not. As for pitching, I NEVER take pitching early, so taking closers in the fifth and sixth rounds was uncommon, but I liked those two and thought they'd help all of my pitching numbers.

Once you avoid starting pitchers too long in a 15-team draft, you have to realize that you're set on this path and you're risks MUST come through for you. Obviously you guys will know what Clemens is doing come March, but at this point he was the best I could do at that point in the draft. I honestly think his ego will get the best of him when the Yankees and Red Sox fight over him and since he will already be in good shape for the World Baseball event, he will take the $20 million in April and run for another year. Smoltz is a huge gamble. I'm very weak at starting pitching, but the 15-team draft leaves you weak in several areas.

When does FAAB start!!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:02 am

Originally posted by Spyhunter:

quote:

Here are the picks in order:

1. Vladimir Guerrero Greg, I like the overall team, but I worry about age quite a bit!!!!

Chris aka Spyhunter [/QB][/QUOTE]Yeah, this is definitely an older team than my KP Experts League team and there's less upside here than that other team. I guess Upton and Clemens were gamble picks and I wish I would have dove in earlier on the likes of Francisco Liriano, Matt Crain and even Felix Hernandez. I also had Prince Fielder ready and tried to wait one more round and got burned. I don't think this team wins anything unless EVERYTHING works out.

When does FAAB start again!!!

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:29 pm

Originally posted by Spyhunter:

Did I figure this guy Jason's team out properly (14th in odd rounds, 2nd in even)? Ummmm... This is perhaps the worst draft I have seen. I assume no trading in this league right? Does he want to win SB by 200 and get 1 point for both power/rbis??

I will make sure not to buy any MockDraftCentral analysis....

Spy

quote:

ROUND 1

Ichiro Suzuki (Jason Pliml, Mockdraftcentral.com)

ROUND 2

Chone Figgins

ROUND 3

Chris Carpenter

ROUND 4

Edgar Renteria

ROUND 5

Melvin Mora

ROUND 6

Huston Street

ROUND 7

Brett Myers

[/QB][/QUOTE]Seems unfair to judge him without seeing the whole draft. I agree that it might not be easy but he doesn't need speed anymore and logged up enough batting average to take a few Kevin Mench types later on.

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 4:07 pm

I agree completely he may have drafted JD Closser later who is going to give him an edge in batting avg.

As far as that draft it was horrible, the man has some good software though. Drafted in there the other night very impressive stuff.

Bjoak I even drafted Peavy the other night- that one was for you. Took him at pick 45 which I thought was a steal for him. I also took Dunn- did a little better job than you in protecting batting avg with the other picks but still hoping for an 8 at best in average with Dunn and Soriano.

Originally posted by bjoak:

quote:Originally posted by Spyhunter:

Did I figure this guy Jason's team out properly (14th in odd rounds, 2nd in even)? Ummmm... This is perhaps the worst draft I have seen. I assume no trading in this league right? Does he want to win SB by 200 and get 1 point for both power/rbis??

I will make sure not to buy any MockDraftCentral analysis....

Spy

quote:

ROUND 1

Ichiro Suzuki (Jason Pliml, Mockdraftcentral.com)

ROUND 2

Chone Figgins

ROUND 3

Chris Carpenter

ROUND 4

Edgar Renteria

ROUND 5

Melvin Mora

ROUND 6

Huston Street

ROUND 7

Brett Myers

[/QUOTE]Seems unfair to judge him without seeing the whole draft. I agree that it might not be easy but he doesn't need speed anymore and logged up enough batting average to take a few Kevin Mench types later on. [/QB][/QUOTE]

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 6:29 am

Why are you so angry? Are you mad at your dad?

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:18 pm

You do not get that kind of info for free- I need a couple of things first

1) Who is the Sheets of the 06 draft?

2) Any interesting theories this year that would match last year's you can make up for terrible batting avg in your first few picks by having Ramon Hernandez and JD Closser at Catcher?

3) I need your analysis on where I went wrong in the recent draft, I had pick 15.

Originally posted by bjoak:

Why are you so angry? Are you mad at your dad?

[ December 17, 2005, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: Chest Rockwell ]

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:19 pm

]

[ December 17, 2005, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: Chest Rockwell ]

eddiejag · Post by **eddiejag** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:59 pm

GREG i like your closers in round 5, 6 . Great value their, also love gibbons 18 and nothing wrong with emil brown in the 23rd. It was a strange draft , young in early round 1 and utley round 2 with hafner who only qulafies at dh.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 2:21 am

Originally posted by eddiejag:

GREG i like your closers in round 5, 6 . Great value their, also love gibbons 18 and nothing wrong with emil brown in the 23rd. It was a strange draft , young in early round 1 and utley round 2 with hafner who only qulafies at dh. I think Hafner has gone in the second round in the four experts league drafts I've participated in so far. Ortiz is DH only too and he goes in the first, Hafner in the second and even Fielder in the 11th or so (he's also DH only to start the year). Yeah, it's going to be an interesting and fun draft this year.

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 5:04 am

Originally posted by bjoak:

quote:Originally posted by Spyhunter:

Did I figure this guy Jason's team out properly (14th in odd rounds, 2nd in even)? Ummmm... This is perhaps the worst draft I have seen. I assume no trading in this league right? Does he want to win SB by 200 and get 1 point for both power/rbis??

I will make sure not to buy any MockDraftCentral analysis....

Spy

quote:

ROUND 1

Ichiro Suzuki (Jason Pliml, Mockdraftcentral.com)

ROUND 2

Chone Figgins

ROUND 3

Chris Carpenter

ROUND 4

Edgar Renteria

ROUND 5

Melvin Mora

ROUND 6

Huston Street

ROUND 7

Brett Myers

[/QUOTE]Seems unfair to judge him without seeing the whole draft. I agree that it might not be easy but he doesn't need speed anymore and logged up enough batting average to take a few Kevin Mench types later on. [/QB][/QUOTE]Maybe unfair, but seriously, there are very few potential 45 HR guys left beyond the 7th round, IMHO it is a terrible mix - I had a similar type of team in the NFBC last year (Got Abreu with the 10th pick, and Ichiro with the 20th) and even with Sexson, I ended up in the bottom areas for Power and RBIs

Spy

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:05 am

1) Who is the Sheets of the 06 draft?

2) Any interesting theories this year that would match last year's you can make up for terrible batting avg in your first few picks by having Ramon Hernandez and JD Closser at Catcher?

3) I need your analysis on where I went wrong in the recent draft, I had pick 15.

Okay, okay, since you're dying for my expertise I'll help you out:

1) Are you asking if I'll take a second rounder in the first round because I believe his value is higher than remaining first rounders? Yes, absolutely, if I'm afraid he won't fall to me in the second. You're all into this conformity thing; I could care less what you or anyone else thinks of me if it's going to help me win.

2) Yes, obviously Closser didn't help my BA. But he could have. He was a legitimate prospect at the time, playing at Coors. I still think he might put it together with PT, a la JJ Hardy. My point on that matter was more that if you look at the drafts of others, you see a lot of guys who wait until rounds 22 to 23 and then pick up Jason Phillips and Brad Ausmus, which becomes a wash when combined with the high BA guys they may have picked in the first two rounds. But *you* see more than half the draft as a way to fill in your roster rather than to continue to build an aggregate so you might not understand.

3) Same as point two and just about every other response you ask me for--you can't judge a draft by seven rounds; you need to see the whole thing. With that in mind, I'll say that it might not have been a good idea to take the bed-ridden Brian Roberts. What position do you plan on having him play--fetal?

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:12 am

I stick with giving you a hard time because sooner or later if I keep it up you will get something right.

Sheets was not a 2nd rounder either. And guess what it did not help you win.

I did not draft Brian Roberts- I guess I should have clarified for you that I do not work for rotowire, and Soriano, Dunn, and Peavy are not on that team. Mine is the KP draft.

Does it bother you that none of these fools are listening, you already said Crawford is a bad 1st round pick.

People are going to start offering to pay your travel expenses to be able to draft against you in 06.

Originally posted by bjoak:

quote: 1) Who is the Sheets of the 06 draft?

2) Any interesting theories this year that would match last year's you can make up for terrible batting avg in your first few picks by having Ramon Hernandez and JD Closser at Catcher?

3) I need your analysis on where I went wrong in the recent draft, I had pick 15.

Okay, okay, since you're dying for my expertise I'll help you out:

1) Are you asking if I'll take a second rounder in the first round because I believe his value is higher than remaining first rounders? Yes, absolutely, if I'm afraid he won't fall to me in the second. You're all into this conformity thing; I could care less what you or anyone else thinks of me if it's going to help me win.

2) Yes, obviously Closser didn't help my BA. But he could have. He was a legitimate prospect at the time, playing at Coors. I still think he might put it together with PT, a la JJ Hardy. My point on that matter was more that if you look at the drafts of others, you see a lot of guys who wait until rounds 22 to 23 and then pick up Jason Phillips and Brad Ausmus, which becomes a wash when combined with the high BA guys they may have picked in the first two rounds. But *you* see more than half the draft as a way to fill in your roster rather than to continue to build an aggregate so you might not understand.

3) Same as point two and just about every other response you ask me for--you can't judge a draft by seven rounds; you need to see the whole thing. With that in mind, I'll say that it might not have been a good idea to take the bed-ridden Brian Roberts. What position do you plan on having him play--fetal? [/quote]

[ December 18, 2005, 04:51 PM: Message edited by: Chest Rockwell ]

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 12:42 pm

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

I stick with giving you a hard time because sooner or later if I keep it up you will get something right.

Sheets was not a 2nd rounder either. And guess what it did not help you win.

I did not draft Brian Roberts- I guess I should have clarified for you that I do not work for rotowire, and Soriano, Dunn, and Peavy are not on that team. Mine is the KP draft.

Does it bother you that none of these fools are listening, you already said Crawford is a bad 1st round pick.

People are going to start offering to pay your travel expenses to be able to draft against you in 06.

...fascinating response. Here is Sheets average/high/low from last year:

27. Ben Sheets 27.85-9-44

The *latest* he went was the third round and a few of the guys at my draft said they wanted him in the second anyway. But, yeah, it didn't work out. There is risk involved in performance analysis.

[ December 18, 2005, 06:47 PM: Message edited by: bjoak ]

Joe Sambito · Post by **Joe Sambito** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:07 am

Originally Posted on 11/28/05 -

"On a side note I officially begin working on my 2006 draft lists next week. I am struggling with where to rank Ben Sheets which I swear is my last jab on that one. " -Chest Rockwell

Chest, Play nice. I thought we were going to see a kinder, gentler, Chest Rockwell this season. What happened, bad weather on the honeymoon?

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:53 am

I am sorry Stevie- this guy is just way too easy of a target...

It did rain the last day and a half on the honeymoon. Hope things are well in Stevieland- change your mind and come to Tampa in 06 for the rematch... it takes about 3 hours to get to FT Myers from Tampa which is a drive I may try to make this year too.

Originally posted by Joe Sambito:

Originally Posted on 11/28/05 -

"On a side note I officially begin working on my 2006 draft lists next week. I am struggling with where to rank Ben Sheets which I swear is my last jab on that one. " -Chest Rockwell

Chest, Play nice. I thought we were going to see a kinder, gentler, Chest Rockwell this season. What happened, bad weather on the honeymoon?