All City Greg’s Fantasy Baseball Draft

Ahh draft day. There are few things in the world as exciting as an annual fantasy draft with ones friends. Spring is in the air which can only mean one thing, baseball and thus 162 games of illustrious fantasy heartache.  So ill settle into my recliner and battle wits with nine of my fraternity brothers to figure out who is the biggest sports nerd. While this draft is online that will not stop the verbal jeers, insults, or mocking, that will take place on the message board, or in direct text messages. I also have the misfortune of living with one of these nine clowns. The only other caveat is you must be drinking while drafting. While there is no way to enforce this rule, I don’t really think we’re twisting any arms here.

This season I will bring you along for the ride that will be my fantasy baseball season. You will have total access to my inevitable joy or more likely heartbreak that accompanies any fantasy team. Tears probably won’t be shed, but hilarity will certainly ensue. I’ll introduce you to all my competition (anonymously,) ridicule them for their ignorance, mock them for being “that guy” and complain when they beat me.

This is a 10 man league with a traditional snake style draft for 22 rounds. I had the seventh overall pick, which means I had the seventh pick in odd numbered rounds the fourth pick in even numbered rounds.

So here’s a look at my draft results and at the end of the season we’ll compare it to my roster:

Round 1: (7) Albert Pujols

(Also Available Fielder, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp, Stephen Strasburg)

I know he is an aging superstar who has been injury prone the last few seasons but I had to take him. He is in a STACKED lineup. A lineup so stacked in makes Kate Upton look flat chested.   With the addition of Josh Hamilton to the Angels lineup they look to be an offensive juggernaut. Those two sluggers are complimented by reining Rookie of the Year marvel Mike Trout, and the Angles’ other home grown talent Mark Trumbo. Fat Albert will probably start about 50 games as the designated hitter to give his old bones some rest, and as a result will have a monster year. Like remember how cool the monsters in Cloverfield commercials looked? Except this monster will deliver.

Round 2: (14) Clayton Kershaw

(Also Available David Price, Giancarlo Stanton, King Felix)

The top two pitchers on most boards were Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg. Verlander went 9^th and Strasburg 11^th. Clayton Kershaw is a stud ace who posted 14 wins last season. This year with a full season for its improved offense to be a cohesive unit the Dodgers should give Kershaw better run support and he could easily win 18 games. If he can duplicate his 2.53 ERA and 229 K’s it’s a fantasy goldmine. My only second thought was to draft Felix Hernandez but with a suspect Seattle offense Kershaw got the call. But King Felix is the best nickname in baseball right now.

Round 3: (27) Adrian Beltre

(Also available Jose Reyes, Jared Weaver, Cole Hamels)

.321/36/102 is a pretty solid stat line for a third round pick. The two most elite third basemen, Wright and Longoria had already come off the board, so Beltre was an obvious pick. Third is a deceptively thin position fantasy wise this season. With A-Rod and Hanley Ramirez both starting the season on the disabled list pickins’ were slim. Texas lost the face of their franchise in Michael Young, and their best player in Josh Hamilton, can Beltre carry a new lineup in a division with the powerhouse Angels? Shit I hope so.

Round 4: (34) Ian Kinsler

(Also available Matt Holiday, Aaron Hill, Craig Kimbrel)

I know his .255 batting average wasn’t anything to write home about last season but that’s because he got 655. Only one other second baseman had over 100 runs last season, in Robinson Cano and Kinsler had 18 more stolen bases. I definitely went too early with Kinsler with the better second basemen Aaron Hill still available. But the market drops off pretty quickly after Cano and Pedroia with Hill, Jason Kipnis, Kinsler and Ben Zobrist being the second tier players. I got lured in by Yahoo fantasy rankings and panicked. I will probably regret this draft pick, and as punishment I will now force myself to converse with Sports-Lo. (ED. NOTE – I hope you watched SMASH)

Round 5: (47) Max Sherzer

(Also Available Cliff Lee, Adam Wainwright, Joe Mauer)

I knew I needed to get another starting pitcher here and this being my long gap between picks I began pray to the baseball gods. I knew there were few precious names left to be selected. CC Sabathia and Zach Greinke went with picks 42 and 44 so I was running out of names quickly. Sherzer had the second most strikeouts for a starting pitcher last season with 231 trailing only teammate Justin Verlander’s 239. Sherzer will match up against opponent’s second and third pitcher fairly often and with Detroit’s potent lineup another 16 win season should easily be had. But then again with my luck Max Sherzer will simultaneously require Tommy-John surgery and get kidnapped by Martians in early May.

Round 6: (54) Jason Heyward

(Also available Alex Rios, Yeonis Cespedes, Lance Lynn)

Heyward broke into the major for the 2010 season and was heralded as the next coming of Willie freakin’ Mays. Even going as far as to be nicknamed, “The J-Hey Kid” which is an insult to Mays. When Heyward has 600 career dingers then he can compare himself to the Giants legend.  Heyward initially didn’t disappoint putting up .277/18/72 in his rookie campaign. He finished second to Buster Posey for rookie of the year. 2011 was not so kind to Heyward who battled injuries and extensive scouting reports. He finished the season at .227/14/42. Last season Heyward started to show more of his 5 tool hype. Stealing 21 bases and hitting 27 round trip-ers Heyward brought his average back up to .267. With a rebuilt lineup featuring the two Upton brothers, joining him in the outfield, Heyward won’t be the only big bat for pitchers to concentrate on. Look for him to have a real breakout season bringing him to the next level of stardom.

Round 7: (67) Mariano Rivera

(Also available Joe Nathan, Jason Motte, Mark Trumbo)

Closer is always a very interesting position in the world of fantasy sports. They alone can earn you victories in the saves and a WHIP categories. There are very few guaranteed closers coming out of spring training each year. Atlanta’s definite close Craig Kimbrel went in the fourth round, which I thought was a bit of a stretch, but Kimbrel is by far the safest choice on the market. Aroldis Chapman of the Red’s went in the sixth round which is much closer to his average draft position. Not to get totally left behind I selected a the legend. Mariano Rivera is one of the greatest athletes anyone will ever see. This is going to be his final season, and a competitor like Mo will only go out on top. While he might not amass 40 saves this season, he’s a safe pick to anchor a fantasy bullpen. And as a born and raised New Yorker I couldn’t in good conscious let poor Mo spend his final season on one on my dumb suburban friend’s teams.

Round 8: (74) Allen Craig

(Also available Ryan Howard, AJ Burnett, Pablo Sandoval)

Behind his generic white guy name Allen Craig is a solid ball player. Having missed most of the first two months with knee and hamstring issues last season Craig only playing in 119 games. In limited at bats Craig hit .307 with 22 homers and 92 runs batted in. With a healthy full season Craig’s numbers should jump to around 30 and 115, pretty good for a sixth round outfielder.

Round 9: (87) Martin Prado

(Also available David Freese, Ben Zobrist, Asdrubal Cabrera)

Martin Prado in my opinion has always been a fantasy diamond in the rough, because he is eligible to play so many positions. He’s the Kama Sutra of fantasy baseball.  In the past I have had Prado playing second base or outfield, but this year the perennial .300 hitter is eligible for to play shortstop. He started 11 games there last year for the Atlanta after only have only played the position twice in the majors in 2008, thus creating this position loophole.  Now with Arizona, Prado is slated to be the starting third baseman. So in a euphoric world, I’ll get third baseman power and production at the shortstop slot.

Round 10: (94) Chase Headley

(Also available Desmond Jennings, Jake Peavy, Carlos Beltran)

While Chase will start the season on the DL he had an amazing season on a pretty crappy San Diego Padres team last season. He won a gold glove, a silver slugger and led the National League in RBI’s last season.  His career is on the way up and a few weeks on the shelf with a finger injury was by no means stopping me from drafting him as my designated hitter. But again his 4-6 week finger injury will probably turn into a chronic problem resulting in an amputation up to the elbow, all because I drafted him. Maybe after the amputation Headley will start pitching and become the next Jim Abbott.

Round 11: (107) Alex Gordon

(Also available Nick Swisher, Carlos Gomez, Curtis Granderson)

At this point in the draft outfielders were getting pretty slim. The next outfielders to be taken will be Carlos Gomez and Curtis Granderson in the thirteenth round. I really don’t understand drafting   Gomez with Swisher still being on the board. Grandy could be a major sleeper pick if he comes back from the DL in June, raises his terrible .232 average from last year, and still puts up big power numbers. He doesn’t need to hit 43 home runs if he hits .275 and bangs 30 dingers. I wasn’t willing to take the risk on Curtis, and Swisher is on a new team and is getting up in years, so I took Gordon. Kansas City has a solid lineup with Eric Hosmer, and Billy Butler to drive in Gordon who primarily hits lead-off. On the negative side it’s the Kansas City Royals… enough said.

 

We’re halfway done! Come back tomorrow as I scratch and claw to fill out my roster, bullpen and bench. This is just battle one of a war that will take place over the course of months.
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