All City Greg’s Fantasy Baseball Draft Part 2
Round 12: (114) Hiroki Kuroda
(Serio Romero, Ian Kennedy, Doug Fister)
Now that my lineup is essentially competed, (minus a catcher) I turned my eye towards pitching. While the Yankees may not have the same pop in their lineup as they have in previous season, they are still the Yankees. You think they’re going to have a down year, Toronto, Baltimore, and Tampa all look good. Doesn’t matter they are the stupid fucking Yankees and they will inevitably succeed. Kuroda’s age 38, was initially a question in my mind. How durable will he be, will he get hurt, how many starts will he have? Although had 16 wins last season posting a 3.32 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP it was still a risky pick. But when comparing the other two available starting pitchers I settled on Kuroda. Fister had less wins, less K’s and a higher WHIP. Kennedy had an amazing 2011 but came down to earth a bit last season; I think that trend will continue.
Round 13: (127) Chris Perez
(Also available Jason Grilli, Joel Hanrahan, Marco Scutaro)
While no one expects the Cleveland Indians to win the AL Central Chris Perez is a safe pick for a closer. He had 59 strikeouts in 58 innings, and totaled over 35 saves each of the last two seasons. He is clearly the Indians closer with no competition in sight to challenge him for the job.
Round 14: (134) Ryan Vogelson
(Also available Dan Haren, Jeremy Hellickson, Andre Either)
After being out of the majors for 5 seasons Vogie (Ed. Note: Greg is on nickname basis with Vogelson – ALL CITY!) burst onto the scene in 2011 with an incredible year. Last season he had a more moderate stat line of a 14 wins, and a 3.71 ERA to go with 158 K’s. He has an amazing upside for a 14th round pick. We know he can dominate, and he is on the defending World Series Champion Giants. Also we know he can be so atrocious that he can’t even stay in the bigs with the Pirates.
Round 15: (147) AJ Pierzynski
(Also Available Michael Young, Anthony Rizzo, Jesus Montero)
I definitely reached too early for a catcher. If you don’t get Buster Posey or Joe Mauer you can pretty much wait till the last two rounds to select a catcher. He might struggle adjusting to his new location in Texas after a billion years on the south side of Chicago. But on a positive note, AJ had the most runs 68, the most RBI’s 77, and the second most homeruns for a catcher with 27. I don’t deem it a total waste of a pick, but I could have done better.
Round 16: (154) Rafeal Betancourt
(Also available Addison Reed, Shane Victorino, Kyle Lohse)
Back to the bullpen. I don’t know if I have stressed this enough, YOU NEED TO HAVE CLOSERS, THAT WON’T BE REPLACED MIDSEASON. Rafeal Betancourt is a solid closer on a shaky team in the Colorado Rockies. What is more important is he has been in Colorado several seasons, was their setup guy and has earned the spot as closer. He probably isn’t going anywhere.
Round 17: (167) Chris Capuano
(Also available Brett Gardner, Alex Cobb, Brett Anderson)
This former Met has flourished in the city on Angels. Capuano lowered his ERA last season to 3.72 last season after it was 4.55 in Flushing. As I said before, the Dodgers look like a strong team this year that will battle Arizona for the National League West title. Capuano is a great pick for a fourth starter. Plus his wife is pretty damn sexy.
Round 18: (174) Jonathon Broxton
(Also available Phil Hughes, Grant Balfour, Alfonso Soriano)
I took a shot here with Broxton. He was slated to be the Red’s closer but since Aroldis Chapman was moved back to the bullpen Broxton will become the eighth inning pitcher. Broxton as the set up man he has very little fantasy value. Excuse me as I go flog myself as punishment for this poor draft choice.
Round 19: (187) David Ortiz
(Also available Jason Werth, Adam Dunn, Tommy Hanson)
I was really targeting Ike Davis but my dickhead roommate stole him 5 picks earlier. I needed designated hitter until Chase was healthy. Ortiz has shown the last two seasons that he hasn’t lost it. He seems rejuvenated as there are no playoff expectations for the Red Sox again this season. With the limelight on the rest of the AL East expect Papi to have another quality season in Beantown.
Round 20: (194) Ryan Dempster
(Also available Barry Zito, Edwin Jackson, Chris Davis)
When you get this deep into a draft what you’re really searching for is upside. We know how good Ryan Dempster can be. He was killing it in Chicago last year until her was traded to Texas. Now in Boston Dempster has the potential to be a huge sleeper late in the draft. Or he could suck and I leave him on my roster for too long, cause I’m stubborn and know how good he COULD be.
Round 21: (207) Angel Pagan
(Also available Matt Carpenter, Mark Teixiera, Rickie Weeks)
I think Pagan was a steal here for a fourth outfielder. He starts for a good team, stole 29 bases and had 95 runs. He’s a good substitution late in the week if you need to boost those categories.
Round 22: (214) Dexter Fowler
(Also available Derek Jeter, Torii Hunter, Matt Garza)
While I probably should have gone starting pitcher here, I chose Fowler instead. Fowler is still young at 27 though he has been in the league four full seasons. For the first time last season his average was over .266 in fact it was .300. For a final round pick you could do worse than a .300 hitter. He might not stay on my roster forever, but at least I can say I drafted. I’m sure after I drop him in May he’ll hit .450 down the stretch and carry the Rockies.
Opening day is Sunday March 31st and is generally regarded as better than Christmas. Ok maybe not better than Christmas. But it’s a day where even us Met fans can celebrate because we’re briefly in first place. God Bless the national pastime and play (fantasy) ball.
Listen to me babble all the time on twitter @GregVitucci
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