Some colleagues and I had our fantasy baseball draft over the weekend for our Newsroom Junkies league. I'd like to share with you a few thoughts.
This is our league's second year of existence, and we decided to make it a keeper league. We could protect five guys from last year's rosters. Here are mine: Travis Hafner, B.J. Upton, Vlad Guererro, Josh Beckett, and Mark Teixeira. I thought Vlad and Tex were pretty much no-brainers ... and after the potential Upton showed last year I couldn't pass up him and his 2B eligibility. I'm counting on a big rebound from Pronk. And I felt like I needed an ace for my rotation. I threw back Dan Uggla, Delmon Young, Michael Young, Roy Oswalt, Scott Kazmir, Mariano Rivera and J.J. Putz.
Here are the 2008 Springfield Atoms. I should mention it's a 10-team, 5x5 mixed league with two utility slots, seven pitcher slots and seven bench players.
C Kenji Johjima
1B Mark Teixeira
2B B.J. Upton
SS Rafael Furcal
3B Adrian Beltre
OF Vlad Guererro
OF Delmon Young
OF Jason Bay
UTL Travis Hafner
UTL Lance Berkman
P Josh Beckett
P Aaron Harang
P Daisuke Matsuzaka
P Tim Hudson
P Bobby Jenks
P Rafael Soriano
P Todd Jones
P Jonathan Broxton
BE Miguel Tejada
BE Jacoby Ellsbury
BE Akinori Iwamura
BE Tom Gorzelanny
BE Derek Lowe
BE Kelvim Escobar
I was thrilled to get Berkman with my first pick in our re-draft. I had him as the highest-rated available player and he fell all the way to me with the sixth overall pick.
And I think I may have gotten one of the steals of the draft: I took Tejada in what would be somewhere around the 16th round. He's a sixth- or seventh-round pick by most estimates, even with the Mitchell Report concerns and coming off a lackluster season. Plus, I've already got Furcal at short - not thrilled with him, but he's a capable player who steals a ton.
Speaking of steals, I think I'll be OK with Furcal, Upton and Ellsbury, who I think could swipe 40-45 bags.
I should be OK in Ks too between Beckett, Dice-K and Harang at the top and Gorzelanny helping out. I'll be alright in saves too - Jenks and Jones should each get 40, and I think Soriano is really underrated. Love Broxton too as a set-up guy and maybe Takashi Saito's replacement if I get lucky.
Not thrilled with Beltre at third so I took Iwamura as some insurance. A lot of the elite guys were protected. I really wanted Edwin Encarnacion, but he went a few picks before I could get him.
Escobar went a lot later than he should have because of the shoulder injury, but I look forward to a speedy recovery. And Lowe is a decent but unspectacular last guy in the rotation. I figure I can put Escobar on the DL or even drop Lowe at some point if I spot some promising pitchers out there.
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5 comments:
Elsbury will never steal 40. I'm sayin around 20 if he's lucky. Sox run the least in the majors, keep that in mind.
Have to disagree with you there. Granted, the Sox don't run as much as some other teams. Julio Lugo stole 34 last year for them, and that was with a weak .294 on-base percentage. Ellsbury stole nine in 116 at-bats last year, and that was after stealing a combined 41 in the minors in 2007 before getting called-up. Guy's too quick to not let him run, and he's going to play a bunch, Coco Crisp will be gone by midseason. Ellsbury will get closer to 40 SBs than 20.
No way bud.Remember, if they have him hitting in froont of Manny,Papi,and Lowell, why would they need to run him?
25 is stretchin it, but never 40. Plus he IS still splitting time with crisp, so taht will hurt too.
Sorry Jason, there goes Escobar. That's a shame, he's a darn good pitcher.
I was hoping for a good prognosis for Escobar but it doesn't look good, with surgery being a possibility. I'll probably keep him on the DL for now (we have two slots in that league) and hope he's not out for the year. He does have a lot of upside if healthy, even if it's not until later this spring.
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