Assess your Draft

[raiders]

What was your strategy and how well were you able to execute it?

[happytimefunboy]

In general I was pretty shocked. I really thought players would go for alot more than they did... (Except the first 4 players which were on pace...)

I pretty much landed who I wanted... at decent rates and saved some money as well.

I can't wait for the predictions and draft evaluation...

Great work every-one on the draft and thanks to those who ran the auction... It went very well!

Thx all can't wait to start!

Mike
Sudbury

[shootingstars]

I landed everyone I had on my radar but was surprised at some of the prices players went for both high and low.

[owls]

Not good. I blew my load on some chases and could have found some better value deals.

[raiders]

I went into the draft needing 2B, SS, OF and a SP. I wanted to test the 2B waters first to see what Hill would go for. If I could get him for under 30, then I would focus on OF and SP. If he was going over 30, then I decided to go after what I viewed as the best player in the draft outside of Pujols -- Ryan Zimmerman. I have Rolen, but Zimmerman would allow me to move Aybar (who tears up LH) over to 2B and land a cheap option there who can hit RH.

So Hill went for 32 and I went and got Zimmerman and filled my 2B need later by getting a reasonably priced Brendan Ryan for 10 bucks. I decided I could go up to 45 for Zimmerman, which is exactly what I got him for. Zimmerman gives me a stud in the middle of the lineup who plays amazing D at 3B. He's grown tremendously over the last couple of years and at only 25 years old, the sky's the limit.

At SS, Rollins was the only player I was targeting in a very thin SS draft. He went for 25, which is about where I was expecting. His card suffers from a brutal start to last season, but he still played great D, has the A-1B, and should bounce back this year following a great 2nd half last year.

In OF, I planned to get either Holliday or Werth. Holliday was my preferred choice & he again went about where I thought, actually a couple of bucks below what I budgeted. I had no idea that later in the draft I would nearly land Werth as well but finally had to pull out of the bidding late.

At SP I wanted to land Haren, but Vazquez was my backup. I thought Haren would go for around 36-38 and I put my last bid in at 42 before Nicholas went to 43. That pretty much meant I had to get Vazquez and I paid more for him than I wanted at 39. I like Vazquez more for this year, but I think his year was more of a fluke compared to the upward projecting Haren.

Finally at 2B, I knew I could go cheap and just planned to grab either Ryan or Uribe. I preferred Ryan because his D at 2B is a little better than Uribe and he's also rated at SS so he can backup Rollins. At 10 bucks, I got him right about where I expected.

My only catcher is Sandoval who amazingly got rated as a B/-1 based on a few innings behind the dish. But there were 2 catchers in this draft that I liked -- Olivo and Iannetta. If either was going in the 5-8 range, I thought it would make sense to go after 1 of them. Iannetta was in that range so I got my backup & long-term option at C.

With my last open spot I just planned to wait to see who was going late when prices went down. For a couple of rounds I noticed that Trevor Cahill was still hanging around. Finally when there were only a handful of teams still in the draft I went after him and got him for 10 bucks.

The soundness of my strategy probably hinges on the prudence of going after Zimmerman versus maybe closing the deal on someone like Werth or adding another stud pitcher to the stable. But I certainly executed on the plan I put in place, and the resulting team is pretty deep and talented with no major holes (especially after trading for Ludwick and adding Cust in the minors draft).

[archrivals]

Strategy was to try and fill an entire infield other than SS, 2 starting outfielders, and a bullpen for 108 bucks, and yet not suck this year.

I wanted two guys, Bourn and Zimmerman. Bourn, while striking out a bit much, has tremendous speed which plays in my park and Zimm is Zimm.
I got caught up in the fray on Aaron Hill and landed him at 32, which is a few bucks high, but after seeing what Zimmerman, Reynolds and the other power went for, I was more acceptable. Hill adds spectacular defense up the middle and now with Hanley form a super DP combo.
Bourn, again maybe a couple bucks too high, but fits perfect at the top of the lineup, and now the up the middle with the DP combo and Mauer, is one of the best in the league.
While I wasnt set on landing a closer, I still believe you can't win without one. So, when I saw the closers go off the board, I jumped in on Soriano, who I thought was the 2nd best closer out there, and landed him for 20. With my rotation, I wanted a back end guy to shut the door.
After the 3 huge buys, it was time to go into wait and see mode. I missed Laroche, Jones, and Loney and kicking myself for not upping another buck or 2 to make it happen. Recovered nicely with Angel Pagan for $1, Brandon League and his card of hard grounders and K's for $1. Took 4 starting pitcher projects, while not necessarily in my plans, I think that could be huge trade bait later to land what I need.
Got Inge at 3b, not sexy, but cheap and adds tremendous defense. Derosa fills in everywhere, and solid outfield defense.

All in all, pretty happy with my draft, couldn't afford to go after the big starters, and wasn't planning on overspending on the lower tier ones. Got the leadoff man, and cleanup hitter, closer, and some useful parts while adding some nice, cheap upside for later use. Should be nice compliments to the two batting champs and AL CY winner.......HELLO!

[M24H]

Newsflash: The 24 Horsemen were NOT going to win anything this year headed into the draft.

This just in: We're still not going to.

The writing was on the wall long ago in terms of starting pitching. I'm not going to have any jam starters, in a division where between Frisco and Titletown and Jackson Park I believe they have a combined 37 jam starters. Next year's draft will be my starting pitching draft. This year was all about hitting, because unless I wanted to be a complete and total doormat in this division where 20-year-old rivalries are being re-ignited on a larger scale.....I was going to need to start scoring some friggin' runs.

I needed a starting catcher coming in, and while I considered re-signing fan favorite Gerald Laird, I wanted to make sure I got somebody who could guarantee me I wouldn't have to play Chris Coste except in the case of an emergency. Yadier Molina was the only guy I specifically said I wouldn't leave without unless we started going north of $25. Was able to get him for $23 and am happy to finally have the catcher position locked down. Yadi doesn't directly help my offense on the surface, but Coste is an unmitigated disaster who I wish I could've afforded to cut.

Needed a first baseman and knew I wasn't going to be in for Pujols. If Gonzalez had been nominated earlier in the draft, I'd have definitely been in on him, and no way Nate gets him for $34. The way AG plays defense I'd have been willing to sniff $40 for him. Ended up going with Pena, who doesn't really play defense, but that's not why I was drafting him and that's why I was able to get him for $25. His average sucks but his OPS is still solid from both sides and I get A power vs both sides. (It is embarrassing how few A power guys I've had the first two seasons.) Most importantly, he's headed into his contract year this season with the Rays, so I'm feeling good about a better overall card next year, especially defensively.

Now I had $23 left and I still needed to fill two OF spots with guys who could actually help me (and get two more guys). Was able to get Manny for $14, thanks to his limited ABs and shitty defense, but I can live with the ABs and DH him. Another guy with A power vs both sides, and its his contract year as well. Only $9 left and I still needed a RF who could produce and had a minus arm, and I was really happy to get Josh Willingham for only $5. I got priced out of Ludwick and his -2 arm, who I wanted, but Willingham hits better for me this season and still gets me a -1.

$4 left and needed two guys, so I decided to try and sneak away with a starting pitcher who could take starts away from Jeff Suppan. Tried Ohlendorf and failed miserably - I could only spend $3 and he went for $12 to Inland. Tried getting Brad Bergesen, and it crushed me when he went for a mere $3 to Nickel Center. Ended up getting Wakefield for the $3 and will take my chances on the knuckleballer over Suppan's train wreck of a card any day. Then I managed to get Ronald Belisario with my only remaining $1, which to me is a huge steal as he's suddenly co-anchor of a bullpen I was already feeling pretty comfortable with coming in.

Overall I'm calling it a successful draft. In season two of our BLB I got 9 wins better. My goal for the season is (as sad as this is) is to win 82 games, which would be a +7 wins. Any more than that is gravy, but the goal is to be above .500 and maybe I've got enough offense and bullpen help to get it done.

[evilempire]

Operating without this year's game, I took a hard look at certain stats and wanted to gather a lot of players would be menaces at the plate, along with positional pitchers of both hands. I was able to gather starters and backups for all positions, with a slight deficiency in reliever IPs. I was pleasantly surprsed to get Yuniesky Betancourt and Hideki Matsui at bargain prices. Was shocked at how quickly the prices shot up for the top players. I knew I wouldn't realistically spend more than $15 on a player, given that I had to get 14 players with $122. So I had to suck it up and wait for middle rounds to pick up a lot of players. Only wish I could have added more finesse hitters, with bunt/steal ability, tho I'll do what I can from the remaining minors/prospects.

[becker]

For me, I had 5 positional needs at SS, 2b, CF, SP, and closer, so I allotted 60 bucks for them. Then I had 5 other positions to scrounge for deals, and allotted 15 for that.

My buzzwords this year, after last year's spending spree, was bargains. I needed to see a lot of money drained early, which it was. I needed to show patience, which for the most part I did, although I jumped too early in the middle rounds.

The good news is that I filled 4 of those positions decently. I saw there were 7 jam closers in

the draft so I decided I'd go 15 on one if needed, but apparently Steve Fiorindo decided 3 jam closers were more important than a starter, so he bid them up (usually against me). I did get Valverde at a slightly high $16 but I could live with it.

I then sought to sneak Brandon Webb past everyone, with a max bid on my part of $5. He went for $5. If he is even half the pitcher he was, that might be the steal of the draft.

I just laid back and let a lot of overpriced pitching go by (and it never got cheaper, more later) and jumped in on a cheap Everth Cabrera at $5. He was never going to be my fulltime SS, so I chalked that one up to prospecting. I knew I'd need to trim the $60 budget a little and get a guy cheaper.

I did the same thing with Quentin as I did with Webb, and got him for the same price. Here I thought the $10 I had him for last year was a bargain! I hope he stays healthy...

I needed an impact kinda guy but for no more than $15, so after Hill went for $32, I was thrilled to get Brandon Phillips for $14. He'll hit down in the lineup for me and not need a backup, and is a 20/20 man.

Mark Ellis at $2 was a mistake, since I didnt have a roster spot, so I was psyched to deal him for a utility guy who covers everywhere in Jerry Hairston. Thanks Jonathan.

When Ryan went for 10 bucks (thansk Craig) I started to get worried about the weak SS field, so I was thrilled to get Guzman for only $6. At least 'Verth Cabrera is still a pinch runner! There was the savings I needed to cover the prospects....

the problem is, I never got the SP. I saw a couple go off the board late, but they all seemed expensive, and I hoped Trevor Cahill would be around for 15 or so...what I had to spend. He wasn't. so I had to settle for Ian Snell, which some bastard bid up the slug to $3! Same with my catcher, the $1 Ramon Hernandez, bid up to $3. At least I left $5 on the table.

I hope my lack of an extra starter doesn't hurt me...since I have 3 jams and a decent #4 in Kawakami I should be ok. For letting the starts pass by and a couple of guys too high, I give myself a B. But I didn't want to spend more than $20 on anyone, and if Webb and Quentin come through, we'll be terrorizing Brian next year!

[nfeuerer]

The Badgers entered the auction needing a 3B, 2B, and a DH type, plus about 80 starts. I wanted FT guys at those positions, and figured with the extra talent, some of the prices would be lower than in years past.
Badgers draft went a little haywire early, with exiting the room to clear up an error on my screen, and then not being able to get back in. Was bummed when Haren was the first off the board, but money's tight in Jackson Park, and I wouldn't have been in at $43. As usual, I was bargain hunting, and let the first batch of guys slip off the board without geting too heavily involved past $30. Wanted Zimmerman, B. Roberts, B. Phillips, Beckham, but all went too high for my taste. I had made a list of who I thought needed the positions I was looking for, and some guys jumped in in strange spots to bump $$ up (Craig!). So i just sat back waiting for guys to blow some money. Finally, Adrian Gonzalez came up, and though I didn't NEED him, I really liked him, and stuck in to the end. Was shocked to get him for $34, and cause a little draft room drama.

After biding my time, a lot of action came on guys I liked quickly. Had Beltran rated highly in the OF, as I really needed a guy who can crush LHP to spell Sizemore and A. Jones, and was pleased to get him for $13, and his 1000+ OPS vs. LHP will be welcome. I think he can bounce back and fit in for the next few years.
Next, got in on Randy Wells, wasn't super pumped about him, but after seeing a lot of the pitchers on my list gone at way higher prices than I wanted, I was willing to go to $10 on my 3rd tier of guys, and got him for that. We'll see how he pans out, but should be solid this year.
After that, I was zeroed in on getting Wandy and Chipper, and was ready to spend $45-50 to get them, b/c the other options weren't too attractive to me. That I got them both for $33 made me very happy, and allowed me to go a little more on Rzepczynski than I would have. Coffey tried to get at $3, but someone beat me to the button, and i got him at $4. Should be ok. Knew after Schumaker went, Arlington and I would be shooting for Sanchez, didn't like spending $8, but he was about the last one left.
All in all, I felt i did a pretty good job. Added a bunch of guys I had rated in the top tier available, and most at good costs. I was also kinda happy to not psend all my money, b/c a pre-draft analysis of my possible contract extensions next year would leave me sitting very tight against the cap, so any extra breathing room was welcome.

[happytimefunboy]

Well I looked over my team, a few times and have this to say: I needed corner fielders, 2 SP, 2 RP, a part time SS and DH.

My biggest concern was getting full time players with a lot of AB's/starts. I carried 2 dead weight players into the draft. (Which could be my big mistake) in D. Ryan (Who I thought would be the back up in SD but they went and signed Toribella) and Joyce (RF in TB, he better pan out this year)

I bought Abreu early at $18. I would have payed $20... he has a full season of AB's can steal and has usable D in the OF. The .370 OB% is nice as well.

Then Danks can up and I bought him at $20. (I really thought SP would be going crazy high so I thought it was a steal... but SP was cheaper than I expected so I'm iffy on this buy now) Danks land my #4 spot behind Carpenter, Halladay and Happ.

When Baker came to me for $15 I wet my pants... (A little) He may not have the Jam and a little high avg vs RH but his 1.19 whip puts him into the #3 spot in my rotation.

I was still a few starts short so I added Arryo... at $15 not a steal but a fair price I think. Him and Danks will battle for that 5th spot and one will not use 18 starts. Arroyo gave me 6 starting pitchers all below 1.28 whips!

I had Castillo at 2B, but with his poor D I decided to go for a 2B... Hill I wanted but 30 was my limit... (Actually it was $20 but I went nuts and still missed him) I grabbed Roberts next... since I could use the speed and AB's. $26 is a little high for him but 2B market was scarce.

I wanted Pence but lost out to Tim, so I grabbed McCluth $10 and Camron $6 to patrol RF. (And saved close to $10 over Pence) Both are CF with good D with good OB% the way I need.

With Posada as my catcher I needed a younger up and comer and got Ruiz at $6. He's a nice back-up with a nice bat.

I didn't really care about my pen so I landed A. Guzman who has a nice card for $1 and is possible now out of baseball, and D. Mathis for $1 for a good card.

Oh ya I needed a part time ss and landed Theriot for $6. Not be best D, but as a Platoon with M. Izturis he's dam good.

I left $13 on the table... which will help me towards next year since I have few guys coming off the pay-roll.

I didn't get much Power but I didn't really need it, with Tex, Longoria, Posada and Hunter in the heart of my order. I landed a lot of speed and AB's. Can't wait to see a + armed Catcher.

Mike
Sudbury

It was a good draft...