Draft Questions..

[mbrown]

Hey there,

Pretty new to fantasy baseball. Just looking for some opinions heading into the draft for a 1 year H2H league with somewhere between 16 and 20 teams.

Batter Stats = R, RBI, HR, SB, AVG
Pitcher Stats = W, saves, K\'s, ERA, WHIP

We start 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, C, 0F,OF, OF, UTIL
AND SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P

Few questions..

1)How do you see the 1st round playing out?

2)When is the best time to grab pitching?

3) Any guys I should be looking out for real late in the draft?

I realize that I\'m asking alot here but appreciate any feedback!!

[gdon]

Hey Jay

Everyone has different opinions on how to go about one\'s draft, so the best I can do is offer up my own.

1) In the first round you will typically see the same 10 guys drafted, but not necessarily in the same order. Yahoo ranks the top ten like this: Hanley, Pujols, Reyes, Wright, Sizemore, Cabrera, Braun, Hamilton, Howard, Kinsler.
Honestly, you can\'t really go wrong with any of the top round guys. Your best bet when drafting would be to buy Dobber\'s fantasy guide for $6 and in there you will find a draft ranking with projected stats. When I did my draft I pretty much just crossed guys off as they were selected, and took the best available guy according to my list. If you dont have $6, you can find draft rankings at ESPN or Yahoo.

2) My draft strategy is to take pitchers pretty late. This year pitching is arguably the deepest position and you can get some great talent in the mid rounds. As a general rule, I try to take the best players available for the first 6 rounds. I try not to think too much about positions, but you should always be aware of positions. For example, I play in a 13 team league and I drafted three OF in a row, a 1B and then another OF. These players were the best available at the time. In the 7 round, I shift my attention to pitchers. At this point, the first tier guys are usually gone, but there are a whacking load of second tier guys. I usually take 2-3 starters in a row, a closer, then another starter. After taking these pitchers, I look at my current roster and start to fill it out using the best available talent.
In summary, take pitchers later because it is a very deep and unpredictable position, whereas hitters are much more predictable. Since you play in a much larger league, so you may need to adapt my strategy to better reflect your league.

3) Late in the draft is the best time to take chances on guys with high upside. The best way to go about this is to assess your current team and locate your biggest weakness. If you are weak up the middle, try and find guys like Barmes, Ian Stewart, Ellis, Rentaria, F. Lopez, Lowrie, Fontenot, Andrus.
For late round closers, check out \"Fantasy Firemen\" to see which relievers could soon be closers.
For late round power, my best suggestions are: Shoppach, Thames, Butler, Sheffield, Millar, Hinske. But I dont know much about late round power.
For late round starters, there are tons of great articles on the web, so i suggest you do some research and pick your own sleepers.

[GoldenSeals]

As Woody mentioned, the first 8 players are generally mixed up - Hanley, Pujols, Reyes, Wright, Sizemore, Cabrera, Braun, Rollins, Teixiera, Utley, Lincecum. Any of the last 3 have a chance to slip to the 2nd round, while Kinsler could go late 1st round, early 2nd round. Although I don\'t recommend it.

Usually don\'t go after pitching until round 6, unless I see Haren in round 5. I love me the Haren!

Guys you can have late in the draft - my main man Motte was a guy you use to be able to grab quite late, but with him having an awesome spring, and his gaudy numbers from last year and AAA, I doubt you can get him so cheap anymore. Other players you can grab later in a 16+ team or higher:

Shin Soo Choo - If you play his numbers over a full season, it would\'ve translated to 25 HR. He has a legitimate shot at 20/20 and even more. Speed is legit. Can flex the muscle too.

Scott Baker - Having a terrible spring, but I believe he did last year as well. He\'s gotten better every year, and think he\'ll be considered an ace by season\'s end.

Mike Napoli - Look at his numbers. Those were done in 227 AB.

Ian Stewart - eligible at 2B/3B in Yahoo. All he needs is a playing time.

Paul Maholm - has gotten better each year, and put up pretty good numbers. In a H2H league where you need consistency, he was one of the cheaper consistent guys.

Ty Wigginton - 3 straight years of 20+ HR. Felix Pie might start the season as the LF, but think he\'ll steal playing time.

Marcus Thames - Another guy who has tremendous power, but might come at a cost of your batting average.

Russell Branyan - Apparently is the main option at 1B. If he is, he has the chance to put up Jack Cust type numbers.

Matt Joyce - Not sure if he\'ll start the year in AAA, but another guy with a ton of power, but may eat at your batting average.

Last few guys are guys that were available in my 18 team league, that may even have the potential of not being drafted (especially Branyan & Joyce, and may be better off monitoring them for now)

[bobjr488]

This is my post from \"Most scarce positions\" thread (check it out)- I just copied and pasted it here:
Posted: [ 1 Week, 5 Days ago ]

In a typical 12 team League I would have to say 2b and then ss.

2B has a thin top tier with Kinsler and Utley and then the next tier could be Pedroia, Phillips, Roberts and then Alexie Ramirez. Then it gets even thinner with Uggla and Cano and then tails off with Kendrick, Johnson, Lopez, DeRosa, Weeks, Matsui and so the ball rolls ever downhill from there....

SS is almost as thin in the top tier with H. Ramirez, Reyes and Rollins and if you don\'t grab any of those chumps you\'re better to wait a while (but not too long!) to snag Furcal, Drew, Tulo, Young, Jeter, Hardy and then further on down to Peralta, Tejada (what has happened to this guy!?), Aviles and then further on down to Carera, Escobar, Theriot, Renteria and so on and so on.

I would ideally like to lock up a solid 2b and ss early and you don\'t have to go scrounging for crumbs in the mid to late rounds.

3B is also one you need to address early if you want the best of the best. Wright, A-Roid and Longoria are all targeted early. Then it\'s on to A. Ramirez and then (gulp!) Chipper (I personally stay away from him), There are usually some decent options available in the early to mid rounds in Atkins, Huff, Figgins, Zimmerman, Encarnacion (I don\'t like him either), and then still rolling down the hill and scrounging are Beltre, Gordon, Wigg, Reynolds and so on. There are a few available old guys really late but they also come with a high risk in Mora, Glaus, Lowell and some other chumps but I\'ll leave that research to you.

Lock those three positions up early with solid fantasy starters and you\'re off to the races. Mix in some solid pitching and a RP and then you can play it by how the draft is progressing to grab some OF. 1b is not a worry, there are at least 15 1b eligible guys who are capable of 100 rbi or more so don\'t sweat that position.

Take the best available but target each position and remember to not allow it to get so thin you are settling for mediocre.

Save your catcher for near the end, but if you have to have a Mauer or McCann or Martin early just think that you are giving that draft selection up for someone who can get you way more stats and onto glory! i recently did a draft where both Mauer and McCann were drafted in the 6th round. You know who else went in that round? K-Rod, Peavy, McLouth, Haren, Furcal.... all guys I would prob rather have than a catcher. Read Dobber\'s baseball guide, it\'ll explain everything statically for the catcher position.

That\'s it, I\'m done writing my novel. Good Luck.

And don\'t forget to get at least 1 ace pitcher and relax on the rp, there\'s a boatload available during the draft and on the waiver wire.

And one more thing..... do your research!

Enjoy!!

[littleranger]

Awesome answers guys! Its you guys that are gonna make this as big as dobber hockey one day! (oh and I guess J Status too )