For the 4th straight year, Razzball is competing in CBSSports.com’s AL-only league (we also compete in NL-only – here’s Grey’s draft post). We won AL-only in 2012 but have struggled the past two years (8th and 9th). The big change for 2015 is that this will be my team exclusively where we co-managed in 2012-2014.
I enjoy the CBSSports leagues for two reasons: 1) We are in the mixed league versions of LABR and Tout Wars so this league lets us compete in an expert AL-only league and 2) There are daily pick-ups in this league with a $0 FAAB option – this hugely favors maniacal daily players like me.
Below is the team I drafted on Tuesday, February 24th. Here is the complete CBSSports AL-only draft. Notes below.
POS | PLAYER | $ | ELIG |
---|---|---|---|
C | Chris Iannetta C | LAA | 2 | C,DH |
C | Dioner Navarro C | TOR | 2 | C,DH |
1B | Ike Davis 1B | OAK | 7 | 1B,CI,DH |
2B | Ian Kinsler 2B | DET | 23 | 2B,DH,MI |
3B | Pablo Sandoval 3B | BOS | 20 | 3B,CI,DH |
SS | Jose Ramirez SS | CLE | 9 | DH,MI,SS |
MI | Francisco Lindor SS | CLE | 6 | DH,MI,SS |
CI | Brandon Moss LF | CLE | 12 | 1B,CI,DH,OF |
OF | Melky Cabrera LF | CHW | 22 | DH,OF |
OF | Oswaldo Arcia RF | MIN | 21 | DH,OF |
OF | Michael Saunders LF | TOR | 10 | DH,OF |
OF | Adam Eaton CF | CHW | 19 | DH,OF |
OF | Chris Young CF | NYY | 1 | DH,OF |
DH | Kennys Vargas DH | MIN | 10 | DH |
P | Yu Darvish SP | TEX | 26 | P |
P | Brett Cecil RP | TOR | 14 | P |
P | Bud Norris SP | BAL | 6 | P |
P | Chris Tillman SP | BAL | 9 | P |
P | Rick Porcello SP | BOS | 10 | P |
P | Danny Salazar SP | CLE | 11 | P |
P | J.A. Happ SP | SEA | 3 | P |
P | Luke Gregerson RP | HOU | 12 | P |
P | Justin Masterson SP | BOS | 5 | P |
RES | Roenis Elias SP | SEA | P | |
RES | Logan Forsythe 2B | TB | 2B,DH,MI | |
RES | Nate Schierholtz RF | TEX | DH,OF | |
RES | Danny Farquhar RP | SEA | P | |
RES | Ryan Hanigan C | BOS | C,DH | |
RES | Collin Cowgill RF | LAA | DH,OF | |
RES | Ryan Flaherty 3B | BAL | 2B,3B,CI,DH,MI,SS |
Notes:
- The CBSSports drafts are more Stars ‘n Scrubs than LABR/Tout Wars so Grey and I typically spread our dollars around with a goal of having solid AB in every hitting slot, 6-7 solid SP, and 1-2 closers. That’s a solid description for the above draft as I ended up with only one of the almost 50 $1 players.
- For the 2nd straight draft (LABR 15-team the first), my planned 67/33 hit/pitch split veered toward pitching. I ended up with a 63/37 split because 1) I secured power at corners/UTIL at a cheaper price than I expected (Moss and Vargas were a combined $11 cheaper than my projections), 2) Catchers went stupid cheap (bought 2 solid ones for $2 each), and 3) Closers went for crazy amounts and I was unable to handcuff my $14 Brett Cecil with Aaron Sanchez (went for $9). So I used some of the surplus $ to grab Luke Gregerson as a SV hedge (ideally, they both close). The sacrifice was going with a $1 5th outfielder (Chris Young) versus a more expensive one.
- I really like the balance I was able to achieve on offense. I was able to build up a solid R/RBI/AVG foundation with my initial hitting picks (Ian Kinsler, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Moss, Melky Cabrera) and then complemented with power (Ike Davis, Oswaldo Arcia, Kennys Vargas) and speed/AVG (Adam Eaton, Jose Ramirez/Francisco Lindor).
- My SP drafting in AL/NL-only differs from mixed league in that I worry less about ERA/WHIP and more about SP depth/IP security so I do well in Wins and K’s. I didn’t plan on picking up an ace but Darvish went at about my $ projection ($26) and I pulled the trigger. I like Salazar at $11 (had him at $18) and felt like I got decent bargains on Porcello, Tillman, Norris, Happ, and Masterson. Happy to nab Elias with my first reserve pick as I think he finds his way into 15 GS this year and love his home park for pitchers.
- Speed went for a premium early in this draft. Altuve for $35, Andrus for $27 (?!?!), Alcides Escobar for $19, Leonys Martin for $22, etc. I was happy that Jose Ramirez wasn’t nominate until late so I can get him at $9 (priced him at $11). In retrospect, I wish I laid off of Lindor once the bidding got to $5 but I think the Indians SS combo end up with 30+ SB. Adam Eaton at $19 was a $3.5 overpay but I had the money and he was the last player I felt could help with both SB and AVG.
- One downside to Lindor was I had to wait until the reserve draft to fill my MI slot. Guys like Gregorious and Jose Iglesias were snapped up in $1 round. Everth Cabrera was the first pick in the reserve round. I ended up picking Logan Forsythe and Ryan Flaherty in the reserve rounds. Yuck.
- Crazy how many people punted catchers. I would have jumped at Iannetta and Navarro at $2 before the draft but these look like ho-hum values compared to the following catchers off the board at $1: Chirinos, Suzuki, Rivera, Avila, etc. That said, there were several teams that spent $20-$40 on their two catchers and they could not have been happy that several teams got starting catchers at discounts. My Navarro pick is particularly regrettable over, say, Chirinos because I lose him if he is traded to the NL.
- Big range of emotions on the Michael Saunders meniscus injury. Relieved I did not lost him through the ASB break but a good exercise in showing why depth picks matter.
- It stings now that I passed up on Kevin Pillar in at least one reserve round. The Blue Jays GUTTED their OF depth from 2015. Melky gone. Rasmus gone. Gose gone. They have 4 OFs on the 40-man roster (Bautista, Saunders Pompey, Pillar) with one rookie (Pompey) and one pseudo-rookie (Pillar). They have picked up Andy Dirks (missed all of 2014 with a bad back), Ezekiel Carrera (AAAA on his best day), and Chris ‘Don’t Call Me Corey” Dickerson. This makes Pillar a hugely valuable 4th OF in AL-only. I had Pillar at $2.5 – ahead of Chris Young (my 5th OF) at $0.9. Should have tried for Pillar at $1 or drafted Pillar with 1st reserve pick.
- Love having a 1B/OF on the roster when injuries strike. I have Brandon Moss who has OF eligibility at CI which means I can fill Saunders’ spot with 1B/3B/OF. I have Kennys Vargas at UTIL who I think will get 1B eligibility by May 1st (needs 5 games and Mauer will get DH reps) so, eventually, I could use any bat to fill Saunders’ slot.
- I reserved two OFs – Nate Schierholtz and Colin Cowgill. Cowgill will likely platoon with Matt Joyce in Hamilton’s vacated LF. Schierholtz is an unexciting wild card (mild card?) – he is the only left-handed hitter in the Rangers hodgepodge of OFs (Rua, Ludwick, Choice) so he could end up starting 50+% of games to not even making the roster. So I will get at least something out of the vacated Saunders spot in April.