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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.