Here's how it finally turned out. I didn't mean to draft Kuroda. Was on autopick, got scooped on a hitter etc etc.

C Victor Martinez (C)
(C) C Dioner Navarro (C)
(1B) 1B Lance Berkman (1B)
(2B) 2B Alexei Ramirez (2B, OF)
(SS) SS Miguel Tejada (SS)
(3B) 3B Garrett Atkins (3B)
(OF) OF Grady Sizemore (OF)
(OF) OF B.J. Upton (OF)
(OF) OF Bobby Abreu (OF)
(OF) OF Justin Upton (OF)
(OF) OF Elijah Dukes (OF)
(1B, 3B) CI Mike Jacobs (1B)
(2B, SS) MI Blake DeWitt (3B, 2B)
(SP) SP Josh Beckett (SP)
(SP) SP Chris Young (SP)
(SP) SP Scott Baker (SP)
(SP) SP Manny Parra (SP, RP)
(SP) SP Mark Buehrle (SP)
(SP, RP) SP / RP Hiroki Kuroda (SP)
(RP) RP Heath Bell (RP)
(RP) RP Brad Lidge (RP)
(Bench) DH/Util Jack Cust (OF, DH)

@Steve... I see virtually no difference between Berkman and Teixeira's overall value this season. A drop of SB's to 11 or so as Bill James suggests, would still be a net bonus of +8 on average for his position. Also, much of Berkman's value comes from Minute Maid and his consistent LD% upwards of 20%, which produces extra base hits, which means RBI if he's so lucky. His runs come from his crazy .413 lifetime OBP, plus he has Carlos Lee and Tejada hitting behind him and Pence hitting ahead of him. I would be surprised if his RBI topped 100, but his runs are there to stay at around 110-120. Find me another 1B who gets more runs than him, and I'll let you kick me in the nuts.

As far as point shares go, i'm not so sure, but I like him in the early 2nd round almost all the time. I actually believe his numbers in 09 will come super close to his 08 numbers, just with like half the steals.

This is one of those weird teams that you look at after a draft and think that its lineup doesn't stack up against yours, but it somehow ends up at the top of the standings.

Probably the best rotation of the bunch. Reyes/Crawford wins him steals. He can pick up a closer off the wire. I don't love his OF, but it's not a soft underbelly. He's weak on the corners, but Blake and Wigginton could give him 20 HR each. Add in a few cheap homers from Barmes and one half of an awesome season from LaRoche, and this team could be dangerous.

Trading one of those power arms for a big bat probably puts this team in the Top 3 of the draft IMO.

I'm back from parts unknown, nice to have computer access again. Anyway, here's how my team shakes out.



(C) C Taylor Teagarden (C)
(C) C Jesus Flores (C)
(1B) 1B Prince Fielder (1B)
(2B) 2B Howie Kendrick (2B)
(SS) SS Ryan Theriot (SS, 2B)
(3B) 3B Alex Rodriguez (3B)
(OF) OF Adam Dunn (OF)
(OF) OF Nate McLouth (OF)
(OF) OF Xavier Nady (OF)
(OF) OF Hideki Matsui (OF, DH)
(OF) OF Willy Taveras (OF)
(1B, 3B) CI Chris Davis (1B, 3B)
(2B, SS) MI Jason Bartlett (SS)
(SP) SP Roy Halladay (SP)
(SP) SP Francisco Liriano (SP)
(SP) SP Adam Wainwright (SP)
(SP) SP Max Scherzer (SP, RP)
(SP) SP Kyle Lohse (SP)
(SP, RP) SP / RP Bobby Jenks (RP)
(RP) RP Joey Devine (RP)
(RP) RP Huston Street (RP)
(Bench) DH/Util Chris Carpenter (SP)

Obviously weak at the Catcher position but that was by design, just to prove my point. This mock team has 3 potential 40 HR guys in A-rod, Fielder and Dunn, with Davis on the cusp. Gonna be weak in avg but to have this much power you gotta give up something. RBI's should be no problem.

Speed will be middle of the pack with The Riot and Fast Willie providing the brunt. Fast Willie as a #5 OF'er in a 5 OF'er format is a steal (<======= obligatory play on words), IMO.

Pitching staff will be solid with a lot of upside, throw in my favorite pick, Carp on the bench at pick # 275 and you got yourself what I like to call A Powderkeg.

All in all, I'd go to battle with this team in a 14 team RCL league*.

* Signups coming soon to a neighborhood near you?

If your SP show up, I'd like your odds to do something good with this team too. It seems pretty balanced. You can find some average on the waiver wire anyway if it came down to it. I'd be down for the RCL too.

Manager: pharmdriz
C Yadier Molina C-STL
C Chris Snyder C-AZ
1B Ryan Howard 1B-PHI
2B Dustin Pedroia 2B-BOS
SS Cristian Guzman SS-WSH
3B Chipper Jones 3B-ATL
OF Carlos Beltran OF-NYM
OF Magglio Ordonez OF-DET
OF J.D. Drew OF-BOS
OF Eric Byrnes OF-AZ
OF Jason Kubel OF/DH-MIN
CI Jorge Cantu 1B/3B-FLA
MI Jose Lopez 2B-SEA
SP Chad Billingsley SP-LAD
SP Scott Kazmir SP-TB
SP Joba Chamberlain SP/RP-NYY
SP John Danks SP-CHW
SP Gil Meche SP-KC
SP / RP Ubaldo Jimenez SP-COL
RP Joakim Soria RP-KC
RP Brian Fuentes RP-COL
DH/Util Marlon Byrd OF-TEX

Other than a cataclysmic error in picking JD Drew that basically set me back a round where all the value is really picked, I'm fairly happy with most of the picks that led to this team. I'm not going to lead SB or HR as is, but there's a lot of balance. I like my pitchers considering it's a 14 person league. Any thoughts on how I could have better looked at my team or what I'm lacking in and should be concerned about if this were a real team? Thanks.

I think your team's very solid and would be a contender at the end of the season. (Obviously you'd need to work on the saves in season) Your pitching staff would definitely need work but that's what free agent pickups are for. I agree that you would've been better going for a bit more stable of a commodity in Nolasco or Wainwright over Price, but as it is your team is still solid.

I'd be worried if I were you with this team. Your offense is pretty weak, even for a 14 team league. You have about 7 players that are negatives:

OF Pat Burrell OF-PHI
OF Denard Span OF-MIN
OF Coco Crisp OF-KC
CI Melvin Mora 3B-BAL
MI Freddy Sanchez 2B-PIT
C Kurt Suzuki C-OAK
2B Placido Polanco 2B-DET

And Young, Encarnacion and Ibanez aren't really guys you want to build around.

Luckily, your pitching is strong enough that you'd be able to move some guys to shore up your offense.

You ended up getting decent value later on to make up for those five of seven pitchers then, because your team isn't terrible at all. Actually, it's my third favorite behind Hippo and Iowa's respectively. And you could trade away some of your excess pitching to fill in for spots your missing. Yeah, not bad at all.

Your outfield is pretty weak, in general. Drew actually isn't that bad, but Byrnes and Kubel could potentially kill you if you didn't fill them in before the season started. Also, I'm not a huge fan of Mags. Pedroia is probably the draft choice that killed you. What if Lopez outperforms Pedroia? How great will the Pedroia pick be then? Yadir also bores me terribly, but in a 2 catcher league that's fine.

Your pitching is too reliant on upside. You need a 200 IP Lowe or Vazquez type. But, in the end, your team's pitching should be okay. At least good enough to keep you in the hunt. Your hitting will probably be the death of this team, and you really don't have guys to trade.