Entertaining breakdown. Nady's a Grey will poop-on pick though. Swisher and Span -- I see your meh and raise you a MEH. You also took two many top pitchers. You didn't need to piggyback Haren with Lackey. For shame!

Thought I'd elaborate on my comment re: players being drafted earlier than I thought:

J. Upton: Rd 11, p121
Maybin: Rd 12, p144
N. Cruz: rd 11, p123
Bruce: rd 6, p64
Granderson: rd 3, p34
C. Davis: rd 5, p53
Milledge: r10, p119
Slowey: rd 12, p140
Baker: rd 12, p143
Theriot: Rd 15, p169

Agreed with other owners that this draft took on a life of it's own, and I found myself making a few decisions I didn't plan on making.
Great experience though, and I'm looking forward to the season.

Here is my team:

1. Ryan Braun- it was either him or Cabrera. Should have taken Miguel as I wasn't able to get Votto later as I had planned.
2. Josh Hamilton- at pick 20? Might not like him at #8- but at #20 I'm a fan.
3. ARod- it was him or Upton. Why not gamble he's back early?
4. Jacoby Ellsbury- my favorite speed play.
5. Chris Davis- wanted Alexei Ramirez here. But like Davis in the 1b/3b Slot
6- Jon Papelbon- it was either him or King Felix- should have went with the King.
7- Stephen Drew- I'm a fan- He's no J.D.
8- Geovony Soto- trying to go against the Razzball grain a bit and wasn't in love with anyone here.
9- Victor Martinez- thought he had first base eligibility(like in Yahoo)-hopefully gets it.
10- K-Rod- again not one for drafting closers-but in the 10th couldn't say no.
11- Javier Vasquez- like him this year. Not the best ace- but like him as a rotation mainstay.
12- Kevin Slowey- big Slowey fan. Usually get him later in drafts-but he's rated higher on ESPN- thought I might miss him later.
13- Josh Johnson- another guy I always try to get- my rotation is shaping up.
14- James Loney- OK- I had veered off my original plan- lost focus.
15- Matt Wieters-I expect a Braun/Longoria impact. Risk/Reward was worth it here IMHO. Not like it's the 8th round.
16- Adam Jones- like his speed/power potential as a #4 OF
17- Clayton Kershaw- High Upside arm..
18- Elijah Dukes- I always take Dukes. If you have a problem- take it up with him.
19-Brandon Morrow- not sure how hurt he is. But in the 19th- he's a beast.
20- Elvis Andrus- steals.
21- Brad Zieglar- Devine's always hurt.
22- Hank Blalock- My fill in for ARod.
23- Clay Bucholz- High Upside arm.
24. Ass Matsui- Steals.
25- Jeff Francouer- I was drooling on my keyboard at this point.

Entertaining breakdown, as well. Wait, did you take three catchers? Was Laird not available too? I keed. I like that you punted starters for a while. You were still able to come up with a passable staff. Well done there. Overall, I like your hitting except for your plethora of catchers. It's not a bad team by any means. I like Ellsbury, Davis, Hamilton and Braun a lot and if Arod comes back in a decent time frame you might have a very solid club.

I took upton at 121 for a risk/reward. Werth, and the other players available weren't very interesting to me. Between ESPNs ranks and Razz(both of which people seemed to be following) i did not feel Upton would be there at 144 the next time i picked(espn ranks him 120). I actually was poised to take Milledge(went 1 spot b4 me) but had upton as a 2ndary.

Maybin at 144 i was quite happy with considering how early young OF were going for(half your list is OF) and by that round it was quite thin. Upside upside upside.

Riot i def reached on, but i really like him and again, based on where he could be taken(espn has him in the 170s) i decided not to risk it.

I'm not a fan of picking back to back like that. Because you go 24 spots between your picks and so much can happen. most of my "reaches" if you want to call it that, were me simply evaluating the players ranked at my actual draft spot +23.

There's no judgement on my part; I set my expectations only to see them dismembered by such cutting reality! I had the same feeling many times in this draft: if I don't take so-and-so now, he won't come back to me. Unfortunately, I did not pull the trigger when I had that feeling. You did - and I think you will be happy you did!


OK, we have the following teams posted here:

BKK
Gleeksquad
Hammerfish
Me
Basenjiwarrior

Only seven more need to post!

L'Atelier de Joël Piñero
Draft Position: 12/12

SLOT PLAYER TEAM POS -- (DRAFT RD/OVERALL PICK) COMMENT

C Chris Snyder, Ari C -- (25/300) 20ish HRs from the Mr. Irrelevant pick of the draft? Yes, please.
1B Adrian Gonzalez, SD 1B -- (3/36) Gotta have a stud 1B. How he finds RBI opportunities remains a mystery.
2B Mark DeRosa, Cle 2B, 3B, OF -- (9/108) Taken B2B w/ M.Young; MI: where solid-but-blah is a godsend.
3B Chipper Jones, Atl 3B -- (5/60) Whaddayagonnado? 3B is filled with question marks, and .330 is .330.
SS Jimmy Rollins, Phi SS -- (1/12) If you're taking requests, Mr. Rollins, I'll have a bottle of your '07 vintage.
2B/SS Michael Young, Tex SS -- (10/109) Meh, I know. But as my MI/Chipper insurance, not so bad. I hope.
1B/3B Casey Kotchman, Atl 1B -- (21/252) Hoping he'll realize 20HR/.300 promise. If not, hey, it's the 21st round.
OF Jason Bay, Bos OF -- (4/37) Say it with me now! Solid...
OF Raul Ibanez, Phi OF -- (6/61) ...but...
OF Pat Burrell, TB OF -- (11/132) ...blah. I was looking for reliable HR/RBI at all three picks. Not defense, luckily.
OF Shin-Soo Choo, Cle OF -- (12/133) Hey, an upside pick for once!
OF Willy Taveras, Cin OF -- (17/204) My only runner after Rollins, I need him to go nuts. C'mon, Willy! Go for 100!
UTIL Adam Lind, Tor OF -- (22/253) Another upside pick! See-rayzee! My official Post-Hype Sleeper Pick.
DL -- Chipper, thy palace awaits.

P Tim Lincecum, SF SP -- (2/13) TIMMEH! I can haz teh last year not be teh flash in teh pan?
P Joakim Soria, KC RP -- (7/84) I was mocked for this pick, then got two trade offers for him within a day.
P Zack Greinke, KC SP -- (8/85) Royals B2B! No more anxiety attacks or depression or whatever, OK, Zack?
P Heath Bell, SD RP -- (15/180) Hmmm... the closers for the Royals, Padres, Rangers, and Nats, teams that...
P Frank Francisco, Tex RP (16/181) ...could combine to finish 150 games below .500. Like the Voltron of suck.
P Joel Hanrahan, Was SP, RP -- (18/205) ...And yet I'm oddly happy with my 'pen. SAGNO team records, either.
P J.J. Putz, NYM RP -- (19/228) Am I hoping K-Rod's arm explodes? Or do I just like having a guy named Putz?
P Troy Percival, TB RP -- (20/229) Just don't be hurt while Chipper's hurt, mmkay?
P Paul Maholm, Pit SP -- (24/277) What do you call the ace of the Pirates? Medioc-ARRRR!
Bench Ted Lilly, ChC SP -- (13/156) I got nothin'. Here's a Fun Fact: his full name is Theodore Roosevelt Lilly.
Bench Randy Johnson, SF SP -- (14/157) See T.Percival. Underrated. His back's OK, and he seems dialed in.
Bench Armando Galarraga, Det SP -- (23/276) Razzball's Riskiest Pitcher! Getting cut when he goes Dravecky.

I'll echo the others in saying that the groupthink made this draft tough. I knew that everyone was gonna try and build the Razziest team possible, so there'd be no sleepers sneaking through. Did I mention that I hate drafting at the turn? Your hand is basically forced by the market, moving constantly to grab the last-remaining-worthwhile-x-position. I dunno. I probably should've waited on pitching like everyone else, but I wanted to zig as others zagged. Not sure how well it worked out. I have a LOT of uninspiring "safe choices." Barring surprises, I'm guessing I finish around fourth. Sigh.

So, I volunteered to do these projections. This was far more work than I had initally anticipated. I take no responsibility for how you interpret the findings. Some key points. I did not take the effort to sort out who your 22 starters would be. This is a strict indictment of the team you drafted based on averaging the projections of CHONE, ZiPS, and Marcels. None of them do a good job on saves, blame them. I did factor in Greys saves projections for the closers in his top 300 and averaged with Marcels So if you don't like the save total, relax, its just a projection. We still have to play the season.

So without further ado.

A Latin 9 Projections for 2009.



EDIT: I found a couple errors, I had round seven inverted, I also found that Team Pwangsta who drafted both Chris Young's was getting double credit. Each Chris was getting credit for both hitting and pitching. I also realized I was grabbing OBA from Marcel instead of BA. That cetainly did not bode well for my team. Still surprisingly, there are teams with worse projected BA's. Hopefully, this should be a little more accurate.

Torre's Honker selected out of the 9 spot

RD PLAYER POS COMMENT

1 Ryan Howard 1B #7 on my chart taken at #9
2 Carlos Beltran OF right where I wanted him
3 Brian Roberts 2B I get the hate but judging by Razz rankings I also see RESPECT
4 Vlad Guerrero OF no more steals but he is what he is….WD40 the back please!!
5 Rafael Furcal SS last year was injury year….right?
6 Jay Bruce OF early?? Maybe…..maybe not with these dogs chasing the meat truck
7 James Shields SP I wanted vazquez in 7 8 or 9 but I was thinking…"too early"---GUESS NOT!!
8 Yovani Gallardo SP like this pick in this spot a lot
9 Andre Ethier OF I made this selection and went "UGH!!" OF was thinning out and I panicked
10 Rich Harden SP Harden stays healthy this year and is in top 3 in NL…one can dream
11 Jayson Werth OF like this one a lot also
12 Mark Reynolds 3B the secret is out…look at minor league avgs. Jump in avg turn him elite
13 Derek Lowe SP whip and era baby
14 Brett Myers SP yea I know brett F'ing Myers…..just a hunch
15 Mike Napoli C more DH = more bombs?
16 Matt Lindstrom RP pitcher has rotator cuff problem? Is that an issue?
17 Mike Gonzalez RP no $12 salad here
18 Rick Ankiel U offense was getting thinner than a somali pet
19 Christian Guzman MI spite pick to cockblock the Monkeys who didn't have a SS to this point
20 Kevin Kouzmanoff CI love the Kouz….he is SSSSSOOOOOOOOO under rated
21 Justin Duchscherer SP Tim Dierkes factor
22 John Smoltz SP Tim Dierkes factor
23 Kenshin Kawakami SP Tim Dierkes factor
24 Juan Rivera OF/U 24th round flier on young upside off of injury
25 AJ Pierzynski C Napoli's caddy for a week or 2

I am a strong believer with great success of RotoAuthority. I found this site through Tim
and love the RAZZ slant on this hobby. With that said, my draft was a RAZZberry flavored RotoAuthority
selection process. Thanks Chris for the work you did to get this going. Of course, a big thanks to Grey and Rudy, and the
whole blog as well

Somali pet -- hehe. I like your hitters, but Roberts and Furcal -- eh. I'm not aboard the Furcal train. Too much risk for that early. I'd prefer to take F. Lopez ten rounds later and roll the dice there. I'm not aboard the Dook-sheer train either. I really don't see him making enough starts to be a factor. Don't love Ethier there that early, but it seems like you don't either (ethier?). I like the Lowe pairing with your pitchers though. Excellent year for that vintage. Overall you have a solid team.