Howdy Razzballero! Razzballians? Did we ever come to a consensus on a term to identify the loyal followers of this great site? *checks glossary* Hmmm… don’t see one. I do see the term DLzebub though. That one isn’t used nearly enough. He pays me a visit at least a half a dozen times each season. I hate that guy! But it’s a great term and it probably should be used more often, just hopefully not when analyzing the roster that I recently assembled in an industry mock draft that took place on Wed., Feb. 3rd at Couchmanagers.com (smooth transition, eh?).
The format that was used for this draft was a standard 15 team NFBC format, with no bench spots being the only major difference. The starting positions used were 2 catchers, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 5 outfielders, CI, MI, Util, and 9 pitchers (any combination of starters and relievers). You can check out the results of the entire draft here.
I drew the #11 pick, and my strategy from that position was simple:
• Take the best hitters available in the first two rounds while grabbing at least one corner infielder in the process
• Acquire an ace in the 3rd round before they disappear
• Wait on catchers, closers, and at least two out of the three required middle infielders for as long as possible
• Maintain balance on offense with a slight emphasis on power over speed
• Target high strikeout pitchers with reasonable walk and home run rates (aka non-ratio killers)
Here’s the roster that I ended up with:
C: Yan Gomes, Caleb Joseph
1B: Lucas Duda
2B: Robinson Cano
3B: Kris Bryant
SS: Troy Tulowitzki
OF: Giancarlo Stanton, Gregory Polanco, Delino DeShields, Wil Myers, Yasmany Tomas
CI: Danny Valencia
MI: Brandon Phillips
Util: David Ortiz
SP: Jacob deGrom, Jon Lester, Yu Darvish, Kevin Gausman, Clay Buchholz, Erasmo Ramirez
RP: Brad Boxberger, Jake McGee, Jeremy Jeffress
Let’s see how my pre-draft strategy played out:
• Paired Stanton with Bryant in the first two rounds. Plenty of power (around 70 home runs assuming good health) and filled the #1 OF and 3B positions.
• Drafted deGrom as my ace of choice in the 3rd round (#41 overall). Kluber, Cole, Harvey, Strasburg, and Jo-Fer went off the board between my 3rd and 4th round picks. Locked up my ace just in time.
• Going with the aging middle infield combo of Cano and Tulo in the 4th and 5th rounds certainly wasn’t in my original plans. Missed on Gomez by a single pick in the 4th and Heyward by a few picks in the 5th which led to plan B for each of those selections. Tulo falling to pick #71 overall was completely unexpected, and I felt that the potential reward was worth the risk at that point.
• Having only one outfielder rostered and being very light on speed led me to select Polanco as a #2 OF in the 6th round (#80 overall). Marginal improvement against left-handed pitching (career .503 OPS vs LHP) could lead to a .270/15/30 type of season for the third year pro.
• I was pleasantly surprised to see Lester still on the board at #101 overall. Glad to lock up a 2nd ace at that point in the draft.
• Does Papi have one more 30/100 season in him? I don’t see why not, even in his age 40 and final season. If Father Time does finally start to catch up to him, a .260/27/90 season would still be sufficient production at #110 overall.
• Taking Boxberger over David Robertson might seem like a strange decision. And, well, it is. I was having problems with the default rankings at that time as the most highly ranked players at each position were getting inexplicably buried behind lower-ranked players, and Robertson got lost in the shuffle. I’d certainly prefer Robertson to Boxberger as a closing option.
• There’s good old Lucas Duda. What, you thought I wouldn’t follow my own advice?
• Yu Darvish is an interesting risk/reward player this season. He’s on schedule to return to game action in early May while still recovering from Tommy John surgery. Do you feel lucky? If you’re looking for Ks, he might be worth a roll of the dice.
• Ben Revere, Billy Burns, and Delino DeShields provide elite speed potential in the middle rounds of 12 team drafts or the early-mid rounds of 15 teamers this season. While Revere and Burns both went off the board in the 9th round of this mock, I was able to grab DeShields in the 12th (#170 overall). Could be a relatively cheap 40 steals.
Things were relatively uneventful from there as far as my team goes. Grabbed a couple of catchers (Gomes and Joseph), another closer (McGee), some young upside plays (Myers, Gausman, Tomas), some boring veterans (Phillips, Buchholz, Valencia), and took a stab at an unsettled bullpen situation (Jeffress). I’ll have more to say about Erasmo in the coming weeks.
Overall, I feel pretty good about this team. I’m happy with the power potential on offense and the overall pitching staff, particularly for a 15 team league. There is some batting average risk as there might not be any .280 hitters on this roster outside of Cano, but there might not be any sub-.260 hitters outside of Duda and the catchers either. Still probably a bit light in that area though. Might be a bit light in the speed category as well, despite the contributions of Polanco and DeShields.
What do you think of this team? Which players were over- or under-drafted?
