So the title is a bit of a superlative. What was I gonna say, “The Mostly Kinda Good Fantasy Baseball Team?” You’ll get over your scoffing; I have faith in you. This is the best 2018 fantasy baseball team that I can put together when drafting from my top 100 for 2018 fantasy baseball and top 500 for 2018 fantasy baseball. Honestly, I could draft another 25 teams from those lists, and they’d all be different, but equally terrific… Well, one of the twenty-five would only be sorta terrific, but it would be really hard to tell which one that is. If I took Cody Bellinger in the 2nd round, everything after would change. If I took Arenado in the 1st round, everything after would change. I’ve previously gone over my 2018 fantasy baseball draft prep for the first few rounds and pitchers pairings. For this exercise, I’m taking Mike Trout first, because, well, I have him first overall. Until pick 100, I’m taking one guy somewhere in every fifteen picks. It would be nice if I was in a league where someone drafted Scherzer and Kershaw in the first two rounds and I was able to take Freddie Freeman in the 2nd round (which is very likely), but since Trout and him are in my first 14 picks, according to the rules I’ve set up for myself, I can’t take them both. Then, as we all know, once you get into the 100s, there’s wide gaps between ADP and where players are actually taken. People tend to look at team need over value. So for this exercise, once I get to pick #101, I’m going to pick two players every twenty picks. Finally, because there is so much latitude in the last 300, I gave myself free reign to fill up my team. Throughout the draft, I also gave myself the ability to reach to a lower draft pick, but not reach forward. Or reach around, if you’re feeling frisky. It should still be my ideal team… Or not. Let’s see, shall we? Bee tee dubya, this team is 5×5, one catcher, 5 OFs, MI, CI, 1 UT, 9 P, 3 bench, just like the Razzball Commenter Leagues (go sign up). Anyway, here’s the best 2018 fantasy baseball team:
C: Jorge Alfaro (22)
1B: Cody Bellinger (2)
2B: Jose Peraza (13)
SS: Alex Bregman (3)
3B: Rafael Devers (6)
MI: Javier Baez (8)
CI: Ian Desmond (10)
OF: Mike Trout (1)
OF: Christian Yelich (5)
OF: Ender Inciarte (12)
OF: Michael Conforto (14)
OF: Willie Calhoun (18)
UTIL: Austin Hays (21)
P: Luis Severino (4)
P: Luis Castillo (7)
P: Brad Hand (9)
P: Kevin Gausman (11)
P: Blake Snell (15)
P: Patrick Corbin (16)
P: Sean Doolittle (17)
P: Blake Parker (19)
P: Alex Reyes (20)
Bench: Fernando Rodney (23), Darren O’Day (24), Joakim Soria (25)
SO, THIS TEAM IS BETTER THAN ANTHONY BOURDAIN MAKING FUN OF GUY FIERI, BUT IS THERE ANY CHANCE YOU CAN DRAFT THIS EXACT TEAM?
No. Sorry, I don’t mean to be short with you. Here, let me explain it to you with a long-form answer: Noooooooooooo. As I said in the opening, this is an exercise to give you an idea of a team I wouldn’t kick out of bed. With this exercise, I don’t look at ADP, so it’s nice that I suddenly think so highly of Yelich to draft him with my 61st pick, but there’s a strong chance he’s drafted by that point. But for every guy I drafted here that will likely be gone, there’s other guys like Cody Bellinger, where I have him ranked too high to grab him in this exercise, due to arbitrary constraints, but I should be able to draft him in the 3rd round of most drafts. What this team should show in broad strokes — Did you get aroused when you read broad strokes? Gross! — this team shows how I build a team. Names change, but early on I’m looking at infield and outfield, while sprinkling in a pitcher here and there. I completely wait on relievers, taking one around 115-130 overall, then another between 150-200, then whenever I can after the top 200. I try to fill Utility with an upside bat in the very late rounds, knowing that I could drop him before the season even starts. Finally, I just grab a middle reliever or potential closer with the final picks, knowing I can drop them too. If you think you’re holding the last pick all year, you are milkshaken. Stupid, delicious typos!
PARDON ME, FANTASY MASTER LOTHARIO, BUT DID YOU FORGET TO DRAFT OUTFIELDERS?
Honestly, truthfully, not-lyingly, I like the upside gambles this year in outfield. Middle infielders are a dime a dozen after pick 100 (there’s so many of them that are essentially the same), cornermen are ‘you know what you’re getting,’ and catchers are whatever, but outfielders? Outfield I like to lock down a few, then gamble later. Locked down vs. lucked up. Plus, dropping an outfielder in the first few weeks after a draft goes hand-in-hand like toilet paper and poops. Just the nature of the beast, or the beast’s nature, if you will. Would I love to strike it rich on an outfielder? Or three? That’s the plan, Mr. Man. Am I super confident in Conforto, Calhoun and Hays? Not especially. Or ‘pecially if you’re in a rush. I was also using my DL spots. Conforto and Reyes will go to the DL before the season starts, and I’ll be able to pick up two guys. Remember, this is a shallow league, more flexibility to pick up guys in the early going is not a bad thing. I wrote posts on my Austin Hays fantasy and Willie Calhoun fantasy earlier in the offseason, and I do like them, but in a shallow league, you can replace outfield fairly easily, if they don’t work out like Sandoval.
GREY, YOUR MUSTACHE IS YOGA PANTS ON THAT HOT MOM PICKING UP MY FRIEND FROM DETENTION, BUT WHAT GIVES WITH THE BENCH? NO BENCH BATS?
First off, welcome to the site. Get comfortable. That doesn’t mean put your feet on the furniture. What’s wrong with you? Why I’m saying welcome is I’ve been saying for years I don’t draft bench bats. If you didn’t know that, you’re new. It’s okay. We were all new once. Shoot, I love that new person smell. Don’t draft bench bats in 12 team and shallower leagues. They’re useless. You’re not going to hold them for longer than a few days after your draft. Now, if you draft a few middle relievers with your last few picks, maybe — just maybe — you’ll luck into a closer getting injured before the preseason. And, if that doesn’t work out, then you can drop the middle relievers without any hesitance. It’s more of a hindrance to have someone like, say, Josh Harrison on your bench because then this happens, “It looks like Neris might be hurt, who should I grab in the Philly bullpen for saves? Hmm…Actually, who should I drop? Should I drop Harrison? He’s a solid counting stats guy who I could work into a rotation of middle infield– Forget it, it’s too late, someone else grabbed Pat Neshek.” And then Neshek goes on to save 42 games and win the Rollie Rolaids award. Oh, and in deeper leagues, bench bats are okay (within reason). This does not mean I wouldn’t own a bench bat all year, just no reason to draft one.
CAN I TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR TEAM AND SEND IT TO MYSELF OVER ELECTRONIC MAIL AND PUT A RED FLAG ON THE EMAIL INDICATING IMPORTANT?
Yes, be my guest. The only thing is you don’t want to get too caught up in trying to replicate my draft because if someone else takes a guy you want, you’re gonna start scrambling and then sweating and then sharting your sweatpants. Just build the best team you can and use my example as a guide. For s’s and g’s, go to my top 500 and put your best fantasy baseball team into the comments below.
