I’m going to take a new approach with this post. No, not because I’m typing with my elbows, but becooooze I’mmmm ryping–Okay, I am typing with my elbows, but this is also new because I don’t think I’ve ever done a post like this before. On the heels of beginning to draft my first 12-team mixed league team of the year I realized something. (Sign up for a Commenter League too.) There’s some players I absolutely would draft and some I just won’t. It occurred to me when I was about to draft Eric Hosmer at the tail end of the fifth round. Top guys on the board at the time from my 2016 fantasy baseball rankings were Pujols, Lindor, Hosmer, Maikel, Sano and Kemp. I already had Giancarlo, so that eliminated Pujols for me, due to the injury risk; I called Miguel Sano overrated; I wouldn’t draft Kemp, per my top 40 outfielders, so that left me with Hosmer, Lindor and Maikel. I wish I had three picks at that point, but I was on the turn, so I took Lindor and Hosmer, praying that Maikel would make it back to me. Of course, he didn’t make it back to me. He didn’t even last five picks later. Then, I thought deeper about my situation like I was KRS-One, and realized there were dozens of players I could’ve chosen at that point. Hundreds of players, really. I mean, only 60 players were off the board. Couldn’t I have drafted so many other players? Actually, no, I couldn’t. Or, I guess better, I wouldn’t. In my top 100 for 2016 fantasy baseball, there’s 20 players I’m drafting after the top 25 overall and before we’re out of the top 100. Why after the top 25? Because in the top 25, I’d take anyone. Technically, I won’t draft Kershaw where I have him ranked because he’ll be drafted already, but now you’re quibbling, you quibbler! Anyway, here’s twenty players I’m drafting in the top 100 for 2016 fantasy baseball:
1B
Eric Hosmer
Albert Pujols
2B
Rougned Odor
SS
Francisco Lindor
Xander Bogaerts
Corey Seager
3B
Kyle Seager
Maikel Franco
OF
Yoenis Cespedes
Charlie Blackmon
Gregory Polanco
Jason Heyward
Delino DeShields
SP
Gerrit Cole
Jose Fernandez
Carlos Carrasco
Corey Kluber
Stephen Strasburg
Noah Syndergaard
Danny Salazar
YOU SWORE TO ME THAT YOU WOULD DRAFT JOHNNY CUETO?! (JONATHAN SCHOOP, BRETT LAWRIE, CHRIS ARCHER, TOO MANY NAMES TO MENTION. I’M UPSET WITH YOUR LIES. WHY DID YOU LIE? WHY?!)
I didn’t lie as much as the reality of drafting some guys shifted as drafts began to take shape. I still love those guys. I’m gonna cut out a picture of Schoop, and snuggle-bunny him. He’s also going around pick 240 overall. I’m all about drafting my team and not worrying about how others are drafting, but, let’s be real, you don’t need to reach over 140 picks. If you were to wait until around pick 150, you’d still be fine grabbing Schoop. Then there’s guys like Archer or Lorenzo Cain. They are either being drafted too early or at an inopportune time. Archer, for unstints, is going right after I will have drafted Cole, Fernandez, Syndergaard, Carrasco or Strasburg. I’m not taking another starter where Archer is going. Same with Cueto and Lester. A guy like Lorenzo Cain is going too early for my taste, but, more importantly, after Polanco. If I’m drafting Polanco (or Yoenis or Blackmon) in that round where Cain is being taken, there’s just no way I draft Cain…Sugar!
IS IT ME (IT’S YOU) OR ARE THERE ABSOLUTELY NO CORNER MEN TO DRAFT? I COUNT FOUR. FOUR!!! I’M HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN!
Yeah, I hear, MR. ALL CAPS. Adrian Gonzalez is there…and Freddie Freeman…and Adrian Beltre…and I’m not drafting them. Maybe if Beltre or Longoria, for unstints, dropped after the top 100 overall, I might grab them, but they leave me so yawnstipated, I just can’t see drafting them in the top 100. I want guys I really want, nah’mean? On the fo’reals, I may draft someone like Wade Davis over Evan Longoria. The emotional baggage Longoria’s given me over the years doesn’t fit under the seat in front of me or in the overhead compartment. I’m just so super scarred, yo. Prince Fielder seems like a nice bloke, but forget about him where he’s being drafted. I kinda love the value Pujols is coming at, and see Hosmer’s age and consistency and it gives me goose pimplies. Freeman? Bleh, he does nothing for me. In conclusion, you really need a 1st or 3rd baseman from the top 25 overall, or you only have four guys to choose from.
YOU’RE DRAFTING DELINO DESHIELDS? DELINO DESHIELDS ISN’T EVEN IN YOUR TOP 100. I NEED A NAP AND WILL REVISIT THIS LATER.
I already gave you my Delino DeShields sleeper, but, with each passing day, I love Delino DeShields more and more. I’ve convinced myself that he’s going to be a top 25 player next year. To misquote Everything But The Girl, I need him like the desert needs the rain. Is top 75 too early to draft him? Not for me. He has ten-homer power and 50-steal speed. Oh, and he takes walks. And he’s leading off. He’s Delino DeShizznit!
DID YOU JUST DRAFT ADAM EATON IN THE TOP 100 AND NOT EVEN LIST HIM IN THE TWENTY NAMES YOU SAID YOU’D BE DRAFTING? I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE, AND THAT’S UPSETTING. I’M GOING TO PUT A SAD EGGPLANT EMOJI ON THIS POST AND LEAVE NOW.
Actually, I haven’t drafted Adam Eaton yet, but I would. If all of the above names that I listed were gone and I needed speed, runs and a bit of upside, sure, why not? I’d also draft Lorenzo Cain if he fell two rounds. Or I’d draft Lester if all of the above starters were taken, and I really needed a pitcher. These are twenty players that I desperately want to draft in the top 100. Desperately. But each draft carries its own Choose Your Own Adventure for you to navigate. If I could have my druthers, all of the players I listed I’d own, but I have no idea what druthers are and if they’re even any good.
