Fantasy help needed

Freak

Tom, does it cost money to access the projections?

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

Funny that you mention that stuff about Ichiro Tom. I often think that while these projection and rankings are very interesting and can come fairly close on alot of things, I really think that alot of times just the "good ole gut" needs to come into play.

I got Corey Hart with the last pick in the draft and it was actually because someone else tried to outbid me for him, but was over the salary cap etc etc. Basically long story short, everyone passed on him because he wasnt "projected" to do much. I told everyone there that he would be a good candidate to hit 20 homeruns his rookie season. He had 28 I believe. Sometimes you just get a feel for a guy and it pans out better than any projection could ever suggest.

But on that note, I had a great feeling about Corey Patterson too.

Hmm, maybe I should have drafted Corey Haim and Cory Feldman since I obviously have a thing for Coreys.

Also, living in Boston and most of the league had hard-ons for Manny I actually think I could get a decent return on him.

Suntan Superman

WC's Resident Samoan

Ok so the draft was three years ago. And after the reallocation this year this is the issue I now have.

1B Prince Fielder
1B Ryan Howard
3B David Wright
3B Aramis Ramirez
SS Troy Tulowitski
SS Hanley Ramirez
SS Miguel Tejada

To fill up
1B
3B
SS
1B/3B
2B/SS

Who should I keep and who should I try to pawn off?

Dr. Giganto

yeah, I have a BP subscription, so I was able to download their PECOTA projections spreadsheet.

I've got them on my work pc though,, and I dont think I'm going to the office tomorrow...I can forward you a copy next week if you want

also Simon, I definitely understand the "gut feeling" thing...I had that about Matt Holliday about 3 years ago. Unfortunately, it was 1 year before his breakout season.

So, using my little system, this was how I did my drafts...

First was the 16-team league. This draft was on March 1st, so there was a LOT of uncertainty about player's roles on their teams, prospects who may or may not have been called up, etc. It's 16 teams, 24 rounds, so the talent pool was going to be VERY thin after the draft. My strategy was to have strong starting pitching, since good pitching is hard to come by, and strong hitters at the hard-to-fill positions, like the middle infield. I wanted to hold off on 1Bs and OFs, since it's easy to find good players at those positions, and they tend to pop up over the course of the year. Also, I decided in the second half of the draft to go prospect-heavy. At that point, after 200 or so picks, I knew I could either pick players that i KNOW are mediocre, or young players who could be this year's Ryan Braun/Tulowitzki/Hart/Pence.

I had the 13th pick out of 16. MY picks, according to round and overall pick, went:

1. Jake Peavy (SP) 13
2. Cole Hamels (SP) 20
3. Brian Roberts (2B) 45
4. Carlos Guillen (1B, SS) 52
5. Billy Wagner (RP) 77
6. Huston Street (RP) 84
7. Jeremy Bonderman (SP) 109
8. Andruw Jones (OF) 116
9. Geovany Soto (C) 141
10. Justin Upton (OF) 148
11. Ian Snell (SP) 173
12. Evan Longoria (3B) 180
13. Joey Votto (1B,OF) 205
14. Ian Kennedy (SP) 212
15. Felipe Lopez (2B,SS) 237
16. Rick Ankiel (OF) 244
17. Mark Reynolds (3B) 269
18. Mike Jacobs (1B) 276
19. Dave Bush (SP) 301
20. Jay Bruce (OF) 308
21. Chad Gaudin (SP) 333
22. Nate Robertson (SP) 340
23. Andy LaRoche (3B) 365
24. Colby Rasmus (OF) 372

Since then, I've dropped LaRoche (out two months with a broken wrist) and Rasmus (sent to the minors, too many people inthe majors to jump) and picked up Mark Teahen (1B,OF) and Luke Scott (OF). I put Gaudin on the DL and picked up Noah Lowry.

I'm hoping somehow, someway, Votto wins the 1B ob in Cincy, and I'm going to hold onto Bruce and Longoria despite the fact that they're starting in the minors. They're too good to risk losing, and we have 8 bench spots, so i have plenty of room for them on the roster.

It was a high-risk strategy, but I felt it needed to be done in a league this deep...

Dr. Giganto

two more things:

I think Ankiel was a steal...I think he could hit 30 HRs this year


Also, I am dying for when Johnny Cueto of the Reds gets added to yahoo's player list. Apparently he's got a mid-to-high-90's fastball and is supposed to be absolutely filthy. After I pick him up, I can get a Yankee fan in my league to overpay for Ian Kennedy and give me a more dependable hitter.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Ankiel has looked great this spring from what I've seen. Suntan, how many teams are in your league? Your squad is stacked..

Suntan Superman

WC's Resident Samoan

Three years ago I was able to stack the roster with young talent. So I did terrible for two years and did all right last year. I know Fielder/H.Ramirez/T.Tulowitzki were taken after the 15th round and it's 10 teams.

Freak

If it doesn't make you feel ethically queasy, sure.

SS, your situation seems pretty clear to me (though it'd be nice to have someone else double-check my recommendations):

To fill up
1B Prince Fielder
3B David Wright
SS Hanley Ramirez
1B/3B Ryan Howard
2B/SS Troy Tulowitzki

Dr. Giganto

1. (6)	Johan Santana	SP
2.	(19)	Ichiro Suzuki	OF
3.	(30)	C.C. Sabathia	SP
4.	(43)	Russell Martin	C
5.	(54)	Aaron Harang	SP
6.	(67)	Francisco Rodríguez	RP
7.	(78)	Chris Young	OF
8.	(91)	Hunter Pence	OF
9.	(102)	Takashi Saito	RP
10.	(115)	Rafael Soriano	RP
11.	(126)	Edwin Encarnación	3B
12.	(139)	J.J. Hardy	SS
13.	(150)	Todd Helton	1B
14.	(163)	Kelly Johnson	2B
15.	(174)	Rich Harden	SP
16.	(187)	Dustin Pedroia	2B
17.	(198)	Geovany Soto	C
18.	(211)	C.J. Wilson	RP
19.	(222)	Hiroki Kuroda	SP
20.	(235)	Adam Jones	OF
21.	(246)	Ian Kennedy	SP

This was my second draft. Since it's a shallower league (12 teams, 21 rounds), I went much more traditional...

Suntan Superman

WC's Resident Samoan

It looks like you're in love with Soto as well?