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0 Subject: RIBC 2008: Draft Recap

Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Wed, Mar 19, 2008, 22:07

RIBC Managers: This thread is for overall comments on the draft. You may use the questions below as a guide, or simply say what you want to say.

1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

4. What surprised you most about the draft?

5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

Non-managers are also free to post comments or ask questions.
1blue hen
      Leader
      ID: 710321114
      Wed, Mar 19, 2008, 23:32
1. My strategy is the same every year. Draft very few starting pitchers, lots of closers, and get as many quality hitters as possible. I usually win on-base percentage and saves in most leagues that I am in. I also generally choose to pick later in the draft order so I can have two core players to build around. I also have had Mike Wuertz on a lot of teams the last couple years so I figured I might draft him.

2. I am very happy to have Ryan Howard as my foundation. Some of my better picks are Peavy (2nd), Hermida (9th), Theriot (12th), Jacobs (16th), Zito (18th), and Wandy (21st). Each of those is a player I put a lot of stock in, drafted many picks after I would have expected them to go. I waited just the right amount of time.

For worst picks, see #5.

3. Dave R and Building 7 have the 2nd and 3rd best teams. Dave R is one of the strongest managers in the Rotoguru community, and Building 7 always seems to have good teams as well. And honestly, I really like feel like my own team is where it needs to be this season.

4. The closer run was later than usual. That was the most surprising. Also, the draft thinned out very quickly at the 16th round or so. That really snuck up on me. Fortunately, I decided to grab a catcher at that time, so it worked out.

5. The individual picks are fine by themselves, but my team has a few older players this year. Specifically, I am a little worried about Miguel Tejada, Gary Sheffield, and Brian Giles. If they're healthy they should be very, very, productive, but you never know with old guys. I am fine with the picks, but I might have gone younger if I'd had the chance.
2JeffG
      Leader
      ID: 01584348
      Thu, Mar 20, 2008, 00:47
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

First I set target team goals for what I think I need to accumulate in each category to score an 11 out of 16, which would be 110 points which would contend. I base it on last years RIBC final results .

This year the goals were .355 OBP, .453 SLG, 969 RBI, 1004 R, 140 SB, 3.90 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 1075 K, 87 W, 77 Sv.

Using some of the free projections out there on the web, my team did great. On the pitching side, I surpassed the goals on 4 of 5 categories and am right on the number in the other (making sure I pro rated the numbers stats where I went over 1350 IP), On hitting, I surpassed in 1 category, in 3 others I am reasonable close, and steals very lacking.

As a general drafting outline, for 2B/SS I know I cannot wait to long to get these slots filled, for pitching I knew I wanted two top-10 closers. I ended up drafting my MI in rounds 3, 11, and 19. So I cannot say I executed that as planned. My second closer was the 11th closer drafted overall so that I accomplished, and as an added bonus grabbing them with the last pick in rounds 5 and 7, did so without reaching.

With steals, like in past years I wanted to make sure I pick up a bunch of multi-dimensional 20 steals guys and stay away from the 1-dimensional steals guys, but I strayed off of this strategy and only have 2 players who will exceed 20 steals.

Finally, this year I made a decision that I would focus a little more on the averages than the counting stats when ranking or deciding between players to draft. Two years ago, my last time in RIBC, I was trying to get out of a hole with ERA/WHIP all season and I just missed a return invite by 1 place. Last year, with strong averages in AAA, I made it back here. It seems much harder to improve the rankings in the averages categories after the ASB. I feel like I executed this throughout the draft, maybe grabbing a few more MR than I anticipated.


2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

My two favorite picks were the ones that I made with the picks I swapped with dror. Moving up 5 slots for round 3, I was able to grab one of the top SS in Tulowitzki where I would not have had a good one otherwise, and moving down 5 slots in round 4, I still got one of the top SPs in Josh Beckett. Had I not traded, at the turn, I'd have probably picked Cano and then be struggling all season with a low round SS, and would have taken Putz, but am satisfied with my RP Waggner and Hoffman. Nothing else stands out.

I can't say I have any do-overs in my head now, but I feel like I went out on a limb with reaches for Josh Hamilton at 8.01 and Joba Chamberlain at 12.01, even though both were picked in our draft furthest down than each was selected in the other RIBC leagues according to the consolidated RIBC draft pick grid.


3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

I only plugged my team's projections into a spreadsheet because I was drafting against my goals and not the other teams (sort of like a runner competing against the clock), but just by eyeball I like Sanfordors team overall. Tosh will be strong on the offense, hen and building 7 with the pitching. Guru has a very interesting team, but it will be interesting to see if it can be a winning strategy to be near the bottom on both SB and W with the approach of piling on in all the other categories. Much different than my trying to stay in the top 5 across the board.


4. What surprised you most about the draft?

That dror had his draft queue set to available for a DP for each round the entire draft, and that his pick was always made within 1 minute of the prior pick.

That drafting with the end pick was not as horrifying as I expected.

That other than the first few rounds, my desired players when my pick was still 6 or so picks away always seemed to make it to my turn.

That there was no real closer run and good closers were still around in round 7 and 8.


5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

Right now I would say no, but ask me again in September. ;)
3Flying Polack
      Sustainer
      ID: 378582811
      Thu, Mar 20, 2008, 23:22
What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

I went into the draft with my usual strategy. Focus on hitters early (paying more attention to R/RBI’s than last season). Get 2-3 high K/9 starting pitchers in rounds 5-10. Avoid the typical RIBC early closer run (but draft a reliable closer).

I made a couple of adjustments from last season. On the hitter front, I tried to draft as many guys possible who I thought could go 100/100 on R/RBI’s. Last season I focused almost entirely on OB%/SLG%. I ended up getting 4 points in both R/RBI’s and 13 points in both OB%/SLG%. This year I’m targeting 11 in each.

I also wanted to make sure I drafted a closer. Last season I didn’t draft one and finished with just 4 points in saves, even though I added both Soria and Wilson from waivers, and traded for Borowski. I want a base of saves to work off of before acquisitions this year. Hopefully I can trade/free agent my way to a 9 or 10 points.

How did I execute? Better than average; I’d give myself a 3.5/5.0. On the continuum between upside and consistency, I think my team is tilted too far towards upside. That mainly has to do with my 9th through 13th round draft picks. There are some picks I would make differently (see next question). Overall I think I have a better chance of winning the league than post draft 2007. However I also think I have a better chance to finish outside the Top 6, especially with the Lackey injury.

What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

Favorites:

6.10 Daisuke Matsuzaka – Just have a great feeling about him for this season. I can’t imagine the adjustments he faced last season. I’m looking forward to watching him pitch in a more comfortable environment this season.

11.07 Lastings Milledge – He’s having a huge spring. Pena’s injury cements his playing time, and by all accounts the new National’s BP should be hitter friendly.

12.10 Jeremy Bonderman – He’s my favorite pitcher. He was off to a great start last season before elbow soreness caused an erratic 2nd half. Reports from Tiger camp are that he’s healthy. When healthy he’s every bit as valuable to the Tigers as Verlander.

20.10 Jon Lester – I think last season was a comeback year for him and this year will be the return to normal. His great WS appearance helps my opinion of this pick. I’m also glad he was chosen to start the 2nd game for the Sox in Japan. I think he’s a better bet for 2008 than Buchholz who went 6 rounds earlier.

Do overs:

3.07 Derek Lee – I think Lee will be fine, I just wish I would have planned better and realized SS was very top heavy. Should have gone with Tulowitzki or Guillen.

5.07 John Lackey – This would have been one of my favorites, except post pick time it was announced he’ll miss the first 4-6 weeks of the season. That is ironic because one of the reasons I drafted him was due to durability. Ugh.

Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

I’m really curious to see how Guru’s strategy plays out. At first I thought he was crazy, but the more I think about it, the more I dig it. I think I would like it even more if he traded Utley/Vazquez for Santana/Hudson.

Also, after glancing through the teams real quick, I like JL’s squad. He’s got quite a few guys I wanted/came close to drafting (Holliday, Figgins, Victorino, Jones, Willis, Cameron, Saltalamacchia and Thames).

Uptown Bombers has a team built similar to my strategy. I especially like his 13th round pick of Nick Johnson, someone I was hoping to sneak through later.

JeffG also ended up with more than few guys I had on my target list (Burnett, Ellsbury, Kouzmanoff, Kearns and Neshak.)





What surprised you most about the draft?

I also don’t think saves cost as much in this draft compared to last season, so maybe I should have adjusted and grabbed another closer or two.

If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

Draft Aaron Harang instead of John Lackey in the 5th round. Take the 11th pick instead of 7th (I love the combo of Braun/Upton). Draft Todd Jones or Joe Borowski in the 9th round instead of Fukudome. There were a couple of OFers I skipped near the end who I would be happy starting. Hold off on Soto longer. I had him and Napoli ranked close together, can’t believe Napoli made it to the 16th.
4JL
      ID: 362372115
      Fri, Mar 21, 2008, 17:51
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

I usually try to take the best player available for the first few rounds and then go from there, but I found myself giving a lot of weight to positional scarcity this year. I'm not particularly enamored with Michael Young, but I felt like the drop off in quality was so significant after Young that I was forced to take him. The Adrian Gonzalez pick was based on similar reasoning.

I didn't intend to wait quite so long to take a closer, but I always felt that there were enough left that I could wait one more round to take one. ...but then they all disappeared quickly and I was stuck with Todd Jones. It's fine, though, as I'm very happy with the picks that I made while others were drafting closers.

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

I was shocked to see Holliday fall so far, as well as Figgins and Webb. Victorino could end up as a great 9th round pick.

3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

I haven't run any numbers, so this is meaningless, but blue hen, Uptown, and Taxman all pass the eye test. It will be interesting to see how Guru's strategy plays out over the course of the season.


5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

Nothing, I guess. You could say that I should've drafted a closer earlier, but if I had done that then I just a weakness somewhere else. It's impossible to draft a perfect team.
6Dave R
      SuperDude
      ID: 3010361110
      Fri, Mar 21, 2008, 21:37
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

I decided to take a different approach this year. Last year I grabbed a closer in round 3 and a starter in the 4th.. So I went for hitters early and waited until the 6th round for my first pitcher.

I also ( and I say this every year, with mixed results ) vowed to pay more attention to the ratio cats and think that I was a little more successful than in the past

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

Wow, not sure. I like them all ;)

Hunter Pence in round 5. I expect big things from him

I really like Stephen Drew this year and I think Cuddyer is great value in round 13.

Justin Upton could emulate big brother and have a breakout year or be a bust.

Jon Garland could be huge in round 21. New team, new park.

3.Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

Like everyone else, I'm hopping on the Guru bandwagon. His team has to make alot of W's and K's, but if anyone can, he can.

I think Blue Hen, Slackjawed Yokel and Jeff G all have nice squads

4. What surprised you most about the draft?

I guess the way closers were drafted. Seemed like there was no true " closers run ", unless I slept though it.

5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

I'll probably regret not getting one of the big name closers, but the way I plotted my draft it just didn't work out. I think Capps and Soria will do fine, it's just not as comforting as having a Nathan or Putz on your roster
7StLCards
      Dude
      ID: 31010716
      Fri, Mar 21, 2008, 23:26
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
Last year I spent a lot of time preparing for the draft, using 3 different sets of projections that I customized for the RIBC format, looked over the previous year's draft and point totals, kept a running tally of my cummulative stats in each category as I drafted a player and planned my next move accordingly. I also had a high level strategy which I discussed in last year's recap.

So this year, I basically did none of that and winged it, largely due to a lack of time. I did manage to downloasd one set of projections for this year and tailored them a bit for RIBC.

My initial strategy was the same as last year and that was to take 3 studs in different categories in the first 3 rounds, (hitter, starting pitcher, closer) with the hitter being a 5 category guy or at least 4 categories minus steals. When I selected the second overall draft choice I saw that based on the other RIBC drafts I could actually take one of the top three closers with my pick 4.15. I was also all set to take ARod JR and go with David Wright at #2.

Did I execute my strategy? Well, yes and no, but mainly no. I didn't take Wright and I didn't wait until the 4th round to take a closer. I did take the 3 positions I planned on though. With my first pick, #2 overall, I took Pujols. I'm sure that surprised almost everybody in this draft and based on other RIBC drafts and 'expert' projections, I took him way too high. In RIBC 2004 the draft went ARod/Pujols, 2005 Pujols/ARod, 2006 ARod/Pujols, 2007 Pujols/ARod. So it is easy to see there was no choice but for me to continue alternating and let 2008 be ARod/Pujols!

My only question is why did Pujols go from a consensus #1 or #2 pick to a 9-14th pick this year? The obvious answer is the 'experts' are all girly-men and run scared the first time Pujols mentioned 'surgery'. I remember watching Pujols play the outfield and underhand the ball to Renteria so he didn't have to throw it in, so I'm not about to question his toughness now. Besides, I've never had a chance to own Pujols and I wasn't going to pass it up this year! Obviously I could have waited but I didn't trust that he would still be there in the 6th round so I took him #2. One of the reasons I took him over Wright was his huge slugging %.

Some of my other strategies that I didn't follow were taking hitters on run scoring teams and pitchers in pitchers parks, although that is why I took Bedard who I'm expecting big things from. Another thing I like to do is to get value picks in the later rounds. Many times I saw a player I might want but I thought it was too soon to take them. In the end, most of picks were taken the earliest in all of the drafts, so hard to say I got any value.

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
Probably my favorite pick in the draft was 4.08 Chone Figgins. I had considered taking him at 3.02 and chancing that I could get one of the top 3 closers at 4.15, but I wasn't sure if Figgins qualified at 2B and didn't have time to check it out when it was my turn to pick. I think Figgins might have gone a bit high but he is still primed for a big year after a tremendous second half last year. Of my picks I like taking Pujols #2 despite the negative reports on him, and taking Ryan at #8. Ryan is starting on the DL, but that wasn't unexpected. If he misses half the year though I'll be in trouble since I didn't take a 3rd closer. I like to have 3, but got by fine with 1 1/2 last year.

3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
Basically this means which team do I think I would like to have based on my strategies. I tend to like balance so I skip over hitting heavy teams and pitching heavy teams. I think I like dror_steinberg's team. Braun, Upton, Pena, Mauer, Tulo appear to be rock solid. A few question marks at pitching with a fewe youngsters, but they seem to be on track for good years. I also like Sanfordors team, Uptown Bombers' team, and Coldwater Coyotes team is very good depending a bit on the health of Escobar and whether Ellis has a good year like I'm expecting. I also like Guru's team if he is able to make some good in season moves.

4. What surprised you most about the draft?
I would say Guru loading up on MR, but this isn't the first time he's done it and it was pretty obvious early on so it wasn't much of a surprise really. I really don't remember being surprised too much. Maybe a little surprising that the players on blue hen's team can still walk!

5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
I had the same dilema last year with my 3rd pick where I wondered if I should do anything differently or not. I can look at dror with Braun and Upton and think maybe I should have moved down in the draft and wind up with two 5 tool players. I probably wouldn't do it over, but I will wonder how low I could move down in the draft and still have my top 3 and how much better my 4th pick would have been over Furcal, but no since looking back, time to look forward!
8Tosh
      Leader
      ID: 057721710
      Sat, Mar 22, 2008, 02:49

1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?


After charting the two AAA and one AA league into a basic mock draft, I could see several times that my draft slot (#14 in the odd rounds) was going to force me into either reaching for players, or taking positions I’d prefer not to draft at that point. For example, in the first round I was in the middle of a 9-player run of 1Bs or OFs. And I saw, for the most part, the closer runs and MI runs happened at the opposite end of the draft from me. So I knew it would probably be a hard draft. But yeah, generally like those posting above me … I want to draft mostly hitters and a closer early, and focus on K/9 pitchers, while avoiding players with low OBP and SLG. I told myself I would only reach for a player a couple of times.

I’m satisfied with how things turned out. I took the best available player several different times rather that reach for a player (ex. – Magglio in round 3, even though I already had an OFer … and then a 3rd OF in round 10). But looking back, I should have paid better attention to 2B/SS, as I’m pretty weak.


2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?


Even though my projections show me doing pretty well in hitting, while middle of the pack in pitching, I have more players I don’t feel great about than those I do.
Picks I like
1.14 Prince Fielder, 1B, MIL – The Yahoo! “experts” say he’s the #1 IB
4.03 Robinson Cano, 2B, NYY – It was really a dropoff to the next tier of 2B at that time
13.14 Akinori Iwamura, 3B, TAM – As long as he gets that MI eligibility I drafted him for
19.14 Tom Gordon, RP, PHI – Maybe I’ll end up with a second closer after all.
Picks that make me say ugh
12.03 Julio Lugo, SS, BOS – His OBP really bums me out
15.14 Joey Votto, 1B, CIN – I think he ends up in AAA. Boo.
20.03 Brendan Harris, SS, MIN – He may not even start (he’s worse than Nick Punto?)


3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?


Of course I like my team, as I feel I have solid hitting, and enough pitching to hang tough. I also see Guru, Flying Polack, coldwater coyotes, and Uptown Bombers with good hitting, while JeffG, Blue Hen, Dave R, and StlCards have good pitching


4. What surprised you most about the draft?


There were still closers as late as round 11. There were a lot of players that were reached for, earlier than the AAA and AA drafts.


5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?


Nothing major – but a few picks I would do over.
JJ Putz instead of Magglio Ordonez (pick 3.14)
Orlando Cabrera or Trevor Hoffman instead of Mike Lowell (pick 7.14)
Stephen Drew instead of Julio Lugo (pick 12.03)
9Building 7
      ID: 22271821
      Sat, Mar 22, 2008, 19:46
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

I was hoping to get a top 3 draft slot to get one of the two shortstops or A-Rod. I had the 4th choice and ended up with the first slot. If that didn't happen, then 12th or so would be good. It's hard enough to find a bargain let alone two drafting on the end. I wanted to get a shortstop like everyone else, but based on my draft slot. I might have been reaching until my 6th or 7th round pick. I was hoping to load up on closers as usual. I'm disappointed I did not. The mini-run in the 8th round hurt. I did do OK in SB"s though. I also wanted to be better at SP than last year, and I know I accomplished this. However, this cost a 4th and 5th round pick.

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

Favotites: 12.16 Oliver Perez, 16.16 Mike Napoli, 18.16 Mark DeRosa 21.01 Scott Hatteberg
Do over: 23.01 Orlando Hernandez Also, I would not have drafted 2 speed guys with my 2nd and 3rd picks if I knew the later speed guys would drop so much. I would have taken Jeter or Tulowitzki instead. I probably should have done that anyways.

3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

Tosh, Guru, and Blue hen, because he keeps telling us so. I really have no clue though.

4. What surprised you most about the draft?

How the SB guys dropped more than I had projected......Figgins, Byrnes, Victorino, Pierre, etc.
That I had the 4th choice and got the number one pick.
That players I was targeting were not stolen a couple picks before me.
That I picked on the end and didn't have a horrible draft.
That there was zero interest in trading up to get the #1 pick.
That this closer in waiting strategy has been adopted by everybody, and Guru to the max. They can draft middle relievers, but they can't draft them all. In fact, they can't even draft all the good ones. There are just too many.
That I was always around when my pick came up.

5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

13.01 Barry Bonds......I'm not sure how this is going to work out yet. Also, see item 2.
10Guru
      ID: 330592710
      Sat, Mar 22, 2008, 20:33
I’ve won RotoGuru Invitational leagues in Football and Hoops, but have never really been in the thick of a baseball pennant race yet. My best RIBC finish was 6th, in 2006. Last year I was 8th.

So I'd really like to crack into the upper echelon in this sport.

Hitting has been my biggest problem in recent years. In 2007, I had 31 hitting points and 57 pitching. In 2006, the split was 30/66. Both years, I tended to draft hitters earlier than pitchers. Just not the right hitters.

So my approach this year was to continue to emphasize hitting in the first half of the draft. And to try to find hitters who wouldn’t significantly undershoot my projections, or get injured, or get stuck in platoon situations. I’m not sure I accomplished any of these objectives – but I did stick to my guns by passing on a lot of viable starting pitchers. My first SP was Javier Vazquez in round 8, and the second was Zack Greinke in round 15. The third starter wasn’t taken until round 22. I did fill in the bullpen with a lot of relievers from rounds 17-21, but I’m not planning to try to play this season without 4-5 starters. That would be tantamount to sacrificing both wins and strikeouts, and that doesn’t seem like a good way to better my previous best 6th place finish.

On the hitting side, I determined fairly early that steals were going to be a problem, and I then made a conscious decision to look for players whose value was not materially dependent on their stolen base outlook. Last year, I did try to get to at least the middle of the SB rankings, and my other hitting cats really seemed to pay a hefty price. I figured that I should be able to reach the upper end of the other four hitting cats if I completely turned my back on steals, so that was the plan. The speediest hitter in my lineup appears to be Chase Utley(!) My starting lineup projects to have 57 SBs. Last year, the worst ranking team in steals had 90. So I feel pretty comfortable that I’ve punted that category over my head and out of my opponent’s end zone.

In spite of my emphasis on hitters, I still have plenty of guys who could disappoint. For example, who knows what Manny will do? He seems like a good third round gambit, but there’s obviously a reason he was still available.

It’s a little disconcerting to look at some of my hitters’ spring training production. Utley is hitting .233, Burrell .233, Khalil Greene .094, Garko .231, and Duncan .128. Admittedly , spring training doesn’t mean much, and some of my hitters have been tearing it up – but these are a few data points that I’d just as soon not know.

Can I maneuver my way into enough wins and strikeouts to make a run at this? I don’t know, but I still enter this season more worried about my hitting than my pitching. I’m sure there are plenty of good pitching performances out there on the free agent list.

As to other teams, I like the makeup of JeffG’s team. He seems to have good balance (other than steals) – at least based on the statistical projections that I gathered this year.
11Slackjawed Yokel
      ID: 25105466
      Sun, Mar 23, 2008, 23:11
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

It seems more and more in these slow drafts, that I end up drafting by the seat of my pants rather than having a cohesive strategy. Essentially, I go for best player available for the first few rounds (with no particular positions in mind), and then try to adapt based on where the draft is going and what my needs are. A lot of this has to do simply with insufficient time to do the preparation I had in years past.

One of the benefits of my approach here, is that I don't get all worked up by planning out my picks ahead of time. Previously, I would put a queue of players together for each pick, and it's frustrating seeing them going off the board one-by-one. Instead now, I don't really start trying to decide who to pick until 1-2 picks before mine. And then, I do my final research when I'm on the clock.

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

Taking a look at my draft again, I'm pretty happy with the first four rounds (Sizemore, Vlad, Sabathia, Swisher), and some of my later hitters (Ankiel - 16th, Mark Reynolds - 18th), but I probably got more question marks at this point than I'd like. My starting pitching is looking problematic with Rich Hill (8th round) and Clay Buchholz (14th) struggling this spring. I do think, however, I managed to get a solid hitting crew - sticking with high percentage guys while getting a number of players who'll give me some stolen bases.

3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

Considering that we're in the big leagues, this shouldn't be a surprise, but it looks like there are quite a number of well-rounded teams in the league. I started going through the rosters, and it was almost harder identifying the teams I didn't like than those I did... but the ones standing out as being the best were: DaveR, Flying Polack, coldwater coyotes, Tosh, Upland Bombers, and jeffG.

4. What surprised you most about the draft?

It must just've been all the times I've missed the closer run in the past, that I kept expecting it to happen, but, for once, there wasn't a definitive closer run. Also, looking through the rosters, I thought it was surprising that Flying Polack only ended up with a single relief pitcher in all those relievers that were getting picked left and right. (I'm sure there's a joke here about it only taking one reliever to change a lightbulb, but I'm not going to be the one that makes it)

5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

I would probably have picked Lincecum over Rich Hill in the fourth. I guess I was reluctant to get Lincecum after already owning him in two keeper leagues, but I definitely would be more comfortable right now with Lincecum in my second starting pitcher slot.

Also, and I probably learn and then forget this each RIBC draft, but starting pitchers and outfielders are the deepest positions - so more attention needs to be paid to the scarcer positions. Unfortunately, it seems it's impossible for me to abide by this and pick catchers/middle infielders when there's obviously stronger OF/SP still on the board.
12Uptown Bombers
      Donor
      ID: 035616416
      Mon, Mar 24, 2008, 20:05
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

My general strategy was to emphasize hitters early and draft SP’s and closers where I felt they appropriate. Ideally, I wanted two closers and two SP’s through the first 12 picks. Like most, I wanted to fill the infield spots earlier, the MI spots in particular. I was also drafting towards some total stat goals that I came up by looking over the results of the past few years.

I got off to a good start thanks to draft position. As noted in my rationale, I knew I would be filling a MI spot with my first pick. I followed the plan well enough through round 7 by filling offensive spots and selecting my first SP and closer. As my round 8 pick approached I was prepared to take my second closer, but a mini-run began, depleting the closer ranks. At that point, I shifted gears. I was not crazy about the remaining closers and decided to load up on quality innings. So I went SP/SP in rounds 8 & 9. Doing that not only meant that I was gambling with closers, but also passing on some available MI guys, from whom I still needed too. This forced me to “reach” on a number of guys I identified as good fits for my team beginning in round 10, and in Guru’s consolidated draft picks data, I am the early pick on a number of guys I drafted after round 10 (Peralta, Johnson, A. Cabrera). But I like those guys, and feel they will provide my team with the stats I was looking for when I drafted them, so I’m not worried about taking them earlier. After those middle rounds, I fell back into a normal routine, filling out my OF and rotation with solid choices before taking some stabs at potential by the end of the draft.

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
I’m excited by the top 3 in my rotation, so I liked the 8 and 9 round combo of Brett Myers and James Shields. Together with Hamels, they should keep me very competitive in wins and K’s.

I also think Nick Johnson will be more valuable than a 13th round pick. Same goes with Travis Buck in round 17. He should be able to outperform that selection.

3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I like RoboGuru’s team. It seems to have a good mix of speed and power and a nice rotation. He got good news today with Wood being named the closer. Dror’s offense and SP is “team potential”: a lot of nice young players who are expected to take steps forward this year. If they all do, we could all be in trouble. I think Guru’s offense (outside of steals) is top-notch. Like others, I found his pitching strategy interesting.

4. What surprised you most about the draft?
The speed of the draft. I shouldn’t be surprised by this anymore, as we are all very familiar with Kafenatid’s queue system and the expectations of the drafters in these leagues, but this draft really flew by for me. Thanks to everyone for making that happen so smoothly.

Other than that, not much really. I mean, there were some individual picks (Bonds in particular) that I thought were too big a reach and some strategies I’m not sure will work out, but that happens every year.

5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
At the end of the day, I came really close to reaching my stat targets, so I would not do too much differently. I would, of course, like a better #2 closer than Brandon Lyon, but as I outlined above, once I shifted gears in round 8, I knew I was getting myself into. If I was drafting today, I would swap out Lyon with Kerry Wood and feel a whole lot better. I suspect a number of us now wish we took that chance with Wood though.
13Taxman
      ID: 22192520
      Tue, Mar 25, 2008, 23:23
1 (a) What was your plan/strategy entering the draft?

My draft plan ( my rule #1) was to draft the player whose projected statistics generated the most increase in combined points of the 10 categories at that point in the draft, requiring a running total of projected stats of each manager’s team. This is a “before” and “after” type calculation AND assumes that the projections used bear some reasonable relationship to reality. I added several caveats this year: in the first five rounds, no pitchers and no injury history (IE Chip Jones, Dave Roberts, Sheets) and focus early on MI and CI.

1 (b) Were you able to execute as you had planned?

I fell two picks short of following my rule # 1 for first 3 rounds. JeffG traded round 3 & 4 picks with dror, to snag Tulowitzki (tops on my board) two picks before he fell to me “forcing” me to take Carlos Guillen, whose eligibility at first allows more flexibility than Tulowitzki, with lesser numbers (by roughly 10%) across the board. At that point in the draft, Guillen was the best SS available and offered the most positional (not roster) draft impact. He met the MI caveat and presented the last opportunity at SS to not kill OBP, SLG or both. My hiatus on drafting P lasted 4 rounds. In the 5th round, after dror took my target, Mauer, I couldn’t resist the K’s potential with Kazmir (could torch my ERA or WHIP) still on the board and the 6th brought Oswalt, then Corpus 8th, Pedro 10th, and Maddox 12th, leaving me 5 pitchers in first 12 rounds.

From the 9th pick on, I stayed with rule # 1 allowing me blame the stat projections if my team does poorly. If the projections are OK, I make decent in season adjustments and avoid catastrophic injuries, my team should finish in the top 5. (see #3 below)


2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

Favorite picks: Guillen..4th, Pedro..10th, Oswalt..6th

Do overs: Kazmir..5th



3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

Uptown (+ pitching), Guru (+ hitting), Sandfordors (hitting, pitching), RoboGuru (+pitching)

Coldwater (++ hitting) would be included but for --pitching

4. What surprised you most about the draft?

First: use of a queue. Numerous times I would load 4 names in my queue, and all would be gone in the following 6 picks during the bottom turnaround. Other times, I would have specific targets that I thought were sleepers at the round we were in, only to see them taken. Specific villainous drafters included JeffG (especially his first 9 picks) & dror (picks 5 & 9). Also lost targets to Tosh, SJYokel, StL Cards…hell just list everybody. The queue became useless. Bottom line…this league does its homework.

Second: Lack of runs on scarce positions MI & CI. Drafting MI’s was emphasized by few of the managers. Half way through the draft, 2B, SS & MI had been drafted just 5 teams [dror (9th), RoboGuru (10th), Guru & me (11th) and Sandfordors (12th)]. Drafting CI’s was less of a priority as only Guru (13.6), and I (13.13) filled our CI before the 14th round when JeffG became 3rd manager to draft 3 CI. The run down on P half way through the draft

11 managers had 5 pitchers by end of round 12. Exceptions were Build7 @ 6P, then @ 4P, were Coldwater, Fly Polack, RoboGuru and Rosh followed by Guru with 3.



5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

I wouldn't change my draft. On a scale of 1-10, my draft was a 7.5, and depending on injury “comebacks”, could be a 9. Without injuries/collapses, this team should place in the top 5 in RBI's, SLG, W, K, ERA and WHIP. Categories punted include SB and Saves.
14dror
      ID: 5283329
      Wed, Mar 26, 2008, 19:06
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?

Going into the draft my plan was to build a strong infield in the early rounds because I felt the OF position was stacked with potential sleepers and late round value picks. I also tried to get as many 5-tool players as I can so I won't be forced into either punting SB or having to play more then 1 or 2 players with negative power numbers. Another thing I look into when drafting hitters is the spot they bat in, becuase it has a huge influence on R/RBI totals. I usualy try to stay away from players batting lower the 4th.

In pitching the plan was to only take starters with solid K-rate (around 7 K/9), 3 closers (like I wrote in one of the rationales, I beleive the difference between 2 and 3 closers is huge), and a couple of MR at the end to fill some innings with strong ratios and Ks.

Were you able to execute as you had planned?

I think I did a pretty good job following my plan. When I projected my final hitting lienup I came up with about 170 SB (should be good for a top 5 finish) with just 1 "steals only" player (Gomez), wich means I should be strong in the other categories as well. Regarding the batting spots strategy, the only players projected to hit lower then cleanup are Kendrick and Longoria, and I beleive both of them have a good chance to move up sooner or later.

I'm also very happy with the way my pitching stuff looks. I was able to get 3 closers so I should be good for a near the top finish in saves, and with King Felix and Lincecum leading a young, hard throwing group I think my rotation can do some damage, especially in the Ks category.

2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?

Joe Mauer at 5.11 is probably my favorite pick of the draft. He is healthy, hitting like crazy in spring training and I think moving to the #2 spot will be very good for him. There aren't many players in the league who can combine .400 OBP% with double digit steals, let alone from the catcher position.

Other picks I like are Yunel Escobar (9.11), Jack Cust (12.05), Nate Mclouth (17.11) and Andy Sonnanstine (23.11).

The pick I liked the least coming out of the draft is Howie Kendrick in the 7th. In this format it is usualy better to stay away from players who doesn't walk at all, but there is something about Kendrick that just makes me fall for him. Hopefully he will stay healthy this year and prove me wrong (or right, I'm not exactly sure...).

Other that that, Cameron Maybin in the 16th felt like a reach right after I pulled the trigger and it looks ever worst now with him going to the minors. Eric Gagne is also not exactly a personal favorite of mine but he was the best closer left when I took him (10th) so I guess I don't really deserve to complain about it.

3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?

It's hard to say without really getting into it, but if I have to say something then I guess StLCards has a lot of players I really like, and also SANFORDORS looks to be rock solid all around.

4. What surprised you most about the draft?

The only thing that really surprised me is that I thought the 2nd tier closers would go earlier. I also wasn't expacting so many middle releivers to get drafed.

There were some shocking single picks here and there, but in terms of the draft as a whole I think it went pretty much as I expected it to go.

5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?

With Maybin going to the minors, I obviously would have taken someone else instead of him.

As for Longoria, I'm not ready to declare him a bust just yet. He is probably gonna join the Ray in a few weeks (just in time for him to lose a year of service time and not be eligible for FA before 2014), and then I still beleive he will do very well.
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