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Subject: RIBC 2009: Draft Recap
Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Tue, Mar 31, 2009, 10:27
RIBC Managers: This thread is for your (optional) 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. |
| 1 | JKaye
Leader
ID: 01372359
Tue, Mar 31, 2009, 22:58
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1. I ended up with the 4th pick, expecting to land an IF stud at
the top. As it turns out Hanley went first and A-Rod got hurt so
I wish I had picked 2nd which was an option when I chose, and
would have loved Pujols. But I'll settle for #4 and Reyes who I
appreciated more and more as the draft went along. Locking in
60 SB is a nice luxury to have, not to mention taking care of SS.
From there, I wanted to round out my IF some more and landed
A. Ramirez and Carlos Pena to do so. I took Pena a round early
and would have prefered Roberts slipping to me in round 3 (JL
grabbed him at 3.01). But I am content with how the draft went
building off the 3 studs in the IF (and I am calling Pena a stud in
an OBP league).
I executed well overall, landing good players at a number of
positions, and feel good about my overall balance in all
categories.
2. My favorite picks were probably Iannetta and Motte. Iannetta
really took some of the pressure off my lack of a 2B and MI for
most of the draft, as well as a less than stellar OF crew. If he hits
his potential in OBP/SLG, I'll be in good shape. And Motte - who
knows how that will work out but I was happy that I just threw
caution to the wind and went for it. If he realizes his full upside,
it will be a rewarding pick. At the very least, he appears to be
the closer for now, if unofficially.
In the mulligan department, I'd say Connor Jackson in rd 7 takes
the cake. I do like the CI/OF flex. aspect of Jackson, and when
justifying the pick now, I still fall back on that. But his #'s don't
justify the draft position, especially considering I passed on
taking a 2B, only to watch Weeks and K Johnson go off the board
immidiately, two guys I really liked for 2B.
I could also have taken a 2nd closer in that spot, sparing me the
frantic search for extra saves. But I am OK with how it turned
out, and hoping Felipe Lopez thrives in the leadoff spot for Zona
to bail me out at 2B.
3. Best teams?
filthy - Looks like the most powerful offense to me, right down
to his CI/MI of Sandoval/S Drew.
Holt - No surprise here from a consistent RIBC threat, with
Pujols/Lee a strong core of a well drafted, well balanced team.
Coldwater Coyotes - The highest risk/reward ratio of any team.
One of the most talented teams, but brittle as well. Harden,
Berk, Bradley, Thome, Scherzer, Olly - if health holds, it could
be a top contender.
JL - Gutsy work from the top spot, building around Hanley. The
last team to land a closer, JL picked up Gregg, Street and Morrow
- none closers at the time he took them, and yet he could have 3
very good save sources for this year. The spring battles are
falling his way to say the least!
Guru - Solid draft overall, with strong players at each position.
This team might be a MI and a closer away from being RIBC
champ. Even as is, a top 5 team.
4. Can't say there were any surprises. My 4th year of RIBC play,
but first big league draft. I always prepare hard so the draft was
no different. I just had to focus even harder against the best of
the best.
5. Some regret in a pick here and there, but overall, I did what I
wanted to do. The draft is over; now the hard part begins.
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| 3 | Dave R
SuperDude
ID: 3010361110
Wed, Apr 01, 2009, 22:13
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First of all, thanks again to Guru for organizing, and administering this league. The draft is a blast and the league is intense.
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
I think for the most part I pretty much stuck to my plan on drafting hitters early and waiting on pitchers, although I took my first pitcher a round earlier than I planned ( Krod ). Early on I think I made a mistake by taking my 2nd outfielder ( Markakis ), in the 2nd round, which forced me to reach on Derrick Lee in the 4th round. I probably should have taken Morneau in round 2.
I only ended up with 2 closers and in all likelihood, no " closers in waiting ". But with Krod and Cordero, I think I'm OK there.
In looking over the average draft picks posted by Guru, it looks like, other than the above mentioned Lee, most of my selections were taken right around where they should have been, or even later than the average. All in all I like my team allot as long as the injury bug doesn't bite
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
My favorite pick.....? Maybe Parra, if he stays healthy and pitches as he did for a stretch last year, can be a bargain in round 18. Allot of sites list him as one of the main pitcher " sleepers" this year.
Although I like Markakis, I'd like to have a do over and would take Morneau.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
Other than my team, I'd say the following teams are contenders, in no particular order:
- Guru, as always seems to be solid in all the ratio cats, and hitting over all. If he manages to grab some extra W's and K's than I project for him, he looks strong.
- Philsphan, looks tough in the pitching cats and fairly solid hitting wise
- Bash Brothers has a nice well rounded team
- Species is very strong offensively
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Nothing surprises me , I've learned that you can't expect players to slip to you, everyone always seems to have done their homework
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
Not really, I'm pretty satisfied with my draft,
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| 4 | Philsphan
ID: 372341120
Wed, Apr 01, 2009, 22:31
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
I’ve drafted on the ends and I’ve drafted in the middle. I like the middle better. I didn’t want to miss out on any runs, and I wanted to start off with a middle infielder. If it is one thing I have learned in all the RIBC drafts I've been in, it is that you need to get a good MI early or forget about it. And I have a real aversion to reaching for those players, especially in the first 10-12 rounds.
I was targeting Utley with my first pick. I guess you can call it a man crush, or a homer pick (either works fine for me!), but I wanted the best 2B to anchor my team, and thought the 7th pick would be a good place to get him from. I figured by getting the MI early I didn’t need to worry myself with another one for a while and I could concentrate on drafting players to fortify my ratios while others spent early picks for lower tier MI’s. At least I think that strategy worked.
From there it was pretty straightforward. Get an elite SP in the first 3-4 rounds (Webb in the 3rd) and the best players for the next picks. Holliday and Bay did that for me. I was at the beginning of the closer run and got Lidge. I would have preferred Nathan there but he went just before my pick.
This is the second year in row that I have punted SB’s. Last year it worked for me. My experience has been that going after steals in the early/middle rounds comes too much at the expense of SLG and OBP, and the potential points gained in SB often do not offset the lost points in the other 2. So I work to keep the ratios very strong and get steals when I can. It worked for me last year. We’ll see how well it goes this year.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
I loved Vernon Wells at 11.07. I think he is an absolute steal. Cliff Lee would be next at 8.10, and Travis Hafner at 21.07 could be THE pick if he gets past last year’s injuries. Carlos Gomez could be a real good deal at 20.10 if he turns out. And although pitching is always a crapshoot, I have a real good feeling about Aaron Harang this year. I think last year was a fluke and not a trend. I guess you can call this a “clip-and-save” statement. Last time I had him he was great.
Obviously, if he doesn’t perform then he would fall under the “do over” category.
Loney could be a do over. Maybe I reached for him. According to the other drafts I over reached by 2 rounds. Maybe I could have gotten him a round or two later, who knows. Frankly I think he is undervalued. He projects out similar to 1B’s taken in Rounds 3-5, so I am concerned that maybe I am working with bad information. If there is a category of “Most Fretted Over Pick After The Fact”, then James Loney is it for me.
The two big do over picks for me are Devine and Perez. I had a 50-50 chance between Devine and Zeigler and I think I picked the one-armed guy. I never expected to see Perez get sent down. So I guess I am punting saves too… Those 2 picks do fall in line with my life’s philosophy of “buy high sell low”, so at least I’m consistent.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I’ve been in enough leagues with Filthy to know that he will be very competitive. Additionally I think DaveR, Da Bomb and JL are solid. I am very impressed with Species’ offense. He projects as the leader in R RBI and OBP according to my numbers.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Surprisingly, nothing stood out this year. Like JKaye, I always put a lot of prep time in, and I consider this league to have the best fantasy players around, so it’s a great challenge to draft with this group.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
I don’t know. Clearly, at this point, I should have picked Zeigler over Devine and Motte over Perez, but I don’t wear hindsight glasses. It’s a long season, and a lot will happen.
A big thank you to Guru for setting this up every year and letting us come over and play.
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| 5 | Uptown Bombers
Donor
ID: 035616416
Sat, Apr 04, 2009, 13:45
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
I brought the same strategy that I have used in the past and that others across the leagues and over the years have outlined: stress hitters early, preferably MI's, then pitching. I don't like to start the closer run, but don't want to miss out entirely. I also set target stats and use some really basic projections (from my head)to track how close I am to reaching those with my drafted team. I have found that to be very useful even though it doesn't reflect the moves over the course of a season. It just helps me get a feel for the overall balance of stats I am assembling when I draft.
I'd have to say that did not exactly stick to that plan. The last two years I drafted MI's with my first round pick and that helped keep me on track. This year, I nabbed Cabrera in round 1 and found it difficult to get good value with my MI picks in the later rounds. I wanted to avoid reaching for those picks but ended up with some MI options that I don't particularly love. The worst of it came at the 16th/17th round turn, when all my SS sleepers came off the board just before my pick. Still, I am not totally upset with my batch of MI's. Johnson and Polanco seem to belong in the "average" group, and Aybar and Burriss came cheap, are young, and should have career years, moving them into the "average" pack.
I also moved away my plan on waiting really late to draft a catcher. This was an adjustment I made on the fly and came in response to losing out on the early MI's. As I noted in my Doumit rationale, my hope is that having a top catcher will help offset having a below average MI. Time will tell if that pays off.
Pitching wise, I am happy with my staff. I drafted mostly a "no-name" staff of guys, some of whom are undervalued in my opinion. I am optimistic about my ratios and K numbers. My relievers have good K rates and keep me in the middle of the saves race.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
Favorite picks are, ironically enough, Ichiro at 4.12 and Baker at 10.12. Despite the fact that both are currently on the DL, I think they will return shortly and offer real good value at those draft positions. I also like Adam Jones at 14.12, Chad Tracy at 23.05, and Burriss at 25.05, as players who could easily outperform those draft spots.
Do overs: When I made the Delmon Young pick, I really like it, but that caused me to lose out on Lowrie, who I really liked. In hidsight, I should have picked Lowrie at 16.12 and see what happened from there. Oh well, I am still excited about Young's potential, so we'll see. Also, Seth McClung at 18.12 was a gamble when I made the pick and it seems like I picked the wrong guy. At the time, Villanueva was really struggling, so I went with McClung, but now it seems that Villanueva will get the first shot at the closer role. In hindsight, I'd take Villanueva here instead.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
In no particular order and just by eyeballing the teams, I like Holt, filthy, and Species. They will be fighting for 2nd place. ;)
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Nothing really. These drafts have become quite standard in my opinion. There were a few picks here and there that surprised me, but nothing so out of the ordinary that it is worth mentioning. On a positive note, even though these drafts are long in comparison to the live drafts I prefer, I have noticed that each year, they get faster. Kudos to everyone for that and of course to the Kafenatid website. And on that note, special thanks to those who made designated picks for me over the course of the draft: Guru, Dave R, and JKaye.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
Other than the second guessing of picks mentioned above, not really. I like my team's chances overall. I feel like I have put together an offense geared towards scoring runs and OBP. With some help from Helton, Headley and Young in the SLG department, I should be balanced. Some sleeper stolen base picks complete the package. With pitching, I expect to fall short on wins and in the middle of saves, but I like my positioning for the rest of the categories. I'm looking forward to a real competitive league and wish everyone good luck.
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| 6 | dror
Leader
ID: 101492713
Sun, Apr 05, 2009, 15:02
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
The plan was basicly the same as prior years... Infield early, then pitching, and a bunch of breakout/undervalued outfielders later.
The most important rule I have for myself when drafting is to avoid players who are category killers. And by that I don't only mean players with 0.300 OPS or 0.380 SLG, but also pitchers with less then 6.5 K/9. I think thats why I always do good in K's, I just never take a SP who will pitch 200 innings with 120 K's.
As for the "special" categories (SB and saves), I don't believe you have a chance to win the whole thing if you punt a category. top 5 maybe, but not to win. My SB target is something like 160-170, and I should be right there with a bunch of +20 guys. Saves is a different stroy... it stinks paying for them, but since I live overseas my chances of getting a hot waiver player are slim, so if I want saves I have to get them in the draft. I was ready to spend 2 middle round picks for 75 saves with strong ratios and K's, and I think I was able to do that with Broxton and Wood.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
Nelson Cruz in the 10th is probably my favorite pick. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he finishes as a top 10 OF in our format. I also think Furcal is going to be huge.
Do overs... maybe Dempster... I'm not 100% sold last year was not a fluke for him.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I think Coldwater's strategy is probably the closest one to mine, so he ended up with a team I really like.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Nothing really... I have come to understand in this league that you can't wait for anyone. If you really want a player, you have to just take him, even if it's a round or two before his common rank or ADP.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
I don't know... A-Rod is probably the biggest gamble of the draft, but there was no value in the 2nd round this year so I think I probably would have taken him again. I guess I'm happy with my team.
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| 7 | filthy
ID: 388531216
Wed, Apr 08, 2009, 08:25
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cheated a bit to see how the start of the season looks...
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
Haha my plan was to make up a plan as I went. I executed my plan to a tee.
I did have a rough idea of how I wanted the team to look at least. I roughly wanted to have 3 MI/C, 2 CI, 3 OF/SP, 2 RP as a core. Did not get the second CI and ended up overcompensating with extra CI's later on. Got stuck hunting K's and SB's as I filled out my team, didn't really succeed in the hunts either. Reached enough to be in position to move on some early surprises.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
Faves would start with Napoli in the 16th. Only player that I got last out of all the leagues. Yet to play 2 games into the season, but that was part of why I got him late.
Josh Fields even though I reached. White Sox offense is always good and Fields had a nice stint before he lost last year to injury.
Scott Rolen as the Fields handcuff. It's hard to remember him healthy, but he was once a superstar.
Sandoval as the ultra insurance to all of those previous guys. Can't put a price on flexibility in a league like this.
Redo's, I would probably put some earlier focus towards CI rather than MI. I would probably redo most of my picks if I did it again, but I like what I came up with this time, and will likely make a lot of moves once all the smoke clears anyways. Gotta find some speedsters and smokethrowers. I rarely met a trade I didn't like.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
Everyone who made it here, earned their way in. All the teams look good right now. All the teams that I recognize are sure to be threats. I would put money on Holt winning before I would bet on my own team, based on past experience. With just a brief post draft glance so far, I like JKaye and JL's drafts the most. I hope for a 16 team race up until September.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
No draft picks traded? Haha everything is pretty much standard procedure by now. Very smooth draft, thanks to Guru for all of this. Thanks to Guru again for all the queue picks. And thanks to everyone else for drafting fast, but not so fast that I couldn't stay caught up.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
Everything and nothing. Lovin' my team, think this might be my best draft yet. That's not saying much, but slight improvements have their bright side too.
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| 8 | Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Fri, Apr 10, 2009, 13:27
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
My plan is always to look for great VALUE in the draft and plan around that as the draft unfolds. I rarely decide to target a particular position at a particular time - outside of waiting on pitching for at least 7 rounds. I am a big % hound so I really focus on OPS guys early on.
Did it work? Well I think so, although I diverted from my normal plan and took Beckett at 5.12 because I couldn't resist what I felt was one of the last "aces" on the board at that point.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
I liked Beckett at 5.12, Zambrano 10.05, Saunders 18.05. I think I reached on David Ortiz at 3.12 but his projected stats just SCREAMED to be taken at that point. Nick Swisher at 16.05 was a reach but if he gets 350 AB's it could be a steal.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I like Guru, Uptown Bombers and Dave R to name 3.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Not much. These drafts are fairly old hat. Sure there were some reaches but nothing really shocked me.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
I would have ran projected standings during the draft to be able to better think on the fly and adjust to category strengths and weaknesses. Between work and too many social events, I half assed this draft by comparison to other RIBC/RIHC drafts and hope I don't pay for it with an ugly demotion.
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