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Subject: RIBC 2011: Draft Recap
Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 13:50
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 | MBT
ID: 191142515
Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 10:45
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First!
What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
I had planned on getting the first pick in the draft, but when that plan was thwarted I decided to go with the opposite plan and take the last pick. I thought that might throw the rest of you off my trail during the draft. Unfortunately I felt like I was drafting to keep up until round 7/8 when I grabbed two closers. I wanted to get a solid MI (accomplished) a top tier 3B (accomplished) and a contributing 1B (accomplished, although I still don’t like my Butler pick in the 4th round). I planned on waiting for pitching (accomplished) and picking all offense for my reserve picks (that didn’t quite work out because of the quality left in the pitching ranks). I didn’t plan on having two of my rookie picks start in the minors and that could be a mistake. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if that all works out.
What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
My picks: 3.16 Derek Jeter, 10.01 Johathan Sanchez, 13.16 Austin Jackson (can you say 100 runs in the 13th round?), 17.16 Javier Vazquez (200 K capability in round 17)
Others: 10.11 Starlin Castro, Slackjaw (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Cubs fan), 11.07 Michael Bourn (Guru took several guys I like this year, but this was the best value pick), 12.06 Jose Tabata, YWK (let me know if you want to trade), 15.06 Marco Sutaro, Slackjaw (he was on my short list in this round), 17.14 Tim Stauffer, Holt (I’ve got him in another league and think he’s going to be great), 24.16 Kerry Wood, JKay (this one is just a Cubs fan pick although I think he’s a great value in round 24)
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
Guru and s R
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
The speed and the value placed on 1B. We had 9 1B taken in the first 25 picks and I’m not sure if that speaks to the large number of quality 1B or a panic to make sure people had a top tier 1B on their team.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
I would have waited on 1B instead of taking Butler in the 4th, I wouldn’t have taken Theriot (should have decent enough counting numbers but his ratios suck), and I would not have let the flow of the draft drive my picks. I felt like I was chasing the draft during the entire process and every time I thought about getting ahead of trends I found better value elsewhere.
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| 2 | holt
ID: 532503015
Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 16:51
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
Pretty much same as always. I wanted to avoid punting any categories, and I like to take "best player available" in the early rounds. I also like to have a mix of conservative picks and "upside" picks. I guess time will tell if I executed this plan. I might be a little light on steals, and who knows what else, but things can be fixed during the season.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
Sabathia at 4.03 seems like a good bargain. Brian Roberts at 10.03 was well worth the risk considering the other MI's that were left to pick from. I also really like Hellickson at 11.14 and Stauffer at 17.14, but Hellickson is a rookie so in spite of all the "can't miss" articles written about him, I'm a little nervous. Jay Bruce at 6.03 has a good chance at outplaying that draft position.
Do-overs: at 5.14 it seems like I should have gotten a better closer than K-Rod, but the great ones were taken and everyone else had some questionable element. I did my best but i still don't like it. I have a lot of doubts about Aaron Hill. I didn't overpay for him but I'm just not a big fan of his personally. Luke Scott, I like, but 9.14 might have been a bit early.
Nice picks for other teams that stand out:
Graydog got Fielder at 2.05 and Swisher at 10.05. What a deal.
ywChiou got S Drew at 5.11. That seems like a solid pick when you compare Drew to the SS's that went in the 3rd rd (Jeter, Reyes, Rollins) and the SS's that went after him (a seemingly big dropoff).
Uptown Bombers got Latos at 6.13. That should work out well.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I haven't monitored individual teams closely, but Graydog looks pretty good, assuming his starting pitchers do what he's hoping they do. MBT looks decent. Guru has some nice hitting. I don't think I could ever use his annual strategy of drafting pitchers late though. I don't like the feeling of fighting my way up the rankings in W's and Whip all summer. I understand the theory though. Pitchers are fragile, few of them are dependable, and relievers can pick up slack. I just personally prefer two stud starters. Helps me sleep at night.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Nothing really, but I guess it didn't fully dawn on me how weak the SS position is now. Not that I could have done anything about it. I like that closers are starting to go off the board slightly later than they used to.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
It was frustrating to see some of the players I was targeting go off the boards sooner than I expected. That's how it always is though. Some of my picks will work out and some won't. Picking up the right FA's is probably more important than having a great draft.
Good luck to all, and as always, thanks to Dave Hall aka Guru for all his work and for running the most interesting league around. Thank god baseball season is here again.
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| 3 | Uptown Bombers
ID: 318502217
Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 23:16
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
Last year I tried to stay patient on closers and not overpay for them by drafting at the end of closer runs. That led to drafting of two closers too late and I never recovered during the season. The result was that I ended up 2nd to last in saves, thus wasting my 9th and 16th round picks on closers that did me no good. So I entered this year’s draft thinking about punting saves entirely, or at the very least waiting even longer than the 9th round to see if I could grab saves. By the time the middle rounds started, I decided to go ahead and pass on closers. This also shaped my decision to draft starting pitchers earlier than usual. Compared to my post-draft last year then, I feel that my top 3 starters are stronger than last year and by taking Granderson in round 9 instead of a closer my offense should be stronger as well. I’ve never punted a category in any fantasy sport intentionally, so this will be an interesting approach for me.
Other than that, I knew I wanted to fill MI early, felt I could wait on CI and wanted to draft steals. I feel as though I accomplished those aspects.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
I think Kemp at 2.13 is interesting. It’s not that he was a steal but he was someone drafted much earlier last year and even though his stats didn’t live up to that, he is still very young and has the talent to earn first round stats.
Gaby Sanchez at 13.04 is an unspectacular player, but his stats are pretty good compared to the other offensive players drafted in that round. The same logic goes for Mitch Moreland at 15.04, though that is based on potential.
Do overs? Coghlan in the 16th round. As I noted in the rationales, I would much rather have had Chapman at that point to boost the ratios and K’s/9. I’m not sure it’s a do-over, but the injury to Latos is something I wish I knew before making the pick.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I like YWK and Kokeshi. This is a pure eye test though, I don’t run any projections or anything like that.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
The depth in starting pitching seems even deeper than in years past, though this was not something I noticed during the draft until the end. As such, I might not have drafted Edwin Jackson in the 17th. I do like the value of Kyle Drabek in round 22.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
Nah. I’m just anxious to get this thing started. Thanks to all for the quickest and most painless draft yet in any of the RI_C leagues that I’ve participated in. Thanks to KKB for great draft software, much improved over the earlier version. And of course, thanks to Guru for the organization and set-up needed to make it all happen.
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| 4 | mjd
Leader
ID: 501381415
Thu, Mar 31, 2011, 04:30
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
Without a high draft pick slot, it’s difficult to start off with an ironclad plan, because it’s almost impossible to predict what might happen. With getting the second pick of the draft, I could only predict that I’d definitely be drafting Albert, or Hanley. After that, it was take the highest players I had ranked early, and look for value picks later when filling out my roster.
I generally try to stay up with the current job battle and daily injury reports, but other than not drafting any closers until I’m absolutely forced to, I have no steadfast rules for RIBC format drafts. This draft had a nice ebb and flow between picks, so I had plenty of time to look things over. Also, though I usually don’t care to pick near the turn, Draftime’s round specific queues made that a nonissue. We were drafting between 2 and 2 ½ rounds per day, so I could pretty much predict when it would be my turn each day without wearing out my refresh button.
I guess I’m pretty satisfied with my team, as drafted. My main goal was to try to draft a team that was decently balanced in most categories. Time will tell. The key for my team every year is my management skills. I don’t feel like drafting is one of my strong points. However, I will be watching games. I routinely watch a ton of games. Many days, 1PM until the end of the last game out West. And I have a daily routine of articles and web sites that I read. And faithfully checking every pregame lineup of every game.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
Obviously getting the top ranked MI was nice. Cliff Lee was a pleasant surprise. I thought he would be gone and this changed my course, as I usually wait on pitching. Martin Prado was a guy I targeted and was sitting there right where I had him ranked. Though as the highest ranked “jack of all trades” player, maybe I had him ranked a little high. Hard learned rule of thumb in these drafts is grab someone you really want ASAP, because if you just read an article touting something about him, chances are so have several other managers and he’ll never make it back to you. An exception to thus rule happened when Lee and 3 OF were in my 2.15 queue. Drafting Lee assured me I’d still get one of those 3 OF at 3.02. I saw lots of players that I’d like to have get drafted before and after it was my turn, but you can’t get everyone you target.
Do overs? Maybe Cueto who I learned was pulled in the 1st of a scheduled 4 inning outing for some arm ailment about 10 minutes after I drafted him. Hate starting the season with a player on the DL, given our short bench. But other than that, no. I’ll play my hand. All these player projections are just that, best guess estimates based on multiple factors. Nothing is guaranteed and even in a deep league like this, there are always gold nuggets of hot hands and injury replacements on the wire to be mined.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
That’s always difficult. I do take note of particular things during the draft, but this league will not be won or lost by what team drafted whom. The season is so long and many unexpected things can and do happen.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Almost nothing. Maybe the order of some players dafted early on. But every manager values players differently, so that’s not really surprising.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
No. Looking forward to a fun season. Thanks to Guru for providing us with this platform to compete at what could be the highest level anywhere. Great job by KKB on the new Draftime features.
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| 5 | kdl212
ID: 361121615
Thu, Mar 31, 2011, 12:36
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
I chose a middle slot to be safe, and didn't like it. I'd prefer to be at 2-4 or 12-14, since I'm more of a target players I like than pick best value guy (which explains why I win fewer imaginary baseball leagues these days, but I enjoy rooting for my teams more).
Knowing that I was only going to win this league if everything went my way out of the draft (I don't refresh rotoworld every ten minutes or check starting lineups before each game, much less watch baseball on tv) I consciously decided to prefer my targets over best value, which led me to pass on great picks to grab guys I wanted a little earlier than they should've been picked (like Beckham in the 6th, who I nevertheless expect to outproduce Prado, Zobrist and Johnson, all of whom went before him; as well as Lind in the 10th, Fowler in the 11th and Bedard in the 17th).
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
For my team, I like Murphy in the 22nd and Nolasco in the 12th. My 15-20 picks could all be duds, but guys like Gordon and McLouth and Bedard are the upside picks I wanted to be making in this draft, especially in these later rounds.
I wish I could do over Lidge in the 8th (I felt that way even before the bad injury news), Headley in the 14th (Sean Rodriguez instead, target Encarnacion later), and Guillen in the 24th, which was a 100% waste of a pick.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I don't guess a woman's age, and I don't predict imaginary baseball season outcomes.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
How much good pitching was available when I finally took my second starter in round 12. Pleasantly surprised by that.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
Yes. I'd only draft one closer in the first 8 rounds instead of 2 (I'd feel this way even if Lidge were perfectly healthy), and I would have done my full-player list search before the 24th round instead of the 25th. I simply don't have the time to keep an updated spreadsheet and run projections, but that would've netted me Contreras/Helton instead of a wasted pick on Guillen and a wasted waiver wire claim early.
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| 6 | Seattle Zen
ID: 10732616
Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 12:45
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I don't guess a woman's age
So you cut off her leg and count the rings? :)
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| 7 | kdl212
ID: 42239514
Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 13:55
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SZ: wish we could've had the chance to be in a AAA league together. Good luck, they're in for stiff competition.
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| 8 | Graydog
ID: 260361718
Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 22:34
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1) I think my strategy of picking 12th instead of 10th overall worked out well as I got Fielder at 2.05 giving me two elite power options along with Youkilis. These two players fit into my general strategy of targeting hitters based almost only on OBP, SLUG early in drafts. I also try to get one elite starting option which i think i have with Josh Johnson. I also succeeded in getting a catcher, SS and 2nd baseman in the third of the draft. One part I missed out on is some speed players in the middle rounds, the guys I had targeted (Pagan, Gardner, Jackson, Pierre, Davis)all got drafted in the picks before mine or before i was ready to pull the trigger. I also generally wait on outfielders unless one jumps out at me which I also did.
2) Favorite picks, Fielder 2.05, Swisher (149), Hunter (172), Berkman (268) and Dickey (373). I like Dickey here because there is zero risk and I believe he is mostly misunderstood by most people. People are turned off by the risk of the knuckler, his low K rate and lack of success before last year. I read that his expected K rate was a more respectable 7.something. More on
Dickey Here.
If I had the chance again I would have waited on Kubel (213) Papelbon (76) and Raburn (117).
3) some other picks I really liked: Pagan (164), Zimmerman (264), Stubbs (102), Abreu (166), Bourjos (215) - I guess it is apparent I target outfielders later in the draft. Lots more great picks this is just a sampling.
4, 5) nothing surprised me too much except out fast the speed disappeared in those middle rounds, which leads to what I would do over is nab one of my previously mentioned targets earlier. So to the future leaders in Stolen bases, ill be available for trade offers.
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| 9 | filthy
Sustainer
ID: 568191312
Mon, May 09, 2011, 05:06
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Better late than never...
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
Beef up the offense to avoid trading for it later on. Ideally draft Tulowitzki to start, but Pujols, Votto or Halladay would make nice anchors too. Big bat/big arm combo if the first rounder is too late to get one of those guys. Want to avoid having any Yankees or Red Sox. Get a good shortstop or two, but not Jose Reyes. Avoid reading too many preseason "expert opinion" articles. Only follow Spring Training for health reasons. Don't worry too much about relievers. Draft speed. Some of these goals may be overreactions to failures from last year, but we will see. Managed to hit all of my draft goals. Glad Halladay fell to me at 10.
2. What were your favorite picks? What picks would you like to do over?
Halladay, Rasmus, Furcal (early candidate for future banishment...), Morrow, Wandy, Matsui, Bartlett, Walden.
Howard (really wanted Bautista), KJohnson (Drew was my other option).
Generally draft players I like, so not a lot of regrets.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
Holt could auto draft and be a threat. He didn't auto draft, so that would make him the favourite. Guru was stealing players I like all throughout the draft. And I love the anti-relief strategy of Uptown Bombers. Top 3, hopefully after me...
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Nothing really. I was kind of surprised with how many options I had to choose from with my last pick.
5. If you could start the whole thing over, would you do anything differently?
Draft Bautista!
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