In the last week I've had two expert league drafts - The Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League - a 12 team, mixed, 5x5 (OBA/Strikeouts), Head-to-Head league, and The Fantasy Sports Invitational Challenge - a fairly standard AL-only draft league. The two drafts could not have gone more differently.
The Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League
This draft took place on Mock Draft Central. It went quickly and smoothly. I was pretty much able to follow my very simple plan. The plan - draft a balanced offense but with an emphasis on power and pad the reserve list with lots of cheap steals and saves.
C Jorge Posada, New York Yankees
1B Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
3B Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
CI Lance Berkman, Houston Astros
2B Brian Roberts, Baltimore Orioles
SS Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
MI Jose Lopez, Seattle Mariners
OF Johnny Damon, New York Yankees
OF Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
OF Brett Gardner, New York Yankees
U Mark DeRosa, Cleveland Indians
SP Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
SP Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
SP Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins
SP Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
SP Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
SP Justin Duchscherer, Oakland Athletics
SP Anibal Sanchez, Florida Marlins
RP Kevin Gregg, Chicago Cubs
RP Joey Devine, Oakland Athletics
Res C John Baker, Florida Marlins
Res 1B Jason Giambi, Oakland Athletics
Res 3B Edwin Encarnacion, Cincinnati Reds
Res OF Kendry Morales, Los Angeles Angels
Res OF Juan Pierre, Los Angeles Dodgers
Res SP David Huff, Cleveland Indians
This draft did not go so well for a variety of reasons. I spent two days inserting my draft lists into the CBSportsline.com system. I had another relatively simple plan - Draft an amazing offense and a low cost LIMA style pitching staff. I signed in 30 minutes early to queue up all of my sleeper picks and the pitchers I liked best. The draft began okay but then I and other noticed that the DH's were not listed under DH's. the draft was stopped to correct this problem. Then with the problem fixed autodraft took over and starting picking formy team and others. This required us to once again stop the draft. For some reason which I don't understand, we were unable to back out to the point the draft was originally stopped. It was decided that we would start the draft over an hour later and rebuild the draft thus far.
When we returned the draft was not rebuilt and owners who had previously been on auto-draft were now present. We attempted several times to rebuild the draft but it proved impossible. In addition the re-boot deleted my pre-ranks and all of the players I had put in my queue which meant I was going to have to wing it. The result was a pretty good offense and a bullpen dominated pitching staff.
This is not really intended as an excuse for my sorta lousy draft but just a description of the chaos of the draft itself. I should have been better prepared with a paper list but I was not. As a result I will probably be spending the first half of the season scrambling for innings.
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Texas Rangers
1B Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
3B Chris Davis, Texas Rangers
CI Mike Jacobs, Kansas City Royals
2B Mark DeRosa, Cleveland Indians
SS Bobby Crosby, Oakland Athletics
MI Ronny Cedeno, Seattle Mariners
OF B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay Rays
OF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
OF Xavier Nady, New York Yankees
OF Delmon Young, Minnesota Twins
OF Justin Ruggiano, Tampa Bay Rays
U Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox
P David Aardsma, Seattle Mariners
P Grant Balfour, Tampa Bay Rays
P Dallas Braden, Oakland Athletics
P Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays
P Scott Downs, Toronto Blue Jays
P Chris Ray, Baltimore Orioles
P George Sherrill, Baltimore Orioles
P Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles
P Joel Zumaya, Detroit Tigers
Res Max Ramirez, Texas Rangers
Res Brett Anderson, Oakland Athletics
Res Derek Holland, Texas Rangers
Res David Huff, Cleveland Indians
Res Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels
Okay, lets hear your thoughts...
C Jorge Posada, New York Yankees
1B Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
3B Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
CI Lance Berkman, Houston Astros
2B Brian Roberts, Baltimore Orioles
SS Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
MI Jose Lopez, Seattle Mariners
OF Johnny Damon, New York Yankees
OF Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
OF Brett Gardner, New York Yankees
U Mark DeRosa, Cleveland Indians
SP Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
SP Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
SP Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins
SP Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
SP Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
SP Justin Duchscherer, Oakland Athletics
SP Anibal Sanchez, Florida Marlins
RP Kevin Gregg, Chicago Cubs
RP Joey Devine, Oakland Athletics
Res C John Baker, Florida Marlins
Res 1B Jason Giambi, Oakland Athletics
Res 3B Edwin Encarnacion, Cincinnati Reds
Res OF Kendry Morales, Los Angeles Angels
Res OF Juan Pierre, Los Angeles Dodgers
Res SP David Huff, Cleveland Indians
Fantasy Sports Invitational Challenge - American League
This draft did not go so well for a variety of reasons. I spent two days inserting my draft lists into the CBSportsline.com system. I had another relatively simple plan - Draft an amazing offense and a low cost LIMA style pitching staff. I signed in 30 minutes early to queue up all of my sleeper picks and the pitchers I liked best. The draft began okay but then I and other noticed that the DH's were not listed under DH's. the draft was stopped to correct this problem. Then with the problem fixed autodraft took over and starting picking formy team and others. This required us to once again stop the draft. For some reason which I don't understand, we were unable to back out to the point the draft was originally stopped. It was decided that we would start the draft over an hour later and rebuild the draft thus far.
When we returned the draft was not rebuilt and owners who had previously been on auto-draft were now present. We attempted several times to rebuild the draft but it proved impossible. In addition the re-boot deleted my pre-ranks and all of the players I had put in my queue which meant I was going to have to wing it. The result was a pretty good offense and a bullpen dominated pitching staff.
This is not really intended as an excuse for my sorta lousy draft but just a description of the chaos of the draft itself. I should have been better prepared with a paper list but I was not. As a result I will probably be spending the first half of the season scrambling for innings.
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Texas Rangers
1B Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
3B Chris Davis, Texas Rangers
CI Mike Jacobs, Kansas City Royals
2B Mark DeRosa, Cleveland Indians
SS Bobby Crosby, Oakland Athletics
MI Ronny Cedeno, Seattle Mariners
OF B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay Rays
OF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
OF Xavier Nady, New York Yankees
OF Delmon Young, Minnesota Twins
OF Justin Ruggiano, Tampa Bay Rays
U Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox
P David Aardsma, Seattle Mariners
P Grant Balfour, Tampa Bay Rays
P Dallas Braden, Oakland Athletics
P Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays
P Scott Downs, Toronto Blue Jays
P Chris Ray, Baltimore Orioles
P George Sherrill, Baltimore Orioles
P Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles
P Joel Zumaya, Detroit Tigers
Res Max Ramirez, Texas Rangers
Res Brett Anderson, Oakland Athletics
Res Derek Holland, Texas Rangers
Res David Huff, Cleveland Indians
Res Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels
Okay, lets hear your thoughts...
