You have to pity these guys. They are on my fantasy team, which means they are destined to have bad years:
Catcher
Alex Avila, Detroit
Infielders
Albert Pujols, L.A. Angels
Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee
Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland
Alex Rodriguez, N.Y. Yankees
Kelly Johnson, Toronto
Emilio Bonifacio, Florida
Outfielders
Curtis Granderson, N.Y. Yankees
Adam Jones, Baltimore
Brennan Boesch, Detroit
Corey Hart, Milwaukee
Delmon Young, Detroit
Jeff Francouer, Kansas City
Carlos Quentin, San Diego
Starting pitchers
Clayton Kershaw, L.A. Dodgers
Matt Cain, San Francisco
David Price, Tampa Bay
Ricky Romero, Toronto
Ervin Santana, L.A. Angels
Jonathan Sanchez, Kansas City
Relief pitcher
Mariano Rivera, N.Y. Yankees
Jordan Walden, L.A. Angels
Joe Nathan, Texas
If you drafted any of these guys in your league, I recommend you just go ahead and drop them now. They're all doomed.
Doomed.
Luckily I only have one... Kershaw. But I know you know your sh*t so that worries me a bit. I wanted a couple players you have but people were going crazy in our auction draft and I just laid low until the deals rolled around. Here's my team:
C - Napoli
1B - Teixeira
2B - Phillips
SS - Reyes
3B - Youkilis
LF - Mike Morse
CF - BJ Upton
RF - Bruce
Util - Berkman
SP - Kershaw, Lee, Garza, Beachy, Anibal Sanchez, Ubaldo
RP - Farnsworth (!), Francisco, and one more I'll get off waivers
Bench: Ryan Roberts, Cameron Maybin
I'll probably drop one pitcher once we get into the season depending on how they do. We play specific outfielder spots so that makes drafting tougher. We also play keepers (includes an extra keeper fee). And I'd say about 15 out of the top 20 ranked players were kept even if their 'value" wasn't worth it. So Tex was probably the 4th or 5th best player available.
People went ape**** picking pitchers in our draft. One guy took Verlander the first round, Halladay the second round and Jered Weaver third round. Basically, whatever pitchers you wanted, you had to grab early because there was a run on them the first six rounds. I think my offense is a little weaker this year, because I wanted to make sure I grabbed Kershaw, Cain, and to a lesser extent, Price to solidify my starting pitching.
I'm pretty confident in my CF choices — Granderson and Jones. I'm a little weaker at corner outfield, so I decided to use a lot of late round picks in that area. I figure among Hart, Boesch, Young, Francoeur and Quentin, somebody's gotta have a good year, right? I'm banking at least two of those five will be healthy and productive.
It looks like you've got two high-end pitchers in Kershaw and Lee. And you know I like Garza. It kind of disappointed me when he came to the Cubs. I used to grab Garza in the middle rounds when he was with the Rays, and he'd always help me. Now that he's in Chicago, the secret on him is out and one of the Cub fans in the league always picks him early -- sometimes earlier than he really should be picked. I had Anibal Sanchez last year. Really hit or miss there. I used to like Ubaldo -- I had him the year he had that awesome first half in Colorado. He hasn't been the same since.
I like your infield with the exception of Youkilis. He might be a decliner at this point. Your team might do well if you can get good years out of Youkilis and Berkman. Obviously, you're a little weak at closer, but we all know bullpens are fluid situations. Some guys who will begin the season as closers won't be closing anymore by June. If you keep your eyes open, you can always get good value from someone off the waiver wire in your league.
Yeah I was wondering what you were doing with that hodgepodge outfield. I've drafted and trade for Jones in the past. I will not be fooled again... At least you have Pujols. Your team can be having a terrible day and he can play a late game, go 4/5 with 2 HR and handful of RBI to save it. I like your pitching. I bet you have the best in your league. Hard to match up a 1, 2, 3 like Kershaw, Cain and Price. Even Romero and Santana aren't bad. i thought about looking at santana as a 4th or 5th starter but I've drafted him before and been disapointed. I don't forgive easily.
Yeah Youk and Berk are old. I got a good value for them though so I couldn't pass it up. Closers are a little weak, but I paid a total of $5 for three closers while other people were drafting Paps, Rivera, Bell, Axford etc... for $15 a piece. I've gone that route and gone the mid-low tier/waiver wire route with pretty much the same results. It's a little less stressful drafting a "for sure" guy (do those exist for closers outside of Rivera?) but if I can save some money to draft some more hitting, that's what I'm going to do. I'm hoping Ubaldo or Garza steps it up this year. I usually like to have 3 top pitchers but it just wasn't going to happen. So I tried to get some good deals on mid-tier guys. I think both Ubaldo and Garza have the ability to step up their game. And Sanchez and Beachy the same.
In the end it's all a crap shoot.
Believe me, the hodgepodge outfield wasn't by design. Sometimes you just gotta make adjustments to your original plan based upon how the draft is going.
I probably have the second-best starting pitching in my league. That one guy who took Verlander, Halladay and Weaver the first three rounds is pretty stacked. Hopefully, my depth will help me compete with him in the pitching categories.
With closers, I always try to get Rivera. He's the one guy you can always count on. There aren't many others who are *always* good. Guys like Axford or Valverde, I'll bet they aren't as good this year as they were last year. I think it's hysterical you have Farnsworth. Every time I see that guy or hear his name, Bill Kindt's voice goes through my head: "Ehh.....I don't know why Farnsworthless threw him a slider! The fastball is his best pitch!"
Geeze. Who does that guy have hitting if he took a pitcher in the first three rounds? Thats a good way to make sure your team sucks. It's a delicate balance drafting pitching and hitting. I've found out first hand and witnessed that going all in or pretty close to all in on one doesn't work.
Yeah, well after the closer run ended, Farnsworthless was the only guy left who was technically the team's #1 guy. So, if he ends the season with 30-35 saves. I win.
Farnsworthless is on a good team, so he should have his fair share of opportunities.
The guy who picked all the pitching has the following lineup:
C — Geovany Soto
1B — Gaby Sanchez
2B — Chase Utley
3B — David Wright
SS — Alexei Ramirez
LF — Josh Hamilton
CF — B.J. Upton
RF — Jason Heyward
Util — Chris Young
Util — Adam Dunn
BN — Ryan Howard
BN — Ian Desmond
BN — Martin Prado
BN — Austin Jackson
BN — Gordon Beckham
Lots of guys with injury issues and lots of guys coming off bad years.
My Team is good but we're 10th overall out of 10 teams :/..
C- Buster Posey
1B- Prince Fielder
2B- Dan Uggla
3B- Kevin Youkilis
SS- Troy Tulowitzki
OF- Alex Gordon
OF- Andrew McCutchen
OF- Andre Ethier
UTIL- Michael Young
BN- Carlos Pena
BN- Freddy Freeman (who i'm using to get Erick Aybar to give to a team with Bonifacio and I'll give him Aybar and Justin Masterson for Cole Hamels)
SP- Matt Cain
SP- Jeremy Hellickson
SP- Justin Masterson (soon to be Cole Hamels hopefully)
SP- Josh Johnson
SP- Mark Buehrle
BN- Ivan Nova
BN- Matt Harrison
BN- Doug Fister
I'm wondering what's going on with Masterson this year. Off to a slow start. Even the White Sox hit him hard, and the Sox usually have all kinds of problems with his heavy sinker.