first serious venture into high-stakes fantasy baseball. three auctions and the main event, vegas 2. for the draft, i mapped out my top three, braun, santana, and greinke, before i got on the plane leaving victoria. after that, build a power base, draft a front line closer and gio gonzalez, chase sb in the middle rounds, and finish my staff at the end.
i submitted my kds, 1-15. i asked shawn childs about his kds strategy, and he explained that he entered 1-15 because you don't know who is going to fall. i was able to grab greinke from the late positions 3/4 in the slow drafts but i realized that was unlikely to happen at the main event. if i was serious about drafting him, i had better get as high as possible, and plan on taking him early in rd 3.
first crisis, stanton dropped to 2:12. i passed. i intended to lock up two strong catchers, santana being main the prize. also, i read that stanton was having some knee troubles.
i don't like youk, and was not planning to draft him. he was there at the bottom of 6, though, and i decided he was worth the gamble at that spot.
closers were slow off the board in this draft, and i had planned on taking papelbon in rd 8, but he was nabbed a couple picks prior. happy mo dropped.
like youk, i did not intend to draft heyward, but figured the potential too good to pass at the end of 10.
i don't like my 1b. i targeted any one of morales, davis, or freeman. but others liked them a couple picks earlier than i. morales and freeman both going in the 8, and davis a couple picks before heyward.
from the mid-point on, the draft went as i had planned, and i think the team is balanced. i was surprised braun dropped so far from the top of drafts in vegas. especially the high-end drafts. on the surface, he looks like a solid 5 cat contributor. i trust him more than i trust a player like hram. however, as fast as braun was dropping, hram was rising. i found that move very confusing. would welcome some insight.
2 12 Carlos Santana C
5 4 Buster Posey C
11 4 Adam Lind 1B
6 12 Kevin Youkilis 3B
19 4 James Loney 1B
14 12 Ryan Roberts 2B
4 12 Asdrubal Cabrera SS
17 4 Alcides Escobar SS
1 4 Ryan Braun LF
10 12 Jason Heyward RF
12 12 Nick Swisher RF
16 12 Jose Tabata LF
18 12 Denard Span CF
9 4 David Ortiz DH
3 4 Zack Greinke SP
7 4 Gio Gonzalez SP
15 4 Vance Worley SP
20 12 Trevor Cahill SP
21 4 Mike Leake SP
22 12 Luke Hochevar SP
23 4 Jonathan Sanchez SP
13 4 Sean Marshall MR
8 12 Mariano Rivera MR
24 12 Alexi Ogando SP
25 4 Alexi Casilla 2B
26 12 Jeff Niemann SP
27 4 Chris Parmelee 1B
28 12 Marlon Byrd CF
29 4 Danny Hultzen SP
30 12 Garrett Richards SP