Suzy Kolber made us swoon despite some questionable draft picks.

As you may or may not know, ESPN likes to “edumacate” viewers with a mock fantasy football draft every preseason. But instead of getting people who, you know, actually play fantasy football, it lets quasi celebrities and crusty ESPN “talent” throw random darts at a board. It has been a terrible exercise from the beginning, and it just gets worse every year. I tried to avoid it this season. It just causes heartburn and upset stomachs. In fact, that should be a part of the description of the show.

But, I caught parts of it anyway, against my better judgment. Those on fantasy football forums have mocked the draft. I must exorcise the demon. ESPN actually posted the whole draft online. (Fools!) So I will, pick by pick (*gulp*) take this monster apart.

What follows is horrific. Please don’t read it without anesthetizing yourself first. I am sitting down with the draft in one hand, and a bottle of Everclear in the other. I don’t have the heart to mix my grain alcohol with anything. This is going to suck.

By the way, the “competitors” in this draft:

Merril Hoge - Probably would have benefitted having Jaws around.
Suzy Kolber - Once took the Steelers in round two of a fantasy draft. But damn, she’s cute.
Method Man - *Swig*
Chris Mortensen - Somehow comes off less knowledgeable than Method Man.
Roy Williams - Chances he takes himself in the draft? Ninety eight per cent.
Nick Bakay - Actually the best owner. *Swig*
Michael Smith - Well, at least he is aware of his lack of fantasy acumen.
Summer Sanders - Riding Phelps’ wave.

Round One

1. Hoge - Adrian Peterson - *Golf Clap*
2. Kolber - LaDainian Tomlinson - Wow. Two out of two! Maybe this year will be different! Maybe ESPN has finally come through after so much disappoinment. Maybe it has put together a mock draft that will actually help viewers! I may not even need the booze anymore!
3. Man - Frank Gore - *Chugs*
4. Mortensen - Brian Westbrook - Okay. A little woozy, but I’m hanging in there.
5. Williams - Tom Brady - Not the guy I’d take, but I can’t really fault him here.
6. Bakay - Joseph Addai - Bakay, while clearly being the best in this draft, would finish in the bottom half of every league our readers partake in.
7. Smith - Randy Moss - No, this isn’t a PPR league, at least not according to the settings.
8. Sanders - Marshawn Lynch - I think I’m in love.

Round Two

9. Sanders - Tony Romo - Well, that crush lasted about five seconds.
10. Smith - Clinton Portis - Portis is kind of getting up there in years, and Steven Jackson may not hold out all season. I’m just saying.
11. Bakay - Steven Jackson - Thanks, Bakay.
12. Williams - Marion Barber - Boring, but acceptable.
13. Mortensen - Darren McFadden - Well, that’s about 30 picks too high. Congrats to Mort for taking the early lead in the “Worst pick of the worst draft in the history of the world” award.
14. Man - Peyton Manning - He just took Manning cause his surname is the prefix to the Golden Boy’s last name. Or something like that.
15. Kolber - Drew Brees - It’s way too high for Brees, but at least I like the player.
16. Hoge - Brandon Jacobs - Hoge is jealous of any back who gains more than 700 yards in a single season.

Round Three

17. Hoge - Matt Hasselbeck - After the top four quarterbacks are off the board, you might as well wait a while before taking the fifth-ranked one. Hoge just skipped ahead and took the tenth-ranked signal caller. But you get the point.
18. Kolber - Maurice Jones-Drew - Kolber impressed me a little here. (Of course, it might have been those adorable moon-shaped eyes.) This makes up for the Brees pick. A little.
19. Man - Larry Johnson - Obviously, we think Johnson is to be avoided, but his value is about right for the 13th back.
20. Mortensen - Braylon Edwards - Actually, this is a decent selection. I’m not being sarcastic! Stop laughing!
21. Williams - Terrell Owens - Never let active players draft.
22. Bakay - Reggie Wayne - Correct.
23. Smith - Andre Johnson - Fitzgerald makes a little bit more sense, but okay. I’m drunk now, but at least I’m not depressed. Yet.
24. Sanders - Ryan Grant - Woah. Summer, maybe we can work out after all.

Round Four

25. Sanders - Larry Fitzgerald - Wow. Awesome. I think I might have some fantastic dreams tonight.
26. Smith - Jamal Lewis - Maybe Smith knows Willis McGahee’s injury is bad?
27. Bakay - Carson Palmer - Yeah, sounds about right.
28. Williams - Marques Colston - There are, obviously, good backs on the board. But I’m sure Barber will do the work of two backs with his ten carries a game.
29. Mortensen - Calvin Johnson - Fantasy drafts should involve tasing.
30. Man - Chad Johnson - Probably the second-best wide out on his team, but I’ll give MM a pass. He was probably tricked into doing this, anyway.
31. Kolber - T.J. Houshmandzadeh - Aw, I think Suzy reads my writing. (And did I mention I love her?)
32. Hoge - Santonio Holmes - Not as bad as the Johnson pick, but not acceptable. There are at least five wide outs on the board who should be taken before Holmes.

Round Five

33. Hoge - Rashard Mendenhall - Starting backs are so overrated. By the way, for those keeping track at home, Hoge and Mortensen are neck and neck for the claim as the worst owner in the league.
34. Kolber - Jason Witten - Nooooo! Suzy! Why?! Worst pick ever. But damn, you’re cute.
35. Man - Antonio Gates - Clearly frightened by the Witten pick (like the rest of us), MM compounds the horror. Gates is being taken around 49th in drafts across the nation. So this is at least 14 slots too high. *Swig*
36. Mortensen - Derek Anderson - And this pick would be about 20 slots too high. Seriously, Mort, we can tell you haven’t even put five minutes of preparation into this.
37. Williams - Roy Williams - Cute.
38. Bakay - Wes Welker - Don’t get me wrong, Bakay isn’t “good.” It just seems like he is because of the other people here. It’s all relative.
39. Smith - Thomas Jones - For the record, there are seven backs I would, conservatively, put ahead of Jones that were still on the board. One is McGahee, who I realize has some injury concern, but he’s still a top 15 back.
40. Sanders - Rudi Johnson - For the record, Rudi was not one of those seven backs I just mentioned.

Round Six

41. Sanders - Plaxico Burress - Well, whatever.
42. Smith - Michael Turner - Okay. At least Smith’s taking better players as the draft goes on, although that might be something of an indictment of his overall strategy.
43. Bakay - Anquan Boldin - As the biggest Boldin fan on the planet, I apologize to Bakay for saying that mean stuff about him in Round Five.
44. Williams - Willis McGahee - Thank God.
45. Mortensen - Kellen Winslow - Ah. The Anderson to Winslow connection. Awesome.
46. Man - Dallas Clark - Most choose not to take a back-up tight end. Others pick tight ends in both rounds five and six - in an eight-team league, mind you. And a new challenger for worst pick arises.
47. Kolber - Chargers D/ST - In standard scoring, the difference between the top defense and the eighth-ranked defense is somewhere around two points per game. Always wait on a defense.
48. Hoge - Anthony Gonzalez - See, Hoge’s problem is value assessment. It’s not that he picks terrible players. His guys have upside, some might even call them sleepers. But the whole point of a sleeper pick is taking them lower than you think their final stats will reflect. Hoge just takes them at the value he thinks they’ll end up at. At least we’ve figured this out. Oh, and, umm, *swig*.

Round Seven

49. Hoge - Reggie Bush - Okay. Sweet pick.
50. Kolber - Greg Jennings - Note that Steve Smith is still available.
51. Man - Bears DEF/ST - Poor MM. He just gets flustered any time anyone takes a new position. I will bet $8 million that he won’t wait until the last round for a kicker. And no, I didn’t look ahead to find out.
52. Mortensen - Devin Hester - *Hiccup* I need more booze here. Okay, Steve Smith or Devin Hester? Steve Smith. Devin Hester. ADP 28 vs ADP 131. Hmmm…
53. Williams - Steve Smith - Oh, bra-vo. Fifty push-ups for everyone. Yes, that includes you Bakay.
54. Bakay - Willie Parker - Well, I would have preferred Laurence Maroney here, but Bakay already won the league, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.
55. Smith - Ben Roethlisberger - Hoge should feel extra dumb about that Hasselbeck pick after this one.
56. Sanders - Marvin Harrison - A worthy gamble I suppose. Lots of quality backs are left, though.

Round Eight

57. Sanders - Ronnie Brown - At least it’s a high ceiling player at this spot.
58. Smith - Brandon Marshall - I wonder how far Brady would drop if he were suspended for two games.
59. Bakay - Chris Cooley - I don’t know, Bakay. Too many good players left and Cooley isn’t head and shoulders above the other tight ends on the board. Not a good pick.
60. Williams - Laurence Maroney - You might be interested in knowing Maroney’s ADP is 33rd. I really have no clue why he fell this far or who this mock draft is helping.
61. Mortensen - Felix Jones - Let’s take a look at what rounds Mortensen’s player’s should have been taken in with the round he actually picked them in parentheses. One (one), seven (two), two (three), five (four), six (five), six (six), 17 (seven), and now 14 (eight). All around, one of Mort’s better drafts.
62. Man - Donvan McNabb - Not bad. Oh, unless you consider that he still needs two starting wide outs. But, other than that, not bad.
63. Kolber - Aaron Rodgers - Hey, I’m only just past the halfway point. Someone shoot me.
64. Hoge - Joey Galloway - I’m running out of mocking steam. Galloway is 44 years old. Just saying.

Round Nine

65. Hoge - Robert Meachem - Meachem showed a little bit this preseason, and I get that. I really do. Maybe he’ll turn into a late-round gem. But Hoge could have waited until his last non-kicker, non defense pick. I feel badly for Hoge. Here’s to the good ol’ days! *swig*
66. Kolber - Nick Folk - Awful. Method Man will draft a kicker soon, though. He takes his cues from Suzy. Actually, I wouldn’t mind taking my cues from her, either. So to speak.
67. Man - Laveranues Coles - MM also defends Chad Pennington to any naysayer.
68. Mortensen - Brett Favre - Where the hell is that slurping sound coming from? (Thank you, thank you, I’ll show myself out.)
69. Williams - Giants DEF/ST - No comment.
70. Bakay - Torry Holt - It was fun to do this until right about now. Not because it’s unimaginable that Holt could fall until the 70th pick. Not because a kicker, a back-up tight end, and three defenses were taken before a wide out with eight consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Nope. It’s because I know this mockable draft kept going on. That’s the problem here. If I had any say, I would have shut down production right here. Everybody shut up, turn the lights out, stop the cameras and go home. Oh, and tase yourselves this time. My arm is tired. *Chug*
71. Smith - LenDale White -

Alright. Honestly, I can’t go on. I’m done. Method Man indeed took a kicker in Round Ten. Most teams took back-up tight ends. A couple took back-up defenses. One took a back-up tight end and a back-up defense. I’m not kidding. I mean, come on, I can’t make this stuff up.

The following players weren’t drafted at all in this 120-pick mock (ADP is in parentheses):

Lee Evans (53)
Roddy White (64)
DeAngelo Williams (71)
Kevin Curtis (78)
Jay Cutler (79)
Matt Forte (81)
Kevin Smith (83)
Eli Manning (88)

But hey, who needs a starting back when back-up tight ends are available? *Collapses*

August 17th, 2008
Categories: Andy Goldstein, FOOTBALL, Mock drafts . Author: Andy Goldstein . Comments: 4 Comments

When reviewing Tim’s “all outfielders, all the time” strategy, you don’t need to wonder if he just fell off a truck - he really did!

A couple of weeks ago, the fine folks over at Mock Draft Central assembled their first “Expert” mock of the New Year, with yours truly being fortunate enough to pick up an invite. My apologizes for the lateness of this draft summary, but unfortunately I got both a bit long-winded and a tad light on the number of fingers required to type this thing. (Note to self: when falling off the back of a truck, the wrist does not work well in cushioning the blow.)

Well, better late than never I say! As you can see, the list of participants was a veritable who’s who from the fantasy world. The draft order:

1. David Gonos - CBS Sports
2. Andy Behrens - Yahoo!
3. Derek Carty - The Hardball Times
4. Jason Pliml - Mock Draft Central
5. Chris Bracke - Mock Draft Central
6. Brent Grooms - Baseball HQ
7. Ray Flowers - Baseball Guys
8. Tim McLeod - RotoRob
9. Nate Stephens - Rotoworld
10. Peter Kreutzer - AskRotoman
11. Mike Kuchera - Fantasy Baseball Express
12. Mike Inglett - Sport Fanatics

I have a tendency when formulating my draft strategy to revert to what I call the “safe” mode, or my comfort zone. I have a history of placing a very high value on steals, vulturing saves and looking at starting pitching in the middle to late rounds. A lot of these philosophies stem from my play in larger 15- and 20-team formats, where I find these strategies work exceptionally well.

For this draft, a 12-team, 5×5 format, I decided to work towards a different goal. Picking eighth, the plan was to look for Chase Utley with my first pick, grab Johan Santana with the fourth pick in Round Two and follow up with Victor Martinez in Round Three. With catcher and second base being relatively weak positions in terms of depth heading into 2008, I wanted to look at position scarcity early as a strategy.

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men. Utley went early, Peter Kreutzer shattered my dreams by grabbing Santana, and both Martinez and Russell Martin went before my third pick. Okay, so that didn’t work. So let’s build ourselves a power/speed package and head back to familiar ground with the pitching later on, my safe zone.

Again I can’t stress enough when drafting the value of having that “Plan B” ready and the ability to change horses in the middle of the stream. That and the Boy Scout’s motto “Be Prepared,” should be part of every fantasy player’s vocabulary. With that in mind, let’s move forward and give this the old once over.

Round One - As mentioned, Utley went a bit higher than I expected (fifth), with Albert Pujols sliding into seventh. No big surprises as I watched all the big stolen base guys taken off the board. Utley in the eighth slot was apparently a bit of a reach on my behalf, so Matt Holliday it was.

Round Two - Okay, Santana is gone, so let’s pick up some five-category talent in Grady Sizemore. I was a bit surprised that he fell to me, but I certainly was not going to complain. I found the fact that Vladimir Guerrero fell to the No. 21 slot a bit odd. I believe it is more of a statement reflecting the need for speed and those seven third basemen and shortstops moving in the first round rather than a perception that Guerrero’s skill set is deteriorating.

Round Three - There I was, mulling over Curtis Granderson, Alex Rios and one of my personal favourites, Nick Markakis, with my third pick. I wanted the stolen base potential so Granderson it was. It would seem that Nate Stephens and Kreutzer were on the same page as me, as Rios and Markakis went with the next two picks. No major surprises here as the top two catchers went early in this round. I thought one might fall to me, but it wasn’t happening.

Round Four - At this stage, I was off to a decent start on offense but was still looking for a bit more power. With three outfielders on board already can I make a move on a fourth and still build a decent team? I think I can, so I proceeded to grab Adam Dunn in the fourth. The worst that can happen here is I’ve now built a top-tier outfield and hopefully shorted the position a bit, allowing me some bargains later on. My power and speed were now in good shape.

Round Five - Time to head back towards that original train of thought with regards to position scarcity. Robinson Cano went with the first pick in Round Five, so with the top four second basemen now gone, I reached a bit and took Ian Kinsler. After Kinsler, the dropoff gets rather pronounced in my opinion and I really like that 25-home run, 25-stolen base potential. The first closer went this round, Jonathon Papelbon, and I really liked the Corey Hart pick by Brent Grooms in the 54th spot overall.

Round Six - With the top two catchers gone, it was time to fill that slot with Brian McCann. I think the 20-90 potential in a relatively weak position works just fine.

Round Seven - Traditionally, I’ve been very high on gambling on the closer slot and for this mock I wanted to get a top-tier closer to shore up the position. With Papelbon gone, I went with the Mariners’ J.J. Putz. The outfield was basically done, I was strong up the middle and had a top-tier closer, so I was starting to really like the way my team was falling into place.

Round Eight - The pitching started moving a bit this round with three starters and two closers taken off the board. I went with one of my favourite picks at this stage of the draft and grabbed Adrian Beltre. There’s nothing wrong with 25-100 potential and 10 or so stolen bases at the corner. Remember, Beltre has seemingly been around forever, yet is only 28 and heading into what could be potentially his peak power years. I really like the Vernon Wells pick here by Chris Bracke. A healthy Vernon in the spring makes this pick a potential steal.

Round Nine - Time to start building a pitching staff, so Kelvim Escobar it was. As long as he can stay healthy, he’ll certainly provide adequate numbers across the board.

Round 10 - Back down the ladder, and I grabbed another of my favourite picks to click in 2008, Matt Cain. Don’t let that won/loss record dissuade you; those peripherals are solid and any semblance of either offense or breaks and it wouldn’t shock me to see 15 wins this coming year. Finally we get to the round where the pitching starts to fly, with eight of the 12 picks used on hurlers.

Round 11 - I happened to be following the first base situation fairly close and it was getting to be that time, so I reached a bit and took James Loney. With my cumulative offense, I like the BA potential and I could sacrifice a bit of power. I really didn’t want to be the owner of Carlos Delgado and that .250 BA.

Round 12 - I went back to the pitching here, taking Chad Billingsley, and hoping he can further build on that excellent second half of 2007. Given a full year in the rotation, 15 wins with 180 Ks is a distinct possibility.

Round 13 - Time to continue working on that starting rotation and I just couldn’t pass on the risk/reward of grabbing the Brew Crew’s Ben Sheets. If Sheets can stay healthy and, yes, it’s a huge “if,” getting a potential “ace” at this stage is a steal. I really like the Kosuke Fukudome pick by Andy Behrens at this stage. In Round 13, how many players have that .300 BA, 20-80, 10 SB potential?

Round 14 - Coming back down the ladder it was time for me to fill in the outfield and I went with some youth with decent upside in Jacoby Ellsbury. I like the potential for 25-30 SB with a decent BA. It was time for that young talent to start moving as Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Joba Chamberlain, and Joey Votto went with the next three picks.

Round 15 - Time for my first serious faux pas of the evening. I reached a bit and took Carlos Marmol of the Cubs. Not that this isn’t what I believe to be a decent gamble based on those 2007 numbers and the very real possibility of him closing this year, but there were other closers available with much lower risks. Mike Kuchera made a very nice grab this round when he went with a much underrated Aaron Hill at second base — a very solid choice at second base this late in the draft.

Round 16 - I’d been watching the SS position intently since early on and made the decision to sit back a bit here and let things fall to me in the later rounds. Jhonny Peralta was still available and at this stage of the draft that 25-75 potential just couldn’t be passed on. With both the depth in this category and quality at the top end, some very nice bargains can be had for those with a bit of patience. There was another great grab by Kuchera this round when he plucked Gary Sheffield at No. 182 overall.

Round 17 - Someone in 2008 has to be the one driving in Hanley Ramirez, so why not Josh Willingham? Adding a bit to the power base this late is certainly not going to hurt. Six of the 12 picks this round were starting pitchers as it was time for most to start filling in the gaps.

Round 18 - It was time to round out my bullpen, so I took Eric Gagne. Here’s hoping in 2008 we see the Texas Ranger Gagne and not the Red Sox model. Again, the chase for pitching continues, with nine more pitchers taken this round.

Round 19 - The end is drawing near. It was time to bolster my rotation and I was sitting there with Zack Greinke ready to roll, when Ray Flowers grabbed him right in front of me. Nice scoop, Ray; that one hurt a bit. I went with option two, and Mark Buehrle was mine. It was the outfielders’ turn to be taken from the board, with six going this round.

Round 20 - It was time to gamble on some youth, so I went with Evan Longoria to fill out the corner infield slot. If one is going to roll the dice, these are most certainly the rounds to be doing it in.

Round 21 - It was time to go with a very steady and conservative play to fill out the middle infield slot, so I grabbed Freddy Sanchez. My speed/power base is pretty decent so that .300 BA this late works. There were more late gambles in the starting pitching as the elderly trio of Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and Curt Schilling all went this round.

Round 22 - We’re down to those last two slots, and I needed a back-up catcher for McCann and one more starting pitcher to round out the rotation. About this time, Kate was pulling a fresh load of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. The cookies won this round without a doubt, as I ended up with Johnny Estrada filling out my catcher slot. You did it to me again, Andy, grabbing Hiroki Kuroda as we head for home.

Round 23 - I needed one more starting pitcher to round out my effort and Wandy Rodriguez it was. If Wandy can ever figure out how to pitch on the road this could be a very nice addition to my rotation. Those 150 or so Ks will certainly be an asset.

You can find the complete draft results here.

Summary

Overall, I’m rather happy with the results. I was a bit light on my usual five or six former NPB players, but nonetheless, I wound up with a good balance of power and speed with what could be a decent batting average. I managed to build a nicely balanced team even after taking four outfielders in those first four rounds. Sure, it was a bit of a different strategy, but one that I think merits a close look as the outfield does get a little short heading into those later rounds.

As far as pitching is concerned, this draft just reinforced the fact that in a mixed, 12-team, 5×5 format, building the offense early and using the mid to the later rounds for the pitching is a solid play. I took my first starting pitcher in Round Nine, and believe I have at least a mid-level rotation.

In conclusion, my thanks to all the many skilled participants and the fine folks over at Mock Draft Central; great job as always. Kudos to both Paul Greco and Lenny Melnick for both the live podcast of the draft itself and the follow up analysis. Just remember Lenny, Freddie’s the Man!

January 30th, 2008
Categories: BASEBALL, Draft strategy, Mock drafts, Tim McLeod . Author: Tim McLeod . Comments: 6 Comments

What does this have to do with mock drafting? To be honest, nothing. But at least we have your attention now.

For most of us, another fantasy baseball season has already begun. Of course, for some of us it simply never ends.

The countless hours of research commence as we begin to assemble our best laid plans for the 2008 season. We rank, re-rank, start listing all those deep sleepers and scour our favourite sites for all the latest scoops that might give us that “edge” we are all looking for.

Do you realize that in a standard 12-team league, you are looking at pouring all those hours of hard work into approximately 20 minutes of actual player selections on draft day?

The annual draft is the vehicle that leads us into another season and is without a doubt the key to a successful season. You won’t win your league championship at the draft, but you can sure lose it. A large portion of your baseball season hinges on less than one half hour of very crucial decision making.

Over the years, one of the biggest problems I’ve been privy to is not in the ranking or in the research, but the actual mechanics of the draft itself. If you want to be successful, not only is the ability to analyze important, but also the actual mechanics of the draft vehicle itself. To this end, I’m a huge proponent of the practice or mock draft.

A typical 12-team draft with the standard 23 positions and a six-player team bench, might take all of three hours to complete and then you have the next six months to deal with the repercussions. Why, after spending countless hours researching, would you want to stumble through the draft when the opportunities are there to prevent that from occurring?

Work on the actual process of queuing up players and spotting those trends and unique situations that tend to arise during a draft. When that first run on third base occurs, how do you react? See what the world is up to before it passes you by.

We all formulate plans and strategies and the opportunity to actually see how they unravel before you sit down for your league draft is a most invaluable tool. It is much easier to test them and familiarize yourself with the draft mechanics before that first draft, compared to when you’re scrambling to find that sleeper in the 12th round with 20 seconds left on the clock.

I have spent many live drafts practicing the strategies that Roto players today can have access to in a matter of hours. Take advantage of those opportunities to make yourself into a complete and well-rounded player.

Commencing January 27 at 8 p.m. EST, and every Sunday evening for the following five weeks, I’d like to invite all our readers to a Mock Draft over at mockdraftcentral.com. The format will be a 15-team mixed 5×5 league, and it will be set up as RotoRob’s Regulars. Come on over and practice, share some thoughts and ideas, and become that top notch drafter, a skill that will lead you onto victory for the 2008 season.

January 10th, 2008
Categories: BASEBALL, Draft strategy, Mock drafts, Tim McLeod . Author: Tim McLeod . Comments: 4 Comments

The system autopicked Hanley Ramirez at No. 3 for Tim, but we doubt it blows up his face.

It’s been a while since I checked in, but the vacation’s over and it’s time to get back to the business that is always at hand — baseball.

First off, let me pass on my congratulations to the Chunichi Dragons on their recent Japan Series triumph. History was made as Daisuke Yamai and Hitoki Iwase combined on a perfect game to wrap up the series four games to one, ending the Dragons’ 53-year drought. It’s a shame most of the mainstream American media missed this historic event, but with the semi-finals of the Celebrity Lawn Dart Championships running at the same time, it’s most understandable. I sense some future venting material coming up here.

Baseball in my world is an ever-evolving and constant project. As one season ends, another starts and this fall has been no different. My NPB research picks up as we near Fantasy Guide time; my keeper league, the NABL, is currently in the midst of a fall dispersal draft, and I’m also working on a research project, attempting to sort through the many mysteries of the large format league. Here at RotoRob.com, I’m currently working on a series of articles that will be rolled out over the next several months dealing with draft preparation. At the same time, we’ll, of course, be taking a pre-season look at the rankings by position.

This past week, I had the privilege of partaking in my first draft of the 2008 season, the annual Creativesports.com mock draft. Curated by Lawr Michaels and hosted by Geoff Stein over at Mock Draft Central, this is a 15-team, mixed, 5X5 draft and hold, snake draft.

I’m a big proponent of doing the homework, but in this case with just a couple of days’ notice, that pretty much went by the wayside. I received my slot the day before the draft and ended up with the No. 3 pick. Being a draft and hold, my first thought was let’s get those stolen bases out of the way pronto. So I deciding to go with the old approach of buy the steals early, work on my starting pitching mid to late rounds, look for bargains in players coming off down years and attempt to vulture my saves at the end.

So there we were on a cold snowy mid-November evening (at least where I was), 15 guys attempting to unveil the secrets to 2008 — a challenging task, to say the least.

When the third pick came up, I was left flipping a coin between Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes, and we were off.

Immediately, my computer moved into cranky mode and a switch to auto made me the proud owner of Ramirez. Not the choice I wanted, but certainly one I was more than happy to live with. With 24 picks before my next kick at the can, normally I’d be queuing up players left, right and centre for future reference. But having been through many drafts and with a cranky computer, I had to steer clear of this tactic. The thought of seeing one of my end plays turning up in the third round did absolutely nothing for me.

After the first round, which saw very few surprises, I happened to glance at pitching and, lo and behold, Johan Santana was still out there — my first clue as to what would be occurring just around the corner. What is happening? Isn’t Santana a top 10 player, or at least first round pick? Heading back down the old ladder, he was still there. Is this just a five-category league?

The old ticker started picking up just a bit as more picks followed and still no one grabbed pitching! Now what do I do if he’s still there at my pick? But ah ” finally — with the 22nd pick, the suspense was over. This was the first big surprise of the evening.

Time for that second pick and with Chone Figgins being out there, I grabbed him and my speed was a done deal. A couple of quick picks later and then it was back to me for Round Three. Being a 15-team league, with two catchers required, it was time to take care of that position, so I wisely grabbed Victor Martinez.

Again, I had the long wait and with my Round Four pick, took Nick Markakis. I like this kid, and after coming off a solid year, the potential upside is there.

That brought us to Round Five, and time to gamble, so I grabbed Vernon Wells. Last year, in most leagues, Vernon was a solid Round Two pick, and with a healthy shoulder heading into the spring, I’m counting on a bounce back to the 2005-06 level, making this both a decent gamble and potential big bonus.

Again I had that 22 pick wait and I took the time to start perusing rosters to see if anything jumped out at me. Did it ever! With five rounds now complete, eight teams had no pitching at all and nine teams had no starting pitching. My original plan was to look late for pitching, building an offense first, but with this many teams laying off the pitching, I decided it was time to change horses mid-stream.

I just didn’t like the odds of going head to head with more than half the league in an attempt to build a rotation. Round Six saw me grab Dice-K, and coming back around the bend I grabbed Roy Oswalt in Round Seven. Dice probably went a bit early, but that NPB bias of mine kicked in and I just couldn’t say no. I really like Oswalt with the 93rd pick.

Okay, the pitching has a base, so let’s get back to a bit more offense, I figured. My next two picks were Mike Lowell and Josh Willingham, both solid if unspectacular.

Reviewing those Round Six through to Round 10 picks, 36 of the 75 selections were pitchers, with relief pitchers being snatched up in a big way. Looks like that end game play on the bullpen is going to be a gamble, and it was. Round 10 found me looking at adding to that rotation and I really like what I found. Matt Cain was out there and the combination of ERA, WHIP and Ks was just too hard to turn down. If that ugly 2007 won/loss record drives him down too far, he could most certainly be a very nice bargain in 2008, I believe.

Round 11 saw me fill out my middle infield with Khalil Greene. I like the power potential here, but the BA could take a hit. One of my pre-draft targets was next on the list and Joey Votto, grabbed in Round 12, was now mine. Let’s just hope that Dusty Baker takes notice of that very solid September, as the power/speed combination is very real.

Since that first problem back in Round One, my computer had been performing as it should so I took the chance on queuing up a couple players for later perusal. Thank goodness it was just a couple as the good times were just about to roll. Round 13 saw me take Kaz Matsui, filling out my middle infield.

My team was probably a bit top heavy now on the SBs, but a decent average, runs scored and 30+ SB was too enticing for me to pass on at this stage.

Next up, with relief pitchers falling all over the place, it was time to grab some saves, so I took Todd Jones. With the Joel Zumaya injury, Jones should be guaranteed some decent save numbers for 2008, and it saved me from picking Joe Borowski.

Then, I went back to starting pitcher and took the sure and steady route by grabbing Derek Lowe, followed by another long shot in Franklin Gutierrez. If Gutierrez gets the ABs, he could be a nice grab at this stage.

In Round 17, and with my corner infield still vacant, I went with Eric Chavez. How the mighty have tumbled! If there is some semblance of health, there is at least potential for decent numbers here. A long shot, maybe, but we are nearing the end and it’s time to reach.

With my Round 18 pick nearing,

November 19th, 2007
Categories: BASEBALL, Draft strategy, Mock drafts, Tim McLeod . Author: Tim McLeod . Comments: No Comments

Rudi Johnson being taken fifth overall in our fantasy draft wasn’t much of a shocker.

So Derek and I were minding our own business, chatting about important things like how bad Larry Johnson will be and how MTV’s The Hills is the greatest show since MTV’s Laguna Beach. It was at this point that RotoRob started screaming at our poor souls.

“DO THIS DRAFT, YOU WORTHLESS DOLTS!”

After Derek stopped crying, we decided it would be best to do the master’s bidding. We joined 11 other fantasy football fanatics in what will go down in history as one of, if not the most suspenseful and cut-throat fantasy football drafts ever. Okay, maybe not, but it’s worth analyzing.

We’ll take a look at each round as a whole, and specifically explain our picks. Going into the draft, having the third pick, we knew who we weren’t going to take. But, aside from that, we figured we’d take some risks and go for the best team possible. So without further ado, here’s our draft. We were RotoRob’s Minions, which means we already had the best team name. Yay!

Round One

1. LaDainian Tomlinson, Philly Freaks
2. Steven Jackson, Aiello’s Avalanche
3. Frank Gore, RotoRob’s Minions
4. Shaun Alexander, The Rays Bullpen
5. Rudi Johnson, Swashbucklers
6. Willie Parker, Hallstenators
7. Maurice Jones-Drew, Madison Greene
8. Larry Johnson, Eat Fresh
9. Peyton Manning, JohnstonCo Hogs
10. Laurence Maroney, Romo’s Rodeo Clowns
11. Reggie Bush, Tony’s Texas Terror
12. Tom Brady,

August 21st, 2007
Categories: Draft strategy, FOOTBALL, Mock drafts . Author: Andy Goldstein . Comments: 2 Comments