Recap of My Fantasy Draft

I play in two fantasy baseball leagues and try not to play in more because the players start to overlap, and things get confusing. 

One league is a new one and my other league is about as solid as you can get—very competitive and has 12 teams and 12 owners who know the game.

So, with the completion of my solid league draft, I thought I would give a recap of my team and hear your thoughts on how I did.

The league is a 12 team, total points, keeper league.

The draft is 26 rounds (yes, it’s a long one) and you keep five players. When you keep a player, you lose that pick in next years draft. For example, if I decide to keep my first-round pick from this year, I lose my first-round pick in our 2010 draft, so you have to have a little strategy to the keeper format.

The five players I kept from the year before were:

Albert Pujols—first round

Evan Longoria—second round

John Lackey—third round

Clayton Kershaw—10th round

Jayson Werth—19th round

Here is my team, with the round I picked the player, in parenthesis.

I had the seventh pick in the rounds that I didn’t have a keeper.

FA indicates he was a free agent pickup after the draft.

Beckham will hopefully lead my team to a fantasy title.

Catcher: Jorge Posada (16th), Mike Napoli (18th)

First Base: Albert Pujols (Keeper), Lance Berkman (11th)

Second Base: Kelly Johnson (24th)

Shortstop: Marco Scutaro (17th), Miguel Tejada (FA)

Third Base: Evan Longoria (Keeper), Gordon Beckham (fourth), Pedro Alvarez (21st)

Outfield: Jayson Werth (Keeper), Bobby Abreu (eighth), Shane Victorino (sixth), Colby Rasmus (12th), Cameron Maybin, Milton Bradley (FA)

Starting Pitchers: John Lackey (Keeper), Clayton Kershaw (Keeper), Ricky Nolasco (fifth), Jair Jurrjens (ninth), Jered Weaver (seventh), Francisco Liriano (12th), Bronson Arroyo (23rd)

Closers: Mike Gonzalez (15th), Brad Lidge (20th), Matt Capps (22nd)

Strengths—Corner INF, Outfield

Having the best first baseman and second-best third baseman in fantasy baseball is a good start to any team.

Beckham qualifies now as a third baseman, but I plan on moving him over to second base to replace Johnson on a full-time basis.

Johnson is just a seat-filler for me right now.

I took a flier on Alvarez towards the end of the draft, in hopes that he gets called up in May and shows flashes of the superstar everyone thinks he will be.

My outfield is really good, but not great. I think the word “steady,” would best describe Abreu, Werth, and Victorino. I believe I made my shrewdest move of the draft trading up to get Rasmus. All I had to do was give up my next two picks for him and I think that move will pay off.

I also like my Maybin pick with my last pick in the draft. Keith Law called him a “Poor man’s Matt Kemp.” I’ll take that in 2010.

Weaknesses—Starting Pitching, Closer

I look at my pitching staff and I see no dynamic pitchers.

I have a bunch of “B-Level” pitchers on my squad, but no “A-Level” guys like a Jon Lester or Roy Halladay, and that very much concerns me going into the season.

Let me also face reality right here—my closers are poop to the 10th degree.

Maybe it’s reverse karma, though. Last year, I was giddy about my closer situation when I drafted Joakim Soria, Jose Valverde, Joel Hanrahan, and Jason Motte, and that turned out to be a clown show.

Now maybe with Capps, Gonzalez, and Lidge, I will expect the worst and things will work out.

Well, probably not. I am more than likely going to have to make a trade at some point this season.

What do you think of my draft?

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg