2011 MLB Fantasy Draft: Reviewing My Selections

I play in two fantasy baseball leagues. One league is a new league while the other league is about as solid as you can get, with 12 teams, 12 owners who know the game and it's very competitive.

The latter league is a 12-team, total points (negative points for K’s) 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 2011 draft. So we have a little strategy to the keeper format.

I try to play in no more than two because after that, players start to really overlap and things get confusing.

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

The five players I kept from the year before were:

Albert Pujols, first round

Evan Longoria, second round

Jered Weaver, seventh round

Clayton Kershaw, tenth round

Clay Buchholz, twelfth round

Pujols will lead my fantasy team once again.

Here is my team with the round I picked the player in parenthesis. I had the ninth pick in the rounds that I didn’t have a keeper.

C, Chris Iannetta (19th)

1st, Pujols (1st), Matt LaPorta (26th)

2nd, Gordon Beckham (9th), Tsuyoshi Nishioka (21st)

SS, Derek Jeter (6th)

3B, Longoria (2nd), Mike Moustakas (24th), Chris Johnson (25th)

OF, Shane Victorino (3rd), Nick Markakis (4th), Colby Rasmus (8th), Bobby Abreu (13th), Denard Span (15th), Andres Torres (17th)

SP, Brandon Morrow (5th), Weaver (7th), Kershaw (10th), Buchholz (12th), Gio Gonzalez (14th), Homer Bailey (20th), Jonathon Niese (22nd)

RP, Jonathan Broxton (11th), Matt Thornton (16th), Brandon Lyon (18th), Chris Sale (23rd)

Strengths: Starting Rotation

Weaver, Buchholz and Kershaw is a nice starting threesome, but if Morrow and Gonzalez breakout like everyone predicts, then I will be in serious business. I have high hopes for Bailey and right now he is penciled in as the Cincinnati Reds’ No. 2 starter to begin the season.

Weakness: Infield Depth

I have no idea what to expect from Beckham or Nishioka. If Longoria or Pujols go down for a period of time, I am toast.

Weakness, Part 2: Catcher

The best catcher that wasn’t kept was Carlos Santana. Once he went early, I waited and waited and waited. I probably waited too long. The guys I wanted were Jorge Posada or Miguel Montero, but I thought they went too early in my opinion.

Now I am stuck with Iannetta and his ever lasting potential. This clown better get it together.

Make or Break Player: Broxton

Which Broxton am I going to get? Am I going to get the No. 1 fantasy reliever in the game from 2009? Or am I going to get the big pile of monkey urine that graced the mound in the second half of last season? If he flames out and I am left with Thornton and Lyon, I could be in for a lot of negative blown save points come September.

Calculated Risk Pick: Moustakas

With our rosters as big as they are, it does allow us to stash away future prospects. I know Moustakas is going to start the season in Triple-A, but I am hoping he becomes the next guy to be that May call-up and rake.

So there’s my fantasy team for 2011. How do you guys think I did?

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