I did not take the time to upload my own rankings, which caused me to miss a couple things. The format was 12 team 5×5: C(2), 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, UTIL, OF(5) P(9). There were 45 seconds to pick. 23 Rounds.
Filed under: Mock Drafts | Tagged: Fantasy Baseball, Mock Draft
Braun at pick #9 or 10 probably doesn’t get you any “worst pick” votes. I like BJ better 2nd base elig as a top 20 pick. These are 2 guys you are really high on,you don’t mind getting them a little sooner than their ADP will end up . You could be right & Braun outperforms Wright & you get top 20 production from Upton. If you were drafting from a different spot these wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. You certainly wouldn’t want to do an entire draft taking players before their ADP, you just gotta be right when you do!
Liked Haren & D Young picks the best, Verlander the least
I agree that Baun pick wasn’t the riskiest, Verlander is.
In fact, after starting out so well, I don’t like your 10-12 (the almost-40-DH-only Thome pick, Verlander, and Can-I-even-come-close-again Cantu).
Love me some Wieters in round 16 as catcher #2. And Lindstrom in the next to the last round looks good too.
I agree with the points you both make. I like Braun over Sizemore, Howard, Rollins so I guess it’s a choice between Wright and Cabrera. Honestly, to me you can’t go wrong with any of those picks as long as Hanley, A-Rod, Reyes and Pujols (Yes I am moving him above Braun) are off the board.
I didn’t like my 10-12 rounds either, which is where things started to fall apart for me. Thome was a panic pick and I just didn’t think Cantu through enough with some other options still out there. Verlander was a mistake. The second I made that pick I new I made a mistake.
Thanks for your feedback guys!
1. Hamilton sneaking into the first round surprised me. I’ve had his ADP pegged in the 2nd/3rd rounds. IMO, it’s not that he can’t produce first-round statistics, but he certainly doesn’t have the track record of other players. Much like Upton, he’s being drafted this high for his projectability, which could turn out to be well worth it. You just don’t know yet.
We’ll have to see if Hamilton starts creeping up mock ADP’s as the season nears.
2. Utley at number 4? Maybe two weeks ago.
3. Agreed on your Pedroia comment in the third round.
4. Peavy, in the third round, may be too much of a gamble for most people. Without knowing where he’ll play, and given his drastic home/road splits, I’d probably taken your boy Haren, straight up, even in the fifth.
5. Big Papi in the fourth seems like pretty good value. I’d buy at that price.
6. Youkilis reminds me of Pedroia in that he’s likely to be overvalued.
7. Brad Lidge in the sixth…maybe not so much of a stretch, but relative to the other closers taken? Wow. Whoever took him was rating him as the #2 closer in MLB behind Papelbon. This feels silly to me. I will take Mariano Rivera 110% of the time over him. I would also take Nathan and Soria as well.
Mariano in general is almost always undervalued because of his age.
8. Good value starters:
R12. Ricky Nolasco
R12. David Price
R12. Zack Greinke
R17. Kevin Slowey
R19. Ted Lilly
R20. Jered Weaver
I’ll take this starting rotation any day of the week.
9. Todd Helton in round 20 would be sweet in an OBP league.
Also, I love the format you did for your commentary. Very clean and easy to digest.
I keep thinking about the Upton pick. I guess I may have overvalued him just based on my projection, but then why does Ian Kinsler get a late first round early second round nod? Isn’t Kinsler being valued on his projectablility? To me Kinsler’s ceiling is .290, 30/30 and he has yet to complete over 130 games in a major league season or yet to hit over 22 HR’s. In my opinion B.J. Upton has potential to hit .290 with 25/40 which would be more productive than Kinsler. That’s my reasoning for the Upton pick anyway. One thing I have to take a serious look at though is the fact that Matt Kemp is going 1-3 rounds after Upton. If all things are equal, they could end up being the exact comp of each other. In the Fantasy 411 mock rounds 1-2, Jeff Erickson had the six slot and took Upton in round 2. It’s hard to look past his down 2008 season, but I think a healthy Upton could crack round one in 2010.
Dave I think Hamilton will be drafted in the 13-16 slot quite often.
Charlie Isn’t .290 30/30 for a MI better than .290/25/40 for an OF a better deal for the MI? Guess thats your top projection for Kinsler but its the position played where Kinsler gets all his extra value.
Right or wrong it doesn’t look like Longoria & Lincecum are going to survive the 2nd rounds very often.
MI is so weak I think you’ll see not only Kinsler and Pedroia taken early but Drew & Alexei Ramirez as well (some rounds later).Guess what I’m saying is MI are going to be the most “reached for” players this year. If you can get 1 in the correct draft spot it’ll be a bonus
Randy, I hear your point on the MI perhaps being a more scarce position. To tell you the truth though, this draft does not reflect that.
I look at rounds 19-23 and I see some real nice options at MI’s going off the board.
RND 19 Kelly Johnson, Rickey Weeks
RND 20 Placido Polanco, Edgar Renteria
RND 22 Orlando Hudson, Jose Lopez
RND 23 Aaron Hill
It all depends on strategy. I for one do not take into account position scarcity in the early rounds. I want the best value I can get regardless of position. That’s why I started out with 3 OF’s. If it weren’t for that autodraft glitch I would have had Kelly Johnson as my MI and I would have been very happy with it.
If you look at the second round it’s basically all OF and 1B. Both of those positions are deep enough not to overvalue because of position scarcity. So like I said, it’s my strategy in the first few rounds to take the player I feel will give me the most production. I am working on a full article about this very subject. Stay tuned.
[...] FB365’s First Mock Draft for 2009 [...]
Am i the only one who thinks that Josh Hamilton isn’t as good as everyone thinks?
Hamilton is certainly a fine fantasy option in 2009, but he does come with risk attached. His huge first half RBI numbers somewhat inflate his value and there are still questions about his durability over a full season. I might devalue him in head to head leagues for that very reason. The first round is a bit of a stretch for Hamilton. I would rather go with a proven commodity like Matt Holliday, Carlos Lee or Carlos Beltran, but look for another .290-.300/30/100 season for Hamilton in 2009.
[...] FB365’s First Mock Draft for 2009 [...]
I can’t find Elijah Dukes on here, yet Lastings Milledge gets taken with the first pick of the 11th round. Dukes averaged better numbers than Milledge last year during limited action. And I think in this format of a league Dukes would be a serviceable #4 OF and a solid #5. So what’s the deal with Milledge getting taken and no Dukes?
Is it playing time concerns, health concerns, or what?
I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself about the Verlander pick. This time last year we were calling him a slam dunk top 10 fantasy starter. He is still young and has very good stuff. If you are that confident that his ERA is going to get below 4 again, then this is not a bad pick at all.
Tony, you bring up an interesting point with Elijah Dukes. The problem is the logjam in the Nationals OF. Milledge has a spot in center on opening day. When they traded for Josh Willingham, there was some talk of moving him to first, but I haven’t heard anything official. Add Austin Kerns, Willy Harris and Willy Mo Pena (whom might be gone by opening day) and there are too many people for too few spots. Now, I think Dukes could be better than Kerns/Harris/Pena, but as of right now he doesn’t have a definitive spot. Keep an eye on the situation as spring training gets closer. I have a feeling one of these guys (or more) gets traded. Dukes is too talented not to get a shot somewhere.
The reason I was upset over my Verlander pick was, and I admit, I wasn’t fully prepared going into the draft. I didn’t upload my own rankings and it caused me to make some panic picks. Verlander was one I thought I could have had a couple rounds later. With where I picked him I really wanted an OF.
[...] it cost you to get those numbers? I’ve looked at three different mock drafts here, here and here and Pedroia has been selected twice in round 2 and once in round 3. Currently at [...]