420 Players Later...

Some think 4 Fantasy Baseball leagues is too many. Some think 1 is too many. Not us though. Here at Game Four, between the 5 contributers, we have at least 10 teams. Now, most of them are private leagues and private teams, some keepers, some one year, some roto, some head to head. Two of these teams are going to be considered the official "Game Four Fantasy Teams". One of leagues recently had their draft. It was put together by BaseballGeeks.com and included 20 teams. It's a roto style with 21 players, normal 5x5 categories. The draft was long and tiresome at point, but man was it fun. Here's a quick recap of my picks and some toils that were hit along the way....

Round 1

So we've got the 8th overall pick. I've done my research and I've realize who's going to be here by that point. Obviously I've lost out on the big 3 (A-Rod, Pujols, Vladdy) and probably not going to get Santana (though i don't feel you should ever take a SP in the first round, no matter how dominant he is). So I've got a few options, but there's one guy I want and he falls right to #8. Miguel Cabrera. He plays 2 positions (3B, OF) and puts up great numbers for every position except SB. I could have had David Ortiz, who was taken with the next pick, but there's a whole lot of 1B out there and i had my eye on a sleeper later in the draft anyway.

Round 2

Now the first few rounds should also be for picking up the "best available guy". A lot of position guys had left the board since my last pick so I decided to get my ace now. Rich Harden, hurt last year, but all but guaranteed to put up phenomenal numbers every year was still on the board so we snatched him up. There were still a few stud positional guys out there, but none of which are as valuable to any particular position as Harden would be.

Round 3

Here's where I made a pick based souly on the fact that I really wanted this guy and was afraid someone else was going to ick him up early. Jhonny Peralta was now my starting SS. If you don't get a good/great 2B or SS you shouldn't panic but you're basically screwed at that position. There's a few at the middle infield that will really help your team. Tejada, Reyes, Young, Rollins were all gone at SS. Peralta looks to take over where Tejada is leaving off anyway. I'm hoping for an even better year than last from Jhonny at a normally weak position.

Round 4

I'm noticing a trend: All the elite positions are being gobbled up. Not unexpected but frustrating none the less. This is a 20-team league after all. So, if you have to solidify a position, might as well be a position that you can start multiple players at: SP. Andy Pettite was out next pick, joining Harden on our pitching staff.

Round 5

OK, here's where we decided to get what we could in the pitching categories and try and find ourselves some sleepers on the field. Barry Zito was our next pick. He had a great 2nd half and we're expecting good things from the former Cy Young winner.

Round 6

Power was pretty much gone. We were going to pick up a questionable Ken Griffey, Jr but he was nabbed 3 picks before us. So we decided to get some cheap runs and SB without hurting our AVG. Willy Taveras was our first OF pick. No one is hoping more than us that Bagwell hangs up the cleats, giving Berkman time at 1B and Willy time in the OF.

Round 7

Remember that "sleeper" 1B I was talking? It was about time to pick him up. Prince Fielder joined the team and our infield was starting to take shape. We're still missing a catcher and a 2B, but since all the elite players at both of those positions were swiped up already we weren't going to spend too much time worrying about them just yet.

Round 8

"Let's solidify our pitching staff". Scott Kazmir joined the staff, making him our 4th starter in 7 picks. At this point we may have, arguably, the best staff in the league...but we're only 8 rounds in. And I mean, every team has to have a "best in the league" position right? Why not SP? And since it takes more than just one starter to make up a great staff, as opposed to the positional players, it's not a terrible thing to stock up on them.

Round 9

And stock up on them we did: Jeremy Bonderman joined the staff in round 9.

Round 10

Ok, we're starting to realize we've forgot about OF. Well, not forgot, just not willing to pick any of the available guys over the better talent at other positions. So, the only power guy left really was Jermaine Dye, so we picked him up and sat him next to Taveras in our OF. We might regret not picking up Hermida here but this isn't a keeper league (so we say now).

Round 11

More SP? Don;t mind if we do. Fransisco Liriano, though may not do much for us at first unless he makes the rotation, he's dominant and won't hurt us. Plus, if (once) he breaks the rotation mid-season he'll give us a boost. maybe a bit risky pick I realize, especially with other holes we've got, but could pay off.

Round 12

There's no closers left. We realized that they'd go quick, even though they only give you one stat really (they can kill or help your ERA/WHIP each outing). But we need someone to fill the RP slots. Scott Linebrink, one of the best set up men in the game joins the team. Hoffman's old. Old people get hurt. That's our main logic behind this one and we're sticking to it.

Round 13

This one was a bit surprising. I wasn't sure why he dropped so far. Justin Verlander sat on the SP list and now he sat on our roster. Man we still don't have a catcher, 2B, third OF, or Util guy. uh oh.

Round 14

Util guy, s'util guy. The guy holding Liriano back is still out there so we'll pick him up. Scott Baker makes out growing list of SP's.

Round 15

OK, time to deal with the whole "lacking hitters" issue. Delmon Young joins the staff. I know he's not going to start. I know he's in the minors...for now. Once he comes up we won't have to worry about fighting over him through the waiver wire. And in such a deep league it doesn't hurt to hold a player with his potential on your bench until he comes up.

Round 16

C? 2B? OF? What's the next positional player we select? Like I said, with C and 2B unless you get a above average guy you shouldn't worry about them as much. So let's address another issue we have: OF. Matt Murton, who's starting OF with the Cubs this year, makes the squad and will serve as our 3rd OF guys. Glad we didn't miss out on this guy.

Round 17

Brian McCann comes in as our late catcher pick. He'll put up decent numbers this year and shouldn't hurt our AVG. Could be our best pick based on round and availability.

Round 18

We need 2B and UTIL. Every other team has a 2B so I think we can wait a round for that and there's one guy left worth drafting. Obviously at the point there's no power left, except for potential power. So what's the category many people seem to ingnore, or at least pass over for power? Speed. Joey Gathright becomes our UTIL player. With the demotion of Delmon Young and the injuries to Rocco Baldelli, Gathright has the inside track to a starting OF position with the Rays. He's nab us a bunch of steal and hopefully get us some runs as well. His AVG might hurt us, but he was still the best available at the positions we needed.

Round 19

DAMN! Josh Barfield was taken 2 picks after we selected Gathright. Why does a team want/need 2 second basemen? Well, we might as well dump the position all together now. Wait, what if? We draft Carl Pavano, who's going to start the season on the DL. Once he hits the DL we can pick up a 2B. Hope this works.

Round 20 + 21

We get rookie pitcher Kameron Loe and reliever Joaquin Benoit. We needed one more RP pitcher and Benoit since moving to the pen will help our ERA and is first in line for the TEX closer job in case Cordero goes down *cross your fingers* Loe's not a bad pick in the last 2 rounds.

So there you have it. Any ideas on how we can get a 2B?