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My Yahoo Friends and Family Draft

We had the 14-team mixed, 5 x 5 Yahoo Friends and Family League draft today. It's a 1 C, 4 OF, 2 U league with three reserves - otherwise the specs are standard. I had the sixth pick.

Here's my team:

RoundPickPlayerPosition
16Ryan BraunOF
223Jimmy RollinsSS
334Justin Morneau1B
451Billy Butler1B
562Mariano RiveraP
679Carlos Pena1B
790Josh BeckettP
8107Rickie Weeks2B
9118Adrian Beltre3B
10135Alfonso SorianoOF
11146Francisco LirianoP
12163Chad QuallsP
13174Lastings MilledgeOF
14191Ervin SantanaP
15202David PriceP
16219Brandon WebbP
17230Magglio OrdonezOF
18247Brian MatuszP
19258Delmon YoungOF
20275Cameron MaybinOF
21286Russell MartinC
22303Jermaine DyeOF
23314Vicente PadillaP
24331Chris Getz2B
25342Scott PodsednikOF

One wrinkle is a low innings cap (1250), so strikeouts - and to some extent wins - are at a premium. You simply cannot roster Mark Buehrle or Derek Lowe unless you want to tank the strikeout category because everyone's going to get to 1250 IP, so the category is really K/9, not total Ks. I suppose if you had Tom Glavine in his prime, you could use him for ERA, wins and WHIP and take the hit in Ks, like I'm doing with Carlos Pena in average for his power contributions. But getting a mediocre ERA/WHIP guy AND taking the K hit is hard to justify.

I also seriously thought about drafting Tim Lincecum at No. 6 overall for the K premium, but was concerned that I'd have to take hitters the next six rounds if I did that and miss out on potential pitching bargains. In retrospect, I wish I'd have been man enough to do that. Lincecum's 2009 numbers are FAR more valuable than Ryan Braun's.

Still, I like this team. I drafted pretty aggressively after the first seven rounds, and even pushed it with Billy Butler in Round 4.