We did the Yahoo F&F draft yesterday. You can read Chris' account of the draft here. Once again, this is a 14-team mixed league, 1,400 innings cap, 1 C, 4 OF, 2 UT spots league. There's no requirement for have a certain number of starters or relievers, just 9 active pitchers at most. I drafted out of the wheel at the 14th spot.
1.14 - Jose Bautista - I have Bautista ranked 7th overall, so with the rest of the first round falling according to form, this pick pretty much made itself. I would have considered Bryce Harper in this slot over Bautista if he were available, but he went immediately before me. My only other possible gameplan would have been to double up on starting pitchers, but that didn't work well with what I wanted to do later.
2.1 - Clayton Kershaw - Kershaw not only was next on my rankings list, but in an innings-cap league there's an added value to nabbing a high-end ratios and strikeouts pitcher. You can argue to take Stephen Strasburg in this spot instead with some conviction, but I wasn't willing to do that, when Kershaw is a little safer and doesn't forfeit much ceiling if any at all.
3.14 - Craig Kimbrel - While it's nice to double-up picks, damn, in a 14-team league with knowledgeable owners, it's a really long wait between picks, and nowhere is this felt more than in the third and fifth rounds. The efficiency of the draft in terms of grabbing those hitters that I wanted was devastating, yet expected. All along I planned on taking Kimbrel here - and I wouldn't do so in really any other format. The innings cap is higher than the last few years, but it's still a cap, and there's still going to be all sorts of streaming going on with starting pitching. Taking Kimbrel here and Kershaw earlier allowed me to load up on hitters for the next few rounds and avoid taking too many starters later on in the draft. This is a daily moves league, and I plan to stream like crazy, especially in the second half of the season when the weak offenses are better defined. When I set up our draft tool on the iPad for this draft, I added K's/9ip as a category. I also added AB's (though played around with OPS) so as to not dilute the hitters. Kimbrel came up in the top 20 in my rankings doing so. In fact, he would have rated the highest among available players even if I hadn't made that modification.
4.1 - Jason Kipnis - I'm considerably more concerned about Kipnis being a good pick than Kimbrel. Not that I don't love the player, but I don't prefer to go with a positional scarcity approach this early in most leagues, but my spot in the draft sort of dictated this pick. But I also passed up Allen Craig, B.J. Upton and Chase Headley to grab Kipnis. If he steals 30+ again, though, this pick will be profitable. If he steals 10-15, it will be a loss.
5.14 - Eric Hosmer - I was pretty happy nabbing Hosmer with the 70th overall pick. Craig, Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman and Anthony Rizzo were already taken by this point. With only 4 OF's required, plus two UT slots and a CR slot, corner infielders have extra value in this league.
6.1 - Melky Cabrera - I wanted more batting average in my portfolio, which is why I chose Melky over Desmond Jennings, who went four picks later.
7.14 - Angel Pagan - Pagan has averaged 32 stolen bases and 81 runs over the last three seasons and is firmly ensconced at the top of the Giants' lineup.
8.1 - Chris Davis - This was purely a play at getting more power. I understand the batting average risks.
9.14 - Pedro Alvarez - I believe in Alvarez more than I do Todd Frazier and Will Middlebrooks, the other two power options remaining at third base. Could have also gone with Kyle Seager, I suppose, who also went in the next round.
10.1 - Joe Nathan - The closer run kick-started in earnest shortly after this pick, and I find Nathan still to be among the best. I timed my second closer really well, and was able to nab other needed parts when everyone else was scrambling for closers.
11.14 - Wilin Rosario - On one hand, I've been talking about bumping Rosario up everywhere, and I needed power. On the other hand, I could have waited another set of picks and grabbed a similarly valued catcher. For instance, Derek Carty got Miguel Montero in the 15th round. In a one-catcher league, you really, really have to be patient at this position. I thought I was being patient, but missed out on some value elsewhere by taking Rosario here.
12.1 - Mike Minor - Just my second starting pitcher; I tweeted this offseason that I'd own Minor in a lot of leagues, but the truth is so many other industry guys like him too, so I hadn't gotten him yet. It took a small reach to get him (#155 overall), but I doubt I would have gotten him by the time my next pick rolled around.
13.14 - Alcides Escobar - One of the last good shortstops out there, and I wanted speed from the position. Took him over Everth Cabrera - I think he's a little better with the bat and has more job security, though Cabrera has better stolen base potential. Also considered Jean Segura, but Segura could hit 8th for the Brewers.
14.1 - Cameron Maybin - Another stolen base upside play - just get healthy Cameron!
15.14 - Jon Niese - Yep, another league where Niese will play a significant role on my team.
16.1 - Danny Espinosa - Espinosa's rotator cuff and his strikeouts have scared away a lot of putative owners in my leagues, but man, I'll take a possible 20-20 at that price, knowing the risks.
17.14 - Al Alburquerque - Still my favorite among the Detroit bullpen options. Even if he doesn't close, his K's have a lot of value in this format.
18.1 - Ryan Vogelsong - Nobody believes in Vogelsong seemingly. His K's went up, his walks went down and he pitches in a great ballpark. Plus, I can skim the cream off the top and not start him in tough road venues.
19.14 - Brandon Moss - Speaking of nobody believing ...
20.1 - David Robertson - Once again, league format matters.
21.14 - Justin Maxwell - I don't know how much I believe in Maxwell, but he'll make for a handy platoon partner with Moss (remember, daily lineups), and the power ceiling is high.
22.1 - Trevor Bauer - Trolling for upside at this point - I sorted my SP's for the highest K/9 projected remaining and went with Bauer. Almost certainly going to get dropped, added, dropped, added and dropped again as I stream.
23.14 - Chris Nelson - If Nelson wins a starting job with the Rockies, he qualifies at second or third and can bring a lot of goodies to the table. If he loses out to Nolen Arenado, then I'll cut him without too much regret. There's still plenty of fish in the sea. Arenado and Oscar Taveras were long gone at this point.
24.1 - Lucas Duda - More power to stream in and out of the lineup. I'll use him whenever Moss or Maxwell has a bad platoon matchup. Power as a whole was up at Citi Field last year - I wonder if that's a sustainable trend.
25.14 - Francisco Liriano - Last pick of the draft. Wasted pick - he won't be ready until late April, and he's not worth holding as one my two DL spots. I've already cut him in favor of Felix Doubront.