Thursday, April 02, 2009
Quick recap of the Roto Arcade Pro-Am League draft
Posted by Marco Fujimoto at 6:53amA week ago, I took part in the Roto Arcade Pro-Am, a 16-team rotisserie league hosted by Yahoo’s Andy Behrens. The draft was 27 rounds long, and lasted a little over three hours. Andy has already done an overview of the draft, and while it contains some thoughts from each manager, I thought I’d share some thoughts of mine that weren’t included in his summary.
Before I get blasted in the comments section, I’d like to say, as a disclaimer, that I had not joined the league until four hours before the draft. So needless to say, I was not very well-prepared to draft for a relatively deep league.
Anyway, here are the draft results, and the roster for team WillieMayesHayes:
Position Player Round Overall Pick
C Russell Martin 3 39
C Jorge Posada 10 154
1B Miguel Cabrera 1 7
2B Dustin Pedroia 2 26
3B Chris Davis 4 58
SS Miguel Tejada 9 135
CI Paul Konerko 12 186
MI Richie Weeks 11 167
OF Jay Bruce 5 71
OF Ryan Ludwick 6 90
OF Nelson Cruz 8 122
OF Jack Cust 18 282
OF Cody Ross 19 295
Util Chris Getz 23 359
P Javier Vazquez 7 103
P John Maine 14 218
P Jonathan Sanchez 15 231
P Ian Snell 16 250
P Manny Parra 17 263
P Jeremy Bonderman 20 314
P Huston Street 13 199
P Leo Nunez 21 327
P Fernando Rodney 22 346
BN Sean Gallagher 24 378
BN Felix Pie 25 391
BN Wladimir Balenti 26 410
BN Russ Springer 27 423The first issue, which Andy pointed out, is that I am severely hurting for saves. In fact, if Huston Street doesn’t beat out Manny Corpas, I might not have a single closer to begin the season. I tend to wait until the later rounds to pick closers, but I might have waited a little too long. I’m sure we’re all familiar with this strategy, which is implemented because closers have somewhat limited value, and also because there are closer controversies all the time, meaning saves can be readily found on the waiver wire throughout the season. The problem here is that I simply failed to account for the depth of this league. Not only were there 15 other managers picking for 27 rounds, these 15 managers are experienced fantasy ‘veterans’ who will be scouring the waiver wire for saves throughout the year as well.
I am fairly content with the rest of my pitching staff, despite not having selected a second starting pitcher until round 14, upon which I subsequently snagged four in a row. All four of those guys, including the anchor, Javier Vazquez, are expected to bounce back this year, and all carry decent strikeout rates. John Maine, Jonathan Sanchez, Ian Snell and Manny Parra could all wind up with ERA’s in the high 3’s or low 4’s. I should note that, as of this writing, Jeremy Bonderman has been placed on the disabled list (DL). We have four DL slots in this league, and upon placing Bonderman on the DL, I have picked up Rich Hill, who I subsequently placed on the DL as well. These are another two guys who have some value, as both have good strikeout rates. So while this is not an elite staff, it is one with some potential.
The second area of concern is with stolen bases, as I’m not sure I have a single guy in my lineup who will steal more than 20. Collectively, with this particular lineup, I am projecting around 90 to 100 stolen bases, which means I will probably be in the bottom half for this category. I’ll most likely have to trade, as stolen bases aren’t as abundant on the waiver wire as saves.
I definitely like the power I have with this team. As I mentioned in Andy’s Q&A section, despite expected decreases in batting average, both Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis have legitimate power and play half of their games in Arlington. I found good value with Jack Cust in the 18th round, Jay Bruce should only get better as he matures, and Jorge Posada and Paul Konerko are both slated to bounce back as well.
This team has a fair amount of potential but it could definitely use some work. That being said, all comments, thoughts and ideas are welcome. Flame away, folks!
Marco thanks everyone for reading, apologizes in advance for his tardiness and requests that readers be patient in awaiting replies. He welcomes all questions, comments and thoughts on any topic, baseball or otherwise, here.
I really like your offense very well done. I think while we all know that Ryan Ludwick is going to have a hard time repeating his success, the market has overreacted to this and thus has him obtainable at an undervalued position in most drafts.
I really like the upside for players like Cruz, Davis, Weeks and Bruce. Even if only one of they developes into a STUD, you have done well considering the alternatives available at their draft positions.
Now that Rodney has seemingly taken over as the Detroit closer, you are getting better at that position, however if Jeremy Affeldt is still available, I’d get him now.
I actually think your weekest position is SP, but I’m not as high on Vazquez as you are. Go get Oaklands Anderson or LA’s Macdonald and drop chumps like Ian Snell or Jeremy Bonderman.