My Picks
#1. Joey Votto, 1B - CIN
#2. Giancarlo Stanton, OF - MIA
#3. Justin Upton, OF - ATL
#4. David Wright, 3B - NYM
#5. Brandon Phillips, 2B - CIN
#6. Gio Gonzalez, SP - WSH
#7. Yadier Molina, C - STL
#8. Michael Bourn, OF - CLE
#9. Johnny Cueto, SP - CIN
#10. Yovani Gallardo, SP - MIL
#11. Austin Jackson, OF - DET
#12. Brandon Morrow, SP - TOR
#13. Chase Headley, 3B - SD
#14. Nelson Cruz, OF - TEX
#15. Erick Aybar, SS - LAA
#16. Lance Lynn, SP - STL
#17. Joel Hanrahan, RP - BOS
#18. Chris Davis, 1B - BAL
#19. Anibal Sanchez, SP - DET
#20. Wade Miley, SP - ARI
#21. Andrelton Simmons, SS - ATL
#22. Kenley Jansen, RP - LAD
#23. JP Arencibia, C - TOR
#24. Brandon League, RP - LAD
#25. Manny Machado, 3B - BAL
#26. Ryan Madson, RP - LAA
#27. Colby Rasmus, OF - TOR
#28. Lance Berkman, 1B - TEX
#29. Oscar Taveras, OF - STL
Breakdown
Rd. 1: Joey Votto, 1B - CIN
With the 7th overall pick in the draft, my choice came down to Votto & Pujols. I opted for Votto given his relative age, and batting average potential. BA is one of the hardest stats to come by in fantasy any more, whereas RBIs and runs are fairly easy to find. So, I gave Votto the edge here. If he can stay healthy, he's virtually guaranteed to deliver big numbers. .320/30/100 is an average season for him. Granted, Pujols has the potential to post a .330 average too, but now that he's on the downside of his career, the odds of that aren't as great as they once were. Plus, I took Pujols with my 1st round pick last year, and he had a dismal start to the season, which didn't help me in the standings, so I still was still feeling kind of burned from that. But in any case, I'm more than willing to sacrifice 10 or 20 RBIs in exchange for 20 - 30 points in batting average.
Rd. 2: Giancarlo Stanton, OF - MIA
If this guy played for the Yankees he'd easily be a 1st round pick, without question. Stanton is a beast. The guy has Adam Dunn-like power, but won't hurt you in the average category like most swing-for-the-fences-types will. He'll literally hit more HRs than 2 or 3 top-ranked OFs combined (like Mike Trout + Carlos Gonzalez, for example, or Austin Jackson + Desmond Jennings + Michael Bourn). The only drawback, of course, is that he doesn't play for the Yankees. He plays for the Marlins, which is the opposite of putting on the pinstripes. Miami completely gutted their squad since last season, sending star players like Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez elsewhere, and are now basically fielding a minor league team, save for Stanton. So whatever runs they do manage to score will all depend on his bat. Which means he won't knock in as many RBIs as he should, but with 40+ HR power, he was just too good to pass up. Prince Fielder was the other bat I was looking at, and Stanton hit 7 more HRs than he did in 39 fewer games. So, I obviously gave the latter the edge. One could make the case that Jose Bautista may put up equal or better numbers than Stanton this season, and that may very well be true, but Bautista was taken only 4 spots after I took Stanton, so I think I got pretty good value here.
Rd. 3: Justin Upton, OF - ATL
Obviously, people are down on Upton this year because he only hit .280/17/67/107/18 last season (otherwise he would've gone off the board higher). But by all accounts, he's one of the most talented young players in the game. And it was only the season prior to last that he hit .289/31/88/105/21 at the age of 23. So, I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk up last season's blip to growing pains. Plus, the fact that he was traded to Atlanta during the offseason, to play alongside his brother, Bossman Junior (BJ), should serve as extra motivation to get him going. And, most importantly, he's a very balanced player (assuming he delivers). He hits HRs, knocks in runs, scores them, steals bags, and won't hurt you in batting average either (he might even help, if he's locked in). Adam Jones was my other option, and he did have a better season than Upton last year, but his ceiling isn't quite as high in terms of potential. Of course, banking on what-if instead of what-is is a good way to go broke, but I'm fairly confident that I got the better player of the two this season.
Rd. 4: David Wright, 3B - NYM
I'm already kicking myself for this one. I could've taken Felix Hernandez with this pick, and probably should've, but I prioritized position scarcity over value. Just when I was about to take King Felix, I decided to take a gander at the 3B position, only to see it awash with little DL signs next to a handful of the names. That's when I started to think, "if I don't take David Wright, I'm going to end up with a batting average-killer like Pedro Alvarez". Unfortunately for me, Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre were already off the board, or else I would've taken either one of them over Wright. Yes, there are quite a few people out there who like Wright better, but I'm not one of them. I've never really been a fan of his. I've always thought he was overrated -- and he is -- but he's still a good player -- even great -- just not the superstar he's cracked up to be. With that being said, I think I would've been better off if I'd taken Felix Hernandez in the 4th round and Mike Moustakas in the 20th, instead of Wright in the 4th and Wade Miley in the 20th. But, of course, hindsight is 20/20. But then again, I really can't complain (so long as he doesn't start the season on the DL). If Manny Machado (who I took in the 25th round) has a breakout season, Wright will make for good trade bait. And perhaps I'll be able to trade him for King Felix later on. You never know.
Rd. 5: Brandon Phillips, 2B - CIN
Value-wise, I always advocate taking Phillips in the 5th over Kinsler in the 3rd. Kinsler may hit a few more HRs and steal a few more bags, but the difference is negligible when batting average is factored in. Because, Kinsler WILL hurt you on batting average, whereas Phillips will not. And after Phillips goes off the board, there's a fairly significant drop off in the quality of 2Bs. Kipnis could very well join the ranks of the top tier 2Bs this season, but he's still a bit of a question mark. Similarly, Chase Utley could re-join the ranks of the elite if he bounces back this year (which it looks like he might, if spring training is any indication), but Phillips is the last 2B you can draft with confidence. And since I didn't have a middle-infielder on my roster up to this point in the draft, I needed one of them. I was actually hoping to get Starlin Castro at this spot, but he was taken a pick before me, so I was essentially "settling" for Phillips. But he's still good value in the 5th round. Ben Zobrist was available here, and he's a pretty decent player (and has good versatility position-wise), but again, Phillips has the edge on batting average, with everything else being equal.
Rd. 6: Gio Gonzalez, SP - WSH
My first pitcher to come off the board. I tend to underrate pitching compared to some people, and usually draft heavy on bats to start the draft, but I feel like I got good value here. If Gio can repeat last season's numbers, he could end the season as a top 5 pitcher, ahead of King Felix in value. But, he doesn't really have much of a track record to go by, so it's somewhat of a shot in the dark. Even a pitcher like Madison Bumgarner is more accomplished. My choice came down to Gio, Bumgarner and Yu Darvish, but I think I made the right choice. Only time will tell.
Rd. 7: Yadier Molina, C - STL
This is much earlier than I usually like to draft a catcher, but since my league's roster format utilizes 2 active catchers, they were going at a premium in this draft. Yet, even so, my league totally dropped the ball on Yadier. According to most rankings, he's the #2 catcher in fantasy this season, ahead of the likes of Matt Wieters and Joe Mauer. But not only had they all gone off the board before Molina, so had Carlos Santana as well. So I was shocked when Molina made it back to me in Rd. 7. Admittedly, I'm not as hep on him as some are (I'd probably rank Wieters ahead of him), but it was just too good of a deal to pass up. And, by taking Molina here, I didn't have to scrap with the other owners over that 2nd tier of catchers -- i.e. the Wilin Rosario's and Mike Napoli's of the world. So, all in all, this pick gave me peace of mind. I didn't have to worry about getting stuck with a roster filler.
Rd. 8: Michael Bourn, OF - CLE
Albeit, Bourn is somewhat of a one-dimensional player, he's the #1 one-dimensional player out there. In a single stroke I pretty much took care of the stolen base category. I mean, the guy runs like a racehorse, and should be good for anywhere between 40 - 50 SBs, maybe even upwards of 60. And, given his potential to hit for a decent average and double digit HRs, he's a far superior option to Brett Gardner or Ben Revere. Those two really ARE one-dimensional, whereas Bourn just hints at it. So, in any case, this was another peace-of-mind pick. By taking Bourn here, I didn't have to waste a pick on someone like Juan Pierre late in the draft.
Rd. 9: Johnny Cueto, SP - CIN
I'm pretty happy with this pick, although it was essentially made for me. In order, Mat Latos, James Shields and Kris Medlen went off the board back-to-back-to-back right before I chose. So, it really came down to Cueto & Halladay for me. And that really wasn't much of a choice. Granted, Halladay could bounce back to his old self this season, but given reports of lowered velocity in training camp, he's one I've been avoiding. And, while Cueto doesn't have the best history in regards to injuries, he posted stellar numbers last season, with a 2.79 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 170 Ks. So, even if Latos, Shields and Medlen were still on the board, I still probably would've taken Cueto (though Medlen would've been tempting). But, regardless, I was looking to take a SP here. I wouldn't have if, say, Jason Kipnis had fallen to me, but he didn't, so I did.
Rd. 10: Yovani Gallardo, SP - MIL
Although he's not quite the elite pitcher he once was, he's still good for 200+ Ks per season. WHIP might be a problem for him, but it would've been a problem for my other option, Matt Moore, as well. Jeff Samardzija was taken at the end of this round, and he was an intriguing pick, but I still feel more comfortable with Gallardo. I personally felt like Rd. 10 was a bit too high for Samardzija, given his relatively small sample size, but obviously, not everyone agreed with that assessment. My other choices came down to Jake Peavy, Ian Kennedy and Josh Johnson, and they all seem like a pretty big drop off in value. Granted, I could've had Anthony Rizzo, Mark Trumbo or Ike Davis with this pick, but I already had plenty of pop and needed to bolster my staff.
+MLB
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