2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy and Results

I was able to make the draft for my third and final league, which is a 6×6 head-to-head league through Yahoo Sports. Here is a look at the team and draft results by round.

Yahoo Autodraft Results

  • Round 1: Ryan Braun
  • Round 2: Carl Crawford
  • Round 3: Victor Martinez
  • Round 4: Aaron Hill
  • Round 5: Derrek Lee
  • Round 6: Adam Dunn
  • Round 7: Clayton Kershaw
  • Round 8: Ricky Nolasco
  • Round 9: Elvis Andrus
  • Round 10: Gordon Beckham
  • Round 11: Brett Anderson
  • Round 12: Jason Kubel
  • Round 13: Billy Wagner
  • Round 14: Chad Qualls
  • Round 15: Brandon Webb
  • Round 16: Carlos Beltran
  • Round 17: Trevor Hoffman
  • Round 18: Tim Hudson
  • Round 19: Frank Francisco
  • Round 20: Francisco Liriano
  • Round 21: Cameron Maybin
  • Round 22: Nick Johnson
  • Round 23: Chris Perez
 Projected Lineup & Roster:

  • Catcher: Victor Martinez
  • First Base: Derrek Lee
  • Second Base: Aaron Hill
  • Shortstop: Elvis Andrus
  • Third Base: Gordon Beckham
  • Outfield 1: Ryan Braun
  • Outfield 2: Carl Crawford
  • Outfield 3: Adam Dunn
  • Utility Player: Jason Kubel
  • Starting Pitcher 1: Clayton Kershaw
  • Starting Pitcher 2: Ricky Nolasco
  • Relief Pitcher 1: Billy Wagner
  • Relief Pitcher 2: Chad Qualls
  • Pitcher 1: Trevor Hoffman
  • Pitcher 2: Frank Francisco
  • Pitcher 3: Chris Perez
  • Bench: Brett Anderson
  • Bench: Brandon Webb
  • Bench: Carlos Beltran
  • Bench: Tim Hudson
  • Bench: Francisco Liriano
  • Bench: Cameron Maybin
  • Bench: Nick Johnson

Analysis and Projections
I like this team and it follows a strategy I’d mapped out ahead of time. Focus on hitters first; draft a couple solid starting pitchers in mid-rounds, and take on prospects and lower end closers towards the latter end of the draft.

On My Offense
In the second round I had to make a quick choice between Carl Crawford and Matt Holliday. In retrospect, I almost wish I took Holliday, which might have given me much better chances to lock up power categories each week at the expense of stolen bases. Who knows what might happen as the season rolls on though.

I have Gordon Beckham in all three leagues. Here’s to hoping he can put up respectable numbers throughout the season since he might be a pivotal player for me down the stretch.

Carlos Beltran is a wildcard. If Beltran comes back and produces to his talent level, the power/speed combination at the utility position will be invaluable. If not, I’m hoping Cameron Maybin takes it to the next level.

Pitching Strategies
Brandon Webb is another wildcard and I’d prefer to take guys on upside/potential as opposed to paying too much in the early rounds for starting pitching. However, my experience watching other drafts has been that it is difficult to catch pitching prospects in the later round selections.

Closing pitching is not the same case. All of my closers were selected in the latter half of the draft and I probably could have grabbed four decent picks in the last seven rounds. There most certainly will be other quality relievers that will surface as the season picks up as well.

Final Analysis
This team has the talent to win and while I am sure I’ll tweak spots here and there, I like my chances to start the season strong. What do you think? As with my other leagues, I’ll keep a record of transactions and opinions via comments below and welcome your thoughts as well.

My other league results and draft analysis:



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Comments
baseballtips April 5, 2010

Waiver Wire Transactions 4/3: With Beltran and Webb taking up DL spots, I picked up Brian Matusz and Erick Aybar for depth. It's unclear if I will really need either one but of the two I am more excited about Matusz's potential; Aybar hitting leadoff could be a cheap source of runs/stolen bases.

baseballtips April 9, 2010

Waiver Wire Transaction 4/6: Dropped Cameron Maybin in favor of Jeff Clement, who provides C and 1B eligibility in Yahoo Leagues

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