CBRACKE
Loading ...
So the fine folks at Mock Draft Central just held their third experts mock draft of the spring last night and while I didn’t participate, a good friend and former Fanball colleague of mine (Christian Peterson) did. I tend to agree with Christian on many player values and as a result I thought it would be worthwhile to give a brief summary of my thoughts on the draft.
EARLY ROUNDS
It’s early, but I’ve determined who isn’t subscribing to the position scarcity strategy. That would be Darryl Houston Smith, who selected Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday with the second overall pick. It’s tough to argue with his numbers, but it seems like an as talented player at a position with far less depth might’ve been a better choice. As a result there are at least six other players I might take before Holliday, including David Wright, Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Johan Santana, Ryan Howard, and possibly even Jimmy Rollins.
I know CP wasn’t thrilled with his pick of David Ortiz in the second round and while I agree with him, it’s tough to be disgusted with Big Papi. That said, I would’ve taken Brandon Phillips, BJ Upton, or Carlos Lee over Ortiz. On the flip side, I certainly wouldn’t take Carlos Beltran (R2 P6), who sports a pair of questionable knees that he had scoped this offseason and have yet to heal, not to mention a banged up left triceps.
Ugh, Ryan Boyer is building himself a nice collection of outfielders that could be feast or famine this season with three of his first four picks being Beltran, Vladimir Guerrero, and Manny Ramirez. Obviously Vlad is the safest of the three, but wouldn’t it have made more sense to grab a great value in Garrett Atkins over Manny?
Oh that’s cute, Chris Young the outfielder and Chris Young the pitcher in back-to-back picks.
Darryl Houston Smith made a great move picking Brewers outfielder Corey Hart with the 11th pick in the sixth round. A 25-year old on the cusp of the first of what could be many 30-30 seasons (he was 24-23 last year), on a team that’s on the up and up is incredible value at the back of the sixth round.
MIDDLE ROUNDS
Wow…Adrian Gonzalez in the ninth round seems like great value, but if you’ve scoured over my rankings and read other articles I’ve written, I suppose I’m a bit biased. That said, he’s just 25 and fresh off his first season of 30 homers, 100 runs, and 100 RBI.
The 11th round presented an interesting conundrum: Francisco Liriano versus Yovani Gallardo. I think too many experts are expecting Liriano to show up and pitch like he didn’t miss a beat. The guy had Tommy John and the typical timeline following that procedure is that the player returns after a year and works to rebuild their strength. In recent years we’ve seen that when that player reaches their second year post-op, they’re capable of not only regaining their strength, but in some cases being even stronger than before the surgery. This is the reason why I believe Liriano is going to be a roller coaster ride for his fantasy owners this season. Meanwhile, you have owners overreacting on Gallardo’s injury and while it very well may hinder him from being full strength before the dawn of summer, he’s certainly a safer bet for productive numbers than Liriano.
OTHER VALUE PICKS
- (R13 P10) Adam Wainwright, SP, Cardinals
- (R13 P11) Dustin McGowan, SP, Blue Jays
- (R14, P7) Jeremy Hermida, OF, Marlins
- (R14, P11) J.R. Towles, C, Astros
- (R15, P2) Aaron Hill, 2B, Blue Jays
- (R15, P7) Willy Taveras, OF, Rockies
- (R15, P8) Josh Hamilton, OF, Rangers
- (R15, P9) Ryan Garko, 1b, Indians
- (R17, P7) Joe Blanton, SP, Athletics
- (R18, P9) Carlos Marmol, RP, Cubs
- (R18, P12) Ty Wigginton, 2B/3B, Astros
- (R21, P5) Rafael Betancourt, RP, Indians
- (R22, P2) Jason Kubel, OF, Twins
- (R23, P9) Scott Baker, SP, Twins
No Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>