League Draft #4 - NL Only

My fourth draft review is for an NL Only draft that I ran on Yahoo..............this is my first try at an NL Only league, but as I mentioned in my last post, in order to consider myself a serious fantasy player, I need to start playing all different types of games.

This was an 11 team league, with the same positions as my other leagues 25 man roster, 12 active hitters, 6 active pitchers, 6 X 6 roto (OBP and Holds). My strategy going in was to look for value, to grab a premium catcher early (Russell or McCann) and to wait on taking OF's as I saw them as the deepest position

Here is our team....

1.
(2)
Hanley Ramírez
2.
(21)
Adam Dunn
3.
(24)
Brian McCann
4.
(43)
Dan Uggla
5.
(46)
Chad Billingsley
6.
(65)
Justin Upton
7.
(68)
Jayson Werth
8.
(87)
Francisco Cordero
9.
(90)
Brett Myers
10.
(109)
Chad Qualls
11.
(112)
Felipe López
12.
(131)
Chris Carpenter
13.
(134)
Cristian Guzmán
14.
(153)
Jason Motte
15.
(156)
Nick Johnson
16.
(175)
Tommy Hanson
17.
(178)
Ryan Spilborghs
18.
(197)
Daniel Murphy
19.
(200)
Jody Gerut
20.
(219)
Leo Núñez
21.
(222)
Tony Peña
22.
(241)
Andy LaRoche
23.
(244)
Cla Meredith
24.
(263)
Sean Marshall
25.
(266)
Chris Duncan

For the first time since I have been doing these reviews, I draw a top pick, the #2 overall slot. In the chat before the draft, I asked the #1 player who he was going to take and he really pleased me by saying Pujols, which meant I would get the #1 overall fantasy player at #2 and could more easily build my team from here.

One important thing to remember about your early round picks is that you should definitely take the best value whenever possible, but you also need to consider which player will help you best when building your team. For me, I find it easier to build a team when I grab a player who 1) Steals bases and 2) Plays a scarce position, so in the 1st round, my faves are the 3 SS's............granted, I wont shy away from Pujols or D Wright if they are the pick at my spot, but I prefer to grab one of the big 3 SS and go from there..........back to my draft.

Hanley #2 overall was excellent for me as it was going to help me build exactly the type of team I wanted, strong at scarce positions and some underrated talent in the OF and at the corners. I went Adam Dunn in the 2nd and Brian McCann in the 3rd, Dunn's credentials are obvious, he'll hurt me a bit in BA, but the rest of his numbers are rock solid.............getting McCann put me in great position to crush 9 of the other 10 owners at the catcher position (someone will have Russell).

4th and 5th round I was pleased to grab Uggla and Billingsley, giving me another scarce position and a premium starting pitcher. These two picks gave me a great base to simply grab value the rest of the way.

6th and 7th rounds I grabbed the anchors to my OF, Justin Upton and Jason Werth........rounds 8 and 10 saw me pick up my closers, F Cordero and C Qualls........Rounds 11 and 12 are probably the keys to my team, Felipe Lopez plays every position in Yahoo (save 1b and c) so if he produces anything close to 15/15 with 90 runs, he will make the difference on my offense, and then I grabbed Chris Carpenter, all signs in spring training were pointing to a resurgence to top form................the Carpenter pick has risk, I don't know how long he'll last this way as he is always a candidate for breakdown, but a big year from him will mean that my pitching staff is in good stead (his first outting of the season just occurred and he held Pittsburgh to 1 hit over 7 IP).

13th, Guzman to round out my infield and offset Dunn's terrible BA.....14 Motte as my 3rd closer (great spring, but blew his first save opp)....15, Nick Johnson, very forgotten by most teams, but by this point, he had been proclaimed the starter and when he is healthy I can count on .290 avg and .400 obp, so this was a pretty nice late pick.........I then grabbed OF, Spilborghs, Daniel Murphy, Jody Gerut, Chris Duncan.............I need 1 of these guys to have a big year...............

Last pick I want to touch on, 22nd round Andy LaRoche...........he has the pedigree, I desperately needed a 3B, he has at an age where prospects get their last chance, he also has Pedro Alvarez breathing down his neck. I wanted to take him as he is in a make or break season for his career, he'll either lead my team to fantasy glory or be bagging groceries by seasons end and being an optimist, I am hoping for the former.