Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=363685

I know I made at least one mistake picking up Oliva.

All feedback appreciated, thanks
Had pick #6
In order:

Mantle--------IMO, a solid pick at 6?
Leonard-------Great SP at this spot?
WWells-------Best run producer at SS-wouldn't have lasted another round?
Hartnett-------Solid power catcher?
Alomar--------Run on 2b at the time. Too early?
Paige----------Wanted another solid pitcher
Schmidt-------Needed power
Helton---------More hitting
Lee------------solid SP?
Greenberg----Great DH, too early?
Nelson---------Run on RPs caused panic pick I was warned about this.
Nenn ----------Better RP pick
Chesbro
Ryan
Lincecum ------3 pitchers while last corner OFs were going
Cuyler----------Run on corner OF left the picking slim
Feller-----------solid pitcher this late?
Mossi------------ more RP needed
Cleon Jones-----OBP, little power, good enough D. Hit enough?
Oliva------------- bad pick looking for corner OF
Palms------------backup C too soon?
Tincup------------ More RP
Bush-------------Wells caddy, SBs
Bishop------------2b backup OBP
Cabrera----------3b backup with some power.

FWIIW in the Live drafts I have participated in, here are the average picks for the picks you made. Note that things have changed the last few months with the new cards, so the averages are since Sept 30.

1. Mantle - 4.2
2. Leonard - limited data
3. Wells - 42.6 - early
4. Hartnett - 81.6 - way early
5. Alomar - 76.9 - early
6. Paige - 73.6 - OK
7. Schmidt - 72.9 - good
8. Helton - 68.8 - good
9. Lee - no data
10. Greeny - 105.2 - good
11. Nelson - 266.7 -
12. Cheeseball - 124.5 good pick

You passed on Brett, Teddy, Gehrig, Bags and Aaron to pick Leonard.

Note also you passed on Sutter, Charlton and Percival to pick Lee.

sschu

Ya never know with these drafts-
my best team so far is one where I missed the draft. Hal drafted for me and I thought the team was going to suck, but its been winning (Im sure I just cursed it)

Anyway- Scott's analysis is pretty accurate- although sometimes if you wait, someone grabs the guy you want, so its not always bad to pick a guy earlier than expected.

Give it a go a few more times and you get used to it really quick-

Having the new players is also really nice because it keeps everyone from getting locked into certain players at certain spots.

Plenty of Free opinoins below, they are worth twice the price I am sure.

Overall -- you seem to have a good grasp on grabbing players, but
I don't see any platoons... working some platoons into LIVE drafts
can get you some extra offense at positions where the studs are all
gone -- for this team, corner OF platoons could have gotten you some
place.

Mantle:

Pros: Value. Before the new Nap and Arky, I thought of Mantle as
one of the big 5 with Babe/Bonds/Josh/Hornsby. So gotta be happy
to get him at 6.

Cons: Uncertainty. Switch hitters value is higher when the league
is full of balanced parks, lower when its full of Hilltops and Dunns.
You won't know this until Sunday evening.

Comment: You do control your own park, so you can go balanced. If
you get Mantle in #1, you might also think of other switch hitters
like Chipper Jones.

Leonard:

Pros: Apparently the best lefty in the set now

Cons: Hilltop teams eat up all lefties. Generally you have
to discount the overall value of lefty starters a bit if you
can't protect them from the Hilltop parks.

Wells:

Pros: Your ss will hit big time

Cons: Often around in the 5th or later

Hartnett:

Pros: one of the few catchers (maybe 4) I would use both ways
without thinking about it. And catcher is the one position that
the new cards haven't significantly upgraded.

Cons: often available in the 8th round, sometimes in the 10th or
later. Although catching may trend upwards, given the catching
talent is one of the scarcest to get (or most separation, if you
will).

Alomar -- good fit for a power park, usually around a couple rounds
longer. But you are going power, so he will fit your tream.

Paige, Schmidt -- seems to fit your tream concept and right value
here. Also, you have catcher and infield and CF covered at this
point, which sets you up nicely to get values at the deeper positions.

Helton and Greenberg and good values for you here because you
are commiting to a power strategy and they fit very nicely to you
foundation.

Lee -- Good luck with that one. Reminds me of Vida Blue, if
he Lee works out for you, try Blue's card. ;)

Nelson as a panic pick --- hey, the LIVE leagues move fast. If the
clock starts ticking and you are unsure, take the best reliever you
can find. Could have/should had a better one, but you will need
a deep bullpen. So if you have to have a panic pick, taking a
reliever you like is an acceptable recovery. Maybe its a poor
value, but you will be able to use them.

Nenn -- fine reliever. Might want to prepare a reliever depth
chart for future LIVE drafts and always have the top few on your
watch list. This is not a recommendation to get the best possible
picks, it is rather a recommendations to minimize the panic from
an expiring clock.

Chesboro, Ryan, Linceum. okay, but I don't know about picking
3 in a row. more and more #4, #5 and spot startes can be had
later in later in LIVE drafts with each new batch of cards. Before
future drafts, you may want to look at your league's roster chart
for ideas here for the back end of your rotation and/or spot starters.

Cuyler. See comment above at looking at your league's roster
chart for ideas. Corner OF is deeper than you might think. Cuyler
ain't bad here, but not the power type hitter you have been filling
your roster with at other positions. Also, the platoon options
are still available here.

Feller -- 5th righty starter, right? Expecting injuries? Or are you using
one as trade bait?

Cleon Jones, kinda high, but its tough to guess where he is going
to go. Nice as a platoon option, I know some managers like to
start him both ways.

Mossi, Tincup -- always need pen. Everyone has different favorites.

Oliva -- don't beat yourself up over it.

Palms -- why not? You really want Hartnett to stay uninjured, but why
not?

Cabrera -- usually avaialbe as a free agent after waivers and all
rosters have filled to 28. Is there a reason for that? :)

Bush, Bishop -- yeah, bench depth, acceptable. The talent pool for
bench depth is deeper than you might think, but still you don't really
want the games to be decided by these guys, you want your starters
in there. You might look at some multi-position guys like Dihigo,
Pennington, Lundry instead of having so many individual back ups. Makes
it easier to put together the platoons that can be a late round
equalizer if you didn't get a position filled earlier.

I saw a team with only two RP only guys. Aren't you required to draft three like other leagues?

Thanks gents. :D

A question: Should my preset picks have populated into my watch list in the draft app? It didn't, so I had no access to my preset list.

I'll copy my list onto hardcopy next time, so I'll be better prepared.

No, your presets do not load into your watch list. Your watch list
starts empty. If your watch list starts scrolling, it can have issues
too, so I like to keep the watch list to 5-6 players and keep notes
on the side at who to add as the rounds progress.

You need 3 pure relievers to process waivers and on opening day.
If you do not have 3 pure relievers after the draft, all your waiver
claims will be denied. (Unless, presumeably, your waiver claim
brings you into compliance).

This actually happens more than you think... its always a good idea to check this before the end of the draft. Its also a hiccup because the default card you draft is the most expensive. So the new Hoyt
Wilhem card means he doesn't count as one of your 3 pure relievers
before waivers. So if someone asks for Eck's best year as a starter,
he probably is just screwing with us LIVE draft lovers.

You need to populate your watch list after the first round IMHO. You should have it narrowed down 3-4 picks ahead of your pick who you will take. Occasionally you get aced and need to look-up some data on a player, but when you are up you should have a pretty good idea what you have/need and what is available to fill it. I populate my roster spreadsheet during the draft and look at card data and DD actuals if needed.

When it comes to RPs, they kind of hide since the filter is not available for RP only, so they definitely need to be on the watch list about round 7. If you are close to top or bottom of draft look ahead at the other teams and try to guess their needs to see if you could grab a better player and get your pick on the rebound.

Decent backups are almost always available even after waivers, so this is not a big concern unless you have a 15 game injury risk player like Brett.

FWIIW, sschu

yes, many taken too early. Like someone said earlier, you sometimes need to grab a guy a little early to make sure you get him but only if you really have a plan for what you are doing.

As the high $$ player pool gets bigger and the teams get even better it is even more important to dominate at home. So have a plan as soon as you make that first pick and stick to it unless something really drastic happens and you can get extremely good value with a player that didn't fit your plan i.e. you are going lefty and Hank Aaron is available at your 4th round pick.