I draft, I select the ballpark, I get screwed.

[worrierking]

I think the best strategy in an autodraft is to go against the grain. Find out what type of player is popular and then find the bargains among the type which is not popular. Some of the types you might have to go with are non * starters, injury-prone players (some good values here), poor fielders at key positions (more fairly priced in '06), platoon players, or lefty-killers. All of these types of players can result in a winning team, depending on what type of league you are in. I believe I could piece together a decent staff of non * starters for US Cell from the leftovers of any autodraft. The staff durantjerry has above would suffice in US Cell.

I haven't tried a lefty-killer team this year, partly because we used to see three or four Sheas in all the autodrafts in previous years when Shea was very lop-sided. But I've had success in the past putting together teams that would play .500 against RHPs, but win 7 of ten against LHPs. If you get in a league with 40% of the starters left-handed, you can win a league with guys like Francoer and Damian Easley. These are guys who are almost always available.

The one thing you need is experience. You can't know who's popular without playing a few leagues.

[JEFFFESPERMAN]

I wanted to relate the tale of my last team in an attempt to restore the hopes of a fellow two-star player like Dr. Brian. I chose PETCO as my home park and managed to pick up only three of my offensive picks (Andruw Jones, Carl Crawford and Ichiro Suzuki) in the autodraft and none of the pitchers I had hoped to acquire. Using waivers and pre-season free agent aquisitions, I managed to build a starting rotation of Pettitte, Smoltz, Mulder and Blanton, and an all-defensive squad featuring Eric Chavez, Jack Wilson, Orlando Hudson, J.T. Snow and Jason Varitek. This team team turned out to be the best one I have ever had, winning 97 games.

[JEFFFESPERMAN]

[b:d570e6df4d]Update[/b:d570e6df4d]
I now feel more of your pain. Crawford and Ichiro went a combined 2 for 26 in the first round of the playoffs and I was swept by the wild-card team. Without these two setting the table, we managed only one run per game.