A Tale of Two Drafts
I can’t think a better way to waste four hours of a weekend than totally fucking up two fantasy baseball drafts. One head-to-head and one roto. In the post-draft assessment, I think I’d be better off if I could switch the two teams around. I really should just wave the white flag in the roto league. I had no idea about the 1250 innings limit until someone brought it up in the draft chat, and by then I had already shoved a multitude of starting pitchers up my ass — something I should have done in the head-to-head league. So basically, I read up on some fantasy baseball strategy over at The Hardball Times, and then proceeded to apply it to the wrong league. I am awesome.
You’re only going to want to read on if you want a round-by-round breakdown of my failure.
The format:
[Round]: [H2H Draft (draft #)] vs. [Roto Draft (draft #)]
Round 1: David Wright (5) vs. David Wright (4)
I actually missed the first four rounds of my roto draft due to Verizon DSL being total shit, so I was pretty happy to see I still ended up with my mancrush. Three fantasy drafts in two years, and David Wright has been my first pick every time. I very much doubt he will let me down.
Round 2: Tim Lincecum (20) vs. Lance Berkman (21)
This is where I already started ignoring the advice of The Hardball Times. Although, it’s tough to get mad at picking the amazing manchild that is Lincecum. I can’t say I’m disappointed with the auto-pick of Fat Elvis, either.
Round 3: C.C. Sabathia (29) vs. Dustin Pedroia (28)
I am a fucking moron. Taking SPs with two of my first three picks? Good way to guarantee that my offense will be comparatively anemic. I bet Fatty gets hurt this year, considering a person with the build of pregnant Octomom isn’t supposed to throw 250 IP each season. Once again, auto-pick proves to be smarter than me.
Round 4: Russell Martin (44) vs. Matt Kemp (45)
I have no problem with either of these Dodgers.
Round 5: Shane Victorino (53) vs. Dan Haren (52)
How I allowed the round timer to run out and auto-pick, I will never know. Victorino is the baseball equivalent of herpes. Goes without saying that Haren is better. It’s not like he’s AIDS or anything. Here’s hoping my proposed trade for Ellsbury is accepted.
Round 6: Adam Dunn (68) vs. J.J. Hardy (69)
Another round for which I have no pertinent entertaining commentary. I just guess I’m happy defense doesn’t matter for either of them.
Round 7: Robinson Cano (77) vs. Ervin Santana (76)
Needless to say, I am hoping Cano bounces back this year. And by bounce back, I mean I hope his BABIP isn’t historically awful.
Round 8: Derek Jeter (92) vs. Bobby Abreu (93)
Two old dudes that could possibly suck this year. Sweet.
Round 9: Joakim Soria (101) vs. Ryan Doumit (100)
The first reliever appears! I didn’t even know this Doumit guy, but it looked like he had decent stats for a catcher. Too bad I should have once again drafted a reliever at this point. Like Soria…
Round 10: Vernon Wells (116) vs. B.J. Ryan (117)
…since Soria was selected right before Ryan in the Roto draft. Fuck me.
Round 11: Joey Votto (125) vs. Francisco Cordero (124)
Votto was a good pick, but once again, a reliever I wanted was selected right before Cordero. Whatever, he’ll give me some saves.
Round 12: Brian Fuentes (140) vs. Raul Ibanez (141)
Fuentes is probably better than Cordero (and shit, even Ryan), which shows how much quicker relievers were going in the roto draft. Ibanez served me well last year, so I had to pick him up again. Of course, he only serves well in fantasy.
Round 13: Chris Young (149) vs. Mark DeRosa (148)
Not that happy with this round. I guess Young is OK, but I think I selected DeRosa only because he was eligible for so many positions. But that’s good for a BENCH player, not utility. I should have just selected JI. JIM THOME.
Round 14: Scott Baker (164) vs. Scott Baker (165)
I think I’m going to call this a push.
Round 15: Jered Weaver (173) vs. Erik Bedard (172)
Pretty sure this is where my roto draft fell off a cliff. Yep.
Round 16: Justin Upton (188) vs. Jered Weaver (189)
I really let these Hardball Times rankings get into my head. I never would’ve drafted a Weaver once, nevermind twice, otherwise.
Round 17: Mike Pelfrey (197) vs. Jair Jurrjens (196)
Goddamn it.
Round 18: John Maine (212) vs. Mike Pelfrey (213)
Homerism at its worst.
Round 19: Joey Devine (221) vs. John Smoltz (220)
Devine was selected 70 spots before this in the roto league. An even better example of how terrible my strategy was in the roto draft. The Smoltz pick occurred right after I found out about the innings limit. My despondence led me to pick for spite. The Braves fan in the league voiced his displeasure.
Round 20: Hong-Chih Kuo (236) vs. Hong-Chih Kuo (237)
I am very happy with this pick in both leagues, amazingly.
Round 21: Grant Balfour (245) vs. Chris Perez (244)
It should have been Balfour in the roto draft, not the H2H. Luckily, he was still available after the roto draft, so I immediately dropped Perez to pick him up.
FINAL JUDGMENT: I think I picked worse in both leagues than I did last year. I took too many non-save accumulating relievers at the end of the H2H draft, and took too few of them in the roto draft. Fortunately, my offenses are decent and balanced — the roto league moreso. Maybe I should wake up more than 10 minutes before the draft and come up with some definite strategies next year. And then stick to them, instead of giving in and drafting sexy starters. Sexy in the stats sense only, obviously.
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