Another Mock, Updated Top 50 Hitters, Keeper Trade

Mock Recap III

So I did another mock and the results can be found here.  NOTE:  I was a bad addict and had to run away from the computer around the 15th round, after already letting the computer auto pick for me once in the 13th.  The wife was getting annoyed.

Some notes & observations:

• I waited for Liriano till the 15th, despite the fact that I had him as the best pitcher for 2 rounds.  I didn’t get him like I had the previous 2 drafts (in the 13th and 14th rounds respectively).
• Guys I thought went way too late:  Morneau (5), Atkins (7), Konerko (9, after Todd Helton.  Aweful!), Sheffield (9).
•  A guy I like a lot this year: Jeff Francoeur (who I took in the 10th round).   The 24 year old has knocked in over 100 runs the last 2 years, and he raised his average 32 points last year (.260-.292).  He dipped a little in the home run department in 2007, but he should be a good bet for a .280-25-100-85-5 season with big time upside.  He could take a big leap in 08.

Updated Top 50 Hitters

1	Alex Rodriguez
2	Albert Pujols
3	Hanley Ramirez
4	Jimmy Rollins
5	Jose Reyes
6	Matt Holliday
7	Chase Utley
8	David Wright
9	Miguel Cabrera
10	Ryan Howard
11	Prince Fielder
12	David Ortiz
13	Grady Sizemore
14	Carl Crawford
15	Carlos Beltran
16	Vladimir Guerrero
17	Alfonso Soriano
18	Ryan Braun
19	Brandon Phillips
20	Mark Teixeira
21	Ichiro Suzuki
22	Magglio Ordonez
23	Justin Morneau
24	Lance Berkman
25	Robinson Cano
26	BJ Upton
27	Bobby Abreu
28	Aramis Ramirez
29	Derek Jeter
30	Troy Tulowitzki
31	Carlos Guillen
32	Brian Roberts
33	Travis Hafner +
34	Curtis Granderson
35	Carlos Lee
36	Adam Dunn
37	Garrett Atkins
38	Jason Bay
39	Eric Byrnes
40	Victor Martinez
41	Nick Markakis
42	Alex Rios
43	Derek Lee
44	Carlos Pena
45	Russell Martin
46	Manny Ramirez
47	Paul Konerko
48	Gary Sheffield
49	Rafael Furcal
50	Miguel Tejada

Keeper Trade

If you happened to read about this potential trade, you may glad to learn that a deal was made.  Tulowitzki was pulled off the table, as that team decided to keep him (he made the right move) and traded us Markakis for Bedard.  Trading Bedard wasn’t too difficult, as we still can keep Haren (if we kept Bedard, Haren would have gone back to the draft) and upgrading from Wang as our D keeper to Markakis was a no-brainer.   He’s a much more valuable player, with considerably more upside.

A concern of our was that of our 5 keepers, 3 are OF (Ichiro, Nick, and CBY) and that we lose a little flexibility going into the draft.  We have the #10 and 11 picks, and I am 97.2% certain Santana is going #1.  Therefore we should be able to land 2 of the following guys:  Sizemore, Beltran, Vlad. Teixeira, Soriano, Morneau, Berkman, Cano, Abreu, Jeter, Brian Roberts, Travis Hafner.   I think if we could land 2 infielders with our first 2 picks, we are in real good shape.  It’s very tough to tell how the draft is going to shake out, but if we could land like Morneau or Berkman and Cano with those 2 picks we’ll have a sick, and positionally balanced, offensive core.

Mock #2 Recap

So I think I am on to something here. Rather than post all my rankings, which are so subjective anyway and can also be found on dozens of other sites, I think most of my future entries will be these draft recaps. 

Here’s the mock I took part in last night on MDC.  Click Here

I think Mock Draft’s are a very effective draft prep tool.  In no way can they help you figure out who is going to take exactly which players, in which spot, in your REAL drafts, but if you do enough you see very clear trends develop that can help you understand where certain player will be going, and at what point YOU think you should consider drafting a particular player.

For example, in the first draft I selected Liriano in the 13th round.  Prior to last night’s draft, someone who had read that post told me he thought I could have waited on him.  In the 11th round of last night’s draft, when Liriano was the top rated pitcher on my current rankings remaining, I decided to wait another round and select Street to be my #2 RP.  Gamble paid off and I was able to land him the the 14th.  Maybe next time I’ll wait till the 15th? 

One thing is for sure though, I’d take him way before Rich Hill or Ted Lilly, two pitchers selected before Liriano.  Those guys are nice pitchers, don’t get me wrong, but neither has the massive upside potential like Liriano does.  He’s coming off major injury, but he’s had a lot of time to recover, and he’s not injury PRONE like Mark Prior (at least not yet:), so no reason for me to think he can’t bounce back from this.  Sure there is risk involved, but this guy was arguably the best pitcher in fantasy baseball for a sufficient amount of time, not too long ago.

Here are some other things that stood out to me:

• I found myself taking Cano even higher than last draft, in the 4th round, but I still don’t think that was too high. All the other big 2B’s were gone (Utley, Upton, Phillips, and even Roberts) and if you look at the other offensive players remaining, I thought Cano was the most valuable. 
• Albeit the last pick of the round, I though Pence in the 5th was way too high. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s a nice player, but I don’t think he should be going that far before (if before at all than)…
• …Delmon Young, who I was able to get in the 10th round!!! Lost in last year’s shuffle among other rookie breakouts (such as Braun, Tulowitzki, Chris B Young, Pence, etc.) Da Meat Hook’s kid bro put together a very solid freshman campaign, going .288/13/93/65/10. Let’s not forget this kid is only 22, and at a time was the #1 prospect in all of baseball. Moving to Minnesota, he’ll most likely get a shot to bat somewhere near the M&M boys (Mauer and Morneau) and he just may take the leap in 2008. I think it’s reasonable to expect a similar batting average and across the board improvement on the counting stats. Think .285/20/100/90/20.
• I already had an SS on my roster in Rollins, but when Furcal was there in the 9th I had to pounce. He suffered a tough injury right before the season last year, played through it, and his numbers suffered. BUT, in September, he bounced back nicely, going *** and 12 for 12 in SB attempts. I expect him to bounce back to his normal .280/8/60/100/40 levels.

Other picks I liked:

• Bay in the 7th. As I mentioned in my top 50, I think this guy is gonna go late like this in a lot of drafts and deliver top 20 numbers when all is said and done.
• Felix in the 10th. Right about where I’d take him. I didn’t here though, as I opted for Delmon.
• Brett Myers in the 11th. I was hoping he’d get back to me in the 12, but I wasn’t fortunate. I like him a lot.
• Shane Victorino in the 12th. After Myers went, I saw this name on the board and was shocked. Carl Crawford Lite should deliver .285/10/60/110/40 numbers hitting at the top of a very powerful Phillies lineup.

My First Mock of 2008

Just a note that I’ll be going on vacation tomorrow, so I don’t think I’ll be posting anything for the next couple of days.

 Anyway, I was bored the other night, and I had a couple hours free, so I went to Mock Draft Central.

 The results of the draft can be found here .

Some notes:

1. I was fairly happy with my squad.   As always, I focused on offense early, taking Holliday, Ortiz, Morneau, Hafner, Cano, Bay, and Figgins with my first 7 picks, before shifiting my attention to pitching, and I was able to put together a very solid rotation (Haren, Smoltz, Cain, Liriano, Schilling, Snell, Pettitte, Blanton) 
2. Getting Wagner in the 9 and Mariano in 11 round I thought were great value picks.  They are not in the top 4 closers(Putz, Papelbon, KRod, Nathan) but both are on very good teams who should win a lot a games, and thus get plenty of save opps)
3. Normally, I’m not a big Figgins guy, but I basically ignored speed in the early rounds, so I needed to get a specialist.  Getting him the 7th was a great value.  Let’s also not forget he did hit .330 last year.
4. Someone else got Byrnes in the 7th, right before I took Figgins.  I think that was the steal of this draft.  He should go before Chris B Young (which was not the case here)
5. I’m not as high on him as some others (due to his ballpark, lineup, inconsistency) but Adrian Gonzalez at the end of the 9th round was a nice pick too.
6. I got some flak for taking Liriano in the 13th, but I am fine with gambling on my #4 SP with #1 upside there.
7. Someone took Russell Martin before V-Mart.  I don’t like that.  I know Martin runs, but it’s not like he is Vince Coleman.  V-Mart is better.
8. I was surprised to see Peavy go before Johan, but in speaking with others in the draft room, there were a lot of people who agreed.   That’s fine.  They are all wrong though.