Since Opening Day is a week away (wow!) I thought this would be a good time to post one of the several emails we’ve received regarding post-draft advice/analysis. This one comes from Eric:
“Hey Bryan, just got finished drafting. Overall I like my team, I had to take Haren in the 2nd and Hamels in 3rd because SP went flying. I also reached on some rookies 8-11 rds (Heyward, Strasburg, Matusz) but those were like my late round picks anyway. But here is how my team ended up:
C- Wieters
1B- Gonzalez
2B- Zobrist
SS- A. Ramirez
3B- Longoria
OF- Kemp
OF- B.J. Upton
OF- Cuddyer
Util- C. Jones
Util- C. Gonzalez
BN- Heyward
BN- Adam LaRoche
BN- Smoak
BN- S. Castro
SPs-
Haren
Hamels
Garza
Oswalt
Dempster
Strasburg
Matusz
RPs-
Bell
Marmol
Soriano
I like it. I got thrown off early and had to take another direction, but that’s how this league is. Let me know what you think of my team.”
On the surface, I really like the balance of your offense. You have an above average or great starter at just about every position, and at the ones you don’t (mainly SS), you found guys that are good, calculated risks. Your OF demonstrates this balance perfectly with the all-around stud in Kemp, the speedster with power potential in Upton, and the big power bat in Cuddyer. Nice job finding bats for your bench with high upside. I can’t preach enough how wasteful it is to put someone like Miguel Tejada on your bench. At best, you can find someone like that on free agency.
Interestingly, your SP looks a lot like the guys I have on my team as I drafted Hamels, Dempster, Strasburg, and Matusz as well. Obviously I like those guys, although I’m hesitant to project too much from Dempster. However, he does represent a good, proven commodity at a good value spot in the draft.
If I did have any words of advice or areas of improvement though, it’s these:
- Roy Oswalt looks like he might be heading toward another injury-plagued season, so if possible you should try to move him for someone like Kevin Slowey who is looking good this spring after coming back from surgery that shortened his 2009 season.
- I also am a fan of the “don’t draft elite closers” strategy, and you pegged some good ones. The only downside to this method is that you must be diligent throughout the season to make sure you don’t drop under three closers. In fact, if possible, it might be good for you to target a fourth, perhaps someone like Chris Perez (CLE), Franklin Morales (temporary in COL), Jason Frasor (TOR), or Jon Rauch (MIN, although they’re doing that whole bullpen-by-committee thing).
Overall, nice work!
What does everyone else think? If you have an opinion, leave it in the comments section. I’m sure Eric would love all the advice he can get!
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