Was debating Ramirez

Justin Turner
Kenta Maeda

RP Andrew Miller

Won't help much in saves, but those numbers we can pick up elsewhere. What we can't pick up elsewhere is 65-75 innings of a 13+ k/9, sub 2.3 ERA, and sub 1 WHIP.


1b: Hanley
2b: Murphy
3b: Beltre
OF: CarGo
OF: Jones
OF: Ramirez
Util: Hosmer

SP: Bum
SP: Max
RP: Miller

I was taking Miller this time around if he got to me. Slight concern over his 2016 innings, but he's steroids for your rate stats (incl. Ks in Yahoo's inning limits)

yeah, he just seemed so much better than grabbing someone worse across the board except for 20-30 saves. Ive seen him going all over the place though.

Gary, now that we've gotten through over a 1/3 of the draft, how you thinking my team is coming along? I know you weren't excited about the start strat (and realistically I'm not overly thrilled with it either but wanted to test it). I can't figure out if I'm happy with it or not.

I saw that post in the FBB thread of the guy starting with my start and then going nuts on RP and stuff and wonder if I'm trying to straddle the fence too much after going for a weird start instead of just going full rogue lol.

Well, first off, that guy's team was horrible. He won't finish in the top half. When you dedicate that many picks to pitching, you're looking at diminishing returns because of the way the pitching stats break in different directions. You can sweep hitting; you can't sweep pitching (if you're doing it right).

Your team is ok considering how it started, but I still see problems. You've drafted hitters with established value, which means aside from Ramirez, I don't see a lot of upside in what you're paying for, but there's downside due to regression (Murphy) and age (Beltre). meanwhile, you've given up a large % of the edge you had in pitching (granted, rightly). I think you'd be in much better shape if you had Rizzo (taken right after madbum) and Danny Duffy (taken right after Hosmer) instead of MadBum and Hosmer.

Edit to add: It's really tough to win if you're not drafting upside. Everyone is privy to expert draft lists, so the real strategy is in maximizing the draft to get more value out of it than initial appearances would suggest. Correctly picking upside guys plays into that a lot.

to add: I do like that you haven't picked a higher-ranked closer. a part of their value is balancing the rate stats when your starters are weak. You need saves eventually, but you disn't need to spend relatively early draft slots to get them.

Yeah, I'm usually all about upside, but after the start I got it in my head that I needed consistency since I didn't have that top of the top style bats. I think looking back, it should have made me even more willing to go high risk instead.

10.3 Gerrit Cole SP

I think Cole's elbow issues from last year won't carry much into this year, although I expect a lower inning total than 2015.

1b- Cabrera
3b- Donaldson
SS- Bogaerts
OF- Stanton
OF- Upton
OF- Piscotty
U- Thames
SP- Strasburg
SP- Cole
RP- Melancon

RP Jeurys Familia

Last of really good closers imo. Hope to avoid lengthly suspension.

Anyone I can leave picks with? I'm going to dinner and a movie in 2 hrs, maybe I can squeeze in a PM to someone once I get off work with a prioritized list of picks (who has already picked for this round or will have within next hr)

10.5 Jake Lamb

I'm thinking I could have waited and picked him later but not going to chance it. Wanted Franco but think they have similar upside.

Bryce Harper
Carlos Correa
J.D. Martinez
Ian Desmond
Jon Lester
Jean Segura
Jose Bautista
Danny Duffy
Ken Giles
Jake Lamb

Send it here

10.6 Lorenzo Cain

Possible top 30 bounceback in the 10th round. Last year might be the real Lo Cain, but he was battling injuries all year and his 2015 says he could still be a good player.

C Buster Posey
2B DJ LeMahieu
3B Kris Bryant
SS Jose Peraza
OF Nelson Cruz
OF Charlie Blackmon
OF Lorenzo Cain

SP Chris Archer
RP Zach Britton
RP Seung-Hwan Oh

I'll take Cody Allen. The Miller spectre obviously looms and probably costs a few saves, but he's been super consistent for four years now and feels a lot better than the remaining closer options

C
1B: Freddie Freeman
2B: Roughned Odor
3B: Nolan Arenado
SS: Francisco Lindor
OF: Gregory Polanco
OF: Matt Kemp
OF
UT
UT

SP: Kyle Hendricks
SP: Jacob DeGrom
RP: Kelvin Herrera
RP: Cody Allen
P
P
P
P

B
B
B
B
B

Curious on people's thoughts on my take of Turner over Lamb. Does anyone take Lamb there?

I have Lamb in other leagues and like him but I see a lot of dudes on Arizona that could get PT and Lamb possibly in a quasi-platoon. Might not be the worst situation in the world if he sits 10-15 games against LHP if he was gonna suck anyway, but it still might cost him 5-10 R/RBI compared to Turner.

I also trust Turner's AVG more than Lamb.

Turner>>Lamb, think there's 2 other 3B I'd take before Lamb still (1 before Turner)

I like Lamb's upside, but don't think it's too much higher than Turner's. Turner has a really high floor imo, so he's a fine choice there.

10.8 Aaron Nola

10.9 Miguel Sano, 3B/OF MIN

I need and OF and a 3B, so I like his flexibility. But what I mainly like is his HR ceiling, he projects at around 30 HR's, but I don't think many players left have as high of a ceiling. My first 6 bats will easily compensate for his low projected AVG.

C Jonathan Lucroy
1B Joey Votto
2B Dee Gordon
SS Trevor Story
3B Miguel Sano
OF Mookie Betts
OF Yoenis Cespedes

SP Justin Verlander
SP Masahiro Tanaka

RP Roberto Osuna

10.10 David Price SP-BOS

I think the issues are a bit blown out of proportion at this current time, he may miss a couple starts to start the year, but if I can get 25-26 starts from a healthy Price in round 10 then that sounds fine to me. It's a risk for sure but one I'm willing to take.

C Gary Sanchez
1B Edwin Encarnacion
2B Jose Altuve
3B Kyle Seager
OF Starling Marte
UTIL Chris Davis

SP Jake Arrieta
SP Cole Hamels
RP Edwin Diaz
P David Price

I like the Price pick. James Andrew knows his **** and wouldn't have blessed a return if it wasn't viable. Potential steal of the draft there. Yes, there's risk, obviously, but feels really worth it at this point.

Here with 4 picks, sec

Josh's 2 picks

Andrew Benintendi
Odubel Herrera

Right. I think it was just some early camp soreness, they'll be cautious with it, but he shouldn't miss more than a few starts given the current info, but that could change over the course of camp. I just figured the juice was worth the squeeze right now.

it definitely is, 0 worry by me atm, he's a steal this late