I clicked one, saw Trea Turner picked third overall and Votto 7th. Closed it.

edit: just opened another. Saw Kershaw 4th. Closed it.

Dee Gordon #16 overall LOOOOOOOOOOL ya those are some terrible drafts

Agreed they're pretty bad, just some early ones I saw them talking about on Razzball. Not sure why the hate on Kershaw early, pretty standard from this year and will likely happen again. Turner consistently went top 10 in all 4, lol at Votto, and don't see ever taking Turner that early

Because Kershaw's now suffering from chronic back issues. Drafting him that high means he MUST make every start to even potentially recoup value and can't offer excess value. He's also just finishing his worst season in a few as he enters his thirties. Lastly, he may not even be the best pitcher in MLB anymore.

Hard to say on Votto .. OBP seems like that could be justified.

Gary I agree and disagree with you on Kershaw. Its tough to recoup or provide "excess value" out of any top 5 pick to be honest. Kershaw is actually a guy that CAN do it if he indeed makes 30+ starts as you say. That said he has been a top 15 guy the last couple years even without doing so. Wasn't he still the #1 pitcher in 2016 despite not even breaking 150 IP? He was that good.

But yeah not sure if he is the consensus #1 pitcher off the board. All four of Kershaw Scherzer Sale Kluber go in the top 20 in say NFBC ADP? I think they might

I definitely would not draft Kershaw rd1 in a redraft, but in a keeper league I have no problem taking him there or keeping him as a first rounder.
Question is, should Sale go off the board before him?

I don’t think votto at 7 is crazy esp in OBP leagues. He is having an incredible season

Even with the time missed Kershaw is ranked #6 for 2017 in my fantasy format.

If you guys want to invest in a pitcher who's lost time to back issues for two straight years, go for it.

Yeah not touching Kershaw in the first round esp now in redrafts.

Hopefully after this season people start to realize its ******ed to draft posey in the 4/5th round

with the juiced ball era being what it is next year is probably the first time i will argue your first player picked must be a pitcher (unless you've got trout/bro/goldy)

the depth of hitting is pretty ****ing unbelievable and the top 50 ranked hitters is a who's who of "wait what" and that ignores the litany of hitters who would be there if not for injury or the ones who scored the earth in the 2nd half

my early takeaway is steals and pitching early is the way to go because there are simply going to be far too many quality hitters to go around

I come at this from the four stats versus five argument, but even if you do take on the idea that pitching goes earlier than ever before, I think making Kershaw that guy is a mistake at this point. Think I'm taking Max, Sale (who I'd 100% trade in late July) and maybe Kluber over him for health. All three were worth more than CK in 5x5 this year and they bring fewer question marks.

I wouldn't want to. I got Altuve at #4 and fist pumped. I took Syndergaard in the second round and, well, lesson learned. I did flip him for LeMehiu after his injury though, which I thought was amazing.

Why are you exuding Altuve from this? I'd much rather have him over Harper in almost all formats

Altuve should be going 2 everywhere next season

And as far as pitching I'm still not taking any aces in the first round and will wait until later unless I'm able to get Kershaw/sale/Scherzer/Kluber/stras at great value.

Looking back at one of my 12 team 6x6 redraft auction leagues ($260) where I’m currently sitting at 12/9/10/11 in K’s/QS/ERA/WHIP I spent the following on pitching

Archer - 24
Madea - 10
Cotton - 2
Jon gray - 4
Pineda - 4
Paxton - 2

Then picked up Tanaka when he got dropped, trades for Quintana, walker.

It’s all about the relievers with great ratios who strike a ton of people out.

completely disagree with everything.

When everyone is hitting HRs that doesn't mean "dont worry about power bc even my scrubs will mash 20 bombs!"
It means you need the guys who will go 40+/120+ to be one of the top teams.

Go look at all your leagues and see how many teams were making the finals with Trea Turner, Dee Gordon, Billy Hamilton, Mookie Betts, etc. And taking pitchers super early only works when you luck into one the guys who doesn't get hurt.

So... Next year's drafts, Will Aaron Judge be picked before Mike Trout?

and will Judge be in the top 5?

My Championship Bracket.

Not a chance. Right now I’ve got judge in the 12-15 range.

1. trout
2. Altuve
3. Goldschmidt
4. Betts
5. Blackmon
6. Arenando
7. Harper
8. KB
9. Freeman
10. Rizzo

Are all guys I’d rather have than judge. Then you’ve got guys like machado/votto/Stanton/turner/Correa/Donaldson/JDM who I’d consider over him as well and that’s before pitching. I can totally see him hitting 240-250 next season

Won both my leagues. FeelsGoodMan

Had a reasonably good fantasy baseball season this year. Even though you all told me how stupid my draft strategy and general preference for pitching and saves is

My 4 roto teams finished:

1st - 4.5 points ahead of second
2nd - 9 points out of first 10 points ahead of 3rd
2nd - 2.5 points out of first 3 points ahead of 3rd
4th - UHG! 1 point out of 3rd 2 points out of second and 3.5 points out of 1st

The 4th place finisher was a dog all year and in about 9th or 10th place going into August but they came back real hard (finally) the past 5 or 6 weeks to almost get to the money.

I made my share of mistakes and have learned by them and will adjust next season. This was a weird year as almost everybody hit and almost nobody pitched. For me this puts even more of a premium on reliable pitching.

My late round and waiver wire heros this year were guys like Shaw, Merrifield, Pham, and Beckham. I think I had these guys on every team.

Anyway I am glad its over but before long will be itching for it to start again. I am happy that 3 of 4 teams cashed but I really feel I woulda coulda shoulda done better. Was fun and will see you all next season when you can deride my drafts again

I said that going into this year only to get laughed at This is for sure true in roto not so certain about heads up. Premium starters and closers were very important to have this year in roto. Good hitters were plentiful on the wire all year long.

sorry but thats just not true. it was only important to have drafted premium starters if you happened to draft Kluber, Max, Sale, or Strasburg.

If you went the premium starter route and took any combo of Syndergaard, Bum, Arrieta, Archer, Cueto, deGrom, Darvish, Tanaka, Hamels, Maeda, Hendricks, Cole, Teheran then your pitching was a mess and you were likely in a world of hurt.

but it worked out for him so clearly it was correct!

What happens if in H2H league the championship match is a tie?