Fantasy baseball: Draft report

OK, so I had my draft this past Saturday night. (And on the heels of that last blog, it was pretty clear that this particular hobby will be taking a back seat to many things once the twins are born.)

Anywho, these were my keepers:

C: Dioner Navarro, TB, $7; Taylor Teagarden, TEX, $0 (Prospect)

1B: Albert Pujols, STL, $40

2B: Kelly Johnson, ATL, $11; Emilio Bonafacio, FLA, $1

SS: Alexei Ramirez, CHW, $10

3B: Ryan Zimmerman, WAS, $13

OF: Matt Kemp, LA, $25; Colby Rasmus, STL, $0 (Prospect)

SP: Matt Cain, SF, $14; Jered Weaver, LAA, $9; Max Scherzer, ARZ, $8; Jonathan Sanchez, SF, $5; Ubaldo Jimenez, COL, $4; Joe Blanton, PHI, $1; Jordan Zimmermann, WAS, $1; Shaun Marcum, TOR, $1 (will go straight to DL); Scott Elbert, LA, $0 (Prospect)

RP: None

So the draft was its usual fast-and-furious auction bidding war, with plenty of good-natured ribbing and fun. At some point, we were discussing Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman’s anatomy, but such is the rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness mindset of the drafter.

As you can see above, I clearly needed help in the outfield, bench depth, an ace pitcher and an entire bullpen. Lemme know if you think I addressed those needs:

–Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, BOS, $32

–Corey Hart, OF, MIL, $32

–Jonathan Papelbon, RP, BOS, $28

–Andre Ethier, OF, LA, $26

–Joakim Soria, RP, KC, $23

–Jose Lopez, 2B, SEA, $12

–Hong-Chih Kuo, RP, LA, $7

–Andrew Sonnanstine, SP, TB, $4

–Felipe Lopez, IF, ARZ, $3

–Ryan Madson, RP, PHI, $3

–Hideki Okajima, RP, BOS, $3

–Brandon Lyon, RP, DET, $2

–Jason Kubel, OF, MIN, $2

–Denard Span, OF, MIN, $2

–Chris Snyder, C, ARZ, $1

Since I haven’t blogged in a while, I never posted the results of our Prospect Draft (we get to carry six minor leaguers now):

–Elvis Andrus, SS, TEX

–Carlos Triunfel, SS, SEA

–Jesus Montero, C, NYY

My other three prospects were the keepers listed above.

And there’s a trade in the works for another guy’s Prospect – sending him $2 for next year’s MLB Auction Draft.

Fantasy geek out.

Fantasy baseball update

You might remember me saying I have two teams in two different leagues.  As of this moment, I’m in 12th place in my 14-team league (the money/CBS Sportsline league) and in 9th place in my 12-team league (the Yahoo league for pride).

Why do I stink so badly?

I always claim my problems are injuries and slumps (and a heaping helping of bad luck).

The problems facing my CBS team:

–Next to last in HR, last in RBI, last in Slugging (but hey, first in Steals)

–My pitching isn’t all that bad, close to the middle in most categories

–Injuries to Phil Hughes (who was pitching badly) and Dontrelle Willis

–Ichiro Suzuki only batting .281 (he’s normally about 50 points higher)

–Delmon Young only hitting .252, 0 homers (I just traded him–so watch for him to improve immediately)

–Nick Swisher only batting .205, 3 homers (expected big things from him)

–Khalil Greene only batting .204, 1 homer (never a big average guy, but where’s the power?)

–Rafael Betancourt with a 5.52 ERA (bullpen “ace” got chance to be the closer, bombed)

–Justin Verlander with a 1-4 record and 5.92 ERA (top 20 starting pitcher? Yikes.)

–Manny Delcarmen with a 6.92 ERA (set-up guy extraordinaire has been anything but)

–Francisco Liriano with a 16.88 ERA and 3.56 WHIP (didn’t quite come back from Tommy John surgery as quickly as hoped)

The problems facing my Yahoo team:

–J.R. Towles only batting .164 (not hitting his weight, a bad sign)

–Robinson Cano only batting .182 (always a slow starter, but jeez)

–see Nick Swisher, above

–Jeff Francoeur hitting .263, only 3 homers (big power guy was predicted to get to 30–better hurry up)

–Troy Tulowitzki only hitting .152, 1 homer (horrific slump for a Colorado Rockie, now on disabled list)

–Adam Jones only hitting .228 (superstud prospect struggling)

–see Rafael Betancourt, above

–Jered Weaver has a 5.59 ERA (young Anaheim ace has been yucky)

–C.C. Sabathia has a 6.55 ERA (Cleveland ace has been hammered)

–not one pitcher with more than 2 wins

If you’ve read this and have any kind of clue as to how to fix this, drop me a line.