I did my first ever auction drafts this year, and I think my favorite part is nominating the Ryan Braun that pitches in AAA for the White Sox with my first nomination and watching someone bid $15+ on him. It happened in 3 drafts. EDIT: This is the team I ended up with. I accidentally bid on Stubbs trying to respond to an AIM message. Code: 26 Ryan Howard, Phi 1B $27 27 Joe Mauer, Min C $28 28 Drew Stubbs, Cin OF $2 32 Jacoby Ellsbury, Bos OF $28 34 Pablo Sandoval, SF 3B $19 46 Ian Kinsler, Tex 2B $21 48 Jon Lester, Bos SP $17 53 Martin Prado, Atl 2B $5 61 Kevin Youkilis, Bos 3B $16 64 Elvis Andrus, Tex SS $14 68 Mariano Rivera, NYY RP $15 75 Chris Davis, Tex 1B $8 78 Francisco Rodriguez, NYM RP $13 88 Jonathan Broxton, LAD RP $14 93 Andre Ethier, LAD OF $13 131 Chris Coghlan, Fla OF $7 167 Michael Cuddyer, Min 1B $4 184 James Shields, TB SP $2 190 John Danks, CWS SP $1 197 Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos SP $1 204 Chris Perez, Cle RP $1 218 Phil Hughes, NYY SP $1 225 J.D. Drew, Bos OF $1 231 Geovany Soto, ChC C $1 235 Ryan Theriot, ChC SS $1
I usually don't touch pitching until rounds 9-10. You won't get the aces, but you will still get a very good couple starters and just load up on closers. I just prefer to spend my early picks on everyday guys, as opposed to once a week players.
That is tremendous. ESPN or Yahoo? I only play at Yahoo (well, except for last year when I played in a league at mlb.com). I'll have to see if the Ryan Braun pitcher is available in Yahoo leagues. If he is, I'd want to join another auction league just to nominate him. I'd have to hope to have an early spot in the nomination order, though. In both previous auctions, Yahoo randomized the nom order and I was 12th both times. On each occasion the Brewers Braun was nominated before my turn. Even if you were in a league with astute managers and nobody placed a bid on the pitchin' Braun he would only cost you $1 and a roster spot. You could then dump him after the draft. In other words, worst case scenario still would not be bad.
It's a tough spot to be in, I play in a keeper league and we get guys for 3 years. This is now the 5th year of the league. last year most of the top guys were FA so this year the crop was average at best. I actually ended up holding on to Wainwright and Josh Johnson, throw in that I drafted Felix Hernandez with my 1st pick and all of a sudden I've got a really good staff. I've also got Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez , Andre Ethier and Jason Bay and I'd say I'm gonna have a really good year. I almost always want an ace pitcher. Last year in my big league I ended up with Grienke and got him in the 10th round.
It's ESPN. Almost without fail there is a guy that just bids $10+ on every first round nomination to drive up the price, and then someone just sees the name and ups it a few bucks. The two mocks I did I had the 4th or 5th nomination, in the real league I did I was 3rd so it worked in all of them.
I wouldn't count on a big year from Bay in the cavernous Citi Field, with his bad knees as well. He'll still perform well, mind you, just I think his power numbers are going to take a big dip. HanRam,AGon and Etheir tho is a solid core, good stuff.
You can hit homeruns at Citi if you can pull the ball, that's DWright's biggest problem at Citifield at the moment, He used to hit alot of his HR's the other way at Shea.
I just did a mock today for my head-head league. I plan on sticking to the same draft strategy as I did with this. Player Position Round Drafted Overall Pick John Baker C 21 241 Brian McCann C 2 24 Michael Cuddyer 1B 13 145 Aaron Hill 2B 5 49 Aramis Ramirez 3B 7 73 Hanley Ramirez SS 1 1 Josh Hamilton OF 9 97 Garrett Jones OF 17 193 Andrew McCutchen OF 11 121 Grady Sizemore OF 3 25 Mark Teahen OF 18 216 Vladimir Guerrero U 15 169 Nick Swisher U 20 240 Jorge De La Rosa P 19 217 Ryan Dempster P 8 96 Cole Hamels P 6 72 Matt Lindstrom P 16 192 Carlos Marmol P 12 144 Chris Perez P 22 264 Chad Qualls P 14 168 Adam Wainwright P 4 48 Carlos Zambrano P 10 120
I just drafted for my team this year... this is how I ended up... C Miguel Montero 1B Albert Pujols 2B Howie Kendrick 3B Aramis Ramirez SS Derek Jeter OF Carl Crawford OF Justin Upton OF Andrew McCutchen DH Gordon Beckham Bench 1B Billy Butler Bench OF Alfonso Soriano RP Andrew Bailey RP Chad Qualls RP Bobby Jenks SP Tommy Hanson SP Chad Billingsley SP David Price SP Mark Buehrle SP Erik Bedard SP Brad Penny SP Clay Buchholz SP Ervin Santana I'm a bit nervous that I don't have enough "oomph" with my either my power or my SP... does anyone have advice on ways that I could possibly strengthen this squad?
My 2010 Team C: Victor Martinez 1B: Carlos Pena 2B: Robinson Cano 3B: Gordon Beckham SS: Hanley Ramirez OF: Matt Holliday OF: Denard Span OF: Nick Swisher DH: Nate McLouth C: Ryan Doumit 2B: Macier Izturis 3B: Chipper Jones SS: Ryan Theriot (Plan on releasing him and picking up Garret Jones for 1B/OF depth) Matt Cain Scott Feldman Cole Hamels Edwin Jackson Jair Jurrjens Heath Bell Ryan Franklin Bobby Jenks (Reserve pitcher)
If Spring Training is any indication I may have gotten the steal of the draft in Matt LaPorta, he's 1B and OF eligible and thanks to Branyan being injured he's going to be the starting 1B for Cleveland. He was very highly touted and I got in him in the late rounds.
