By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer
I’m a little more caught up on sleep but now I’m getting sick. Speaking of things that are ill, here are some more random thoughts about the LABR team I drafted:
In a 13-team, NL-only league, my strategy was to spread the wealth and avoid superstars. Trying to make sure actual starters fill up every offensive position is key and difficult to accomplish. I also wanted to spend extra money on hitting rather than draft a closer, but I’ll offer more insight on that later.
I targeted two decent catchers all along. Some advocate not worrying about them since the stats are less predictive due to the grueling nature of the position. And there are very few replacement players at all positions available on the waiver wire. However, I figure a fourth outfielder will be better than a backup catcher who starts once a week. I like Brian McCann to bounce back and as bad as Bengie Molina is in real life, the guy is slated to hit cleanup.
Conor Jackson, Kelly Johnson and Stephen Drew are three infielders I planned on acquiring. I figure it’s best to go after young guys who are improving and could really take a leap opposed to veterans who have already plateaued. Jackson, especially, has crazy good plate discipline and might end up batting third in a hitter’s park.
Pedro Feliz is one of those ugly plays. I mean, who wants Feliz on their team? He’s unsightly sabermetrically, but if he can go .250-20-80 hitting toward the bottom of a poor Giants team in the league’s best pitcher’s park, something like .260-24-90 isn’t completely out of the question after the move to Philly. Plus, he’s the game’s best defender at third, so he should have a safe spot in the lineup. He also came pretty cheap.
Cesar Izturis is obviously no good, but I was left scrambling to fill my MI spot, and he’s the favorite to start and possibly even bat leadoff for the Cardinals. I’d be thrilled with 500 at-bats from anyone with a pulse here. Although Izturis barely qualifies.
I overspent on Corey Hart. My team lacked speed, and I wanted him, but in hindsight, he went for the same price as Carlos Beltran, making my selection look like I overpaid. Hart is basically Grady Sizemore without the walks, and he could be a monster, but ultimately, there’s too much uncertainty for him to go for $30. That also hurt my goal of a balanced approach.
I wanted all three Nats outfielders but was unpleasantly surprised to see Austin Kearns take $18 of my budget and Lastings Milledge go for even more. Wily Mo Pena was more palatable at $9, and I like Ryan Church at $10, the concussion notwithstanding. Church has an .866 OPS versus righties during his career and is locked into a full-time job in a loaded Mets’ lineup.
Brandon Jones and Dallas McPherson are stabs in the dark. I literally may be employing two empty slots there. Still, they are picks with upside if the opportunity comes. And both have weak competition in front of them. Maybe I can get 25 games out of Tony Gwynn Jr. while Mike Cameron is suspended early on.
I’m very high on Matt Cain this season but had absolutely no intention of drafting Carlos Zambrano, whose heavy workload and decreasing K rate are frightening. Still, a whopping 14 NL starters went for more than Zambrano’s $17 price tag. Of course I wanted Tim Lincecum but would have had to go to $23 – and even then that was no sure thing.
Looking back, Pedro Martinez ($15) and Rickie Weeks ($22) look like two of the biggest bargains to me.
Scott Olsen and Anthony Reyes (gulp!) will be keys to my success. Chris Liss wouldn’t have let me drive back with him if I didn’t secure Rich Hill, and I’ll be rooting hard for Clayton Kershaw or Max Scherzer to get called up.
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