FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XI

Welcome to our 27th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. In case you missed it, here are the previous issues: Volume I, Issue I (September 4, 2008), Volume I, Issue II (September 13, 2008), Volume I, Issue III (September 19, 2008), Volume I, Issue IV (September 27, 2008), Volume I, Issue V (October 4, 2008), Volume I, Issue VI (October 11, 2008), Volume I, Issue VII (October 18, 2008), Volume I, Issue VIII (October 25, 2008), Volume I, Issue IX (November 1, 2008), Volume I, Issue X (November 8, 2008), Volume I, Issue XI (November 15, 2008), Volume I, Issue XII (November 21, 2008), Volume 1, Issue XIII (November 30, 2008), Volume 1, Issue XIV (December 7, 2008), Volume I, Issue XV (December 14, 2008), Volume I, Issue XVI (December 20, 2008), Volume I, Issue XVII (December 28, 2008), Volume II, Issue I (January 3, 2009), Volume II, Issue II (January 11, 2009), Volume II, Issue III (January 20, 2009), Volume II, Issue IV (January 24, 2009), Volume II, Issue V (January 29, 2009), Volume II, Issue VI (February 8, 2009), Volume II, Issue VII (February 17, 2009), Volume II, Issue VIII (February 23, 2009), Volume II, Issue IX (February 28, 2009), Volume II, Issue X (March 8, 2009)In this week's issue, we bring you a recap of our fifth annual FantasyDrafthelp.com Baseball Mock Draft broadcast on SportsTalkNetwork.com from this past Wednesday night, March 11.


2009 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Recap

Before we get started, we need to remind you again, for your own good, to check out FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009, a free joint electronic publication from FantasyDrafthelp.com and our pals at Sportsology. It was released at the beginning of March, so it is up-to-date in a way that other publications are not (i.e. factoring in the A-Rod surgery). The guide does contain another mock draft with many of the same participants, held at the outset of March.

This mock draft was held as a special edition of our FDH LOUNGE program on SportsTalkNetwork.com (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EDT). Normally, THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER exists as a “show-within-a-show” from 9:00-9:30 PM EDT, but this 49th episode of THE LOUNGE was completely given over to this event.

Here were the guidelines for our event:

^ We scored this as a standard 5X5 Rotisserie League.
^ Rosters consist of the following: 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 SS, 1 3B, 4 OF, 1 DH, 1 extra corner infielder, 1 extra middle infielder, 6 starting pitchers, 2 relief pitchers.
^ Standard serpentine draft rules apply.

Here were the particpants:
1 FDH LOUNGE Dignitary Sean Trench
2 FDH LOUNGE Dignitary Mike Ptak
3 FDH LOUNGE Dignitary Tony Mazur
4 FDH Baseball Analyst Tim Foust
5 FDH Managing Partner Rick Morris
6 The FDH New York Bureau
7 FDH LOUNGE Dignitary Nate Noy
8 FDH LOUNGE Dignitary Mike Vili
9 FDH LOUNGE Producer Ryan Scott
10 Sportsology.info’s Russ Cohen
11 FDH LOUNGE Dignitary Jeff Maslanich
12 FDH Senior Editor Jason Jones

1ST ROUND
1 Sean: Hanley Ramirez
2 Mike P: Albert Pujols
3 Tony: Ryan Braun
4 Tim: David Wright
5 Rick: Matt Holliday
6 Steve: Jose Reyes
7 Nate: Evan Longoria
8 Mike V: Josh Hamilton
9 Ryan: Miguel Cabrera
10 Russ: Tim Lincecum
11 Jeff: Carlos Beltran
12 Jason: Mark Teixeira

NOTES: Rick’s Holliday selection is sure to be controversial given the dimensions of his old and new ballparks, but he forsees a whole boatload of doubles dropping in Oakland this year. Other than the Texeira pick, which was way out of whack vis-à-vis the FDH draft board, there weren’t many other surprises in this round.

2ND ROUND
1 Jason: Manny Ramirez
2 Jeff: Lance Berkman
3 Russ: Grady Sizemore
4 Ryan: Chase Utley
5 Mike V: Johan Santana
6 Nate: Carlos Quentin
7 Steve: Ian Kinsler
8 Rick: Jake Peavy
9 Tim: Ryan Howard
10 Tony: Brandon Webb
11 Mike P: Jimmy Rollins
12 Sean: Cole Hamels

NOTES: Jason is clearly counting on Manny being the Manny of August-September ’08. Russ got a better deal on Sizemore than many people are finding in their drafts and auctions this year. All of the Philly “Big 3” hitters went in this round, as did their ace!

3RD ROUND
1 Sean: Geovany Soto
2 Mike P: Brian McCann
3 Tony: Alexei Ramirez
4 Tim: David Ortiz
5 Rick: Brandon Phillips
6 Steve: Alfonso Soriano
7 Nate: Kevin Youkilis
8 Mike V: Dustin Pedroia
9 Ryan: Carlos Lee
10 Russ: Russell Martin
11 Jeff: Victor Martinez
12 Jason: Aramis Ramirez

NOTES: And there go the top catchers! We also saw two A Ramirez players and back-to-back Red Sox hitters, so there were your trends, such as they were.

4TH ROUND
1 Jason: Jonathan Papelbon
2 Jeff: Josh Beckett
3 Russ: Justin Morneau
4 Ryan: Jhonny Peralta
5 Mike V: Carl Crawford
6 Nate: Mark DeRosa
7 Steve: CC Sabathia
8 Rick: Prince Fielder
9 Tim: Curtis Granderson
10 Tony: Adrian Gonzalez
11 Mike P: Dan Uggla
12 Sean: Vladimir Guerrero

NOTES: Crawford and Mad Vlad – how the mighty have fallen! But oh, what values they may be! Morneau, Fielder and Granderson also have a very good chance of providing similar numbers to players drafted far earlier.

5TH ROUND
1 Sean: Roy Halladay
2 Mike P: Nick Markakis
3 Tony: Joe Nathan
4 Tim: Joe Mauer
5 Rick: Aubrey Huff
6 Steve: Francisco Rodriguez
7 Nate: John Lackey
8 Mike V: Joakim Soria
9 Ryan: Dan Haren
10 Russ: Brad Lidge
11 Jeff: Mariano Rivera
12 Jason: Troy Tulowitzki

NOTES: Jason took Papelbon at the start of the fourth round, but the real run on closers didn’t really materialize until now. Nate and Ryan may have received some nice potential ace value in Lackey and Haren, respectively.

6TH ROUND
1 Jason: Ichiro Suzuki
2 Jeff: Brian Roberts
3 Russ: Stephen Drew
4 Ryan: Jason Bay
5 Mike V: Mike Napoli
6 Nate: Michael Young
7 Steve: Ryan Doumit
8 Rick: Rafael Furcal
9 Tim: JJ Hardy
10 Tony: BJ Upton
11 Mike P: Matt Kemp
12 Sean: Chipper Jones

NOTES: There was a lot of focus in this round on shoring up the weakest positions: middle infield and catcher.

7TH ROUND
1 Sean: Alex Rios
2 Mike P: Chad Billingsley
3 Tony: Derek Jeter
4 Tim: Cliff Lee
5 Rick: Dice-K
6 Steve: Jon Lester
7 Nate: Derek Lee
8 Mike V: Feliz Hernandez
9 Ryan: Chris Davis
10 Russ: Roy Oswalt
11 Jeff: Alex Rodriguez
12 Jason: Francisco Liriano

NOTES: Young talent with upside was one of the stories of this round (Rios, Billingsley, Lester, King Felix, Davis, Liriano). At the end of the round, two risks with immense upside went off the board in A-Rod and Liriano.

8TH ROUND
1 Jason: Jay Bruce
2 Jeff: Scott Kazmir
3 Russ: Corey Hart
4 Ryan: Ricky Nolasco
5 Mike V: Adam Dunn
6 Nate: Bobby Abreu
7 Steve: Ryan Ludwick
8 Rick: Justin Verlander
9 Tim: Torii Hunter
10 Tony: Carlos Pena
11 Mike P: Chris Young (pitcher)
12 Sean: Joey Votto

NOTES: This round really was dominated by young talent with upside and was bracketed, fittingly, by two of the Reds’ biggest young stars.

9TH ROUND
1 Sean: Erik Bedard
2 Mike P: Ryan Zimmerman
3 Tony: Garrett Atkins
4 Tim: Zack Greinke
5 Rick: Magglio Ordonez
6 Steve: Jorge Cantu
7 Nate: Carlos Zambrano
8 Mike V: Yovani Gallardo
9 Ryan: Carlos Delgado
10 Russ: Chone Figgins
11 Jeff: Rich Harden
12 Jason: Joba Chamberlain

NOTES: Sean and Mike Ptak started the round with two real buy-low candidates in Bedard and Zimmerman. Jeff and Jason ended the round with two boom-or-bust candidates in Harden and Joba.

10TH ROUND
1 Jason: Ervin Santana
2 Jeff: Nate McLouth
3 Russ: Howie Kendrick
4 Ryan: Adam Wainwright
5 Mike V: Alex Gordon
6 Nate: Edinson Volquez
7 Steve: Jason Giambi
8 Rick: Vernon Wells
9 Tim: Matt Garza
10 Tony: Brett Myers
11 Mike P: Matt Cain
12 Sean: Brian Fuentes

NOTES: Kendrick, Gordon and Cain – if this is the year any of these guys turn the corner, then the 10th round will turn out to be way low for them.

11TH ROUND
1 Sean: Robinson Cano
2 Mike P: Pablo Sandoval
3 Tony: Ryan Dempster
4 Tim: Hunter Pence
5 Rick: Jermaine Dye
6 Steve: Brad Hawpe
7 Nate: Milton Bradley
8 Mike V: AJ Burnett
9 Ryan: Raul Ibanez
10 Russ: Jonathan Sanchez
11 Jeff: Derek Lowe
12 Jason: Gary Sheffield

NOTES: Mike Ptak loves him some tantalizing young talent, so the Sandoval pick was very unsurprising. Dye, Bradley and Lowe are good sleepers right here.

12TH ROUND
1 Jason: Jacoby Ellsbury
2 Jeff: Jim Thome
3 Russ: Shane Victorino
4 Ryan: Chris Iannetta
5 Mike V: Kevin Kouzmanoff
6 Nate: Ted Lilly
7 Steve: Josh Johnson
8 Rick: Travis Hafner
9 Tim: Johnny Damon
10 Tony: Randy Johnson
11 Mike P: Chris Young (outfielder)
12 Sean: Chris Volstad

NOTES: Operating under the premise that speed is at least a tiny bit cheaper than it was a few years ago, we saw the chase for stolen bases materialize somewhat in the 12th round.

13TH ROUND
1 Sean: Pat Burrell
2 Mike P: Fausto Carmona
3 Tony: Andre Ethier
4 Tim: Mark Buehrle
5 Rick: Jose Valverde
6 Steve: James Shields
7 Nate: Aaron Harang
8 Mike V: David Price
9 Ryan: Max Scherzer
10 Russ: Adrian Beltre
11 Jeff: Justin Upton
12 Jason: Miguel Batista

NOTES: These guys may not be ready to make it to megastardom this year – but they could eventually and this year may be an excellent building block for them: Carmona, Price, Scherzer and Upton.

14TH ROUND
1 Jason: Javier Vazquez
2 Jeff: John Danks
3 Russ: Clayton Kershaw
4 Ryan: Hiroki Kuroda
5 Mike V: Mike Aviles
6 Nate: Kerry Wood
7 Steve: Jeremy Guthrie
8 Rick: Mike Jacobs
9 Tim: Gil Meche
10 Tony: Armando Galarraga
11 Mike P: Jair Jurrjens
12 Sean: Edwin Encarnacion

NOTES: Many owners deferred on pitching previously and went in that direction this round.

15TH ROUND
1 Sean: Randy Winn
2 Mike P: Jonathan Broxton
3 Tony: Ken Griffey, Jr
4 Tim: BJ Ryan
5 Rick: Matt Capps
6 Steve: Jayson Werth
7 Nate: Elijah Dukes
8 Mike V: Paul Konerko
9 Ryan: Brian Wilson
10 Russ: Kevin Slowey
11 Jeff: Eric Byrnes
12 Jason: Ubaldo Jimenez

NOTES: Owners were filling out their closer depth in large part here.

16TH ROUND
1 Jason: Joe Blanton
2 Jeff: Bobby Jenks
3 Russ: Adam LaRoche
4 Ryan: Francisco Cordero
5 Mike V: Lastings Milledge
6 Nate: Delmon Young
7 Steve: Hideki Matsui
8 Rick: Scott Baker
9 Tim: Frank Francisco
10 Tony: Mike Lowell
11 Mike P: Shin Soo-Choo
12 Sean: Chad Qualls

NOTES: Milledge and Young are high-upside possibilities for this point in the draft. Choo had a heck of an ’08 campaign, especially on a per-AB basis.

17TH ROUND
1 Sean: Johnny Cueto
2 Mike P: David Murphy
3 Tony: Philip Hughes
4 Tim: Casey Blake
5 Rick: Jered Weaver
6 Steve: Justin Duchscherer
7 Nate: Oliver Perez
8 Mike V: Carlos Marmol
9 Ryan: Jason Kubel
10 Russ: Ryan Church
11 Jeff: Mark Reynolds
12 Jason: Ian Stewart

NOTES: The first three picks of the round were all very high-upside.

18TH ROUND
1 Jason: Huston Street
2 Jeff: Edgar Renteria
3 Russ: Khalil Greene
4 Ryan: Rick Ankiel
5 Mike V: Chien-Ming Wang
6 Nate: Grant Balfour
7 Steve: Billy Butler
8 Rick: John Baker
9 Tim: Kelly Johnson
10 Tony: Mike Gonzalez
11 Mike P: Andrew Miller
12 Sean: Luke Scott

NOTES: Due to the depth at shortstop this year, Renteria and Greene provided nice middle infield options this late in the draft.

19TH ROUND
1 Sean: Anthony Reyes
2 Mike P: Matt Lindstrom
3 Tony: Jose Lopez
4 Tim: Joe Saunders
5 Rick: Rickie Weeks
6 Steve: Aaron Hill
7 Nate: Orlando Hudson
8 Mike V: Nomar Garciaparra
9 Ryan: Orlando Cabrera
10 Russ: Gavin Floyd
11 Jeff: Jed Lowrie
12 Jason: Freddy Sanchez

NOTES: Unsurprisingly, most owners put off their middle infield selections until close to the end, due to the small amount of differentiation left in the talent pool at this point.

20TH ROUND
1 Jason: Jorge Posada
2 Jeff: Tom Gorzelanny
3 Russ: Heath Bell
4 Ryan: Brandon Morrow
5 Mike V: Xavier Nady
6 Nate: Benji Molina
7 Steve: Trevor Hoffman
8 Rick: Wandy Rodriguez
9 Tim: Placido Polanco
10 Tony: Dioner Navarro
11 Mike P: Jeff Baker
12 Sean: Asdrubal Cabrera

NOTES: As with the 19th round, the weakest positions continued to be filled out here, because if you got shut out of the prime talent earlier, there was no need to reach for the next levels.