Today was the draft for Hippeaux Seybold’s massive 16 team, 40-player roster league. Now in its fourth season with the majority of its original owners remaining, there are few remaining secrets to success. I wanted to briefly go over my roster and cogitate upon some selections. The league is points-based and setup such that players have ‘realistic’ value. As a result, starting pitchers are more valuable than in category-based leagues and each team can only use 12 starts per week. There are 6 keepers from last year, marked by a ‘K.’

Here’s the rundown of the 2011 draft class:

Position Name Draft Order 2011 Proj. Points
C Jorge Posada 14 407
C Yadier Molina 21 429
1B Joey Votto K 823
2B Neil Walker 11 604
SS Alexi Casilla 19 519
3B Pedro Alvarez K 594
1B/3B Justin Morneau K 651
2B/SS Howie Kendrick 12 576
LF Angel Pagan 9 602
CF Chris Young 8 660
RF Nelson Cruz K 745
OF Jose Tabata 13 573
UTIL Ryan Raburn 15 542
UTIL Danny Valencia 20 508
P Clay Hensley 27 416
P Matt Belisle 29 330
SP Zack Greinke K 765
SP Jon Lester K 932
SP Francisco Liriano 7 801
SP Daniel Hudson 10 708
SP Bud Norris 23 572
RP Joel Hanrahan 16 537
RP Ryan Madson 17 492
RP Chris Sale 18 482
RP Matt Guerrier 22 439
BE Chris Narveson 24 537
BE Dustin Ackley 25 399
BE Kevin Correia 26 488
BE Tom Gorzelanny 28 522
BE Brent Morel 30 305
BE Mike Gonzalez 31 320
BE Marcus Thames 32 254
BE Mark Teahen 33 168
BE Austin Kearns 34 211
BE Nate Schierholtz 35 223
BE Eric Patterson 36 102
BE Doug Fister 37 376
BE Ivan Rodriguez 38 249
BE Matt Moore 39 135
BE Wilson Valdez 40 259

Highlights

  • Having the 11th pick in what amounted to the 7th round, I thought I would be looking at Hunter Pence (~650 points), but he went early. I was left with both Yovani Gallardo and Francisco Liriano to choose from. I’ve put a lot of trust in YoGa in other leagues, but in this deep league, I trust Liriano even more and was glad to add him to my roster.
  • Tabata and Rayburn. I’m big on both of these players this year and was happy to add them at value draft positions.
  • Dustin Ackley and Brent Morel. Here, Morel was a crapshot–I actually didn’t know he had won the 3rd base job at the time. I was just hunting for upside prospects and discovered he had the job after the draft.

Lowlights

  • Alexi Casilla. As dumb as it sounds, I went into this draft determined to get a strong middle infield. I did that with 2B, but my targeted SS kept falling. So I targeted the obvious cheap value: Ryan Theriot. When he left 2 rounds earlier than I predicted, I had to scramble. ESPN has Casilla slotted for 69R/50RBI/25SB. If he achieves that, then he’s the best value of my draft. I’m betting he looks exactly like Theriot minus the durability.
  • The slew of outfielders in the later rounds. What was I thinking? I knew I needed some depth to backup my starting OF, so I grabbed Thames in the hopes he claims the outfield job. Unsure of Thames, I grabbed Teahan thinking he had OF eligibility, which was a mistake (although he is Morel’s handcuff, fortunately). Kearns helped me last year, but then adding Shierholtz and Patterson on top of it? I essentially grabbed 5 reserve outfielders hoping that one of them would land a starting gig. Ugly.
  • Lack of 1B backup. While Votto and Morneau are both generally very sturdy players, they’ve had some freakish injuries in the past few years that have robbed them of playing time. As long as one of them remains healthy, I have enough 3B eligible players to fill the 1B/3B gap.

Overall

I’m happy with the team and excited to see Ackley and Morel work at the major league level. In the past I’ve aimed for conservative drafts, but with so many steady points banked in players like Votto and Lester, I couldn’t resist stocking up on Pagan, Tabata, Raburn, Hudson, and Walker. If Cruz pulls off 500 AB, Casilla plays up to his ESPN prediction (low likelihood), and Greinke posts a nice year, I think there’s enough power here to contend for a top spot in the league. I must, however, keep an eye on pitching call-ups–I need at least another young upside pitcher.