Fantasy Baseball Drafting Stratagy (Part 1)
My homeboy Steve-o has a pair of drafts comming up this week so these next couple of posts are mostly for him to use as guidelines to (hopefully) success. Either that or we're both gonna have crappy fantasy seasons. So if there is anyone else reading these that totally disagrees with what I have to say, or has some tips and hints they'd like to share hit em up in the comments.

My plan for today is to run through the infield positions and then go through pitchers and the outfielders tomorrow. The order that players are listed is the same as they appear in Yahoo's rankings just because thats where all these drafts are taking place. The two drafts that I'm using as markers for where players are expected to go are a 14 team private pool and a 12 team public one that I have already drafted in, any time that I meantion draft position it will be public pool first, and bolded numbers indicate my picks. Well, lets get this thing started with the guys behind the plate...

Catchers: My gameplan for catchers has been get Mauer or Martinez or take someone else in the later rounds. No shocker there. Martinez went in the 3rd round of both drafts, while I took Mauer 5th round in both. The other catchers either come off the board earlier then I feel comfortable taking them or I just don't want them.
Javy Lopez (2nd and 6th)
Jason Varitek (4th and 7th)
Ivan Rodriguez (12th and 7th)
Kenji Johijima (14th and 12th)
Jorge Posada (11th and 7th)
Ramon Hernandez (14th and 16th)
Mike Piazza (16th and 16th)

I prefer to pass on those guys and wait on the 3rd tier guys that (usually) come a lot cheaper.

Josh Willingham (17th and 17th)
Benji Molina (14th and 9th)
Michael Barrett (20th and 16th)
A.J. Pierzynski (undrafted and 16th)
Rod Barajas (18th and 20th)
Mike Lieberthal (21st and 19th)
Javier Valentin (undrafted and undrafted)
Brian McCann (21st and undrafted)

Obviously I like Willingham, since I took him twice. But I wouldn't be crying about having Molina (although he went a lot earlier then I thought he should in both drafts), Barajas, Valentin or McCann either.

First Base:
Pujols, Teixeira, Ortiz and Lee are all gone by the 10th pick of the first round at the latest, and they're generally going within one pick of where Yahoo has them ranked. So if your draft position matches one of those guys its a safe pick to snag em. If they're gone or you take someone else with your pick here is the rest of the pack...

The four guys I've got in my second teir to target are
Carlos Delgado (3rd and 3rd)
Lance Berkman (3rd and 4th)
Todd Helton (4th and 3rd)
Paul Konerko (4th and 5th)
Berkman also has OF eligibility which is why I took him and Helton with back to back picks in my public pool. Then comes the 3rd tier...

Ryan Howard (4th and 5th)
Chad Tracy (10th and 10th)
Aubrey Huff (12th and 10th)
Justin Morneau (17th and 12th)
Prince Fielder (18th and 17th)
Lyle Overbay (18th and 14th)

Okay I should probably give Howard more credit, but I just don't trust the guy, or Phillies in general. Huff and Tracy are also both OF eligible so if you get one of the big guns on first they are still worth looking at. Also, Sean Casey is in a contract year, so if you're desperate late he might be worth looking at, he went in the 18th and 13th rounds of my drafts, I wouldn't take him before anyone listed above though.

Second Base:
This is always the hardest position for me to draft. There arn't many top of the game talents so it usually ends up either jumping at someone earlier than I should or waiting til the end and taking some junker. In both pools this year, I jumped early.

Alfonso Soriano (2nd and 2nd)
Chone Figgins (2nd and 3rd)
Chase Utley (3rd and 3rd)
Jeff Kent (3rd and 3rd)
Marcus Giles (6th and 6th)
Jorge Cantu (6th and 7th)
Filipe Lopez (8th and 8th)

Judging by this small sample size I'd say its safe to project where these guys can be expected to be taken. I'm not too big on Giles, but the others are all aight picks. I chose to grab Soriano and Figgins early because I feel like there is enough depth at the other positions to get value later. After those guys I don't have much feel for the rest of the pack at the two bag though, so maybe grab Rickie Weeks (11th and 10th) or someone else, I don't really know. It should also be noted that Figgins can be used at third or the OF, Kent and Utley both can go at 1B, Cantu can play third and Lopez has shortstop eligibilty. If you do end up with one of these guys, you'll want to be using them at second, putting them anywhere else drops their value.

Shortstop:
The middle infield is another tough spot, there is definitly more value then 2B, but the line between talent levels feels fuzzier to me.
Michael Young (1st and 1st)
Miguel Tejada (2nd and 1st)
Jose Reyes (2nd and 2nd)
Jimmy Rollins (4th and 2nd)
Derek Jeter (2nd and 2nd)
Rafael Furcal (4th and 5th)
Jhonny Peralta (8th and 7th)
Filipe Lopez (8th and 8th)

Based on where these guys are going, I'm avoiding Tejada and Furcal...and like I said above you should be using Lopez at second base anyway.

Julio Lugo (11th and 8th)
Edgar Renteria (13th and 5th)
Nomar Garciaparra (12th and 2nd)
Clint Barmes (15th and 11th)
Bobby Crosby (10th and 13th)
David Eckstein (19th and 13th)
Ian Kinsler (20th and undrafted)

I dunno what was going on with Renteria and No-mah going so early in that other pool, but I wouldn't expect that to be the norm. Barmes is the sexy pick for a comeback season after last year's freak injury and I don't mind taking him where hes going. Eckstein is a solid pick in the last 3 rounds, but I wouldn't take him as high as the 13th. Kinsler should have the starting job at second base in Texas so he will end up with dual eligibility and I like taking him late. In fact I just picked him up in that pool he went undrafted in so he can take Figgins' spot because I need to move Delmon Young to my bench...but thats a whole other story.

Third Base:
There are a lot of quality guys you can take here, and there is hardly anyone I'm avoiding.

A-Rod - If he goes anywhere but 1st overall someone fucked up
David Wright (2nd and 1st)
Miguel Cabrera (2nd and 1st)
Chone Figgins (2nd and 3rd)
Aramis Ramirez (4th and 3rd)
Morgan Ensberg (5th and 3rd)
Jorge Cantu (6th and 7th)
Chipper Jones (7th and 6th)
Eric Chavez (8th and 7th)
Troy Glaus (8th and 6th)
Hank Blaylock (8th and 6th)
Scott Rolen (8th and 6th)
Melvin Mora (9th and 10th)
Garrett Atkins (17th and 9th)

You want one of these guys. You also want to be the one starting the run on third basemen not the one taking Atkins in the 9th round like a chump because you were sure at least one of those other guys would make it back to you when you wanted them. If you want to go for a sleeper backup guy try Zimmerman out of Washington. But what do I know, I'm the chump taking Atkins in the 9th. Can you guess which pick I want back yet? Oh and I'm avoiding Chipper because fuck the Braves, thats why.

Aight I'll be back tomorrow with the outfielders and pitchers...actually I guess thats later today now...damn I'm awesome.
- posted by Mike @ 1:49 AM