2011 Wooly Bayou Mammoths Draft Recap

Offense - First round firstbasemen are not something that I like, but it was almost unavoidable this year. The way the first 4 picks went it left me with the Votto/Pujols selection in the 5 hole and Votto hits just enough better to make him the choice over Albert's better defense and lack of platoon. I felt like Holliday was too good to pass on in the third as an everyday OF/DH, then followed that up with Ramirez and Utley picks that gave me some offensive production up the middle while still having serviceable defense. Victorino was in a large group of CFers that all had similar RC/G, but his defense, speed and stealing set him apart and I feel like I got great value taking Wright in the 11th. Chris and Ken took Rolen and ARoid in the 4th round, and while they are better defensively and do not have the platoon to worry about, all three are the same in RC/G. While the differences mentioned do make ARoid and Rolen more valuable I felt like Wright in the 11th, especially given what else was out there, made it a good choice and good value. Took Markakis over Bruce and Stanton to fill RF for 160 or so games and love the 3-37 and 3-38 defense that I was able to get in RF and CF. Torrealba was the best combo catcher left and will likely hit 9th when he is in the lineup. Willingham will start 114 games in LF and at 6.9 RC/G he should be able to provide some offensive help. Buck was added as the offensive catcher, and Mr 24 Butler was taken as a pinch hitter and part time starter at DH who should be able to get some hits with 6 hit numbers on his card. Hopefully we can use the H&R to stay out of the double plays. J Molina was added as a purely defensive late inning sub. Finally settled in on Keppinger as my alternate middle IF guy and he will need to hit a little in his 67 starts at 2B (47) and SS (20). Pagan will get 19 starts in CF and provide pinch running off the bench and Headley will be the late inning defensive sub/steal me a base pinch runner for Wright. I believe that this team will be top half in offensive production as long as Votto, Holliday, Ramirez and Utley perform as they should.

Biggest misses (guys i was targeting with my next pick that went shortly before me) - K Johnson in the 4th, Huff in the 5th, Kersahw in the 6th

Best Values - Holliday 3rd, Wright 11th, Willingham 15th

Roster misses (positions that we had to scramble to fill) - 3B, by the end of the 6th round 7 of the 9 teams had a third baseman and I wasn't one of those. Further evaluation told me that I had missed the boat. Wright ended up being a good value pick in the 11th, but also required me to draft an everyday defensive sub. C, always a tough position, but even tougher when you are the last person to draft one. I really started thinking about Posey for my 5th round pick, but when Matt took him I let it slide for a few rounds, like 8, and didn't grab Torrealba until the 13th. I was able to grab Buck and J Mo for my three headed catching rotation where Yorvit and Buck Naked will get all of the starts.

Biggest holes - CF, Keppinger (67 game starter), C

Defense - Starting OF will be 2-3-3 from left to right everyday except the 19 with Pagan in CF. Arms will be 31 or 32, 38 and 37 from left to right. I am very happy with my OF defense. IF will be 4-8-8-3 from 1B to 3B almost everyday as Keppinger fills in with his 8-8 at 2B and SS. Butler's 12 games at 1B (3) and Headley's 5 games at 3B (4) will be the only exceptions. Catchers are 8+3, 7+0 and 8+5 and I have definitely won with worse catchers. Torrealba and Molina will be able to handle all late inning situations as needed and Buck should provide some offenseive pop while at least not having a negative throwing arm. I do not know what my pitchers are rated defensively, who cares.

Biggest holes - 3B, LF

Starters - Starting 5 grade out at 16, 14, 12, 12, 14 which at a combined total of 68 is probably the best staff that i have ever had. Throw in 2 Zs (one W), 3Gs and an H, 2 Ys 2 Xs and an XY and 4 of the 5 with a +1 move and I think that the starters on this team will be in the top 3 in ERA. Only concern that I have is injury as I believe that 4 starters are J-3s.

Bullpen - 6 relievers grade out at 20, 22, 17, 17, 13 and 14. 3 Zs, 2 Gs, 3 XYs 2 Xs and a Y, and one +2 and one +3 move highlight the pens peripherals. I took Soria in the 7th to make sure that I was able to get a stud Z reliever and at 20XYZG+2 he qualifies and Wagner adds a high quality lefty to the pen as a 22XY. Stauffer's ratings are great, but somewhat limited games/innings which needed to be addressed later. Grabbed Motte as a 17 just before the 13 Zs started to come off the board then I was able to grab Belisle and Breslow to add about 250 innings to the back end of the bullpen while getting a Z and a lefty to complete the pen. Combined with the starters this pen should keep us in the top 3 in ERA as a team.

Overall - We do not have the strongest offense, but what should end up being a well balanced team. Pitchers should be fine, but we will need to score some runs and our team baserunning ability could help a great deal in accomplishing this. 6 of our regulars will run and as long as we can avoid the line drive DP, this will help our run scoring. Does this team have enough to make the playoffs? TO win the Spit Cup? Sure it does, would anyone have predicted that Bob and I would square off for the Spit Cup in 2004? No way, all it takes is rolling the dice well in order to win!