I drafted from the 5 spot. I thought the options were decent enough there in the first round and perhaps surprised a few with the Victor selection. If there was a regular position player close to his production numbers, I would have taken that player. I didn’t see any. I liked the all around game of Carlos Gomez so acquiring him in the 2 round worked. The three spot had me waiting on Graham, with me targeting Harrison or Dickerson --- he took Harrison and I was glad to select Dickerson. The catcher run had me getting Martin – who I preferred despite the game limits and J3 w 42 potential disaster. Getting Dozier 5th was what I was hoping for once I did not get Harrison. And, of course, franchise favorite Jimmy Rollins was targeted as I did not like too many SS’s. At all.
Offense: Victor will produce. There is some good power with Corey Dickerson, Donaldson, Adrian Gonzalez, George Springer, Carlos Gomez and Sean Rodriguez. There is some speed on the team with Dozier, Gomez, Cain, Rollins and Springer all being fast and steals available from all as well. Martin and Dozier should be on base in front of Victor. This team should finish no worse than third in runs scored.
Defense: Ok, I actually tried for defenders. LF is the weak spot. Catchers throwing isnt horrible with +2, +3 and +5. OF arms are questionable. Well LF. Gomez has the 3-37 and Cain 3-34. Infield is good. Jim’s is better. Dozier, Donaldson and A Gonz only require 13 sits combined. HEY, I took J0’s! 2nd in Fielding Pct behind Jim.
Pitching: I took Hamels, then waited. Turned out OK with 16, 14G, 14G, 14 and 13G. The defense should help. Pen isnt too bad and similar to most others with 3.5 near the top tier guys (24W, 22Z, 21G and 18ZH) and two other guys. 2 H’s, 2 G’s. 3 G’s in the starting rotation could help. I guess having only the two Z’s are the weak spot.
If the defense helps the pitching enough, I should be a contender. If not, I will be looking forward to 2016.
PS - Chris requested that I look at projected Beane counts:
Greg will be near the top. Offensively his walks/9 and HR/9 will be at or near the top. His pitching will allow a low walks/9 – only HR allowed/9 will be the weakness as he will be near the bottom. Chris and Keith will also finish near the top in the Beane count --- both with top half finishes within all four categories. Conversely, Tonk and Graham project to finish near the bottom of the Beane count totem pole due to middle to below average finishes for all categories. Tonk only looking good in the walks/9. Looking at everything, the walks per 9 allowed will be tight for about 5 teams. Anyone can contact me to debate --- it was a quick eyeball view with a lot of assumptions involved.
Good luck to everyone! Long live the SL!