10 Team Expert Mock Draft Review
Tonight, I participated in a 10 team expert mock draft with some fellow fantasy bloggers. Here's a link to a spreadsheet with everyone's teams & projections. My team is listed here, with round selected in brackets:
C: Victor Martinez [4]
C: Joe Mauer [7]
1B: Todd Helton [9]
2B: Chase Utley [1]
3B: Alex Gordon [16]
SS: Derek Jeter [5]
OF: Vladimir Guerrero [3]
OF: Hunter Pence [6]
OF: Matt Kemp [12]
OF: Justin Upton [17]
OF: Willy Taveras [18]
CI: Josh Fields [19]
MI: Khalil Greene [20]
UT: David Ortiz [2]
P: John Smoltz [8]
P: Tim Lincecum [10]
P: Greg Maddux [21]
P: Hiroki Kuroda [22]
P: Billy Wagner [11]
P: Huston Street [13]
P: Matt Capps [14]
P: Rafael Soriano [15]
P: Bob Howry [23]
With the projections I used entering the draft, I'd win first place by a tad over 10 points. Of course, I'm sure some of them could say the same thing as they probably used different projections than I did. Regardless, I executed my plan pretty well. A few notes on my strategy for this:
- The catchers are a bit of a luxury, I admit. Martinez was my target for the 4th; when Mauer was there in the 7th, I couldn't pass it up.
- The corner infielders are pretty much what I'm shooting for. Helton should be solid, and Gordon & Fields provide multi category production with tons of upside.
- The middle infielders were a product of a conscious decision I made to place more emphasis on the position. In most of my mock drafts, I come out with mediocre MIs; I made it a point to do better in this draft with Utley & Jeter. I took Greene when I already had a substantial lead in AVG, and knew I could benefit more from HRs than AVG.
- I like the outfield, for the most part. Vlad in the 3rd was a steal, IMO. Pence and Kemp are solid 5 cat guys, Upton has immense upside, and Taveras helped me to inflate somewhat mediocre SB numbers. I don't particularly care for taking players like Taveras, but it made sense at that point in the draft.
- My starters aren't exactly the greatest, I know. Smoltz & Lincecum are a great 1 & 2, but I could have done better than Maddux and Kuroda.
- That's a nice relief core. I found them to be the best value at that point in the draft, and made a run at closers with four of my five picks from 11-15. If this were a real league, I'd probably use the surplus to address my SP deficiency.
Thoughts/suggestions?
