Meet the Team! Beso Yogurt
Say hello to Team Beso Yogurt!
The only players who weren't on my pre-draft grid were Ryan Ludwick and Ted Lilly. I had drafted Ludwick in at least one mock draft and thought I might have a shot at him, since there's a perception that he's overrated. Lilly on the other hand was completely unexpected, but he's had two great strikeout and ratio seasons in a row. I felt like he was a little more of a known commodity than Scott Lewis, so that's how the decision went. Otherwise I would have felt very comfortable with Lewis.
To commemorate, here are some new Goose Joak Originals.
Edwin Encarnacion, Cincinnati Reds
by Goose Joak
He ain't Chipper Jones, but then again, who is? Maybe Edwin can break loose this year, something like .370/.510 with 10 SB. That'd be nice from an 11th round pick.
Either way he's probably good for .350/.460 with 5 SB.
Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals
by Goose Joak
Bret Saberhagen redux? One can dream.
John Smoltz, Boston Red Sox
by Thoughts and Sox
A favorite of mine two years ago.
Well, that does it for today. Busy baseball day. I'll post Napoli, Pena, Cruz, Marshall and Lilly once I get them!
Thanks to everybody in the league for a great draft. It was (and always is) a fun experience.
Also thanks to all the great fantasy bloggers out there for providing great fantasy content, especially Charlie and Mark. Thanks guys. Your resources and commentary were (and will continue to be) challenging, helpful and invaluable. As well as fun. Thanks!
Overall I'm quite happy with the draft. Other than losing out on Chipper Jones, I really got almost all of my targets.
Round C Mike Napoli 12 1B Carlos Pena 13 2B Ian Stewart 15 3B Edwin Encarnacion 11 SS Hanley Ramirez 1 OF Josh Hamilton 2 OF B.J. Upton 3 OF Nelson Cruz 7 UT Ryan Ludwick 8 Round SP Cliff Lee 6 SP Ricky Nolasco 9 SP Zack Greinke 10 SP Ted Lilly 14 SP Sean Marshall 17 RP Joakim Soria 4 RP Mariano Rivera 5 Round BN Mike Fontenot 16 BN John Smoltz 18
The only players who weren't on my pre-draft grid were Ryan Ludwick and Ted Lilly. I had drafted Ludwick in at least one mock draft and thought I might have a shot at him, since there's a perception that he's overrated. Lilly on the other hand was completely unexpected, but he's had two great strikeout and ratio seasons in a row. I felt like he was a little more of a known commodity than Scott Lewis, so that's how the decision went. Otherwise I would have felt very comfortable with Lewis.
To commemorate, here are some new Goose Joak Originals.
Edwin Encarnacion, Cincinnati Reds
by Goose Joak
He ain't Chipper Jones, but then again, who is? Maybe Edwin can break loose this year, something like .370/.510 with 10 SB. That'd be nice from an 11th round pick.
Either way he's probably good for .350/.460 with 5 SB.
Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals
by Goose Joak
Bret Saberhagen redux? One can dream.
John Smoltz, Boston Red Sox
by Thoughts and Sox
A favorite of mine two years ago.
Well, that does it for today. Busy baseball day. I'll post Napoli, Pena, Cruz, Marshall and Lilly once I get them!
Thanks to everybody in the league for a great draft. It was (and always is) a fun experience.
Also thanks to all the great fantasy bloggers out there for providing great fantasy content, especially Charlie and Mark. Thanks guys. Your resources and commentary were (and will continue to be) challenging, helpful and invaluable. As well as fun. Thanks!
So your first few picks are spent on the people that you are keeping?
ReplyDeleteI am starting to dislike Cliff Lee at the same rate that I'm loving Nelson Cruz. Cruz is going to be such a bargain if he hits fourth for the Rangers.
ReplyDeleteI thought when you were introducing some of your players with the cards they were going to wear the yogurt uniform. Oh well...
Here's my thing with Cliff Lee: 5.00 K/BB rate. With good strikeout rate. In a weak division.
ReplyDeleteHistorically you have to be pretty good to be in that class of pitcher.
In 2007, the only guys to exceed that K/BB rate were James Shields and CC Sabathia.
In 2006, the only guys to exceed that K/BB rate were Curt Schilling and Johan Santana.
In 2005, the only guys to exceed that K/BB rate were Brad Radke*, David Wells*, Carlos Silva* and Johan Santana.
* (with K/9 under 5.5 -- Cliff Lee's was 6.8)
In 2004, the only guys to exceed that K/BB rate were David Wells*, Brad Radke*, Jon Lieber*, Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson and Ben Sheets.
* (again, with significantly lower K/9 than Lee)
Also, Cliff Lee's ground ball rate went up 11% pts last year to 46%.
His FIP was 2.89, again, far from a fluke.
Yes, he could regress, but there are many signs suggesting he improved in the statistical categories he had control over.
At least that's my hope!
Agreed on Cruz, too. I saw that note about him hitting 4th the day before the draft, and that's what pushed me to reach for him. .400/.600 is juicy stuff. Even if that regresses, he's still going to buffer .70-.90 pts of OBP on top of his average, meaning he's safe for .340-.360 OBP, with at least .480+ SLG, and a boatload of RBI. And then the absurd upside he showed in the minors.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty similar case with Ludwick in my opinion. His minor league stats were very similar to Cruz. Great OBP/SLG, couldn't do it in the majors. I think a lot of people are discounting him b/c of the upcoming drop in BA. But who cares? You have to figure even if he hits .240, that's a .340 OBP with .520 SLG and 100 RBI. That's Jermaine Dye. But with more upside than JD at this point in his career.
Oh and Zach, you're right, the first picks we use were spent toward keepers. BTW, the card of Crow is coming along quite nicely :)
not a bad lineup... good for fourth or fifth place easy.
ReplyDelete