Tonight was the draft and as is becoming a yearly thing, I messed up. I did not save Pat’s keepers. I thought I did, but I must have closed my browser before I hit save. Ugh. I am sorry Pat! I tried to fix things after the draft, but there is really no way to make it totally right. Maybe I can make it up to Pat next year (like a supplemental pick).
Here are the teams this year and their keepers:
Musky Beard (Josh): Mookie Betts, Manny Machado, Gerrit Cole
Lord of Losing James is (Ryan): Vlad Guerrero Jr., Luis Robert, Wander Franco
There is no Spoon (Gideon): Shohei Ohtani (Batter), Yordan Alvarez, Corbin Burnes
Sean’s Team (Sean): Whit Merrifield, Walker Buehler, George Springer
Racist Babies (Jason): Rafael Devers, Salvador Perez, Fernando Tatis Jr.
We are Phamily (Pat): Matt Olson (he did end up drafting him in one of the first three rounds)
Mouth Breathers (Dustin)
Ball So Hard Inc. (Matt)
Chico’s Bail Bonds (James)
Unwilling Player (Lindsey)
Sparky Fingers (Jordan)
Bigger Bases (Offord)
We only lost one team, but managed to gain three others to bring us back to twelve. Now, in all honesty if someone else wanted to join the league next year, I would probably get rid of Matt (no offense man, but you have not had access to your team for like five years or maybe more).
Sometimes I finish my draft and I am upset with how it went or I made a mistake in some round. This year though? I am cool with my draft. I have some holes, which I will address through free agency and trades. That is why I draft the way I do. My starting pitching should be good and I should have some decent power. I can always flip some of that for a stolen base guy or some RPs.
One thing I did notice is that James took my advice (not sure if I wrote about it here or mentioned this on Facebook or on a group chat). I have said for years that if I were going to stream pitchers, I would not even waste a draft pick on any starters. I would go for all relievers. And James definitely went that route. He started taking closers in round four and then again in the fifth. Granted, he drafted deGrom in the first round, which is smart. Taking an anchor starter, who he can count on to give him excellent production each week. But after that? He can just stream as many as he needs to win those categories. I dig it. And I look forward to trying to defeat him again.
Ryan did his usual thing of drafting an entire team of IF guys. If Chris Sale is healthy, it is a huge pickup. If Blake Snell pitches like he did a few years ago, if Mitch Keller or Jo Adell live up to their potential. You get my point. At this point it should just be called the Optimistic Ryan Strategy. I love it. If it works, he looks like a genius. If it does not work, he just drops and picks up guys who are heating up and rides that wave. Either way, he ends up being one of the best teams every year.
I am not going through every team, I will not bore you. I just wanted to mention those two because I enjoyed seeing their strategy and knowing that I will need to have a great year if I want to win this league again.
