Yahoo Draft Day
Friday was Yahoo day. At 11 am, I drafted for my "Winner's League" and at 7pm, Monica and I drafted for our "Popular Crime" league, made up primarily of friends. Though beginners were welcome to join Popular Crime, it did not feel like a beginners league. Even those who might have overbid on Danny Valencia ended up with good teams. Yahoo autopick did a surprisingly excellent job for the one or two of us who got bored between spending money and getting dollar players, but most all of us lasted until 10:30 pm.
In 2006, I dropped Justin Morneau from my Yahoo team after one hit in 13 AB for BashiBashi. That was his 34 HR, 130 RBI breakout year. Lance Berkman hit 45 HR and 136 RBI at 1B for my Yahoo team, but Justin would have been nice at utility and since I came in second in my winners league that year, it made a difference. In 2010, I came in 4th in my winners league-- highly competitive and it came down to the last week. 2004 and 2008 were my other winner's leagues, and those years prove that I win sometimes. I only bring this up because Monica told me I needed to keep Justin in 2006 and I dropped him anyway. Following Monica's fantasy advice has usually been a good idea.
For the Winner's, I picked up Youkilis on the first bid for $18, which seems his going rate. Since everyone started conservatively, I picked up Cano at $40 and Tulowitzki at $44. Building around a middle infield is one way to go, certainly not my plan going in, but it worked out okay. For Popular Crime, Cano and Tulowitzki were $50+. I picked up Cabrera at $47 in Popular Crime before the even bigger money was being spent, a different way to go.
The question everyone asks, given that Monica does give out good baseball advice, is who does she like? This, of course, is restricted information, but here is what you can gather from her team. Evan Longoria, $44, is her most expensive player. Yovani Gallardo and Yu Darvish are her top pitchers, with Joel Hanrahan and Kyle Farnsworth closing. I convinced her to spend $23 on Brandon Phillips, since she was not spending all of her money. Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski are probably her favorite position players.
The cliche is that you can lose at fantasy baseball draft, but you can never draft so well as to assure that your team wins a season. I enjoyed both drafts, and it looks like we still have a full slate of potential winners.
In 2006, I dropped Justin Morneau from my Yahoo team after one hit in 13 AB for BashiBashi. That was his 34 HR, 130 RBI breakout year. Lance Berkman hit 45 HR and 136 RBI at 1B for my Yahoo team, but Justin would have been nice at utility and since I came in second in my winners league that year, it made a difference. In 2010, I came in 4th in my winners league-- highly competitive and it came down to the last week. 2004 and 2008 were my other winner's leagues, and those years prove that I win sometimes. I only bring this up because Monica told me I needed to keep Justin in 2006 and I dropped him anyway. Following Monica's fantasy advice has usually been a good idea.
For the Winner's, I picked up Youkilis on the first bid for $18, which seems his going rate. Since everyone started conservatively, I picked up Cano at $40 and Tulowitzki at $44. Building around a middle infield is one way to go, certainly not my plan going in, but it worked out okay. For Popular Crime, Cano and Tulowitzki were $50+. I picked up Cabrera at $47 in Popular Crime before the even bigger money was being spent, a different way to go.
The question everyone asks, given that Monica does give out good baseball advice, is who does she like? This, of course, is restricted information, but here is what you can gather from her team. Evan Longoria, $44, is her most expensive player. Yovani Gallardo and Yu Darvish are her top pitchers, with Joel Hanrahan and Kyle Farnsworth closing. I convinced her to spend $23 on Brandon Phillips, since she was not spending all of her money. Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski are probably her favorite position players.
The cliche is that you can lose at fantasy baseball draft, but you can never draft so well as to assure that your team wins a season. I enjoyed both drafts, and it looks like we still have a full slate of potential winners.
posted by David Rasmussen at 3:18 PM
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