The FSGA Mixed League Champions draft is usually the draft that kicks off the fantasy baseball season. This year we started with LABR Mixed, but now it is time for us to really start the engine revving with this 14-team mixed league champions draft.
RULES
5 x 5 Rotisserie style scoring.
Hitting Categories – BA, HR, RBI, Runs, SB
Pitching Categories – W, ERA, WHIP, K, SV
ROSTER: 2-C, 1-1B, 1-3B, 1-CI, 1-2B, 1-SS, 1-MI, 5-OF, 1-UT, 9-P, 6 reserves
Every team must have a minimum of 3,500 at-bats and 900 innings pitched.
POSITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
This league is staying old school saying that you need to have participated at a position seven times last season in order to qualify at the spot this year (for more on that I discussed qualifications here). You need 10 games played inseason to pick up a new position.
FREE AGENT ACQUISITION BUDGET
This league will indeed be using FAAB. Each team will have $1,000 to spend over the course of the year. You must have $1 to big on a player (no zero bids).
INJURED LIST
There is no limit to the number of players that can be placed on the Injured List. Players must be activated by the scoring period after they are activated.
DRAFT PARTICIPANTS
1 Colton & The Wolfman, Rick Wolf / Glenn Colton / Stacy Stern
2 Charlie Wiegert / Tim Jenson, RT Sports
3 Steve Gardner / Howard Kamen, USA Today Sports
4 Trevis Waters / Anthony Carson, DFS Karma
5 Jordan Paulson / Michael Lazarus, Yahoo Sports
6 Greg Ambrosius / Darik Buchar, NFBC, Sportshub
7 Josh Hayes / Ralph Rabe, Rotoballer Radio
8 Clay Link, Rotowire Fantasy Sports
9 Ray Flowers, SiriusXM Fantasy Drive
10 Chris Towers, CBS Sports
11 Dr. Roto, (Mark Bloom), SiriusXM
12 Howard Bender, Fantasy Alarm |
13 Anthony Perri, Fantistics Fantasy Sports
14 Baseball HQ, Ray Murphy / Brent Hershey
MY ROSTER
*Round taken in parenthesis.
Catcher: Buster Posey (16), Yan Gomes (27)
First Base: Rhys Hoskins (12)
Second Base: Nick Madrigal (13)
Third Base: Alex Bregman (3)
Shortstop: Marcus Semien (11)
Middle Infielder: Brendan Rodgers (25)
Corner Infielder: Kris Bryant (8)
Outfield: Christian Yelich (1), Bryce Harper (2), Starling Marte (4), Lorenzo Cain (18), Scott Kingery (23)
Utility: JD Martinez (7)
Pitchers: Lance Lynn (5), Zack Greinke (6), Sixto Sanchez (9), Kenley Jansen (10), Nick Anderson (14), James Paxton (15), Noah Syndergaard (17), Ryan Yarbrough (19), Greg Holland (20)
BENCH: Mitch Keller (21), Matthew Boyd (22), Garret Crochet (24), Yasiel Puig (26), Andrelton Simmons (28), Spencer Howard (29)
DRAFT WRITE UP
*This is a live, running diary written as the draft was taking place.
ROUND 1: I just don’t want to take a pitcher in the first round. I’m actually more interested in my second-round selection that my first, if that makes any sense (it may not). Christian Yelich was the choice at the top. The whole game should rebound this season. I could have gone SP (but no). I could have gone Story or Ramirez or Freeman? But nah. I’ve been a Yelich guy since before it was cool to be one, so I’m going back to the well after that terrible effort last season expecting a huge rebound effort.
ROUND 2: Freeman or Bellinger are pipe dreams here. At least Bellinger. Probably looking at a Francisco Lindor or Bryce Harper selection if I’m being honest and authentic. Bellinger and Lindor are gone. There went Freeman. Will Harper make it back to me? He did. I have a love hate relationship with the guy. Honestly, who doesn’t at this point? There’s been monster production from him in the past. Could be do that again? Yes. Could he hit .268? Yes. I’ll take the chance that this is the year, though we pretty much say that every year, don’t we? Here is some audio on the pick.
ROUND 3: I’m hunting at third base here. Hoping that Rendon or Bregman fall. I think it is possible that one makes it, at least if you believe in ADP. If not, I’ll potentially look shortstop or maybe second base with Albies. I’m not thinking that I’m going pitcher diving here as the second round continues on, but we will see. Couple of picks to me and Brandon Woodruff is sitting there. I might, just might, grab him. I pretty much owned Woodruff everywhere last season, and he had a hell of an effort. He was pretty much the star I hoped for. I didn’t do it, by that I mean, take Woodruff here. Bregman fell to me, Albies when the pick right before me, so I will wait on pitching for at least another round. Alex Bregman went .291-36-108-114-8 in 2018-19. Then he struggles in 42 games and there is some garbage can talk and folks are just out on him? Don’t really get that one.
ROUND 4: Now the real question begins. Is this the spot to take a starting pitcher? If Torres is available, I’m going to be very tempted like I was in the previous LABR Draft. Do I go Starling Marte and look for the 25+ steals? I would love to add the steals, but I already have two outfielders. Certainly enough depth at shortstop that I can wait, so it’s not a must. Oh well, Torres just went. I’m going with Starling Marte. He’s a .280 hitter with 20/20 potential. That’s two of my top-4 guys with that power/speed potential, and Harper/Bregman should be able to swipe 15-20 bases combined as well.
ROUND 5: Pitching, right? Probably. I might be tempted if Jose Altuve or Paul Goldschmidt are still available, but it might just have to be pitching. First base gets thin quickly, and I have Altuve as a potential bounce back option (see Last Year’s Bums). Looking at the way the draft is playing out, Lance Lynn might look good here. Innings, strikeouts, likely strong offensive support, even if the ratios slide a bit from last season. What the hell. He’s as good a bet as most to go 180 innings with 180 strikeouts. A good stable option at the top.
ROUND 6: If Paul Goldschmidt is sitting there, do I bite? Do I wait and hope that Matt Olson falls? Jose Altuve is still there, could he fall to round seven? Do I take a starting pitcher for more stability? I only have one arm, so do I take the higher upside arm (Carlos Carrasco) or the more stable guy who always gives quality innings (Zack Greinke)? Will it even be a choice? Will either be there? Neither? There went Carrasco. So much for the potential upside. I tapped Zack Greinke. Most folks don’t seem to realize that Greinke had a K per inning last season with a 1.13 WHIP (a four-year high). He is stable, as is Lynn, and that is the way I think you should consider building your staff if you don’t end up jumping in on the pitching front early in a draft.
ROUND 7: Can go a lot of directions here. Altuve – Bryant – Olson if I’m looking infield. I could go JDM if I want to go the DH route. I could look starting pitching with Wheeler/Hendricks at the top of the list. Altuve goes. Henricks goes. I’m thinking JDM has the best bat of the group, but he’s a UT option and I don’t have a CI or first baseman. Do I grab the first sacker, or just take the best bat? Hell, why not. I just went with JD Martinez who was a .300 hitter with a 1.000 OPS from 2017-19. He rebounds this season. Big time.
ROUND 8: It is probably the right time to grab another arm. Wheeler/Paddack would be at the top of the list. As I wrote that first sentence, Paddack was drafted. Now that I think about it, I’m gonna lean away from pitching, and hope that Patrick Corbin falls another round. Probably another pipe dream, but a guy can always hope. I would love to go Olson/Bryant at the corners with Correa at shortstop. It’s never going to happen, so I gotta make a decision. Olson and Wheeler just went. Guess we are down to Bryant or Correa. For more on Kris Bryant, check out this article.
ROUND 9: I’m hoping Corbin or Sixto Sanchez falls to me here. That would be ideal. Corbin would be an apropos third arm after Lynn/Greinke. That said, I’m on record (Rookie Scouting Reports for Pitchers) as having a love affair with Sixto, and he’s the young upside, exciting play. I’m be a bit thin at second base and up the middle, but I’m not overly concerned. At least not right now. Who knows in two hours. For now, I’m going pitching with Sixto Sanchez. I’ve gone from two of the most boring arms in the game to – one of the most exciting young arms in the game. Give me Sixto Sanchez. I really like that 1-2-3 on the hill. Plan is working out through nine rounds. Now on to the second third of the draft.
ROUND 10: We’re at a pivot point here. I could take Corbin to complete my ideal four-some on the bump to start this draft. I could go power with Gallo or speed with Robles. I could go up the middle with Semien or get my first sacker in Hoskins. So many directions, so many options. Corbin is gone, and with it the dream. Should I tap Kenley Jansen? Thinking about it. I’ve been drafting and not coming away with a potential top-10 closing option, so maybe I just roll the dice and go for it here? What the heck. Give me Kenley Jansen. Each year from 2014-2019 he had at least 33 saves. No other pitcher in baseball is close to matching that run of success. He ain’t what he was, but that success is unparralled and people are just out on him. Seems strange to this scribe.
ROUND 11: Thinking hitting. Hoskins/Gallo/Semien/Madrigal kinda what I’m thinking. Don’t have a shortstop or second sacker, or a first baseman for that matter. I’m expecting a couple to be drafted before I’m up next. I’m a bit ambivalent at this spot. Marcus Semien is going to be part of a potentially massive offense with the Blue Jays, and it sounds like they will be spending at least part of their time in an extremely offensive environment to start the year. If he sticks in the #2 spot, which some are whispering could happen, wowzahs. Let’s hope it happens.
ROUND 12: Gallo or Hoskins are my primary targets here. I hope to grab one with the secondary hopes that Madrigal falls to round 13. That would get me power now and batting average next. That’s a lot of hoping, and pushes off arms a couple of more rounds which could thin things out a bit there. I’ve never been shy about pushing that though. I’m leaning Hoskins because he plays first base, and because the reports about his surgically repaired elbow are overwhelmingly positive. If rounds 12-13 go that way, it’s pitching heavy coming thereafter. One pick away from Hoskins and step 1-of-2. Yep. Done. Rhys Hoskins is my first baseman as I continue to just pile up “my guys.” Whether the plan works or not, well, we have seven months to figure that out, but I can say that to this point of the draft it is just what I wanted to accomplish.
ROUND 13: Sometimes, you just do your thing. I feel like this draft is playing out that way. I’m just taking my guys, not worrying about ADP or anything like that. Often times we pundits push players all preseason, but we don’t necessarily hunt them out on draft day as we will look to do things “right” to use the draft as a teachable moment for followers/users. This draft, I’m just doing me. I’ve been saying good things about these guys, so now I’m drafting them to show it. I grabbed Nick Madrigal here and he’s going to hit .300 with 20 steals this season. At some point he takes over the #2 spot in the White Sox order, and with that, his runs scored number jumps too.
ROUND 14: The only way I don’t go pitcher here is if Gallo is still available. I might take one more offensive player if he is available, before pitching becomes the focus. I’m targeting Nick Anderson and James Paxton here if I don’t go Gallo. Anderson isn’t “the closer” in Tampa, but he will get saves and he has a massive 42 percent K-rate for his young career. That’s 15 Ks per nine innings. Paxton was throwing hard in a recent throwing session that led to the contract he signed with the Mariners. We’re in an era where a starting pitchers tossing 145-innings isn’t the end of the world, and that’s where Paxton hopefully will end up this season. Gallo just went, which might save me from myself. Lol. Going with Nick Anderson, hoping he gets 15 saves and that his struggles in the playoffs last season were just because he was tired out.
ROUND 15: German Marquez just went, and it was him or James Paxton as my top targets with this selection on the bump. Hoping that Paxton falls one two more selections… and he did. For more on James Paxton see this one.
ROUND 16: This is a bit earlier than ADP, but reports out of Giants camp are that Buster Posey looks good after taking last year off. His body is finally healed, and a solid effort behind the dish is certainly doable. He always had that hit tool, and though the power is gone, he should still be a .280-12 type, and one who gets 500 plate appearances which makes the batting average go a long way at the catchers spot.
ROUND 17: Noah Syndergaard will miss the first two months. I will stash him on the IL until June, and he will be someone I can lean on in the second half of the season. Only make this pick, at this point of a draft, if your league has IL spots. I will get another pitcher to replace him in the first waiver run and in essence get a 2-for-1.
ROUND 18: Thinking Lorenzo Cain in the outfield or Drew Pomeranz as an RP or Andrew Heaney at SP with this pick (G. Gallegos was just taken, followed closely by Heaney so I cannot grab either). It is far from certain who will close in San Diego, though Mark Melancon seems to have the upper hand. I went with Lo Cain. There’s risk here, he didn’t play last season and is a 10 homer-ish type of hitter, but his average should be .280+, but double-digit steals and he will hit in a spot where 80+ runs is also doable. We saw teammate Kolten Wong go a bit before him in this round, and I think Cain is the more exciting player of that duo. I’ll get power with my fifth outfield spot.
ROUND 19: Dang it. Hunter Dozier just went, and he was my target here. That pivots me back to pitching. I didn’t get Pomeranz last time around, so why not here? Because he went two picks before me which blows chunks. Ryan Yarbrough has a 1.15 WHIP through three seasons. Batters cannot hit the ball hard against him.
ROUND 20: David Fletcher would be a solid add for my MI spot. Lacks power, but he has an elite contact rate which enables him to be a significant batting average booster. He qualifies at shortstop and second base, which also helps a lot with all the injuries everyone will be dealing with. Just a couple of picks now. Dr. Roto took 1:45 to make the call (we didn’t have a clock, and that is just awful – you should always have a clock in your draft). I’m not a Greg Holland guy, not at all, but I’m hunting for saves, so I made the unappetizing selection. Don’t like it at all.
ROUND 21: I’m hoping that Jose Leclerc drops to this spot. I feel like Holland/Leclerc gets me where I need to be, even if neither is fantastic on their own. There went that dream. I’m gonna try to grab Peter Fairbanks at some point to give me the top-2 options in Tampa, but I’m going to push my luck here. I need an SP. I was targeting Means. He just went. I was targeting Ray. He’s now gone. That leaves me Mitch Keller as the man left that I was targeting.
ROUND 22: Scott Kingery is my target here, either he or Gavin Lux up the middle, but there is a but. Brendan Rodgers or Starlin Castro? The dilemma is that no one likes Castro. His February ADP is 341. Maybe I will push this spot and take a shot at waiting and just grab Castro in the end? Matthew Boyd or Madison Bumgarner? Basically the same guy, right? I’ll get the strikeout per inning and count on Boyd realizing that he changed too many things up last season, which he has admitted to doing. Just settle back in and do your thing Mr. Boyd.
ROUND 23: Crap. Fairbanks just went at about pick 310, which is more than 160 picks ahead of his ADP in February in the NFBC. This draft has official gone rogue. I’m looking at Scott Kingery who qualifies at second and the outfield in this league (seven games played). For more on the man I took see this piece and this one.
ROUND 24: When a guy throws 100 mph, pitch after pitch, he grabs your attention. Garrett Crochet will start in the bullpen, could make starts, but either way he will dominate and post massive strikeout numbers.
ROUND 25: Thinking I might take a shot on Yasiel Puig. Same time, why hasn’t that guy signed? I will wait a round and hope he is there. I went with another MI option in Brendan Rodgers. I don’t know if this is the year or not, but the dude has been an elite prospect, has Coors Field and it doesn’t seem impossible that he will open the year in the starting lineup.
ROUND 26: Back to Yasiel Puig. He didn’t sign last year. He still hasn’t signed this year. This could be a completely wasted pick as it seems baseball might have passed him by. I don’t have an outfield that is spectacular after my top-3, so instead of taking a rookie and hoping he gets PT, I will take Puig who has gone 20/15 his last three seasons. All he needs is a shot to be a massive hit – provided of course that teams aren’t avoiding him for some reason we just don’t know about publicly.
ROUND 27: I need a second catcher. Do I take one here, or just wait? Is Yan Gomes that much better than the rest? No. He is on a higher tier than the rest of the backstops that haven’t been taken? Yes. It is just such a boring thing to do, take a catcher here. I’m thinking the big arm of Carlos Martinez might be a nice fit. I could go with a plethora of middle reliever arms if I want to play that game. Don’t see anyone that is a true standout there, so I can afford to wait. Martinez was grabbed, so I will go with Gomes to round out the starting lineup.
ROUND 28: And Starlin Castro still sits here and so is Jonathan Schoop. However, I went with Rodgers, so perhaps I would be best served to go with a backup shortstop for depth purposes. Andrelton Simmons is still there, and I just wrote about him. His game isn’t much different than David Fletcher taken rounds earlier, though he only qualifies at one position.
ROUND 29: Time to grab a final arm, with so much time before opening day, and so many jobs still to be won. Twelve months ago everyone loved Spencer Howard. This season, he’s sitting there to be drafted in the 29th round. What a difference a year makes.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My draft, especially the first 15 rounds, went according to plan. Whether or not the players pan out, well, that’s the challenge now. But I can rest my head on the pillow with the believe that the draft played out in a way that allowed me to target a whole team of my guys, and that always makes a fella feel good.
Here is a link to the draftboard.