For the last few years I've been fortunate enough to be invited to participate an experts league with the crew from KFFL.com. The league, called K-BAD (KFFL's Baseball Analysis Draft), pits 12 experts against one another in a 12 team mixed league draft with 28 man rosters. For a breakdown of who is in the league and how everything shakes out, not to mention who I drafted in rounds 1-14 see K-BAD: Experts Draft, Part I.
In what follows I'll list my thoughts about my selections from pick 15-28. I'll then give a quick run down of my squad.
Round 15: Dexter FowlerHe gained some muscle this offseason, and he flat out exploded in the second half of the season: .288 with a .880 OPS, 51 runs, 10 steals in 68 games.Round 16: Wandy RodriguezThis is a solid skill set hurler who gets no love because he's on the Astros. As a 5th starter on my team he's slotted in the right spot.Round 17: Kurt SuzukiI wanted to wait another go round for a backstop, I'd prefer to take a closer here, but I just didn't have much faith in the remaining backstops.Round 18: Frank FranciscoGreat arm will be given an opportunity to close with Mets. Could have gone OF here, but I really needed to get that second closer arm.Round 19: Brennan BoeschIt was Boesch, Joyce or Vernon Wells for my 5th outfielder. Couldn't see any of them being around the next time I made a pick.Round 20: Vernon WellsWell color me surprised. Wells was indeed available after I considered taking him in the last round. He makes a solid UT option this late.Round 21: Ryan DoumitOf all the remaining backstops Doumit is the one I can see going .275-15-70 if he can stay healthy. Per 450 at-bats in his career: .271-15-61-54-2.Round 22: Scott BakerI've been staring at Baker for two rounds now. If healthy, there's little reason to think he won't be a top-50 hurler at worst, so this is good value this late.Round 23: Rafael FurcalI wanted to go with another starting pitcher here, but I looked at the remaining options for my backup at short and Furcal appeared to be well ahead of the remaining options.
Round 24: Ricky NolascoOnce more into the breach... one of these years it's going to happen. I'm convinced. I feel like Ahab from Moby Dick chasing my White Whale.Round 25: Daniel MurphyTo get a guy who could hit .300 while qualifying at first, second and third... sign me up. Big fan of a reserve pick who covers so many positions.Round 26: Chris DavisIt's like when you walk into a car dealership intending to buy a sedan and walk out with a sports car. The lure of Davis and his power is too strong for me to break.Round 27: Sergio Romo(1) I could use solid ratios with a shot at a few saves. (2) With a short bench of only five guys I felt I needed a hurler over another bat.Round 28: David RobertsonWent with this great bullpen arm instead of starters Homer Bailey, Aaron Harang, A.J. Burnett and Ryan Vogelsong, Obviously there will be plenty of arms left on the waiver-wire.
My Squad.
C: Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Doumit 1B: Miguel Cabrera 2B: Howie Kendrick 3B: Kevin Youkilis SS: Derek Jeter MI: Dustin Ackley CI: Mark Reynolds OF: Matt Holliday, B.J. Upton, Shane Victorino, Dexter Fowler, Brennan Boesch UT: Vernon Wells
Pitchers: Felix Hernandez, Ricky Romero, Josh Beckett, Brandon Morrow, Wandy Rodriguez, Scott Baker, Ricky Nolasco, Sergio Santos, Frank Francisco
Bench: Rafael Furcal, Daniel Murphy, Chris Davis, Sergio Romo, David Robertson
I've got a lot of flexibility with the club as Cabrera, Kendrick, Reynolds, Davis and Murphy are all going to be multi position guys. I could be a bit light on steals, but I should still finish middle of the pack there. I like the late add of Daniel Murphy to help offset a guy like Reynolds in the batting average category. On the hill, I think I again showed that you can wait on hurlers and still assemble a strong staff. My top-5 arms could all give me 175 Ks, and Baker/Nolasco could both be near elite if healthy and lucky (that obviously has not been the case the past few years though). I might be light on saves but with this draft happening so early in the year, before training camp even started, I didn't feel the need to reach on bullpen arms when so many situations are still unsettled.
I'll keep you posted throughout the year on how the club is doing.
Finally, here is my roster, along with all the others from the K-BAD Draft.
By Ray Flowers