Deep Waiver Wire Draft Results and My Picks
The other day 4 of us writers did a draft of players owned in less than 10% of all ESPN leagues. We drafted a C, CI, MI, OF, SP and RP and here were the results:
| Draft Position | Name | Owner |
| 1 | Cody Ross | Bender |
| 2 | Danny Valencia | Catania |
| 3 | Chris Heisey | Sarris |
| 4 | John Buck | Zimmerman |
| 5 | Jonny Gomes | Zimmerman |
| 6 | Jarrod Saltalamacchia | Sarris |
| 7 | Wilson Ramos | Catania |
| 8 | Chris Johnson | Bender |
| 9 | Chris Getz | Bender |
| 10 | Will Venable | Catania |
| 11 | Jason Bartlett | Sarris |
| 12 | Aaron Crow | Zimmerman |
| 13 | Scott Sizemore | Zimmerman |
| 14 | Javy Guerra | Sarris |
| 15 | Doug Fister | Catania |
| 16 | Nick Hundley | Bender |
| 17 | Koji Uehara | Bender |
| 18 | Jason Kipnis | Catania |
| 19 | Rubby De La Rosa | Sarris |
| 20 | Brandon McCarthy | Zimmerman |
| 21 | Casey Blake | Zimmerman |
| 22 | Matt LaPorta | Sarris |
| 23 | Cory Luebke | Catania |
| 24 | Barry Zito | Bender |
Besides the entire draft results, here is a quick explanation of my 6 picks
John Buck (C)– The choice of Buck was pretty easy. He is a catcher with home run ability. This season so far he has hit 8 HRs in 291 PA with the Marlins and looks to still get plenty more PA. These numbers are just a bit below his career average where he has averaged 1 home run for every 30 PA. His average and SB are non-existent, but what is to be expected from a catcher owned in less than 10% of all leagues. I will gladdly take the home runs, especially from a catcher.
Jonny Gomes (OF) – I figured that I may attempt at locking up home runs with Gomes to go along with Buck. He looks to be on pace for 20 home runs and maybe even get 10 SB. His average is a drag, but he generally gets consistent playing time so he will have chances to accumulate Runs and RBIs to go along with the HRs.
Aaron Crow (RP)– I took the Royals All-Star selection in the hope that Soria will become either injured or traded. Crow then looks to be in line to move into the closer role where he will begin picking up saves. There are other relievers with better rate stats, but I am taking a chance on saves with this pick.
Scott Sizemore (MI)– This is probably the safest move I took. Usually, I would aim for a player that excels at one area, but with Scott he is just an all around below average player. He will get at bats and not destroy or will any category. Boring.
Casey Blake (CI) – I need a CI and the pickings were slim. I am pretty much hoping that he can get back to hitting some home runs. Also, he could put up some OK counting stats (Runs and RBIs).
Brandon McCarthy (SP) – I waited on SP which seemed like the deepest category. I about went with Danny Duffy, but decided against double homer-ism after drafting Crow and instead went with McCarthy. I will take the 3.5 K/BB and hope the A’s offense can show up once or twice during the rest of the season.
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
So I’m assuming that this is a standard 5×5 then?
Sounds like a fun project!
I like this premise, but I’m astounding at the last two picks. I would have taken them first.
Pitchers didn’t even start coming off till the 12th round, it seems that after overall ‘quality’ was exhausted it went to positional scarcity. It was said in the article that SP’s were the deepest pool to pick from, so it makes sense to me.
Plus, these are ‘fantasy experts’, you know they’re not going to over spend for a SP.
At the top of a draft, I agree with not overpaying for SP. At the end of a draft (or in a waiver draft–rounds 24 & 25, effectively?), I do the opposite. One combustible starter is worse than having a slightly worse OF.
If this is for a 5×5 league with no moves (will the “standings” be kept to see who “wins” for the year?), it seems like the SP is especially important, doesn’t it? For 4 of the 10 categories they’ll contribute ~75% or more of the IP towards W, K, ERA, WHIP, compared to ~25% of each of 5 categories for each of the hitters. (Give or take. Obviously MI and OF are more likely to give you SB, for example).
Or, given that this is Pick Six rosters, maybe it’s the LW points scoring; that would make more sense for waiting on pitchers.